Disrupting the Luxury of Despair: Justice and Peace Education in Contexts of Relative Privilege

Abstract. The Iliff School of Theology established a justice and peace concentration within its curriculum to respond to the challenges of racism, class and economic exploitation, sexism, and militarism by fostering social analysis and attending to the contributions of religious thought and resources to the struggles of social change. Within an institution and with a student body who both tend to be relatively privileged in terms of class and racial or ethnic background, one of the persistent issues in teaching justice and peace studies has been addressing the emergence of guilt, anger, and despair as course content challenges students (and faculty) to relinquish self‐understandings, historical understandings of their religious tradition and national context, and inadequate theological and faith formation shaped by dominant narratives that ignore social realities of oppression. This pedagogical challenge has encouraged multiple professors to develop unique pedagogical approaches to educating students about justice issues in this context. This paper will draw on the insights of these approaches, in conversation with literature‐based analysis, to describe the temptations students experience when learning about justice and peace in contexts of privilege. This paper also describes the pedagogical practices that emerged in this particular context, and the failures and limitations of these practices for individual and institutional transformation.     

God of Life,Lead Us to Justice and Peace: Some Missiological Perspectives

The article examines the theme of the Busan Assembly from a missiological angle, especially from the perspective of “mission from the margins.” This is done, focussing on Asian contextual realities, with a specific subaltern accent on Indian missiological challenges such as casteism. The article argues that the prayer format of the assembly theme be understood essentially as cries of the marginalized peoples and the exploited nature. Christians and churches are challenged to echo these cries by joining in their struggles to affirm life, justice and peace. Links to the new WCC affirmation on mission and evangelism are also established here.     

仪式过程与符号象征——索伦鄂温克火神祭祀仪式的田野研究

本文立足于对索伦鄂温克人岁时仪式中火神祭祀仪式的田野调查资料,借鉴了范·杰内普和特纳的仪式研究理论及方法,从象征的角度分析了火神祭祀的仪式过程、仪式结构与秩序,从而描述仪式所表达的深层意义:有形世界与无形世界并非毫不相干,人也并不总在被动地接受神的安排,神秘甚至是危险的世界在仪式中变得可以接触。更为重要的是,对于仪式的参与者来说,一切行为都是可以解释的,而不是毫无理性地随意而为。     

God of Life,Lead Us to Justice and Peace: Reflection from an Asian and Korean Church Perspective

The 10th Assembly of the World Council of Churches (WCC) will be held in Busan, Republic of Korea, from 30 October to 8 November 2013, on the theme “God of Life, Lead Us to Justice and Peace.” Having recognized the importance and urgency of the WCC theme, I would like to reflect on, and review it especially from the perspective of the Asian and Korean church. I suggest that we rethink the questions of:1. Hunger, Poverty, and Illness: Justice and Shalom. There is an urgent need for an ecumenical programme in Asia, and it ought to be focused on justice and shalom. 2. Cultures and Religions: The challenge for Asian Christianity is to find an authentic Asian identity for the sake of the gospel. 3. Ecological Destruction. What do we expect from the 10^th WCC Assembly? (1) A deepening of the topic justice: Discussing life and peace through the lens of justice; (2) A deepening of the economic‐political perspective: Critical analysis of the neo‐liberal economic system through theology and Christian faith in order to warn of it's the satanic character; (3) Recognition of the new Pentecostal and charismatic force in Christianity: Deepening its study and reflecting on potential theological reductionism; (4) Discussion of an inclusive rather than exclusive ecumenical mission: From monologue to dialogue. We continue our call, our action, and our reflection in order to participate in God's mission that people may have justice, life, and peace. This is God's shalom, so that we can fully enjoy the feast of the church worldwide, celebrating the 10th meeting of the WCC in the Korean city of Busan. As the church in Korea and Asia, we hope that the festival will be an opportunity to reaffirm that another world is possible.     

Speaking of God after the Death of God

Abstract :  This article affirms the ability to talk about God in the twenty‐first century 40 years after God died (according to Death‐of‐God theologians) in the 1960s. It does so by an appeal to the proper combination of mystery and revelation ideally expressed in the paradox that God reveals Godself as hidden. The language of God's revealed hiddenness comprises a "middle way" which avoids the extremes of theological hubris on the one hand and atheism or unbelief on the other, making it possible to speak today of God in a faithful yet humble manner.     

On the distinction between the concept of God and conceptions of God

The starting-point is the distinction between concept and conception. Our conceptions of gold, for instance, are the different understandings we get when we hear the word ‘gold’ whereas the concept of gold consists in the scientific determination of what gold is. It depends on the context whether it is more reasonable to claim a concept or to look for fitting conceptions. By arguing against metaphysical realism and for non-metaphysical realism, I will elaborate on some philosophical reasons for dealing with conceptions instead of concepts of God, and secondly, I will discuss how such conceptions should be critically assessed. This article is an amended and enlarged version of a paper delivered at the conference on The Concept of God, arranged by the British Society for the Philosophy of Religion in Oxford, Great Britain, September 11–13, 2007.     

God and the Girl

Philosophia - Abstract Imagine you are an agnostic who wants to maximise your chances of getting the right answer to the question whether God exists. I show that theism and atheism are not on an...     

Ritual and vulnerability

Crises are viewed as direct challenges to one's communal patterns of living. The individual response to crisis(-es) is mediated by the grand rituals of the culture. Ritual behaviors are adaptive behaviors. For the religious community, ritual becomes liturgy. Rite-as-liturgy is a profound statement about the meeting of the human and the divine. Ritual behaviors are understood as liturgical and/or sacramental responses to those crises that bring one to the brink of chaos.