Locating the ‘Lordless Powers’ in Ireland: Karl Barth, Novels, and Theological Ethics in the Aftermath of the Celtic Tiger

2019 ◽  
Vol 84 (3) ◽  
pp. 243-258
Author(s):  
Kevin Hargaden
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
Theological Reflection ◽  
Karl Barth ◽  
Theological Ethics ◽  
Ethical Reflection ◽  
Economic Ethics ◽  
Celtic Tiger ◽  
Irish Context ◽  
The Social ◽  
Economic Reality

Theological reflection on economic ethics often follows the tradition of the social sciences in describing economic reality in econometric terms. The numerical imagination of the social sciences is not always an elegant dialogue partner for theological ethical reflection. This can be seen to be the case when we draw upon Karl Barth’s discussion of ‘lordless powers’ to describe the dramatic economic reversal endured in Ireland over the last decade. In this article, I propose that literature represents an important additional dialogue partner for theological reflection. Four Irish novels are proposed as potential grounds for considering the relevance of the lordless power discussion in an Irish context.

For what shall we give thanks? On gratitude, justice, and the gospel of Christ

2021 ◽  
pp. 000332862110238
Author(s):  
K.D. Joyce
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
Theological Reflection ◽  
Christian Theology ◽  
Ethical Reflection ◽  
The Bible ◽  
Working Definition ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Creation ◽  
The Cross ◽  
Definition Of

While exhortations to gratitude are present throughout the Bible, contemporary theological scholarship on gratitude has been limited, largely following the lead of secular research. To engage in deeper theological reflection on gratitude, I begin by proposing a working definition of gratitude in the Christian context. An overview of existing gratitude research undertaken in the fields of philosophy and the social sciences, reflections on three of the seven “heavenly virtues,” and insights from existing theologies of grace and the cross provide examples of how existing scholarship forms a solid basis for the creation of a theology of gratitude. Finally, the role that concerns of justice must play in any theology of gratitude is examined—for what should we give thanks? A Christian theology of gratitude invites us to critical ethical reflection on what is truly good in the eyes of God, and calls us to generous response.

scholarly journals Curriculum design in theology and development: Human agency and the prophetic role of the church

2016 ◽  
Vol 72 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Beverley Haddad
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
Curriculum Design ◽  
Social Issues ◽  
Development Programme ◽  
Theological Reflection ◽  
The Social ◽  
Kwazulu Natal ◽  
The University ◽  
The Church

The field of theology and development is a relatively new sub-discipline within theological studies in Africa. The first formal post-graduate programme was introduced at the University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, South Africa during the mid-1990s. In the early years it was known as the Leadership and Development programme and since 2000, as the Theology and Development programme. Over the past twenty years, this programme has graduated over 160 BTh Honours, 100 MTh, and 15 PhD students. This article outlines the history of the programme, addresses its ideological orientation, its pedagogical commitments and preferences in curriculum design. It further argues that theological reflection on “development” must seek to understand the prophetic role of the church in responding to the complexities of the social issues facing the African continent.  Key to this discussion is the contested nature of “development” and the need for theological perspectives to engage this contestation through a social analysis of the global structures of injustice. This requires an engagement with the social sciences. It is this engagement of the social sciences with theological reflection, the essay argues, that has enabled the students who have graduated from the Theology and Development Programme at the University of KwaZulu-Natal to assist the church and faith-based organisations to become effective agents of social transformation.

Social Capital: Old Hat or New Insight?

2004 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 5-28 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tom Healy
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
Social Capital ◽  
Community Practice ◽  
Power Structures ◽  
Social Scientists ◽  
Empirical Measures ◽  
Proxy Variables ◽  
Institutional Settings ◽  
Irish Context ◽  
The Social

Following work by James Coleman and Pierre Bourdieu in the 1980s, social scientists from different disciplinary backgrounds have engaged in a debate about the meaning and application of social capital. Questions arise about the coherence, novelty and analytical purchase of the term: there is a risk of overstretching the concept to include too much. Moreover, empirical measures and proxy variables are only very approximately matched to the underlying concept(s). Some applications of the concept lump together different strands of social behaviour and attitude and treats these as universally equivalent or ‘outside’ specific cultures, institutional settings, historical contexts and power structures. It is suggested that these problems cannot be entirely resolved and have parallel examples in all areas of empirical research in the social sciences. However, suggestions are made for greater trans-disciplinary research, dialogue and connection to policy and community practice in an Irish context. We can sum up our position as follows. Social capital has several adolescent characteristics: it is neither tidy nor mature; it can be abused, analytically and politically; its future is unpredictable; but it offers much promise.

scholarly journals An interdisciplinary perspective on the theology of masculinity

2021 ◽  
Vol 42 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Adam Rybicki ◽  
Andrzej K. Jastrzębski
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
Interdisciplinary Collaboration ◽  
Identity Crisis ◽  
Theological Reflection ◽  
The Other ◽  
Special Focus ◽  
The Social ◽  
Spiritual Theology ◽  
Feminist Movements

In contemporary academic discourse, there has been a strong tendency to shape theology according to a viewpoint based on the achievements of other sciences, especially those found in philosophy, psychology, sociology and anthropology. This has been particularly illustrated in the issue of masculinity. In this context, a question arises as follows: does theology have something to say to the social sciences? Or, does it only have to submit to them and simply fulfil the role of a commentator? The setting of this study has been the contemporary crisis in understanding masculinity, and the theological reflection that this situation calls for. To address this challenge, we have used a historical-analytical method in which we traced the historical and philosophical underpinnings of the concept of masculinity, with a special focus on modernity, in order to clearly understand the present state of the debate around masculinity.As a result, we have proposed some direction for future theological development, demonstrating that theology may also influence and inspire the other sciences. In conclusion, we have encouraged a deeper collaboration of various sciences that have already developed a reflection on masculinity, whilst avoiding unnecessary biases and simplification; we have sought to establish a better collaboration between feminist movements and theological reflection as well as making use of theology’s potential to inspire other sciences such as psychology, sociology and anthropology in this endeavour.Intradisciplinary and/or interdisciplinary implications: Using such an interdisciplinary collaboration, theology can supply a more positive and hope-giving picture of the contemporary male human being facing an identity crisis, as is demonstrated predominantly in the social sciences. Special attention to this topic has been given in Spiritual Theology.

scholarly journals The personal is the (academic) political: Why care about the love lives of theologians?

2020 ◽  
Vol 73 (3) ◽  
pp. 191-202
Author(s):  
Rachel Muers
Keyword(s):  
Theological Reflection ◽  
Karl Barth ◽  
Systematic Theology ◽  
Domestic Life ◽  
Individual Male ◽  
Recent Interest ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Love Triangle

AbstractWhat might be learned, for theology, from recent interest in the complex love triangle of Nelly Barth, Charlotte von Kirschbaum and Karl Barth? I explore some aspects of how the story has been told, in and since Christiane Tietz's 2016 presentation and article, and argue that they expose deep-seated issues in and for the discipline of systematic theology. In particular, I draw attention to the focus on preserving the authority of the individual (male/masculine) author as the exemplar of theological practice; and to the reluctance to recognise the social, political and economic dimensions of sexuality and ‘domestic’ life. I argue that a properly ‘systematic theological’ approach to the Barth-von Kirschbaum story would involve critical and constructive theological reflection on theology's conditions of production: using historical contexts to help us recognise and respond to contemporary issues, without reducing such reflection to stories about individual authors.

scholarly journals THE CRISIS OF ECONOMICS AND FOR SEARCH OF THE NEW PARADIGM

2018 ◽  
pp. 15-27
Author(s):  
VLADIMER PAPAVA
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
Political Science ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
Economic Study ◽  
New Paradigm ◽  
Economic Theories ◽  
The Past ◽  
The Social ◽  
Economic Reality ◽  
Economic Studies

The article analyzes the crisis in the economics, its primary causes and its manifestations. It shows how traditional economics “turns a blind eye” to many significant aspects of economic reality. Within this crisis, the economy lags behind the economic reality and so various economic theories are used to attempt to interpret the economic phenomena. Some of the clearest examples of economies falling outside of reality are seen in the transition economies of the post-Communist period on their way to a market economy as well as the events of the global financial and economic crisis in 2007-2009. The most recent example of the crisis in economics is cryptocurrency which has already spread over almost the entire world over the past several years but which has not yet become a topic of systematic study in economics. In order to overcome the crisis situation in economics, it will be of utmost importance as to how well the human factor is reflected in economic studies and to what extent it will be approximated to the behavior that is characteristic of human beings in reality. For this purpose, economists must apply the knowledge about human nature that has been amassed in the field of social sciences such as philosophy, psychology, law and political science. For the development of economics and for its relevant transformation, the conditions referred to in the traditionally used phrase “other things equal” (“ceritasparibas”) need to be minimized in economic studies. This will be possible if an economic study relies not only (and in certain cases not to a greater extent) on mathematics but also on philosophy, psychology, law, history, geography and political science. In this regard, economists need to conduct studies by expanding their scope; that is, along the lines set out by the above-mentioned fields of the social sciences. Given the variety of economic theories, seeking possible ways to synthesize them becomes of great importance and this will assist economists in perceiving a given economic reality in a comprehensive way.

scholarly journals New directions in theology, church and sports: A brief overview and position statement

Theology ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 121 (4) ◽  
pp. 243-251 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nick J. Watson
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
Empirical Research ◽  
Position Statement ◽  
Theological Reflection ◽  
Future Research ◽  
The Social ◽  
New Directions

There has been a significant increase in scholarship, empirical research (within both theology and the social sciences) and church-based initiatives focused on sport and Christianity during the last decade. This article seeks to briefly map these developments and provide a position statement by way of addressing two topics: theological reflection on sport; and church and para-church engagement in sport. In conclusion, a number of recommendations are provided for future research and ecclesiological praxis.

scholarly journals Mediating the Sacred between Junkanoo and the Church in Contemporary Bahamian Society

2019 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 85-95
Author(s):  
Carlton J. Turner
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
Cultural Studies ◽  
Social Research ◽  
Interdisciplinary Approach ◽  
Theological Reflection ◽  
Anglophone Caribbean ◽  
The Social ◽  
African Caribbean ◽  
The Caribbean ◽  
The Church

Abstract It can be argued that theology in the Caribbean has, until recently, been reticent in engaging cultural studies, and particularly in using African Caribbean religiocultural heritages and art-forms such as carnival, reggae, stickfigting, Obeah and Myal, as examples, as sites for theological reflection. Undergirding this reticence is a colonially inherited belief in a dichotomy between the sacred and the secular; between the church and culture; and consequently, between theology and the social sciences. This paper argues that despite popular mis-conceptions, Junkanoo, a mainly Anglophone Caribbean street festival fundamental to Bahamian identity, has always functioned as a new and liberative way of doing theology in that context. Its complex relationship with the church deeply challenges concepts of sacredness, secularity, profanity, and idolatry as they are lived out in contemporary Bahamian life. This insight is important not only for theological research and discourse, but also for cultural studies and various forms of social research, since accessing the dynamic truths of such African Caribbean religiocultural productions and experiences require such an interdisciplinary approach.

scholarly journals The Role of Rhetoric in Economics and Economy*

2019 ◽  
Vol 57 (1) ◽  
pp. 191-203
Author(s):  
Sławomir Czech
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
Social System ◽  
Natural Sciences ◽  
Decision Makers ◽  
Human Cognition ◽  
The Social ◽  
Economic Reality ◽  
Per Se ◽  
Institutional Architecture

Abstract In this paper we attempt to show that rhetoric plays an important role in economics as a science and in economy as a social system. Our task is rather demonstrative, but it aims at stripping away the illusion that economics has acquired a status equal to the natural sciences, in which there is no place for subjectivism and ambiguity. Economics belongs, after all, to the realm of the social sciences and as such it is subject to the limitations of human cognition and understanding. We show that economics as a science is not free from employing sophisticated methods of persuasion and rhetoric. Next, we also try to demonstrate that rhetoric can be a useful tool in creating economic reality. It does not have influence on economic processes per se, but it is helpful in constructing an institutional architecture of the economy by influencing public opinion and decision makers.

scholarly journals Redeeming Redemption: Violence, Desecration, and Atonement

2021 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 77
Author(s):  
Christopher D. Steed
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
Theological Reflection ◽  
Doctoral Studies ◽  
The Social ◽  
History Of ◽  
Symbolic Exchange ◽  
The Cross ◽  
Evangelical Theology

The red stain of Cain presents an evocative approach to the atonement based on theological reflection and doctoral studies in the social sciences on human violence and the notion of symbolic exchange. The value and worth of Jesus in exchange for our demerit and history of devaluing others and dishonoring God provides a fresh commendation for an evangelical theology of substitutionary atonement that is also participative. Violence is not incidental to the cross; it is central to its potency both for redemption and for healing. KEYWORDS: Violence, desecration, atonement, Cain, value, power, symbolic exchange

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