中华基督教会广东协会与本色教会运动

中华基督教会是由基督教15个教派的华人教会共同组成的全国性的合一教会组织,广东协会是其中成立最早、最有影响的一个教会。它成立于1926年,其前身中华基督教会广东协会成立于1919年。广东协会在数十年的时间中经历了比较快速的发展,也遇到过不少挫折,尤以抗战时期所受的损失为重。协会目的在于使教会摆脱外国传教差会的控制,从而建立和发展真正意义上的本色化的合一教会。它的成立和发展,不仅是基督教在华传播和发展的历史趋势的体现,也是基督教会适应日益蓬勃发展的民族主义思想和运动的结果。把它作为20世纪前期中国基督教本色化运动的具体实践的代表,考察其演变历程,可以为我们理解20世纪中国基督教的发展过程,提供一个具体视角。     

History of the United Church of Christ

Book reviewed:
The Living Theological Heritage of the United Church of Christ , Barbara Brown Zikmund (ed.), Pilgrim Press 1995–2005. Vols I–VII
Ancient and Medieval Legacies, Vol. I , Richard Ulrich (ed.), Pilgrim Press 1995 (0-8298-1064-1), 583 pp., $60.00
Reformation Roots, Vol. II , John Payne (ed.), Pilgrim Press 1997 (0-8298-1143-5), xii + 683 pp., $60.00
Colonial and National Beginnings, Vol. III , Charles Hambrick-Stowe (ed.), Pilgrim Press 1998 (0-8298-1113-3), x + 518 pp., $60.00
Consolidation and Expansion, Vol. IV , Elizabeth Nordbeck, Lowell Zuck (eds), Pilgrim Press 1999 (0-8298-1110-9), xvi + 668 pp., $60.00
Outreach and Diversity, Vol. V , Margaret Lamberts Bendroth, Lawrence Jones, Robert Schneider (eds), Pilgrim Press 2000 (0-8298-1111-7), xiv + 536 pp., $60.00
Growing Toward Unity, Vol. VI , Elsabeth Slaughter Hilke (ed.), Pilgrim Press 2001 (0-8298-1112-5), xvi + 744 pp., $70.00
United and Uniting, Vol. VII , Frederick Trost, Barbara Brown Zikmund (eds), Pilgrim Press 2005 (0-8298-1113-3), xx + 828 pp., $70.00     

The Spirit in the Church: The Universal Christ, Particular Spirit and Christian Unity

Modern theology has had difficulty in producing an ecclesiology that makes the full visible unity of the church an essential aspect of the church's nature. One reason for this is that important modern ecclesiologies are built on a trinitarian model that either subordinates the Spirit to the Son, or reduces the Spirit to a vague, invisible 'domain of resonance', with the result that the church itself is either subordinated or rendered invisible. A new trinitarian model is needed, one that shows how the Spirit cooperates with the Son to produce a visibly united church.     

The First Church of Christ, Pragmatist: Christian Science and Responsible Optimism

A common criticism of Christian Science is that it is neither Christian nor scientific. American psychologist and philosopher William James would not, I believe, share this view, even though he does make critical comments about Christian Science's orginator and her dogmatic followers. Following a suggestion of James, I distinguish two types of critical inquiry into Christian Science-outsider criticism and insider criticism-and show that the latter yields the better results. A pragmatic version of Christian Science can be offered that is distinct both from the myopic critics who malign it and from the dogmatic followers who recklessly adhere to it.     

The Apostasy of the Church and the Cross of Christ: Hans Urs von Balthasar on the Mystery of the Church as Casta Meretrix

The ongoing moral and theological catastrophe of persistent and pervasive clergy sexual abuse across the Catholic Church makes theological reflection on sin in the church essential. This essay has two parts. The first, longer part is a hermeneutical argument. I offer a contextualized interpretation of Hans Urs von Balthasar's 1960 essay “Casta Meretrix,” in which he traced the image of the church as a “chaste harlot” through the Christian tradition. I demonstrate that several recent interpretations of this essay have not penetrated to its radical heart. A close reading of the text reveals that here Balthasar affirmed that the church sins precisely as the church, and not merely as individual members. The motivation for this affirmation was not the empirical failures of individuals, but was properly dogmatic—a necessary implication of christology. In the second and concluding part of the essay, I contend that even though Balthasar's use of the feminized image of the casta meretrix does have significant problems and should not be uncritically adopted today, the underlying theological claim regarding the church as sinner is theologically significant. He affirmed a necessary ecclesiological truth, one that can help the church recover its visibility and better understand its essence in repentance, which is all the more essential in light of the continuing revelations of clergy sexual abuse.     

On the Ethical Nature of Priesthood

This article argues that ministerial priesthood, rather than being ontologically comprehended, should be ethically articulated. The 'character' of priesthood is to be 'for-the-other.' Following a thought of Emmanuel Levinas on the 'liturgical orientation of work,' we argue that
(i) — Priesthood is essentially liturgical, in the sense of a movement out of oneself towards the other which never returns to the self. This movement is at one and the same time on orientation towards God, as divine other, and the other person. This 'liturgical' orientation of the self is seen and celebrated in the sacred liturgy of the Church with which the life and ministry of the priest is intimately associated. In this sense, the liturgy of the Church is not only an expression of what the Church is, but also, as an expression of the ethical subjectivity of the self which is 'the-Other-in-me,' a celebration of who I am.
(ii) — Priesthood is essentially eucharistic. In the commemoration of the passion, death and resurrection of Christ, the ethical and ecclesial structure of subjectivity, is recalled and realised in the words 'for you (hyper hymon)' and 'for all (hyper pollon).'
(iii) — Priesthood is self-sacrificial. If living eucharistically is living 'for you (hyper hymon)' and 'for all (hyper pollon),' then this finds its extreme expression in the sacrifice of oneself for-the-other in suffering and death. This involves substitution which, as Levinas says, 'is indispensable to the comprehension of subjectivity.'     

The Body of Christ has AIDS: The Catholic Church Responding Faithfully to HIV and AIDS in Papua New Guinea

Using the example of the Catholic Church in Papua New Guinea (PNG), I detail how, through praxis, it has brought to life a living theology of HIV and AIDS. In this way, the Catholic Church in PNG is responding faithfully to the epidemic. As a Christian country with a generalised HIV epidemic, where the body of an individual is reconstituted through the liturgical practices of baptism and Eucharist, theologically, in PNG the body of Christ has AIDS. In order to examine the ways in which the Catholic Church in PNG has responded faithfully to the Christian body with AIDS, I do so in relation to the three theological virtues of faith, hope and love.

Ethical Considerations for Psychologists Screening Applicants for the Priesthood in the Catholic Church: Implications of the Vatican Instruction on Homosexuality

The release of the Vatican instruction on homosexuality in the priesthood and Catholic seminaries poses several challenging ethical issues for the psychologists who conduct psychological screening evaluations for those men interested in religious life as Catholic priests. This brief article reviews some of the key ethical issues associated with these evaluations in light of the new Vatican instruction on homosexuality. The RRICC model based on the American Psychological Association's Code of Ethics (i.e., responsibility, respect, integrity, competence, and concern) is used to highlight some of the ethical challenges for psychologist evaluators.     

The Church and the Trinity I: The Church of the Spirit

We are commemorating the tenth anniversary of the death of the outstanding young preacher Geoffrey Preston by publishing this trilogy. It was written not very long before he died and has not appeared in print before. Its other two parts, 'The Church of the Son' and 'The Church of the Father', we will be publishing in our July/August and September numbers.