Showing papers in "Theology in 1995"
25 citations
TL;DR: In the case of Bosnia-Hercegovina, the best answer would probably be for it to be incorporated as a semi-autonomous Muslim province in a new Greater Croatia, to include both Sarajevo and Mostar, and with access to the sea along the Adriatic coast.
Abstract: 'ethnically cleansed'. There will then have to be population transfers in both directions, and this will be a useful thing for the United Nations forces already there to arrange, which is more than can be said for their present humanitarian efforts which, however well meant, are simply prolonging the civil war. Forced population transfers are always painful, but surely no more painful than the present situation, and they have often had to be done in the past, with the break-up of the Ottoman Empire in the 1920s for example, and in Eastern Europe after the last war, and more recently in Cyprus. Bosnia-Hercegovina was only recognized by the United Nations in 1992 and, with a population of about 4 million (40 per cent Muslim, 33 per cent Serb, and the rest Croats etc.), landlocked and having little industry, it probably never could have been viable as an independent state. That will still less be so with the Serbian third of its population gone, and the best answer would probably be for it to be incorporated as a semi-autonomous Muslim province in a new Greater Croatia, to include both Sarajevo and Mostar, and with access to the sea along the Adriatic coast.
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TL;DR: According to Professor Vincent Brummer, in the last issue of Theology, 'the debate about the truth or falsehood of the claim that God exists' has no future as mentioned in this paper.
Abstract: According to Professor Vincent Brummer, in the last issue of Theology, 'the debate about the truth or falsehood of the claim that God exists' has no future.' It is not the case, of course, that the debate has been settled one way or the other-on the contrary, it is bound to continue. Rather, Brummer argues that the debate is an irrelevance, a product of conceptual confusion about religious belief and unbelief alike. It assumes that the proposition 'God exists' can be understood-and then affirmed or denied-in isolation from its context in the lives of believers. But this assumption betrays a radical misconstrual of the nature of religious belief, in which what we say and what we do are organically interrelated. It follows that the real debate between theism and atheism is a debate about the coherence and adequacy of a religious 'form of life' taken as a whole. So even if philosophers of religion-theistic and atheistic-eontinue to slug it out, in the hope of an apologetic knockout, or at least-by adopting the more fashionable 'cumulative case' style-a decision on points, it will be to no avail, according to Brummer. What he urges upon us is a different contest altogether. I want to go back to Brummer's vision for the future of the theism-atheism debate because it raises issues of the utmost significance for the contemporary theologian. In order to confront these issues, however, we must first reflect a little upon the relationship between Brummer's work and the philosophy of Wittgenstein, both in general and in one specific (and quite crucial) instance. Brummer's article in Theology, and much of his work elsewhere, applies Wittgenstein's controversial concepts of 'language-games' and 'forms of life' in the philosophy of religion. A religion, he claims, is a language-game, a distinctive complex of linguistic phenomena embedded in an equally distinctive complex of human social practices. This kind of talk has been dismissed as 'Wittgensteinian fideism' in some quarters for nearly thirty years.' a way of insulating religious belief against the critical winds whipped up within other, separate language-games, such as science. In fact, Wittgensteinian philosophy of religion was never like this, even back in the sixties.' although some of its proponents did go on to speak more cautiously (with exegetical as well as philosophical considerations in mind) about religion involving several language-games. Brummer's equation of a religion with a single language-game, therefore, is nothing if not bold, and yet he is quite right to declare his own work free of any
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TL;DR: Rist explores every aspect of this huge, and always changing, attempt to understand; for Augustine's mind never stood still as discussed by the authors, and gives due weight to its changes, its development and the tensions generated within it.
Abstract: with the aid of all the resources of ancient thought that he could utilize, and to understand the world he lived in in the light of that belief, within the perspective of the Scriptures and of the faith of his Church. Rist explores every aspect of this huge, and always changing, attempt to understand; for Augustine's mind never stood still. He gives due weight to its changes, its development and the tensions generated within it. He is especially perceptive in signposting the upheaval in Augustine's mind brought about by his deepened study of St Paul around 395-6: Augustine's previous confidence in human rational and moral resources vanished. The possibility of achieving true wisdom through disciplined study, and of ordering human living according to God's all-embracing order receded; he henceforth saw human life, individual and social, in terms of the tragic conflict between sin and salvation, a conflict resolved only through grace. Rist's exposition is simple, lucid, based on vast learning, and has the sympathetic understanding required for true insight. What distinguishes his study from many others, however, is his acute awareness of the problems, obscurities, unresolved tensions and incoherences in Augustine's thought. These are honestly faced, analysed, and presented to the reader. In a final chaper entitled'Augustinus redivivus' Rist imagines an Augustine of the late twentieth century reconsidering his work, as did the aged Augustine around 427 in his Reconsiderations. It is a model of what a conversation with a great mind across the centuries can be. Mary Clark's book is cast for a more modest role, dealing with Augustine in the compact format of the admirable 'Outstanding Christian Thinkers Series'. Some minor inaccuracies and repetitions aside, it gives a clear account of Augustine's thought. What the book lacks, especially in comparison with Rist's, is the critical distance between her and her subject. Although not lapsing into hagiography, she is too closely identified with Augustine to allow the grave problems raised by his work to appear; and, in consequence, her portrayal of his mind is also less fully convincing.
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TL;DR: In this article, the fiftieth anniversary of the ending of the Second World War provides a good opportunity to reflect on the religious significance of the German opposition to Hitler, with special reference to the doctrine of redemption.
Abstract: The fiftieth anniversary of the ending of the Second World War provides a good opportunity to reflect on the religious significance of the German opposition to Hitler. Historians have discussed mainly the extent of this opposition, its effectiveness at the time, and its longer-term results, e.g. in influencing the moral and political climate of post-war Germany. Church historians and some theologians have looked at the role of the churches under Nazism, and assessed both what they did to oppose Hitler, and what they did not do but should have. What I want to do now, however, is to look at the theological significance of the opposition to Hitler by certain German and Austrian Christians, with special reference to the doctrine of redemption. It is striking how often these Christians explained and justified their actions, and their sufferings, in terms of concepts of redemption and atonement. The people I shall consider fall mainly into four categories, the members of which overlap to some extent. First, there are those who knew of and approved of von Stauffenberg's assassination attempt of 20 July 1944; this category includes Dietrich Bonhoeffer. Secondly, there is the Kreisau Circle, a group concerned to discuss the political, moral and spiritual regeneration of a post-Nazi Germany, which derives its name from the estate in Silesia owned by its leading spirit, Helmuth James Graf von Moltke, where some of its meetings were held. Thirdly, there is the 'White Rose' group, based at the University of Munich, which published leaflets exposing Nazi crimes and calling for the overthrow of the regime. Lastly, there are various individuals, including those whose testimonies were published a few years after the war in the anthology Dying We Lioe,' The work of these people and the martyrdom which most of them suffered raise different layers of question. Most obviously, we may
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors give us grace to share their openness to change and, rather than deploring the changing focus of world Christianity, to glorify God for this further dynamic development in his all-embracing purpose for the salvation of the world.
Abstract: in those lands from which in Mrs Ramsden's day it was so enthusiastically exported. When the sceptics in the Jerusalem church heard Peter's account of the strange new tum which God's grace had taken, they 'were silenced', and then 'they glorified God'. May God give us grace to share their openness to change, and, rather than deploring the changing focus of world Christianity, to glorify God for this further dynamic development in his all-embracing purpose for the salvation of the world.
TL;DR: Role uncertainty in the Church has been identified as the 'biggest single problem' contributing to a crisis of ordained ministry in the 1970s as mentioned in this paper, and it is a modern problem: its existence was noted during the 1960s by sociologists of religion such as Robert Towler.
Abstract: Frank Wright begins his book The Pastoral Nature of the Ministry by recalling an incident which had occurred shortly after his own ordination. The scene is a weekly meeting of parish clergy at which a variety of practical matters had to be considered: 'Wewere organising parishioners from the comfort of our armchairs: someone to take over the Brownies, supervise the envelope-scheme, help with the monthly Pram Service. \"But what\", asked my colleague, \"am I supposed to be doing with people I meet? What am I for\"'l It is this question 'What am I for?' that concems me here-for it is as clear and concise an expression of the experience of clerical role uncertainty as one could hope to find; sadly it is a phenomenon which does not admit of quite such a clear and concise solution. It is, on the whole, a modern problem: its existence was noted during the 1960s by sociologists of religion such as Robert Towler, who expressed the view then that its 'full impact ... is yet to be felt'. All the same, he regarded it even at that time as the 'biggest single problem' contributing to a crisis of ordained ministry. In both these respects he rnay well have been right.\" What sort of solution can there be to the problem of role uncertainty? The most obvious and most tempting one is to try to replace uncertainty with relative certainty: attempting to define the duties and functions of the minister, and specifying what can reasonably be expected of clergy in the performance of their duties.' This approach is not, fundamentally, a theological one: it does not try to discem theological aims or principles in terms of which clergy can understand the duties expected of them and make judgements about how to fulfil their role. Instead it is a step towards a job description for the parish minister. It is a managerial approach to the problem rather than a theological one. It is, moreover, misconceived. For clergy are not ignorant of the duties their role may involve, and the problem is not just one of time (and energy) management. The uncertainty has more to do with the aims and ends that ought to be pursued in and through these duties. Perhaps, then, what is required is more guidance about the theological aims or principles which (ought to) inform the clergy's understanding of and performance of their duties-in other words
TL;DR: On the other hand, the On the Way report as mentioned in this paper suggests that parents who bring babies for baptism should enrol as "enquirers" for a catechumenal course (5.38) and recommends delaying until the age of 16 a public confession of faith.
Abstract: may continue thine for ever, and daily increase in thy Holy Spirit more and more until he come unto thy everlasting kingdom.' 40 This is not to deny that the Holy Spirit is also at work in baptism, nor to suggest a person cannot be filled with the Holy Spirit entirely independently-as at conversion or 'baptism in the Holy Spirit'. Hence the entire correctness of the extension of communion to those 'ready and desirous to be confirmed' at the end of the 1662Confirmation Service. 41 M. Reardon, Christian Initiation: A Policy for theChurch of England (GSMisc. 365, 1991),para. 135;cf. Buchanan Anglican Confirmation, p. 46. 42 Knaresborough Report, p. 64. 43 cf. Beckwith, 'Age of Admission', p. 26. 44 Despite Bishop Buchanan's brave attempt to change this in Infant Baptism andthe Gospel (OLT 1993). The report On the Way points in the right direction when it suggests many parents who bring babies for baptism should enrol as 'enquirers' for a catechumenal course (5.38). But how will they react to such discipline? 45 Recommendation g. 46 On the Way 7.12. 47 Holeton, Infant Baptism, p. 24;cf.Communion before Confirmation (1993), the Culham report on the experiments in the diocese of Manchester, Peterborough and Southwark. 48 Need this really smack of 'intolerable priestcraft'? It is in fact no more than a simple prayer and a sign of God's care. 49 cf. A. A. Langdon, Communion for Children? The Current Debate (Latimer Study 28, 1988). p. 44. He recommends the 'ready and desirous rubric as a means of varying this in exceptional cases-po 47. That the Jewish Bar-Mitzvah ceremony is for boys of thirteen is another recognition of the reality of the 'age of discretion'. Against the 'graduating out of the church' syndrome there is no better safeguard than a well run church youth group. 50 While the report On the Way has many positive insights about Christian 'formation', especially for adults, it accepts without critical evaluation the arguments for the admission of young children to communion (5.17,47), and recommends delaying until the age of 16 a public confession of faith (5.43). Its argument that Christian initiation should be regarded as a process stretching over a period of years (3.43) surely justifies the long-held contention that confirmation, though administered to a candidate long after baptism, is still part, indeed the culmination of, Christian initiation.
TL;DR: In the Church of Scotland, it has been argued that the role of full-time religious organizer can at best be a short-term solution to the problems facing the clergy.
Abstract: 2 See Towler, 'The Social Status of the Anglican Minister' in R. Robertson (ed.), Sociology ofReligion (Penguin 1969),pp. 443-50. For arecent example which tends to confirm these opinions, I would mention areport to the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland in 1990which draws on academic research into 'loneliness, stress, burn-out and role crisis' in parish ministry, and which suggests that uncertainty about the clerical role is a significant factor 'prompting some to forsake the ministry for more clearly defined occupations'. See The Church of Scotland: Reports to the General Assembly 1990, pp. 87-96. 3 Such was the path pursued by the Church of Scotland report mentioned abovesee note 2. 4 It has to be admitted that the leap required is one of perhaps 250 years, in the first instance. It will be apparent that the narrative, and the analysis, are most applicable to the established Churches (though not exclusively so). 5 Alasdair Maclntyre, After Virtue: A Study in Moral Theory (2nd edition, London, 1985),p. 29. 6 Maclntyre, After Virtue, p. 26. Maclntyre acknowledges his considerable dependence here on Max Weber's account of bureaucratic rationality. 7 This division of the ministerial role into three parts is based on the acknowledgement of these three responsibilities in the normal service of ordination to the ministry of the Church of Scotland: the terms correspond respectively to (a) one's ordination to the ministry of Word and Sacrament, (b) one's induction to a pastoral charge, and (c)one's admission to the Presbytery, and one's promise to playa 'due part in the administration of its affairs'. 8 The designation 'preacher' is of course the natural one to me as a Presbyterian. Others might prefer to substitute 'priest' here. It would indeed serve equally well, particularly since it would preserve the alliteration! 9 The decline is easily documented statistically, though this of course does not ascertain its causes. For example: in 1951,42.1per cent of the school-age children in Scotland were enrolled in a Church of Scotland Sunday School or Bible Class. In 1990 this had dropped to 14.4 per cent. In the same period the number of adults on Church of Scotland Communion Rolls, as a percentage of the adult population of Scotland, had dropped from 36.5per cent to 20.8per cent. See The Church of Scotland: Reports to the General Assembly (various years). 10 See for example Wright, The Pastoral Nature of Ministry, pp. 58f. 11 Wright, The Pastural Nature of Ministry, p. 5. 12 Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics, VIII.1 (Penguin 1983),pp. 258-9. 13 In Robertson, Sociology of Religion, p. 449. Towler's view had changed rather by 1979: in TheFate of theAnglican Clergy, co-written with A. P.M. Coxon (Macmillan 1979), he seems to suggest that the role of full-time religious organizer can at best be a short-term solution to the problems facing the clergy (see p. 205). 14 An earlier version of this paper was read at a meeting discussing 'Theology in the Church of Scotland' in Glasgow on 6 February 1993.
TL;DR: In this paper, the dean and chapter reacted to the advent of the new bishop's chaplain, Mr Slope, and the threat from without produced a predictable reaction, even if the gentlemen of the chapter had not been specifically chosen to perpetuate a way of life.
Abstract: It was Pascal who commented that what is truth on one side of the Pyrenees is error on the other, and we can credit Anthony Trollope with at least something of the same insight. In Barchester Towers he followed, and also to some degree explained, the way in which the dean and chapter reacted to the advent of the new bishop's chaplain, Mr Slope. The chapter disagreed among themselves, of course, but the threat from without produced a predictable reaction. For even if the gentlemen of the chapter had not been specifically chosen to perpetuate a way of life, then they had soon been socialized into patterns of behaviour which were given meaning by a particular tradition of worship and marked by their peculiar privileges as members of the cathedral foundation. The manner of life has fascinated many (not least those closely involved) and has been an object of study for other novelists as well,
TL;DR: The Companions of the Co-Inherence as mentioned in this paper were formed by Charles Williams, who drew up seven sentences to guide them and used 'We must become, as it were, a double man' as one of the epigrams to accompany the sixth sentence.
Abstract: 1 He Came Down from Heaven (Heinemann 1938). See also The Way of Exchange, a 1941 pamphlet, reprinted in The Image of the City (OUP 1958). 2 He Came Down from Heaven, p. 121. 3 He Came Down from Heaven, p. 122. 4 The Paradise of the Fathers, ed. Sir Wallis Budge, quoted in The Image of the City, p.151. 5 When Charles Williams established the Companions of the Co-Inherence in 1939, he drew up seven sentences to guide them. He used, 'We must become, as it were, a double man' as one of the epigrams to accompany the sixth sentence. 6 Quoted by E. Browett, in conversation with H. Mordecai. 7 He Came Down from Heaven, p. 124. 8 Descent into Hell (Faber 1937, reprinted Eerdmans 1977),pp. 96-104, 168-72. 9 As well as those passages quoted above, the Pauline concept of the Body seems to me to be particularly helpful in examining co-inherence. Williams, however, did not use it. 10 R. C. Moberly, Atonement and Personality (john Murray 1901), p. xii. 11 Atonement and Personality, p. 151. 12 Atonement and Personality, p. 252.
TL;DR: Schonherr as mentioned in this paper, "Weder Opportunismus noch opposition", p. 17.5, is interesting to note that Barth did not find anything wrong with such a hope, though he added a warning that it might be in vain unlike hope in God.
Abstract: collection of essays by Richard Schroder, Denken im Zwielicht. vortrdge undAufsatze aus der Alten DDR (Tiibingen 1990). 6 Albrecht Schonherr, 'Weder Opportunismus noch Opposition. Kirche im Sozialismus der beschwerliche Weg der Protestanten in der DDR' in DieZeit,47.Jg., No.7 (7 February 1992), pp. 4-5. 7 'Weder Opportunismus noch Opposition', p. 4. 8 It is interesting to note that Karl Barth did not find anything wrong with such a hope, though he added a warning that it might be in vain unlike hope in God. Karl Barth, Briefan einen Pfarrer in der Deutschen Demokratischen Republik (Zollikon 1958),p. 17.
TL;DR: Stevenson and Stancliffe as discussed by the authors, 'Christian Initiation and its relation to some Pastoral Offices', Theology (july / August 1991), pp. 284-91 (GS Mise 366).
Abstract: 12 The Bishop of Coventry to the author, 26 November 1993; 24 January 1995. 13 The research referred to was carried out by Southwell's Diocesan Adviser for Evangelism, the Revd Paul Morris, in March 1991 and is entitled Confirmation Figures 1980-1990. 14 Diocese of Salisbury, Confirmation Regulations, C12. 15 Diocese of St Edmundsbury and Ipswich, Bishop's Regulations: Confirmation C(i), para. 14. 16 Diocese of Chelmsford, Christian Initiation C2, para. 5. 17 It is interesting to note that seven was the minimum age laid down by the House of Bishops for children to receive Communion before Confirmation following the debates on the Knaresborough Report in 1985. Culham College Institute, Communion before Confirmation (1993), p. 12. 18 K. Stevenson and D. Stancliffe, 'Christian Intitiation and its Relation to Some Pastoral Offices', Theology (july / August 1991), pp. 284-91 (GS Mise 366). 19 Stevenson and Stancliffe, 'Christian Initiation', p. 286. 20 On theWay: Towards an Integrated Approach to Christian Initiation (CHP 1995),4.50, p.67. 21 On the Way 4.53-4, pp. 67f. 22 'Christian Initiation-Table of