Theological Realism and the Observability of God

A popular way of arguing for theological realism depends on analogies with defences of realism in the philosophy of science. This article questions the success and theological propriety of this strategy by comparing theological and scientific methodologies. First, for the analogies to work it is necessary to show that the theological counterparts of objections to scientific realism can be rebutted; however, it appears that orthodox theology cannot accomplish this. Second, the topic of un/observability in science and theology is analysed. It is shown that the two disciplines have different accounts of the topic and that comparisons between the two undermine a central argument of versions of theological realism based on the philosophy of science.     

从处境神学认识三自爱国运动与神学思想建设

本文以处境神学为切入点,阐述了作者对中国基督教三自爱国运动和神学思想建设的认识。作者作为“文革”后成长起来的新一代中国青年基督徒认为,今天的青年基督徒在对“三自爱国运动”缺乏亲身体验和感性认识的情况下,除了从历史课本中认识“三自爱国运动”之外,更需要从神学的层面来认识和理解“三自爱国运动”。作者运用处境神学的方法分析了教会史中的一些典型事件,并得出结论认为,“三自爱国运动”的思路与处境神学的思路是一致的,“三自爱国运动”的产生是中国教会神学思想发展的结果,它是中国基督徒面对新处境的新思考,带来的新行动;同时,作者认为,“神学思想建设”作为“三自爱国运动”的延续,是中国教会在二十世纪末和二十一世纪乃至更长的时间内,为适应中国社会主义社会而做出的努力。     

Spiritual Machines,Personal Bodies,and God: Theological Education and Theological Anthropology

Programs of theological education in Christian traditions are exploring “distanced learning” as one way to address certain challenges to their educational excellence. A major strand in a twenty‐year old discussion of the nature and purpose of theological education has urged that analysis of theological schooling's failures and assessment of proposed remedies ought to be framed explicitly in theological terms as part of an ongoing inquiry into what makes theological education properly theological. This essay tries to show how following that advice can make a practical difference in assessing the merits of distanced learning. It does so by raising questions about the theological‐anthropological assumptions, respectively, of theological education and of distanced learning.     

"Scientific" Theology/"Theological" Science: Pannenberg and the Dialogue Between Theology and Science

Throughout his distinguished career, Wolfhart Pannenberg has sought to show that the Christian understanding of God is crucial to the pursuit of knowledge. As the essays in Beginning with the End indicate, Pannenberg has attempted to construct a bridge between theology and science via the idea of contingency and the concept of field. His interest in dialogue, however, arises out of a deeper theological foundation, which views theology as a public discipline and sees the human quest for truth as the quest for God. Although susceptible to criticisms that all objectivist approaches at-tract, this focus on "reasonable faith" provides a helpful point of departure for dialogue.     

The Futurity of God in Lutheran Theology

Futurity is God's gift to us. To understand God in light of Infinite Trinitarian Futurity places eschatological redemption closer to us than we are to ourselves. One legacy of the Lutheran branch of the Reformation is the "turn to Futurity" as we see it in Luther, Kierkegaard, Braaten, Jensen, Jungel, Pannenberg, and Peters.     

From an Existentialist God to the God of Existence. The Theological Conjectures of Hans Jonas

Hans Jonas developed in ‘Past and Truth’ (1991) a demonstration of the existence of God based on the ‘truth of past things’. And in ‘The Concept of God after Auschwitz’ (1984) he created a new myth of divine self-alienation in order to take away God’s responsibility for human misery. Both these texts were conceived as an alternative to a more Hegelian, objective idealist perspective on theology. This article shows that Jonas’s alternative does not fully succeed in this respect because his arguments bring him back to an idealist perspective. His proof of God is revisited and explained using new insights recently developed by Robert Spaemann, whose interpretation of the proof makes it clear that many important critics of Jonas are too quick to reject his claims. The arguments of Jonas now seem to show a new strength even though they still fail to give an alternative to an objective idealist theological framework.     

A Theology of Nature: Social Neuroscience and Its Theological Implications

This article explores social neuroscience, an emergent subfield of neuroscience, and highlights its implications for a theology of nature. This author argues that since social neuroscience and theology are both non-reductionist, they can contribute to a balanced view of human nature and nurture. Social neuroscientific research has shown the ways in which social factors impact the brain’s development, and also how social factors are necessary for the treatment of diseases. Social neuroscience can thus enrich essential teachings and practice of religions, such as sociality and healing. Finally, this article examines how social neuroscience can be used in a reinterpretation of Wesleyan soteriology.     

Conceiving of God: Theological arguments and motives in feminist ethics

This paper offers a critical investigation of the theological assumptions that lie within three forms of modern feminist ethics, with a view to challenging feminist ethics to enter the new theological possibilities opened up in postmodernity for the conceiving of god. The first part of the paper considers the conceiving of god in modern feminisms, in which theology becomes ethics. The consequences of this development are considered. The second part of the paper investigates the turn into postmodernity which hears the saying of the death of god and the critique of onto-theology. This disturbance to the foundations of feminist ethics is understood as part of a wider critique of humanism manifest particularly in gender theory. That the end of the modern human subject might allow a conceiving of god through an understanding of the performative is the restored orthodoxy to which the paper points.