God, Chaos, and the Quantum Dice

A recent noninterventionist account of divine agency has been proposed that marries the probabilistic nature of quantum mechanics to the instability of chaos theory. On this account, God is able to bring about observable effects in the macroscopic world by determining the outcome of quantum events. When this determination occurs in the presence of chaos, the ability to influence large systems is multiplied. This paper argues that, although the proposal is highly intuitive, current research in dynamics shows that it is far less plausible than previously thought. Chaos coupled to quantum mechanics proves to be a shaky foundation for models of divine agency.     

DEMOCRATIC VIRTUE, COMPARATIVE ETHICS, AND CONTEMPORARY ISLAM

This essay illustrates the kind of moral analysis Jeffrey Stout advocates in Democracy and Tradition by way of examining a conversation among Muslims that took place between June and December 2002. Their debate centers on al‐Qaída's legitimacy as God's chosen defender of Islam, which is called into question due to the tension between al‐Qaída's military tactics and the concepts of honorable combat held within the Islamic tradition. This giving and taking of reasons in both defense and detraction of al‐Qaída's tactics demonstrates the living reality of Islamic tradition—the ongoing process of striving to discern God's will in light of communal agreements about the authority of certain texts and the validity of established rules for interpreting them.     

Celtic culture,Calvinism, social and mental health on the Island of Lewis

The five points of federal Calvinism, as outlined by the Synod of Dort, have had a strong influence on the Protestant church. Their negative effects on the culture and society of the Western Isles of Scotland are often overlooked, or simply accepted as an expresion of that culture. In this paper, an attempt is made to show how Celtic culture on the Isle of Lewis has been held back by this theology, and the effect of this repression on society and the individual. Particular areas of concern are the neglect of the Gaelic language, and the incidence of violence, alcoholism, and depression. Iain Macritchie, S.T.M., comes from the village of Ballantrushal on the Island of Lewis. He is a Church of Scotland minister with a particular interest in training ministers for work in the Highlands and Islands of Scotland, to which he has returned after a year on the Scottish Fellowship at Union Theological Seminary.     

EVOLUTION,CONTINGENCY, AND CHRISTOLOGY

Christopher Southgate has made important contributions to theodicy and the theory of divine action in light of the contingency in evolution and the suffering of creation. What happens then when one thinks through the implications of contingency for Christology? One can admit that aesthetic and moral judgments are products of a contingent history and yet affirm that they really are valid. Similarly, we argue, one can acknowledge the contingency of Jesus’ existence, actions, and subsequent impact and still maintain that his will was uniquely united with the divine will. Following a critical engagement with the recent work of Keith Ward, we argue that a high Christology is compatible with the actual contingencies of evolutionary and social history, without the necessity of interventionist divine action.     

THE DIVINE SPIRIT AS CAUSAL AND PERSONAL

Theists in general and Christians in particular have good grounds for affirming divine action in relation to twenty‐first‐century science. Although humans cannot perceive with their five senses the causation—both divine and creaturely—at work in our world, they have reasons to believe God acts as an efficient, but never sufficient, cause in creation. The essential kenosis option I offer overcomes liabilities in other kenosis proposals, while accounting for a God who acts personally, consistently, persuasively, and yet in diversely efficacious ways. We can reasonably infer that the love, beauty, and truth expressed in creation derive from divine and creaturely causation.     

Divine Foreknowledge and Freedom of the Will: Contemporary Work Revisits Calvinism

Books reviewed: Linda Trinkaus Zagzebski, ‘Recent Work on Divine Foreknowledge and Free Will’ in Robert Kane (ed.), The Oxford Handbook of Free Will Millard J. Erickson, What Does God Know and When Does He Know It?     

The Descent into Hell as a Solution for the Problem of the Fate of Unevangelized Non-Christians: Balthasar's Hell, the Limbo of the Fathers and Purgatory

I critically examine Edward Oakes' claim that Hans Urs von Balthasar's theology of the descent into hell provides the best answer regarding the possible salvation of the unevangelized non-Christian. First, I contest Oakes' claim based on christological and trinitarian difficulties in Balthasar's descent theology. Second, I utilize the early Christian tradition's understanding of Christ's descent into the limbo of the just to address the problem of the salvation of the unevangelized. Third, I draw on Joseph DiNoia's use of purgatory to further elaborate upon the 'descent' tradition as a resource to address the question of the salvation of the unevangelized. My overall claim is that the descent into hell is indeed an important theological resource for addressing the question of the possible salvation for the unevangelized, but not in the way that Balthasar and Oakes construe it.     

Calvin and Farel The Dynamics of Legitimation in Early Calvinism

Abstract

On account of its emphasis on the promotion of humanistic learning, Corpus Christi College, Oxford, established in 1517 by Bishop Richard Fox of Winchester, has been hailed as a pioneering Renaissance institution whose aims and ideals originate in the world of Italian humanist education of the fifteenth century. Partly through an examination of the apian metaphor employed by Fox to describe his college, this article seeks to re-examine these claims. It will be argued that Corpus's cultural pedigree is more complex and mixed than has hitherto been appreciated, deriving as much from medieval monasticism as from Italian humanism. Both these elements unwittingly equipped the institution to adapt relatively easily to the political changes of the 1530s. The article draws on these arguments not only to cast some doubts on Corpus's status as a Renaissance college, but also to question the ways in which the early English Renaissance in general—but particularly its humanistic element—fits into a European Renaissance based on Italianate historiographical models.     

God, Determinism, and Action: Perspectives from Physics

Recent articles by Michael Heller, Carl Helrich, Peter Hodgson, Jeffrey Koperski, and Nicholas Saunders present a challenge to much current thinking on God, divine action, and cosmology. In the process, they also reveal underlying assumptions and current problems, especially in the debate over physics and divine action. In particular, three issues come up that need to be addressed further. First, what is the status of determinism, and what can physics contribute? Second, what kind of divine action are we talking about? Third, what is the relationship between God and time, and how does this affect claims about the personhood of God? While these essays present necessary critiques and interesting, positive proposals, they also reveal unresolved tensions that need to be addressed.     

On the Argument for Divine Timelessness from the Incompleteness of Temporal Life

A promising argument for divine timelessness is that temporal life is possessed only moment by moment, which is incompatible with the existence of a perfect being.
Since the argument is based on the experience of time's passage, it cannot be circumvented by appeal to a tenseless theory of time.
Neither can the argument be subverted by appeals to a temporal deity's possession of a specious present of infinite duration.
Nonetheless, because the argument concerns one's experience of time's passage rather than the objective reality of temporal becoming itself, it is considerably weakened by the fact that an omniscient being possessing perfect memory and foreknowledge, need not find such experience to be an imperfection.     

论汉魏六朝时期佛教的地狱思想

佛教地狱思想传入中国后,受到中国文化的影响,到南北朝时期基本完善并趋于复杂化.佛教的地狱思想具有内容丰富、系统复杂、传播迅速、影响巨大等特点,对中国人的宇宙观、世界观、人生观、生死观、道德观以及中国本土宗教、社会风俗等方面都产生了深刻的影响,并有力地推动了佛教在中国的传播.     

AQUINAS ON ATTACHMENT, ENVY, AND HATRED IN THE SUMMA THEOLOGICA

This essay examines Aquinas's discussions of hatred in Summa Theologica I‐II, Q. 29 and II‐II, Q. 34, in order to retrieve an account of what contemporary theorists of the emotions call its cognitive contents. In Aquinas's view, hatred is constituted as a passion by a narrative pattern that includes its intentional object, beliefs, perceptions of changes in bodily states, and motivated desires. This essay endorses Aquinas's broadly “cognitivist” account of passional hatred, in line with his way of treating passions in general. I suggest that Aquinas's account of hatred's arising out of attachment is compelling. However, I also argue that if Aquinas's treatment of hatred is to help us understand the phenomenon of hate, where classes of people are abominated for an identity they bear, and to avoid equating an oppressor's hatred with that of the oppressed for the oppressor, the cognitive pathway to hatred must be broader than through envy.     

El,Baal, and Allah

This article compares the appropriations of the divine names El and Baal into the Yahwistic faith in ancient Israel with the Christian use of the word “Allah” in contemporary Indonesia. This study finds that, like El and Baal, “Allah” can function as both an appellative and personal name in contemporary Indonesia. However, the term “Allah” in Indonesia is at a crossroads to develop either to be more generic, like El, or to be more personal, like Baal. Learning from the peaceful appropriation of El as a generic name and the polemical appropriation of Baal as a personal name in ancient Israel, Indonesian Christians need to advocate the use of the name Allah as an appellative because it may prevent unnecessary conflicts in the Christian–Muslim relationship in Indonesia. Furthermore, the use of the common word “Allah” in Indonesia to refer to the supreme being is crucial for promoting interreligious dialogue between Islam and Christianity.     

Reflecting on acts of kindness toward the self: Emotions,generosity, and the role of social norms

How do people respond, in terms of emotion and behavior, when prompted to recall an act of kindness from another person? As shown in two studies of undergraduates, responses differ based on whether the kindness is seen as normative – that is, whether it follows social norms related to the relational context and one's past behavior. On the whole, normative kindnesses were linked with more positive emotion and less negative emotion than non-normative kindnesses. Those asked to recall normative kindnesses also donated more money to charity than those who recalled non-normative kindnesses, an effect partly mediated by the greater positivity of the normative stories (Study 2). These results suggest that if the goal is to increase mood or generosity, recalling normative kindnesses is a safer strategy than recalling non-normative kindnesses. Yet, some results also supported an outgroup salience hypothesis, in which recalling non-normative kindnesses increased generous motives toward strangers and enemies.     

Unity and Distinction: The Nature of God in the Theology of Lucas Trelcatius,Jr

Abstract

The theology of Lucas Trelcatius, Jr belongs to both the broader trajectory of developing Reformed, academic formulation in the era of early orthodoxy and the carefully defined program of the Leiden University. Its way of arguing the ‘locus' on God provides an index to the nature and character of these formulations and, specifically, to issues of sources and method as well as to the still-debated questions of degree of metaphysical interest and the status of the doctrine of the Trinity. The present essay finds claims of excessive metaphysical ‘speculation’ and of de-emphasis on the doctrine of the Trinity unfounded.