Friendship in the Christian Tradition

2022 ◽  
pp. 26-44
Author(s):  
Gillian ◽  
R. L. Clark Stephen
Keyword(s):  
Christian Tradition

All is of God

10.1558/32682 ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 83-104
Author(s):  
Jon Paul Sydnor
Keyword(s):  
Christian Tradition

This essay elaborates a constructive, comparative, nondual theodicy for the Christian tradition based on the Hindu Vai??ava tradition. According to the Indologist Henrich Zimmer, in Vai??avism everything is an emanation of Vi??u, therefore everything is of Vi??u. All apparent opposites are inherently divine and implicitly complementary. Good and bad, joy and suffering, pain and pleasure are not conflicting dualities; they are interdependent qualities that increase one another’s being. The Hindu myth of Samudra Manthan, or the Churning of the Ocean, exemplifies Vai??ava nondualism. In that story, gods and demons—seeming opposites—cooperate in order to extract the nectar of immortality from an ocean of milk. If “opposites” are interdependent, hence complementary, then they are not “opposites” but mutually amplifying contrasts. Given this phenomenology, and applying it to the Christian tradition, a benevolent God who desires full vitality for her creatures would have to create pain, suffering, darkness, and death in order to intensify their correlates. Love would demand their creation, because love would want abundant life for all. In this aesthetic theodicy, the interplay of all contrasts results from the love of a life-giving God.

“O EVANGELHO DE PAULO”: EM QUE CONSISTE? ANÁLISE A PARTIR DO PENSAMENTO DE JAMES D.G. DUNN

2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (25) ◽  
pp. 409
Author(s):  
Vicente Artuso ◽  
Adriano Lazarini Souza dos Santos
Keyword(s):  
Good News ◽  
Spiritual Life ◽  
Christian Tradition ◽  
New Covenant ◽  
Pauline Theology ◽  
New Perspective

O presente artigo tem por objetivo analisar o teologúmeno concentrado na expressão “Evangelho de Paulo” e suas notas características dentro da Teologia Paulina. James D.G. Dunn, famoso exegeta escocês, traz o tema para o centro do debate e o coloca como a dimensão capital da vocação e missão do apóstolo Paulo. Neste ensaio procuraremos, ao modo de uma montagem de painéis, explicitar alguns dos principais aspectos da mensagem paulina sintetizadas na palavra “Evangelho de Paulo” e suas expressões correlatas. Para tal finalidade, utilizaremos o método expositivo-descritivo, apresentando: 1) Origem e significado do termo εὐαγγέλιον no Primeiro e Segundo Testamentos; 2) Análise temática do termo εὐαγγέλιον no Corpus Paulinum sob a ótica de James Dunn; 3) Relação do εὐαγγέλιον  paulino com os Sinóticos a partir das contribuições do exegeta Johan Konings. “THE GOSPEL OF PAULO”: ANALYSIS FROM THE THOUGHT OF JAMES D.G. DUNNAbstractThe article aims to explain some aspects of the "Gospel of Paul" axiom as presented in the works of James Dunn. His research highlights aspects of Paul’s Gospel inherited from Scripture and the Gospel of Christ. The break with Judaism occurs with the resurrection of Christ. In fact, the death and resurrection of Christ inaugurates a new covenant, new life, spiritual life. The study shows James Dunn's contribution in highlighting the tension between new and old, between the historical-salvific and apocalyptic perspective in Pauline theology. Contributions are not opposed. The apocalyptic genre is common in the Jewish and Christian tradition. Thus in Paul's new perspective, the opposition between Judaism and Christianity, faith and works is not accentuated. The Gospel of Paul is good news that eliminates antagonisms and includes differences.Keywords: Perspective. Paul. Gospel. Jesus. Judaism.

Unbinding Jewish Philosophical Theology

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
James A. Diamond
Keyword(s):  
Philosophical Theology ◽  
Christian Tradition ◽  
Biblical Text

The voluminous corpus of the rabbinic genre known as midrash and aggadah involves not just law (halakhah), but also a prolific repository of unrefined philosophical theology. The aggadic and midrashic style encompasses narrative, allegory, and a deeply intimate exegetical engagement with every syllable of the biblical text. It may not correspond neatly to the kinds of systematic treatises, largely identified with the Christian tradition, through which theology is traditionally delivered. The philosophy and theology that inhere in the midrashic genre are, at the very least, of equal profundity and complexity. One needs only to be attuned to its manner and style of communication, consisting of an unrelenting intricate weave of ciphers and cross-references to its biblical antecedents, to hear a literal barrage of philosophical theology.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer's Christian Humanism

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jens Zimmermann
Keyword(s):  
Natural Law ◽  
Christian Tradition ◽  
Nazi Regime ◽  
Human Flourishing ◽  
Theological Interpretation ◽  
Christian Humanism ◽  
The Bible ◽  
Starting Point ◽  
Theological Politics

Based on a comprehensive reading of his entire work, in this book Jens Zimmermann presents Bonhoeffer’s theological ethos as a Christian humanism, that is, as an understanding of the gospel rooted in apostolic and patristic writers who believed God to have renewed humanity in the incarnation. The heartbeat of Bonhoeffer’s Christianity that unifies and motivates his theological writing, his preaching, and his political convictions, including his opposition to the Nazi regime, is the conviction that Christianity as participation in the new humanity established by Christ is about becoming fully human by becoming Christlike. In eight chapters, the author details Bonhoeffer’s humanistic theology following from this incarnational starting point: a Christ-centered anthropology that shows a deep kinship with patristic Christology, a hermeneutically structured theology, an ethic focused on Christ-formation, a biblical hermeneutic centered on God’s transforming presence, and a theological politics aimed at human flourishing. In offering a comprehensive reading of his theology as Christian humanism, Zimmermann not only places Bonhoeffer in the context of the patristic and greater Christian tradition but also makes apparent the relevance of Bonhoeffer’s thought for a number of contemporary concerns: hermeneutic theory, the theological interpretation of the Bible, the relation of reason to faith, the importance of natural law, and the significance of religion for secular societies. Bonhoeffer turns out to be a Christian humanist and a modern theologian who models the deeply orthodox and yet ecumenical, expansive Christianity demanded by our time.

Ritualizing Iconic Jewish Texts

2020 ◽  
pp. 239-255
Author(s):  
James W. Watts
Keyword(s):  
Semantic Interpretation ◽  
Religious Communities ◽  
Christian Tradition ◽  
Oral Performance ◽  
The Bible ◽  
Christian Worship ◽  
Scholarly Attention

Bibles and parts of bibles are themselves used as ritual objects in Jewish and Christian worship. Their display and manipulation, oral performance, and semantic interpretation have been ritualized by synagogues and churches since antiquity. The origins of these practices are rooted in the Bible itself. Their influence has shaped every Jewish and Christian tradition and reaches beyond them to Muslims, Manicheans, and other religious communities. This chapter and its companions in this volume on Christianity and Islam focus mostly on how the iconic dimension of scriptures gets ritualized, because the iconic dimension has received less scholarly attention than the ritualization of scripture’s oral performance, artistic illustration, and semantic interpretation.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document