Judaeo-Christian faith as trust and loyalty

2020 ◽  
pp. 1-31
Author(s):  
MICHAEL PACE ◽  
DANIEL J. MCKAUGHAN
Keyword(s):  
Recent Work ◽  
Christian Faith ◽  
Christian Tradition ◽  
Elie Wiesel ◽  
Biblical Language

Abstract Disputes over the nature of faith, as understood in the Judaeo-Christian tradition, sometimes focus on whether it is to be identified exclusively with trust in God or with loyalty/fidelity to God. Drawing on recent work on the semantic range of the Hebrew ʾĕmûnâ and Greek pistis lexicons, we argue for a multidimensional account of what it is to be a person of faith that includes trust and loyalty in combination. The Trust-Loyalty account, we maintain, makes better sense of the faith of exemplars, including Abraham, and fits well with the biblical language of faith. Further, a normatively appropriate combination of trust and loyalty towards others is a recognizable social virtue, aimed at promoting flourishing relationships. Finally, we consider how to make sense of ancient and modern exemplars of faith who protest against God, such as Job and Elie Wiesel, and argue that the Trust-Loyalty view is uniquely well suited to accommodate them.

scholarly journals ‘Misisti manum tuam ex alto’: Manichaean Imagery of Christ as God’s Hand in Augustine’s Confessions?

2018 ◽  
Vol 72 (4) ◽  
pp. 369-389
Author(s):  
Johannes van Oort
Keyword(s):  
Christian Tradition ◽  
Biblical Language

Abstract The article first explores Augustine’s conspicuous references to ‘God’s Hand’ in his Confessions by presenting a fresh translation and brief commentary of the relevant texts. In the commentary special attention is given to the possible signifiance of these texts to (former) Manichaean readers. It is concluded that Augustine’s eye-catching imagery is not only inspired by biblical language and—in all likelihood—by predecessors in the Christian tradition such as Irenaeus and especially Ambrose, but also strikingly coincides with an essential metaphor of the Manichaeans. This feature once again underlines the importance of the Manichaean element in Augustine’s Confessions.

scholarly journals We Believe: Group Belief and the Liturgical use of Creeds

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Joshua Cockayne
Keyword(s):  
Recent Work ◽  
Philosophical Analysis ◽  
Christian Tradition ◽  
Joint Commitment ◽  
Corporate Worship ◽  
Group Belief ◽  
The Church

The recitation of creeds in corporate worship is widespread in the Christian tradition. Intuitively, the use of creeds captures the belief not only of the individuals reciting it, but of the Church as a whole. This paper seeks to provide a philosophical analysis of the meaning of the words, ‘We believe…’, in the context of the liturgical recitation of the Creed. Drawing from recent work in group ontology, I explore three recent accounts of group belief (summative accounts, joint commitment accounts, and functionalist accounts) and consider the potential of applying these to the group belief contained in the Creed.

scholarly journals Desiring the Hidden God: Knowledge Without Belief

2016 ◽  
Vol 8 (4) ◽  
pp. 51-64
Author(s):  
Julian Perlmutter
Keyword(s):  
Recent Work ◽  
Sacred Music ◽  
Christian Tradition ◽  
Personal Significance ◽  
Divine Hiddenness ◽  
Hidden God

For many people, the phenomenon of divine hiddenness is so total that it is far from clear to them that God (roughly speaking, the God of Jewish and Christian tradition) exists at all. Reasonably enough, they therefore do not believe that God exists. Yet it is possible, whilst lacking belief in God’s reality, nonetheless to see it as a possibility that is both realistic and attractive; and in this situation, one will likely want to be open to the considerable benefits that would be available if God were real. In this paper I argue that certain kinds of desire for God can aid this non-believing openness. It is possible to desire God even in a state of non-belief, since desire does not require belief that its object exists. I argue that if we desire God in some particular capacity, and with some sense of what would constitute satisfaction, then through the desire we have knowledge – incomplete yet vivid in its personal significance – about the attributes God would need in order to satisfy us; thus, if God is real and does have those attributes, one knows something about God through desiring him. Because desire does not require belief, neither does the knowledge in question. Expanding on recent work by Vadas and Wynn, I sketch the epistemology of desire needed to support this argument. I then apply this epistemology to desire for God. An important question is how one might cultivate the requisite kinds desire for God; and one way, I argue, is through engaging with certain kinds of sacred music. I illustrate desire’s religiously epistemic power in this context, before replying to two objections.

scholarly journals Common Worship

2018 ◽  
Vol 35 (3) ◽  
pp. 299-325 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joshua Cockayne ◽  
David Efird ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Recent Work ◽  
Christian Tradition ◽  
Personal Preference ◽  
Corporate Worship ◽  
To Come ◽  
Better Than

People of faith, particularly in the Judeo-Christian tradition, worship corporately at least as often, if not more so, than they do individually. Why do they do this? There are, of course, many reasons, some having to do with personal preference and others having to do with the theology of worship. But, in this paper, we explore one reason, a philosophical reason, which, despite recent work on the philosophy of liturgy, has gone underappreciated. In particular, we argue that corporate worship enables a person to come to know God better than they would otherwise know him in individual worship.

Sin and Ecology: A Conversation with Jürgen Moltmann and the School of René Girard

2012 ◽  
Vol 6 (3) ◽  
pp. 234-250 ◽  
Author(s):  
Charles Fensham
Keyword(s):  
Social Criticism ◽  
Original Sin ◽  
Bad News ◽  
Good News ◽  
Christian Faith ◽  
Christian Tradition ◽  
Western Tradition ◽  
Rene Girard ◽  
René Girard ◽  
Heaven And Earth

Abstract This essay will compare the approaches of Jürgen Moltmann and René Girard and those who follow his social criticism, in the light of the need for an ecological reinterpretation of the nature of sin. Sin, and the doctrine of original sin in the Western tradition goes to the very basis of the Christian story and the concept gospel. Good news is there to address bad news. In turn, the story of good news in the Christian tradition requires a thorough exploration of bad news. The need for an ecologically sound harmartiology begs the question of ktisiology and the very nature of ‘God the Father Creator of heaven and earth’. It leads us to ask: Why is the Christian faith a salvific faith? Why redemption and what is it?

Divine Agency and Divine Action, Volume II

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
William J. Abraham
Keyword(s):  
Christian Faith ◽  
Christian Tradition ◽  
Divine Action ◽  
Generic Concept ◽  
Divine Inspiration ◽  
Divine Agency ◽  
Divine Concurrence ◽  
Ways Of Thinking

This book builds upon the groundwork laid in the first volume, where it was established that no generic concept of action will suffice for understanding the character of divine actions explicit in the Christian faith. This volume argues that in order to understand divine action rightly, one must begin with the array of specific actions predicated of God in the Christian tradition. The author argues, in a way, that one must do theology in order to analyze properly the concept of divine action. Thus the book offers a careful review and evaluation of the particularities of divine action as they appear in the work of biblical, patristic, medieval, and Reformation-era theologians. Particular attention is given to the divine inspiration of Scripture, creation, incarnation, transubstantiation in the Eucharist, predestination, and divine concurrence. The motive here is not simply to repeat the doctrinal formulations found in the Christian tradition, but to examine them in order to find fresh ways of thinking about these issues for our own time, especially with respect to the contemporary debates about divine agency and divine action.

scholarly journals Are Christian Martyrs Abuse Victims, Neurotics, or Suicidal? Comments on the Psychological Study of Christian Martyrdom

1997 ◽  
Vol 25 (4) ◽  
pp. 458-467 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ekman P. C. Tam
Keyword(s):  
Research Methodology ◽  
Psychology Of Religion ◽  
Psychological Problems ◽  
Christian Faith ◽  
Christian Tradition ◽  
Psychological Study ◽  
New Model ◽  
Life Itself

In Christian tradition the martyr, man or woman, was honored for holding the faith as being of higher value than life itself. However, in the field of psychology, martyrs may not be seen as models for modern people. Some psychologically oriented studies on Christian martyrdom suggest that the underlying motivations of early martyrs are more complicated than previously thought. Some authors argue that early martyrs were people with psychological problems, and that they might be abuse victims, neurotics, or suicidal. But how true is this picture? This article critically reviews literature on Christian martyrdom, comments on approaches and presuppositions, and suggests that research methodology on martyrdom should (a) consider psychology in context, (b) incorporate psychology of meaning, and (c) adopt a new model of psychology of religion. Christian scholars are urged to do research on this topic so as to retrieve the legacy of Christian faith.

The Trinity as Transforming Symbol: Exploring the Trinitarian Theology of Two Roman Catholic Feminist Theologians

1994 ◽  
Vol 7 (3) ◽  
pp. 273-294
Author(s):  
Patricia Fox
Keyword(s):  
Recent Work ◽  
Roman Catholic ◽  
First Century ◽  
Trinitarian Theology ◽  
Christian Tradition ◽  
The World ◽  
Doctrine Of The Trinity ◽  
Twenty First Century ◽  
The Church ◽  
The Trinity

The article explores the Trinity as a transforming symbol for the twenty—first century. It focuses on the recent work of Catherine Mowy LaCugna and Elizabeth Johnson who offer analyses for the “defeat” of the doctrine of the Trinity and also seek to retrieve core understandings of the mystery from Scripture and Christian tradition. The article suggests that the Church today is being challenged to reform itself in the image of the trinitarian God, to become a community for the world.

scholarly journals BENTO XVI E O ILUMINISMO

2012 ◽  
Vol 39 (124) ◽  
pp. 279
Author(s):  
Juvenal Savian Filho
Keyword(s):  
The Self ◽  
Philosophical Analysis ◽  
Christian Faith ◽  
Christian Tradition ◽  
Academic Teaching ◽  
The Enlightenment ◽  
Argumentative Strategy ◽  
Do So

Trata-se, neste artigo, de investigar a análise filosófica do Iluminismo feita por Bento XVI. Para tanto, tomar-se-ão como base textos redigidos não apenas em seu pontificado, mas também no período de seu magistério anterior. Põe-se em destaque a estratégia argumentativa do pontífice ao criticar a pretensa autolimitação da razão imposta por ela mesma em algumas formas hegemônicas do pensamento contemporâneo. A partir daí, extraem-se conclusões em duas frentes: as interpelações que a tradição cristã pode fazer à herança iluminista e, na contrapartida, as interpelações que a herança iluminista também pode fazer aos continuadores do anúncio cristão.Abstract: This paper aims to investigate Benedict XVI’s philosophical analysis of the Enlightenment. To do so, some texts written during his pontificate and previous academic teaching will serve as a basis. The emphasis is laid on the argumentative strategy employed by the pope to criticize the self-imposed limitation of reason observed in hegemonic forms of contemporary thought. A two-fold conclusion can be drawn from there: what interpellations can the Christian tradition make to the enlightenment heritage and, inversely, what interpellations can the enlightenment heritage make to the followers of the Christian faith.

scholarly journals Theology in Times of Pandemic

Studia Humana ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 34-40
Author(s):  
Lluis Oviedo
Keyword(s):  
Religious Faith ◽  
Christian Faith ◽  
Christian Tradition ◽  
The Times ◽  
Difficult Times

Abstract A question arises regarding theology and its functions when trying to cope with the coronavirus pandemic. Surely Christian faith – along with other religions – can play a role in helping to deal with this crisis, both for individuals and collectively. Theology connects with the effort religious faith and Churches perform and provides models and ideas to highlight the Christian sense of what is happening, that is, in reference to a saving God. Four keys, rooted in the Christian tradition, are proposed that allow us to understand these difficult times in a meaningful way, that is, as revealing “signs of the times” for believers, assisting them in their struggle to cope with these challenging circumstances.

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