Dialog-A Journal of Theology最新文献

Among the misleading conceptions that may prevent adequate action to mitigate the consequences of climate change are two predominant views: the understandings of nature as a gift and of humans as stewards of creation. This article discusses these conceptions critically before suggesting alternative ways to understand humanity's place in and activity with nature. The constructive proposals at the end are based on insights from philosopher G.W.F. Hegel on the need to see ourselves as part of a unity with nature, and theologian I.U. Dalferth, who provides a basis for another type of sensitivity for nature that is not based merely in human activity, but also in the need for passivity and the recognition of our finitude.

The article argues that we need a concrete, simple, well-justified, and global concept for climate justice, and then suggests such a concept. It starts with the abstract idea that nobody should use more than what provides others, both those living now and in the future, with the same opportunity to live on a sustainable planet. This idea is then made concrete by the use of the concept of a global hectare, which is further transformed into the currency of climate dollars in order to establish a clear understanding of what constitutes fair and sustainable behavior. The suggestion is defended against a long list of objections.

In this article, I propose that eco-theology should become indecent. Eco-theology has a lot to learn from Marcella Althaus-Reid's indecent theology and its orientation towards practice and warning against formalizing and intellectualizing theology within the universities’ walls. This focus on how we act in the world and then thereafter on how we understand the world, ourselves, and God can be advantageous for eco-theology as it tackles the very concrete reality of the climate crisis. In indecent theology, practice guides and corrects perception. After an introduction to Althaus-Reid's indecent theology and its relevance to the mobilization of religious communities in the climate crisis, I exemplify perception-oriented eco-theology with Sallie McFague's eco-theology and ask where a practice-oriented indecent eco-theology can find inspiration. I then offer a look into what an indecent eco-theology might look like and mention eco-friendly practices found in various religious communities.

The paper argues that the image of Luther cutting his mystical roots when he became a reformer draws more from a concept of orthodox or even liberal Lutheranism than from Luther himself. It shows that Luther and Karlstadt did not divide about the question of following mysticism or not, but about the way mysticism was shaped theologically. For Luther, after his debate with Karlstadt, mysticism was always based on the Word. He also developed a sacramental mysticism, with the Eucharist at its core. One might say, thus, that Luther's mysticism shaped the central aspects of Lutheran ecclesiology.

In the past three decades, Alister E. McGrath's popularity has been constantly on the rise in China. More than 20 of his books have been translated into Chinese. To the Chinese intellectual mind, the most fascinating among McGrath's works are his writings on theology and science. This is not surprising due to China's ambitions to achieve scientific and technological dominance by boosting creativity. However, such a daunting task faces insurmountable difficulties due to a prevailing lack of innovation, which might contribute to the rising interest in McGrath's work on science and theology. Due to the dominant political ideology in China, theology is by and large put aside, if not marginalized. This essay suggests that the wide-scale reception of McGrath's works by Chinese academia and churches not only opens a door for the public square to change their attitude toward Christian theology, but also challenges Chinese theology to contextualize McGrath's scientific theology on Chinese soil and to engage Chinese worldview with its pragmatic epistemology. This paper seeks to adapt McGrath's scientific theology on the topic of transhumanism, which has received increasing scholarly attention from the perspective of traditional Chinese philosophies and religions, such as Confucianism and Daoism. Unfortunately, Chinese theology has largely failed to grasp the opportunity to offer any significant constructive proposal to this interdisciplinary discussion. This paper argues that a Chinese theology of science built on a sympathetic and critical engagement with McGrath's scientific theology has a rich potential to dialogue with modern sciences and traditional Chinese philosophies and religions on transhumanism. Such constructive theology not only serves as a conversation partner, but also provides a theological critique to the prevalent scientism and humanism in China.

The article argues that although Pentecostal churches in Africa have the potential to challenge and transform the reality of inequalities in Africa, instead, they are reproducing and perpetuating these inequalities by creating an inequality gap among themselves, especially, between the pastors and their fellow congregants. A closer look at some of these churches reveals that some of them are propagating social, political, and economic inequalities demonstrated in the gap that exists between the pastors and their ordinary members. In response, we construct a Pentecostal theology of radical sharing to argue for a balanced distribution of wealth between the rich and the poor to deal with the challenges of inequalities. It demonstrates that indigenous idioms such as sam-ae (Korea) and ubuntu (Africa) are critical hermeneutics from the margins for interpretative translation/contextualization of the Christian faith into a theology of radical sharing in the fight against inequalities within African Indigenous Pentecostalism.

This is a cross-continental conversation about contextual understandings of sin and shame in the context of women in Latin America and Africa, and students in the United States. Marcia Blasi brings the experience of working with women throughout the world in her role in the Lutheran World Federation, and both authors work in Lutheran and feminist theologies. In particular, this interview highlights how individualized understandings of sin, often focused on morality and behavior, serve to shame women and reinforce notions of inferiority in patriarchal systems. In these systems, women are never doing enough for others and pride in one's self is not allowed. At the same time, social understandings of sin as systematic injustice serve to fight against these ideas of sin and the concomitant production of shame because they contextualize a person's actions within a broader culture and its expectations. The authors here seek to understand what real grace means and feels like for female-identifying people and how confession of sin would be altered if seen through the lens of women globally.