This article presents a constructive dialogue between contemporary theological phenomenology and systematic theology. It considers the writings of the French phenomenologist Emmanuel Falque by offering a precis of his unique approach to “crossing” the boundaries of theology and philosophy. This methodological innovation serves as an intervention into contemporary theological phenomenology, which allows him to propose an overlooked dimension of human corporeality, what he calls the spread-body (corps épandu). Within the latter is embedded a conception of bodily existence that escapes ratiocination and is comprised of chaotic forces, drives, desires, and animality. The article challenges not so much this philosophical description but rather suggests that Falque’s theological resolution to this subterranean dimension of corporeal life consists in a deus ex machina that re-orders these corporeal forces without remainder through participation in the eucharist. It argues that Falque’s notion of the spread body can be supplemented theologically by an account of ‘affectivity’ that is distinguished from auto-affection, as in the case of Michel Henry, and which also gleans from the field of affect theory. This supplementation is derived from current research in systematic theology, which looks at the doctrines of pneumatology and sanctification to offer a more plausible account of corporeality in light of the Christian experience of the affective body.
{"title":"The Spread Body and the Affective Body: A Discussion with Emmanuel Falque","authors":"C. Ullrich","doi":"10.3390/rel15010030","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3390/rel15010030","url":null,"abstract":"This article presents a constructive dialogue between contemporary theological phenomenology and systematic theology. It considers the writings of the French phenomenologist Emmanuel Falque by offering a precis of his unique approach to “crossing” the boundaries of theology and philosophy. This methodological innovation serves as an intervention into contemporary theological phenomenology, which allows him to propose an overlooked dimension of human corporeality, what he calls the spread-body (corps épandu). Within the latter is embedded a conception of bodily existence that escapes ratiocination and is comprised of chaotic forces, drives, desires, and animality. The article challenges not so much this philosophical description but rather suggests that Falque’s theological resolution to this subterranean dimension of corporeal life consists in a deus ex machina that re-orders these corporeal forces without remainder through participation in the eucharist. It argues that Falque’s notion of the spread body can be supplemented theologically by an account of ‘affectivity’ that is distinguished from auto-affection, as in the case of Michel Henry, and which also gleans from the field of affect theory. This supplementation is derived from current research in systematic theology, which looks at the doctrines of pneumatology and sanctification to offer a more plausible account of corporeality in light of the Christian experience of the affective body.","PeriodicalId":38169,"journal":{"name":"Religions","volume":"253 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.8,"publicationDate":"2023-12-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139162962","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Today’s children are growing up and spending most of their free time with media, especially social networks, on which various lifestyles are imposed every day, including ideals of beauty that are often based on physical appearance and far from authentic images of the observed object. In this paper, it is shown how the topic of beauty is presented throughout the history of art, with a special focus on the presentation of beauty in theology. Additionally, the paper investigates how much the topic of beauty is treated within the Croatian formal education system, with a particular emphasis on the representation of beauty and to what extent children are prepared to critically evaluate the representation of beauty in different types of media, but also to reflect on the potential impact of such content on themselves. Research has shown that most such content is present in the subjects of Visual Culture, Visual Arts, Croatian Language and Informatics. The paper also presents such contents in the Catholic religious education curricula. In addition to imposed media ideals of beauty affecting childrens’ self-confidence, they are often the subject of peer violence, especially in the virtual world. Specifically, humiliation based on physical appearance is a common form of cyberbullying. To determine how physical appearance is used in such unacceptable behavior among children, all the posts that have arrived on UHO, the first online platform for the prevention of cyberbullying in Croatia, were analyzed. Research has shown that girls report such forms of abuse more often than boys, that cyberbullying based on appearance most often occurs inside closed groups or private messages rather than publicly on social networks, and that children rarely report to adults that they are the victims of such forms of violence.
{"title":"“Beauty Ideals” from a Christian, Educational and Media Perspective: Dangers, Challenges and Opportunities in the Croatian Educational System","authors":"Danijel Labaš, Lana Ciboci Perša, Ivan Uldrijan","doi":"10.3390/rel15010029","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3390/rel15010029","url":null,"abstract":"Today’s children are growing up and spending most of their free time with media, especially social networks, on which various lifestyles are imposed every day, including ideals of beauty that are often based on physical appearance and far from authentic images of the observed object. In this paper, it is shown how the topic of beauty is presented throughout the history of art, with a special focus on the presentation of beauty in theology. Additionally, the paper investigates how much the topic of beauty is treated within the Croatian formal education system, with a particular emphasis on the representation of beauty and to what extent children are prepared to critically evaluate the representation of beauty in different types of media, but also to reflect on the potential impact of such content on themselves. Research has shown that most such content is present in the subjects of Visual Culture, Visual Arts, Croatian Language and Informatics. The paper also presents such contents in the Catholic religious education curricula. In addition to imposed media ideals of beauty affecting childrens’ self-confidence, they are often the subject of peer violence, especially in the virtual world. Specifically, humiliation based on physical appearance is a common form of cyberbullying. To determine how physical appearance is used in such unacceptable behavior among children, all the posts that have arrived on UHO, the first online platform for the prevention of cyberbullying in Croatia, were analyzed. Research has shown that girls report such forms of abuse more often than boys, that cyberbullying based on appearance most often occurs inside closed groups or private messages rather than publicly on social networks, and that children rarely report to adults that they are the victims of such forms of violence.","PeriodicalId":38169,"journal":{"name":"Religions","volume":"46 14","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.8,"publicationDate":"2023-12-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139161964","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
The work of John Milton (both in poetry and prose) offered some striking theological and political innovations in the context of the seventeenth-century upheavals in England. This article aims to show that the work of the English women prophets active in England at the time offers a valid context in which to reassess and re-read Milton’s work. This observation has occasionally been made in relation to specific prophets, but it has not been pursued in any detail. This article examines the concept of “prophecy” itself as formulated by Milton, and establishes its connections to the activity of women prophets; it also explores its connotations in terms of gender and its consequent implications in terms of opening the public and religious space to the work of female authors. It subsequently examines the work of two specific women prophets (Mary Pope and Elizabeth Avery) alongside that of Milton during the years 1647–1649, as offering equally legitimate responses to the debate concerning monarchy at the time, and it ends by examining Milton’s final epic (Paradise Regain’d) as a poetic approach to the concept of female prophecy. The conclusion shows the renewed potential opened by this new research and considers its consequences for the seventeenth-century literary canon.
{"title":"John Milton and the English Women Prophets","authors":"Joan Curbet","doi":"10.3390/rel15010027","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3390/rel15010027","url":null,"abstract":"The work of John Milton (both in poetry and prose) offered some striking theological and political innovations in the context of the seventeenth-century upheavals in England. This article aims to show that the work of the English women prophets active in England at the time offers a valid context in which to reassess and re-read Milton’s work. This observation has occasionally been made in relation to specific prophets, but it has not been pursued in any detail. This article examines the concept of “prophecy” itself as formulated by Milton, and establishes its connections to the activity of women prophets; it also explores its connotations in terms of gender and its consequent implications in terms of opening the public and religious space to the work of female authors. It subsequently examines the work of two specific women prophets (Mary Pope and Elizabeth Avery) alongside that of Milton during the years 1647–1649, as offering equally legitimate responses to the debate concerning monarchy at the time, and it ends by examining Milton’s final epic (Paradise Regain’d) as a poetic approach to the concept of female prophecy. The conclusion shows the renewed potential opened by this new research and considers its consequences for the seventeenth-century literary canon.","PeriodicalId":38169,"journal":{"name":"Religions","volume":"4 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.8,"publicationDate":"2023-12-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"138944361","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
In this article I present the main findings of an empirical study about contemporary spirituality in Italy begun in 2017 by reasoning about the analysis of twelve case studies which are particularly eloquent concerning the different spiritual worlds emerging in Catholic Italy. I argue that three main narratives—the spirituality of nature, wellbeing, and mystery—are useful to synthesize the heterogeneousness of groups, communities, festivals, and organizations engaged in the Italian “holistic milieu”. In order to address this reflection, firstly I will trace the international sociological debate that has accompanied the concept of contemporary spirituality and the relationship between spirituality and religion, a couple which I have named “frenemies”. Then, I will extend the analysis to the concept of the secular, examining the intertwining of the spiritual, religious, and secular spheres. After illustrating the landscape of contemporary spirituality in Catholic Italy more broadly, I shall focus on the case studies taken as examples of the spirituality of nature, the spirituality of health and wellbeing, and the spirituality of mystery. In the Discussion and Conclusion, I shall raise some fundamental questions that the study of contemporary spirituality poses for the sociology of religion with reference to secularisation, one of its most classic and yet contested paradigms. I shall claim that future research paths could further contribute to strengthening the idea, raised in this article, that secularisation can also be understood not only as an antithetical force to religion but as the process in Western history that has led to the emergence of a secular social space in dialogue with the religious sphere.
{"title":"Theoretical and Epistemological Questions for the Study of Contemporary Spirituality in Catholic Italy on Nature, Well-Being, and Mystery","authors":"Stefania Palmisano","doi":"10.3390/rel15010022","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3390/rel15010022","url":null,"abstract":"In this article I present the main findings of an empirical study about contemporary spirituality in Italy begun in 2017 by reasoning about the analysis of twelve case studies which are particularly eloquent concerning the different spiritual worlds emerging in Catholic Italy. I argue that three main narratives—the spirituality of nature, wellbeing, and mystery—are useful to synthesize the heterogeneousness of groups, communities, festivals, and organizations engaged in the Italian “holistic milieu”. In order to address this reflection, firstly I will trace the international sociological debate that has accompanied the concept of contemporary spirituality and the relationship between spirituality and religion, a couple which I have named “frenemies”. Then, I will extend the analysis to the concept of the secular, examining the intertwining of the spiritual, religious, and secular spheres. After illustrating the landscape of contemporary spirituality in Catholic Italy more broadly, I shall focus on the case studies taken as examples of the spirituality of nature, the spirituality of health and wellbeing, and the spirituality of mystery. In the Discussion and Conclusion, I shall raise some fundamental questions that the study of contemporary spirituality poses for the sociology of religion with reference to secularisation, one of its most classic and yet contested paradigms. I shall claim that future research paths could further contribute to strengthening the idea, raised in this article, that secularisation can also be understood not only as an antithetical force to religion but as the process in Western history that has led to the emergence of a secular social space in dialogue with the religious sphere.","PeriodicalId":38169,"journal":{"name":"Religions","volume":"42 41","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.8,"publicationDate":"2023-12-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"138946455","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
This paper discusses findings of studies concerning religious attitudes of Polish Catholics belonging to the so-called Generation Z, i.e., people born during the digital revolution. The authors present religious attitudes of Generation Z representatives against the background of other European states relating to religious practices and opinions concerning the acceptability of abortion, euthanasia, divorce, contraceptives and other conduct not consistent with the Catholic Church teachings. The findings prove that even though the Polish society, including those of Generation Z, is distinguishable from European countries with its high percentage of people engaging in religious practices, the observed trends and the dominance of attitudes contrary to the teachings of the Catholic Church indicate the possibility of maintaining a downward trend in the number of Catholics in Poland.
本文讨论了有关波兰天主教徒宗教态度的研究结果，这些天主教徒属于所谓的 "Z世代"，即在数字革命期间出生的人。作者以欧洲其他国家有关宗教习俗和对堕胎、安乐死、离婚、避孕及其他不符合天主教会教义的行为的可接受性的观点为背景，介绍了 Z 世代代表的宗教态度。研究结果证明，尽管波兰社会（包括 Z 世代）与欧洲国家不同，其参与宗教活动的人数比例较高，但观察到的趋势以及与天主教会教义相悖的态度占主导地位，表明波兰天主教徒人数有可能保持下降趋势。
{"title":"Religious and Moral Attitudes of Catholics from Generation Z","authors":"Grzegorz Polok, Adam R. Szromek","doi":"10.3390/rel15010025","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3390/rel15010025","url":null,"abstract":"This paper discusses findings of studies concerning religious attitudes of Polish Catholics belonging to the so-called Generation Z, i.e., people born during the digital revolution. The authors present religious attitudes of Generation Z representatives against the background of other European states relating to religious practices and opinions concerning the acceptability of abortion, euthanasia, divorce, contraceptives and other conduct not consistent with the Catholic Church teachings. The findings prove that even though the Polish society, including those of Generation Z, is distinguishable from European countries with its high percentage of people engaging in religious practices, the observed trends and the dominance of attitudes contrary to the teachings of the Catholic Church indicate the possibility of maintaining a downward trend in the number of Catholics in Poland.","PeriodicalId":38169,"journal":{"name":"Religions","volume":"80 4","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.8,"publicationDate":"2023-12-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"138945439","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Philosophical practice is guided by an ideal of autonomous intelligence: to think for oneself. But is a fully autonomous form of intelligence possible? Autonomy in thinking may be thought to be relative or absolute. First, one may imagine an asymptotic social process of self-ruling; in this case, to become philosophically healthy would then mean to become more virtuous and more autonomous cognitively, relative to others or to a previous version of ourselves. But there seems to be a contradiction here, as autonomy seems to imply, by definition, completeness rather than comparison or relativity, the latter being seen as a form of dependence. Hence, a second stance, absolute rather than relative: the idea that some humans can achieve a perfect state of philosophical health, implying full autonomous intelligence. This hypothesis was historically thought to imply a state of autarkia, self-divinization, or autotheosis: being divine by one’s own effort. Many have forgotten that most ancient philosophers, chief among them Epicurus, Plato, and Aristotle, thought this likeness to a god (homoiosis theoi) to be the reward of theoria, a theoretical life. I argue that we can reconcile relative and absolute cognition by understanding autonomous intelligence to be a cosmotheosis: a becoming divine not as an act of singular separation, but by welcoming the multiversal reality that we already are, and partaking in the universal creative worlding process referred to here as “Creal”. In this sense, philosophical practice calls for a pantheistic form of religiosity; a shared cosmology that compossibilizes all intercreative entities.
{"title":"Worlding with the Creal: Autonomous Intelligence and Philosophical Practice","authors":"Luis de Miranda","doi":"10.3390/rel15010026","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3390/rel15010026","url":null,"abstract":"Philosophical practice is guided by an ideal of autonomous intelligence: to think for oneself. But is a fully autonomous form of intelligence possible? Autonomy in thinking may be thought to be relative or absolute. First, one may imagine an asymptotic social process of self-ruling; in this case, to become philosophically healthy would then mean to become more virtuous and more autonomous cognitively, relative to others or to a previous version of ourselves. But there seems to be a contradiction here, as autonomy seems to imply, by definition, completeness rather than comparison or relativity, the latter being seen as a form of dependence. Hence, a second stance, absolute rather than relative: the idea that some humans can achieve a perfect state of philosophical health, implying full autonomous intelligence. This hypothesis was historically thought to imply a state of autarkia, self-divinization, or autotheosis: being divine by one’s own effort. Many have forgotten that most ancient philosophers, chief among them Epicurus, Plato, and Aristotle, thought this likeness to a god (homoiosis theoi) to be the reward of theoria, a theoretical life. I argue that we can reconcile relative and absolute cognition by understanding autonomous intelligence to be a cosmotheosis: a becoming divine not as an act of singular separation, but by welcoming the multiversal reality that we already are, and partaking in the universal creative worlding process referred to here as “Creal”. In this sense, philosophical practice calls for a pantheistic form of religiosity; a shared cosmology that compossibilizes all intercreative entities.","PeriodicalId":38169,"journal":{"name":"Religions","volume":"41 22","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.8,"publicationDate":"2023-12-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"138946571","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
There are numerous approaches and conclusions regarding church and state relations and how Christianity affects public policy. Yet the purpose of this study is to question some of the philosophical assumptions and biblical interpretations that Christians hold to which support the state as a morally legitimate authoritative institution in the first place. This article will argue that various presuppositions regarding the state’s moral legitimacy are untenable, if not self-refuting. The philosophical commitments of a form of Christian Conservatism exemplified by Norman L. Geisler will be analyzed and critiqued by the Christian Libertarian Anarchist school of thought, represented by Gerard Casey. Geisler’s views on first principles, God’s moral law, social contracts, consent, anarchy, the distinction between vices and crimes, preconditions for virtue, and the common good will be examined. Then, Geisler’s interpretation of classic biblical texts supporting the alleged moral legitimacy of the state will also be assessed. This article will contend that if one were to consistently apply some pertinent principles found in Geisler’s prolegomena to theology when reasoning from natural revelation and the relevant biblical data, one will find that the conclusions are more compatible with the political theology of Christian libertarian anarchism. Hence the one who questions how Christianity affects public policy should take into consideration the reasons to deny that divine revelation affirms the state as a morally legitimate authoritative institution. If this is the case, the question ought to be reframed to determine how Christianity affects public policy within a state that has no legitimate moral grounds for authority.
关于政教关系以及基督教如何影响公共政策，有许多方法和结论。然而，本研究的目的是质疑基督徒所坚持的一些哲学假设和圣经解释，这些假设和解释首先支持国家作为道德上合法的权威机构。本文将论证有关国家道德合法性的各种预设是站不住脚的，甚至是自相矛盾的。以诺曼-盖斯勒（Norman L. Geisler）为代表的基督教保守主义的哲学承诺将受到以杰勒德-凯西（Gerard Casey）为代表的基督教自由无政府主义学派的分析和批判。盖斯勒对第一原则、上帝的道德律、社会契约、同意、无政府状态、恶行与罪行的区别、美德的先决条件以及共同利益的看法将得到研究。然后，还将评估盖斯勒对《圣经》中支持所谓国家道德合法性的经典文本的解释。本文将论证，如果人们在从自然启示和《圣经》中的相关资料进行推理时，始终如一地运用盖斯勒的神学序言中的一些相关原则，就会发现其结论与基督教自由主义无政府主义的政治神学更为一致。因此，质疑基督教如何影响公共政策的人应该考虑否认神圣启示肯定国家是道德上合法的权威机构的理由。如果是这样的话，问题就应该被重新定义，以确定在一个没有合法的道德权威依据的国家中，基督教是如何影响公共政策的。
{"title":"A Libertarian Anarchist Analysis of Norman Geisler’s Philosophy of Government","authors":"Anthony Michael Miller","doi":"10.3390/rel15010023","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3390/rel15010023","url":null,"abstract":"There are numerous approaches and conclusions regarding church and state relations and how Christianity affects public policy. Yet the purpose of this study is to question some of the philosophical assumptions and biblical interpretations that Christians hold to which support the state as a morally legitimate authoritative institution in the first place. This article will argue that various presuppositions regarding the state’s moral legitimacy are untenable, if not self-refuting. The philosophical commitments of a form of Christian Conservatism exemplified by Norman L. Geisler will be analyzed and critiqued by the Christian Libertarian Anarchist school of thought, represented by Gerard Casey. Geisler’s views on first principles, God’s moral law, social contracts, consent, anarchy, the distinction between vices and crimes, preconditions for virtue, and the common good will be examined. Then, Geisler’s interpretation of classic biblical texts supporting the alleged moral legitimacy of the state will also be assessed. This article will contend that if one were to consistently apply some pertinent principles found in Geisler’s prolegomena to theology when reasoning from natural revelation and the relevant biblical data, one will find that the conclusions are more compatible with the political theology of Christian libertarian anarchism. Hence the one who questions how Christianity affects public policy should take into consideration the reasons to deny that divine revelation affirms the state as a morally legitimate authoritative institution. If this is the case, the question ought to be reframed to determine how Christianity affects public policy within a state that has no legitimate moral grounds for authority.","PeriodicalId":38169,"journal":{"name":"Religions","volume":"8 8","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.8,"publicationDate":"2023-12-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"138944503","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
This article employs the LIM method, complemented by publications and interviews conducted during the ongoing war in Ukraine, to explore the shifts in attitudes toward war and peace within Ukrainian evangelical communities. This shift involves a transition from a pacifist mindset previously predominant among Ukrainian evangelicals to questions about their responsibility and involvement in Ukraine’s state and society amid the war that Russia has launched against Ukraine. Interviews with leaders and active church members hint at a possible alignment with Stassen’s alternative model of transformative initiatives that might provide potential guidance. While reconciliation initiatives amid the ongoing war may be premature, the article highlights the role of Christian communities in transformative peacebuilding within Ukraine. It is necessary to address tensions within Ukraine. This also entails aiding war-affected individuals, ensuring care for soldiers and civilians, and confronting power abuse and corruption. Ukraine’s unity, freedom, peace, and reconciliation must include diverse political and social groups. The article recommends that Ukrainian evangelicals embrace a contextual public theology that advocates for peace, justice, and reconciliation. Ukrainian evangelicals, while supporting soldiers engaged in active combat against Russian invaders, are also contemplating strategies for active participation in peacebuilding and post-war reconstruction.
{"title":"Attitudes toward War and Peace in the Ukrainian Evangelical Context","authors":"Peter Penner","doi":"10.3390/rel15010024","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3390/rel15010024","url":null,"abstract":"This article employs the LIM method, complemented by publications and interviews conducted during the ongoing war in Ukraine, to explore the shifts in attitudes toward war and peace within Ukrainian evangelical communities. This shift involves a transition from a pacifist mindset previously predominant among Ukrainian evangelicals to questions about their responsibility and involvement in Ukraine’s state and society amid the war that Russia has launched against Ukraine. Interviews with leaders and active church members hint at a possible alignment with Stassen’s alternative model of transformative initiatives that might provide potential guidance. While reconciliation initiatives amid the ongoing war may be premature, the article highlights the role of Christian communities in transformative peacebuilding within Ukraine. It is necessary to address tensions within Ukraine. This also entails aiding war-affected individuals, ensuring care for soldiers and civilians, and confronting power abuse and corruption. Ukraine’s unity, freedom, peace, and reconciliation must include diverse political and social groups. The article recommends that Ukrainian evangelicals embrace a contextual public theology that advocates for peace, justice, and reconciliation. Ukrainian evangelicals, while supporting soldiers engaged in active combat against Russian invaders, are also contemplating strategies for active participation in peacebuilding and post-war reconstruction.","PeriodicalId":38169,"journal":{"name":"Religions","volume":"84 5","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.8,"publicationDate":"2023-12-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"138945307","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
This essay investigates Bonhoeffer’s undeveloped concept of “Unconscious Christianity” and how a protracted understanding of his religionless Christianity in a culture “come of age” points to a viable Christian pluralistic hypothesis—how Christ and the Spirit are redemptively active outside the church. Bonhoeffer’s living faith action transcends his theology, revealing unconscious dynamics within our interactions that reveal antecedent relational dynamics that open to the redemptive process, which transcend but do not obviate the cognitive elements of faith. New scriptural themes and concepts of relationality and perichoretic metaphysics bring greater biblical coherence and meaning to one particular biblical passage that has apparently remained meaningless (Matt 12:32). This new meaning and coherence within the scriptures radically alter Christianity’s relationship to the outside world and transforms our understanding of the Great Commission.
{"title":"A Christian Pluralistic Hypothesis: To Bonhoeffer and beyond—A World Christianity","authors":"Greg Gorsuch","doi":"10.3390/rel15010019","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3390/rel15010019","url":null,"abstract":"This essay investigates Bonhoeffer’s undeveloped concept of “Unconscious Christianity” and how a protracted understanding of his religionless Christianity in a culture “come of age” points to a viable Christian pluralistic hypothesis—how Christ and the Spirit are redemptively active outside the church. Bonhoeffer’s living faith action transcends his theology, revealing unconscious dynamics within our interactions that reveal antecedent relational dynamics that open to the redemptive process, which transcend but do not obviate the cognitive elements of faith. New scriptural themes and concepts of relationality and perichoretic metaphysics bring greater biblical coherence and meaning to one particular biblical passage that has apparently remained meaningless (Matt 12:32). This new meaning and coherence within the scriptures radically alter Christianity’s relationship to the outside world and transforms our understanding of the Great Commission.","PeriodicalId":38169,"journal":{"name":"Religions","volume":"55 23","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.8,"publicationDate":"2023-12-21","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"138949742","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Muslim religious professionals are caught between the expectations of the community they serve and belong to and the expectations of the society they live in. Drawing on Helmut Plessner’s notion of “antithetical tensions between community and society”, this study addresses questions of how Muslim religious professionals experience these tensions and how they cope with them. The data presented are based on semi-structured interviews conducted as part of exploratory research on Muslim service providers in the Canton of Zurich, Switzerland. The findings show that Muslim religious professionals have to deal with community-related challenges such as generational differences, social change and fragmentation, together with outside influences including radicalisation and challenges related to society. Given the recurrent debates on Islamic radicalisation and terrorism in media and politics, they are expected to prove they are peaceful and loyal citizens, even though they are more often than not accused of not being integrated into society. Muslim religious professionals work strenuously, often on a voluntary basis, to do justice to expectations from both sides and try to be non-provocative by engaging in low-profile activities. Finally, they reach out to the wider society, e.g., by participating in inter-religious dialogue and, therefore, engage in bridging activities.
{"title":"Within and Beyond the Community: Tensions in Muslim Service Provision in Switzerland","authors":"Noemi Trucco, Hansjörg Schmid, Amir Sheikhzadegan","doi":"10.3390/rel15010015","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3390/rel15010015","url":null,"abstract":"Muslim religious professionals are caught between the expectations of the community they serve and belong to and the expectations of the society they live in. Drawing on Helmut Plessner’s notion of “antithetical tensions between community and society”, this study addresses questions of how Muslim religious professionals experience these tensions and how they cope with them. The data presented are based on semi-structured interviews conducted as part of exploratory research on Muslim service providers in the Canton of Zurich, Switzerland. The findings show that Muslim religious professionals have to deal with community-related challenges such as generational differences, social change and fragmentation, together with outside influences including radicalisation and challenges related to society. Given the recurrent debates on Islamic radicalisation and terrorism in media and politics, they are expected to prove they are peaceful and loyal citizens, even though they are more often than not accused of not being integrated into society. Muslim religious professionals work strenuously, often on a voluntary basis, to do justice to expectations from both sides and try to be non-provocative by engaging in low-profile activities. Finally, they reach out to the wider society, e.g., by participating in inter-religious dialogue and, therefore, engage in bridging activities.","PeriodicalId":38169,"journal":{"name":"Religions","volume":"95 8","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.8,"publicationDate":"2023-12-21","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"138951301","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
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