An Impossible Possibility? Jewish Barthianism in Interwar Germany

In this essay I examine the Jewish reception of Karl Barth's theology in Germany of the 1930s. This I do through an analysis of a disputed exploration into the possibilities and limitations of the theological principles of dialectical theology for the formulation of a Jewish theology that took place at the time. The publication of Karl Barth's Römerbrief (1919, 1922) generated a great stir among Christian circles in Germany. Profoundly challenging the fundamental assumptions of liberal theology, Barth's ‘dialectical theology' was quickly recognized as an epoch‐making work. But the impact of Barth's theology exceeded its Christian readership. As a corresponding disillusionment of liberal theology in its Jewish version took place among Jews, Barthianism presented itself as a compelling theological model offering a profound rejoinder to the spiritual needs of Jews as well. Yet alongside the recognition of the potentially constructive engagement with Barth's radical thought for a rejuvenated articulation of Jewish theology, Jewish thinkers similarly acknowledged the many challenges and difficulties such a theological encounter implied from a Jewish point of view, thereby projecting their understanding of the Jewish‐Christian difference.     

NOT EXPLANATION BUT SALVATION: SCIENTIFIC THEOLOGY, CHRISTOLOGY, AND SUFFERING

The view that Christian belief is explanatory is widespread in contemporary theology, apologetics, and philosophy of religion and it has received particular impetus from attempts to correlate science and Christianity. This article proposes an account of explanatory thinking in theology based on the principle that theological explanations should be disciplined by the internal logic of Scripture. Arthur Peacocke's biologically construed Christology and Alister McGrath's argument that suffering is an anomaly in the Christian explanatory scheme are shown to yield theological results which are inconsistent with this principle. This article's theological argument complements philosophical criticisms of the view that religious belief is explanatory.     

Christian Supersessionism,Zionism, and the Contemporary Scene

Postliberal theology has been a topic of considerable theological debate over the past few decades. In his 2011 book Another Reformation, Peter Ochs deploys a postliberal theological model for the purpose of developing a sophisticated understanding of the future of interreligious relations. Ochs argues that postliberal theology is a reparative theology focusing on alleviating human suffering. He argues that the Christian idea of supersessionism may be the most challenging for Christians to confront as they explore avenues for making interreligious dialogue more effective. Ochs critiques the Mennonite theologian John Howard Yoder's understanding of Zionism as Jewish Constantianism for being an instance of an ostensibly postliberal theology losing its way. In this essay, I offer a critique of Ochs's reading of Yoder, claiming that Yoder's view actually mirrors an important intra‐Jewish debate about the relationship between political power and piety, and retrieves an ingenious contribution of both early Judaism and early Christianity that is effaced in today's growing Constantinian approach to Christian imperialism and Jewish nationalism.     

SERGIUS BULGAKOV'S CRITIQUE OF N. F. FEDOROV'S TECHNOLOGIZED RESURRECTION (AND WHY IT STILL MATTERS FOR THE CHRISTIAN DIALOGUE WITH TRANSHUMANISM)

Sergius Bulgakov (1871–1944) was one of the centrally important Russian Orthodox theologians of the past century. His theological system (Sophiology) is among the most detailed and comprehensive attempts at a novel, Orthodox systematic theology developed in engagement with western philosophical and theological movements. His first major work of theology, Unfading Light (1917), incorporates an early Orthodox critique of the radical Christian transhumanism propounded by Nikolai Fedorovich Fedorov (1829–1903). Fedorov had developed an account of humanity's prospects for a technologically facilitated eschatology. The goals of this article are: (1) to provide a concise summary Fedorov's ideas on technologized resurrection; (2) to provide an overview of Bulgakov's sympathetic critique of Fedorov's model; and (3) to discuss the ongoing relevance of that critique vis-à-vis current and future Christian dialogue with the transhumanist movement.     

FALLIBILISM,FAITH AND THEOLOGY: PUTTING NICHOLAS RESCHER TO THEOLOGICAL WORK1

This essay explores the possible theological relevance of Nicholas Rescher's pragmatic‐idealist account of human reason. An initial case is made for the prospective hospitality of Christian theology to Rescher's thought, contrary to his early misgivings. The intrinsic relationship between Christian faith and a fallibilist self‐regard is then explored. Next Rescher's more recent constructive reflections are considered and their limitations identified. Finally the lineaments of a thoroughgoing Trinitarian appropriation of Rescher's thought are traced together with its implications for the character of Christian theology and ecclesial reality.     

Suffering the Promise of God: Engaging Oswald Bayer

This article examines Oswald Bayer's wide‐ranging constructive appropriation and application of Luther's theology of the Word. Bayer grounds theology in the divine word of promise, understanding theology and the Christian life as a vita receptiva in which human action is, from first to last, responsive. He pits Luther against modern theological evasions of the Word in his insistence on the distinctively Christian pathos of existence, and his ethic of categorical gift reflects this. I conclude with a commendation of Bayer's theology of the Word, a question about the relation between God's revelation and hiddenness and a concern that he may at times compromise the definitive self‐revelation of God in Christ.     

THE MODERNITY OF CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY OR WRITING KIERKEGAARD AGAIN FOR THE FIRST TIME

From his first book forward, Stanley Cavell has responded to modernity's demands upon philosophic writing. He has also turned from time to time to remark on the situation of Christian speech or its theological elaboration, especially when commenting on Kierkegaard. Implicit in both gestures are questions about whether Christian theology has ever become modern in Cavell's sense—has ever responded to modernity as a crisis in its relation to received forms. If writers of Christian theology take nothing else from Cavell, they should at least carry away some sense of the demand that Kierkegaard puts on any theology written after him.     

Redemption Revisited: Doing Theology at Shawshank

This article examines recent scholarly attempts to revisit the Christian theme of redemption by making various uses of Frank Darabont's 1994 film The Shawshank Redemption. While the appropriation of this film has generated much insightful theology, there has been an insufficient regard for the extent to which ‘redemption’ is a diverse and heterogeneous term which is not intrinsically transferable beyond the specific contours of the Christian faith. I suggest that a new way of doing theology through film is needed. As an alternative to hijacking the film for theological purposes, my premise is that the most judicious way of entering into conversation with the film is to pay particular attention to what actual audiences are saying about it and from that point seeing what sort of theological encounter—if any—can be facilitated.     

A CRITIQUE OF EMERGENT THEOLOGIES

This article is an analysis and critique of emergent theologies, focusing on areas of Christology and pneumatology. An increasing number of Christian theologians are integrating (strong) emergence theory into their work. I argue that, despite the range of theological commitments and methodological approaches represented by these scholars, each faces similar problematic tendencies when their Christian doctrines are combined with (strong) emergence theory. It is concluded that the basic logic of emergence theory, whereby matter is seen to precede mind, makes it difficult for emergent theologies to offer an account of salvation, avoid significant issues regarding God's involvement with evil, and maintain divine transcendence. It is concluded, therefore, that Christian theology should look elsewhere for a complementary metaphysical framework with which to bridge scientific and theological discourse.     

Is it Possible and Desirable for Theologians to Speculate after Barth?

This essay asks what Karl Barth meant by ‘speculation’ in volume two of the Church Dogmatics. Rather than equating speculative theology with metaphysical theology in general, Barth views speculation not as a monolithic act but as a conglomeration of modes of theological speech that undermine God's revelation in Jesus Christ. This essay argues that Barth's views of speculation, rather than undercutting the use of metaphysics in theology, pave the way for a responsible Christian use of metaphysics by tying one's use of categories and concepts in theology closely to the text of Scripture.     

‘THE METAPHYSICS OF CHRISTIAN ETHICS: RADICAL ORTHODOXY AND THEOSIS’

Western theology struggles with the rise of secularism and postmodernism. The Radical Orthodoxy sensibility asserts that the ancient principles of methexis (participation) and theosis (deification) presents an alternative metaphysical narrative to the narrative of secularism and the onto‐theological tradition. This article addresses the problems of the onto‐theological metaphysical tradition in Western theology by analyzing Radical Orthodoxy's rediscovery of the philosophical and theological principles of participation and theosis as articulated in the patristic tradition and in the thought of Thomas Aquinas. Using historical and analytical methods, this article will survey the biblical and patristic literature on theosis, as well as John Milbank's understanding of methexis and theosis in Thomas Aquinas. The result of this study will be to offer theosis, rooted in participation in God, as not only a soteriological model to reclaim for the West, but also a core metaphysical principle for Christian ethics that contravenes both onto‐theology and the materialistic reduction of ontology in secularism.     

Theme Articles: Mujerismo and The Two Kin‐doms: Distinction and Reconciliation

Abstract : The theological ethics underlining mujeristas' theological praxis and Luther's Two Kingdoms doctrine may seem to be contradictory to some. Mujerista theology calls for active engagement in the public sphere. Despite its utilization to the contrary, Luther's Two Kingdoms doctrine calls for that same active engagement of the Christian in civic matters. As a Lutheran Latina, I posit that the theological ethics of mujeristas and Luther's Two Kingdoms are distinct but reconcilable.     

Reconsidering theological exchange between China and the West

ABSTRACT

By reviewing the Chinese theological publications in the twentieth century, especially during the 1920s–1930s and after the 1980s, this article aims to show that it is not a zero-sum game between the translation of western theological works into Chinese and the publication of original Chinese theological works. The selection of the western works for translation exhibited a certain creativity from the Chinese side, and in turn, the translated works also inspired original Chinese theological works. In the twenty-first century, the Chinese studies of Christianity developed rapidly. Many Chinese Christian theologians published pro-actively in western languages. Due to the recognition of the importance of Christianity in contemporary China and the awareness of the global context for Christian theology, there was a growing interest among western theologians in non-western Christian theology, including Chinese Christian theology. The exchange and collaboration between Chinese and western theologians were particularly prominent on global and public issues.     

THE SPIRIT IN CREATION: A UNIFIED THEOLOGY OF GRACE AND CREATION CARE

This essay identifies one of the deeper theological sources of the tendency toward environmental neglect in evangelical and Pentecostal theology and proposes a theological vision that facilitates a vision of creation care as a dimension of Christian formation. The first section identifies, describes, and evaluates the traditional distinction between common and special grace or the natural and the supernatural orders as a theological foundation for environmental neglect in Pentecostal theology. The second and third sections propose that a pneumatological vision of grace based on a fundamental trinitarianism provides Pentecostals and other Christians with a way to overcome these stark dualisms and to attain a more unified and comprehensive vision of God's grace that is more conducive to creation care. The fourth section presents a case for seeing creation care as a pneumatological and proleptic participation in the eschaton and, as such, as a dimension of Christian formation and sanctification.     

COMPARATIVE THEOLOGY AFTER LIBERALISM

This article first identifies two reasons for the current marginality of the theological sub‐discipline of “comparative theology.” The first is an awareness of the imperialistic character of the universalist (inclusivist and pluralist) theologies of the recent past. The second is the assumption that Christianity's relations with other religious are extrinsic to Christian identity. Drawing on Kathryn Tanner's critique of postliberalism, it argues that interreligious comparison is integral to a theology that recognizes the essentially relational nature of Christian identity. This recognition implies a continuous revision of Christian identity that checks the tendency to essentialize and thereby exclude religious “others.”     

A Sacramental Vision: Environmental Degradation and the Aesthetics of Creation

This article contends that Hans Urs von Balthasar's theological focus on seeing the form of God's glory in creation constitutes a critical resource for elaborating a contemporary Christian theology responsive to the crisis of environmental degradation. In particular, in this article Martin Heidegger's reflections on the environmental dangers present in modern technology provide the framework for analyzing the ecological significance of Balthasar's retrieval of a Christian sacramental ontology.     

Narrative and Metaphysical Ambition: On Being “in Christ”

This article addresses some of the confusion regarding the role of metaphysical claims in narrative theology. Proponents and critics of narrative theology alike wonder at the ambiguous place of metaphysical speech about God as an objective reality. This essay enters the conversation through the side door of soteriology. Rather than focusing on the relationship between narrative and metaphysics or narrative and analogy or narrative and first‐order theological claims, I examine what sort of metaphysical statements are required to make the Christian claim that human beings are “in Christ” intelligible as a soteriological reality. I argue that the Christian grammar itself assumes a Christology with a certain kind of metaphysical ambition without which Christianity lapses into incoherence. To make this case, I show that David Kelsey's “narrative identity” Christology in Eccentric Existence lacks the metaphysical statements necessary to uphold his conviction that human beings are “in Christ.” A comparison with T. F. Torrance and the Book of Hebrews reveals that when narrative circumvents metaphysical statements about the incarnate Son, soteriological claims lack coherence and the biblical narrative itself is distorted by a false metaphysic. Thus, metaphysical claims internal to the narrative of Jesus are necessary to tell the story of God faithfully. In this way, narrative is the expression of a theological metaphysics.