Divine Mandate Research Articles

Was Eve the first femme fatale?

Feminist theology approaches the biblical teaching of the fall with a non-historical or traditional interpretation. The biblical teaching suggests that the primordial couple sinned by eating the forbidden fruit from the tree that God prohibited (Gn 3:1–24). Additionally, the woman is blamed because she functions as a femme fatale who enticed Adam to eat the fruit. Writers within the feminist and non-feminist theology argue that the so-called ‘Yahwist’ is responsible for a patriarchal view that is evident in Genesis 3. Ultimately, male authors and interpreters of the Bible crafted a narrative that implicated the woman as the culprit for the presence of sin within humankind. Thereafter, women have been suppressed by the male-dominated culture that has manifested itself throughout the biblical literature. Several approaches seek to absolve the woman of guilt in the fall narrative: firstly, denial of the fall; secondly, depatriarchalising the biblical text; and thirdly, applying a deconstructionist literary methodology. The objective of this study was to consider whether Eve deserves the label of the first femme fatale. Did Eve use influence, beauty and words to persuade Adam to deviate from the divine mandates? The question surfaces uncomfortable considerations, but labelling Genesis 3 as patriarchal is an attempt to silence dialogue. Uncomfortable conversations are essential in the academic quest.Intradisciplinary and/or interdisciplinary implications: Feminist and non-feminist theologians seek to absolve the woman of the femme fatale label by denying the fall, depatriarchalising the Old Testament and applying a deconstructionist interpretation. This article challenges the feminist, Old Testament and systematic theologian to reconsider their interpretation of Genesis 3, especially, the woman’s role as a femme fatale.

Locations of God: Political Theology in the Hebrew Bible

Locations of God: Political Theology in the Hebrew Bible

Environmental Degradation: What is the Role of the Church in Environmental Conservation in Kenya from 1963–2019?

The 21st century is characterised by the massive destruction of Mother Earth, particularly the clearing of indigenous forests that are major water catchment areas and the sources of most Kenyan rivers. As a result, many Kenyan rivers are drying up. The ripple effect of this is an acute water shortage in most Kenyan cities, leading to water rationing in some parts and in other parts the appearance of dry taps. Also, due to the high rate of deforestation and the resultant destruction of wild animal habitat, some species are now on the verge of extinction. Furthermore, careless and irresponsible disposal of industrial waste has culminated in environmental pollution, which has in turn lead to the death of aquatic life. The church is an integral part of society and has played a significant role in the life of human beings on earth. In Kenya, the church has been a force to reckon with since independence in 1963 and, in the 1990s, the creation of our multiparty system. Her outstanding contributions in social, economic and political spheres of life are undisputed. However, her marginal role and voice in environmental conservation, which is also a divine mandate and core mission, have been conspicuously absent. It is this low profile, and this church aloofness in matters of environmental degradation, that have prompted the present article seeking to examine the role of the church in mitigating the worsening environmental degradation trend in Kenya and in Africa at large.

فكرة حكم العالم عند جنكيزخان (تيموجين) ومدى تجسيدها على أرض الواقع (549-623هـ/1155-1227م)

The history of Central Asia in the seventh century AH / thirteenth century AD was associated with a Mongolian figure known as Temujin (Genghis Khan), who was able in a short time to unify all the tribes of Mongolia and the stiffs under his authority, and then he was able to control the vast lands of northern China and Turkestan, then overthrew the Khwarezmid state that The rule of vast lands from Transoxania and Khorasan to the outskirts of the city of Iraq, thus terrifying the Abbasid Caliphate, which was going through a period of weakness, and the rulers and kings of Europe, headed by the Pope, rushed to send successive embassies to Temujin (Genghis Khan) to form an alliance with him in order to strike the Muslims, but without Feasibility, the latter did not believe in bipolarity, as he considered himself the only ruler of the world, and he asked the ambassadors either to subordinate to him or to declare war and subjugate Europe by the sword. The article tries to study the historical texts that dealt with the crystallization of the idea of Genghis Khan's control over the world, and he gave this idea a religious sanctity according to which destructive wars were waged against anyone who does not believe in it, and the article tries to follow the historical accounts that touched on the character of Genghis Khan, which sparked widespread controversy in the history of Asia. Central. How was he able to unify the Mongolian tribes and came to power? Where did he come up with the theory of divine mandate and the attempt to rule the world? Is it from the Chinese civilization or from the Turks and Russians? How did he embody his idea on the ground?.

PANGGILAN DAN PELAYANAN DALAM KONTEKS BERGEREJA DI HKBP

Call and service are divine mandate carried out by humans for the glory of His name. God calls to reveal His will to humans. Serving as a call means that we respond to God's salvation work in our lives by being partners with God, doing divine tasks and doing care for His church until the Lord Jesus returns. God calls generally to all people to believe in Him, but on the other hand, God also calls certain people whom He wants for the assignments He will give. In the context of Churching in HKBP, this particular call is stated through the call of the servant of the sanctifying ceremony (Partohonan). There are six ordination services in HKBP, namely: Presbyter, Church Teachers, Pastors, Evangelists, Biblevrow, and Deaconesses and each office of ordination ministers in HKBP have its own characteristics and duties.Keywords: call, service, HKBP Church

Embodying Dialogue: Teaching Disability and Ability in a Time of Crisis

Embodying DialogueTeaching Disability and Ability in a Time of Crisis Michael A. "Mike" Walker (bio) My name is Michael Walker. I call myself Mike. I work at North Park Theological Seminary in Chicago as a Theology Teaching Fellow, where I teach both undergraduates in the Bible department and graduate classes in theology. I'm a person with spastic cerebral palsy. That experience grounds my pedagogy. I use my body as part of my classroom strategy to promote what Paulo Freire called "problem-posing education."1 Spastic cerebral palsy means three things. First, spastic: my muscles are always tense; I need to be tired or drunk in order for my muscles to fully relax. Second, cerebral means that the part of my brain damaged at my birth was the cerebrum, which regulates motor function. Third, palsy indicates that I experience tremors. My limbs shake whenever I move, even my left arm, my dominant limb. These experiences create other struggles, including physical imbalance, spatial disorientation, chronic pain, and some marked gaps in logic and nuance. My limitations allow me to center my body as part of the opening lecture in each course. I tell my students the same thing I have just revealed about my body—often using very similar words—in order to disclose my orientation to the lecture topic. Thus, my revelation of my disabilities can frame classes on liberation in the Bible, ecclesiologies of disability, ethics, pastoral care, and health care. By exposing myself existentially in the classroom—by showing my students who I truly am—I aim to show them how I have transformed parts of my situation and hope to offer them tools to analyze their own contexts. Disclosing my disability does not simply allow me to reinterpret Freire. It also empowers me to address ableism—the systemic and personal discrimination against, and oppression of, people with disabilities by people of able body. [End Page 167] Moreover, it allows me to "infuse the graduate theological curriculum with the experience of disability," to quote theologian of disability Robert Anderson.2 Accessibility—the entry point to God's dignity and joy—concerns more than just a syllabus statement. It is a way of being in the world. Since I constantly use the Jewish and Christian scriptures in my work, my probing of my medical conditions enables me to point to other places in the biblical witness where divine and human entities affirm and support vulnerability in the same ways I do. In other words, my reinterpretation of my body allows me to show my students the divine mandate for the revolution for which Freire yearned. Additionally, my self-disclosure allows me to offer my students a strategy they can use to critically engage the knowledge we are generating. By interpreting my physical, social, and spiritual experiences, I probe the extent of the "limit-situation": I am reinterpreting the given part of a social discourse, by taking back to medical institutions that see me as malleable and in need of cure.3 By speaking about my pronounced gait, and other disabilities, I engage in what Freire called "limit-acts," the actions whereby I nullify and obviate the barriers that separate me from true freedom.4 When I use my vulnerability to create the space for questioning in this way, I am creating the conditions for "dialogue"—or, as Freire put it, "the encounter between [humans], mediated by the world, in order to name the world."5 I assert my body, and also name the ways in which the world forbids people with disabilities to speak. Then I ask my students tacitly to respond to my experience, and to name and embody their own true selves. In some classes, I define liberation as self-expression, creativity, and action without outside constraint. That definition of liberation correlates strongly to the positive categories Freire outlined in his fourth chapter. Once people have been freed by a new understanding of a limit-situation, they can engage in what Freire called "cooperation," naming the world together "in order to transform it."6 Moreover, when students are behaving as equals and attempting to understand and transcend their limit-situations, they will organize, coming together to...

Ancient greek philosophy and the islamic tradition: the origins of social life, diversity, and political authority

The interplay between a naturalistic understanding of social origins and the vision of the ruler as God’s representative on earth is a major aspect of medieval and early modern Islamic political discourse. The ancient Greek tradition had a formative influence on Islamic meditation regarding the origins of human society, the role of government, justice, and the qualities of the good ruler. The aim of this article is to revisit the impact of the Greek legacy on various theories about the emergence of human society and political authority that were propounded medieval Islamic authors. In the first section of this article, I review the reception of ancient Greek sources in the Islamic world and reconsider their influence on subsequent debates about the nature and foundation of human society, especially during the ‘Abbāsid era. I will focus on Plato, Bryson, Themistius, and Nemesius, who depict human society as the corollary of human frailty and the need to procure the necessities of life. These authors articulate a naturalistic explanation of the origins of organized human society which reverberates in the philosophical and administrative literature of the ‘Abbāsid period. In addition, I will show how Qudāma B. Ja‘far and al-Fārābī facilitated the dissemination of Greek political ideas in the Islamic world and coupled Themistius’ rationale about communal association with the notion that rulership is related to a divine mandate for the sake of upholding social harmony. I will also demonstrate how these ideas reached their culmination in al-Ghazālī, who embraces a naturalistic approach to the creation of human society while proclaiming the ruler to be God’s shadow on earth in charge of maintaining order and implementing the ordinances of the sharī‘a.

Interpreting the Divine Mandates in a Bonhoeffer Moment

ABSTRACTThe election of Donald Trump as President of the United States has led many political commentators to declare a “Bonhoeffer moment.” But the meaning of this “Bonhoeffer moment” is unclear. Our understanding of a Bonhoeffer moment is advanced by attending to Bonhoeffer’s conception of the divine mandates, which are central to his account of political resistance and to his understanding of how societies can break down. The divine mandates constitute the forms of ethical life that gives substance to our lives in society, and a Bonhoeffer moment is a time to reflect on the basic structures that keep chaos and tyranny at bay. This framework serves as a warning against uses of Bonhoeffer’s legacy that risk destroying the very social structures that he saw as indispensable to the well-being of society across time.

Discerning the role of the Church in relation to economic life: a perspective from the theology of Dietrich Bonhoeffer

This article seeks to contribute to a further understanding of Lutheran economic ethics. Specifically, I seek to develop new insights into the role of the Church in relation to economic life by exploring the work of German Lutheran theologian, Dietrich Bonhoeffer (1906–1945). I select three different elements in his description of the Church’s role. First, I describe his insistence on the Church as a deliberate socioeconomically inclusive community, and his assertion that “the view from below,” as he calls it, is of great importance. Second, I focus on what he sees as the guardianship role of the Church in relation to economics, presenting his doctrine of the divine mandates. Thirdly, I turn my attention to his view on the role of Christian professionals in economic life. While primarily an historic study, in describing these three elements I will also briefly indicate their relevance for contemporary Lutheran economic ethics.

Joseph’s Journey: Uncovering Israel’s Unconscious

This paper decodes the story of Campbell’s namesake, Joseph of Genesis, son of Jacob. It demonstrates that Joseph, much more so than Moses, represents the archetypal hero. Joseph is called to adventure into the unknown. Due to the boundedness of the Abrahamic worldview, Joseph must leave monotheistic Israel to fulfil his potential in polytheistic Egypt. It is as viceroy of Pharaoh that he comes into his own power, his political eminence an emanation of his intuitive, creative power. Joseph’s journey itself serves as the Call to Adventure for the hero’s journey of Israel: Israel, as a people, must recognize Joseph’s creative power and follow him into Egypt to realize their own procreative power. Before returning to the familiarity of the desert, the motherless children of Israel are called into the unknown to be nourished by the Nile. It is at the banks of the Nile that they fulfil their divine mandate to multiply. Joseph’s intuitive power—the ability to receive and interpret prophetic dreams—makes explicit what is implicitly encoded in the Campbellian hero’s journey: the masculine individual consciousness venturing into the feminine collective unconscious, matrix of creativity, in pursuit of wholeness. His story moreover celebrates the centrality of personal transformation to the Campbellian heroic quest, flourishing through embodiment of transformational leadership.

Reading God’s Will? Function and Status of Oracle Interpreters in Ancient Jewish and Greek Texts

Abstract There is a rising scholarly consensus that consulting the divine will did not altogether cease in the Second Temple period. Rather, it took different forms, and one was consulting the divine will via existing texts. Meanwhile, the identity of such interpreters remains unclear. This paper explores the possible identities of interpreters by comparing the figures that interpret Jewish oracles with the chresmologoi that appear in ancient Greek compositions. Such a comparison provides new insights into the divinatory use of written oracles. The interpreters of the Jewish and Greek texts operated at least partly in similar ways. While their methods of interrogating the oracles are somewhat alike, Jewish interpreters enjoyed a status similar to that of prophetic figures, whereas Greek interpreters operated more independently and without a similarly evident divine mandate.

Illiberalism in Political Islam as Emotion Rather Than Ideology: Moral Discourse on Alcohol and Blasphemy in Turkey

Based on ethnographic interviews with mainstream Islamist voters conducted in Turkey in 2010, this article argues that religion's influence on the form and substance of political opinion can be emotive rather than ideological. Focusing on the moral discourses subjects used to support or oppose legal restrictions on two religiously proscribed activities—consuming alcohol and blasphemy—I question the presumption that a religious ‘ideology' rooted in dogmatic adherence to explicit theological principles undergirds the more ‘illiberal' attitudes exhibited by Islamists. Beyond confirming many scholars’ findings that liberal positions can often be grounded in normative Islam, my analysis of these two ‘hot-button' religious issues reveals that the most substantively illiberal opinions are often constructed as logically unconnected to religion—even on irreducibly ‘religious' topics. Particularly, subjects universally constructed the necessity of prohibiting blasphemy as arising not from any divine mandate, but from a variety of nonreligious concerns, including with seemingly malapropos concepts like ‘democracy' and ‘tolerance.' I argue against understandings that limit political Islam’s ideational impact to an ideology people consciously accept or reject, instead favoring a conceptualization that allows religion to exert powerful influence through its complex and highly subjective emotive dimensions.

Візуалізація влади: символіка «Вілтонського диптиху» та сакралізація образу монарха

The Wilton Diptych is the best painting in the International Gothic style in England. This work of art is the earliest preserved lifetime image of the British monarch. The article touches upon the visualization of Richard II’s power. The author studies how the monarch’s sacred image emerged. Special attention is paid to the Wilton Diptych’s symbols. The author focuses on the ideological usage of visual symbols by the English king. He analyses the characters of the Saints who are accompanying the King: Edward the Confessor, Edmund the Martyr and St. John the Baptist. The Biblical symbolism in the Diptych is highly important as far as the image of Richard may be compared with the one of Christ the Savior. The ideological aspects of the picture were revealed, including the image of Richard as a King-Peacemaker and Crusader King, the mystical marriage between him and his kingdom etc. The author puts forward an idea that Richard used the Diptych to position himself as a God's chosen king. Having transferred his kingdom to the Virgin Mary, he received a divine mandate to rule.

Daoist Views of the Dream State

Daoist Views of the Dream State Esmaeil Radpour (bio) None of you should feel grief about having no dream. For when a person becomes deep-rooted in knowledge, dream will be taken away from him. —Prophet Muhammad Words denoting dream, the vision occurring during sleep, mainly go back to two roots in Indo-European languages: dhreugh and swep or sup. The first primarily means “to deceive,” while the latter indicates “to sleep” (Radpour 2015, 14). The old form of the Chinese character for dream, meng 夢, depicts an eye (seeing), a man (seer), a bed (sleeping), and a moon (indirect light), which imply the indirect visions of people during sleep (Sears 2003) (see Fig. 1 on the right). The Chinese word meng, then, is conceptually closer to the second among the two Indo-European roots and does not have the implication of deception, lie, or illusion. Click for larger view View full resolution Daoists tend to see dreams as products of daytime delusions or waking “dreams,” that is, as the result of mental agitation and egoistic tendencies toward external objects. They see the natural state of sleep as dreamless (wumeng 無夢), such as occurring among the true men or perfected (zhenren 真人) who have returned their human spiritual aspects of creativity, vitality, and intellectuality (jing qi shen 精氣神) to their primal (yuan 元) or pre-celestial (xiantian 先天) state. However, true men’s observations during sleep, called “dreamless” mengzhong [End Page 137] wumeng 夢中無夢) are quite different from the dreams of ordinary people.1 They often appear as communications with radiant figures, immortals (xian 仙), deities (shen 神), and ancestors, and serve as a way of gaining knowledge, receiving divine mandates, and the like. The dreams of imperfect Daoists and the common people, on the other hand, are fallouts of diseases caused by the “mischievous mentations” (wangxin 妄心) or even demons,2 for which there are some specific religious treatments. Ancient Dream Perceptions Ancient Daoist sources mention the dream state only in fragmentary tales and aphorisms that speak of the waking state as being like a dream. Thus, the Zhuangzi tells the famous story of Zhuang Zhou seeing himself in a dream transformed to a butterfly, as real as if he had been always a butterfly, freely flying about and totally oblivious of his human identity. When he awakes he asks himself if he really is Zhuang Zhou dreaming of being a butterfly or a butterfly dreaming of being Zhuang Zhou and calls this state the “transformation of beings” (wuhua 物化) (ch. 2; see Fig. 2). As he also says, One dreams of drinking wine, and he cries in the morning. One dreams of weeping all the night, and he goes out to hunt in the morning. Involved in dream, one does not know he is dreaming; he may even dream of dreaming in that state. It is only after awakening that he realizes he has been dreaming. Now if the great awakening (dajiao 大覺) happens, one comes to know that this all was a great dreaming (dameng 大夢). (ch. 2) [End Page 138] Another important notion of the text is the state of “no dreams,” famous among the true men of old, who “had no dream while sleeping, had no anxiety while awake” (ch. 6) Click for larger view View full resolution Fig 2. Zhuangzi’s Butterfly Dream. Painting by Lu Zhi (Ming dyn.) The Liezi, too, offers teachings on the dream state. It associates the body (xing 形) with the waking state and the spirit (shen 神) with the dream state. “In the day-time [i. e., waking state], one thinks; in the night-time [i. e., dream state], one dreams. Thus the meeting of the spirit and the body happens” (ch. 3). It speaks of eight types of the waking horizon and six types of dreaming perspective, the latter going back to the Zhouli 周禮 (Rites of Zhou, 3.130): Waking horizons are happening, action, gain, loss, sorrow, happiness, birth, and death. These are the eight horizons with which the body is connected. Dreaming perspectives are direct dream, upside down dream, thoughtful dream, awakening dream, joyful dream, and fearful dream. These are the six perspectives with which the spirit is crossed. (ch. 3) [End Page 139] In the waking state, the body connects...

“The Law of the State is the Law:” The Nature of Law in Jewish Jurisprudence

This essay presents medieval Rabbinic attitudes concerning the nature of law as it is expressed in the dictum “dina demalkhuta dina”—the law of the state is regarded as the Jewish law. The essay confirms that Rabbinic attitudes concerning the nature of law are harmonious with diverse philosophical approaches in classical jurisprudence, reflected in both “natural” and “positive” law theory. Here we focus on the rational and legal justifications for accepting non-Jewish rule, asking why a religious law, claiming its origins to a divine mandate, would submit to a seemingly inferior, non-Jewish law. The answer to this question sheds light on the Rabbinic attitudes to the nature of law in general.

God as Multiple Covenanter: Toward a Jewish Theology of Abrahamic Partnerships

God as Multiple Covenanter: Toward a Jewish Theology of Abrahamic Partnerships Yehezkel Landau Is pluralistic monotheism an oxymoron? This essay is an exercise in practical theology. It is a reflection stimulated by years of involvement in Jewish–Christian–Muslim relations. At Hartford Seminary and elsewhere, that matrix of relationships among “Abrahamic” siblings continues to be my primary theological laboratory. As a believing and practicing Jew, I have been challenged to reconcile my adherence to the Sinai Covenant, forged between God and the Children of Israel millennia ago, with my experience of holiness as embodied in the faith commitments of Christians and Muslims. Some theological questions, with very practical ramifications, have emerged in the course of my interreligious work: Could the One God, the Lord of Nature and History, the Creator of all that is Who is proclaimed as the God of Israel throughout the Hebrew Bible, have chosen to covenant with non‐Jewish faith communities, as well—not to “elect” them as substitutes or supplanters, but as spiritual equals and allies? And if so, how would a multiplicity of covenants enhance the prospects for the “messianic” transformation of history that our various traditions anticipate? At the level of basic belief, can monotheism be pluralistic, or is that an oxymoron—that is, if God is One, how can different understandings of that Oneness be valid? Must one shun the criterion of “truth” or “error” in assessing different theological claims in order to promote reconciliation among religious communities? Or, alternatively, can one retain the notion of “truth” but reconceptualize it—for example, transform it from a doctrinal assertion about God to a lived expression of devotional authenticity? Martin Jaffee has argued cogently that in all the monotheistic traditions, an inherent symbolic structure has precluded mutual validation and acceptance. In fact, he claims, the underlying tendency is toward rivalry and antagonism, given that Jews, Christians, and Muslims all see themselves as the chosen recipients of revelation and hence the carriers of a Divine mandate until the end of time, when their theology will be vindicated. Is there an alternative conception of covenantal chosenness that is not exclusivist and competitive? God's oneness and pluriform creation At the outset, before consulting the works of other contemporary Jewish theologians, I wish to outline my own understanding of how the Oneness behind and within Creation takes multiple forms. I start with the declaration that opens the Bible: “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.” Genesis 1:1 could have said, “In the beginning God created the cosmos” or “…all there is.” But it does not. Moreover, this initial statement does not conform to the detailed description that follows, since the heavens and the earth were created in stages, not simultaneously. Therefore, the verse must be a summary or essentialist statement, an overarching assertion meant to teach us something about the structure of creation. What I learn from Genesis 1:1 is that relationship is the key dimension within the cosmos, built into it by the Creator. The binary complementarity of “heavens” and “earth” is followed by other dualities: day and night, upper and lower waters, earth and seas, and finally male and female human beings. In each case, the distinction is a creative polarity, not a dichotomy, and no hierarchy of superiority and inferiority is implied. After all these distinctions or separations are brought into being, God creates and consecrates the Sabbath, the capstone (in the temporal dimension) of the whole enterprise of Creation and the first entity to be made holy (Gen. 2:3). As a religious Jew, I understand the Sabbath to be the vessel in time for the reconciliation of separated entities (even parents and teenage children!). Observance of Shabbat is meant to transcend the either–or dichotomies of life and, in doing so, presage the messianic age to come, when all distinctions—including the separation of Israel from the other nations—will be eradicated. As part of that redeemed reality, all of Humanity, together with everything else in Creation, will be one just as God is One. In the meantime, our lives are lived in unredeemed time—Sunday through Friday—with all of the divisions that we experience. The...

Ethnic Persecution

The world has praised Burma for certain social, economic and political reforms taking place in central Burma since 2011 and the present administration continues to assure the world that the process of democratization and liberalization in the country is irreversible. However, the Christian Kachin in the northern corner of Burma continue to face greater oppression, persecution and brutalization which has been terribly but freely perpetrated and perpetuated by the Burmese army since June 2011. The main thesis of this article is that the church in Burma is entrusted with the divine mandate, authority and obligation to responsibly show their firm solidarity with their Kachin brothers and sisters persecuted by the Burmese military. It is the mission of the church to defend the oppressed against injustice, oppression and violence and to encourage an active and prophetic stance toward creating justice and equality between ethnic groups in the country.

“Like Olive Shoots”: Insight into the Secret of a Happy Family in Psalm 128

Beset by all kinds of ideologies that divest it of its divinely endowed values, family in our contemporary society suffers greatly from those who purport to have a better way of fulfilling its divine mandate. All who understand the importance of family are greatly concerned at the overt derailment that has proved detrimental to human society. The Sacred Scripture offers us varied insights into solving the problem in which we find ourselves. Psalm 128 chosen for this paper is one of those texts in the Bible that reflects on family and its value in human society. As a Wisdom Psalm and didactic in nature, the poem presents to its readers what family is in dire need of at this time. The meaning of this Psalm is coded in its rich poetic techniques and similes that the paper endeavours to explain in its immediate context as a Song of Ascents and in the contexts of other Wisdom texts of the Old Testament. Its theological thrust, the fear of God, which is introduced at the beginning and iterated in various phrases within the Psalm comes out clearly as messages the Psalm offers to worrisomely deformed image of family in our time.

MARCHING FORWARD AS SOLDIERS OF CHRIST? THE CONTRIBUTIONS OF THE EVANGELICAL LUTHERAN CHURCH TO THE RECONSTRUCTION OF ZIMBABWE, 2000-2013

World-over, the contributions of churches to transforming societies cannot be overstated. Nevertheless, today the churches in Zimbabwe are standing at a crossroad, in search of relevance and identity in the eyes of the majority of the ordinary people who are experiencing poverty and injustice. There have been many events in the political history of the country, beginning from the year of the controversial land reform programme in 2000. Over the past decade every facet of life has been markedly affected by its paradoxical effects. The detrimental effects have been responsible for bringing about the much-acclaimed ‘Zimbabwe crisis’, and causing grinding poverty for the majority of citizens. Accordingly, the purpose of the study is to examine some Christian responses to this phenomenal crisis. Given the diversity of the Christian churches in Zimbabwe, the earliest responses were watchfully cautious. This lukewarm attitude was largely dictated by the fear of inviting unspecified reprisals from the machinery of the State. Nevertheless, as the myriad of crises continued to mount, the churches reconsidered their divine mandate and decided to march forward as ‘Soldiers of Christ’ in order to take the bull by its horns. Specifically, this article focuses on the contributions of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Zimbabwe (ELCZ) as it attempts to bring about a renaissance and the regeneration of sustainable development in Zimbabwe. Judging from the context of its activities to mitigate the socio-economic and political challenges facing the country, the ELCZ is being inspired by a liberationist paradigm of doing theology, whether in the broad fields of education, health, policy advocacy or pastoral ministry

A Conflict of Wills. The Seventeenth-Century Diarist Isaac Archer and His Father

Isaac Archer (1641-1700) was a godly man, an Anglican minister, a good father to his nine children and the son of a possessive father. The order in which his life roles are listed here is not random. For a considerable part of his life he kept a diary in which he recorded the many struggles with his sinful nature and presented himself as a man whose priority was to submit to the will of God. His humbleness was frequently and most painfully tested in the context of his parenthood, but it was the challenges that he faced in the relationship with his own father that seemed to have had the greatest impact on his spiritual as well as daily life. This article is a portrait of this very turbulent relationship between a seventeenth-century adult son and his strong-willed father. Parents and their adult children Family life, both in the present day and in the past, has been governed by certain norms regulating parent/child relationships. Recent studies clearly show that the model of formal, unaffectionate contacts between parents and their offspring in early modern England, described by Lawrence Stone in the 1970s (Stone 1977), cannot be universally applied to all English families, and that there was, in fact, much space in family life for love, affection, care and commitment (Pollock 1983; Ozment 1983; Macfarlane 1987, Houlbrooke 1990; Woods 2006; Fletcher 2010). This new interpretation of historical evidence does not, however, invalidate completely the traditional view of early modern parenting. Affectionate and caring or not, parents were seen as agents of God's will, and their roles as nurturers, disciplinarians, providers and educators had a divine mandate. The children, in return, were obliged to honour and obey their parents because obedience to them was obedience to God (O'Day 1994: 46- 49). Parents' role was to prepare their children to live in the world, while children's duty was to follow the prescriptions and demands of their parents (Ben-Amos 2000: 292). But how long was this supposed to last? How long were parents obliged to be involved in the lives of their children, and to what extent were adult sons and daughters supposed to meet their parents' expectations? What was the nature of parental/filial love in the period beyond adolescence and early youth? Theoretical traditions such as attachment theory, family solidarity theory, exchange theory, bioevolutionary approaches, social integration theory, and psychoanalytic theory, used in studies on contemporary family life, emphasize the importance of the parent/child relationship over the course of life. Children's financial independence or physical distance are seen as less important than a distinctive history, a set of experiences, carried by family members and connecting them throughout their lives (Umberson 1992: 664-665).