scholarly journals Enlivening Spirits

Théologiques ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 25 (1) ◽  
pp. 103-124
Author(s):  
Kimerer L. LaMothe
Keyword(s):  
Christian Theology ◽  
Divine Revelation ◽  
Unique Case ◽  
The Bible ◽  
History Of ◽  
Second Coming

In the history of dance and Christian theology, the United Society of Believers in the Second Coming of Christ, otherwise known as the Shakers, prove a unique case. Not only did the Shakers practice dancing for over 140 years as the central, constitutive ritual of a successful separatist religious socialism ; and not only did the Shakers mount a biblically informed theological defense of their dancing practice. The Shakers also elevated dancing alongside the Bible as a privileged medium of divine revelation. This paper mobilizes an ecokinetic approach in relation to the first two arcs of Shaker history to argue that the Shakers’ dancing serves as an authorizing source for their theological innovations. Dance is theopraxis.

The Church of the Reigning Lord

1948 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 66-73
Author(s):  
R. Stuart Louden
Keyword(s):  
New Testament ◽  
Old Testament ◽  
Christian Theology ◽  
The Bible ◽  
Biblical Scholarship ◽  
The New Testament ◽  
Pauline Epistles ◽  
History Of ◽  
Four Square ◽  
The Church

We can trace a revival of theology in the Reformed Churches in the last quarter of a century. The new theological interest merits being called a revival of theology, for there has been a fresh and more thorough attention given to certain realities, either ignored or treated with scant notice for a considerable time previously.First among such realities now receiving more of the attention which their relevance and authority deserve, is the Bible, the record of the Word of God. There is an invigorating and convincing quality about theology which is Biblical throughout, being based on the witness of the Scriptures as a whole. The valuable results of careful Biblical scholarship had had an adverse effect on theology in so far as theologians had completely separated the Old Testament from the New in their treatment of Biblical doctrine, or in expanding Christian doctrine, had spoken of the theological teaching of the Synoptic Gospels, the Pauline Epistles, the Johannine writings, and so on, as if there were no such thing as one common New Testament witness. It is being seen anew that the Holy Scriptures contain a complete history of God's saving action. The presence of the complete Bible open at the heart of the Church, recalls each succeeding Christian generation to that one history of God's saving action, to which the Church is the living witness. The New Testament is one, for its Lord is one, and Christian theology must stand four-square on the foundation of its whole teaching.

HIERONYMUS UND EPIPHANIUS VON SALAMIS ÜBER DAS JUDENTUM IHRER ZEIT

2002 ◽  
Vol 33 (4) ◽  
pp. 411-436 ◽  
Author(s):  
Josef Lössl
Keyword(s):  
Christian Theology ◽  
Religious Practices ◽  
Rabbinic Judaism ◽  
Early Christian ◽  
The Bible ◽  
Jewish Heritage ◽  
Frequent Use ◽  
History Of ◽  
Anti Jewish ◽  
Do So

AbstractCompared to other Christian authors of the late 4th, early 5th century A.D. Jerome and Epiphanius of Salamis frequently write about Jews and Judaism. And they do so in a historical and biographical context which they largely share. Their frequent use of anti-Jewish polemics, however, has earned them a certain notoriety. But, as is argued in this paper, while their attitude in this respect is, of course, deplorable, it may be less a sign of their ignorance of, and distance from, than their proximity to, the Judaism of their time. Both, Jerome and Epiphanius, draw from very early Christian sources, sources still close to their Jewish roots. They define orthodoxy and heresy in terms of religious practices, very similar to Rabbinic Judaism, they are obsessed with scriptural detail, they reject the veneration of images, and they are interested in the languages and cultures of the Bible, far more than any other of their Christian contemporaries, or, indeed, Christians of any age. Considering their influential role in the history of Christian theology it may be worth looking at some of these aspects in detail, and see how they could have contributed not so much to the exclusion as to the preservation of the Jewish heritage in Christianity.

Syncretism and Christian Tradition

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ross Kane
Keyword(s):  
Intellectual History ◽  
Holy Spirit ◽  
Religious Studies ◽  
Christian Theology ◽  
Cultural Continuity ◽  
Divine Revelation ◽  
Christian Tradition ◽  
The Holy Spirit ◽  
History Of ◽  
Material History

Studying the history of syncretism’s use indicates wider interpretative problems in religious studies and theology regarding race and revelation. It also indicates the importance of seeing “tradition” as adaptive and amalgamating rather than static. In theology and religious studies alike, discourses of syncretism are positioned within racialized perceptions which construct a center and periphery based upon white European knowledge. In Christian theology more specifically, syncretism’s use also shows ways that theologians try to protect the category of divine revelation from human interference, leading to interpretative problems that sidestep material history. The book makes this case through an intellectual history of the word syncretism, tracking its changing associations and especially its pejorative turn in Christianity in the early twentieth century. After diagnosing challenges related to syncretism, the book makes two constructive arguments. First, it defends the concept of “tradition”—for religious studies and theology alike—as a means of understanding cultural continuity amid the perpetual flux of syncretism. Second, in Christian theology specifically, it offers a constructive response to syncretism drawing from theologians Jean-Marc Éla and Rowan Williams. The Holy Spirit, through tradition, builds knowledge of the divine Logos across history often by way of contested religious mixtures with culture. The book concludes by examining positive examples of syncretism in Christianity like the incorporation of ancestor reverencing.

The Bible, Its Status and African Christian Theologies: Foundational Document or Stumbling Block?

1998 ◽  
Vol 5 (3) ◽  
pp. 265-310 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jeremy Punt
Keyword(s):  
Vantage Point ◽  
Christian Theology ◽  
Human Suffering ◽  
African Theology ◽  
History Of Interpretation ◽  
The Bible ◽  
The Status ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Relationship

AbstractThe relationship between the Bible and Christianity, including Christian theology, is traditionally strong and undisputed; however, in Christian theology in Africa, as elsewhere, the status of the biblical texts is contested. A brief consideration of the Bible as 'canon' leads to a broader discussion of how the Bible has to a certain extent become a 'problem' in African theology also, both because of theological claims made about its status, and - and in conjunction with - its perceived complicity in justifying human suffering and hardship. The legacy of the Bible as legitimating agent is dealt with from the vantage point of the history of interpretation; but the latter also provides for a 'rehumanising' of Scripture. In the end, this article is also an attempt to explain some of the different views of the Bible's status in Africa, and to address and mediate the resulting conflict by attending to proposals to view the biblical canon as 'historical prototype', foundational document' - as scripture. A number of important aspects regarding the continuing role of the Bible in African theologies in particular, conclude the essay.

scholarly journals Prawda Pisma Świętego

2006 ◽  
Vol 59 (3) ◽  
pp. 165
Author(s):  
Tomasz Jelonek
Keyword(s):  
Natural Science ◽  
Divine Revelation ◽  
The Bible ◽  
Vatican Council ◽  
Dei Verbum ◽  
Sacred Scripture ◽  
History Of ◽  
Scientific Truth ◽  
Or History

Article presents the history of contradiction between science and the Bible and how it was solved in Dogmatic Constitution on Divine Revelation Dei Verbum of the II Vatican Council. Since biblical truth was given to us “for the sake of our salvation,” and not in order to teach us natural science or history for their own sake, Sacred Scripture cannot be fairly judged to be in error when it sometimes presents historical or scientific truth in a less complete, less detailed, more popular, or more imprecise (i.e. merely approximate) fashion than would be acceptable in modern texts dedicated formally to those disciplines.

5. Hermeneutics and theology

2015 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jens Zimmermann
Keyword(s):  
Religious Identity ◽  
Daily Living ◽  
Karl Barth ◽  
Protestant Reformation ◽  
Divine Revelation ◽  
Dietrich Bonhoeffer ◽  
Historical Criticism ◽  
The Bible ◽  
Divine Inspiration ◽  
History Of

Theology interprets divine revelation. For Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, religious identity and daily living depend on divine revelation as collected in a sacred text—the Torah, the Bible, and the Quran, respectively. ‘Hermeneutics and theology’ looks at what divine inspiration entails in these religions and the importance of tradition in understanding. It also discusses how the Protestant Reformation of the 16th century was a defining event in the history of hermeneutics; the rise of modern historical criticism; and the theological interpretations of Karl Barth, Rudolf Bultmann, and Dietrich Bonhoeffer. Finally, the recent hermeneutic trends of narrative theology, a reworking of historical criticism, and canonical criticism are considered.

One Word, many wordings: The Inspiration of Scripture in its Christological and Pneumatological Dimension of Depth

2019 ◽  
Vol 131 (6) ◽  
pp. 247-256
Author(s):  
Alexander J. D. Irving
Keyword(s):  
Jesus Christ ◽  
Christian Theology ◽  
Biblical Authority ◽  
The Bible ◽  
Divine Inspiration ◽  
History Of

Robert Brown has argued that any defence of the authority of Scripture based on its divine inspiration must take account of the reality of the form of Scripture. He points to two facts regarding the Bible’s form (the history of textual error and a variety of beliefs regarding the biblical canon) that, he believes, compromises such a foundation for biblical authority. Exactly which words, he asks, are we to think were inspired? Brown operates with an understanding of revelation which is exhausted by the category of the biblical proposition (i.e., he equates revelation with Scripture, understanding inspiration to be the mode of that revelation). Accordingly, any error within the constituent parts of the propositions found in the Bible undermines the validity of its claim to be revelation in the first place, thus, in Brown’s view, compromising the entire edifice of Christian theology. In what follows, I suggest that a personalist approach is a more suitable way to understand revelation and that the propositional mode of revelation (Scripture) participates in God’s personal revelation in Jesus Christ through the inspiration of the Spirit. By broadening the theological context of Scripture (i.e., understanding it in its Christological and Pneumatological dimension of depth), its authority is not found in its inerrancy but in its reference beyond itself to God’s actual self-revelation in Jesus which God employs as the permanent mode of his revelation by the agency of the Spirit.

Rembrandt Reads the Gospels: Form, Context and Theological Responsibility in New Testament Interpretation

1997 ◽  
Vol 50 (4) ◽  
pp. 399-413 ◽  
Author(s):  
Clive Marsh
Keyword(s):  
Biblical Interpretation ◽  
Christian Theology ◽  
Christian Doctrine ◽  
Constructive Theology ◽  
The Bible ◽  
The World ◽  
History Of ◽  
Biblical Scholar ◽  
Road Story ◽  
The Church

Art is part of the history of the church, and relates to spirituality and to the practical expression of Christian faith. It illustrates theological loci and biblical themes. Often, the art which fulfils this function does so with the conscious intent of the artist; sometimes not. Attempts have been made, however, to argue that art not only illustrates theology, but also contributes to it. Even so, systematic theologians and biblical scholars — when they do talk to each other — still converse on the basis of largely word-centred approaches to their tasks. I am neither systematic theologian nor biblical scholar, precisely because I attempt to keep a foot in both camps. I am even less of an art critic. Yet it is clear that in the world of art there is a whole area of exploration yet to be ventured into not only historically (have we really sufficiently explored how biblical interpretation and doctrinal theology have been influenced by art?) but also from the perspective of constructive theology (what contribution can art past and present make to the very reformulation and expansion of Christian doctrine?). This paper offers a brief reading of three paintings by Rembrandt, of the Emmaus Road story in Luke 24.13–35. The theological significance of the changing interpretations of the passage is drawn out and the implications of the use of the paintings, in terms of the creative use of the Bible in Christian theology.

Concealment, Revelation, And Gender: The Veil Of Moses in The Bible And in Christian Art

2003 ◽  
Vol 7 (3) ◽  
pp. 227-273
Author(s):  
Brian Britt
Keyword(s):  
Divine Revelation ◽  
The Bible ◽  
Christian Art ◽  
History Of Art ◽  
History Of ◽  
Presence And Absence ◽  
The Veil ◽  
And Gender ◽  
Artistic Tradition

AbstractMoses's wearing of a veil (Exod 34:25-39) remains a puzzling and relatively obscure biblical episode. This article interprets Moses's veil as a sign of divine communication and prophecy. Through analysis of the passage, commentary, and images from the history of art, I trace the legacy of the veil as a symbol of the problem of divine revelation itself. For written commentary and artistic tradition, I argue that the veil is concealed, repressed, and transformed in order to ease an anxiety about the veil that is also an anxiety about the text. Christian interpreters (following 2 Cor 3:7-18) associate the veil with Jewish blindness to the gospel. In artistic tradition, the veil of Moses is often linked to the allegorical female Synagogue, who wears a blindfold. The veil, which originally enables Moses to act as a prophet, is thus concealed by religious polemic and linked to the Christian feminization of Jewishness. At the same time, the ambiguity and uncanniness of the veil images evoke the mysterious quality of Exodus 34:29-35. The veil of Moses may thus be seen as a meta-text that alternates between presence and absence, concealment and revelation.

The Use and Misuse of Religious Language: Zionism and the Palestinians

2005 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 73-86 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Wetherell
Keyword(s):  
International Relations ◽  
Figurative Language ◽  
Religious Language ◽  
The Political ◽  
Political Scientist ◽  
Late 19Th Century ◽  
The Bible ◽  
Title Deed ◽  
History Of ◽  
Land Question

Every discipline which deals with the land question in Canaan-Palestine-Israel is afflicted by the problem of specialisation. The political scientist and historian usually discuss the issue of land in Israel purely in terms of interethnic and international relations, biblical scholars concentrate on the historical and archaeological question with virtually no reference to ethics, and scholars of human rights usually evade the question of God. What follows is an attempt, through theology and political history, to understand the history of the Israel-Palestine land question in a way which respects the complexity of the question. From a scrutiny of the language used in the Bible to the development of political Zionism from the late 19th century it is possible to see the way in which a secular movement mobilised the figurative language of religion into a literal ‘title deed’ to the land of Palestine signed by God.

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