The Spirit in 1 and 2 Thessalonians

In the Thessalonian correspondence, Paul, through his occasional yet repeated references to the Spirit’s role in the life of a believer, individual and corporate, teaches that the Spirit is active in a person’s life from the time faith in the gospel is kindled in them. The Spirit regenerates a sinner through deep conviction and power and continues to sanctify a person to live in holiness according to the will of God. Paul reminds them that even their joy amid suffering is the work of the Spirit in them. It enables them not only to imitate Christ and the other believing communities in suffering but also to become a model for other persecuted communities. Paul firmly encourages them to embrace the charismatic gifts of the Spirit among them, but he warns them to be cautious so as to avoid their possible misuse.

Prophetic Disappointment and Ideological Change among Israeli Settlers’ Rabbis: The Case of Rabbis Yehuda Amital and Shmuel Tal

In this article, I examine the role of prophetic disappointment in creating ideological change. I discuss the response of two Orthodox rabbis, Rabbi Yehuda Amital (1924–2010) and Rabbi Shmuel Tal (b. 1962), to the crisis of faith they encountered regarding the role of Zionism in the messianic drama. This research describes the process of religious switching they have gone through due to failure of prophetic faith. This work argues that their transformation was an attempt to cope with the tension that results from cognitive dissonance in two different instances while blaming a third party for misunderstanding the true will of God. Their religious switching was an act of theodicy, justifying God’s justice, while renouncing their previous held beliefs.

Evangelical Responses to the Question of Religious Pluralism

<p>The relatively recent rise of religious pluralism has significantly affected the evangelical movement, the roots of which are traceable to the sixteenth century Reformation. In particular, the theological implications of religious pluralism have led to debate concerning the nature of core beliefs of evangelicalism and how these should be interpreted in the contemporary world. While evangelicals continue to articulate a genuine undergirding desire to “honour the authority of Scripture”, differing frameworks and ideals have led to a certain level of fracturing between schools of evangelical thought. This research focuses on the work of three evangelical theologians – Harold Netland, John Sanders and Clark Pinnock – and their responses to the question of religious pluralism. In assessing the ideas put forward in their major work relevant to religious pluralism this thesis reveals something of the contestation and diversity within the evangelical tradition. The authors' respective theological opinions demonstrate that there is basic agreement on some doctrines. Others are being revisited, however, in the search for answers to the tension between two notions that evangelicals commonly affirm: the eternal destiny of the unevangelised; and the will of God that all humankind should obtain salvation. Evangelicals are deeply divided on this matter, and the problem of containing seemingly incompatible views within the confines of “evangelical belief” remains. This ongoing division highlights the difficulty of defining evangelicalism in purely theological terms.</p>

Evangelical Responses to the Question of Religious Pluralism

<p>The relatively recent rise of religious pluralism has significantly affected the evangelical movement, the roots of which are traceable to the sixteenth century Reformation. In particular, the theological implications of religious pluralism have led to debate concerning the nature of core beliefs of evangelicalism and how these should be interpreted in the contemporary world. While evangelicals continue to articulate a genuine undergirding desire to “honour the authority of Scripture”, differing frameworks and ideals have led to a certain level of fracturing between schools of evangelical thought. This research focuses on the work of three evangelical theologians – Harold Netland, John Sanders and Clark Pinnock – and their responses to the question of religious pluralism. In assessing the ideas put forward in their major work relevant to religious pluralism this thesis reveals something of the contestation and diversity within the evangelical tradition. The authors' respective theological opinions demonstrate that there is basic agreement on some doctrines. Others are being revisited, however, in the search for answers to the tension between two notions that evangelicals commonly affirm: the eternal destiny of the unevangelised; and the will of God that all humankind should obtain salvation. Evangelicals are deeply divided on this matter, and the problem of containing seemingly incompatible views within the confines of “evangelical belief” remains. This ongoing division highlights the difficulty of defining evangelicalism in purely theological terms.</p>

The Will and the Presence of Human Being in Abu al-Hasan al-Ash’ari’s Thought: Explaining the Relation between Human and God in Kalam Discourse

This article tries to problematize the mainstream academic perspectives about fatalistic orientation and predetermined will of mankind attributed to the thoughts of Abu al-Hasan al-Asy’ari, founder of theological school in Islam named after his name. Benefited from phenomenological approach it proves that Ash’ari has conceptualized that mankind is free creature represented by his/her will as it is related to the will of God. This article argues that Ash’ari’s assertion that humankind has freedom is based on the fact that he/she has ability to feel the presence of the will in his/her consciousness as something belongs to him/her. Departing from the logic of Arabic linguistics, freedom is defined as free will found in human being regardless of whether it is created by mankind or by God. Knowing that human will is created by God theologically doesn’t mean that the will is predetermined in the state of consciousness due to the fact that al-Qur’an states that God has created a feeling of freedom for human being to feel free not to feel being determined. Since the conception of being is elucidated linguistically by Ash’ari as being found by finder, this projection has firmly been compatible with projection of phenomenological consciousness. This article ends with conclusion that the feeling of will in the sense of consciousness of it manifests human freedom without neglecting the will of God. This relation of two wills has enabled human being to be aware of his/her freedom and God’s one as unseparated dualism in human religious experience. [Artikel ini mencoba untuk melakukan problematisasi atas pandangan para sarjana mainsntream dalam diskursus teologi yang menyatakan bahwa pemikiran Abu al-Hasan al-Asy’ari, pendiri mazhab Asy’ariah, adalah fatalistik. Lebih lanjut, artikel ini ingin membuktikan bahwa pemikiran Asy’ari mempunyai perhatian yang besar terhadap kebebasan manusia yang direpresentasikan oleh adanya kehendak manusia yang berelasi dengan kehendak Tuhan dengan pendekatan fenomenologis. Artikel ini menjelaskan bahwa Asy’ari menegaskan kebebasan manusia dengan argumentasi bahwa ia mempunyai kehendak yang hadir dalam kesadarannya dan dinisbatkan kepadanya; orang yang berkehendak adalah orang yang mempunyai kehendak tanpa melihat siapa yang mewujudkan kehendak tersebut. Meskipun Tuhan menciptakan kehendak untuk manusia, tapi secara sadar kehendak itu dinisbatkan manusia. Pandangan Asy’ari tentang kehendak dan kebebasan manusia didasarkan pada logika Bahasa Arab dengan menyatakan bahwa eksistensi adalah wujud yang ditemu oleh manusia yang menemukan, mempunyai kesesuaian dengan fenomenologi yang menyatakan bahwa eksistensi adalah relasi kesadaran manusia terhadap wujud. Dalam konteks ini, kehendak merupakan bukti yang paling kuat atas eksistensi manusia yang bebas. Artikel ini berkesimpulan bahwa dalam pandangan Asy’ari manusia adalah makhluk yang bebas melalui kehendaknya tanpa harus mengkorbankan kehendak Tuhan. Lebih lanjut kehendak manusia dan Tuhan merupakan dualisme kesadaran eksistensialisme yang tak bisa dipisahkan dalam pengalaman kemanusiaan religius.]

Davenant on the Will of God and the Divine Decrees

This chapter discusses another important doctrine relative to John Davenant’s hypothetical universalism: the divine will. Observing that the doctrine of God’s will in early modern scholastic theology, including among Reformed theologians, involved a plethora of scholastic distinctions, the chapter shows that Davenant’s theology of the divine will was heavily influenced by these distinctions, which were themselves ways of making sense of apparent contradictory claims in Scripture. Davenant’s employment of these medieval distinctions, such as between God’s love of simple complacency and his absolute will, are given extended treatment. This chapter also gives attention to the difference between a divine conditional and an absolute will. Finally, tying all these distinctions together, this chapter explains how Davenant employs them to buttress his hypothetical universalism.

AN ANALYSIS OF ISLAMIC COMMUNICATION PRINCIPLES IN THE AL-QURAN

Communication is an important element in human life. Every human being will communicate either verbally or non-verbally. However, some in society today ignore the principles that need to be adhered to during communication. They are speechless and free to speak to cause libel and dissemination of untrue information from the original facts. As the Ministry of Communications and Multimedia Malaysia has warned, 'no doubt don't share'. Based on this statement, an analysis of the principles of communication in the Quran should be done to express Allah's command in the ethics of communicating especially to Muslims. The findings showed that there are 19 communication patterns found in the Quran and the reviewers have classified the principles of communication into two main forms which are bi al-Lisan communication and communication bi al-Hal. Based on the principles of communication in life, it is certain that society will live in peace and harmony in accordance with the will of God.

Submission to the will of God: Religion/Spirituality as a Cultural Resource of Indonesian Women Living with Cardiovascular Disease

BACKGROUND: Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is the number one killer of women. Suffering from illness causes a significant challenge for women’s day-to-day lives. Understanding the women’s experiences and descriptions of managing their illness, strategies are essential for minimizing CVDs negative consequences. AIM: This study aims to investigate cultural adjustment to CVD among women in Indonesia. METHODS: This study employed a qualitative research design with in-depth interviews. Twenty-six women who had an experience of the cardiac event participated in this study. A qualitative framework analysis was used to analyze the data. RESULTS: Five themes were identified from data analysis. These themes were (1) making meaning of the situation, (2) feeling grateful amidst suffering, (3) submission to the will of God, (4) accepting fate, and (5) getting closer to God. CONCLUSION: Spiritual and religious beliefs played an enormous role in the participants’ illness experience, irrespective of their religions. Nurses should incorporate a religious and spiritual approach to facilitate patients’ coping behaviors when providing care for the Indonesian population.

Teorii despre dreptul natural în Antichitate și Evul Mediu

Natural law philosophers believe that human laws must be defined by moral principles that have origins in human nature or the will of God. In this paper the author analyzes the most important natural law theories from Antiquity and Middle Ages. Natural law tradition has its roots in the philosophy of Plato, Aristotle, Cicero, Saint Augustine and Thomas Aquinas. That philosophy was resuscitated in the twentieth century after the Holocaust and continues to be influential to the present day.

Aesthetics

Edwards’s aesthetics grounded in the ongoing work of God communicated in creation, not only lies at the centre of his thought but is increasingly recognized as one of his most original contributions to theology. Edwards’s reflection on God’s beauty emerged in the context of his work as a pastor, which allowed him to frame God’s dynamic presence in dramatic and multi-sensory categories. For Edwards Beauty glimpsed in the form of images formed in the mind reflects a consent of being; the visual beauty of symmetry and proportion is meant to move the heart to consent to the will of God reflected in creation—what Edwards calls respectively secondary and primary beauty. All creatures are types and shadows of spiritual realities; beauty and morality are linked, though only the Holy Spirit allows believers to consent to God’s self-disclosure in creation. Edwards’s neo-platonic framework allowed his reflections on the revivals to affirm physical beauty while subordinating its meaning to the spiritual, enhancing its role as revelation but diminishing its value as an end in itself.