Orthodoxy and the Politics of Christian Subjectivity: A Case Study of the Global Anglican Future Conference (GAFCON)

2020 ◽  
Vol 18 (2) ◽  
pp. 235-250
Author(s):  
Charlotte Dalwood
Keyword(s):  
Political Theology ◽  
The Body ◽  
Body Politics ◽  
Colonial Power ◽  
Future Conference ◽  
Corporate Body ◽  
The Matrix ◽  
The Church ◽  
Local Body

AbstractInformed by theories of biopolitics and necropolitics, I argue that Christian orthodoxy is a colonial power formation that manufactures the subjectivities of those within the Church and those without. The operation of biopolitics and necropolitics coalesces around two Christian bodies – the local body and the corporate body catholic – and is thus explicable according to the synthetic framework of ‘body politics.’ Within the body-political calculus, orthodox Christians qualify as genuine lives and, consequently, benefit from biopolitical interventions to promote their flourishing; heretics, by contrast, represent (non-)subjects whose bodies orthodoxy/colonialism consigns to destruction. As a case study to illustrate the import of my theoretical analysis for ecclesiological reflection, I examine the rhetoric of the leaders of the Global Anglican Future Conference (GAFCON), who, despite presenting their movement as a decolonial project, espouse a body-political theology and, therefore, remain firmly within the matrix of Christian colonial orthodoxy.

Ecclesiology

2019 ◽  
pp. 224-240
Author(s):  
Tom Greggs
Keyword(s):  
Holy Spirit ◽  
The Body ◽  
The Other ◽  
Body Of Christ ◽  
Corporate Body ◽  
The World ◽  
The Holy Spirit ◽  
The Church

This chapter examines Bonhoeffer’s account of the church and advocates that throughout Bonhoeffer’s corpus there remains a desire to explicate the reality of the church in terms of its structural being with and for the other. This structure exists both internally in terms of its members’ relation to each other, and externally as the church relates as a corporate body to the world. The chapter considers Bonhoeffer’s ecclesiological method; the visibility of the church; vicarious representation; the church as the body of Christ; the agency of the Holy Spirit; preaching, the sacraments, and the offices of the church; and the question of the church in a religionless age.

scholarly journals Implikasies van die kommunikatiewe handelingsteorie vir In prakties-teologiese perspektief op die ekklesiologie

1995 ◽  
Vol 51 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
T. F.J. Dreyer
Keyword(s):  
Action Theory ◽  
Communicative Action ◽  
The Body ◽  
Church Life ◽  
Theological Perspective ◽  
The Matrix ◽  
Communicative Patterns ◽  
Practical Theological ◽  
Communicative Actions ◽  
The Church

A practical theological perspective on ecclesiology as seen from the viewpoint of communicative action theory. From a practical theological perspective, this article disputes the trend in present ecclesiastical thought, abstracting a model depicting the practical functioning of the church, which is based on a single biblical metaphor. The body-of-Christ metaphor is commonly used as a church model. The eagerness to implement this construct is inspired by a paradigm shift and the incorporation of the communicative actions theory at the level of metatheory. The hypothesis of this research is that, once the matrix of this metatheory has been clearly identified, it must be ap-plied to the aspects of church life. All the biblical metaphors shedding light on the functioning of the church need reinterpretation within the framework of a postmodern society and symmetrical communicative patterns. This way of constructing an ecclesiastical perspective, would lead to a more balanced church praxis.

We owe ourselves to debt: Classical Greece, Athens in crisis, and the body as battlefield

2019 ◽  
Vol 58 (3) ◽  
pp. 469-492 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dimitris Plantzos
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Landscape ◽  
Economic Recession ◽  
The Body ◽  
Body Politics ◽  
Classical Greece ◽  
The Past ◽  
Greek Crisis ◽  
Crisis Discourse ◽  
Public Economy

Since 2009, Greece has been hit by a severe economic recession followed by harsh austerity policies, gradual impoverishment, and ultimately social collapse. This article investigates the cultural landscape of the so-called ‘Greek crisis’, focusing on Athens, the nation’s capital, and the ways the crisis discourse employs biopolitical technologies of dispossession and displacement in order to generate an intensified breed of body-politics. The article’s main case study is documenta 14, a blockbuster exhibition of contemporary art organized in Athens in 2017, seemingly elaborating on the ideas of debt – classical and modern – though in fact promoting neoliberal approaches to public economy and life. The idea of ‘classical debt’, the article concludes, continuously reiterated by both Greece’s defenders as well as its most unforgiving critics, rather than acting as an emancipatory force, ends up producing a public consisting of silent bodies, trapped in highly romanticized discourses of the past and ultimately unable to defend themselves. This tension, however, also provokes narratives and gestures made of contradictions and ambiguity, difficult to map and monitor according to established research protocols.

scholarly journals Practical ministry and finances: A case study from InnerCHANGE South Africa

2021 ◽  
Vol 77 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Kgotso K.T.L. Kabongo
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Financial Literacy ◽  
Financial Management ◽  
The Body ◽  
Balance System ◽  
Personal Finances ◽  
The Board Of Directors ◽  
Practical Ministry ◽  
The Church

The church is called to be a tangible messenger of hope in society. Communities of poverty, especially, need a church that carries its mandate both through proclamation and through deed. This research is a case study of a team located in South Africa that is part of an international missional order called InnerCHANGE. The latter focuses on discipleship and the nurturing of local leaders who are community builders in areas of poverty. This focus is expressed through practical ministry initiatives. The latter necessitates finances through the team does not always have. A desire to overcome its financial challenges led it to decide to get some training in financial literacy, so that it can improve its fundraising efforts. This training was provided by a finance broker. The latter started his teaching with personal finances before going into organisational finances. He believed that good personal financial stewardship leads to good corporate financial stewardship. The outcome of this training led ICSA staff and the board of directors to diversify their fundraising efforts and to set the target of saving 15% of its income. The work is still in progress for reaching this target. However, for 2 years in a row, ICSA has been making some good progress in increasing its income and savings. This article concludes by advising the body of Christ serving from below to pursue training in financial management so that it can strengthen its checks and balance system which could lead to sustainability.Contribution: This article contributes to the on-going discussions about financially sustainable models of the church from below in Africa so that the church can remain an important role player in serving local communities practically. It uses InnerCHANGE South Africa as a case study of such efforts.

Music, Convert, and Subject in the North Sumatran Mission Field

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Julia Byl
Keyword(s):  
19Th Century ◽  
Complete Conversion ◽  
Colonial Power ◽  
The North ◽  
Colonial Policies ◽  
Toba Batak ◽  
Christian Practices ◽  
Mission Field ◽  
The Church

This case study on the Toba Batak of Northern Sumatra focuses on a model 19th-century German missionary, whose success in the almost complete conversion of the Toba was predicated on a politics of selective tolerance, in which certain local codes and practices were encouraged, while others were identified for replacement with Christian practices and emblems. Through a discussion of the musical tensions involved in this process of selective exchange, Byl explores the ways in which the first missionaries negotiated identities that encompassed both their benevolent Christian convictions and their roles as effective agents of colonial power. For their part, Toba responses to the politics of missionization have also been complex and shot through with contradictions: as an institution, the church stood as a structure bolstering their defiant confrontation of Muslim Indonesia, while internally its implementation is remembered in terms of colonial policies and alliances.

scholarly journals Media Representation of the Moment of Death: Dying Person’s Dignity in the Teaching of the Church and Journalistic Practice

2021 ◽  
Vol 33 (2) ◽  
pp. 91-108
Author(s):  
Tomasz Podlewski
Keyword(s):  
Media Coverage ◽  
The Body ◽  
Media Culture ◽  
Ethical Guidelines ◽  
Media Messages ◽  
The Media ◽  
Foreign Media ◽  
The Moment ◽  
The Church

The author of the article poses the question repeatedly asked in the world of media, culture and science, concerning the limits of journalistic integrity and informational necessity in the media coverage of human death, especially in relation to how the moment of a tragic death and its immediate consequences are presented. He considers the teachings of the Church and John Paul II on the necessity of respecting human dignity in journalism, with particular focus on the dignity of the dying person, in addition to the respect towards the body of the deceased person. The author analyzes selected media messages with content of interest from the years 2017–2020, and referring to the reactions of some representatives of foreign media, he makes an attempt to construct a list of postulates for increasing the degree of sensitivity in the area of the discussed issues. In the preparation of this article, which is essentially a case study in journalistic ethics, the method of content analysis was used primarily in rela­tion to the examined media presentations and the analytical‑synthetic method when it comes to extracting ethical guidelines from the analyzed texts and in constructing the conclusions.

scholarly journals Historical Memory and Orthodox Faith: Byzance Aprиs Byzance in Sofia Under Ottoman Rule

2021 ◽  
Vol 26 (6) ◽  
pp. 339-351
Author(s):  
Ivan Biliarsky ◽  
◽  
Mariyana Tsibranska-Kostova ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Historical Memory ◽  
The Body ◽  
Bearing Witness ◽  
Orthodox Christian ◽  
The Past ◽  
The People ◽  
Political Milieu ◽  
The City ◽  
The Church

In our article we propose a case study on the character of the veneration of neomartyrs of Sofia in the 16th century and a review of the related literature. We try to argue that the aims of their veneration were religious and political, and that these aims were attained through the exaltation of the Christian faith and the creation and maintaining of a historical memory. The direction of the intended results, however, is not anti-Ottoman, but anti-Islamic; the veneration urged to consolidate the Orthodox Christian congregation. It is to the people of the Orthodox confession, not to the national (in this period mostly “ethnical”) community, that the veneration of the neomartyrs was addressed. The strengthening of the congregation could be achieved excellently through the martyr’s bearing witness (having in mind that “martyros” means “witness” in Greek); the martyr adds holiness to the place and sacralizes the space of the city, and finally of the whole political milieu. The witness is not only the creator of sacredness, he is also a keeper of the memory of the past. The martyr is a champion because he / she vanquishes the foes of God through his / her martyrdom. As a champion, he is a reminder of the glorious past; as a victor, he is a Defensor fidei in the present. This is a clear confirmation of God’s power under different historical circumstances. These ideas directed at the restoration, but only spiritual, of the Christian Empire through the Body of the Church. This explains the absence of any overt opposition against Ottoman power. Therefore, we find here, in Sofia, a conception of Byzance après Byzance of the same type as we find in Constantinople after the fall of the Empire, when the Ecumenical Church adopted part of the Empire’s heritage.

The Barmen declaration (May 1934)

1975 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
pp. 405-417
Author(s):  
Owen Geoffrey Rees
Keyword(s):  
Holy Spirit ◽  
Political Theology ◽  
The State ◽  
The Body ◽  
National Socialist ◽  
Evangelical Church ◽  
God's Will ◽  
The Holy Spirit ◽  
The Great War ◽  
The Church

The exposition delivered at the synod of Barmen on Wednesday, 30 May 1934, by Pfarrer Hans Asmussen gives us the exact purpose and intention of the committee which had drawn up the six articles of the theological declaration. It is made quite clear that the fundamental concern of the declaration is divine revelation. In the several articles of the declaration the uniqueness of the revelation in Christ is asserted and the uniqueness of the church as the body which is entrusted with the proclamation of that revelation is equally carefully emphasised. The church is alone in her responsibility and any attempt by the world to usurp that responsibility must be rejected. These great claims for the church are made because the church is more than a sociological entity, and the church must ever remain that which she truly is. Positions of responsibility within the church should be exercised with humility, for thus only can church order correspond to the inner essence of the church. The limits which separate the church and the state must be strictly observed and neither the church nor the state should presume to exercise authority in that which does not belong to it. And finally, the freedom of the Holy Spirit must be known, and the guidance of the Holy Spirit must be felt in the church. These statements are the culmination of a series of events in which the German evangelical church had been seriously disturbed by the national socialist policy of Gleichschaltung. Together with this there had been an attempt in various parts of the church to modify its doctrinal position and in that way to admit elements of racial nationalism. Finally, there had been since the collapse of Germany at the end of the great war a formidable amount of political theology which discovered manifestations of God’s will and purpose otherwise than in the revelation of Jesus Christ. It is these three aspects of the life of the church which created a crisis which brought about the first confessing synod of the German evangelical church at Barmen on 29 to 31 May 1934.

Participatory Relationships in the Thanksgiving Prayers of Anglican Eucharistic Liturgies: A Case Study in the Church of England and the Anglican Church of Australia

2021 ◽  
Vol 51 (1) ◽  
pp. 6-21
Author(s):  
Brian Douglas
Keyword(s):  
Church Of England ◽  
The Body ◽  
Anglican Church ◽  
The Church

This article examines the participatory relationships in the Thanksgiving Prayers of the Eucharist in two provinces of the Anglican Communion: the Church of England and the Anglican Church of Australia. Two types of participatory relationships are discussed: those between the body and blood of Christ and the elements (known as BBE), and those between the body and blood of Christ and the communicants (known as BBC). It is noted that both of these types of participatory relationship have been and are found in Anglican Thanksgiving Prayers but a balance between the two has not always been found due to a preference for particular eucharistic theologies. In some Thanksgiving Prayers BBE relationships are excluded or muted in order to lessen any realist notions of Christ’s presence in the Eucharist. Some Anglican liturgical history is considered along with modern liturgies to assess how these relationships are used. Recommendations for a balanced use of both relationships are made.

HIPEREMESIS GRAVIDARUM PADA IBU HAMIL DI KLINIK BIDAN SUPRIYATI SRIBIT BERBAH SLEMAN

2019 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
pp. 51
Author(s):  
Pramukti Dian Setianingrum ◽  
Farah Irmania Tsani
Keyword(s):  
Blood Pressure ◽  
Pregnant Women ◽  
Hyperemesis Gravidarum ◽  
Unwanted Pregnancy ◽  
The Body ◽  
Nausea And Vomiting ◽  
Daily Activities ◽  
World Health ◽  
The World

Backgroud: The World Health Organization (WHO) explained that the number of Hyperemesis Gravidarum cases reached 12.5% of the total number of pregnancies in the world and the results of the Demographic Survey conducted in 2007, stated that 26% of women with live births experienced complications. The results of the observations conducted at the Midwife Supriyati Clinic found that pregnant women with hyperemesis gravidarum, with a comparison of 10 pregnant women who examined their contents there were about 4 pregnant women who complained of excessive nausea and vomiting. Objective: to determine the hyperemesis Gravidarum of pregnant mother in clinic. Methods: This study used Qualitative research methods by using a case study approach (Case Study.) Result: The description of excessive nausea of vomiting in women with Hipermemsis Gravidarum is continuous nausea and vomiting more than 10 times in one day, no appetite or vomiting when fed, the body feels weak, blood pressure decreases until the body weight decreases and interferes with daily activities days The factors that influence the occurrence of Hyperemesis Gravidarum are Hormonal, Diet, Unwanted Pregnancy, and psychology, primigravida does not affect the occurrence of Hyperemesis Gravidarum. Conclusion: Mothers who experience Hyperemesis Gravidarum feel nausea vomiting continuously more than 10 times in one day, no appetite or vomiting when fed, the body feels weak, blood pressure decreases until the weight decreases and interferes with daily activities, it is because there are several factors, namely, hormonal actors, diet, unwanted pregnancy, and psychology.

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