Christian Theology Research Articles

New Narratives for Old: The Historical Method of Reading Early Christian Theology. Essays in Honor of Michel René Barnes. By Anthony Briggman, Ellen Scully

New Narratives for Old: The Historical Method of Reading Early Christian Theology. Essays in Honor of Michel René Barnes. By Anthony Briggman, Ellen Scully

Theology, History, and the Modern German University ed. by Kevin M. Vander Schel and Michael P. DeJonge

Reviewed by: Theology, History, and the Modern German University ed. by Kevin M. Vander Schel and Michael P. DeJonge Walter Sundberg Theology, History, and the Modern German University. Edited by Kevin M. Vander Schel and Michael P. DeJonge. Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2021. 358 pp. When I was asked to review this volume, I was intrigued immediately by the title. Few subjects are more important in contemporary Christian theology than the nexus of theology and the discipline of history in the context of German university culture. It is important wherever Christian intellectual life is carried on in the global church. When the volume arrived, I discovered it was a collection of fifteen essays. Reviewing a bunch of essays is like herding cats. The introduction by the editors was helpful and accurate, but not sharply focused. If I had been asked to introduce the volume, I would have said something direct and simple like this: In the Early Church, theological reflection was often led by bishops (e.g., Irenaeus, Augustine). In the Middle Ages, monks took the lead (e.g., Anselm, Aquinas). With the coming of the Reformation, and into the Modern World, theology has become largely the province of the academic professorate. (Think of Luther as the last monk and the first professor.) The professorate [End Page 226] is beholden as much to university culture, with its secular canons of criticism, as it is to the church and its articles of faith. In the emergence of the professorate, Protestant faculties in German universities have dominated. A chief reason for this dominance is the role that the discipline of history has played in the development of modern Christian theology. Church history is the youngest branch of theological study, having been first added to the curriculum at the University of Helmstedt in 1750. The editors call this "the historical turn" whose implications "are reflected in the shifting compositions of university faculties and curricula … as universities themselves grew beyond the medieval organizational structures to become centers of historical scholarship" (1). What does one do when faced with the challenge of historical criticism? One possibility is for history to go on the attack. Historical method assumes explanation by mundane causes. Claims about divine incursion and miracle have no place. Seas do not part; the dead do not return to life. Lessing famously spoke of the "ugly broad ditch" separating "accidental truths of history" from "eternal truths." A possible defense is to concede the public record of events and instead assert the interior life as the locus of religion. "Dogmas and doctrines," said Schleiermacher, are "nothing but general expressions for definite feelings." Troeltsch labeled Schleiermacher's strategy an "'agnostic theology of mediation' which recognized the inexact and symbolic character of religious language" (65). To put it another way, "theology springs from … personal conviction and … without it theology is a mere dead letter" (45). Roman Catholics of the "Tübingen School" (for example, Johann Sebastian Drey) sought to harness history. Yes, history teaches that Christian life in the church, and thus truth, are subject to constant change. But this is the work of the Holy Spirit who leads us to the discovery of further revelation beyond scripture (John 16:13). Eternal truth of revelation is not only "being," it is "becoming." History, Bible, and doctrine join together in harmony because the (Roman) church is nothing less than the continuation of the incarnation. As Drey put it, "the primitive history and the subsequent course [End Page 227] of Christianity are in fact one history … Christianity is itself only one reality" (122). This idea helped to make popular the historical/theological discipline known as "the development of doctrine." For Barth, the public record of Christian teaching in the Bible and the history of doctrine produced a rigorous discipline (Wissenschaft) with definite rules determined by the historic Christian community: "church dogmatics." Writing explicitly against Lessing's ugly ditch, "Barth stressed … that knowing God depends on God's own action; we do not reach this goal through a historical inquiry, even if such inquiry may help us understand that God alone is the source of any human knowledge" (307). These are but three examples. In all the essays, we see...

An interview on energy, Christian theology, and ethics with Larry Rasmussen

ABSTRACTAn interview with Larry Rasmussen on his and others' work on Christian energy ethics. The introduction to the interview gives a brief outline of Christian energy ethics. Rasmussen then reflects on this body of scholarship, where it has been, where it needs to go, and what perspectives or methods it should draw on.

Ecology of Vocation: Recasting Calling in a New Planetary Era by Kiara A. Jorgenson

Reviewed by: Ecology of Vocation: Recasting Calling in a New Planetary Era by Kiara A. Jorgenson Marit Trelstad Ecology of Vocation: Recasting Calling in a New Planetary Era. By Kiara A. Jorgenson. Lanham, Maryland: Lexington Press/Fortress Academic, 2020. 176 pp. In a time when major news channels report that we already are experiencing the results of climate change, can Christian ethics or theology offer insights or grounding to guide our response? Kiara Jorgenson's book is an excellent resource for understanding current scholarship in ecological ethics. Beyond this, she reframes a Christian understanding of vocation in order to add theological and ethical depth and urgency to our earthly calling in this era. She explains that "a dialogical approach to ecological ethics vis-à-vis the Protestant doctrine of vocation provides practical help for the North American church seeking to better fulfill its shared ecological calling" (2). This book attends to both the meta-ethical theories, helpfully coined by Jorgenson as "terrologies," and the importance of concretely contextual ethics. Challenging the short-sighted equation of vocation with work, Jorgenson seeks to retrieve and recast early Reformation ideas on vocation. For John Calvin and Martin Luther, in particular, vocation connects "… concepts of redemption, which center upon themes of kenotic relationship, reparation, and restoration. As a lynchpin doctrine, vocation, holding space between creation and redemption respectively, speaks less about doing the right thing or being the right thing and more about relating in a right or appropriate fashion" (127). In chapter one she recounts the main epistemologies and methods in current Christian environmental ethics. This chapter would be excellent reading for a course focused on ecological ethics as it provides a detailed and systematized review of many key scholars [End Page 242] and approaches. Jorgenson's second chapter works extensively with H. Richard Niebuhr's "germinal responsibilist framework" that connects ethics to epistemology and ontology (6). Chapter three dives into early Reformation history with Luther and Calvin's contextualized understandings of vocation. She retrieves two vital connections in their work on vocation: 1) the connection between individual and communal or corporate callings; 2) their linking of creation and redemption through the bridge concept of vocation or calling into the world. Chapter four continues this strand and recounts the history of Reformed and Lutheran theologians and how individualist and pietistic understandings of redemption, justification, and vocation led to the church's passivity on social and ecological issues of justice. Chapter five elucidates the work of three prominent ecological thinkers: Paul Santmire, Sallie McFague, and Wendell Berry. It outlines their methods, aims, concepts and contexts, with a focus on their insights on ecological interrelatedness, wisdom, and restraint. Chapter six offers additional insights on such matters as rest, joy, dignity, justice, and hope within particular individual and corporate/communal contexts. Deep interconnectivity, embraced so well by deep ecology, calls for a wider net of responsibility and awareness. Jorgenson's epilogue points to areas that she is committed to developing further, for example, the nature of work and how it is so easily coopted to support a capitalist system rather than the well-being of humans and the rest of creation (159). On other issues, she includes a brief two pages on eco-justice and environmental racism (52–53) and touches on this again in later chapters (for example, 150–151). Considering our times, it would have been helpful to develop these issues further even though one book cannot address every ethical context. I would have appreciated Jorgenson's further reflection on a deeply interrelational theological anthropology of human and divine relationship as well as human-creation relations. Jorgenson lifts up some theological models that reflect a one-way relation between God and humans where humans are "vessel(s) of God's work" (67) or simply recipients of Christ's gift and power (141). These could be further nuanced to align with the non-dualistic and deep interrelationality [End Page 243] lifted up across the book. The theological anthropology in process theology or Luther's "happy exchange," and works such as Elisabeth Gerle's Passionate Embrace: Luther on Love, Body and Sensual Presence (Cascade Books, 2017) may be constructive conversation partners due to their more dynamic understanding...

Ministers of a New Medium: Broadcasting Theology in the Radio Ministries of Fulton J. Sheen and Walter A. Maier by Kirk D. Farney

Reviewed by: Ministers of a New Medium: Broadcasting Theology in the Radio Ministries of Fulton J. Sheen and Walter A. Maier by Kirk D. Farney Kathryn M. Galchutt Ministers of a New Medium: Broadcasting Theology in the Radio Ministries of Fulton J. Sheen and Walter A. Maier. By Kirk D. Farney. Downers Grove, Illinois: InterVarsity Press, 2022. 345 pp. In our multi-media saturated times, it is difficult to imagine the singular importance of radio during its golden age, from the 1920s to the 1950s. During that era before television, the essayist E. B. White described radio as having a "godlike presence" in homes across America. In his book Kirk Farney notes that radio had a range of qualities, from intimate to communal, from democratic to authoritative. Yet Farney's study is less concerned with the medium of radio and more concerned with the impact of two men and the messages they spoke to millions during the 1930s and 1940s. The Lutheran pastor Walter A. Maier (1893–1950) and the Roman Catholic priest Fulton J. Sheen (1895–1979) were two of the most popular and prominent broadcasters during radio's golden age. Both men came from religious backgrounds that were considered on the periphery of mainstream American Protestant religion. Maier came from a German-American Lutheran background and was a member of the Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod, a synod which some saw as an ethnic and theological enclave. Sheen came from a primarily Irish-American Catholic background and sought to counter the historic anti-Catholicism in American society. Farney explains how Maier and Sheen preached messages rooted in their own religious traditions, yet succeeded in appealing to wider audiences. Both men "combined a traditional theological conservatism with an equally traditional American idealism" (133). Maier and Sheen took to the airwaves after the Modernist and Fundamentalist debates of the 1920s. Both men were vocal critics of modernist [End Page 191] theology. They preached messages of traditional Christian theology, putting a strong emphasis on the doctrines of the atonement, sin, and grace. Given the well-known antagonism between Protestants and Catholics, it is remarkable that the Protestant Maier and the Catholic Sheen asserted such similar teachings about the foundations for faith and life (160). Maier and Sheen also made connections with the difficult times in which they were living, commenting on the economic challenges of the Great Depression, the conflicts and controversies of World War II, and the threat of communism. Both were careful to avoid partisan politics. But they reflected a spirit of American patriotism while also calling on Americans to repent and to avoid a stance of national self-righteousness. Farney notes that Maier and Sheen were critical of racial and ethnic discrimination in America and urged the church to recognize the equality of all people before God (257). Farney could have done more to explain the significance of their stances in the context of American race relations in the 1930s and 1940s. Both men reached out to many beyond their respective religious communities. Farney describes how Sheen received considerable attention for the prominent converts to Catholicism whom he reached, including Henry Ford II and the American Communist Party leader Louis Budenz. Besides the famous, Sheen also reached "the obscure … of all races and incomes" (297). Farney describes Maier's contacts with political, military, and cultural leaders, but did not mention specific converts. More could be done to examine those who made a commitment to Lutheranism because of Maier's "The Lutheran Hour." Among these are Mary Banta, who contributed to the development of True Light Lutheran Church, a Chinese-American congregation in Manhattan and Chris McNair, who lost his daughter Denise in the Klan bombing of Sixteenth Street Baptist Church in Birmingham in 1963. Exploring the international impact of the "Catholic Hour" and "The Lutheran Hour" is another potential area of future research. Farney has written a very significant study of two of the most important radio preachers in American history, examining the similar ministries of a Lutheran pastor and Catholic priest. The parallels ended when Maier died relatively early of a massive heart attack [End Page 192] in 1950 and Sheen transitioned to even greater fame with a...

Mengelaborasi Definisi Variatif dan Penempatan Jenis Pendidikan Kristiani Pada Lembaga Pendidikan

The purpose of this study is to find out the various definitions and placements of the three types of Christian education based on the New Testament in formal, informal and non-formal educational institutions according to the levels and educational programs needed by Christians.This type of research is qualitative in order to elaborate and present data/information about various definitions consisting of three types of education namely: Christian Education, Christian Religious Education, Religious Education of Christianity which takes place in educational institutions within churches, theological schools and public schools.This research method is descriptive which seeks to present data or information and an overview of the results of the elaboration and clarification of the various definitions that affect the placement of the three types of Christian education at the level of general and theological educational institutions in Indonesia.The results of the study present a definition according to the New Testament, especially the Synoptic Bible as a reference to define: First, Christian Education and the educational institutions in it consist of Sunday School, Bible School, Evangelism School, Bible Course, Bible Teacher School (Congregational Teacher), Baptist Catechism, Biblevrow School, Church Elder/Worker Candidate School, Deaconess School. Second, Christian Religious Education consists of: Early Childhood Education or Christian Theological Kindergarten, Christian Theological Elementary School, Christian Theological Middle School, Christian Theological Middle School and Christian Theological College or Christian Religious Education College. Third: Religious Education of Christianity consists of: Early Childhood Education, Kindergartens, Elementary Schools, Junior High Schools, High Schools, Public Universities.

Suffering in evolutionary biology and Christian theology: Mutually exclusive notions?

The question of suffering, specifically that experienced by human beings, has been contentious in the discourses of biology and religion. The dilemma, especially in the Christian faith tradition has been to reconcile suffering with the idea of a benevolent deity in whose image humans are believed to have been created. Evolutionary biology, and specifically the field of cognitive psychology, contends that the experience of suffering may have more pragmatic origins, while not necessarily being to the benefit of the individual, may be a mechanism that favours the longevity of a species. This article explores the understanding of ‘natural suffering’ from the perspective of evolutionary biology and Christian faith convictions and proposes principles that can facilitate a mutually beneficial religion and science discourse.Contribution: This article investigates suffering in evolutionary biology and Christian theology respectively. Its interdisciplinary nature contributes towards the science and religion discourse.

Acknowledge the land: An Indigenous historical reflection on colonial and extractive theology

AbstractWestern Christian theological support for resource extractivism is interwoven with theological support of settler coloniality. Christian theology is therefore an essential site for the defense of Indigenous land claims. Replacement theology, also known as supersessionism, should be understood as involving Jewish‐Christian‐Muslim relations and as imbricating the ideologies and theologies supporting political and material coloniality, including extractivism. This article offers a friendly critique of contemporary anti‐supersessionist theological projects through the lenses of postcolonial, decolonial, and global Indigenous thought, suggesting a path toward addressing the crisis of the Anthropocene.

Alexandre Kojève and Carl Schmitt: the Political, Theology and the End of History

The aim of the article is to demonstrate that Carl Schmitt’s and Alexandre Kojève’s ideas about the political and the end of history have to be seen in the light of their theological presuppositions. The article defends the position that Schmitt’s The Concept of the Political is based on attempts to look at the problems of political anthropology from theological perspective, in which the dogma of original sin plays a central role. Kojève’s anthropotheistic system presents an inversion of this perspective, his ideas about the end of politics and history are inseparable from attempts to reduce theology to anthropology. His atheistic system of immanence provides a confirmation of Schmitt’s idea that the disappearance of the political is incompatible with the dogma of original sin. Kojève’s notion of the end of history and his concept of universal homogeneous state are formed by attempts to look at the concept of the political ex negativo. For Schmitt Christian theology provides a guarantee that the world will not be depoliticized, that enmity between humans will not be overome. French philosopher’s political theory is based on the idea that the end of history and the disappearance of the political would mark the actualisation of secularized Christian teaching. Kojève’s revised ideas about the destiny of humanity at the end of history, his position that humanity will return to animality, have to be understood in the context of his discussions with Schmitt.

HUMAN UNIQUENESS

This issue of Zygon: Journal of Religion and Science contains a Symposium on “human uniqueness” that derives from a symposium hosted by the Department of Zoology at Harvard University of Harvard initially in March 2020 and subsequently in April 2022, under the title “Just How Special Are Humans Really? Insights from Science, Philosophy, and Theology on the Mystery of Human Uniqueness.” For an introduction to this Symposium, I refer the reader to the first piece in the Symposium, written by guest editors Eric Priest, Joseph Henrich, Celia Deane-Drummond, and Mary Ann Meyers. The Articles section contains three articles. In the first article, Yogi Hendlin criticizes “object-oriented ontology,” which offers an ontology for posthumanism; he is afraid of the kind of solipsism and “ontological flattening” that comes with such philosophy and pleas for philosophical approaches that are more open to “plural (interspecies) perspectives,” such as biosemiotics. In the second article, Andrew Sloane addresses an aspect of virtual versions of transhumanism (a category which should be separated from posthumanism), namely that those with disabled minds seemingly cannot participate in resurrection hopes if bodies are considered disposable. Finally, in the third article, Simon Balle and Ulrik Nissen offer a nice transition into the thematic section on “human uniqueness” by addressing one angle: they argue that what makes humans distinct from robots and AI are capacities that rise from and depend on our responsive bodies. The issue ends with five book reviews. I review John Slattery's T&T Clark Handbook of Christian Theology and the Modern Sciences and Neil Wollman and C.J. Love's Reinventing Society with Philosophy, Religion, and Science, Victoria Lorrimar reviews Phil Hefner's Human Becoming in an Age of Science, Technology, and Faith, Abel Aruan reviews Rebecca Copeland's Created Being: Expanding Creedal Christology, and Jaume Navarro reviews Miguel de Asúa's Science and Catholicism in Argentina (1750–1960): A Study on Scientific Culture, Religion, and Secularisation in Latin America. As I had announced last summer, the charitable corporation behind Zygon: Journal of Religion and Science will “flip” the journal to diamond open access (where neither authors nor readers have to pay to publish or read, respectively). From January 1, 2024, all Zygon articles—past, present, and future—will be openly accessible to all through another publishing agent, the Open Library of Humanities (which is funded by university libraries worldwide). From this summer already, the new submission portal and information about the journal and the corporation can be reached via our own domain zygonjournal.org. From January 2024, all articles can be accessed via the same domain. This moment marks a major transition for the journal, which has been many years in the making. Wiley-Blackwell has served as our publishing agent for Zygon for more than 33 years. The Board of the corporation has expressed to Wiley its deep appreciation and gratitude for their many efforts and critical contributions to Zygon’s success.

Eschatology in African Traditional Religion and African Christianity: Implications for Biblical and Theological Scholarship in Africa

African traditional religion has many concepts that present alternative and a variety of contexts for Christianity, theology and biblical scholarship in Africa which can also provide appropriate answers to the many questions of African Christians. One of such concepts is eschatology. Eschatology in African traditional religions present deep insight into the philosophies of Africa’s indigenous cosmology and perspectives about life, death, and the hereafter. This article attempts to examine the concept of eschatology in Christian theology and explain the same within the African traditional and religious hermeneutical framework to decipher what implications can be derived for Christianity, theology and biblical scholarship in Africa and beyond. To achieve this the article reviewed various literature on the concept of eschatology within Christianity and African Traditional Religion (ATR). In this way, the article was able to compare the theology of escatology in Christianity and African Traditional Religion. The article looked at concepts such as time, death, end time, judgement, etc in both Christianity and ATR to discover their similarities and differences. The study revealed that the quintessential essence of African spirituality and cosmology is summed up in the concept of life as a cycle (unending); a person is born, grows to become a full member of the family, dies and gets admitted into the world of the ancestors. Even in death, life does not end, it continues actively and vibrantly in the world of the ancestors. This ideology evokes a kind of consciousness of life as a spiritual journey. Keywords: Eschatology, Christology, Ancestor, Christianity, Theology, Religion

The God of faith and (or) the God of the philosophers in the light of the conversion of Blaise Pascal

Aim: To discuss the relationship between God as understood in philosophy and God as understood by the Christian faith in the light of the conversion of the scientist Blaise Pascal.Methods: We offered an explanation of the philosophemeattributable to Blaise Pascal, and then examined the mean-ing of the phrase God of the philosophers, with special at-tention to Plato’s and Aristotle’s theology, and then assessed the prominent features of the Christian God. The Hellenistic environment in which early Christianity spread and its influence on early Christian theology were analysed, with special emphasis on the term logos.Results: Blaise Pascal’s Christian faith was not in accordance with Catholic Church, although Pascal considered himself a Catholic. We demonstrated that term God of philosophers is ambiguous term, i.e. what that God is. It appears that most probably God of philosophers is god of Aristotle or Plato because these two philosophers had the biggest impact on the evolution of natural theology. The God of philosophersis more like an impersonal concept than a person like God of faith. We presented the essential features of the Christian God: the doctrine of the Trinity, God’s creation, God’s per-sonality and God’s incarnation, and discussed on the differ-ent understandings of the term logos, and its importance. For us, the term logos served as a point of contact between the philosophical and the Christian understanding of God. Conclusion: Christianity is a faith based on reason, i.e. in Christian God can be known through reason and not just by faith. We tried to go beyond Pascal’s radical distinction between the God of faith and the God of the philosophers, namely through the lens of the philosophical term logos and show the there is no radical difference between the God of faith and God of philosophers

Towards a theology of human praxis: A proposal from liberation theologies in a neoliberal world

Neoliberalism is an anti-utopian and kind of patron–client theory that threatens not only the human utopian thought, and therefore the human praxis, but also the ‘conditio humana’. Therefore, this threat also challenges the current visions of praxis in contextual theologies. From a dialogue between the traditions of praxis present in Latin American liberation theology and black liberation theology, particularly from a renewed understanding of human relationships in terms of God’s grace and human spirituality-kenosis, it could be possible to overcome the ideological character of neoliberalism by offering some elements for the development of a human praxis oriented to the creation of possible worlds that reproduce the natural circuit of life and acknowledge the rising and dignity of the new subjects.Intradisciplinary and/or interdisciplinary implications: The critical analysis of the ideological character of neoliberalism implies an interdisciplinary approach that considers the contribution of Christian theology. From the inductive orientation of Latin American liberation theology and black liberation theology, this research proposes some theological elements to discuss the feasibility of a human praxis that orients the creation of possible worlds.

Spirit, Word and Love: Insights of Pietro Rossano towards a Mystical Theology of the Christian-Muslim Dialogue

Pietro Rossano was an important protagonist of interreligious dialogue in the 20th century, serving for more than twenty years in the Vatican office in charge of this field. His experience and writings show how dialogue has many anthropological and theological dimensions and, because we are talking about an event between religious people, dialogue also has a mystical dimension. Rossano was very involved in the dialogue with Muslims, both in the theoretical study and in some meetings, like the one in Tripoli in 1976 and others. Spirit, Word and Love can be seen as the three keys to interpreting Rossano’s testimony in relation to the Bible, to dialogical thought—in particular, Ferdinand Ebner—and to the Christian theology of dialogue.

Theological Genealogies of Modernity: An Introduction

Theological Genealogies of Modernity: An Introduction

Confederate Theology: Robert Lewis Dabney and the Theological Afterlife of Slavery

AbstractIn the wake of social movements to remove Confederate monuments from public spaces and expose suppressed legacies of white supremacy in the United States, this article uncovers an influential and overtly white supremacist tradition of US Christian theology through a case study of the Reformed theologian Robert Lewis Dabney (1820‐1898). Regarded by his contemporaries as one of the most prolific theological teachers and scholars of his time, Dabney was also an unrepentant defender of racialized chattel slavery and white supremacy. He was also a leading contributor to Lost Cause revisionism after the Civil War. This reveals a troubling paradox: one of the leading theologians in the United States during the nineteenth century was also one of that century's most committed white supremacists. While Dabney's theological defense of a patriarchal, white supremacist society has too often been either conveniently forgotten or uncritically excused by later generations, this article offers a theological reckoning with Dabney's project in order to diagnose its ramifications for contemporary theology and articulate a constructive response.

The Implications of James Cone’s Critique of Barth and Barthians for the Practice of Academic Christian Theology

ABSTRACT Fifty years have passed since James Cone wrote _Black Theology and Black Power _ critiquing the unbarthian ways Barth was being appropriated in Europe and North America. This article identifies key weaknesses in a Barthian theological method that may explain the conspicuous silence of White Barthian theologians in response to Cone’s critique. It suggests three lessons for ethical theological enquiry arising from attention to Cone’s analysis: first, the need to recognise the ways in which the Christian theological tradition has been shaped in racist, White supremacist, and colonialist ways in order to avoid reproducing theologies Cone identified as racist; second, the responsibility of Christian theologians to give an account of the relationship of their projects to questions of ethics and practice, in order to avoid the vice of curiosity; and third, the responsibility of theologians to take particular care to avoid disadvantaging students and colleagues of colour in their professional practice.

The Necessity of Primary Causes: A Critique of Denis Edwards

AbstractIn this paper I will investigate a recent development on St Thomas Aquinas’ definition of dual causality and see if it truly develops Aquinas’ thinking or departs from it. Denis Edwards made significant contributions to contemporary Catholic theology especially as it concerns the relationship between science and Christian theology. In one very interesting publication, ‘Toward a Theology of Divine Action’, Edwards employs the developments of William R Stoeger, a Jesuit theologian who has also contributed a great deal to Catholic thought on science, to reconcile Stoeger's work with the Thomist tradition. Edwards argued that Stoeger's account of the laws of nature creates a space for the development which is built on Aquinas’ account of divine causality and miracles. However, I hope to show that Edwards’ account of divine causality does not actually offer anything new and opposes key features of Thomist thought. This paper will investigate Edward's understanding of the Thomist position and the consequences of departing from it.

The theological role of biography

This article explores the role of biography in Christian theology. For the greater part of Christian history, biography has played a key devotional and apologetic role by providing models of how the one life of Christ is at work in the saints. Following the Reformation, biographies of Protestant martyrs removed the miraculous element of hagiography, but the exemplary and apologetic functions of biography remained centrally important. From the twentieth century, I argue, there has been a loss of confidence in the role of biography in Christian devotional life and in theology. In conclusion, I suggest ways in which the role of biography might continue to be of value for contemporary theology.

Neo-Aristotelian Metaphysics and the Theology of Nature edited by William M.R. Simpson, Robert C. Koons, and James Orr, Routledge, 2022, pp. 446, £118.82, hbk

Neo-Aristotelian Metaphysics and the Theology of Nature edited by William M.R. Simpson, Robert C. Koons, and James Orr, Routledge, 2022, pp. 446, £118.82, hbk