scholarly journals Mupasi as cosmic s(S)pirit: The universe as a community of life

2017 ◽  
Vol 73 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Kuzipa M.B. Nalwamba
Keyword(s):  
Ecological Crisis ◽  
Christian Faith ◽  
Christian Tradition ◽  
Christian Belief ◽  
Intellectual Milieu ◽  
Theological Understanding ◽  
Ways Of Being ◽  
The Universe ◽  
Foundational Belief ◽  
Community Of Life

Mupasi recalls the belief that humans form part of the community of life within the realm of the cosmic spirit. The assertion seems like a truism that requires no further enunciation. However, belief in the Creator-Spirit, a pneuma-theological understanding of creation, is relatively young in the Christian tradition. In Colossians 1:15-20, Christ is presented as instrumental to creation. Christian tradition therefore tends to present creation in Christological terms. The foundational belief in Spirit-Creator-God has not historically undergirded Christian belief about creation. The Christian faith could therefore benefit from ‘companion’ views of creation in terms of the cosmic spirit. Mupasi is understood as cosmic spirit, the axis of the universe apprehended as an organic whole. The web of life was brought into being, is sustained by, and inhabited by Mupasi. This retrieval has continuities and discontinuities with Christian belief as Spirit-Creator-God. It is presented here as a notion that calls the Christian faith back to its originating intuitions about creation. Mupasi is appropriated within a pneuma-theological framework that addressed a pressing issue of our time, the global ecological crisis. Mupasi presents an ecological critique that is meaningful for a renewed appreciation of community beyond an anthropocentric focus. The cosmic relatedness brings a renewed vision of the universe as a cosmic community of the s(S)pirit. The cultural and intellectual milieu of Mupasi is undergirded by a relational conception of reality. It provides a critical lens with implications for ecclesiology that challenges the church’s self-understanding and ways of being.

Charles Williams’s Arthuriad: Mythic Vision and the Possibilities of Belief

2011 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 33-46
Author(s):  
J. G. Bradbury
Keyword(s):  
Religious Faith ◽  
Source Material ◽  
Modern World ◽  
Christian Belief ◽  
Devotional Poetry ◽  
Religious Worldview ◽  
Intellectual Milieu ◽  
Charles Williams ◽  
Narrative Mode ◽  
Intellectual Environment

This essay explores Charles Williams’s use of the Arthurian myth to sustain a religious worldview in the aftermath of sustained attacks on the relevance and veracity of Christian belief in the early twentieth century. The premise to be explored is that key developments in science and philosophy made during the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries resulted in a cultural and intellectual milieu in which assertions of religious faith became increasingly difficult. In literary terms this became evident in, amongst other things, the significant reduction in the production of devotional poetry. By the late 1930s the intellectual environment was such that Charles Williams, a man of profound religious belief who might otherwise have been expected to produce devotional work, turned to a much older mode, that of myth, that had taken on new relevance in the modern world. Williams’s use of this mode allowed him the possibility of expressing a singularly Christian vision to a world in which such vision was in danger of becoming anathema. This essay examines the way in which Williams’s lexis, verse structure, and narrative mode builds on his Arthurian source material to allow for an appreciation of religiously-informed ideas in the modern world.

Apologist From The World of Science: John Polkinghorne Frs

1990 ◽  
Vol 43 (4) ◽  
pp. 485-502 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul Avis
Keyword(s):  
Mathematical Physics ◽  
Christian Faith ◽  
Christian Belief ◽  
Scientific Education ◽  
Orthodox Christian ◽  
The World ◽  
General Scientific ◽  
Scientific Worldview ◽  
Professional Scientist ◽  
John Polkinghorne

JohnPolkinghorne FRS (b.1930), the Cambridge Professor of Mathematical Physics turned Anglican parson enjoys unrivalled opportunities as an apologist for the Christian faith to those with a general scientific education. Without reading a word of his writings, many Christians will be encouraged to know that a distinguished professional scientist is so firmly persuaded of the truth of the Christian faith as to resign a prestigious professional position and embrace the far from prestigious calling of a Christian minister in the secular environment of today. Some who embark on his books may not understand all the scientific allusions, but they will be impressed by his testimony that orthodox Christian belief can exist in harmony with the scientific worldview and vocation.

scholarly journals REKONTRUKSI ECORELIGIUS ORANG MELAYU Solusi Penyelamatan Lingkungan

2017 ◽  
Vol 16 (1) ◽  
pp. 99
Author(s):  
Husni Thamrin, M.Si
Keyword(s):  
Indigenous People ◽  
Environmental Ethics ◽  
Deep Ecology ◽  
Ecological Crisis ◽  
Human Being ◽  
The People ◽  
Traditional Societies ◽  
The Times ◽  
The Universe

Anthropocentric paradigm has distanced humans from nature, as well as causing the humans themselves become exploitative in attitude and do not really care about the nature. In relation, ecological crisis also can be seen as caused by mechanistic-reductionistic-dualistic of Cartesian science. The perspective of anthropocentric is corrected by biocentrism and ecocentrism ethics, particularly Deep Ecology, to re-look at the nature as an ethical community. The concept of ecoculture is already practiced from the beginning by indigenous or traditional societies in elsewhere. The perspective of the human being as an integral part of the nature, and  the behaviour of full of resposibility, full of respect and care about the sustainability of all life in the universe have become perspectives and behaviours of various traditional people. The majority of local wisdom in the maintenance of the environment is still surviving in the midst of shifting currents waves by a pressure of anthropocentric perspective. There is also in a crisis because a pressure of the  influences of a modernization. While others, drifting and eroding in the modernization and the anthropocentric perspective.In that context, ecoculture, particularly Deep Ecology, support for leaving the anthropocentric perspective, and when a holistic life perspective asks for leaving the anthropocentric perspective, the humans are invited to go back to thelocal wisdom, the old wisdom of the indigenous people. in other words, environmental ethics is to urge and invite the people to go back to the ethics of the indigenous people that are still relevant with the times. The essence of this perspective is back to the nature, back to his true identity as an ecological human in the ecoreligion  perspective.

Creation and conservation, religious doctrine of

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
William Hasker
Keyword(s):  
Big Bang ◽  
Christian Tradition ◽  
Religious Doctrine ◽  
Big Bang Theory ◽  
The Creation ◽  
Ex Nihilo ◽  
In The Beginning ◽  
The Big Bang ◽  
The Universe

The doctrine of the creation of the universe by God is common to the monotheistic religions of Judaism, Christianity and Islam; reflection on creation has been most extensively developed within the Christian tradition. Creation is by a single supreme God, not a group of deities, and is an ‘absolute’ creation (creation ex nihilo, ‘out of nothing’) rather than being either a ‘making’ out of previously existing material or an ‘emanation’ (outflow) from God’s own nature. Creation, furthermore, is a free act on God’s part; he has no ‘need’ to create but has done so out of love and generosity. He not only created the universe ‘in the beginning’, but he sustains (‘conserves’) it by his power at each moment of its existence; without God’s support it would instantly collapse into nothingness. It is controversial whether the belief in divine creation receives support from contemporary cosmology, as seen in the ‘Big Bang’ theory.

scholarly journals Dominion and Stewardship

AJIL Unbound ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 109 ◽  
pp. 132-135 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dinah Shelton
Keyword(s):  
Ecological Crisis ◽  
Christian Tradition ◽  
Pope Francis ◽  
Beneficial Use ◽  
Human Power ◽  
Biblical Texts ◽  
The Right

The Encyclical Letter of Pope Francis centers on an interpretation of Biblical texts that establishes human power over other creatures and the right to beneficial use of them, imposing a type of guardianship or a trust, not a right of ownership. The Pope emphasizes that message he presents is intended to be a universal one, not limited to all Catholics or even all Christians, but to “every person living on this planet.” The encyclical begins by reviewing several aspects of the present ecological crisis, then considers some principles drawn from the Judaeo-Christian tradition which can render commitment to the environment more coherent.

The Anarchic Principle of Christian Eschatology in the Eucharistic Tradition of the Eastern Church

2007 ◽  
Vol 100 (1) ◽  
pp. 29-46 ◽  
Author(s):  
John Panteleimon Manoussakis
Keyword(s):  
20Th Century ◽  
Liberation Theology ◽  
Systematic Theology ◽  
Christian Faith ◽  
End Of History ◽  
Theological Discourse ◽  
The End Of History ◽  
To Come ◽  
Theological Understanding ◽  
New Generation

Theology in the 20th century witnessed a shift in emphasis: The talk about the last things did not have to come last any more as the traditional handbooks of systematic theology would have it; eschatology was no longer one branch of theology among others but lay at the center of our understanding of the Christian faith. My purpose in this essay is to go a step further than this rearrangement in theological discourse and examine a reversal within the theological understanding of eschatology itself. In the wake of the work of the Metropolitan of Pergamon John (Zizioulas), a different understanding of eschatology has emerged, one that recognizes in the Parousia not only the event that stands at the end of history (the apocalyptic closure of time with which certain Christian groups have always had a fascination), but also as that event that, grounded in the Eucharist, flows continuously from the and permeates every moment in history. In the following discussion I wish to trace and spell out the implications of such a novel understanding of eschatology for our theologies today. As my guides in this exploration, I take the theology of John Zizioulas and certain insights that recent research in phenomenology has placed at theology's service. This association might seem strange to the reader: What does the theology of things-to-come have in common with the philosophy of things-themselves? I would like to propose that phenomenology, especially as it has been recently formulated by a new generation of phenomenologists, such as Jean-Luc Marion, Jean-Yves Lacoste, and Richard Kearney, can be a very helpful instrument in the hands of eucharistic eschatology in its effort to rescue eschatology from the twin risks of either immanentizing it or relegating it to an end-of-times utopia. Furthermore, the structure of an “inverted intentionality,” as exemplified by certain liturgical forms such as hymnology and iconography, will be suggested as the precise point of phenomenology's convergence with eucharistic eschatology. I write with the conviction that eschatology is in essence a “liberation” theology (freeing us from the moralistic and sociological constellations of this world) and that, as my concluding remarks illustrate, it has real, practical, day-to-day consequences for the ways we conduct our lives and our relationships with others.

Judaeo-Christian faith as trust and loyalty

2020 ◽  
pp. 1-31
Author(s):  
MICHAEL PACE ◽  
DANIEL J. MCKAUGHAN
Keyword(s):  
Recent Work ◽  
Christian Faith ◽  
Christian Tradition ◽  
Elie Wiesel ◽  
Biblical Language

Abstract Disputes over the nature of faith, as understood in the Judaeo-Christian tradition, sometimes focus on whether it is to be identified exclusively with trust in God or with loyalty/fidelity to God. Drawing on recent work on the semantic range of the Hebrew ʾĕmûnâ and Greek pistis lexicons, we argue for a multidimensional account of what it is to be a person of faith that includes trust and loyalty in combination. The Trust-Loyalty account, we maintain, makes better sense of the faith of exemplars, including Abraham, and fits well with the biblical language of faith. Further, a normatively appropriate combination of trust and loyalty towards others is a recognizable social virtue, aimed at promoting flourishing relationships. Finally, we consider how to make sense of ancient and modern exemplars of faith who protest against God, such as Job and Elie Wiesel, and argue that the Trust-Loyalty view is uniquely well suited to accommodate them.

scholarly journals Ontological Thresholds and Christological Method

1972 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 137-146
Author(s):  
Yandall Woodfin
Keyword(s):  
New Testament ◽  
Christian Faith ◽  
Christian Belief

The Christian faith, according to Alfred North Whitehead's familiar premise, ‘has always been a religion seeking a metaphysic’. Although it is debatable whether one should accept this thesis in a constructive sense, it does not appear that Christian belief from either an offensive or defensive position has the option of escaping from its philosophical implications. If, for example, a meeting with Christ occurs—either in an initial New Testament sense or through secondary channels in a contemporary moment—which functionally produces an existential consciousness of liberation that one may even dare to call ‘forgiveness of sins’, what confidence may he have that the experience is real and not only apparent, enduring and not just exuberance of mood, an encounter with life that touches the whole of his concern and not merely one atomistic fragment? These are surely questions which admit varying degrees of solution; yet they are genuine experiential issues which call for a recognition of ontological depth if they are to retain their functional effectiveness. This necessity which theology has of fulfilling its task within the comprehensive context of ontology is portrayed convincingly by Gerhard Ebeling in his essay entitled ‘Theology and Reality’ when he affirms:‘Theology has to do with reality as a totality—not with the sum of all the realms of reality and all the ways in which reality encounters us…. However much theology is based upon the testimony of Christian faith, it has yet to make good faith's claim by bringing to expression what unconditionally concerns every man in his totality.’

Sin and Ecology: A Conversation with Jürgen Moltmann and the School of René Girard

2012 ◽  
Vol 6 (3) ◽  
pp. 234-250 ◽  
Author(s):  
Charles Fensham
Keyword(s):  
Social Criticism ◽  
Original Sin ◽  
Bad News ◽  
Good News ◽  
Christian Faith ◽  
Christian Tradition ◽  
Western Tradition ◽  
Rene Girard ◽  
René Girard ◽  
Heaven And Earth

Abstract This essay will compare the approaches of Jürgen Moltmann and René Girard and those who follow his social criticism, in the light of the need for an ecological reinterpretation of the nature of sin. Sin, and the doctrine of original sin in the Western tradition goes to the very basis of the Christian story and the concept gospel. Good news is there to address bad news. In turn, the story of good news in the Christian tradition requires a thorough exploration of bad news. The need for an ecologically sound harmartiology begs the question of ktisiology and the very nature of ‘God the Father Creator of heaven and earth’. It leads us to ask: Why is the Christian faith a salvific faith? Why redemption and what is it?

The Penetration of the Copernican Theory into Feudal Japan

1944 ◽  
Vol 76 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 52-61 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bolesław Szcześniak
Keyword(s):  
Sixteenth Century ◽  
Far East ◽  
Christian Faith ◽  
Western Civilization ◽  
Western Science ◽  
Philosophy Of Life ◽  
The Far East ◽  
Matteo Ricci ◽  
China And Japan ◽  
The Universe

Western science began to penetrate to the Far East at the end of the sixteenth century, along with the Christian faith spread by Portuguese Jesuits.Astrology was important in both China and Japan. It included not only a limited knowledge of astronomy, but some philosophy and logic. The advent of astronomical knowledge as understood in Europe was the beginning of a new kind of science, which did not affect the East's traditional view of the universe; although at first information from Europe about medicine, physics, and astronomy reached the Far East along with the doctrines of Christianity, as a means of attracting converts to what the Chinese termed a new philosophy of life. An early propagator of Western civilization in China was the Jesuit Matteo Ricci (1553–1610), who taught medicine and astrology together with the principles of Catholicism. Another Jesuit, Francis Xavier, advised his superiors to send a mission consisting not only of the devout but also of the cultured.

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