Baptism or Gospel of Grace?: Romans 6 Revisited

2016 ◽  
Vol 128 (5) ◽  
pp. 222-230 ◽  
Author(s):  
Youngju Kwon
Keyword(s):  
Human Agency ◽  
Moral Life ◽  
Primary Concern ◽  
Christian Life ◽  
Proper Understanding ◽  
Working Together

Romans 6 has been a difficult chapter owing to a number of dialectical elements: being and doing, theology and ethics, indicative and imperative, divine and human agency, and ‘already’ and ‘not yet’. Despite some previous attempts to view this chapter as presenting the theology of baptism, this article argues that Paul’s primary concern in this chapter is to explain the fundamentals of the gospel of grace and their implications for Christian life. The proper understanding of the gospel of grace includes: that everyone belongs to one of the two domains of authority (either under the domain of law/sin or under the domain of grace/Christ); that by the grace of God believers have experienced the transfer of lordship; and that despite this transfer, both aspects of ‘already’ and ‘not yet’ are creatively working together in Christian life. This article concludes with two implications: that the gospel of grace does require (rather than ignore) a moral life and that in Christian moral life we must not lose sight of both God’s empowerment and humans’ power.

scholarly journals Control Systems and Number Theory

2012 ◽  
Vol 2012 ◽  
pp. 1-28
Author(s):  
Fuhuo Li
Keyword(s):  
Zeta Functions ◽  
Feedback System ◽  
State Equation ◽  
The State ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Pid Controllers ◽  
Primary Concern ◽  
Feedback Connection ◽  
Proper Understanding ◽  
Natural Way

We try to pave a smooth road to a proper understanding of control problems in terms of mathematical disciplines, and partially show how to number-theorize some practical problems. Our primary concern is linear systems from the point of view of our principle of visualization of the state, an interface between the past and the present. We view all the systems as embedded in the state equation, thus visualizing the state. Then we go on to treat the chain-scattering representation of the plant of Kimura 1997, which includes the feedback connection in a natural way, and we consider theH∞-control problem in this framework. We may view in particular the unit feedback system as accommodated in the chain-scattering representation, giving a better insight into the structure of the system. Its homographic transformation works as the action of the symplectic group on the Siegel upper half-space in the case of constant matrices. Both ofH∞- and PID-controllers are applied successfully in the EV control by J.-Y. Cao and B.-G. Cao 2006 and Cao et al. 2007, which we may unify in our framework. Finally, we mention some similarities between control theory and zeta-functions.

Qualitative Findings on the Dynamics of Online Facilitation in Distance Education

2016 ◽  
Vol 6 (4) ◽  
pp. 1-18 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ooi Li Hsien ◽  
Arathai Din Eak ◽  
S. Vighnarajah ◽  
Goh Lay Huah ◽  
Ong Cheng Teik
Keyword(s):  
Distance Education ◽  
Best Practices ◽  
Virtual Learning ◽  
Virtual Learning Environment ◽  
Proper Understanding ◽  
Quality Assurance Process ◽  
Working Together ◽  
Assurance Process ◽  
Learning Institutions ◽  
Online Facilitation

Online facilitation has taken on a new facade especially with the evolving virtual learning environments in distance education. The dynamics of online facilitation is an intricate quality assurance process that involves the participation of learners and instructors working together to achieve the stipulated learning outcomes of the course. In view of this, this study attempted to examine the dynamics of online facilitation from the perspectives of experienced tutors engaged in the university's virtual learning environment, WawasanLearn. Based on the interview findings of eight tutors, several emergent findings highlighted the roles and challenges of effective online facilitation. As this research is based on the guidelines of the prominent Salmon's model, the findings also highlighted antecedents that substantiate best practices of online facilitation. Findings indicated that proper understanding on the dynamics of online facilitation among relevant stakeholders is critical to avoid issues of student isolation which is evidently a growing concern in distance learning institutions.

Striving

2021 ◽  
pp. 54-70
Author(s):  
D. G. Hart
Keyword(s):  
Twentieth Century ◽  
Early Development ◽  
Good Life ◽  
Moral Life ◽  
Jonathan Edwards ◽  
Christian Life ◽  
Moral Perfection ◽  
Print Shop

Chapter 3 traces Benjamin Franklin’s early development—purchasing equipment to open his own print shop and editing a Philadelphia newspaper. His work provided him with an outlet for advice about living a moral life. Sometimes he wrote under pseudonyms, such as Silence Dogood, and reprinted material that reinforced his own efforts to live a good life, creating a Plan for Attaining Moral Perfection. The chapter discusses Jonathan Edwards, whose views were substantially in agreement with Franklin’s, though much of Franklin’s moralism attracted criticism from twentieth-century writers such as D. H. Lawrence. Franklin’s thoughts about virtue emerged from similar concerns that Puritans had for the Christian life as one of sanctity.

scholarly journals Kant on Moral Agency: Beyond the Incorporation Thesis

Kant-Studien ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 111 (3) ◽  
pp. 423-444
Author(s):  
Valtteri Viljanen
Keyword(s):  
Moral Agency ◽  
Human Agency ◽  
Moral Life ◽  
Moral Action ◽  
Rational Action ◽  
Proper Weight

AbstractThis paper aims to discern the limits of the highly influential Incorporation Thesis to give proper weight to our sensuous side in Kant’s theory of moral action. I first examine the view of the faculties underpinning the theory, which allows me to outline the passage from natural to rational action. This enables me to designate the factors involved in actual human agency and thereby to show that, contrary to what the Incorporation Thesis may tempt one to believe, we do not always act on maxims. The result is a revised and more balanced view of how Kant sees the character of moral life.

Thomas Aquinas and Karl Barth on the Christian life: similarity and differences

2016 ◽  
Vol 69 (3) ◽  
pp. 251-266
Author(s):  
Nicholas M. Healy
Keyword(s):  
Thomas Aquinas ◽  
Karl Barth ◽  
Primary Concern ◽  
Christian Life ◽  
True Relation ◽  
The Church ◽  
Relative Standing ◽  
Negative Judgement

AbstractAquinas and Barth both describe the Christian life in light of who God is and how God acts, rather than with a primary concern for morality or apologetics. They differ in that Aquinas describes a single, essentially monastic, and normative form of discipleship that, because it cannot be taken up by most Christians, issues in practice in a two-tier conception of the Christian life. By contrast, Barth's account of vocation individualises the call to each Christian so that it is possible for everyone to lead the Christian life equally well yet in very diverse ways. For this reason, and because our true relation to God is hidden, even to ourselves, we may conclude that it is dangerous to make negative judgement as to anyone's standing before God – and therefore their relative standing in the church, too – based upon a view of the normative form of the Christian life.

Salvation, Baptism in the Holy Spirit, and Experience of God

2021 ◽  
pp. 67-80
Author(s):  
William J. Abraham
Keyword(s):  
Holy Spirit ◽  
Human Agency ◽  
Christian Tradition ◽  
Divine Action ◽  
Union With Christ ◽  
Christian Life ◽  
Experience Of God ◽  
The Holy Spirit ◽  
Point Of Departure ◽  
The Church

This chapter begins by charting the failure of Herbert Asbury’s conversion, using this as a point of departure to review two classical ways to provide a taxonomy of divine action for the Christian life, especially the experience of the Holy Spirit. The Christian tradition imparts a variety of concepts like sanctification, theosis, holiness, baptism in the Spirit, and union with Christ to speak of the experience of the Christian believer. Furthermore, the tradition speaks of the action of the church and the action of other believers on Christians. By attending to the concepts of divine and human agency, this chapter provides a way forward through this debate.

scholarly journals Moral Calls Resulting from the Gift of the Eucharist in the Teaching of Pope Benedict XVI

2021 ◽  
pp. 89-108
Author(s):  
Marek Kluz
Keyword(s):  
Everyday Life ◽  
Moral Life ◽  
Christian Life ◽  
Pope Benedict Xvi ◽  
Benedict Xvi ◽  
The Gift

The role of the Eucharist in shaping the moral life is enormous and in fact, thanks to the Eucharist, the essence of Christian life can be read. Therefore, it is not surprising that Pope Benedict XVI has often addressed the Eucharist in his teachings. In this way, he wanted to deepen and revive the worship of Eucharistic Jesus. In his teachings, he showed the Eucharist as the greatest treasure given to man for shaping the moral life. He constantly reminded us of the obligations arising from the participation in the Eucharist. Because of its specificity, the Eucharist contains moral calls: to sacrifice, to feeding on the bread of life, to praise and giving thanks, and to living in faith and love. Fulfilling all these attitudes and moral calls in everyday life is a way to progress in the Eucharistic life.

scholarly journals Parabolic Life: Toward an Ethics of God’s Apocalypse

2021 ◽  
pp. 095394682110313
Author(s):  
Philip G. Ziegler
Keyword(s):  
Jesus Christ ◽  
Human Life ◽  
Paul Ricoeur ◽  
Moral Life ◽  
Moral Action ◽  
Theological Ethics ◽  
Christian Life ◽  
Paul Ricœur

Christian ethicist Nancy Duff has suggested that an apocalyptic hearing of the gospel elicits a parabolic understanding of the Christian moral life. How might the theological basis and rationale of this claim be elaborated? What is it about human life funded by the gospel of God’s apocalypse in Jesus Christ that makes ‘parable’ an apt description of the quality of its action? And how might these notions be elaborated to enrich our understanding of responsible moral action more generally? This article explores these questions by way of a running conversation with the work of J. Louis Martyn, Christopher Morse and Paul Ricoeur. It concludes by showing the salience of these themes in relation to Bonhoeffer’s later reflections upon the distinctive quality of Christian life in the wreckage of Christendom. Overall, the solid currency of a parabolic construal of the character of Christian moral action for the present pursuit of theological ethics is recommended.

Christian Formation and the Body–Soul Relationship in Gregory of Nyssa

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Morwenna Ludlow
Keyword(s):  
The Body ◽  
Human Being ◽  
Christian Formation ◽  
De Anima ◽  
Christian Life ◽  
Gregory Of Nyssa ◽  
Imitation Of Christ ◽  
Working Together ◽  
De Hominis Opificio

This chapter examines Gregory of Nyssa’s anthropology as it is evident in three of his ascetic works: De Professione Christiana, De Perfectione, and De Instituto Christiano. Previous research has tended to use these as evidence for Gregory’s spirituality or his instructions concerning the truly Christian life, while his anthropology has been studied from his De Anima et Resurrectione and De Hominis Opificio. However, his concept of the truly Christian life seems to rely on some basic anthropological ideas which one can see in the ascetic treatises—especially in Gregory’s use of the language of ‘formation’ or ‘shaping’ the Christian and in metaphors relating to those concepts. Such language emphasizes the unity of the human being, her working together with God (the concept of sunergeia), and the imitation of Christ. It perhaps also suggests traces of hylomorphism in Gregory’s anthropology.

Hope-Filled Sanctification: A Reformed Appropriation of the Theological Virtue of Hope

2012 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 99-114
Author(s):  
Mary L. VandenBerg
Keyword(s):  
Holy Spirit ◽  
Roman Catholic ◽  
Christian Life ◽  
Proper Understanding ◽  
Good Works ◽  
Theological Virtues ◽  
The Reformation ◽  
The Holy Spirit ◽  
Theological Virtue ◽  
As If

Abstract Roman Catholic scholar Josef Pieper has suggested that the Protestant teaching of salvation by grace alone promotes a type of false assurance that undermines the necessity of striving for Christlikeness in the lives of Christians. Protestants do sometimes sound as if justification and sanctification are identical therefore downplaying the importance of good works and the pilgrim character of the Christian life. Nonetheless, a proper understanding of the distinction between justification and sanctification maintains both the Reformation emphasis on grace and a robust place for human striving toward sanctification in cooperation with the Holy Spirit. Furthermore, the Thomist tradition’s understanding of the theological virtues, as interpreted by Pieper, has the potential to offer a category for understanding the striving of sanctification as the fitting action of one with the disposition of hope.

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