Christian View Research Articles

К проблеме взаимосвязи христианского и эволюционного подходов в понимании антропогенеза

The article deals with the problem of correlation of Christian and scientific views on the emergence of man, the integrating link between which can be Christian philosophy. The starting point for this is the position of the “philosophy of unity” about the acquisition of holistic knowledge through the synthesis of religion, science and philosophy. Historical-genetic and comparative-historical methods are used, allowing not only to correlate the stages of human formation (and their interpreting concepts), but also to show their relationship. First of all, man is a soul, therefore anthropogenesis appears as soul genesis. From the point of view of Christianity, God created man perfect, but, as a result of the fall, he loses his perfection, dresses in “natural clothes”, becomes mortal. This post-Eden person can be determined by the initial stage of anthropogenesis. The reason that actualized the possibility and need of spiritual and bodily evolution was the image of God preserved in him and the memory of the lost paradise. The perfection of the soul finds expression in the complication of thought processes, the actualization of a sense of beauty, religious and moral ideas. The improvement of the body finds expression in the design of the “hominid triad”, the complication of the brain, the development of motor skills of the hand. Homo habilis can be considered the stage of the fall from which the ascent to the primordial state (anthropogenesis) begins. At the stage of homo habilis and homo erectus, mental perfection is expressed indirectly, through bodily perfection. The design of the “hominid triad” indicates the complication of mental and volitional processes. At the stage of homo sapiens and homo sapiens sapiens (Cro-Magnon), spiritual perfection is already expressed in a direct form: the appearance of animism, ideas about the immortality of the soul, taboos. In the post-Eden story, two opposing lines are struggling: the ascent to paradise and the continued distance from it. The latter finds expression in the violation of moral norms, in conflicts leading to injuries and victims, in cruelty, blood feud, cannibalism. The confrontation of the Eden and the fallen also occurs within a person: between the primordial and the “darkened” planes of his soul. Characteristic of prehistory and history, man’s intention for perfection (perfect knowledge, justice, beauty) could only be embedded in him by a Perfect Creator. Anthropogenesis appears, first of all, as soul genesis. The formation of a person is a gradual “gathering” of his soul; which is correlated with the “inhaling” of the soul into the body by God, which has been stretched out for hundreds of thousands of years. With the actualization of the higher planes of the soul (reason, morality, feelings of beauty and love), soulgenesis turns into spiritogenesis. Spiritual qualities are an expression, at the human level, of the essential characteristics of the Creator. The actualization of these qualities marks the completion of anthropogenesis, which is a necessary basis for the “return” of man to his original state.

"ЖЕЛАЛ БЫ ПОЛУЧИТЬ РАБОТУ В ОДНОЙ ИЗ ТЕПЛЫХ РЕСПУБЛИК НАШЕГО СОЮЗА" НОВЫЕ МАТЕРИАЛЫ К БИОГРАФИИ Л.П. КАРСАВИНА. ЧАСТЬ ПЕРВАЯ

The article is the first part of the reconstruction of the circumstances of the post-war life of L.P. Karsavin and I.L. Karsavina in Vilnius from July 1944 to July 1949. On a strictly documentary basis, the author methodically shows how the initial distrust of security officials towards the former ideologist of Eurasianism Lev Karsavin took shape in a chain of successive attempts by Lev Platonovich and Irina Lvovna to find their place in post-war Soviet reality, but ended in life tragedies for every member of the Karsavin family. They were largely predetermined by the insurmountable contradictions between the Christian views of the thinker, the serious illness of his daughter and the stake of the extremely ideologized state power on the repressive, forceful elimination of any manifestations of dissent and disagreement with the political course, that were further aggravated by the most difficult post-war situation in Lithuania. The author introduces into the scientific circulation many previously unknown documents of great importance for the history of Russian philosophy.

Biblical motives in the modern Ukrainian literature

The subject of the study is the representation of Christian vision in the Ukrainian literature of independence. The problem is considered in the dichotomy of conservative Christian views against multicultural and atheistic education. The purpose of this study is to discuss theses in T. Trokhymenko’s 2022 article ‘The modern Ukrainian Literature and Christianity’, published in the journal ‘Patriarchy: the Uniate analytical periodical’. The structural elements of the work repeat the confutable source. The author uses the methods of slow reading, componential analysis, as well as typological and comparative. The novelty of the study is determined by the transformation of receptions of religious motifs in Ukrainian literature and the change of the religious space of Ukraine, which prompts us to understand the mechanisms of such transformations in the modern historical context. As a result of the study, it was established that the worldview paradigm of Christianity has undergone significant distortion due to Soviet policy and the influence of other religions - both Ukrainian and foreign. At the same time, it is ascertained that author's expressions of ideas and images promote Christian ideas, but do not portray canonical ecclesiastical texts. As a result of it the vision of Christian ideas becomes broader, but the distinctions between primary sources and author's interpretations become obliterated. Based on the analysis of modern Ukrainian literature, two trends have been traced: 1) the reception of biblical motifs in the context of the postmodern ironic tradition, which is characterized by skeptical-ironic interpretation of religious motifs and images, outrageousness and carnivalesqueness (inherent in the early works of V. Neborak and the early lyrics of S. Zhadan); 2) the reception of biblical motifs in the context of the existential-philosophical and cultural tradition, the central idea of ​​such a reception is the idea of ​​the importance of faith, humanity in the apocalyptic world of modern reality (in works by S. Zhadan, Yu. Vynnychuk, H. Marchuk). The perspective of the research can be seen in the study of the work of other Ukrainian writers (in particular, O. Zabuzhko, H. Pahutyak, M. Matios, K. Kalytko, etc.). The research is not exhausted but will be continued within the framework of other publications, which will highlight the peculiarities of Christian imagery in the creative practices of Ukrainian writers of the late 20th and early 21st centuries.

Punishment as Medicine in the Thought of St. Thomas Aquinas

Punishment as Medicine in the Thought of St. Thomas Aquinas Sr. Elinor Gardner O.P. A man who is unjust, is thoroughly miserable,the more so if he doesn’t get his due punishmentfor the wrongdoing he commits. (Plato, Gorgias 472e) He wounds as he heals. (Job 5:18) IN 1953, POPE PIUS XII addressed a gathering of Italian jurists in Rome, observing that “most modern theories of penal law explain punishment and justify it in the last resort as a protective measure.”1 This deterrent function, along with attempts to reform, he said, fail adequately to explain punishment, the ultimate purpose of which “must be sought on a higher plane,” namely, the restoration of that order which has been upset in the commission of a crime. Only “this more profound understanding of punishment” can get us “to the heart of the matter,” to the sacredness of the law itself, “so that whoever breaks it is punishable and will be punished.”2 Pius XII was responding to a type of humanist thinking about punishment in vogue in the first half of the twentieth century.3 Philosopher Michael Davis notes that in the 1960s, [End Page 1] the kind of theories critiqued by Pope Pius, C. S. Lewis,4 and others suffered a “long and steep decline.”5 In the 1970s, “preventive theories of punishment” gave place to various forms of what came to be called “retributivism.”6 In the United States, this revival of interest in the retributive meaning of punishment was legal as well as philosophical, being reflected in debates following the 1972 and 1976 Supreme Court decisions on the punishment of death.7 Retributivists maintain that the defining feature of punishment is that it gives to wrongdoers something that they deserve because of a prior wrong.8 It is desert that justifies the infliction of harm on another person, which punishment necessarily involves. In response to retributivist arguments, others maintain that retribution does not define or justify punishment, and that harming another by punishing him can only be justified by looking to some good effect or effects to [End Page 2] be achieved through the punishment (the “nonretributivist” position). Although, as we will see, twentieth-century retributivism differs in important respects from classical accounts of punishment, its proponents often look to that tradition for support, and some of them find in Thomas Aquinas a compelling defense of just retribution. But is Thomas a retributivist? Although it would be a mistake to examine Thomas’s thought on punishment exclusively within the bounds of the contemporary categories (retributivist vs. nonretributivist), we begin there in order to highlight the present relevance of this study, and to see exactly where and why Thomas does not “fit in” to the contemporary dialogue, in order that we may better know the contours of his account and at the same time realize what contemporary explanations of punishment tend to omit. Ultimately we want to know what is the right way for a Christian to think about punishments: should we desire them as good, or should we look at them as necessary but unfortunate features of life, to be chosen only as far as is necessary to preserve the good order of society? In light of this general goal, this paper has three specific aims. It aims to show, first, that Thomas’s account of punishment is better described as “medicinal” than “retributivist,” and, second, that a correct understanding of the medicinal character of human punishments requires reference to the revealed truth of divine retribution. Finally, through these clarifications of the Thomistic account of punishment, the third aim of this paper is to highlight what is lacking in the contemporary debates, and thereby contribute to a more Christian view of the phenomenon of punishment. We will begin with an analysis of contemporary retributivism to pose the “retribution or medicine” question, after which we will turn to Thomas’s own account of punishment. After considering some difficulties with the use of “punishment” as a translation of poena, we will consider how Thomas defines this phenomenon, and the various ways in which it resembles medicine. This will bring us to the theological perspective, which I will...

THE DISCOURSE OF USURY IN THE VIEWS OF ISLAM AND CHRISTIANITY

Before the emergence of Abrahamic religion, the population in the past experienced both economic calamity and humanitarian crisis as a result of usury practices. Various historical studies reveal that the Babylonian period was an era where human civilization showed dreadful facts as a result of usury praxis. This study focuses on Islamic and Christianity views of usury in economic activities. This paper aims to examine usury starting from semantic discussions to usury practices which are closely related to economic activity from both an Islamic and Christianity perspective. The method used in this paper is a qualitative method with a literature study approach taken from various national and international sources, namely books and journals and citing explanations from the Bible and Qur’an. The results of this research reveal that in Christianity, the study and prohibition of usury practices are mostly discussed in the Old Testament in Deuteronomy, Exodus dan Leviticus, while the New Testament tends to discuss things that need to be done to avoid usury practices. Associated with the economy in general in Christianity refers to the practice of lending money (loans) to those in need without asking for interest or additional returns as a form of profit. Meanwhile, in Islam, the discourse of usury can be found in al-Baqarah, al ‘Imran, al-Nissa‘, al-Rum and the kind of prohibited Usury in is Riba Nasiah, Fadhl and Jahiliyyah which related to purchases and loans.

Credibility assessment of religious conversion in the asylum processA theological analysis

In Finland a rising number of asylum seekers from Islamic countries are converting to Christianity. As religious persecution is a ground for refugee status, the Finnish Immigration Service (Migri) must determine whether a change of religion poses a threat to the asylum seeker in their home country. But how can the conversion of an asylum seeker be, in fact, verified? In this article, I analyse – from a theological perspective – the view of Christianity that guides Migri’s credibility assessment of conversion in the asylum process. The focus lies in persons from Islamic countries converting to Christianity during their asylum process. The material consists of 48 application rulings, concentrating on the 20 negative decisions. The analysis focuses on the concepts of faith and the Church, as these central concepts of Christianity are highly relevant for the credibility assessment. I contrast Migri’s understanding of these concepts with illustrations of how they have been understood in theology. Thus, a clearer picture of Migri’s view on the Christian religion emerges, showing that Migri views it primarily as an inward orientation. As Migri does not acknowledge other manifestations of religious identity as authentic, it is possible that not all those in need of protection are identified.

UNTOUCHABILITY AMONG MUSLIMS? FINDINGS OF A CASE STUDY IN PAKISTAN

The notion of untouchability, i.e., certain social groups are impure and polluting, is generally associated with the Hindu religious tradition. However, a few studies maintain that upper-class Muslims, too, observe it in some parts of South Asia. Against this background, the present paper investigates the validity of these claims as regards the practice of untouchability among Muslims towards Christians based on data collected during a field study on Christian-Muslim social interaction in Peshawar, Pakistan. The method combined a quantitative survey and qualitative interviews.According to the study, 65.2% of Christians disagreed with the statement that Muslims consider them untouchables. Similarly, the majority (61.8%) of Christians insisted that they were never hated, while the majority (95.9%) of Muslims also rejected the claim that they hated Christians. The downside of these findings is that around one-third of Christians view that they are treated as untouchable by their Muslim compatriots. Results from the interviews also corroborated these quantifications. The paper concludes that although the Islamic teachings do not support the idea of untouchability towards human beings of any fold or affiliation, some Muslims in Pakistan still practice it towards a particular Christian ethnicity (chuhras), considering them sanitary workers. The stigma attached to this Christain community is primarily because of their occupation rather than confession. Associating any ethnic or religious group with unclean professions and then considering them untouchable is a social evil that needs to be eradicated.

Radikalisme Agama: Mati Martir atau Bunuh Diri? Pemahaman Teologis Konsep Keselamatan dalam Kaitannya dengan Kelompok Radikal Kristen

This paper aims to straighten out an understanding of martyrdom in relation to acts of radicalism in Christianity. radicalism which is synonymous with violence has always succeeded in providing a record of how many lives were victims of this action. Many think that the perpetrators of radicalism who died in their actions were martyrs. However, the concept of martyrdom must be seen further, because martyrdom is not just a concept of sacrificing one's life, but also a life that manifests faith through the actions of daily life. These two concepts also involve the theory of suicide to see clearly whether radical actions are more worthy of being called martyrdom or suicide. Furthermore, the author wants to provide an explanation regarding the Christian view, especially regarding the concept of salvation in viewing radicalism actions that occur, whether they are in accordance with God's will or contrary, and what actions should be carried out as people who believe and who have been chosen to be saved. In this paper, the author uses qualitative research methods by conducting literature studies to obtain a conclusion from the problem being studied.

The Role of Empathy in the Church’s Fraternal Dialog with the World in the Teaching of Pope Francis

This paper presents the value and role of empathy in the contemporary world. Sensitivity and empathy take crucial places in the pastoral activity of the Holy Catholic Church. Tenderness and compassion are important issues in Pope Francis’ teaching. In papal understanding, Christian dialog involves sensitivity and empathy, which let one fulfill Christ’s command to love one’s neighbor. This article explores the idea of a Christian view on empathy and brotherhood referring to official papal documents. This topic is currently crucial due to increasing splits, aggression and individualism. The paper looks for an answer how empathetic should the Church approach to the world be and according to the Pope’s teaching, how should the Church dialog profitably with people.

Adaptation of Christian Pacifism by St. Ambrose of Milan in the Context of Christianity's Transformation into the State Religion of the Roman Empire

The theory of just war, its formation and development, in the late 20th — early 21st centuries becomes a popular topic. This is due to ethical paradoxes arising from the constant decline in tolerance to violence in modern society and the need to justify the right of the state to use violence. The focus of our research is the era of the transformation of Christianity into the state religion of Rome in the 4th century, during the reign of Emperor Theodosius the Great. Bishop Ambrose of Milan, who embraced both Roman and Christian traditions at the same time, made a career in public service, a faithful supporter of Theodosius and a minister of the church, left a literary legacy reflecting the complex processes of transformation of Christian anti-state radicalism and pacifism. Ambrose combines Cicero's doctrine of just war, epic admiration for bravery with the demand for Christian humility and self-sacrifice. As a participant in the political process, Ambrose was able to adapt the Christian view.

"Allí se puso este Libro de la Ley": breve reflexión sobre una glosa exegética al Deuteronomio 31 en la Biblia romanceada de Moshe Arragel

This study focuses on an exegetical gloss in the Old Spanish Bible of rabbi Moshe Arragel (1 st half of the 15 th century), specifically on Deuteronomy 31, and its historical significance for the intellectual history of Jewish-Christian relations in late medieval Spain. This gloss, addressed to the Christian sponsor of this Bible translation, centers on an intra-biblical reference to the Jewish canon of the Bible itself as a book, that is the Torah scroll as both written literature and a physical object of synagogal worship. We analyze in some detail Arragel’s recourse to the rabbinical Bible commentaries ad locum in order to educate his Christian addressee on the divergent views of Christians and Jews about the Scriptural canon and its material textualization.

Ministers on Salvation: Soteriological Views of Pioneers and Pastors in the Protestant Church in the Netherlands

Abstract Missiology has always been inspired by soteriology, that is, Christian views of salvation. However, little is known about the actual soteriological beliefs of missionary practitioners. This article is an explorative qualitative study of soteriological beliefs among Dutch Protestant ministers who work in pioneer settings (N=20) and established churches (N=40). Our research shows that, contrary to what might be expected, these two groups (termed ‘pioneers’ and ‘pastors’) are very much alike with regard to their soteriological beliefs. The majority are convinced of the uniqueness of Jesus, and the connection of salvation with God and/or Jesus – even if this salvation is often expressed in immanent terms. Only two differences have been found between pastors and pioneers. Pioneers experience more challenges in communicating the uniqueness of Christianity and they are more likely to have traditional views of ‘eternal lostness’.

Afro-Catholic Festivals in the Americas: Performance, Representation, and the Making of Black Atlantic Tradition

Afro-Catholic Festivals in the Americas: Performance, Representation, and the Making of Black Atlantic Tradition

Technological Developments in the Perspective of Christianity

This article will examine and comment on the views of Christianity on the rapid development of theology in currently a very dominant factor in human life, it is expected that an accurate and clear view in addressing the development of technology. The intended perspective is consistent and in line with the Biblical foundation. The author concludes that technology is part of God’s greatness and power through the human mind as His creation. Technology is useful for preserving life as well as being tool to continue the maintenance of God. Technology promises a much easier life, but at the same time the threat to the environment is so open. Thus technology must be approached wisely in accordance with the God’s will.

The Rise and Triumph of the Modern Self: Cultural Amnesia, Expressive Individualism, and the Road to Sexual Revolution by Carl Trueman

Reviewed by: The Rise and Triumph of the Modern Self: Cultural Amnesia, Expressive Individualism, and the Road to Sexual Revolution by Carl Trueman Robert Benne The Rise and Triumph of the Modern Self: Cultural Amnesia, Expressive Individualism, and the Road to Sexual Revolution. By Carl Trueman. Wheaton, Illinois: Crossway Books, 2020. 425 pp. Carl Trueman is one of America’s most important rising Christian public intellectuals. Scottish born and educated, Trueman is currently professor of biblical and religious studies at Grove City College. Earlier he taught at the Ministerial Training Institute of the Orthodox Presbyterian Church. His columns are published regularly in Public Discourse and First Things. Most importantly, he has written several significant books, including The Creedal Imperative (2012) and Luther on the Christian Life (2015). I taught the latter in an adult class at church and found it very well-written and informative. Though an orthodox Presbyterian, he is almost persuaded by Luther on the liturgy and sacraments. Trueman starts with the assessment of the modern self by two major theorists, Philip Rieff and Charles Taylor, both of whom see “expressive individualism” as the essence of the modern self. The modern self is no longer guided by the sacred order of great religions, the obligations to others in the given stations of life, or the virtues that solid traditions have formed in their adherents. Rather, the modern self aims at “authenticity,” the untrammeled expression of whatever inner definition or inclination the self wants to express. Modern societies are not only to tolerate such expressive [End Page 474] individuals; they are to affirm and embrace them. Criticizing them or their actions amounts to “hate speech.” Trueman devotes the main part of his book to tracing the intellectual pedigree behind the phenomenon of the modern self. Ideas have consequences and the author wants to examine the chain of ideas that have brought us to the current state. In “Foundations of the Revolution” he traces the impact of Rousseau, the Romantic poets, and the really big theorists: Nietzsche, Marx, and Darwin. He then moves to the “Sexualization of the Revolution,” in which he surveys the thought and impact of Freud. He concludes that section by conjuring up thinkers of the recent past, whom many of us remember from the 1960s—Marcuse and Reich—who “politicized sex.” Throwing off the sexual restraints of the old Christian bourgeois order would be the first step to revolution. The last major section deals with the triumphs of the erotic, the therapeutic, and the “T,” which stands for transgenderism. In the latter section he deals with the incongruities and contradictions of the powerful LGBTQ movement. All sorts of “expressive individualism” do not fit together so easily. In a concluding “Unscientific Prologue,” he reflects on the possible futures of a society so destabilized by rampant individualism, and what it means for the church. This book is a bracing survey of intellectual history and makes a compelling case for understanding the current situation in the light of major thinkers of the past. But there are problems. A major one has to do with the role of ideas in historical change. Are they as important as he makes them out to be? He admits that he is not doing a comprehensive account, but it would have been helpful to have touched on the major economic, social, and political changes that are perhaps just as important as ideas in the unfolding of history. Further, he implies that the emerging notion of the human self is drastically different than Christian views of the self but does not explain how it is different. The lay folks I taught kept asking about the Christian anthropology that is being jettisoned by the triumph of the modern self. The teacher had to supply the answers! Another oddity is that he does not mention Robert Bellah, whose Habits of the Heart (1985, re-issued 2007) made “expressive and utilitarian individualism” part of the intellectual landscape. Indeed, more attention [End Page 475] to the utilitarian version of individualism, as well as to the identity politics, to which extreme individualism inadvertently leads, would have been very helpful. Nevertheless, this formidable work lends great understanding to our current chaos...

The International Missionary Council

AbstractThis article reflects on the 40‐year history of the International Missionary Council (IMC) from its formation at Lake Mohonk in 1921 to its integration within the World Council of Churches at the WCC's 3rd Assembly in New Delhi in 1961. It does so by analyzing the explicit or implicit answers that were given within IMC circles to three fundamental theological questions. The first question is: What is the theological basis and justification for the Christian mission to all of humanity? A second question came to be regarded by the first IMC secretary, J. H. Oldham, as of primary importance: What is a Christian view of race and racial justice? A third question lay at the heart of the changing relationship between the IMC and the WCC: To what extent does the mission of the church require its visible unity? In investigating the various answers to these questions given within IMC meetings between 1921 and 1961, the article also pursues a fourth question: What answers did non‐Western church and mission leaders give to these three questions, and were their answers heard by the white Europeans and Americans who directed the IMC throughout its history? The article pays particular attention to the Jerusalem meeting in March–April 1928 and the debates supporting and opposing integration within the WCC at what was technically the first assembly of the IMC in Ghana in December 1957–January 1958.

Is It Too Late? A Theology of Ecology

Is It Too Late? A Theology of Ecology

Thriving with Stone Age Minds: Evolutionary Psychology, Christian Faith, and the Quest for Human Flourishing

Thriving with Stone Age Minds: Evolutionary Psychology, Christian Faith, and the Quest for Human Flourishing

Faith and Freedom: Contexts, Choices, and Crises in Religious Commitments

Faith and Freedom: Contexts, Choices, and Crises in Religious Commitments

Corpus Areopagiticum: питання про залежність від Прокла, гіпотеза про авторство Синезія і філософська термінологія слов'янських перекладів

The study of the peculiarities that the reception of such an essential concept of the philosophical Corpus Dionysiacum Areopagiticum as ὑπερούσιος in ancient Slavic translations has is promising. It allows not only to understand better the internal perspective of the development of philosophical terminology in Rus’-Ukraine, where in the 15th–17th centuries, there existed a significant number of manuscripts of the corpus, but also to strengthen the argument in favor of its dating precisely in the 5th century.
 According to the conceptual features that are present in the Greek text of De divinis nominibus and are confirmed in the studies of Slavic translations of the Corpus Areopagiticum, this work, preserved also in other languages, could belong to an author, who uniquely combined his Christian views and a philosophical vision of the world that was inspired by his Neoplatonic education at the Alexandrian School of Philosophy under the guidance of the eminent Neoplatonic thinker and mathematician Hypatia, who was well acquainted with the ideas of Plotinus and the whole Alexandrian intellectual tradition. It is possible that this author, who used the ideas of Plotinus and Porphyry and for the first time unfolded the idea of the Christian God as the Hyperousios in the aspect of the Christian Triad in his philosophical hymns and treatises, could be Synesius of Cyrene, Bishop of Ptolemais.