Религия: прочее
Различные книги в жанре Религия: прочееWhile I Have Being
This diary is a fine-grained, often daily, theological reflection on the author's final ponderings on his ordeal with a serious illness, a concluding sabbatical, a last year of teaching, a culminating lecture, presiding at Eucharist, and summarial notes about «what God is doing in the world.» Amid all these meanderings it holds the lectionary of the biblical and liturgical calendar in one hand and the newspaper in the other (K. Barth). Events during this time span were transformative and world shaking–and found resonance in my personal drama. One finds art and music, faith and politics. The reader will easily slip one's own story into this narrative. My purpose is precisely this–to offer symbiotic and symbolic story on life and its meaning.
African Catholicism and Hermeneutics of Culture
The study of Christianity in the non-Western world reveals a demographic shift in the center of Christianity from the Northern Hemisphere to the South. But the contradictory aspect of the massive African conversion to Christian faith is the grinding poverty level in Africa. This condition raises important theological and ecclesiological questions that demand urgent answers. Therefore, the research objectives of this book are to examine African Catholicism's involvement in human promotion and to seek a new way of theologizing Christianity that moves sub-Saharan African peoples to action against the massive injustices that keep them poor. Drawing on Africae Munus, the Post-Synodal Apostolic Exhortation of the Second African Synod (2011), and Bernard Lonergan's notion of culture, African Catholicism and Hermeneutics of Culture argues that to truly be «the spiritual 'lung' of humanity,» African Catholicism must appropriate the Christian message to transform African attitudes and personhood and so foster a self-reliant commitment to integral African development.
The Legislative Themes of Centralization
The centralization of the cult mandate in Deuteronomy has captivated scholars for over two centuries. Related to this mandate are five legislative themes–abrogation of idolatry, tithing, the Israelite festival calendar, judiciary officials, and the priesthood. Collectively, these themes are interwoven into the Deuteronomic social, political, and religious infrastructure. Interpreted through an exilic lens, this study examines the themes through the relevant literary strata in the Enneateuch. In doing so, the themes are identified as playing an instrumental role in the demise of the divided monarchy. It is through the demise of the divided monarchy that the book of Deuteronomy, especially the centralization mandate, takes on a new meaning–a utopian desire. Thus, the rhetorical strategy of centralization, once contrived to unify and purify the cult, actually leads to failure and serves as motivation for reform during the exilic period.
Jesus and the Cross
According to the Nicene Creed, Christ died for us and for our salvation. But while all Christians agree that Christ's death and resurrection has saving significance, there is little unanimity in how and why that is the case. In fact, Christian history is littered with various accounts of the redemptive value of Christ's death, and new models and motifs are constantly being proposed, many of which now stand in stark contrast to earlier reflections. How then should contemporary articulations of the cross's saving significance be judged?
At the heart of this book is the contention that Christian reflection on the atonement is faithful inasmuch as it incorporates the intention that Jesus himself had for his death. In a wide-reaching study, the author draws from both classical scholarship and recent work on the historical Jesus to argue that not only did Jesus imbue his death with redemptive meaning but that such meaning should impact expressions of the cross's saving significance.
Aquinas on Israel and the Church
The question of whether or not Thomas Aquinas's theology is supersessionist has elicited deep disagreement among scholars. Some maintain that Aquinas is the standard-bearer of a supersessionist church that undermines Judaism, while others hold that Aquinas avoids supersessionism altogether. Yet the discussion over whether Aquinas's theology is supersessionist has not always carefully interrogated the term «supersessionism,» nor has it taken into account some of Aquinas's most relevant texts on the subject of Israel and the Church: his commentaries on Paul's letters. Drawing upon the Pauline commentaries, Aquinas on Israel and the Church argues that while Aquinas's most commonly articulated view is that Jewish worship is discontinued after the passion of Christ, Aquinas also advanced views that set this into question, and in ways that support contemporary Christian teachings that affirm the value of postbiblical Judaism.
Foreknowledge and Social Identity in 1 Peter
What is the meaning and significance of foreknowledge in the book of 1 Peter, and how does the concept relate to the circumstances of its first recipients? Himes attempts to answer these questions by examining the concepts of both foreknowledge and social identity within the first century and how they fit into the theology of 1 Peter.
In the process of elaborating the concepts of foreknowledge and social identity, this study provides one of the first thorough examinations of the words prognosis and proginosko in the literature of the time period when 1 Peter was composed and circulated. Himes argues that these words are linguistically relevant to how early hearers and readers would have understood the message of 1 Peter.
In addition, this volume provides a thorough analysis of social-scientific criticism in 1 Peter, paying special attention to the various views about the social circumstances of the epistle's recipients. Finally, this book concerns itself with the biblical theology of 1 Peter, and with how the concept of foreknowledge functions as a word of comfort and hope to the beleaguered audience of this epistle.
New Frontiers in Guadalupan Studies
Historical writings on Our Lady of Guadalupe, the most revered sacred figure indigenous to the western hemisphere, have tended to focus on the sixteenth-century origins of her cult. But recent publications have increasingly extended Guadalupan studies beyond the origin debates to analyses of the subsequent evolution and immense influence of the Guadalupe tradition. New Frontiers in Guadalupan Studies significantly enhances this growing body of literature with insightful essays on topics that span the early stages of Guadalupan devotion to the milestone of Pope Benedict XIV establishing an official liturgical feast for Guadalupe in 1754. The volume also breaks new ground in theological analyses of Guadalupe, which comprise an ongoing effort to articulate a Christian response to one of the most momentous events of Christianity's second millennium: the conquest, evangelization, and struggles for life, dignity, and self-determination of the peoples of the Americas.
Mirrors in Mark
Do you desire to go deeper still in your understanding of the New Testament Scriptures? In Mirrors in Mark you will find a fresh and arresting approach to most of the New Testament, drawing on the mnemonic methods that were common to the ancient world and employed by writers of the Scriptures. Much of the fascination of Mark's Gospel–Mark receives particular attention in this book–lies in the use of catchwords and catch-phrases to stamp on our minds the words and works of Jesus.
The other works of the New Testament treated in this way are Romans, Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Titus, Philemon, Hebrews, James, 1 and 2 Peter, Jude, and Revelation. The book of Revelation features quite largely, yielding up many invaluable insights into its apocalyptic nature.
This book will prove to be a constant companion to the serious student of the sacred writings.
The Turning Point in the Gospel of Mark
Based on linguistic and thematic links in the narrative, The Turning Point in the Gospel of Mark argues that the twin pericopae of Peter's confession (8:27-38) and the Transfiguration (9:2-13) together function as the turning point of the Gospel and serve in a Janus-like manner enabling the reader to see the author's main focus: the identity of Jesus and the significance of that reality for his disciples. Peter's confession of Jesus as Messiah faces backward toward the Prologue (1:1-13) and functions as a mid-course conclusion. The declaration by God on the mountain faces forward and foreshadows the end-course conclusion (14:61-62; 15:39; Son of God). Jesus, in response, teaches that the Son of Man must suffer and die before being raised from the dead (8:31). Christologically, the images of Messiah, Son of Man, and Son of God converge and present Jesus, the crucified, as king, ushering in the kingdom of God in power (9:1 acting as the key swivel between the twin pericopae). When one is confronted with this Jesus, though there remains something elusive about him and the kingdom of God in the narrative, the only wise decision (after calculating the costs, 8:34-38) is to follow.
Toward an African Theology of Fraternal Solidarity
In this book, Ikenna Okafor tackles an interesting and timely topic and demonstrates competence and maturity in developing his insight into Igbo humanism–to make liberation theology from an African perspective into a theology of solidarity and fraternity. With a good narrative style, Okafor critiques the Latin American liberation theological project. And inspired by the hermeneutical implications of «UBE NAWANNE,» the evangelical positioning of material poverty and pathos for the poor as defining Christian discipleship is persuasively presented. The potent nwanne idiom guides his critical evaluation of the social teachings and praxis of the Catholic Church. In fact, it is clear that Okafor embarked on a subject matter that is of theological moment and has creative pastoral implications for the Church of Nigeria, the Churches of Africa, and the World Church.