Catholicity of the Church and the Universality of Theology
Christiaan Mostert, pp.123-136
The issue addressed in this essay is that of the Christian character or identity of Christian theology. Its “arguing partner” is that range of theological endeavours in which the particular context of a theological production is accentuated at the cost of under-valuing its necessary correlate, its Christian or “catholic” character. The essay offers a justification for a concern about “orthodoxy” – though not as an alternative to “orthopraxis” – for it still matters in all theology that God be spoken of rightly, which is to say faithfully. Christian theology should therefore not abandon its connection with Christian doctrine, even though the boundaries of theology may extend further than the boundaries of doctrine. There is, of course, no easy move from the universality of the Gospel to the universal validity of any particular articulation of this Gospel. However, it is argued that a modest claim for universality is both permitted and required by the double premise that all theology is in some sense church theology and that the church confesses itself to be “catholic”. Support for such a position is found in the work of Robert Schreiter, a strong proponent of “local” theologies, who in recent work has also argued for a necessary engagement with the “tradition” and has identified new kinds of universal theology. Appeal is made also to the ancient idea of a regula fidei. None of this conflicts with the contextual nature and responsibility of theology, but “contextual” should never be equated with “narrow”, let alone “isolationist”.
The Offices of Christ, Lumen Gentium and the People’s Sense of the Faith
Ormond Rush, pp.137-152
The article examines the historical origins of the notion of Christ’s threefold office as priest, prophet and king as applied to the church, highlighting the seminal contribution of John Calvin. After an initial reception into Catholic theology in the nineteenth century, it is Vatican II’s document Lumen gentium which first receives the trilogy into official Catholic teaching in a significant way. The author examines issues that need addressing in any reconstructed theology of, in particular, the “prophetic office” and proposes that future ecumenical dialogue with Protestants on the three offices may provide opportunities for further Catholic reception of this Protestant framework.
Thinking like an Archipelago: Beyond Tehomophobic Theology
Nancy M. Victorin-Vangerud, pp.153-172
Feminist theologian Catherine Keller claims that embedded in Christian theology is a vast fear of the deep – or tehom – that leads to eschatologies of final endings rather than edges of open possibilities. This article draws on Keller’s “green” hermeneutic, yet deepens and extends her eco-eschatological analysis by questioning the way humans live in relation to the sea. The oceans cover 71% of the world’s surface and make up 97% of the world’s water. Yet we treat the sea as a vast mare nullius. How can we live toward “a new heaven and new earth” (Rev 21:1) without hope for the sea as well? The Spirit of the vulnerable God “gives life” in even the deepest, darkest and most remote of places. Through an “archipelagic imagination”, we can “sea” and “fathom” our faith towards hopeful possibilities for the whole of God’s creation.
How is it Right to Treat the Human Embryo? The Embryo and Stem Cell Research
William J. Uren, pp.173-194
This submission to the Australian Health Ethics Committee considers issues of “respect” and “potential” and argues that the embryo is to be respected because it is nascent and developing human life. Destructive experimentation, even for the purposes of stem cell research, should therefore not be permitted on embryos originally intended for implantation but now surplus to IVF needs. The goals for which they are being destroyed in experimentation are distant and uncertain, and professional practice in IVF now requires that no more than one or at most two embryos should be generated.
Human Suffering and Divine Abuse of Power in Lamentations: Reflections on Forgiveness in the Context of South Africa’s Truth and Reconciliation Process
Johanna Stiebert, pp.195-215
The book of Lamentations depicts the historical event of the destruction of Jerusalem in emotive and graphic terms. Both the woman metaphor and the first-person account of a man of sorrows are charged with pathos. God, meanwhile, the perpetrator of violence, emerges as brutal and unforgiving. Here this disturbing contrast is examined from the background of South Africa’s truth and reconciliation process. The essay interrogates the nature of forgiveness from a theological and contextual perspective, examines whether forgiveness ought to be conditional and if the God of Lamentations is eligible for amnesty.
Making Sense of the Bible: Literary Type as an Approach to Understanding
Marshall D. Johnson
Mark A. O’Brien pp.216-217
David’s Secret Demons: Messiah, Murderer, Traitor, King
Baruch Halpern
Antony F. Campbell pp.218-219
Introducing the New Testament: Its Literture and Theology
Paul J. Achtemeier et al (eds.)
Brendan Byrne pp.219-221
The Emergence of the Church: Context, Growth, Leadership & Worship
Arthur G. Patzia
John W. Kleinig pp.227-229
The Scope of our Art: The Vocation of the Theological Teacher
Gregory Jones and Stephanie Paulsell (eds.)
Terence R. Curtin pp.229-231
Into God’s Presence: Prayer in the New Testament
Richard N. Longenecker (ed)
Richard K. Moore pp.233-235
A Deeper Love: An Introduction to Centering Prayer
Elizabeth Smith and Joseph Chalmers
John Helm pp.235-236
More Lasting Unions: Christianity, the Family and Society
Stephen G. Post
Patricia Mullins pp.239-240
The Promise of Obedience
F. Strieder
Michael D. Whelan pp.245-246
Introducing the New Testament: Its Literature and Theology
Paul J. Achtemeier, Joel B. Green and Marianne Meye Thompson (eds.)
Brendan Byrne pp.219-221
CHRISTIAAN MOSTERT is Professor of Systematic Theology in the Uniting Church of Australia Theological Hall, Melbourne, and teaches in the United Faculty of Theology. He has recently had published a major book on the theology of Wolfhart Pannenberg entitled God and the Future.
ORMOND RUSH is President of St Paul’s Theological College, Banyo, and teaches in the areas of theological hermeneutics, foundational theology, Christology and the doctrine of God. His recent publications include “Sensus Fidei: Faith Making Sense of Revelation”, Theological Studies 62 (2001), 231-261.
NANCY VICTORIN-VANGERUD is Lecturer in Systematic Theology at Murdoch University and the Perth Theological Hall, where she is cur-rently Principal. She is author of The Raging Hearth: Spirit in the Household of God (St Louis: Chalice Press, 2000). While Nancy continues her interest in pneumatology, feminist theology and trinitarian theology, she has been exploring ecotheology and developing a new inter-disciplinary and inter-faith unit, “Sustainability and Spirituality”.
BILL UREN S.J. is Hospital Ethicist at the Mater Hospital , South Bris-bane. He has lectured in moral philosophy and bioethics at universities in Perth, Melbourne and Brisbane, and has served on a number of clinical and research ethics committees in hospitals, universities and research institutes. He is an executive member of the Australian Health Ethics Committee, one of the four principal committees of the National Health and Medical Research Council, and is a member of the Council of the Queensland Institute of Medical Research and the Board of Boystown Family Care.
JOHANNA STIEBERT, a New Zealander by birth, obtained her doctorate from the University of Glasgow in 1998. She has published Construction of Shame in the Hebrew Bible: the Prophetic Contribution in the JSOT series, Sheffield, UK (May 2002) and taught Hebrew Bible in Botswana in Southern Africa. She has recently taken up the post of Assistant Professor in Religious Studies at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, USA.
