The Politics of the Nonviolent God: Reflections on René Girard and Karl Barth

1998 ◽  
Vol 51 (1) ◽  
pp. 61-85 ◽  
Author(s):  
George Hunsinger
Keyword(s):  
Christian Ethics ◽  
Karl Barth ◽  
Christian Theology ◽  
Ethical Implications ◽  
The Social ◽  
Cross Of Christ ◽  
The Cross ◽  
The Church ◽  
Secondary Consequence ◽  
As If

Doctrines of the atonement in Christian theology, as Marlin E. Miller has pointed out, ‘usually limit their concern to reconciliation with God and, at most, consider reconciliation with others a secondary consequence of reconciliation with God’. Too often, in other words, the vertical aspect of reconciliation is allowed to overshadow its horizontal aspect. The vertical aspect of the atonement as it pertains directly to God is often treated in isolation as if its ethical implications were of no great importance. The reverse defect, however, would also appear to be widespread. Christian ethics as we know it today often seems to proceed as if the atoning work of Christ were of little or no relevance to its deliberations on human affairs. The social or horizontal aspect of reconciliation thereby eclipses its vertical aspect. Yet if the cross of Christ is indeed the very center of the center of the Christian gospel, as the church has historically believed, then how can it fail to determine the substance of Christian ethics as well as that of Christian theology? Moreover, how can the centrality of the cross fail to orient them both in any attempt to specify their inner unity, order and differentiation?

Christ Existing as Community

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael Mawson
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
Social Theory ◽  
Christian Ethics ◽  
Dietrich Bonhoeffer ◽  
Human Community ◽  
The Social ◽  
Theological Study ◽  
Sanctorum Communio ◽  
The Church

How can theologians recognize the church as a historical and human community, while still holding that it has been established by Christ and is a work of the Spirit? How can a theological account of the church draw insights and concepts from the social sciences, without Christian commitments and claims about the church being undermined or displaced? In 1927, the 21-year-old Dietrich Bonhoeffer defended his licentiate dissertation, Sanctorum Communio: A Theological Study of the Sociology of the Church. This remains his most neglected and misunderstood work. Christ Existing as Community thus retrieves and analyses Bonhoeffer’s engagement with social theory and attempt at ecclesiology. Against standard readings and criticisms of this work, Mawson demonstrates that it contains a rich and nuanced approach to the church, one which displays many of Bonhoeffer’s key influences—especially Luther, Hegel, Troeltsch, and Barth—while being distinctive in its own right. In particular, Mawson argues that Sanctorum Communio’s theology is built around a complex dialectic of creation, sin, and reconciliation. On this basis, he contends that Bonhoeffer’s dissertation has ongoing significance for work in theology and Christian ethics.

scholarly journals Paradoks Salib: Keindahan Wajah Kemuliaan Allah

MELINTAS ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 35 (1) ◽  
pp. 77-94
Author(s):  
Joko Umbara
Keyword(s):  
Jesus Christ ◽  
Tree Of Life ◽  
Christian Theology ◽  
Christian Faith ◽  
Human Being ◽  
Divine Love ◽  
God's Love ◽  
Cross Of Christ ◽  
The Cross ◽  
Tragic Drama

An experience of the cross of Jesus Christ in Christian theology brings the sense of paradox. Christ’s death on the cross reflects the fate of humanity within the context of Christian faith. The cross is also seen as a mystery that tells the tragic story of humans who accept their punishment. However, the cross of Jesus Christ also reveals meanings that challenge Christians to find answers in their contemplation of the cross. The cross becomes a stage for human tragic drama, which might also reveal the beauty of death and life. It is the phatos of humanity, for every human being will die, but it is also seen as the tree of life hoped for by every faithful. On the cross is visible God’s self-giving through the love shown by the crucified Christ. God speaks God’s love not only through words, that is, in the teachings of Jesus Christ, but also through Christ’s loving gesture on the cross. The cross of Christ is the culmination of God’s glory and through it, God’s glory is shown in the beauty of divine love.

Moltmann's Eschatology of the Cross

1977 ◽  
Vol 30 (4) ◽  
pp. 301-311
Author(s):  
Richard Bauckham
Keyword(s):  
Hard Core ◽  
Christian Theology ◽  
Christian Faith ◽  
Theology Of The Cross ◽  
Major Work ◽  
Fresh Start ◽  
The Future ◽  
Cross Of Christ ◽  
The Cross ◽  
Th 16

In Theology of Hope Jürgen Moltmann made the now wellknown claim that, ‘From first to last, and not merely in the epilogue, Christianity is eschatology… The eschatological is not one element of Christianity, but it is the medium of Christian faith as such, the key in which everything in it is set’ (TH 16). In his second major work, The Crucified God, he claims that ‘Theologia crucis is not a single chapter in theology, but the key signature for all Christian theology’ (CG 72). Superficially, therefore, it might seem that The Crucified God is a fresh start in Moltmann's theology, substituting the cross for eschatology as the unifying theme in theology. In reality this is not the case. Moltmann's theology in The Crucified God remains eschatologically structured, while already in Theology of Hope he claimed that Christian theology must be an eschatologia crucis (TH 160, cf. HP 147f., CG 5) founded on the resurrection of the crucified Christ. ‘Theology of hope is at its hard core theology of the cross’ (EH 57). Conversely, the theology of the cross is the ‘reverse side’ of the theology of hope, giving it ‘a more profound dimension’ (CG 5). For the form of the future of Christ in this world is the cross of Christ and the sufferings of Christians: only this emphasis can save Christian hope from escapism or naive utopianism (cf. M 44, EH 57f 72). The two works therefore display an essentially continuous theological development.

scholarly journals The Social Background of 1 Corinthians 1-4

Perichoresis ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 17 (s2) ◽  
pp. 27-40
Author(s):  
Corin Mihăilă
Keyword(s):  
Social Background ◽  
1 Corinthians ◽  
Christian Community ◽  
The People ◽  
Household Model ◽  
The Social ◽  
Unique Identity ◽  
Large Household ◽  
The Cross ◽  
The Church

Abstract The social structure of the Corinthian ecclesia is a reasonable cause for the dissensions that had occurred between her members. The people from the higher social strata of the church may have sought to advance their honor by desiring to extend their patronage over those teachers in the church that could help them in that regard. This situation was aided by the fact that the members of the Christian community have failed to allow the cross to redefine the new entity to which they now belonged. Rather, they perceived the Christian ecclesia according to different social models that were available at that time in the society at large: household model, collegia model, political ecclesia, and Jewish synagogue. As a result, the apostle Paul, in the first four chapter of 1 Corinthians, shows how the cross has overturned the social values inherent in these models. He argues that the Christian ecclesia is a new entity, with a unique identity, and distinct network of relations, which should separate those inside the Christian community from those outside.

scholarly journals “IMITATE ME”: INTERPRETING IMITATION IN 1 CORINTHIANS IN RELATION TO IGNATIUS OF ANTIOCH

Perichoresis ◽  
2013 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 77-95 ◽  
Author(s):  
H. H. Drake Williams
Keyword(s):  
Social Situation ◽  
1 Corinthians ◽  
Social Situations ◽  
Critical Junctures ◽  
Counter Example ◽  
The Social ◽  
Cross Of Christ ◽  
The Cross ◽  
The Way ◽  
Power And Authority

ABSTRACTSeveral times within 1 Corinthians Paul encourages the Corinthians to imitate him. These are found at critical junctures in the epistle in 1 Corinthians 4:16 and 11:1. The meaning of these sections is in question from the perspective of Corinthian scholars. Several believe that Paul is appealing to apostolic power and authority to coerce the Corinthians to obey him, whereas others find him responding to social situations. This is different from the way that imitation and discipleship are presented within the writings of Ignatius of Antioch. Pauline ideas, specifically those from 1 Corinthians, are known to have influenced Ignatius of Antioch’s writing, and thus Ignatius’ ideas about imitation are likely to reflect the meaning that Paul intended. Ignatius specifically speaks about imitation and discipleship in several places: Ign. Eph. 1, 2, 4; 3:1-3, Ign. Magn. 4:1; 5:1-2; 9:1-6, Ign. Rom. 3:1-2; 6, 3, 1. When these passages are considered, imitation involves suffering and possibly martyrdom. Imitation is also connected to the cross of Christ and is not a means to enforce superiority. Ignatius’ view of imitation would contradict the opinions of some scholars who see Paul’s injunction for imitation as a claim for power. It also supplies more information to the idea than those who claim that it is simply a counter example to the social situation.

Economics and Theology after the Separation

2014 ◽  
pp. 134-150
Author(s):  
Ross B. Emmett
Keyword(s):  
Economic Theory ◽  
Charles Taylor ◽  
Interesting Case ◽  
Christian Ethics ◽  
Christian Theology ◽  
Reinhold Niebuhr ◽  
Economic Association ◽  
The Social ◽  
Richard Whately ◽  
The Impact

The date of the separation of economics from Christian theology is debated, as is its explanation. The process also differs in Britain and America. Richard Whately and Philip Wicksteed’s accounts of the basis of separation in nineteenth-century Britain are considered, and in America the twentieth-century accounts of the impact of the Social Gospel on the founding of the American Economic Association, and of Frank Knight and Reinhold Niebuhr. Knight is a particularly interesting case in that he considered economics to be inadequate on its own while vigorously rejecting the contribution of existing Christian ethics. Economic theory ignored theology, and theology also came to ignore economic theory. The connection between the separation and the wider secularization thesis is discussed, drawing on the work of Charles Taylor.

scholarly journals The birth of the blues and the birth of biblical law in parallel: A dialogue with James Cone’s theology of the cross

2020 ◽  
Vol 117 (1) ◽  
pp. 114-127
Author(s):  
Mark R. Glanville
Keyword(s):  
White Supremacy ◽  
The United States ◽  
Theology Of The Cross ◽  
Biblical Law ◽  
Social Law ◽  
Redemptive Suffering ◽  
The Social ◽  
Jazz Music ◽  
Cross Of Christ ◽  
The Cross

This article seeks to learn from James Cone’s theology of the cross as articulated in his book, The Cross and the Lynching Tree, by bringing Cone’s theology into conversation with the theology and ethics of the book of Deuteronomy. It proceeds by first discerning the ways in which the birth of the blues may in some ways parallel the birth of biblical law. Blues and jazz music were birthed in the agonizing suffering of the black community during the era of lynching, expressing both the grief and the resilience and hope of African Americans. Perhaps with some similarity, biblical law is a divine–human response to ancient Israel’s experience of enslavement and genocide in Egypt. This law is an ancient invitation into authentic community. Next, the article discerns core themes in Cone’s theology of the cross, namely solidarity with the oppressed, redemptive suffering, and victory over oppression. Cone unfolds these themes by seeking to understand the cross through the experience of the torturous suffering of blacks in the South. The article then finds these same themes in the theology and ethics of Deuteronomy through an examination of the social law, feasting texts, covenant texts, and laws concerning slavery in this book. We learn from Cone that the horrific barbarity of white supremacy in a culture of lynching is a vital corrective lens through which to see and understand the cross of Christ for US Christians. Indeed, Deuteronomy forces us to conclude that a theology of the cross that ignores dynamics of oppression and liberation is theologically myopic. The argument, by extension, is that the suffering of blacks in the United States is also a fresh and vital lens through which to view and understand biblical law.

scholarly journals Kenoza križa – forma i sadržaj svjedočanstva suvremenih Kristovih svjedoka

Diacovensia ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 25 (4) ◽  
pp. 617-637
Author(s):  
Silvio Košćak
Keyword(s):  
Modern Society ◽  
Contemporary Society ◽  
Christian Life ◽  
Christian Community ◽  
Hans Urs Von Balthasar ◽  
Paschal Mystery ◽  
Cross Of Christ ◽  
The Cross ◽  
The Church ◽  
Contemporary Context

The author of the paper discusses Christian testimony as a fundamental position from which a believer and Christian community start the proclamation of the Truth that is recognized as fundamental for life. Testimony is examined from biblical positions and put in the context of modern society and the context of Christ’s Paschal Mystery in order to develop a reflection on the form and content of contemporary witnesses. In reflecting on the testimony, the author leans on the thought of the Swiss theologian Hans Urs von Balthasar and, based on his insights, the author develops some elements of testifying that stem from the Cross of Christ. From the Cross, which represents kenosis, we can read the form of testifying as well as the contents of the testimony, which involves every act of humility of Christian life. The author concludes with some specific expressions of the form and contents of Christian testimony in the contemporary context from the position of contemplating the Cross, all with the aim to present this thought out testimony as a dialogical and integrating element of the Church and the contemporary society.

Conclusion: Theology as Failure

2019 ◽  
pp. 175-182
Author(s):  
Marika Rose
Keyword(s):  
Social Economy ◽  
The Body ◽  
Christian Theology ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Individual ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Theology And Philosophy ◽  
The Church ◽  
Is Failure ◽  
Body Theology

This conclusion draws together the themes of the book, exploring what a theology of failure looks like in relation to four overarching themes: freedom, materiality, hierarchy, and universalism. This account of ontology, desire, and Christian theology suggests not only that completeness is impossible but also that purity is impossible. The internal rupture that both constitutes and disrupts every individual economic identity is also the rupture between the social economy of the relationship between the individual and others, language and the body, theology and philosophy, God and the created order. Theology can no more remain immune from its others than it can completely encompass them. Once there was no secular; and yet the genealogy of the church, of Christian theology, is constantly interrupted, contaminated, and enriched by the profane, the abject, and the horrific. Theology is failure; the task, then, is to fail better, to liberate our others in order to begin the difficult work of learning how to love them.

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