scholarly journals Moral origins and Christian ethics: An interdisciplinary approach in conversation with J. Wentzel van Huyssteen

2021 ◽  
Vol 42 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Bernice Serfontein
Keyword(s):  
Developmental Psychology ◽  
Interdisciplinary Approach ◽  
Christian Theology ◽  
Moral Awareness ◽  
Moral Norms ◽  
Evolutionary Anthropology ◽  
Moral Judgements ◽  
Human Uniqueness ◽  
Truth Claims ◽  
Science And Theology

Only a small number of theologians attempt to explore the critical and constructive contributions theology can make to evolutionary accounts of morality. J. Wentzel van Huyssteen can be considered a pioneer in the science and theology discourse, with a special interest in the origin of morality as part of his pursuit of a more profound notion of human uniqueness in science and theology. In this article, the origin of moral awareness and morality will be explored by combining a variety of perspectives, including evolutionary anthropology, in an attempt to gain a more responsible notion of ethics and clarify its relationship to Christian theology. The interdisciplinary approach adopted in this study, in conversation with Van Huyssteen, reveals the necessity of distinguishing between moral awareness and morality, that is, moral norms, judgements and conventions. Evolutionary explanations of our innate sense of morality cannot explain any of our moral judgements or justify the truth claims regarding our moral judgements. Gaining insights from philosophy and developmental psychology, the origin of moral norms, judgements and conventions are explored on a more interactive level of cultural evolution and niche construction. Finally, this article briefly explores whether Van Huyssteen’s post-foundational rethinking of the imago Dei can offer insights into how this bottom-up approach to moral awareness and morality relates to Christian theology and ethics.Intradisciplinary and/or interdisciplinary implications: This article, in conversation with Wentzel van Huyssteen, explores the origin of moral awareness and morality and its relation to ethics. The interdisciplinary conversation covers the fields of evolutionary anthropology, developmental psychology, philosophy and theology within the contemporary science and theology discourses.

Spirituality, Administration, and Normativity in Current Church Organization

2013 ◽  
Vol 16 (2) ◽  
pp. 221-242
Author(s):  
Maria Ershova ◽  
Jan Hermelink
Keyword(s):  
Organizational Culture ◽  
Catholic Church ◽  
Qualitative Interviews ◽  
Interdisciplinary Approach ◽  
Competing Values Framework ◽  
Roman Catholic Church ◽  
Competing Values ◽  
Church Organization ◽  
Reformed Church ◽  
Science And Theology

Abstract The paper addresses issues regarding the current balance between spirituality and administration in different church denominations using an interdisciplinary approach which combines management science and theology. It presents a comparative study of organizational culture of the Roman Catholic Church, a Lutheran church, and a Reformed church with the use of the questionnaire based on the Competing Values Framework (Cameron/Quinn) and qualitative interviews with leading persons in church. The authors discuss the findings from two different but complementary perspectives: in relation to the four types of organizational cultures in the Cameron/Quinn framework, and as a result of the specific denominational semantics represented in the questionnaire used for the study. The results show how the question of modernity is reflected in organizational culture of churches, and how deeply the respondents’ perception of church is influenced by inherent normativity. One of the central conclusions is that religiously rooted normativity serves as an instrument of balancing the administrative and the spiritual in church.

Biology and Theology: Contemporary Issues

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Celia Deane-Drummond
Keyword(s):  
Biological Sciences ◽  
Intelligent Design ◽  
Evolutionary Biology ◽  
New Technologies ◽  
Ethical Issues ◽  
Natural Theology ◽  
Mirror Image ◽  
Christian Theology ◽  
Theory Of Evolution ◽  
Science And Theology

Contemporary issues in biology and Christian theology are still dominated by the legacy of 19th-century biologist Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution by natural selection. Debates in evolutionary biology in relation to religious belief have been reinforced by historical myths that stress conflict over integration. More conservative branches of Christianity, often allied to particular Protestant traditions, argue for a form of popular theology that attempts to compete with science, namely, creationism. More sophisticated versions of this position may appear under the guise of intelligent design, though creationism and intelligent design are not synonymous. The mirror image of this position has developed among biologists who identify themselves as new atheists, adding further fuel to the fire of an existing controversy. Methodologically speaking, the engagement of biology and theology will depend on different philosophical presuppositions according to basic models of (a) conflict, (b) independence, (c) dialogue, and (d) integration. The biological sciences also have broader relevance to allied subject domains including, for example: (a) ecological, agricultural, animal, and environmental sciences; (b) anthropological, social, and political sciences; (c) medical sciences, including genetic science and embryo development; and (d) new technologies that include bioengineering. Theological engagement with the biological component of each of these domains is particularly intense where there are controversial ethical issues at stake that seem to challenge specific Christian beliefs about human nature or divine purpose. A more positive approach to the biological sciences that draws on research in the constructive systematic theological task, while avoiding historically naïve forms of natural theology, is starting to emerge in the literature. Within Orthodox, Catholic, and Protestant Christian traditions, there is a spectrum of possible positions, such that the field of science and theology as a whole tends to be ecumenical in orientation rather than divided along denominational boundaries. The Catholic and Orthodox churches, however, give greater precedence to official statements by their respective churches that then influence public reception of controversial issues in biology and theology in particular ways.

Joy as a Virtue: The Means and Ends of Joy

2020 ◽  
Vol 48 (4) ◽  
pp. 308-331
Author(s):  
Pamela Ebstyne King ◽  
Frederic Defoy
Keyword(s):  
Dynamic Process ◽  
Narrative Identity ◽  
Developmental Psychology ◽  
Human Life ◽  
Theoretical Models ◽  
Human Flourishing ◽  
Means And Ends ◽  
Developmental Science ◽  
Fruit Of The Spirit ◽  
Science And Theology

To grasp human flourishing and thriving, we must understand joy. However, no theoretical models explain the complexity of joy as a fruit of the Spirit, nor fully account for its impact on human life. We suggest that joy is best conceptualized as a virtue, a psychological habit, comprised of characteristic adaptations and given meaning by transcendent narrative identity. Thus joy involves knowing, feeling, and enacting what matters most. Developmental science and Christian theological approaches to teleology inform the ultimate ends to which joy is aimed. They suggest that telos, the purpose or goal of development, may be understood as a dynamic process that perpetuates human and social thriving and involves (1) the growing self, (2) mutually beneficial relationships, and (3) evolving moral guidelines that ensure an ongoing fit and flourishing of self and society. We synthesize developmental psychology, virtue science, and theology to propose a definition and framework for understanding the development of joy through thriving. In order to promote scholarship on joy and to elucidate its transformative nature, we discuss joy in light of discipleship, vocation, suffering, justice, and eschatology and identify issues for research.

Christian Anthropology in an Age of Science: Between Anthropocentrism and Non-Anthropocentrism

2018 ◽  
Vol 129 (12) ◽  
pp. 547-553
Author(s):  
Junghyung Kim
Keyword(s):  
Christian Theology ◽  
Christian Belief ◽  
Human Species ◽  
Human Form ◽  
Christian Doctrine ◽  
Special Position ◽  
World Picture ◽  
Christian Anthropology ◽  
Human Uniqueness ◽  
Doctrine Of Creation

Is Christianity so incurably anthropocentric that the demise of anthropocentrism would be tantamount to the falsification of the Christian faith? Would Christianity be able to survive modern scientific challenges to the long-held anthropocentric world picture? Responding to these questions, I claim that the Christian doctrine of incarnation strongly supports the Christian belief in humanity’s special position in God’s created world, whereas it is not only possible but also mandatory to reconstruct a non-anthropocentric Christian doctrine of creation and humanity. First, as regards the non-anthropocentric idea of creation, I propose that creation, instead of redemption, should the overarching framework of Christian theology, the goal of creation is much greater than human redemption, and our human species is a companion to other creatures on the way to the eschatological consummation. With this non-anthropocentric Christian doctrine of creation in mind, however, I even more strongly maintain that humanity has a special position in God’s created world. Even if the traditional doctrine of imago Dei may not successfully convince us of the idea of human uniqueness in the face of scientific challenges, I argue, the authentic Christian affirmation of the incarnation of God in the specifically human form lays a firm foundation for the Christian belief in God’s special concern with our human species.

scholarly journals THE FACT OF CREATION AND THE LIMITS OF SCIENTIFIC KNOWLEDGE

2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 85-101
Author(s):  
Ion Marian CROITORU ◽  
Keyword(s):  
New Physics ◽  
The Body ◽  
Christian Theology ◽  
The World ◽  
The Creation ◽  
Science And Theology ◽  
To Come ◽  
The Times ◽  
The Moment ◽  
The Universe

Although scientific research is in full bloom regarding, for instance, the environment, the fact of creation cannot be ignored either, even if some scientists deny it, while others ascertain it, albeit from perspectives, however, foreign to the patristic vision specific of the Orthodoxy. Consequently, the limits of cosmology are structured as well by Christian theology, which shows that the study of the world, guided by laws of physics in a limited framework, is carried out inside the creation affected by the consequences of the primordial sin, so that the reality of the world before sin is known only to those who reach spiritual perfection and holiness, therefore, from an eschatological perspective, since they, too, go through the moment of separation of the soul from the body, waiting for the general resurrection. Therefore, a new way of being is affirmed in the Orthodox Church, by the personal experience of each believer, which is a transformation on the personal and cosmic level, according to Jesus Christ’s resurrected body, which means the reality of a new physics, which concerns both the beginning of the universe, but also its new dimension, at the Lord’s Second Coming, when heaven and earth will be renewed by transfiguration. Regarding the existence of the universe, the differences are given by the perceptions of two cosmologies. Thus, the theonomous cosmology highlights man’s purpose on earth, the necessity of moral and spiritual life, and the transfiguration of creation, explaining God’s presence in His creation, but also His work in it, namely the transcendence and the immanence in relation to the creation. The autonomous cosmology engenders the evolutionist theory, which leads to secularism and, consequently, to the gap between the contemporary man’s technological progress, and his spiritual and moral regress. Today, more scientists are turning their attention also to the data of the divine Revelation, the way it makes itself known by its organs, the Holy Scripture and the Holy Tradition, in the one Church, which will mean a deepening of the dialogue between science and theology in favour of the man from everywhere and from the times to come.

scholarly journals O uczuciach i emocjach na poważnie (nie tylko dla nauczycieli etyki)

2018 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 26-46
Author(s):  
Ewa Nowak
Keyword(s):  
Developmental Psychology ◽  
Moral Emotions ◽  
Learning Processes ◽  
Moral Issue ◽  
Emotional Expressions ◽  
Moral Norms ◽  
Mutual Respect ◽  
Teachers And Students ◽  
Schooling System

In this chapter I focus on the relevance of moral emotions in our „perception of something as moral issue” as well as „in the application of moral norms, but also in their grounding…”1. Referring to the statements of philosophy (from Aristotle to Habermas) and developmental psychology (from Piaget to Ekman) I highlight that affectivity needs to be already promoted in the early education. There is a lack of the professional emotional education in the Polish schooling system. Finally I propose a simple training for both teachers and students, in order to strength their skills of understanding facial emotional expressions of others. Mutual respect, trust, and better communicational relationships in the classroom will follow, and, last but not least, the learning processes in pupils will be facilitated too.

A Call for Greater Attention to Culture in the Study of Brain and Development

2020 ◽  
pp. 174569162093146
Author(s):  
Yang Qu ◽  
Nathan A. Jorgensen ◽  
Eva H. Telzer
Keyword(s):  
Cognitive Neuroscience ◽  
Cultural Psychology ◽  
Developmental Psychology ◽  
Interdisciplinary Approach ◽  
The Body ◽  
Cultural Neuroscience ◽  
Cultural Issues ◽  
Developmental Neuroscience ◽  
Meta Analyses ◽  
Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience

Despite growing research on neurobiological development, little attention has been paid to cultural and ethnic variation in neurodevelopmental processes. We present an overview of the current state of developmental cognitive neuroscience with respect to its attention to cultural issues. Analyses based on 80 publications represented in five recent meta-analyses related to adolescent developmental neuroscience show that 99% of the publications used samples in Western countries. Only 22% of studies provided a detailed description of participants’ racial/ethnic background, and only 18% provided for socioeconomic status. Results reveal a trend in developmental cognitive neuroscience research: The body of research is derived not only mostly from Western samples but also from participants whose race/ethnicity is unknown. To achieve a holistic perspective on brain development in different cultural contexts, we propose and highlight an emerging interdisciplinary approach—developmental cultural neuroscience—the intersection of developmental psychology, cultural psychology, and cognitive neuroscience. Developmental cultural neuroscience aims to elucidate cultural similarities and differences in neural processing across the life span. We call attention to the importance of incorporating culture into the empirical investigation of neurodevelopment.

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