Situating the ‘Crisis of Representation’ in Ethnographic Approaches to Theology and Working Toward Community-Centered, Dialogic Approaches

In this article we unpack the significance of the ‘crisis in representation’ in the field of anthropology for ethnographic approaches to academic theology. The article summarizes and draws connections among other works in this themed issue and presents possibilities for moving forwards with ethnographic theologies that attune carefully to issues of representation. Attending to questions of method, identity, and ethnographic writing, it lifts up some of the diverse and genuinely collaborative approaches to fieldwork that are made possible by the hybrid and complex roles theologians play in relation to the communities and cultures with which they engage.

Bringing the Mess That is Life into Theology: The Representational Task of Ethnography

Most academic theology is written in an abstract manner that elides the “mess that is life.” Most academic anthropology rejects theological modes of reasoning and representation. The present article makes the case for an “anthropological theology” that brings together ethnographic thick description of life lived and theological modes of writing. The result is a mixed and interlaced way of writing that is richer than the traditional modes on representation in either anthropology or theology. Throughout, the author offers thick descriptions of his work as an addiction recovery coach with persons addicted to opioids in order to help display in writing the argument that he is making about writing.

Does Theology Belong in the University? Schleiermacherian Reflections from an Australian Context

This article argues that theology belongs in the university not because of its relationship to the other disciplines but because of its relationship to the church. It discusses Schleiermacher’s understanding of theology as a practical science oriented towards Christian leadership in society. It argues that Schleiermacher’s account provides an illuminating perspective on the history of academic theology in Australia. Theology belongs in the university not for any internal methodological reasons but because of specific contextual conditions in societies like Australia where Christianity has exerted a large historical influence. The article concludes by arguing that the ecclesial orientation of university theology is compatible with the aims of public theology, given that service to the Christian community is a means by which the common flourishing of society can be promoted.

From Chronology to Theology

In the late 1580s, a controversy erupted that would devastate Broughton’s career and haunt him for the rest of his days. The source of this agitation was a short chronological pamphlet, A Concent of Scripture, which was published by Broughton in 1589 and attacked in the lectures of the Oxford theologian John Rainolds. This chapter explores how this seemingly unassuming work could provoke such intense conflict, locating the roots of the dispute in the overlap between the dynamic but difficult world of biblical chronology and the combative arena of academic theology. Influenced by the damning verdicts passed by Broughton’s antagonists, modern historians have dismissed Broughton’s Concent as motivated solely by zealous biblicism, a reaction against the daringly innovative work of the chronologer Joseph Scaliger, whose methods were upheld by Rainolds. In contrast, this chapter details the rich tradition of reformed Hebraism in which Broughton’s chronological work was situated, and outlines the manifold disciplines, from the study of rabbinic literature to biblical translation, to which it contributed. It argues that at the heart of this controversy lay not technical questions about chronological method, but larger questions about biblical exegesis and hermeneutics. It also begins to illustrate some of the dangers that faced the early modern scholar who attempted to traverse the perilous terrain of biblical history, by showing how Rainolds’ lectures and the controversy they propagated made dangerous associations between Broughton’s work and crypto-Catholicism.

Overcoming Religious Illiteracy: Towards a More Inclusive Approach to Islamic Bioethics

Islamic bioethics is an emerging phenomenon, with a recent proliferation of introductory literature seeking to describe the scope, parameters, and players of the field. However, this paper critically assesses the enterprise of Islamic bioethics as it stands today and argues that it lacks conceptual clarity. This leads to some very problematic assumptions made by Muslim and non-Muslim authors alike, which results in essentialist and reductionist discourses that privilege majoritarian, authoritarian, and conservative forms of religious and state authority at the expense of competing, dissenting, and reformist voices. I suggest using the principles of religious literacy (as endorsed by the American Academy of Religion) to bring much needed conceptual clarity to the field, to understand Islamic bioethics as a contested space of academic theology, and to promote a more inclusive discourse.

When the Gap between Academic Theology and the Church Makes Possible the Orthodox–Evangelical Dialogue

In the church tradition, we find that the great theologians were also deeply involved in the life of the church as bishops, priests, or pastors who served the believers in their parishes, though, even at that time, practicing theology started to drift apart from performing pastoral work. In Modernity, however, things began to change radically, especially with the development of theology as an academic discipline and even more so with the development of the profession of the theologian specializing in religious studies. This phenomenon penetrated Protestant churches in particular, but it is also found in Orthodoxy. In this study, we advance the hypothesis that, despite its negative connotation, the gap between academic theology and church life opens up the possibility of a promising dialogue between Evangelicals and the Orthodox in Romania. Especially in the last 30 years, theologians from both communities have interacted in the context of doctoral research, scientific conferences, and research projects, although the dialogue between church leaders and hierarchs is almost non-existent. We analyze whether this incipient theological dialogue could possibly create a bridge between the two communities and within them and between academia and the church. We believe that one of the best ways to reduce the distance between them is to build on the interest of the current generation of theologians from both churches in Biblical studies, in Patristic theology, and in the work of the Romanian theologian Dumitru Stăniloae.

The Son as a Torn Veil: The Mysteries of Jesus According to J. Ratzinger-Benedict XVI

J. Ratzinger-Benedict XVI relates theological cognition to following Jesus and going in His footsteps. He emphasizes the inseparable, mutual, servant-like relationship between academic theology and Christian praxis, Christological hermeneutics with the existential basis of faith. Intellectual and spiritual understanding of the mystery of Jesus depends on intimacy with Him and grows on this path: only the Son can show the Father because he knows Him in a way that defines his existence as the Son. The eternal inter-Trinitarian conversation with the Father – the prayer of the Son, His sonship-obedience – finds its corporal expression in history, and the humanity of Jesus, whose culmination is the cross, remains His prayer. The earthly life, and finally the Passover of Jesus, introduces into the human, vague concept of God the experience of the loving Father, thus making the course of history definitively meaningful and fulfilling, and the faith legitimate. Ratzinger defends Christology as a conceptual understanding of the truth of the Gospel, the depth and integrity of which Christology guards and to which it refers. Disregarding in faith the cognitive achievements and heritage of systematic theology leads to depriving faith of its most important contents, without which it starts to look in the dark for justifications which are subjective as well as fuzzy.

Theological Wiggle Room as a Resource in Ordinary Theology: Significance for Ecclesiology, Leadership, and Personal Development

Ordinary theology is often described as unrefined and imprecise in comparison to academic theology. A recent ethnographic study of vital youth ministries discovered a similar pattern, which the study coined “theological wiggle room.” This article discusses how a lack of precision may serve as a possible resource for theology in the ordinary, and thereby why theological wiggle room may be of significance. The article argues that a certain theological wiggle room engages centripetal and centrifugal dynamics. In other words, the lack of precision should not be interpreted as a shortage or deficiency alone, but as a significant quality of theology in the ordinary – in particular with regard to ecclesiology, leadership and personal development.

The concept of sobornost’ and the problem of church authority in Russian theology late 19th — early 20th centuries

This article is devoted to the problematization of the idea of сhurch authority in Russian theology at the turn of the epochs, which is considered on the basis of the emergence and development of the concept of sobornost’. The reconstruction of the polemical context of A. Khomyakov allows the interpretation of the texts of which the concept of sobornost’ is included in theological thought. It also makes it possible to connect the problem of the authority of hierarchy with the idea of sobornost’ of the Church. In addition to the “Khomyakovsky” context, the author refers to three other authors, considered in chronological order. First, this concerns a collection of articles by Fr. A. Ivantsov-Platonov, in which he interprets the idea of sobornost’ designating it as an ideal characteristic of church structure. Here sobornost’ is associated with conciliar rule, which was not directly suggested by Khomyakov’s concept, and becomes a marker of (un)canonicity. Secondly, the author turns to the spiritual-academic theology at the beginning of the century, in which “sobornost’” is developed at two levels — institutional and mystical. This attempt receives the greatest meaningful development in the texts of Metropolitan Archbishop Antony (Khrapovitsky), who substantiates the authority of the hierarchy through the development of “personalistic” sobornost’ and the idea of the pastoral “compassionate love” for parishioners. Thirdly, the author considers the documents of the 1917–1918 Local Council in the focus of the connection between sobornost’ and church authority. It is concluded that the inclusion of the idea of sobornost’ into the context of academic theology leads to the formulation of the idea of the hierarchy’s authority, which was expressed in the construction of a new image of patriarchal ministry at the Council.