Contemporary Theology

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Dietrich Bonhoeffer's religionless Christianity is frequently misunderstood as something like the death of God.  In fact, it comes closer to Emmanuel Levinas' view that we experience God in the presence of the suffering of the other person.

The paper discusses the distinction between content (core, nucleus) and linguistic formulation of theological statements as a fundamental hermeneutical structure of modern theology. Adolf von Harnack, Rudolf Bultmann and Dietrich Bonhoeffer are examined as representatives of this theological "Denkform", with its limits, but also with its permanent topical interest.

This issue is devoted to a study of the key tenets of the Reformed confessions for the purpose of training officers of the church. There are eleven sections, making it ideal for an ongoing study at the beginning of monthly session or deacon meetings. Alternatively, the entire study could be done in the course of a longer workshop on training officers. It is suggested that each officer or officer-elect receive and read the materials in advance so that key ideas can be developed from the sections covered and time be available for the discussion questions.

The contribution of Bonhoeffer’s work to theology cannot be considered without attending to the social ontology that he introduces in his early writings and later performs in his pastoral and ecclesial work. Reexamining the structure and development of Bonhoeffer’s social ontology from Sanctorum Communio to Life Together provides the basis to identify a Bonhoefferian approach to social analysis, which complements two prominent approaches in theology and ethics that reflect Stanley Hauerwas’s and Pierre Bourdieu’s influence. A Bonhoefferian approach incorporates the insights of each approach and also addresses their intrinsic limitations. The life together envisaged by Bonhoeffer describes and performs an approach to social analysis that attends to the structure of community, the transformation of organization, the priority of ecclesial relations, and the practices that comprise the condition for possibility for encounter under the Word.

This is an in-depth analysis of the first part of the book of C. Theobald, Pastoral Urgencies in order to reflect on the missionary conversion of the pastoral life of the Church. In this first section Theobald presents some contextual elements of analysis of the present moment, elements that are discussed and partly integrated.

Questa è un’analisi approfondita della prima parte del volume di C. Theobald, Urgenze pastorali allo scopo di riflettere sulla conversione missionaria della vita pastorale della Chiesa. In questa prima sezione Theobald presenta alcuni elementi contestuali di analisi del momento presente, elementi che vengono discussi e in parte integrati

This essay demonstrates Burton, normally assumed (anachronistically) to be a high church, via media Anglican, to be an orthodox Calvinist, engaging Reformed spiritual practices and committing to the most conservative Calvinist theological options in the religious controversies of his day.

Pendahuluan Berabad-abad lamanya teologi-teologi yang dihasilkan dan dirumuskan menjadi dogma/ajaran gereja-gereja dan yang dipraktekkan dalam hidup bergereja, didominasi oleh pikiran, perasaan, pengalaman, pergumulan dan harapan-harapan kaum laki-laki yang sangat androsentris yang disebabkan oleh kuatnya budaya patriakat. Bukan hanya di dalam gereja saja, kenyataannya baik agama maupun budaya membuat pembedaan terhadap perempuan dalam segala aspek kehidupan. Perempuan masih mengalami perlakuan yang tidak adil, didiskriminasikan, dimarginalisasikan, disubordinasikan dan didominasi oleh sesamanya manusia (laki-laki). Inilah akar masalah ketidakadilan gender bahkan ketidakadilan manusia akhirnyamelahirkan gerakan feminisme.

This investigation aims to build a panoramic view of the current discussion in Western circles about the status of Christianity in relation to other world religions and the post-modern and post-religious dispositions that intend, through a generalized relativization, to equalize all religions, despising its uniqueness. We do not seek, however, to offer to the reader a mere bibliographical review of the theories of Catholic, Protestant and Evangelical theologians on the subject, but we also seek to create our own theory by a return to what says about it the New Testament, which is dealt with in the last chapter.

Obviously, our starting point is not a non-confessional theological generalism, if only because there is no such a thing. This enterprise has as theoretical reference the more moderate evangelical and Protestant theology, since in it we see the only possibility of maintaining the reformed motto of sola Scriptura, even though we try to reach these new issues. As the reader will see, this does not constitute an impediment to the inclusion of Catholic theologians in the project, because, if they are not adopted as founding texts along the way, they are, however, important companions on the way, with great contributions to the assumption of our goal.

For the rest, at some extent, the ideas presented here have already been profiled by others. Our contribution will be to add new arguments to them, as well as to pursue a more solid biblical hermeneutic approach, trying to bridge this discussion in the area of Systematic Theology s0me contributions from Biblical Theology, which is what I try to do in the last chapter.

I tried to give this work as much utility as possible, so that it can be read as a manual for the Theology of Religions, that is, for clarifying the main conceptual positions and their main debaters, classifying them, organizing them and analyzing their results. The stand point of this work is a conservative one, but a conservative that decide to face seriously the relativist approach and make of their main proponents a judiciously and critic reading, recognizing that their intentions at most are good, but the results are bad not useful for a Christian Theology of Religions. I admit, although in many parts of the present work I tell about the hermeneutic vices of the interpreters here discussed, until now I am in debt with the readers because I could not finish the second part of this research, namely, the Inclusivism of the New Testament. I hope in next months I’ll do it, if God’s grace helps me.

The purpose of this paper is to make a comparative analysis of the understanding of Saint Ignatius of Loyola's Spiritual Exercises in two great theologians who influenced the period after Vatican Council II in the twentieth century, Karl Rahner (1904-1984) and Hans Urs von Balthasar (1905-1988). This analysis aims to identify the image of God as it appears in their respective theological projects, that employing the inductive method, in Rahner's theological anthropology, and that employing the deductive method, in Balthasar's theological aesthetics, and to identify how such images of God are involved in contemplative practice according to their respective theological understandings, both trying to adapt the Ignatian experience to the contemporary person, each theologian in his own way. Therefore, this study intends to analyze how the author´s understanding of the Spiritual Exercises is presented within each theological project and then to identify the similarities and differences between them. Such analysis intends to recognize how these two theologians of great scope understood spirituality first as a part of human existence and, in this context, how they understood the knowledge of God as the revelation of meaning and the source of new understanding in the search for an authentic life, even given their distinct accents both existential and on the Christian mystical tradition.

Otto gives a map through the maze of contemporary theologies by contrasting them with the immanence and transcendence of God. "In his transcendence, God is eternally existent, self-sufficient and stands beyond creation. ... In his immanence, God graciously creates and upholds a world  with which to share his goodness and love..."  "Christian theology must always seek the proper balance between these tow poles or it will go astray."  Otto looks at, the revolt against immanence in Neo-Orthodoxy; the transcendence of the future--the theology of hope and political theology; transcendence with a story--Narrative Theology; immanence in experience of oppression--Liberation, Black and Feminist theologies; and the deepening of immanence--Process Theology and Openness Theology.

Atonement theology is experiencing a resurgence of interest in light of mounting societal sensitivity regarding violence, especially with respect to the suffering and death of Jesus on the cross. The need to update the dominant Protestant model based on a notion of a sub-stitutionary punishment by which Christ is violently slain to satisfy divine justice is palpably felt by theologians wary of the potential complicity in violence that it allegedly promotes. The options proliferated to address this concern are increasingly foreign to traditional and evan-gelical categories that view the removal of sin as essential to atonement. Rather than sideline the notion of sin, this paper proposes elevating it to an ontological level, thereby recalibrat-ing violence as instrumental in expiating sin as an objective reality.

A tanulmány áttekintést ad az észak-amerikai, azon belül hangsúlyosan az Egyesül Államok területén folyó, keresztény teológiai kutatás és képzés állapotáról. Kiemelten foglalkozik a Borostány Liga egyetemeinek (Harvard Divinty School, Yale Divinity School etc.) teológiai képzési rendjével, de olyan konferenciasorozatokat, szemináriumi képzéseket és népegyházi tapasztalatokat is feldolgoz, amelyek komplementerei az akadémiai szféra kortárs elitképzéseinek.

The research studies the original and controversial reflection of the Metropolitan of Pergamon Ioannis Zizioulas (1931) on the ontological freedom of God, as the cause and cipher of His being, related to a personalist conception of the Trinity, recognised in the teaching of the Greek Church Fathers, in which the person represents the primary ontological category and coincides with absolute freedom, by virtue of the Father, as Trinity and One God, uncaused freely cause of the Trinitarian being, beyond the necessity of nature and the contingency of choice.
The issues investigated lead to the «limits of ontology» – of an «erotic ontology» – and introduce to an apophatic-mystical knowledge of ecclesial-eucharistic type. According to Paul Tillich, they have mostly been overlooked by modern theologians, yet they are at the heart of the christian faith, have implications on the anthropological, ecclesiological, pastoral, ecumenical level, of dialogue with the abrahamic religions, and re-propose the fecundity and depth of the teaching of the Fathers to theology.
Taking into account Zizioulas’ epistemological principles, according to which a systematic theologian must research what the Fathers have said, «make explicit what is implicit» and asking what they «would say today», the study intends to present his proposal systematically and to verify its conformity to dogma and internal coherence. Part One analyses Zizioulas’s theological-philosophical references and eucharistic epistemology, Part Two explores his patristic reading, Part Three determines and investigates the aspects of his theological development.

La ricerca studia l'originale e dibattuta riflessione del metropolita di Pergamo Ioannis Zizioulas (1931) sulla libertà ontologica di Dio, quale causa e cifra del suo essere, connessa ad una concezione personalista della Trinità, ravvisata nell'insegnamento dei Padri della Chiesa greci, in cui la persona rappresenta la categoria ontologica primaria e coincide con la libertà assoluta, in virtù del Padre, quale Trinità e Dio Uno, causa libera incausata dell'essere trinitario, oltre la necessità della natura e la contingenza della scelta. Le questioni indagate conducono ai «limiti dell'ontologia»-di un'«ontologia erotica»-e introducono ad una conoscenza apofatica-mistica di tipo ecclesiale-eucaristico. Secondo Paul Tillich sono state per lo più tralasciate dai teologi moderni, eppure stanno al cuore della fede cristiana, hanno implicazioni sul piano antropologico, ecclesiologico, pastorale, ecumenico, del dialogo con le religioni abramitiche, e ripropongono alla teologia la fecondità e la profondità dell'insegnamento dei Padri. Tenendo conto dei principi epistemologici di Zizioulas, secondo cui un teologo sistematico deve ricercare cosa hanno affermato i Padri, «esplicitare ciò che è implicito» e chiedersi cosa «direbbero oggi», lo studio intende presentare in modo sistematico la sua proposta e di verificarne la conformità al dogma e la coerenza interna. La Parte Prima analizza i riferimenti teologico-filosofici e l'epistemologia eucaristica di Zizioulas, la Parte Seconda esamina la sua lettura patristica, la Parte Terza individua ed esamina gli aspetti del suo sviluppo teologico.

Can we relate, in a meaningful way, contemporary art and Orthodox Christianity? Is there something that Orthodox theology can learn from modern and contemporary art? And how about contemporary art learning something from Orthodox tradition and its centuries-long artistic heritage, including its image theory? Is there a way to bring these seemingly very distant fields into a closer contact and, perhaps, a productive dialogue?

Due to the rise in philosophical anthropology and the philosophy of mind there is a need to re-consider afresh the theological debate surrounding the origin of the soul. I address this particular issue in the context of the recent philosophical and theological literature that is also conversant with Ecclesiastical literature surrounding the topic by suggesting that there are, at least, three distinct options within the theology of origins. I proceed in two sections. First, I lay out the variety of positions on the soul within the philosophy of mind literature often called substance dualism. In this section, I suggest there are broadly three variations of substance dualism. These include pure substance dualism, composite or compound substance dualism, and emergent substance dualism. I compare and contrast these variations, discuss the particular problems related to each, and argue that each ‘naturally’ coheres with a particular view of origins based on the metaphysical relationship between the body and soul. Second, I lay out the three positions on the soul’s origin in the remainder of the paper. I put forth that there is not only traducianism and creationism the two most obvious positions within Ecclesiastical history, but also emergent substance dualism with materialist origins deserving further consideration in the theological literature. Furthermore, within the positions, excluding emergent substance dualism with materialist origins, there is variation within each yet still naturally falling under the particular said category. This, then, contributes to literature not only by drawing from recent philosophical literature in the fortification of the Christian view on origins, but, additionally, by putting forth one relatively new position that has not been systematized in the theological literature. Finally, I offer that theologians will benefit in three specific ways from the discussion over substance dualism and the theology of the soul’s origin.

In this third and last part Theobald presents some proposals for a missionary pedagogy focusing above all on groups listening to the Word of God, synodality, the need to overcome the distance between priests and laity, a new figure of ordained ministry and ministry in the church.

In questa terza ed ultima parte Theobald presenta alcuni proposte per una pedagogia missionaria focalizzandosi soprattutto sui gruppi di ascolto della Parola di Dio, sulla sinodalità, sulla necessità di superare la distanza tra presbiteri e laici, su una nuova figura di ministero ordinato e di ministerialità nella chiesa

Why does the Römerbrief give its readers the impression that theology can never again be done in exactlyt his way? What did Barth accomplish with this book: did he refresh European theology or did he put an end to it? This paper aims at answering this question by dealing with Alasdair MacIntyre's critique of Barth's "first" theology that,according to him, would have led to atheistic theology. The author's contention is that Barth understood theology in the Römerbrief as founded exclusively on context. But although this contextual and anti-theoretical foundation for theology precludes epistemological security, it does not necessarily lead to atheism and to renouncing the theological task. Barth used the concept of "interruption" for theorizing this uncomfortable position for theology.

As a contribution to the discussion over ramied natural theology, I put forward a some lines of thought for a distinctively Cartesian variation of natural theology that points in the direction of the Christian God as a mind and as personal. I propose that Cartesian natural theology, as commonly seen in the literature on substance dualism, see the soul as a “sign” or “pointer” to God such that we, as human persons, seem to have access to God’s nature and existence via the soul (mind) as a rationale for the world full of persons. On this basis, I respond to a common anti-Cartesian charge(s) from subjectivism and suggest that this approach deserves further consideration concerning theological prolegomena.

This article considers the role of the individual during crises in humanism and the ethical responsibility with which the individual is charged in such times of moral calamity. In a narrow sense, the article aims to explore Emmanuel Lévinas’s “Nameless” (“Sans nom”), an essay that appears in his book Proper Names, and to propose viewing it as his personal reading in honor of his unique, unaccounted for teacher Monsieur Chouchani. From a broader philosophical perspective, this article constitutes an effort to consider the meaning of ethics and assuming responsibility in times when doing so appears to offer no benefit and hold no significance whatsoever. From an educational perspective, the article attempts to better understand the ethical role of the teacher in both tranquil and tempestuous times. And finally, this article also offers another profound observation of what Lévinas’s article refers to as the “Jewish condition,” not in a national historical sense but as a model of crisis-oriented ethical challenge.

This article compares two approaches to Christian existence, one protestant philosophical represented by Paul Ricoeur, the other catholic sacramental theological represented by Louis-Marie Chauvet. Their complementarity is pointed out In the conclusion. While Riroeur stresses a cultivation of an individual, Chauvet emphasizes the constitutive role of the church as a living body.

Th e sphere of the sociopolitical has been the subject of many theological refl ections in the history of Christianity. Th eologians and clergymen, in both the East and the West, have been trying to articulate the place and meaning of various sociopolitical phenomena within the broader context of Christian theology and anthropology, virtually from the earliest periods of Christianity. Th is gave birth to a variety of political theologies over the last nearly two thousand years. In this sense, Christian "political theology" in general, and "Orthodox political theology" in particular, is not a new discipline and draws on a much richer heritage than the modern usage of the term, coined by Carl Schmitt, indicates. 1 Th e problem here is, thus, not the lack of (Orthodox) theological refl ections on the sociopolitical sphere, but rather the character of those refl ections. Although there are many diff erent theological approaches to the sociopolitical sphere, some have traditionally been more dominant than others. As Pantelis Kalaitzidis puts it:

This paper chronicles the dissolution of theology that takes place within 20th century protestant thought, which prepares the way for a new way of speaking got theology as a "strategy of intervention" or an "experiment in desire" befitting a religiously diverse world.

This article addresses Barth's dialectical notion of experience in the 1920s. I argue that the theoretical problem raised by recent studies on Barth's notion of experience after his break with liberalism (i.e. the apparent inconsistency between Barth's move towards an increasingly neo-Kantian understanding of experience and his emphasis on the existential and psychological dimensions of experience) can be solved by the hypothesis of a Nietzschean influence on Barth's epistemology in the 1920s. I defend not only the historical plausibility but also the conceptual fecundity of such a hypothesis, which casts a new light on Barth's relation to philosophy and the notion of experience, and lays the basis for a consistent Barthian theology of experience.

Сегодня христианам, особенно протестантам евангельского направ-ления, стоит рассмотреть феномен «постмодернизма» более глубже, так как его поверхностное понимание зачастую ведет к неправильным выводам. В частности, это касается преподавателей библейских школ, евангельских семинарий и руководителей церквей на постсоветском пространстве, которые, то тут, то там, предостерегают нас словами: «осторожно постмодернизм!». С одной стороны, узкое понимание «постмодернизма» — это про-дукт нехватки хорошего качества популярной литературы по данной теме. Мы находимся в ситуации почти полного отсутствия материала, который бы «приземленно», будучи излагаем на «понятным» языке, доносил бы идеи французских классиков постсекулярного философско-го постмодернизма до обычного лидера евангельской церкви. Самих Лиотара, Деррида, Батая, Фуко, Делёза не так-то и просто изучать сред-нестатистическому христианину, который чаще всего не читает ничего кроме Библии и христианской (зачастую не академической) литерату-ры. С другой стороны, современные «апологетические» книги еван-гельских авторов, рассматривающие философию постмодернизма, чаще всего делают акцент только на вреде постмодернизма и редко обраща-ют внимание на положительные уроки постмодернизма, которые могут быть выучены в семинарских аудиториях и применены в церквях. Чаще всего риторика сводится приблизительно к таким утверждениям: обще-ство эпохи постмодерна признало плюрализм многих истин (реляти-визм) или вовсе отрицает возможность познать истину (агностицизм), постмодернизм обязательно отрицает философскую и теологическую мысль, ничего полезного в постмодерной философии для христианства нет и не может быть. Например, американский богослов-философ Уильям Крэйг считает, что «постмодернисты отрицают существование универсальных