No other name

This is a study about the relationship between the ethical sphere and Christianity in Kierkegaard’s thought. Against the tendency among Kierkegaard scholars to emphasize the continuity between the ethical sphere and Christianity, I tried to show through this study that in Kierkegaard’s writings there was a very strong emphasis on the discontinuity between these two spheres. I started by asking whether there is a difference and discontinuity between "rationalistic ethics" (the ethics of the person who is in the ethical sphere) and Christian ethics. {Chapter One} Firstly, in the examination of Abraham’s act of faith in Fear ani Trembling, X showed that even in this book there was a hint of a new ethics which follows from faith. To answer the question as to whether there is a clear description of this new ethics, I turned to Works &£ In the examination of this book, I identified the ethics of Christian love, and asserted that the ethics of Christian love was different and discontinuous from merely human love. In the next section, I examined Christian ethics as the ethics of Christian discipleship. Through an examination of some parts of fhiloapphioal FriflBttttg and Training in Christianity I argued that Christian ethics, as understood by Kierkegaard, is different from merely ethical discipleship and semi-Pelagianism. Throughout this chapter’s discussion I argued that Christian ethics was not only different from the ethics of the ethical person, but also antithetical to it. For ethics based on merely human love was criticized severely in Works jfif. Love, and

The relation of Christianity to the ethical sphere in the thought of Søren Kierkegaard

Evangelical Trends, 1959-2009

The philosophy of metaReality and, in particular, ideas of transcendence can ‘underlabour’ for the re-enchantment of Islamic praxis, ethics and law by helping to uncover in a systematic, non-arbitrary way the spiritual objectives (maqāsid) inherent in the basic beliefs, practices and obligations of Islam. The commonly accepted elements of the Islamic legal pathway (Shari'a), such as the obligation of marriage, far from being inhibiting, can help humans access the dialectical pulse of freedom and the emancipatory meaning inherent tendentially in human relationships. Thus, the Islamic Shari'a, underlaboured by the philosophy of metaReality, rather than a symbol of legal backwardness and inflexibility, can be conducive once again to greater personal ontological wholeness and collective human flourishing.

The Metaphysics of a Contemporary Islamic Shari'a: A MetaRealist Perspective

IntroductionLondon River is an artistic work which elaborates existential themes. It discusses tragedy and suffering as well as multicultural and inter/multi-religious affairs. The filmmakers seem to aim at stressing the importance of embracing differences and accepting 'otherness', an attitude that has to reach beyond the confines of mere tolerance, by means of a thought provoking and heartbreaking drama. As the storyline and context of the film suggest, this endeavor is primarily one that Christians need to undertake, for they do not seem to adequately embody some of the main principles of their religious tradition. Yet, a more careful examination of the movie's constituent parts discloses that their goal is a much more complex one: the film is a discussion of how the overcoming of religious and cultural differences is not an easy endeavor, especially when those exact differences may be responsible for the indescribable pain that one has to endure in the face of tragedy and loss. Based on the latter, I believe that the film's thematic concept may be a challenge to Christian theology in terms of its effort to introduce the world to a vision of an all-inclusive, comprehensive and harmonious society, which becomes more substantial when given a particular context, whilst it raises questions of faith (and doubt) in the face of a grave calamity. Therefore, in London River we could have a good example of how Christian theology may discuss those issues on the basis of facts that people might have/could have confronted back in 2005 when the terrorist attack on the London bus (and the underground trains) took place.1London River invites us to follow the painful adventure of two equally interesting characters: Elizabeth, a native English woman and a widow, who lives on Guernsey Island, entirely devoted to agrarian life and her only daughter, a student in London. The middle aged woman appears to have a relatively good relationship with the Christian faith, something that we can assume by what we see in one of the opening scenes, where she attends a service, listens to the sermon and sings a hymn of praise to God. The male protagonist is Ousmane, a black African, who is separated from his wife and leads the life of a dedicated forester in France, cut off from any connection to his past (he has not seen his only son, also a student in London, in years), but deeply connected to both nature and his Islamic faith. Their paths cross, when they both travel to the British capital, as neither of them had had any communication with either of their children since the tragic event. Their acquaintance and common search for their loved ones becomes just as revealing as ultimately bitter.My focal point would be the open ended approach of the film to the above mentioned issues (embracing differences and accepting 'otherness', tragedy and loss, faith and doubt), which I understand as twofold. It is open- ended because the moment its story is completed, it leaves us with a sense of incompleteness. After they learn that their children were both killed in the terrorist attack, Elizabeth and Ousmane experience the deepest sorrow, one that eventually turns them to thankfulness for having each other amid mutual despair. Then, they both return to their home places and struggle to continue their previously established way of life. This is what we are presented with in the last few scenes of the film. Nevertheless, I think that the rather abrupt way in which the film ends is Bouchareb's deliberate choice, for we might have expected a new turn in the lives of the two protagonists (why not a reunion?) but this is something that he leaves up to our imagination. He makes us wonder about the meaning of their separation, after having guided us towards the significance of their unforeseen connection.2 This sense of incompleteness might lead to crucial questions, while, on the other hand, the story avoids providing us with final answers to the challenging problems it discusses; however, it raises awareness of their intricate character. …

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Beyond the Confines of Tolerance in Rachid Buchareb’s London River: Theological Discussion and Educational Approach to an Open Ended film

established in Britain. Sangha-the community ofthose who practise the way ofthe Buddha-is often used to refer to the members of the ordained Sangha, but more accurately it includes those who practise in ordinary life as well. The Christian concept of the Church is thus similar. Lay members of the Sangha 'take refuge' in Buddha, Dhamma and Sangha, and are guided by five moral precepts. 3 Dhamma is the ultimate truth, the way things are, that which the Buddha realized and sought to teach through words and action but which goes beyond words and action. 4 Higher ordination: bhikkhus (monks), literally those who live on alms, and dasasilavanti (nuns), literally those living by the Ten Precepts, follow the detailed guidance of the Vinaya, the Discipline. The men wear a yellow robe, the women a brown robe. They are considered junior for their first five years after ordination. 5 Anagarikas: literally, a homeless one. A white-robed man or woman who takes eight of the Ten Precepts, but remains free to cook, drive, buy and sell (and own property), and so can help the ordained. They are expected to give themselves at least a year living under the Precepts, and before proceeding to higher ordination should complete two years.

Christianity and Other Religions: Is Inclusivism Enough?

Unwelcome and Welcome Truths - A Christian, Jewish and Muslim Declaration

model of a religious state. Of course, those who do these things would have no interest in covenantal humanism, but that is all the more reason for those of us who do to go on working at these ideas. Paul Chung’s book, dedicated to Ulrich Duchrow, does not offer us a theological engagement with economics in the way, say, that Douglas Meeks did or Duchrow does, but rather a history of the ideas which got us where we are, and an account of the discussion surrounding them. There are detailed discussions of thinkers from Locke to Habermas, of Marx to Wallerstein and Hardt and Negri. A final chapter sketches alternatives; an excursus considers the relationship of East Asian religions to social justice; and an epilogue sets out a theology of God’s life and emancipation from greed and dominion more or less in the way that Duchrow and Hinkelammert present it. Interesting as the account is I wish that the excursus occupied the main part of the book, because the history is available elsewhere and the theology is more interesting. It is long overdue for Minjung theology to move on and go deeper, and this is something Professor Chung could offer us. South Korea has both been through the capitalist ‘miracle’ and been dumped in the trash can as the wheel moves onwards and further east to China. Apart from the Philippines it has the largest Christian population in Asia. It is locked in another atavism in its relation to its paranoid northern sister, parotting slogans from an ideology which needs carbon dating. All this means that South Korea could and ought to be extraordinarily theologically creative. So far, to my knowledge, only Aloysius Pieris, in Sri Lanka, has really shown the kind of creativity which might flow from the encounter of Christianity with both Asian religion and the call for social justice which was embodied in the Marxist tradition which Professor Chung knows so well. What we really look for is not this book but a full-length version of the excursus which brings these things together and shows us what this part of the world may have to offer in responding to the dire predicament we find ourselves in, which will be, not covenantal humanism, but some other kind of humanism, of which Pieris is the precursor.

Alan Race

Papers

Christianity and Other Religions: Is Inclusivism Enough?

Unwelcome and Welcome Truths - A Christian, Jewish and Muslim Declaration

Dan Cohn-Sherbok, Dawoud El-Alami and George D. Chryssides, Why Can’t They Get Along? A Conversation between a Muslim, a Jew and a Christian:

Citizens and Exiles: Christian Faith in a Plural World

Creation from the Nuclear End