Integration Of Theology Research Articles

The Development of the Ash‘arite Doctrine in North Africa: Building of Theological, Political and Religious Unity

Understanding the socio-cultural identity of contemporary North Africa (Maghreb) and the background of much of its political development should not be held away from its religious, theological and juristic history. The reason being that neglect of the religious history of the region only obscures our vision of the real driving forces shaping much of today’s religious and cultural progress in the Maghreb. This study examines the historical stages and characteristics of the Ash‘arite intellectual development in the Maghreb while exploring factors contributing to the shaping of its intellectual unity. The scope of this inquiry is to examine the historical and intellectual evolution of Asharism in the Maghreb; some of its profound implications on society, religious instruction, and eventually the political history of the region will also be inspected. This research touches on fundamental evolutionary stages in the formation and consolidation of Ash‘arism in the Maghreb, each of which exerts socio-political implications on the region while also reflecting the intellectual, political and cultural interaction with the Muslim East. This research is instrumental to the understanding of the efforts made by respective governments in the Maghreb to strengthen Ash‘arism to preserve viable and sustainable unity between Muslims in the region. DOI: 10.5901/ajis.2015.v4n3p291

Missional Theology’s Missing Ingredient

Features of the “missional” conversation revolve around discussions of the ecclesial and divine mission. Largely an intra-Evangelical debate, with relevance to other traditions, this conversation has lacked representation from systematic theology. This article argues that the aim for diversity and listening to other voices that missiology excels at often stops short of seeing things as systematic theology might render them. The integrity of systematic theology’s voice as an exposition of the church’s confession renders structures that mark the manner of how gospel-exposition and mission really work insofar as the gospel defines things as they really are. As Christian theology claims Jesus’ lordship over all created realities, then, it functions to co-labor with the God of the Bible who is missionary and brings his people to participate in his action. Systematic theology then is missional in form, content, and aim, suggesting that mission is entirely what systematic theology is about.

Relational Integration, Part I: Differentiated Relationality between Psychology and Theology

In Part I of a two-part manuscript, we describe the contours of a relational integration approach to the relationship between psychology and theology. This approach builds on the tradition of the integration of psychology and theology but thematizes relationality at the levels of both content and process. We argue that it is persons who seek to integrate (or not); thus, integration is a relational process that inevitably involves the challenges of conflict, power and control stances, and difference. Therefore, relational integration necessitates differentiated capacities for mutual recognition and collaboration across disciplinary differences. We contrast our differentiation-based approach to relational integration with other published views for relating psychology and theology and outline relational integration as (a) embodied and (b) hermeneutical.

Speech-act theory to enhance Karl Barth's homiletical postulation of a sermon's ‘revelatory compliance’

AbstractKarl Barth's theology is a theology which was born from the pulpit. For Barth the formulation and enactment of the unity of church, theology and proclamation had become an integral part of his life and theological legacy. While Barth taught as professor at the University of Bonn he published his first volume of hisChurch Dogmatics(CD) with an emphasis on divine revelation. At the time of the publication ofCDI, Barth held two seminars on homiletics. The seminar notes were later assembled and turned into a book with the same title. If both works,CDI andHomiletics, are compared side by side a major theological inconsistency becomes apparent. InCDI Barth emphasises that revelation as the ‘Word of God’ remains with God, leaving the divine as the solely acting sovereign. Whereas inHomiletics, Barth talks about a sermon's ‘Offenbarungsmässigkeit’ – a sermon's revelatory compliance. These two postulations are not only in tension but they contradict each other. The underlying problem is that Barth cannot define revelation as a solely divine act which takes place separately and independently of human interaction; by simultaneously asking for a sermon and preachers’ revelatory compliance, as if otherwise God would not be able to reveal himself. This poses the question as to how this inconsistency can be resolved. The underlying problem for Barth was at that time, apparently, upholding both divine revelation and human proclamation without compromising the character of God and the nature of a sermon. A way out of the dilemma can be found if revelation and sermon delivery are reframed and complemented by the philosophical approach of John R. Searle's and John L. Austin's ‘speech-act theory’. ‘Speech act theory’ better appropriates Barth's desire to elevate a homily because of the ‘reality change’ which takes places in the very act of proclamation. In this theory proclamation is understood as a human act bound to God's truth which is creating a ‘new reality’ that opens and expects to have this reality filled and actualised by God's sovereign act of revelation. When proclamation/preaching is interpreted as ‘speech-act theory’, this follows Barth's desire to elevate the human act of the sermon delivery by simultaneously keeping the distinction between the human and divine, which is really worthy to be called a speech event.

What's the “Positive” in Positive Psychology? Teleological Considerations Based on Creation and Imago Doctrines

While positive psychology has considered a social science perspective of optimal development and living, a pressing question for the integration of psychology and theology is to consider what Christian theology suggests is essential for humans to thrive. Recognizing that God's purposeful action in creation has a telos, that is, a goal or purpose for humankind, propels Christian psychologists to investigate a theology of thriving in order to more fully grasp what God has intended for humanity. In this essay we argue that the Christian faith uniquely contributes multiple perspectives to our understanding of human thriving and flourishing that are central to psychological inquiry and are unique contributions to positive psychology. Specifically, the doctrines of creation and imago Dei broaden and deepen our understanding of thriving by providing a teleological perspective.

Calvin vs Wesley: Bringing Belief in Line with Practice.

Don Thorsen is Professor of Theology at the Haggard Graduate School of Theology, Azusa Pacific University, Azusa, California. In this book he argues that, when it comes to practice, most Christians are closer to Wesley than to Calvin and that this is regardless of their stated theological position. In support of this thesis he offers a comparison between the two on the issues of the sovereignty of God, the authority of Scripture, predestination, prevenient grace, the scope of salvation, the quest for holiness, the nature of the Church, and the nature of ministry. In each case, he provides a clear and comprehensive account of the theology of each before comparing and contrasting the two. All technical words are clearly explained, making this a suitable introduction for those who have little or no prior knowledge of either the two men or theology, and of interest to the general reader.Despite the title, Thorsen makes clear that Wesley and Calvin agreed with each other more than they disagreed and, while he admits that his sympathies lie with Wesley, it is clear that he has striven to be fair to Calvin. That said, he characterizes Calvin as a systematically oriented theologian and he sees this ultimately as a weakness, arguing that Calvin allowed rational unity in theology to supersede individual experiences of faith and Spirit-led encounters.The book can clearly be recommended as an introduction to what each man said and in one sense it does exactly what it set out to do. However, the lack of a sense of historical context is regrettable. At times this came out simply in minor anachronisms, such as the fact the Wesley is regularly described as Anglo-Catholic. At other times, however, the book would have benefitted from a better awareness that the issues facing Calvin in the sixteenth century were simply different to those facing Wesley in the eighteenth, particularly when dealing with the issue of the relationship between Church and State. For example, the death of Servetus receives an inevitable mention, with no explanation of the different attitude to the nature of heresy which was prevalent in the early modern world.While the reading of both men is generally good, it is difficult to avoid the sense that Wesley always gets the more sympathetic interpretation. Issues in his theology are smoothed out slightly—for example, on Christian perfection—while the disagreement with Whitefield is played down, as is his lax attitude to Anglican Church discipline. Equally, in subtle ways, Calvin receives the opposite treatment. While the reading of Calvin put forward is certainly a reasonable one, the union with Christ receives disappointingly little attention and the argument that Calvin emphasized God's sovereignty over God's benevolence is not as clear-cut as Thorsen implies.Thorsen states from the beginning that he intends to focus on Calvin's and Wesley's own writings and, indeed, nearly all references are to primary documents. There is also no bibliography or any kind of guide for further reading.

The Relationship of Spirituality and Theology: The Zen Influence on the Integration of Spirituality and Theology in Thomas Merton

The Relationship of Spirituality and Theology: The Zen Influence on the Integration of Spirituality and Theology in Thomas Merton

Speculum Curatorm: A Mirror for Curates by Ranulph Higden (review)

Speculum Curatorm: A Mirror for Curates. By Ranulph Higden. Introduction, edition and translation by Eugene Crook and Margaret Jennings. [Dallas Medieval Texts and Translations, Vol. 13.] (Leuven: Peeters. 2012. Pp. xvi, 444. euro58,00 paperback. ISBN 978-90-429-2487-1.)The appearance of Eugene Crook and Margaret Jennings' elegant edition and translation of the first of three books of Ranulph Higden's Speculum Curatorum could not be more timely. Among medievalists Higden is better known for his universal history, Polychronicon, and preaching manual, Ars componendi sermones. His Speculum, however, is beginning to enjoy a renaissance, particularly in regard to fraternal correction and postmedieval integration of theology and law. A product of a Benedictine monk based in Chester, the Speculum is a compendium that draws on materials ranging from Christian doctrine and legal discourse to folklore. It exists in two versions: one produced in 1340 and extant in four manuscripts; the other revised around 1350 and extant in a single manuscript.The 1350 recension of the Speculum has a distinctive tripartite structure, with the first part dealing with the commandments, the second with the deadly sins, and the third with the sacraments. As the edition and translation by Crook and Jennings of the first part or book of the Speculum are based on the 1350 recension, it should be noted that the two recensions differ significantly with regard to intended audience, form, substance, and length. Oriented not only to priests but also to the Christian laity, the revised version of the Speculum is much longer (with 130 more chapters, of which fifty alone are devoted to the commandments). In revising the earlier version, Higden shifts the focus of the Speculum away from Archbishop John Pecham's educational model for priests to Bishop Robert Grosseteste's catechetical agenda as found in his Templum Domini.To read Crook and Jennings' edition is to encounter a voice at once familiar and fresh: familiar, because, as the editors helpfully suggest, Higden's work belongs to the rich harvest of fourteenth-century pastoralia (such as Pagula's Oculus sacerdotisa John de Burgo's Papilla oculi, and Mirk's Manuale sacerdotis); and fresh, because Higden draws on both canon and civil law in a manner that would be comprehensible to a nonacademic audience, whether lay or clerical.Crook and Jennings have done admirable justice to Higden's text. To begin with, unlike many other parallel translations of medieval texts, their translation is exceptionally careful in matching the Latin text with regard to paragraph breaks and thus ensures easy comparisons between the Latin and English. Their edition is particularly well suited to the modern scholar, who can access not only Higden's own text but also its legal sources. …

H. T. Engelhardt, Jr., Misrepresented and Misunderstood: Beyond a Philosophy of Difference and toward a Theology of Unity

H. T. Engelhardt Jr.’s article in this issue criticizes those “founding giants” of Christian bioethics, who developed a Christian bioethics without a sufficient reliance on Christ. His essay, like his work as a whole, is ripe for misunderstandings and misrepresentations. Thus, this essay considers some of the common portrayals of Engelhardt by his critics that fail to take the entirety of his project into account. The goal of this essay is not just to encourage a reading of Engelhardt’s secular philosophical project, a philosophy that takes differences seriously, but it also encourages a consideration of his theological perspective and mission, which is to bring all to true theological unity. Although these projects may seem disconnected, it turns out that Engelhardt’s understanding of theology serves to connect them.

Developmental Ministry Among Women in Prostitution

The purpose of this article is to outline and articulate a philosophy of development that is rooted in, and derived from, the work of Samaritana Transformation Ministries, an evangelical ministry among female prostitutes in the Philippines. Its ideas and principles come from the struggles, joys, and lessons learned in that ministry. At the same time, this philosophy guides Samaritana’s ministry, for every action needs a framework, a philosophical underpinning, a motivating and driving force behind it, giving it energy, direction, and shape. This philosophy of development is dialectical. It is an attempt at a synthesis within the action-reflection-action dynamic, a conversation between contemplation and action.1 I hope to integrate here lessons learned from a ministry imbedded in transformational development work among marginalized women in the Philippines, and a philosophical framework for doing this ministry that has Biblical, theological, psychological, and cultural integrity. I also hope that this framework is dynamic, moving back and forth between action and reflection, with both sides of the dialectic informing one another, questioning one another, and enriching one another. As Parker Palmer would say, action and contemplation, or doing and being, cannot really be separated, but are a part of the same whole. What follows is a series of themes or principles that I think are crucial to the process of “transformational development.” Presented here at random are samplings of what I believe are the key elements of a ministry among wounded souls.

"Being the world eternal ..." the age of the Earth in Renaissance Italy.

Scholarship on the early modern period assumes that the Creation story of Genesis and its chronology were the only narratives openly available in Renaissance Europe. This essay revisits the topic by exploring a wide range of literature on the age and nature of the Earth in early modern Italy. It suggests that, contrary to received notions, in the early 1500s an Aristotelian ancient world characterized by slow geological change was a common assumption in discourse on the Earth. These notions were freely disseminated by popularizations and didactic literature in the vernacular, which made them available to a large readership. Counter-Reformation cultural policies eventually called for a tighter integration of theology and natural philosophy; however, the essay argues that even then the creation of the world was usually placed in a remote and undetermined past, not necessarily tied to the short timescales of contemporary chronology.

The Unity and Diversity of Pentecostal Theology

Pentecostal theology is marked by an inherent struggle for self-realization as well as unity and ecumenical integration. A realistic portrayal of worldwide Pentecostalism is confronted with homogeneous and romanticized depictions or false stereotypes. Global Pentecostalism and Pentecostalism in the West are intertwined in a significant theological and ecumenical manner that allows an ecumenical perspective focused on the West to shed light on the unity of Pentecostal theology, the relationship of Pentecostal theology to the ecumenical traditions, and the integration of Pentecostal theology in broader Christian commitments to social justice, peace, and the conservation of the creation. A particular point of convergence exists between Western and worldwide Pentecostal theology in the social activism of the movement. Contemporary Pentecostalism is in transition towards becoming a diversified contributor to the shape of global Christianity and the renewal of the theological agenda.

Spiritual AIM and the work of the chaplain: A model for assessing spiritual needs and outcomes in relationship

Distinguishing the unique contributions and roles of chaplains as members of healthcare teams requires the fundamental step of articulating and critically evaluating conceptual models that guide practice. However, there is a paucity of well-described spiritual assessment models. Even fewer of the extant models prescribe interventions and describe desired outcomes corresponding to spiritual assessments. This article describes the development, theoretical underpinnings, and key components of one model, called the Spiritual Assessment and Intervention Model (Spiritual AIM). Three cases are presented that illustrate Spiritual AIM in practice. Spiritual AIM was developed over the past 20 years to address the limitations of existing models. The model evolved based in part on observing how different people respond to a health crisis and what kinds of spiritual needs appear to emerge most prominently during a health crisis. Spiritual AIM provides a conceptual framework for the chaplain to diagnose an individual's primary unmet spiritual need, devise and implement a plan for addressing this need through embodiment/relationship, and articulate and evaluate the desired and actual outcome of the intervention. Spiritual AIM's multidisciplinary theory is consistent with the goals of professional chaplaincy training and practice, which emphasize the integration of theology, recognition of interpersonal dynamics, cultural humility and competence, ethics, and theories of human development. Further conceptual and empirical work is needed to systematically refine, evaluate, and disseminate well-articulated spiritual assessment models such as Spiritual AIM. This foundational work is vital to advancing chaplaincy as a theoretically grounded and empirically rigorous healthcare profession.

Toward a Typology of Black Hebrew Religious Thought and Practice

This article explores the problem of conceptualizing Black Judaism as a religious tradition within the African American community. Briefly outlining the dominant discourse that has framed Black Judaism as primarily a social-political movement couched in Black nationalist-messianic language, it discusses the need for a definition and conceptualization of Black Judaism that provides an entry into an analysis that does not fall into the discursive trap of legitimacy-focused research. The article offers a definition of Black Judaism that is situated within the larger structure of Black religion, and it explores the importance of nomenclature in regard to ethno-religious identity and religious practice within the diverse threads of Hebrew Israelite religion. Finally, a typological framework is offered for the study of Black Judaism that gives consideration to both theological unity and the diversity of Black Hebrew religious thought and practice.

Richard Hooker “The Pelagian”. Is There A Case? Notes On The Christian Letter

ABSTRACT Richard Hooker explicitly rejected the charge of Pelagianism. In late 16th century Reformation England, this was no small charge. The extreme sensitivity of the question together with Puritan suspicions of actual or latent Catholic sympathies left Hooker on the defensive. This situation came together in the Christian Letter. Although Hooker’s marginalia is fragmentary, they reveal his considerable frustration at the question of his theological integrity. The anonymous author(s) of the Christian Letter attributed their suspicions to the density and ambiguity, as they saw the matter, of Hooker’s writing. For Hooker, this way of writing and thinking was simply what was needed in order to handle the subtleties of Christian theology, especially in times of religious disruption. Theology was not for him, a blunt instrument, but a reasoned and precise scalpel the wielding of which required a commensurate measure of skill to use properly. However, there were important points of departure between Hooker’s protagonist and his own outlook. The author of the Christian Letter had clearly set out to depict Hooker’s writing style as so excessively subtle and dependent on the Schoolmen that contrary motives might well lie behind it. If not Catholic, then Pelagian.

Missional Church: A Historical and Theological Analysis of an Ecclesiological Tradition

AbstractThis article argues that an understanding of the development of a missional ecclesiology requires we recognize three closely connected and significant matters in 20th‐century mission history: first, the increasing appreciation of the interconnection of church and mission evinced at major ecumenical conferences in the mid‐20th century; second, the contributions of influential missiologistLesslieNewbigin and his theological integration of mission and church; and third, the breakthrough of the phrase “missional church” with the 1998 publication of the bookMissional Church. This article traces this three‐part development through both historical and theological analyses.

Mary Kept These Things, Pondering Them in Her Heart: Breastfeeding as Contemplative Practice and Source for Theology

����� ��� Spiritus 13 (2013): 163–186 © 2013 by The Johns Hopkins University Press Throughout the history of Christianity, women have engaged in sustained theological reflection on experiences—of God, themselves, and the world—that they have undergone in the course of practices of contemplation. Contemplative women of the past were not seen by their contemporaries as theologians, but what little survives of their spiritual writings represents a mother lode of rich theological insight. Today record numbers of women are formally trained theologians, but the academic discipline of systematic theology is generally resistant to making a space for spiritual practice and personal experience (especially women’s spiritual practice and personal experience of embodiment) in its well-ordered, cerebral discourse. What’s more, the demands of work and family life on many lay theologians today result in a lack of time and freedom to spend hours on end in the silent, contemplative prayer that provided the desert mothers and medieval mystics with such rich fodder for theological reflection. Contemporary women theologians are faced, then, with a dual challenge: first, to integrate contemplative practice into their daily lives—in the spirit of St. Teresa of Avila, to find God among the pots and pans; and second, to integrate contemplative practice into their work as constructive theologians. As if these challenges were not enough, women theologians committed to this integration of contemplative spirituality and theology are faced with an additional obstacle. Given that we are human beings and not angels, contemplation is always an embodied practice, and it often involves intense and even ecstatic bodily experiences. Historically dominated by a hierarchical understanding of the relationship between mind and matter, Christian theology has often approached the body (especially the female body) with ambivalence or even hostility. 1 There are few models for contemporary women theologians who seek to reflect on women’s bodies and bodily experiences as sites of spiritual practice, divine revelation, and theological reflection. As Marcia Mount Shoop insists, the language of our bodies is “not easily ‘heard,’ but it cries out

Edith Stein’s Critique of Sociality in the Early Heidegger

Summary Heidegger’s jeremiads against metaphysics are amongst the most influential and iconoclastic in the annals of continental philosophy; and none is more trenchant than the Destruktion of Descartes’ ontology of self with which Sein und Zeit begins. Yet for all the intellectual energy he expends on attempting to uncover the social texture of Dasein’s being-in-the-world, many remain convinced that Heidegger simply transposes the Cartesian ego into a phenomenological key. One of the first thinkers to arouse these suspicions was an erstwhile colleague of Heidegger, the Jewish-born phenomenologist and Carmelite spiritual writer, Edith Stein, in an unjustly neglected work, Martin Heideggers Existentialphilosophie. What sets Stein’s critique apart from more influential treatments is that in the course of diagnosing weaknesses in Heidegger’s account from within his own methodological constraints, she reaches some strikingly theological conclusions. The task of the present study is to offer an assessment of her dissection of the status and function of sociality in the Daseinsanalytik. After setting out Stein’s early phenomenology of empathy, I examine Stein’s argument that Heidegger’s tacit and mistaken appeal to theological categories ironically collapses his account of sociality back into the very subjectivism his Destruktion had been directed against. I conclude that Stein deftly reverses Heidegger’s strategy of atheological expropriation strategies by taking up a central theme in his own thought to articulate the theological unity of all finite existents. For Stein, unity at the level of fundamental ontology is most plausibly analysed by reference to the creaturely participation in the plenitude of Trinitarian being.

Theology, Ecology and Economics from an East Asian Confucian Perspective

This paper posits the development of an indigenous East Asian environmental ethics to address the environmental problem in East Asia for sustainable economic growth. It proposes a contextualised environmental ethics based on an integration of theology, ecology, economics and East Asian Confucian tradition. This can be done through three dimensions. The first dimension is to understand the intricate interdependence and interconnectedness of society, environment and economy in the formulation of a viable environmental ethics. Theological reflection and Herman Daly s concept of steady state economy will form the basis for understanding these relationships. The second dimension is to establish how the three domains of society, environment and economy are related to each other. To these end the East Asian Confucian concepts of Heaven-Earth-Human, Social Harmony and Intergenerational Equity will be used to establish these relationships. The third and final dimension is to identify the driving or motivation force that can operationalise this proposed environmental ethics. A transcendent-immanent Eco-Spirituality for effecting change (metanoia) in society will be proposed here.

Embodied Integration

Approaches to the integration of psychology and Christian theology in a college classroom often focus on the cognitive component. “Embodied integration” refers to the idea that bodily states precede and inform cognition and thus are an integral part of the process of integration. Three pedagogical examples are described that include features of an embodied integration approach: physiological arousal, moving from specific cases to general ones, moving from concrete examples to abstract ones, and cognitive dissonance. The role of embodiment as an approach to theology and the overall implications of this approach to pedagogy are discussed.