Theology of Ministry in the Twentieth Century: Ongoing Problems or New Orientations?

Ecclesiology ◽  
2012 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 11-32
Author(s):  
John N. Collins
Keyword(s):  
Twentieth Century ◽  
Karl Barth ◽  
First Century ◽  
Ordained Ministry ◽  
The Gift ◽  
The New Testament ◽  
Service To Others ◽  
Ecclesial Ministry ◽  
First World ◽  
The Church

The first World Missionary Conference in Edinburgh in 1910 unwittingly provided strong impetus to unprecedented endeavours to establish an ecumenically agreed theology of ministry. Between the first Faith and Order Conference in 1927 and the Fourth in 1963 an ecclesiological revolution occurred. Its distinguishing achievement was to locate the gift of ministry not in ordination or its equivalent but in baptism. This principle was established on the basis of the New Testament term for ministry, diakonia, understood as a total giving of self in service to others. Consensus to this effect developed around the work of Karl Barth, Eduard Schweizer and Ernst Käsemann, but in ecumenical circles strong tensions developed about the implications for ordained ministry. The linguistic study of 1990 Diakonia: Re-interpreting the Ancient Sources challenged the semantics underlying the consensus and provided a new semantic profile for an understanding of ecclesial ministry. The re-interpretation has been endorsed by subsequent lexicography and by Anni Hentschel's semantic investigation (2007). Theology of ministry in the twenty-first century has the opportunity to enrich the ministry with which the church is provisioned.

scholarly journals Gedagtes oor die begin van die kerk - 'n geskiedenis van versoenende verskeidenheid

1987 ◽  
Vol 43 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
A. G. Van Aarde
Keyword(s):  
Twentieth Century ◽  
New Testament ◽  
First Century ◽  
Jesus Movement ◽  
Church Unity ◽  
The New Testament ◽  
History Of ◽  
Late Twentieth ◽  
Late Twentieth Century ◽  
The Church

Thoughts on the beginnings of the church as a history of reconciliating diversity Against the backdrop of the beginnings of the church, the article makes a plea for modem believers to take the humanity of the church more seriously in their forming of ecclesiastical structures. The development of the concept 'church unity' in the New Testament was part of the attempt to establish firstly continuation in the Jesus-movement and secondly mutual fellowship among the conflicting Jewish and Hellenistic Christians during the very beginnings of the church in the first century. Thoughts on the beginnings of the church, therefore, should not be from the perspective of institutional unity but from reconciliating diversities. Modem ideas regarding the unity of the church originated from the late-twentieth century philosophy of holism and shouldn't be anachronistically seen as the concretisation of a Biblical idea.

scholarly journals Die lewe en werk van Karl Barth (1886–1968): ʼn Leksikografiese bydrae tot Reformasie 500

2017 ◽  
Vol 73 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Gabriël M.J. Van Wyk
Keyword(s):  
South African ◽  
Karl Barth ◽  
Reformed Theology ◽  
World War ◽  
The Past ◽  
Dialectical Theology ◽  
The First World War ◽  
The New Testament ◽  
First World ◽  
The Church

Karl Barth was a leading thinker within an influential theological direction that arose in Europeafter the First World War, known as dialectical theology. Comprehensive introductions to thelife and work of Barth in the South African theological journals, written in Afrikaans, eitherdoes not exist, or are difficult to trace for the Afrikaans readership. This article on Barth aims tofill the gap by offering a lexicographical contribution on the life and work of Barth. The focus ofthis article is on Barth as a Reformed theologian. The theme of the New Testament and systematictheology is essentially the same, namely to explain the concept of Christian self-understandingas an eschatological event in which faith is expressed for the sake of faith in God and only inGod. Barth explained the same theological concepts with his theology as those that wereexplained by the church reformers of the 16th century, but under radically new circumstances.The so-called modern and postmodern people of our time not only broke ties with the past, butin the process they also lost their ability for using historical-critical patterns of thought that triesto bridge historical distances, and therefore, sacrificed all efforts to think systematically on thealtar of relativism. We can learn from Barth what systematic reformed theology really is.

Ecclesia as Gathering Only? Evaluating the use of Scripture in Proposals of the “Knox-Robinson Ecclesiology”

2020 ◽  
Vol 102 (1) ◽  
pp. 49-69
Author(s):  
C. Ryan Fields
Keyword(s):  
Twentieth Century ◽  
New Testament ◽  
The New Testament ◽  
The Church

Broughton Knox and Donald Robinson, Sydney Anglicans serving and writing in the second half of the twentieth century, offered various theological proposals regarding the nature of the church that stressed the priority of the local over the translocal. The interdependence and resonance of their proposals led to an association of their work under the summary banner of the “Knox-Robinson Ecclesiology.” Their dovetailed contribution offers in many ways a compelling understanding of the nature of the ecclesia spoken of in Scripture. In this paper I introduce, summarize, and evaluate the Knox-Robinson ecclesiology with a particular eye to Knox's and Robinson's use of Scripture in authorizing their theological proposals. I argue that while they provide an important corrective to the inflation of the earthly translocal dimension of the church, they are not ultimately persuasive in their claim that the New Testament knows only the church as an earthly/heavenly gathering.

scholarly journals The Wrong Practice Of Anointing Oil In The Church According To James 5:14 A Theological study

2020 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 5-20
Author(s):  
Sayangi Laia ◽  
Harman Ziduhu Laia ◽  
Daniel Ari Wibowo
Keyword(s):  
New Testament ◽  
Catholic Church ◽  
First Century ◽  
The Other ◽  
Other Hand ◽  
The New Testament ◽  
Theological Study ◽  
The Church ◽  
The Catholic Church

The practice of anointing with oil has been done in the church since the first century to the present. On the other hand, there are also churches which have refused to do this. The practice of anointing with oil has essentially lifted from James 5:14. This text has become one of one text in the New Testament which is quite difficult to understand and bring a variety of views. Not a few denominations of the church understand James 5:14 is wrong, even the Catholic church including in it. The increasingly incorrect practice of anointing in the church today, that can be believed can heal disease physically and a variety of other functions push back the author to check the text of James 5:14 in the exegesis. Studies the exegesis of the deep, which focuses on the contextual, grammatical-structural,

Pentecostals and Charismatics in America

2019 ◽  
pp. 241-260
Author(s):  
Cecil M. Robeck
Keyword(s):  
Twentieth Century ◽  
Holy Spirit ◽  
First Century ◽  
1 Corinthians ◽  
The Past ◽  
Family Tradition ◽  
The Holy Spirit ◽  
Twenty First Century ◽  
Christian Family ◽  
The Church

This chapter traces Pentecostal and related congregations, churches, denominations, and organizations that stem from the beginning of the twentieth century. They identify with activities at Pentecost described in Acts 2 and in the exercise of charisms in 1 Corinthians 12–14. Each of them highlights is the significance of a personal encounter with the Holy Spirit leading to a transformed life. These often interrelated organizations and movements have brought great vitality to the Church worldwide for over one hundred years, and together, they constitute as much as 25 per cent of the world’s Christians. This form of spirituality is unique over the past 500 years, since it may be found in virtually every historic Christian family/tradition, and in most churches of the twenty-first century.

The Doctrine of Appropriation as an Interpretative Framework for Karl Barth's Pneumatology of the Church Dogmatics

2007 ◽  
Vol 20 (3) ◽  
pp. 278-290
Author(s):  
Adam McIntosh
Keyword(s):  
Twentieth Century ◽  
Holy Spirit ◽  
Karl Barth ◽  
Trinitarian Theology ◽  
Church Dogmatics ◽  
The Holy Spirit ◽  
Doctrine Of The Trinity ◽  
The Church ◽  
The Trinity ◽  
Interpretative Framework

Although Karl Barth is widely recognised as the initiator of the renewal of trinitarian theology in the twentieth century, his theology of the Church Dogmatics has been strongly criticised for its inadequate account of the work of the Holy Spirit. This author argues that the putative weakness of Barth's pneumatology should be reconsidered in light of his doctrine of appropriation. Barth employs the doctrine of appropriation as a hermeneutical procedure, within his doctrine of the Trinity, for bringing to speech the persons of the Trinity in their inseparable distinctiveness. It is argued that the doctrine of appropriation provides a sound interpretative framework for his pneumatology of the Church Dogmatics.

Conflicts Within the Anglican Communion

2014 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jane Shaw
Keyword(s):  
Twentieth Century ◽  
Gay Marriage ◽  
First Century ◽  
Sex And Gender ◽  
Same Sex ◽  
The West ◽  
Same Sex Couples ◽  
Twenty First Century ◽  
And Gender ◽  
The Church

The churches of the Anglican Communion discussed issues of sex and gender throughout the twentieth century and into the twenty-first century. Arguments about gender focused on the ordination of women to the diaconate, priesthood, and episcopate. Debates about sexuality covered polygamy, divorce and remarriage, and homosexuality. In the first decade of the twenty-first century, these debates became intensely focused on homosexuality and were particularly fierce as liberals and conservatives responded to openly gay bishops and the blessing and marriage of same-sex couples. By the second decade of the twenty-first century, the sex and gender debates had become less acrimonious, the Anglican Communion had not split on these issues as some feared, but the ‘disconnect’ between society and the Church, at least in the West, on issues such as the Church of England’s prevarication on female bishops and opposition to gay marriage, had decreased the Church’s credibility for many.

scholarly journals Die lewe en werk van Rudolf Bultmann (1884–1976): ʼn Leksikografiese bydrae tot Reformasie 500

2017 ◽  
Vol 73 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Gabriël M.J. Van Wyk
Keyword(s):  
South African ◽  
Systematic Theology ◽  
Reformed Theology ◽  
World War ◽  
Rudolf Bultmann ◽  
Dialectical Theology ◽  
The First World War ◽  
The New Testament ◽  
First World ◽  
The Church

Rudolf Bultmann was one of the leading thinkers within an influential theological direction that arose in Europe after the First World War, known as dialectical theology. Comprehensive introductions to the life and work of Bultmann in the South African theological journals, written in Afrikaans, either does not exist, or are difficult to trace for the Afrikaans readership. This article on Bultmann aims to fill the gap by offering a lexicographical contribution on the life and work of Bultmann. The focus of this article is on Bultmann as a Lutheran thinker. The theme of the New Testament and systematic theology is essentially the same, namely to explain the concept of Christian self-understanding as an eschatological event in which faith is expressed for the sake of faith in God and only in God. Bultmann explained the same theological concepts with his theology as those that were explained by the church reformers of the 16th century, but under radically new circumstances. The so-called modern and postmodern people of our time not only broke ties with the past, but in the process they also lost their ability for using historical-critical patterns of thought that tries to bridge historical distances, and therefore sacrificed all efforts to think systematically on the altar of relativism. We can learn from Bultmann what systematic reformed theology really is.

scholarly journals The Future of New Testament Theology, or, What Should Devout Modern Bible Scholarship Look Like?

Religions ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (12) ◽  
pp. 1072
Author(s):  
Douglas A. Campbell
Keyword(s):  
New Testament ◽  
Language Game ◽  
The Self ◽  
Karl Barth ◽  
Self Disclosure ◽  
The Bible ◽  
Starting Point ◽  
The New Testament ◽  
Triune God ◽  
The Church

Consideration of the nature of New Testament Theology (NTT) necessitates an account of theology or “God-talk”. Karl Barth grasped that all valid God-talk begins with God’s self-disclosure through Jesus and the Spirit, which people acknowledge and reflect on. Abandoning this starting point by way of “Foundationalism”—that is, resorting to any alternative basis for God-talk—leads to multiple destructive epistemological and cultural consequences. The self-disclosure of the triune God informs the use of the Bible by the church. The Bible then functions in terms of ethics and witness. It grounds the church’s ethical language game. Creative readings here are legitimate. The New Testament (NT) also mediates a witness to Jesus, which implies an historical dimension. However, it is legitimate to affirm that Jesus was resurrected (see 1 Cor 15:1–9), which liberates the devout modern Bible scholar in relation to history. The historical readings generated by such scholars have value because the self-disclosing God is deeply involved with particularity. These readings can be added to the archive of scriptural readings used by the church formationally. Ultimately, then, all reading of the NT is theological (or should be) and in multiple modes. NTT focuses our attention on the accuracy of the God-talk operative within any historical reconstruction, and on its possible subversion, which are critical matters.

scholarly journals Whatever happened to sin? An examination of the word and concept in contemporary popular culture

Holiness ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 2 (3) ◽  
pp. 283-312 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hilary Brand
Keyword(s):  
Twentieth Century ◽  
Popular Culture ◽  
Western Culture ◽  
First Century ◽  
Cultural Changes ◽  
News Reports ◽  
Shame Culture ◽  
Secular Society ◽  
Twenty First Century ◽  
The Church

AbstractThe concept of ‘sin’ is rarely expressed in today's popular culture. When the word does appear it is frequently in ironic quotation marks and often used in terms of ‘naughty but nice’, minor misdemeanours, something disapproved of, an outmoded Catholic shame culture, Islamic oppression or fundamentalist extremism. Rarely is it used in the way the Church understands it. By analysing the use of the word in recent news reports and examining its use and absence across the range of twenty-first-century media, this study draws some conclusions about how UK secular society understands the word. It then goes on to explore how some twentieth-century cultural changes have impacted on its understanding, and concludes with some observations on how twenty-first-century Western culture still senses the underlying problem and yearns for a way to express it.

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