Volume 14, Issue 1, February 2001
Articles
God and Australian Federation – A Mismatch?
Andrew Hamilton, pp.1-16
The paradigms for theological discussion of public affairs were set by Eusebius of Caesarea, who believed they could accurately be located within God’s providence, and by Augustine who was sceptical. While most theologians would follow Augustine in restricting themselves to an ethical rather than a theological account, a rich theology of the multiform body of Christ suggests a distinctively Christian perspective for reflecting on events like the Centenary of Australian Federation (1901-2001).
Metaphysics and a Personal God
Bruce Langtry, pp.17-30
Many people think of God as similar to a human being, but without various limitations and defects, and with much greater powers. They hold that although much that we say when likening God to human beings is either analogical or metaphorical, much is not: it is literally true that God has beliefs, intentions and other mental states, in the same sense, or in close to the same sense, as when we say that human beings do. This paper defends this view by arguing that it is consistent with thinking of God as God's incorporeal, omniscient, immutable, and timeless. It is inconsistent with the claim that God lacks a plurality of properties; but one does not need to hold anthropomorphism to find simplicity with respect to properties implausible.
The Hermeneutics of Textual Exile: Comparing Rabbinic and Poststructuralist Readings of Esther
Richard Treloar, pp.31-54
This article falls into two main parts. The first reviews the debate over the nature of rabbinic exegesis and its comparison with post-structuralist reading strategies, especially as this has been fuelled by the work of Susan Handelman. The second section focuses on the Masoretic text of the Book of Esther in the light of that review, setting Timothy Beal’s recent work on Esther alongside some features of its reception in rabbinic literature. Some potentially common interpretive ground can be identified, but in what sense the indeterminacy of meaning maintained by such con-temporary readings can be considered “rabbinic” remains, itself, an open question.
Aquinas’ Integrated View of Emotions, Morality, and the Person
Tom Ryan, pp.55-70
In this article the author argues that there are five components in Aquinas’ integrated account of emotions, morality and the person. Firstly, it is the rationally “fitting” or “consonant” with human nature that mediates the affective virtues as they structure the objects of emotions as specific emotional responses. Secondly, Aquinas outlines principles to ascertain a) how emotions are moral and voluntary and b) the need for certain right and good emotional responses. Thirdly, he highlights the psychological and physiological resonance of emotions in moral living. Fourthly, by an over-arching metaphor (the polis), Aquinas encapsulates the mutual tutoring and interdependence of intellect, will and emotions in practical reasoning. Finally, Aquinas’ insistence on the location and immanence of the affective virtues grounds his view of the body/spirit relationship.
Gandhi, Scripture and the Bible
William W. Emilsen, pp.71-86
Mohandas K. (“Mahatma”) Gandhi considered it the duty of every cultured man and woman to sympathetically read the scriptures of the great world religions. Though not himself a biblical scholar, Gandhi’s facility and familiarity with the Bible (especially the New Testament) has been insufficiently appreciated. This article explores the following questions: What principles of interpretation did Gandhi bring to the scriptures of the great world religions? What, in particular, was the extent and depth of his knowledge of the Christian scriptures? In essence, what was Gandhi’s Bible?
Book Reviews
The International Biblical Commentary
William R. Farmer et al (eds.)
Veronica Lawson pp.87-89
1 Samuel
David Jobling
Antony F. Campbell pp.89-90
Paul and Third World Women Theologians
Loretta Dornisch
Anne Elvey pp.92-94
The Letter to the Ephesians
Peter O’Brien
Laurie Woods pp.90-92
A Spirituality of Perfection: Faith in Action in the Letter of James
Patrick J. Hartin
Greg Forbes pp.94-96
The Religion of the Earliest Churches: Creating a Symbolic World
Gerd Theissen
John Hilary Martin pp.96-99
East of Euphrates: Early Christianity in Asia
T. V. Philip
Hans Spykerboer pp.100-101
Edinburgh to Salvador: Twentieth Century Ecumenical Missiology
T. V. Philip
Hans Spykerboer pp.101-103
The God of Evolution: A Trinitarian Theology
Denis Edwards
John Honner pp.103-106
Common Good, Uncommon Questions: a Primer in Moral Theology
Timothy Backus and William C. Graham (eds.)
Cormac M. Nagle pp.106-107
Self-determination and the Moral Act: A Study of the Contributions of Odon Lottin
Mary-Jo Iozzio
David Willis pp.108-110
A Time for Embracing
Julia Upto
Patrick Negri pp.110-111
Guide to the Study of Religion
Willi Braun and Russell T. McCutcheon (eds.)
William M. Johnston pp.111-114
Spirituality and the Curriculum
Adrian Thatcher (ed.)
Denham Grierson pp.114-116
Blazing a Trail: Catholic Education in Victoria 1963-1980
Anne O’Brien
Michael A. Kelly pp.116-118
Remembering Our Bishop Joseph W. Regan MM
James H. Kroeger
Cyril Hally pp.119-120
Contributors
ANDREW HAMILTON S.J. lectures in Church History and Christology at the United Faculty of Theology in Melbourne. He studied Patristics at the University of Oxford and is associated with the Jesuit Refugee Service.
BRUCE LANGTRY is senior lecturer in Philosophy at the University of Melbourne. He is currently the president of the Australian Association for Professional and Applied Ethics and the editor of Res Publica. His main research field is philosophy of religion, where his publications include “God and the Best”, Faith and Philosophy 13 (1996) 311-328, and “Structures of Greater Good Theodicies”, Sophia 37 (1998) 11-17.
RICHARD TRELOAR is Associate Chaplain to Trinity College in the University of Melbourne and a staff member of Trinity College Theological School, teaching at the United Faculty of Theology. He is undertaking doctoral research in the field of biblical narrative at Monash University.
TOM RYAN S.M. is a Marist priest who teaches Pastoral and Practical Theology at the University of Notre Dame, Fremantle, Australia. He recently completed a doctorate on a comparative and evaluative study of the moral significance of emotions in Aquinas, the Manualists and Catholic Moral Theology 1960-1990. He has a continuing interest in this area, especially in its interdisciplinary implications.
WILLIAM EMILSEN is Lecturer in Church History and World Religions at United Theological College, Sydney. He has written several books and articles on Mahatma Gandhi. Recently, he has edited The Goldfields Journal of William Diaper (alias “Cannibal Jack”) 1851–1853 (1999) and Mapping the Landscape: Essays in Australian and New Zealand Christianity (2000). He co-edits Uniting Church Studies.
