Theological Framework Research Articles

Sophia: The Female Aspect of Christ in Origen of Alexandria

Abstract This article examines the feminine aspect of Sophia, a significant title for Christ in Origen of Alexandria’s theology. It investigates whether Origen recognized and utilized Sophia’s femininity to develop a Christology that incorporates female elements or if he downplayed this aspect to counter Gnostic interpretations, particularly those of the Valentinians, who sexualized the divine. The analysis begins with an overview of the Wisdom figure in Prov 8:22-25 and its representation in Valentinian Gnosticism, highlighting Origen’s reliance on biblical texts as foundational to his theological framework. Key passages from Origen’s “On First Principles” and “Commentary on the Gospel of John” are explored to reveal his understanding of Sophia as both a mediator in creation and an integral part of Christ’s identity. The article concludes that while Origen acknowledges Sophia’s femininity, he strategically avoids sexualized language and imagery, likely to prevent misinterpretation among simpler Christians and to distance himself from Gnostic thought. Ultimately, this nuanced approach reflects Origen’s complex engagement with the feminine in his theological discourse.

God: author, actor, director?

What has Broadway to do with Jerusalem? This article discusses the relation between drama and theology. Firstly, I outline five different uses of drama (usus dramatis) and define dramatic theology in its own right, as well as in relation to narrative theology. Secondly, I offer a trinitarian typology of dramatic theology by distinguishing between a dramatic theology of the Father (God as author), of the Son (God as actor), and of the Holy Spirit (God as director). Thirdly, I explicitly deal with the question of the relation between drama and theology by discussing drama as a praeambula fidei or ancilla theologiae and by dealing with the question of an analogia dramatis, focusing especially on the direction of the analogical flow. Lastly, I outline the main benefits of using drama as a framework for theology.

The Impact of the Covid-19 Pandemic on Clergy Identity, Their Practice of Ministry and Theology

ABSTRACT This essay reflects upon some of the practical and pastoral theological implications of the results of a mixed methods study using two intuitional ethically compliant surveys regarding the well-being of New England Congregational Christian clergy. The long-term effects of COVID-19 on the clergy was not a focus of this study. The study’s results show that (1) mindful self-care is imperative for the clergy, (2) denominations would benefit from promoting existing self-care strategies and practices, including using the experience of older clergy, and (3) denominations and local congregations must provide for and promote the self-care of the clergy. These research findings are discussed through a framework of practical and pastoral theology.

Is Artificial Intelligence Capable of Love through Self-Sacrifice?

In light of the Theology Today editorial “Will There Be Anything Left for Us?” by Gordon S. Mikoski, which briefly discusses the nature of Artificial Intelligence (AI), we further the conversation by providing a reflective theological framework to help interpret the human–AI relationship. We contend that agape love through the capacity for loving self-sacrifice is a feature of humankind that manifests our intrinsic nature as imago Dei. Based on this contention, AI would unlikely be able to self-sacrifice for agape love because it either can only be programmed to “self-sacrifice” or would not fully understand the nature of self-sacrifice, either of which would just be a semblance of agape love.

Ancient civilizations’ territorial borders analyzed through their cosmogonies

This paper compares the ancient Mediterranean and Mesopotamian civilizations’ concept of borders and their relation with the spaces they transformed through a comparative approach of selected ancient civilizations, putting these cosmogonies into a chronological evolutionary line. The distinct motifs, symbols, and theological frameworks are examined through secondary sources. While each of these civilizations counts with individual studies, few serious attempts have been made to address these four civilizations together. The discussion aims to set the premises of the importance of borders in contemporary urban and territorial studies when religion often has a secondary role. While they were critical elements in the definition of territorial limits in the past, their inheritance is still present in our contemporary concept of borders as producers of fears.

The Virtue of Religion and the Act of Doing Sacred Theology

In the theological tradition of St. Thomas Aquinas, this paper will argue that the practical actions of studying, contemplation, and teaching sacred theology are acts proper to the infused Christian virtue of religion. To understand this, the framework of Thomistic moral theology and anthropology is necessary. After introducing this background, St. Thomas’s understanding of the virtue of justice is explained alongside the virtue of religion, which is a potential part of this cardinal virtue. The second part of the paper moves into a description of the practical actions of theologizing, as distinguished from the essential nature of sacred theology. The way that these actions are variously elicited or commanded by the infused virtue of religion are then shown to be properly due to God as His just right.

The Rejection of Prophetic Traditions: Analyzing the Inkar Sunnah Movement in West Sumatra, Indonesia

This article explores the ideological stance of the Inkar Sunnah movement, which rejects the prophetic traditions (Sunnah) as a source of Islamic law, focusing on its development in West Sumatra, Indonesia. Historically, this movement can be traced back to political and sectarian conflicts in early Islamic history, such as those involving the Khawarij, Shia, and Mu'tazilah sects. Over time, skepticism towards hadith, fueled by fabricated traditions and modern Orientalist critiques, gained traction. Prominent figures like Dalimi Lubis and Nazwar Syamsu have continued to propagate Inkar Sunnah beliefs in modern Indonesia, advocating that the Qur’an alone suffices for Islamic jurisprudence. This research adopts a qualitative library approach, analyzing primary texts by these figures and secondary sources on hadith scholarship. The study critically examines their arguments and the socio-political context that allowed their ideas to proliferate, as well as strategies to counter this ideological challenge within Indonesian Islamic discourse. The findings reveal a persistent tension between traditional Sunni orthodoxy and reformist interpretations that seek to minimize or outright reject the role of the Sunnah, posing significant implications for Islamic legal and theological frameworks.

EASSESSING ELIZABETH BARRETT BROWNING’S DIALOGUE WITH FRIEDRICH SCHILLER IN “THE DEAD PAN”

Widely interpreted as Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s justification for incorporating Christian themes within poetic discourse, “The Dead Pan” offers a Christian perspective in response to Friedrich Schiller’s favourable portrayal of Ancient Greek paganism in “Gods of Greece.” The poem epitomises Victorian pietism, exemplifying the period’s religious fervour and advocating for the synthesis of Christian content in poetry to enrich the literary canon. This advocacy originates from Browning’s belief that Christianity offers superior truths and values compared to Greek paganism. However, this study proposes a reassessment of Barrett Browning’s interpretation of Schiller’s work, suggesting that she may have misconstrued his allusions to Greek mythology as a straightforward endorsement of paganism. It is crucial to recognise that Schiller’s critique of Christianity primarily condemns the exploitation of the faith by religious and secular authorities to oppress and control the populace, rather than an outright denunciation of the religion itself. By examining the genesis of “The Dead Pan” through Barrett Browning’s personal correspondence, this study illuminates her specific objectives and her responses to Schiller’s perspectives. Additionally, by contextualising “Gods of Greece” within its socio-political and theological framework, this paper demonstrates that while Browning and Schiller have divergent approaches to Ancient Greek culture and Christianity, Barrett Browning overlooks Schiller’s nuanced criticism of the misuse of religion by religious and secular authorities.

Возможна ли теологическая аксиология: pro et contra

Axiology experienced a period of rapid development at the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th centuries. But until now there have been no attempts to comprehend the concept of value from the theological point of view. Within the framework of classical theology, God was contemplated to be the source of any good. Anything has value only in relation to the Divine Good. In this sense, we can talk about the “theological reduction” of axiology in theology. Axiology is the result of modern awareness by man of his right to free choice among various goods. Nevertheless academic theology of the New Age may have its own insight into the phenomenon of values. It is able to fulfill the role of critical research in relation to what someone perceives as value, in order to indicate the presence or absence of soteriological potential in such a phenomenon. Theology can also study the process of how one or another value has been recognized as soteriological and how this perception influenced the life of an individual, community or Church. The article also shows some features that distinguish the theological view of values from other ways of thinking and raises the question of the development of a theology of culture.

The Holy Spirit as a Holistic Healing Balm for the Community

This study examines the theologies of three theologians who incorporate liberation as a prominent part of their theological framework. The goal is to expand Pneumatology beyond the ethical and draw out the implications of a Pneumatology of liberation. The Holy Spirit is working in and through the Church but is not limited to it, liberating all of creation from the negative effects of sin that leads to sickness in various forms. Ultimately, the Holy Spirit is restoring koinonia to God’s good creation, which is made for the glory of Jesus Christ. This study examines how the Pneumatology of liberation can expand beyond ethics. It will review the theologians and draw implications for a Christological, ecclesiological, and eschatological Holy Spirit. Liberation from the negative effects of sin leads to healing individually, communally, and cosmically. Ultimately, the goal is to restore koinonia to God’s creation for the glory of Jesus Christ.

Pentecostal leadership disputes in Zimbabwe: A pastoral challenge

Conflicts in the Pentecostal church leadership have been growing since time immemorial. However, leadership disputes have become traumatic and tragic in Zimbabwe to the extent that junior pastors are committing suicide and killing each other because of these conflicts. The article uses the practical theological framework to explore the complex intersections of conflict within the Pentecostal church, analysing the various factors and dynamics contributing to these conflicts. This work examines and addresses the ramifications of a leadership conflict within the Apostolic Faith Mission (AFM). The junior pastors, who have been impacted by the leadership dispute, have endured trauma stemming from the ongoing conflict among the church’s prominent leaders, which is the central focus of this study. To better understand the lived experience of trauma among these pastors, a qualitative research design was employed. Through purposeful sampling and face-to-face interviews, participants were given the opportunity to share their narratives of leadership trauma. The result is that junior pastors are internalising the trauma, which is affecting them spiritually, emotionally and physically in ministry. This article proposes a healing methodology utilising the Gerkin and Positive Deconstruction approach.Contribution: This study leverages a practical theological framework to examine the challenges of providing pastoral care for junior ministers who were impacted by leadership disputes within AFM thereby contributing to Pentecostal approaches to care.

Strength in weakness: a mystery of hope

A vocation to serving in severely medically under-resourced settings invariably means facing of our own weakness in realizing that vocation. Christian teaching proclaims that God’s strength in made perfect in weakness, which is both a comfort and a mystery to many in their face of their weaknesses. Without diminishing the mystery, experience demonstrates several ways in which this promise plays out in reality, providing an imaginative stimulus for how it may also be true in ways where it is less understood. Believing such teaching forms part of a necessary theological framework for Christians serving in areas of immense suffering as well as encouraging transparency and vulnerability in regards to their own weaknesses.

Pengantaraan Orang-orang Kudus

This article wants to explore the historical and doctrinal basis for the practice of praying through the intercession of saints, which is commonly found in the Catholic Church. For that purpose, it will study the historical context of its origin and its doctrinal basis originating from the documents of councils. From the study of these sources, it is hoped that we can find the authentic spirit behind the practice of supplicating prayer through the intercession of saints. It is also hoped that, with a proper understanding of its history in the Church and the Church teaching on it, abuse can be avoided, and correct practice found support. For this reason, the discussion will be maintained by a study on the historical context of the practice and of the development of the doctrine found in the Magisterium of the councils. Yet the general theological framework of the Second Vatican Council will be presented first, so that the theological vision of the theme in the modern era could be placed as our basic understanding. But as it is also necessary to present the historical background of this practice, the discussion should also be supplied with this historical background. With this background, it is hoped that the idea of the teachings outlined by the councils, from the beginning up to the Second Vatican Council, can be better understood.

A Theological Framework for Understanding Hope in the Clinic

Abstract Appeals to the miraculous are common in healthcare, and arguments about end-of-life decision-making can quickly become theological. Assessments of hope have been recommended within the biopsychosocialspiritual model of medicine, but these assessments fail to account for the theological dimension of hope. Examples of failed assessments include recent efforts in palliative care and classic works, such as On Death and Dying by Elisabeth Kübler-Ross. To adequately address the patient’s and family members’ hopes without patronizing or harming the patient, assessments must be done by a person trained in theology.

Can a Missional Ecclesiology Be Sacramental?

Abstract ‘Missional’ accounts of ecclesiology, developed in the light of the theology of missio Dei since the 1950s, include some that carry a sacramental emphasis, treating the dominical sacraments as primary for the church’s being and also recognized continuity in the ordering of ministry as integral to this sacramental identity. Nonetheless, continuing tensions are evident in the literature on missional ecclesiology and in controversies around church policy and practice. One factor here is an underlying contrast between an approach that locates the church’s participation in the missio Dei in its action towards the world and another that puts the weight instead on its sustaining a distinctive form of being-in-relationship. Treating the relation between gospel, communication and communion as the critical theological framework for articulating the church’s participation in the missio Dei, the article proposes that this can support an ecclesiology that, constructively addressing this contrast, is both thoroughly missional and deeply sacramental.

Зло как категория современного политического мышления

The article attempts to analyze the understanding of evil both in contemporary political discourse and in everyday word usage. For this purpose, it is proposed to revisit the problem of theodicy, since evil is almost always used in a religious sense. The article distinguishes between the process of secularization, as a result of which the omnipotence of God becomes the property and instrument of political power, and the deconstruction of Christianity, which allows us to move from political theology to secular theodicy, where our ability to think and recognize evil in the world, rather than the problem of God's justification, comes to the fore. The author argues that this is impossible within the framework of political theology, where political evil always conceals and justifies itself. This is the fate of all theodicies, which Kant calls “doctrinal,” in which reason, making a claim against god (or transcendence) is always able to justify it. Kant considers the Book of Job to be the only “authentic” theodicy in which it is suffering itself, or Job's conscience, immanent to the world, that sues god. This is an important step in the direction of secular theodicy, but it is also limited in its desire to be subsumed by deity or authority. The paper suggests that we should pay attention to Job's wife's call to her husband to “curse the Lord and die.” These words become the origin of an alternative theodicy – a theodicy of action, a theodicy of the victim refusing to speak to god. The author finds the beginnings of such a theodicy in Jules Michelet's historical analysis of the religious massacres of witches, where the latter appear as victims, as well as in Jean Amery's analysis of torture and his idea of the rehabilitation of the ressentiment. The line of rebellion leading from the words of Job's wife to the unprecedented forms of violence of power provoked by the fear of this rebellion leads to the understanding of evil not as religious (opposing good), but as a political phenomenon of the modern world, manifested in excessive violence against the powerless victim.

Confirmation of the Spiritual Nature of Individual and Society in Yevhen Spektorskyi’s Works of the Emigrant Period

The article presents the main issues of the works by the famous philosopher, jurist and educator Yevhen Vasyliovych Spektorskyi (1875‒1951) written during the period of forced emigration (1920‒1951) and professional activity at the universities of Belgrade, Prague, Ljubljana and the St. Volodymyr Orthodox Theological Seminary in New-York. In the intellectual biography of the thinker, these prolific years are marked by the development of issues in social science, philosophy, moral theology, and Christian ethics. In numerous works in various foreign languages, some of which have been analyzed in this article for the first time, Spektorskyi substantiated the importance of moral — as opposed to physical and mental — dimension of the existence of both individuals and society, for which he regarded the Christian religion to be a reference point. The latter, in his opinion, can truly explore the essence of the individual and social with the help of Christian sociology. The history of social philosophy is essential for social science as well as philosophy itself. Positioned between science and religion, philosophy has the capacity for free thinking, which is crucial for achieving a genuine understanding of society. As it is revealed in the article, the philosopher developed ethical guidelines within the framework of moral theology, criticizing naturalistic and mechanistic approaches to understanding society and the individual. Spektorskyi regarded freedom, dignity, and a righteous life according to the Christian ideal, as well as cultural activity, as fundamental values. The author argues that Spektorskyi’s affirmation of absolute values and the study of the relationship between the individual and society on the basis of the Christian religion provide grounds for evaluating Spektorskyi as an exceptionally religious philosopher.

Escape from the Constraint of Theological Correlation: Martin Heidegger’s 1924 Presentation on Luther

In this essay, I examine a less familiar document: the text of Martin Heidegger’s 1924 lecture on Martin Luther, delivered as part of the seminars held by Rudolf Bultmann. This lecture, I argue, makes the theological or, to be more precise, Lutheran roots of Heidegger’s philosophical motivations in the years during which he was doing the preparatory work for Being and Time clear. The analysis demonstrates that Luther had a decisive influence on Heidegger’s concept of man. Heidegger praises the theological radicalism of Luther’s concept of man, but he seeks at the same time to free his own concept from this theological framework. Thus, in this respect, he is even more radical than Luther. While Luther is bound by the correlational constraint presented in the analysis between God and man, Heidegger’s philosophizing at first follows Luther’s radical thinking about concrete man but then removes this concrete man from the correlational constraint. The study argues that the document in question shows that, as a result, Heidegger does not arrive at a residual concept of man (or, in other words, his philosophy is not a decapitated theology) but at a radically new concept of man. Keywords: Heidegger, Luther, Dasein, theological correlation, decapitated theology

Theology of John of Damascus on The Antichrist in the Eighth-Century Orthodox Church

This study explores the theology of John of Damascus on the Antichrist within the context of the Eighth-Century Orthodox Church. Addressing a gap in existing scholarship, this research provides a comprehensive analysis of John of Damascus's eschatological views, particularly his depiction of the Antichrist, and examines their theological, historical, and cultural implications. Employing a historical-theological method, the research involves a detailed textual analysis of John of Damascus's works, contextualization within the Byzantine era, comparative analysis with contemporary and preceding theologians, and interpretation through theological frameworks. The study reveals that John of Damascus articulated a clear and systematic portrayal of the Antichrist, integrating it within his broader eschatological framework. His views were shaped by the historical and political milieu of the Eighth Century, notably the rise of Islam and internal theological disputes within Byzantium. John of Damascus emphasized the Antichrist as a significant heretical threat, advocating for vigilance and steadfastness in faith among the Christian faithful. His teachings were deeply woven into Orthodox doctrine, reinforcing the eventual triumph of Christ and the necessity of maintaining orthodox beliefs against heretical challenges. The findings underscore the lasting impact of John of Damascus's theology on the Antichrist in the Orthodox tradition, influencing subsequent theological developments and the Church's understanding of end-time events. This study highlights the importance of his eschatological perspectives, demonstrating how they were both reflective of and responsive to the theological and historical challenges of his time.

Acts of God and restorative justice in the Joseph story

This article presents the narrator’s and the characters’ contesting views on the “acts of God” in the Joseph story (Genesis 37, 39–50) through the interpretive framework of Ricoeurian narrative theology, along with psychoanalytic theories, such as repression and Nachträglichkeit. After presenting the different static views on the acts of God by the narrator, Joseph’s butler, and Joseph’s brothers, the article offers a psychoanalytic reading of the gradual change in Joseph’s view on the acts of God. It argues that (1) Joseph’s delayed emotional reactions to his traumatic experience of being sold into slavery by his brothers are triggered by his subsequent encounters with them, which eventually lead to his radical resignification of his past traumatic experiences and misfortunes as the saving acts of God and (2) the restorative justice achieved between Joseph and his brothers at the end culminates in another insight on the “acts of God” as a form of transformative, healing power.