scholarly journals Calvinist Public Theology in Urban China Today

2014 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 158-175 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alexander Chow
Keyword(s):  
Mainland China ◽  
Urban China ◽  
John Calvin ◽  
Public Theology ◽  
Significant Group ◽  
The Rule Of Law ◽  
The Public ◽  
The Public Sphere ◽  
China Today ◽  
Chinese Public

AbstractChristianity in mainland China has often been characterized as a religion for the marginalized of society. However, since the 1990s, there has been a growing phenomenon within the country’s burgeoning urban metropolises with an increasing number of urban intellectuals converting to Protestantism. This article explores the theology of several representatives of these urban intellectual Christians who make use of the teachings of John Calvin and his followers. This article will show that there is a strong theological interest in engaging in the public sphere around subjects like the rule of law, constitutionalism and a civil society. Although the representatives cited in this article have been described as ‘Chinese New Calvinists’ or ‘Christian public intellectuals’, it is proposed here that a more appropriate understanding of this growing and significant group is as Chinese public theologians.

LEGAL ESSENCE OF ANCIENT PROVERBS AND SAYS AND THEIR SOCIAL SIGNIFICANCE

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Angela Dranishnikova ◽  
Ivan Semenov
Keyword(s):  
Public Sphere ◽  
Rule Of Law ◽  
Social Significance ◽  
The Rule Of Law ◽  
The Public ◽  
Moral Standards ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Law ◽  
The Public Sphere ◽  
Status Position

The national legal system is determined by traditional elements characterizing the culture and customs that exist in the social environment in the form of moral standards and the law. However, the attitude of the population to the letter of the law, as a rule, initially contains negative properties in order to preserve personal freedom, status, position. Therefore, to solve pressing problems of rooting in the minds of society of the elementary foundations of the initial order, and then the rule of law in the public sphere, proverbs and sayings were developed that in essence contained legal educational criteria.

Notions of the Public and Doing Theology

2007 ◽  
Vol 1 (3) ◽  
pp. 431-454 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dirkie Smit
Keyword(s):  
Final Section ◽  
Wide Spectrum ◽  
Public Theology ◽  
The Public ◽  
The Third ◽  
Theological Discourse ◽  
Elective Affinities ◽  
Similar Range ◽  
The Public Sphere ◽  
Descriptive Sense

AbstractThe notion 'public' can have widely different meanings and, accordingly, many also understand the notion 'public theology' in different ways. Why would some who regard themselves as doing public theology prefer certain notions of 'public', while others prefer different understandings? In the first part, the article distinguishes three broad types of understanding the notion 'public'; ranging from a technical and almost prescriptive sense, following Habermas' description of the public sphere, to a vague and almost descriptive sense, following Tracy's description of all theological discourse as public. The second part serves as reminder of the similar range of possible meanings of the notion 'public theology', roughly corresponding to this wide spectrum of uses of 'public'. The third and final section then briefly reflects on the question why certain theologians prefer to do certain forms of public theology, suggesting both sociological reasons, like Tracy's 'elective affinities', as well as theological reasons; fundamentally different ways of viewing God and divine involvement in the world.

Religionspädagogik und öffentliche Theologie

2015 ◽  
Vol 67 (4) ◽  
pp. 300-309
Author(s):  
Ulrich H.J. Körtner
Keyword(s):  
Public Sphere ◽  
Religious Education ◽  
Public Theology ◽  
Religious Instruction ◽  
The Public ◽  
The Public Sphere

Abstract Religious instruction is not only an important locus of religion in the public sphere but also a locus (of learning) of Public Theology. Thus, it makes sense to include the discourse of Public Theology in the discourse of Religious Education. Furthermore, the discourse of Public Theology could, in turn, profit from an intensified exchange with Religious Education, since Religious Education is one of the eminent loci in the public sphere at which exactly those questions are raised for discussion and are debated which are thematised by Public Theology. Religious Education, to be sure, is not only the task of religious instruction but rather is to be viewed as an educational mandate of the school as a whole. Therefore, the questions raised in school by Public Theology cannot be restricted to religious instruction but rather may be treated within multidisciplinary projects.

Logics of Political Secrecy

2011 ◽  
Vol 28 (7-8) ◽  
pp. 103-122 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eva Horn
Keyword(s):  
Rule Of Law ◽  
Carl Schmitt ◽  
Modern Logic ◽  
The Rule Of Law ◽  
The Public ◽  
Modern Age ◽  
Political Crime ◽  
The Law ◽  
The Public Sphere ◽  
Blind Spots

In the modern age, the political secret has acquired a bad reputation. With modern democracy’s ideal of transparency, political secrecy is identified with political crime or corruption. The article argues that this repression of secrecy in modern democracies falls short of a substantial understanding of the structure and workings of political secrecy. By outlining a genealogy of political secrecy, it elucidates the logic as well as the blind spots of a current culture of secrecy. It focuses on two fundamental logics of secrecy, deduced from the Latin terms ‘ arcanum’ and ‘ secretum’. Whereas the logic of arcanum regards secrecy as a legitimate dimension of government, a modern logic of secretum is marked by an inextricable dialectics between the withdrawal and communication of knowledge, between secrecy and publicity. Here, the secret is not so much a piece of withheld knowledge as a ‘secrecy effect’ that binds the realm of secrecy to the public sphere by a dialectics of permanent suspicion and scandal. Instead of falling into the trap of this ‘secrecy effect’ it is worth taking a closer look at the tradition of thought on the arcana imperii, from Tacitus to early modern doctrines of raison d’état to Carl Schmitt. What this tradition deals with is the functionality of secrecy and its complicated relation to the law. The arcana tradition elaborates the crucial point of secrecy: its potential, but also its profound ambivalence. Secrecy opens up a discretionary space of action exempt from the rule of law, and, according to Carl Schmitt, ignores the law so as to allow it to become effective. Secrecy serves to protect and stabilize the state, but at the same time it opens a space of exception from the rule of law that breeds violence, corruption and oppression. Instead of seeing secrecy as the opposite of a political culture of transparency, it is more productive to regard secrecy as transparency's complement – a counterpart, however, that is marked by the profound paradox of being both a consolidation of and a threat to democracy.

scholarly journals Public theology and the translation imperative: A Ricoeurian perspective

2011 ◽  
Vol 67 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jaco S. Dreyer
Keyword(s):  
Public Sphere ◽  
Religious Language ◽  
Public Theology ◽  
The Public ◽  
Academic Discussion ◽  
The Public Sphere ◽  
Key Aspects ◽  
Christian Message

The aim of this article is to contribute to the academic discussion on the inter-linguistic translation of the Christian message in the public sphere. There seems to be consensus amongst academic public theologians and social philosophers such as Habermas about the importance of translating religious language in the public sphere. Views differ, however, on the manner of translation. Five key aspects of Ricoeur’s paradigm of translation are discussed and offered as a framework for the academic discussion in public theology on the translation of the Christian message in the public sphere. It is argued that notions such as the tension between faithfulness and betrayal, the illusion of the perfect translation, striving for equivalence of meaning, the importance of the desire to translate, the work of translation and linguistic hospitality offer insight in the complexity of the translation task as well as its ethical nature.

Amos and ‘Ghana in the Eyes of God’: a Public Theological Response to Bribery and Corruption

2019 ◽  
Vol 13 (3) ◽  
pp. 282-300
Author(s):  
Patrick Kofi Amissah
Keyword(s):  
Social Justice ◽  
Public Sphere ◽  
Public Theology ◽  
Religious Leaders ◽  
The Public ◽  
The Bible ◽  
Independent Judiciary ◽  
The Public Sphere ◽  
Miscarriage Of Justice

AbstractThe purpose of this article is to draw upon the condemnation of bribery, corruption and miscarriage of justice to be found in the book of Amos for the sake of a public theology. The occasion for such is a bribery scandal that hit the Ghanaian judiciary. An investigative journalist presented evidence to substantiate the hitherto unsubstantiated perception that some judges in Ghana take bribes to skew judgement. The scandal is deepened through many of the judges being Christian. They attracted widespread criticism from religious leaders, both Christian and others, as well as from the wider society. The public sphere of a fair and independent judiciary was thus compromised. The argument draws upon an assessment of Amos 5:7; 10, 12 and 6:12. These texts are examined in the light of this judicial bribery and corruption scandal and thus provide an example of how the Bible can play a part in a public theology and nurture of social justice.

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