‘Sin is Rightly Called the Punishment of Sin’: Francis Turretin’s Reformed Doctrine of Sin

ABSTRACT

This article contextualizes Francis Turretin’s (1623–87) doctrine of sin, and in particular his understanding of sin as a punishment for sin. Specifically, it elaborates on the theological context into which Turretin speaks. Through analyzing Turretin’s historical situation, it progresses to the content of Turretin’s theology in light of his theological and political opponents. Utilizing Turretin’s Institutes of Elenctic Theology (1679–1685), St Augustine’s Contra Julianum, and John Calvin’s Institutes of the Christian Religion, amongst others, this article evaluates Turretin’s view of the doctrine of sin and its relation to medieval and early-modern European theology. Ultimately, it argues that Turretin’s view of sin as a punishment of sin is born from his understanding of God’s holiness being demonstrated through his ‘vindicatory justice’ and Turretin’s self-understanding as an ‘orthodox’ theologian in the grand tradition of Western theology extending back to the Church Fathers.     

The Trinity in Qur’anic Idiom: Q 4.171 and the Christian Arabic Presentation of the Trinity as God,his Word,and his Spirit

ABSTRACT

Since the early centuries of Islam, the Qur’an’s deep imprint on Arabophone Christians has been evident, not only in their evocation of qur’anic language, but also in their creative employment of the text in constructing their own orthodox Christian Arabic theology. This article investigates the presentation of the Trinity as ‘God, his Word, and his Spirit’ in Christian Arabic theological tracts in the early centuries of Islam. It argues that Q 4.171 played a foundational role in constructing a distinct Christian Arabic Trinitarian theology and that Arabophone Christian writers discerned in it the nucleus of what could be developed as an orthodox Trinitarian theology. It traces the development of the Christian Arabic Trinitarian formulation in four works by Arabophone authors: John Damascene’s On Heresies 100; On the Triune Nature of God; the interreligious disputation in the court of the ?Abbāsid Caliph al-Ma?mūn attributed to the theologian Theodore Abū Qurra; and the apologetic letter by ?Abd al-Masī? al-Kindī. This article also makes observations on the implications of the Christian Arabic theological project for interreligious encounter in the early Islamic centuries.     

Badiou,Keyser, and the Theo-mathematics of the Infinite

Abstract

This paper discusses Alain Badiou's dissolution of theology in light of his equation of ontology and mathematics and his separation of the infinite from the one. I argue, however, that Badiou leaves open a place for theology, and I exploit this for theology by drawing on the work of the American mathematician Cassius Jackson Keyser. Keyser suggests a more positive relationship between mathematics, ontology, and theology, and his claim that theology is the science of idealization allows us to begin to think about how one might go about doing philosophical theology after Badiou.     

Fewell,Dana Nolan,and Gunn,David M., Gender,Power, and Promise: The Subject of the Bible's First Story

Abstract

This brief review article traces the intertwined themes of seduction and theology in philosopher Karmen MacKendrick’s work.     

Ambiguity,the Trinity,and Naturalism: From the Methodology of Pannenberg to the Phenomenology of Merleau-Ponty

Abstract

Through an interpretation of Wolfhart Pannenberg's trinitarian methodology, this article presents the argument that theology and naturalism are ambiguously intertwined and that we once again have to determine how to methodologically address the relationship between theology and science. This study contends that Pannenberg's theology is important for our conception of the dialog between theology and science. However, I wish to offer a fundamentally new interpretation of Pannenberg which locates the ambiguous character of his methodology primarily in the substantive issue with which it deals. This redirects the dialogue between theology and science through Pannenberg's hermeneutic of history towards the contemporary phenomenology of the body and ultimately to the suggestion of a trinitarian-phenomenological approach beyond the methodology of Pannenberg.     

The significance of English antinomianism for Anna Trapnel

Abstract

This article intends to show the significance of English antinomianism for the initial transition of Anna Trapnel (d.1660) to radical religion. Tormented by her lack of assurance of salvation and her fearfulness about rightly keeping the moral law, Trapnel was drawn to antinomianism through the preaching of John Simpson. His stress on ‘free grace’ was the only thing able to lift her from suicidal depression. Most studies on Trapnel tend to downplay or ignore entirely the significance of antinomian theology in her formative years. The study intends to fill the gap in research by analysing the theological underpinnings of antinomianism, outlining Trapnel's own religious struggle, and her eventual ‘freedom from bondage’ through Simpson's influence. Highlighting the significance of antinomian thought for Trapnel's early years, as well as its status as the catalyst for her initiation into radical religion, the article provides fresh background material from which to understand her later role as a famous visionary.     

Noah J. Toly and Daniel I. Block,eds. Keeping God's Earth: The Global Environment in Biblical Perspective

Abstract

Ted Peters rightly rejects, on biblical and theological grounds, the understanding of kenosis presumably endorsed by Niels Gregersen (and with him Jürgen Moltmann, John Polkinghorne and Arthur Peacocke) as divine withdrawal from creation (tsim tsum). That said, a second version of kenosis, one more consistent with Scripture and early patristic theology, meets Peters' criticism by presenting kenosis not as a creative withdrawal of divine power but as a self-negation on the part of God that results in the generation of created reality along with God's reappearance and presence in it, albeit in another form. This is the kenosis-plerosis model, one according to which God gives history its momentum and empowers finite beings as a consequence of God's own self-negation; this would make possible a way for Gregersen meaningfully to affirm God's action at higher levels of nature without violating nature's integrity, even though it does so in a heterodox way.     

Transgressing the father figure: performing queer theology as an act of liberation

ABSTRACT

This chapter examines the intersection of power, ritual, and the sacred through the lens of performing drag as a tool to subvert dominant notions of theological discourse. Grounded in Cheng’s assertion that queer theology is transgressive (Radical Love) and Althaus-Reid’s Indecent Theology, the foundational text which introduces the concept of theology as destabilizing and grounded in subversion, particularly in the realm of sexuality, we critique the forces of power operating within Catholicism. We ask: Whose bodies are allowed to play a powerful role in Catholicism? How has ritual performance perpetuated the colonization of the mind/spirit and how can it be used to undo that same colonization? In discussing a public drag performance using George Michael’s “Father Figure,” we suggest the possibility of liberation that exists in bringing theology into queer spaces, extending theology beyond the realm of religious institutions or the academy.     

Divine detritus: queer remainders from theological quests

ABSTRACT

This essay investigates how theologians should engage with the “leftovers,” or detritus, of the great theological quests by interrogating the process of doing and writing theology. Posing questions about theology’s purpose and systematic method, along with questions that examine both the object of theology and the subjectivity of the theologian, this essay directs its inquiry to uncovering the very foundations of theology today, which itself must be constructed out of divine detritus.     

Calvin Versus the Calvinists? The Case of John Preston (1587-1628)

Abstract

It has long been popular when considering the relationship between Reformation and Post-Reformation theology, to emphasize doctrinal discontinuities to the extent that even John Calvin is pitted against the Calvinists. R.T. Kendall's influential thesis in this regard is still seen as authoritative by some, despite numerous critiques. This article presents a new critique of Kendall's thesis by focusing on John Preston, one of Kendall's case studies for the alleged defection of English Calvinism from Calvin. Kendall uses Preston as an example of how Calvinism's doctrine of limited atonement, in contrast to Calvin's doctrine of universal redemption, allegedly resulted in a compromising of Reformed teaching on faith and assurance. It is here demonstrated that, ironically, Preston actually held to a form of universal redemptionism, and hence Kendall's argument backfires. In an attempt to understand how such a misreading of history could have arisen, this article cautions against a ‘zoom lens’ approach that all too often trades in short quotations taken out of context. It goes on to explore, through the ‘wide angle lens,’ aspects of the broader historical context of Reformation and Post-Reformation theologians, taking Martin Bucer as a further example. It is argued that ecclesiology and sacramentology—factors that Kendall intentionally avoided—are crucial in fostering a more historically and theologically sensitive appraisal of the appropriation of Reformation theology in a post-Reformation world.     

A Paradoxical Theology of Biology

Abstract

This article examines a sermon in which Desmond Tutu advocates for gay rights in light of his activism against apartheid in South Africa. In doing so it uncovers a paradoxical theology of biology that enables him to advocate universal notions of justice simultaneously with love for particular persons and bodies. This advocacy, however, is susceptible to the critiques of queer theorists and theologians who worry that liberationist frameworks unwittingly reinscribe injustices against a variety of queer persons. The article concludes by raising new questions to be asked about Desmond Tutu’s theology, and liberation theologies in general, about the potential of liberationist and prophetic frameworks for achieving social justice. It also raises questions for queer theology about the possibility and political efficacy of queering the act of preaching.     

The Gender of the Cyborg

Abstract

This article focuses upon the sexual politics of contemporary cyborg iconography. It interrogates the manner in which representational practices confirm or challenge gender regulation and explores the links between the cyborg and the queer. Finally, the potential of ‘cyborg theology’ is discussed. What are the implications for women of this profoundly sacramental theology which challenges dominant understandings of imminence and transcendence?     

Incarnation Deep and Wide: A Response to Niels Gregersen

Abstract

This paper responds to Professor Niels Gregersen's theology of deep incarnation by doing three things. Section 1 summarizes and defines the idea of deep incarnation, with particular reference to what is intended by the key adjective “deep.” Section 2 engages Gregersen's proposal critically in relation to traditional options within the Christian doctrine of the incarnation. If Gregersen's language of “incarnation” is to be taken seriously as a proposal that is grounded in but goes beyond traditional ideas, its best chance for success lies in being as clear as possible about relationship with its traditional sources. Finally, Section 3 offers a few suggestions concerning the promise of deep incarnation for contemporary theology, especially for theology informed in part by serious engagement with the natural sciences.     

The Rainbow Connection

Abstract

In this article, Cheng argues that the symbol of the rainbow—with its associated characteristics of multiplicity, diaspora, and hybridity—can be a helpful way of understanding the experiences of queer people of asian descent. Cheng sketches out an outline of a rainbow theology for queer Asian Christians and examines the classical doctrines of Trinity, eschatology, and Christology in light of such a theology. He concludes by examining possible future directions for queer Asian theologies.     

The Trinity Hymnal

ABSTRACT

The Trinity Hymnal, published in 1990, is a complete hymnal for churches of Presbyterian and Reformed convictions. The hymnal is a major revision of the original version prepared in the 1950s. Trinity is unique in that it has neither capitulated to current trends in contemporary Christian music, nor broadened its doctrines to encompass a lowest-common-denominator theology. This article is written by the editor who guided the production of the hymnal through its seven years of “gestation.” He provides personal reflections of the behind the scenes work of the committee describing how they made their decisions.     

The Brest Bible: trinitarian and Christological issues

Abstract

The following article considers the theology of the Brest Bible translation. Some of the older researchers advanced the thesis that the translation and accompanying remarks implied concepts that undermine traditional trinitarian theology and Christology, leading to the claim that this Bible is sub-Reformed in character and conceivably antitrinitarian. This article aims to demonstrate that such an assertion is not supported by convincing evidence. It analyses both the main text of the Brest Bible and its marginal comments in terms of their theological character. It comes to the conclusion that both the trinitarian theology and Christology of the Brest Bible do not step outside Christian orthodox doctrine.     

Revelation between Cognitive Science of Religion and Dialectical Theology

Abstract

The article critically discusses the contemporary relevance and challenges of Rudolf Bultmann's theology of revelation in relation to the basic claims of cognitive science of religion. Underlying the analysis is the assumption that his theology still has some relevance when confronted with the claims from this scientific approach to religion. There are nevertheless also good reasons for arguing that his notion of revelation needs a wider and more experiential focus. The argument for such an experiential-based notion of revelation is provided by an analysis of what features qualified revelatory experience may consist in.     

Gender and the spectacle of the Cross: Aemilia Lanyer in context

Abstract

This article locates the Passion piety of the Jacobean poet, Aemilia Lanyer, within the context of early-seventeenth-century English Protestant devotion, to present a fresh perspective on her 1611 composition, Salve Deus Rex Judaeorum. A close exploration of the remarkable resurgence of visual and affecting reflection on the crucifixion of Christ within the broader contemporary religious landscape reveals that Lanyer's theology is far less radical than has been frequently asserted. Whilst maintaining that Salve Deus is a uniquely woman-centred text, this article advances an argument for a more nuanced impact of gender on its precise formulations.     

The Similarities Between Frankl's Logotherapy and Luther's Concepts of Vocation and the Theology of the Cross

SUMMARY

This paper focuses on the similarities between Viktor Frankl's Logotherapy and Martin Luther's concepts of Vocation and the Theology of the Cross. The search for meaning for Frankl finds its expression in the vocation toward the neighbor of Luther. It is this relationship with the neighbor which provides both the arena for becoming a self and also for finding meaning in the outreach to the neighbor. The subject of suffering and the “tragic triad” also has relationships with Luther's theology of the cross in its movement through suffering to meaning.