Pub Date : 2023-05-05DOI: 10.1163/15697320-20230071
Ruth Wivell
This article addresses how trauma might inform the way Mark’s account of the haemorrhaging woman is read, and what a Christology derived therefrom might offer to Christians who wish to witness to people’s traumatic and posttraumatic realities. If Christians and theologians are called to witness to others’ suffering and their attempts to make sense of it, then they need to be able to inhabit a space that draws forth stories of those disempowered and traumatized. In particular, this article explores these issues by addressing inter-related facets of Jesus the Christ in Mark 5:24–34 as he responds to the haemorrhaging woman and is involved in her healing. It is Jesus’s shift to witness – as he loses power and cognition – that brings about the hope of ongoing restoration of the woman’s body and spirit.
{"title":"‘Who Touched Me?’ Embodied Witness as Public Theology","authors":"Ruth Wivell","doi":"10.1163/15697320-20230071","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/15697320-20230071","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000This article addresses how trauma might inform the way Mark’s account of the haemorrhaging woman is read, and what a Christology derived therefrom might offer to Christians who wish to witness to people’s traumatic and posttraumatic realities. If Christians and theologians are called to witness to others’ suffering and their attempts to make sense of it, then they need to be able to inhabit a space that draws forth stories of those disempowered and traumatized. In particular, this article explores these issues by addressing inter-related facets of Jesus the Christ in Mark 5:24–34 as he responds to the haemorrhaging woman and is involved in her healing. It is Jesus’s shift to witness – as he loses power and cognition – that brings about the hope of ongoing restoration of the woman’s body and spirit.","PeriodicalId":43324,"journal":{"name":"International Journal of Public Theology","volume":"27 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.4,"publicationDate":"2023-05-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"73095124","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-05-05DOI: 10.1163/15697320-20230072
C. Kaunda
Ever since the Declaration of Zambia as a Christian nation in 1991, the Bible has become foundational in the public of life, and often cited in public debates. This article employs symbolic power as an analytical tool to examine Sumaili’s state theology of the Bible which politicized and reduced the Bible in the public into a state apparatus for defining, shaping, and determining the meaning and content for governing Zambia. It proposes a Pentecostal public theology of the people’s Bible as a site of struggle against politics of dehumanization, oppression, exploitation, and systematic inequalities.
{"title":"‘Flood this Nation with the Bible’: Rev. Godfridah Sumaili, Politics and the People’s Bible in Zambia","authors":"C. Kaunda","doi":"10.1163/15697320-20230072","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/15697320-20230072","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000Ever since the Declaration of Zambia as a Christian nation in 1991, the Bible has become foundational in the public of life, and often cited in public debates. This article employs symbolic power as an analytical tool to examine Sumaili’s state theology of the Bible which politicized and reduced the Bible in the public into a state apparatus for defining, shaping, and determining the meaning and content for governing Zambia. It proposes a Pentecostal public theology of the people’s Bible as a site of struggle against politics of dehumanization, oppression, exploitation, and systematic inequalities.","PeriodicalId":43324,"journal":{"name":"International Journal of Public Theology","volume":"91 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.4,"publicationDate":"2023-05-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"83895861","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-05-05DOI: 10.1163/15697320-01701000
{"title":"Front matter","authors":"","doi":"10.1163/15697320-01701000","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/15697320-01701000","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":43324,"journal":{"name":"International Journal of Public Theology","volume":"22 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-05-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"136230704","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-05-05DOI: 10.1163/15697320-20230073
Sam Amosa
The Samoan election of 2021 provoked a constitutional crisis. It brought to an end sixty years of political stability that had been determined by the interweaving of democratic ideals with indigenous cultural values and Christian principles. The election had led to a tie on the night and led to various legal appeals, protests and the reluctance of the Prime Minister of more than twenty years refusing to stand down. With one exception – the Roman Catholic Archbishop – the churches were silent, ‘lost for words’. The crisis happened at a time when the first wave of localized and contextual public theologies were beginning to appear in theological research. Their particular focus was on a range of other issues (mainly due to timing). Their emergence, nevertheless, invites a consideration of what such a public theology might look like in a society where there is no history of a prophetic voice and the cultural system of fa’aSamoa relies upon a principle of respect (which was violated during the crisis).
{"title":"Lost for Words: Samoa’s Constitutional Crisis and the Case for a Public Theology","authors":"Sam Amosa","doi":"10.1163/15697320-20230073","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/15697320-20230073","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000The Samoan election of 2021 provoked a constitutional crisis. It brought to an end sixty years of political stability that had been determined by the interweaving of democratic ideals with indigenous cultural values and Christian principles. The election had led to a tie on the night and led to various legal appeals, protests and the reluctance of the Prime Minister of more than twenty years refusing to stand down. With one exception – the Roman Catholic Archbishop – the churches were silent, ‘lost for words’. The crisis happened at a time when the first wave of localized and contextual public theologies were beginning to appear in theological research. Their particular focus was on a range of other issues (mainly due to timing). Their emergence, nevertheless, invites a consideration of what such a public theology might look like in a society where there is no history of a prophetic voice and the cultural system of fa’aSamoa relies upon a principle of respect (which was violated during the crisis).","PeriodicalId":43324,"journal":{"name":"International Journal of Public Theology","volume":"20 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.4,"publicationDate":"2023-05-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"82255248","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-05-05DOI: 10.1163/15697320-20230069
Jason Lam
Since the 2000s there has been a group of prominent scholars in China embracing the political views of Carl Schmitt. They are aware of the dangerous side of his thought but have provided reasonable analysis in relation to the Chinese social situation. Outlining their discussions, this article will depict the phenomenon with a focus on Schmitt’s controversial political theology. That will be compared with the thought of Dietrich Bonhoeffer. Although their political alignments were opposed to each other, the theoretical structure of their thinking reveals striking similarities. This article will thus articulate the theological reasons that allow for the differences between their ideas and actions and will produce a reflection on the contemporary situation in China. It is not due to the theoretical structure, but to the image of the sovereign embraced, that the stances of the two thinkers differed. From this we may draw implications from a public theological discussion for constructing a democratic society in the context of China.
{"title":"Bringing Bonhoeffer into Dialogue with Schmitt in Contemporary China","authors":"Jason Lam","doi":"10.1163/15697320-20230069","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/15697320-20230069","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000Since the 2000s there has been a group of prominent scholars in China embracing the political views of Carl Schmitt. They are aware of the dangerous side of his thought but have provided reasonable analysis in relation to the Chinese social situation. Outlining their discussions, this article will depict the phenomenon with a focus on Schmitt’s controversial political theology. That will be compared with the thought of Dietrich Bonhoeffer. Although their political alignments were opposed to each other, the theoretical structure of their thinking reveals striking similarities. This article will thus articulate the theological reasons that allow for the differences between their ideas and actions and will produce a reflection on the contemporary situation in China. It is not due to the theoretical structure, but to the image of the sovereign embraced, that the stances of the two thinkers differed. From this we may draw implications from a public theological discussion for constructing a democratic society in the context of China.","PeriodicalId":43324,"journal":{"name":"International Journal of Public Theology","volume":"35 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.4,"publicationDate":"2023-05-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"73093452","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-05-05DOI: 10.1163/15697320-20230079
{"title":"Notes on Contributors","authors":"","doi":"10.1163/15697320-20230079","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/15697320-20230079","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":43324,"journal":{"name":"International Journal of Public Theology","volume":"48 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-05-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"136230701","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-05-05DOI: 10.1163/15697320-20230074
K.N. Ndereba
The Kenyan post-election violence of 2007 deepened the ethnic differences that have been growing for the past decades after independence. While the August 2022 elections revealed political maturity, the October 2017 re-elections indicated that the hostility was not a settled issue. Kenyan churches in the post-democratic space have courted with political alliances along ethnic blocs. Additionally, some of the protestant churches in Kenya such as Presbyterian, Methodist and Friends, are largely monoethnic despite their long history. To what extent can these churches follow the biblical vision of a multi-cultural and multi-ethnic church? This topic has generated theological interest yet few have assessed the role of the youth in ethnic reconciliation. This article will 1) survey the issue of ethnicity and the church; 2) offer a biblical-theological reflection on ethnicity, and 3) suggest how an inclusive-congregational youth ministry model can revitalize ethnic reconciliation in the church and by extension, society.
{"title":"Ethnic Reconciliation from the Margins","authors":"K.N. Ndereba","doi":"10.1163/15697320-20230074","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/15697320-20230074","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000The Kenyan post-election violence of 2007 deepened the ethnic differences that have been growing for the past decades after independence. While the August 2022 elections revealed political maturity, the October 2017 re-elections indicated that the hostility was not a settled issue. Kenyan churches in the post-democratic space have courted with political alliances along ethnic blocs. Additionally, some of the protestant churches in Kenya such as Presbyterian, Methodist and Friends, are largely monoethnic despite their long history. To what extent can these churches follow the biblical vision of a multi-cultural and multi-ethnic church? This topic has generated theological interest yet few have assessed the role of the youth in ethnic reconciliation. This article will 1) survey the issue of ethnicity and the church; 2) offer a biblical-theological reflection on ethnicity, and 3) suggest how an inclusive-congregational youth ministry model can revitalize ethnic reconciliation in the church and by extension, society.","PeriodicalId":43324,"journal":{"name":"International Journal of Public Theology","volume":"13 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.4,"publicationDate":"2023-05-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"72988951","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-05-05DOI: 10.1163/15697320-20230070
Chang-ho Lee
This article analyzes South Korea’s unification policies and makes ethical suggestions in light of Christian theological and ethical theories of war and peace. Since 1948, South and North Korea have repeatedly confronted each other with heavily armed forces. Unification would be considered the achievement of the Korean people’s endeavour to deter military warfare and promote peace between the two Koreas. In this regard, it is understandable that unification policy-making should retain tension reduction and peaceful coexistence as its fundamental goals. Public discussions in unification policy-making inevitably involve such issues as prohibition or justification of the use of violence or military force and procedures and methods of promoting peace. In analyzing unification policies in Christian ethical terms, such Christian war-peace tenets as pacifism, just war, and holy war contribute to this analysis, given that their primary concerns lie in maintaining peace and justifying violence for the sake of peace.
{"title":"Tension, War, Peace, and Unification: South Korea’s Unification Policies in the Light of Theological-Ethical Theories of War and Peace","authors":"Chang-ho Lee","doi":"10.1163/15697320-20230070","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/15697320-20230070","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000This article analyzes South Korea’s unification policies and makes ethical suggestions in light of Christian theological and ethical theories of war and peace. Since 1948, South and North Korea have repeatedly confronted each other with heavily armed forces. Unification would be considered the achievement of the Korean people’s endeavour to deter military warfare and promote peace between the two Koreas. In this regard, it is understandable that unification policy-making should retain tension reduction and peaceful coexistence as its fundamental goals. Public discussions in unification policy-making inevitably involve such issues as prohibition or justification of the use of violence or military force and procedures and methods of promoting peace. In analyzing unification policies in Christian ethical terms, such Christian war-peace tenets as pacifism, just war, and holy war contribute to this analysis, given that their primary concerns lie in maintaining peace and justifying violence for the sake of peace.","PeriodicalId":43324,"journal":{"name":"International Journal of Public Theology","volume":"77 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.4,"publicationDate":"2023-05-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"77816229","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-05-05DOI: 10.1163/15697320-20230077
M. Coulter
{"title":"T&T Clark Handbook of Public Theology, edited by Christoph Hübenthal and Christiane Alpers","authors":"M. Coulter","doi":"10.1163/15697320-20230077","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/15697320-20230077","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":43324,"journal":{"name":"International Journal of Public Theology","volume":"24 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.4,"publicationDate":"2023-05-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"73750228","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-05-05DOI: 10.1163/15697320-20230075
Thijs Oosterhuis, Pieter H. Vos, E. Olsman
Military chaplains are involved in the moral formation of military personnel. They have to do justice to the internal perspective on morality of their religion, while honouring the plurality of perspectives. The objective of this article is to examine how the contribution of military chaplains to the moral formation of military personnel can be substantiated from a Protestant theological perspective. We first discuss Tillich’s Protestant principle, which functions as a starting point and criterion in the moral discourse. We then show how Bonhoeffer combines a view of reality inspired by faith and a serviceable attitude towards reality. Finally, we focus on the role of theology and the role of the military chaplain as theologian in the moral formation of military personnel with the ideas of Volf and Croasmun. We conclude that Protestant theological perspectives on morality are vital to the moral formation of military personnel.
{"title":"Protestant Theological Perspectives on the Contribution of Military Chaplains to Moral Formation","authors":"Thijs Oosterhuis, Pieter H. Vos, E. Olsman","doi":"10.1163/15697320-20230075","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/15697320-20230075","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000Military chaplains are involved in the moral formation of military personnel. They have to do justice to the internal perspective on morality of their religion, while honouring the plurality of perspectives. The objective of this article is to examine how the contribution of military chaplains to the moral formation of military personnel can be substantiated from a Protestant theological perspective. We first discuss Tillich’s Protestant principle, which functions as a starting point and criterion in the moral discourse. We then show how Bonhoeffer combines a view of reality inspired by faith and a serviceable attitude towards reality. Finally, we focus on the role of theology and the role of the military chaplain as theologian in the moral formation of military personnel with the ideas of Volf and Croasmun. We conclude that Protestant theological perspectives on morality are vital to the moral formation of military personnel.","PeriodicalId":43324,"journal":{"name":"International Journal of Public Theology","volume":"10 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.4,"publicationDate":"2023-05-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"85864401","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}