Theology of Joy

This study assesses the present themes and gaps in the theology of food literature (TFL) as well as where there is fertile ground for the development of an explicit theology of joy. This task is accomplished by examining the most prominent themes in the current body of TFL as well as placing these works alongside Jürgen Moltmann's theology of joy to display the value of strengthening the TFL with a more fully developed theology of joy.

Humanity is on the threshold of recognizing the fundamental error in its view of life and death. Both death as well as active life is necessary to the vital formation of a larger, more essential whole. In this paper, I apply the sociology of knowledge and change as it pertains to death and focus on ways in which we can step outside its traditional frameworks and limitations. I also discuss topics related to death such as birth, aging, sickness, and war, and examine cultural differences in attitudes toward death. I offer varying perspectives including the Buddhist view and from these draw implications and conclusions. I apply the lenses of contemporary social scientists such as Edgar Morin, Kenneth Gergen, Edward Stewart, Milton Bennett, Mary Catherine Bateson, E. Doyle McCarthy, Philip Slater, and Piotr Sztompka. To these I add other relevant passages from the writings and speeches of key thinkers on the topic of death, in particular, Buddhist philosopher, peacebuilder, and educator, Daisaku Ikeda. To construct a more humanistic and sustainable view of life, it is first of all crucial to establish a culture which perceives death in its larger living context as but one cycle in the expansive eternity of life.

This paper places Jürgen Moltmann’s theology of joy into conversation with the recent body of literature written on theology of food in order to display how they strengthen and affirm one another through shared themes concerning joy: particularly joy as it is related to God’s good gifts in creation. Both bodies of work consider the groundlessness of God’s creation (i.e., its “unnecessariness”) as well as the lavishness of creation given—and to be received—as gift. Moltmann and the TFL writers agree that living amidst and interacting with such gift is an occasion for joy, and consider what this looks like in the lived Christian life.

Tato disertační práce se věnuje důrazu Lukáše (v obou jeho biblických spisech) na myšlenku radosti. První část práce se zaměřuje na pět klíčových výrazů, kterými Lukáš popisuje radost, a analyzuje je nejen v kontextu jeho dvojdíla, ale také v širším kontextu Nového zákona a LXX. Následná analýza všech pasáží, v nichž Lukáš o radosti píše, ukazuje, že autor tímto důrazem na radost propojuje jednotlivé narativy tak, aby Ježíšův příběh představil jako příběh o "velké radosti" - radosti spasených hříšníků, ale také radosti samotného Ježíše, Nebeského otce a jeho andělů. Tyto důrazy společně vytvářejí i formální strukturu a zarámování obou Lukášových spisů. Významné paralely mezi příběhy o radosti v obou spisech se po prozkoumání jeví jako zcela záměrné. Tato společná jednotící struktura obou spisů tak může pomoci čtenářům i vykladačům lépe porozumět jejich vzájemnému vztahu a jejich teologickému poselství.

This dissertation deals with Luke's emphasis on the joy. The first part of this study focuses on five key expressions used by Luke for the description of the joy, analyzing them in the larger context of the New Testament and of LXX as well. The following in-depth study of all Lucan passages mentioning the joy clearly shows that the author uses it to connect mutually individual narratives of his book in order to tell the story of Jesus as one big story of the "great joy" - the joy of sinners saved by grace, but also the joy of Jesus himself, as well as the joy of the heavenly Father and his angels. Those emphases create also the formal structure of the Gospel and the Book of Acts, framing the whole narrative. Several important parallels between those "joy-stories" in both writings seem to be intentional. So this common unifying structure of both writings can help readers and interpreters in better understanding of the relationship between them and their theological message.