International Journal of Systematic Theology最新文献

God's call can be surprising and unexpected. This article evaluates theologies of vocation in light of this potential for surprise. Contemporary Protestant theological interpretations of vocation are critiqued as incomplete due to their tendency to present vocation as the expression and utilisation of innate abilities without giving sufficient account of how an individual might be called to something totally new and surprising. It will be suggested that this arises from a focus on creation as the dominant theological lens for interpreting vocation. An alternative focused on eschatology and pneumatology will be proposed in which both natural talents and new abilities are recognised as gifts of the Spirit given for the purpose of anticipatory proleptic participation in the coming Kingdom of God.

The purpose of theology is to discern, articulate, commend, and embody visions of flourishing life in light of the self-revelation of God in the life, death, resurrection, exaltation, and coming-in-glory of Jesus Christ. This purpose of theology is timeless, but its articulation at this time has a particular shape to it. Aspects of this shape are sketched in light of a number of contemporary material and intellectual contexts. Material contexts include growing economic disparities, ecological crisis, displacement of peoples, and the social fact of pluralism. Intellectual contexts include the dominance of instrumental reason, of negation, and of whiteness.

Faith and science have been continuously portrayed as incompatible counterparts. This article argues conversely that scientific reflection on faith, namely academic theology, is not opposed to but essential for a Christian life. The contents of faith require precise description, as they constitute the Church community and can be even dangerous if unprecise or incorrect. In cooperation with other disciplines, theology contributes to ethical debates, such as the question of interhuman relationships and welfare of non-human creatures and future generations.

This article introduces a series of articles analysing the current state of theology and inquiring about the possibilities of a renewed theological culture (not least within secular societies). It places theology, and more precisely, the conditions of a possible renewal thereof, in several fields of tension. Paradigmatic for secular societies is the tension between theology and the natural sciences. It is argued that theology and the natural sciences cultivate different modes of reasoning on different epistemic levels and that no competition between them has to be construed if one is not caught up in the premises of secularism. A brief summary of each of the contributions follows these initial remarks.

Given the calamities involved in climate change and the impact it is having – and will continue to have, on lives driven towards subsistence – what can be said about the goodness of creation? This essay explores how privileged theologians might rethink the notion of the common good in a situation where the majority are under-privileged. It argues for a need for imaginative investment to develop empathy, not sympathy; a need to listen in ways that are attentive and tending; and for a learning to accompany, such that dependence can be empowering when recognised and practised as mutual. Theologically, the sharing and accompaniment necessary has to be appreciated as inhering to the existence of all things, such that relationality and dependence are living expressions of the goodness of creation. Such sharing and accompaniment are expressions and incarnations of the uncreated goodness of the Triune God, operating in and through the ongoing processes of creation.