Symbol Of God Research Articles

Risking the Church: The Challenges of Catholic Faith. By RICHARD LENNAN.

The author notes that the Roman Catholic tradition stresses that Christian faith is not simply faith lived within the Church; it includes faith in the Church as a component of God's self-revelation. He tells us that his book will focus on the Roman Catholic Church. ‘Even more particularly, the “world” from which this book emerges, and which it seeks to address, is that of the Roman Catholic Church in contemporary Western culture’ (p. 3). He himself is an Australian. Chapter 1, ‘A Church in Peril’, gives a detailed account of the state of theology in the Catholic Church between the Council of Trent and the First Vatican Council and before and after the Second Vatican Council. This is clearly written and well documented. While it is true to say that Vatican II was primarily a pastoral council and did not go in for dogmatic definitions and condemnations of errors, Lumen Gentium's teaching on episcopal collegiality and the sacramentality of the episcopacy is important doctrinal teaching. Lennan thinks that there is an urgent need to consider how the Church of today should respond to ‘the present perilous situation’. ‘In fact, today's primary challenge is the reception of our tradition in the light of the present’ (p. 50). Chapter 2 outlines a theology of the Church that tries to meet this need. He stresses the need to hold together the Church's traditional riches, its present condition, and its hope for the future. He tells us that the two metaphors that are central to his theology of the Church are the contemporary metaphor taken from Juan Luis Segundo, who speaks of the Church as ‘an undreamed of possibility for love’, and another from the third-century theologian Hippolytus, who describes the Church as ‘the place where the Spirit flourishes’. This chapter goes on to explore the notion of ‘symbol’ and applies the theology of the symbol to the story of God's self-revelation in Jesus Christ. Chapter 3 develops in detail the implications of understanding the Church in terms of the Holy Spirit. Chapter 4 then investigates how institution, authority, and tradition relate to the Church's existence as the symbol of God's Spirit in human history. It discusses the difficulties that can arise from the institutional dimension of the Church today.

THE RECONCILING SPIRIT: THE DOVE WITH COLOUR AND STRENGTH

Abstract The dove is used as a symbol of the Holy Spirit, and also of peace and reconciliation. However, the usual depiction of the dove may not be a good representation of the content of or of the nature and work of the Spirit. This article aims to enhance our vision of the of reconciliation by examining the apostle Paul's teaching in 2 Corinthians about the of the and the of reconciliation. The article also consumers the deliberations of several international meetings, and brings together a number of reflections on the from India and Korea. The paper concludes that the heavenly bird is not limited to the dove, nor is the imagery of the Holy restricted to the dove. The is not white and delicate but colourful and strong, and it is through these characteristics that the leads us in the way of Christ in the struggle to live together in reconciled life. ********** Judging by the covers of books about the Holy Spirit, one can see that the dove is undoubtedly the most commonly used symbol for the Spirit. The dove--and the Spirit--are often also associated with the gospel message of peace or reconciliation. However, despite the dove's biblical pedigree as the symbol of God's presence that descended on Jesus at his baptism, I the use of this image alone distinctly unhelpful in communicating the reality of the of God, and also the meaning of reconciliation. The symbol of the dove as used on badges, cards and banners usually represents either inner tranquillity and purity--without a community connection--or else the kind of peace on earth that we sometimes dream of at Christmas, viz. merely the cessation of conflict without the activity of reconstruction. The dove is pure white and sometimes comes close to looking like the fat turkey of consumerism, or else it resembles the eagle of empire. In the scriptures, the peace that comes in Jesus Christ is not a blanket of snow that covers everything and makes the world colourless and white, nor is it the kind of absence of activity that makes the waters still. Rather, the peace of Christ is represented by the colourful community of believers striving to live together in the of Christ and experiencing reconciliation as the result of a deep prayer life, strenuous activity, fearless witness, agonizing suffering, sacrificial sharing and living together in a complex world full of competing spirits of one sort or another. The dove seems to me hardly compatible with the raw power and vibrant colour of the Spirit, who brooded at the creation, inspired the prophets, propelled the infant church into mission, transformed lives, and freed people from all kinds of bondage. In our imagery, we have captured the dove of freedom and power, and caged it. The heavenly dove has become like the doves in the temple that were being sold for sacrifice (Matt. 21:12-13). The of reconciliation Without any overt reference to the dove, in his second letter to the Corinthians Paul describes the of the (2 Cor. 3:8) and contrasts it with the of Moses. According to Paul, though Moses's had its glory, its end was death. It cannot be compared with the glory of Jesus Christ, whose brings life for all. Paul contrasts the two ministries by considering two letters: one written by the of the living God on human hearts, and the other inscribed on tablets of stone; one bringing righteousness and the other condemnation (2 Cor. 3:1-11). The point is not to diminish Moses hut to put into relief the difference that the new life in the Spirit--the new creation--makes. The Lord is Spirit, the fullness of God's glory, which Moses experienced only in a veiled way. However, we, having our veils removed when we turn to the Lord, see with unveiled faces and are transformed (2 Cor. 3:12-18; 5:17). Later in the same letter, Paul identifies the ministry of the Spirit as a ministry of reconciliation, modelled on that of Jesus Christ, through whom human beings are reconciled to God (2 Cor. …

When Stands Are Taken Where Do We Stand?

The Vatican took a stand in February with its “notification” on Roger Haight's Jesus Symbol of God prohibiting him from teaching Catholic theology. Then in May it was reported that the Vatican influenced Thomas Reese's resignation as editor of America. In these two situations, as with other recent controversies in the church and American public life, the question was posed to the College Theology Society, “Where do we stand?”This is not answered easily. The appropriateness of entertaining the question is itself problematic given the specific ways the CTS constitution defines our mission as an academic society. Has the CTS, its Board or its members at the annual convention any business at all taking stands on controversies in the church or American public life? What would justify this? And to what sort of issues would this apply? And when? How is this decided? And by whom? For whom does the Board speak? Or for whom does a majority at an annual convention speak? And to whom? And to what end?Nor is the question of where we stand dodged without significant cost. Much is at stake for the specific pedagogical mission of the CTS both in the issues regarding Haight and Reese and in the questions of principle about taking stands. Both are part of a larger and consequential controversy about what place convictions should have in the interactions of the church, academy, and society.

Constructive Christology in Roger Haight's Jesus, Symbol of God: A Continuing Critical Christological Discourse

Constructive Christology in Roger Haight's Jesus, Symbol of God: A Continuing Critical Christological Discourse

Perspectives for a Study of African American Religion: From the Valley of Dry Bones

In "Perspectives For a Study of African American Religion," Charles Long wrote of "three interrelated perspectives for the study of black religion": "Africa as historical reality and religious image," "the involuntary presence of the black community in America," and "the experience and symbol of God." I essay to show how Long's categories illumine a celebrated instance of African American biblical appropriation, the prophet's vision of dry bones in Ezekiel 37:1-14, as emblematic of the perspectives of symbolic African absence, involuntary American presence, and collective theological experience of the slaves and their descendents.

Jesus Symbol of God

Jesus Symbol of God

Aspects of the deification of roman emperors on the Alexandrian coins

a) Compared with the Republican period, the Imperial period witnessed an escalating tendency towards the deification of rulers, dead or alive This tendency is presumably attributed to the diffus-on of eastern cults throughout the Roman Empire, hen e the impact of the sacral nature of the Empero was unavoidable at Rome proper. But more efforts s ould be exerted at Rome and the western provin es to propagate the conception of deification whic was unpalatable to the Romans. This conceptio had already been predominant and consolidated in gyptfrom time immemorial.Coins were the best means to circul te the Imperial propaganda and especially the ilea of deification. The aspects of deification were betr yed in different forms like inscriptions, divine symbOls and mythical elements. Though the Alexandrian monetary system enjoyed a degree of independence towards the Imperial monetary policy, the types of Imperial deification represented on the Alexandrian coifs were borrowed from Rome. In addition they presented nothing remarkable in this regard. Compared frith the Roman Coins, these types were limited and lesssignificant

Flannery O'connor's Use of Symbol, Roger Haight's Christology, and the Religious Writer

[The author argues that Flannery O'Connor's fiction and critical prose are informed by a theological understanding of symbol, a narrative Christology from below, and a consciousness of her task as a religious writer of modernity. This places her work in mutually constructive conversation with the writing of postmodern Christology, represented, for instance, by Roger Haight's Jesus Symbol of God.]

Swords As Symbols Of Gods -Mainly Regarding Concepts of Sword Seen In Piety for Shinto Shrines-

Swords As Symbols Of Gods -Mainly Regarding Concepts of Sword Seen In Piety for Shinto Shrines-

No-God: Reflections on Masao Abe's Symbol of God As Self-Emptying

ABSTRACTBuddhist thinking centers not on a transcendent God, but on the nothingness and emptiness of Sunyata. Nevertheless, Masao Abe's reflections on the symbol of God as self-emptying can enhance our understanding of what God means. Abe interprets the self-humbling and self-sacrificing act of Jesus as a manifestation that God has vacated the transcendence of otherness in becoming world. These reflections allow us to consider a religious perspective that centers not on God, but on world and the continuum of living-dying-relatedness that represents the reciprocal and mutual interrelatedness that is world. In being returned to world, we are invited to participate in the original and originating activity of God as giving of self in compassion to one another. God is to be experienced not as a transcendent center, but as the fundamental meaning of world and its context of interrelatedness.

Dictionary of Deities and Demons in the Bible (review)

The Jewish Quarterly Review, XCII, Nos. 3-4 (January-April, 2002) 497-505 Review Essay Dictionary of Deities and Demons in the Bible, ed. Karel van der Toorn, Bob Becking, Pieter W. van der Horst. Second Extensively Revised Edition . Leiden, Boston and Köln: Brill; Grand Rapids, Michigan and Cambridge , UK: William B. Eerdmans, 1999. Pp. xxxviii + 960. Victor Avigdor Hurowitz, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev According to a well-known aggadah (Midrash Rabbah on Exod 5:2; cf. Targum Yerushalmi, ad loc), Pharaoh, not knowing the God of Israel, examined his palace archives where the names of the gods of all the nations were listed in order to verify the credentials of the upstart YHWH whom Moses claimed to represent. Were he living in Mesopotamia, he could have asked to see a copy of the great god list An = Anum. If he were alive today, he would certainly request the book under review. The Dictionary of Deities and Demons in the Bible (DDD) is an encyclopedia of all the divine, semi-divine, deified, hypostasized, and no-longerdivine beings mentioned in the Bible. DDD's purpose is to provide convenient , state of the art information and an updated, comprehensive bibliography about every indigenous and foreign deity mentioned in Scripture: both how they were conceived of in their religions of origin and how they are portrayed or function in the Bible. Any deity suspected of being mentioned or alluded to in the Bible even once is included, no matter how obscure , minor or dubious he/she is, whereas gods who are not mentioned in the Bible are excluded from DDD irrespective of their rank and stature in their native habitats. The hefty tome contains over 600 entries, which, when reduced by approximately 150 cross-Jistings, leaves a total of close to 450 separate articles. It is an international effort, with 106 participants from Europe, North America, and Israel, who each contributed anywhere from one to forty-six articles. Each article contains as many as five sections: a discussion of the divine name or title, its meaning, and etymology; a study of the deity outside the Bible, be it in Ancient Near Eastern or classical literature ; the deity in the Hebrew Bible; the deity in Christian Scripture; bibliography . The second edition has twenty-one more entries than the first edition,1 and many entries have been revised, corrected, and updated. For 1 According to the preface to the revised edition there are "some thirty" new articles. A comparison of the tables of entries for each of the two editions gives the 498THE JEWISH QUARTERLY REVIEW the purpose of the project, the problematic, controversial concept "Bible" has been given a maximalist definition, making it congruent with the Holy Scriptures of the Orthodox Churches. DDD's Bible thus consists of the Jewish canon, the complete Septuagint including apocryphal and pseudepigraphic books, and the twenty-seven books of the New Testament. The introduction explains that four types of deities are included: gods still recognized as such by the authors and the audience; gods mentioned in proper nouns; demythologized or decommissioned gods mentioned albeit not in their capacity as gods; and "ghost-gods" whose presence has been posited by individual scholars but whose actual mention in the Bible or in the Ancient Near East remains questionable. Yet these categories do not exhaust the true range of topics covered. Some gods are represented in several articles by their name, the natural phenomenon they are associated with, and certain epithets by which they are known. There are also articles on divine symbols, deified cult objects, divine manifestations, divine attributes, divine titles, and even pejoratives or euphemisms. Gods and other concepts not eligible for separate entries but discussed in passing are registered in an index. To a certain extent, DDD is a dictionary of god-related terms and not gods per se. It parallels to a degree the highly important book by K. L. Tallqvist, Akkadische Götterepitheta (Helsinki, 1938; reprinted 1974) which contains both divine names and divine epithets. DDD is extremely informative and useful. It has been composed competently by experts in the pertinent disciplines, and should be a standard reference work found in every university...

Book Review: Jesus, Symbol of God

Book Review: Jesus, Symbol of God

Ethics After the Holocaust: Perspectives, Critiques, and Responses (review)

Ethics After the Holocaust: Perspectives, Critiques, and ResponsesInitial Jewish religious responses to the Shoah either affirm or challenge the authority of Jewish religious tradition on issues of belief and morality. From Richard L. Rubenstein's death of God theology, i.e., letting go of traditional Judaism's doctrine of God for a new symbol of God's reality conducive to lessons learned from the Shoah,(1) to Eliezer Berkovitz and hasidic masters who argue classical Orthodox belief rooted in religious experience.(2) Elie Wiesel maintains that the Shoah transcends history, and the living are neither capable nor worthy of recovering its mystery; nonetheless, he relates witness stories, which bear testimony to the depths of Jewish suffering and the dignity of the Jewish dead, while promoting Jewish survival as an unshakable dogma. Emil Fackenheim's 614(th) Commandment, no posthumous victory to Hitler, suggests that the Shoah claims another victim whenever a Jew doubts his/her Jewishness; conversely, when a Jew lives up to Judaism's creeds and deeds, s/he advances tikkun `olam (repairing the world). Also, Irving (Yitz) Greenberg's recognition that we live in ever-present faith but in of faith, moments when Redeemer and vision of redemption are present, interspersed with times when the flames and smoke of the burning children blot out faith -- though it flickers again,(3) signals that Israel's covenant is no longer obligatory but voluntary.Not surprisingly, Jewish belief one generation after Auschwitz says more about the concern for a meaningful Jewish present and future than about the agenda for Judeocide. What connects these theological views is the Jewish potential and self-accountability in bridging the chasm between God and the Jews and the Jews and the world. This in turn spawns a plethora of other issues, including questions of morality and emanating from the Shoah. What theory of morals and ethical questions can we ask about the Event? What to do with the mainstream of European civilization (religion, philosophy, ethics) that participated or stood idly by in the unprecedented destruction of Europe's Jews, and other innocents? When we hear the appeal of the accused, not guilty; was following orders, or the contrite confession, I am truly sorry; shall repeat this crime, shall we forgive? When ordinary people do extraordinary evil, what does this say to us, especially when we look at our own lives and play our actions out on a mental stage and are routinely confronted by George Santayana's admonition that history repeats itself. Pondering Ethics Lost after the Shoah, are we to agree with this learning from Koheleth: Again saw all the oppressions that are practiced under the sun. Look, the tears of the oppressed -- with no one to comfort them! On the side of their oppressors there was power -- with no one to comfort them. And thought the dead, who have already died, more fortunate than the living, who are still alive; but better than both is the one who has yet been, and has seen the evil deeds that are done under the sun.(4) If yes, why? And if not, then doubly why?The book under review, arising from an ethics working group in the Goldner Holocaust Symposium, held at the Fairleigh Dickinson University's Wroxton College campus in Oxfordshire, England (1996, 1998), consists of six chapters, whose titles describe the process of assessing before the Shoah, its radical transformation during the Shoah, and imagining good and evil after the Shoah. Leonard Grob (Fairleigh Dickinson University) finds Western philosophic tradition wanting in intent and purpose in dealing with the lessons from the Shoah; and unless it radically rethinks its direction, it will be a force to combat present and future genocidal activity. Peter Haas (then at Vanderbilt University) talks of the scientific and technological application of the Nazi ethic and its appeal to the masses and intelligentsia alike; a clear warning to a post-Shoah world of what can happen when the intellectual enterprise of science is allowed to become the unchallenged and unchallengeable source of human values. …

Kepler's search for form and proportion

Kepler's discovery of the courses of the planets did not result from his mechanical intuition: it was not before Newton that his discoveries could be read in the context of classical mechanics. Kepler's own intentions were more in line with Renaissance Platonism: he sought to reconcile the Holy Scripture with Copernican revolution and found an answer to his questions in Plato's Timaeus. His research into the phenomena of growth and procreation in earthly nature was guided by the same yearning to fathom the formal cause which also directed his astronomical research. He singled out one proportion as the divine symbol of procreation: the golden section. Aside from Pacioli's Divina Proportione, Kepler's writings present the only original thoughts about this particular proportion which were published before the nineteenth century. The Mysterium Cosmographicum is still suffused with the spirit of the Renaissance, but in some of his later writings we can trace the dawning of the new mechanistic era.

TRADITIONS IN TRANSFORMATION

Islam, the youngest of the three monotheistic religions, represents a fairly advanced stage in the evolution of traditions which could already be encountered in Jewish and Christian sources. Since the l9th century and even earlier, scholars who noticed this well-known phenomenon, have usually confined themselves merely to asserting the Jewish or Christian origins of traditions recounted in the Islamic sources, without further investigating the new life that was infused into these traditions in the Islamic sphere. In the following, traditions of a clearly Biblical origin will be examined in their specif1c Islamic connotation, thus perhaps enabling us to gain more insight into the role the Biblical history of Israel plays in Islamic historical consciousness.2 This will serve to shed more light on the Islamic conviction that the divinely pre-ordained history of humankind which began with the People of Israel is continued through the history of Muhammad's community.3 For this investigation, the Ark of the Covenant and the Golden Calf have been chosen. These two ritual objects play a signif1cant role in Biblical and Qur'anic historiography, as well as in early Islamic tradition (hadlth). In spite of their contrasting ritual signif1cance (monotheistic as opposed to pagan), they have much in common as symbols of divinity, and in fact stand in an inverted symmetry to each other. The mutual role of these objects in Islam

Constructive Christology: Jesus, Symbol of God by Roger Haight

Constructive Christology: Jesus, Symbol of God by Roger Haight

A Seemingly Crippled Jesus: Jesus, A Symbol of God by Roger Haight

A Seemingly Crippled Jesus: Jesus, A Symbol of God by Roger Haight

Jesus as a Living Symbol Roger Haight ,S.J. Jesus Symbol of God. New York, Orbis Books, 1999.

Jesus as a Living Symbol Roger Haight ,<i>S.J. Jesus Symbol of God</i>. New York, Orbis Books, 1999.

Book Review: Jesus, Symbol of God

Book Review: Jesus, Symbol of God

Light as an Absolute in Science and Religion

In Einstein's theory of relativity, the speed of light is deemed an absolute value because it is indifferent to the motion of material bodies. Nothing we do can "take a bite" out of its measured velocity of 186,000 miles per second: it is an irreducible quantity. Similarly, our minds cannot race ahead quickly enough to reduce or convert light to everyday understandings. Indeed, modem physics portrays light as having an infinite aspect. Leading to talk of the spaceless, timeless character of light, this aspect permits the suggestion that light resonates spiritual possibilities, and this resonance supports the traditional religious view that light is a symbol or expression of divinity. It also provides a basis for affirming absolutes in ethical life. The relativist stance is thus countered on two fronts—scientific and sacred—with light shining through the veil or barrier that has historically divided the two.