Theological Positions Research Articles

Sharing a Stage in the Arena of Agency

Abstract Exactly five hundred years ago today, Erasmus engaged with Martin Luther in a debate on free will that continues to inspire, even if it evokes a notion of freedom that is no longer ours in every respect. Emphasising the need for a common-sense reading of Holy Scripture that did not require making conjectures about the existence of hidden forms of divine justice inconsistent with our own, Erasmus confronted Luther with the fact that his “necessitating” notion of grace was not in any way representative of earlier theological positions acknowledging the notion of free will. Refusing to be drawn towards an interpretation of grace that denied human beings the ability to activate the full spectrum of their natural reaction patterns, Erasmus stayed clear of translating earlier theological positions on grace in terms of an overruling of human agency. His theology continued to inspire later generations to work on their moral development rather than to act out of fear for divine retribution. Despite his name as a sceptic and a rhetorician, Erasmus’ decidedly this-worldly interpretation of religious doctrine not only reveals his argumentative agility and deep theoretical insight; it also prompts a universalist approach in theology that consistently favours a predisposition towards the humane.

Պատկերամարտական շարժման սկզբնավորումն ու վարդապետական արձագանքը․ Վրթանես Քերթող և Հովհան Մայրագոմեցի

The iconoclastic movement in Armenia is an interesting phenomenon, which precedes the Byzantine controversies in the 8th century. Two important testimonies have been preserved in the Armenian ecclesiastical literature about the iconoclastic groups and movements in Armenia and Aghvank’ in the 6th–7th centuries: Vrt῾anes K῾ert῾oł’s treatise “Against the Iconoclasts” and the letter written by Hovhan Mayragomec῾i to Bishop David, which is included in the “History of Aghvank” by Movses Dasxowranc῾i, 10th century historian. These two complementary documents outline the origins of the iconoclastic movements in Armenia and Aghvank’, the reasons for its emergence, the geographical span and name of the movement’s authors showing the religious and theological attitude of the Armenian Church regarding the issue. The treatise of Vrt῾anes is the earliest datable defense of images in any language. The author proves necessity and importance of the icons in the churches on the basis of biblical and patristic sources, provides insightful information about the iconography and frescos of the Armenian churches in general. He cites St. John Chrysostom, Bishop Severian of Gabala, Eusebius of Caesarea and St. Gregory the Illuminator, the patron saint of the Armenian nation. Vrt῾anes is the first author to use the story of Abgar’s icon of Christ in Edessa in defense of icon use. Analyzing and studying the Armenian sources of the first stage of the iconographic movement, we come to the following conclusion: the presence of images in the church doesn’t contradict to the Holy Scriptures and the teaching of Church Fathers. We have to remember that the worship of images in Christianity has nothing to do with the idolatry described in the Old Testament, because icons were also in the Holy of Holies and in the Temple of Solomon.

A kóser törvények márki recepciója

Mk 7, 17-23 and its context is a two-level narrative. On the first level, the text is a prophetic critique initially directed against the Pharisaic tradition of handwashing or, more generally, against the Pharisaic understanding of purity. On this level, Jesus opened the way for a departure from Judaism in no way. In other words, Jesus did not teach against the Torah's dietary laws. The second level of the text is Mark's interpretation. For him, Jesus' saying about the food being eliminated into the sewer no longer meant (or primarily did not mean) only that morality is prior to purity questions but also that everything is pure (i.e. for Gentile Christians). Mark, therefore, found in Jesus' saying the basis for the Gentile Christians' exemption from kosher laws. However, it is important to emphasise that one can discover the problem of identity behind the Marcan interpretation. By eating what the Jews did not, Christians clearly signal that they were now outside Judaism. Eating non-kosher food was an identity marker for (Gentile) Christians, emphasising their separation from Judaism. The drawing of boundaries between Judaism and Christianity was and remained an important issue in early Christianity. Whether they interpreted the kosher laws allegorically (Barnabas, Clement of Alexandria) or accepted their literal meaning (Justin), the common theological position was that the kosher laws (Lev 11), as interpreted by Judaism, were not valid for Christians. However, the practice was sometimes quite different from theological thinking: the extent to which the dietary laws applied to Gentile Christian communities was and remains a serious problem.

Reparation and Reconciliation

Abstract After several decades of relative silence in the Netherlands on the topic of church and racism, the Black Lives Matter Movement and the public debate on reparations for colonial enslavement have brought the issue back on the agenda of church and theology. Fuelled by the Programme to Combat Racism (PCR), previous ecumenical discussions on this topic in the 1970s provide a good starting point for reflection today. This paper first provides some basic background on the PCR and then describes three theological positions in relation to reconciliation that shaped the discussions around racism. Based on these historical insights, the article summarizes the experiences and insights of the PCR in three major points, and discusses their relevance for today’s conversation on church, diaconia, and racism. The paper argues that commitment, the transfer of power, and the value of discomfort provide important theological and practical insights for today’s debate.

The Theological Position of Metropolitan Sergius (Stragorodsky) in the Dispute over Sophiology

The Theological Position of Metropolitan Sergius (Stragorodsky) in the Dispute over Sophiology

A Republican of Faith: Adolf von Harnack’s Public and Intellectual Activity, 1914–1930

Abstract This paper focuses on the prominent German theologian Adolf von Harnack in his capacity as a public intellectual during the Weimar Republic. The few works of scholarship that address Harnack’s Weimar years at any length are in German, and the barely extant Anglophone literature, severely outdated, largely neglects to evaluate adequately the evolution and scope of Harnack’s pedagogical and theological positions as well as of the institutional power he commanded. Drawing principally from Harnack’s writings, both personal and published, before World War I until his death in 1930, this essay seeks to chart his intellectual development during the final years of his life and to survey how he translated his liberal theological principles into loyalty to the Weimar constitution. Public intellectuals such as Harnack were able to serve the public good in multifaceted, unquantifiable ways without attaching themselves to a particular party or to an explicitly partisan cause. By examining Harnack’s public and theological activity, I intend to provide a more holistic look at intellectual life in the Weimar Republic and to advocate for both a less restrictive definition of “public intellectual” and a broader conception of “political activism.”

Priests and their Bodies after Trent: (Dis)abilities, Masculinities, Sexualities

This article discusses the impact of a “corporeal turn” in early modern religious history on recent publications in Counter‐Reformation Catholic History. Scholars increasingly look towards the Church's legal archives in Rome as a source of information about ecclesiastical and theological attitudes to the body and sexuality. The figure of the priest has emerged as one of the most interesting subjects in that inquiry because of the richness of material about clerics which those archives hold. Scholars are now engaged in study of how past generations of theologians, ecclesiastical magistrates, and medics assessed priestly abilities and disabilities, priests' engagement in sexual acts, and their wider performances of masculine identities. Rome's role as a major centre in shaping Catholic masculinities is reinforced in this scholarship but a new study underscores the blurred boundaries between the lay and ecclesiastical in masculinities there. Overall, this research provides much new material both for rethinking historical questions about Trent's impact on reform discourses and also for commenting on contemporary debates in theology and Church politics about the nature of Christian priesthood.

Hume beyond Theism and Atheism

Abstract: This paper defends a rigorous reading of Hume’s critiques of arguments for the existence of God and of the belief in God against interpretations that endorse Humean theism, deism, and fideism. The latter include Donald Livingston’s theist reading, J. C. A. Gaskin’s “attenuated deism” reading, and Edward Kanterian’s “humble fideism” reading. I also examine whether Hume’s rejections of a positive theology commit him to agnosticism or atheism. My innovative challenge to such conclusions maintains that, while elements of both agnosticism and atheism are found in Hume, these denote, respectively, a methodology and an incidental implication of his philosophy. But neither sufficiently captures his constructive vision for a society, individual psychology, and system of knowledge guided by naturalist principles and aims. For this, an alternate conception is needed that describes Hume’s philosophy of religion beyond mere atheism.

Teologi som sträng vetenskap?

This article is written as a response to Mårten Björk's "Akademisk teologi som universell kunskapsform" in Svensk Teologisk Kvartalskrift 98 (2022). The article begins with an attempt to identify and describe what the author finds to be a unique quality of Björk's text as well as the deeper intentions of his argument. As a next step, it discusses the consequences of Björk's theological position, critically and constructively. The interpretation centres around questions regarding scientific methods, dominant notions of knowledge, and infrastructural aspects of the contemporary research milieu within the humanities.

Absurdism and its relation to faith in Beckett's play "Waiting for Godot"

The aim of the work is to pose the problem of the relation of absurdism to faith, considered by the example of the text of S. Beckett's literary work "Waiting for Godot". Research objectives: to give a philosophical analysis of artistic images, to reveal the specifics of the attitude to God among existentialist authors. The object of the study is the text of the play "Waiting for Godot", the subject is the connection of absurdism with the theological and providentialist attitude. The philosophy of the absurd is considered as bringing existentialist thinking to its ultimate foundations. The absurd, as the antipode of the theory of providentialism, represents a pole in the thinking of a religious person who is desperate to find cause-and-effect relationships in the world. According to the author, absurdism as a philosophical trend is rooted precisely in the religious worldview. The author tries to revise the term "absurdism" and find an answer to the question of what place the search for God occupies in absurdism. Examining the work of S. Beckett "Waiting for Godot", the author seeks to prove that one of the sources of absurdism is the awareness of abandonment by God (in the variation "God died" or "God turned away"), which is necessarily associated with attributing to God the function of giving meaning to things, processes, phenomena. The author's main contribution to the research of the topic is to identify the theological attitude as the basis for philosophical trends that position themselves as atheistic.

Theology of Science as an Intertextual Reading: The Bible, the Book of Nature, and Narrative Paradigm

The paper addresses the question of the identity of theology of science, fostering its interpretation as an intertextual narration. The starting point is the consideration of the domain of theology of science, which is viewed as a third domain of truth, according to Hans Urs von Balthasar. An analysis of the Swiss theologian’s perspective on this subject and the concept of God’s unknowability presents a strong counterargument to the claim that the natural sciences serve as a locus theologicus. Theology of science, nonetheless, exists and is engaged in a lively dialogue between science and theology, encompassing both the Revelation of God and the natural world or the Bible and the Book of Nature. What kind of discourse is this? This question concerns the position of theology of science within the field of science, specifically its objectivity and rigour, according to Evandro Agazzi’s analogical notion of science. Both the Bible and the Book of Nature ensure the objectivity of theology of science, while its rigour is established by the narrative paradigm. Therefore, theology of science can be seen as an intertextual narrative that engages both the Bible and the Book of Nature. The narrative paradigm of theology of science is subsequently elucidated, with particular emphasis on its cognitive aspects, narrative reasoning, the corresponding verification method, and Jewish corrective. The conclusion outlines a special task for theology of science in the modern age.

The ‘Gospel’ according to Vygotsky? Reflections on the role of symbolic mediation in religious education

As perspectives from the Russian psychologist Lev Vygotsky have made a substantial impact in the field of educational sciences, they have generated interest even in the field of religious education. To address some possible implications of Vygotskyan perspectives for religious education, this study focuses on Vygotsky’s notion of symbolic mediation, compared with perspectives from theological publications, interviews with religiously affiliated students as well as curricula and textbooks. Based on a comparison and discussion of these sources, the study argues that Vygotsky’s psychological perspective on symbolic mediation as key to human self-determination is not in conflict with theological and empirical approaches to religious symbols but that the latter display a wider variety of perspectives. It is argued that while religious education may benefit from Vygotskyan perspectives, a reflection is also needed on how to deal with the framing of religious symbols by varying theological positions and conflicting worldviews in different religious education settings.

Moral Theology

“Moral Theology” is theology in this narrower sense. It proceeds in the light of faith, with constant reference to Scripture and other authoritative expressions of the Church’s faith. “Interpretation” refers to systematic efforts to facilitate communication and overcome misunderstandings. This is where theology as we commonly understand it begins. The theological interpreter tries to find and state the true and full meaning of texts of Scripture and other authoritative expressions of the Church’s faith. This is the task of the part of theology called “positive theology”.

ОРФИКА IΙ: ТЕОГОНИЯИЕРОНИМА

The Orphic “theogony of Hieronymus and Hellanicus” is known thanks to Athenagoras (2nd century) and Damascius (6th century) and our informants approach the text of the theogony in very different ways. Athenagoras reads it literally, thus seeking to show all the immorality of Orphicism, whereas Damascus, in typical Neoplatonic fashion, understands it allegorically and uses it to illustrate his own theological position. We do not know who Hieronymus and Hellanicus are, but the theogony told in their name is remarkable, unique in many respects, and appears as a kind of transitional type between the early Orphic theogony and the later Rhapsodic theogony. This is achieved, above all, by expanding the number of entities involved in the story. Whereas the early theogonies usually began with the figures of Night and Oceanus with Tethys, they are now preceded by Chronos. In addition, in Hieronymus and Hellanicus (if Athenagoras uses only one source) and then in the Rhapsodies, Dionysus appears in the theogony, completing the genealogy of the gods: having copulated in the form of a serpent with Demeter, Zeus gives birth to Persephone, who, also in union with Zeus, becomes the mother of Dionysus. In this article we offer the reader an analytical reading of the extant fragments of this version of Orphic theogony, providing them with a detailed commentary.

Have Arguments For and Against Medical Aid in Dying Stood the Test of Time?

Have Arguments For and Against Medical Aid in Dying Stood the Test of Time?

Against Kerygma: Blumenberg's Critique of Rudolf Bultmann's Theology

abstract: In St. Matthew Passion (1988) Hans Blumenberg singles out the theologian Rudolf Bultmann for harsh criticism. The polemic focusses on his reading of the passion narrative in the Gospel of Matthew. After presenting Bultmann's theological position, the present essay examines the evolution of Blumenberg's critique of Bultmann's theology. While the early criticism focuses on theological issues, in The Legitimacy of the Modern Age (1966) Blumenberg stresses the philosophical-historical aspect, while Work on Myth (1979) foregrounds the question of myth. In St. Matthew Passion theological problems move to the center again, turning Bultmann into the prime example of harmful theology.

Islam and politics: a comparative analysis of the theological positions of the Egyptian ‘Alī Abd al-Rāziq (d.1966) and the Senegalese Cheikh Moussa Kamara (d.1945)

The mid-20th century saw the fall of the Ottoman Empire, the last Muslim caliphate, and at the same time, European imperialism continued to develop in Muslim-majority societies. The clash between Europe and the Muslim world also led to the emergence of reformist ideas, sparking intense debate on democracy, women’s rights, the relationship between religion and power, and so on. Added to this, colonization also dismantled well-established systems, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa, and imposed its hegemony. In this context, the relationship that Muslims had to maintain with colonial power was also the subject of debate. The aim of our contribution is to analyze the theological thinking of one of the first to question the political nature of Islam, namely the Egyptian ‘Alī ‘Abd al-Rāziq, author of the now famous book Al-Islām wa uṣūl al-ḥukm (Islam and the Foundations of Power). His reflections will be analyzed in comparison with those of a sub-Saharan author, Cheikh Moussa Kamara, author of Akṯar al-rāġibīn, a reflection on the use of religion for power purposes in colonial Africa. The aim will be to highlight how both think about the relationship between spiritual authority and temporal power.

Analisis Klaim Al-Ghazali tentang Tindakan Allah dalam 'Al-Iqtisad fi al-I'tiqad': Kajian terhadap Bantahan atas Pemikiran Mu'tazilah

Imam Al-Ghazali, whose full name is Abu Hamid bin Muhammad bin Ahmad Al-Ghazali, is a prominent figure in Islamic philosophy and theology who was born in 450 AH near Thus, Khurasan, Islamic Republic of Iraq. His important work, "Al-Iqtisad fi al-I'tiqad" (Balance in Belief), provides an in-depth view of Allah's actions, while also being a critical response to Mu'tazilite rationalist thought. This research aims to analyze al-Ghazali's claims regarding Allah's actions and discuss his refutation of Mu'tazilah arguments which emphasize rationality and justice in Divine actions. Al-Ghazali argued that Allah has absolute freedom and his actions are not bound by human understandings of justice and rationality. In contrast, the Mu'tazilites argued that every action of Allah must be in accordance with the principles of justice that can be understood by human reason. This research uses text and context analysis to explore al-Ghazali's argumentative methods and their impact on the theological debates of his time, as well as to understand their relevance in Islamic theological discourse. The results of the research show that according to al-Ghazali, God can burden humans with something they are unable to do, which is different from the Mu'tazilah view which rejects this concept. The Mu'tazilites emphasized that God should not burden humans with something beyond their abilities, because this is considered unfair and destructive. This research provides in-depth insight into al-Ghazali's theological position in defending the doctrine of the Ahlus Sunnah wal Jamaah from the Mu'tazilite rationalist challenge

‘Implanted in us by Nature’: The Cognitive Science of Religion and its Importance for Theology

AbstractAbstract: The Cognitive Science of Religion (CSR) holds that religion emerges from human cognition and its intuitions. Hence, it describes religion as a ‘natural’ belief in ‘supernatural agents’. Traditional theology also maintained that there is an ‘innate’ or ‘implanted’ knowledge of God or gods. It will be argued that CSR and theology can be related, yet not in a straightforward manner. After sketching out in what sense CSR calls religion ‘natural’ and how it describes ‘supernatural agents’, this article explores some examples of the traditional theological doctrine of an ‘implanted’ knowledge of God. It shows that the reliability of such an ‘implanted’ knowledge of God was disputed among theologians and, even if it was affirmed, had an ambiguous position in theology. This also applies to CSR if it is to be related to the traditional theological doctrine. There are illuminating convergences between CSR and theology but also considerable divergences. Both, however, prove significant for theology.

К вопросу о философской парадигме «антипаламизма» Никифора Григоры и Варлаама Калабрийского

In this article, the problem of the conceptual synthesis of the theology of the Antipalamites (the opponents of Gregory Palamas in the era of Palamitic controversies) Nicephorus Gregoras and Barlaam of Calabria is considered. The consideration was based on two aspects: the cognition of God (the mystical aspect) and natural science (the scientific aspect). According to the author's intention, the use of the paradigmatic approach implies not so much a historical and philosophical generalization as the identification of a conceptual philosophical model. In this perspective, the use of the generalized term "antipalamism" for the theology of Gregory Palamas' opponents is possible without adjusting for the "simplification" of the historical picture of a particular era. This article also reveals the gnoseological scheme inherent in the philosophy of these thinkers, which affirms the absolute simplicity of the primordial (God), the impossibility of unconditional theological inference, and the primacy of natural science as indirect (through the study of principles of the created world) cognition over direct cognition of God. In this context, the connection between the theological position on the presence of divine will in the material world and the socio-economic processes in the Byzantine society of the 14th century is noted. It is also shown that the identified epistemological scheme can be found in the philosophical constructions of thinkers of later epochs, in particular, in the theology of the opponents of Onomatodoxy (early 20th century). It is noted that, similarly to the theological constructions of Gregory Palamas' opponents, the reasoning of the adversaries of onomatodoxy reveals both skepticism concerning the mystical cognition of God and an emphasis on the subjective psychological abilities of man. It is shown that the hypothesis of a common philosophical paradigm, which, according to A.F. Losev, is inherent in the opponents of Gregory Palamas, the Kantians, the opponents of onomatodoxy, etc., needs a detailed analysis of more historical-philosophical and historical-cultural material in order to present a reasonable classification model of the different trends of Christian thought, provided some supporting factors are present.