scholarly journals Revisiting the Mystery of Life in the Hereafter: Reflections of Fr Augustine Urayai of Zimbabwe

2021 ◽  
Vol 47 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Sekgothe Mokgoatšana ◽  
Misheck Mudyiwa
Keyword(s):  
Roman Catholic ◽  
Theological Reflection ◽  
Upward Movement ◽  
Main Argument ◽  
Life After Death ◽  
Christian Anthropology ◽  
Pass Through ◽  
Roman Catholic Priest ◽  
Immortality Of The Soul ◽  
Transitional Phase

The quest for knowledge regarding life after death is indispensable and paramount to most cultures and religions, including African spiritualties and mystery cults. Fr Augustine Urayai was a Roman Catholic priest and exorcist and this paper critically examines his theological reflections on death and life after death, particularly his idea of the “liminal/transitional phase” in the upward movement of spirits from earth to heaven for restoration and re-unification with God. The compulsory “liminal phase” or “zones” (magedhe) where all spirits pass through before their fate is ascertained comprises the resting, treatment, judgment, and feasting respectively. The article first examines the milieu in which Fr Urayai’s theology emerged and developed. As a way of analysis, it explores the age-old question of the immortality of the soul and its link with other religions, cultural and philosophical traditions. As it probes deeper, the article critically examines the ramifications and impact of Fr Urayai’s new theology on the Zimbabwe Christian landscape. The main argument developed in this article is that, even though Fr Urayai’s theory of life in the hereafter appears to be a breakaway from celebrated mainstream theological formulations, it has the potential to hatch useful insights into possible new areas of theological reflection in the ongoing discourses on the link between Christian anthropology and different African spiritualties.

Comparative MMPI-2 Norms between Free and United Methodist, Catholic Priest, Episcopal, and Presbyterian Ministry Candidates

2021 ◽  
pp. 009164712110494
Author(s):  
Amanda Edwards-Stewart ◽  
Tim Hoyt ◽  
Sam Rennebohm ◽  
Fiona B. Kurtz ◽  
John S. Charleson ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
United Methodist ◽  
Social Relationships ◽  
Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory ◽  
Roman Catholic ◽  
Religious Groups ◽  
Catholic Priests ◽  
Catholic Priest ◽  
Free Methodist ◽  
Scale Scores ◽  
Roman Catholic Priest

The Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI-2) is often utilized to assess the suitability of ordination candidates by a religious organization. Published MMPI-2 scale scores for Roman Catholic priest, Episcopal, Presbyterians, and United Methodist ministry samples exist. However, previous research has not provided MMPI-2 scale scores for Free Methodist ordination candidates and has not provided a statistical comparison of scale scores between religious groups. The this study reports on MMPI-2 scale scores for Free Methodist ordination candidates and compares this group’s scores to Roman Catholic priests, Episcopal and Presbyterian ordination candidates, and a United Methodist sample. We found statistically significant differences between Free Methodist and Catholic Priests, Episcopal, Presbyterian ordination candidates on MMPI-2 Hs, Pd, Pt, and Sc scales and L, Pd, Mf, Pa, Pt, Sc, and Ma differences between Free and United Methodist groups. These results seem to indicate that Free Methodist candidates have fewer non-organic health concerns, less obsessive thoughts, positive social relationships, and more readily submit to authority when contracted with other comparative ordination candidates or ministry sample.

Naked or Clothed? Eschatology and the Doctrine of Creation

2009 ◽  
Vol 45 ◽  
pp. 1-19 ◽  
Author(s):  
Frances Young
Keyword(s):  
The Other ◽  
Early Church ◽  
Eastern Orthodox ◽  
Greek Mythology ◽  
Apocalyptic Literature ◽  
Life After Death ◽  
Full Circle ◽  
The New Testament ◽  
Doctrine Of Creation ◽  
Immortality Of The Soul

A Paper on life after death in the early church should probably begin with the underworld: Sheol in the Hebrew Bible, Hades, in Greek mythology, with parallels in ancient Mesopotamia, Egypt and Persia. It should reflect on the universally connected theme of judgment and its importance for theodicy, and address the wide variety of beliefs discernible in the New Testament and its background, especially in the apocalyptic literature. It should consider the so-called intermediate state, and the supposed distinction between the Greek concept of the immortality of the soul and the Hebrew idea of resurrection: which takes us full circle, since the latter notion assumes the picture of shades in the underworld brought back to full-bodied living – as indeed the traditional Anastasis icon of the Eastern Orthodox tradition makes dramatically clear, Christ springing up from the grave and hauling Adam up with one hand and, often though not invariably, Eve with the other.

Christian Materialism and the Prospect of Immortality

2019 ◽  
pp. 148-161
Author(s):  
Michelle Pfeffer
Keyword(s):  
Natural Philosophy ◽  
The Body ◽  
Christian Faith ◽  
Life After Death ◽  
Immortality Of The Soul

In the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries at least thirty English writers developed a materialist position that they argued was consistent with their Christian faith. While their heterodox ideas were connected with developments in natural philosophy and medicine, what they found more pressing was arriving at a genuinely biblical view of the person. These writers attempted to recover what they saw as ‘true’ Hebraic anthropology, which understood the soul to be mortal and material, and held that the resurrection of the body, rather than the immortality of the soul, provided assurance of life after death. These writers deployed existing exegetical methods and hoped to defend Christianity by reforming corrupt doctrines. Thus, while Christianity provided many in this period with reasons to attack materialism, it also provided many with motives to be materialists.

Learning from a Medieval Hindu Theologian’s Manual of Daily Worship: A Counter-Intuitive Relevance

2019 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 48-63
Author(s):  
Francis X. Clooney
Keyword(s):  
Roman Catholic ◽  
Liturgical Theology ◽  
Hindu Tradition ◽  
Catholic Priest ◽  
Roman Catholic Priest

The Manual of Daily Worship (Nityagrantham) of Rāmānuja (1017–1137) is a work of applied, liturgical theology, in a major Hindu tradition. It describes the daily worship of an advanced devotee, melding together purifications, ritual offerings, recitation of mantras, meditations, and acts of surrender to God. As such, it richly fills out the spiritual and intellectual profile of Rāmānuja as an exemplar of integral spiritual, intellectual, and practical religion. This essay argues that he thus has much to offer to our reflection on religions and religions across Asia, and more particularly, offers fruitful insights and challenges regarding how to understand, study, and practice religion even now. The author is an American Roman Catholic priest and a Jesuit, who himself has learned deeply from Hinduism and from Rāmānuja’s tradition over the decades.

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