Christology Research Articles

Nietzsche’s Protestant Fathers: A Study in Prodigal Christianity

Nietzsche’s Protestant Fathers: A Study in Prodigal Christianity

The Phoenix and the Interlingual Dimensions of Early English Literary Culture

The Phoenix and the Interlingual Dimensions of Early English Literary Culture

The Other Black Church: Alternative Christian Movements and the Struggle for Black Freedom

The Other Black Church: Alternative Christian Movements and the Struggle for Black Freedom

Corpus Areopagiticum: питання про залежність від Прокла, гіпотеза про авторство Синезія і філософська термінологія слов'янських перекладів

The study of the peculiarities that the reception of such an essential concept of the philosophical Corpus Dionysiacum Areopagiticum as ὑπερούσιος in ancient Slavic translations has is promising. It allows not only to understand better the internal perspective of the development of philosophical terminology in Rus’-Ukraine, where in the 15th–17th centuries, there existed a significant number of manuscripts of the corpus, but also to strengthen the argument in favor of its dating precisely in the 5th century.
 According to the conceptual features that are present in the Greek text of De divinis nominibus and are confirmed in the studies of Slavic translations of the Corpus Areopagiticum, this work, preserved also in other languages, could belong to an author, who uniquely combined his Christian views and a philosophical vision of the world that was inspired by his Neoplatonic education at the Alexandrian School of Philosophy under the guidance of the eminent Neoplatonic thinker and mathematician Hypatia, who was well acquainted with the ideas of Plotinus and the whole Alexandrian intellectual tradition. It is possible that this author, who used the ideas of Plotinus and Porphyry and for the first time unfolded the idea of the Christian God as the Hyperousios in the aspect of the Christian Triad in his philosophical hymns and treatises, could be Synesius of Cyrene, Bishop of Ptolemais.

Towards an understanding of Io through Atuatanga

The debate concerning the authenticity of Io (personal name for the Supreme Being) is a complicated and extensive one. For some, Io is a fabricated reflection of the Christian God. For others, Io is a genuine Māori deity which can also be traced elsewhere in the Pacific. However, from a Māori theological perspective, hard lines and definitions regarding Māori spirituality are pointless. Following the Reverend Māori Marsden who posited that only Māori are capable of understanding Māori spirituality and Pā (Father) Henare Tate who developed a Māori theology based on Atua (God), tangata (people), and whenua (land), this article will develop a novel way of attempting to understand Io despite the ongoing debate about his authenticity.

Faith, power, and philosophy: divine-human interaction reclaimed

ABSTRACT Many philosophers and theologians try to add credibility to Christian faith by means of philosophical arguments and explanations. There are two main ways to pursue this aim, and one way is arguably more defensible than the other, at least from the perspective of the apostle Paul. Philosophers and theologians who hold that Paul has a contribution to make in this area should consider the relative efficacy of these two ways. The key area of contrast lies in the epistemic basis of relevant philosophical arguments and explanations: either a basis in the power of direct divine self-manifestation or a basis just in philosophical claims. The latter basis will neglect or obscure the power distinctive of the Christian God and thus miss out on foundational evidence characteristic of that God. This article clarifies what that power is, in terms of responsive divine self-manifestation as God’s self-witness to divine reality and goodness in receptive human moral experience and character formation. The article explains how such power, being interactive toward divine righteousness, serves as a significant alternative to such prominent philosophical overlays on Christian faith as Platonism, Thomism, and Kantianism. The latter overlays improperly depersonalize key evidence for God’s reality and goodness.

Iustitia: Teologies-etiese perspektiewe op die begrip geregtigheid met besondere verwysing na die standpunt van Augustinus en sy verreikende invloed

Iustitia: Theological-ethical perspectives on the concept of ‘justice’ with particular reference to the position of Augustine and his far-reaching influence. Last year, at a conference of the ‘Kerkhistoriese Genootskap’ of the Nederduitsch Hervormde Kerk van Afrika (NHKA), the theme of ‘geregtigheid’ [righteousness] was investigated from various angles. The author of this article was invited to present on the views of the church father, Augustine, within a broad perspective. The objectives were to explain, illuminate and evaluate the views of Augustine and to focus on their relevance today. The customary methodology was followed: studying Augustine’s main texts about the subject and applying both classic and modern methodologies of Dogmatics. This implied an investigating, interpreting, comparing and evaluating Augustine’s ideas. Attention was also given to developments after Augustine as well as their implications for the South African situation. A short interlude on biblical perspectives was included. The result showed how much Augustine has influenced theology through the ages; how many positive perspectives he has brought forward, but also how many questions his theology has raised. The article concludes with views which clarify the fact that the theme of righteousness is of utmost importance in Christian theology and ethics, and cannot be understood without reference to God in Christ, reference to man and reference to the earth. The article ends with a final eschatological perspective: the concept of righteousness characterises the future hope of a new creation (2 Pt 3:13).Contribution: The main contribution of this article is contained in the last two pages which summarises its essence: Righteousness is imperative and indispensable for meaningful life on earth.The article ends with a final eschatological perspective: The concept of righteousness characterises the future hope of a new creation (2 Pt 3:13).

God and the Goodness of Death: A Theological Minority Report

Abstract This article offers a critical re-evaluation of the role of death in Christian theology, especially as it is viewed in light of the incarnation. It situates the problem of death as an extension of the problem of evil and analyses the classical responses to this problem in the Western Christian tradition. From here, it brings in the theological “minority report” on the role of death that runs through the Western tradition, ultimately using it as a springboard for a constructive repositioning of death as a potential locus of encountering the benevolence of God in Christ.

The Origin of Divine Christology by Andrew Ter Ern Loke

Reviewed by: The Origin of Divine Christology by Andrew Ter Ern Loke Glenn B. Siniscalchi andrew ter ern loke, The Origin of Divine Christology (SNTSMS 169; Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2019). Pp. xvi + 249. $29.99. One of the controversial discussions in the field of Christian origins pertains to the causal factors that produced widespread convictions among the primitive church communities that Jesus was not merely the Messiah, but that the God of Israel entered human history and became a man. This has become a fascinating topic of exploration in recent years, spurred on by the New Religionsgeschichtliche Schule, which is spearheaded by biblical scholars Richard Bauckham, Larry Hurtado, N. T. Wright, and the late Martin Hengel. These eminent scholars have argued convincingly that the earliest christological beliefs were already the highest form of christology. Andrew Ter Ern Loke aligns himself with most of the nuanced contentions of the aforementioned camp, but he argues that the highest christological expressions and devotional practices of the earliest Christian communities cannot be traced back to mere theological reflections about their newfound faith, but instead they go back to the teachings of [End Page 501] Jesus himself. As T.E.L. puts matters, "I shall argue that earliest Christian documents contain evidences of widespread conviction of the earliest Christian leaders concerning the divinity of Jesus, and I shall demonstrate that the origination of this widespread conviction is best explained by my proposal … that the historical roots of certain details contain the earliest Christians' perceptions that Jesus gave a clear indication that he regarded himself as truly divine" (p. 12). Loke acknowledges three broad evidential data that should be highlighted by NT historians in order to arrive at the thesis that Jesus's self-understanding is the causal factor that triggered the origin of divine christology. T.E.L.'s conclusions are heavily based on Pauline testimonies concerning the earliest Christian milieu before 50 c.e.: "The evidence in the Pauline epistles is highly significant, as they reflect the christological convictions present among the earliest Christians" (p. 24). For example, the strict Jewish belief in one God reinforces the strangeness and difficulty of believing that Jesus had an equal ontological standing with Yhwh (1 Cor 8:6; Phil 2:6–11). Instead, a much more powerful set of causes is needed to generate these contrasting convictions. The second piece of evidence follows the lead of Hurtado's major contributions and is a series of devotional practices among the earliest Christian believers: prayers said to Jesus; invocations and confessions of Jesus as the Lord; baptism into Jesus's name; the celebration of the Eucharist; hymns sung to Jesus; and prophetic speech. These practices demonstrate conclusively that the earliest believers at least recognized Jesus as divine: "Together with the observation that, in the first-century religious context, they have their closest analogies in the kinds of devotion given to divinities in the Roman religious environment, to the God of Israel in Jewish circles and to the various deities reverenced in non-Jewish groups, this demonstrates that they are properly understood as constituting the cultic worship of Jesus" (p. 44). The final piece of evidence is the spiritual desire for Christ, a desire reserved for Yhwh alone. After rebutting several objections to comprehensive depictions of earliest Christianity, T.E.L. considers the extent of highest christology. The earliest depictions of the Christian life that were assumed by Paul and the communities he addressed show "no need to explain or justify the christological contents of his teachings" (p. 101). This strongly suggests that "there is a lack of evidence of disagreements in his epistles concerning the person of Jesus and his divinity" (p. 102). Other considerable elements of evidence include Paul's persecution of Christian believers, Jewish opposition to the theological claims of the cross, traces of Aramaic (e.g., 1 Cor 16:22), and charismatic exegetical understandings of the Scriptures. The rest of the book concentrates heavily on outlining and answering recent objections to T.E.L.'s theses. Perhaps the greatest strength and weakness of the book is the systematic and comprehensive exposure of recent viewpoints and trends regarding the divine christology of the earliest Christians. Since...

God Becoming Human: Incarnation in the Christian Bible by Reinhard Feldmeier and Hermann Spieckermann

Reviewed by: God Becoming Human: Incarnation in the Christian Bible by Reinhard Feldmeier and Hermann Spieckermann Rebekah Eklund reinhard feldmeier and hermann spieckermann, God Becoming Human: Incarnation in the Christian Bible (trans. Brian McNeil; Waco, TX: Baylor University Press, 2021). Pp. xix + 457. Paper $80. Originally published in German as Menschwerdung (Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2018), God Becoming Human is a companion to the two authors' book Der Gott der Lebendigen: Eine biblische Gotteslehre (Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2011); in English as The God of the Living: A Biblical Theology [Waco, TX: Baylor University Press, 2011]), but it easily stands on its own. It is an exploration of biblical texts through theological lenses, but the two [End Page 498] authors give attention to historical-critical matters along the way, such as the literary history of Genesis and the "History of Religions" approach to the historical Jesus (an approach that the authors concisely refute on pp. 243–46). The makeup of the book signals the respective specialties of its authors in Old Testament (Spieckermann) and New Testament (Feldmeier). Part A covers the "prehistory" of the incarnation in OT texts from the creation narrative through the roles of various mediators ("messengers," kings, priests, prophets, and God's "anointed ones"). One helpful section on "the end of the mediators" takes up the question of why the role of the mediator is discredited and cast aside in Deutero-Isaiah. Another section provides a useful summary on "God's anointed ones" in postexilic literature. The final chapter of part A is an interesting exploration of the Servant figure and the suffering righteous one, but the chapter reorients toward finding traces of resurrection rather than incarnation; it concludes, somewhat surprisingly, with a brief section on John the Baptist. Part B begins with a section on the Jesus of memory and the Christ of faith, with a presumption of essential continuity between the two (readers interested in the recent application of memory studies to the Gospels will not find that theme here). This section initially continues the emphasis on the resurrection but quickly shifts to the origins of claims about Jesus's preexistence and incarnation. Conceptions of incarnation are explored in the Pauline letters, the Synoptic Gospels, the Johannine tradition, and the later NT (with sections on Acts, Colossians and Ephesians, Hebrews, 1 Peter, and Revelation). This summary demonstrates how much territory this book covers; for example, it offers a terse summary of Paul's christology in just under twenty pages. The book aims at an overview of the witness of the whole of Scripture and is not a detailed study of any individual book. The driving force of the book is not the incarnation per se but God's loving desire, often expressed through human mediators, to be in relationship with the creatures made in God's image. To that end, part A often summarizes narratives and themes in the OT, but always with an eye to how they contribute to the tension between God and God's willful creatures. This theme is not quite as prominent in part B, which reads more like christology, but it still supplies the underlying logic. For scholars who are interested in the interaction between Christian theology and Christian Scripture, this is a model example of how to put the two into conversation with each other. As a book interested in the interplay of OT and NT, and in the essential reliability of Scripture's witness to Jesus as the incarnation of God, it could fruitfully be read alongside Richard B. Hays's Echoes of Scripture in the Gospels (Waco, TX: Baylor University Press, 2016), which was published two years before the German edition of this volume but is not listed in the bibliography. Larry Hurtado (whose 2003 book Lord Jesus Christ: Devotion to Jesus in Earliest Christianity [Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2003] does appear in the bibliography) is another apt conversation partner. While the book is generally well integrated, inclusion of the discussion of the title "son of man" or "Son of Man" in relation to Ezekiel, Daniel, and the Synoptic Gospels seems a bit disconnected. Oddly, Hebrew words are transliterated while Greek terms are not; English translations are typically...

Paso a paso se va muy lejos: Traveling the Path with AFS

<i>Paso a paso se va muy lejos</i>: Traveling the Path with AFS

‘The Eliminated Gods’: The Christian Reconfiguration of Jukun Theism

This article looks at an aspect of the cosmology of the Jukun of north-central Nigeria, specifically their theism, and how it has changed through their encounter with Christian monotheism. Many contemporary Jukun people assume that their indigenous cosmology has always been anchored on a Supreme Being akin to the Christian God. In this study I show that this currently held belief is largely due to the theological framework which Christian missionaries sought to make the Jukun worldview fit into. And even prior to the first Christian contact, Jukun indigenous cosmology had been in contact with Islam. I give a very brief history of the Jukun and of the Christian missionary efforts among them starting in 1906 and, starting from my own questions growing up as a Jukun, look at how indigenous concepts and categories for deities were adapted over the course of time as the majority of Jukun became Christian.

Polish Literature and National Identity: A Postcolonial Perspective [Teoria—literatura—dyskurs: Pejzaż postkolonialny

<i>Polish Literature and National Identity: A Postcolonial Perspective</i> [Teoria—literatura—dyskurs: Pejzaż postkolonialny

The Five Controversies in Jerusalem: According to The Gospel of Matthew

"This study deals exegetically with five passages from the Gospel of Matthew (21:23-27; 22:15-22; 22:23-33; 22:34-40; 22:41-46). They describe the Saviour’s confrontations with the Jewish leaders in the last week of His earthly life. The topics discussed throughout these polemics reflect the theological concerns of Jesus’ interlocutors, especially the issues of authority, resurrection, law, and messiahship. These controversies eloquently express Jesus’ teaching quality. The Saviour’s presence and impact are given on the one hand by the content of his answers and his impeccable rhetoric. Besides the intrinsic theological value of these dialogues, they are also important from an ecclesiological and spiritual point of view. Keywords: Gospel of Matthew, controversy, the divinity of Christ, resurrection, messianism, New Testament, Matthew 21-22."

Anxiety and Salvation. A Soteriological Miniature

Inspired both by the phenomenological thought of Karol Tarnowski and Józef Tischner and the personalist theology of Czeslaw Bartnik, the article fits into contextual soteriology which deliberately uses the method of correlation. The aim of this article is to present the Christian meaning of salvation in the context of one of the most moving existential experiences, that is the experience of anxiety (Angst). The indelible phenomenon of anxiety raises important soteriological questions: Who or what can bring the fullness of salvation to men and women? In what circumstances is the experience of salva­tion possible to the human being who is called an “anxious existence”? The first part of the article shows the essential difference between anxiety and fear (in contrast to fear, the matter of anxiety is real but indeterminate). The second part presents an ambivalent character of anxiety (anxiety can lead to despair or to salvation) and human attempts to overcome anxiety through falling into an inauthentic existence (a utopia of “salvation by fashion”). The third part characterizes an “eschatological conscience” (a con­science filled with anxiety of tragic finality) and its antithesis in the form of a “soteriological conscience” (a conscience which is open to the possibility of salvation coming from God). The last part of the article argues that the phenomenon of authentic interpersonal encounter is a necessary condition to experi­ence the salvation coming from God in Christ.

Precolonial Beliefs in God, Nzambi, and Chthonic Beings: Evidence from Kongo Texts

Abstract Manuscripts in their own language by indigenous ethnographers at the beginning of the colonial period, not hitherto examined in detail, give unique insight into precolonial beliefs in the Kikongo-speaking region of what was then Belgian Congo, and the transition to Christianity. That transition depended in large part on translation, giving new meanings to old words. The texts suggest that Nzambi, now the Kongo name for the Christian God, was originally a personification of death. The power of life, on the other hand, was credited to bisimbi, chthonic forces that are simultaneously both material and immaterial. Although scholars have generally overlooked this issue, belief in these forces is foundational to what has usually been called traditional religion and its rituals, most of them now extinct. This Kongo configuration exemplifies, on a small scale, one that is found generally in West and Central Africa.

Trinitarian Grace in Martin Luther's The Bondage of the Will by Miikka Ruokanen

Reviewed by: Trinitarian Grace in Martin Luther's The Bondage of the Will by Miikka Ruokanen Mark Mattes Trinitarian Grace in Martin Luther's The Bondage of the Will. By Miikka Ruokanen. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2021. xiii + 222 pp. One might think that commentators have picked over the Bondage of the Will so many times that there would be nothing further to discover. In this reworking of a Cambridge University dissertation, Finnish missionary and scholar Miikka Ruokanen proves this supposition wrong. He discerns pneumatological and trinitarian dimensions [End Page 208] within the Bondage of the Will and shows their bearing on Luther's theology. Additionally, he sees Erasmus and Luther debating less over the power of the human will and more over the nature of God. Drawing from late medieval Nominalist views of grace configured by means of a pactum theology, where God promises to give his grace to those who do their very best, Erasmus saw God as fair, not arbitrary, even if that relaxes divine omnipotence or at least makes it less threatening to humans. In contrast, Luther emphasized not a "juridical-like relationship" between God and humanity, but an "intimate relationship with transcendence" of humanity with either God, who is wholly good, or Satan (11–13). This of course leads to the question of whether or not Luther's view of justification is forensic, but Ruokanen deals with that matter only to reassert the new Finnish perspective in which justification is based on union with Christ and not the verdict of "not guilty" for Jesus' sake. Ruokanen eschews an existentialist theology of the Word since what is important about the Word is not how it alters a human's core but instead how through it the Spirit unites believers to Christ. So, for Luther, salvation involves the agency of the entire triune life to bring the Spirit's indwelling within believers. This work is triune since (1) Christ obtains remission of sins for sinners through his work upon the cross, (2) the Spirit offers forgiveness to believers in the mission of the church, and (3) the Father is the source of this mercy obtained by Christ and proffered by the Spirit (105). Many readers of Lutheran Quarterly will disagree with Ruokanen's contention that "union with Christ" is not a consequence of forensic justification but the essence of justification, that is, justification is constituted not only by God's favor given in Christ but also the donum, the "real presence" of Christ in the believer (29). That said, Ruokanen is no slavish disciple of Tuomo Mannermaa. He freely criticizes Mannermaa for underemphasizing the work of Christ in his focus on the person of Christ (170). Likewise, he acknowledges Gerhard Forde as a pioneer who lifted up the pneumatological dimension embedded in the Bondage of the Will. Ruokanen notes that the categories of the rational, the judicial, and the moral, which Erasmus applied to heavenly matters, Luther limited to earthly matters. That is, what for Erasmus is soteriological [End Page 209] is for Luther merely ethical (43). For Luther, renovation, the new birth, is no prudential calculation but instead wholly a work of the Holy Spirit. With respect to humans' eternal destiny, humans have "no neutrality"; they are ridden either by God or the devil (55). Ruokanen handles Luther's response to scholastic categories deftly. Luther notes that necessity is not externally imposed on humans (73). God compels no one to do evil; instead, humans choose evil deeds freely. God's foreknowledge of Judas' betrayal led to no coercion of Judas. Judas' evil will is such that he cannot change it. That said, the devil and evil persons can serve as instruments of God in the world (79). For Ruokanen, Luther allows God to be God (123), a Being not on a continuum with his creatures. God is, after all, the summum bonum (81) and all entities exist only because they share in his life through his creation of them. With respect to his creation, God is completely free. Indeed, he exercises his will as his law for creation (126). Towards the end, Ruokanen raises the question of rapprochement between Erasmus and Luther: "Looking from a distance...

KEHADIRAN YANG SETIA DI RUANG PUBLIK

This article investigates the possibility of the presence of the Church in the the public space through the presence of Christian persons in their various everyday spheres. By employing the dyadic understanding of abiding-and-go (Michael Gorman) and abiding-and-sending (the Generous Love document), I argue that Christians represent the whole church in their presence in the public space. In turn, by representing the whole church, Christians also make the Trinitarian communion present through their public engagement. As such, the church participates in God’s mission (missio Dei) both institutionally and personally.

“To Speak As an Oracle of Christ”: Bishop G. E. Patterson and the Afterlives of Ecstasy

AbstractThis article attends to the musical afterlife of the late Bishop Gilbert Earl Patterson, a Pentecostal minister who, at the time of his death, served as presiding bishop of the largest African American Pentecostal denomination, the Church of God in Christ. In it, I theorize the nexus of faith, media, and sound that lifted Bishop Patterson to the heights of ecclesial power during his lifetime, while laying the groundwork for a pervasive posthumous presence: broadcast religion. Placing Patterson's life-long preoccupation with various modes of technical mediation in conversation with his extremely musical approach to preaching, I will show that Bishop Patterson's technophilic Pentecostalism takes an enchanted view of devices like microphones, radios, televisions, and cameras, understanding each as a channel through which spiritual power can flow. As Patterson's voice and broadcasting infrastructure produce intimacy with countless scriptural scenes, they commingle mediation and immediacy, cultivating an enduring affect that I refer to as afterliveness. Transcending any single homiletic event, afterliveness depends on sermonic sound reproduction, effected by Patterson through both the practice of recording and through ecstatic acts of musical repetition, a set of recurring musical procedures that endow the bishop's ministry with an eternal pitch.

Kerajaan Allah Sebagai Puncak Prioritas Hidup Orang Percaya Menurut Matius 6:33

The meaning of the kingdom of God is often discussed by scholars of theology who reveal that the kingdom of God is something that will come or is happening now. This article provides an understanding for readers that knowing the Kingdom of God as a believer's life priority based on the Gospel of Matthew 6:33 is not something mystical. The kingdom of God can only be known, known, and obtained by knowing God in Christ as its foundation. This study uses the exegesis method with a word analysis approach from the original text, which is to find the spiritual meaning behind the original text. The results of this study found that the kingdom of God is the totality of the lives of believers who do not only focus on physical needs that cause more worry. So that this article provides an understanding that changes the mindset of believers about the kingdom of God in today's world, namely living to seek God and seeking true justice is to put on Christ.