Volume 15, Issue 1, February 2002
Articles
The Birth of the Mother: A Reading of Luke 2:1-20 in Conversation with Some Recent Feminist Theory on Pregnancy and Birth
Anne Elvey, pp.1-15
In conversation with feminist interpretations of pregnancy and birth this article offers a re-reading of Luke 2:1-20. The article sets out to read this passage with an eye to the representation and narrative function of the mother – especially the body of the mother – both before and after birth. The focus is on the transformation of the mother, Mary of Nazareth. The article considers ways in which the narrative represents three births: the birth of the child, a birth to or for the shepherds and the birth of the mother. These births suggest a logic of gestation, which finds its paradigm in the connective “keeping” (2:19, 51) activity of Mary. In Luke 2:1-20 the birth of the child is also the birth of the mother as a keeping woman.
“The Jews” in the Fourth Gospel: Another Perspective
Francis J. Moloney, pp.16-36
The discussion of the use of the expression “the Jews” in the Fourth Gospel continues to draw the attention of many scholars. Publications abound, and this scholarly activity is justified, given the overall hostility of the Johannine Jesus to “the Jews”. Most scholarship, understandably, starts from the 71 uses of the expression in the Gospel, and attempts to formulate some historical, literary or theological explanation for the hostility between the Johannine Jesus, Johannine Christians, and “the Jews”. The present study focuses initially on other related, but less used, expressions: “Israel”, “the nation”, and “the people”. Only after this analysis are some questions asked of the use of “the Jews” in the Fourth Gospel, suggesting that the fundamental argument of the Fourth Gospel is that people from all ethnic backgrounds, Jew and Gentile, have been called to form “Israel”, the people of God.
Jacques Dupuis’ Christian Theology of Religious Pluralism
Gerard Hall, pp.37-50
Given the politics and publicity surrounding Jacques Dupuis’ Toward a Christian Theology of Religious Pluralism, his contribution to the developing theology of religious pluralism deserves closer scrutiny. The general question guiding this discussion is the following: does Jacques Dupuis provide adequate resources for claiming both the authenticity of Christian revelation and a genuinely positive acceptance of religious pluralism? This article outlines Dupuis’ interreligious hermeneutical meth-odology, enquires into his understanding of the uniqueness of Jesus Christ, and examines the implications of his Trinitarian Christology for a theology of religious pluralism. Dupuis’ contribution is then assessed from the dual perspectives of Christian theology and theological rhetoric. Finally, the issue of Christian universalism is brought to hermeneutical attention.
Sacred Speech? The Language of the Dialogue of Love between the Roman Church and the Church of Constantinople
Lawrence Cross, pp.51-64
This article offers a possible answer to ecumenism’s problematical question as to how to arrive at a common theological language in which the particular Christian traditions can recognise themselves. Drawing upon insights from thinkers such as Mikhail Bakhtin and Anton Ugolnik, it proposes that the language of the on-going Dialogue of Love between the Church of Rome nd the Patriarchate of Constantinople makes it possible to recognise the language of the other as a possible system of expression of th meta-language of revelation.
God Beyond Theism? Bishop Spong, Paul Tillich and the Unicorn
Gregory W. Dawes, pp.65-71
John Shelby Spong has recently advocated belief in a “God beyond theism”. While rejecting traditional theism, he also distinguishes his position from atheism. Spong suggests that there is a divine reality, which may be described as “being itself” and which reveals itself in our commitment to unconditional ideals. It is argued that this notion of God is vacuous, the product of a confused belief that “being” is a characteristic of individual beings which may be universalised. Belief in such a God is also unmotivated, since there exist naturalistic explanations of the phenomena to which Spong appeals.
Assessing the Spong Phenomenon
Nigel Watson, pp.72-80
This article attempts to account for the astonishing diversity of reactions to Bishop John Shelby Spong. It argues that, while Spong is undoubtedly reaching many people both inside and outside the churches, in his treatment of some of the central doctrines of the Christian Faith he poses some false either/ors.
Book Reviews
The Twelve Prophets
Marvin A. Sweeney
Antony F. Campbell pp.81-83
2 Kings
Robert L. Cohn
Rom J. Barry pp.83-84
Wisdom Has Built Her House: Studies on the Figure of Sophia in the Bible
Silvia Schroer
Mary Reaburn pp.84-86
The Hospitality of God: A Reading of Luke’s Gospel
Brendan Byrne
Veronica Lawson pp.86-88
God Dwells with Us: Temple Symbolism in the Fourth Gospel
Mary L. Coloe
Anne Elvey pp.88-90
Ages of Initiation: The First Two Christian Millennia
Paul Turner
Joseph A. Sobb pp.90-91
Between Two Horizons: Spanning New Testament Studies and Systematic Theology
L. B. Green and Max Turner (eds.)
Ray C. W. Roennfeldt pp.92-94
A Good Fight: Paul’s Journal
<p>David Gurney</p>
Merrill Kitchen pp.96-97
The Gift of Being: A Theology of Creation
Zachary Hayes
Neil Darragh pp.97-98
Theology and Lived Christianity
David Hammond (ed.)
Don Edwards pp.99-101
Karl Barth: A Future For Postmodern Theology?
Geoff Thompson and Christiaan Mostert (eds.)
Michael Owen pp.101-103
Does God Suffer?
Thomas G. Weinandy
Neil Ormerod pp.103-104
Ascension Now, Implications of Christ’s Ascension for Today’s Church
Peter Atkins
Ian Williams pp.105-106
Strategies for Preaching Paul
Frank J. Matera
Laurie Woods pp.106-108
Preaching, the Secret to Parish Revival
Richard Hart
Graham Hughes pp.108-110
The Last Letters of Thomas More
Alvaro de Silva (ed.)
Austin Cooper pp.111
Crusade or Conspiracy? Catholics and the Anti-Communist Struggle in Australia
Bruce Duncan
Thomas P. Boland pp.111-113
Ritualist on a Tricycle: Frederick Goldsmith, Church, Nationalism and Society in Western Australia 1880-1920
Colin Holden
Austin Cooper pp.113-114
Set in a Long Place: A Life from North to South
Maurice Andrew
Clive Pearson pp.114-117
The Bread of God: Nurturing a Eucharistic Imagination
Tony Kelly
David Ranson pp.117-119
Why Not Be a Missionary?
Michael Glynn
Patrick J. McInerney pp.119-121
Achieving Moral Health
Charles M. Shelton
John Reid pp.121-122
After Paul Left Corinth: The Influence of Secular Ethics and Social Change
Bruce W. Winter
Laurie Guy pp.94-96
Contributors
ANNE ELVEY is an honorary research associate in the Centre for Women’s Studies and Gender Research at Monash University. Her research interests are in the areas of ecological, feminist and postcolonial biblical interpretation and theology.
FRANCIS J. MOLONEY S. D. B., AM, foundation Professor of Theology at the Australian Catholic University and a member for many years of the International Theological Commission of the Catholic Church, is currently Professor of New Testament at the Catholic University of America, Washington, DC. Author of numerous books and articles on the Fourth Gospel, his most recent publication is a collection entitled “A Hard Saying”: The Gospel and Culture (Collegeville: Glazier, 2001). A commentary on the Gospel of Mark is nearing completion.
GERARD HALL S.M. is currently Head of the School of Theology at the McAuley (Brisbane) Campus of the Australian Catholic University. He completed his graduate studies in systematic theology and theological hermeneutics at the Catholic University of America in 1994. His doctoral thesis examined the contribution of interreligious scholar, Raimon Panikkar, to the developing theology of religious pluralism.
REV DR LAWRENCE CROSS, a priest of the Russian Catholic Church under the jurisdiction of the Melkite Greek-Catholic Eparchy of Australia and New Zealand, is a Senior Lecturer in the School of Theology (Victoria) of Australian Catholic University and a member of the Centre for Early Christian Studies. He is the author of Eastern Christianity: The ByzantineTradition (Fairfax,VA: Eastern Christian Publications, 1999) and has recently convened two international con-ferences, Prayer and Spirituality in the Early Church and Orientale Lumen: Australasia and Oceania.
GREGORY W. DAWES completed graduate studies at the Pontifical Biblical Institute in Rome before returning to New Zealand to complete a Ph.D. (1995) in Biblical Studies at the University of Otago. He now holds the position of Senior Lecturer in Religious Studies at the University of Otago. His most recent book is The Historical Jesus Question: The Challenge of History to Religious Authority (Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 2001) and his current research includes a study of the biblical hermeneutics of Galileo Galilei.
PROFESSOR EMERITUS NIGEL WATSON has had thirty years’ experience of teaching the New Testament, mostly within the United Faculty of Theology in Melbourne. He has also taught in Fiji.
