“Together towards a Banquet”: The Feast as Promise and Resistance in Together Towards Life and Contemporary Theological Discourse

This article explores the symbol of the feast, as proposed by the 2012 World Council of Churches’ affirmation Together towards Life: Mission and Evangelism in Changing Landscapes (TTL). The feast is introduced as an appropriate hermeneutic tool to account for the multi-layered and dynamic reality of human life in the presence of others and in the presence of God. Interpreting the feast, together with TTL, as a symbol of the liberation and reconciliation of the whole creation and of the celebration of life in response to the outreaching love of God, the article reflects on some contemporary theological voices arguing that God’s invitation to the feast of God’s kingdom is a central element of Christian existence. Such feasting is, among other things, characterized by the dynamics of facing, the presence of the other, the awareness of human corporeality, and the particularization of the other that can overcome the idolatrous power of death. Entering this conversation, the present article will argue that the symbol of the feast can helpfully be understood in its two-fold dynamics of promise and resistance. While giving assurance about the transformation of all reality in the coming reign of justice and peace, the symbol of the feast, with its emphasis on inclusiveness and equality, also empowers people to resist all life-denying forces. Walking with the rest of the creation “together towards a banquet,” Christians are thus enabled, it will be asserted, to discern and actively live their vocation.     

Reviews

Books reviewed: Gerald R. McDermott, Jonathan Edwards Confronts the Gods Stanley J. Grenz and John R. Franke, Beyond Foundationalism: Shaping Theology in a Postmodern Context Gavin D’Costa, The Meeting of Religions and the Trinity David Fergusson and Marcel Sarot, (eds.) The Future as God’s Gift: Explorations in Christian Eschatology Richard Bauckham and Trevor Hart, Hope Against Hope: Christian Eschatology in Contemporary Context Gerhard Sauter, What Dare We Hope? Reconsidering Eschatology Douglas Farrow, Ascension and Ecclesia: On the Significance of the Doctrine of the Ascension for Ecclesiology and Christian Cosmology Celia E. Deane‐Drummond, Creation through Wisdom: Theology and the New Biology Gregory Baum, (ed.) The Twentieth Century: A Theological Overview Niels Grønkjaer, (ed.) The Return of God: Theological Perspectives in Contemporary Philosophy Christine Helmer, The Trinity and Martin Luther: A Study of the Relationship between Genre, Language and the Trinity in Luther’s Works (1523–1546) Niels Henrik Gregersen and J. Wentzel van Huyssteen, (eds.) Rethinking Theology and Science: Six Models for the Current Dialogue Wolfhart Pannenberg, Beitraege zur Systematischen Theologie. Band 3 Kirche und Oekumene Frank G. Kirkpatrick, The Ethics of Community     

Reviews

Books Reviewed: Douglas Farrow, Ascension and Ecclesia: On the Significance of the Doctrine of the Ascension for Ecclesiology and Christian Cosmology Donald H. Matthews, Honoring the Ancestors: An African Cultural Interpretation of Black Religion and Literature Roger Haight, S.J., Jesus Symbol of God John Bowlin, Contingency and Fortune in Aquinas's Ethics F. LeRon Shults, The Postfoundationalist Task of Theology: Wolfhart Pannenberg and the New Theological Rationality Gary Dorrien, The Barthian Revolt in Modern Theology: Theology Without Weapons Rowan Williams, On Christian Theology David Cunningham, These Three Are One: The Practice of Trinitarian Theology Lucy Gardner, David Moss, Ben Quash and Graham Ward (eds), Balthasar at the End of Modernity Gerhard Sauter, What Dare We Hope? Reconsidering Eschatology     

Short Notices

Books reviewed in this article:
Davila, James R., Liturgical Works (Eerdmans Commentaries on the Dead Sea Scrolls)
Goshen-Gottstein, Alon The Sinner and the Amnesiac. The Rabbinic Invention of Elisha ben Abuya and Eleazar ben Arach
Walsh, P. G. (ed.), St Augustine, De Bono Coniugali and De Sancta Virginitate
McKim, Donald K. (ed.), Calvin's Institutes
Funkschmidt, Kai, Earthing the Vision. Strukturreformen in der Mission untersucht am Beispiel von CEVAA (Paris), CWM (London) und UEM (Wuppertal)
Anthony Bradney and Fiona Cownie, Living without Law – An Ethnography of Quaker Decision-Making, Dispute Avoidance and Dispute Resolution
VanElderen, Marlin, Finding a Voice: Communicating the Ecumenical Movement
Fiddes, Paul S.(ed.), The Novel, Spirituality and Modern Culture: Eight Novelists Write about their Craft and their Context
La'Porte, Victoria, An Introduction to Theology
Leech, Kenneth (ed.), Setting the Church of England Free: The Case for Disestablishment
Atkins, Peter, Ascension Now: Implications of Christ's Ascension for Today's Church
O'Brien, Glen, Praying from the Margins: Gospel Reflections of a Gay Man
Alison, James, Faith Beyond Resentment: Fragments Catholic and Gay
Frankforter, A. Daniel, Stones for Bread: A Critique of Contemporary Worship
Swinton, John, Resurrecting the Person: Friendship and the Care of People with Mental Health Problems
Atkins, Peter, Soul Care: Facing Life with God
Forrester, Duncan, On Human Worth: A Christian Vindication of Equality
Polkinghorne, John and Welker, Michael, Faith in the Living God: A Dialogue     

Surviving the Holidays: Gender Differences in Mortality in the Context of Three Moslem Holidays

Drawing on E. Durkheim's [(1915) The Elementary Forms of the Religious Life, London: George Allen & Unwin] discussion of religious holy-days and on his argument regarding the implications of institutional gender differences [(1897/1951) Suicide, New York: Free Press], it was hypothesized that holy days may affect mortality patterns differentially by gender. The present study focused on Moslems in Israel a very different social and religious context than those that have been studied before. The 1983–1992 data on Israeli Moslem deaths were used. After removing the long-term growth and the seasonal effects, women's mortality was found to be significantly greater in the month of Ramadan than in the month before, and in the two weeks before the feast of Id el-Adhha than in the two weeks after it. For men, mortality was higher in the two weeks after the feast of Id el-Fitr than in the two weeks before it. Religious holidays, then, have a different effect on the pattern of mortality of men and women, reflecting their different roles in the preparation and celebration of the holy day rites.     

Reviews

Books reviewed:
Andrew Burges, The Ascension in Karl Barth. Reviewed by Douglas Farrow
Donna Bowman, The Divine Decision: A Process Doctrine of Election. Reviewed by David Guretzki
John Goldingay, Old Testament Theology: Israel's Gospel. Reviewed by Christopher R. Seitz
Donald K. McKim, ed., The Cambridge Companion to John Calvin. Reviewed by Victor Shepherd
Veli-Matti Kärkkäinen, Christology, a Global Introduction: An Ecumenical, International, and Contextual Perspective. Reviewed by Paul Cumin
Daniel Deme, The Christology of Anselm of Canterbury. Reviewed by Timothy Harvie     

Recent Books in Barth Studies

Books reviewed:
Barth on the Descent into Hell: God, Atonement and the Christian Life , David Lauber, Ashgate 2004 (0-7546-3341-1), pp. vii + 186, Hb £40
Ecclesial Mediation in Karl Barth , John Yocum, Ashgate 2004 (0-7546-3322-5), pp. vii + 200, Hb £45
For the Sake of the World: Karl Barth and the Future of Ecclesial Theology , George Hunsinger (ed.), Eerdmans 2004 (0-8028-2699-7), pp. vi + 214, Pb £24.99
The Ascension in Karl Barth , Andrew Burgess, Ashgate 2004 (0-7546-3874-X), pp. viii + 209, Hb £47.50     

Between the Rock and a Hard Place: In Support of (something like) a Reformed View of the Eucharist

In this article, Calvin's eucharistic theology is re-read in the light of Aquinas, Augustine, Irenaeus, Luther, Jean-Luc Marion, Graham Ward and Catherine Pickstock. It is found to have great strengths, sucessfully avoiding both static ideas of Christ's presence and individual nominalism, while allowing a prominent place for the Holy Spirit and room for the believer's faith. Calvin took account of the doctrine of the Ascension quite differently from Luther by stressing Christ's bodily absence from this world. The article argues that this dialectic of presence and absence would gain from giving it a temporal dimension, giving more weight to eschatology.     

Introduction to the special issue on cognitive epidemiology

This is an introduction to a special issue of the journal Intelligence on cognitive epidemiology. Cognitive epidemiology is a new field of study, which examines the associations between intelligence—usually from early in life—and later morbidity (physical and mental) and mortality. In addition to exploring and establishing associations, studies within cognitive epidemiology attempt to explain them, by testing possible confounders and mediators, and complex pathways, of intelligence–health associations. Popular among mediators are health behaviours and education, and the well-known risk factors for chronic illnesses such as cardiovascular disease. In this special issue, readers will find advances in all of these matters. Thirteen new empirical studies, all involving large cohorts of humans, provide novel associations between intelligence and mortality, morbidity, and health behaviours and risk factors. New hypotheses of these associations are tested. This is the largest collection of cognitive epidemiology studies to date. Together, they will take the field forward by a quantum jump. This is a feast of cognitive epidemiology, establishing that, beside education and occupation, health outcomes contribute to the impressive predictive validity of intelligence differences.     

Orthodox Christian Reception of the Pauline Teaching on Dikaiosynē: Chrysostom,in Conversation with Calvin,on Romans 1–3

In the light of common preconceptions regarding polarized approaches to atonement in Eastern and Western Christianity, this article mainly looks to John Chrysostom's readings of Romans 1–3 for clarity on the Pauline themes of justice, righteousness and justification, putting these alongside the exegesis of a representative Reformer, John Calvin. The ancient theologian of the East gives full attention to the apostle's picturesque metaphors for atonement, including a robust but balanced treatment Paul's forensic language; Calvin is clearly appreciative of the judicial language, but also places it within a larger context (though not identically to Chrysostom). Chrysostom's approach to atonement is showcased also in his neglected sermon on the Ascension of Christ, where forensic language jostles with pictures of reconciliation, sacrifice, mediation and Christus Victor. The article makes a plea that scholars from both East and West read such representative theologians (along with the New Testament itself) with care, not exaggerating their differences. It is noteworthy, for example, that both Chrysostom and Calvin depict salvation as anticipating far more than bare acquittal before God. Chrysostom in particular uses the language of righteousness and justification to speak of a hope for glory, or, to use the Eastern terminology, theōsis. Such sober and anti‐reactionary examination is essential in both academic and ecumenical discussion, and may also help in arbitrating between insights of the so‐called ‘Old’ and ‘New Perspectives’ in Paul.     

Exploring the soundscape and the atmosphere of the Gigli di Nola cultural festival in Italy

The Gigli di Nola is an Italian folk ceremony featuring a shoulder-borne procession celebrating the feast of Saint Paulinus. Despite its cultural significance as a UNESCO site, the soundscape and atmosphere of the festival has scarcely been explored. This study examines how the physical and spatial arrangement of Nola shapes the enactment of the festival's soundscape, atmosphere, and behavior of its participants. It further investigates how the rhythmic qualities of the music are related to bearers' spatial maneuvers and to non-bearers’ participation in the festival. Through the use of rhythmanalysis and a mixed method approach, the results reveal the festival to be deeply connected to Nola's urban fabric and community life. The spatial arrangement of the historic streets with their nodes and boundaries, forge body–space relationships that indicates place, people, and music, are interconnected in the Gigli festival. The soundscape dominates the atmosphere of the festival, which in turn affects non-bearers and bearers' behavior. These rhythmic qualities also guide the parading of the Gigli festival for its participants. We conclude by pointing to a lively view of culture to promote UNESCO's management of cultural festivals.     

Female voices of aggression in Tonga

Tonga, a Polynesian society, is characterized by a social order and by Christian beliefs that work to constrain aggressive action and conflict. Violence does take place in Tonga but there is active discouragement of any behavior that may be socially disruptive. Tongan women in particular are allowed only a limited number of contexts in which acceptable expression of aggression can take place. In response, Tongan women rely on rather covert forms of aggression in processes of competition and conflict. A speech given during an inter-denominational religious feast controlled by the women of one village provides an example of a woman aggressively empowering herself through discourse clothed within the language of Tongan charity and Christian love.     

Civil Religion and the Invention of Tradition: The Festival of Saint Ansano in Siena

Every December, in the Italian city of Siena, the civil and religious authorities celebrate the festival of Saint Ansano, an early Christian martyr who became one of the city's first patron saints. Although based upon long-established rituals for the liturgical feast of Saint Ansano, the contemporary celebration of this festival was ‘invented’ as recently as 1968 and represents a striking example of the ‘invention of tradition’ in a contemporary ‘civil religion’. The article examines the origins of the modern and contemporary festival of Saint Ansano, tracing its history and significance for Sienese civil religion from the late 1960s until 2003—the year in which the 1700th anniversary of Ansano's martyrdom was celebrated in Siena. The article concludes by reflecting on the significance of this festival both for the concept of ‘the invention of tradition’ and for the nature of ‘civil religion’ in contemporary Siena.     

Reviews

Books reviewed: Sallie B. King & Paul O. Ingram (eds), The Sound of Liberating Truth: Buddhist‐Christian Dialogues in Honour of Frederick J. Streng David Kraemer, The Meanings of Death in Rabbinic Judaism , Marc B. Shapiro, Between the Yeshivah World and Modern Orthodoxy: The Life and Works of Rabbi Jehiel Jacob Weinberg, 1884–1966 Marc H. Ellis, O, Jerusalem! The Contested Future of the Jewish Covenant Paul Helm (ed.), Referring to God: Jewish and Christian Philosophical and Theological Perspectives Walter Brueggemann, The Covenanted Self: Explorations in Law and Covenant Bruce C. Birch, Walter Brueggemann, Terence E. Fretheim, and David L. Petersen, A Theological Introduction to the Old Testament Mary Douglas, Leviticus as Literature Douglas A. Templeton, The New Testament as True Fiction: Literature, Literary Criticism, Aesthetics, Roger Haight, Jesus, Symbol of God William M. Schniedewind, Society and the Promise to David: The Reception History of 2 Samuel 7:1–17 Stan Bruce, Introduction to New Testament Greek Using John's Gospel Larry J. Kreitzer, Pauline Images in Fiction and Film Wes Howard‐Brook and Anthony Gwyther, Unveiling Empire: Reading Revelation Then and Now Douglas Farrow, Ascension and Ecclesia: On the Significance of the Doctrine of the Ascension for Ecclesiology and Christian Cosmology Ross Shepard Kraemer and Mary Rose D'Angelo (eds), Women and Christian Origins Sandra M. Schneiders, Written that You may Believe: Encountering Jesus in the Fourth Gospel Anthony N. S. Lane, John Calvin: Student of the Church Fathers John Dillenberger, Images and Relics: Theological Perceptions and Visual Images in Sixteenth‐Century Europe Peter Galloway, A Passionate Humility: Frederick Oakeley and the Oxford Movement Robert P. Ericksen and Susannah Heschel (eds), Betrayal: German Churches and the Holocaust Christopher Lamb and M. Darrol Bryant (eds), Religious Conversion: Contemporary Practices and Controversies Grace M. Jantzen, Becoming Divine: Towards a Feminist Philosophy of Religion Roger Lundin, Anthony C. Thiselton, and Clarence Walhout, The Promise of Hermeneutics Lucy Gardner, David Moss, Ben Quash, and Graham Ward, Balthasar at the End of Modernity Dwight N. Hopkins, Introducing Black Theology of Liberation Andrew Billingsley, Mighty Like A River: The Black Church and Social Reform S. Wesley Ariarajah, Not Without My Neighbour: Issues in Interfaith Relations Raimon Panikkar, The Intra‐Religious Dialogue, Revised Edition Ross and Gloria Kinsler, The Biblical Jubilee and the Struggle for Life: An Invitation to Personal,Ecclesial and Social Transformation Peter J. Casarella and George P. Schner, S.J. (eds), Christian Spirituality and the Culture of Modernity: The Thought of Louis Dupré R. John Elford, The Pastoral Nature of Theology. An Upholding Presence Robert K. C. Forman (ed.), The Innate Capacity. Mysticism, Psychology and Philosophy Richard M. Gula, The Good Life. Where Morality and Spirituality Converge M. James C. Crabbe (ed.), From Soul to Self Michael Banner, Christian Ethics and Contemporary Moral Problems Kenneth Cragg, With God in Human Trust: Christian Faith and Contemporary Humanism, A Meeting of Minds     

O Sacrum Convivium –St Thomas on the Eucharist

St Thomas Aquinas' antiphon from the Office of Corpus Christi,  O sacrum convivium , enjoys popularity and remains part of the Liturgy of the Hours, as do other parts of the Office and Mass he composed for the feast. It offers a survey of Eucharistic theology, evoking past ('the memory of the Passion') present ('the soul filled with grace') and future ('pledge of future glory'). It points, too to the Eucharistic flavour of authentic Christian spirituality, always remembering the self-giving of the Saviour 'for us', becoming what it has received in the Eucharist, and straining forward towards a goal whose foretaste is ever on our lips. On other occasions Aquinas points to these three dimensions of any sacrament, finding its source in the passion of Christ, its content in the effect achieved in the soul and its aim in the glory of communion with God. a goal whose foretaste is ever on our lips. On other occasions Aquinas points to these three dimensions of any sacrament, finding its source in the passion of Christ, its content in the effect achieved in the soul and its aim in the glory of communion with God.     

Invitation to murder

In the Hebrew Bible, hospitality creates social capital, forges alliances and marriages and is used as a literary tool to characterize both people and deities. Hospitality is also described as a high-risk, high-gain type of social practice because it renders both the guest and the host vulnerable to aggression and violence. This article explores the relationship between hospitality and violence in the Hebrew Bible, represented by the murder of Amnon at Absalom’s sheep-shearing feast in 2 Samuel 13 and the murder of Sisera in Judges 4. These texts seem to go directly against an ideal that is expressed elsewhere in the Hebrew Bible, namely that a guest is sacred and entitled to protection (e.g. Gen 18 and 19).     

‘Dear Hindu Friends’: official Diwali greetings as a medium for diplomatic dialogue

ABSTRACT

This article discusses greeting messages as a genre of interreligious communication. Greeting messages are defined as official communication issued by religious institutions and addressed to the members of another religious community on the occasion of specific feast days or anniversaries. Drawing on the insights of politolinguistic analysis, this article treats these messages primarily as a form of public diplomacy. The case study analyses the messages issued on the occasion of the Hindu festival Diwali/Deepavali by the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue and World Council of Churches between 2015 and 2017. Distributed through the social media and posted on the institutional websites, the Diwali messages seek to speak as a Christian voice to all Hindus. Beyond the official addressee, the messages also potentially face the scrutiny of the global public sphere, especially an internal Christian readership. This article analyses what language strategies are used to deal with these varied demands.     

Turning 60 in paris,city of old men

Abstract

As he turns 60 and, in spite of all assurances from family members and other well wishers convinces himself that this indeed is the beginning of old age, it occurs to a man that he should spend his birthday in the City of Light, Ernest Hemingway's “moveable feast” the city for the young—Paris. He is given that opportunity, and as he wanders the city he finds reflected in its life—even the tourist-dominated life of Paris in the summer—the losses that he believes he now must recognize, the occasional grimness of that recognition, and some consolation for suffering the sense of loss—not only lost youth but lost middle age, with all that it implies.     

Graveyards: Russian ritual and belief pertaining to the dead

The age-old tradition of feasting the dead has been maintained by Russian populations for well over five centuries. Graveyards hold a special place both in traditional Orthodox faith and in the lives of Russians and others in the city of Narva, Estonia. The tradition of feasting the dead for three, nine and forty days after death, can be traced unbroken to pre-Christian Rus’. Details may vary, but always the soul of the deceased must battle its way out of the body and then spend time in both heaven and hell. While this journey is occurring, the living must remember the dead, helping their souls during this period of travail. Even a final feast one year after the death of the individual does not end the relationship between the living and the deceased, for the graves are still visited on a regular basis as a sign of respect to the dead, who are potential saints in the Russian Orthodox tradition. This ‘saintly’ land — Russian graves — defines homeland and roots the population to a new area. By examining the importance of graveyards to Russians, to the ethnic Komi of Northern Russia, and other Eastern Europeans, I demonstrate that a sense of place is maintained in these rituals of daily life.     

The role of linguistic experience in the development of the consonant bias

Consonants and vowels play different roles in speech perception: listeners rely more heavily on consonant information rather than vowel information when distinguishing between words. This reliance on consonants for word identification is the consonant bias Nespor et al. (Ling 2:203–230, 2003). Several factors modulate infants’ development of the consonant bias, including fine-grained temporal processing ability and native language exposure [for review, see Nazzi et al. (Curr Direct Psychol Sci 25:291–296, 2016)]. A rat model demonstrated that mature fine-grained temporal processing alone cannot account for consonant bias emergence; linguistic exposure is also necessary Bouchon and Toro (An Cog 22:839–850, 2019). This study tested domestic dogs, who have similarly fine-grained temporal processing but more language exposure than rats, to assess whether a minimal lexicon and small degree of regular linguistic exposure can allow for consonant bias development. Dogs demonstrated a vowel bias rather than a consonant bias, preferring their own name over a vowel-mispronounced version of their name, but not in comparison to a consonant-mispronounced version. This is the pattern seen in young infants Bouchon et al. (Dev Sci 18:587–598, 2015) and rats Bouchon et al. (An Cog 22:839–850, 2019). In a follow-up study, dogs treated a consonant-mispronounced version of their name similarly to their actual name, further suggesting that dogs do not treat consonant differences as meaningful for word identity. These results support the findings from Bouchon and Toro (An Cog 2:839–850, 2019), suggesting that there may be a default preference for vowel information over consonant information when identifying word forms, and that the consonant bias may be a human-exclusive tool for language learning.