History Of Theology Research Articles

The Contemporary Constructive Task

Lutheran theology is noted for its excellent contributions to historical theology. Contemporary times, however, require that Lutheran theologians become attuned to the urgent demands of the present and take up the discipline of constructive theology to address these demands. Taking the lead from contemporary feminist Lutheran theologians, constructive approaches utilizing Lutheran theological resources must articulate vigorous critique of a corrosive neo-liberal culture by articulating divine judgment on human greed as well as witnessing to divine grace that always favors truthful living.

Elementos da Nova Perspectiva sobre Paulo a partir de representantes clássicos

As cartas do apóstolo Paulo constituem um desafio. Sua recepção não foi consensual. Porém, a ocupação com elas cativou e impactou pessoas a ponto de se tornarem personagens cuja interpretação de Paulo se impôs e marcou decisivamente a história da teologia e igreja. Martim Lutero foi um exemplo clássico disso. Ocupando-se intensivamente com as cartas de Paulo aos Gálatas e Romanos, Lutero achou a chave hermenêutica para compreender a justiça de Deus como justifi cação do pecador somente pela fé em oposição às obras. Exceções e variações à parte, essa compreensão de justiça de Deus foi determinante para a exegese protestante posterior, e no “ocidente cristão” influenciou fortemente a compreensão do judaísmo como religião meramente legalista, à qual Paulo se opôs com veemência em suas cartas. Dos anos de 1960 em diante, surgiu uma nova leitura de Paulo e do judaísmo de seu tempo. Ela tornou-se conhecida como nova perspectiva sobre Paulo. Nela, questiona-se principalmente a exegese alemã. Isso causou reações materializadas em rica produção literária que não pode mais ser ignorada na pesquisa acadêmica sobre Paulo e o judaísmo. O presente artigo destaca, sobretudo, aspectos do debate da nova perspectiva sobre Paulo no contexto da exegese alemã. Para tal, os nomes de Stendahl, Sanders e Dunn são referência básica.

Концепция эллинизации христианства в истории теологии

Концепция эллинизации христианства в истории теологии

MENAKAR HERMENEUTIKA DALAM KAJIAN SASTRA

The study of literature is signed by an inherent and important activity within it, i.e. interpretation. The activity of literature appreciation and literature criticism, both of its periphery and its orifice, deals with literature studies that should be interpreted. Every interpretation activity of literature works always involves in a hermeneutical process. Hence, hermeneutics occupies a crucial position and it is impossible to disregard it in the analyis of the literature works. Based on that explanation, hermeneutics is something important to discuss comprehensively in order to obtain sufficient understanding. Hermeneutics developed in the literature interpretation deals closely with the development of hermeneutical thoughts, especially on the history of philosophy and theology because it begins to appear from these two subjects. To understand hermeneutics in the literature interpretation, it is necessary to comprehensively understand the history and the concept of hermeneutics, especially dealing with three variants of hermeneutics which develop in the tradition of modern hermeneutics: methodological or theoritical hermeneutics, philosophical hermeneutics, and critical hermeneutics. by understanding these three variants, it enables us to have sufficient understanding on hermeneutics in the literature studies.

John Owen and English Puritanism: Experiences of Defeat. By Crawford Gribben . Oxford Studies in Historical Theology. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2016. xiv + 401 pp. $74.00 cloth.

John Owen and English Puritanism: Experiences of Defeat. By Crawford Gribben . Oxford Studies in Historical Theology. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2016. xiv + 401 pp. $74.00 cloth. - Volume 86 Issue 2

Augustine's Early Theology of Image: A Study in the Development of Pro-Nicene Theology. By Gerald P. Boersma . Oxford Studies in Historical Theology. New York: Oxford University Press, 2016. xi + 318 pp. $74.00 cloth.

Augustine's Early Theology of Image: A Study in the Development of Pro-Nicene Theology. By Gerald P. Boersma . Oxford Studies in Historical Theology. New York: Oxford University Press, 2016. xi + 318 pp. $74.00 cloth.

The continuing relevance of “queer” theology for the rest of the field

ABSTRACTWhat does it mean to queer theology? How is this task of queering theology relevant to and engaged with mainstream academic theological discourse? What is already queer about theology? What direction should queering theology take in the future? This special issue examines these key questions, among others, which are at the heart of the overall project that has been referred to as “queer theology”. In this introduction to the volume, we outline common strands of thought, and key issues and questions that undergird and interlace the essays in this volume. We also provide a brief history of queer theology, highlighting four themes that we consider essential to the study of queer theology as a whole: (1) the role of witness, (2) the project of disentangling the “real” issues from the incidentals in reactions to a queer presence in the Church, (3) the creative rereading of tradition with an eye toward emancipation and (4) the ways in which queer theology orients the field of theological studies as a whole to what really matters (or ought to matter) for Christians and others seeking to follow the witness of Jesus.

جليل الكلام ودقيقه لدى الشيعة الإمامية قبل بداية فترة الغيبة الكبرى

This study would serve as sequel to the views of the Imami theologian Hisham bin al-hakam on Jalil al-Kalam and Daqiq al-Kalam by explaining the theological views of Zurarah bin Aʻyun, Abu Jaʻfar al-Ahwal, al-Fadl ibn Shazan and Banu Nubakht; it will focus on their known writings, explicating their available theological views as far as possible, on the basis of Sunni and Shi’ite sources in the context of the history of theology. The objective behind that is to explain the theological trends that emerged in the history of the Twelver Imamite community, their connections; this would, first of all, provide knowledge of the intellectual foundations of the Twelver theology, which reached its pinnacle at the hands of the theologians of the fifth century AH beginning with Shaykh al-Mufid bin Muhammad bin al-Nuʻman al-ʻAkbari al-Baghdadi. Secondly, this study would provide an understanding of the relational basis between the Twelver and the Mutazilite theological thought. I think that it is the result of a mutual cross-fertilization on the one hand, while on the other since they both derive from the same sources, they lead to similar results. It is not a case of Shi’ite subservience to a predominant Mutazilite influence because the Twelver Shi’ite theologian was conscious of his requirements in support of his doctrine, which revolves around the issue of the Imamah in Jalil al-Kalam and Daqiq al-Kalam alike. In addition, this study will also identify the real origins of the idea of limiting the imamate to twelve imams, ending with the consideration of the early Imamite scholars through which they established their arguments against their opponents in their writings and debates. This is all the more important since the titles of the Shi’ite Imami writings and from what is quoted in their debates on the issue of Imamate, do not point to the imamate of only twelve imams, as the history of the Imami Thought depicts and which starts with the period of the Minor Occultation, which lasted about 70 years from 260 to 329 AH. KeywordsImami Shiʻites, Jalil al-Kalam, Daqiq al-Kalam, Major Occultation

Teaching Historical Theology at the University of Pretoria – Some introductory remarks

The Faculty of Theology at the University of Pretoria went through a process of restructuring, resulting in the amalgamation of Dogmatics, Christian Ethics, Church History and Church Polity into one department under the name ‘Systematic and Historical Theology’. This contribution reflects only on the one aspect, namely Historical Theology. The point is made that a name change could not mean ‘business as usual’, but should be regarded as an opportunity to re-imagine the content and structure of Historical Theology. This is not an easy task. This contribution reflects on Historical Theology as theological discipline, the teaching content and how it could be relevant in Africa in the 21st century. It also has implications for restructuring the curriculum.

Paul C. H. Lim . Mystery Unveiled: The Crisis of the Trinity in Early Modern England. Oxford Studies in Historical Theology (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2012), pp. xvi + 488. £53.00.

Paul C. H. Lim . Mystery Unveiled: The Crisis of the Trinity in Early Modern England. Oxford Studies in Historical Theology (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2012), pp. xvi + 488. £53.00.

Mystery Unveiled: The Crisis of the Trinity in Early Modern England (Oxford Studies in Historical Theology). By Paul C. H. Lim. Pp. 328, + notes, bibliography & index. Oxford University Press, 2012, £44.76.

Mystery Unveiled: The Crisis of the Trinity in Early Modern England (Oxford Studies in Historical Theology). By Paul C. H. Lim. Pp. 328, + notes, bibliography & index. Oxford University Press, 2012, £44.76.

Erinnerung, Erfahrung, Erwartung

Abstract The considerations presented in this essay are to contribute to the reassessment of the meaning of hermeneutics as mediator between historical criticism and biblical theology. In dialogue with the concepts of Samuel Terrien and Gerhard von Rad as well as Reinhart Koselleck’s theory of historical time, the essay develops and discusses remembrance, experience and expectation as epistemological principles of a hermeneutics of the whole Bible.

Fragmented, Messianic, Paradoxical, Antinomian, Revolutionary, Secular: The Hermeneutics of Eschatology

Multiple philosophical-theological efforts in the last century, from W. Benjamin to J. Caputo, have been centered on a messianic opposition to normative structures, a challenge that invokes a long history in the West of breaking down the codes of ordered, civilized and religious society. That such an apocalyptic fervor is nothing new to the history of theology should not surprise us. What should surprise us, however, is how infrequently we are able to see the larger pattern behind these particular movements. Taking up the recent emergence of ‘queer theology’ as the current manifestation of such a trend, I want to isolate and clarify the theological implications of comprehending the existence of humanity as a state of constantly ‘being between’. What I argue is that developing a hermeneutics of eschatology that takes such tensions as foundational rather than merely heterodox indicates that the opposition of grace and law is to be understood not as a dualism to be overcome but as the structure of history itself. The question I am posing is this: to what degree does the queering or subversion of theological normativity, or the development of a ‘theology against itself’, allow us to subvert identitarian politics and to challenge the social and religious institutions that we are a part of? It is through the lens of ‘queer theology’ and its questioning of the existence of normativity itself that we are simultaneously returned to the basic structures that guide human life, while, at the same time, propelled forward into new configurations of resistance to just such structures. By firmly placing ourselves within this ‘queer critique’ we see the ‘already-not yet’ tension of eschatological thought not simply in religious terms, but in ones that reorient our relationship to the political and social orders of this world, calling for a permanent re-envisioning of norms as the individual—and the church—are found to be perpetually—and edifyingly—‘against themselves’.

Alternative Visions for Pastoral Work with LGBTQ Individuals, Families, and Communities: A Response.

Multiple theological perspectives provide frameworks for pastoral work with lesbian, gay, bisesxual and trans individuals, families, and communities. One model is offered by those who argue for celibacy or heterosexual marriages for those who self-identify as part of LGBTQ communities. This article names other theologically grounded perspectives with the goal of inviting practitioners to broaden their understandings and wrestle with the implications of their theological and ethical stances. When reflecting on the intersection of spirituality and sexuality, the meaning of theological terms such as sin, contributions from queer theologians and pastoral counselors, and the limitations of binary categories common in our theological history, this article encourages pastoral counselors and spiritual care providers to re-examine theological assumptions they bring to their work. The article ends with questions and opportunities for ongoing pastoral theological work and reflection.

Toward a black theology in Brazil

Toward a black theology in Brazil Leontino Faria dos Santos Taking in consideration the insistent practice of racism in Brazilian society, it is easy to imagine the need to develop a Black Theology that calls upon us to reflect on this phenomenon, in light of biblical‐theological presuppositions of a liberating and prophetic nature. We use as reference the Black Theology that developed in the United States as a theological movement that emerged among black Christians in the second half of the 1960s, focusing on the theological reflection on the struggle of black Americans under the leadership of Martin Luther King jr. In Brazil, the great reference to understand better this theological movement are the works published by Edições Paulinas, written by James H. Cone (God of the Opressed, 1985), one of the most important works on Black Theology; and the collection of documents on the first phase of the history of Black Theology from 1966 to 1979 by Gayraud S. Wilmore (Black Theology, 1986). Regrettably, we find that the Liberation Theology that developed in Brazil and in Latin America (although its focus was more on a Marxist social‐economic analysis than on the liberation of an oppressed race) in the 1980s and 1990s explored, as it was hoped, a relevant Black Theology that was impactful and that would arouse the attention of Christians in Brazil. Initiatives with a liberating bias were not enough to make the general populace think about the problems of blacks in Brazilian society. It is admirable to consider the fact that the leaders of North American Black Theology sought to maintain a certain dialogue with the leaders of Latin American and Asian liberation. The effects of this effort were not enough to impact Christian religious segments or Brazilian society. It is appropriate to consider, therefore, that Black Theology distinguishes itself from Latin American Liberation Theology by avoiding the use of Marxist social‐economic analysis and by focusing on the liberation of an oppressed race rather than a social‐economic class. However, the effort undertaken by the Roman Catholic Church, which was more committed in the twentieth century to the problems of blackness than the Protestant Churches, deserves a positive mention. Among these Protestant Churches, there are some that never have addressed the black question satisfactorily, from a liberating and prophetic reflection. Basic assumptions that justify a Black Theology in Brazil Historical retrospective of racism in Brazil Racism in Brazil results from the same causes that determined it in Spanish America. Unlike what happened in ancient times, in which discrimination was based on religious, national, or linguistic differences, this type of discrimination in Brazil was made in relation to culture and being different, including here the marked differences of physical traits and skin color. In the beginning of the sixteenth century, the colonizers who arrived in Brazil (Portuguese), brought in their cultural baggage, ideologies from the social, political, economic, theological, and pseudo‐scientific explanations, considered by them logical, to justify the origin of racism. They had the same characteristics, foundations, and principles already used in Europe, which were also based on theological misconceptions based on some Old Testament biblical texts, which were themselves transformed into a biased doctrine that developed among fundamentalist theologians. The European theological misconception of racial discrimination became a strong motive for defending black slavery in Brazil. Already in 1520, it was said that the Amerindians were not descendants of Adam and Eve. The biblical foundation for this was found in the story of Noah who was intoxicated with wine and got naked in front of his children. Ham, one of Noah′s sons, in seeing his father in this situation and mocking him, was therefore cursed along with all his offspring. Racist theologians then concluded that blacks are the descendants of Ham, therefore cursed and condemned to permanent servitude and slavery. Other biblical quotations (Ephesians 6:5 and Ecclesiasticus 33:26–28) have also been the subject of misleading interpretations, always with the purpose of justifying black slavery and the need to be docile and servile. It validated in Brazil, what was already happening in Europe, since the end of the Middle Ages, in the beginning of the sixteenth century, that...

THEOLOGY AND LAW DIVORCED AND RECONCILED: AQUINAS, LUTHER, RAWLS, AND US

What is divinity if it can comeOnly in silent shadows and in dreams?—Wallace Stevens Let me tell an absurdly brief story about part of the history of theology and law. In this story, I take Thomas Aquinas, Martin Luther, John Rawls, and us as signposts. The tale is overly simple, but it can help situate and challenge us. We are at the end of the long decline into legal positivism; a new era of “political agape” beckons.

Historical Theology at public universities matter

South African universities are in the process of serious transformation and restructuring. The place of faculties of theology at universities has come under the spotlight resulting in the closure of several theological faculties or in the moving of theology to other faculties, mainly humanities or arts. Theology is under pressure and in the current academic environment, Church History, in its traditional form, has all but disappeared from South African universities. This article is an attempt to address the current situation. Whilst this article looks at the issue of theology at public universities, its main focus is to explore the future study of church history in the context of universities and, in particular, a Faculty of Theology. Understanding church history in the broad framework as Historical Theology, this article asserts the significance of church history at public universities, but points out the need to restructure the Department giving due consideration to community engagement, internationalisation, transformation, africanisation and interreligious collaboration. All of these would have a serious impact on teaching, learning and research.

Desire, Faith, and the Darkness of God: Essays in Honor of Denys Turner. Edited by Eric Bugyis and David Newheiser.

This collection of 18 essays arose out of a conference hosted at Yale University in March 2012 held in honour of the academic theologian Denys Turner, till recently Professor of Historical Theology there. Turner is the author of a number of extremely well-regarded books of which the best known are Marxism and Christianity, The Darkness of God, Faith, Reason and the Existence of God, and books on Aquinas and Julian of Norwich. Since Turner’s inaugural lecture at Cambridge, provocatively entitled ‘How to be an Atheist’, he has become one of the best-known and most influential exponents of ‘negative’ or ‘apophatic’ theology, that theology which seeks to deconstruct the idolatrous forms of thought and image into which we limited, embodied humans too readily seem to fall. In The Darkness of God, Turner writes of faith as ‘the darkness of unknowing’ and points out the limits of our language in both speaking of and understanding God. This theme runs through all the essays in this compelling and illuminating volume.

The Catholic magisterium and world religions: a study in the modern history of theology

From the time of the Second Vatican Council, the Catholic Church has sought to develop a positive approach to other religions and to interreligious relations in its official teaching. This article outlines the main themes of this teaching in Conciliar and subsequent Papal documents. The Church’s approach is seen to be rooted in the affirmation of the unity of all humanity and is always Christological and ecclesiological in character. The consequent call for dialogue and collaboration becomes a means by which Christians can share in and extend God’s own saving dialogue with humanity. The scope of dialogue has also been deepened so that it encompasses the whole of the lived relation Christians have with members of other religions. The article also considers the main ways in which Catholic theologians have extended official teaching in their more systematic approaches.

Thomas Aquinas: Faith, Reason, and Following Christ by Frederick Christian Bauerschmidt

Reviewed by: Thomas Aquinas: Faith, Reason, and Following Christ by Frederick Christian Bauerschmidt Olivier-Thomas Venard O.P. Thomas Aquinas: Faith, Reason, and Following Christ. By Frederick Christian Bauerschmidt. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2013. Pp. xii + 342. $110.00 (cloth), $31.00 (paper). ISBN: 978-0-19-921314-6 (cloth), 978-0-19-921315-3 (paper). After so many "companions" or "readers," is it still possible to compose a novel introduction to Aquinas? In this insightful book, presented "as a general introduction to the life and thought of Thomas Aquinas" (x), Frederick Bauerschmidt meets the challenge. His work consists of seven chapters. The first chapter, "Time, Place, and Person," is a historical-cultural introduction focusing on Aquinas's life and [End Page 297] activity in the context of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries (1-37). Two parts follow. The first has a historical-theoretical flavor. It explains "how Thomas related reason to faith" (x), including the following chapters: "Thomas's Intellectual Project" (chap. 2, pp. 41-81), "Praeambula fidei: God and the World" (chap. 3, pp. 83-142), and "Fides quaerens intellectum" (chap. 4, pp. 143-75). The second part, "Following Christ," deals more with morals, starting in a quite Thomasian way by examining "the way of God incarnate" (chap. 5, pp. 179-227) before examining "the way of God's people" (chap. 6, pp. 229-89). Chapter 7, "Thomas in History" (291-316), presents a nuanced overview of the history of the reception of Aquinas. According to Bauerschmidt himself, "those who wish to have an easy descriptor for this book can describe it as an essay in Hillbilly Thomism" (xi, alluding to Flannery O'Connor). However, this opus is much more refined than the humble claim suggests. Indeed, the last chapter, "Thomas in History," shows great hermeneutic sophistication and mastery. Although Bauerschmidt obviously favors la nouvelle théologie rather than archeo-Thomism in his review of the history of twentieth-century Thomism, he stresses both the naïveté of Marie-Dominique Chenu's dichotomy between religious affirmations or intuitions and particular languages and concepts throughout history, and the "point" of Réginald Garrigou-Lagrange "that it is hard to identify continuity of intuition or affirmation without some sort of conceptual continuity" (313). We would go further and speak of a necessary continuity of wording, of language. When he compares "historical theology" à la Rorty with the "history of theology" (308-10), Bauerschmidt obviously presents the reader with his own method. Indeed, his book does not only offer (1) historical reconstructions (accounts of Aquinas in terms that Aquinas himself would approve, trying to avoid anachronism) and (2) "rational reconstructions" (redescriptions of Aquinas in our terms, deliberately anachronistic). It also gives some insights pertaining to (3) Geistesgeschichte and (4) intellectual history (the broader cultural context). Indeed, this book epitomizes "historical theology" at its best, by presenting Aquinas's intellectual project as "a form of discipleship" (x) still imitable today. Bauerschmidt presents theology, sacra doctrina, as a "way of life." Throughout the book, he demonstrates how sacra doctrina as understood by Aquinas compares with ancient philosophy as rediscovered by Pierre Hadot: it is a way of life, more than a theoretical discipline. Bauerschmidt stresses the reciprocal integration of Aquinas's way of life (as a Dominican) and his thought. For instance, he writes, "Thomas recognizes, as did the schools of philosophy in antiquity, that virtues are acquired or deepened through practices, which always occur at particular times and places under the guidance of particular rules, teachers, and examples" (260). Even the reception of infused virtues may be prepared by such exercises (ibid.). Hence the prevalence of virtue over law in Aquinas's moral teaching. This feature [End Page 298] mirrors the statements of the Order of Preachers about the legal—not moral—status of its regulations (258-59). In order to stress the Dominican-oriented dimension of Aquinas's theology, Bauerschmidt makes a judicious use of Michèle Mulchahey's work on medieval Dominican institutions (chap. 2 and pp. 258-64). Dominican formation started even with learning "a new way to walk" (261)! Since Aquinas was a "disciple," his way of life and oeuvre are fundamentally Christocentric: "his single goal...