Review of Luke Timothy Johnson’s Prophetic Jesus, Prophetic Church

2013 ◽  
Vol 22 (1) ◽  
pp. 17-25
Author(s):  
Robert Menzies
Keyword(s):  
Ethical Teaching ◽  
Select Group ◽  
Prophetic Vision ◽  
Prophetic Community ◽  
The Church

Menzies acknowledges Johnson’s ability to creatively organize and summarize Luke’s powerful message. He also affirms Johnson’s overall emphasis: Luke does call the church to follow in the footsteps of the Prophet-like-Moses. However, Menzies argues that Johnson’s vision for the contemporary church as a prophetic community is too restricted, too quiet, and too rational. It is too restricted in that Johnson suggests that only a select group are called to take up the prophetic mantle. Menzies maintains that for Luke, the church is not simply a prophetic community; rather, it is to be a community of prophets. Johnson’s vision is too quiet in that he tends to stress the ethical teaching of Jesus and downplays the call to bear verbal witness. But, for Luke, bold witness is the key manifestation of the Spirit’s inspiration and this theme dominates his narrative. Finally, Johnson’s vision is too rational in that he fails to take seriously the narrative of Acts as a model for the contemporary church. Thus, his prophetic vision for the contemporary church largely ignores ‘visions and dreams’, ‘inspired witness’, and ‘signs and wonders’, three key elements of Joel’s prophecy as quoted by Peter on the day of Pentecost (Acts 2.17-21).

A Review of Luke Timothy Johnson’s Prophetic Jesus, Prophetic Church: The Challenge of Luke–Acts to Contemporary Christians

2013 ◽  
Vol 22 (1) ◽  
pp. 13-16
Author(s):  
Blaine B. Charette
Keyword(s):  
Full Potential ◽  
Valuable Contribution ◽  
Utopian Vision ◽  
Prophetic Community ◽  
The Church

Johnson cogently makes the case that in Luke–Acts the prophetic message articulates God’s vision for humanity: a message presented in words but also embodied in the deeds and character of the Church as a prophetic community. Luke’s perspective confronts the Church with an ongoing challenge to realize its full potential in living out this utopian vision. One might quibble with certain exegetical conclusions and points of emphasis within the argument but that does not detract from the valuable contribution made by this study.

Food insecurity, Eucharist, and community: Reading Jean-Marc Éla’s “shade-tree” theology in light of Balthasar’s ecclesiology

2020 ◽  
Vol 117 (4) ◽  
pp. 536-546
Author(s):  
Jackson Nii Sabaah Adamah
Keyword(s):  
Social Justice ◽  
Food Insecurity ◽  
Political Issues ◽  
Shade Tree ◽  
Prophetic Community ◽  
The Church ◽  
Robust Response

This article discusses how the African church together with the church catholic can develop a theological response to rising food insecurity in Africa. Considering food insecurity is only a symptom of a much broader set of sociological and political issues that determine the church’s response to the problem, this article explores the ecclesiological formulations of Jean-Marc Éla’s “shade-tree” theology in light of Balthasar’s ecclesiology. The differences in Éla’s and Balthasar’s visions of the nature and purpose of the church elucidate the complementary differences between the church as a prophetic community committed to social justice and a worshipping community committed to the performance of the Eucharist. Consequently, engaging the two Catholic theologians highlights the tensions of the church–world relationship the church must negotiate if it is to offer a robust response to food insecurity.

Morals

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael Root
Keyword(s):  
Moral Reflection ◽  
World Council Of Churches ◽  
Moral Issues ◽  
Ecumenical Movement ◽  
The Past ◽  
Ethical Teaching ◽  
The World ◽  
World Council ◽  
Liberation Movements ◽  
The Church

Ethics has rarely in the past been a cause of church-dividing dispute, but recently it has developed into a source of contention. The early ecumenical movement sought to give an agreed moral witness. Conferences at Stockholm (1925), Oxford (1937), and Geneva (1967) developed a tradition of ecumenical moral reflection within the World Council of Churches. Profound changes came to this tradition as emphasis shifted after 1967 towards a ‘contextual liberation ecumenism’, focusing on solidarity with liberation movements of the oppressed. More recently, ethics has been taken up in ecumenical dialogues. Dialogues have discussed specific moral issues (e.g. divorce, war, homosexuality) as well as more general questions of the relation of ethics to the unity of the church. While some dialogues have reported a fundamental agreement of ethical outlook, some recent dialogues have found significant differences, extending from questions related to sexuality to broader issues of the sources of ethical teaching.

scholarly journals The U.S. Church, the Secular World and the Temptation to “Integrism”

Horizons ◽  
2011 ◽  
Vol 38 (1) ◽  
pp. 7-35
Author(s):  
Paul Lakeland
Keyword(s):  
Karl Rahner ◽  
Political Arena ◽  
Secular World ◽  
Ethical Teaching ◽  
The Social ◽  
Recent Activity ◽  
Secular Society ◽  
American Catholic ◽  
The Church ◽  
The U.S

ABSTRACTRecent activity among the American Catholic bishops in the social and political arena shows in some cases at least a tendency towards the “heresy” of integrism as defined by Karl Rahner, namely, the inclination to see the ethical teaching of the Church as a blueprint or template for secular society. This article surveys some examples of this tendency. It argues for a vision of the secular world as independent and grace-filled. The constructive proposal towards which this article moves, which is an effort to place the Church's ethical outlook on the secular world in the space between integrism and esotericism, is worked out in dialogue with Rahner, Archbishop Charles Chaput, Archbishop Rowan Williams and Professor James Davison Hunter.

Spiritual Healing, Sick Kids and the Law: Inequities in the American Healthcare System

2003 ◽  
Vol 29 (2-3) ◽  
pp. 269-299
Author(s):  
Janna C. Merrick
Keyword(s):  
Medical Science ◽  
Spiritual Healing ◽  
Best Interests ◽  
Legal Rights ◽  
High Tech ◽  
Divine Love ◽  
Religious Minority ◽  
Human Need ◽  
East End ◽  
The Church

Main Street in Sarasota, Florida. A high-tech medical arts building rises from the east end, the county's historic three-story courthouse is two blocks to the west and sandwiched in between is the First Church of Christ, Scientist. A verse inscribed on the wall behind the pulpit of the church reads: “Divine Love Always Has Met and Always Will Meet Every Human Need.” This is the church where William and Christine Hermanson worshipped. It is just a few steps away from the courthouse where they were convicted of child abuse and third-degree murder for failing to provide conventional medical care for their seven-year-old daughter.This Article is about the intersection of “divine love” and “the best interests of the child.” It is about a pluralistic society where the dominant culture reveres medical science, but where a religious minority shuns and perhaps fears that same medical science. It is also about the struggle among different religious interests to define the legal rights of the citizenry.

Ideas and Leaders in Contentious Politics: One Parish Priest in El Salvador's Popular Movement

2014 ◽  
Vol 38 (01) ◽  
pp. 76-101
Author(s):  
PETER M. SANCHEZ
Keyword(s):  
Collective Action ◽  
El Salvador ◽  
Liberation Theology ◽  
Contentious Politics ◽  
Religious Leaders ◽  
Political Movement ◽  
Parish Priest ◽  
Historical Moment ◽  
Resource Mobilisation ◽  
The Church

AbstractThis paper examines the actions of one Salvadorean priest – Padre David Rodríguez – in one parish – Tecoluca – to underscore the importance of religious leadership in the rise of El Salvador's contentious political movement that began in the early 1970s, when the guerrilla organisations were only just beginning to develop. Catholic leaders became engaged in promoting contentious politics, however, only after the Church had experienced an ideological conversion, commonly referred to as liberation theology. A focus on one priest, in one parish, allows for generalisation, since scores of priests, nuns and lay workers in El Salvador followed the same injustice frame and tactics that generated extensive political mobilisation throughout the country. While structural conditions, collective action and resource mobilisation are undoubtedly necessary, the case of religious leaders in El Salvador suggests that ideas and leadership are of vital importance for the rise of contentious politics at a particular historical moment.

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