Sacramental Ecclesiology: Adopting Augustine’s Totus Christus for Evangelical Ecclesiology

After the 16th-century reformation, the church was faced with the situation of ecclesiological plurality, both differences in traditions and church divisions into many denominations, in­cluding evangelical churches. Despite the fact that the evangelical movement was founded with the primary objective of spreading the gospel, it is devoid of coherence in ecclesiology. Based on Augustine’s idea of totus Christus, this research presents a con­structive ecclesiology proposal for evangelical churches. Drawing primarily on Augustine’s notion of totus Christus, and by showing that this idea is central to his theological construction, the author proposes the importance of revisiting the doctrine of totus Christus to create an ecclesiology that links to sacramentology and soteriology. The contribution of this research is to show that the doctrine of totus Christus is more organic and sacramental so that it can become the foundation and aspiration for evangelical churches united as the body of Christ to participate in His redemptive works for the salvation of the world.

Teresa of Avila and Jonathan Edwards on Prayer and Spirituality

Contemplative prayer has been a major source of contention in evangelical spirituality. Contemplative prayer is frequently mentioned as one apparent spiritual activity that is foreign to the scripture and Christian worldview and more resembling the New Age Movement and pantheistic Eastern religion by people who are skeptical of the mystical Christian tradition. This article will examine Teresa of Avila’s thought on mystical prayer, which is sometimes misinterpreted as a notion incompatible with evangelical theology of prayer. Hence, Teresa’s ideas of mystical prayer will be examined and compared with Jonathan Edwards’ concepts of prayer, which is considered to reflect evangelical theology of prayer. The comparison suggests that the contemplative, mystical prayer of Teresa is compatible with evangelical theology of prayer in its progress and purpose. Teresa and Edwards both understood prayer as an experience and progress that leads to the complete union with God, mediated by Christ and his words in scripture. This spiritual union with God will transform the devoted one with tremendous passion and strength to love and help others in their struggle and suffering. This study of Teresa’s thought of mystical prayer is expected to reinvigorate evangelical theology and praxis of prayer by learning from the rich spirituality of the Christian mystical tradition.

Rule of Love and Rule of Faith in Augustine’s Hermeneutics: A Complex Dialectic of the Twofold Rules

Since the sixteenth-century Reformation, literal interpretation of the Bible has been deemed the best hermeneutical method to unearth the biblical writers’ original meaning. For the Reformers, allegorical interpretation was denigrated for reading an extraneous, or spiritual, meaning into any text. Although Augustine was among the first who champions a literal interpretation of the Scripture—as he outlined in his De doctrina christiana—until recent decades, Augustine is still being perceived as inconsistent in following his hermeneutical method as it is attested in his interpretation of the Good Samaritan. In his interpretation, Augustine seems to have allegorized the parable, thus his method was accused of being inconsistent. Is it really the case? This article attempts to contest such an accusation by showing that Augustine’s method of interpretation cannot simply be categorized as either entirely literal or allegorical. Augustine never professes as a literalist, an exegete who only applies what is now known as a historical-critical method. On the other hand, he did not recklessly legitimate the application of allegorical reading to any text. Taken as a whole, Augustine’s hermeneutics revolves around a complex dialectic of regula dilectionis (the rule of love) and regula fidei (the rule of faith) that allows both interpretations to be considered to be true.

Contribution and Reduction of Narrative Theology to Biblical Hermeneutics in the Postmodern Era

This research examines narrative theology, which began to develop in the 1970s in the United States, and is now widely practiced in theological discourses, including in Indonesia. This theology, sometimes called postliberal theology, uses the postmodern interpretation paradigm, which seeks the meaning “in front of” the text (readers-oriented). The intended readers are the community, who have the same language, culture, and traditions. It turns out that narrative theology, which initially served as a theological reflection on Christianity’s claims to the biblical texts, has shifted into a hermeneutical lens in reading the biblical texts. Using analytical studies of library research and systematic review, the author discusses the contours of narrative theology starting from the thoughts of its pioneers (such as Hans W. Frei, George A. Lindbeck, Stanley Hauerwas, and Sally McFague), describing its characteristics, and evaluating them. The analysis results are presented in two points. The first is an appreciation of the contributions of narrative theology, i.e., simple-practical, confessional-dogmatic, relational, and inductive. The second is an evaluation of some reductive aspects of narrative theology, i.e., postmodern hermeneutics; a disregard of historicity and genre diversity; traditional-dogmatic fideism; sectarianism; and pragmatism.

Classical Rhetorical Analysis on Paul’s Character in His Speech at Miletus (Acts 20:18–35)

In his speech at Miletus (Acts 20:18–25), Paul talks about himself repeatedly. Such stress on the character of Paul inevitably raises some questions regarding the function of the emphasis. This article attempts to understand the function of the emphasis on the character of Paul in the Miletus speech. The method used to analyze the speech is the classical rhetorical method. Classical rhetoric follows the convention of ancient Greco-Roman rhetoric to examine how a speech persuades the audience to act according to what the speaker intends. In studying the Miletus speech, the writer will investigate several elements from classical rhetoric, such as the rhetorical invention, with particular discussion to ethos (character), pathos (emotion), and logos (the logic of the argumentation), the rhetorical species, the rhetorical arrangement, and the rhetorical effectiveness. The main argument of this article is that the emphasis on Paul’s character functions as the basis for the accountability of Paul’s ministry and the basis for his exhortation to the elders of the Ephesian church.

Joseph’s Food Politics as Life-Keeper of Many People: A Close Rereading of Genesis 47:13–26

The Septuagint reading predominantly influences the interpretation of Genesis 47:13-26 (primarily v. 21). Despite a positive portrayal of Joseph, he is also seen as Pharaoh’s accomplice to enslave the Egyptian people. This connection with slavery activities contradicts the traditional image of Joseph as the life-keeper of many people. Solution for the negative portrait of Joseph usually refers to the Masoretic Text, although it is not a reference to many modern Bible translations and commentaries. The Septuagint as a reference, in this case, is indeed difficult to reject. However, that does not mean that Joseph promotes the slavery of the Egyptian people throughout the land, but rather an ancient form of state capitalism. This article draws on textual criticism, word studies, form criticism, and agricultural knowledge background in the ancient Middle East. The contribution of this research is to show that, instead of enslaving, Joseph formulated an Egyptian food politics in the larger context of Joseph’s narrative reality as the life-keeper of many people.

Center Church: Doing Balanced, Gospel-Centered Ministry in Your City

Setiap orang yang menjalankan pelayanan gere­ja dalam kurun waktu yang panjang pasti ber­­tanya apakah pelayanan tersebut sudah berjalan dengan baik, efektif, dan mencapai hasil yang maksimal. Ada dua ekstrem dalam merespons hal ini. Ada yang memandang bahwa pelayanan harus selalu sukses (success­ful) dengan tolok ukur peningkatan jumlah kehadiran, peningkatan jumlah persembahan, bahkan juga peningkatan jumlah orang yang bertobat dan dibaptis. Sebaliknya, ada pula yang secara ekstrem memandang bahwa tolok ukur kesuksesan dari hal-hal yang terlihat se­cara fisik itu tidak dibenarkan, karena nilai ter­penting yang harus dipertahankan adalah ke­se­tiaan (faithfulness) dalam melakukan bentuk-bentuk pelayanan yang sudah ada se­lama ini apa pun dan bagaimana pun hasilnya. Timothy Keller mengatakan bahwa dua pandangan ini sama-sama tidak utuh dan tidak cukup. Tentu saja, pelayanan rohani tidak dapat diukur semata-mata dari fenomena fisik atau hal-hal yang kasat mata, tetapi bukan berarti kompe­tensi dan keunggulan (excellency) dalam se­buah pelayanan adalah hal yang tidak penting. Kita tidak dapat hanya menekankan “kese­tia­an” dalam melakukan hal yang sama berulang-ulang jika memang hasilnya tidak efektif atau bahkan tidak terlihat.

Middle Knowledge: Human Freedom in Divine Sovereignty

In the last two or three decades, we have witnessed a renewed interest in spirituality in Christian academic circles. More recently, we have also seen a growing number of publi­cations on the mission and missional church—both on popular and academic levels. While one can easily find many quality works on Christian spirituality and some decent books on mission/missional church, one would only find a few works that combine both themes in a single volume. In this work, Charles Fen­sham, professor of theology at Knox College, Toronto, attempts to do just that—as one may discern from the book’s subtitle: A Missional Spirituality. As such, this book ad­dress­es those who have interest in spirituality and/or in mission but particularly to those who would like to see how biblical missional impetus shapes a particular understanding of Christian spirituality.

J. S. Bach’s Church Cantatas and Church Music Today

How do we as Christians today learn about worship and church music? How do we think about not only what music we will sing in Christian worship, but also the principles that should guide us in choosing and leading church music? Certainly, there are many different ways we answer that question: we study the Bible, we sing the words of the Scriptures, we read what theologians, worship leaders, and scholars of church music are writing today, we attend lectures and conferences by scholars and practitioners of church music. In this article, I offer and explore yet another example of how we live out God’s call in leading music for the Christian church: by studying the example of a faithful Christian musician from the past. My particular example for this article is the German composer and church musician Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750). I want to clarify from the start that I am not arguing that J. S. Bach is the best example of a Christian church musician and certainly not that he is the only example. But Bach does offer us one example of a musician who dedicated most of his life to creating and leading music for the Christian church and sought to do so faithfully, creatively, and skillfully.

Bilangan 5:11–31: Ritual Sotah sebagai Terobosan Budaya di Timur Tengah Kuno

Bilangan 5:11­–31 dapat menimbulkan kecurigaan tentang adanya praktik seksisme, penindasan atau pelecehan terhadap wanita. Hal ini bisa dimengerti jika Mishnah menjadi rujukan yang kemudian dijadikan tolok ukur untuk menafsir bagian Alkitab terkait. Dari penggambaran Mishnah Sotah, wanita yang tertuduh melakukan zina dipermalukan dan diperlakukan hampir sama seperti seorang pelacur. Artikel ini berusaha untuk menunjukkan perspektif yang lain dalam mengerti ritual Sotah dalam Bilangan 5:11–31. Dengan menggunakan metode kajian sosiologis, artikel ini akan mengidentifikasi masalah sosiologis yang dituduhkan terhadap teks Bilangan tersebut berdasarkan penjelasan traktat Sotah dalam Mishnah. Kemudian, posisi wanita dalam dunia Timur Dekat Kuno akan dijelaskan berdasarkan konteks budayanya. Akhirnya, dengan menim­bang inferioritas wanita dalam dunia Timur Dekat Kuno dan perbandingan antara ritual Sotah dalam Alkitab dengan ritual sejenis dan setempat, maka artikel ini berargumen bahwa teks Bilangan 5:11–31 dapat dilihat sebagai terobosan budaya dalam membela wanita yang secara budaya pada masa itu dianggap sebagai kaum yang inferior. Numbers 5:11–31 could be interpreted as a kind of sexism and repression to women. In the Mishnaic tradition, the passages indeed are being understood and developed in such manner. From tractate Sotah in Mishnah, the suspected adulterous wife indeed is ashamed and treated as a prostitute. This article seeks to present another perspective on the passage. This article uses the sociological study method to identify the sociological problems alleged against the passage based on the explanation of the Sotah tractate in the Mishnah. Afterward, the inferior position of women in the ancient Near East will be explained as a cultural context to understand the passage better. Finally, considering this cultural context and comparing the Sotah ritual with the common rituals in the ancient Near East, this article argues that Numbers 5:11–31 could be seen as a cultural breakthrough to protect women, which are considered marginalized.