Theological Questions Research Articles

Mixed Blessings: Understanding the Experience of LGBTQIA+ Educators in Catholic Schools

ABSTRACT LGBTQIA+ educators are a gift to Catholic schools. In this article, two researchers affiliated with the University of San Francisco conducted a national survey of LGBTQIA+ educators in Catholic schools that highlights the blessings and challenges of their work. The survey results demonstrate that, despite the tension and fear experienced by these educators, they still offer significant contributions to the mission of Catholic schools through their prophetic witness of advocacy and inclusion. Most importantly, their LGBTQIA+ identity serves as a foundation for a deeper relationship with God through their vocation as educators. Many LGBTQIA+ educators, who have every reason to leave Catholic education in search for more stability, choose to stay in Catholic schools to support students, deepen their faith, and promote a Catholic climate of inclusion in their schools. Catholic school leaders should stop dismissing them and seek to fully include them into the life and work of the school. In this article, the researchers explore the historical climate regarding LGBTQIA+ educators in Catholic schools and raise some moral and theological questions. Then they analyze the responses to the national survey to generate some key findings. They conclude with some recommendations on how Catholic leaders can best appreciate and include the gifts LGBTQIA+ educators bring to Catholic education.

What is theology? Historical and systematic reflections

ABSTRACT This article explores the question of theology’s purpose and identity in relation to the Church and the modern university. Interpreting the development of theology in antiquity as a rational discipline, Zachhuber explores how, throughout Christian history, theology has served as simultaneously a stabilising and destabilising force in relation to the Church. The article ends with reflections on theology’s present condition in the university and asks how it might yet flourish in the years ahead in both its relation to the Church and to the modern university.

The Relevance of Theology and Legal policy in South African society in connection with violence against women

The theological question raised in this article violence against women theologically, drawing and incorporating the South African government’s response to it in terms of legislation and policing strategies and the need for greater participation of communities to combat gender-related crimes. The caretaker approach of the church as the custodian of the Hebrew Bible was also highlighted. Even though a church-based care approach may be limited, it still has the potential to support the efforts of law-enforcement agencies. When women in communities do not feel safe and fear violence at the hands of men, they are forced to resort to the state to provide protection. Crime, including crime against women, draws on insecurities about the level of safety and well-being in communities. It cannot be prevented or eliminated by the police alone but by the concerted collaboration of the private sector, NGOs, faith-based organisations such as churches and the community itself.

“God Smiles”: The Rhythm of Revelation in Sorrentino’s “The Young Pope”

The classic problematic of divine absence and presence is a familiar theological trope (deus absconditus). It achieves new life, however, in the work of contemporary Italian filmmaker Paolo Sorrentino (b. 1970), who explores the theme in his recent television miniseries The Young Pope (2016). I “read” Sorrentino as part of a trajectory in contemporary Italian theory (Vattimo, Agamben, etc.) that deconstructs-as-a-way-of-receiving certain traditional (especially Catholic) problematics. However, Sorrentino is to be distinguished from these others by what we might call a postmodern sincerity, whereby he manages to twist without breaking an orthodox understanding of divine invisibility. Importantly, Sorrentino emphasizes the interpersonal and ongoing nature of revelation, and thus situates the absconditus problem in a broader account of dialogical divine love. “Reading” Sorrentino in this way suggests that deus absconditus and deus revelatus are not concepts in tension but rather dynamic parts of an integral, integrating dialectic. It also suggests that visual storytelling remains a powerful medium for raising and indeed enacting fundamental theological questions to do with belief and unbelief.

Ecotheology: A Christian Conversation

Ecotheology: A Christian Conversation

Modern Theological Debates of Hell in the USA

Among the differing Christian denominations there are various viewpoints regarding hell. This article presents differing viewpoints of the theological questions concerning hell that have been debated over the last ten years (2010–2020) in the United States in the theological arena as well as the popular press. The positions of annihilationism, universalism, and the traditional viewpoint are be surveyed. The differing philosophical, theological and biblical are presented for each general category. The article strives to give a general overview of the various theologies and to show that such theological investigation is of urgent importance for Christians today.

Whatever happened to God’s holiness? The holiness of God and the theological authenticity of the South African neo-Pentecostal prophetic activities

The controversial activities of the neo-Pentecostal prophets (NPPs) in South Africa raise many theological questions. From a systematic theological perspective that affirms the importance of Christian doctrines in regulating church worship and practice, this article uses God’s holiness to evaluate the theological authenticity of the NPPs’ controversial activities. The research question answered in the article is: how can an understanding of the holiness of God empower Christian believers to respond meaningfully to the controversial practices? The article begins by describing the theoretical framework of God’s holiness. This is followed by describing the NPPs’ shift from prophecy focusing on holiness to one focused on human needs. Furthermore, this shift among the NPPs from holiness to human needs is attributed to celebrity cultism through which the prophets thrust themselves as powerful figures who are able to solve people’s problems. Afterward an analysis is made of how the holiness of God is violated by the NPPs’ controversial practices. Finally, some steps are suggested for NPPs and their followers to take to align their activities with God’s holiness. The contribution of the article lies in highlighting the importance of God’s holiness as a standard of measuring the Christian authenticity of the controversial activities of the NPPs in South Africa. Intradisciplinary and/or interdisciplinary implications: The article uses insights from the doctrine of God’s holiness, the role of biblical prophecy and the doctrine of the church, to critique the controversial activities of the NPPs in South Africa.

Erotic desire as a woman’s way of knowing the divine

This article examines a Japanese novel written by Arishima Takeo, A Certain Woman (first published in Japanese in 1919), in order to explore women’s ways of knowing, focusing on the body and erotic desire as a locus where the human–God relationship is embodied. This novel shows a way of knowing the Divine beyond language and the sanitized notion of love, describing the life of a modern Japanese Christian woman who refuses both Japanese colonial woman-hood and Christian (Victorian) sexual ethics. Depicting the divine presence in the protagonist’s promiscuous and stigmatized body, Arishima asks theological questions about the role of eros and violence in the pursuit of God, and seeks radically free God and humans who may go beyond any existing boundaries.

On thinking

The paper engages Wentzel van Huyssteen’s lifelong fascination and occupation with thinking, for him particularly thinking as problem-solving. Responding to Van Huyssteen’s own invitation, it brings Hannah Arendt’s thinking on thinking in conversation with his own thinking by considering five crucial characteristics of the ways in which she both described and practised thinking over decades. These characteristics include: her thinking as responsibility, thinking in dark times, thinking without banister, thinking in public and thinking as thanksgiving. In the process the paper revisits all her well-known books and essays on these themes, whilst also pointing to some of the roots of her thinking in the similarly classic thinking on thinking of her mentor Martin Heidegger. It concludes by pointing to the major conflict between philosophical traditions concerned with rational problem-solving and unravelling puzzles, respectively, exemplified by the reputedly shocking ‘poker’ encounter between Karl Popper and Ludwig Wittgenstein, and expresses hope for ongoing conversation about this seeming conflict over thinking with Van Huyssteen and his work.Intradisciplinary and/or interdisciplinary implications: Thinking about thinking, the essay addresses methodological questions in public theology, in interdisciplinary conversation with philosophy and political theory. Distinguishing faculties of the mind – thinking, willing, judging – it challenges which kinds of questions belong to public theology, with particular implications for doctrinal theology, theological ethics and political theology.

Beyond Reception History: The Qur’anic Intervention into the Late Antique Discourse about the Origin of Evil

The article advocates a new approach to the Qur’an: To look at the text as a transcript of the earliest community’s intervention into major debates of its time. Rather than earlier textual traditions (“reception history”), particular burning theological questions that were en vogue in the epistemic space of Late Antiquity are identified as the essential trigger of particular Qur’anic proclamations. Thus, the new—Late Antique—perception of evil (epistemic troubles experienced in the innermost selves of individuals—which cropped up during the sectarian strife in Middle Mecca) is etiologically explained through the primordial rebellion of Diabolos/Iblīs. This figure is portrayed in the Qur’an as a daring “dissenter in heaven”—a dignity that he had proven in various Biblical contexts (Book of Job, Gospels, etc.) before. His main characteristic is his eloquence and logical reasoning, which has earned him the epithet of the “inventor of qiyās/syllogism” in later Islamic tradition. His Qur’anic development is projected against the backdrop of rabbinic, patristic, and poetic exegeses, which together attest the vitality of a most diversified “epistemic space of Late Antiquity”.

The problem of evil: An economic approach

AbstractThis paper develops an economic model to study the philosophical problem of evil. God's creation of the world is modeled as a problem of optimal incentives. A principal (God) must choose a world so that the populating agents behave according to his benevolent objective. In a world, the physical environment resembles a contract that determines the rewards and punishments for different choices. The agents' behavioral rule determines how they respond to these incentives. I characterize a contract and a behavioral rule that solve the principal's problem, and evil is evidenced. Specifically, evil endogenously aligns the agents' actions with the principal's objective. Other insights on the origin, cause, and role of evil are also derived from the model. The result of this analysis is a theodicy arisen from an economic model. As a byproduct, this paper shows how an economic model can be used to study philosophical or theological questions.

The reconfiguration of social, digital and physical presence: From online church to church online

Digital presence refers to technologies that provide communities a shared experience and a sense of togetherness, despite geographical distance. Emerging technologies for digital presence provide the church with both theological questions (e.g. related to the validity of sacraments when administered online) and practical opportunities. Think of the pros and cons for online communion in some churches: is digital presence real presence? The digital realm as a thread of the universe leads to rethinking of the church as a social, digital and physical unity. What kind of new possibilities could digital presence in digital realities provide to spiritual experience, individually and within the worship?Contribution: Rather than a plain application of the existing technologies to digitise the current functions and events of congregations for online services, technology should expand and reform the church online. This study aims to discuss the transformation from online church to church online. The technical solution for digital presence was inspired by the demands of a Finnish plug-in campus in an African setting, which draws inspiration from African concepts of community and place.

Piccolominijevo Pismo Mehmedu in krščanska lectio civilnega humanizma

In 1461 the Italian humanist Enea Silvio Piccolomini, pope Pius II, writes a famous letter to the Ottoman Sultan Mehmed the Conqueror, which is still quite unknown in the Slovenian academia. It reveals a complex and ambivalent, in fact an unquiet, mind, typical for the thought climate of the Late Middle Ages. It provides us a myriad of interesting historical, philosophical, sociological, philological and theological questions. This paper aims to contextualize this precious document in the field of historical humanism, problematize the late crusade ideology and search for relations with other irenic solutions. The Letter to Mehmed is a window on the world of the civil humanism meeting the active conception (vita activa) of the Christian humanism, which is the ultimate lesson of the early and middle Renaissance.

Severin Boethius and his “Consolation by Philosophy” (clarifications to “enigma” by S. Boethius)

This article sheds light on the well-known enigma of the treatise “Consolation by Philosophy” by Severin Boethius: why in the conditions of being condemned to death the Christian thinker turns not to prayers or Bible, but to philosophy. Based on the analysis of sources, the author of the article indicates two essential points in the treatise, which in his opinion did not receive due attention in the existing research: 1) the treatise features a detailed sequence of “healing” the philosopher with its own justified semantic saturation and fully fits in comprehension of the role of philosophy in cleansing the soul of the believer and bringing person to genuine Christian righteousness; 2) this path begins with releasing the soul from sorrows and sufferings and ends with discussing the delicate theological questions. The conclusion is drawn that the entire structure of the treatise “Consolation with Philosophy” by Severin Boethius quite organically fits into comprehension of the role and tasks of philosophy in bringing a person to Christian righteousness, which at that time have been developed in Christian patristics. Such interpretation of the question at hand imparts a new sounding to the famous treatise and allows dovetailing the S. Boethius in the traditions of the early Christian patristics and giving an extended assessment to his works.

Reflecting on the Disagreement between Western and Eastern Christianity on the Question of the Filioque in its Practical Significance for the Spiritual Life

The purpose of this article is to examine the topic of the filioque as a current example of the relationship between the influence of historical causes on the formation of theology, theological formulations, and the practice of piety, down to the role of cultural context in the development of Christian doctrine. This article is not intended to reconcile the controversies surrounding the topic of the Filioque, nor is it intended to find a new theological solution to this theological question. The aim is to stimulate a practical perception of the theological debate about the understanding of the Holy Spirit within the doctrine of the Trinity among evangelical Christians in the post-Soviet space. The distortion of the doctrine of the Trinity has a direct impact on shaping the practice of the spiritual life. Therefore, evangelical Christians can and should reflect on the relationship between the doctrine of the Trinity and the practical life of Christians.

The Gift of Peace, Christians with Impairments, and the Church

One of the demands facing the church is the call for unity with Christians with profound intellectual and physical impairments. As the church becomes a community of justice with and for people with impairments, she is an instrument of God's shalom. However, too many of our sisters and brothers with impairments find themselves on the outside looking in. How can the church continue to move toward a more complete welcome and participation? Responding to this theological question precedes clinical or legal concerns. The best the world has to offer is not what the church needs, though she can learn from reasonable professional approaches. The message and peace of Christ can undo the walls of separation that keep Christians with impairments out. Such a transformation would be a sign that the church is being built up in peace, and would offer a model of true communion among a diversity of people.

Science et exégèse. Les interprétations antiques et médiévales du récit biblique de la création des éléments (Genèse 1, 1–8) edited by Béatrice Bakhouche

Biblical exegetes from Antiquity and the Middle Ages continuously confronted the cosmogonic narrative offered in Genesis with the scientific cosmological theories of their times. Besides addressing theological questions raised by the text, most exegetes of the past were occupied with harmonizing the biblical cosmogony with current scientific knowledge or dealing with their manifest discrepancies. Reviewed by: David Lemler, Published Online (2021-04-30)Copyright © 2021 by David Lemler Article PDF Link: https://jps.library.utoronto.ca/index.php/aestimatio/article/view/37667/28671 Corresponding Author: David Lemler, Sorbonne UniversitéE-Mail: david.lemler@sorbonne-universite.fr

Broadening the Reign of God in Every Sphere: Understanding Christian Action between Church and State in Schleiermacher’s Philosophical and Christian Ethics

Abstract This article investigates Schleiermacher’s ethics in relation to two important questions in public theology: how should a Christian negotiate their religious and civic identities in between church and state and how should this relationship direct Christian life and action? In his Philosophical Ethics, the spheres of the state and church carry distinct roles and responsibilities toward attaining the highest good. In his Christian Ethics, the conception of broadening action in the outer sphere prescribes how Christians ought to expand the reign of God. Integrating insights from both sources shows Schleiermacher’s commitment to the church as the central medium of communication for expanding the redemptive work of Christ through a collective embodiment of God-consciousness. This work can come alongside the state’s work for national unity but it is never beholden to it because Christians are ultimately called to a greater mission to expand God’s reign in all spheres of human community.

Cormac McCarthy in Context

Cormac McCarthy in Context

Gottesdienstliches digitales Neuland in Zeiten der Pandemie. Ein Erfahrungsbericht in theologischer Absicht

Abstract This paper offers reflections of broadcasted church services by describing and analyzing concrete experiences with online services, which are produced professionally by using the chances and means of filming. From that vantage point general theological issues in the COVID-19 era are addressed, in particular those that are related to the transformation in celebrating services. The importance of bodily resonances and the importance of synchronicity are addressed as well as the ecclesiological issue about the various publics and the various ways in which the church speaks. The various aspects are connected by the conviction that the practical and ethical necessities in times of COVID-19 raise general theological questions beyond the pandemic.