Decolonizing God: the Bible in the Tides of Empire

 

Mark G. Brett

Sheffield Phoenix Press, 2008 - 237 pages

For centuries, the Bible has been used by colonial powers to undergird their imperial designs--an ironic situation when so much of the Bible was conceived by way of resistance to empires. In this thoughtful book, Mark Brett draws upon his experience of the colonial heritage in Australia to identify a remarkable range of areas where God needs to be decolonized--freed from the bonds of the colonial. Writing in a context where landmark legal cases have ruled that Indigenous (Aboriginal) rights have been 'washed away by the tide of history', Brett re-examines land rights in the biblical traditions, Deuteronomy's genocidal imagination, and other key topics in both the Hebrew Bible and the New Testament where the effects of colonialism can be traced. Drawing out the implications for theology and ethics, this book provides a comprehensive new proposal for addressing the legacies of colonialism. A ground-breaking work of scholarship that makes a major intervention into post-colonial studies. This book confirms the relevance of post-colonial theory to biblical scholarship and provides an exciting and original approach to biblical interpretation. Bill Ashcroft, University of Hong Kong and University of New South Wales; author of The Empire Writes Back: Theory and Practice in Post-Colonial Literatures (2002). Acutely sensitive to the historical as well as theological complexity of the Bible, Mark Brett's Decolonizing God brilliantly demonstrates the value of a critical assessment of the Bible as a tool for rethinking contemporary possibilities. The contribution of this book to ethical and theological discourse in a global perspective and to a politics of hope is immense.

 

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Homoeroticism in the Biblical World: A Historical Perspective

 

Martti Nissinen, Kirsi Stjerna

Fortress Press, 2004-03-01 - 208 pages

 

Nissinen's award-winning book surveys attitudes in the ancient world toward homoeroticism, that is, erotic same-sex relations. Focusing on the Bible and its cultural environment-Mesopotamia, Greece, Rome, Israel-Nissinen concisely and readably introduces the relevant sources and their historical contexts in a readable way.Homoeroticism is examined as a part of gender identity, i.e., the interplay of sexual orientation, gender identification, gender roles, and sexual practice. In the patriarchal cultures of the biblical world, Nissinen shows, homoerotic practices were regarded as a role construction between the active and passive partners rather than as expressions of an orientation moderns call "homosexuality." Nissinen shows how this applies to the limited acceptance of homoerotic relationships in Greek and Roman culture, as well as to Israel's and the early church's condemnation of any same-sex erotic activity.For readers interested in the ancient world or contemporary debates, Nissinen's fascinating study shows why the ancient texts - both biblical and nonbiblical - are not appropriate for use as sources of direct analogy or argument in today's discussion.

 

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Liberal Theology: A Radical Vision

 

Peter Crafts Hodgson

Fortress Press, 2007-05-01 - 134 pages

* A keen and persuasive assessment of where Christian thought is today \ * An introduction to and critical assessment of the liberal religious tradition and its alternatives

 

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Christians at Rome in the First Two Centuries: From Paul to Valentinus

Peter Lampe

Continuum International Publishing Group, 2006-06-30 - 528 pages

 Investigating the rise and shape of the earliest churches in Rome, Lampe integrates history, archaeology, theology, and social analysis. He also takes a close look at inscriptional evidence to complement the reading of the great literary texts: from Paul's letter to the Romans to the writings of Clement of Rome, Justin Martyr, Montanus, and Valentinus. Lampe deals with the shape of leadership and the followers of Christ in relation to the Judeans living in Rome.

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Church and Cosmos in Early Ottonian Germany: The View from Cologne

Henry Mayr-Harting

Oxford University Press, 2007 - 308 pages

 

Integrating the brilliant biography of Bruno, Archbishop of Cologne (953-65) and brother of Emperor Otto I, by the otherwise obscure monk Ruotger, with the intellectual culture of Cologne Cathedral, this is a study of actual politics in conjunction with Ottonian ruler ethic. Our knowledge of Cologne intellectual activity in the period, apart from Ruotger, must be pieced together mainly from marginal annotations and glosses in surviving Cologne manuscripts, showing how and with what concerns some of the most important books of the Latin West were read in Bruno's and Ruotger's Cologne. These include Pope Gregory the Great's Letters, Prudentius's Psychomachia, Boethius's Arithmetic, and Martianus Capella's Marriage of Philology and Mercury. The writing in the margins of the manuscripts, besides enlarging our picture of thinking in Cologne in itself, can be drawn into comparison with the outlook of Ruotger.

Exploring how distinctive Cologne was, compared with other centres, Henry Mayr-Harting brings out an unexpectedly strong thread of Platonism in the tenth-century intellect. The book includes a critical edition of probably the earliest surviving, and hitherto unpublished, set of glosses to Boethius's Arithmetic, with an extensive study of their content.

 

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Jesus the Liberator: A Historical Theological Reading of Jesus of Nazareth

 

Jon Sobrino

Continuum International Publishing Group, 1994 - 324 pages

 

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How Things Are in the World: Metaphysics and Theology in Wittgenstein and Rahner

 

Terrance W. Klein

Marquette University Press, 2003 - 271 pages

 

"The Word was made flesh" is the foundational Christian assertion. Some two thousand years later, Christians are still reflecting upon its meaning. What is the relationship of words, or language, to our experience of God? Is God beyond words? Christianity has, in one venue or another, asserted just that, all the while maintaining the necessity of an explicitly religious life, one formed and focused upon words and that which might be called the "language of ritual." The very word "revelation" seems to evoke the question of language: words, concepts, assertions, judgements, etc. It's true that Christianity asserts that what God ultimately reveals in Jesus Christ is a person, not a message, or rather, that the person is the message, but words like "message," "communication," and even "communion" raise the question of language. If, on the one hand, God lies beyond all telling, and if, on the other, human life in the age of communication seems to be nothing more than a telling, a spinning, and the creation of realities formed by language, where do God and humanity meet? What does it mean to assert that the Word became flesh? The first half of this book is a theological examination of the work of Ludwig Wittgenstein who, with a small brace of others, stands as a progenitor of twentieth century thought. The work of Karl Rahner clearly stands as the center of postconciliar Roman Catholic theology, and of contemporary Christian theology in general. Rahner wrote voluminously and well. Although his own style of writing is dense and heavily weighted with continental philosophy, his treatments of so many basic theological questions have been popularized by innumerable secondary authors. It would beno exaggeration to say that Rahner's work has been a theological pivot for the second half of the 20th century. The time seems right, then, to take another look at Rahner and his Wittgensteinian critics

 

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Jesus Christ and the Religions: An Essay in Theology of Religions

Hans Waldenfels

Marquette University Press, 2009-02-28 - 145 pages

It is no longer controversial to grant that other religions have the same potential for salvation as our own. In this climate of plurality we are increasingly called upon to respond to the claims made by other religions on this issue. In this regard, Christians should know about their own Christian position and need to enter into a dialogue within their own church before they can engage fruitfully with other religions, other churches and communities. This book gives stimulus to an active dialogue between religions by arguing that interfaith dialogue in its depth entails an all comprising sharing, mutual openness and the proclamation of active faith in words and deeds.

 

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Martin Luther, Roman Catholic Prophet

 

Gregory Sobolewski

Marquette University Press, 2001 - 187 pages

 

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Shame: Theory, Therapy, Theology

Stephen Pattison

Cambridge University Press, 2000-10-05 - Psychology - 343 pages

Stephen Pattison considers the nature of shame as it is discussed in the diverse discourses of literature, psychology, psychoanalysis, philosophy, history and sociology and concludes that ëshameí is not a single unitary phenomenon, but rather a set of separable but related understandings in different discourses. Situating chronic shame primarily within the metaphorical ecology of defilement, pollution and toxic unwantedness, Pattison goes on to examine the causes and effects of shame. He then considers the way in which Christianity has responded to and used shame. Psychologists, philosophers, theologians and therapists will find this a fascinating source of insight, and it will be of particular use to pastoral workers and those concerned with religion and mental health.

 

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Silence, Love, and Death: Saying Yes to God in the Theology of Karl Rahner

Shannon Nichole Craigo-Snell

Marquette University Press, 2008-06-30 - 253 pages

 

One of the central elements of Karl Rahner's theology is the affirmation that God offers salvation to every human being and, in so doing, empowers each of us to say "yes" to this holy vocation. This divine-human dialogue of offer and response is the heart of Rahner's understanding of Christian faith. In this book, Shannon Craigo-Snell explores what it means to say "yes" to God in Rahner's theology. Drawing on a variety of his writings, Craigo-Snell focuses on three moments in human freedom that Rahner repeatedly points to in describing how we say "yes" to God: silence, love, and death. In Rahner's theology, the theme of silence is often used to mark a posture of openness to the mysterious other, both human and divine, which is a primary characteristic of what it is to be human. This openness to the other is concretely realized in love, such that human identity is both gift received and task accomplished. Further, this self-possessing openness to the other is fully actualized in an eternal inter-communion. Rahner's discussions of eschatology do not center on an affirmation of the immortality of the individual soul, but rather paint a portrait of communally sanctified humanity that draws us forward into ourselves, our community, and God. Attending to these three ways of saying "yes" to God generates an understanding of Rahner's theology as neither modern nor postmodern, but rather a challenging alternative vision that can be a vital resource for contemporary feminist theologies.

 

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Christian Political Ethics

John Aloysius Coleman

Princeton University Press, 2008 - 289 pages

Christian Political Ethics brings together leading Christian scholars of diverse theological and ethical perspectives--Catholic, Lutheran, Calvinist, and Anabaptist--to address fundamental questions of state and civil society, international law and relations, the role of the nation, and issues of violence and its containment. Representing a unique fusion of faith-centered ethics and social science, the contributors bring into dialogue their own varying Christian understandings with a range of both secular ethical thought and other religious viewpoints from Judaism, Islam, and Confucianism. They explore divergent Christian views of state and society--and the limits of each. They grapple with the tensions that can arise within Christianity over questions of patriotism, civic duty, and loyalty to one's nation, and they examine Christian responses to pluralism and relativism, globalization, and war and peace. Revealing the striking pluralism inherent to Christianity itself, this pioneering volume recasts the meanings of Christian citizenship and civic responsibility, and raises compelling new questions about civil disobedience, global justice, and Christian justifications for waging war as well as spreading world peace. It brings Christian political ethics out of the churches and seminaries to engage with today's most vexing and complex social issues. The contributors are Michael Banner, Nigel Biggar, Joseph Boyle, Michael G. Cartwright, John A. Coleman, S.J., John Finnis, Theodore J. Koontz, David Little, Richard B. Miller, James W. Skillen, and Max L. Stackhouse.

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Contested Christianity: The Political and Social Contexts of Victorian Theology

Timothy Larsen

Baylor University Press, 2004-03-01 - 234 pages

This volume explores the cultural, political, and intellectual forces that helped define nineteenth-century British Christianity. Larsen challenges many of the standard assumptions about Victorian-era Christians in their attempts to embody and their theological commitments. He highlights the way in which Dissenters and other free church Evangelicals employed the full range of theological resources available to them to take stands that the wider culture was still resisting--e.g., evangelical nonconformists enfranchising women, siding with the black population of Jamaica in opposition to their own colonial governor, championing the rights of Jews, Roman Catholics, and atheists. These stances belie the stereotypes of Victorian Evangelicals currently in existence and properly shift the focus to Dissent, to plebeian culture, to social contexts, and to the cultural and political consequences of theological commitments. This study brings freshness and verve to the study of religion and the Victorians, bearing fruit in a range of significant findings and connections.

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Dante's Commedia: Theology as Poetry

 

Vittorio Montemaggi, Matthew Treherne

University of Notre Dame Press, 2010-03-15 - 388 pages

 

In Dante's Commedia: Theology as Poetry,an international group of theologians and Dante scholars provide a uniquely rich set of perspectives focused on the relationship between theology and poetry in the Commedia. Examining Dante's treatment of questions of language, personhood, and the body; his engagement with the theological tradition he inherited; and the implications of his work for contemporary theology, the contributors argue for the close intersection of theology and poetry in the text as well as the importance of theology for Dante studies. Through discussion of issues ranging from Dante's use of imagery of the Church to the significance of the smile for his poetic project, the essayists offer convincing evidence that his theology is not what underlies his narrative poem, nor what is contained within it: it is instead fully integrated with its poetic and narrative texture. As the essays demonstrate, the Commediais firmly rooted in the medieval tradition of reflection on the nature of theological language, while simultaneously presenting its readers with unprecedented, sustained poetic experimentation. Understood in this way, Dante emerges as one of the most original theological voices of the Middle Ages. "Long taken for granted in Dante studies, the nexus between theology and poetry in Dante's work, especially in the Commedia, has only really been subjected to searching critical analysis in the last few decades. The scholars represented in this interdisciplinary collection explore the poem's claims to function as a text embodying theological truth and, more particularly, as a poetic representation of the experience of the mystical. Their efforts comprise a landmark in modern Dante studies." -- Steven Botterill, University of California, Berkeley "Moved by both intellectual curiosity and a palpable love of their subject, a group of both young and established scholars, both theologians and Dante specialists, from both sides of the Atlantic, collaborate in this book to search through the poet's volume and pose fresh questions about the relation of poetry and theology in Dante's work." -- Ronald L. Martinez, Brown University

 

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Entering the New Theological Space: Blurred Encounters of Faith, Politics and Community

John Reader, CHRIS BAKER

Ashgate Publishing, Ltd., 2009-05-07 -  241 pages

 

This book presents theological reflections on the changing nature of church mission and Christian identity within a theology of 'Blurred Encounter' - a physical, social, political and spiritual space where once solid hierarchies and patterns are giving way to more fluid and in many ways unsettling exchanges. The issues raised and dynamics explored apply to all socially-produced space, thus tending to 'blur' that most fundamental of theological categories - namely urban vs. rural theology. Engaging in a sharper way with some of the helpful but inevitably broad-brush conclusions raised by recent church-based reports (Mission-shaped Church, Faithful Cities), the authors examine some of the practical and theological implications of this research for the issue of effective management and therefore church leadership generally. Speaking to practitioners in the field of Practical Theology as well as those engaged in theological and ministerial training, key voices encompass dimensions of power and conflict, and identify some of the present and future opportunities and challenges to church/faith-based engagement and leadership arising from blurred encounters.Contributors - practitioners and theorists - cover a wide spectrum of interdisciplinary professional contexts and academic/denominational interests. Contributors include: John Atherton. John Reader, Helen Cameron, Martyn Percy, Malcolm Brown, Karen Lord, Clare MacBeath and Margaret Goodall

 

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Exodus Church and Civil Society: Public Theology and Social Theory in the Work of Jürgen Moltmann

 

Scott Paeth

Ashgate Publishing, Ltd., 2008 - 223 pages

This book investigates the intersection of theology and social theory in the work of Jürgen Moltmann. In particular, it examines the way in which his concept of the Exodus Church can illuminate the importance of the idea of civil society for a Christian public theology. The concept of civil society can aid in moving from the narrower category of political theology, a term used frequently by Moltmann to emphasize the church's public commitment, to a broader understanding of theology's public task, which takes into account the plurality of ends and institutions within society. The idea of the Exodus Church enables deeper understanding of Christian ethical participation within a complex modern society.

 

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Explorations in Christian Theology and Ethics: Essays in Conversation with Paul L. Lehmann

 

Philip Gordon Ziegler, Michelle J. Bartel

Ashgate Publishing, Ltd., 2009-07-20 - 194 pages

 

Engaging variously with the legacy of Paul L. Lehmann, these essays argue for a reorientation in Christian theology that better honours the formative power of the gospel to animate and shape doctrine and witness, as well as ethical and political life.The authors explore key themes in Christian theology and ethics - forgiveness, discernment, responsibility, spirituality, the present day tasks of theology and the role of faith in public life - making plain the unabated importance of Lehmann's work at this juncture in contemporary theology. The internationally recognized contributors draw crucial connections between the gospel of reconciliation, the form of Christian theology and witness, and the challenges of contemporary ethical and political reflection. This book demonstrates why this close friend of Dietrich Bonhoeffer, and author of Ethics in a Christian Context and The Transfiguration of Politics continues to influence generations of theologians in both the English speaking world and beyond.

 

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God in Postliberal Perspective: Between Realism and Non-Realism

 

Robert Andrew Cathey

Ashgate Publishing, Ltd., 2009-03-16 - 233 pages

God in Postliberal Perspective presents an introduction to the doctrine and concept of God in contemporary philosophy and theology, exploring how some theologians and philosophers dare to speak of God as 'real' in our sceptical, pluralistic, and interfaith age.

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Holiness and Ministry: A Biblical Theology of Ordination

 

Thomas B. Dozeman

Oxford University Press, 2008-07-10 - 158 pages

 

The World Council of Churches has called for renewed theological reflection on the biblical roots of ordination to strengthen the vocational identity of the ordained and to provide a framework for ecumenical dialogue. This book is a response to that call. It is grounded in the assumption that the vocation of ordination requires an understanding of holiness and how it functions in human religious experience. The goal is to construct a biblical theology of ordination that is embedded in broad reflection on the nature of holiness. Dozeman's study of holiness and ministry interweaves three methodologies. The first, from the History of Religions, describes two theories of holiness in the study of religion, as a dynamic force and as a ritual resource. Both play a central role in biblical literature and establish the paradigm of ordination to Word and Sacrament in Christian tradition. Second, the study of the formation of the Mosaic Office illustrates how the two views of holiness model ordination to the prophetic word and to the priestly ritual. Third, Canonical Criticism provides the lens to explore the ongoing influence of the Mosaic Office in the New Testament literature.

Holiness and Ministry will assist candidates for ordination to discern their call experience and establish professional identity within individual traditions of Christianity, while also providing a resource for ecumenical dialogue on the nature and purpose of Christian ordination.

 

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Martin Luther: Confessor of the Faith

 

Robert Kolb

Oxford University Press, 2009-03-15 - 215 pages

Martin Luther's thought continues to challenge people throughout the world in the twenty-first century. His paradigmatic shift in defining God and what it means to be human left behind a foundation for viewing human creatures that was anchored in Aristotle's anthropology. Luther defined the Revealed God in terms of his mercy and love for human beings, based not on their merit and performance but rather on his unconditioned grace. He placed 'fearing, loving, and trusting God above all else' at the heart of his definition of being human.

This volume places the development and exposition of these key presuppositions in Luther's thinking within the historical context of late medieval theology and piety as well as the unfolding dynamics of political and social change at the dawn of the modern era. Special attention is given the development of a 'Wittenberg way' of practicing theology under Luther's leadership. It left behind a dependence on allegorical methods of biblical interpretation for a 'literal-prophetic' approach to Scripture. More importantly, it placed the distinction between the 'gospel' as God's unmerited gift of identity as his children and the 'law', the expression of God's expectations for the performance of his children in good works, at the heart of all interpretation of the Bible. This presuppositional framework for practicing theology reflects Luther's personal experience and his deep commitment to pastoral care of common Christians as well as his reading of the biblical text. It is supported by his distinction of two kinds of human righteousness (passive in God's sight, active in relationship to others), his distinction of two realms or dimensions of human life, and his theology of the cross. The volume unfolds Luther's maturing thought on the basis of this method.

 

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