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Candomblé in Public: How Religious Rites Become Civil Technologies in Salvador, Brazil Open Theology Pub Date : 2024-03-25 Leandro de Paula
In 2019, right before arriving in Salvador, Brazil, to develop missionary activities, an international Protestant organization declared that this city – the center of the black culture in the country – was “known for its people’s belief in spirits and demons.” The statement soon triggered indignation from activists and devotees of Candomblé, the Afro-Brazilian religion that is a key element of the
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Forward and Reverse Gematria are Very Different Beasts Open Theology Pub Date : 2024-03-15 Zachary Harris
Though a relatively quiet minority, some commentators since the eighth-century Bede have suggested that the notorious “666” of Revelation 13:18 alludes to the measurement of King Solomon’s excessive gold accumulation which immediately precedes his idolatrous downfall in the Biblical narrative. We now bolster that hypothesis with the observation that the letters of Solomon’s (New Testament Greek) name
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Daniel and Revelation: Blasphemy in the Cosmic Conflict Open Theology Pub Date : 2024-03-14 Bohdan Kuryliak, Ihor Kuryliak
Studies of blasphemy in the book of Revelation are usually discussed in isolation from the book of Daniel, which provides an incomplete picture of this topic. This article investigates the meaning of blasphemy in the books of Daniel and Revelation. We argue that these apocalyptic books often describe the actions of the forces of evil in the Cosmic Conflict as blasphemy. The human dimension of blasphemy
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“… God Said”: Toward a Quantum Theology of Creation Open Theology Pub Date : 2024-01-29 Ryder Dale Walton
This work argues that because Quantum Mechanics (QM) is superb at simulating natural, physical phenomena, so-called quantum-native phenomena, and that Quantum Natural Language Processing (QNLP), its child, is also quantum-native, God’s generative language of physical creation is native to a quantum world; therefore, it is now possible to postulate an argument for God’s creation of the world through
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Becoming Child of the Moment through Deleuzian Philosophy and Sufism Open Theology Pub Date : 2024-01-23 Murat Sariyar
My goal here is to make use of Deleuzian philosophy as a springboard for cultivating “being a child of the moment,” which is a phrase stemming from Sufism. Being fully present and aware in each moment is associated with surrendering oneself to the divine will and accepting whatever comes in the present moment without resistance. Unlike approaches that translate Deleuzian insights into theological concepts
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Interdisciplinary Approach to Overcoming the Persistence of Patriarchal Islamic Interpretations: Gender Equality, the Development of Empathy and Children’s Rights, and Insights from the Reformist Eurasian Scholars of Early Twentieth Century Open Theology Pub Date : 2024-01-22 Galym Zhussipbek, Assyltay Tasbolat, Zhanar Nagayeva
Gender equality and women’s rights are among the most discussed issues in the context of Islam. Any thorough analysis of the persistence of conservative patriarchal religious interpretations in Muslim communities should also consider social factors. The conservative appropriation of Islam is not only the result of theological factors but also a manifestation of a conservative and patriarchal habitus
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God Does Not Work in Us Without Us: On the Understanding of Divine–Human Cooperation in the Thought of Martin Luther Open Theology Pub Date : 2023-12-16 Knut Alfsvåg
Roman-Catholic scholars tend to interpret Luther’s emphasis on the exteriority of salvation as a critique of the goodness of creation. Through an analysis of De servo arbitrio, this article shows this to be wrong. While emphasizing the unconditionality of God’s work in both creation and salvation, Luther still insists that humans are created in God’s image as his co-operators, thus repeating the divine
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Ritual Sweat Bath in a Cross-Cultural Perspective Open Theology Pub Date : 2023-11-24 Marta Wójtowicz-Wcisło
This article traces differences and similarities in the ritual sweat bath usage through a comparative perspective that includes contemporary practice in Poland and the central and the north American traditions that inform it. I argue that there exist continuity and consistency of representations related to sweat bathing across time and space, which can be identified by the metaphors designating certain
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Development and Validation of Secularity Scale for Muslims Open Theology Pub Date : 2023-11-02 Volkan Ertit
There is currently no secularity scale with strong psychometric properties that would allow for the examination of the secularization process experienced by Muslims. Thus, the purpose of this article is to develop a psychometrically sound and quick-to-apply scale that can be used to measure the degree of secularity among Muslims. For exploratory factor analysis (EFA), an inventory with 65 items was
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Weak Decisionism and Political Polytheology: The Neutralization of Carl Schmitt’s Political Theology by Hans Blumenberg and the Ritter School Open Theology Pub Date : 2023-10-30 Sjoerd Laurens Victor Griffioen
In this article, I explore the liberal–conservative reception of Carl Schmitt’s political theology in post-war West-Germany. By focusing on the work of prominent members of the Ritter School – Hermann Lübbe, Ernst-Wolfgang Böckenförde, and Odo Marquard – and on the contributions of Hans Blumenberg, I will demonstrate how Schmitt’s thought was appropriated and critically inverted, in order to provide
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Exploring Twenty-First-Century Catholic Traditionalist Resistance Movement through Digital Cartoons of Pope Francis Open Theology Pub Date : 2023-10-26 Damian Guzek, Jan Słomka, Emma Cieslik
Ever since cartoons were created as a medium of political and social commentary, they have been used to both criticize and uplift religious communities. The anti-Catholic cartoons of Thomas Nast and Jack Chick are easily recognizable, but interestingly, among twenty-first-century Catholic communities in Europe and the United States, Catholics themselves have been creating caricatures of Pope Francis
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Apophatic Confrontation: von Balthasar’s Thought on Kenosis and Community as a Veiled Response to the “Trend” of Political Theology Open Theology Pub Date : 2023-10-25 Almudena Molina
This article explores the potential theological–political discourse of Hans Urs von Balthasar, presenting the following arguments: (1) Despite its often-disregarded status, Balthasar’s thought contains a discernible thread of political theology; (2) His exploration of kenosis and community serves as a direct challenge to Schmittian concepts of sovereignty and representation. This challenge opens up
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Developing a Methodology for Hymnal Revision within a Contemporary, Multi-Ethnic Framework: A Proposal Open Theology Pub Date : 2023-10-12 L. C. Teixeira Coelho
This article addresses the topic of hymnal revision in the context of liturgical churches by proposing a methodology that takes into account both historical developments in the field of hymnology and recent concerns regarding the Liturgical Movement and theological considerations that have arisen in the last few decades. The text proposes, in practical terms, a methodology and a structure for developing
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Secularism as Theopolitics: Jalāl ud-Dīn Akbar and the Theological Underpinnings of the State in South Asia Open Theology Pub Date : 2023-10-04 Justin Smolin
Carl Schmitt’s well-known declaration that “all significant” modern political concepts are “secularized theological concepts” has sometimes been treated as hyperbole: a metaphorical axe aimed at the frozen sea of legal positivism, a provocation rather than a thesis. In this article, I demonstrate the fecundity of this thesis by applying it to secularism, a concept undeniably central to the Liberal
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The Metaphysical Contention of Political Theology Open Theology Pub Date : 2023-06-06 Luís Carneiro
The question of the exact role of theology in Schmitt’s political theology remains undecided. Several authors have raised this question and distinct answers have been given. In order to reach an accurate representation of the political–theological dimension in Schmitt’s work, I will attempt an interpretation which takes into account not only Schmitt’s more widely known theses, but also the perceived
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Media and the Sacralization of Leaders and Events: The Construction of a Religious Public Sphere Open Theology Pub Date : 2023-06-05 Mihai Coman
This study aims to demonstrate that media can achieve a religious construction of an event or issue and set the public sphere in a religious frame through the sacralization of events and persons. This perspective can be supported empirically by the studies showing the way in which mass media framed different events in a religious imaginary and language and proposed this image as a frame for public
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Symbolic Theology and Resistance in the Theology of Martin Luther King, Jr. and Paul Tillich Open Theology Pub Date : 2023-05-31 Margrethe Kamille Birkler
In this article, I study how symbolic theology can be advantageously utilized in the resistance against oppressing structures and ideologies. Studying two sermons of Paul Tillich and two speeches of Martin Luther King, Jr. and the symbols used herein as a call to resistance against injustice, I wish to show how theologically grounded symbols have been used to resist injustice and in the call for justice
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If You Have Faith, Exu Responds on-line: The Day-to-Day Life of Quimbanda on Social Networks Open Theology Pub Date : 2023-05-24 Joana Bahia, Farlen de Jesus Nogueira
The present work analyzes the interface between Quimbanda and the digital environment in the daily life of a Quimbandeiro. Quimbanda is an Afro-Brazilian faith that has grown in the virtual universe through consultations and other uses of digital media. In addition to analyzing the Facebook, WhatsApp, and Instagram pages of these religious groups, we interviewed and followed the daily life of a teacher
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Talking about God from the Meaning of Life: Contributions from the Thought of Juan Antonio Estrada Open Theology Pub Date : 2023-04-02 Diego Fernando Bedoya Bonilla, Carlos Arboleda Mora
Juan Antonio Estrada, a Spanish philosopher and theologian, proposes the search for meaning in life as the theological place for a valid experience of God. The “achieved” or fully realized life, to which every human being aspires, is the proposal of salvation that Jesus makes possible with the proclamation of the Reign and that opens a hopeful future with Easter. By bringing reason and faith into dialogue
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Naturalism Fails an Empirical Test: Darwin’s “Dangerous” Idea in Retrospect Open Theology Pub Date : 2023-02-04 Charles Byrne
In his theory of evolution by natural selection, Charles Darwin provided a plausible alternative to Christianity’s creation account of human origins. In response, the Christian botanist Asa Gray suggested that the variation that drives evolution might be generated by God. Darwin rejected Gray’s hypothesis, invoking philosophical naturalism, a hallmark scientific paradigm. Darwin’s conclusion was reached
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Carl Schmitt’s Political Theology of Revolution Open Theology Pub Date : 2023-01-31 Montserrat Herrero
Is there a political theology of revolution in Carl Schmitt or is his political theology only and exclusively autocratic? Schmitt sees the key to revolutionary politics in the construction of the idea of the people as a constituent power. This idea, and the first event it produced, namely, the French Revolution, not only establishes a concrete state of exception but also makes exceptionality both at
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Exploring the “Liminal” and “Sacred” Associated with Death in Hinduism through the Hindu Brahminic Death Rituals Open Theology Pub Date : 2022-12-21 Khyati Tripathi
This article aims to present the specificities associated with the Hindu liminal phase and the sacred associated with death through an ethnographic account of the death rituals of the Hindu Saryuparin Brahmin community. Through this ethnographic account, the author argues against a uniform liminal phase across different cultures by bringing to the fore aspects specific to the Hindu liminal phase in
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Micah 1–3 and Cultural Trauma Theory: An Exploration Open Theology Pub Date : 2022-12-20 Scott P. Bayer
Trauma studies have seen rapid growth in popularity within the past two decades, moving from a psychological phenomenon to a concept utilized by literary critics, sociologists, and now biblical scholars. Yet, most of the work on trauma theory within biblical studies focuses on psychological aspects of trauma instead of sociological or cultural aspects of trauma. Drawing on Jeffery Alexander’s theory
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Ezekiel and the Construction of Cultural Trauma Open Theology Pub Date : 2022-12-15 C. L. Crouch
The book of Ezekiel may be effectively understood in terms of Jeffrey Alexander’s theory of cultural trauma, in which catastrophic events take on a wider cultural significance because they are perceived as having consequences for group identity. The book of Ezekiel develops a new master narrative of Israelite history and identity, in which the catastrophes of 597 and 586 BCE are the culmination of
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Trauma in the Apocryphon of Jeremiah C: Cultural Trauma as Forgetful Remembrance of Divine-Human Relations in Qumran Jeremianic Traditions Open Theology Pub Date : 2022-12-06 Albert Livinus Augustinus Hogeterp
The Qumran Apocryphon of Jeremiah C (4QApocrJer Ca-d; 4Q390) provides reflections on the trauma of devastation, dislocation, and captivity at the time of the Babylonian exile as narrated in the book of Jeremiah. Yet, just as the Damascus Document (CD/4QD), its apocalyptic review of periods goes well beyond the biblical era. This article analyses the narrative discourses of the Apocryphon in comparison
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A Parade of Adornments (Isa 3:18–23): Daughters Zion in the Light of Gender and Material Culture Studies Open Theology Pub Date : 2022-11-17 Anne Létourneau, Ellen De Doncker, Olivier Roy-Turgeon
This article investigates the list of items of dress worn by the daughters Zion in Isa 3:18–23, as they are simultaneously stripped of them. It considers the poetic aspects of this list before turning to specific items, both jewelry and clothing, worn by the daughters in verses 18 and 22. These objects contribute to the complex characterization of the daughters Zion, as it poetically brings together
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Evangelical Historiography in the Colonial and Postcolonial Eras Open Theology Pub Date : 2022-11-16 David Andrew Clark
To better understand how a particular community understands its story, we look at the philosophy, aesthetics, and historical–cultural contexts of those who have written its history. This article analyses an example of colonial era historiography entitled The Progress of Dogma written by Scottish evangelical theologian James Orr. It critically evaluates how Orr’s historiographical approach is at once
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Triumph and Trauma: Justifications of Mass Violence in Deuteronomistic Historiography Open Theology Pub Date : 2022-10-27 Dominik Markl
This article investigates the justifications of mass violence in Deuteronomistic historiography through the lens of cultural trauma. The analysis concentrates on the representation and justification of mass violence, that is mass killings and other forms of violence against non-combatants, in Israel’s conquest of the promised land in the books of Deuteronomy and Joshua as well as during the loss of
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The Dragon on the Path and the Emerald of Love: A Nietzschean reading of Rūmī’s concept of love Open Theology Pub Date : 2022-10-15 Hamidreza Mahboobi Arani
Facing suffering and death, or what is known as human fragility, does not seem all that difficult and challenging in the presence of a morally responsible God or the primordial source of all existence. However, if our theodicy does not allow for the existence of such a God or primordial source, as in Ashʿarite theology or Schopenhauer’s philosophy, then the encounter with human fragility necessitates
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Contemporary Visions of Heaven and Hell by a Transylvanian Folk Prophet, Founder of the Charismatic Christian Movement The Lights Open Theology Pub Date : 2022-09-29 László Koppány Csáji
I conducted anthropological fieldwork (2010–2018) in a charismatic Christian new religious movement the Lights founded by a Transylvanian contemporary folk prophet in 2008. The new religious movement (NRM) has local hubs in North Serbia, Romania, and Hungary. After offering insight into the techniques of how the prophet receives his visions of heaven and hell (as answers to the existential dilemmas
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The Fall of Jerusalem: Cultural Trauma as a Process Open Theology Pub Date : 2022-09-19 Sonja Ammann
Cultural trauma theory provides a framework for studying the socio-cultural process which takes place between an event and its (socially accepted) representation. This article will apply the process-oriented approach of cultural trauma theory to studying biblical narratives of the Babylonian conquest of Jerusalem, focusing in particular on the destruction and pillage of the temple. The comparison of
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From Healing to Wounding: The Psalms of Communal Lament and the Shaping of Yehud’s Cultural Trauma Open Theology Pub Date : 2022-09-16 Danilo Verde
Biblical trauma studies strongly emphasize that texts and traditions that eventually formed the Hebrew Bible helped both the authors and the (former) “readers” to cope with catastrophic events. This approach, however, leads to side-lining other functions of biblical texts, for instance the extent to which biblical texts were used and transmitted not only to “heal” but also to “wound” the collectivity
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Outside Phenomenology? Open Theology Pub Date : 2022-09-05 Emmanuel Falque
This essay marks the start of a bold reorientation of a philosophical vision of the author: where the texts of the Christian theological tradition once served as point of reference, it is now the experience of trauma that guides the phenomenological investigation – specifically, the trauma of illness, separation, the death of a child, natural disaster, and the pandemic. These experiences, which befall
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A Historical-Contextualist Approach to the Joseph Chapter of the Qur’an Open Theology Pub Date : 2022-09-01 Ali Akbar
This article applies a historical-contextualist approach to analyzing the Joseph sūra of the Qur’an. It first explores the theoretical framework of this study and introduces the historical-contextualist methodology employed and then provides a brief explanation of the Qur’anic account of the story of Joseph. The Joseph sūra is analyzed in light of the context of its revelation and the use it makes
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A Pragmatic Piety: Experience, Uncertainty, and Action in Charles G. Finney’s Evangelical Revivalism Open Theology Pub Date : 2022-08-05 Shawn Welch
This article focuses on the evangelical theology and revival practice of Charles Grandison Finney, popular in his time yet critically under-explored in American philosophy, specifically regarding his role in the emergence of American pragmatism. Spearheaded by American philosophers like Charles Sanders Peirce and William James, pragmatism argues that the significance of abstract concepts lies in their
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Good Life, Brave Death, and Earned Immortality: Features of a Neglected Ancient Virtue Discourse Open Theology Pub Date : 2022-08-03 Sami Yli-Karjanmaa, Elisa Uusimäki
This article examines early Jewish ideas of virtue that are usually ignored in presentations of the history of virtue discourse. We analyze the use of the Greek term ἀρετή in the Apocrypha of the Septuagint; all the occurrences of the term are in texts that were originally composed in Greek. We argue that the discussion on virtues – ideal human qualities and ways of living – in the Apocrypha has three
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God and the Goodness of Death: A Theological Minority Report Open Theology Pub Date : 2022-07-08 Cole William Hartin
This article offers a critical re-evaluation of the role of death in Christian theology, especially as it is viewed in light of the incarnation. It situates the problem of death as an extension of the problem of evil and analyses the classical responses to this problem in the Western Christian tradition. From here, it brings in the theological “minority report” on the role of death that runs through
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Process-Panentheism and the “Only Way” Argument Open Theology Pub Date : 2022-05-26 Lina Langby
Given panentheism, when trying to offer a plausible solution to the problem of evil, what is the most promising way forward? In this article, I argue that a panentheist who wants to answer the problem of evil by using the “only way” argument should embrace the metaphysics of process theism. In other words, she ought to be a process-panentheist. Process theism is a version of panentheism, while panentheism
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Contesting Deaths’ Despair: Local Public Religion, Radical Welcome and Community Health in the Overdose Crisis, Massachusetts, USA Open Theology Pub Date : 2022-05-25 Emily B. Campbell
In the United States, the first decades of the twenty-first century have been marked by a worsening fatal drug overdose epidemic leading life expectancy to decline for the first time in a century. Often termed deaths of despair, this development is attributed to declines in civic life, including lessening religious participation, wrought by long-term deindustrialization. Despite this, civil society
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Thinking with Faith, Thinking as Faith: What Comes After Onto-theo-logy? Open Theology Pub Date : 2022-05-18 John D. Caputo
Despite Heidegger’s constant claims to the contrary, thinking is not opposed to faith. Indeed, against his own intentions, Heidegger’s critique of onto-theo-logy, which breaks the grip of modernity, issues in a faith more radically conceived. This faith is the thinking, this thinking is the faith that becomes possible in the post-secular space which Heidegger’s critique of modernity opens. Although
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Remember Death: An Examination of Death, Mourning, and Death Anxiety Within Islam Open Theology Pub Date : 2022-05-12 Nilou Davoudi
Scholarship and research in the field of thanatology require creative responses to address contemporary concerns regarding how people – individually and collectively – make sense of events and experiences associated with death and dying. This present study focuses on the broader Islamic traditions of the experience of death and the afterlife and provides a conceptual overview of the practices of mourning
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Death from the Perspective of Luhmann’s System Theory Open Theology Pub Date : 2022-04-22 Murat Sariyar
The aim of this article is to address the topic of death from a Luhmannian perspective. First, the article will introduce the general theory of Luhmann to provide a background for the way he is tackling sociological and philosophical problems and then will describe its application to religion and deduce various implications for the topic of death. For the discussion of death, we will refer to some
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The Christological Perichōrēsis and Dance Open Theology Pub Date : 2022-04-22 Riyako Cecilia Hikota
In order to take the physical and incorporeal dimension of dance seriously in the context of Christian theology, we propose that it should be the neglected Christological Perichōrēsis (as well as concepts and ideas surrounding it) rather than the Trinitarian Perichōrēsis that is historically and traditionally relevant as a source of a dialogue between Christian theology and dance. First, we propose
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Is Finitude Original? A Rereading of “Violence and Metaphysics” Open Theology Pub Date : 2022-04-21 Theodor Sandal Rolfsen
This article seeks to challenge what may seem to be an obvious assertion: that finitude is original in the sense that it must be presupposed that any possible meaning can only be thought beginning from this finitude. I do this through a rereading of Derrida’s epochal essay “Violence and Metaphysics,” which perhaps is the most decisive interpretation of the philosophy of Emmanuel Levinas. In the essay
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Revelation and Philosophy in the Thought of Eric Voegelin Open Theology Pub Date : 2022-03-28 Tomasz Niezgoda
The difference between revelation and natural reason seems to be as obvious as it is indestructible. Despite this conventional view, Eric Voegelin claims that this difference must be “swept aside” and “cleared away” as it obscures the sphere of original meaning and manifestation and posits the divine as an object. According to Voegelin, through recourse to the ancient philosophers Plato and Aristotle
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Towards a Phenomenology of Kenosis: Thinking after the Theological Turn Open Theology Pub Date : 2022-03-23 Nikolaas Cassidy-Deketelaere
What could it mean to think “after the theological turn”? This article proposes one possible answer by reframing the theological turn in light of the way in which Paul’s kenosis serves as a metaphor for deconstruction in a variety of continental philosophers who are all nevertheless hostile to overt theologising. Tracking this notion through the history of theology and philosophy, the article argues
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After the Theological Turn: Towards a Credible Theological Grammar Open Theology Pub Date : 2022-03-04 Martin Koci
The theological turn provokes much debate on the nature of phenomenology but almost none on the definition of theology. I argue, however, that the theological turn not only enlarges the field of phenomenological exploration but also provides theology with a conceptual apparatus that can contribute to formulating rigorous theological positions. In the first step, I question the debate dominated by philosophers
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From Persuasion to Acceptance of Closeness: La Projimidad as an Essential Attribute of God in Luke 10:25–37 Open Theology Pub Date : 2022-01-01 Diego Fernando Bedoya Bonilla, Carlos Arboleda Mora
The linguistic method of the New Rhetoric and Argumentation (developed by authors such as Chaim Perelman and Lucie Olbrechts-Tyteca) seeks to persuade an audience utilizing logical and practical arguments, in order to achieve adherence to a thesis that wants to be effectively communicated. This method can be applied to biblical texts to convince about an issue and produce a performative (transforming)
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Ending Christian Hegemony: Jean-Luc Nancy and the Ends of Eurocentric Thought Open Theology Pub Date : 2022-01-01 Colby Dickinson
This essay addresses Jean-Luc Nancy’s “deconstruction of Christianity” and how what Christianity proclaims through enacting a deconstruction of itself brings an end to the western, hegemonic hold that Christian imperialism has perpetuated for centuries. Nancy, for his part, takes up the name of Christianity insofar as it is a religious phenomenon that signals a trajectory of thought in the West that
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Rethinking Death’s Sacredness: From Heraclitus’s frag. DK B62 to Robert Gardner’s Dead Birds Open Theology Pub Date : 2022-01-01 Carlos A. Segovia
This article examines death’s symbolic role vis-à-vis life in cross-cultural perspective. It surveys various ways of suppressing, nuancing, or minimising death’s effects and different ways of assuming its non-impasse through a cross-disciplinary lens that combines ethnographic inquiry, philosophical conceptualisation, and a secular, religious studies approach to the sacred. Zoroastrian and pre-Rabbinic
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Fetish Again? Southern Perspectives on the Material Approach to the Study of Religion Open Theology Pub Date : 2022-01-01 Simon Kofi Appiah
The material turn in the study of religion\s has opened new methodological vistas, rejuvenating the notion of fetish . Scholars in Africa must acknowledge and share in the successes of the material approach. At the same time, they cannot help but recall that in colonial Africa the notion of fetish was, par excellence, the mirror of primitive religion and the denigration of Africans in the missionary
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It Takes Two to Make a Thing Go Right: Phenomenology, Theology, and Janicaud Open Theology Pub Date : 2022-01-01 Amber Bowen, J. Aaron Simmons
In his influential essay, “The Theological Turn of French Phenomenology,” Dominique Janicaud suggests that phenomenology and theology “make two.” On the thirtieth anniversary of that essay, here we consider some of the main lines of response that have been offered to his account. We suggest that there are three general approaches that have been the most prominent: indifferentism, integrationism, and
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God Who Comes to Mind: Emmanuel Levinas as Inspiration and Challenge for Theological Thinking Open Theology Pub Date : 2022-01-01 Jakub Sirovátka
From the beginning, Levinas’ thought was received not only by philosophers but also by theologians. But his thought is very radical and represents both a challenge and an inspiration for theology. The article aims to see where the challenge and inspiration might lie. Levinas’s basic question is how finite thought can think an infinite and transcendent God. Levinas develops the phenomenology of the
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Confessional Discourses, Radicalizing Traditions: On John Caputo and the Theological Turn Open Theology Pub Date : 2022-01-01 Justin Sands
This article explores the theological turn through the work of John Caputo, who famously transitioned from a philosopher of religion to a “weak theologian,” and later as a “radical theologian.” In so doing it argues that Caputo’s work as a radical theologian is an attempt at a practical performance of religion without religion: he inhabits the discourse of theology while radicalizing the tradition
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Beyond Metaphor: The Trinitarian Perichōrēsis and Dance Open Theology Pub Date : 2022-01-01 Riyako Cecilia Hikota
This article critically explores the question of how the image and metaphor of the Trinitarian divine dance could enhance the dialogue between theology and dance. Could this metaphor actually be a source of said dialogue? Does this idea of the Trinitarian dance really do justice either to the divine mystery of the Trinity or to dance itself? If we would like to go beyond metaphor, what further approach
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“Teach Your Daughters to Wail and One Another to Lament”: Jewish Prayers and Liturgical Texts for Female Victims of Sexual Assault Open Theology Pub Date : 2021-12-08 Elazar Ben-Lulu
Throughout generations, various prayers have been composed to express religious and cultural experiences of the Jewish community, such as holidays life-cycle and national tragedies. However, some social issues, such as sexual assault, have been excluded from this canon. This article uncovers Jewish prayers and liturgical texts dedicated to female victims of sexual assault. Drawing on a qualitative
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The Deportation of Juan: Migration Rhetoric as Decolonial Strategy in Revelation Open Theology Pub Date : 2021-12-08 Roberto Mata
This article explores John’s Exodus rhetoric as a decolonial strategy and maps its implications for contemporary migrants. Other scholars have convincingly argued that local authorities deported John to Patmos as a vagus, because his message opposed civic institutions, but they do not explain the nature and function of his preaching. Using migrant narratives and decolonial theory, I read John’s call
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Making Wise the Stranger: Sapiential Hospitality in Proverbs 1–9 Open Theology Pub Date : 2021-11-28 Shirley S. Ho
Jayme Reaves uses Genesis 19:1–14; Joshua 2:1–22; Judges 19:14–27; and the cities of refuge texts in Deuteronomy 4:41–3 and 19:1–10 as biblical sources to conceptualize a so-called “protective hospitality.” This article utilizes the book of Proverbs to argue that it reflects the same protective motivations regarding hospitality, with a sapiential twist. Specifically, Proverbs 1–9 depicts two forms
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Setting a New Course? A Practical Discussion about Migration and the Bible Open Theology Pub Date : 2021-11-17 Amy Casteel
That stories of migration are found in the Bible is not a debate, although the meaning to be taken from the presence of such stories is ambiguous. Notably, the writing of recent theologians on migration emphasizes response to migration, rather than the experience of migration. An analysis of six articles spanning two decades shows three overlapping themes in these writings: the identity of “stranger
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Reception through Polemics: The Internalization of Theological Otherness in Jerome’s Heresiology Open Theology Pub Date : 2021-10-26 Katarina Pålsson
Early Christian heresiology is, like polemics in general, a genre that has commonly been negatively perceived in scholarship. There is an idea of heresiological texts as not only historically unreliable, but also unproductive, in contrast to the creative thinking that can be found in theological treatises. Considering the understanding of heresiology as reactive and exclusive, it is not surprising