Waiting on Grace

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael Barnes, SJ
Keyword(s):  
Jewish People ◽  
Word Of God ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
Edith Stein ◽  
Indelible Mark ◽  
Theology Of Religions ◽  
Biblical Narrative ◽  
Call And Response ◽  
Religious Sensibility ◽  
The Matrix

Whereas much theology of religions regards ‘the other’ as a problem to be solved, this book begins with a Church called to witness to its faith in a multicultural world by practising a generous yet risky hospitality. A theology of dialogue takes its rise from the Christian experience of being-in-dialogue. Taking its rise from the biblical narrative of encounter, call, and response, such a theology cannot be fully understood without reference to the matrix of faith that Christians share in complex ways with the Jewish people. The contemporary experience of the Shoah, the dominating religious event of the twentieth century, has complexified that relationship and left an indelible mark on the religious sensibility of both Jews and Christians. Engaging with a range of thinkers, from Heschel, Levinas, and Edith Stein who were all deeply affected by the Shoah, to Metz, Panikkar, and Rowan Williams, who are always pressing the limits of what can and cannot be said with integrity about the self-revealing Word of God, this book shows how Judaism is a necessary, if not sufficient, source of Christian self-understanding. What is commended by this foundational engagement is a hope-filled ‘waiting on grace’ made possible by virtues of empathy and patience. A theology of dialogue focuses not on metaphysical abstractions but on biblical forms of thought about God’s presence to human beings which Christians share with Jews and, under the continuing guidance of the Spirit of Christ, learn to adapt to a whole range of contested cultural and political contexts.

‘A Reminder of God’—a Summons to Speak

2020 ◽  
pp. 141-172
Author(s):  
Michael Barnes, SJ
Keyword(s):  
Word Of God ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
Edith Stein ◽  
New Creation ◽  
Community Of Faith ◽  
Creative Force

According to Abraham Joshua Heschel, the prophet is inexorably drawn into the pathos of God—sensing something of God’s own desire to enter deeply into the inner consciousness of suffering human beings. In keeping faith with her own ‘dangerous memory’, Edith Stein witnesses to the prophetic effort to respond to the Word of God by forever seeking more imaginative ways of keeping alive the hope of a new creation. This raises the possibility that it is the figure of the prophet who provides Jews and Christians with a strand of interpretation with which to trace the continuities between ‘Old’ and ‘New’. As a creative force within the community of faith the prophet feels most deeply experiences of tragedy, loss, and crisis, responding with words of praise and lament, thanks and complaint, hope and repentance that are forever interacting with the wider world.

The Risk, the Real, and the Impossibility of Life

2017 ◽  
pp. 163-177
Author(s):  
Maximiliano Emanuel Korstanje
Keyword(s):  
Free Will ◽  
Ethical Dilemma ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
The Real ◽  
The Matrix ◽  
Liberal Thought

The discourse of the Matrix not only wakes up philosophy from the slumber they are, but reflects the rise of fears which are proper of a culture, that manipulates anxieties to fix policies otherwise would be rejected. Basically, Neo is subject to an ethical dilemma which means that we are free to make the decision to live in a fake without suffering or in “the real of the dessert” as Morpheus put it. At this extent, if technology is used to protect humankind, Matrix evinces under some circumstances, it can oppress human beings when they renounce to their “free-will”. This chapter not only explored the limitations of the society of risks within liberal thought but taking into consideration the role of authenticity serves ideologically to legitimate suffering. Indeed, accepting to live as Neo did, may lead to oppression or liberation.

scholarly journals Pentecostal talk about God: Attempting to speak from experience

2017 ◽  
Vol 73 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Marius Nel
Keyword(s):  
Faith Community ◽  
Theological Method ◽  
Word Of God ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
Experience Of God ◽  
The Bible ◽  
Pentecostal Theology

Pentecostals have their own ethos to bring to the theological table. Although they represent a diverse spectrum of beliefs, they share a basic preference for experience co-determining their theology, along with their interpretation of Scripture. Their hermeneutical viewpoint since the 1970s that links them with that of early Pentecostals allows them to regard the Bible as the inspired Word of God with authority for their lives although they qualify that statement by adding that encounters with God within the faith community in ways similar to those recorded in the Bible is conditional for understanding and interpreting biblical accounts of God and God’s faith community. It is proposed that Pentecostals need to develop a perspective on the all-inclusive difference made by their experience of God in all areas of their lives. Their experience of God through his Spirit shifts their  loci communes and theological method. It is argued that Pentecostal theology should rethink every aspect of theological enterprise through the lens of the reality of God’s encounter with human beings as experienced in the faith community. In the last section, this is demonstrated in terms of one subject, of God as the object of theology.

scholarly journals Healing the wounds of the nations: towards a common mission of the Churches1

2000 ◽  
Vol 56 (2/3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Geiko Müller-Fahrenholz
Keyword(s):  
Human Beings ◽  
World Council Of Churches ◽  
The World ◽  
The Matrix ◽  
World Council ◽  
Downward Spiral

In what ways can the Churches be - or become - healing agents for their people? The article argues that churches are communities of remembering. And as remembering centers around the  Crucified, the "wounded" (H  Nouwen), it becomes a remembering energy, i.e. an energy that unites what has been dismembered. It is argued that one of the most destructive aspects of contemporary societies is the "winner-syndrome". By regarding human beings as "winners" and "losers" it sets in motion merciless struggles for the "top-position" which turn out to be processes of denial and exclusion and create a downward spiral of violence. The churches' ecumenical healing ministries should begin by dismantling the matrix of denial and violence in  order to  create a "matrix of connectedness" that is grounded in the basic woundedness of all human beings. The author participated in the Harare Assembly of the World Council of Churches (1998) and sees his reflections as a contribution to  the "Decade to  Overcome Violence" which is to begin 2001.

scholarly journals Jewish-Christian Dialogue and the Theology of Religions

2011 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Christian M. Rutishauser
Keyword(s):  
Catholic Church ◽  
Jewish People ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Christian Theology ◽  
Second Vatican Council ◽  
Theology Of Religions ◽  
Self Identity ◽  
Vatican Council ◽  
History Of ◽  
Systematic Point

From a historical point of view, the new understanding of the relationship between the Catholic Church and the Jewish people was the catalyst for the Second Vatican Council to elaborate a declaration on the non-Christian religions. This is not a mere accident. The Jewish-Christian relationship does, even from a systematic point of view, play a paradigmatic, critical and corrective function for a Christian theology of religions. It has a character sui generis, for Judaism constitutes the Other within Christian self-identity. The Jewish-Christian relationship helps to formulate the meaning of the particular in the discussion of the universal Christian claim of truth and salvation when facing other religions. Furthermore, it prevents a theology of religion from sliding into abstract, non-historical and purely speculative definitions. Normally, Christology and especially the theology of Incarnation guarantees it, but they have to be linked themselves back to the messianic idea of Judaism and the history of salvation where the Church itself recognizes the unrevoked covenant between God and Israel. Only a theology of religions that recognizes the lasting challenge of the Jewish faith for Christian identity will have overcome anti-Judaism at its roots.

scholarly journals Form and Content in Buber’s and Schweid’s Literary-Philosophical Readings of Genesis

Religions ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 10 (6) ◽  
pp. 398
Author(s):  
Jonathan Cohen
Keyword(s):  
Religious Experience ◽  
Martin Buber ◽  
Theory And Practice ◽  
Biblical Narrative ◽  
The Bible ◽  
The Earth ◽  
Religious Sensibility ◽  
Fear Of God ◽  
Human Side

The following essay is presented as part of a long-term project concerned with the theory and practice of modern Jewish thinkers as interpreters of the Bible. The recent Bible commentaries of Eliezer Schweid, who is one of the foremost Jewish scholars and theologians active in Israel today, are analyzed in comparison with parallel interpretations of Martin Buber, with special reference to the first chapters of Genesis. Their respective analyses of Biblical narrative reveal notable similarities in their treatment of the literary “body” of the text as the key to its theological significance. Nonetheless, Buber articulates religious experience largely “from the human side,” striving to mediate Biblical consciousness to the contemporary humanistic mindset, while Schweid positions himself more as the clarion of the “prophetic writers” for whom the fear of God, no less than the love of God, must inform an authentic religious sensibility. Schweid’s more theocentric perspective has great import for contemporary issues such as the universal covetousness engendered by the violation of our ecological covenant with the Earth.

The Christian Life

2019 ◽  
pp. 240-256
Author(s):  
Stefan Heuser
Keyword(s):  
Final Section ◽  
Public Theology ◽  
Word Of God ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
Christian Life ◽  
God's Word ◽  
In Christ ◽  
Public Witness

This chapter explores Bonhoeffer’s understanding of the Christian life in its public witness to God’s worldly presence. For Bonhoeffer, the Christian life unfolds as God’s word draws human beings into the story of Christ and as human beings in turn respond through practices of prayer and doing justice for others. The first section of this chapter explores the grammar of the Christian life as witnessing to the word of God. The second outlines Bonhoeffer’s distinction between the ethics of formation and of conformation, which sets apart Bonhoeffer’s approach to the Christian life from some other Protestant approaches. Third, there follows an account of the Christological grammar of the Christian life as life ‘in Christ’. The final section reflects upon the significance of Bonhoeffer’s doctrine of the mandates for understanding the publicity of the Christian life and its relevance for public theology today.

scholarly journals Wychowanie w rodzinie do słuchania słowa Bożego

2009 ◽  
Vol 62 (1) ◽  
pp. 39
Author(s):  
Henryk Sławiński
Keyword(s):  
Daily Life ◽  
Word Of God ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
Samuel 1 ◽  
Parental Guidance ◽  
Book Of Samuel ◽  
Extraordinary Means

The article deals with the issue of children being encouraged to listen to the word of God under parental guidance. The case of Samuel described in the Book of Samuel (1 Sm 3, 4–5. 8–10) shows that preparing children to listen to the word of God is possible and needed. God may talk to people directly in their consciousness, but this is by extraordinary means. God chooses the mediation of people as a regular way of communicating with the human beings. It is the parents who play the most important role in the process of preparing the child to listen to the word of God. In general, the aim of this is to strengthen their integral faith, i.e. the faith influencing daily life. There are also some particular aims discussed in the article, followed by some methods of helping pupils to develop their skill to give heed to the word of God, and the rules which should be respected in the discussed process. As the end of the article, the case of Antonietta Meo is being presented as the fruit of good religious upbringing towards the listening to the words of God.

scholarly journals Does the Christian worldview provide a place for the law of attraction? (Part 2): An apologetic evaluation of the way the Bible is used in promoting this idea

2016 ◽  
Vol 37 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Dani�l J. Maritz ◽  
Henk G. Stoker
Keyword(s):  
Word Of God ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
Biblical Law ◽  
Word Of Faith ◽  
The Bible ◽  
Christian Worldview ◽  
The Law ◽  
Law Of Attraction ◽  
Positive Confession ◽  
The Church

This article investigates the biblical motivation that is given for the secular idea of the so-called spiritual law of attraction to become part of Christian doctrine. In 2010 Pastor At Boshoff of the Christian Revival Church (CRC) preached two sermons on the law of attraction in which he claimed it as a powerful principle in the Word of God. According to him this biblical �law� provides human beings with physical manifestations of their thoughts and words. The idea to create one�s own favourable future through the law of attraction flows from a New Age worldview and is similar to the positive confession doctrine taught by popular Word of Faith teachers. Boshoff�s claim regarding the law of attraction cannot be deduced from the key Scripture passages he uses, which reflects an unfounded use of Scripture to promote this idea.Intradisciplinary and/or interdisciplinary implications: The article challenges the secular infiltration of the Law of Attraction in the church. This is important since the so-called Law of Attraction was preached by Pastor A. Boshoff of the CRC. Many of his listeners embrace his teaching although it reflects a poor exposition and application of Scripture.

scholarly journals Christ in the Works of Two Jewish Artists: When Art is Interreligious Dialogue

2011 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Marina S. Hayman
Keyword(s):  
World War Ii ◽  
Jewish People ◽  
Life Time ◽  
Early Years ◽  
The Holocaust ◽  
Marc Chagall ◽  
The Matrix ◽  
The Face ◽  
Primitive Forms ◽  
Relationship Of

Painter Marc Chagall and sculptor Jacob Epstein, both of whom were from orthodox Jewish backgrounds, each created a number of works of Christ. Although in Epstein's case, and only later in his career, some of these works were commissioned, both Chagall's and Epstein's works of Christ were self-driven. Chagall described himself as having been "haunted" by the face of Christ in his early years and his several crucifixion paintings were of a Jesus who was not the Christ of Christian dogma, but a "Jewish Jesus" who summed up the suffering of the Jewish people. Epstein similarly created a Christ that was beyond the conventions of the time, through his predilection for using primitive forms in his work. During his life-time, many of Epstein's Christs were met with resistance, but the more visionary critics understood the importance of his work in freeing the image of Christ from the matrix of convention and opening new possibilities of theological perception and understanding. The work of both Chagall and Epstein, who were contemporaries, is examined in relation to Jewish modernism, a movement ongoing in their formative years and before, in which Jewish intellectuals, writers and artists were engaged in efforts to work-out the relationship of Judaism to Jesus and the surrounding Christian world. The atrocities of the Holocaust effectively ended this dialogue. The potential contributions of the thought and creative works of this pre-World War II interreligious interchange to contemporary Jewish-Christian dialogue are discussed.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document