The Theology of Atonement in Eastern Orthodoxy and Lutheranism Viewed Through Hymnody

Abstract : The last twenty years have seen a resurgence in dialogue between Lutheranism and Eastern Orthodoxy, especially as the dialogue pertains to deification, known as theosis. For Eastern Orthodox Christians, theosis is one way to describe atonement. This paper approaches the theology of atonement through the lens of each tradition's hymnody. Although the images in the hymns are not identical, their themes are similar enough to reinforce the present‐day dialogue between these two traditions.     

Lutheranism in Russia: Amidst Protestantism,Orthodoxy and Catholicism

When religious confessions that were suppressed or seriously persecuted in Soviet times are regenerating themselves, the result is sometimes quite novel religious movements that have no prerevolutionary precursors. To some extent this applies to all confessions. Even postsoviet Orthodoxy is nothing like the prerevolutionary Russian Orthodox Church. The metamorphosis of Russian Lutheranism, however, goes a good way beyond the norm for novelty in Russian confessions. In Russia today Lutheranism is unexpectedly becoming quite different, doctrinally and psychologically, from what it ever has been anywhere before. It could well play its own unique role on the future Russian religious scene. Until the 1980s virtually the only Lutherans in Russia were communities of Germans, most of which had been deported from European Russia to the Urals and Siberia by Stalin. These were mostly old people with not much education, and their numbers were rapidly declining because of increasing emigration. All the signs were that there was no future for Lutheranism in Russia. Over the last 15 years, however, the situation has changed radically. Most Russian cities now have Lutheran parishes, and most of the parishioners are Russians. In some cities - for example Izhevsk, Vladivostok, Krasnoyarsk and Novosibirsk - the Lutheran parishes are several hundred strong. In some of these cities the number of practising Lutherans is comparable to the number of practising Orthodox. There has been just as much of a radical change in the social makeup of the Lutheran parishes, with young people, students and people with higher education now playing a prominent role. They are a living refutation of Dostoyevsky's famous dictum that 'Russian means Orthodox': they see themselves as Russian patriots but at the same time faithful followers of Lutheran teachings. There is a widely held conviction among them that they are more faithful disciples of the Wittenberg reformer than today's Germans or Swedes. At the start of the twenty-first century Lutheranism has turned out to be the religious niche most suitable for many Russians who are seeking God but have failed to find him either in Orthodoxy or in more radical forms of Protestantism.     

Eastern Orthodoxy and Ecumenism

This article reviews a set of papers in a special issue of The Ecumenical Review on “Theological Exchanges: The Ecumenical Reception of Orthodoxy,” which examines the reception of Orthodoxy by other theological traditions through the mediation of ecumenical dialogue. The papers display a wide variety of approaches, many introducing, although in different ways, the nature of engagement with the Orthodox by the different Christian bodies represented. Others looked more directly at theological conversations between the Orthodox and other Christian bodies, and especially the doctrine of theosis (deification). The remaining papers offer an insight into specific moments of Orthodoxy’s involvement with other Christian traditions.     

Three Views on Eastern Orthodoxy and Evangelicalism

Books reviewed:
Bradley Nassif, et al ., Three Views on Eastern Orthodoxy and Evangelicalism. Reviewed by Danut Manastireanu World Vision International     

Orthodoxy and Modernity in Cyprus: The 2006 Archepiscopal Elections in Historical Perspective

This article offers an analysis of the 2006 Archepiscopal elections of the Orthodox Church of Cyprus (OCC). It uses this analysis to develop an interpretation of the OCC's evolution over the last two centuries. Unlike other Orthodox churches, it is the laity and the clergy—through a system of proxy voting—that elect the OCC's high clergy. In the 2006 elections, the first contested elections since 1950, the contenders and the public divided into mainstream modernizers and traditionalists. The election of Chrysostomos II signifies continuation with the OCC's conventional interventionist role in the island's social, economic, and political life. The election also led to the creation of additional eparchies, which suggests the normalization of the OCC's organizational structures. These developments point to a conventional pattern of coexistence between Orthodox religious institutions and modernization. Therefore, the Cyprus case casts doubt on scholarly arguments advocating Eastern Orthodox Christianity's exceptionalism vis-à-vis Western Christianity.     

Missional Church: A Historical and Theological Analysis of an Ecclesiological Tradition

This article argues that an understanding of the development of a missional ecclesiology requires we recognize three closely connected and significant matters in 20th‐century mission history: first, the increasing appreciation of the interconnection of church and mission evinced at major ecumenical conferences in the mid‐20th century; second, the contributions of influential missiologist Lesslie Newbigin and his theological integration of mission and church; and third, the breakthrough of the phrase “missional church” with the 1998 publication of the book Missional Church. This article traces this three‐part development through both historical and theological analyses.     

A Gallery Tour: The Creative Project as an Assessment Mode in Theological Education

The purpose of this article is to provide information, from the perspective of both teacher and students, about the use of the creative project as an assessment mode in tertiary theological education. The discussion demonstrates a number of advantages for adult learners.     

东正教圣像的神学含义

圣像在东正教生活中具有重要作用,也是一种宗教艺术。我国宗教学界对此了解很少,本文从圣像与绘画的区别、神圣性的艺术表现、圣像语言的象征性等方面简要说明了圣像的宗教含义和方法特点。     

Reconsidering Relational Anthropology: A Critical Assessment of John Zizioulas's Theological Anthropology

Abstract:  There has been an increasing emphasis in theological anthropology on the constitution of the person through their relation to God, others, self and the world. In focusing on the relational dimensions of personhood other important facets have not received sufficient attention: the doctrine of sin, the discontinuity between divine and human persons and human embodiment in the world. This article offers a critical assessment of John Zizioulas's anthropology which can be considered a paradigmatic example of a relational anthropology. Although the concerns raised are in relation to Zizioulas's work, many of them are instructive for relational anthropologies more generally.     

Theological Education: A Theological Framework for Renewed Mission and Models

Abstract : This essay explores renewed ways to reimagine theological education. Incarnation is used as a theological lens that engages anew “the transmission of Christian memory, the education for God's peace and justice, and the formation of church and community leadership.” Attention is given to apprenticeship, project‐based learning, distributed learning, and global learning, and concludes with implications for governance and faculty.     

The Problem of Patriotism: A Psychoanalytic and Theological Analysis

In this article, I examine patriotism from psychoanalytic and theological perspectives, arguing that it is a deeply problematic form of love and devotion. After providing a brief overview of the discourse vis-à-vis patriotism, I depict the characteristics of a dominant form of patriotism (self-state) in the U.S. Given this, I argue that, while patriotism has a variety of forms, the most prevalent form tends toward tragic consequences and it is this tragic tendency that I depict from psychoanalytic and theological perspectives. From a psychoanalytic perspective, the extant form of patriotism in the U.S. represents a self-state that signifies an idealized, omnipotent, and imaginary identification, which is accompanied by and contingent upon a devaluation of the Other. Moreover, the dominant form of patriotic self-states is secured by weak dissociation, omnipotent thinking and, in most cases, a collapse of the symbolic equation. From a Christian theological perspective, patriotism signifies absolutizing the relative and contingent. This form of idolatry manifests a distortion of reason and will, which contributes to corrupted and corrupting forms of love and devotion.     

The Sexual and Theological Ethics of Gay Marriage in France: A Dialectic between Autonomy and Universalism

Abstract

The debate on gay marriage has gathered pace globally and particularly in France. Here, the secularization of marriage as an ‘acte laïque’ has furthered progress towards a political and juridic recognition of gay marriage. The Catholic church (Vatican) has opposed this development in its re-enforcement of Catholic sexual ethics and the distinction it draws between secular and religious definitions of marriage. Complicating this distinction is the perception of a trend towards post-secularism in France where religion is making a return to democratic debates on citizenship and gender, and raising concerns over the status of the civility of the marriage act. The focus of this article is to look at gay marriage from the perspective of contemporary ethical and theological thinking. Specifically, I aim to examine alternative discourses that open up new ways of configuring gay marriage through an examination of concepts of integrity, responsibility and asceticism, and critically the ethical relationship between autonomy and norms.     

Communion and Covenant: A Theological Exploration

In discussion of the proposed Anglican covenant, surprisingly little attention has been paid to biblical and theological understandings of covenant-making. After demonstrating this through a survey of the original Windsor Report proposal and subsequent contributions to the covenant process, this article explores six aspects of covenant-making in Scripture relevant to the Anglican Communion crisis and argues that these can and should shape work on the covenant. It draws attention to the bond between covenant-making and communion; the identity-giving nature of covenanting; the importance of promise-making and trust-building within covenants as a response to fractured relationships; the sacrificial nature of covenants; the power of covenants to assist recollection and restoration in relationships; and the missiological heart of God's covenant-making. These characteristics demonstrate some of the theological riches in the concept of ‘covenant’ which may help the Communion address its current difficulties and should be made more explicit.