Whose Interests Are Served by Eshet Chayil ?: Reading Woman in Proverbs 31:10-31

Pp. xv, 205 , Maryknoll, NY , Orbis Books , 2008 , $30.00 . Kelly is a Redemptorist priest who teaches theology at the Australian Catholic University, and is a member of the Catholic Church's International Theological Commission. His book tackles an important question for specialist and non-specialist alike: how can we ensure that the resurrection of Christ is not merely read as an epilogue to the Gospel, or some sort of add-on, but rather is seen as central to our understanding to the whole story of Christ? In other words, to use the phrasing of his subtitle, how do we understand the way the resurrection transforms Christian life and thought? Could, for example, the resurrection have a decisive effect, among other things, on the way we do moral theology (pp 159–168)? How these questions will be answered will depend on the way we view the resurrection in the first place. And here we encounter the central challenge. No one witnessed the event itself; and the appearances of the risen Christ after the resurrection are mysterious to say the least. The resurrection event is qualitatively different to the other events in the life of Jesus, as Kelly makes clear in his first chapter (pp. 1–23). This is the only course to take, for to try and place the Resurrection with other events would be to reduce it to another miracle like the others, which it most clearly is not. In his first chapter Kelly admits that he is stating the obvious, but the obvious, in this case, needs to be stated. Faced with this problem, or challenge, of understanding just how the resurrection stands out as a unique event, Kelly turns to phenomenology as the method that will best articulate the answer. The resurrection, we discover, is a ‘saturated phenomenon’ (p. 27), from which starting point we begin a fully phenomenological investigation. As for the results of such an investigation, we encounter conclusions such as the following: ‘Through [Jesus'] resurrection, the divine persons are disclosed to the world of violence as being from and for each other in a dynamic of mutual love. Such a divine unity, eternally differentiated and eternally achieved in self-giving love, is the all-encompassing and final truth. Outside and apart from this source and exemplar, any hope of reconciliation or peace-making activity is deprived of its ultimate support. The theological horizon must unfold, therefore, in an open-ness to the phenomenon of the resurrection. The resurrection of the Crucified saturates all moral existence.’ (p. 165). Naturally enough, one agrees with these sentiments, but that may be because they tell us what we already knew; and that these thoughts are in fact contained in embryo in the original idea of the resurrection as saturated phenomenon. Again, we may agree, but want to put it another way, if we are not phenomenologically inclined. But at the same time an unbeliever could simply decline to enter the phenomenological discourse, though acknowledging its internal coherence: that might be a pity, but could one blame her? What is needed is a theology of the resurrection that cannot be ignored but which must command attention. Fr Kelly's book, an eloquent exposition of the phenomenological approach, illustrates the heights to which such a language can reach, and its limitations as well.

Summary This article is the first systematic philosophical analysis of Henry More’s ethics as set out in his Enchiridion Ethicum (1668). It builds on the insights of scholars who have identified love as a key concept in the thought of the Cambridge Platonists. It contends that More’s ethics ought to be read as a philosophy of love, integrating the rational and spiritual, intellect and will, and the divine and human through an appeal to a prayerful logic of love. Special attention is paid to More’s so-called moral axioms – what he calls Moral Noemata – which develop a logic that aims at the purification of the soul; they do not, pace modern scholars, equate moral and mathematical certainty, nor do they pave the way for the emergence of a secular morality. This article addresses the implications of More’s claim that the passions are good and how they are made virtuous. It shows how his idea of free will depends on the virtue of humility and the soul’s participation in divine wisdom. This article also includes important analysis of “Right Reason” and the “Boniform Faculty”, doctrines central to More’s ethics, and how they meet when the soul falls in love with God.

The article examines the philosophical and theological concept of American thinker David Bentley Hart regarding the relationship between mind and the supernatural. The author analyzes Hart's critique of “post-metaphysical theology”, which became prominent in continental philosophical theology in the late 20th and early 21st centuries. The article demonstrates how Hart, starting from a critique of Jean-Luc Marion's counter-intentional phenomenology and the concept of “saturated phenomenon”, develops an alternative approach that combines metaphysics and phenomenology in understanding the nature of mental life. The central thesis of Hart's thought is the understanding of mind as having two “supernatural poles”: a transcendental horizon “from above” (orientation toward the Infinite) and the unity of the apperceptive “I” “from below”. Hart argues that both the nature and teleology of mind are rooted in God, who is simultaneously its foundation and ultimate goal. This leads to the assertion that the Mind is essentially God seeking not only to see Himself but to become Himself – infinite knowledge of infinite being, beyond any distinction between the knower and the known. To substantiate his position, Hart draws upon both Western Christian tradition (Nicholas of Cusa, Meister Eckhart) and Eastern contemplative teachings, particularly Indian philosophy with its thesis “Atman is Brahman”. In the Christological dimension, the Incarnation is viewed as the perfect realization of the unity between human and divine nature, and theosis is understood as the natural destiny of finite minds. Hart's philosophical theology thus presents a radical vision where the transcendent foundation of rational life and its transcendent goal are ultimately one and the same – an understanding that overcomes the modern divide between natural and supernatural through a renewed metaphysics of mind.

This dissertation investigates the God-world relationship between Joseph Bracken as a process theologian, Philip Clayton as a panentheist, and the open theism. They have affinities and differences as conversational partners in their multilayered relations. Their common question must be as follows: “What does it mean to believe in God today?” In this dissertation I compare their respectively theological perspectives and explore their affinities and differences. Many scholars have already noted more affinities than untenable differences among Bracken’s theology, Clayton’s panentheism, and the open theism. On the one hand, even though theological perspectives of Bracken and Clayton are obviously different from each other, they are both influenced in specific ways by Whitehead. On the other hand, open theism is a movement that emphasizes “the openness of God,” from within evangelical theism. The fact that there is even within classical theism the pursuit of new models of God such as revised classical theism or modified classical theism might suggest the need for contemporary models of God in philosophical theology. This dissertation will thus explore philosophical theologies that are proper both to the biblical faith and intellectual earnestness, that is, 居敬窮理 (geo (to live) kyeong (piety) kung (to acknowledge) li (reason)) in Eastern philosophy, which means distinctions but not separation between piety and intelligence, and that stand between classical theism and “orthodox” process theism. If there is no consistency among biblical, rational and existential descriptions of God, how can we establish philosophical theologies? Our theological task is to frame a new constructive theology whose primary aspect must synthesize both classical theism and process theology in the hermeneutical circle. For example, this new theism admits an infinitely qualitative difference between God and the world, as well as a really radical relation between God and the world. Aspects and domains do not encroach upon each other.

Since the 2000s, general and academic concern in openly non-monogamous styles of relating has increased. In Spain, the rise in the general interest toward non-monogamy, meeting groups, and activism has become apparent during the current decade. One of the practical and theoretical paradigms that has been developed within non-monogamy is relationship anarchy. In this article, I will approach relationship anarchy in three different ways: as a philosophy of love, as a way of structuring affective bonds, and as a political philosophy. I shall then focus on the last one: relationship anarchy as a political philosophy, and what can be gained from thinking relationship anarchy from a queer, feminist perspective. I intend to make a theoretical contribution to the discourse of relationship anarchy as a political philosophy from feminist criticism of monogamy and of the naturalization of love; from the premises of lesbian feminism, compulsory heterosexuality, and the erotic pyramid; and from the concept of amatonormativity and sex-centrism in asexual theory. I shall then consider the usefulness of the relationship anarchy paradigm for radical queer politics in the current Spanish context. Finally, I will raise the concepts of the pyramid of relationships and the continuum (between attractions) system to pose how the different hierarchies that relationship anarchy puts in question are linked: amatonormativity, sex-centrism, and couple privilege.

In Defense of Heavenly Mother: Her Critical Importance for Mormon Culture and Theology

This past November a symposium was held in honor of J. Wentzel van Huyssteen, who recently retired after 23 years as the James I. McCord Professor of Theology and Science at Princeton Theological Seminary. It was my privilege to organize this event, titled ‘‘Evolutionary Science and Theological Identity,’’ a suitable tribute to my former advisor and continuing mentor and friend. The symposium featured papers from five respected, international scholars of theology and science, which, along with a formal response from van Huyssteen, have been reproduced here for this special issue of Theology Today. Interdisciplinary theology has been the persistent theme of van Huyssteen’s research, specifically related to the challenges and opportunities posed by science and the philosophy of science. Over the years his work has ranged across a wide terrain of topics, including theological method, philosophical theology, and theological anthropology. In each case, he has explored the multifaceted relationship between religious faith and scientific culture. More recently, he has concentrated attention on palaeoanthropology and the particular matter of how Darwinian evolution might inform theological anthropology on the question of what it means to be human. This was the theme of his celebrated Gifford lectures, and the symposium lectures collected here lend testimony to the importance and enduring impact of van Huyssteen’s contributions to this important area of research. This is all widely acknowledged, but what may be less well known to the casual observer is just how difficult this research program actually is, contributing even more grandeur to van Huyssteen’s accomplishments. Engaging the facts of human evolution from a theological perspective is an incredibly challenging task, at least if Theology Today 2015, Vol. 72(2) 135–140 ! The Author(s) 2015 Reprints and permissions: sagepub.co.uk/journalsPermissions.nav DOI: 10.1177/0040573615581548 ttj.sagepub.com

Summary Being one of most influential anthropologists of contemporary times, Michael Tomasello and his groundbreaking evolutionary approach to a natural history of human beings are still to be received by theological anthropology. This article aims at evaluating the prospects and limitations of Tomasello’s natural history of human ontogeny from a philosophical and theological perspective. The major advantages of Tomasello’s approach are a new conceptual perspective on the mind-brain problem and a possible detranscendentalization of the human mind which leads to an intersubjectively grounded anthropology. At the same time, evolutionary anthropology struggles with the binding force of moral obligations and the human ability to interpret one’s existence and the world in a religious way. This article thus offers a first theological inventory of Tomasello’s account of evolutionary anthropology which praises its prospects and detects its limitations.

Dawkins adheres so strongly to the theory of evolution and natural selection that he regards it as the sole explanation of creation. He rejects both the theistic argument for the existence of God based on the teleological argument and the materialist perspective that creation occurred by chance. He claims that, according to the theory of evolution, there is no longer any need for God, as beings cannot exist before undergoing the evolutionary process from simplicity to complexity. Since, according to theistic belief, God is conceived as a complex being, He cannot be interpreted within the framework of evolution, for an initially complex God without undergoing evolutionary stages is deemed unreasonable. This study employs an analytical and descriptive method to critique and examine Dawkins' viewpoint. It demonstrates that, even if the theory of evolution were definitively proven, it would not contradict monotheism and the recognition of God. Furthermore, the arguments for the existence of God, including the rational teleological argument and the argument from contingency, remain robust and irrefutable. Additionally, from the perspective of philosophical theology, contrary to Dawkins' view, the emergence of beings has occurred through the principle of the possibility of the nobler (Imkan Ashraf) in a process of manifestation and descent

This article is an attempt to establish the phenomenological and theological value of the concept of Revelation in the work of the French philosopher Jean-Luc Marion in a post-modern cultural and intellectual context. Is it possible to speak of revelation in a phenomenological sense and more radically, about the Revelation of God, after the critique of metaphysics and phenomenology by Derrida, Caputo and others? Marion argues that by overcoming metaphysics and broadening the limits of traditional phenomenology to include phenomena of Revelation, the Revelation of Christ is a phenomenological impossible impossibility. Using Marion’s reinterpretation of Husserl and Heidegger`s understanding of “givenness”, “the given” and the “gift” and his concept of Revelation as a saturated phenomenon, I want to critically illuminate his contribution to the concept of r/Revelation as a post-metaphysical and theological possibility.

The word 'remain' in 2 John verse 2 TB 2 version contains problems. First, there are three Greek variants of this word, namely ????????, ??????????, and ?????. Second, each variant has a certain theological emphasis based on the chosen understanding. Third, A Textual Commentary on The Greek New Testament does not detect and identify the existence of these three variants. This article was written to achieve several goals: first, to review each variant to discover its theological meaning; second, comparing the three variants to determine which possible variation is closest to the original text of the Bible. Through a text critical approach supported by grammatical-syntactic analysis, the results obtained are that the first variant, namely ???????? (menousan) has the strongest position with a lot of support from a cultural, contextual and theological perspective. The habitual aspect can be seen in John's tendency to use the word ???? (meno) in his writings, with a total of 67 uses or 56.8% of 118 occurrences in the New Testament, even 31 ancient manuscripts including the two Great Uncial Codexes (Sinaiticus and Vaticanus) and the Vulgate choose the first version. The contextual aspect can be seen in verse 2b, namely ???? ???? ????? ??? ??? ????? which emphasizes time and from the appearance of the word ???? in verse 9 which shows harmony. The theological aspect can be seen in emphasizing the meaning of the permanence of truth (aletheia) based on lexical analysis, including its use in secular ancient Greek literature, and contextual analysis, namely the appearance of ??? ????? (ton aiona) in verse 2b and ??????? (proagon), so that John's message is that the congregation persists in the true teaching, without leaving it.

Ambiguity and ambivalence have marked the Catholic Churches' relationship with the Jewish people and Judaism since Saul of Tarsus converted and became Paul. Condemnation and protection have been the twin pillars of Vatican policy towards the Jews since the Church became Rome's Church under Constantine.(1) Degradation and a good interest rate were the watchwords of the medieval Church. The Jews may have been a royal pain, but they were necessary. The Church needed its Jews. They needed them to show the vast unwashed how much better they all were than the Jews; the Church took over all that was good in Judaism while at the same time throwing out the bad. The Church was the new Israel, the new chosen, and the Gospels and the other early Church writings that made up the New Testament were to supersede Judaism and the Jews. Unfortunately for both the Church and the Jews those vast unwashed sometimes did not understand the subtlety of Church ambivalence and ambiguity. Those who could not see the difference between the Church's need to vilify and demonize the Jews and their need to keep the Jews around from a theological perspective, murdered millions of Jews over the 2000 years of Church history. The logical conclusion drawn by the populace was that they now had carte blanche to destroy those evil Jews. During the last 60 years the Catholic Church has found itself in a position of great controversy. Once again ambiguity and ambivalence has marked the relationship between the Church and the Jewish community. In light of Auschwitz, the Catholic Church has had to confront the question of doctrines that had been central to Church that may have had an impact in setting the groundwork for future atrocities against the Jews. In the post-Shoah world what will be the Church's relationship with the Jewish people? It has been only in the last 50-plus years that some in the Catholic Church have begun to understand that Jesus himself would have been one of the six million murdered by the Nazis. This understanding places in question some of the most critical and crucial dogmas of the Church of last two thousand years. It places into question the Church's teaching of contempt of the Jews for not accepting the divinity of Jesus. It places into question the Church's false accusation of Jewish deicide. It places into question the supersessionist doctrine of the Church. It also questions the Church's role in 2000 years of antisemitism. Finally, it places into question the Church's institutional silence in light of the deaths of 6,000,000 Jews. Yet, most of all it places into question the Church's own relationship to itself and to its Jewish roots. On one hand Pope John Paul II has moved mountains to bring about reconciliation between Jews and Catholics. On the other hand the church moves with speed to beatify Edith Stein and Pope Pins XII, while closing down the Vatican archives to a joint Jewish-Catholic commission. It moves to convert Auschwitz into a Catholic shrine while remaining silent on the words of Catholic anti-Jewish proponents such as Pat Buchanan and Joseph Sobran. It remains silent in the face of outrageous anti-Jewish statements by Bashir Assad, president of Syria, made while the Pope stood next to him. The activities of the excommunicated anti-Jewish prelate Levevre still resonate among some from the right of the Catholic Church. In spite of the good faith effort of many in the Church from Pope John XXIII and the Second Vatican Council's Declaration Nostra Aetate to the German and French Church hierarchies and the efforts of Cardinal O'Connor, until recently there has been very little movement to translate these exciting and important events down to the parish level. I say recently because it has not been long since the beginning of what seems to be a growing movement to confront the issues of the church's long history of anti-Judaism and its role in the Holocaust. Cardinal O'Connor's letter to the Jewish community prior to Yore Kippur and before his death, in the form of a traditional Jewish Yom Kippur confessional, was a dramatic statement. …

The Sewol ferry sinking near Jindo, Jeollanam-do, on April 16, 2014, resulted in 304 fatalities out of 476 passengers, profoundly affecting South Korea. This study analyzes 360 research papers spanning 10 years (2014-2023) to guide disaster research in the post-Sewol era. Research initially flourished but declined after three years, with most studies being qualitative or review-based, particularly in the social sciences. The topics covered were diverse, including disaster management policies, mental health impacts, humanistic interpretations, legal aspects, theological perspectives, media, politics, and individual experiences. The study recommends continuous, systematic research on large-scale disasters like Sewol, advocating for budgetary support and interdisciplinary approaches. It aims to direct post-Sewol disaster research towards enhancing disaster safety systems and response mechanisms in the future.

This study aims to develop a constructive theology of hosah through an interdisciplinary approach. The research involves a scientific understanding of air, the Simalungun cultural concept of hosah, and Christian theology of the Holy Spirit. It employs a trialogical method consisting of two stages, namely, descriptive-comparative and normative-constructive. The first stage explains the concepts of air, hosah, and Spirit from scientific, cultural, and theological perspectives, respectively. The second stage focuses on constructing a theology of hosah. The results of this trialogue critically analyze, enrich, and revise these concepts. Overall, the study concludes that air is more than just a gaseous compound; it is a sacred altar of life.

Islāmic aesthetic is an outcome of Islāmic civilisation based on Islāmic metaphysics and theology and emphasizes that God is the origin or source of all art and thought, including various art forms. Thus, the essences or forms of all things have their reality in the Divine Wisdom or Intellect (Al-‘Aql-i-Awwal). Islāmic conception of art and beauty has its origin in Islāmic Weltanschauung, so, each object of beauty in nature reflects the Creative and Aesthetic aspect of Jamīl Allāh with His Jamāl. Generally, in Muslim world, art and beauty are almost neglected ones, so, they are not given significant and sufficient importance because of some unauthentic and false notions and consequently, we have almost lost this pristine Islāmic heritage and now we must revisit it and realise its vital function and role in our socio-political and ethico-spiritual life. Islāmic aesthetics has a significant role in the cultural tradition of Islāmic Ummah, so it must be revitalised for a peaceful life’s onward caravan. In the present paper, an effort has been made to discuss the etymological meaning of ‘aesthetics’ in general and the main features of Islāmic conception of aesthetics, including art and beauty, in particular, along with various Islāmic art-forms. Philosophy and Progress, Vol#69-70; No#1-2; Jan-Dec 2021 P 119-144