Pub Date : 2023-07-01DOI: 10.1177/00405736231172706
Terrelle B. Sales, Kathy Rim
This article highlights the parallels between Camara Jones’ Gardener's Tale allegory and Jesus’ Parable of the Sower to invite reflection regarding White Evangelical Christians’ approach to addressing institutionalized racism faced by African Americans and Blacks in the US and the church. Using an interdisciplinary lens that engages sociology, politics, history, theology and biblical exegesis, this article presents a compelling case for the church to cease the practice of compartmentalizing anti-racist movements as “political” and lead the charge through a missional goal to root out institutionalized racism both within the church and American society.
{"title":"The Parable of the Sower: Rooting out White Supremacy and Institutionalized Racism in the church","authors":"Terrelle B. Sales, Kathy Rim","doi":"10.1177/00405736231172706","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/00405736231172706","url":null,"abstract":"This article highlights the parallels between Camara Jones’ Gardener's Tale allegory and Jesus’ Parable of the Sower to invite reflection regarding White Evangelical Christians’ approach to addressing institutionalized racism faced by African Americans and Blacks in the US and the church. Using an interdisciplinary lens that engages sociology, politics, history, theology and biblical exegesis, this article presents a compelling case for the church to cease the practice of compartmentalizing anti-racist movements as “political” and lead the charge through a missional goal to root out institutionalized racism both within the church and American society.","PeriodicalId":43855,"journal":{"name":"THEOLOGY TODAY","volume":"80 1","pages":"162 - 172"},"PeriodicalIF":0.2,"publicationDate":"2023-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"45205868","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 : 2023-07-01DOI: 10.1177/00405736231172698
R. D. Smith
This article explores the ways in which academic institutions in Pittsburgh have positioned themselves around local gentrification dynamics. It pays particular attention to academic facilitations of community-oriented analysis and engagement that attempts to counter gentrification's deformative and deracinating effects and that centers responsiveness to problems stemming from gentrification processes and dynamics as a theological or moral imperative toward seeking the good of the city.
{"title":"“Things Unseen”: Urban (Dis)placement, Sacred Sensibilities, and Theological Vantage Points","authors":"R. D. Smith","doi":"10.1177/00405736231172698","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/00405736231172698","url":null,"abstract":"This article explores the ways in which academic institutions in Pittsburgh have positioned themselves around local gentrification dynamics. It pays particular attention to academic facilitations of community-oriented analysis and engagement that attempts to counter gentrification's deformative and deracinating effects and that centers responsiveness to problems stemming from gentrification processes and dynamics as a theological or moral imperative toward seeking the good of the city.","PeriodicalId":43855,"journal":{"name":"THEOLOGY TODAY","volume":"80 1","pages":"210 - 221"},"PeriodicalIF":0.2,"publicationDate":"2023-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"46613819","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 : 2023-07-01DOI: 10.1177/00405736231164955d
John R. Franke
{"title":"Book Review: The Hope of the Gospel: Theological Education and the Next Evangelicalism by Mark S. Young","authors":"John R. Franke","doi":"10.1177/00405736231164955d","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/00405736231164955d","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":43855,"journal":{"name":"THEOLOGY TODAY","volume":"80 1","pages":"238 - 239"},"PeriodicalIF":0.2,"publicationDate":"2023-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"47035846","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 : 2023-07-01DOI: 10.1177/00405736231164955c
Amy E. Jacober
{"title":"Book Review: A Dutiful Love: Empowering Individuals and Families Affected by Mental Illness by Elizabeth L. Hinson-Hasty","authors":"Amy E. Jacober","doi":"10.1177/00405736231164955c","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/00405736231164955c","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":43855,"journal":{"name":"THEOLOGY TODAY","volume":"80 1","pages":"237 - 238"},"PeriodicalIF":0.2,"publicationDate":"2023-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"48941104","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 : 2023-07-01DOI: 10.1177/00405736231172690
M. Ellingsen
How to construct a theology for our ecumenical age in which we accept the diversity of theological positions without violating one's own commitments is a pressing theological question. The article uses the diversity in Martin Luther's own work as a test case. This diversity has been a compelling, largely neglected problem for Luther's work. In the Reformer's often overlooked reflections on his own theological diversity and how he envisions it can be reconciled, we find an overlooked model for doing constructive theology today—an approach that takes seriously the pastoral mandate to offer those themes in Christian faith that best address the situation or context that requires attention. Links between Luther's thinking and the insights of modern quantum physics (esp. its concepts of Complementarity and the Theory of Everything) are explored.
{"title":"What to Make of Luther's Theological Diversity","authors":"M. Ellingsen","doi":"10.1177/00405736231172690","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/00405736231172690","url":null,"abstract":"How to construct a theology for our ecumenical age in which we accept the diversity of theological positions without violating one's own commitments is a pressing theological question. The article uses the diversity in Martin Luther's own work as a test case. This diversity has been a compelling, largely neglected problem for Luther's work. In the Reformer's often overlooked reflections on his own theological diversity and how he envisions it can be reconciled, we find an overlooked model for doing constructive theology today—an approach that takes seriously the pastoral mandate to offer those themes in Christian faith that best address the situation or context that requires attention. Links between Luther's thinking and the insights of modern quantum physics (esp. its concepts of Complementarity and the Theory of Everything) are explored.","PeriodicalId":43855,"journal":{"name":"THEOLOGY TODAY","volume":"80 1","pages":"192 - 209"},"PeriodicalIF":0.2,"publicationDate":"2023-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"45780438","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 : 2023-07-01DOI: 10.1177/00405736221091920
B. D. Lerner
Two issues often trouble people trying to understand traditional Judaism: (1) If the Torah explicitly mentions sacrifice as an element in attaining atonement for sin, how can Judaism provide atonement for sin when sacrifice has been unavailable since the destruction of the Jerusalem Temple? (2) How can rabbinic law be legitimate when it clearly expands and deviates from the plain meaning of the Torah's legal passages? I address the first question by showing that much of Hebrew Scripture does not relate to sacrifice as a necessary or central element in the achievement of atonement. Ritual sacrifice is barely mentioned in the narratives and poems relating to sin and atonement in Hebrew Scripture. Furthermore, biblical texts relating to the period following the destruction of the First Temple (when sacrifice was unavailable) express no concern that without sacrifices atonement is impossible. I address the second question by demonstrating that Scripture does not set out its laws in sufficient detail for their practical observance. These details must have been available in a body of unwritten interpretation and explication that accompanied the revelation of biblical law and which was eventually preserved in rabbinic law. Furthermore, Scripture authorizes judges to decide hard cases and describes the creation of new yet legitimate religious practices unmentioned in the Torah. More generally, rabbinic tradition views the explication and expansion of Torah law as a central project of the Jewish people that expresses true respect for Torah law as a living body of religious knowledge and practice.
{"title":"Two Questions about Judaism with Answers for Christians","authors":"B. D. Lerner","doi":"10.1177/00405736221091920","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/00405736221091920","url":null,"abstract":"Two issues often trouble people trying to understand traditional Judaism: (1) If the Torah explicitly mentions sacrifice as an element in attaining atonement for sin, how can Judaism provide atonement for sin when sacrifice has been unavailable since the destruction of the Jerusalem Temple? (2) How can rabbinic law be legitimate when it clearly expands and deviates from the plain meaning of the Torah's legal passages? I address the first question by showing that much of Hebrew Scripture does not relate to sacrifice as a necessary or central element in the achievement of atonement. Ritual sacrifice is barely mentioned in the narratives and poems relating to sin and atonement in Hebrew Scripture. Furthermore, biblical texts relating to the period following the destruction of the First Temple (when sacrifice was unavailable) express no concern that without sacrifices atonement is impossible. I address the second question by demonstrating that Scripture does not set out its laws in sufficient detail for their practical observance. These details must have been available in a body of unwritten interpretation and explication that accompanied the revelation of biblical law and which was eventually preserved in rabbinic law. Furthermore, Scripture authorizes judges to decide hard cases and describes the creation of new yet legitimate religious practices unmentioned in the Torah. More generally, rabbinic tradition views the explication and expansion of Torah law as a central project of the Jewish people that expresses true respect for Torah law as a living body of religious knowledge and practice.","PeriodicalId":43855,"journal":{"name":"THEOLOGY TODAY","volume":"80 1","pages":"121 - 130"},"PeriodicalIF":0.2,"publicationDate":"2023-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"42668919","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 : 2023-07-01DOI: 10.1177/00405736231164955a
Shauna K. Hannan
and, in some cases, long years of labor in the fields relevant to their chapters. Of course no book can achieve all aims at once, and while 294 pages is a sturdy tome, it offers barely enough length for so many topics. The section on Protestant worship necessitates eight chapters of about fifteen pages each, give or take a few, to cover everything from Lutheran to Pentecostal developments. Others of similar length deal with an impossibly complex topic like the historical development of a particular rite over the better part of Christian history. I do not intend these comments so much as criticism of the book, which is rich in learnings, as of the genre itself: the longer a liturgical history gets the more complete it can be, but the less usable. But in fairness, this sort of text is best deployed in tandem with lectures and investigations into primary materials in which texture and detail can be explored more closely. And usability is certainly a primary aim here: every chapter includes helpful practical implications for liturgical theology, practice, revision, and critique. All in all, I would recommend this book as a fine option for a secondary resource in liturgical history to be coupled with further lecture, teaching, and catechesis, in tandem with careful inquiry into primary texts.
{"title":"Book Review: Testimony and Trauma: Making Space for Healing by Amanda Hontz Drury","authors":"Shauna K. Hannan","doi":"10.1177/00405736231164955a","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/00405736231164955a","url":null,"abstract":"and, in some cases, long years of labor in the fields relevant to their chapters. Of course no book can achieve all aims at once, and while 294 pages is a sturdy tome, it offers barely enough length for so many topics. The section on Protestant worship necessitates eight chapters of about fifteen pages each, give or take a few, to cover everything from Lutheran to Pentecostal developments. Others of similar length deal with an impossibly complex topic like the historical development of a particular rite over the better part of Christian history. I do not intend these comments so much as criticism of the book, which is rich in learnings, as of the genre itself: the longer a liturgical history gets the more complete it can be, but the less usable. But in fairness, this sort of text is best deployed in tandem with lectures and investigations into primary materials in which texture and detail can be explored more closely. And usability is certainly a primary aim here: every chapter includes helpful practical implications for liturgical theology, practice, revision, and critique. All in all, I would recommend this book as a fine option for a secondary resource in liturgical history to be coupled with further lecture, teaching, and catechesis, in tandem with careful inquiry into primary texts.","PeriodicalId":43855,"journal":{"name":"THEOLOGY TODAY","volume":"80 1","pages":"234 - 235"},"PeriodicalIF":0.2,"publicationDate":"2023-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"44575835","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 : 2023-07-01DOI: 10.1177/00405736231172682
Pum Za Mang
Living in much of the borderland between modern Burma and India, the ethnic Chin discontinued the practice of their old religion and massively converted to Christianity after Christian missionaries evangelized and Christianized them in the twentieth century. There is a high cost to be paid by the Chin for practicing Christianity. Persecution, repression, and exile have defined their existence and history, and tens of thousands eventually left Burma and resettled in the United States after they had lived in India and Malaysia as refugees for years. Their stories, both challenges and opportunities, are, however, overlooked, and this article, thus, explores their lived experiences in the United States.
{"title":"Chin Diaspora Christianity in the United States","authors":"Pum Za Mang","doi":"10.1177/00405736231172682","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/00405736231172682","url":null,"abstract":"Living in much of the borderland between modern Burma and India, the ethnic Chin discontinued the practice of their old religion and massively converted to Christianity after Christian missionaries evangelized and Christianized them in the twentieth century. There is a high cost to be paid by the Chin for practicing Christianity. Persecution, repression, and exile have defined their existence and history, and tens of thousands eventually left Burma and resettled in the United States after they had lived in India and Malaysia as refugees for years. Their stories, both challenges and opportunities, are, however, overlooked, and this article, thus, explores their lived experiences in the United States.","PeriodicalId":43855,"journal":{"name":"THEOLOGY TODAY","volume":"80 1","pages":"173 - 182"},"PeriodicalIF":0.2,"publicationDate":"2023-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"46235390","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 : 2023-07-01DOI: 10.1177/00405736231181735
Gordon S. Mikoski
{"title":"Will There Be Anything Left For Us?","authors":"Gordon S. Mikoski","doi":"10.1177/00405736231181735","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/00405736231181735","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":43855,"journal":{"name":"THEOLOGY TODAY","volume":"80 1","pages":"118 - 120"},"PeriodicalIF":0.2,"publicationDate":"2023-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"47161629","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 : 2023-07-01DOI: 10.1177/00405736231164955b
Eleanor D. Helms
such a way that they almost can’t tell their own stories without referencing the others” (7). In so doing they model a “dialogical relationship between articulation and recognition as it relates to traumatic events” (6). Drury includes a theological interlude between each chapter in order to remind the reader that they are “walking alongside a God who is scarred” (23). These five interludes are helpful standalone reflections of the trauma articulated in Scripture. Even so, if these theological interludes were “hyperlinked” with the women’s stories there would be more clarity regarding “how the church body might recognize trauma” (13). For some readers, the lack of concrete conclusions will not bother. It is likely enough to have in mind the women’s stories in order to ponder the very profound questions the author presents: “What if we met pain with the same profundity we ascribe to love? . . .What if the church treated trauma in the same way we treated love?” (72). Drury’s offering is a valuable addition to the emerging body of works on trauma. The book is just as suitable for a congregational setting as it would be in a seminary pastoral care class. Pastors, professors, spiritual directors, and therapists alike will be guided by Drury’s way of helping people integrate traumatic experiences into their lives.
{"title":"Book Review: Recovering Christian Character: The Psychological Wisdom of Søren Kierkegaard by Robert C. Roberts","authors":"Eleanor D. Helms","doi":"10.1177/00405736231164955b","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/00405736231164955b","url":null,"abstract":"such a way that they almost can’t tell their own stories without referencing the others” (7). In so doing they model a “dialogical relationship between articulation and recognition as it relates to traumatic events” (6). Drury includes a theological interlude between each chapter in order to remind the reader that they are “walking alongside a God who is scarred” (23). These five interludes are helpful standalone reflections of the trauma articulated in Scripture. Even so, if these theological interludes were “hyperlinked” with the women’s stories there would be more clarity regarding “how the church body might recognize trauma” (13). For some readers, the lack of concrete conclusions will not bother. It is likely enough to have in mind the women’s stories in order to ponder the very profound questions the author presents: “What if we met pain with the same profundity we ascribe to love? . . .What if the church treated trauma in the same way we treated love?” (72). Drury’s offering is a valuable addition to the emerging body of works on trauma. The book is just as suitable for a congregational setting as it would be in a seminary pastoral care class. Pastors, professors, spiritual directors, and therapists alike will be guided by Drury’s way of helping people integrate traumatic experiences into their lives.","PeriodicalId":43855,"journal":{"name":"THEOLOGY TODAY","volume":"80 1","pages":"235 - 236"},"PeriodicalIF":0.2,"publicationDate":"2023-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"42206433","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}
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