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Journal articles on the topic 'Justification (Christian theology)'
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Smythe, Shannon Nicole. "A Hermeneutical Approach against Whiteness." Journal of Reformed Theology 13, no. 3-4 (December 6, 2019): 199–214. http://dx.doi.org/10.1163/15697312-01303008.
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Abstract This article provides a constructive reading of Barth’s interpretation of Romans 2 in the Römerbrief in conversation with his treatment of the sinful human attempt to construct a worldview in opposition to the saving activity of Jesus in Church Dogmatics IV/3. I argue that dialectical theology provides Western Christianity with a hermeneutical approach against whiteness grounded in a Reformational theology of justification by faith alone. In this way, dialectical theology is a resource for constructing Christian identity free of whiteness as well as for carving out new space for a decolonial option within Christian theology.
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Norris, Kristopher. "Toxic Masculinity and the Quest for Ecclesial Legitimation." Journal of the Society of Christian Ethics 39, no. 2 (2019): 319–38. http://dx.doi.org/10.5840/jsce2019102111.
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This essay analyzes masculinity as an ecclesial strategy for maintaining cultural and political power. It begins by examining the masculine theology promoted by the German Christian Movement that gave religious justification for Nazism’s violence against those who did not conform to their masculine norms. Drawing on conceptions of ‘legitimation crisis’ and masculinities studies, it argues that the masculine theology of the German Christians, predicated on a desire for social and political relevancy, shares a similar logic with current American evangelical masculinity. In conclusion, it turns to Dietrich Bonhoeffer for resources of ecclesial resistance to these masculine temptations for cultural relevancy and political power.
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Simuț, Corneliu C. "J. I. Packer’s Theology of Justification—His Reception and Appropriation of a Classic Protestant Doctrine." Religions 14, no. 12 (November 21, 2023): 1442. http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/rel14121442.
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This article is a systematic overview of Packer’s theology of justification from the perspective of descriptive, analytical, and critical methodologies. A series of books written by Packer were investigated in order to identify various references to justification, which led to a categorization consisting of six features (justification as the legacy of the Reformation, eternal status, a precursor of sanctification, trust in Christ, covenant reality, and a divine promise). Two of Packer’s most important books used for this research, Keep in Step with the Spirit: Finding Fullness in Our Walk with God (2005) and Concise Theology: a Guide to Historic Christian Beliefs (2011), also revealed the theological foundation of justification, which I present as the two pillars on which Packer’s theology of justification stands: God’s being and Christ’s incarnation. These two pillars reveal not only God’s invisible being as Trinity but also his self-disclosure in Christ as an exclusive focus of the sinners’ belief of justification. The six features and the two pillars of Packer’s theology of justification demonstrate not only how he received and appropriated the classical Protestant teaching about God’s decision to consider sinners righteous despite their sins but also how it generates, through faith in Christ, a consistently new life.
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Sansom, Dennis Lee. "Christian Theodicy: A Critique of William Gass’s Anti-Theology." Religions 14, no. 1 (December 20, 2022): 2. http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/rel14010002.
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This paper presents a justification for a Christian theodicy. It starts by critiquing William H. Gass’s depiction of Christianity as superstitious, ignorant, and evil. It shows that his view is based on a caricature (that is, God as a quasi-gnostic Demiurge) of the Christian understanding of God and evil and totally ignores and misses the contributions of (what I call) the Classical View of theodicy within the Christian intellectual tradition (that is, from Origen to Karl Barth). I also evaluate the underlying nihilism of Gass’s writings as self-refuting and furthermore argue that a Christian theodicy overcomes this nihilism and encourages a “vocation of the good”.
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Beker, J. C. "Paul's Theology: Consistent or Inconsistent?" New Testament Studies 34, no. 3 (July 1988): 364–77. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0028688500020154.
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. Recent discussions of Paul's theology have reached a virtual consensus that Paul is not a dogmatic theologian, but rather an interpreter of the gospel. In this light we would expect that the tendencies of the history of Christian thought to discover a dogmatic ‘Mitte’, from which all other elements of his thought can be deduced, would have ceased. And yet the immense dogmatic pressure of the Christian tradition still persists: with their search for ‘die Mitte’ of Paul's thought which they locate in justification by faith and/or in the righteousness of God, both Barth and Käsemann show that the dogmatic quest of the church from the time of Augustine to Luther and Calvin is still alive.
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Nickel, Justin. "The Justified Body: Hauerwas, Luther and the Christian Life." Studies in Christian Ethics 31, no. 1 (October 24, 2017): 65–78. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0953946817737928.
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Stanley Hauerwas and others argue that Luther’s understanding of justification denies the theological and ethical significance of the body. Indeed, the inner, spiritual person is the one who experiences God’s grace in the gospel, while the outer, physical (read: bodily) person continues to live under law and therefore coercion and condemnation. While not denying that Luther can be so read, I argue that there is another side of Luther, one that recognizes the body’s importance for Christian life. I make this argument through a close reading of Luther’s reflections on Adam and Eve’s Fall in his Lectures on Genesis (1545) and the sacramental theology in ‘Against the Heavenly Prophets’. For this Luther, disconnection from our bodies is not a sign of justification but rather the sin from which justification saves us. Accordingly, justification results in a return to embodied creatureliness as the way we receive and live our justification.
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Mostert, Christiaan. "Catholicity of the Church and the Universality of Theology." Pacifica: Australasian Theological Studies 16, no. 2 (June 2003): 123–36. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/1030570x0301600201.
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The issue addressed in this essay is that of the Christian character or identity of Christian theology. Its “arguing partner” is that range of theological endeavours in which the particular context of a theological production is accentuated at the cost of under-valuing its necessary correlate, its Christian or “catholic” character. The essay offers a justification for a concern about “orthodoxy” - though not as an alternative to “orthopraxis” - for it still matters in all theology that God be spoken of rightly, which is to say faithfully. Christian theology should therefore not abandon its connection with Christian doctrine, even though the boundaries of theology may extend further than the boundaries of doctrine. There is, of course, no easy move from the universality of the Gospel to the universal validity of any particular articulation of this Gospel. However, it is argued that a modest claim for universality is both permitted and required by the double premise that all theology is in some sense church theology and that the church confesses itself to be “catholic”. Support for such a position is found in the work of Robert Schreiter, a strong proponent of “local” theologies, who in recent work has also argued for a necessary engagement with the “tradition” and has identified new kinds of universal theology. Appeal is made also to the ancient idea of a regula fidei. None of this conflicts with the contextual nature and responsibility of theology, but “contextual” should never be equated with “narrow”, let alone “isolationist”.
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Mjaaland, Marius Timmann. "Sovereignty and Submission: Luther’s Political Theology and the Violence of Christian Metaphysics." Studies in Christian Ethics 31, no. 4 (August 6, 2018): 435–51. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0953946818792629.
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The classical controversy between Carl Schmitt and Eric Peterson goes directly to the heart of the matter: What is ‘political theology’ about? Is it a descriptive or normative endeavour, oriented towards history or political influence on contemporary issues? This article explores these questions with reference to Protestant theology, in particular the writings of Martin Luther. Protestant theology has often emphasised the basic difference between the spiritual and political spheres, but I question the validity of this distinction with respect to Luther’s theology. When Luther enters the political scene, an apocalyptic understanding of friend and enemy tends to dominate his thinking. Furthermore, I discuss whether this is compatible with his metaphysical understanding of the ‘hidden God’ in his majesty, and hence, whether a metaphysical violence is deeply embedded in Luther’s theology, possibly even his understanding of ‘justification by faith’. Finally, I suggest a reconsideration of Luther’s political theology based on the questions raised by Schmitt and Peterson.
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Grube, Dirk-Martin. "Intercultural Theology and the Historicity of Thinking." Interreligious Studies and Intercultural Theology 1, no. 1 (March 27, 2017): 69–89. http://dx.doi.org/10.1558/isit.31380.
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In this article, I analyze the German-speaking discussion on the discipline of Intercultural Theology. Among others, I criticize Schmidt-Leukel’s suggestion to define it as interreligious theology. This definition being somewhat arbitrary, I suggest reconstructing it under the parameters of philosophical and cultural insights that acknowledge the historicity of thinking and the ethnocentricity of justification. This move allows to allows “transmission-centered approaches” to be replaced by “context-sensitive” ones that honor the subject status of the Christian Other.
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Pankov, G. D. "Theological-legal concept of redemption in the mirror of Orthodox-theological criticism at the end of XIX - early XX centuries." Ukrainian Religious Studies, no. 27-28 (November 11, 2003): 128–36. http://dx.doi.org/10.32420/2003.27-28.1471.
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Theology can be considered a specific culture of self-expression, self-determination and self-justification of certain denominations. Christianity defines itself as the "religion of atonement" or the "religion of the Cross", as evidenced by the words of the apostle Paul: "We preach the crucified Christ." The idea of redemption is a central idea without which it is impossible to understand the Christian tradition. Therefore, for theology, conceptualizing the idea of atonement means directing intellectual efforts to identify and justify the essential side of Christianity. For academic religious studies, the study of the theological concept of redemption has a dual meaning: first, it allows to understand the essential aspect of the Christian religion, and secondly, to understand the theological culture of thinking.
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Кирьянов, Д. В. "Christian apologetics in a context of science. Book review: Holder R. Ramified natural theology in science and religion. Moving forward from natural theology. London-NY: Routledge, 2021. 247 p. ISBN 978-0-367-37319-1." Труды кафедры богословия Санкт-Петербургской Духовной Академии, no. 1(21) (March 1, 2024): 280–92. http://dx.doi.org/10.47132/2541-9587_2024_1_280.
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Естественная теология получила новый импульс для своего развития в конце XX — начале XXI вв. благодаря открытиям, сделанным в области наших знаний о структуре и эволюции Вселенной. В эпоху религиозного плюрализма христианская апологетика нуждается не только в аргументах в пользу существования Бога, но также в рациональном оправдании основных вероучительных положений христианства, таких как учения о Боговоплощении и воскресении Иисуса Христа. Именно поэтому многие современные апологеты христианства используют строгий формальный язык теории вероятностей, опирающийся на теорему Байеса. В данной статье представлен анализ основных линий аргументации так называемой «ветвящейся естественной теологии» Р. Холдера в пользу истинности ключевых доктрин христианства. Nowadays natural theology received new impetus for its development due to discoveries made in the field of structure and evolution of the universe. In an era of religious pluralism, Christian apologetics needs not only arguments in favor of God’s existence, but also a rational justification of the main Christian doctrines, such as the incarnation and the resurrection of Jesus Christ. This is why many Christian apologists use the strict formal language of probability theory, based on Bayes’ theorem. The paper presents an analysis of the main lines of R. Holder’s arguments of so-called “ramified natural theology” to support key doctrines of Christianity.
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Willitts, Joel. "Galatians and Christian Theology: Justification, the Gospel, and Ethics in Paul’s Letter." Bulletin for Biblical Research 26, no. 3 (January 1, 2016): 429–30. http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/26371483.
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Jońca, Maciej. "Recenzja monografii Piotra Alexandrowicza Kanonistyczne uzasadnienie swobody umów w zachodniej tradycji prawnej. Poznań: Wydawnictwo Naukowe UAM, 2020, stron 333." Krakowskie Studia z Historii Państwa i Prawa 14, no. 2 (2021): 268–70. http://dx.doi.org/10.4467/20844131ks.21.018.13526.
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Review of Piotr Alexandrowicz’s Book Canonistic Justification of Freedom of Contract in the Western Legal Tradition. Poznań: Wydawnictwo Naukowe UAM, 2020,333 Pages The inspiring monograph of Piotr Alexandrowicz entitled “Canonistic Justification of Freedom of Contract in the Western Legal Tradition” clearly shows that the true creators of freedom of contract were not ancient Roman jurists or emperors, but medieval canonists. Based on Christian moral theology, they built the unique doctrine of obligations without which it is quite difficult to imagine contemporary legal transactions. Their thought was subsequently taken up and further developed by modern thinkers.
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Andreeva, Larisa. "The Lynn White's challenge: African independent Churches (AIC) and ecological consciousnesSS." Vostok. Afro-aziatskie obshchestva: istoriia i sovremennost, no. 5 (2022): 123. http://dx.doi.org/10.31857/s086919080021538-8.
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This article examines the influence of the thesis of the American medieval scholar Lynn White that Christianity is responsible for environmental injustice and which has become a trigger for the formation of a new discipline in Christian theology - environmental theology and a new Christian environmental consciousness on the activities of African Independent Churches (AIC). On the African continent, it is the AICs who have made significant contributions to the development of contextual theology and environmental awareness. The main tenet of the African Independent Churches (AIC) after liberation from colonial dependence was that countries that received political liberation were to receive ecological liberation. However, it should be noted that still the main emphasis was placed on environmental action, which was an expression of the environmental consciousness of members of African independent churches. Attempts by African Independent Churches (AICs) to construct a system of ecological theology within contextual theology have relied on attempts to fit Christianity with the traditional African view, which traditionally defined certain trees, rivers, or animals as sacred or taboo. There are few such approaches in the literature on theological justification of ecology in churches initiated by Africans, but the ecological consciousness based on action has a well-rooted history in African independent churches and is, in fact, an Afro-Christian response to the challenge posed to Christianity by Lynn White.
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Lee, Jong–Tae. "Living Extra Se : Martin Luther’s Doctrine of Justification as Theology of Christian Life." Korean Journal of Christian Studies 105 (July 31, 2017): 227–45. http://dx.doi.org/10.18708/kjcs.2017.07.105.1.227.
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Anderson, Trevor. "C. S. Lewis and Penal Substitution: A Problem Case for New Calvinist Theology." Evangelical Quarterly 88, no. 4 (April 26, 2017): 285–304. http://dx.doi.org/10.1163/27725472-08804001.
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I examine the general goodwill that the New Calvinist movement feels toward C. S. Lewis, and identify what I see as an anomaly in it. I argue that New Calvinists have good reason, based on their theology, to reject C. S. Lewis as an evangelical Christian on account of his doctrine of the atonement, and that their justification for not doing so is unsatisfactory. I engage the work of John Piper and Douglas Wilson as representatives of the movement, and show that in attempting to justify Lewis they misrepresent his beliefs. However, I then argue that they are nevertheless right in their insight that Lewis is ‘someone special’ who must be a Christian regardless of his problematic beliefs. Rather than engage in attempts to justify and explain away these important theological differences, I suggest that New Calvinists should think of them as anomalies which can be used to critically examine their own theology.
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Nimmo, Paul T. "Schleiermacher on Justification: A Departure From the Reformation?" Scottish Journal of Theology 66, no. 1 (January 15, 2013): 50–73. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0036930612000257.
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AbstractIn his 1923–4 lectures on the theology of Friedrich Schleiermacher, Karl Barth offered a strikingly negative verdict on Schleiermacher's doctrine of justification, lamenting that it was radically discontinuous with the theology of the Reformation. The core purpose of this article is to assess this verdict in detail. The introduction presents in outline Barth's criticism of Schleiermacher's doctrine of justification from these lectures. The first section of the article provides a summary of the doctrine of justification as it is found in Schleiermacher's mature work, The Christian Faith, together with a brief consideration of the related doctrines of conversion and sanctification, and an exposition of the dogmatic location and inter-relation of the three loci. In the second section, the article proceeds to investigate closely whether three of the central criticisms of Barth pertaining to Schleiermacher's doctrine of justification reflect an accurate reading and adjudication of the underlying material. The criticisms explored are: that for Schleiermacher there is no justification as a free act of God but only a justification which takes place according to the law of nature; that in the event of justification Schleiermacher considers both God and the human being to be active; and that the doctrine of Schleiermacher repeats the heresy of essential righteousness after the fashion of Andreas Osiander. The common theme underlying each charge is that Schleiermacher has departed significantly (and lamentably) from the tradition of the Reformation. The third section of the article proceeds to explore these charges carefully in light of a close reading of Schleiermacher's dogmatic work on justification and related doctrines. In the case of each of the criticisms directed at his doctrine of justification, it is argued that there are strong grounds for asserting that Barth's concerns may be rather misplaced and that – true to his word – Schleiermacher indeed remains in broad dogmatic continuity with the Reformation tradition. In the conclusion, two further theological possibilities are noted. First, it is suggested that, far from leaving the Reformation tradition behind, Schleiermacher's work on justification resonates strongly with one particular reading of Calvin's work which has much currency in contemporary theology. And second, it is suggested that, far from Schleiermacher being the one to depart from the Reformation tradition on justification, it might actually – ironically – be Barth who is more guilty of that charge in view of his own doctrine of justification in the Church Dogmatics.
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Ziegler, Philip G. "“Peace through the Cross”." Journal of Reformed Theology 14, no. 3 (August 27, 2020): 229–45. http://dx.doi.org/10.1163/15697312-01403011.
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Abstract Central to Markus Barth’s work as a New Testament exegete was the pursuit of an ever more responsible interpretation of the letters of the apostle Paul that combined rigorous historical and theological concerns into a form of “biblical theology.” The culmination of this endeavour is unarguably his two-volume commentary on Ephesians. This essay explores the central claims advanced in that commentary with an especial focus on Barth’s claim that Ephesians 2:11–22 represents a high point in Paul’s witness concerning Jews and Gentiles. It goes on to demonstrate how Barth understood justification as the ‘sociohistorical’ outworking of God’s reconciling act in Jesus Christ. It concludes by examining some of the consequences of Barth’s contentions for orienting Christians toward the important task of Jewish-Christian relations in the present.
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Карасев, Н. "The term μυστήριον in early Christian texts and its role in the formation of Christian mysticism and mystical theology in the Ante-Nicene period." Theological Herald, no. 4(31) (October 15, 2018): 63–92. http://dx.doi.org/10.31802/2500-1450-2018-31-4-63-92.
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Единство мистического опыта фиксируется в терминах μυστήριον, μύστης, μυστικός, μυσταγωγία и др. Богословское обоснование эта лексика получает в тексте Священного Писания: «Вам дано знать тайны Царствия Небесного»1. Автор показывает, что раннехристианские богословы стремились воплотить эти слова в жизнь. В соответствии с этим выделяются два аспекта развития мистического богословия. Первый связан с осмыслением Откровения Премудрости Божией, которое не всегда можно выразить словесно (мистика познания, гностический аспект); второй - с опытным постижением и приобщением полноте Божества (мистика единения, онтологический аспект). В основе мистического христианского опыта лежит событие Боговоплощения, или соединения Боже- ственной (нетварной) и человеческой (тварной) природ в Иисусе Христе - Сыне Божием и Сыне Человеческом, что является краеугольным камнем всей православной мистики. The article deals with the origin and development of the concept of “mysticism” in Christian theology in the pre-Nicene period. Author shows, in particular, that the unity of the mystical experience is fixed in terms of μυστήριον, μύστης, μυστικός, μυσταγωγία etc. The theolog- ical justification of this vocabulary gets in the text of the Scriptures (Mt. 13, 11; Mk. 4, 11; Lk. 8, 10). The author shows that early Christian theologians tried to translate these notions into practice. In accordance with this, two aspects of the development of mystical theology are distinguished: the first is connected with understanding the Revelation of the Wisdom of God, which cannot be expressed verbally; the second - with an experienced comprehension and familiarity with the fullness of the Godhead. At the heart of the mystical Christian experience lies the fact of the Incarnation, or the union of the divine (uncreated) and human (created) natures in Jesus Christ - the Son of God and the Son of Man, who is the edge-stone stoneof all Orthodox mysticism.
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Lodberg, Peter. "Grundtvig i økumenisk perspektiv." Grundtvig-Studier 49, no. 1 (January 1, 1998): 157–74. http://dx.doi.org/10.7146/grs.v49i1.16276.
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Grundtvig in an Ecumenical PerspectiveBy Peter LodbergN.F.S. Grundtvig’s theology has often been perceived as a uniquely Danish phenomenon. This has resulted in a failure to appreciate the ecumenical themes in his theology and has precluded a positive consideration of what impulses his comprehensive work may have added to the ecumenical debate about such issues as practical theology, ecclesiology, and the relationship between Scripture and tradition.The article points out that in order to understand Grundtvig’s church view it is absolutely essential to begin with the Danish version of a classical discussion in ecumenical theology: the relationship between justification and church, christology and ecclesiology, as it manifested itself in the discussion between Grundtvig and H.N. Clausen about the nature of Catholicism and Protestantism.In Kirkens Gienmæle (The Rejoinder of the Church), Grundtvig rejects the attempt by modem Protestantism to establish a fundamental difference between the two versions of the understanding of Christianity in the Western Church as far as the question of the relationship between justification and church is concerned. According to Grundtvig, such an attempt is bound to end in heresy, since it fails to appreciate the actual historical church as the bearer of God’s salvation in the world. Instead Grundtvig emphasizes an ecumenical ecclesiology, starting from a common confession of the Apostles’ Creed, Baptism and Communion, which are the unifying elements of all Christians, regardless of differences in theological dogma. Hence follows that there is no fundamental difference between Catholicism and Protestantism, but a shared basic view as far as the content and celebration of faith is concerned.Thus, what Grundtvig achieves is a theological freedom to remain critical of the transformations undergone by the historical church in its many confessional and national versions through the ages. But at the same time this means that there is a decisive systematic-theological point in emphasizing that Grundtvig always speaks about the Christian Church before he speaks about the confessional or national church. It should be stressed at the same time that the all-Christian church is not invisible or an unattainable ideal, but a historical fact when the congreation is gathered for divine service. Here the Gospel and the Holy Communion is administered to people, so the faith must live in their hearts.Grace is thus inseparable from and dependent on the sacramental presence as it is experienced in the church which is the congregation celebrating divine service. Thus the way has been opened for a positive consideration of Grundtvig’s contributions to ecumenical theology.
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Sampe, Naomi, Novita Toding, and Hasrath Dewi Ranteallo. "Luther and Calvin, and The Christian Work Ethics." Melo: Jurnal Studi Agama-agama 1, no. 2 (December 16, 2021): 122–37. http://dx.doi.org/10.34307/mjsaa.v1i2.16.
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The aim of this research is to explain and describe the relationship between reformed theology and the reform of European Christians' views on the nature of the church in life as followers of Jesus. The aim of this research is to explain and describe the relationship between reformed theology and the reform of European Christians' views on the nature of the church in life as followers of Jesus. The research method used is qualitative with data collection techniques, literature studies and data analysis is descriptive qualitative. The results showed that Luther's theology of vocations in all areas of life and Calvin's theology of predestination, sanctification, and justification became the basis for changes in the work ethic of European society at that time. They see work and the results of work are part of faith, therefore they work hard, value time, and appreciate the results of work or material. Therefore, work and work are part of the life of faith. In later developments, there was an excessive appreciation of material or capitalism because of the secularization of work culture, which was originally part of faith. In fact, this Capitalism is not in accordance with Christian ethics. Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk menjelaskan dan mendeskripsikan hubungan antara teologi reformator dengan pandangan orang Kristen Eropa reformasi tentang hakikat gereja dalam kehidupan sebagai pengikut Yesus. Tujuan dari penelitian ini adalah untuk menjelaskan dan mendeskripsikan hubungan antara teologi reformator dengan pandangan orang Eropa Kristen tentang hakikat gereja dalam kehidupan sebagai pengikut Yesus. Metode penelitian yang digunakan adalah kualitatif dengan teknik pengumpulan data, studi kepustakaan dan analisis data adalah deskriptif kualitatif. Hasil penelitian menunjukkan bahwa teologi panggilan Luther di segala bidang kehidupan dan teologi predestinasi, pengudusan dan pembenaran Calvin menjadi dasar perubahan etos kerja masyarakat Eropa saat itu. Mereka melihat kerja dan hasil kerja adalah bagian dari iman, oleh karena itu mereka bekerja keras, menghargai waktu dan menghargai hasil kerja atau materi. Jadi bekerja adalah bagian dari kehidupan iman. Dalam perkembangan selanjutnya, terjadi apresiasi yang berlebihan terhadap material atau kapitalisme karena sekularisasi budaya kerja yang semula merupakan bagian dari keimanan. Padahal, Kapitalisme ini tidak sesuai dengan etika Kristen.
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SÖDING, THOMAS. "Verheißung und Erfüllung im Lichte paulinischer Theologie." New Testament Studies 47, no. 2 (April 2001): 146–70. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s002868850100011x.
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Paul is the first author of the NT who stresses the central biblical-theological theme of ‘promise and fulfilment’. He is doing so as apostle of the righteousness of God: the One God remains true to Himself as the ‘God of hope’ (Rom 15.13); sending His son to save the world of sinners He says his ‘Yes’ to all He has given in His grace to His people (2 Cor. 1.20), and He creates the eschatological act of redemption which is radically new in opening the Kingdom of God (Rom 14.17). In the horizon of his theology of justification, Paul discovers what God has promised to Abraham; in the horizon of his theology of promise, he discovers what God fulfils in justifying Jews and Gentiles by their faith. Paul's theology, maturing from Galatians to Romans, gives a good measure for Christian talk of promise and fulfilment in dialogue with the Jews.
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Redman, Roland R. "H. R. Mackintosh's Contribution to Christology and Soteriology in the Twentieth Century." Scottish Journal of Theology 41, no. 4 (November 1988): 517–34. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0036930600031781.
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Hugh Ross Mackintosh (1870–1936) was Professor of Systematic Theology at New College, Edinburgh, for 32 years until his sudden death on 8th June 1936. Regarded as one of the foremost theologians of his day, he was awarded honorary degrees from Oxford and Marburg, and left profound impressions on the countless students from Scotland and around the world who came to hear his lectures. Mackintosh was a formidable scholar; it was said that he had read every important theological book published in Britain and Germany, and he skilfully translated Ritschl's Justification and Reconciliation and Schleiermacher's The Christian Faith. He possessed a discerning eye and a gift for lucid exposition which made him an authoritative interpreter and commentator. A keen student of philosophy, Mackintosh studied its relationship to theology closely; much of his early work dealt with the neo-Kantian epistemology of Herman Lotze that formed the philosophical basis for Ritschlian theology.
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Hart, Trevor. "Humankind in Christ and Christ in Humankind: Salvation as Participation in Our Substitute in the Theology of John Calvin." Scottish Journal of Theology 42, no. 1 (February 1989): 67–84. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0036930600040539.
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The act of God in bringing salvation to the human race and summoning individuals into a community to serve him is due solely to the mercy and grace of God, mediated and manifested through Jesus Christ in his ministry, atoning death and rising again.1 This statement of belief, taken from the recently published ARCIC II document Salvation and the Church, is one to which Christians of most denominations could probably subscribe. Yet the very existence of the document is testimony to the fact that within the Christian Church there have been widely differing interpretations of the precise nature of salvation and its implications for humankind. At the time of the Reformation disagreement as to the theological import of terms such as ‘grace’, ‘justification’ and ‘sanctification’ was a major cause of division between Rome and the Protestant churches. Were they primarily to be given an objective or subjective, an extrinsic or intrinsic reference in relation to the believer? ARCIC II demonstrates that these are still live issues at the interface of ecumenical dialogue today, and must be resolved if real moves are to be made in the direction of Christian unity.
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Karpov, Kirill Vitalyevich. "Philosophical Theology as a Practice. William Alston’s Approach." Philosophy of Religion: Analytic Researches 7, no. 2 (2023): 98–114. http://dx.doi.org/10.21146/2587-683x-2023-7-2-98-114.
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In this article I explain William Alston’s doxastic approach. Alston’s idea is that Christian mystical perceptual doxastic practice can be considered as a distinct cognitive domain. To realize this idea, Alston introduces the notion of doxastic practice and shifts the discussion from the problem of epistemological justification of particular beliefs to the problem of proving the reliability of doxastic practices. He compares the Christian mystical perceptual doxastic practice with the doxastic practice of sense perception finding much in common between them. Most importantly, however, is that it is impossible to prove the reliability of practices without committing the so-called error of the epistemic circle. Against his approach, Alston formulates an objection from religious pluralism and quite successfully solves it. However, it seems to me that this objection can be reformulated – I argue that a situation in which several contradictory practices exist simultaneously reduces markedly the epistemic probability that the beliefs generated by each practice will turn out to be true. I conclude the paper by arguing that philosophical theology, understood as practice, can more successfully deal with a reformulated version of the problem of religious pluralism in that it can more successfully show the coherence of new concepts with background beliefs, both that which is engaged by philosophical theology and that which extend beyond it and constitute the common knowledge of the cognizing subject.
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Snodgrass, Klyne R. "Justification by Grace–to the Doers: an Analysis of the Place of Romans 2 in the Theology of Paul." New Testament Studies 32, no. 1 (January 1986): 72–93. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0028688500013515.
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Not surprisingly, the thought of the Apostle Paul is being given fresh consideration in our time.1Old problems, particularly the relation of Paul to Judaism and his view of the law, continue to vex New Testament studies. A subject which deserves more attention in this reconsideration of Paul is his belief that judgment is according to works. Those who take such statements seriously end up with a quite different picture of Paul from those who soft-pedal the issue. For example, Karl Donfried asserts that it is the obedient Christian who remains in Christ who will be saved on the last day, and that Paul expects a final judgment for Christians which can result in salvation or in wrath.2Even though such language sounds like ‘heresy’ to ears accustomed to the usual explanations of Paul, Donfried's argument must be given serious attention for it attempts to treat seriously statements in Paul that are too frequently neglected.
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KILCREASE, JACK. "The Bridal-Mystical Motif in Bernard of Clairvaux and Martin Luther." Journal of Ecclesiastical History 65, no. 2 (March 13, 2014): 263–79. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0022046912003624.
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This article discusses Martin Luther's appropriation of the tradition of bridal-mysticism, and contrasts it with that of Bernard of Clairvaux. According to Bernard, through the power of divine grace, the human person and God both come to find each other objects of mutual desire. By contrast, Luther, inFreedom of a Christian(1520), uses the bridal motif to describe the divine-human relationship as one of promise and trust. In this, the Reformer both appropriates and significantly reinterprets the bridal-mystical motif in accordance with the claims of his newly-minted Reformation theology of justification through faith.
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EHRLICH, DROR. "Some further reflections regarding the Talbott–Crisp debate on the Augustinian concept of everlasting punishment." Religious Studies 47, no. 1 (April 6, 2010): 23–40. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0034412510000089.
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AbstractThis article consists of a critical discussion of the debate between Thomas Talbott and Oliver Crisp on the philosophical justification for the traditional Augustinian concept of everlasting punishment in hell. First, I outline the debate, describing Talbott's challenges to the Augustinian retributivist understanding of everlasting punishment and Crisp's responses to them. Next, I analyse their main points of disagreement, indicating the strengths and weaknesses of their arguments. Finally, I present conclusions arising from analysis of the debate in the framework of Christian theology, and I discuss possible implications for the thesis of everlasting punishment in monotheistic religious thought in general.
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Tilley, Terrence W. "Religious Pluralism as a Problem for ‘Practical’ Religious Epistemology." Religious Studies 30, no. 2 (June 1994): 161–69. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0034412500001451.
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After being dismissed for decades in philosophical theology, experiential arguments for the justification of religious belief, including belief in God, have again come to centre stage. One of the most thorough of these is William Alston's recent study, Perceiving God. Alston's purpose is to show that it is rational for someone to participate in what he calls Christian Mystical Practice (CMP) because CMP ‘is a socially established doxastic practice that is not demonstrably unreliable or otherwise disqualified for rational acceptance’ and to hold beliefs which that participation reliably generates. The thesis of this essay is that his individuation of mystical practices is not sufficiently nuanced. Once his naturalistic approach is brought more closely into line with actual practices, what he calls CMP splinters into multiple practices. A more complete account requires a more pluralistic understanding of the Christian traditions than Alston acknowledges.
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Siregar, Christian. "Menyoal Jenis Kelamin Allah dalam Perspektif Teologi Feminis: Menuju Teologi yang Lebih Berkeadilan terhadap Perempuan." Humaniora 6, no. 4 (October 30, 2015): 433. http://dx.doi.org/10.21512/humaniora.v6i4.3372.
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Gender inequality is often regarded as a divine creation (everything comes from God, or commonly known, already by nature). This is where the Christian theology actually gets a touchstone. Because theology should be a critical reflection religion on factual issues faced by the public, so that it should talk not only about the concept of invicible God, but also that metaphysical translated into social issues—particularly women's issues. At that point, theology of woman is a theology which explores the feminine aspects of God for the sake of gender equality. This study attempted to trace the theological dimensions of women as well as exploring the feminine attributes of God so that gender equality can be realized, or at least theology does not fold its eyes, or theology is to be fair to the existence of woman. This research is a literature study using representative literature data and relevant to the object of research. Research used philosophical approach with descriptive-analytic-critical method by doing interpretation, extrapolation, the meaning of the data in reaching a conclusion. Results showed that the lowering of woman feminine quality is equivalent to neglect the feminine quality of God. On that basis, gender discrimination actually has no theological justification, but is a denial of the reality of God as a whole. The reason is gender relations are impressively has been represented by God.
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Redman, Robert R. "Participatio Christi: H. R. Mackintosh's theology of the unio mystica." Scottish Journal of Theology 49, no. 2 (May 1996): 201–22. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0036930600046834.
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The concept of unio mystica stands out of the more distinctive aspects of H.R. Mackintosh's theological work. Generally regarded as one of the leading English-speaking theologians of the first third of this century, Mackintosh and his innovative insights have since fallen into comparative neglect. Interestingly, the concept of the unio mystica seldom appeared as a theme on its own, apart from his programmatic article ‘The Unio Mystica as a Theological Conception’ (1909). Rather it served as a leitmotif which recurred at important points in his christology and soteriology. This essay will survey the meaning and importance Mackintosh gave to the unio mystica, and the various ways the concept functioned in his theology. Hence the first part will reconstruct his understanding of union with Christ, while the second part will examine three main applications of the concept: participatory christology, justification, and the Christian life. We will also explore some of the potential the concept may have for contemporary theology in a few concluding remarks.
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Sanneh, Lamin. "God and Mammon." Mission Studies 14, no. 1 (1997): 242–47. http://dx.doi.org/10.1163/157338397x00158.
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AbstractThe modem market economy, maintains Lamin Sanneh in his Forum Paper, has shifted the emphasis in economy from the idea of the sustainable "household" (economy in its etymological meaning) to the accumulation and exchange of goods and services for profit. Market efficiency has taken primacy over human solidarity and personal dignity, and is thus in conflict with the fundamental Christian world view. Theology needs to level a critique at such economic strategies, particularly because the proponents of such strategies often appeal to biblical and gospel principles for justification. But, as scripture makes clear, there can be no "Gospel of Wealth" at the expense of the poor and marginalized of this earth.
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Sparn, Walter. "„Von dem einigen mitler Jhesu Christo“. Was man von Andreas Osianders Häresie noch lernen könnte." Neue Zeitschrift für Systematische Theologie und Religionsphilosophie 64, no. 4 (November 1, 2022): 382–99. http://dx.doi.org/10.1515/nzsth-2022-0017.
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Abstract The first part of this contribution is devoted to my recollection of Christoph Schwöbel; both of us were pupils of Carl Heinz Ratschow, albeit at different times and in different roles. However, we both have been following a twofold counsel of our teacher, first not to restrict theology to value judgments but to strive for an ontology of Christian belief and second to work with a “Trinitarian definition of Christology”. Part two recounts the turmoil around Andreas Osiander in a turbulent time of a crisis of authority around 1550. He was in the end judged to be heretic and was excluded from “true” Lutheranism in the Formula of Concord 1577. Indeed, his doctrine of justification, influenced by humanistic Neoplatonism and even the Kabbala was contrary to the predominant position of the Wittenberg school. However, the crucial point was Osiander’s constellation of Soteriology, Christology and Trinitarian concept of God on a strictly exegetic basis. Part three offers a sketch of the interrelation of Osiander’s soteriological model of the believer’s ascension to God, his Christology of a mediator, and his concept of the divine Logos. In his time, Osiander in a way fulfilled Ratschow’s twofold counsel, in opposition to Christological functionalism and theological positivism. Even today, in view of the ecumenical debate on the doctrine of justification, his thought might give useful hints for revising the aforementioned tasks in fundamental theology.
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Dearborn, Kerry. "The crucified Christ as the motherly God: the theology of Julian of Norwich." Scottish Journal of Theology 55, no. 3 (August 2002): 283–302. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0036930602000327.
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Is there valid justification for affirming the motherliness of God while holding fast to the cross and to the Judeo-Christian heritage? Some feminists view the God of Abraham and Jesus as so closely linked with patriarchy and abuse that they reject this God as hopelessly male. Other theologians adhere to an exclusive emphasis on God as Father, and regard motherly appellations of God as distortions of biblical faith. Can the crucifixion and the atonement be seen in terms that are affirming of that which is female, yet remain grounded in the biblical texts and traditions? This article focuses on the theology of Julian of Norwich, whose meditations on the cross provide a middle way of affirming both the motherly nature of God and biblical revelation and tradition.
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Hobson, Theo. "The policing of signs: Sacramentalism and authority in Rowan Williams' theology." Scottish Journal of Theology 61, no. 4 (November 2008): 381–95. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0036930608004158.
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AbstractThis article reflects on Rowan Williams' postmodern approach to sacramentalism and ecclesiology, tracing it through various books and articles. Partly under the influence of the Roman Catholic reception of Wittgenstein, he expounds the centrality of the Eucharist in cultural-linguistic and semiotic terms. Through this central ritual the church signifies the Kingdom of God in a uniquely strong sense of ‘signifies’. He foregrounds a dramatic model: the worshipping community performs the new humanity, it is remade through this unique form of ‘community theatre’. Its guardianship of the ultimate form of Christian sign-making is what authorises the church, Williams teaches, and necessitates hierarchical control. The postmodern idiom therefore serves a very conservative ecclesiology. Williams balances this high ecclesiology with a recurrent apophatic theme: the church must remember that its performance of the Kingdom of God is provisional, ironic. Yet the article questions whether this is sufficient: Williams does not fully confront the danger of such an ecclesiology becoming the ideological justification of a form of social power. This danger is raised with especial pertinence by the issue of homosexuality: it shows that the ecclesial policing of sacramentalism is potentially erroneous. This issue therefore threatens to unravel his ecclesiology, or at least to expose its innate violence. The article concludes that Williams is only half-willing to confront the negative dimension to his sacramental ecclesiology: its ideological character, its potentially violent policing of all Christian culture.
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Thumfart, Johannes. "On Grotius's Mare Liberum and Vitoria's De Indis, Following Agamben and Schmitt." Grotiana 30, no. 1 (2009): 65–87. http://dx.doi.org/10.1163/016738309x12537002674286.
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AbstractThe idea of free trade in Grotius's Mare liberum and his legal opinion De iure praedae has a strong theological basis. Grotius called the right to travel and trade freely a ius sanctissimum, a 'sacrosanct law'. He also perceived the Freedom of the Seas as being a direct result of the will of God. This theological background was strategically necessary because Grotius developed the Mare liberum and the De iure praedae to argue against Spanish-Portuguese claims to a trade monopoly that also had theological underpinnings. But the theological aspect of Grotius's theory was also emphasized by the references he made to the Dominican friar Francisco de Vitoria's ius communicationis. This precursor to Grotius's Freedom of the Seas, which Vitoria had developed in his De indis, is connected to the legal justification of Christian mission and so has a clear theological connotation. In Grotius's work, Vitoria's concept of a universal right to Christian mission supervised by the pope was transformed into a theologically supported right to free trade. With this transformation of the ius communicationis into the principle of the Mare liberum, Grotius develops a theological basis not for politics but for economics. One can speak therefore, following Giorgio Agamben, of an 'economic theology' in regard to Grotius, a term that is, in turn, derived from Carl Schmitt's notion of 'political theology'.
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Hegstad, Harald. "Arne Redse: ‘Justification by Grace Alone’ Facing Confucian Self-Cultivation: The Christian Doctrine of Justification Contextualized to New Confucianism. Studies in Systematic Theology 18." Teologisk tidsskrift 7, no. 01 (March 23, 2018): 86–88. http://dx.doi.org/10.18261/issn.1893-0271-2018-01-07.
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Liu, Sophia. "The Mystery of Evil and the Hiddenness of God: Understanding Mystery in Christian Theodicy." Vanderbilt Undergraduate Research Journal 12, no. 1 (April 29, 2022): 9–16. http://dx.doi.org/10.15695/vurj.v12i1.5294.
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Mysterium iniquitatis, the “mystery of evil,” constitutes the unresolved theological, philosophical, and pastoral debates over the pervasion of evil and suffering that contradicts a world under the providence of the omnipotent, omniscient, and benevolent God of Christianity. At the same time, the idea of mystery not only characterizes the conundrum of evil but also the hiddenness of God that formulates the relationship between creature, creator, and the pervasion of suffering that spans Christian scriptural and theological thought. The paper aims to construct a comparative exegesis of three works concerned with the meaning and significance of mystery in Christian theodical thought. Explicating the Grand Inquisitor from Fyodor Dostoevsky’s The Brothers Karamazov, the paper begins with highlighting a cynical view of mystery as a tool for the authority of liturgical institutions that ultimately offers no pastoral consolation within the framework of Christian theology. Then, drawing on Karen Kilby’s critique of Post-Enlightenment theodicy and its shortcoming in understanding the creator and the divine and Gustav Gutiérrez’s idea of divine love and gratuitousness, I propose understanding mystery as a destabilizing opening in the practice of theodicy that constellates ways to engage theologically with the mystery of the divine and translating it into an ethical understanding of, instead of a justification for, the pervasion of evil and injustice.
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van Wyngaard, George J. (Cobus). "Plurality in the Theological Struggle against Apartheid." Journal of Reformed Theology 13, no. 2 (October 25, 2019): 120–34. http://dx.doi.org/10.1163/15697312-01302019.
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AbstractThe church struggle against apartheid remains a key case study in ecumenical public theology, with particular relevance for the Reformed tradition. The importance of Christian theology in both the justification of and opposition to apartheid is well known. Also, the process of ecumenical discernment for responding to apartheid became a significant marker in global ecumenical reflection on what today we might describe as public theology. However, the idea of a theological struggle against apartheid risks ironing out the different theological positions that oppose apartheid. This article highlights some of the attempts to analyze the theological plurality in responses to apartheid. Then it proceeds to present an alternative way of viewing this plurality by focusing on the way in which different classic theological questions were drawn upon to analyze apartheid theologically. Using as examples the important theologians David Bosch, Simon Maimela, and Albert Nolan, it highlights how apartheid was described as a problem of ecclesiology, theological anthropology, and soteriology. It argues that this plurality of theological analyses allows us to rediscover theological resources that might be of particular significance as race and racism take on new forms in either democratic South Africa or the contemporary world. Simultaneously, it serves as a valuable example in considering a variety of theological questions when theologically reflecting on issues of public concern.
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Schipkov, Alexandr Vladimirovich. "Theology and politics. political attempts to subordinate the Church." Contemporary Europe, no. 3 (June 15, 2023): 143–51. http://dx.doi.org/10.31857/s0201708323030129.
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The article reviews a cultural hybrid, which is defined as religious political science or “theopolitics”. Within the framework of this phenomenon, according to the author, the language of church mission and catechetical practices is subordinated to the discourse of political activists. Among the examples of such subordination are the so-called “maidan theology”, the Declaration on the “Russian World” Teaching, Polish political Catholicism, the accession of the Hrodna episcopate clergy to the “zmagar” political opposition in 2020, etc. Religious political science tends to consider politics itself as a religious practice; political theology, on the contrary, looks at political issues as something that should be brought in accordance with a theological canon. The goals of theopolitics are reached with the close application of modernist theology. The latter seeks to transform the Christian canon according to the secularism, in particular, to sacralize specific events in secular history - this principle is characteristic of concepts from the category of the so-called “theology after” (after Auschwitz, after 9/11, after the global pandemic, etc.) According to the author, the field of church mission is thus taken under control, preaching is reinterpreted in line with the political propaganda, the church is represented as a subsystem of a “civil society”. The author emphasizes the importance of the motives of the “weak Church” and “weak God” for creating a “theological” justification of the ideas of religious political science and concludes that theopolitics is one of the manifestations of the “new Reformation” (otherwise: secular reformation) aimed at secularisation of church institutions.
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Denny Firmanto, Antonius. "Signifikansi Ekumenisme Dalam Perspektif Teologis Katolik." Seri Filsafat Teologi 33, no. 32 (December 19, 2023): 122–43. http://dx.doi.org/10.35312/serifilsafat.v33i32.198.
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Ecclesiology discusses the identity, essence of existence, and function of the Church concerning the identity and mission of the Church in the world. It explored aspects of the experience of the Christian community as a framework for interpreting the experience of faith. Conflicts on interpretations and applications of the Scripture’s messages about justification by faith in the sixteenth century were the cause of the doctrinal divisions and conflicts between the Lutheran Confession and the Roman Catholic Church’s Council of Trent. This study exploited a qualitative research method by exploring literature. By improving recent studies of Scripture and referring to the history of theology and dogma, the ecumenical dialogue after the Second Vatican Council resulted in renewed opinion towards ecumenical unity. Ecumenism means a religious initiative towards the oneness of the Church. It increased cooperation and better understanding between groups within Christianity or church denominations. The study results showed that the Roman Catholic Church had various views on the existence of churches. The context of the times, the dominant thoughts of the time, and the meaning of the Christian faith were the main contributors that gave birth to this diversity.
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Andreev, Andrei. "“Political theology” of emperor Alexander I: ideas, representations, practice." St.Tikhons' University Review 106 (June 30, 2022): 62–80. http://dx.doi.org/10.15382/sturii2022106.62-80.
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In 1815, the Russian Emperor Alexander I formulated the principles of a new world order, which was supposed to ensure long-term and stable peace after two decades of continuous wars in Europe. This project, called the Holy Alliance, was based not so much on foreign policy as on religious grounds. This article examines in detail the set of ideas put forward by Alexander I from the point of view of political theology. The religious motives that moved the Russian emperor are shown, determined by the peculiarities of his spiritual life. The rhetoric of the Holy Union, its basic concepts related to the Christian doctrine are analyzed. Special attention is paid to the representations of the Holy Union in the public sphere, namely, the solemn God services designed to prove the unity and "brotherhood in Christ" of the monarchs of Europe and their peoples. At the same time, the study demonstrated how significant the image of the enemy, embodied as “revolution”, played in the justification of the Holy Alliance within the framework of political theology. The concept of revolution was extremely generalized by Alexander I and interpreted as a manifestation of universal evil. This lead to the doctrine of interventions under the auspices of the Holy Alliance in the country affected by the revolution, which in turn provoked new bloodshed. An analysis of the accumulated contradictions made it possible to draw a conclusion about the reasons for the fading of Alexander’s interest in the constructions of political theology in the last years of his reign.
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Campbell, Douglas A. "Is Tom Right?: An Extended Review of N. T. Wright's Justification: God's Plan and Paul's Vision." Scottish Journal of Theology 65, no. 3 (July 27, 2012): 323–45. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0036930612000142.
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AbstractIn this extended review I first describe Wright's complex account of the doctrine of justification in Paul, which combines emphases on the covenant, the lawcourt, Christ and eschatology and includes, further, important translation claims concerning ‘the righteousness of God’ as God's covenant faithfulness, ‘justification’ as vindication in a lawcourt setting, ‘works of law’ as sociological boundary markers, and ‘faith’ as speaking not infrequently of Christ's fidelity rather than the generic Christian's (although these last two things are not separate; the former grounds the latter making it a badge of Christian membership). I then suggest, second, that Wright needs to recognise more clearly a particular danger in the traditional approach to justification that he is trying to move beyond – ‘foundationalist individualism’, or ‘forward thinking’. That is, the traditional reading of justification in Paul understands him to be arguing and thinking forward, from a nasty, legalistic, and essentially Jewish, plight, to a solution which is a gospel generously grasped by faith alone. This narrative, rooted in a certain reading of Romans 1–4, creates a large number of difficulties. (It begins with natural theology. It characterises Judaism unfairly. It asks a lot of sinful individuals unenlightened by grace. And so on.) And I am not convinced that Wright's complex revisionist account of justification has avoided them all. In particular, (1) he continues to emphasise a particular notion of the lawcourt in Paul's argument and thereby unleashes an account of God's character primarily in terms of retributive justice and hence in terms of Western politics. (2) He tends to define the covenant before he has taken full account of christology. The covenant should be defined by christology, rather than the other way around. One sign that things have not been tied together here as they ought to be is the number of different definitions of Israel that Wright supplies – as many as four. Moreover (3) even his revisionist sociological account of ‘works of law’ reproduces a key difficulty in the older approach, i.e. a jaundiced description of Judaism. And (4) his account of faith in Abraham does not explicitly link Paul's controversial reification of Genesis 15:6 to a christological hermeneutic, as it needs to in order to avoid crass reductionism. But Wright's definitive account of Paul is not yet fully articulated, so suitable adjustments might well allay my concerns here, with various aspects of foundationalism presently appearing within his theological description.
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Thomas, Taylor. "Reconstructing Paul Tillich's Ethics of Grace." Toronto Journal of Theology 40, no. 1 (May 1, 2024): 26–41. http://dx.doi.org/10.3138/tjt-2023-0042.
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This paper reconstructs Tillichian grace, analyzing its existential and ethical dimensions beyond traditional supernatural interpretations. It explores the historical lineage of Tillich's work, drawing parallels between ancient and medieval discourses on grace and Tillich's existential theology, with a particular emphasis on the theme of existential estrangement and its implications for moral development. In section one, I analyze Augustine's critique of Greek and Roman ethics, noting how his interpretations of sin and grace sought to address ethical, and not merely narrowly Christian theological, concerns. The paper then examines Martin Luther's shift towards a more personal apprehension of grace, setting the stage for Tillich's complex and nuanced understanding of justification. The strengths and ambiguities of Tillich's approach, along with its practical implications, are then critically evaluated. In conclusion, I advocate for the relevance of Tillich's conception of grace in modern secular ethical discourse, arguing that its emphasis on ethical intersubjectivity and the courage to embrace existential uncertainties provides a compassionate framework for addressing moral questions in our own time.
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Tanga, Guidelbertus, and Georg Ludwig Kirchberger. "Dasar Teologis bagi Implementasi Etos Global dalam Perspektif Kristen." Jurnal Ledalero 21, no. 2 (December 22, 2022): 136. http://dx.doi.org/10.31385/jl.v21i2.314.136-149.
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<p><strong>Abstract:</strong> This article departs from the declaration of the global ethos, which was declared by the Parliament of World Religions in Chicago, in 1993. It expresses the belief that many people can agree with the principles and values stated in it. After that the question is raised how this ethos can be implemented. To answer this question, the article follows the suggestion of Hans Küng, the initiator of the global ethos, that every religion should investigate its traditions, in order to find a deeper understanding of these values and the motivations that can help to develop attitudes that support these values. So in this article a description is made of the Christian tradition, of God’s law and the essence of sin as a force and as human action. Then the whole history of salvation is described as an attempt from God to introduce himself with His true face as God who wants humans to have life in all the abundance, which therefore can be trusted as the basis and guarantor of human life and existence. Finally follows the conclusion that this truth about God needs to be proclaimed by the Christian Church, so that in response to God’s actions and works, humans can become able to let go selfishness and compulsion to seek as much wealth and power for themselves as possible. So people can become capable of practicing the values as stated in the declaration of the global ethos.</p><p><strong>Keywords:</strong> global ethos, parliament of world religions, God’s law, core power of sin, Paul’s theology, justification, covenant theology.</p>
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Kosmarski, Artyom. "The other, the child, and the trinitarity: towards a new theological justification for heterosexuality." St. Tikhons' University Review 108 (August 31, 2023): 34–56. http://dx.doi.org/10.15382/sturi2023108.34-56.
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This paper, written in the context of a public debate on LGBT issues, seeks a novel theological explanation for the uniqueness of the relationship between a man and a woman in the flesh, and an answer to the question of why heterosexual relations are considered in the Gospel and Christian tradition to be the way to God. The author argues that the value of heterosexual relations, which nowadays is no longer considered self-evident, requires a new justification – which the paper attempts to give, drawing on the intellectual resources of modern theology (Orthodox, Catholic, and Protestant) and twentieth-century philosophy. The article begins with an analysis of I Rom. 1:19-27, describing Paul’s position on the subject. Then the author interprets love between a man and a woman as a fundamental experience of communion with the Other, an experience necessary, among other things, for a relationship with God and life in heaven. Next we will consider the profound connection of heterosexual relationships with the conception, as an act of God phenomenon (unpredictable and miraculous) and personal trust in God, and the experience of trinitarian relationships, in the father-mother-child triangle, with the knowledge of the Trinitarian God. The ideas and arguments developed in this article are not based on notions of "normalcy-abnormality," "naturalness-non-naturalness" of one behavior or another, but on principles of path and choice. We argue that our approach may be useful for the church, from a catechetical and missionary perspective, helping to develop a language in which to talk about sexuality and live in the contemporary world.
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Holder, Rodney. "Ramified Natural Theology in Science and Religion: Moving Forward from Natural Theology." Perspectives on Science and Christian Faith 73, no. 4 (December 2021): 252–54. http://dx.doi.org/10.56315/pscf12-21holder.
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RAMIFIED NATURAL THEOLOGY IN SCIENCE AND RELIGION: Moving Forward from Natural Theology by Rodney Holder. New York: Routledge, 2021. 244 pages. Hardcover; $160.00. ISBN: 9780367373191. *"Natural theology" is the study of what can be learned about God from a consideration of the universe of nature, and it has often been used to support claims of God's existence. The theologian Richard Swinburne applied Bayesian probability theory to various aspects of natural theology in order to present a justification for God's existence that could be evaluated numerically. Such a method has a certain objectivity about it, he felt. Moreover, it can be applied further to support the specific claims of the Christian faith through a similar treatment of historical facts given in the Bible. This latter effort he called "ramified natural theology," and it is the subject of the present book by Rodney Holder, who held a DPhil from Oxford in astrophysics before being ordained into the Anglican ministry. *This approach to Christian teaching is to be contrasted with those that are based on taking the scriptures as doctrinally authoritative in themselves, as exemplified by the position of Karl Barth. With ramified natural theology, the scriptures must be regarded as historical documents written in good faith by the authors of the time--just as any historian would normally assume about any historical documents--but with the proviso that supernatural events such as miracles are to be accepted as possible. That is something that academic historians will not allow, and it marks a key difference between the two disciplines. Arguing from a historic basis of the scriptures is, of course, not new. What is more innovative is to combine this with a consideration of natural theology, and to use a common analytical technique such as Bayesian theory to assign overall probabilities to the truths of central Christian beliefs. *Bayesian probability theory is a well-established technique. A good illustration would be of a doctor who is visited by a patient displaying symptoms that could come from one of several diseases. But which one? It is known from published statistics what is the a priori probability for a given citizen to have each of these diseases, and the probability for each of them to give the reported set of symptoms. From this information, the doctor can multiply the numbers together to obtain the relative probabilities that the patient has each of the possible diseases. The Bayesian formula allows the doctor to quantify the relative importance of each symptom and find the most likely diagnosis. *This approach can also be used to give believability estimates for more-abstract propositions. For each alternative proposition under consideration we must propose an a priori believability, taken to resemble a probability. We then consider the likelihood that each of the propositions could give rise to a set of given observations, and we finally apply the Bayesian formula. This may persuade us that one initial proposition is much more believable than another, but it does depend on the formation of numerical estimates of believability. These might be objective numbers that we do not know very well, or they may be intrinsically subjective in nature. It seems to me that the most important cases are unavoidably subjective, but quantifying one's degree of belief may be helpful in order to make progress. *Holder applies this type of analysis to the philosopher David Hume's skeptical evaluation of miracles. Hume argued that for a reported miracle, the proposition that it is mistaken is always more probable than the proposition that it is true--but we can put some numbers into this. Suppose that there is testimony T that a given miracle M has occurred, and that God G is proposed as the source of this miracle. Holder calculates a formula which I write here (slightly re-expressed) in order to give a flavor of the contents of the book: P(G|T) = P(G) {P(M|G) + P(T|~M)} / {P(G) P(M|G) + P(T|~M)}. *This is to be interpreted as saying that the probability that God is the source of the miracle as attested, P(G|T), is to be evaluated in terms of three quantities: the a priori likelihood of God's existence, P(G), the probability that God will perform this miracle, P(M|G), and the probability P(T|~M) that this testimony will be obtained when such a miracle did not occur (Hume's mistaken testimony). These numbers are clearly uncertain, but if we are sufficiently confident in the smallness of P(T|~M), and are willing to believe that God may perform miracles, then even a small initial belief in God can be enhanced by a large numerical factor by the testimony of the miracle. *Holder begins his account by discussing the natural theology of God as the First Cause of the universe and of its apparent physical fine-tuning to give intelligent life. Fuller accounts of these subjects have been given elsewhere (including in my own book) and can be referred to. Holder is concerned to provide enough information to justify the application of the Bayesian method to support a proposed belief in God, but most chapters in the book use Bayesian method to support belief in the Christian teaching of the death and resurrection of Jesus, using as factual evidence the material recorded in the Gospels and in other places. Extremely high levels of credibility can be claimed using this method, which can be combined with the natural theology arguments. Holder argues that the conclusions follow convincingly even when the assumptions and numerical probabilities that are used are allowed to vary considerably. *There are, however, some deficiencies in the Bayesian method that may impede its use. It might be questionable, as Holder accepts, to take the different pieces of evidence for the Resurrection in the New Testament as independent witness accounts. This they probably are, I would happily agree, but a determined skeptic might want to write off entire accounts at one go. After all, the later church had no hesitation in dismissing the so-called apocryphal gospels--for good reasons, needless to say--but we must be justly confident that the accepted gospels are the genuine article. Since the main reason that skeptics usually have for doubting this is that they disbelieve the contents, their argumentation may often seem circular. Holder is quite good at rejecting the methodology of skeptical scholars such as Bultmann. *A more serious problem is that the Bayesian method cannot convince the total skeptic. That is, if someone's initial belief value of a proposition is zero, then multiplying this value by a large numerical Bayesian factor will still give zero. For this reason, as Holder states but perhaps not strongly enough, the employment of another method such as "inference to the best explanation" may be indispensable. In this way, one might perhaps convince the skeptic to accept some kind of nonzero likelihood of God after all, and then the Bayesian method may help--at least to make it clear that evidence can indeed be cumulative and can be used to give ordered reasons for belief when strong enough. But the total skeptic may require a different kind of approach. Hume simply disbelieved in miracles. There are people today who likewise disbelieve in miracles, and there are those today who would likewise reject them "on principle," whatever the evidence presented. *Even with these reservations, the Bayesian method provides a healthy contrast to the kind of vagueness that often seems to beset theological discussion. It proposes attributing defined numerical values to all quantities and evaluates their consequences. Even if the reader is unconvinced by the method's claimed precision, it does at least give a clear indication of where a well-specified argument is capable of leading. *Even without the Bayesian aspects, the book is useful in collecting together quite a lot of material that is relevant for presenting the Christian faith. I would, however, point to two areas that are not very well covered. One is the entire topic of biological evolution, which has been the subject of so much familiar controversy and really needs a bit of clear discussion to decide whether it adds to the natural theology. The other is that incidental textual details found in the New Testament are themselves capable of adding considerably to our belief in the documents' historical authenticity. F. F. Bruce and, more recently, Peter Williams have published accessible studies of this, and it is an area that strongly merits being taken into consideration. *Throughout the book Holder's writing is clear and readable, although some of the on-the-fly references to various philosophers and theologians might frustrate a beginner. One must digest a fair bit of mathematics at the level illustrated above. It seems to me that, on the whole, the book is a graduate-level text whose hefty price-tag (even the e-version is not inexpensive--$48.95) will deter many potential readers. Still, within its given remit and despite a few limitations, the book does a good job. It can be well recommended for theological libraries and researchers in the area. I suspect, however, that the conclusions may need to be de-mathematized a little in order to convince ordinary citizens. *Reviewed by Peter J. Bussey, Emeritus Reader in Physics at the University of Glasgow, Glasgow G12 8QQ, UK.
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CIOFU, Gabriel V. "THE ANCIENT OF DAYS – ICONIC CIRCUMSCRIPTION OF THE FATHER OR THE SON?" Icoana Credintei 10, no. 19 (January 24, 2024): 58–68. http://dx.doi.org/10.26520/icoana.2024.19.10.58-68.
Full textAbstract:
Who is the Ancient of Days? Most of the Eastern Church Fathers who comment on the passage in Daniel (7.9-14) interpreted (in the light of Revelation 1.10-18) the elderly figure as a prophetic revelation of the Son before His physical incarnation. In Orthodox Christian hymns and iconography, the Ancient of Days is sometimes identified with God the Father, but most properly, in accordance with Orthodox theology, He is identified with God the Son – Jesus Christ. Under Romeʼs scholastic influence, it has historically been used to theologically justify images of God the Father, alone or in various forms of what is called the New Testament Trinity. These images and their theological justification have become so common in the Orthodox nowadays world, (almost) nobody questions them. As such, Eastern Christian art will sometimes portray Jesus Christ as an old man – the Ancient of Days, to show symbolically that He existed from all eternity (together with the Father and the Holy Spirit), and sometimes as a young man, or wise baby, to portray Him as He was incarnate. This study represents a research on the history of the reflexivity of biblical-dogmatic and liturgical-hymnographic interpretations in the orthodox iconography of the Ancient of Days, an explanatory journey through the history of the iconicity of the divine name of the Ancient of Days. In conclusion, even if the iconography is still seen as an ancillae theologiae, it anagogically reproduces through colors what dogmatics and hymnology strengthen through writing and hearing - the doctrine of the Orthodox Church
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Methuen, Charlotte. "‘These four letters s o l a are not there’: Language and Theology in Luther's Translation of the New Testament." Studies in Church History 53 (May 26, 2017): 146–63. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/stc.2016.10.
Full textAbstract:
Luther's 1522 translation of the New Testament is one of the most significant translations in Christian history. In it, he offers a translation of Romans 3: 28 which introduces the word allein: ‘So halten wir es nun, daß der Mensch gerecht werde ohne des Gesetzes Werke, allein durch den Glauben.’ As Luther himself recognized in his Open Letter on Translating (1530), the word ‘alone’ does not appear in either the Greek text of Romans or the Vulgate; nor do other contemporary vernacular translations include it. Luther asserted that the introduction of the word allein arose from his attention to the German language. This claim has often been regarded as specious, since the introduction of allein serves to underline a key aspect of Luther's theology, namely his doctrine of justification by faith. This article examines Luther's translation practice, and particularly his comments on Romans 3: 28 in his lectures on Romans, his preface to Paul's epistle to the Romans and other writings, concluding that Luther was indeed concerned to produce a fluent and coherent German translation of the biblical text, but that he wished also to produce one that was theologically unambiguous. Not only linguistic considerations, but also Luther's theological priorities, and his definition of theological unambiguity, determined his definition of a good translation.
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Barclay, John M. G. "Paul and the Faithfulness of God." Scottish Journal of Theology 68, no. 2 (April 1, 2015): 235–43. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0036930615000071.
Full textAbstract:
This book, the latest in Wright's series on ‘Christian Origins and the Question of God’, is a daunting phenomenon: over 1500 pages, packaged in two volumes, containing (I reckon) more than 800,000 words. Building on his earlier publications, and referring across to companion volumes – not even this gigantic text is self-sufficient – Wright here advances in full the synthetic vision of Paul's theology which he has developed and promoted over more than thirty years. The scale reflects his ambition: to integrate all the motifs in Pauline theology within a single large-scale schema; to elucidate its Jewish roots and its points of interaction with Graeco-Roman philosophy, religion and politics; to engage in most of the recent debates on Pauline theology; and to defend and advance his own distinctive theories on justification, covenant and the Messiahship of Jesus, against critics who have lined up against him on several sides. The structure and size of the project create considerable repetition. Many topics are opened, postponed for several hundred pages, then discussed and then later reprised, while the reader is liable to be wearied by a prose style which often seems excessively baggy. Wright strives to keep our attention with arresting metaphors, engaging illustrations and a knock-about lecture-hall style, but the latter is often tetchy in its criticism of others, and descends too often to caricature. Indeed, the standard of intellectual engagement with contrary opinions is often disappointing, and hardly improved by grand generalisations about ‘Enlightenment frameworks’ and ‘postmodern moralism’. It is only rarely that this large work engages in detailed exegesis (close engagement with texts, in debate with a range of exegetical options): the opening discussion of Philemon, the focused study of Galatians 6:16 and the close analysis of Romans 9–11 (the highlight of this work) are among the exceptions. Of course one cannot advance a thesis of such breadth without sacrificing some depth in textual debate, but the effect is to lessen considerably the persuasiveness of the whole.