Statement Of Faith Research Articles

Between Traditional Christian Theology and Moral Parables of African Popular Films: Communicating Gospel Values Contextually

The assumption that films are works of arts that basically create illusion of realities can sometimes be misleading. Like every other communication tool in human history, they do not only interrogate the society but also chart its course as moral compasses leading to self reflection and conscience formation. Thus, they are at times theological communications salvaging the dark themes of human existence with integrating symbols and dramatic parables imbued with didactic narratives that challenge the epistemic ambivalences of traditional theologies. In this chapter that explores the interface between filmic parables and traditional Christian theology, the thrust is to showcase how African cinematic representations resonate with audiences contextually in a fusion of communion and communication that questions the critical faith statements and dogmatic doctrines of theological taxonomies in the presence of people’s everyday hardships. Thus by textualising key scenes in films like Cry Freedom (1987), Act of Faith (2008) and Onyebuchim (2010) this paper reviews the challenges of pastoral and theological communications in Africa and beyond; while calling for revolutionalised demonstration of the ‘search for values’ around cultural meanings.Key Words: Christian theology, Moral parables, Popular films, Communications and Context.

Statement of Faith

Statement of Faith

Book Review: Statement of Faith … A Conservative Looks at Cooperatives

Book Review: Statement of Faith … A Conservative Looks at Cooperatives

Articles in Quaker Periodicals

Articles in Quaker Periodicals By Lyman W. Riley University of Pennsylvania Library The American Friend T. Edmund Harvey and Isabel Ross present a brief history of Swarthmoor Hall in "One of the Homes of Quakerism."—June 5> 1952, pp. 194-195. The Friend (London) Grace E. Lane writes a short account of the fifty-year history of the "Friends Vegetarian Society."—March 28, 1952, p. 243. Friends Intelligencer "The Quaker Element in Walt Whitman," according to Ferner Nuhn, can be seen not only in his family background but also in the kind of service he performed during the Civil War and in the form and spirit of his poetry.—Jan. 19, 1952, pp. 31-32. "Czars at Meeting," by Anna Brinton, describes the contact that four members of Russian royalty had with Friends from the seventeenth to the nineteenth centuries.—Jan. 26, 1952, pp. 45-46. Letter from the Past No. 122 examines the story of a Quaker visit to President Lincoln shortly before the Emancipation Proclamation was issued, and gives reasons for doubting it.—Feb. 9, 1952, pp. 75-76. "Queens and Quakers," Letter from the Past No. 123, digs out the few occasions when Friends had dealings with "female sovereigns" of England.—Feb. 23, 1952, pp. 101-102. A chapter from a forthcoming biography of Levi Coffin by Mildred Ann Myerson tells something of his work in the Underground Railroad .—March 1, 1952, pp. 115-116. Elwood Cronk reviews some of the incidents in the powerful ministry of Samuel Bownas.—March 22, 1952, pp. 157-158. George Fox and other early Quakers published statements of faith not as tests of membership but as a defense against false charges: "Fox and the Faith-Makers" (Letter from the Past No. 124) .—March 29, 1952, pp. 172-173. In 1654 the first Quaker missionaries came to Oxford and met with an unfriendly reception in that university town. Letter from the Past No. 125 mentions some of these "Early Quaker Arrivals at Oxford."— May 10, 1952, p. 265. Josephine M. Benton, in "John Woolman on Professions," describes the attitude toward his several vocations of the "tailor of Mount Holly." —May 24, 1952, pp. 291-292. Letter from (he Past No. 126 discusses "Occupational Trends of Friends," among which shoemaking has seemed to predominate.— June 14, 1952, p. 333. 149 150Bulletin of Friends Historical Association A. Day Bradley writes of "The Churehmans of Nottingham Lots," on the Maryland-Pennsylvania border, and gives some little known facts about John Churchman (1753-1805), surveyor and cartographer. —June 28, 1952, pp. 364-365. The description of a "Visit to Dolgelly and District" by Evelyn S. Whiting includes much information about early Welsh Friends and their meetings.—June 28, 1952, pp. 366-367. Letter from the Past No. 127, "Publicity of Quaker Gatherings," contrasts the alarming reports of "dangerous" Quaker assemblings in the seventeenth century with the comparatively little-noticed gatherings of today.—July 26, 1952, pp. 428-429. The Friends' Quarterly Isabel Ross gives some of the background and describes the highlights of "Early Quakerism in Northern England."—July, 1952, pp. 134-143. John L. Nickalls tells some of the history of the writing and publishing of "The Journal of George Fox," and gives examples of editorial changes made in the first edition by Thomas Ellwood.—July, 1952, pp. 144-151. T. Joseph Pickvance, in "George Fox's Hills of Vision," points out how real was the sense of direct guidance that early Friends had.—July, 1952, pp. 152-160. Richenda C. Scott takes the occasion of sketching the life of Dame Elizabeth Cadbury, in "Ninety-Three Years," to show the changes that took place during her lifetime in the Society of Friends and in English life generally.—July, 1952, pp. 161-176. The Journal of the Friends' Historical Society "Some Byways in Quaker Research" have led Isabel Ross to believe that the eager reception given to Quakerism by the people of the Northwest of England was due in large part to the tradition of individual independence there, where feudalism had never been strong. Isabel Ross also gives an intimate picture of the attractive character and daily life of Daniel Fleming, an energetic persecutor of early...

III.—The Development of John Dryden's Literary Criticism

From the very first Dryden's critical essays have called forth widely divergent opinions. Written, as many of them were, in the heat of literary conflict, they served during their author's life, on the one hand, as a statement of faith to be expounded and defended, on the other, as a series of vulnerable points of attack. And even since they have held an assured place among English critical works—at first as authoritative judgments and later as historical documents of the very first importance—there has been no orthodox view as to their nature or value. Some historians have always been led by Dryden's popular, rambling style to deny them solid worth; others have found in them a vitality, a genuine insight, worth more than logic. According to Dean Swift they were “merely writ at first for filling, to raise the author's price a shilling;” Doctor Johnson, on the contrary, speaks of them as “the criticism of a poet; not a dull collection of theorems, nor a rude detection of faults, which perhaps the censor was not able to have committed; but a gay and vigorous dissertation, where delight is mingled with instruction.”