The Missional Shape of Worship in Evangelical Lutheran Worship

Abstract : Mission stands out as an orienting concept in ELW unlike its predecessors. ELW has a missional theological framework as well as a practical missional orientation, a situation in which worship and mission are understood and practiced in relation to one another. It is possible that ELW will help congregations claim the missional character of worship.     

Faith-to-faith at the bedside: theological and ethical issues in ecumenical clinical chaplaincy.

Chaplains who serve in a clinical context often minister to patients representing a wide variety of faiths. In order to offer the best pastoral care possible, the chaplain should first possess a set of personal theological convictions as a foundation for ministry. Second, he or she needs to be sensitive to the beliefs and practices of the patients. Third, it is vital to develop a relationship of acceptance and trust not only with patients under their care, but also with family members and caregivers as well. At times, situations will arise that are purely religious or theological. In a clinical setting, however, the questions and problems that arise more often are both theological and ethical. It is beneficial for the chaplain to be involved in an ethics committee, where the specifics of each case can be discussed, and staff can offer counsel to patients and their families. This study examines issues that chaplains face at the bedside, such as terminal care, life-prolonging treatments, dementia, persistent vegetative state, and euthanasia-assisted suicide. We will discover that those who are involved in clinical pastoral ministry will be called upon to be a comforter, mediator, educator, ethicist, and counselor.     

The Design of an Information Literacy Program at a Non-Traditional Seminary

ABSTRACT

The exponential growth in information resources and the new demands of the information age have put increasing demands upon faculty and students to access appropriate information quickly, to process that information with critical thinking skills, and to communicate both verbally and in writing a product that is practical, interesting, and meaningful. The job of teaching of research methods must include the integral components of an information literacy program. Students need to be encouraged to expertly retrieve the information required for the writing of a paper. They must be helped to think critically, synthesizing ideas and concepts from the numerous information sources.

It is vital that the faculty and librarian at Seminary of the East work together to develop a comprehensive information literacy program that is not only supported by both faculty and library staff, but periodically evaluated to validate the program and to measure its progress in addressing the information literacy needs of both students and faculty.     

The Function of Web Catalogs in Theological Libraries

SUMMARY

The World Wide Web is an environment in which academic libraries are able to improve and extend their services, and help achieve the goals of their institutions. The Web catalog is one tool that can help advance these goals. Theological libraries are beginning to utilize Web catalogs in order to improve access to their unique collections. This article summarizes a study of 132 theological library Web catalogs in North America, and attempts to identify and interpret the roles these catalogs play. The essay concludes with thoughts on the future shape of Web OPACs, and an identification of the major gateways to these catalogs.     

Theological Strategies,Constructing Meaning,and Coping with Breast Cancer: A Qualitative Study

Examines ways in which the experience of breast cancer has impacted the theology and the ability to create meaning for 10 female breast cancer patients. Discusses three theological strategies emerging from participant interviews: 1) God causes cancer for a purpose, 2) God does not cause cancer, but there can still be meaning in illness, and 3) cancer is just part of life and has no inherent meaning, though meaning can be constructed through the experience.     

FIRST PERSON PLURAL: SELF‐UNITY AND SELF‐MULTIPLICITY IN THEOLOGY'S DIALOGUE WITH PSYCHOLOGY

In contradistinction to the contemporary human sciences, recent theological accounts of the individual‐in‐relation continue to defend the concept of the singular continuous self. Consequently, theological anthropology and the human sciences seem to offer widely divergent accounts of the sense of self‐fragmentation that many believe pervades the modern world. There has been little constructive interdisciplinary conversation in this area. In this essay I address the damaging implications of this oversight and establish the necessary conditions for future dialogue. I have three primary objectives. First, I show how the notion of personal continuity acquires philosophical theological significance through its close association with the concept of personal particularity. Second, through a discussion of contemporary accounts of self‐multiplicity, I clarify the extent of theological anthropology's disagreement with the human sciences. Third, I draw upon narrative accounts of identity to suggest an alternative means of understanding the experiential continuity of personhood that maintains the tension between self‐plurality, unity, and particularity and thereby reconnects philosophical theological concerns with human‐scientific analyses of the human condition. Narrative approaches to personhood are ideally suited to this purpose, and, I suggest, offer an intriguing solution to understanding and resolving the problem of self‐fragmentation that has caused recent theological anthropology so much consternation.     

The Future of Theological Education: A Speculative Glimpse at 20321

Abstract : While the long‐term future is unpredictable, institutions need a way of seeing their work past the present. This article identifies the forces that cause change in theological schools and speculates about the characteristics that theological schools will exhibit in twenty years in light of the most significant forces that will influence them, including denominational and congregational issues, the changing racial/ethnic composition of the American population, the changing character of global Christianity, and the changing practices of American higher education.     

A Theological Reflection on Torture and Democracy

Abstract : First, I summarize the major findings of a new comprehensive resource, Torture and Democracy, by Darius Rejali, as corrective for the current state of confusion and concealment in United States with regard to the persistence of torture. Second, I respond theologically to the insights from this scholarship through a) reflection on victims of torture as ‘nonpersons’ in light of theological anthropology, and through exploring the role of Christians in the public square, and b) addressing the problem of sacrificialism.     

Eucharistic priority in Hilary of Poitiers' trinitarian theology: a critique of contemporary approaches to divine–human communio

The notion of koinonia or communio is at the heart of contemporary ecclesiology, and trinitarian theology has become its necessary presupposition. This article argues that the way many contemporary theologians have envisaged this link between divine and human communion is deeply problematic. Hilary of Poitiers was the first theologian of communio, and he offers a bold critique of contemporary discussions. Hilary gives eucharistic priority to trinitarian theology, that is, there is a movement from Eucharist to Trinity in his thinking on the relation between divine and human communion. A retrieval of Hilary's eucharistic priority in trinitarian discourse can provide constructive avenues in trinitarian theology which avoid the anthropocentric tendencies of contemporary social doctrines of the Trinity and reject the misdiagnosed problem of trinitarian ‘relevance’ in current discussions. Such a retrieval recovers trinitarian doctrine as a practised, performed reality, lived out in human communio itself through the eucharistic life of the Church.     

The Evolutionary Roots of Morality in Theological Perspective

Theological ethics can interpret the relation between evolution and morality in at least three ways. The reductionist approach holds that morality emerges because it is adaptive. The independent approach maintains that morality develops without registering the influence of evolution. Finally, the interdependence position holds that morality reflects the influence of evolution to the extent that the latter shapes human emotional capacities and predispositions, for example, those regarding reciprocity and kin preference. The third approach is more suitable for theological ethics, which attends to ways in which natural desires can be ordered to serve morality, for example, to be habituated to virtue, and to ways in which we must strive to curb or minimize their disruptive effects on human communities.