Showing papers in "International Journal of Public Theology in 2013"
TL;DR: Theology of multifaith spaces as mentioned in this paper investigates the relationship between the heterotopias, non-spaces and thirdspaces of some social theorists and how they relate to notions of God.
Abstract: Despite the existence of occasional shared or mixed religious spaces in the past, ‘multifaith spaces’ are relatively new phenomena and issues about their purpose, design, management, use and value are still emerging. While there is no ‘theology of multifaith spaces’, this article pursues an initial theological reading asking: how multifaith spaces relate to the heterotopias, non-spaces and Thirdspaces of some social theorists; what the theological issues around multifaith spaces are for those religious believers who use them; what theological approaches and language might begin to name and explore the potential of multifaith spaces for new shared understandings of human identity; and how multifaith spaces relate to notions of God.
7 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors analyse the attitudes of religious-Zionists toward the Middle East peace process and find that the dominant trend in the religious Zionism has a direct influence on the nature of Jewish public discourse and is expected to influence the shaping of Jewish society and culture.
Abstract: The aim of this article is to analyse the attitudes of Religious-Zionists toward the Middle East peace process. The Religious-Zionist movement served as the flag-bearer for Jewish settlement in the occupied territories of Judea, Samaria and Gaza and the principal reserve of the settler population. The tragedy of Religious-Zionism may well be its desire to integrate within and benefit from historical realities originating in relative, pragmatic conceptions, along with its refusal or inability to liberate itself of thinking tools, conceptions and norms belonging to a theological, a-historical world controlled by absolute values and dreams. The dominant trend in Religious-Zionism was found to have a direct influence on the nature of Jewish public discourse and is expected to influence the shaping of Jewish society and culture in the State of Israel after the peace agreements are signed.
7 citations
TL;DR: The authors suggests how the many tongues of the Spirit poured out on all flesh on the Day of Pentecost can be said to anticipate the multiplicity of theologies of the Holy Spirit in the present global renewal landscape.
Abstract: Modern Pentecostalism, named after the Day of Pentecost event in Acts 2, has come to be associated with a theology of the Spirit. Yet whether contemporary pentecostal theology has a coherent understanding of the Spirit, or whether the plurality of pentecostal and charismatic Christianities presume a diversity of pneumatologies instead, are open questions. This article suggests how the many tongues of the Spirit poured out on all flesh on the Day of Pentecost can be said to anticipate the multiplicity of theologies of the Spirit in the present global renewal landscape. Yet it is also precisely herein that historic and contemporary Pentecostalisms and their interfaces with the public square provide opportunities and present challenges for the ongoing discussion of the doctrine of the Spirit in particular and for the public theological task in general.
5 citations
TL;DR: In this article, a reflective answer to the growing interest in the "spirituality" of a leader found both among active leaders and in the field of Leadership Studies is given, where the author discusses four components of leadership: the leader's sense of reality, the sense of a higher calling, sense of belonging, and sense of morality, and the thought of Dietrich Bonhoeffer provides each of these components with an explicitly Christocentric content.
Abstract: This article is a reflective answer to the growing interest in the ‘spirituality’ of a leader found both among active leaders and in the field of Leadership Studies. The term ‘spirituality’ is so complex, however, it requires a more thorough theological reflection than (secular) Leadership Studies can offer, especially considering the more specific matter of how a Christian leader embodies his/her spirituality in his/her leadership. This article discusses four components of leadership: the leader’s sense of reality, the sense of a higher calling, the sense of belonging and the sense of morality. Further, the thought of Dietrich Bonhoeffer provides each of these components with not only a Christian but an explicitly Christocentric content.
5 citations
TL;DR: The authors argue that the "halakhically" (legally governed representational techniques employed by Jewish art are founded upon a counter-idolatrous theology of appearance: both human and divine.
Abstract: This article argues that the ‘halakhically’ (legally) governed representational techniques employed by Jewish art are founded upon a counter-idolatrous theology of appearance: both human and divine. In drawing upon a range of Jewish sources from the ancient to the contemporary period that understand idolatry as an estrangement of the world from God, this article presents a Jewish feminist theological critique of alienation in the late modern popular visual regime, while suggesting that it is nonetheless possible for public culture to behold the divine image in images of the human without such images becoming idolatrous.
3 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors identify a number of tensions in the Church of England relationship with higher education and explore how critical academic study might be better understood as a resource for ministerial formation.
Abstract: Over recent years the Church of England has been introducing university validated programmes for the ministerial education of its clergy. By drawing on the experience of one region in delivering such a programme, this article identifies a number of tensions in the church’s relationship with higher education and explores how critical academic study might be better understood as a resource for ministerial formation. The article also raises issues for the validating universities arising out of their partnership with church institutions, and argues that both church and academy alike could benefit from a reappraisal of their aims and values as public institutions in the light of their shared involvement in theological education for the church’s public ministers.
3 citations
TL;DR: Using the image of disease, the authors argues that the moral misconduct of individual Jamaicans is symptomatic of a larger societal disease, which is making all of us ill to lesser or greater extents.
Abstract: Using the image of disease, this article argues that the moral misconduct of individual Jamaicans is symptomatic of a larger societal disease, which is making all of us ill to lesser or greater extents. The claim is that Jamaica and Jamaicans are suffering from an ailment in the country’s moral system that has affected all other functioning systems in the nation’s body politic: political, corporate, social, spiritual and personal. The article is a condensed version of the 2013 Grace Kennedy Foundation lecture.1 It takes as a launch pad the Reverend Dr Burchell Taylor’s 1992 Grace Kennedy Foundation lecture, entitled ‘Free for All? A Question of Morality and Community’, and it attempts to diagnose further the nature and meaning of moral deterioration in Jamaican society.
2 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, a taxonomy of approaches to relating Scripture to public theology is presented, with a view to demonstrating that there are various ways in which Scripture and Scripture scholarship play a vital role in public theology, broadly construed.
Abstract: This article explores the relatively neglected topic of the role of Scripture in public theology. It proffers a provisional taxonomy of approaches to relating Scripture to public theology, with a view to demonstrating that there are various ways in which Scripture and Scripture scholarship play a vital role in public theology, broadly construed. It then discusses in more detail three of the eight approaches, focusing especially on recent works by Gerd Theissen and Paul Hanson, and illustrating the value of inner-biblical critique for public theology with reference to the themes of violence and justice.
2 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors argue that God's prohibition of murder, understood as abuse of the powerless, is due to God's broader concern with the maintenance of cosmic justice (cosmic harmony), which is required for the preservation of creation.
Abstract: This article provides a theological account of murder, that is, its significance within the broader context of God’s plan for creation. It argues that God’s prohibition of murder, understood as abuse of the powerless, is due to God’s broader concern with the maintenance of cosmic justice (cosmic harmony), which is required for the preservation of creation. Murder detracts from God’s cosmic justice in that it damages an aspect of justice that is related to human beings: social justice. Social justice is achieved through protection of the weak. In short, murder, as the ultimate act of oppression of the weak, constitutes social injustice and results in the disruption of God’s cosmic harmony.
2 citations
TL;DR: The authors examines two Christian thinkers who detect a close relationship between fashion and Secularity: Reformed theologian Abraham Kuyper's suspicion that the French fashion of his day carried political, cultural and social capacities that reinforced secularization in nineteenth century Holland and contemporary Roman Catholic philosopher Charles Taylor's understanding of fashion.
Abstract: This article examines two Christian thinkers who detect a close relationship between fashion and secularity. First, the article discusses Reformed theologian Abraham Kuyper’s suspicion that the French fashion of his day carried political, cultural and social capacities that reinforced secularization in nineteenth century Holland. Having considered Kuyper’s perspective, the article turns to contemporary Roman Catholic philosopher Charles Taylor’s understanding of fashion. Drawing on Taylor’s magnum opus, A Secular Age, the article traces fashion’s complicit relationship with secularity as a ‘fourth axis of simultaneity’. In spite of their very different historical, intellectual and confessional contexts, Kuyper and Taylor share a similar analysis of the secularizing power of fashion, thereby pointing a way forward for those seeking to understand the relationship between mode and modernite.
2 citations
TL;DR: This article explored the question of whether there are necessary connections between the Christian worldview and religious aggression, whether in the form of brutal extermination of the religious others or more subtly of interpretive violence on their cultural traditions.
Abstract: This article explores, through some historical vignettes, the question of whether there are necessary connections between the Christian worldview and religious aggression, whether in the form of brutal extermination of the religious others or more subtly of interpretive violence on their cultural traditions. The Hindu ‘pluralistic’ attitude towards the religions is often put forward as a paradigm of an open-minded acceptance of their diversity. However, varieties of Hindu ‘pluralism’ turn out, on closer inspection, to be based on specific criteria about the nature of human and divine reality, and collapse, in fact, to forms of ‘exclusivism’ which propose a certain event or experience as the paradigm through which human existence is to be interpreted. The crucial debate, then, is not so much between Christian ‘exclusivism’ versus Hindu ‘pluralism’ as over the basis for viewing religious diversity as encompassed by the divine purpose for humanity.
TL;DR: The socio-cultural meaning of cricket in the Caribbean, both on and off the field of play, within the context of the social forces at work in the colonial (1492-1838), post-emancipation (1838-1960) and post-independence (1960s onwards) periods is analyzed in this paper.
Abstract: This article analyses the socio-cultural meaning of cricket in the Caribbean, both on and off the field of play, within the context of the social forces at work in the colonial (1492–1838), post-‘emancipation’ (1838–1960) and post-‘independence’ (1960s onwards) periods. Correspondingly, the theological perspectives relative to the social forces at work off the field of play and the style of play on the field are accounted for. Cricket is used here as the cultural symbol of British imperialism in the Caribbean and the impetus for Caribbean people’s quest for self-identity and self-determination.
TL;DR: In this article, the authors argue that the church has a role to play in giving spiritual and moral leadership in the complex process of departing empire; they also offer observations on the challenge to the church to stand firm in its emancipatory commitment to move beyond empire, not least by developing new modes of self-expression and counter-discourse.
Abstract: The church partnered colonial powers in the establishment and maintenance of empire in the Caribbean: this article reminds readers of these realities before exploring some implications for the mission of the church today. The article argues that the church has a role to play in giving spiritual and moral leadership in the complex process of departing empire; it also offers observations on the challenge to the church to stand firm in its emancipatory commitment to move beyond empire, not least by developing new modes of self-expression and counter-discourse. In the article, particular reference is made to responsibilities facing the Caribbean Council of Churches.
TL;DR: The question of where was God at Auschwitz and where was humankind in the Holocaust has been addressed in the light of contemporary Jewish Holocaust theology by as discussed by the authors, where the author seeks to respond to these two deeply troubling questions.
Abstract: Throughout their history, the Jewish people have endured persecution, massacre and murder. They have been driven from their ancient homeland, buffeted from country to country and plagued by persecutions and pogroms. Jews have been despised and led as lambs to the slaughter. In modern times the Holocaust continued this saga of Jewish suffering, destroying six million innocent victims in the most terrible circumstances. This tragedy has posed the most searing questions for contemporary Jewry: where was God at Auschwitz, and where was humankind? This article seeks to respond to these two deeply troubling questions in the light of contemporary Jewish Holocaust theology.
TL;DR: In this paper, the role of the Maroons in Jamaican history is considered and the historical roots of the tension between the descendants of the maroon and of Paul Bogle are examined.
Abstract: This article considers the role of the Maroons in Jamaican history. Mindful that, today, Jamaica still experiences tension between the descendants of the Maroons and of Paul Bogle, this article examines the historical roots of this tension and suggests that there is scope for healing across both parties. Regardless of the present-day implications of these historical debates, however, the article is essentially an historical investigation that seeks to uncover what actually happened and what were the dominant motivations of the key players.
TL;DR: In this article, the authors compare two songs that reflect on the meaning of life and death: the traditional hymn, "Farther Along" and the song by late reggae icon, Peter Tosh, "Jah Say No".
Abstract: This article analyses and contrasts two songs that reflect on the meaning of life and death: the traditional hymn, ‘Farther Along’ and the song by late reggae icon, Peter Tosh, ‘Jah Say No’. Both songs consider how believers engage with the challenges of life; however, the comparison of these songs may be considered unusual as, while most Christians would accept ‘Farther Along’ as a religious song, there would be very few who would classify ‘Jah Say No’ in a similar fashion. Nevertheless, the lyrics of the two songs present diametrically different views of the nature of our earthly existence; hence, the comparison sheds light on diverse spiritual experiences in the Caribbean today.
TL;DR: In this article, the authors consider the relationship of the Church to the world within the broader context of God's creation, which includes nonhuman as well as human animals, and recognize two distinct classes of responsibility: animal responsibility, shared by human and nonhuman animals; and responsibility to God, unique to humans.
Abstract: This article engages with the ecclesiology of Stanley Hauerwas in considering the relationship of church to world within the broader context of God’s creation, which includes nonhuman as well as human animals. In conversation with Hauerwas, an evaluation of understandings of ‘world as creation’ and ‘world as fallen’ gives rise to a new understanding of world, as a public of responsible beings. This understanding produces three questions: what does it mean for nonhuman animals to be perceived by the church as part of the world, how are we justified in advancing such a perception and what are the implications of this? In answering these questions, two distinct classes of responsibility are recognized: animal responsibility, shared by human and nonhuman animals; and responsibility to God, unique to humans. In having responsibility, animals are part of the world to which the church is called to respond; and in responding, to learn as well as to witness.
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors argue that the moral degeneration of the community, of which the Lotto Scam is a signal and an example, is a product of the neglect of duty by the heirs and successors of Sam Sharpe, who led the Baptist war that contributed immensely to ending slavery in the British Empire.
Abstract: This article reflects upon the existing situation facing the Jamaican underclass in the light of the paradigm and legacy of Sam Sharpe, Christian martyr and Jamaican national hero who led the Baptist war that contributed immensely to ending slavery in the British Empire. The article suggests, using the rise of Lotto Scam as an example—which, as is explained below, is a form of advance fee fraud perpetrated against mostly senior citizens in the US—that the legacy of Sam Sharpe has not been pursued without deviation. The article contends that both the Jamaican society and its faith community have retreated from the pursuit of justice and equality. The moral degeneration of the community, of which the Lotto Scam is a signal and an example, is a product of the neglect of duty by the heirs and successors of Sam Sharpe. In addition, the article suggests that the Lotto Scam is the result of the following: first, the retreat of the faith community from activism and conscientization of the masses of the people in terms of moral formation; secondly, the failure to complete the liberation in economic terms, in particular, ignoring the matters arising, including reparations and enfranchisement through land distribution; and, thirdly, the impact of cultural penetration and the rise of consumerism (coca-colonization) as a new form of oppression and control of the masses.
TL;DR: A liberating Caribbean theology must position itself to provide guidance and direction to the people of the Caribbean as an urgent task by contending, in the public sphere, with the literalism and dogma inherent in Christian fundamentalist theology as discussed by the authors.
Abstract: This article argues that a liberating Caribbean theology must position itself to provide guidance and direction to the people of the Caribbean as an urgent task by contending, in the public sphere, with the literalism and dogma inherent in Christian fundamentalist theology. By engaging Christian fundamentalism at the level of ideology, Caribbean theology can offer an alternative consciousness through which Caribbean societies can be reshaped in the interest of the social well-being of the peoples of the region.
TL;DR: In this article, the notion of (in)visibility as a skill and an analytical device is brought into the field of public theology, and, using political and sociological insights from Andrea Brighenti and Pierre Bourdieu, a theoretical basis is established.
Abstract: In this article the notion of (in)visibility as a skill and an analytical device is brought into the field of public theology, and, using political and sociological insights from Andrea Brighenti and Pierre Bourdieu, a theoretical basis is established. Further, a liturgical and eschatological hermeneutic is applied to relativize (in)visibility and to locate its development as a skill in a Christian narrative context. The article argues that (in)visibility offers a complementary paradigm to the auditory that otherwise attends predominantly to the substantive content of public theological interventions; hence, it contends, the process and consequences for others (not necessarily acting as public theologians) are to be encompassed in a model of public theology. In addition, a case study on a recent statement by a Roman Catholic bishop in Scotland is presented.