Theology Research Articles

Teologi Sistematika Dalam Membangun Ekklesiologi Multikultural Di Indonesia

This research aims to describe the principles of systematic theology in building an ecclesiological model that embraces cultural diversity within the context of the church in Indonesia. The background of this study is the reality of cultural, ethnic, and religious diversity in Indonesia, which often presents challenges for the church in maintaining unity and harmony. The research method employed is literature study, collecting and analyzing sources related to ecclesiology and multiculturalism. The findings indicate that principles of systematic theology, such as anthropological, cosmological, Christ's incarnation, God's sovereignty, and missiological aspects, can be applied to develop an inclusive, just, and contextual multicultural ecclesiological model. The conclusion of this research emphasizes that systematic theology plays a crucial role in creating a church that values diversity, promotes unity, and remains relevant in the multicultural context of Indonesia.

Poseidon and Pluto as Creators of the Human Soul in George Gemistos Plethon’s Pantheon

Introduction. The article examines the place of the creators of the human soul in the theological system of George Gemistos Plethon. In his interpretations of the Chaldean Oracles, Plethon calls the “second god” the “direct creator of the soul”; in the Plethon’s “Book of Laws,” this god is Poseidon, second after the supreme god Zeus, called the “immediate head” of humans. At the same time, in the “Book of Laws,” the gods-children of Zeus are called “creators” and “co-creators,” assistants of Poseidon in the creation of the universe; in particular, Pluto is the “head” and “ruler” of souls, the “leader” of humans. Why, then, is Pluto not the direct creator of the soul, if Poseidon uses him as an intermediary? Methods. Methods employed in this article are source research, information analysis, and comparative research. Sources on the subject include Plethon’s “Book of Laws,” commentaries on the Chaldean Oracles, and “On the differences of Aristotle from Plato.” Analysis. A consideration of the hierarchy of gods and their functions in the pantheon of Plethon shows that Gemistos calls Poseidon “the immediate creator” of the soul and “the immediate head” of humans, meaning that Poseidon is such as the immediate, in contrast to Zeus, creator of the world as a whole. Thus, Poseidon, like his father Zeus, whose only possible accurate image he is, is called δημιουργός and παραγωγός not in the same sense in which the other gods, whose assistance he uses in the creation of separate parts of the universe, can be so called. Results. Poseidon, as the totality of all forms of beings, is the immediate creator of the entire world as a whole, including the human soul. Other gods, including the “chief of human nature” and the “head of our immortal part,” Pluto, are responsible only for separate parts of the universe, and for them, “creation” and “production” of the corresponding parts of the universe turn out to be closer to “ordering,” “decoration,” and “guidance.” Appendix. The article is accompanied by a Russian translation of Plethon’s “Summary of the doctrines of Zoroaster and Plato.”

Jürgen Moltmann. In Memoriam

It is no exaggeration to say that the German Reformed theologian Jürgen Moltmann is one of the most important Christian theologians of the second half of the XX century. His life experience, his defining book The Theology of Hope (1967), and his ecumenical ministry extended his influence not only beyond Protestant circles but also beyond Christianity as such. Political theology, liberation theologies, the social gospel, and the struggle for justice have all been shaped in one way or another by Moltmann's theological thoughts. His concept of the “Crucified God” remains one of the main Christological themes in the study of systematic theology. Contemporary Christian thinkers owe Moltmann at least for the fact that because of his efforts, theology went beyond the academic classroom, found its embodiment in various resistance movements, and became public. Jürgen Moltmann lived a long life, did much for the development of Christian theology, and left behind a rich legacy of writings, teachings, and students. Today, perhaps, there is not a single area on the list of doctrines in which his name is not mentioned in one way or another.

Reflections on God's Body, or, an Exercise in Examining the Limitations of Comparative Religious Studies for Understanding Israel's Theology of God A Review Essay

How should we understand the allusions to God’s corporeality in the OT? Christoph Markschies book, God’s Body: Jewish, Christian, and Pagan Images of God, argues that for all religions of antiquity, including that of ancient Israel, “the notion that God possesses a body and form was thoroughly common sense” (x–xi). An examination of Israel's Scriptures, however, presents a more complex picture. This essay examines this complexity through the lens of Markschies’ magisterial study.

Theology of God’s Energies in Selected Texts by Georges Florovsky

Georges Vasilievich Florovsky (1893–1979) was a prominent 20th century Orthodox priest, theologian and writer involved in the ecumenical movement. In his writing he addressed almost every aspect of the Christian life. G. Florovsky is part of the great emigration of Russian intellectuals, together with M. Berdyaev, S. Bulgakov, M. Lossky, A. Schumann and J. Meyndorf. In his speech to Orthodox theologians gathered in Athens in 1936, he emphasized that the doctrine of energies is one of the truths that needs to be rediscovered by Orthodox theology. His teachings on this subject can be found primarily in three studies: Твар и тварность, Понятие творения у святителя Афанася Великого, Святитель Григoрий Палама и трaдиция Отцов. The starting point for Florovsky’s thought is the thesis that the created world does not have to exist. Creation finds its foundation in God’s will, not in God’s nature or essence. The distinction between nature/essence and will becomes the basis for G. Florovsky to justify the distinction between essence and energies in God. The distinction between essence and energies is effectively the distinction between necessity and free will. This, in turn, becomes the basis for the proper ontological distinction between God and creation. The energies represent God’s will and grace that make creation and new creation (deification) possible. The energies are understood as the action of the entire undivided Holy Trinity.

THE LEGACY OF TOLERATION: J. G. HERDER AND MOSES MENDELSSOHN'S DEFENCE OF PLURALISM

ABSTRACTMoses Mendelssohn's ‘Jerusalem, or on Religious Power and Judaism’ (1783) was a milestone in the promotion of religious toleration – a principle that is constitutive for human rights in their contemporary conception. This article argues that ‘Jerusalem’ borrows from a surprising source: Johann Gottfried Herder's world history, which is entrenched in Protestant theology. Herder's world history presents a non‐hierarchical consideration of peoples. In this framework, Herder called to revalorise oral cultures, previously considered as primitive, as assets for humankind. The article argues that Mendelssohn's promotion of religious toleration employs the logic of Herder's cultural pluralism. Similarly to Herder, Mendelssohn contends that traditional cultures foster a longstanding contribution to humankind. In this vein, Mendelssohn portrays Jewish ritual as exemplary of the vitality of orality. Tracing Herder's cultural pluralism in ‘Jerusalem’ resolves a major tension in Mendelssohn's promotion of toleration: the presentation of Judaism as a superior culture coincides with his call for a non‐hierarchical understanding of cultures.

Sing after God a New Song. Ritual-musical Appropriations of Psalms in Contemporary Dutch and Flemish culture

Summary of PhD Thesis. This thesis was defended on November 28, 2024 at the Protestant Theological University (Utrecht, the Netherlands). Supervisors: prof. dr. Marcel Barnard (Protestant Theological University) and prof. dr. Mirella Klomp (Protestant Theological University). This research was funded by the Stichting Luthers Diakonessenhuis Fonds.

Contextual Theology and the Challenge of Globalization

For several decades, particularly from the 1950s, discussions began about the need to contextualize the Gospel message to make it relevant to specific contexts of people groups in order for proper integration and establishment of the message of Jesus Christ among the various cultures of the world. In this article, we shall show that several arguments have been used to establish contextual theologies in a bid to demonstrate their relevance in the frontiers of Christian missions on the vanguard of Christian campaigns. Even the field of systematic theology and practical theology are not left out as the discussion of contextualization is argued through biblical theology, to show that God all along has used the approach and methodology of contextualization in reaching His creation, and deployed the same through the redemptive process—incarnation, thus, the need to recognize its critical position, and hence secure for it a seat of prominence in theology and ministry. Given that the context discussion of contextualization arose essentially seven decades back—a time, when nations of the world were divided along cultural, religious, political and economic barriers, contextual theologies were critical to making sense of the Gospel of Jesus Christ among the different worldviews and cultures of the world. In recent times, however, the world has shrunk to a global village, thereby collapsing these barriers and erasing diversity. Against this background, a historical methodology is employed to critically examine and demonstrate how globalization has become a thorn in the flesh of contextual theologies.

Analogy Between Theory and Praxis: Hans Urs von Balthasar’s Trinitarian Obedience

This essay presents four different steps that we can follow to establish an analogical connection between the Christian praxis and the Trinitarian immanent life. To illustrate these steps, we have provided a case study of Hans Urs von Balthasar’s treatment of obedience. Obedience is employed analogically to speak of the Trinitarian life of God and of the Christian life, by means of grounding this concept in the personhood of Christ, to be more precise, in his mission. In other words, the Christian obedience becomes a participation in the eternal Trinitarian love between the persons. Balthasar’s treatment of this subject illustrates an example whereby a theory–practice split is overcome with the employment of analogy in systematic theology.

Theology and Policing

This article assesses the notion of “policing” in John Perry and Joanna Leidenhag’s Science-Engaged Theology to consider the contemporary practice of theological inquiry as a theoretical endeavor. Drawing on their construal of science-engaged theology, which involves a twofold resistance towards “authoritarian” tendencies of asserting theology as the queen of the sciences as well as modernity’s “border police” who seek to exclude religion and theology from public discourse, this essay suggests that Perry and Leidenhag’s vision for science-engaged theology not only brings to light one of the ways theology is sometimes deployed as a political mechanism for policing but also how theology itself can perhaps even be considered an act of “theological de-policing.”

Does the Mosaic Law Obligate Christians? The Fate of the Gentiles in Ḥizzuq ʾEmunah by 16th-Century Karaite Jewish Polemicist Isaac Ben Abraham of Troki

Ḥizzuq ʾEmunah (Faith Strengthened), written by the 16th-century Karaite Jewish scholar Isaac ben Abraham of Troki (Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth), was one of the most renowned Hebrew anti-Christian polemical works, meriting translation into most European languages. Troki authored his book during the Polish Reformation, a period marked by intense interactions and theological debates between Jews and Christians of various denominations. The author provides a comprehensive philological, grammatical, and historical analysis of the New Testament while relying heavily on the ideas and scriptural interpretations of radical Protestant theologians and Rabbanite scholars. Ḥizzuq ʾEmunah is unusual in a number of respects. This paper examines one such peculiarity—namely, the author’s view that the Torah and its commandments obligate Christians—as well as his eschatological model in which Christians will become part of Israel in the messianic age. His perspective is examined in our study with particular attention to the range of argumentative methods employed. Among these are the use of evidence from the New Testament, especially the accounts of Jesus and his disciples observing the commandments, and the contrast of early Christians’ conceptions and practices, which he views as close to the Mosaic law, with later Christian interpretations of the Old and the New Testament.

Postcolonial Typology: A Pedagogical Note on the Field of Ecotheology

In the burgeoning field of ecotheology, scholars have been compelled to propose typologies to introduce and categorize existing but diffuse ecotheological insights. Taking ecotheology as a particular epistemic theology, I argue for an alternative way of typologizing that entails meticulously examining the extent to which ecotheologians engage with competing epistemes, namely “postcolonial typology”. To illustrate, I will examine a range of ecotheological works from a postcolonial nation, Indonesia. I present three groups of ecotheologies: the “expansionist”, the “tribalist”, and the “essentialist” approaches (or strategies). The expansionist group extends or expands the systematic theology formerly introduced by European missionaries during the colonial period as a way to ecologize their theology. The tribalist approach prioritizes retrieving and incorporating local or tribal wisdom. Finally, the essentialist group focuses on identifying categorical frameworks that may signify “Indonesianness”, which involves a “strategic” choice of essentialism that yields to a national or transtribal theological cohesion. In the end, I will also note one pedagogical implication of employing postcolonial typology.

Joseph Ratzinger’s Christological-Pneumatological Exegesis of the Old Testament

In his posthumously published collection of essays, Pope Benedict calls on the new generation of biblical scholars to develop methodological criteria for a “pneumatological exegesis” of the Old Testament. As a first step in this direction, the present article seeks to summarize Joseph Ratzinger’s/ Benedict XVI’s own theological reflection on the matter as we find it amply expounded both in his scholarly work and in his magisterium. First, Ratzinger’s understanding of revelation and of the place of both the Church and Scripture therein will be explained. Secondly, Ratzinger’s criteria for an interpretation of Scripture suited to revelation will be presented, with special emphasis on the way in which he both incorporates and goes beyond DV 12 with the help of systematic theology. In closing, Ratzinger’s own practice of Christological-pneumatological exegesis of the Old Testament is exemplified with an outline of his biblical Mariology.

«Слово на погребенïи честныя жены» Симеона Полоцкого в контексте «образцовых» погребальных проповедей XVII века

The study attempts to investigate sources and the so-called “library resource” or texts that were used by Simeon Polotskij for the funeral sample sermon “Slovo ma pogrebenii chestnyia zheny” (“Sermon for the funeral of an honourable woman”) from sermon’s collection “Vecherya Dushevnaia” (“Spiritual Evening Meal”), 1683. The study confirms existed in the literature disparate observations about the significant commonality of the sources of inspiration and factual material of Simeon’s sermon collections and his poetic encyclopaedia “Vertograd mnogotsvetnyi” (“A Garden of Many Flowers”; poetry sources identified by Anthony Hippisley); in particular, that in both cases Simeon used Latin collections of annual sermons by Bavarian Jesuit Matthias Faber (1586(87)–1653). The study analyses techniques of translation and transposition of the Latin text used by Simeon; notes errors made in the process of working with Faber's sermon that distort the attribution of certain quotations; identifies cases of Simeon's use of Latin winged phrases. The analysis of genry features of Simeon’ “Slova ma pogrebenii chestnyia zheny” in the context of the funeral sample sermons for women in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, 17th C. (homiletic collections by Protestant theologian Samuel Dambrowski, 1577–1625, and Polish Jesuit Aleksander Lorencowicz, 1609–1675) showed that the preachers’ funeral sample sermons were often universal and could be used for both “women’s” and “men’s” sermons, depending on the situation.

Between Whale Teeth and the Moral Uses of the Sea: Considering Religion in the US Whaling Industry’s Extractive Zone

This article argues that the nineteenth century US whaling industry provides an oceanic perspective on extractive zones that illuminates their multi-sited, multiscalar nature where the local and global are deeply entangled. Further, I suggest that viewing this process through the underexamined lens of religion can contribute to a fuller understanding of the widespread, often neglected, impacts of extractivism. I take an 1845 sermon by liberal Protestant theologian Horace Bushnell, “A Discourse on the Moral Uses of the Sea,” read alongside the labors of the American whaling industry, as a mid-nineteenth century moment to consider the concealment of the natural resource extraction that is necessary for the production of the conditions of possibility for the imagination of “civilization” ideologically and theologically in the mid-nineteenth century. I look to the journey of whale teeth as they move between waste, items of trade in a global capitalist market, and powerful ritual objects in Fiji, assessing how the extractive zone as a contact zone also transforms religion, which in turn can be a location of agency and resistance. The article calls attention to the critical entanglements of indigenous and settler worlds, whose stories cannot be told separately from one another.

What Is the Afterlife Like for Robots? An Experimental Eschatological Sneak Peek

People have always pondered their afterlife. Now, as AI and robotics continue to advance and proliferate, a new question emerges: Is there also some kind of “afterlife” for robots—and how can we envision it? This article seeks to explore these very queries from a Christian perspective. To tackle the initial question, I argue that, following the thoughts of St. Paul and St. Augustine, the whole of creation is sinful and seeks completion, it would be inconsistent to nurture such an all-encompassing hope yet exclude robots from it. From a Christian perspective, we should therefore assume the existence of an afterlife for robots. To decipher how we can envision it, I examine two pop-cultural depictions from the television episode “Zima Blue” and the television series Futurama, questioning whether they provide a fitting image of eschatological completion for robots. This methodological approach allows me to present a spectrum of conceptions of robotic afterlife that, when examined through the lens of systematic theology, appear plausible, offering fresh impetus for eschatological and robophilosophical reflections.

Towards a systematic theology of the body

Between the two fundamental ways of experiencing one's body, as highlighted by philosophical reflection inspired by phenomenology, the needle of the theological compass points towards the pole of the lived body. Phenomenology has opened up, in contrast to dominant conceptions, the experience of corporeity as a new terrain of research.

The transcendent call from aesthetic experiences

In this article, I discuss theological aesthetics in light of various descriptions of experiences of transcendence that art can provide for human beings. The American author Patti Smith describes, e.g. how works of art “call her” so that she must respond with art productions of her own. This looks similar to what German sociologist Hartmut Rosa calls “resonance”. He describes art as one of the places where an experience of vertical resonance can take place. Smith’s experiences also correspond to the description of the basic experience of transcendence of human beings as they are interpreted by the Danish philosopher Dorthe Jørgensen. However, she reduces these experiences to be immanent in nature because they are objectless. I suggest that systematic theology can contribute with a distinct theological interpretation of aesthetic experiences through a three-fold argument. First, to combine beauty and infinity in the being of God. Second, to reinterpret the notion of the incarnation as God’s continuous presence in the world. And third, by combining natural theology’s point that creation speaks of God with a reinterpretation of the artefacts that humans can create. As such, this paper proposes how systematic theology can contribute to the interpretation of aesthetic experiences of transcendence.

Moltmann in America: Impact and Critical Reception

The world of Christian theology mourns the passing of Jürgen Moltmann (1926–2024), one of the most prominent Protestant theologians of the twentieth century. Moltmann's death invites a first, albeit only cursory, review of his impact in the US. Since his first stay at Duke University in 1967–1968, he spent much time here, whether on lecture tours, conferences, or for visiting appointments.

Jürgen Moltmann: Theologian of Hope, 1926–2024

Jürgen Moltmann made theological history with his major works Theology of Hope (1964) and The Crucified God (1972), which have appeared in many editions and translations. He became the most internationally influential German Protestant theologian of the second half of the twentieth century.