scholarly journals The concept of «warrant» of the christian belief in Alvin Plantinga`S theistic philosophy

2020 ◽  
Vol 23 (4) ◽  
pp. 108-117
Author(s):  
Mariia Filatova
Keyword(s):  
Holy Spirit ◽  
General Characteristic ◽  
Human Interaction ◽  
Main Function ◽  
Christian Belief ◽  
Cognitive Faculties ◽  
The Holy Spirit ◽  
Theistic Belief ◽  
The One ◽  
Basic Beliefs

The study focuses on the concept of warranted Christian belief, which was introduced by A. Plantinga. The purpose of the research is to consider the warrant as a property of the Christian belief, moreover through which it can become knowledge. The study scrutinizes the possibility of accepting faith without theistic arguments. The author analyzes A. Plantinga's classification of a warrant, for example, deontologism, coherentism and reliabilism. The author gives a general characteristic of warranted belief, moreover, the study stresses that belief has a warrant for a person if it is produced by cognitive faculties functioning properly, if a belief is formed in an appropriate epistemic environment, if cognitive faculties are operating according to a design plan reliably aimed at truth, if a person has no defeaters for that belief. The article emphasizes that if A. Plantinga's A/C model is true, then theistic belief is truly warranted, consequently a warrant of theistic belief depends on the proof of the existence of God. The author of the research contends that beliefs can have different degrees of the warrant, and if this degree becomes sufficient, belief becomes knowledge. Moreover, the author points out that one of the basic beliefs admitted by A. Plantinga is belief in God. The study analyzes four types of human interaction with God: internal instigation of the Holy Spirit, perception of God (sensus divinitatis), Holy Scripture, and faith. The main function of the internal instigation of the Holy Spirit is to inspire a human to have faith in God. Moreover, the author emphasizes that Christian beliefs, acquired by the internal instigation of the Holy Spirit, are not only warranted but have sufficient justification to be knowledge. The complex action of the perception of God and internal instigation of the Holy Spirit provide reliable, properly basic beliefs that are referred to the truth written in the Holy Gospel. As a result, the author comes to the conclusion that there are no convincing arguments for the Christian belief for those who have not accepted it. In the conclusion, the author points out that forming an A/C model, A. Plantinga creates a double problem, on the one hand, his goal is to warrant the truth of the theistic belief, and he performs his task, but, on the other hand, he tries to demonstrate warrant of the Christian belief, and presents the same opportunity to representatives of other theistic religions. Thus, instead of arguing with atheism, A. Plantinga turns to a discussion with non-Christian theistic religions.

The New Testament and Intellectual Humility

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Grant Macaskill
Keyword(s):  
New Testament ◽  
Jesus Christ ◽  
Holy Spirit ◽  
Intellectual Humility ◽  
Christian Communities ◽  
The New Testament ◽  
The Holy Spirit ◽  
Sacrificial Love ◽  
The One ◽  
The Mind

This book examines how the New Testament scriptures might form and foster intellectual humility within Christian communities. It is informed by recent interdisciplinary interest in intellectual humility, and concerned to appreciate the distinctive representations of the virtue offered by the New Testament writers on their own terms. It argues that the intellectual virtue is cast as a particular expression of the broader Christian virtue of humility, which proceeds from the believer’s union with Christ, through which personal identity is reconstituted by the operation of the Holy Spirit. Hence, we speak of ‘virtue’ in ways determined by the acting presence of Jesus Christ, overcoming sin and evil in human lives and in the world. The Christian account of the virtue is framed by this conflict, as believers within the Christian community struggle with natural arrogance and selfishness, and come to share in the mind of Christ. The new identity that emerges creates a fresh openness to truth, as the capacity of the sinful mind to distort truth is exposed and challenged. This affects knowledge and perception, but also volition: for these ancient writers, a humble mind makes good decisions that reflect judgments decisively shaped by the sacrificial love of Jesus Christ. By presenting ‘humility of mind’ as a characteristic of the One who is worshipped—Jesus Christ—the New Testament writers insist that we acknowledge the virtue not just as an admission of human deficiency or limitation, but as a positive affirmation of our rightful place within the divine economy.

scholarly journals John Calvin on the gifts of the Holy Spirit in his commentary on Acts

2017 ◽  
Vol 82 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Erik van Alten
Keyword(s):  
Holy Spirit ◽  
Initial Phase ◽  
Human Error ◽  
John Calvin ◽  
Complete Picture ◽  
General Sense ◽  
The Holy Spirit ◽  
Book Of Acts ◽  
The One ◽  
The Church

John Calvin is often considered to have taught the cessation of the extraordinary gifts of the Holy Spirit. This certainly does not give the complete picture of how Calvin wrestled with those passages from Scripture which deal with the extraordinary gifts. In his commentary on the book of Acts Calvin makes a conscious effort to show that in most of the cases where the gifts of the Spirit are mentioned, the focus is not on the gifts in a general sense, but in an extraordinary sense. These extraordinary gifts had been limited to the initial phase of the church. The reasons that Calvin provides for this cessation is somewhat ambiguous. On the one hand Calvin indicates a very specific, divine purpose for the gifts, which limits its usefulness and existence until the point when the purpose had been achieved. However, there are also passages where one gets the impression that the cessation of the gifts was not necessarily divinely intended, but was due to human error. Of great importance is the way Calvin subsequently applies these texts to the readers of his own day. Johannes Calvyn oor die gawes van die Heilige Gees in sy kommentaar op Handelinge Dikwels word aangeneem dat Johannes Calvyn die beëindiging van die buitengewone gawes van die Heilige Gees voorgestaan het. Dit gee egter nie die volle prentjie van hoe Calvyn met daardie Skrifgedeeltes, waarin die buitengewone gawes behandel word, geworstel het nie. In sy kommentaar op die boek Handelinge wys Calvyn bewustelik daarop dat in die meeste gevalle waar die gawes van die Gees genoem word, die fokus nie op die gawes in ’n algemene sin is nie, maar eerder op die gawes in ’n buitengewone sin. Hierdie buitengewone gawes is beperk tot die beginfase van die kerk. Die redes wat Calvyn vir hierdie beëindiging aanvoer, is egter dubbelsinnig. Aan die eenkant wys Calvyn op ’n baie spesifieke, Goddelike doel met die gawes, waardeur hulle bruikbaarheid en voortbestaan beperk word tot die tyd toe die doel bereik is. Aan die anderkant, egter, is daar ook gedeeltes wat die indruk skep dat die beëindiging van die gawes nie noodwendig Goddelik bepaal is nie, maar ’n gevolg was van menslike sonde. Van groot belang is hoe Calvyn hierdie tekste vervolgens toepas op die lesers van sy eie tyd.

scholarly journals Martin Luther and Justification

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Olli-Pekka Vainio
Keyword(s):  
Holy Spirit ◽  
Sacramental Theology ◽  
Union With Christ ◽  
Good Works ◽  
Essential Question ◽  
The Holy Spirit ◽  
The Media ◽  
In Christ ◽  
Well Function ◽  
The One

The doctrine of justification is an account of how God removes the guilt of the sinner and receives him or her back to communion with God. The essential question concerns how the tension between human sin and divine righteousness is resolved. Luther’s central claim is that faith alone justifies (that is, makes a person righteous in the eyes of God) the one who believes in Christ as a result of hearing the gospel. This faith affects the imputation of Christ’s righteousness that covers the sins of the believer. In contrast to medieval doctrines of justification, Luther argues that Christ himself, not love, is the form, or the essence, of faith. Love and good works are the necessary consequences of justification even if they are not necessary for justification. However, the inclination to love and perform good works is present in the believer through Christ, who is present in faith, but these characteristics do not as such, as renewed human qualities, have justifying power. Luther’s doctrine of justification cannot be classified with simplistic categories like “forensic” and “effective” (see the section “Review of the literature” below). Often these terms are used to refer to differing interpretations of justification. However, several recent traditions of scholarship perceive this categorical differentiation as simplistic and misleading. Instead, these terms may well function to designate different aspects of God’s salvific action. In the narrow sense, justification may refer to the forensic and judicial action of declaring the sinner free from his or her guilt. A broader sense would include themes and issues from other theological doctrines offering a holistic and effective account of the event of justification, in which the sinner believes in Christ, is united with Christ’s righteousness, and receives the Holy Spirit. Depending on the context, Luther may use both narrow and broad definitions of justification. Here Luther’s doctrine of justification is approached from a broader perspective. On the one hand, justification means imputation of Christ’s alien righteousness to the believer without merits. On the other hand, faith involves effective change in the believer that enables one to believe in the first place. This change is not meritorious because it is effected by Christ indwelling in the believer through faith. Thus, Christ gives two things to the sinner: gratia, that is, the forgiveness of sins, and donum, that is, Christ himself. The media through which Christ offers his mercy are the word and sacraments. Thus, Luther’s sacramental theology, Christology, and soteriology form a coherent whole. Because justification involves union with Christ, which means participation in Christ’s divine nature, Luther’s doctrine of justification has common elements with the idea of deification.

Is it possible to discover ‘the one’ intended meaning of the biblical authors?

2014 ◽  
Vol 67 (2) ◽  
pp. 178-194
Author(s):  
C. Jason White
Keyword(s):  
Holy Spirit ◽  
Biblical Studies ◽  
Intended Meaning ◽  
Major Purpose ◽  
The Holy Spirit ◽  
Doctrine Of The Trinity ◽  
History Of ◽  
Objective Meaning ◽  
The One ◽  
Reference Tools

AbstractA major pursuit of biblical studies, especially since the dawn of the Enlightenment, has been to discover the one, intended, objective meaning of the various biblical texts. Over the last several hundred years, a plethora of methodological paradigms, biblical language and reference tools, historical studies, sociological analyses, comparative linguistic investigations, and anthropological and cultural examinations have all been published through many outlets by a host of people for the purpose of finding THE meaning the biblical authors wished to convey to their respective audiences. Although the results of all these works have positively contributed to our knowledge of scripture in profound ways, the problem is this: none can claim that they have actually discovered this one objective meaning. This is not to say, however, that there are not better understandings of scripture which point more adequately to the originally intended meaning, but simply that the best anyone can do is interpret scripture. The consequence of interpretation, though, is the relativity of meaning. In other words, there are several interpretations of scripture which can validly point to the intended meaning of the biblical authors and texts. One purpose of this article, then, will be to explore why it is not possible to find the one intended meaning of scripture, by defining some key concepts (e.g. tradition and presupposition) in the work of Hans-Georg Gadamer, who is one of the most influential names in the history of philosophical hermeneutics of the twentieth century, as interpreted by Merold Westphal.Some scriptural interpreters, especially evangelicals, are frightened by the idea that biblical meaning is relative because such a pluralistic approach can lead quickly to the demise of biblical infallibility and authority. A second major purpose of this article will be to help ease such fear by offering a biblically grounded theological justification for the interpretative plurality of scripture by looking at the relativity of meaning through the lens of the doctrine of the Trinity. This justification will suggest that the more we rely upon the Holy Spirit and act out our faith in God through Jesus Christ in and outside of the church, the better our interpretation of scripture will become.

Fundamentalism or Tradition

2019 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Twentieth Century ◽  
Holy Spirit ◽  
The Real ◽  
The Holy Spirit ◽  
Modern Context ◽  
Ways Of Thinking ◽  
The One

Tradition, secularization and fundamentalism—all three categories are contested, yet in their contestation, they shape our sensibilities and are mutually implicated, the one with the others. The discussion around the mutually implicated meanings of the “secular” and “fundamentalism” bring to the foreground more than ever, and in a way unprecedented in the pre-modern context, the question of what it means to think and live as Tradition. The Orthodox theologians of the twentieth century, in particular, have always emphasized Tradition not as a dead letter but as a living presence of the Holy Spirit. But how can we discern when Tradition as living discernment is not fundamentalism? And what does it mean to think as a Tradition and live in Tradition when surrounded by something like the “secular”? The essays in this volume continue both the interrogation of the categories of the “secular” and “fundamentalism,” all the while either implicitly or explicitly exploring ways of thinking about tradition in relation to these interrogations. In this interrogation, however, one witnesses a consensus that whatever the secular or fundamentalism may mean, it is not Tradition, which is historical, particularistic, in motion, ambiguous and pluralistic, while simultaneously not being relativistic. If the wider debates about the secular and fundamentalism seem interminable and often frustrating, perhaps the real contribution of those discussions is a clearer sense of what it means to live and think like—to be as Tradition.

The Sunsum of Onyame: Akan Perspectives on an Ecological Pneumatology

2012 ◽  
Vol 6 (3) ◽  
pp. 251-261 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert Owusu Agyarko
Keyword(s):  
Holy Spirit ◽  
Theological Reflection ◽  
Natural State ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
The Holy Spirit ◽  
Dynamic Equivalent ◽  
The Many ◽  
The One

Abstract The Akan notion of sunsum may form the basis for an ecological pneumatology. Sunsum may be understood as the central, unifying vitality which integrates various elements in Akan thought. Amongst the Akan, God has Sunsum and anything which exists in its natural state has sunsum, a spark from God. The concept of sunsum expresses how the “one” (Onyame) and the “many” (nature including human beings) are related. It is the dynamic equivalent of the Holy Spirit in the Akan Twi Bible. Sunsum is energy, life, communicating itself and transcending itself. It is absolute spirit, who enlivens the whole universe. The Akan concept of sunsum suggests the possibility of a union of the concrete with the universal. The concept of sunsum may therefore enable one to speak of the Holy Spirit and its relation both to God and to nature. This proposal may also enable one to understand the Holy Spirit as cosmic in nature and as divine in being. This contribution offers theological reflection on the implications of the notion of sunsum for ecotheology.

scholarly journals „Związać mocarza”: starcie Jezusa i Belzebuba. Starożytna egzegeza Mt 12, 29 oraz tekstów paralelnych

Vox Patrum ◽  
2013 ◽  
Vol 59 ◽  
pp. 113-127
Author(s):  
Agnieszka Bastit-Kalinowska
Keyword(s):  
Present Article ◽  
Holy Spirit ◽  
Human Being ◽  
Early Christian ◽  
The Holy Spirit ◽  
Christian Literature ◽  
The One

Although Peter seems to echo the opinion commonly held when he says that Jesus „went about doing good” (Act 10, 38), Jesus was accused of „casting out demons by Beelzebub, the ruler of the demons” (Mt 12, 24). In answer, he pro­poses a very short parable, the one of the „Strong one” tied up to seize his goods (Mt 12, 29). The present article studies the influence of this verse in the early Christian literature. The victory of the Saviour over evil is interpreted as the result of a cosmic fight (Origen) or as the merciful redemption of the human being and his restoration and vivification by the Holy Spirit (Irenaeus).

scholarly journals Du, som går ud fra den levende Gud

1983 ◽  
Vol 35 (1) ◽  
pp. 42-68
Author(s):  
Peter Balslev-Clausen
Keyword(s):  
Holy Spirit ◽  
Early Summer ◽  
Anglo Saxon ◽  
Life And Death ◽  
The Holy Spirit ◽  
The One ◽  
The Devil

O Thou that dost Flow from the One Living God...By Peter Balslev-ClausenWhen Grundtvig produced his Song-Work for the Danish Church (1836-37), he based his choice of hymns for translation on the theory of the Seven Churches of Christendom, which he supported from the letters to the Churches in Revelation 2-3. Grundtvig identified the fourth Church in Thyatira with the Anglo- Saxon/English Church and altogether included 40 translations from Anglo-Saxon and English. Most of the English hymns that Grundtvig translated for inclusion were from his own time, including James Montgomery’s evangelical hymn ‘O Spirit of the Living God’ from 1823. Grundtvig translated this hymn as Du, som gaaer ud fra den levende Gud (O Thou that dost Flow from the One Living God), and placed it as number 360 in the section on Whitsun hymns.A comparison between Montgomery’s hymn and Grundtvig’s translation shows that Grundtvig has been both loyal to and free with his adaptation. He changes both the metre and the structure of the hymn: the metre is now dactyls for iambics, and the structure is altered from parallels in which the halves complement one another to a V-structure. These changes make the hymn more living and more dynamic. As regards language and content Grundtvig’s translation accords on a number of points with the translations placed immediately before this hymn, not least in the thematic distinctions between light and dark, life and death, God and the Devil. Montgomery’s hymn takes the form of a prayer and is kept in the imperative, whereas Grundtvig’s translation offers a number of interpolations in the indicative to delineate the divine and the human background for the prayer. An analysis of Grundtvig’s translation reveals that is interwoven to a much greater degree than Montgomery’s original with biblical references, partly general, partly taken from Easter and Whitsun sermon texts. There are a number of similarities between Grundtvig’s translations and his sermons, especially from Ascension Day to the First Sunday after Trinity, and in particular with regard to his thoughts on the Holy Spirit and rebirth. Finally on the basis of Grundtvig’s remarks to Nugent Wade, the English rector of Elsinore at the time, Grundtvig’s final words in verse 6 on ‘the heirs of damnation’, are compared with parallel declarations in the sermon from the early summer of 1837.‘O Thou that dost Flow from the One Living God’ is a good example of how Grundtvig’s hymns come into being in relation to everything else he is thinking and speaking about while he is writing them. At the same time we see how it is in the hymns, as in the rest of his poetry, that Grundtvig’s ideas and feelings find their clarified form. In the hymns he experienced the dramatic and liturgical unity with God and man and thus with himself, a unity to which his ecclesiastical and theoretical prose and his biblical reading led towards but could not in themselves attain. It is of no consequence in this connection whether the hymn is Grundtvig’s own or, as is the case with ‘O Thou that dost Flow from the One Living God’, an adaptation from a foreign original.Through his reworking of the hymn Grundtvig makes it his own, and a comparison with the original proves only how very independent he was in his hymn writing.

scholarly journals Synodality — Participation — Co-Responsibility. Remarks on the Determinants of the Aggiornamento of the Church Law

2019 ◽  
Vol 7 ◽  
pp. 95-114
Author(s):  
Andrzej Pastwa
Keyword(s):  
Holy Spirit ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
People Of God ◽  
Community Of Faith ◽  
The People ◽  
The Holy Spirit ◽  
Scientific Reflection ◽  
Church Law ◽  
The One ◽  
The Church

In the communio Ecclesiae reality, of a unitarian, charismatic, and institutiona structure, the crucial concepts of participation and co-responsibility are firmly anchored in the juridical and canonical discourse. This is the way in which the horizon of the subject matter reveals itself, the study of which — from the point of view of the title triad: synodality — participation — co-responsibility — will never lose its relevance. What is, at the same time, important is the idea of “synodality,” which is adequately recognized as the sacra potestas of a sacramental origin (ontological aspect), which gains the dynamism of libertas sacra (existential and dynamic aspect) through the charisms of the Holy Spirit, thus leading to the inseparability of its personal and synodal aspects. Therefore, in the attempt to illuminate the determinant of the aggiornamento of the Church law in this study, it was appropriate, on the one hand, to consistently refer to the essence of the idea of the communio hierarchica, according to which Christ makes selected servants participate in his authority by means of an office, the exercise of which always remains a diaconia in the community of faith. On the other hand, in reference to the contemporary understanding of communio fidelium, the axis of scientific reflection was to be the communion-creative phenomenon of charisms — gifts of the Holy Spirit that awaken in the People of God synodal co-responsibility for the good of the entire Church community. In both cases — without losing sight of the obvious truth that, in the sacramental structure of the Church (communio), both hierarchical and charismatic gifts converge in the service of the bishop, who updates — according to the logic of the Vaticanum II aggiormamento and the ecclesiological principles of the Council: collegiality, the title synodality and subsidiarity — the fullness of Christ’s service: as Prophet, Priest, and King.

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