“Trying to Blow All Life Through a Brass Trombone”: Ralph Ellison Preaches the Blues

Not only does Ralph Ellison's writing reflect his background as a musician who played European classics and Southwestern blues-based jazz, and whose fiction reflect the aesthetics of these worlds, but also his work reveals a vital connection to religion. It is O'Meally's contention that Ellison viewed the Negro spiritual and sermon, with their frequent namings of the troubles of the world, as never more than two steps from the blues—Ellsion's model and metaphor for American culture. Ellision blended the two forms in an aesthetic and philosophy of transcendence that needed both to ring true. The spiritual dimension that always underlies his project as a writer is explored and developed.     

The Church is Permanently Underway

This article examines the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the unity of the human community in Japan, specifically Tokyo, where the 2020 Olympic Games have been postponed until 2021. This allows reflection on the issue of ecclesiology during this time of uncertainty. First, the article describes the critical response of the ecumenical leaders to the country’s first-ever declaration of a state of emergency. Second, it reflects upon the impact of the compulsion to conform to intolerant social order and the neoliberal “self-responsibility theory” that abandons the most vulnerable in society. Third, it explores the relationship between Tokyo and the Olympics, which has been inextricably linked to the aim of national unity. Finally, this article draws the conclusion that we must steer clear of any “unity” that conceals a deeper disunity. Therefore, the church must distance itself from both the “self-responsibility theory” and the enthusiasm of nationalism and instead work toward the restoration of the human community and the renewal of the church, which are currently the main issues of concern.     

《黄帝内经》中的易学象数学--兼论医、《易》思维理路之异同

<黄帝内经>中有丰富的<易>学象数学内容.<内经>吸纳<易>学的"三才"之道,作为其理论建构的基础,蕴含着天人同构、天人之气相通的"天人合一"理念.天人相应是通过动态的阴阳的消息、四时的更替、五行的运转、八风的常正转换、及五运六气的运行来具体展现的.医、<易>皆注重"时"的作用,但<内经>更注重五行之间的生克制化,而<易>则更重阴阳之间的对待与流行.<内经>理论与八卦"卦气"说有内在的联系.医、<易>皆注重天人合一,但前者更注重人与天的自然的合一,注重天地自然对人的生理病理的影响,而后者注重本天道以立人道,开天文以立人文,充满着浓郁的人文关怀.两种"天人合一"的思维理路非但没有根本的矛盾,而且具有内在的联系.人类可以同时追求人与天的自然的与人文的合一.     

荀子对思孟“五行”说批判的再认识

荀子激烈批评思孟"五行"说的原因学界有过多种看法,而其深层、根本的原因却在于在荀子和思孟之间存在思维和哲学基础的根本差异,荀子所持有的是形而上学的二元论,而思孟"五行"说坚持的是天人合一、身心合一的前形而上学的存在论。因为在孟子所因循的子思代表的春秋文化和荀子所站立的战国后期文化之间,知识范型与符号体系发生了巨大的转变。这可以从"五行"说产生和流变的几个阶段中清楚地看到。     

Ecclesiological Research and Natural and Human Sciences: Some Observations of an Unconventional Phenomenon

This article is motivated by the absence of published material dealing with the rapprochement between ecclesiology and the sciences. It presupposes that there is a need to broaden the scope of ecclesiological research in order to integrate into it theories and methods from the social and natural sciences. Ecclesiological research in this wider sense has as its object, church, as a broad concept. The article suggests a threefold aspect for ecclesiology, conceiving it as the ecclesiology of the researcher, and the ecclesiology of both the object and of the result of the research. Furthermore, its purpose is to identify transparent ecclesiological theories which are able to engage with and integrate scientific theories and methods. An inventory of examples of modes of collaboration used between ecclesiology and different sciences is then offered as an illustration of the context in which ecclesiology may integrate or relate to science in different ways. Finally, the article concludes that there is a need for further clarificatory research into the possibilities which exist for ecclesiology to be made more fully the science of being Christian in community or church.     

Missions without missionaries: the social dimension of church growth in Muslim Java,Indonesia

We live in a world where religion is not confined to the private sphere and where faith-based acts, from Qur'an burning to terrorist activities, affront not only believers but also non-believers. Indonesia, where moderate Islam has long enjoyed its compatibility with other religions, has recently emerged as a hot spot of Muslim–Christian violence. In order to examine the social face of faith in ‘unfavourable’ circumstances, this article analyses church growth in Muslim Java by addressing the sociological issues related to what makes a church strong. Through an empirical investigation into the Java Christian Church, the article demonstrates that a church manages to establish a firm foothold in a Muslim society by developing the porosity of the religious frontier at the organizational level.     

What are Churches For? Toward an Ecclesiology of the Cross after Christendom1

Abstract : This essay applies pressure to Douglas John Hall's use of Luther's theologia crucis in his calls for the church to become an ecclesia crucis. In my analysis, the theology of the cross is best used not as a hermeneutical key for discerning Christendom's end and the church's new beginning, but as training in developing the capacity to discern both God and church as they hide under opposite signs. By drawing on Hall, two feminist Lutheran theologians, and Stanley Hauerwas, the essay suggests that the practices of the institutional church might be exactly what is needed for the formation of theologians of the cross.     

Invoking Deep Access: Disability beyond Inclusion in the Church

Abstract : This article seeks to challenge the ways access and inclusion are thought about and practiced in church communities with the hope of encouraging a robust hospitality and deep accessibility among all in the body of Christ. A first step stresses the difference of disability over the sameness of human personhood underneath it. A second step considers possibilities for practices of receiving gifts from one another in ongoing gestures of vulnerable mutuality that negotiate access for all, and thereby create community. The article concludes by proposing this be cultivated by a spirituality of attentiveness that embodies hospitality.     

The Networking of Differences That Makes a Difference: Theology and the Unity of the Church

Abstract : What does the church mean when it confesses through the Creeds its oneness? My aim is to reflect on how and why theology needs to bring to the fore a hidden dimension in the discourse on the unity of the church, that is, its tendency to fall into a “solid” and “totalizing” disciplinary technology, i.e., an ideology. I will approach the theme following these basic theological pointers: (a) a biblical primary symbol as it emerges to unveil a new existence and practice—Paul's metaphor of the body in 1 Corinthians 12; (b) a secondary symbol through which the church understood itself to be lodged—the trinitarian understanding of being as a communicative relationship; (c) the regulative principle of law and promise as guiding a discursive practice that supports different levels of decentering and centering that signals a breakthrough of the eschaton—Luther's understanding of law and gospel. These overlapping theological dimensions allow a different metaphorization of the oneness and unity of the church.     

Pornography,Religion, and the Happiness Gap: Does Pornography Impact the Actively Religious Differently?

Club good models developed by economists suggest that the club provides a benefit to members by fostering the provision of semi-public goods. In the case of religion, churches create enforcement mechanisms to reduce free riding. Consequently, the psychic costs of deviant activity should be higher for individuals who belong to religious groups with strong social norms. Data from the General Social Survey are used to examine whether the cost of using pornography is greater for the more religiously involved. We measure the cost of using pornography as the happiness gap or the gap between the average happiness reported by individuals who do and individuals who do not report using pornography. The happiness gap is larger for individuals who regularly attend church and who belong to religious groups with strong attitudes against pornography.