God’s Hiddenness, Absence, and Doubt: The Theology of the Cross as Theological Direction for Youth Ministry

2009 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 60-76
Author(s):  
Andrew Root
Keyword(s):  
Youth Ministry ◽  
Developmental Period ◽  
Theology Of The Cross ◽  
The Core ◽  
Youth Worker ◽  
The Cross

This article asserts that the core of ministry is the ability to contemplate and articulate the “where” of God (to be able to express where we concretely encounter God). It argues that too often we have simply asserted that God is everywhere leading us to over-state the revealed, nearness, and rationality of God’s nature, keeping us from having anything specific or rich to say about God’s very activity. We have often fallen into this trap of abstractions because we have not seen the adolescent’s very ontological state as existing between possibility and nothingness, instead viewing adolescence fundamentally and finally as a developmental period of growth, advancement, and preparation. Therefore, this paper will turn to the theologia crucis as a way of conceptualizing “where” God can be found, and how this very conceptualization attends to the adolescent’s ontological state between possibility and nothingness. The paper will conclude by providing some thoughts on how this impacts the practice of the youth worker.

The Cross and the Theologia Crucis

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert C. Saler
Keyword(s):  
Theology Of The Cross ◽  
Total Thickness ◽  
Christian Life ◽  
Knowledge Of God ◽  
The Core ◽  
The World ◽  
Full Picture ◽  
The Cross ◽  
Scholarly Attention

While the term theologia crucis itself is most prominent in Luther’s early works, the later texts bear up the scholarly contention that the fundamental contrast between “cross” and “glory,” with its various methodological and theological implications, remains and is in fact amplified throughout Luther’s later writings. Indeed, considered topically, Luther’s treatment of virtually every significant theological locus throughout his canon—e.g., revelation, ecclesiology, and ethics is impacted by his understanding of the cross. “Theology of the cross” in Luther does not refer to a bound set of theological statements but rather a methodological stance in which epistemological fidelity to the modes in which God chooses to reveal himself—in suffering, death, and contradiction to expectation—marks the whole of the theologian’s orientation to knowledge of God and the world. While the theology of the cross in Luther’s deployment certainly touches on sociopolitical and ecclesial realities within his time, it is crucial for readers of Luther to understand that for him the motif was bound up within the total “thickness” of Christian life—the sacraments, prayer, discipleship, etc. In contrast to the temptation to treat the notion as a critical principle that can be detached from this total picture of Christian existence, scholarly attention to Luther must take seriously the ecclesiastically embedded character of theologia crucis—with all of the interweaving strands of inquiry that such embeddedness necessitates—in order to get the full picture of how Luther understood the cross’s impact on theology and the Christian life. The cross is also crucial theologically for Luther because it gets at the core of what he sees the theological project being able to do—deal with God in God’s self-revelation, under the confusing and sometimes seemingly paradoxical terms by which God chooses to engage humanity. Theologia crucis thus stands as the theological putting to death of the Old Adam—who is aligned, for Luther, with theologies of glory—so as to allow the theologian to hear and proclaim the gospel apart from pretension or undue speculation.

The Folly of the Cross

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard Viladesau
Keyword(s):  
Early Modern ◽  
Early Modern Period ◽  
Theology Of The Cross ◽  
The Enlightenment ◽  
Modern Period ◽  
The Arts ◽  
Modern Thought ◽  
Fourth Volume ◽  
The Cross ◽  
Satisfaction Model

This work surveys the ways in which theologians, artists, and composers of the early modern period dealt with the passion and death of Christ. The fourth volume in a series, it locates the theology of the cross in the context of modern thought, beginning with the Enlightenment, which challenged traditional Christian notions of salvation and of Christ himself. It shows how new models of salvation were proposed by liberal theology, replacing the older “satisfaction” model with theories of Christ as bringer of God’s spirit and as social revolutionary. It shows how the arts during this period both preserved the classical tradition and responded to innovations in theology and in style.

A Theology of the Cross in the 1534 Bremen Church Order

2016 ◽  
Vol 30 (2) ◽  
pp. 181-192
Author(s):  
Hans Wiersma
Keyword(s):  
Theology Of The Cross ◽  
The Cross

2. Speaking of God in the Post-Human Era: An Examination of Radical Life Extension in Relation to Key Theological Concepts and Narratives

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kaitlyn Barton
Keyword(s):  
Human Life ◽  
Life Extension ◽  
The Core ◽  
Psychological Suffering ◽  
The Cross ◽  
And Function ◽  
Radical Life Extension ◽  
The Way ◽  
Changing World

Rapid advancements in radical life extension technologies contribute to humanity’s ever-changing world. The normalization of radical life extension technologies would signify that the present era in which biology and evolution act as dictators of human life and health would come to an end, thereby ushering in the age of the post-human. The purpose of this paper is to engage in a theological analysis of how and to what degree the ways in which humanity speaks about God could be changed or influenced if radical life extension becomes normative within society. . It is likely that this powerful technology would have a significant impact on many facets of culture, including the way in which humanity engages with religion, in particular Christianity. To accomplish this, the technology that could potentially support radical life extension, namely nanotechnology and cybernetic immortality, will be explained in terms of their relevance and function. Subsequently, the affects of radical life extension for human life will be addressed. Specifically, the implications of the partial or full eradication of human biological and psychological suffering and death through the use of cybernetic immortality and nanotechnology and will be considered. From there, the core theological concepts and narratives will be analyzed in the context of the potential actualization of radical life extension technology. A focus will be placed on the ethic of loving thy neighbour, Christ’s suffering on the cross, the hope of salvation and the Christian hope of entrance into heaven after death. 

Teilhard De Chardin's Spirituality of the Cross

Horizons ◽  
1976 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-15
Author(s):  
Robert Faricy
Keyword(s):  
Jesus Christ ◽  
Theology Of The Cross ◽  
Christian Life ◽  
Dead End ◽  
Spiritual Theology ◽  
The World ◽  
Pierre Teilhard De Chardin ◽  
The Cross

AbstractThis article studies the spiritual theology of the cross in the writings of Pierre Teilhard de Chardin. In Teilhard's books and articles the accent falls on the cross as a symbol of progress. The cross stands for Jesus' positive act of saving the world through his death; it represents, too, Christian life as a sharing in the cross of Jesus through the labor and pain of human progress. In his spiritual notes, however, Teilhard takes a different perspective. His own meditations on the cross center not on the cross as a positive symbol of personal and collective progress through struggle, but rather on death as the ultimate fragmentation, and as an apparent dead end that is the final passage to Jesus Christ.

Does Nicholas Cusanus Have a Theology of the Cross?

2000 ◽  
Vol 80 (3) ◽  
pp. 405-420 ◽  
Author(s):  
Walter Andreas Euler
Keyword(s):  
Theology Of The Cross ◽  
The Cross
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