Christian Scholars Research Articles

The Reception History of The Seven Victories and the Localization of The Seven Victories Spiritual Cultivation

The Seven Victories is one of the most influential works in Catholic literature from the late Ming and early Qing dynasties. The seven victories spiritual cultivation contained therein is the result of the localization of the practice of the Christian faith in the West. It is still a living tradition in the Christian religion and even in Western culture. Since the end of the Ming Dynasty, The Seven Victories has aroused significant repercussions in the ecclesiastical and academic worlds. Some scholars converted to Catholicism because of The Seven Victories and wrote preambles in response to it; some scholars wrote essays criticizing the ethical ideas of The Seven Victories; and some scholars were inspired by The Seven Victories to write about Confucian ideas of sin, the work of reform, and the liturgy of repentance. Together, these constitute the history of the reception of The Seven Victories in China. Through Confucian culture integration, Chinese Christian scholars have developed a localized interpretation of the seven victories spiritual cultivation, resulting in a localized Chinese spiritual cultivation of sin.

Judeo-Syriac in late antiquity and the Middle Ages

In 2012 the term ‘Judeo-Syriac’ was coined independently by two scholars to refer to Syriac written in Jewish Aramaic/Hebrew script, in texts from late antiquity, on the one hand, and in medieval texts, on the other. In this article the differences between these two types of Judeo-Syriac are established, particularly in respect of their sociolinguistic contexts. The earlier context involves the Jews of Edessa and its environs, for whom Syriac was their mother tongue, and who, as evidenced by the Peshitta Old Testament, normally used Syriac script; their use of Jewish script in funerary inscriptions was exceptional. The later context involves Jewish scholars, for whom Syriac was not their mother tongue, engaging with Syriac Christian scholarship, initially through direct contact with Christian scholars. The textual products of such collaborations resulted in Judeo-Syriac texts that continued to be copied by Jewish scholars who had little knowledge of Syriac in Syriac script.

Konsep Amanah dalam Pandangan Islam dan Kristen

This research aims to analyze and compare the concept of trust in Islamic and Christian views. Through a qualitative approach, data was collected from primary sources such as the Al-Qur'an, Hadith, and Christian holy books, and also from theological and philosophical literature relevant to the concept of trust in both religions. The analytical method is carried out by exploring verses from the Koran and the Christian Bible related to trust, as well as studying classical texts and comments by Christian scholars and theologians related to this concept. In addition, interviews with religious scholars from both traditions were also conducted to gain a deeper understanding. Research findings show that despite differences in terminology and emphasis, the concept of trust in Islam and Christianity has many similarities, especially in terms of integrity, honesty and responsibility. Both the Qur'an and the Bible emphasize the importance of maintaining trust, both in spiritual and worldly affairs, as part of moral and ethical obligations. This study also highlights how both religions view trust as an important moral foundation in building human relationships with God and with fellow humans. In the context of modern society, a deep understanding of the concept of trust from Islamic and Christian perspectives can make a valuable contribution in shaping individual character and morality and strengthening the values of justice, integrity and social responsibility.

Kingship Christology: A reflection on Midnight Crew’s “Igwe” within the Igbo Socio-Cultural Context

This literature-based research explored the subject of Kingship Christology as portrayed in Midnight Crew’s song “Igwe.” Through an interdisciplinary approach, the paper delved into how the song articulates the Kingship of Christ from an Igbo Christian perspective. The paper critically examined the lyrics of the song, linking it with the Christian and Igbo socio-cultural worldviews. The research established that Jesus surpasses every human king (past, present and future) in every human society and serves as a perfect King whose leadership style provides a perfect model of what human leadership ought to be. This finding formed the basis for exploring key implications of Jesus’ kingship for the Igbo/African sociopolitical setting. The paper charged African leaders to adopt a Christological model of leadership characterized by humility, servanthood, transparency, accountability, inclusivity, and a deep commitment to the welfare of their communities. In addition to demonstrating the nexus between music, theology and culture, the paper contributes to African Christian scholarship on Christology, musical theology and leadership.

Shinjin , Faith, and Sacramental Metaphysics

abstract: Ever since the Jesuits came to Japan and first met True Pure Land Buddhists in Japan, Christians have drawn parallels between Shinran's thought and the Protestant doctrine of salvation by faith alone. For the Jesuits, this was more an accusation than a compliment, but later scholars, not limited to Protestant ones, have been more sympathetic to this purported affinity. It is not unheard of to translate Shinran's favored term shinjin as "faith," even in Buddhist circles. However, this is not without its perils. The potential for misunderstanding is magnified by the lack of consensus even among Christians, let alone English-speakers more widely, about just what such "faith" might mean. Regardless of whether one is Catholic, Protestant, or something else entirely, Christian scholars formed within the English-speaking world live in a world where "faith communities" are distinguished from a supposedly neutral secular mainstream and where "faith" itself is assumed as the polar opposite of reason. Even those who insist, with the likes of St. Anselm, that faith is a prerequisite to reason are not immune to the effects of the Enlightenment air they breathe. One may therefore approach the imputation of "faith" to Shinran, which is necessarily a comparative endeavor, with some trepidation.

Generations: The Real Differences between Gen Z, Millennials, Gen X, Boomers, and Silents—and What They Mean for America’s Future

Generations: The Real Differences between Gen Z, Millennials, Gen X, Boomers, and Silents—and What They Mean for America’s Future

نظریۂ حلول اسلام اور عیسائیت کے تناظر میں: کینتھ کریگ کے افکار کا جائزہ

In Christisan theology, the doctrine of Incarnation holds that Jesus, the second hypostasis of the trinity, God the son and son of the father, taking on a human body and human nature was made flesh. Incarnation is a Christian faith which means that God incarnated in Jesus Christ.Christian say that word of God (Kalamatullah) made flesh and Jesus became Christ (Son of God). Kenneth cragg(A renowned Christian scholar on Islam.He wrote more than sixty books, most of them are on Islam)said that the concept of incarnation is also present in Islam, the revelation of the Holy Quran, Prophet-hood of Muhammadﷺ and the Muslims love for Muhammadﷺ is also like incarnation as in Christianity. In this article we discussed the concept of incarnation in Islam and Christianity and concluded that the revelation of theHoly Quran and the Prophet-hood of Muhammad ﷺis not an incarnated as Christian believe about Jesus.

An East-Syriac Scholar in Ninth-Century Damascus

Abstract The ninth-century Damascene Christian scholar, priest, and monk Bišr ibn al-Sirrī (fl. ca. 870) is known as the author of Arabic biblical translations and commentaries and Arabic festal homilies. The present contribution demonstrates that the homilies contained in Sinai ar. 431 without attribution are to be ascribed to Bišr ibn al-Sirrī. It also examines new evidence for Bišr ibn al-Sirrī’s Christology and proves that Bišr ibn al-Sirrī was an East-Syriac Christian.

Positive Psychology in Christian Perspective: Foundations, Concepts, and Application

Positive Psychology in Christian Perspective: Foundations, Concepts, and Application

Technē: Christian Visions of Technology

Technē: Christian Visions of Technology

Did Christ die only for the Elect?: Limited Atonement vs. Unlimited Atonement

Almost all Christians believe that the satisfaction rendered by the death of Christ was in itself enough for the salvation of humanity. Yet, there is no consensus among Christians on the question of the beneficiaries of Christ’s atoning sacrifice. The question of whether Christ’s suffering and death benefited all humanity or only an elected few has triggered much debate among Christian scholars. The different responses to the question of the extent of the atonement can be categorized broadly into two, namely; particular atonement (that is, the view that Jesus Christ died only for the elect) and universal atonement (that is, the idea that Christ died for all persons). The significance of the debate and the rise in interest in this subject in recent times has prompted this literature-based research which critically reviews and analyzes publications (including books, journal articles, and dissertations) on the extent of Christ’s atonement to see how one might make meaning of the ongoing debate. The paper first presents a survey of the evidence adduced for both views; it then considers Calvin’s view on the subject and ends with the author’s position that the atonement is unlimited in scope in that the offer of salvation is for all people; yet it is limited in effect because only those who believe in Jesus are truly saved.

“Sing and make music to the Lord”: cultural difference in South Africa’s urban religious soundscapes

Scholars of contemporary Christianity have long noted the importance of sacred music in constructing faith communities and distinguishing religious actors from one another. Drawing on historical and ethnographic evidence gathered over 16 months in Johannesburg, South Africa, I examine the role of music in contributing to the Christian identity of conservative evangelicals and in mediating their relationship with religious others. For the interdenominational, multiracial network of conservative Christians with whom I worked, music sung during weekly church services was carefully curated to meet elders’ pastoral aims informed by the conventions of orthodox Christian theology, yet it was also a site of tension and innovation as efforts to appeal to wider demographics were implemented. The palpable contrast between this music style and that of more charismatic evangelical churches was a point of implicit social commentary, semiotically standing in for the spectre of dangerous religious difference. This ethnographic research illustrates the power of embodied, sonic “feeling” to maintain cultural boundaries in South Africa’s heterogeneous religious soundscapes.

Natural theology after Darwin

Has Darwinian science made natural theology obsolete, as many Christian scholars now believe? In this article, the author assumes that natural theology does not take place in a religious vacuum but instead borrows its sense of god from this or that specific faith tradition. Its task is not to arrive at an understanding of the divine mystery different from that of systematic or doctrinal theology. As the author shall argue here, however, the empirical grounding essential to natural theology must be considerably more comprehensive and more profound than that provided by the natural sciences, mainly because the latter usually leave out any mention of the most striking of all natural phenomena – the human mind and its mysterious operations.The author maintains that an exclusively Darwinian narrative cannot fully explain why your mind is restless for truth or why you should trust your mind. The point of natural theology is to ask whether nature as a whole is intelligible apart from the reality of God. The author’s point is that an empirical survey of nature that restricts itself to following the modern scientific method’s habitual exclusion of thought from its survey of nature cannot succeed in making nature intelligible.Contribution: This article argues that evolutionary explanations alone are not enough to account for all that is happening in human understanding and knowing. In the light of evolutionary biology, we must note that even human intelligence, which formerly seemed to elevate our species to a perch above nature, now appears to be an unexceptional product of chance, deep time and natural selection. ‘Thought’, the name we may give to the most splendid of all evolutionary outcomes, is taken to be a product of impersonal natural selection and so also are our moral instincts.

New Testament Apocrypha: More Noncanonical Scriptures, volume 2: A panel review

The canonical texts of the New Testament are well known and studied, but the variety and number of extant early Christian noncanonical texts, also known as New Testament Apocrypha, have not been as widely recognized. Thanks to the stellar work of numerous translators and the editorial work of Tony Burke, many more of these texts are now available with introductions in English translation through two volumes (soon to be three) of New Testament Apocrypha: More Noncanonical Scriptures. In the series of articles in this special section of Studies in Religion, three early Christian scholars (Ronald Charles, Sean Hannan and Mona Tokarek LaFosse) review the second volume of the series, published by Eerdmans in 2020, which is followed by a detailed response by Tony Burke. The reviews and response were originally presented at a joint session at the annual meeting of the Canadian Society of Biblical Studies and Canadian Society of Patristic Studies/Association canadienne des études patristiques in May 2022. The reviews and response encourage scholars of religion to consider how these ancient texts might contribute to larger contemporary conversations around coloniality, diversity, pedagogy and storytelling, demonstrating the value of collaborative scholarship.

Denying the divinity of Christ and proving the prophethood of Muhammad, peace and blessings be upon them, in the context of comparative religions: the debate as a model


 
 
 
 ABSTRACT
 
 The debate is one of the religious and scientific dialogue that Muslim scholars had known since the early centuries. The history of Islam witnessed religious debates between its scholars and the men of the Ahl-AlKitab, that included many main and sub-themes that dealt with various fields of belief, worship and others. The most important of which was their claim to the divinity of Christ)peace be upon him(. In which, they attributed to him, and their denial of the preaching of Christ, peace be upon him, with the message of the Prophet Muhammad, may God bless him and grant him peace, and their denial of him. The verses of the Noble Qur’an, so their books were a proof against them, not an argument for them. These scholars explained the falsehood of the Christians’ voice regarding the divinity of Christ, peace be upon him. They discredited the Christian scholars, and they proved what was concluded from the distorted bibles, the informing of Jesus, peace be upon him, of the message and mission of Muhammad, may God’s prayers and peace be upon him, and praise be to God, Lord of the World.
 
 
 

The discourse of war in the evangelical doctrine in the context of current russian aggression against Ukraine (protestant viewpoint)

The range of issues related to the origins of Christianity, the formation of its doctrine, and its existence in the early, pre-Conciliar period has always been of concern not only to Christian scholars, not only to those scholars who were in one or another way involved in these researches, but also to society as a whole. However, in Ukraine, and especially in academic circles, these issues are still not sufficiently studied. The article examines the reasons that led the official Church to change the key provisions of Christian doctrine, including ideological positions about "this world," narratives about war, and the commandments "thou shalt not kill" and "love your enemies." The author argues that the final rejection of the original evangelical pacifism occurred after the conquest of Christianity by Emperor Constantine the Great, when the Church was transformed into an institution of secular power, changing its original status as the "Kingdom of God" to belonging to the "Kingdom of Caesar." Since the reign of Constantine, Christianity has essentially existed divided into two camps. – the first, to which belong all those who profess the church doctrine in its new, "conciliar" and different from the original form and who, in particular, has rejected Jesus' original idea of renunciation of earthly things and, accordingly, the pacifism and anti-militarism he proclaimed; the second camp are those who remained faithful to the apostolic tradition and who continued to practice Christianity according to the original New Testament standard. The latter camp today includes mostly Protestants, including in Ukraine. However, with the onset of Russia's full-scale aggression against Ukraine, their pacifist stance is changing. The solution of urgent socio-political issues and issues directly related to defense are increasingly leading Protestants in Ukraine to rethink their traditional pacifism, which may lead to a complete rejection of it in the future. The results obtained in the course of the study provide grounds to significantly adjust the current perceptions of Protestantism in Ukraine, in particular, its positive attitude to socio-political processes and active involvement in them.

Global Christianity: A Guide to the World’s Largest Religion from Afghanistan to Zimbabwe, by Gina Zurlo

<i>Global Christianity: A Guide to the World’s Largest Religion from Afghanistan to Zimbabwe</i>, by Gina Zurlo

Foreword

An occupational hazard of so-called academic theologians is that our scholarship will become, indeed, merely “academic.” This very real danger weighs particularly heavy on those of us who claim to be contextual or practical theologians, whose theological reflections claim to be rooted in the praxis of flesh-and-blood communities, especially marginalized communities. (Indeed, the constitutive link between theology and communal praxis is the responsibility of all theology, but that’s a topic already addressed at length in many books and articles elsewhere.) Ultimately, then, our scholarship must answer to el pueblo, to those communities which the Gospel proclaims are the privileged bearers of God’s Word in the world. This responsibility implies that, precisely as Christian scholars, we must accompany those communities in practical, everyday ways. We must also collaborate closely with those grassroots pastoral and community leaders who so often function as a bridge between el pueblo and academic and ecclesiastical institutions. Our first task is to listen: to the poor, to those community leaders immersed in the everyday lives of the poor, and ultimately to the living God revealed in a preferential way among the poor, in the lived faith of the poor. Dr. Paul Farmer’s life and work were the embodiment of this dynamic, this preferential option for the poor. As Jorge José Ferrer argues in his chapter herein, Paul Farmer was the epitome of what Antonio Gramsci called an “organic intellectual.”

Hearing Hindu Stories

Abstract This article presses on some of the key insights from Mack’s seminal essay on Christianity vis-à-vis scholarship on a different religion, namely Hinduism. I suggest some extensions of Mack’s argument to the academic study of Hindu traditions, such as identifying the harms posed by the soft inclusion of Christian theology within the discipline of Religious Studies. I argue that this is a structural problem in the modern academy that sidelines scholars of non-Christian, especially non-Abrahamic, religions and creates a model for uncritical influence from ideological and political sources. Following on Mack’s analysis of the pressures of Christian theology, I identify specific non-academic threats to critical studies of Hinduism, namely the political commitments of Hindu nationalists and the embrace of orientalist ideas by scholars and practitioners. I argue it is imperative to counter both harmful trends, while recognizing significant challenges to doing so. I also draw on insights from scholarship on Hinduism to point to strategies potentially beneficial to scholars of Christianity keen to pursue Mack’s ideas, such as a milder interest in questions of origins that embraces multiplicity. I conclude that scholars of Hinduism are ready to tell our stories – based on critical analyses of a diverse and complicated religious tradition – but whether our academic peers in Religious Studies are ready to hear and incorporate our insights is another matter.

Imago Dei in St. Thomas Aquinas: a philosophical and anthropological analysis of man created in the Image of God

Image as a philosophical concept has a long and complex history that begins as early as antiquity. Christian scholars included it in their philosophical studies in the form of imago Dei. In this paper, the author analysed the works of St. Thomas Aquinas to determine the anthropological consequences that follow from the idea of human creation in the image of God. It was first established that man as a being created in the image of God participates through his intellect in God’s nature. Moreover, three stages of human participation in God were presented. Subsequently, the author defended the classical theory of Aquinas against contemporary reinterpretation of his thought. It was argued that Aquinas rightly claims that only the intellectual part of the human soul is, strictly speaking, created in God’s Image, while the human body (and other irrational creatures) resembles God in the likeness of a trace.