bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Jesus in the New Testament: A Bibliographical Survey
Authors: Mackey James P. 
Published: August 2016

Since I bear the brunt of editorial responsibility for this section ofHorizons, I take this opportunity to propose some guidelines for future contributors here and to give an example in the pages which follow. The topics chosen for a survey of recent literature, I feel, should be substantive; the kind of topic that would normally be central to a college or university course. The presentation should aim at thematic continuity rather than discrete quantity. This means that not every book and article written in the last decade need be mentioned, and older works are not excluded; but an attempt is made to achieve a critical assessment of dominant trends in the topics chosen. So, the theology of this section will be research-oriented, as all good theology should be, but, given the predominant membership-interest of the CTS, it should be aimed at classroom courses, actual or possible.Secondly, cooperation in contributions counts as additional value, in view of the growing need for interdisciplinary interest in most areas of theology today. A systematic theologian in particular, someone has said, is one who knows something about everything and everything about nothing. I therefore acknowledge my debt in the present piece to my colleague at the University of San Francisco, John H. Elliott, whose work in New Testament is well known to those who read the professional journals and monographs in that area, and who heartily agrees with me that our team-teaching in the classroom has been an indispensable aid to our own specialties. With these preliminary remarks I offer the following example to the critical view of readers and future contributors.
Ethics and Human Identity: The Challenge of the New Biology
Authors: May William E. 
Published: August 2016

AbstractThe major reason why ethics seeks to determine the rightness or wrongness of human acts is that it is principally concerned with the question of our identity as human beings, an identity that we shape for ourselves by our willingness to choose to do specific kinds of deeds or acts. Questions of morality, in other words, are at root questions of human identity. We make or break our lives as human beings by the deeds we choose to do.With this underlying theme the essay seeks to assess the adequacy of diverse moral methodologies insofar as these have been employed in an effort to confront the challenges posed by the new biology. Three types of approaches are examined: the consequentialist type exemplified by Joseph Fletcher, the “mediating” approach discernible in many contemporary writers and given its most systematic articulation by Richard McCormick, and the deontological type so ably presented by Paul Ramsey and Germain Grisez. The author argues that the Ramsey-Grisez type of approach is the most adequate, contending that the other two types of approaches are more concerned with what our deeds get done than they are with what our deeds have to tell us about the meaning of our existence as moral beings.
Church Architecture as an Approach to the Study of Religion
Authors: Brightman Robert S. 
Published: August 2016

AbstractIn the course Architecture in Worship, the interior functional design of churches is taken as a point of departure for the study of the theological beliefs and liturgical practices of various periods of church history and of different denominations. Using an inductive approach, the course provides a unique approach to the study of church history and sacramental theology, and thus is useful as an alternative among the varied departmental offerings.
Understanding the Religious Personality
Authors: Cenkner William 
Published: August 2016

AbstractIf greater intelligibility is to be achieved in the study of religious figures, the work of symbol in the life of individuals should be probed. Method grounded in sociological and psychological theory holds this possibility. Three considerations center this approach to understanding: (a) the religious figure is formed as he intersects with a symbol system, a process of creative resymbolization; (b) the religious figure is differentiated from others and understood within one of many distinct fields of experience, each field having significant psychological effects on spiritual development; (c) the understanding one achieves is contained by the questions brought to the datum. When more personalistic questions are raised of the religious figure within his symbol system, important differences in meaning result. Taken together, these meanings may approach integral understanding.
Clifford Geertz: An Interfacing of Anthropology and Religious Studies
Authors: Morgan John H. 
Published: August 2016

AbstractClifford Geertz is acclaimed today to be one of the most important theorists in the anthropology of religion. He has approached the subject-matter of religion from the perspective of a humanist seeking to come to an analytical understanding of the nature of culture as an historically transmitted pattern of meanings embodied in a complex of symbol-systems. This approach, i.e., defining anthropology as a science of meaning-analysis, nurtures the study of culture as a meaning-system. Religion, too, says Geertz, is a cultural system and necessarily conveys meaning. Therefore, both culture and religion are meaning-systems and, we can conclude, both anthropology and theology attempt to analyze systematically these meaning-systems. The interfacing of the disciplines of anthropology (systematics of culture) and theology (systematics of religion) is made possible by the utilization of the category of “meaning” as a hermeneutical key to the understanding of both religion and culture as meaning-systems.
Informal Survey of Courses on Women in Religion
Authors: Swidler Arlene Anderson 
Published: August 2016

In the early 1970's courses in Women's Studies began to appear on many campuses across the country, encouraged in part by the success of Black Studies. As the whole area of women and religion is a particularly complex and significant field, courses on women began to appear in religion as well as in psychology, literature, history, sociology and even natural science departments.It was hard to know where to begin in organizing a course on “Women in Religion.” Most teachers felt some attention must be given to both Old and New Testament studies, church history, church law, non-Western religions, moral theology, and the role women play in contemporary churches; then secular history, literature, education and psychology must all be tapped to show parallels, causes and effects. People teaching in Women Studies programs tended to do a lot of sharing of experiences and resources.
Conscience: Developmental Perspectives from Rogers and Kohlberg
Authors: Philibert Paul J. 
Published: August 2016

AbstractTheories of personal development can contribute to the understanding of conscience and conscience formation. (I) Clinical psychologist Carl Rogers has formulated a description of stages in the process of personal growth. While Rogers' stages run parallel to Kohlberg's stages of moral development, they contribute a more sensitive appreciation of some aspects of moral conscience. (II) Kohlberg's idea of conscience appears to be a postconventional phenomenon characterized by moral rationalism. This fact raises certain questions about the value of Kohlberg's work as a paradigm for Christian conscience formation. (III) Both Rogers and Kohlberg contribute to an understanding of conscience. In Christian theology, however, conscience is a multifaceted reality which represents a plurality of moral dimensions. While stage advance describes some characteristics of mature conscience, conscience is a broader reality than either Rogers' or Kohlberg's stages will satisfy to describe.
Von Hügel's Contribution to Religious Studies and to Religion
Authors: Biallas Leonard J. 
Published: August 2016

AbstractVon Hügel performs an invaluable service for religion and deserves to be classified among the seminal thinkers in religious studies because of his holistic approach to the study and practice of religion. He insists on a healthy friction ortension between various elements of religion as a necessary component of a mature religious life. Such friction is found especially in the interplay of the mystical element of religion with the intellectual and institutional elements. This mystical element, which includes a person's volitional and intuitive side as well as effortful activity, is found to be a legitimate area of scientific investigation and a valid form of human knowledge. Von Hügel's contributions to the study and practice of religion are then situated and evaluated in terms of four areas of current interest. These areas are the journey toward wholeness, the possibility of self-transcendence, the spiritual importance of the body, and the eschatological anticipation of mankind's final end.
Christian Prayer: Practice and Theory
Authors: Dreyer Elizabeth , Egan Keith J. 
Published: August 2016

AbstractA member of the Theology Department and of the Staff of Campus Ministry team taught at Marquette University a course in which the objective was to offer the opportunity for both the experience of prayer and for reflection upon that experience. In this article the two teachers describe that experiment and offer their reflections upon its potential for meeting the need for such cooperative ventures.
Teaching Theology: Some Affective Strategies
Authors: Ognibene Richard , Penaskovic Richard 
Published: August 2016

AbstractThis essay examines an approach to teaching theology in which “asking and feeling” are equally important concerns. It is argued that courses in theology can be structured in ways that eliminate the cognitive-affective dichotomy, while providing experiences whose motivational appeal enhances dialogue and the prospect of individual growth. Special attention is given to: (1) ways of structuring the classroom experience so that students become responsible for their own learning; (2) activities designed to enhance the self-concept; and (3) methods for developing interpersonal communication skills that promote effective group discussion.
TheNembutsu: Prayer As Enlightenment in Shin Buddhism
Authors: Gurdak Thaddeus J. 
Published: August 2016

AbstractThe recitation of thenembutsu, a plea for salvation in the form of the ejaculatory prayer, “I call on Amida Buddha,” far from being an aberration of Buddhist practice, is an organic development of doctrine and practice based on early Mahāyana thought. With its roots in the work of Nāgārjuna and Vasubandhu, the practice grew from a perception of the Buddha's compassion being such that it would create a provisional paradise within which searchers for enlightenment could dwell, so that, free from the cycle ofkarma-defilement-suffering in this world, they could more readily attain ultimate enlightenment. Thenembutsuis the response of an individual to the compassion of the Buddha, a selfless acceptance of that compassion which allows the individual to be drawn into it, thus being ushered into enlightenment itself. The prayer of thenembutsuis itself a participation in the reality of enlightenment.
Apocalypticism in Political and Liberation Theology: Toward an Historical Docta Ignorantia
Authors: Ashley J. Matthew 
Published: August 2016

AbstractThis article examines political and liberation theologies as instances of apocalypticism, focusing in the work of Johann Baptist Metz and Jon Sobrino. The first section develops a heuristic framework for identifying and analyzing apocalyptic discourse in general, using the historical work of Bernard McGinn and the rhetorical analysis of Stephen O'Leary. The second section applies this framework to Metz and Sobrino, arguing that their theology is a legitimate, provocative, and instructive instance of apocalyptic discourse today, in part because of the way it integrates apocalyptic eschatology with Christology. In a final section, the intelligibility proper to this apocalyptic discourse is discussed by arguing a correlation with mystical theology with its discursive pair of cataphasis and apophasis. Just as this pair finds its context of meaning in the practice of contemplative prayer, apocalyptic affirmations and the reserve expressed in the eschatological proviso find their context of meaning in the practice of opting for the poor.
Creativity as a Problem for Moral Theology: John Locke's 99 Percent Challenge to the Catholic Doctrine of Property
Authors: Finn Daniel R. 
Published: August 2016

AbstractAccording to the classic Catholic doctrine of property, owners who have more than they need are obliged to share their surplus with others who have less than they need. From the patristic era to the work of John Paul II, this obligation has been understood to arise most fundamentally from the character of the objects owned: the material world is a gift from the Creator, intended to meet the needs of all humanity. Three centuries ago, John Locke argued that 99 percent of the value of modern wealth is attributable not to natural resources but to human labor and invention, implicitly restricting the classic obligations of property owners to a mere 1 percent of wealth. Catholic moral theology has yet to integrate Locke's insight about human creativity and economic productivity into an adequate doctrine of property. This article surveys the problem and provides an outline of a constructive response.
Through Thick and Thin: Teaching Ethics from a Cross-Cultural Perspective
Authors: Bretzke James T. 
Published: August 2016

AbstractRecent attention given to the globalization of ethics, the prospects for a common morality, as well as related issues such as inculturation, pluralism, and multiculturalism all provide a challenging context for critical reflection on how theological ethics can be done in light of some of these challenges. A concrete course on “Cross-Cultural Models of Christian Ethics,” taught regularly at the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley, with participants from diverse theological and cultural backgrounds is presented with a view to stimulate further reflection on both the theological issues connected with doing cross-cultural ethics in the Christian theological tradition as well as aiding concrete curricular development in this area.
Quantum Physics and Christian Anthropology
Authors: Fowler Dean 
Published: August 2016

AbstractIn order to overcome the fragmentation between science and theology, interdisciplinary criteria for meaning must be established. This task is made more complex because of increasing pluralism in the theoretical foundations both of science and of theology. In addition to the traditional coherence and correspondence criteria, the meaningfulness of an idea emerging out of a particular discipline should be directly related to the breadth of its generalized applicability in diverse disciplines. In the article, the thematic content of holistic quantum physics is explicated in order to explore the implications of quantum theory vis-à-vis Christian anthropology. I argue that quantum physics offers scientific foundations for affirming the holistic approach to human existence rooted in the Biblical tradition.
Militant Nonviolence: A Spirituality for the Pursuit of Social Justice
Authors: Hanigan James P. 
Published: August 2016

AbstractThis essay suggests that a clearer understanding of violence and nonviolence as means to be used in the pursuit for justice will be achieved if we move the discussion of nonviolence to the domain of spirituality rather than ethics. A distinction is made between militant nonviolence and historic forms of pacifism and nonresistance, and it is argued that militant nonviolence only makes sense as a spirituality, rather than as an ethical demand. Finally it is argued that such a spirituality is essential for the pursuit of justice and some practical implications are drawn.
Feminism and World Religions
Authors: Carmody Denise Lardner 
Published: August 2016

There are several ways in which teachers might introduce feminist studies into the mainstream of world religions. Perhaps the best way to proceed would be for me to sketch my own teaching efforts (which have criss-crossed the world religions and Christianity), so that the reader will have one fairly full model against which to react. I apologize for the self-advertising this will entail.I began with a dual focus. On the one hand, I was asked to teach a course on “Women and Religion” that would serve a developing Women's Studies program (first at Penn State, then at Wichita State). The program was composed of various “Women and …” courses: “Women and Business,” “Women and the Law,” “The Psychology of Women,” “The Sociology of Women,” etc. On the other hand, I was asked to represent feminist scholarship and feminist interests within my home-base departments of Religious Studies. This meant cross-listing the course on “Women and Religion” as a Religious Studies elective, but also providing for feminist issues in other, usually general courses, such as “Introduction to Religion,” “Christianity,” “Traditional Religion in the Modern World,” and the like.
Non-Patriarchal Salvation
Authors: Cooke Bernard 
Published: August 2016

Among the more fundamental—and for that very reason more complex—elements in the present reassessing of women's role in Christianity is the issue of the “masculinity” of God and the masculinity of Jesus. How are women, without conforming to the discriminations inherent in a patriarchal culture, to relate to God as a “he” or to accept as their savior a Christ who has never shared their femininity.One of the key aspects of this issue, though by no means the only one, is the theological: how does Christian belief address itself to this issue, suggest “solutions,” or perhaps limit the range of acceptable feminist understandings of God. The present essay is meant to explore this theological dimension by relating New Testament understandings of Jesus' “Abba” experience (I) to two questions: How did Jesus' masculinity and his experience of God affect one another? (II) and In Christianity how appropriate is the name “Father” for God? (III).
Renewal or Repatriarchalization? Responses of the Roman Catholic Church to the Feminization of Religion
Authors: Gudorf Christine E. 
Published: August 2016

AbstractThis article will outline a feminist interpretation for responses of the Roman Catholic Church to particular events in modern history, and sketch feminist proposals for solving the resulting problems of the Church today. The first section interprets the Church's initial response to scientific and philosophic discoveries and movements of the late Renaissance and the Enlightenment period as responsible for the feminization of the image of Roman Catholicism in the secular mind. The second section interprets the Church's response to liberalism in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries as confirming for the secular, and increasingly popular, mind this feminine image of Catholicism. The third section depicts Vatican II as a contemporary attempt to create a more masculine image for the faith by moving the Church's sphere of action from the feminized private sector to the public world characterized by masculine rationality and technology. The final section sketches some ways in which modern feminist scholarship and its perspective can be a major and necessary contributor to the eradication of this feminine view of religion through the elimination of public/private dualism.
Catholic Theology in the United States, 1840-1907: Recovering a Forgotten Tradition
Authors: Portier William L. 
Published: August 2016

AbstractContrary to widely held assumptions, American Catholics in the nineteenth century made some interesting and even original contributions to religious thought. This essay serves as an introductory resource for this significant body of writing. Surveying the period between 1840 and 1907, it identifies distinctive and self-aware American Catholic contributions to theology in three areas, the church question, Catholic Americanism, and modernism. Finally it draws attention to some of the unfinished agenda left to us by this largely forgotten tradition.
Christianity's Elusive Style: Nietzsche and the Dilemma of Modernity
Authors: Schalow Frank 
Published: August 2016

AbstractThis paper attempts to elicit a certain sympathy for Nietzsche's view of Christianity by arguing that his critical attitude toward it must be considered more broadly within his quest to diagnose the illness pervading modern culture. Thus, while it has often been believed that Christianity contributes to the decline of modern culture, it is equally plausible that the institutions and language of modernity have become inadequate for the proper expression of the Christian message. The ostensibly “anti-Christian” sentiment in Nietzsche's thought, then, stems from an “anti-modern” stance, or, put more positively, from a vision that points ahead toward “post-modernity.” What becomes decisive for Christianity is not the formulation of any doctrine, but instead the implementation of a kind of “practice” or “style” that seeks as much an affirmation of life (even in view of life's suffering) as an escapist flight to the “other world.”In defending this thesis, this paper counters a simple association of Nietzsche with atheism that still remains prominent in some theological circles.
Re-membering Jesus: Women, Prophecy, and Resistance in the Memory of the Early Churches
Authors: D'Angelo Mary Rose 
Published: August 2016

AbstractIn the search for a feminist christology, Rosemary R. Ruether has proposed the vision of Jesus as prophet and the tradition of spirit christologies as sources. This essay proposes combining prophetic and spirit christologies, re-membering Jesus as a prophet within a prophetic movement, as a sharer in the spirit with its women and men prophets. It asks the reader to make two major shifts in envisaging Jesus' career: first, to shift the locus of the spirit from the person of Jesus to the reign-of-God movement within which he acted; second, to see the preaching of God's reign as alternative not to the teaching of the “scribes and Pharisees” but to the imperial rule. These two shifts can help us to revise the question, “Can a male savior save women?” asking instead whether, in the spirit, [we who are] women can liberate ourselves from but also with our memories of Jesus.
“Reproducing the World”: Mary O'Brien's Theory of Reproductive Consciousness and Implications for Feminist Incarnational Theology
Authors: Kaminski Phyllis H. 
Published: August 2016

AbstractMary O'Brien has inspired a vigorous reexamination of the concept and practices of reproduction. Her philosophy of birth reclaims this central female experience from the existentialist category of unconscious immanence. This article sketches O'Brien's theory and suggests how her reappraisal of reproductive process sheds light on the contradictions in traditional messages about biological difference, the nature of women, and the meaning of motherhood. It illustrates its claim by reading one such message, John Paul II'sMulieris Dignitatem, in light of O'Brien's work, and argues that using the bio-social process of reproduction as an analytic tool helps overcome dualisms and can further feminist insights into incarnation as a dynamic principle of creation. It invites further reflection on embodiment, birth, and motherhood as theological concepts.