Celia Kourie READING SCRIPTURE THROUGH a MYSTICAL LENS
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A Christology for Frontier Mission: a Missiological Study of Colossians by Brad Gill
Households in Focus A Christology for Frontier Mission: A Missiological Study of Colossians by Brad Gill Editor’s Note: This article was presented to the Asia Society for Frontier Mission, Bangkok, Thailand, October 2017. would like to reaffirm our strategic cooperation in frontier mission by examining a rather uncommon portion of scripture for missiological reflec- tion. Cooperation emerges from the objects we love, those purposes and goals we share, and I believe that in the epistle to the Colossians the Apostle Paul I 1 offers us a christological vision that grounds our mission in a common love. Colossians as a Missiological Statement Recently I was plowing through a new book by John Flett entitled Apostolicity: The Ecumenical Question in World Christian Perspective.2 The author explained how the growing pluriformity of world Christianity should reorient our understanding of the apostolic continuity of the church. I don’t usually read books on ecumenical unity, but this one had come in the mail (since I’m an editor) and something in the review had caught my eye: that the rationale for ecumenical unity over the past century had placed limits on cross-cultural engagement and the appropriation of the gospel. Those words have missio- logical implication. At one point towards the end of his book, in his chapter on Jesus Christ as the ground of our apostolic mission, he refers the reader to Colossians. If then you have been raised up with Christ, keep seeking the things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your mind on the things above, not on the things that are on earth. -
Cleansing the Cosmos
CLEANSING THE COSMOS: A BIBLICAL MODEL FOR CONCEPTUALIZING AND COUNTERACTING EVIL By E. Janet Warren A thesis submitted to The University of Birmingham for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Department of Theology and Religion College of Arts and Law The University of Birmingham November 14, 2011 University of Birmingham Research Archive e-theses repository This unpublished thesis/dissertation is copyright of the author and/or third parties. The intellectual property rights of the author or third parties in respect of this work are as defined by The Copyright Designs and Patents Act 1988 or as modified by any successor legislation. Any use made of information contained in this thesis/dissertation must be in accordance with that legislation and must be properly acknowledged. Further distribution or reproduction in any format is prohibited without the permission of the copyright holder. ABSRACT Understanding evil spiritual forces is essential for Christian theology. Evil has typically been studied either from a philosophical perspective or through the lens of ‘spiritual warfare’. The first seldom considers demonology; the second is flawed by poor methodology. Furthermore, warfare language is problematic, being very dualistic, associated with violence and poorly applicable to ministry. This study addresses these issues by developing a new model for conceptualizing and counteracting evil using ‘non-warfare’ biblical metaphors, and relying on contemporary metaphor theory, which claims that metaphors are cognitive and can depict reality. In developing this model, I examine four biblical themes with respect to alternate metaphors for evil: Creation, Cult, Christ and Church. Insights from anthropology (binary oppositions), theology (dualism, nothingness) and science (chaos-complexity theory) contribute to the construction of the model, and the concepts of profane space, sacred space and sacred actions (divine initiative and human responsibility) guide the investigation. -
Jews and Christians: Perspectives on Mission the Lambeth-Jewish Forum
Jews and Christians: Perspectives on Mission The Lambeth-Jewish Forum Reuven Silverman, Patrick Morrow and Daniel Langton Jews and Christians: Perspectives on Mission The Lambeth-Jewish Forum Both Christianity and Judaism have a vocation to mission. In the Book of the Prophet Isaiah, God’s people are spoken of as a light to the nations. Yet mission is one of the most sensitive and divisive areas in Jewish-Christian relations. For Christians, mission lies at the heart of their faith because they understand themselves as participating in the mission of God to the world. As the recent Anglican Communion document, Generous Love, puts it: “The boundless life and perfect love which abide forever in the heart of the Trinity are sent out into the world in a mission of renewal and restoration in which we are called to share. As members of the Church of the Triune God, we are to abide among our neighbours of different faiths as signs of God’s presence with them, and we are sent to engage with our neighbours as agents of God’s mission to them.”1 As part of the lifeblood of Christian discipleship, mission has been understood and worked out in a wide range of ways, including teaching, healing, evangelism, political involvement and social renewal. Within this broad and rich understanding of mission, one key aspect is the relation between mission and evangelism. In particular, given the focus of the Lambeth-Jewish Forum, how does the Christian understanding of mission affects relations between Christianity and Judaism? Christian mission and Judaism has been controversial both between Christians and Jews, and among Christians themselves. -
The “Gospel” of Cultural Sustainability: Missiological Insights
The “Gospel” of Cultural Sustainability: Missiological Insights Anna Ralph Master’s Thesis Presented to the Faculty of the Graduate School at Goucher College in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Arts in Cultural Sustainability Goucher College—Towson, Maryland May 2013 Advisory Committee Amy Skillman, M.A. (Advisor) Rory Turner, PhD Richard Showalter, DMin Table of Contents Abstract ........................................................................................................................................... iii Chapter One—The Conceptual Groundwork ................................................................................. 1 Introduction ........................................................................................................................ 1 Definition—“Missiology” .................................................................................................... 4 Definition—“Cultural Sustainability” .................................................................................. 5 Rationale ............................................................................................................................. 7 Methodology ..................................................................................................................... 11 Review of Literature—Cultural Sustainability................................................................... 12 Review of Literature—Missiology .................................................................................... -
Guidelines for Writing Your Exegesis Paper of a Psalm
1 Guidelines for Writing an Exegesis Paper Prepared by Ross Cole, March 28, 2011 The Goal of Exegesis An exegesis paper attempts to understand a passage in terms of its original context. Our goal in ministry is to apply the text to our present context. Application is not the same thing as exegesis. Nevertheless, exegesis must come first, if we as inspiring yet uninspired teachers are to make accurate applications to contemporary situations. Organizing Your Paper Exegesis is normally defined in terms of three contexts: Historical context Literary context Linguistic Context There are characteristically a number steps involved in establishing each of these, and we will here deal with each of them in order. However, these contexts and steps are listed in an order, simply because it is impossible to describe them all in one breath. There is nothing sacred about the sequence, and each context and step may interact with other contexts and steps. There may be better ways of organizing the final paper than just following the order below. What is important is that the paper needs to exhibit a logical flow. By the end of the paper, you need to present a wholistic understanding of the passage, in accordance with how the first readers/listeners would have understood it. It should not be like a string of disconnected beads (as one lecturer describe an exegesis paper I did as an undergraduate student). It should instead be like a stew with the aromas of the different ingredients mixed together. Use of Sources The exegetical methodology here described is meant to give you a certain independence from commentaries and other sources. -
THE EXEGETICAL ROOTS of TRINITARIAN THEOLOGY MICHAEL SLUSSER Duquesne University, Pittsburgh, Pa
Theological Studies 49 (1988) THE EXEGETICAL ROOTS OF TRINITARIAN THEOLOGY MICHAEL SLUSSER Duquesne University, Pittsburgh, Pa. N RECENT YEARS systematic theologians have been showing increased I interest in studying the doctrine of the Trinity. An integral part of that study should be an exposition of the origins of the doctrine. The question of origins can be posed in an analytical fashion, as Maurice Wiles has done: .. .we seem forced to choose between three possibilities: either (1) we do after all know about the Trinity through a revelation in the form of propositions concerning the inner mysteries of the Godhead; or (2) there is an inherent threefoldness about every act of God's revelation, which requires us to think in trinitarian terms of the nature of God, even though we cannot speak of the different persons of the Trinity being responsible for specific facets of God's revelation; or (3) our Trinity of revelation is an arbitrary analysis of the activity of God, which though of value in Christian thought and devotion is not of essential significance.1 I think that this analytical approach is in important respects secondary to the genetic one. The first Christians spoke about God in the terms which we now try to analyze; surely the reasons why they used those terms are most relevant to a sound analysis. The main words whose usage needs to be fathomed are the Greek words prosöpon, hypostasis, ousia, andphysis.2 Prosöpon is the earliest of these terms to have attained an accepted conventional usage in early Christian speech about God, and therefore the chief determinant of the shape which the complex of terms was to take. -
MISSIONS Don L. Meredith Harding School of Theology 2016/17 R.R
1 MISSIONS Don L. Meredith Harding School of Theology 2016/17 R.R.016.266/P484. Petersen, Paul D., ed. Missions and Evangelism: A Bibliography Selected from the ATLA Religion Database. Rev. ed. Chicago, IL: ATLA, 1985. Subject index, with abstracts, of articles from ATLA Religion Database (1949-1984) and D.Min. theses from Research in Ministry (1981-84). Contains author & book review indexes. R.R.016.266/B582. Bibliographia Missionaria. Isola del Liri: Soc. Tip. A. Maloce & Pisani, 1933- . An annual classified bibliography of books and articles (primarily Catholic) on missions. Contains author/person and subject indexes. Vol. 1-49 (1933-85) published as Bibliografia Missionaria. R.R.016.266/I61. Thomas, Norman E., ed. International Mission Bibliography: 1960-2000. ATLA Bibliographies, 48. Lanham, MD: Scarecrow Press, 2003. Contains 15,850 annotated entries for the most important missiological books published in English and a selection of those in each major European language from 1960 to 2000. Arranged under 20 sub-headings with a personal name index. To supplement this bibliography a "Selected Annotated Bibliography on Missiology" was published in installments (each including about 30 new titles) in each issue of Missiology (2000-July 2004) corresponding to the sub-headings in the published volume. *R.R.016.27/I61. International Christian Literature Documentation Project. 2v. Evanston, IL: ATLA, 1993. Indexes "printed materials (wherever published) that document Christian life and mission in the non- Western world." Indexes 18,635 monographs and pamphlets and 6,774 essays in 1,843 multi-author works. Vol. 1 is subject index and vol. 2 is author-editor and corporate name index. -
Patristic Exegesis and Theology: the Cart and the Horse
WTJ 69 (2007): 1-19 HISTORICAL AND THEOLOGICAL STUDIES PATRISTIC EXEGESIS AND THEOLOGY: THE CART AND THE HORSE DONALD FAIRBAIRN his article grows out of two dominant perceptions that I have developed Tthrough my work with theological students and teachers. The first of these perceptions is that there is strong and growing interest in patristic interpretation of the Bible among evangelical biblical scholars and theologians. The second perception is that virtually all biblical studies students and professors I have encountered are working from a model for understanding patristic exegesis that is inadequate and does not reflect what patristics scholars have been writing about patristic exegesis for the last several decades. I have in mind the model that divides patristic exegesis into two competing—and largely mutually exclu- sive—schools, one based in Antioch and the other in Alexandria. Now I should hasten to add that the inadequacy of such a model is not some- thing that biblical scholars and theologians could necessarily have recognized themselves, and I hope that nothing I am about to write will be taken as a criti- cism of contemporary biblical scholars. Rather, the prevalence of this model is an unfortunate example of the way the scholarly arena sometimes works. What patristics scholars were saying seventy or eighty years ago about patristic exege- sis has worked its way into the historical theology, church history, and herme- neutics textbooks in the last forty or fifty years. As American patristics scholar Charles Kannengiesser recently pointed out, a great deal of work on patristic exegesis done by biblical scholars from about 1950 onwards treated the literal and figurative senses of biblical passages not as interpretive options for the texts under investigation, but rather as general exegetical methods, and these methods were bound to local ‘‘school’’ requirements. -
[AJPS 3/1 (2000), Pp. 33-60] “TRUTH on FIRE”: PENTECOSTAL THEOLOGY of MISSION and the CHALLENGES of a NEW MILLENNIUM Veli-Ma
[AJPS 3/1 (2000), pp. 33-60] “TRUTH ON FIRE”:1 PENTECOSTAL THEOLOGY OF MISSION AND THE CHALLENGES OF A NEW MILLENNIUM Veli-Matti Kärkkäinen 1. Introduction: Pentecostals and the Challenge of “Transforming Mission” Pentecostal mission has been successful, extremely successful when we look at the numbers. Whatever reservations one might have with regard to the calculations of D. Barrett2 and of others,3 there is no denying the fact that the advance of Pentecostal/Charismatic mission work has been astonishing. “A growth of from zero to 400 mission in ninety years is unprecedented in the whole of church history.”4 1 The first part of the title is taken from L. Grant McClung, “Truth on Fire Pentecostals and the Urgent Missiology,” in Azusa Street and Beyond, ed. L. Grant McClung (South Plainfield, NJ: Bridge Publishing, 1985), pp. 47-55. For ecumenical perspectives on Pentecostal missiology, see my “Pentecostal Missiology in Ecumenical Context,” International Review of Mission (July 1999, forthcoming). 2 See, David B. Barrett and Todd M. Johnson, “Annual Statistical Table on Global Mission: 1999,” International Bulletin of Missionary Research 23:1 (1999), pp. 24-25. 3 See, e.g., C. Peter Wagner, “Church Growth,” in Dictionary of Pentecostal and Charismatic Movements, eds. S. M. Burgess and G. B. McGee (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1988), pp. 180-95. (This dictionary will be indicated henceforth as DPCM.) 4 Walter J. Hollenweger, “From Azusa Street to the Toronto Phenomenon,” Concilium 3, eds. Jürgen Moltmann and Karl-Josef Kuschel (1996), pp. 3-14 (3). 34 Asian Journal of Pentecostal Studies 3/1 (2000) Pentecostals, however, would do well if they, instead of continuing to glory in church growth numbers,5 would have another look at the impending challenges as we are crossing into the third millennium. -
Re-Imagining Ecclesiology: a New Missional Paradigm for Community Transformation
Digital Commons @ George Fox University Doctor of Ministry Theses and Dissertations 4-2021 Re-Imagining Ecclesiology: A New Missional Paradigm For Community Transformation Michael J. Berry Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.georgefox.edu/dmin Part of the Christianity Commons GEORGE FOX UNIVERSITY RE-IMAGINING ECCLESIOLOGY: A NEW MISSIONAL PARADIGM FOR COMMUNITY TRANSFORMATION A DISSERTATION SUBMITTED TO THE FACULTY OF PORTLAND SEMINARY IN CANDIDACY FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF MINISTRY BY MICHAEL J. BERRY PORTLAND, OREGON APRIL 2021 Portland Seminary George Fox University Portland, Oregon CERTIFICATE OF APPROVAL ________________________________ DMin Dissertation ________________________________ This is to certify that the DMin Dissertation of Michael J. Berry has been approved by the Dissertation Committee on April 29, 2021 for the degree of Doctor of Ministry in Leadership in the Emerging Culture Dissertation Committee: Primary Advisor: W. David Phillips, DMin Secondary Advisor: Karen Claassen, DMin Lead Mentor: Leonard I. Sweet, PhD Copyright © 2021 by Michael J. Berry All rights reserved ii DEDICATION To my wife, Andra and to our daughters, Ariel and Olivia. iii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Special thanks for everyone’s support and assistance to get me through this process: Dr. Len Sweet, Donna Wallace, Dr. David Phillips, Dr. Loren Kerns, Dr. Clifford Berger, Dr. Jason Sampler, Rochelle Deans, Dr. David Anderson, Dr. Tom Hancock, Patrick Mulvaney, Ray Crew, and especially Tracey Wagner. iv EPIGRAPH The baptism and spiritual -
“As the Father Has Sent Me, Even So I Am Sending You”: the Divine Missions and the Mission of the Church
JETS 63.3 (2020): 535–58 “AS THE FATHER HAS SENT ME, EVEN SO I AM SENDING YOU”: THE DIVINE MISSIONS AND THE MISSION OF THE CHURCH TOREY TEER* Abstract: Presentations advancing an ecclesiology that favors the church’s ontology before its function have become more common in recent years. Further, mission models employing a Trini- tarian framework (viz., the missio Dei) have likewise become popular in contemporary conver- sation. This project explores the implications of the divine missions—of the Son and of the Spirit—upon the mission of the church while also drawing out some pneumatological emphases vis-à-vis ecclesiology. Specifically, I present a biblical-theological synthesis of the divine missions grounded upon Johannine language of “sending,” framed by Thomas Aquinas’s conception of the divine missions, and augmented by John Calvin’s notion of the “double grace” conferred via union with Christ. I then apply this synthesis to the mission of the church, showing that the church participates—analogically—in the Trinitarian agency carried out in the missio Dei. In so doing, I offer a unique line of reasoning that further supports the church’s ontology before its function as well as a Trinitarian framework for missions. Key words: pneumatology, ecclesiology, missio Dei, Trinitarianism, Johannine theology, Thomistic theology When the concept of “missions” comes up in biblical, theological, or ecclesial discourse, it typically takes one of two forms: the Great Commission (Matt 28:18– 20) or the missio Dei—though thE two arE not mutually ExclusivE. ThE formEr typi- cally refers to the work of the church to bring the gospel to unreached people groups around the world (often called “church missions”), while the latter rEfers to the triunE God’s redemptive mission to the world in which hE graciously allows the church to participate. -
The Mandate of Biblical Inerrancy: 1 Expository Preaching
THE MANDATE OF BIBLICAL INERRANCY: 1 EXPOSITORY PREACHING John F. MacArthur, Jr. President and Professor of Pastoral Ministries The Master's Seminary The special attention of evangelicalism given to the inerrancy of Scripture in recent years carries with it a mandate to emphasize the expository method of preaching the Scriptures. The existence of God and His nature requires the conclusion that He has communicated accurately and that an adequate exegetical process to determine His meaning is required. The Christian commission to preach God's Word involves the transmitting of that meaning to an audience, a weighty responsibility. A belief in inerrancy thus requires, most important of all, exegetical preaching, and does not have to do primarily with the homiletical form of the message. In this regard it differs from a view of limited inerrancy. * * * * * The theological highlight of recent years has without question been evangelicalism's intense focus on biblical innerrancy.2 Much of what has been written defending inerrancy3 represents the most acute theological reasoning our generation has produced. Yet, it seems our commitment to inerrancy is somewhat lacking in the 1This essay was initially given as a response at the International Council on Biblical Inerrancy, Summit II (Nov 1982). It was subsequently published under the title "Inerrancy and Preaching: Where Exposition and Exegesis Come Together" in Hermeneutics, Inerrancy, and the Bible (ed. by Earl Radmacher and Robert Preus; Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1984) 801-831. It has been updated to serve as the foundational article for this inaugural issue of The Master's Seminary Journal. 2 Over a ten-year period (1977-1987), the International Council on Biblical Inerrancy held three summits for scholars (1978, 1982, 1986) and two congresses for the Christian community-at-large (1982, 1987) whose purposes were to formulate and disseminate the biblical truth about inerrancy.