Theology of the Heart and Cognitio Dei Experimentalis (Experiential Knowledge of God)

The first meeting of the official Lutheran‐Pentecostal Dialogue took place in September 2016 and focused on introductions and our identity in Christ. This article sets out a narrative of a Russian Pentecostal with Lutheran roots, a specialization in Jewish studies, and an interest in cognitive studies. A basic challenge for the dialogue partners lies in understanding the crucial role of experience to our knowledge of the divine and the formulation of theology.     

《圣经》的起源与上帝的谬误

宗教作为一门学问进行客观科学的观察研究,就是我们所讲的"宗教学",基督教也理应置于"宗教学"的视域。构成基督宗教的元素至少有四个:一圣经,二上帝,三教会,四神学。对前两个元素的学术性的研究,从18世纪的西方就开始了,有关著作数不胜数,翻译成中文的也有一些,比如《基督教的基础》、《耶稣传》、《耶稣是何许人也》等。中国人以赞赏目光写的有《圣经鉴赏》等;本文则是从批评视角来阅读圣经的,全文有7万多字,此处作摘要发表,以供"宗教学"研究者参考。     

上帝是爱的圣经观

圣经观的问题,看似可以用简单的一句话就可以说明白。实际上,教会的圣经观关系到教会如何看待和解释圣经,如何用圣经的真理指导教会的灵命实践。所以,圣经观代表了基督徒和教会的上帝观、世界观、人生价值观和真理观。基督教会的历史,可以说是一部如何诠释圣经的历史。丁主教提出的上帝是爱的圣经观,使中国教会不再重走西方教会思想史上每每陷于复杂的教义争论的老路,而是引导中国教会重视圣经的中心信息就是上帝爱世人,上帝的创造和救赎最终目的是使人类社会更加和谐美好,因为上帝是世上一切真善美的源头。所以,丁光训主教提出上帝是爱的圣经观及神学框架,教导我们在一种动态的爱中去体验上帝与人的关系,去体验基督徒与世界的关系,而不再去争论教义的细节,不再人为地给教会设置一道无形的围墙;教导我们敞开胸怀接纳世上一切美好的真理,使教会作出更加美好的见证。丁主教的圣经观,为中国教会在今天的处境中解释圣经,并用圣经诠释引导教会的实践指出了一条可行之路。     

Modern Philosophy,the Subject,and the God of the Bible

In my paper, I undertake to show that the God of the Bible is the subject of modern philosophy, i.e., that philosophy is biblical and that the Bible is philosophical. Central to the argument of my paper is an analysis of the fundamental difference between the philosophy of Aristotle (consistent with Socrates and Plato), as based on the law of contradiction and thus on the contradictory opposition between necessity and existence, and the philosophy of, in particular, Spinoza and Kant, as based on the transcendental logic of the necessary relationship of thought and existence. Thus, I argue that the ontological argument (proving the existence of God) demonstrates the necessary existence of the thinking subject and of the subject thought, at once human and divine. In short, metaphysics is practical reason, the practice of doing unto others what you want others to do unto you, and reason is metaphysical practice, the practice of proving that there is one thing that you, a subject, cannot think without it necessarily existing, and that is the other subject (the neighbor/God).     

Animals and the Image of God in the Bible and Beyond

Abstract :  This article examines theological thought pertaining to the imago Dei doctrine in light of its relation to non-human animals within the framework of biblical, intertestamental Jewish, and early Christian writings. Evaluating theological understandings of human nature as they relate to and interact with theological and philosophical understandings of animals and animal nature, the author finds that the understandings of the image of God and dominion as they are ideally conceived in the Jewish and Christian Scriptures are significantly more closely related to the ideas of human-animal continuity, compassion, and responsibility than to human rationality or the human immaterial immortal soul (and the entailed implication of animals' lack thereof).     

Identity,incarnation, and the imago Dei

International Journal for Philosophy of Religion - A number of thinkers suggest that, given certain conditions, it’s possible that any concrete human nature could have been united...     

Calvin's View of Natural Knowledge of God

For Calvin, the relation between God's revelation in the sensus divinitatis and God's revelation in his works is not reducible to the distinction between internal and external revelation. Adams' contextual interpretation of Calvin's treatment of the natural knowledge of God in the Institutes illumines some the subtle complexity of Calvin's argument – an argument which is informed both philosophically and biblically. Both Calvin's positive evaluation of natural revelation and his pessimistic stance vis-à-vis the ability of humanity to appropriate it emerge from Adams' analysis.