Integrity Of Creation Research Articles

KEUTUHAN CIPTAAN DAN KELESTARIAN LINGKUNGAN HIDUP DITINJAU DARI SEGI ETIKA KRISTEN

AbstracThe environment has a very important life support function. Therefore, management and development are directed to maintain its existence in a dynamic balance through various safeguards and rehabilitation efforts and also the efforts to maintain balance between its elements continuously. Furthermore, it is necessary to improve the harmony of the population and the environment, develop environmental awareness, and encourage participation and self-help of the community in preserving the ability of life (preserving the environment). The attitude and mentality of human who are not aware of the meaning and function of the environment, as well as the meaning of humanity as God's creation have caused various problems in the environment. Humans are given the mandate by God to guard, account for in their use and maintenance, because humans are the highest creation of God from other creations. This paper will describe the meaning of the integrity of creation and environment, the basis of theology about the integrity of creation and environment, problems about the environment, attitudes and responsibilities of Christians about the integrity of creation and environmental sustainability, analysis and conclusion.

Inquiry of Pentecostalism Regarding Pneumatology: A Theological Suggestion of a Feminist Perspective

AbstractThis article revisits the legacy of the Pentecostal movement in Korea based on pneumatology and reflects on the issues of Pentecostalism from a feminist perspective. It elaborates on (1) the patriarchal top‐down hierarchy by personal cult, (2) gender injustice, and (3) the dualistic conflict of ideology. Pentecostalism is an important trend in World Christianity and in the Korean landscape of Christianity in particular. In terms of impact on society, Pentecostalism is more influential compared to Minjung theology, and these two streams have common interest regarding marginalized people. Given global challenges and growing economic disparity, it is also relevant to promote cooperation between the evangelical and ecumenical movements. To promote a new paradigm of mission and evangelism in the 21st century in the Korean context, we need to improve several aspects thereof in terms of justice, peace, and integration of creation. In this era of liberal market capitalism, when human individualization and economic inequality are accelerating, what we need is a purpose for common goodness that is based on the incarnation of God's love and empowered by the Holy Spirit. Our perception of pneumatology should be constructively oriented toward justice and life for conviviality instead of the divinization of human beings.

Environmental Crisis as The Ultimate Life Issue

Environmental Crisis as The Ultimate Life Issue

Konrad Raiser: The Challenge of Transformation

AbstractThis article discusses the role played by Konrad Raiser in the World Council of Churches (WCC), from 1969, when he joined the staff as a study secretary, to his time as general secretary from 1993 to 2003, and especially his role in the conciliar process for Justice, Peace, and the Integrity of Creation. As general secretary, Raiser played a key role in supporting and encouraging the churches' witness for peace and nonviolence, strengthening the fellowship of churches within the WCC through the process to develop a “Common Understanding and Vision” and the Special Commission on Orthodox Participation in the WCC.

Emilio Castro: A Passion for the Gospel

AbstractThis article reviews the role of Emilio Castro as general secretary of the World Council of Churches (1985–1992), highlighting his involvement in the Conciliar Process for Justice, Peace, and the Integrity of Creation; his appreciation for Orthodox spirituality and theology; and his commitment to strengthening relationships with Pentecostals and evangelicals.

Gennadios LIMOURIS, Justice, Peace and the Integrity of Creation: Insights from Orthodoxy, WCC Publications, Geneva 1990, 126 pp. 13,5 x 21,5.

Gennadios LIMOURIS, Justice, Peace and the Integrity of Creation: Insights from Orthodoxy, WCC Publications, Geneva 1990, 126 pp. 13,5 x 21,5.

500 Jahre Reformation. Die Rechtfertigungslehre heute. Teil 2: Soziale und globale Aspekte

The doctrine of justification is the core element of the Reformation in the 16. century. The article gives added to the previous interpretation of the individual dimension now reflections on the social and global aspects of the doctrine of justification. It can be ethically and ecclesiogically a starting point for the awareness and the work on social injustice, exploitation and humiliation of persons, groups and nature. Christian congregations could be an important factor in transmitting it by its committed life and preaching. The social-philosophic theory acknowledgement can be a tool for an explication of the doctrine of justification in its social aspects. An also global interpretation in an understandable way can facilitate a mutual awareness, understanding and common solidary actions in secular, inter-confessional and inter-religious contexts in order to improve justice, freedom and the integrity of creation.

Dimensi Politik dari Misi Pembebasan Gereja bagi Orang Miskin dan Pemeliharaan Alam Ciptaan

Church’s ministry is to stand in solidarity with the poor, oppressed and to safeguard creation. This call requires the Church –which means all Christians– to get involved in the world’s socio-political affairs. Consequently, the Church is and must be political in a broad and noble sense. A prophetic liberative mission of the Church includes promoting love, justice, solidarity and fraternity among the entire human family, defending the dignity of the human person in its fullness and safeguarding the integrity of creation in cooperation with all people of good will. The Church will be in position of supporting the just world’s socio-economic and political affairs, but will denounce unjust practices in any form that do not respect the dignity of the human person, destroying livelihoods of the poor or do not safeguard creation as common heritage of humankind. This is to be done without violating the principle of justice and of separation between religion and state.

New Voices: “They Might Have Guns, but We Have Flowers”: The Integrity of Creation and Peacebuilding

New Voices: “They Might Have Guns, but We Have Flowers”: The Integrity of Creation and Peacebuilding

DEKONSTRUKSI DIRI SENDIRI DALAM PROSES PENCIPTAAN KARYA SENI

Self deconstruction is a means of breaking down the established art creation, representing individual identity and abandoning modern art or conventional art creation. It was applied in a work of art, whose forms were cracked wood constructed like paintings. In the new concept of art creation, self-deconstruction of Derrida and Nagajurna was applied. The deconstruction as a concept of creating and acting bravely to break down reality and imitating self creation was applied until the zero point. In other words, the emptiness is stability. “All possible” is the concept of creation applied by the writer. The concept was realized by using used wood as a medium of expression of artistic moments. The installation was composed of several different media such as wood, plastic and iron. The concept also abandoned single medium (the modern view of art creation). This art creation used the integration of creation and recreation as well. The creation technique applied was assemblage, collage, and knock­down system with shifting understanding, namely function replacement. The knock-down system in the installation was made based on the artist's will or on the art viewers, display areas and the surrounding. In the name of deconstruction, the writer believes that the created arts are multi-interpretable. Key words: deconstruction, installation art and interpretation

Ghanaian Pentecostal Churches’ Mission Approaches

Mission is first and foremost about God and God’s historical redemptive initiative on behalf of creation. In this regard, the Third Lausanne Congress affirms that the Church is called to witness to Christ today by sharing in God’s mission of love through the transforming power of the Holy Spirit. The World Council of Churches states that ‘all Christians, churches and congregations are called to be vibrant messengers of the gospel of Jesus Christ’. How the Church participates in the mission of God is a question on which one should reflect. This article therefore discusses the mission approaches of Ghanaian Pentecostal churches. The article begins with a description of the Ghanaian mission strategic plan, their spiritual approach to mission, and then proceeds with other approaches in the light of Walls’ ‘five marks of mission’ (i.e. evangelism, discipleship, responding to the social needs of people through love, transforming the unjust structures of society, and safe-guarding the integrity of creation) and Krintzinger’s (and others’) holistic mission approach (i.e. kerygmatic, diaconal, fellowship, and liturgical). This article argues that mission should be approached with a careful strategy.

Fifty Years after the Second Vatican Council

Fifty Years after the Second Vatican Council

We Intend to Move Together

The story of women's participation in the ecumenical movement can indeed be described as a pilgrimage of justice and peace, as well as a story of mission. From the earliest days of ecumenism--whether in its formal, institutional structures or in the lively work and witness of local communities around the globe--questions about women's role in the churches have been intertwined with questions about the social, economic, and cultural forces that affect women's lives. With changing emphasis shaped by particular time and context, the consistent thread in the journey has been a will to respond to the call to participate in God's mission in the world in ways that contribute to wholeness and fullness of life for all God's people and to the flourishing of creation. While not always named or recognized as such, gender justice has been at the heart of this journey. Consistently, women have been seeking ecumenical space in which the diverse experiences of women, their voices and visions, and the conditions of injustice and oppression that have been the lot of many women around the world can be lifted up and addressed. And in that space, women have claimed their own agency of resistance and transformation. The story of women's work and witness in the World Council of Churches (WCC) is only one facet of this journey. Each church family and world communion could tell its own story and each local context has had times of ecumenical witness and action--often connected with global programs, but also representative of particular local needs and issues. Nevertheless, the WCC has played a key role since its inception in linking ecumenical women in local contexts with international networks and global currents. A review of WCC programmes and structures committed to the journey of gender justice reveals both the rich heritage of ecumenical women's work and the challenges and gaps that continue. Affirming the "service and status of women" In the 1940s, when the WCC was still in the process of formation, Twila Cavert, a Young Women Christian Association (YWCA) leader from the US, together with other women, gained the support of WCC leaders for a pre-assembly women's meeting and a survey of woman leaders worldwide about their vision for the work of women in the whole church. (1) The questionnaire netted detailed replies from women in 58 countries, and prompted the Reformed Church of France to request that the question of women's role be placed on the agenda of the first assembly in Amsterdam in 1948. There, the study report on "The Life and Work of Women in the Church" was received and its recommendation for a permanent commission to undertake ecumenical inquiry into issues related to women's ministry was accepted. Susannah Herzel writes of the significance of these first steps for the participation of women in churches around the world: "So the infiltration had begun. Member churches of the ecumenical movement had agents of change in their midst, and the troubling questions would be increasingly difficult to ignore." (2) The material generated by the study was developed into a book by Kathleen Bliss, published in 1952 as The Service and Status of Women in the Churches, (3) Interpreting the reports through the framework of women's various types of service--voluntary, full-time and professional, ordained, and participation in church governance--Bliss examined the contributions and limitations of each area of endeavour. She asked whether the churches were making the best use of women's gifts, or helping women to participate as Christians in the changes taking place in society as a whole. Writing during a period of flux in women's public and private roles, Bliss urged churches to recognize the implications of changing family and employment patterns. She asserted that "what is needed is ... an imaginative act of understanding ... [of the] ... revolutionary change in the place of women in society." (4) These reports from around the world provided evidence that responses to women's ministries ranged from indifference to active opposition. …

Political Theology as critical theology

This article attempts to draw the scope and content of contemporary Political Theology, based on a review of the 2013 publication titled, Political Theology: Contemporary challenges and future directions, edited by Francis Schüssler Fiorenza, Klaus Tanner and Michael Welker. The book is a collection of contributions which explore the contemporary content and potential future of the subject discipline. ‘Political Theology’ as critical theology and as a ‘theology with its face towards the world’ is committed to ‘justice, peace and the integrity of creation’ and is multifaceted. It represents a discipline with which theologians reflect on political-theological objectives across continents and paradigms. The article concludes with a brief investigation of the implications of insights offered in the book for the South African context (as part of the African continent).

Missão Cristã e Compromisso Ecumênico

A pesquisa relacionou duas dimensões fundamentais da fé cristã que é a missão e a perspectiva ecumênica. As bases metodológicas de análise foram avaliações de contribuições de diferentes perspectivas teológicas para o tema da missão diante do pluralismo religioso, como as de Michael Amaladoss e de Christine Lienemann-Perrin e a dos teólogos metodistas Wesley Ariarajah e Inderjit Bhogal.

Taking Back the Bible

Taking Back the Bible

A Catholic Missiological and Ecumenical Appreciation ofTogether towards Life

Abstract The new statement Together towards Life does not so much propose new teachings about as point out pertinent reminders and reconfirmations of some of our beliefs and convictions about God's (missio Dei) in and for the world. The author suggests that among the many challenges expressed in the statement, three merit special attention: (1) the proposal to shift the concept from to the margins to from the margins; (2) the necessity to underline the intrinsic link between humanity and creation; and (3) the temptation to consider as at the service of the interests and aggrandizement of individual churches instead of the contrary. He concludes that this statement is an invitation to walk together towards for the benefit of both humanity and the whole of God's creation, and that the urgent challenge is to forge concrete means to make this dream a reality, even in the face of paying the cost of discipleship. ********** I have read Together towards Life: Mission and in Changing Landscapes (TTL) a number of times and each time I have found new words and phrases to underline because of their importance as a source of inspiration and challenge for me as an individual and for my Catholic Church in general. My text is now almost entirely underlined and highlighted. Many words and phrases are underlined because they are reminders and reconfirmations of our beliefs and convictions found in the Bible and in a number of our church documents. When I was asked to prepare these few reflections, limiting myself to the missiological and ecumenical perspectives of the statement, I reread the text at least three more times. Doing so, my thoughts started roaming far away, to the different parts of the world (Africa, Europe, India, Philippines, and Americas) where my brothers are in mission, I also thought of our collaborators in the local churches in these places. Some of these (my brothers and local church members) are convinced of promoting ecumenical and interfaith encounter and dialogue and are trying to do something to make it a retry. Others see no value in it--for them only Evangelism matters. Then I thought of those who are working with the marginalized but who feel powerless to confront the centres of power. All these in their respective places make up the local congregations who, according to this new statement, are the frontiers and primary agents of mission (TTL, [section] 73). With all this in mind, the small voice whispered to me saying, Seek not to beautify the statement. It is already very good, very beautiful! Rather, seek to make it a practical pastoral document that will help local congregations, empowering them to become real 'frontiers and primary agents of mission' whose key objective, well spelled out in the same document, is that all Creation (oikoumene), i.e. humanity and the whole of Creation, have life to the fullness. (TTL, [section] 4) So, what I will do in these few paragraphs is simply mention some of the percent reminders and reconfirmations that I have, as a Catholic and a coordinator of Justice, Peace, and Integrity of Creation and Encounter and Dialogue in my religious family of the Missionaries of Africa, found in this new statement. Key reminders and reconfirmations From the side of the Catholic Church, this new statement carries many vital reminders and reconfirmations about our core beliefs and convictions on (1) and ecumenical dialogue. Reference could be made to such documents as Vatican II, whose Golden Jubilee we are presently celebrating, the different continental papal post-synodal exhortations, (2) proposals from the synod on the new evangelization, reflections on the Year of Faith, just to mention a few. It is within the contexts of such documents and others that this statement will be received and read by Catholics in different parts of the world. …

Hope And The Environment: A Perspective From The Majority World

Abstract This paper considers hope and environment from a majority world perspective. It begins by surveying moves within the Anglican Church to become more environmentally aware, and to integrate environmental concerns into theology and practice. This process began at the Lambeth Conference in 1968 and eventually led to the inclusion of an environmental strand within the Anglican Communion’s ‘Five Marks of Mission’. The fifth Mark is ‘To strive to safeguard the integrity of creation and sustain and renew the life of the earth.’ In the 2008 Lambeth Conference a whole section was devoted to the environment. There follow accounts of environmental work in the Province of Southern Africa. In Niassa Diocese, in northern Mozambique, the mission department has been using Umoja (from the Swahili word for having a common mind) in congregational and community development. It demonstrates holistic mission by deepening faith, building community, and helping with practical challenges. Now the bigger question facing Southern Africa and the majority world is climate change. In South Africa apartheid used to dominate everything and this led to unity in the Church, but after apartheid the country is not faced by one overarching problem, but many. The theology of Charles Mathewes is explored in an attempt to find an adequate Christian response and bring hope to this new context. This then leads on to action in both small practical ways, and in bringing about more fundamental change. Finally, we are reminded that we should not always speak about problems, but also to present a positive vision.

NEW LIFE FROM A PASTORAL TEXT OF TERROR? GENDER PERSPECTIVES ON GOD AND HUMANITY IN 1 TIMOTHY 2

Amidst threatening pseudo-practices, 1 Timothy seems to be concerned mainly with the integrity of the Christian gospel within the larger Greco-Roman society. To account for its rich yet complex world view, the intertextual coherence of 1 Tim 1:15-3:1 is investigated – with special reference to gender images from Gen 2-3 in 1 Tim 2:13-15. In an attempt to make sense of the utterances regarding women in 2:8-15, and particularly the explanation in 2:13-15, the essay explores two main sets of arguments. A first view explores the implications of a literal interpretation of 1 Tim 2:13-15. It argues that the author contrasted the thinking of Gen 2-3 by importing a limited selection from it into his letter – a strategy bearing the risk of being incompatible with the theological thrust of both 1 Tim and Gen 1-3. A second view argues that 1 Tim 2:13-15 served as an allegory, and that Adam and Eve, as well as the image of childbearing, functioned metaphorically as motivation for moral behaviour. The essay concludes that 1 Tim 2:8-15 is a context-specific appro-priation of the creation story rather than a universal statement on the relationship between women and men. It pleads for a life-giving rhetoric that either uses 1 Timothy’s theological thrust as a lens for interpreting 2:8-15 or accepts (some aspects of) it as irretrievably patriarchal and violent, yet allowing it to function as a mirror for on-going discussions on human dignity and the integrity of creation. doi: 10.7833/111-1-38

NEW LIFE FROM A PASTORAL TEXT OF TERROR? GENDER PERSPECTIVES ON GOD AND HUMANITY IN 1 TIMOTHY 2

Amidst threatening pseudo-practices, 1 Timothy seems to be concerned mainly with the integrity of the Christian gospel within the larger Greco-Roman society. To account for its rich yet complex world view, the intertextual coherence of 1 Tim 1:15-3:1 is investigated – with special reference to gender images from Gen 2-3 in 1 Tim 2:13-15. In an attempt to make sense of the utterances regarding women in 2:8-15, and particularly the explanation in 2:13-15, the essay explores two main sets of arguments. A first view explores the implications of a literal interpretation of 1 Tim 2:13-15. It argues that the author contrasted the thinking of Gen 2-3 by importing a limited selection from it into his letter – a strategy bearing the risk of being incompatible with the theological thrust of both 1 Tim and Gen 1-3. A second view argues that 1 Tim 2:13-15 served as an allegory, and that Adam and Eve, as well as the image of childbearing, functioned metaphorically as motivation for moral behaviour. The essay concludes that 1 Tim 2:8-15 is a context-specific appro-priation of the creation story rather than a universal statement on the relationship between women and men. It pleads for a life-giving rhetoric that either uses 1 Timothy’s theological thrust as a lens for interpreting 2:8-15 or accepts (some aspects of) it as irretrievably patriarchal and violent, yet allowing it to function as a mirror for on-going discussions on human dignity and the integrity of creation. doi: 10.7833/111-1-38