scholarly journals The Priest of Han as a Theme in the Christian-Shamanist Interfaith Dialogue

2018 ◽  
Vol 32 (3) ◽  
pp. 247
Author(s):  
Won-Don Kang

In the article I would see into the ‘priest of han’ as a theme which Nam-dong Suh, one of the fathers of the Minjung theology, has developed, and suggest how he has made a creative and critical encounter with the shamanistic hanpuri. First, I examine in the first step how influential the shamanism is still in Korean society. In this connection I would investigate briefly how the shamanism is incorporated in Korean Protestantism. Second, I explain han and hanpuri in the context of Korean shamanism. Third, I analyze how the Minjung theology has employed the themes of han and hanpuri. Lastly, I give some suggestions about a spiritual formation for the ministry. From the Christian encounter with the shamanism I draw a few consequences. First of all, I suggest that Christian minister should learn something from the attitude of shamans towards the weak and oppressed. They have “a special predilection for the weak and oppressed” (I. M. Lewis) and are ready to be in solidarity with others in suffering. Of course, Christian minister need not to suffer the initiation sickness like shamans, but they must be trained to attain a spiritual competency to sympathize and to be in solidarity with the little people in suffering. Second, I think that the church should be earnest to the priesthood of han. It is not just the duty of the minister. The priesthood of han should be reinterpreted from the perspective of the priesthood of all believers.

2014 ◽  
Vol 74 (2) ◽  
pp. 118-126 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bernd Oberdorfer

AbstractThe relevance of the reformation for the development of modern liberty rights is much debated. Although the Protestant Reformers fought for the »Freedom of a Christian« against religious patronization, they were not tolerant in a modern sense of the term. However, the Reformation released long-term impulses which contributed to the origin and formation of a modern civil society, e. g. the respect for the autonomy of the individual over against the church, the passion for education, the emphasis on the »universal priesthood of all believers«, and the appreciation of civil professions. Long historical learning processes were necessary, though, until the Protestant churches acknowledged and adopted modern liberty rights, a participatory democracy and a pluralistic society as genuine forms of expression of a Protestant ethos.


2018 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 25-33
Author(s):  
Matthew Erickson

This article examines the role of the Christian, or liturgical, year as one of the simplest yet most powerful ways of spiritually forming people, both individually and corporately, to become more like Jesus. Many Christians and churches are subtly shaped more by the time structures of the average work week or cultural holidays than the life of Christ or the church. The tendency to address individual spiritual formation focuses largely on cognitivist approaches to change or individual formative practices. However, the author explores several ways in which the Christian year offers a wholistic approach to life formation through the steady, time-bound patterns of the Christian year. Engaging both the conscious and unconscious self in cognitive practices and steady habits, both the individual Christian and local congregations are trained toward Christlikeness.


2017 ◽  
Vol 38 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Timothy A. Van Aarde

The missional church is a new consciousness which has been raised for the missionary sending of the church in the West to be a witness for the Kingdom of God in its own context. The missional church has returned mission to the centre of ecclesiology. A structural functioning of the missional church and its relation to existing church structures are essential to rescue the missional church from simply becoming the latest fad. The present missional church conversation in advocating for an organic church structure undermines existing institutional church structures. A dynamic functioning church structure in which the inward and outward dimensions of the church�s single ecclesiological structure are able to function in a cohesive unity is set out in Ephesians. The function of the gifted persons in the task of equipping of the believers to fulfil their missional calling, vocation and function is paramount to the healthy integration of the missional church model in existing mission and church paradigms and for it to function within the framework of existing church structures.Interdisciplinary and/or interdisciplinary implications: The article suggests that a dynamic unity exists between the ecclesiology of the church and missional structure and function of the church. The article explores interdisciplinary implications from the fields of the New Testament and missiology.


2019 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 81
Author(s):  
K Katarina ◽  
I Putu Ayub Darmawan

This article discusses spiritual formation and God's Word in reformation. The formulation of the problem is the relationship between spiritual formation and God's Word in reformation. The author uses literature studies to collect information about spiritual formation and God's Word in reformation. Spirit for sola scriptura has produced a change in the life of the church at that moment. All teachings, church traditions, and practical actions which is conducted by church member must be tested under the Word of God. In the present context, church who facing various challenges related to moral life, teaching, and practical actions must return to the principles of word of God. To build a spiritual life, we must start from the Bible that is interpreted correctly, which then becomes a theological development, which then influences the concept of believer's thinking and practical actions. Artikel ini membahas tentang formasi rohani dan Firman Tuhan dalam reformasi. Rumusan masalah penelitian ini adalah bagaimana kaitan antara formasi rohani dan firman Tuhan dalam reformasi? Penulis menggunakan studi pustaka untuk menggali informasi tentang formasi rohani dan Firman Tuhan dalam reformasi. Semangat untuk sola scriptura menghasilkan perubahan dalam kehidupan gereja pada masa itu. Segala pengajaran, tradisi gereja, dan tindakan praktis yang dilakukan oleh setiap anggota gereja harus diuji di bawah Firman Tuhan. Dalam konteks masa kini, menghadapi berbagai tantangan gereja baik yang terkait dengan kehidupan moral maupun pengajaran dan tindakan praktis, gereja harus kembali pada prinsip Firman Tuhan. Untuk membangun kehidupan rohani maka harus dimulai dari Alkitab yang ditafsirkan secara benar yang kemudian menjadi sebuah bangunan teologi yang kemudian mempengaruhi konsep berpikir orang percaya dan tindakan praktis.


1989 ◽  
Vol 45 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
A. D. Pont

The priesthood of all believers as seen by Calvin The Lutheran thesis of the priesthood of all believers was also taken over by John Calvin. The position of this thesis in Calvin’s theology is examined and it is shown that Calvin does not trea t this thesis as a separate statement. A short introduction is given of the main points Calvin explores when he discusses the meaning of the thesis. In the end it is shown that Calvin developed the thesis of the universal priesthood in such a low-key form to preserve the order in the Church and the prime position of the preaching of the gospel.


2017 ◽  
Vol 26 (1) ◽  
pp. 125-152
Author(s):  
Bob L. Johnson ◽  
Rickie D. Moore

In an effort to move toward a more robust theology and practice of spiritual formation, this paper explores the multi-dimensional, multi-level character of spiritual formation and its implications for spiritual leadership. Convinced that Pentecostal theology provides a means for enriching and even correcting popular notions of spiritual formation, these purposes are pursued within this interpretive context. Much has been written on the soul care of individuals in the Church, less on the nature and dynamics of soul care at the corporate level. It is argued that the individual and corporate levels of spiritual formation share a nested, reciprocal, and symbiotic relationship. Understanding and attending to this relationship with greater intentionality places leaders in a position to develop more informed strategies to facilitate the ongoing transformation of individuals, congregations, and denominations in their care.


2019 ◽  
Vol 88 (2) ◽  
pp. 440-464
Author(s):  
Martin Nykvist

Around the turn of the twentieth century, there was a growing concern within the Church of Sweden that the church was, to a too large extent, managed by the clergy alone. In an attempt to give the laity a more active and influential role in the Church of Sweden, the Brethren of the Church was established in 1918. Since it was only possible for men to become members, the organization simultaneously addressed a different issue: the view that women had become a much too salient group in church life. This process was described by the Brethren and similar groups as a “feminization” of the church, a phrasing which later came to be used by historians and theologians to explain changes in Western Christianity in the nineteenth century. In other words, the Brethren considered questions of gender vital to their endeavor to create a church in which the laity held a more prominent position. This article analyzes how the perceived feminization and its assumed connection to secularization caused enhanced attempts to uphold and strengthen gender differentiation in the Church of Sweden in the early twentieth century. By analyzing an all-male lay organization, the importance of homosociality in the construction of Christian masculinities will also be discussed.


2000 ◽  
Vol 28 (2) ◽  
pp. 199-207 ◽  
Author(s):  
John S. Hammett

This article addresses the relationship between churches and parachurch groups and argues for a servant-partnership approach. With this model parachurch organizations work as legitimate and valuable partners with churches in ministry, but possessing a status subordinate to that of churches. This model is based on a claim of theological priority for the church, in both local and denominational expressions, and the doctrine of the priesthood of all believers.


1985 ◽  
Vol 22 ◽  
pp. 285-297
Author(s):  
Susan Hardman

The sacrificial rites of the Old Testament are ‘neither dark nor dumb, but mystical and significant, and fit to stir up the dull mind of man to the remembrance of his duty before God.’ So preached a nonconformist, Samuel Mather, in the 1660s, recalling with a deliberate or unconscious twist a phrase used in the Book of Common Prayer to defend contemporary rites of which he disapproved. The Reformation that set aside the ascetic ideal of monasticism also saw a revaluation of the place of sacrifice in the life of the Church. While its role in Protestant activity was diminished by the rejection of the Mass as a propitiatory act, teaching about the priesthood of all believers prepared for a new emphasis on the devotion and duty of Christians as ‘spiritual sacrifice’; an emphasis informed in puritanism by lessons from the types of the Old Testament. Much is known about puritan religious practice; and of puritan interest in typology, stimulated by Calvin’s conviction of the unity of the Old and New Testaments – the same covenant present in each, accommodated to the capacity of a ‘Church under age’ in Israel. But familiar themes combined can give fresh perspectives: here their combination illustrates one of the ways in which the ascetic ideal was being reformulated among protestants of the third and fourth generation in seventeenth-century England. Sacrifice was not often a dominant theme in their description of the Christian life, and yet, despite an untidiness of evidence, it is clear that certain allusions to Israelite sacrifice were conventional, part of a common rhetoric, a common and powerful imagery. Some representative examples of the conventions follow, organised around simple questions. What were ‘spiritual sacrifices’ and what practical exercises of devotion and discipline were associated with them? By what means and in what manner should they be offered?


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