Salvation in a social context: the impact of Hegelian social theory on modern understanding of soteriology, with particular reference to the Phenomenology of Spirit

The study is an exercise in interdisciplinary practice. It concerns the relationship between theology and socio-philosophy and considers the type of dialogical theory that is required in order to articulate the meaning of salvation socially. The intention is mediate a theological understanding of salvation through issues raised by Hegel in The Phenomenology of Spirit and which continue as matters of concern to his interpreters. The study is divided into three main /arts, Identity, Alienation and Community. Each part reP1.sents interrelated areas of human experience which bear upon Christian and nonChristian social theory. The Introduction and Part 1 outline difficulties on the side of faith in articulating an idea of God's salvation for the contemporary needs and goals of society. I paint in broad brush strokes the shape of the contention over how to speak about salvation in a social context, in particular, the dualism between talking of 'the social' either terms of the functions of collected individuals or as a single entity. Part 2 introduces critical interpretations of Hegel and his treatment of various social forms of alienation. Relevant contributions from contemporary non-Christian social theorists, Jurgen Habermas, in particular, are summarized and discussed. 1 In Part 3 I consider what is inadequate in Hegel's own superseding of the Christian understanding of community and ask: -What kind of thought is able to sublate Hegel's own inadequate notion of community?- Using analogical reasoning, I suggest that it is possible for theology both to learn from Hegel and his interpreters, and to criticize them. I look at some implications for Christian social theory today

Participation: an onto-epistemology for a theology of mission for the 21st century

https://place.asburyseminary.edu/ecommonsatsdissertations/1496/thumbnail.jp

The Architecture of Participation in the Thought of Richard Hooker

This thesis explores how the metaphysical concept of participation shapes and informs Richard Hooker’s apology for the Elizabethan Settlement in Of the Lawes of Ecclesiastical Polity. While scholars have long noted the presence of participatory language in selected passages of Hooker’s Lawes, the implicit ways in which participation structures the metaphysical, epistemological, and political arguments across the work have never been uncovered or explored. Accordingly, this work shows how Hooker uses the architectural framework of ‘participation in God’ in order systematically to build his cohesive vision of the Elizabethan Church. This study shows how Hooker’s account of participation thereby deflates the range of modern accusations that the Lawe is an incoherent work. It also illuminates, critiques, and opens up ecumenical and theological possibilities as part of a modern theological ressourcement of participatory metaphysics. This thesis therefore explores the gestures between Hooker’s metaphysics, epistemology, and political vision in turn. The thesis first outlines as a heuristic device the ‘architecture of participation’ (the constituent ideas and themes which make up the polyvalent possibilities of the term) through which Hooker’s thought can be best understood. In the second chapter, this thesis explores two ‘mini-treatises’ in the Lawes that together reflect Hooker’s basic architecture of participation: the suspension of creation from God through the system of laws sharing in eternal law; and the redemption of creation through sacramental participation in Christ. The third chapter unveils how Hooker’s architecture of participation establishes a certain homology between his ontology and subsequent epistemology. As Hooker responds to his opponents in the Lawes, reason and desire emerge from the architecture of participation to become the constellating categories for a mixed cognitive ecology which circumscribes both natural and supernatural forms of cognitive participation in God. The fourth chapter investigates how the last three so-called ‘books of power’ in the Lawes represent a closing movement from the ‘general meditations’ of earlier books to the disputed ‘particular decisions’ of the Tudor polity, namely episcopacy and lay ecclesiastical supremacy. The chapter explains how the architecture of participation yields the substructure upon which Hooker constructs his political ecclesiology. The closing chapter addresses directly the opening provocations, arguing that Hooker’s architecture of participation provides a series of related gestures showing the logical and coherent connections in his thought that make him a systematic theologian of a particular type

REASON AS A SOURCE OF ISLAMIC LAW: Epistemological Approach

ABSTRACT The existence of reason in humans is a privilege given by Allah SWT. Humans with their intellect can think, do reasoning, and appreciate all of Allah's creations. Qur’an as a source of basic material in Islamic law provides a large portion of the use of human reason. The method used in this research was library research. The background to the recognition of the role of reason is the fact that the development of social life is followed by various life problems whose answers cannot be found in translation in the Qur’an or Hadith. The results of this study indicate that, first, reason is the power of thought which when used can lead a person to understand the problem he is thinking about. Second, reason functions as a tool for thinking, contemplating, experiencing, and developing intelligent concepts and ideas, very closely related to education. Therefore, reason in its implication towards the goals of Islamic education greatly determines the success or failure of a person in achieving the goals of Islamic education.   ABSTRAK Keberadaan akal pada manusia merupakan keistimewaan yang diberikan Allah swt. Manusia dengan akal yang dimilikinya dapat berpikir, melakukan penalaran, dan penghayatan terhadap segala ciptaan Allah swt. Al-Qur’an sebagai sumber materi pokok dalam hukum Islam memberikan porsi yang besar terhadap penggunaan akal pikiran manusia. Metode yang digunakan dalam penelitian ini adalah studi kepustakaan.  Latar belakang dari diakuinya peranan akal ini merupakan kenyataan berkembangnya kehidupan masyarakat yang diikuti oleh berbagai permasalahan hidup yang tidak ditemui jawabannya secara harfiah dalam Al-Qur’an maupun Al-Hadits. Hasil penelitian ini menunjukkan bahwa, pertama, akal adalah daya pikir yang bila digunakan dapat mengantarkan seseorang untuk memahami dan memahami masalah yang sedang dipikirkannya. Kedua, akal berfungsi sebagai alat berpikir, merenung dan mengalami serta mengembangkan konsep dan gagasan yang cemerlang, sangat erat hubungannya dengan pendidikan. Maka akal dalam implikasinya terhadap tujuan pendidikan Islam sangat menentukan berhasil atau tidaknya seseorang dalam mencapai tujuan pendidikan Islam

Theological dramatics and post-Christian drama: Hans Urs von Balthasar's dialogues with twentieth-century theatre

This thesis examines Hans Urs von Balthasar's theological dialogues with twentieth-century theatre. It locates them in the context of his vision of theo-drama, showing that they are grounded in a Christological intuition of what drama is. An account of Balthasar's theodramatic hermeneutics introduces his theatrical vocabulary, a scheme of two inter-related triads and consequent themes, in which the ultimate term of dramatic reality is theological. His hermeneutics appropriates theatre practice as a theological resource, in a way by which not only the practitioners' theological status but also their dramatic potential is exposed. I offer a model of Balthasar's understanding of life as drama in three dimensions, the natural-human, the ecclesial- personal and the eschatological-final, arguing that he requires twentieth-century theatre to be post-Christian in as much as it is dramatic. I focus on dialogues with theatre directors and show how Balthasar uses his theological standard for drama to interpret directors as post-Christian and then, in dialogue with that interpretation, to find them either protesting or parodic in respect of Christian theodramatic reality. A particular study of Balthasar's dialogue with Peter Brook outlines, on Brook's terms, the relationship between life and drama and considers Brook's rhetorical use of Christian imagery, especially that of incarnation and grace. This highlights the extent to which Balthasar selectively appropriates aspects of Brook's work as post-Christian and makes that appropriation, and not Brook's own stance. Brook's situation as his dialogue partner. From such specific considerations, I question whether Balthasar's is a strategy for genuine dialogue. I argue that Balthasar considers dialogue itself as a dramatic phenomenon internally relative to God's dramatic activity in Christ and conclude that his account and practice of dialogue is only sustainable within this perspective

The Trinity and Congregational Planning: Between Historical Minimum and Eschatological Maximum

Most members of congregations are inattentive to both the past and the future of their congregation. They live in a very present now. An adequate doctrine of the Trinity can liberate congregations from this imprisonment in the present; it will call for visioning and planning in congregational life

Explaining the Role of Scripture in the Economy of Redemption as it Relates to the Theological and Hermeneutical Contributions of David Tracy, Hans Frei, Kevin Vanhoozer and Henri de Lubac

This dissertation explores the hermeneutical impasses which have resulted from the recent debates about the theological interpretation of Scripture between revisionist theologian David Tracy and postliberal theologian Hans Frei and suggests that locating the role of Scripture in the economy of redemption would ease many of these methodological tensions. The works of Evangelical theologian Kevin Vanhoozer and Ressourcement theologian Henri de Lubac, it is argued, provide helpful resources for these discussions as these theologians explicitly seek to explain the role of Scripture in mediating the relationship between Christ and the Church. The dissertation suggests that examining the role of Scripture in the context of the economy does provide helpful insights for hermeneutical method as it shows the intrinsic unity between the literal reading of Scripture and Scripture\u27s spiritual interpretation, as well as the intrinsic unity between Scripture and Church in receiving Scriptural mediation. It is concluded that these insights ease ongoing tensions between Frei and Tracy by showing that Frei\u27s insistence on the plain sense of Scripture is compatible with Tracy\u27s insistence on the transformative disclosure of Christ in Scripture