Development Of Theology Research Articles

KEHIDUPAN PENYEMBAHAN DI ERA PENTAKOSTA KETIGA DAN IMPLIKASINYA TERHADAP AMANAT AGUNG

The Third Pentecostal Movement, as a development of Pentecostal theology, has influenced the worship life of Pentecostals. This paper aims to explain how the worship life in the Third Pentecost era and its relation to the completion of the Great Commission of the Lord Jesus. Qualitative methods are used to achieve this goal, using a systematic and phenomenological literature study approach toward 4 interviewees. The results of the observations show that the worship life in the Third Pentecost era is characterized by a special spirituality, namely emphasizing the practice of speaking in tongues and providing space for other manifestations of the power of the Holy Spirit. It is the practice of spirituality that attracts people and ultimately provides momentum for the preaching of the gospel. In addition, the spirituality of the Third Pentecost is also marked by a life of prayer and intense meditation on God's Word as well as the fellowship of believers in cell groups. This spirituality encourages God's people to carry out evangelism and discipleship so that more people experience God. Spirituality in the Third Pentecostal era is not only self-empowerment, but also missionary. Thus, it can be concluded that the worship life in the Third Pentecost era is characterized by an emphasis on the use of tongues (glossolalia), a life of prayer and meditation on the Word, and the practice of discipleship through cell groups as bridges and media for the completion of the Great Commission of the Lord Jesus.

Haggai as an Old Book

Abstract Like other »post-exilic« books, Haggai was traditionally considered to be a »late« text. In agreement with this, several important studies published in recent decades have paid great attention to the ways Haggai works with older literary traditions. However, in the wake of shifts in the dating of many biblical texts, even entire literary traditions, the question arises: if we continue to situate at least a substantial core of Haggai in the early Persian period, which texts or traditions could have been known to the prophet or redactor(s) of the book? The article argues that, within the history of biblical literature, Haggai can be considered a relatively old book, and that it offers a small yet interesting window into several traditional aspects of Judean religion, mostly uninfluenced by the important theological developments of the »exilic« and Persian periods.

Gorboduc on Fire: The Pyropoetics of Tyranny in Early Modern England

ABSTRACT This article rereads Norton and Sackville’s Inns of Court tragedy Gorboduc (1562) in the light of its neglected preoccupation with fire. It posits the 1561 lightning strike on St Paul’s as a critical context for the play’s emphasis on fire as a motor of providential justice, through the repeated evocation of the myth of Phaethon, and locates its use of fire in performance at the intersection between political intervention and carnival festivity. Noting the play’s coevolution with the fire pamphlet genre, the article suggests that these ephemeral works’ commentary on the relationship between fire and tyranny, in line with sixteenth-century resistance theory and de casibus tragedy, illuminates how Gorboduc’s interests manifest in popular discourse, and allows an interpretation of the play’s imagining of rebellion which foregrounds the irony of its rhetoric of stability and obedience. In dialogue with recent work on the Pyrocene and European pyrophobia, and its implications in relation to Giorgio Agamben’s understanding of civil conflict and the state of exception, the article broadens the existing picture of Gorboduc’s resonance, to read it not just as pivotal in the development of English drama and political theology, but as contiguous with wider patterns of thought in premodern disaster response and narratives of collective action.

Theistic Evolution

In this paper, I explore scientific, philosophical, and theological concerns that arise from adopting theistic evolution understood as claiming that the origin and development of life can be entirely accounted for in terms of the operation of natural causes, without any need to posit direct divine intervention. I argue that theistic evolutionists’ commitment to methodological naturalism and their unjustified rejection of gap arguments suggests that their case is not nearly so strong as they suggest. I further argue that accepting theistic evolution most naturally leads to accepting a monistic physicalist account of the person that is at odds with theism’s understanding of human nature.

I Am a Child of Gods

I Am a Child of Gods

Stupanje u razgovor religije s prirodnom znanošću i teorijom evolucije / Religion entering a dialogue with natural sciences and the theory of evolution

The first part of the paper is about the challenges that modern natural sciences, the theory of evolution and their increasingly numerous technological ecstasies pose before religion, about the attempts of religion to recognise them, make itself aware of their meaning and to respond to them, which is shown here on the example of the Catholic Church. The rest of the paper develops a discourse about the process of opening and the effort of entering the dialogue on the part of the Catholic Church with natural sciences and the theory of evolution, as well as about its official positions released from the mid-20th century, or from the papacy of Pius XII, till this day. At the same time, this period saw the rise of religious theistic evolutionism, recognised as one of the most appropriate forms of bringing religion closer to natural sciences and the theory of evolution, as well as a certain compromise between them, which this paper also tries to make transparent.

Religija u diskursu savremenih znanstvenika – horizonti evolucionizma / Religion in the Discourse of Contemporary Scientists - The Horizons of Evolutionism

Religion has become a major extra-scientific interest of contemporary natural scientists. The topic permeates the discourse of some of the best known names in comtemporary science, including R. Dawkins, J. Lennox, F. Collins, and S. Gould. These scientists’ attitudes towards religion range from the view that science and religion are mutually exclusive and in conflict through the view that they are discrete fields without overlap to the view that they have to respect each other, engage in dialogue, and cooperate. One may discern in these approaches a number of discursive types: conflictual, integrative, dialogical, pluriperspectival, and discrete. These discourses unfold within the horizons of the epistemological constellations of evolutionism, creationism, intelligent design, and BioLogos. This paper has two main parts. The first part includes a treatment of key issues for understanding the relationship of science to religion: the question of evolutionism and, consequently, the theory of evolution, its scientific status, and its reception by theistic scientists; the attempt to establish a universal natural scientific epistemology and responses to it; and questions of the stochatic nature of the creation of the world and the origin of life. The second part includes consideration of the issue of theistic evolutionism and its major characteristics, followed by an exposition of the views of Christianity or more precisely of the Catholic Church regarding the theory of evolution and an investigation of certain echoes of its theistic reception.

Saint Paul's Thorn in the Flesh: a Dermatological Weakness?

Saint Paul's "thorn in the flesh" has been the subject of much controversy in medical, historical and religious literature. It was crucial for the development of Paul's theology and, therefore, its study is important for a better understanding of early Christianity. The purpose of this article is to review the available evidence on this issue, perform a historical and medical critical analysis and suggest plausible diagnosis that have not been previously published in scientific literature. Our research on primary sources seem to indicate that in 41–42 AD Paul of Tarsus developed a clinical picture with a pain similar to that of a thorn injury and bad physical appearance. It could also have a chronic course with a limited number of relapses and few global. It could remind Job’s illness and provoke humiliation in Paul and repulse in his audience. Multiple diseases could explain some of these data, but fewer explain all of them. Though a definitive diagnosis cannot be achieved, we think that cutaneous disorders are the most obvious candidates for a humiliating and painful disease which, however, would permit long journeys during more than a decade. Disorders with cutaneous involvement like lupus erythematosus, dermatomyositis, urticaria/angioedema, leukocytoclastic vasculitis or nodular vasculitis should be added to other possibilities previously reported.

White’s The Incarnate Lord: An Appreciative Interaction

White’s The Incarnate Lord: An Appreciative Interaction Chris Tilling Every few years or so, I have been fortunate enough to read authors to whom I know I will endlessly return. For me, that list includes the likes of Karl Barth, Douglas Campbell, Jeff McSwain, and Richard Bauckham, to name some of the “likely suspects.” I may now add Thomas Joseph White to that list, for he has encouraged me to rethink some of my inherited theological commitments. Indeed, the learning, eloquence, and cogency of argumentation on display in The Incarnate Lord1 was, for me, like a New Testament baptism in that I felt plunged into deep waters—refreshing waters, I might add, as he kept sight of “first order” theological discussion. Rather than a boring and very well-worn escapade into hermeneutical or reader-centered concerns that some inexplicably still seem to think are cutting edge, here we are treated to the kind of theological analysis that stretches, that seeks to advance. What is more, the scope of White’s volume is impressive. His argument ranges confidently through philosophical subtleties, both ancient and modern. He handles complex, yet important, Christological debates and soteriological discussions in conversation with giants in the field, one of whom alone usually suffi ces for a lifetime of reading. And this is all done in conversation with important contemporary interlocutors. As a result, the numerous and arguably important observations contained in The Incarnate Lord will shape my own questions for years to come. How refreshing to read a work of theology that seeks [End Page 629] unapologetically to “peer into the mystery of God himself ” (29)! This is all to say that it is an honor to respond to White’s work. It is also a considerable task for this humble Neutestamentler. Consequently, in what follows, I will not outline what I consider to be White’s overarching concerns, except as they are refracted by my own interests, nor place his contributions on the landscape of alternative proposals. Rather, I will alight upon what I consider to be matters most worthy of dissection given my own expertise and interests. To wit, I will first note areas that are significant impulses in my own theological development. This will lead to the most substantial section of this paper, second, where I will ponder White’s engagement with Scripture and in light of Scripture, particularly as presented in his introduction. This will provide a useful springboard into a variety of substantial concerns in White’s volume. Third, I will seek to bring the many debates and discussions to as sharp a formulation as possible, in the hope that it may provoke fruitful dialogue. Significant Contributions As stated, this section is not meant to enumerate the various contributions White makes in terms of general systematic theological discussion. This would extend an already overly ambitious review. I would be ill-equipped to make such judgments, either way. This is more personal, relating to an entirely contingent theological biography, and how White’s arguments push me to develop. First, I note his critical commentary on the Barthian tradition, and its implicit endorsement—without sufficient theological justification—of the Kantian critique of metaphysics. This was an insight made with particular force and cleverly contrasted with the implicit ontological commitments of Chalcedon. As he rightly asks: “What does it mean to say that God personally ‘exists’ as a human being among us? How should we understand the difference between Christ’s human nature and his divine nature?” Or again, how is “nature” attributed “to Christ’s human essence as distinct from his divine essence?” White presses the point: “In seeking to recover Chalcedonian ontology ‘after Kant’ without a commitment to classical metaphysics, the Barthian ‘tradition’ cannot answer these questions adequately” (49). In particular, he then asks whether it is adequate to follow Barth in placing the “site” of the hypostatic union in the identity of God “revealed in a voluntary act of the human Christ.” Barth, thereby, locates central ontological considerations concerning the divine–human unity in “an ‘accidental’ feature of the human being of Christ” (49). As such, this tends toward a [End Page 630] particular understanding of Nestorianism (as...

Origen’s Johannine Trinitarian Theology of Love

AbstractOrigen is the first Christian who proposed a systematically Trinitarian theology of love. This has largely escaped the attention of theologians and remains underexplored. One notable consequence is that this has severely limited our appreciation of Origen as a significant interlocutor for contemporary theology since the Trinity as love is arguably the most significant theme that shaped the development of modern Trinitarian theology in the twentieth century. This essay addresses this lacuna by offering a reconstruction of Origen’s Trinitarian theology of love. What will emerge is a grammar of love that sets out the meaning of the term with reference to all three divine hypostaseis, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Furthermore, Origen’s Trinitarian understanding of love is bound up with his vision of human deification understood as incorporation into the Triune fellowship of love. At the heart of Origen’s approach is a crucial distinction from 1 John: the Father as he agapē (1 John 4:8) and the Son as he agapē ek tou theou (1 John 4:7). This distinction captures Origen’s understanding of the Father‐Son relation and emerges from close attention to the Johannine language of sonship as ek tou theou. This central observation urges a reassessment of subordinationism as a characterisation of Origen’s Trinitarian thought. I argue that it is more appropriate instead to speak of Origen’s Johannine theology of sonship.

Foedus and testamentum: Calvin's federal terminology in Hebrew 8–10

AbstractCalvin's significance in the development of federal theology has received much attention. Scholars have often neglected, however, the role that his exegesis played in his own construal of covenant ideas. More specifically, Calvin's reading of covenant in the book of Hebrews has played a negligible part in reconstructing Calvin's broader understanding of covenant. By looking closely at Calvin's exegesis and the terminological diversity in his commentaries on Hebrews 8–10, a more complex picture emerges. The federal terminology employed in these sections of his commentaries evidences exegetical sensitivity and doctrinal complexity. Calvin not only stands in the stream of Reformed covenant doctrine, but his exegesis represents an early instinct that noticed the tension at work in passages like Hebrews 8–10.

The Importance of Dialogue for Pastoral Theological Development: Some Reflections on van Holten and Walton’s Theological Method and its Problems with the “Timelessness of God”

In response to van Holten and Walton’s critique (van Holten & Walton, 2020, 2022) of John Swinton’s theological approach to time and disability (Swinton, 2016, 2020), John Swinton is joined by the theological ethicist Professor Brian Brock. Swinton and Brock argue that while van Holten and Walton claim to be attempting to open up a dialogue, this is debatable. Dialogue is necessary for conversations such as these, but the thrust of their work has been focused on criticism and argument, without any constructive proposals for theory or practice. This might be acceptable if we were simply discussing concepts and ideas. It is less convincing when we are dealing with real people. As per their previous work, van Holten and Walton constantly attempt to push their ideas into practice without actually taking experience into consideration, which leads to significant contradictions and problems. In this article, we explore van Holten and Walton’s approach to theology and doing theology – what theology is, who should be allowed to participate in its formation and what approaches are considered appropriate, and, importantly, who makes that decision. We examine some of the significant problems with their position when it comes to examining complex real-world issues such as the experience of dementia and disability. The current article engages with the various criticisms and concerns that are put forward, and highlights some of our concerns and worries about the flaws in their approach and their lack of awareness of or attention to its implications for practice. Despite the fact that we are far apart on many issues, the article concludes that there may actually be a way forward if the desire for dialogue is taken seriously. The article ends with a constructive proposition that has the potential to positively ground and encourage future conversations between practical and philosophical theology.

Does God Create Through Evolution? A Thomistic Perspective

ABSTRACT Many advocates of theistic evolutionism develop an image of God creating within and through evolutionary processes. Defining their position as “evolutionist creationism,” they conceive God as sharing his divine power to create with his creatures. I claim that evolutionary transformations can certainly be thought as particular exemplifications of the concurrence of divine and natural causes. However, because they occur within already existing matter, they should not be conceived as an aspect of divine creation but rather as an important part of divine providential governance and guidance of the created universe toward its end.

Froben Prints and Polemics on Religion in Early Modern Eastern Europe

The article explores the Froben prints stored at the Rare Books Department of the Library of the Russian Academy of Science (Biblioteka Akademii Nauk) in Saint Petersburg. For three generations in the 16th century, Basel printers the Frobens influenced European intellectual life like no other publishing establishment, contributing to the spread of early Latin and Greek Christian literature, which determined both the development of theology and the humanities. Some copies of Froben prints are conspicuous for the history of their use which is intrinsically connected with various kinds of religious polemics in 16th and 17th century Eastern Europe. The focus of the article is the copies of Froben’s Opera omnia of St Augustine which underwent censorship in monastic libraries of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth in the 16th and 17th century. The article traces the history of a number of Froben copies which belonged to notable Polish Protestants of the 16th and 17th centuries (Andrzej Trzecieski, Nicholas Radziwill the Black (“Czarny”), Andrzej Dobrzanski). The examination of the connections of Eastern European Protestants, which enabled vigorous exchange of books with Western Europe, bringing, for instance, a book from the library of the great Dutch cartographer Gerhard Mercator to the hands of a provincial Polish pastor, is carried out. Finally, the article addresses the marginalia left by Simeon of Polotsk on one of his books. These marginalia throw some new light on the question of Simeon’s genuine theological views. By examining the history of the copies from the Library of the Russian Academy of Science through the marginalia left in the 16th and 17th centuries by people of various religions, the article assesses Froben copies as a source on confessional and intellectual history of the period.

The Lynn White's challenge: African independent Churches (AIC) and ecological consciousnesSS

This article examines the influence of the thesis of the American medieval scholar Lynn White that Christianity is responsible for environmental injustice and which has become a trigger for the formation of a new discipline in Christian theology - environmental theology and a new Christian environmental consciousness on the activities of African Independent Churches (AIC). On the African continent, it is the AICs who have made significant contributions to the development of contextual theology and environmental awareness. The main tenet of the African Independent Churches (AIC) after liberation from colonial dependence was that countries that received political liberation were to receive ecological liberation. However, it should be noted that still the main emphasis was placed on environmental action, which was an expression of the environmental consciousness of members of African independent churches. Attempts by African Independent Churches (AICs) to construct a system of ecological theology within contextual theology have relied on attempts to fit Christianity with the traditional African view, which traditionally defined certain trees, rivers, or animals as sacred or taboo. There are few such approaches in the literature on theological justification of ecology in churches initiated by Africans, but the ecological consciousness based on action has a well-rooted history in African independent churches and is, in fact, an Afro-Christian response to the challenge posed to Christianity by Lynn White.

ОСМИСЛЕННЯ СВОБОДИ У ПРАВОСЛАВНОМУ БОГОСЛОВ'Ї ЙОГО ВСЕСВЯТОСТІ ПАТРІАРХА ВАРФОЛОМІЯІ

The article is devoted to the content of the understanding of freedom in the Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew's І theology. The path of personal comprehension and comprehension of freedom, which became one of the core foundations of the development of philosophical thought of the "Western world". It is difficult to find in the list of prominent thinkers of the history of Western philosophy from the beginning of our era someone who would not devote his efforts to understand freedom in accordance with a certain perspective of its problematization. The main directions of development of this topic in the history of philosophical and theological theories are outlined. The general context of Christian doctrine, which is the source of the problems of freedom in the "Western world" is revealed. The alternative angles of its understanding in Eastern philosophies where freedom appears, first of all, as a desirable goal, the achievement of which requires efforts, as opposed to the interpretation of freedom based on Abrahamic religions of God-given attributive property of human, which is a condition of both sin and salvation, are pointed out. The specificity of the modern interpretation of freedom in the conditions of secularism domination is determined, and the actuality of the Patriarch's position, which corresponds to the urgent challenges faced by humanity today, is clarified. The motive of "escape from freedom" in the cultures of the West is revealed, and the reasons for its emergence are clarified. Contrary to popular prejudice, according to which theology is always a factor of "conservation" and "dogmatization" of thought, Orthodox theology reflects modernity and illustrates both the depth of the historical duration of the Christian paradigm and the modern peaks of its development. Not only Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew І revealed the spiritual tradition of Orthodoxy, but also outlined possible ways to overcome the most pressing problems that require humanity to take responsibility for compliance with social justice and the protection of the natural environment. It is argued that the Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew's І position is an example of how religion from the source of conflict can become a guarantee of interfaith reconciliation and intercultural understanding. The development of Orthodox theology, as evidenced by Patriarch's works, is able to open new horizons of human unity around the meta-values of love and faith. Man's freedom is a manifestation of the fact that it was created in the image and likeness of God, it is possible thanks to the absolute and unconditional Freedom of the Creator, the comprehension of which exceeds man's ability to judge. True freedom of the individual is a guarantee of recognition of the "other's" freedom, and a necessary condition for a responsible position of an individual, capable of constructive and effective steps towards solving the urgent problems of mankind.

Key Trends in the Development of Theology of History in the Orthodox Thought of the XX Century

Key Trends in the Development of Theology of History in the Orthodox Thought of the XX Century

Catholic Theistic Evolution

Going back to 1950, several Catholic Popes have stated that believing that evolution takes place in nature does not conflict with believing in God or the Catholic faith. Yet disagreement about theistic evolution persists among Catholics. Several popes have stated that to combine an evolutionary view with a Catholic view we must consider the methods used in various branches of knowledge. To do this, we must keep consciously in mind the distinctions between science, metaphysics, philosophy, and theology. This perspective about the branches of knowledge serves to rebut various charges that Catholicism is incompatible with evolution.

Философия религии Дж. Уиздома и философская теология в раннем витгенштейнианстве

The article deals with the question of whether and how the early Wittgensteinian philosophy of religion could be related to the idea of philosophical theology. Despite the bearing the Wittgensteinian tradition has had on a variety of theological developments, it remains unclear what from its philosophical practice and which of its philosophical hinges could be connected to theology in the first place. The argument proposed in the article is that philosophical theology within the early Wittgensteinian tradition (1930s–1940s) was concerned with the philosophical problems which were irrelevant to the theological ones. Outlining the context of the Wittgensteinian reasoning on religion and showing that it was crucial for a few of Wittgenstein’s followers, especially for John Wisdom (1904–1993), gives additional ground to this argument. It appears that the hinges Wisdom adopted from Wittgenstein – most importantly the descriptivist attitude and the idea of language as the only appropriate field for being observed philosophically – follow philosophical, rather than religious, commitments. One can see this by comparison of Wisdom’s views, esp. “the garden” argument, with those of Antony Flew, Richard Hare, and Basil Mitchell, who participated in the discussion, which can be regarded as the rise of the new philosophical theology. Whereas each of these philosophers developed one of Wisdom’s ideas – the discursive, the referential, and the contextualist aspects of God-talk – Wisdom had held the combination of these ideas. Paradoxically, this complexity came from Wisdom’s uncertainty as to the existence of a strict line between the analytic and the empirical propositions in real language. However, as a result, the philosopher understood the ontological dimension of God-talk, and yet could not make ontological verdicts, which makes this type of reasoning philosophically insightful yet theologically insignificant.

ISLAM DAN ILMU PENGETAHUAN: MENGHADIRKAN TEOLOGI DIALEKTIS MENGHADAPI MASA DEPAN AGAMA DAN MANUSIA

This article looks at how the early development of Islamic theology loaded with political nuances is such that dialectically gave rise to many theological schools. On the other hand the development of the idea that value-free science has brought about the bankruptcy of science itself. So much so that in the next development science demands moral values in its development. This is what experts suspect that the 21st century is the century of religion. Where it is expected at that time the active role of religion can determine the next human development. The approach used is historical philosophical, which describes how the development of Islamic theological thought then analyzes and elaborates it with the objective conditions of recent science in search of solutions. In conclusion, the dialogical relationship between the various branches of science is a hard urgent demand. Cataloging theology with social sciences such as anthropology, with a phenomenological approach. It is expected to create a paradigm of dialogical theological thought, which is an inclusive understanding. So that the difference of thought that exists is not used as an excuse as a trigger for external conflict let alone interen, as had happened in the middle of Islam. Even further it will be a solution to the problems that occur in the course of science specifically and the continuity of religion and human life.