NATURAL LAWS AND DIVINE INTERVENTION: WHAT DIFFERENCE DOES BEING PENTECOSTAL OR CHARISMATIC MAKE?

The question about divine action remains contested in the discussion between theology and science. This issue is further exacerbated with the entry of pentecostals and charismatics into the conversation, especially with their emphases on divine intervention and miracles. I explore what happens at the intersection of these discourses, identifying first how the concept of “laws of nature” has developed in theology and science and then probing what pentecostal‐charismatic insights might add into the mix. Drawing from the triadic and evolutionary metaphysics of Charles Sanders Peirce, I propose a reconsideration of the “laws of nature” as habitual, dynamic, and general but nevertheless real tendencies through which the Holy Spirit invites the world to inhabit the coming kingdom of God. This proposal contributes to the articulation of an authentic Pentecostal‐charismatic witness at the theology‐and‐science table while also enabling a more plausible and coherent account of divine action for pentecostal‐charismatic piety and Christian practice in the twenty‐first century.     

Re-souling spirituality: redefining the spiritual dimension in schools

Abstract

This article argues that our present model for defining spiritual development within the English school context unhelpfully lends itself to a binary of spirit-body, evoking potential distracting questions about whether or not the soul/spirit actually exists as a separate entity from the body, a question more specifically suited to the religious education curriculum. Instead, using an interdisciplinary approach, the author argues for an alternative model of spirit-soul, based on definitions taken from the contemporary Wholeness movement, in which spirit is perceived as that in us which seeks vision and transcendence, and soul as that which seeks engagement, depth and rootedness. Although the model provides us with an alternative binary, no duality is intended. Rather, the argument is that personal and community maturity implies balance and wholeness of body, soul and spirit, which is more clearly exemplified within this proposed new conceptualisation.     

The Precious Blood of Christ: faith,rituals and civic and religious meaning during the centuries of Mantuan devotion

This article explores the main meanings given to the presence of the relic of the Precious Blood of Christ in the city of Mantua, and also highlights the links with the Altdorf-Weingarten relic of the same, which derives from it. For centuries the presence of this relic has intertwined in several ways with events in Mantua and has shaped some of their most significant religious and cultural expressions. Above all, during the Middle Ages, the Precious Blood had a widespread impact, destined to expand all over Europe. However, we possess vague and scarcely defined evidence of this, as much of the evidence was removed, mostly in the name of rationalist critique, and diminished with the passing of time. Within a long-term perspective, the text which follows here aims to tackle some relevant problematic issues, from a historical and historico-anthropological viewpoint. It attempts both to strengthen understanding of the local and wider intertwining which characterised the development of such a relevant religious experience of our culture, and also to enter into contact with essential aspects of it.     

Affective attunement and the experience of the numinous: reflections on Rudolf Otto’s Das Heilige

In this article, Rudolf Otto’s seminal work, Das Heilige, is explored in the German original and in relation to his other writings, his debts to Lutheranism, German romanticism and neo-Kantianism, and the rich context of Marburg in the interwar period. The article stresses Otto’s own attested religious experiences and his profound influence among leading ‘religionists’ of the later twentieth century such as Jung, Tillich, Eliade, and Corbin.     

The Jerusalem of Jesus: space and Pentecostal-evangelical branding in Orlando’s Holy Land Experience and Eureka Spring’s Holy Land Tour

Jerusalem, Israel, holds a special place as a holy pilgrimage destination for devotees of Christianity and other religions, although travel to the holy sites of Jerusalem is costly and can be difficult for many. For evangelical Protestants (and especially Pentecostals), the significance of Jerusalem – as the place where Christ the Messiah lived and accomplished his works – can be mobilised and channelled (decentralised) by creating sites which participate in the spiritual ‘power’ of Jesus Christ. Spiritual ‘power’ in this sense is not dependent on recorded miracles or canonisation by a central religious authority, but in the creation of spaces which through various strategies effectively evoke for their Protestant consumers the ‘authenticity’ of Jesus’ Jerusalem, and thus the ‘power’ and ‘reality’ of Christ. This paper examines the spatial strategies and branding of two such sites, the Holy Land Experience (Orland, Florida) and the Holy Land Tour (Eureka Springs, Arkansas).     

《性自命出》性情论辨析——兼论其学派归属问题

《性自命出》作为儒学文献虽为诸多学者认同,然而亦有将之归结为与道家或法家思想更有相通之处者。依笔者之浅见,否认《性自命出》的儒家学派性质多出于对其中性、情两个重要范畴的误解。本文拟从深入辨析《性自命出》的性情论为基点,一方面纵向探索《性自命出》与孔子的学术关联,另一方面横向剖析它与道家、法家的思想分歧,旨在说明,就《性自命出》不离孔门之宗而又异于道、法之旨而言,它当属于儒家文献而无疑。     

Necessity and Memory in Hegel’s Phenomenology of Spirit: A Reconstruction

This paper discusses two core concepts in Hegel’s Phenomenology of Spirit: necessity (Notwendigkeit) and memory (Erinnerung). The analysis is based on an investigation of the connotations and linguistic components of the two terms as they are used in the German language. Occurrences of the terms in decisive passages in the Phenomenology of Spirit are investigated and seen as a key to an understanding of Hegel’s overall project of constructing a “scientific” (wissenschaftlich) philosophy in the form of a conceptual system. The paper aims at showing that this project can in part be understood as an attempt to transform the contingency of all moments of the path of the self-cultivation, maturation, and growth (Bildung) of spirit (Geist)—understood both in terms of its personal dimension and as “world spirit”—into necessity. It is argued that memory plays a decisive role in this endeavor, not only in the sense of a recalling of the past, but also as a prerequisite for a future that opens up room for further cultivation, maturation, and growth.     

Rediscovering pneumatology in the “Age of the Spirit”: A North American Lutheran contribution

This essay explores Luther's pneumatology, especially in his sermons on the Gospel of John, might offer resources for “discerning the spirits” in the emerging “age of the Spirit,” as Harvey Cox and Phyllis Tickle have dubbed it, which sees the rise of the “spiritual but not religious” and movements calling for spiritual revolution. The author shows that Luther's insistence that the Spirit work through the given means of “Word and sacrament,” was not intended to limit the Spirit's activity in the world, but rather to protect God's people from those who would wish to use the Spirit for their own means and power.     

论雷锋精神的当代价值

雷锋精神是永远不会过时的。他的“傻子”精神、“钉子”精神和“螺丝钉”精神,给正在全面建设的小康社会和正在形成的学习型社会,具有多方面的启示和意义。     

Can Anything Good Come Out of Premillennialism? A Response to Robert O. Smith

Abstract :  This review expresses great concern with so-called Christian Zionism. The author explains the confusing push-pull relation of Pentecostalism to Christian Zionism's underlying apocalyptic eschatology, premillennial dispensationalism. He agrees with the thrust of Smith's discussion from a Lutheran perspective of the complex historical, theological, and political dynamics involved in Christian Zionism's formation and development, but accents distinctions between a generally harmless conventional form and a particularly virile fundamentalist form that can be aggressive and possibly even dangerous. Of special concern is articulation of an erudite political ethic informed by the theology of a Christian pneumatic apocalyptic eschatology, faithful to the incoming reign of God taking seriously predictive prophecy. In conversation with Smith, this appreciative response suggests a possible paradigm for positive involvement in political and social aspects of the present world congruent with apocalyptic hope expressed in premillennialist terms.