Empire and the Johannine Epistles

2017 ◽  
Vol 114 (4) ◽  
pp. 542-557
Author(s):  
Kenneth L. Waters
Keyword(s):  
Jesus Christ ◽  
The Face ◽  
Mission Field ◽  
The Church ◽  
Do So

In what ways are the Johannine Epistles a response to empire ideology and propaganda? These Epistles proclaim a more complete and correct cosmology, a greater Savior and soteriology, a better pedagogy, a truer doctrine, a sounder koinōnia, and a more nurturing paterfamilias; moreover, they do so while indicting schismatics, who, in the view of the elder, represent the face of the empire. Although the resurrection and ascension of Jesus Christ drive the elder’s witness and ministry, he must still shape his message to counter the encroachment of empire in the church and on the mission field.

scholarly journals Seeing the Face of Christ

2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 149-169
Author(s):  
Derek S King
Keyword(s):  
Jesus Christ ◽  
Christian Tradition ◽  
Gregory Of Nyssa ◽  
Divine Hiddenness ◽  
The Face ◽  
Hiddenness Of God ◽  
The Church

The problem of the hiddenness of God has at least two kinds: an experiential and an intellectual problem. Despite differences, a solution to either would require some account of how God is personally known. Yet for the Christian tradition, God is known in the man Jesus Christ. I suggest, then, a Christological reformulation of the hiddenness argument, and proceed to offer an account of how Christ is known. With special attention to the ecclesiology of Gregory of Nyssa, I offer an account of knowing Christ in the church. I then explore this as a response to the problems of divine hiddenness, and anticipate a considerable objection to my response.

Witness, the church, and faithful cultural engagement

2019 ◽  
Vol 47 (2) ◽  
pp. 140-152
Author(s):  
Eric Robinson
Keyword(s):  
Twentieth Century ◽  
Jesus Christ ◽  
Cultural Engagement ◽  
Mission Theology ◽  
Mission Of God ◽  
The World ◽  
The Church ◽  
Do So

There is a tension for the church between cultural engagement and maintaining faithful witness to the gospel of Jesus Christ. It is important that the church both acknowledges and wrestles with this tension. As the church exists in the world, it must continue to discern what faithful participation within culture looks like. It also must consider the question of identity—that is, in what ways cultural engagement is core to who the church is called to be. To state it in a different way, if engagement with the world is central to the church’s participation in the mission of God, then it must discern how to do so in a way that is faithful to that mission. M.M. Thomas and Lesslie Newbigin were two important twentieth-century voices in the development of mission theology and a missional understanding of the church. In their dialogue entitled “Baptism, the Church, and Koinonia,” Thomas and Newbigin look to shape a more constructive understanding of the church’s calling and identity as it seeks clarity in how to engage with culture and remain faithful to its gospel witness. The church has always found itself in the world, a world which God loves in Jesus Christ. Any congregation which seeks to be faithful to the gospel must consider what it means to be Jesus’ witness in the world. This article will consider the cultural witness and identity of the church in light of the Thomas–Newbigin discussion, while also drawing from the wider work of both authors.

scholarly journals Konversi di Kalangan Orang Percaya: Analisis Biblika Kata “Murtad” Menurut Ibrani 3:12

2021 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Paulus Kunto Baskoro
Keyword(s):  
End Of Life ◽  
Jesus Christ ◽  
Future Study ◽  
Relevant Literature ◽  
Biblical Studies ◽  
Family Work ◽  
The Face ◽  
Special Concern ◽  
The Church ◽  
Descriptive Method

ABSTRAKKeputusan untuk mengikut Yesus sebagai Tuhan dan Juruselamat seharusnya sudah final bagi setiap orang percaya. Tentunya ada banyak tantangan dalam kehidupan seseorang dalam mengikut Yesus dan ini yang disebut sebagai proses kehidupan. Proses kehidupan bisa terjadi dalam keluarga, pekerjaan, jodoh, masa depan, studi, lingkungan, dll. Setiap orang percaya diharapkan menang menghadapi segala tantangan dan tetap setia dalam mengikut Yesus. Namun dalam kenyataannya, banyak di antara umat Kristen yang katanya sudah mengaku menerima Yesus, setia dalam ibadah, bahkan terlibat aktif dalam pelayanan di gereja lokal, tiba-tiba menyatakan diri menyangkal Yesus Kristus, serta tidak lagi menjadi bagian orang Kristen, dan akhirnya berpindah kepada keyakinan lain. Kemurtadan terjadi karena beberapa aspek yang sebetulnya tidak fundamental dalam kehidupan. Hal ini kiranya menjadi perhatian khusus, supaya setiap orang percaya dapat teguh dalam imannya kepada Yesus Kristus. Artikel ini menggunakan metode deskritif kualitatif berdasarkan kajian pustaka, dengan studi biblika atas Ibrani 3:12. Tujuan penulisan antara lain: Pertama, setiap orang percaya mengerti betul serta memahami bahwa mengikuti Yesus harus setia sampai akhir hidup. Kedua, mengerti secara jelas apa makna dari murtad dan tidak melakukannya. Ketiga, gereja-gereja dapat secara serius mengajarkan tentang kesungguhan dalam mengikut Yesus, sehingga murtad tidak banyak terjadi di antara orang Kristen. Temuan yang dikaji adalah sebuah pemahaman tentang kata konversi (“murtad”), dan ditutup dengan pesan agar kita senantiasa menjaga iman yang teguh dalam Yesus Kristus. ABSTRACTThe decision to follow Jesus as The Lord and The Savior should be final for every believer. There can be many challenges in the life of Jesus’s followers and this is called the process of life. The process of life can occur in family, work, mate, future, study and environment. Every believer is expected to overcome in the face of all challenges and always follow Jesus. But in reality, many Christians who claim to have accepted Jesus and be faithful in worship, and are even involved in various ministry, suddenly decide to deny Jesus Christ and become apostates and are no longer part of Christians, and eventually convert to other beliefs. Apostasy occurs because of some aspects that are not fundamental in life. This is a special concern, so that every believer can keep a firm faith in his/her accompaniment to Jesus Christ. This writing uses a descriptive method research based on relevant literature, and supported by biblical studies of Letters to Hebrew 3:12. The goal here is that trough this article: First, every believer fully understands that following Jesus must be faithful to the end of life. Second, he/she clearly understands what apostasy means and not do it. Third, the church can teach about why one shall be serious in following Jesus, so that apostasies do not occur much among Christian believers. The findings here include understanding the meaning of conversion word (“apostate”), and a few messages for believers on how to maintain a strong life in Jesus Christ.

scholarly journals Bergoglio among the Phenomenologists: Encounter, Otherness, and Church in Evangelii gaudium and Amoris laetitia

Open Theology ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 316-324
Author(s):  
Kristóf Oltvai
Keyword(s):  
Jesus Christ ◽  
Moral Theology ◽  
The Other ◽  
Moral Norms ◽  
Face To Face ◽  
The Gaze ◽  
Theological Turn ◽  
The Face ◽  
The Church ◽  
Amoris Laetitia

Abstract Because Jorge Bergoglio’s (Pope Francis’s) pontifical texts depart from his predecessor’s Thomistic vocabulary, critics claim his works deploy an “improvisational” style. Closer analysis reveals, however, that Francis deploys the terminology of French phenomenology after the “theological turn.” In fact, Evangelii gaudium and Amoris laetitia frame the event of interpersonal encounter using three concepts drawn from Emmanuel Levinas’s and Jean-Luc Marion’s philosophical projects: the gaze, the face, and the other. Without ruling out a direct textual influence, I argue that Bergoglio’s theology of encounter highlights recent phenomenology’s implications for Catholic moral theology and ecclesiology. Faith is born of an encounter with the merciful gaze of a specific other - Jesus Christ. The Church, as the community that bears witness to this gaze, is thus called to eniconize this same gaze for “the least of these” (Matt 25:40). Not obviating the need for moral precepts, the encounter with the particular other becomes the condition of their possibility; moral norms only cohere within the context of the pastoral “face-to-face.” The main ecclesiological consequence of the “pastoral turn” Bergoglio initiates is thus a “kerygmatic hermeneutic” of the Church: the community of believers turns outward to encounter the other in mercy, evangelizing by example and charity.

Mormonism (or the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints)

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Terryl Givens
Keyword(s):  
Jesus Christ ◽  
First Century ◽  
Latter Day Saints ◽  
Religious Traditions ◽  
Book Of Mormon ◽  
The Face ◽  
Religious Sect ◽  
Twenty First Century ◽  
The Church

Mormonism, or the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, is America's most successful-and most misunderstood-home grown religion. The church today boasts more than 15 million members worldwide, a remarkable feat in the face of increasing secularity. The growing presence of Mormonism shows no signs of abating, as the makeup of its membership becomes progressively diverse. The heightened contemporary relevance and increasingly global membership of the Church solidifies Mormonism as a religious sect much deserving of awareness. Covering the origins, history, and modern challenges of the church, Mormonism: What Everyone Needs to Know offers readers a brief, authoritative guide to one of the fastest growing faith groups of the twenty-first century in a reader-friendly format, providing answers to questions such as: What circumstances gave rise to the birth of Mormonism? Why was Utah chosen as a place of refuge? Do you have to believe the Book of Mormon to be a Latter-day Saint? Why do women not hold the priesthood? How wealthy is the church and how much are top leaders paid? Written by a believer and the premier scholar of the Latter-day Saints faith, this remarkably readable introduction provides a sympathetic but unstinting account of one of the few religious traditions to maintain its vitality and growth in an era of widespread disaffiliation.

The Church as a Sacrament in a Time of Pandemic: The Philippine Experience

2020 ◽  
Vol 26 (3) ◽  
pp. 261-280
Author(s):  
Rhoderick John Suarez Abellanosa
Keyword(s):  
Catholic Church ◽  
Religious Affiliation ◽  
Essential Element ◽  
Roman Catholic ◽  
The Philippines ◽  
Social Instability ◽  
Presence Of God ◽  
The Face ◽  
The Church ◽  
The Catholic Church

The declaration of enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) in various provinces and cities in the Philippines did not impede the Catholic Church from celebrating its sacraments and popular devotions. Mired with poverty and various forms of economic and social limitations, the presence of God for Filipinos is an essential element in moving forward and surviving in a time of pandemic. Predominantly Roman Catholic in religious affiliation, seeking the face of God has been part of Filipinos' lives whenever a serious disaster would strike. This essay presents how the clergy, religious and lay communities in the Philippines have innovatively and creatively sustained treasured religious celebrations as a sign of communion and an expression of faith. In addition to online Eucharistic celebrations that are more of a privilege for some, culturally contextualised efforts were made during the Lenten Season and even on Sundays after Easter. This endeavour ends with a reflection on the Church as the sacrament of God in a time of pandemic. Pushed back to their homes, deprived of life's basic necessities and facing threats of social instability, unemployment and hunger, Filipinos through their innovative celebrations find in their communion with their Church the very presence of God acting significantly in their lives.

The Samarin Family and the Parish Question in the Russian Empire. 1860s–1910s

2019 ◽  
Vol 54 ◽  
pp. 235-246
Author(s):  
Alexey L. Beglov
Keyword(s):  
Twentieth Century ◽  
Russian Empire ◽  
Public Discussion ◽  
The Public ◽  
The Social ◽  
Church Life ◽  
The Russian Empire ◽  
In The Beginning ◽  
The Church ◽  
Do So

The article examines the contribution of the representatives of the Samarin family to the development of the Parish issue in the Russian Empire in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The issue of expanding the rights of the laity in the sphere of parish self-government was one of the most debated problems of Church life in that period. The public discussion was initiated by D.F. Samarin (1827-1901). He formulated the “social concept” of the parish and parish reform, based on Slavophile views on society and the Church. In the beginning of the twentieth century his eldest son F.D. Samarin who was a member of the Special Council on the development the Orthodox parish project in 1907, and as such developed the Slavophile concept of the parish. In 1915, A.D. Samarin, who took up the position of the Chief Procurator of the Most Holy Synod, tried to make his contribution to the cause of the parish reforms, but he failed to do so due to his resignation.

The Prophetic Voice of the Church in a Democratic South Africa – A Theological Reflection

2018 ◽  
Vol 15 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Lufuluvhi Maria Mudimeli
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Economic Transformation ◽  
The State ◽  
Black Liberation ◽  
South Africans ◽  
Black Liberation Theology ◽  
Prophetic Voice ◽  
The Face ◽  
The Church

This article is a reflection on the role and contribution of the church in a democratic South Africa. The involvement of the church in the struggle against apartheid is revisited briefly. The church has played a pivotal and prominent role in bringing about democracy by being a prophetic voice that could not be silenced even in the face of death. It is in this time of democracy when real transformation is needed to take its course in a realistic way, where the presence of the church has probably been latent and where it has assumed an observer status. A look is taken at the dilemmas facing the church. The church should not be bound and taken captive by any form of loyalty to any political organisation at the expense of the poor and the voiceless. A need for cooperation and partnership between the church and the state is crucial at this time. This paper strives to address the role of the church as a prophetic voice in a democratic South Africa. Radical economic transformation, inequality, corruption, and moral decadence—all these challenges hold the potential to thwart our young democracy and its ideals. Black liberation theology concepts are employed to explore how the church can become prophetically relevant in democracy. Suggestions are made about how the church and the state can best form partnerships. In avoiding taking only a critical stance, the church could fulfil its mandate “in season and out of season” and continue to be a prophetic voice on behalf of ordinary South Africans.

Challenging Gender Hierarchies in Narratives of the Nation: Representations of Women in Zintgraff and the Battle of Mankon and Hard Choice

Imbizo ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Naomi Epongse Nkealah ◽  
Olutoba Gboyega Oluwasuji
Keyword(s):  
The Other ◽  
Literary Texts ◽  
Gender Differentiation ◽  
Hard Choice ◽  
Other Hand ◽  
Gender Hierarchies ◽  
The Face ◽  
The One ◽  
Representations Of Women ◽  
Do So

Ideas of nationalisms as masculine projects dominate literary texts by African male writers. The texts mirror the ways in which gender differentiation sanctions nationalist discourses and in turn how nationalist discourses reinforce gender hierarchies. This article draws on theoretical insights from the work of Anne McClintock and Elleke Boehmer to analyse two plays: Zintgraff and the Battle of Mankon by Bole Butake and Gilbert Doho and Hard Choice by Sunnie Ododo. The article argues that women are represented in these two plays as having an ambiguous relationship to nationalism. On the one hand, women are seen actively changing the face of politics in their societies, but on the other hand, the means by which they do so reduces them to stereotypes of their gender.

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