ELEGIES FOR THE PROPHET'S FAMILY BY CONTEMPORARY LEBANESE CHRISTIAN POETS

The study discusses elegiac poetry on the Prophet's family composed by Lebanese poets belonging to the Christian community there. We chose a selection of writings by four contemporary Christian poets: Joseph al-Hāshim, Paul Salāma, Raymond Qasīs and Joseph al-Ḥarb. The study opens with a discussion of the meaning of elegies as a human, social and individual poetic object, that has been cultivated by poets since pre-Islamic times. Next, the study discusses the reason why the Prophet's family has been the subject of so many elegies, namely the important position this family occupied among poets. Subsequently we discuss why Christian poets in Lebanon have composed numerous elegies for members of the Prophet's family, especially ʿAlī b. Abī Ṭālib and his son al-Ḥusayn b. ʿAlī, namely the fact that elegies constitute a unique human phenomenon that is in keeping with divine teachings, especially concerning the Prophet's family. The study uses both descriptive and analytic methods.

In Persona Christi Capitis: Agency Problems When God is the Principal

The in persona Christi Capitis doctrine of the Roman Catholic Church guarantees the validity of its sacraments, irrespective of the personal morality of the priest who performs them. While this protects their value as metacredence goods, it seemingly opens the door to opportunistic behaviour by the clergy. To balance out its institutional incentives, the Roman Catholic Church must rigorously screen its candidates for the priesthood. Historical evidence supports our hypothesis that the development of the in persona Christi Capitis doctrine was accompanied by marginal increases in the screening of seminarians, which may have been an optimal response to changing historical circumstances. Also consistent with our hypothesis, a cross section of contemporary Christian denominations shows a correlation between a group’s stance on sacramental theology and the strictness of its screening of candidates to religious ministry.

“The Bush Burned with Fire and the Bush Was Not Consumed”

This paper explores the post-metaphysical theology of Richard Kearney (1954–) from a Jewish theological perspective. It seeks to provide an original analysis of his project “anatheism,” considering the prominence of Jewish texts in the development of the concept of anatheism. Rooted in deconstructionist and Continental philosophical discourses, Jewish hermeneutics also plays a central role in anatheism. This discursive intersection has received scarce scholarly attention to date. Biblical and other texts which he interprets, include the rabbinic exegesis of Rashi and of modern Jewish hermeneutical philosophy notably of Martin Buber, Franz Rosenzweig, and Emmanuel Levinas. I analyse elements of Kearney’s interpretation primarily of the “Burning Bush” biblical narrative as a test case for anatheistic reading of Jewish texts as they appear in one particular text “I Am Who May Be” in The God Who May Be: A Hermeneutics of Religion (2001). Kearney’s textual reading of the Burning Bush offers an unusual example of a Christian engagement with Jewish interpretations of the biblical parable as well as of Levinas, Derrida, and others. Kearney’s effort highlights an approach of a mutual search for ways of interpreting texts not “of” the other, but “with” the other, in a mutual engagement of post-metaphysical theology. More broadly, this examination offers an important contribution to the developing field of post-metaphysical theology in the Jewish and Christian traditions, ultimately posing questions as to how and whether elements of Jewish scriptural interpretative techniques might or can imbue contemporary Christian post-metaphysical theologies. Conversely, the question can be asked as to what a Jewish version of anatheism might look like. This examination presents a test case for possibilities of reading and learning from discourses across different religions.

Fullness and Emptiness

This paper aims to analyze prominent examples of contemporary Christian architecture in the Far East, and the influence of religious and architectural concepts of sacred architecture of the Far East on contemporary Christian architecture built there. Numerous examples show the influence of the permeation of that area’s cultural, traditional, and religious heritage with the Christian cultural and theological framework. Christian sacred architecture is based on the monotheistic concept of faith in one incarnated God that opens to humanity the path to salvation achieved in the afterlife. Religions of the Far East share common concepts of proccesuality described as Tao, the governing principle in the background of all life. It is the principle of continuity in an eternally changing universe. The intention of this paper is, therefore, to direct the view towards the permeation of cultures that encourages Christian sacred architecture towards the search for a new, authentic identity.

Orientalism and Reverse Orientalism in the Interactions between Christianity and Confucianism: With Special Reference to the Problem of “Immanence vis-à-vis Transcendence”

Through making references to some inter-disciplinary and cross-cultural studies of “Transcendence” as well as the usage of the relevant terms in contemporary Confucianism and Christianity, especially the concepts of “transcendence” and “immanence” (which is translated sometimes as nèi zài in Chinese), this study attempts to challenge some of the prevalent stereotypes of Christianity and Confucianism. With special references to the historical and contemporary Christian-Confucian discourses related to the concepts of immanence and transcendence, this study argues that certain features of “orientalism” can be found in the Christian interpretations of Confucianism, especially their tendency of downplaying the transcendence in Confucianism in order to highlight that Christianity is the fulfillment of Confucianism. In contrast to the Christian interpretations, the Confucian interpretations tend to highlight the “transcendence” in Confucianism and ignore the “immanence” in Christianity. Certain “reverse orientalism” can be found at the Confucian interpretations of Christianity, especially their attempts at arguing for the superiority of Confucianism through articulating the contrast between “external transcendence” (wài zài chāo yuè) and “internal transcendence” (nèi zài chāo yuè). This study further argues that no matter whether it is orientalism or reverse orientalism, these stereotypes of the contrast between Christianity and Confucianism misinterpret not only the other’s tradition, but also one’s own, and thus hinder the communication between the two traditions.

Theological aspects of educational postulates of Ludwika Jeleńska (1885–1961) in the light of contemporary interdisciplinary discourses of theology with education sciences

The main purpose of the paper is to present the contemporary perspectives of interdisciplinary discourse between theology and education sciences. The basis of the considerations is the concept of integral pedagogy reconstructed on the basis of the educational postulates presented by a Polish educator, Ludwika Jeleńska (1885–1961). The originality and relevance of this concept is not so much due to the association of education with faith content; it's actually due to the close association of pedagogy with theology, and theory with practice. In Jeleńska's works, theology – in a precursory manner, characteristic of contemporary Christian pedagogy – does not merely act as a normative conveyor of Christian values and ideas, but is an element that inspires the development of modern science and broadly understood culture.