Sur-Sangam and Punjabi Zabur (Psalms 24:7–10): Messianic and Missiological Perspectives in the Indian Subcontinent

How does the local raga-based music setting of Psalm 24:7–10 become associated with Christian identity in an Islamic context? How does Psalm 24 strengthen the faith of the marginalized church and broaden messianic hope? In what ways does Psalm 24:7–10 equip local Christians for missional engagement? This paper focuses on the convergence of the local raga-based musical concept of sur-sangam and the revealed text of Punjabi Psalms/Zabur 24:7–10. It argues that while poetic translated text in Punjabi vernacular remains a vital component of theological pedagogy, local music expresses the emotional voice that (re)assures of the messianic hope and mandates missional engagement in Pakistan. Throughout the convergence, musical, messianic, and missional perspectives are transformed to a local phenomenon and its practice is perceived in a cross-cultural connection. Furthermore, examining the text and tune of Punjabi Zabur (Psalms) 24:7–10 in the Indo-Pak context may stretch the spectrum of religious repertoire in the contemporary intercultural world.

Becoming Heterodox in 17th-Century Cambridge

This chapter charts Isaac Newton’s path to heterodoxy by contextualising a crucial, but previously unknown, piece of evidence: the ‘Determination’ upon Newton’s 1677 Cambridge theology disputation conducted by the Regius Professor of Divinity, Joseph Beaumont. This Determination provides the earliest secure evidence of Newton’s engagement with theology. The Determination (printed and translated as an Appendix) is important in itself, but its witness allows us to go further and to propose that the university context proved crucial for shaping the way in which Newton conducted his theological reading. The essay begins by charting the transformations in Cambridge theological pedagogy in the half century before Beaumont and during the period of his dominance after the Restoration. It emphasises in particular the rise of an obsession with ante-Nicene Christian antiquity at the University, partly in response to inter- and intra-confessional dispute. The second half of the essay shows that much of Newton’s early theological writing can be read as a response to these developments, and to the world of orthodox theology that existed around him.

Sharpening Decolonial Options in the Present Moment

The conclusion draws attention to the intellective praxes of Frantz Fanon, James Baldwin, and liberation theologians within the context of asking the question of what it means to do theology in the present context of global coloniality. It argues that the theological pedagogy of decolonial love offers a particular orientation to theologians as they struggle to apprehend reality: when decolonial love informs a theological image of salvation, it implies a commitment to opposing Western modernity and its ways of delineating ways of being, knowledge, and eschatology, and to living into an alternative eschatological commitment. The theological pedagogy of decolonial love requires investing in new forms of analysis and requires struggling to ground theological language more strongly in historical realities, while doing so in light of the imagination of and commitment to the sacred.

The Theological Pedagogy of Frantz Fanon and James Baldwin

The ways Fanon and Baldwin live out orientations of decolonial provides an intellective praxis, epistemic framework, and content that can be “theologically pedagogic,” to use a term from Marcella Althaus-Reid. Decolonial love, as an orientation by which to make sense of one’s place in the world and face up to reality, offers a way of understanding an encounter with a divine reality. As such, decolonial love provides a basis from which to expose idolatry and construct theological knowledge and images. This chapter first considers how decolonial love can inform a way of thinking theologically. Understanding decolonial love as a theologically pedagogic site that exceeds modern rationalities establishes the possibility to, in a second section of the chapter, situate a decolonized theological image of salvation within understandings of revelation and history shaped by decolonial love.

Richard of St Victor (d. 1173)

Richard is most famous for his contemplative doctrine, which is based on a biblical anthropology that involves a philosophical psychology and noetic theory. Richard’s writings should be understood in the context of Hugh of St Victor’s programme for a complete theological pedagogy, organized according to the threefold sense of Scripture (literal, allegorical, tropological). Richard’s specifically exegetical works include an encyclopedic introduction to the methods of interpreting Scripture, the Liber exceptionum, and important commentaries on the Apocalypse and Ezekiel. Like Hugh, he stresses that the literal sense of Scripture is the foundation of its spiritual senses.