Mystical Theology and Christian Self-Understanding

2020 ◽  
pp. 7-24
Author(s):  
Rowan Williams
Keyword(s):  
Christian Theology ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
In Christ ◽  
Mystical Theology ◽  
Central Tension

The beginnings of a distinctive Christian theology lie in the conviction that human beings had been granted a new level of access to or presence to the God of Israel through the death and rising of Jesus: they were introduced into the heavenly sanctuary and accorded the dignity of priests and the intimacy of access to God as sons and daughters of the Father of Jesus. This prompts both doctrinal definition and definitional reserve: some new things must be said about God, but there is an intensified sense of what cannot be said of God, and of the truth that God cannot be an object among others. This becomes a central tension in the tradition of ‘mystical’ writing and reflection, but is congruent with central theological affirmations about the encounter of finite and infinite action in Christ and in Christ’s people. In both individual and corporate prayer, this is understood as a present anticipation of eternal relatedness, so that the ‘mystical’ is essentially an eschatological category.

Creation

2019 ◽  
pp. 178-195
Author(s):  
Matthew Puffer
Keyword(s):  
Jesus Christ ◽  
Christian Theology ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
New Creation ◽  
Limited Role ◽  
The World ◽  
In Christ ◽  
Access To Knowledge ◽  
Good And Evil ◽  
The Church

Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s theology of creation is rooted in the confession that Jesus Christ is the mediator. Apart from Christ’s mediation human beings cannot perceive God’s creation, because our postlapsarian world manifests only a fallen creation in which good and evil are confused and intermixed. Whereas Bonhoeffer in his student years affirmed a limited role for the orders of creation, his subsequent writings on the theology of creation can be read as a response to and reaction against the orders of creation. Although human beings have no unmediated access to knowledge of God’s creation, and know the world as fallen creation only through Christ’s redemption, in Christ they are empowered by the Spirit, incorporated into Christ’s body the church, and made a new creation. Only in light of the hoped-for eschatological fulfilment of the new creation may Christian theology speak of the beginning of God’s ways as Creator.

The Resurrection of Christ and the True Life of All Creatures

2021 ◽  
pp. 119-164
Author(s):  
Mark A. McIntosh
Keyword(s):  
Human Beings ◽  
Cultural Imaginary ◽  
In Christ ◽  
The Creation ◽  
Mystical Theology

In light of the deep involvement of the divine ideas in the incarnation, death, and resurrection of Christ, it becomes possible to conceive of a new cultural imaginary in which the divine ideas permit mystical theology to hear the embodied reality of all creatures as a communication event. C. S. Lewis’ investigation of the mythopoetic imagination affords us an analogy for the rediscovered use of the divine ideas tradition in the contemplative calling of humankind. Recognizing the creation as, in and of itself, also a means of communion among creatures and between creatures and God, angels and human beings have a particular role in advancing the intelligible meaning of all creatures through the development of a contemplative consciousness. In encountering the crucified yet risen Christ, Christians believe their consciousness of reality is transfigured as they are drawn into the vindicated truth of all creatures in Christ.

Mission and Human Identity in the Light of Edinburgh 1910

2009 ◽  
Vol 26 (1) ◽  
pp. 80-97
Author(s):  
Brian Stanley
Keyword(s):  
Truth And Reconciliation Commission ◽  
Christian Theology ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
Historical Evidence ◽  
Human Identity ◽  
Reconciliation Commission ◽  
Truth And Reconciliation ◽  
Christian Missionary ◽  
In Christ ◽  
Different Cultures

AbstractChristian theology makes two bold claims relevant to the theme of reconciliation and human identity: first, that the propagation of the gospel of Christ offers the best prospect for reconciliation between human persons; and second, that human beings find their identity most completely by being "in Christ". These two claims are, however, hotly disputed. Both non-Christian writers (such as Jonathan Sacks) and Christian ones (such as S.J. Samartha) regard the Christian missionary project of conversion as a denial of the "dignity of difference", and hence as a serious obstacle to human reconciliation. The second claim is also subject to challenge, not least because of historical evidence from European encounters with the successive New Worlds of the Americas and the South Pacific that Christians have used it to deny that indigenous peoples beyond Christendom deserve to be treated as fully human. Nevertheless, both claims may still be defended by Christians. The Christian idea of reconciliation is distinctive, based on the idea of exchange and the prior initiative of unmerited forgiveness which is at the heart of the doctrine of the atonement. As with the atonement itself, it does not ignore the demands of justice. The experience of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission in South Africa offers one example of how a distinctively Christian approach to reconciliation can work politically. Equally, the second claim that humanity finds its true identity in Christ is rightly understood as an affirmation that the several (and developing) identities of different cultures all have a crucial contribution to make to the catholicity of the Christian faith: this perception was expounded at the World Missionary Conference at Edinburgh in 1910 by Bishop Charles Gore.

scholarly journals The Elements of a Christological Anthropology

Perichoresis ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 19 (2) ◽  
pp. 3-20
Author(s):  
Rowan Williams
Keyword(s):  
Image Of God ◽  
Human Existence ◽  
Christian Theology ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
Material World ◽  
Proper Understanding ◽  
In Christ ◽  
The Image Of God ◽  
The Trinity ◽  
The Way

Abstract Human beings exist in one of two sorts of solidarity, according to St. Paul—the solidarity of sin or alienation ‘in Adam’ or the solidarity of life-giving mutuality in Christ. There can be no Christian theology of the human that is not a theology of communion—which converges with the conviction that our creation in the divine image is creation in relationality. The image of God is not a portion or aspect of human existence but a fundamental orientation towards relation. This understanding of the divine image in turn points to the way in which—as the Orthodox theologian Vladimir Lossky stresses—a proper understanding of the nature of personal being depends upon a proper grasp of the divine image, including the fact that it is always an image of the divine ‘filiation’—the eternal relation of Word to the Father in the Trinity. Our personal flourishing is a filial dependence that liberates and empowers. And what is ‘empowered’ is the human vocation to make reconciled sense of the material world of which we are part, articulating and serving its Godward meaning, so that we may see our humanity as essentially a priestly calling within the reconciling priesthood of Christ, in whom all things cohere.

A Rapture of the Nerds? A Comparison between Transhumanist Eschatology and Christian Parousia

2019 ◽  
Vol 24 (2) ◽  
pp. 343-367
Author(s):  
Roberto Paura
Keyword(s):  
Human Brain ◽  
Point Theory ◽  
The Body ◽  
Christian Theology ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
Human Species ◽  
The Future ◽  
The Creation ◽  
The Universe

Transhumanism is one of the main “ideologies of the future” that has emerged in recent decades. Its program for the enhancement of the human species during this century pursues the ultimate goal of immortality, through the creation of human brain emulations. Therefore, transhumanism offers its fol- lowers an explicit eschatology, a vision of the ultimate future of our civilization that in some cases coincides with the ultimate future of the universe, as in Frank Tipler’s Omega Point theory. The essay aims to analyze the points of comparison and opposition between transhumanist and Christian eschatologies, in particular considering the “incarnationist” view of Parousia. After an introduction concern- ing the problems posed by new scientific and cosmological theories to traditional Christian eschatology, causing the debate between “incarnationists” and “escha- tologists,” the article analyzes the transhumanist idea of mind-uploading through the possibility of making emulations of the human brain and perfect simulations of the reality we live in. In the last section the problems raised by these theories are analyzed from the point of Christian theology, in particular the proposal of a transhuman species through the emulation of the body and mind of human beings. The possibility of a transhumanist eschatology in line with the incarnationist view of Parousia is refused.

Moral Formation in Christ, the Beautiful Beloved

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sarah Stewart-Kroeker
Keyword(s):  
Holy Spirit ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
Moral Formation ◽  
Way Of Life ◽  
The Holy Spirit ◽  
In Christ ◽  
Loving Relationship ◽  
Falling In Love

Christ’s healing of humanity consists, crucially, in forming human beings for loving relationship with himself and others. In this respect, Christ also takes the role of the beautiful beloved. Believers become pilgrims by falling in love with the beautiful Christ by the initiative of the Holy Spirit, who cleanses their eyes to see him as beautiful and enkindles desire in their hearts. By desiring and loving the beautiful Christ, the believer is conformed to him and learns to walk his path. Desiring the beautiful Christ forms a believing community shaped aesthetically and morally for a particular way of life: pilgrimage to the heavenly homeland. Formation is both earthly and eschatological, for so too is the journey and the activity of the pilgrim.

Christian Feminist Theology and the Arts

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elizabeth Ursic
Keyword(s):  
Performing Arts ◽  
Feminist Theology ◽  
Christian Theology ◽  
Female Leaders ◽  
Christian Women ◽  
The Bible ◽  
Inclusive Language ◽  
The Arts ◽  
In Christ ◽  
The 1960S

Christian theology is the study of God and religious belief based on the Christian Bible and tradition. For over 2,000 years, Christian theologians have been primarily men writing from men’s perspectives and experiences. In the 1960s, women began to study to become theologians when the women’s rights movement opened doors to higher education for women. Beginning in the 1970s and 1980s, female theologians developed Christian feminist theology with a focus on women’s perspectives and experiences. Christian feminist theology seeks to empower women through their Christian faith and supports the equality of women and men based on Christian scripture. “There is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male and female; for all of you are one in Christ Jesus” (Galatians 3:28). The arts have an important role in Christian feminist theology because a significant way Christians learn about their faith is through the arts, and Christians engage the arts in the practice of their faith. Christian feminist theology in the visual arts can be found in paintings, sculptures, icons, and liturgical items such as processional crosses. Themes in visual expression include female and feminine imagery of God from the Bible as well as female leaders in the scriptures. Christian feminist theology in performing arts can be found in hymns, prayers, music, liturgies, and rituals. Performative expressions include inclusive language for humanity and God as well as expressions that celebrate Christian women and address women’s life experiences. The field of Christian feminist theology and the arts is vast in terms of types of arts represented and the variety of ways Christianity is practiced around the world. Representing Christian feminist theology with art serves to communicate both visually and performatively that all are one in Christ.

John Calvin

2017 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
John Calvin ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
Union With Christ ◽  
In Christ

This chapter describes John Calvin’s theology of salvation. Calvin champions the work of the Spirit’s indwelling, transforming, and glorifying human beings in Christ, as well as his understanding of the gospel as the double grace of justification and sanctification accessed through union with Christ, received through faith.

scholarly journals Engineering Desire: Biotechnological Enhancement as Theological Problem

2019 ◽  
Vol 32 (2) ◽  
pp. 216-228
Author(s):  
Simeon Zahl
Keyword(s):  
Moral Responsibility ◽  
Theological Reflection ◽  
Christian Theology ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
Means Of Grace ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Ethical Significance

This article argues for the dogmatic rather than just ethical significance of the biotechnological enhancement of human beings. It begins by reflecting on the close theological connections between salvation, sanctification, and affective and bodily transformation in light of the fact that affects and desires are in principle manipulable through biotechnological enhancement. It then examines the implications of this observation for questions of moral responsibility, asking whether biotechnological enhancement can be viewed as a kind of means of grace. The conclusion argues that theological reflection on the relationship between affects, soteriology and bioenhancement reveals limitations of the emphasis on embodiment in recent Christian theology.

scholarly journals Rowan Williams

2018 ◽  
pp. 504-524
Author(s):  
Mike Higton
Keyword(s):  
Jesus Christ ◽  
Spiritual Life ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
God's Love ◽  
In Christ ◽  
The Church

Rowan Williams’s ecclesiology is shaped by his account of the spiritual life. He examines the transformation of human beings’ relationships to one another, driven by their encounter with God’s utterly gracious love in Jesus Christ. The church is the community of forgiven people generated by Christ’s resurrection. It is animated by its constant exposure to God’s love in Christ in word and sacrament. It is held to that exposure by its doctrinal discipline. It is a community in which members go on learning from one another how to go more deeply into that exposure. For Williams, the church’s commitment to unity and its commitment to truth go together: truth cannot be discovered without holding together in unity to learn from one another; and proper ecclesial unity is unity in this search for truth.

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