bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Anselm of Canterbury and Medieval Augustinianisms
Authors: Crouse Robert
Published: March 2013

From Boethius and Cassiodorus to the late medieval mystics and scholastics, the history of philosophy and theology is, in large measure, a continuing exegesis of the texts of Augustine. For that tradition Augustine is, as Matthew of Aquasparta put it, 'the exemplary doctor, whom catholic doctors, and especially theologians, ought to follow'.
Gregory Baum as Ecumenist
Authors: Hutchinson Roger
Published: March 2013

From the time of his 1956 doctoral thesis, That All May Be One, until his recent appeal to liberal Protestants to look beyond their stereotypes of evangelical Christians, Gregory Baum has promoted an ecumenical outlook. As a member of the Vatican Secretariat for Promoting Christian Unity, editor of The Ecumenist, well-travelled guest speaker and prolific writer he has been an energetic advocate of cross-denominational and inter-faith dialogue. My main aim in this tribute to Gregory Baum is to acknowledge our debt to him both for his role as an advocate of dialogue and for his ability to articulate ideas that many Jews, Protestants and Roman Catholics realized that they shared when they saw them in print. My secondary aim is to suggest that his career as an ecumenical theologian has been characterized by traditional, liberal / therapeutic and post-liberal / political phases.
Gregory Baum and Sociology
Authors: Simpson John
Published: March 2013

It is significant that the seasoning which produces the sociological flavour comes from a theological reading of sociology and not from a sociological reading of theology. Thus Gregory has read sociology from the perspective of the Gospel norm and with the most astonishing results. His interpretive stance has enabled him, on the one hand, to put flesh and bones on ghostly, feeble theology and, on the other hand, to tum to redemptive critical use the abstractions and categories of sociology which in their deep structure are themselves framed with moral intent according to his reading.
Gregory Baum's Contribution To The Left
Authors: Rotstein Abraham
Published: March 2013

I begin this tribute to Gregory Baum with an equally deserved tribute to St. Michael's College. During recent years, when the great battles raged within the Catholic Church, outsiders such as myself looked on with amazement and admiration at the way in which such great diversity and dissent could be sheltered within a single institution. Lesser institutions would have been tom asunder in the circumstances. But the resilience of this College and, ultimately, the underlying unity of the common faith made room for all its children. I can only express my gratitude — and I hope that of others as well — that Gregory always had a secure base from which to speak and to write. St. Michael's deserves our heartfelt thanks.
Religious Tolerance, Relativism and Donald Evans
Authors: Newman Jay
Published: March 2013

In his analysis of my treatment of the subject of religious tolerance and relativism in Foundations of Religious Tolerance, Donald Evans displays the impressive blend of gifts to which those of us who have benefited so much from his work have become accustomed. I have in mind, among other things, his analytical acumen, his open-mindedness with respect to method, his imaginative integration of numerous philosophical approaches, and his capacity for existential humanism, empathy, and compassion. Thus I need not be embarrassed to admit that I find all the critical points in his analysis to be deeply insightful and to constitute together a particularly valuable corrective to what he has convinced me are excesses in the expression and substance of my philosophical theory of the conditions of religious tolerance. As Evans has observed, some of the disagreements between us involve controversial issues of epistemology, ethics, and theology on which we must ultimately agree respectfully to differ. Evans has been criticized by his brother philosophers for what is perceived as a dangerous tendency toward speculativeness; but if his philosophical critics took the trouble to consider his recent work closely, they would come to appreciate better the dangers inherent in their own narrowness of method and vision.
Wood, Sand and Stars: Structure and Theology
Authors: Walters Stanley
Published: March 2013

Here is a story in which God asks a choice and early follower to begin something not intended for completion. This is puzzling, as it would not do for God to lose credibility. But the story is a favourite in three world religions, even though the Abrahamic traditions have differed on its meaning, and it will occur in any lectionary you examine. Its interpretation in the church, therefore, is a matter of continuing interest and importance. The present study provides a translation, with both technical and general comments; an analysis of the story's structures (plural), and suggestions on the theological importance of the story to the church.
Liturgical Preaching Today
Authors: Fuller R.
Published: March 2013

'Do this in remembrance of me' - these words, from the Pauline-Lucan institution narrative I provide the charter for the Christian liturgy. I am aware that traditional Roman Catholic exegesis, given contemporary sanction in directives for the sermon at the Mass of the Lord's Supper on Holy Thursday, interprets this text to be the institution of the ministerial priesthood. I would not contest the legitimacy of that interpretation, at least as giving a sensus plenior for the text. But there can be no doubt that that could hardly have been the original intention of the New Testament authors or of the early communities that first included these words in the Supper tradition. Fr. Raymond Brown has repeatedly observed2 that the sacerdotal understanding of the ministry did not develop until well after New Testament times. The New Testament knows only two priesthoods under the new covenant, the eternal priesthood of Christ, as set forth in the Epistle to the Hebrews, and the priesthood of the Church as a corporate body, what the Reformers called somewhat individualistically the priesthood of all believers.
Possibilities for Divine Passibility
Authors: Grant Colin
Published: March 2013

The winds of modem scepticism about the activity and being of God have been increasingly met by a tack which amounts to a revolution in theological orientation. The classical, transcendent, interventionist understanding of God is replaced by a contemporary immanentist conception that understands the divine nature and activity in terms of a sustaining suffering with the afflicted, as exemplified in the cross. The present intention is to attempt to clarify this development by identifying some of its most prominent sources and suggesting some of its most significant implications. To appreciate these, however, it is necessary to notice just how radical is this change in perspective.
Pelagius's Interpretation of Rom. 5: I 2-2 I : Exegesis within the Limits of Polemic
Authors: De Bruyn Theodore
Published: March 2013

It is convenient to date the Pelagian controversy from the year 411 CEo In that year the African church convened a council at Carthage to investigate the opinions of certain refugees who had arrived from Rome after the sack of the previous year. At the centre of the inquiry was Caelestius, for the past twenty years a companion of Pelagius in Rome, charged by another fellow Italian, the deacon Paulinus of Milan, with a number of questionable theses on the consequences of the fall for Adam and his descendants. The theses were condemned; Caelestius left Africa, having appealed to the bishop of Rome; and for the next few years the controversy was confined to paper, to tracts written by Augustine, Pelagius, and Jerome. The next act of the controversy unfolded not in Africa, but in Palestine, with Pelagius under scrutiny, and Orosius and Jerome questioning his orthodoxy.
Jovinian's Four Theses on the Christian Life: An Alternative Patristic Spirituality
Authors: Budzin Allan
Published: March 2013

In the decree Lumen Gentium the Second Vatican Council emphasized the great variety of ways in which all Christians are called to pursue holiness. This hallmark document of the Roman• Catholic church states that 'all the faithful of Christ of whatever rank or status are called to the fullness of the Christian life and to the perfection of charity ... In the various types and duties of life, one and the same holiness is cultivated by all who are moved by the Spirit of God. " Ironically, sixteen centuries earlier, a Roman monk named Jovinian was condemned by Pope Siricius in AD 393 for promulgating a similar teaching about the vocation to holiness common to all believers. He recognized the unity of all baptized Christians and resolutely challenged the rigorous, Oriental-style monasticism and Manichaean tendencies that segregated the Christian community of his day. For Jovinian, all Christians were called equally by baptism to live a holy life. He denied that the practice of ascetical virtues such as fasting or virginity merited a greater holiness and displayed a more perfect life than an ordinary non-monastic Christian lifestyle.
The Social Responsibility of the Christian Church and the Question of 'Alternative Investment'
Authors: Hewitt Marsha
Published: March 2013

In simpler times, investing in the church community was easy. The treasurer made as much money as possible from the investments. He then handed it over to the mission side of the church, which did good with it. Eventually it was realized that the investor must bear some responsibility for the conduct of its investment. This concern led to 'ethical investing', in which the investor attempted to restrict its investments to those entities whose conduct could be approved. Recently, doubts have been raised as to whether it is sufficient to keep the church's investment income 'clean'. Or is it necessary, in order to satisfy Christ's commands, to employ the church's capital in projects that will benefit directly the poor and the disadvantaged? This approach is called 'alternative investing'.
An Unholy Alliance? The CreationIsts' Quest for Scientific Legitimation
Authors: Wiebe Donald
Published: March 2013

An evolutionary account of the origin and nature of life seems, to most of us, highly likely. We cannot be absolutely certain about such a theory, but given our present state of knowledge it must be taken as being beyond reasonable doubt. This is not to say that in its present form it provides us with a wholly adequate account and explanation of all biological phenomena. Hardly anyone, especially biologists and philosophers of biology, would want to make that claim. Phenomena not yet accounted for by evolutionary theory, however, do not automatically constitute counter-instances to it. They are, to be sure, anomalies, but may well be accounted for on further elaboration of the theory. Just how and when anomalies become genuine counter-instances, in Thomas Kuhn's sense of the word, has never really been satisfactorily explained by the philosophers of science. However, this much most philosophers are agreed upon: unless an alternative framework of interpretation is provided that can account for the biological data explained by the reigning (evolutionary) theory, and for the apparent anomalies as well, they remain mere anomalies. And according to biologists and philosophers of biology, no credible alternative to evolutionary theory in biology presently exists.
A Venerable Tradition: Looking Back at the New Theology
Authors: Hall Douglas
Published: March 2013

Is it perhaps the sheer passage of time, the bogus transcendence of historical distance, which makes me think there is a greatness in the theological legacy of our teachers — a magnitude, depth, and wisdom that we have not yet appropriated, have not ourselves been able to emulate? Certainly it is an eloquent testimony to the fleetingness of time that I should have arrived at that stage in my life where the past masters of my guild — against some of whom I openly rebelled as their student! — are now perceived, not, certainly, as 'holy' (no, not holy!) but at least as having much, still, to teach us. Have I then fallen into the ancient trap about which Nietzsche warns us, or was that past perhaps one of those rare moments in history when something quite spectacular was transpiring — something which by its very nature could not last, something in the wake of which we have all felt a certain exhilaration ... and, it may be, a suspicion of our own mediocrity?
Philosophy Within the Study of Thelogy
Authors: Schner George
Published: March 2013

David Hume ends the first part of his Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion (1980) by having Philo accuse the clergy of unscrupulously adopting whatever system of thought 'best suits the purpose of these reverend gentlemen in giving them an ascendant over mankind' , and by having Cleanthes assert that it is only natural that they 'embrace those principles by which they find they can best defend their doctrines' and 'confound the cavils of atheists, libertines, and free-thinkers of all denominations.' Hume catches up much of what is involved in this question of the place of philosophy of religion in theology, and the rest of his Dialogues develops his own response to this apologetic agenda. In fact our question is as old as Christian theology itself, though its modem dress as articulated by Hume is traceable to the 16th century.
On Philosophical Tasks in Theology
Authors: Gooch Paul
Published: March 2013

Professor Schner's paper has raised some interesting issues about the nature of the enterprises of theology and philosophy, and the relationships between them. I find myself in essential agreement with several of his points, but I want to develop in more detail the ways in which philosophy might be of service to theology, and to end by placing emphasis upon one philosophical task which is not, in my opinion, well-appreciated by some theologians.
Rethinking of Religion in a Theological Context
Authors: Khan Abrahim
Published: March 2013

In recent years philosophy of religion seems to have fallen on bad times in theological quarters in Canada. This might also be said of other sub-disciplines such as philosophical theology, systematic theology and Christian ethics. In shaping its curriculum, current theological education appears to place the emphasis on biblical, historical, or pastoral studies, as confirmed by recent appointments. Although budgetary cutbacks might account for this narrowed emphasis, one might still ask why the primacy of these particular branches. Few appointments or announcements have been made in the areas of philosophy of religion, or philosophical or systematic theology — a fact suggesting that philosophy of religion is somehow being edged out of the curriculum. Further, in the last few years at least five institutions with responsibility for theological education have appointed deans, principals, or directors who seem to accord little or no significance to philosophy of religion or its cognates, and yet in all likelihood will set the agenda for Canadian theological education for the next decade.
Philosophy Of Religion In Transition
Authors: McLelland Joseph
Published: March 2013

As the debate reflected in these pages implies, philosophy of religion is in transition. It would probably be easier to trace its rise in nineteenth-century ideas and movements than to interpret its nature and direction at the moment. Judging by the number of its practitioners, when compared to, say, those in religious studies or theology, it is no longer a major subdiscipline within philosophy. Nor is it now related to theology itself so much as to history of religions or phenomenology. This shift in external relations reflects the focus of theology and religious studies in modem academia. On the one hand, theology is no longer an aggressive and consistent science; on the other the academic study of religion has come of age. The latter fact forces different options from earlier days, and seeks coherence more than consistency - universal criteria aimed at the broad range of academic subjects rather than a rationale of the particular aimed at a community of faith.
Afterword
Authors: Wiles Maurice
Published: March 2013

Abrahim Khan's introduction to this collection of papers suggests that 'philosophy of religion seems to have fallen on bad times in theological quarters in Canada', something which the vigour that accompanied discussion of the papers went a long way towards belying. Nevertheless my reaction to the discussion was that it served more to stimulate thought rather than clarify issues. That was certainly due in part to the fact I came from a very different theological setting than that of the discussants, and that I came as a theologian rather than as a philosopher of religion - albeit one with a high evaluation of the importance of the philosophy of religion for the work of theology. It is from that standpoint I offer three reflections in response to the group's invitation to contribute an afterword to this collection of papers, brought together as a contribution towards (in the words of the title of Khan's introduction) 'rethinking philosophy of religion in a theological context' .
The Two Natures of Christ: Suffering Victim and Pitying Witness
Authors: Levy Eric
Published: March 2013

All pain is lonely. When extreme, suffering isolates the sufferer in an agony which no pity, however compassionate, can mitigate or share. In such circumstances, the more pity yearns to reach out, the more futile and helpless it seems. Great suffering makes pity confront its own piteousness: pity itself becomes piteable. Rescue requires action. Yet, when pain is beyond help, pity is made to suffer the agony of its own inability to act. The yearning to rescue helplessness is itself helpless and needs help. This is the point of imaginary breakthrough where, through the sheer agony of helpless grief, pity fulfills its dearest wish of assuming or absorbing the helpless suffering by which it is evoked. The helplessness of the suffering victim is transformed into the helplessness of the one who pities him or her. Helplessness rescues helplessness. This is the deepest fantasy of human pity and the chief reason why pity tends to manifest itself as helpless anguish.
Arius, Heresy and Tradition by Rowan Williams: A Review Article
Authors: Vaggione Richard
Published: March 2013

This is the description of Arius and his teaching given by one of the most popular encyclopedias of the Middle Ages, the Etymologiarum Liber of Isidire of Seville. As such as it is a useful introduction to this article, because it represents in capsule form what most people remember about Arius. Like most of his predecessors, Isidore understood the point at issue in Arius' theology to be primarily the relationship between the various members of the Trinity; in light of that understanding, Arianism has become a fixed point in the history of Christian dogma — indeed, in many ways the archetype of that history. On the one hand the Arian controversy has provided a paradigm in terms of which earlier controversies have been evaluated, and on the other it has been seen as the definitive point of departure for later theological development.
The Needy is King
Authors: Walters Stanley
Published: March 2013

Words, then, which carry some very specific meaning can mean something quite different in a different setting. The expression double entendre suggests the speaker intends both meanings to be gathered, but a second person may deliberately place known and established words in another context to achieve an effect quite unlike the original speaker's.
Debunking the Rhetoric of Surrogacy Arrangements
Authors: Appleby Brenda
Published: March 2013

Being infertile is no longer a private burden of longing, suffering and unfulfilled desires; clearly, infertility has come out of the closet. With the high profile of new reproductive technologies, infertile people have become a new class of patients, offered new hope.
In Tune With a World That is Good : Variations on the Theme of Authenticity
Authors: Meyer Ben
Published: March 2013

Existentialist philosophy made the language of authenticity prominent and glamorous. As time passed and the glamour began to fade - in fact, just as the theme began to be parodied — Bernard Lonergan gave it new definition and a new lease on life. He redefined authenticity as the human excellence born of self-transcendence, that 'going beyond' self that was realized in true judgment and virtuous action and, above all, in love.

The following reflections are variations on this Lonerganian theme. They imply not that the theme is defective, but that it is fertile. Every set of conceptual resources has its typical limits and advantages. The limits may be transcended and the advantages complemented by diverse if related resources.
Where Speech has Lost its Power: A Social Ethical Reflection on the Meaning of Surrogate Motherhood
Authors: Hewitt Marsha
Published: March 2013

The phenomenon of commercial surrogacy is not about to 'wither of its own weirdness', according to George Annas. One of the most celebrated recent court cases which brought commercial surrogacy contracts into the public eyen the tragic Baby M case in New Jersey — 'has provided an impetus for many legislative proposals about surrogacy. In Canada, the Ontario Law Reform Commission has recommended that commercial surrogacy contracts be allowed under court regulation, whereas the Quebec Bar Association unequivocally condemns the practice. In Great Britain, the Warnock Commission, in 1984, recommended criminal prosecution against any surrogate operation, profit or non-profit. In the United States, several state legislatures have debated the practice, proposing laws and legislation ranging from outright prohibition of surrogacy to proposals for its regulation in non-profit situations. However, the purpose of this essay is not to survey the various legal and legislative approaches to commercial surrogacy practices across different constituencies and locales, but to explore the question of what commercial surrogacy means — what insight it offers into the human condition at this point in history. My interest here is to reflect on the meaning of surrogate motherhood in order to find a proper language which allows us to construct an ethical approach to the issue.
John of Abbeyville and a Theology of War
Authors: Cole Penny
Published: March 2013

In August 1095, Pope Urban II crossed the Alps into France, and in November travelled to Clermont, where he celebrated a great council whose consequences for the Church and Christian society have yet to be fully assessed. At the end of the working sessions — after matters pertaining to ecclesiastical reform and the marital irregularities of King Philip of France had been settled — the Pope preached a public sermon calling for a holy war against the Seldjuk Turks.

According to the reports of Fulcher of Chartres, Robert of Reims, Baudri of Dol, ecclesiastics who had attended the council and heard the sermon, and Abbot Guibert of Nogent5 (who had not been present, but whose testimony is reliable), Urban depicted the Turks murdering Christians in the East and desecrating Christian sacred places, particularly the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem. Such belligerency, as he apparently represented it, was ascribed to Turkish hatred of Christ, and interpreted as evidence of their heinous scheme to eliminate Christianity by destroying the tangible evidence of Christ's life on earth. In highly charged language, inspired by Psalm 78: I — 'God, the heathen have come into your inheritance' — Pope Urban evoked the compassion of his audience for Christ's suffering city, and urged them to arm themselves for a holy war of liberation.
w.w. Bryden and the Reformed Protestant Tradition in Canada
Authors: Vissers John
Published: March 2013

In his anniversary retrospect of the Canadian Theological Society, W.O. Fennell reminds us that there were theological forerunners to the present society of Canadian theological scholars. Among them was Walter Williamson Bryden and the Trinitarian Society which met at Knox College during the 1930S and 1940s[…]

The 'Barthian scholar' taught church history and theology at Knox College in Toronto from 1925 until his death in 1952, serving as principal of the college from 1945 until 1952. By reflecting the changes occurring in contemporary theology and by introducing the implications of those themes into the Canadian context, Bryden's work as a teacher and theologian is to be noted in the history of Canadian theology as one who sought to maintain a voice for the Reformed Protestant tradition.
Paul's Eschatology
Authors: Plevnik Joseph
Published: March 2013

Any analysis of Paul's eschatology must account for the hope of sharing in the parousia of Christ, the hope of the resurrection, and the expectation of being with Christ immediately upon death. It is often claimed that there is a shift in the apostle's theology and a progression from one expectation to another. A closer look at the key texts may shed some light on this problem.
Faith, the Poor and the Gentiles: A tradition-Historical Reflection on Matthew 25:31-46
Authors: Brown Schuyler
Published: March 2013

In the powerful conclusion to Matthew's apocalyptic discourse, reward and punishment are made to depend on what is done, or not done, for "these least" (25:45; cf. v. 40). No reference is made to a need for faith in order to withstand the coming judgment. The implication in this passage of a "righteousness by works" has made it a favourite with humanitarian causes, such as Oxfam and Amnesty International, as well as with liberation theologians.

How responsible is such a reading of the text? An initial response might be that a humanistic understanding of the passage ignores its contextualization in Matthew's gospel. But this is not the end of the matter. Tensions in the narrative indicate that the evangelist has taken over and adapted earlier traditions. Moreover, the possibility cannot be excluded that some form of the parable of the sheep and the goats goes back to Jesus himself. Does our modern interest in this passage find support in attitudes of Jesus which have been obscured by later ecclesiastical concerns?
Alms, Debt and Divorce: Jesus' Ethics in their Mediterranean Context
Authors: Kloppenborg John
Published: March 2013

The ethical injunctions ascribed to Jesus by the Synoptic Gospels have long posed interpretive difficulties both for exegetes who wish to understand the nature and coherence of Jesus' ethics, and for those engaged in the discussion ofthe Bible and contemporary Christian ethics. The problems are manifold. On the one hand, we are faced with striking gaps in the evidence. Not only are whole areas of ethical concern - household codes, for example - unrepresented in the extant Jesus tradition, but one also looks in vain for general principles from which to derive the prescriptions that are preserved. On the other hand, a surprisingly wide range of ethical topics are raised — public giving, divorce, payment of the tribute, lending to others and responding to insults. It is far from clear, however, that these varying topics display any measure of inner consistency or coherence.
Christians, Jews, and Antisemitism Now
Authors: Marmur Don
Published: March 2013

The reason for• the suspicion and lack of interest is the widespread belief among Jews that the roots of anti-Semitism are to be found in Christian teachings and that, despite the evolution of Christian theology, very little has been done by those in authority to denounce the past and to radically reformulate the teachings of Christianity. In recent years, this Jewish perception has been reinforced by a rich and revealing literature, written by Christians, which corroborates and reinforces the view that Christianity has sown the seeds of anti-Semitism all the way to the Holocaust and beyond. Jews have also noted that the authors of such books and articles have almost invariably remained on, or been relegated to, the periphery of their respective churches, so that their conclusions could remain unheeded by the mainstream.
Eucharistic Convergence in Ecumenical Debate: an Intimation of the Future of Christianity?
Authors: Grislis Egil
Published: March 2013

Theological charity and clarity often begin at home. Whatever Christianity has said about other religions has ordinarily stood in close correlation to Christian self-understanding. Therefore, world-wide ecumenists may celebrate the increasing doctrinal convergences within Christianity as signs of promise that openness toward other religions will also intensify. At the same time, however, it is realistic to observe that convergence has not yet proceeded far, and that it has been accompanied by a countercurrent of criticism which while no longer acrimonious, nevertheless has often been rather detailed. While the eucharistic discussions are only one facet of a far larger portrait, they may nevertheless serve to exemplify the present situation as it intimates future developments.
The Option for Poor and Oppressed in Doing Social Ethics
Authors: Cormie Lee
Published: March 2013

We live in a time in which the world — all of creation as we know it — is being transformed in unprecedented ways. Forms of social order are being radically transformed by international free trade agreements, the shifting international division of labour, largely unregulated global financial markets, the eruption of democracy in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe, and the decline of the cold war. And the very nature of nature itself, including human nature, is being transformed under the dual impact of pollution and genetic engineering. In this context, the recent book Christian Faith and Economic Justice: Toward a Canadian Perspective (Cranford Pratt and Roger Hutchinson, eds.; Burlington, Ont.: Trinity Press, 1988) is welcome, for presenting Canadian voices in the difficult debate concerning the murky relationship between Christian faith and the economy - a debate with profound implications for our understanding of the character of economic decision-making and for the mission of the church in a deeply divided and changing world.

The contributors to this volume touch on many important issues, concerning technology, employment, and the international economy. But, beyond these individual contributions, editors Pratt and Hutchinson offer a vision of the task of Christian social ethics. And, precisely because there is so little agreement about the relationship between Christian faith and the economy, or about what social ethics is or how to do it, in this review I will focus on that vision. Most importantly, I would like to affirm three basic characteristics of their approach which, in my judgment, should characterize every Christian social ethic.
Pluralism and Policy Monism: The Political Irrelevance of Theology
Authors: Kroeker P. Travis
Published: March 2013

Whatever the reasons might be, and I shall resist the temptation to speculate here, Canada is not distinguished by its contributions to the field of religious or theological ethics. And so Christian Faith and Economic Justice, subtitled as it is Toward a Canadian Perspective, should be taken as a hopeful sign of growing interest in the field in this country. Surprisingly, however, the book does not clarify either of the terms in the main title, or the relationships between them. While the reader is informed (if not overwhelmed) by a great deal of sophisticated policy language — concerning different positions on technological change and (un)employment, global interdependence and development, economic self-reliance and integration — religiously and ethically one is left with little more than vague liberal rhetoric about embracing diversity within a methodological framework allowing for mutual clarification on specific policy issues. In my judgement, the book fails its own test of adequacy (p. xii) — it cannot facilitate discussion among persons with different basic orientations when it ignores the substantive meaning and relations of those orientations to matters of policy. When policy discourse becomes the lowest common denominator mediating between the plurality of private views and motives, the currency into which all communicative acts can be translated and 'cashed out, ' then theological ethical discourse is emptied of public meaning or relevance. In the process, ironically, genuine plurality or diversity is sacrificed to the abstract rationality of policy monism — the bottom line of technological production and consumption 'opportunities.'
Two Prayer Books - Not Two Tongues: A reply to Dr. Hayes
Authors: Barnett T.A.M.
Published: March 2013

Alan Hayes chose an intriguing title for his essay on prayer books: "Praying in Two Tongues''. By free association it reminds me of the hymn "O for a thousand tongues to sing /My dear redeemer's praise." Yet many advocates of prayer books, including Alan Hayes, do not want even two tongues. He claims in his article, subtitled "Conflicting Principles of Worship in the Anglican Church of Canada", that the Anglican Church suffers from a "liturgical and liturgiological split personality." From the title, the body of the essay and remarks made by Hayes in a recent lecture in Ottawa, I judge that he rather favours the Book of Common Prayer (BCP), and deplores the Book of Alternative Services (BAS). He does, however ask very pertinent questions about both books. I will confine my answer to them here to some basic principles.
A Reply to Dr.Barnett
Authors: Hayes Alan
Published: March 2013

I once saw an American soldier in Munich trying to rent a car. He spoke no German, and the clerk spoke only basic English. Finally the soldier, in colloquial, accented English, raised a concern which the clerk misinterpreted. In the ensuing discussion, each tried to make himself understood by repeating over and over, ever more loudly, what he had already said, and tempers rose. To an observer it was obvious that what we had here was one of Cool Hand Luke's "failures to communicate," and that the problem was insoluble on its own terms. Either the two would require an interpreter, or one of them would need to try a fresh approach. They themselves, however, did not see things this way; each simply thought the other rather dense.

Since 1985, what might have been a helpful conversation about worship among Canadian Anglicans has degenerated, in the absence of abler leadership, into an angry altercation between the protagonists of the Book of Common Prayer (BCP) and those of the Book of Alternative Services (BAS). To an observer it seems clear that each side is premising norms which the other cannot interpret — if you will, each side is speaking a language foreign to the other. Each side thinks the other rather dense, and tries to make itself understood by saying the same things over and over, ever more loudly.
The Marriage Services of the United Church of Canada: Stages on a Liturgical Journey
Authors: Harding Thomas
Published: March 2013

The United Church of Canada orders for the Solemnization of Marriage provide a unique overview of the history of liturgy in the denomination. The two orders contained in the 1926 Forms of Service were an attempt to provide transitional services retaining the flavour of the uniting denominations. The marriage liturgy of the 1932 Book of Common Order represents the height-of the Prayer Book tradition — an attempt to recapture the' catholic' pattern of the marriage service in the western church. The draft orders of 1962 and 1965, culminating in the marriage liturgy of the 1969 Service Book4 and the 1975 'contemporary' revision, portray the ferment and confusion of the 1960s and 70s. The 1985 Celebration of Marriage for Optional Use ... represents the growing ecumenical convergence in worship patterns of which the United Church is a part.

A sequential examination of these liturgies reveals the stages the United Church has travelled through on its liturgical journey: from denominational particularity through the search for a larger catholic tradition, the concern for relevance in a rapidly changing world, to the concern to be faithful to the tradition but in a contemporary way. In addition, the marriage service, perhaps more than any other liturgy, demonstrates the intricate interplay between societal understandings of what the church should be about and the traditions which have shaped the church's worship life.
Douglas John Hall's Use of Lutner's Theologia Crucis.
Authors: Jensen Gordon
Published: March 2013

The Canadian theologian Douglas John Hall has consistently emphasized the need for a North American contextual theology. For too long the theology bandied about oil this continent has been borrowed from Europe, or even Latin America. These theological 'programmes' do not take into account the sitz-imleben of our society; hence Hall has proposed a vigorous and exciting exercise in the development of a uniquely North American contextual theology. Ironically however, the methodological framework Hall adopts is derived from a late medieval European, Martin Luther. While this may seem contrary to what Hall is attempting to do, the theology of the cross which Luther espoused provides an excellent basis for his contextual theology. Furthermore, by employing Luther, he immediately quells the fears of those who would assume that contextuality in theology means discarding all tradition. Contextuality, he contends, is not to be confused with relativism or 'situationalism': unlike them, it includes the quest for a 'useable past,' a past which keeps it from losing its specific Christian identity.

While Hall recognizes the need for reflection on the Christian tradition, this does not mean he is willing to settle for the prevalent, majority tradition as the basis for his North American contextual theology. Instead, he opts for what he calls a 'thin' and often neglected tradition: Luther's theology of the cross. How he uses and modifies this frequently ignored tradition which Luther first named is the subject of my paper. Beginning with what Luther and then Hall mean by 'theology of the cross,' I will follow with an analysis of how Hall uses Luther's theology of the cross. I then conclude with a discussion of how other themes found in Luther's theologia cruces might strengthen and augment Hall's programme of contextuality.
The Incompleteness of McLelland's Analysis
Authors: Newman Jay
Published: March 2013

In reviewing Joseph McLelland's Prometheus Rebound for the Dalhousie Review, I praised this thoughtful work for the dignity of its apologetic, the breadth of it scholarship (both as intellectual history and literary criticism), and the plausibility of one of its central historical theses. However, I also indicated that I am not convinced McLelland has provided us with satisfactory guidelines as to how to exploit his key historical insight. I observed that he has been somewhat presumptuous, for the brief and rather vague theological and philosophical comments he ends the volume with do not go far enough toward establishing what the proper alternative is to viewing the Christian God in the way the Promethean-postulatory atheists do. Whatever their limitations, Promethean atheists have quite consistently had good reason to believe that, for the most part, Christians and other theists have been motivated by a conception of God that is neither sufficiently clear, nor sufficiently morally efficacious. In drawing our attention to poetic phrases from such modem luminaries as Barth, Tillich, Macquarrie, Hartshorne and Moltmann, McLelland does point us in a certain direction, but he seems in the end to undervalue the complexity of the theodicy problem as well as the magnitude of the evils that critics of Christian conceptions of God have reasonably associated with those conceptions. McLelland undoubtedly knows that the historical, critical aspects of
The Ethical Dimensions of Atheism: Comments on Joseph C. McLelland's Prometheus Rebound
Authors: Ward Bruce
Published: March 2013

In an age come to be designated as 'Promethean,' there is something self-evident, even inevitable, about the association of the Prometheus myth with the problem of faith and atheism. Yet when, with Joseph McLelland's guidance, we reflect on the itinerary of this myth within western civilization, the sense of the inevitable gives way to a certain astonishment. An ancient Greek religious symbolism comes so effectively to signify the divine-human relationship within the matrix of the biblical religious consciousness that it helps give birth to a modernity neither Greek nor biblical, nor perhaps even 'religious': a strange itinerary indeed, in which ironies abound. In the irony appearing to most interest the author of Prometheus Rebound, however, the Promethean assertion of freedom ends in a self-imposed servitude; it is the irony discovered by the social theorist, Shigalev, in Dostoevsky's The Devils, who starts out with 'unlimited freedom' only to arrive at 'unlimited despotism.' I It appears to me that in focusing on this irony, McLelland is able to shed light not only on a theoretical problem in the philosophy of religion, but also on the practical fate of our age.
Zeus Unbound: The Irony of Theism
Authors: McLelland Joseph
Published: March 2013

Symposia are a time-honoured way of sharing an academic cup, of meeting over a common discourse to exchange ideas, critiques, theses. Ivan Khan (to whom be praise) played Agathon to our Socratic circle of philosophers; I hesitate to match the rest of us with Plato's characters. At times I feel most like Aristophanes — confronted with the magnitude of learning and the world's problems not always helped by academics, I sense the disproportion of our rationality, the humour of it all. Probably this is why I subtitled my study of Prometheanism an 'irony.' Irony is a form of dissembling, a dialogue of contradiction. The eiron of classical drama was the character between buffoon and imposter — speaking truth in riddles, masking profundity in trivia. The device served Socrates well enough: his kind of irony is a dialectical catharsis making room for the awe-ful Truth. Plato's Symposium ends with A1cibiades 'remarking on the satyr-like nature of 'the two faces of Socrates.'

In our case, my four respondents — Jay Newman, George Schner, Bruce Ward and John Webster — were gracious in their analysis of my book, positive in critique, and gentle in demand. It is a humbling experience to test one's published work — there it lies between us, in final and irrevocable form, vulnerable as one's child. One has come to own the theses for debate; can anyone else really understand what these words struggle to say? And as the discussion reveals other interpretations, one finds oneself debating different items on alien ground. So let me respond to just three of the themes underlined by the symposiasts.
The Theologian's Rivals
Authors: Newman Jay
Published: March 2013

I must begin by expressing my deep gratitude to the members of the Canadian Theological Society for entrusting me with the leadership of the society during the past year. I suspect I am not the only one moved to reflect during the year on how it is that a Jewish philosopher from Brooklyn has emerged as the president of a society composed largely of Canadian Christian theologians. However they interpret this somewhat curious state of affairs, my colleagues in the society should know I have always held them in high regard, both personally and professionally, and that I have been pleased and proud to be associated with them and the society.
Book Reviews
Authors: Kloppenborg John , Halpern Baruch , Dion Paul , Friesen Ivan , Kozar Joseph , Richardson Peter , Rosica Thomas , Braun Willi , Mason Steve , O'Mara Mechtilde , Brown Schuyler , Fedwick Paul , Mason Ian , Airhart Phyllis , Brown Schuyler , Hillis Bryan , Fraser Brian , Stogre Michael , Farris Stephen , Ruffing Janet , Wagner Paul , Dyke Doris
Published: March 2013

R.J. Coggins and J.L. Houlden, eds., A Dictionary of Biblical Interpretation, reviewed by John S. Kloppenborg

Robert B. Coote, Early Israel: A New Horizon, reviewed by Baruch Halpern

Walter Vogels, Les Prophetes, reviewed by Paul E. Dion

Martin Warner, ed., The Bible as Rhetoric: Studies in Biblical Persuasion and Credibility, reviewed by Ivan Friesen

Richard Bauckham, Jude and the Relatives of Jesus in the Early Church, reviewed by John S. Kloppenborg

Susan R. Garrett, The Demise of the Devil: Magic and the Demonic in Luke's Writings, reviewed by Joseph Vlcek Kozar

Lloyd Gaston, Paul and the Torah, reviewed by Peter Richardson

Maurya P. Horgan and Paul J. Kobelski, eds., To Touch the Text: Biblical and Related Studies in Honor of Joseph A. Fitzmyer, S.J., reviewed by Thomas M. Rosica

Burton L. Mack and Vernon K. Robbins, Patterns of Persuasion in the Gospels, reviewed by Willi Braun

Peter Richardson and Stephen Westerholm, eds., Law in Religious Communities in the Roman Period: The Debate Over Torah and Nomos in Post-Biblical Judaism and Early Christianity, reviewed by Steve Mason

Vernon K. Robbins, ed., Ancient Quotes and Anecdotes: From Crib to Crypt, reviewed by Mechtilde O'Mara

Dan O. Via, Jr., Self-Deception and Wholeness in Paul and Matthew, reviewed by Schuyler Brown

Christopher Brooke, The Medieval Idea of Marriage2, reviewed by Paul J. Fedwick

Brian J. Fraser, The Social Uplifters: Presbyterian Progressives and the Social Gospel in Canada, 1875-1915, reviewed by Ian Manson

John Webster Grant, A Profusion of Spires: Religion in Nineteenth-Century Ontario2, reviewed by Phyllis D. Airhart

Karen King, ed., Images of the Feminine in Gnosticism, reviewed by Schuyler Brown

David W. Lotz, ed., Altered Landscapes: Christianity in America, 1935-1985., reviewed by Bryan Hillis

George A. Rawlyk, ed., The Canadian Protestant Experience, 1760-I990, reviewed by Ian Manson

Jonathan Z. Smith, Drudgery Divine: On the Cornparison of Early Christianities and the Religions of Late Antiquity, reviewed by John S. Kloppenborg

William Westfall, Two Worlds: The Protestant Culture o/Nineteenth-Century Ontario., reviewed by Brian J. Fraser

Janet Hodgson and Jay Kothare, Vision Quest: Native Spirituality and the Church in Canada, reviewed by Michael Stogre

Thomas G. Long, The Witness of Preaching, reviewed by Stephen Farris

Joann Wolski Conn, Spiritual and Personal Maturity, reviewed by Janet K. Ruffing

Richard J. Ginn, The Present and the Past: A Study of Anamnesis, reviewed by Paul Wagner

Dorothee Solie, The Window of Vulnerability: A Political Spirituality, reviewed by Doris Jean Dyke
Exitus clari viri: The Death of Jesus in Luke
Authors: Kloppenborg John
Published: March 2013

In an era when New Testament scholars often looked exclusively to the Hebrew Bible and related documents to find the forms and ideas that would account for the shape of Christian literature, Heinz Guenther has continually encouraged a much broader search. From a literary point of view, the gospels do not, in fact, have Hebrew or Aramaic predecessors, but share 'the profile and literary conventions of Mediterranean culture. q Even though the evangelists wished to relate a story of a Jewish hero who probably spoke Aramaic as a first language, and whose horizons probably did not go much beyond Roman Palestine, they composed their accounts in Greek, using typically Greek forms (such as chreiai), and gave those accounts a very different cultural horizon - one in which Alexander, Caesar, and Socrates figured at least as importantly as Moses and Elijah.
Philosophia in the Writings of Erasmus
Authors: Kinowaki Etsuro
Published: March 2013

'The Prince of Humanists' is the most popular title given to Erasmus by his admirers. It allows, however, various interpretations. An appropriate expression of his importance as an educator who introduced many classics into the practical linguistic training of the sixteenth century, the title suggests highest praise for the sixteenth century's most renowned classical scholar and rhetorician. At the same time, however, Erasmus has been treated negatively in the history of Christianity — especially in theology — despite his fame otherwise. This negative treatment is reflected by emphasizing one part of the title: 'The Prince of Humanists.' It is claimed that Erasmus enlarged and stressed the potentiality of human reason and, as such, stood in opposition to the biblical and Christian theological view of human nature, which asserts that human beings are bearers of original sin.