Christian Life Research Articles

Inculturation Methodology as the Medium towards the Formulation and Establishment of an African Ecclesiology of Ubuntu.

The emergence of ecclesiology scholarship in recent theological discourse has exposed the various approaches that ecclesiology has been studied as a distinctive discipline. The traditional ecclesiological approach has prioritized the scholarship of ecclesiology from the perspective of specific denominational orders. There has also been an approach of ecclesiology that revolves around the perspective of some renowned theologians on the basis of their affiliation to their respective church organizations. The most recent approach has been the global ecclesiology that prioritizes the concept of contextualization while looking at ecclesiological discourse from distinct sociocultural-geographical contexts. Three geographical regions hold a wealth of significance by virtue of the global trajectory of Christianity towards the global South: Asia, Africa and Latin America. African ecclesiology plays a critical role in this arrangement and is a major contributor to global ecclesiology. In this understanding, it is imperative for the pursuit of an African ecclesiology to appreciate the concept of Ubuntu as a definitive expression of the African identity. The problem is the methodology of ecclesiological scholarship in Africa that ignores the significance Ubuntu has and resultantly births a foreign ecclesiology to the indigenous African population. It is important to acknowledge that the approach of ecclesiology that will thrive in Africa is nothing less than an Ubuntu ecclesiology that prioritizes community and relationships reminiscent of our traditional African portrait as foundational pillars for her establishment. The formulation and establishment of an African friendly ecclesiology of Ubuntu can only be facilitated by the usage of the inculturation method of theology. This methodology accords due consideration to the African heritage with regard to their culture, spirituality and religious background emphasizing the values from traditional Africa that are helpful to Christian life and condemning those practices that are non-Christian in nature.

A damned soul with goiter. "The life of Christ" (c. 1480) by Giovanni Martino Spanzotti.

The church of San Bernardino in Ivrea (Piedmont) houses a cycle of frescoes of "The Life of Christ"by the Italian painter Giovanni Martino Spanzotti. In the painting, a damned soul of the Hell with a large bi-lobar goiter is represented, confirming the interest of Renaissance artists towards thyroid diseases.

Mark D. Chapman and Vladimir Latinovic (eds), (2021) Changing the Church: Transformation of Christian Belief, Practice, and Life

Mark D. Chapman and Vladimir Latinovic (eds), (2021) Changing the Church: Transformation of Christian Belief, Practice, and Life

Parabolic Life: Toward an Ethics of God’s Apocalypse

Christian ethicist Nancy Duff has suggested that an apocalyptic hearing of the gospel elicits a parabolic understanding of the Christian moral life. How might the theological basis and rationale of this claim be elaborated? What is it about human life funded by the gospel of God’s apocalypse in Jesus Christ that makes ‘parable’ an apt description of the quality of its action? And how might these notions be elaborated to enrich our understanding of responsible moral action more generally? This article explores these questions by way of a running conversation with the work of J. Louis Martyn, Christopher Morse and Paul Ricoeur. It concludes by showing the salience of these themes in relation to Bonhoeffer’s later reflections upon the distinctive quality of Christian life in the wreckage of Christendom. Overall, the solid currency of a parabolic construal of the character of Christian moral action for the present pursuit of theological ethics is recommended.

An Apocalypse Converted: William Stringfellow and Catholic Social Teaching on Climate Breakdown

In Laudato Si’, Pope Francis advances the concept of integral ecology to connect the environmental crisis with a range of social crises afflicting our societies. This concept is grounded in a theological commitment, but directed towards its political effects. Those two trajectories are represented by the encyclical’s articulation of a spiritual awakening described as an ecological conversion and its repeated calls to dialogue. Francis is not unaware of the risk that a naïve engagement in dialogue could stifle serious mitigation of the crises we face. Yet, even with many dire warnings about outcomes, much of the contemporary discourse around the climate and biodiversity crisis runs the risk of underestimating the nature of the problem. Apocalyptic theology, specifically in the work of William Stringfellow, is proposed as a valuable interlocutor at this point. Stringfellow’s account of the Christian life as a battle with the forces of Death allows Christians to name that which we are converted from in an ecological conversion, strengthening the grounds upon which dialogue is engaged.

Aquinas, Sense Pleasure, and the State of Grace

AbstractThis essay uses Aquinas’ Summa Theologiae to argue that a person living in what the Catholic tradition calls the “state of grace” has a greater capacity to appreciate sense pleasure than one who is not. Aquinas believes sense pleasures conduce to good if reason elevates them and integrates them into a Christian's life. However, heightened appreciation of sense pleasure requires three conditions. First, the Christian must seek licit, reasonable pleasures that both satisfy external criteria and leave the person internally well-ordered. Second, he must attempt continual purification through asceticism, since the sense appetite tends to rebel against the guidance of reason. However, asceticism is not an end in itself, but it rather assists the Christian in integration that ultimately allows for a full, rightly ordered appreciation of sense pleasures. Third, the Christian must not seek sense pleasure as an end in itself but receive it as a gift and pledge of higher joys. Ultimately, the Thomistic approach toward sense pleasure is one of appreciation and integration rather than distrust. While a Christian might experience quantitatively less sense pleasure, his more integrated, qualitative experience is better.

Mortificatio et Vivificatio: The Baptismal Shape of Scriptural Reading in John Webster

AbstractFor John Webster, faithful reading of Holy Scripture occurs in the wake of the mortifying and vivifying grace of the triune God. This baptismal movement from death to life is doubly characterized: it refers to, first, the missions of the Word and Spirit to slay and make alive, and, second, the mortifying and vivifying readerly activity of human creatures. As the extension of baptism into the Christian life, the ecclesial task of reading Scripture is a moral‐spiritual undertaking, forming an integral part of the covenantal fellowship between God and creatures. The burden of Webster’s teaching, however, calls the significance of Scripture’s contingent origins into question; that is, the intrusive, initiatory character of divine grace risks undermining the historicality of Holy Scripture and so the faculty of historical‐critical methods. This article first outlines Webster’s theology of scriptural interpretation. Next, it responds to the recent criticism that Webster fails to integrate sufficiently Scripture’s theological function as an instrument of divine speech with its contingent, historical character. I show that, far from suspending hermeneutical activity, the baptismal shape of exegesis underwrites a ministerial use of historical and literary tools. Furthermore, the ascetic character of scriptural reading thwarts phenomenalism and naturalism, which, on Webster’s view, are forms of idolatry.

Book Review: Finding Jesus in the Storm: The Spiritual Lives of Christians with Mental Health Challenges by John Swinton

Book Review: <i>Finding Jesus in the Storm: The Spiritual Lives of Christians with Mental Health Challenges</i> by John Swinton

John Swinton, Finding Jesus in the Storm: The Spiritual Lives of Christians with Mental Health Challenges

John Swinton, <i>Finding Jesus in the Storm: The Spiritual Lives of Christians with Mental Health Challenges</i>

A New Manuscript of the Meditationes vitae Christi at Morris Library, Southern Illinois University at Carbondale

This article examines a previously unknown Latin manuscript of the Meditationes vitae Christi (MVC) at Morris Library, Special Collections Research Center, Southern Illinois University at Carbondale (SIUC). The MVC was a popular medieval devotional text chronicling the life of Christ and originally attributed to the medieval Franciscan theologian Bonaventure, but more recently to the Franciscan preacher John of Caulibus. The manuscript was discovered during an inventory of the Morris Library’s Special Collections in 2010 and, thus, not consulted by C. Mary Stallings-Taney for her critical edition of the MVC published in 1997. Stallings-Taney based the Latin text of her edition on eleven fourteenth- and fifteenth-century Latin manuscripts housed in European libraries. In particular, she relied on a consensus of four fourteenth-century manuscripts that, in her view, contained a more original text less influenced by later Neo-Latin alterations. The SIUC MVC manuscript shares some defining characteristics with this oldest group of manuscripts and is followed by a fourteen-leaf epilogue after the final chapter. The decoration and script of the SIUC MVC suggest it should be dated to the late thirteenth or early fourteenth centuries, making it one of the earliest known copies of this text. In this paper, I provide an overview and description of the SIUC MVC manuscript, a comparison of the SIUC MVC to the 1997 critical edition, and a discussion about the implications that the SIUC MVC manuscript has for the date and authorship of the MVC.

A reményteljes múlt és a választott örökség

"The Hopeful Past and the Chosen Inheritance. Living in a given historical place and time, we inherit stories, and by filtering them through our lives and experiences, we transform them into parts of our own story. In this article, we examine the relatedness between our stories and the story of the Kingdom of God. The metanarrative of the God–human relationship is a continuously changing system with permanent perspectives, a tradition that offers a system of rules to Christian communities and, on the other hand, interprets the individual’s life and integrates it into the history of salvation. Christian life appears in front of us as a study process, a search, but it is hope as well. We should not forget about the eschatological dimension of Christian faith: the hope in God, who saved us in the past and will hold us in the future. Keywords: Christian spirituality, tradition "

Kajian Teologis Tentang Gaya Hidup “Hedonisme” dalam Amsal 21:17 dan Yesaya 5:11 Serta Implikasinya Bagi Orang Kristen Masa Kini

Looking for everything that is in accordance with the wishes and pleasing to the human heart (Hedonism) is something that is commonplace and is always attached to everyone, but in doing it humans need to be guided and controlled by a basis, which makes humans always supervised so they don't fall into their own desires and ultimately self-destruct. As in Christianity, human desires should be in accordance with God's wishes, and everything that pleases the human heart must also please God and glorify God. Then what about Christians today, are they still walking according to God's wishes or their own desires? The author uses descriptive qualitative methods, while related to theological studies in relation to the hedonistic lifestyle, the authors relate descriptive qualitative research in the context of phenomenology with qualitative methods that are library research. Which is to analyze the content of meaning contained in a narrative or text, in relation to the Scriptures, the author uses narrative analysis. And in the and it can be concluded that the Christian life should be under the life of love and continue to walk under the grace and covenant of God, so that Christians can avoid a lifestyle that only seeks worldly pleasures that are limited and ultimately lead to destruction

Major Review: The End of the Christian Life: How Embracing Our Mortality Frees Us to Truly Live by J. Todd Billings

Major Review: <i>The End of the Christian Life: How Embracing Our Mortality Frees Us to Truly Live</i> by J. Todd Billings

KEHIDUPAN KRISTEN ERA REFORMASI

This study departs from the Christian life of the reform era. Where the Church seems unable to serve amid poverty and political uncertainty. Christianity is challenged to contextualize theology, mission, dialogue, political service in society. The problem of closing the Church was due to the issue of building permits (IMB). The author aims in this paper so that the Church strives for peace for all people. The approach of this study is a literature study on the thinking and struggles of the Church in society. So the Church does not only take care of the organization and a large amount of money in the church treasury. Nevertheless, the Church is required to care about social problems that occur. Therefore, the Church must apply several principles, namely: first, the Church needs to understand other people's religions. Second, the Church needs to build healthy discussions both between religions and between denominations. Third, the Church prioritizes the mission for the benefit of humanity.&#x0D;

Религиозный фактор в противодействии пандемии: плюсы и минусы

The purpose of the study is to analyze some significant in the strategy and tactics of religious activity in the context of the pandemic. The positive aspects and some shortcomings of the work of religious communities to counteract the epidemic are revealed. It is shown that we are talking about a change in the social role of religion in modern conditions, when its organizations are moving away from narrow confessional activities in the space of churches, mosques and synagogues and are actively involved in public spheres of activity. The scientific novelty lies in the analysis of how the pandemic significantly changed the metric of action of many religious canons, including the postulates about the omnipotence, all-goodness and humanity of God. The article reveals some positions in the theory and practice of the religious life of Islam and Christianity, which are unjustified in the context of the coronavirus.

The Theology of the Holy Eucharist and the Doctrine of Transubstantiation

Holy Communion is one of the seven sacraments in the Catholic Church. With Baptism and Confirmation, they constitute the sacraments of Initiation. Similarly, with the Word of God, they constitute the two indispensable pillars upon which the Church is built. It is the “fount and apex of the whole Christian life” (LG 11). It is named Holy Eucharist because it is an action of thanksgiving to God. It recalls God’s work of creation, redemption, and sanctification. The Eucharistic elements, bread and wine become, by the prayer of consecration and the invocation of the Holy Spirit, Christ's Body and Blood through an act appropriately known as transubstantiation. The term emphasizes the conversion of the total substance of bread and wine into the entire substance of the Body and Blood of Christ. When the bread and wine are consecrated at Mass, they are no longer bread and wine; they have become instead the Most Precious Body and Blood of Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit in accordance with the words of Christ. The empirical appearances and attributes remain the same, but the underlying reality changes. Therefore, the doctrine of transubstantiation teaches without ambiguity that in the Holy Communion, the Body and Blood, together with the soul and divinity, of the Lord Jesus Christ is truly, really, and substantially contained. How is this understood and what is its implication theologically? In an attempt to elucidate this problem, this work seeks first to highlight the theology of the Holy Eucharist within the context of the ecclesiology of Communion, and second, through some theological themes: sacred memorial and sacrificial banquet; eschatological meal. The third and final part treats the theme of real presence under the rubrics of Transubstantiation. Keywords: Transubstantiation, Eschatological Meal, Memorial, Real Presence, Communion, Eucharistic conversion.

Experiences of Being Evangelized by the School's Evangelizing Mission: The Case of Employees in a Philippine Catholic University

One unique function of a Catholic school is developing a campus-based Christian community and nurturing the Christian life of the members of the academe. The Church stresses its importance in the task of evangelization. Hence, this phenomenological study intended to explore the lived experiences of the permanent employees on the evangelizing mission of a Catholic university. Through a purposive sampling method, the data were gathered from five participants through a semi-structured in-depth interview. The data were analyzed using recursive textual analysis adopting the framework of Lichtman's 3C's. The findings of the study revealed that the evangelizing mission of the university through its religious and outreach activities helped the employees have a more meaningful life, enriched and deepened their faith, and strengthened their relationship with God, the Church, and the members of the institution. They also considered their work as part of the evangelizing mission of the school. In addition, the witnessing of the religious administrators and the visible community life in the university inspired and encouraged them to share in the task of evangelization. Generally, the findings suggest a semblance in the employees' experience and the true identity and mission of Catholic schools highlighted by the Church. This charge is a lifelong challenge for all Catholic institutions to carry out.

Choose the Slave! The Moral Imagination of White American Christianity

ABSTRACT The racial justice protests of the last several years reveals the extent to which white American Christianity finds itself caught between two moral imaginations – one rooted in the system of white supremacy and the other animated by theologies of solidarity and resistance. This moral confusion has left many white Christian leaders at a disadvantage on the issue of racial justice, one of the most pressing moral issues of the day. More importantly, the institutional apparatus of white Christian life also finds itself suspended between these two moral imaginations, which can be experienced most viscerally in liturgy and worship. As environmental, social, and political pressures mount, white Christianity must wake up to this moral conundrum and find a way to act rightly and assertively.

Embracing Evolution: How Understanding Science Can Strengthen Your Christian Life

EMBRACING EVOLUTION: How Understanding Science Can Strengthen Your Christian Life by Matthew Nelson Hill. Downers Grove, IL: IVP Academic, 2020. 152 pages. Paperback; $20.00. ISBN: 9780830852833. *This is a short and very readable book whose main purpose is to connect the average churchgoing Christian with a modern and theologically sympathetic understanding of evolution. The general perspective taken by the book is that human understanding of anything (science, art, theology, politics, and so forth) is significantly contextual. The author takes care in the first chapter to explain his perspective on science/faith issues in general, and organizes the book into three parts. *The first part is that of understanding our "biblical lens," namely, exploring the ways in which we are shaped to read scripture, and how this, in turn, influences our beliefs. Do we read the Bible for formation or for information? The two are not mutually incompatible, but neither are they equivalent, and how we balance the two is pertinent to our theological understanding of evolution. This section of the book addresses what are perhaps the two main questions emerging from the early chapters of Genesis: our understanding of Adam and Eve in the garden of Eden, and the place of predation and death in God's creation. The latter troubles the author much more than the former, and the response presented is not wholly satisfying, even to the author himself. Overall, this section is a good presentation of hermeneutics that focuses on Genesis without bogging down the reader with too much theological weight. *The second part of the book addresses how we understand our "scientific lens." A full chapter is devoted to the basic theory of evolution (its "nuts and bolts") and a subsequent chapter to what is meant by scientific truth and its integration (or not) with faith. The author does a good job of distilling the philosophy of science for the intelligent lay reader without "dumbing it down"--not an easy task. Sometimes, however, the treatment is lacking, particularly concerning the imago Dei in light of evolution. Are we (as appears to be the inference on page 69) special simply because we were evolutionarily lucky to have large brains? *The remainder of the book--its third part--is devoted to how we might integrate an evolutionary understanding of biology with Christian faith. Many books have been written on this subject, and it is difficult for anyone these days to say what has not already been said. The theme running through this section of the book is that an evolutionary perspective can be empowering, primarily because knowledge of fact and truth allows a Christian to better carry out the ministry of Jesus in his/her life and in the world. Knowledge of the roots of our negative genetic urges (for example, the tendency to overeat) can empower us to overcome these urges through a combination of human choice and the grace of God. The final chapter discusses how the Christian church, girded with an appropriate integration of evolutionary knowledge and scriptural foundation, is best positioned to foster the virtues of the kingdom of God through community. *I liked this book, and I think it is definitely one for discussion and use in an adult Sunday school class. It does, however, avoid a number of awkward questions and issues. For example, why does it matter if our negative/positive tendencies are evolutionarily based? Wouldn't we, as Christians, act the same if they had some other origin? There is also an assumption by the author of a transcendent morality--but where does this come from? Are our morals likewise a product of evolution? If so, how does this square with biblical (and other) forms of revelation? And as far as the problem of death is concerned, isn't this a problem of sin in the world? Doesn't it mean that sin is present at the outset of creation? *That said, this is very much a positive contribution to the ongoing evolution/creation issue. Without denying our evolutionary origins, it calls us to transcend them as followers of Jesus. I am sure it will foster interesting discussions in many a church and Sunday school class. *Reviewed by Robert B. Mann, Professor of Physics &amp; Applied Mathematics, University of Waterloo, ON N2L 3G1.

Musings: A Benedictine on Christian Life by Don Talafous, O.S.B. (review)

Musings: A Benedictine on Christian Life by Don Talafous, O.S.B. (review)