尤西比乌斯“迫害神学”初探

尤西比乌斯所著的《教会史》不仅是研究早期基督教和教会发展情况的宝贵史料,也是研究他本人宗教观的重要资料之一。《教会史》反映出尤西比乌斯的宗教观是由几种不同的神学观点组成的,其中最重要的就是"迫害神学"。通过对《教会史》的分析和研究可以看出,他的这种"迫害神学"在教会发展的不同时期有着不同的内容和特征:早期是"异教迫害论";中期是"皇帝迫害论";而晚期则是"上帝惩罚性迫害论"。尤西比乌斯认为,所有的这些迫害其实都是上帝的安排,是上帝伟大计划的一部分。     

基督教普世主义及其矛盾

本文主要从教会论而非救赎论的层面来讨论基督教普世主义,目的是探讨普世主义教会观产生的源头、发展线索以及在实践中的矛盾表现。本文认为从教会教义的形成与发展以及圣经教训内容本身两方面来看,普世主义教会观直接秉承罗马普世主义思想文化资源;论述了古代和中世纪教会普世主义的矛盾发展及其引发教会分裂的历史过程,认为难以解决的矛盾主要表现在制定教会教义与确立教会权威这两个问题上;探讨了普世主义在20世纪取得突飞猛进的原因,并简略讨论了普世主义在中国新教教会中的情况。     

不得将工作和社会活动同宗教生活对立起来

《论教会在现代世界牧职宪章》(以下简称《牧职宪章》)是梵蒂冈第二次大公会议所通过的四大宪章之一,是一份关于当代教会与人类关系的重要文件。虽然这份文件被冠以“牧职宪章”的名称,但它的内容却不止于牧职;其意义也不仅仅在于教会内部的福传事业和信徒的宗教生活。《牧职宪章》在总结     

拓宽视野,更深刻地认识教会——《荣耀的教会》序

中国教会恢复后的二十年来,出版了不少书籍,但论教会的书却不多见,教会是系统神学中的一个大题目,也是众信徒不可须臾离开的客观实际。如何正确认识教会,对神学思想建设,对按“三自”原则办好教会,对带领信徒灵命成长,都有十分重要的意义。季剑虹同工的《荣耀的教会》(以下简称《荣耀》)是本好书,很值得同工同道认真阅读。此书很好地解决了五对矛盾: 一是救赎与创造。《荣耀》一开头从神永远的计划说起,把教会这个题目放在一个非常广阔的背景     

一张蓝图绘到底——论中国教会论的成长历程

本文梳理了中国基督教从第一次代表会议到第十次代表会议发展的历程,尤其是在教会论方面的成长和深化。吴耀宗先生提出的"三大见证、十项任务"在教会论层面为中国教会绘就了美好蓝图。丁光训主教带领中国教会进入一个新时代,在他的带领下,中国教会基本实现了"三大见证和十项任务",而且在某些方面,尤其是教会论和神学思想建设,又向前推进一大步。2018年11月,《中国基督教教会规章》所表达的教会论比较清晰和全面,是中国基督教建设历程的一大进步。     

历史文化名人信仰系列之三十:王治心

他曾是晚清庠生,在国学方面有很高的造诣,其学术生命的多半时间都是在向教会大学的学生们教授中国哲学与中国文化,著有《孔子哲学》、《孟子研究》、《道家哲学》、《中国学术体系》等著作。他也是上世纪中国基督教本色化运动不可或缺的重要人物;而他在中国宗教史尤其是中国基督教史研究方面所做出的开创性贡献,又奠定了其杰出的教会史学家的历史地位。其基督宗教方面的著作有：《中国基督教史纲》、《中国宗教思想史大纲》、《中国历史的上帝观》、《基督徒之佛学研究》、《孙文主义与耶稣主义》等,另独编和合编有《耶稣基督》、《评基督抹杀论》、《中国文化与基督教》等。他是当时中国基督教界比较有影响力的、多产的基督徒学者之一。他就是王治心。     

天国的标记——潘能伯格的教会论

在其《系统神学》第三卷中,潘能伯格探讨了教会论。他使用标记与被标记物这一符号学范畴,从几个主要方面探讨了教会和天国的关系,包括作为天国标记的教会与世俗社会的关系;教会伦理问题;以及教会生活中基督救恩临在的标记形式,即圣礼与圣职。其中不乏对新教的某些教会论理解带来的挑战,如教会与社会的张力关系、婴儿洗问题、基督临在于圣餐的性质问题、女性圣职按牧的理据等等。他从终末论的角度论及了教会的使命:虽然有许多的不完美,但教会团契为人类社会提供了一个上帝国度的范本,最终的终极圆满将藉着基督再来而实现。     

如圣洁和谐音乐般的宗教情感和教会团契——读德国神学家施莱马赫的《论宗教》

本文主要通过《论宗教》一书,阐述18世纪德国神学家施莱马赫是如何透过音乐对宗教情感和教会团契进行神学的思考和诠释。     

怀揣梦想幸福牧会——读《建立充满活力的教会》

牧会工作之艰辛,众所周知,最近读到《建立充满活力的教会》,给我很多启发.这本书主要有五个部分,包括教会论、牧会哲学、牧会方法论,最后提到团队事工与领导力. 本书描述的大地教会牧会哲学,与作者河用祚牧师在英国的生活与信仰经历有很深的关系.作者在英国见到充满活力的教会礼拜,以及与约翰·斯托得牧师在一起的经历,给了他很大的震撼与启发,决定了他的牧会方向——追求以话语为中心、以圣灵为中心、以团契为中心、以参与社会为中心、以宣教为中心的灵性,这就是大地教会的使命宣言;其教会的核心价值就是圣经、福音、宣教、怜悯、基督文化.     

奥古斯丁——西方拉丁教会传统的奠基人

奥古斯丁Aurelius Augustinus（354-430）早期基督教神学家、哲学家,北非城市希波（今阿尔及利亚安纳巴）的主教。在基督教历史上有举世瞩目的重要地位,影响了整个西方的拉丁传统教会。一生著作等身,为人熟知的有《忏悔录》、《上帝之城》、《论三位一体》、《驳多纳徒派》、《论异端》等。     

Messianism and Kingship in the Gospel of John: A Comparison Between the Fourth Gospel and the Royal Psalms 2, 72, and 110

The article shows that messianism and kingship in the Gospel of John are involved in the royal psalms, such as Psalms 2, 72, and 110. Although these psalms were never quoted in the Gospel of John, there is a strong likelihood that the royal psalms have been alluded in the Gospel of John. This article examines the similarities and differences between the royal psalms and the Gospel of John, and, thus, shows how each present the messiah as the ideal king, concentrating on the terms “the Son of God,” “the Son of man,” and “the kingdom of God” that John shares with the royal psalms in terms of the messianic views. It appears that John uses the terms, in a unique way to emphasize the divine aspect of the messiah, by putting weight on the main characteristics of the messiah as the ideal king who was pre-existent before creation.     

WOLTERSTORFF, RIGHTS, WRONGS, AND THE BIBLE

According to Wolterstorff, an accurate genealogy of rights begins, not with the late Middle Ages and the Enlightenment, but with the Hebrew and Christian Scriptures. The Gospel of Luke, Wolterstorff says, provides especially important witness, and he gives it considerable attention. Wolterstorff's careful analysis of Luke is both lexical and narratological. This paper argues that the lexical data of the Gospel of Luke does indeed lend some support to Wolterstorff's case. But the support is qualified since, in Luke, a critical word group—the dikaio -family—is used in a way that emphasizes relationship to God rather than obligations to neighbor. The most important narratives and teachings of the Gospel lend similarly qualified support to Wolterstorff's genealogy. The paper concludes that while nothing in the Gospel of Luke is incompatible with the observation and defense of human rights, the program Luke sketches has another focus that a comprehensive reading of that Gospel must keep in view.     

The Gospel of Matthew as a Literary Argument

Through an argumentation analysis can one show how it is feasible to view a narrative religious text such as the Gospel of Matthew as a literary argument. The Gospel is not just “good news” but an elaborate argument for the standpoint that Jesus is the Son of God, the Messiah. It is shown why an argumentation analysis needs to be supplemented with a pragmatic literary analysis in order to describe how the evangelist presents his story so as to reach his argumentative objective. The analysis also shows why in the case of historical religious literary texts, certain demands are put on the analyst that are not normally present.     

Luther's Small and Large Catechisms: Defining and Confessing Christian Faith From the Centre in a Religiously Plural World

Abstract : In this article, the author argues that in his Small and Large Catechisms, which were both written in 1529, Martin Luther centres the Christian faith in a way that others can recognise as authentic and faithful to the Gospel vis‐à‐vis the relativism that is posited as the appropriate Christian articulation of the Gospel in a world of religious diversity. Luther's non‐negotiable centring on God for us in Jesus Christ, through whom God is uniquely and decisively revealed, speaks to the contemporary intra‐Christian and inter‐religious questions. The author finds evangelical and persuasive resonance in Lesslie Newbigin's call to indwell the Christian story and George Lindbeck's argument to attend to the grammar of the faith.     

Book Reviews

Books reviewed:
Family: A Christian Social Perspective , by Lisa Sowle Cahill
The Sparrow & Children of God , by Mary Doria Russell
Understanding Early Christian Art , by Robin Margaret Jensen
Excavating Q: The History and Setting of the Sayings Gospel , by John S. Kloppenborg Verbin
After Writing: On the Liturgical Consummation of Philosophy , by Katherine Pickstock     

Unrepressing the Kingdom: Pastoral Theology as Aesthetic Imagination

This essay draws from Jesus?? convictions, expressed in the Gospel of Luke and elsewhere, that the kingdom of God is to be found within and among persons and is epitomized in the lives of infants and young children. It locates children??s intuitions of the kingdom in their aesthetic sensibilities and capacity for artistic abandon, and considers possible psychosocial mechanisms, especially psychoanalytic conceptualizations of repression and its consequences for honest self-expression, by which these intuitions and sensibilities become displaced over time. It conceives of pastoral theology, like psychotherapy and the arts, as an heroic effort to unearth repressed shame and desire, i.e., to find language for what matters most, in service to recovering childlike attunement to the beauty of God??s kingdom.     

REVIEWS

Book reviewed in this article: Liberating Paul: The Justice of God and the Politics of the Apostle, Neil Elliott The Ecclesiology of Karl Rahner, Richard Lennan The Theology of the Gospel of John, D. Moody Smith Peace in Ireland: Two States, One People , David Bleakley The Illusion of the End , Jean Baudrillard Consciousness and the Mind of God, Charles Taliaferro Spirituality of the Third World: A Cry for Life , K. C. Abraham and Bernadette Mbuy-Beya (eds) Europe: Was It Ever Really Christian? The Interaction between Gospel and Culture, Anton Wessels Religion in Europe: Contemporary Perspectives, Sean Gill, Gavin D'Costa and Ursula King (eds) Media, Communication, Culture: A Global Approach, James Lull King Alfred's College of Higher Education Christianity: Its Essence and History, Hans Kting Justice, Courtesy and Love: Theologians and Missionaries Encountering World Religions 1846-1914, Kenneth Cracknell An Ethics for Enemies: Forgiveness in Politics, Donald W. Shriver Jr Rethinking Metaphysics , L. Gregory Jones and Stephen Fowl (eds) Grace and Responsibility: A Wesleyan Theology for Today, John B. Cobb     

Person and Being: Conversation with T.F. Torrance about the Monarchy of God

In whom is the unified rule of God centred? Does ultimate determination and authority reside with God the Father or is supreme power shared equally by the Father, Son and Holy Spirit? T.F. Torrance's conception of a triune Monarchy, with its differentiated senses of God's Fatherhood, is here expounded and contrasted with Karl Barth's account of command and obedience as integral to God's eternal Being. A brief exegetical study in the Fourth Gospel is also undertaken to seek clarification. The main strengths of Torrance's view are reckoned the unqualified divinity of the Son and Spirit, and their full participation together with the Father in all God's ways and works. A weakness is identified, however, in an under‐determination of the Father's fatherliness. Resolution is then pursued in terms of Person and Being. Although Torrance makes wide‐ranging use of these terms, he does not appear to employ them sufficiently regarding the Monarchy. It is subsequently argued that with respect to Person God the Father is Monarch, while with respect to Being the Three share the Monarchy of God equally and eternally.     

A Supervenient Trinity: An Alternative to Latin and Social Trinitarian Theories

The Latin Trinity (LT) and the Social Trinity (ST) represent the two dominant approaches for interpreting the doctrine of the Trinity in contemporary philosophical theology. Both approaches have consequences for Christian theology, however, and I believe that neither sufficiently overcomes the charges of modalism or tritheism, respectively. Moreover, the charge of the overall logical incoherency of the doctrine of the Trinity remains a viable criticism. In order to defend the doctrine of the Trinity against charges of incoherency, while avoiding the modalistic and tritheistic leanings of the LT and ST models, I argue that the unitary nature of God‐as‐three‐hypostases is best understood in terms of a relationship of supervenience between the revelation of (1) Deut. 6:4 and (2) the Gospel of John. The Hypostases of the Trinity supervene on the unitary identity of God insofar as to be ‘God’ is to entail the perichoretic relationship of unbegottenness, begottenness, and spiratation (procession). The Supervenient Trinity (SvT), as an analogical model, provides a way to understand God as (1) and (2) that better avoids the modalist and tritheistic difficulties raised by the LT and the ST approaches.