God and Story in the Church and in Doctrine

2015 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 5-22
Author(s):  
Paul S. Fiddes
Keyword(s):  
West African ◽  
Reciprocal Relation ◽  
Narrative Theology ◽  
The Past ◽  
The Bible ◽  
African Heritage ◽  
Biblical Narratives ◽  
The Church ◽  
Church Tradition

The paper aligns theological discussion about narrative theology with an empirical study of story-telling in a congregational setting, drawing conclusions about the ecclesial basis of method in doctrinal theology. It proposes to develop a narrative theology in a form that is inclusive of non-biblical narratives, drawing deductively upon story in Scripture and the past tradition of the church in constructing regulative doctrinal concepts for the community, while insisting that these must always be shaped inductively by the stories which people inhabit inside the church today, and outside the church in cultures which interpenetrate it. The paper offers a particular case-study of reflecting on stories from the Bible, church tradition and modern life among a group of young people of mainly West African heritage in the uk. From a ‘thick’ account of ‘everyday theology’ in the church, it offers suggestions for a reciprocal relation between deductive and inductive movements in making doctrine, taking as an example the doctrinal issue of ‘naming’.

The Southern Levant and the Ancient Near Eastern Canon

2020 ◽  
pp. 45-65
Author(s):  
Rachel Hallote
Keyword(s):  
Twentieth Century ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
Past Century ◽  
Southern Levant ◽  
Near Eastern ◽  
The Past ◽  
The Bible ◽  
Biblical Narratives ◽  
History Of ◽  
Late Nineteenth

When the artistic canon of the Southern Levant coalesced in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, scholars thought of the region, then Ottoman Palestine, as the locus of the Bible. The small-scale nature of the archaeological finds as well as their relative dearth reinforced a reliance on biblical narratives as a framework for understanding the culture of the region. Moreover, early scholarship did not recognize the complex regionalism of the Southern Levant or the diversity of its populations. Consequently, the artistic canon that developed did not represent the historical and archaeological realities of the region. This chapter examines the history of how the artistic canon of the Southern Levant formed over the past century of scholarship, why various scholars of the early and middle twentieth century included particular items in the canon, and why these now entrenched representations may or may not be helpful to the discipline’s future.

scholarly journals Rethinking the message of the church in the 21st century: An amalgamation between science and religion

2019 ◽  
Vol 75 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Dirk G. Van der Merwe
Keyword(s):  
20Th Century ◽  
21St Century ◽  
Science And Religion ◽  
Western World ◽  
The Past ◽  
The Bible ◽  
The World ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
The Church ◽  
Theological Training

Throughout its history, Christianity has stood in a dichotomous relation to the various philosophical movements or eras (pre-modernism, modernism, postmodernism and post-postmodernism) that took on different faces throughout history. In each period, it was the sciences that influenced, to a great extent, the interpretation and understanding of the Bible. Christianity, however, was not immune to influences, specifically those of the Western world. This essay reflects briefly on this dichotomy and the influence of Bultmann’s demythologising of the kerygma during the 20th century. Also, the remythologising (Vanhoozer) of the church’s message as proposed for the 21st century no more satisfies the critical Christian thinkers. The relationship between science and religion is revisited, albeit from a different perspective as established over the past two decades as to how the sciences have been pointed out more and more to complement theology. This article endeavours to evoke the church to consider the fundamental contributions of the sciences and how it is going to incorporate the sciences into its theological training and message to the world.

scholarly journals Homoseksualiteit: Die kerk, die tradisie en die Bybel – homofobie en sarkofobie en die evangelie

2004 ◽  
Vol 60 (1/2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Yolanda Dreyer
Keyword(s):  
Practical Reason ◽  
Current Debate ◽  
Social Psychological ◽  
Theoretical Reason ◽  
Psychological Phenomena ◽  
The Bible ◽  
The Social ◽  
Dialectical Perspective ◽  
The Church ◽  
Church Tradition

Homosexuality: Church, tradition, and the Bible – homophobia, sarcophobia, and the gospelThe article demonstrates a trend in the current debate on the church’s attitude towards homosexuality, namely that exegetical results supersede authentic faith experiences of gays. It shows that this trend causes an untenable tension between the dialectical notions sola fidei and sola Scriptura. Such an unacceptable tension contributes to the social psychological phenomena of homophobia and sarcophobia. The article investigates this empirical approach (theoretical reason) to homo-sexuality from the dialectical perspective of a theological approach (practical reason). The latter includes an investigation of the epistemological processes behind exegetes’ diverse use of Scripture. The article aims to show that homophobia in society and church, and the sarcophobia of homosexuals can be challenged and healed if the church holds on to the dialectic between sola fidei and sola Scriptura and the dialectic between pastoral concerns and the engagement with the gospel of Jesus Christ.

scholarly journals Die verhouding tussen Ou-Testamentiese wetenskap en Teologiese interpretasie van die Bybel: Handelinge 8:26–40 as gevallestudie

2017 ◽  
Vol 73 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Anneke Viljoen
Keyword(s):  
Illocutionary Force ◽  
Theological Interpretation ◽  
The Bible ◽  
The Church

Theological interpretation of the Bible represents a broadening of the hermeneutical approaches available to an interpreter of Bible texts. As such, Theological interpretation of the Bible opens up the possibility to investigate and explore more aspects of the Bible text. Especially aspects that are in line with the nature of the Bible text such as Scriptures of the church as well as the illocutionary force of these texts. After a few introductory remarks concerning Theological interpretation of the Bible, three questions guided reflection on defining theological interpretation: first, Why Theological interpretation of the Bible?; second, What is Theological interpretation of the Bible not?; and third, What is Theological interpretation of the Bible? Last mentioned was explored on the basis of a focus text, namely Acts 8:26–40 that served as a case study.

Broken History and Crumbling Stones: The Romantic Conception of Architectural Preservation

Slavic Review ◽  
2012 ◽  
Vol 71 (4) ◽  
pp. 745-765 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andreas Schönle
Keyword(s):  
Collective Memory ◽  
Architectural Heritage ◽  
Romantic Period ◽  
Historical Landscape ◽  
The Past ◽  
Architectural Preservation ◽  
Romantic Conception ◽  
The Church ◽  
National Style

In this article Andreas Schönle explores the treatment of ruins in the Romantic period, in particular the propensity toward holistic reconstruction, rather than preservation of architectural heritage. He argues that the Romantic disregard of extant heritage harks back to the Sentimentalist infatuation with the fleetingness of life and dramatization of loss, that this melancholy feeling stoked a sense of national victimization, and that it legitimated an imaginary reinvention of the past and the constructedness of collective memory. The Church of the Tithe in Kiev serves as a case study illustrating that the Romantic commitment to totality has resulted in the significant destruction of architecture. Depictions of its ruins in travel accounts and in the writings of Vadim Passek and Andrei Murav'ev evidence a marked desire to exacerbate the sense of loss rather than to describe and valorize the remains. This disregard of heritage reprises the Sentimentalist infatuation with melancholy prominently deployed by Nikolai Karamzin. A comparison with Eugène Viollet-le-Duc in France and Augustus Pugin in England indicates that in Russia the invention of a national style of architecture required a much more radical imposition upon the historical landscape.

The End of Days

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Matthew Harper
Keyword(s):  
West African ◽  
Black Religion ◽  
Religious Thought ◽  
Political Decision ◽  
New Jerusalem ◽  
The Bible ◽  
Biblical Narratives ◽  
Early Reconstruction ◽  
End Times ◽  
Made In

For 4 million slaves, emancipation was a liberation and resurrection story of biblical proportion, both the clearest example of God’s intervention in human history and a sign of the end of days. This book demonstrates how black southerners’ theology, in particular their understanding of the end times, influenced nearly every major economic and political decision they made in the aftermath of emancipation. From considering what demands to make in early Reconstruction to deciding whether or not to migrate west, African American Protestants consistently inserted themselves into biblical narratives as a way of seeing the importance of their own struggle in God’s greater plan for humanity. Phrases like “jubilee,” “Zion,” “valley of dry bones,” and the “New Jerusalem” in black-authored political documents invoked different stories from the Bible to argue for different political strategies. This study offers new ways of understanding the intersections between black political and religious thought of this era. Until now, scholarship on black religion has not highlighted how pervasive or contested these beliefs were. This narrative, however, tracks how these ideas governed particular political moments as African Americans sought to define and defend their freedom in the forty years following emancipation.

The Oxford Handbook of Ecclesiology

2018 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Church History ◽  
The Self ◽  
Academic Disciplines ◽  
Past Century ◽  
The Past ◽  
The Bible ◽  
Research Fields ◽  
The New Testament ◽  
The Church ◽  
Historical Origins

This Handbook is a comprehensive resource for the scholarly study of the self-understanding of the church through the centuries—its theological identity. Nearly thirty expert contributions describe the continuities and discontinuities in the changing understanding of the church. The scope of ecclesiology is defined by the manifold self-understanding and action of the church in relation to a number of research fields, including its historical origins, structures of authority, doctrine, ministry and sacraments, unity and diversity, and mission, as well as its relation to the state, to civil society, and to culture. The book covers the main sources of such ecclesiological research and reflection, namely the Bible, church history from the apostolic age to the present, the wealth of the Christian theological traditions, the experience and practice of the churches today, together with the information and insights that emerge from other relevant academic disciplines. Ecclesiology has also been the main focus of the intense ecumenical engagement, study, and dialogue of the past century and is the area where the most intractable differences remain to be resolved. In particular, generous space is allocated to the New Testament sources of ecclesiology and to some of the most influential shapers of modern ecclesiology.

Modern Pentecostalism as an Urban Phenomenon: The Case of the Family of God Church in Zimbabwe

Exchange ◽  
2005 ◽  
Vol 34 (4) ◽  
pp. 349-375 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lovemore Togarasei
Keyword(s):  
Urban Areas ◽  
Growth And Development ◽  
Urban Residents ◽  
The Past ◽  
Pentecostal Movement ◽  
Family Of God ◽  
The Family ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Church

AbstractThe past twenty to thirty years in the history of Zimbabwean Christianity have witnessed the emergence of a new breed of Pentecostalism that tends to attract the middle and upper classes urban residents. This paper presentsfindings from a case study of one such movement, the Family of God church. It describes and analyses the origins, growth and development of this church as an urban modern Pentecostal movement. Thefirst section of the paper discusses the origins and development of the church focusing on the life of the founder. The second section focuses on the teaching and practices of the church. The church's doctrines and practices are here analysed tofind out the extent to which these have been influenced by the socio-political and economic challenges in the urban areas. The paper concludes that the modern Pentecostal movement is meant to address urban needs.

Late Roman Iconography and Style

2021 ◽  
pp. 199-221
Author(s):  
Susanna McFadden
Keyword(s):  
Visual Culture ◽  
Late Antiquity ◽  
Fourth Century ◽  
Wall Paintings ◽  
Work Of Art ◽  
The Past ◽  
The Church ◽  
Late Roman

Discussions of late Roman style and iconography sometimes tend to emphasize the liminality of visual culture in late antiquity; monuments representative of the period such as the Arch of Constantine are neither fully “classical” nor “medieval” in their form and content; hence, the instinct to compare its style and iconography with that of the past or future monuments is hard to resist. The result of this lure to dichotomize is often a focus on what a late Roman work of art is not, rather than what it is (i.e., how an artwork or monument functions in its contemporary moment). This chapter therefore presents the wall paintings from the late third- to early fourth-century domus underneath the Church of Ss. Giovanni e Paolo on the Caelian Hill in Rome as a case study of a particular moment in late Roman visuality so as to better understand how engagements with iconography and style in the context of the late Roman home activate “modern” meanings and experiences.

Educating youth ministers in the Anglican Diocese of Sydney; John Kidson and the Youthworkers Course

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-25
Author(s):  
Ruth Lukabyo
Keyword(s):  
Young People ◽  
Youth Ministry ◽  
Historical Analysis ◽  
Educational Model ◽  
Youth Ministers ◽  
The Bible ◽  
Counter Culture ◽  
The Church

Abstract This study is a historical analysis of the education of youth ministers in the Anglican diocese of Sydney in the 1970s and 1980s. John Kidson ran the Youthworkers Course with the goal of educating professional, specialised youth ministers that could evangelise young people who were influenced by the counter-culture and increasingly disengaged from the church. Kidson used a distinctive educational model that emphasised relational outreach, transformative community, praxis, and the importance of the Bible. His goal was only partially met. He trained youth ministers that were able to communicate with and evangelise non-churched youth, but there were small numbers being trained, and few remained in youth ministry in the long-term. The Youthworkers Course and its strengths and weaknesses can be used as a case study for churches and colleges today as they consider the best way to educate youth ministers.

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