A postmodern Christology with Christ but without the Son of God?

In this review article, the revisioned christology developed by the American theologian Mark Kline Taylor in the chapter ‘Christ as rough Beast’ in his book ‘Remembering Esperanza’ (1990) is discussed critically. The cultural- political theology developed by Taylor, in which he ‘moves’ from autobiographical elements to theological reflection in addressing the postmodern trilemma in North America, is explained. It is shown how Taylor, through his cultural-political hermeneutics of tradition, unfolds his christology as a fourfold christology in which Christ designates an intersubjective, socio-historical force for reconciliatory emancipation. Finally, his christological interpretation is critically compared by means of formal similarities with that of the German New Testament scholar Rudolf Bultmann (1884-1976).

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Religieuse ervaring: Aspoestertjie van teologiese besinning

Religious experience: Cinderella of theological ReflectionHow is the concept ‘experience’ to be understood, a concept frequently used but which defies clearcut definition? How is religious experience, which is not a terminus technicus, to be understood? These questions are addressed from a historic survey of developments in the interpretation of the nature and understanding of religious experience, spanning Aristotle to modern German theologians. Stressing the fundamental importance for theology of reflection on religious experience, this article describes religious experience as feeling plus a religious conceptual framework, constituted by recollection and embodied in hope

Chemical investigation of Pachystigma pygmaeum Schlechter (gousiektebossie)

Leaves and stems of the plant, Pachystigma pygmaeum (gousiektebossie), collected at Kaalfontein on 20th October, 1950, were subjected to a chemical investigation. Four crystalline substances were isolated: a lactone, m.p. 199°C.; a phytosterol, m.p. 253-256°C., mannitol, m.p. 166°C., and a flavone glycoside which sintered at 194-195°C. and finally melted at 222-224°C. All these substances were tested out on rabbits with negative results.The articles have been scanned in colour with a HP Scanjet 5590; 300dpi. Adobe Acrobat XI Pro was used to OCR the text and also for the merging and conversion to the final presentation PDF-format

At the table of multi-disciplinary conversations

More fundamental to and preceding the participation by Christian Theologians in a common task of sense making (see Conradie 1), is an understanding of Christian Theology's role as being a "conversation specialist" (Will Storrar) in the context of the science-religion / theology discourses and as being a "conversation partner" on the genesis of knowledge (that is, on models of rationality). As "conversation partner", Christian Theology must listen to the dialogue partners, participate in and engagingly contribute to the science of philosophy's discourses on models of rationality in formulating criteria for making knowledge claims. On these knowledge claims, Christian Theology has no monopoly. It can neither prematurely accept an (self-introduced) designation such as "a particular school of thought" (see Conradie 2 and 11) as vantage point nor prematurely introduce "revelational claims" (see Conradie 3 and 10) as immunisation strategy. Christian theologians indeed may be asked to explain what they bring to the table that is distinctive (see rightly so Conradie 4) for them as"conversation specialists". Let me formulate and substantiate my argument in response to Conradie only with specific reference to two issues.http://ojs.reformedjournals.co.za/index.php/stjam201

With reasons of the heart before God : on religious experience from an evolutionary-theological perspective

What does the affective-cognitive dimension of being human entails? Many contemporary scholars from theological (especially religious experience) perspectives as well as from evolutionary biological (especially neuroscientific) perspectives have made exciting inroads in the on-going anthropological discourses on this very dimension of being human. My article partially makes work of their respective contributions. For the former theological perspective I will utilize Pascal and Stoker. For the latter neuroscientific perspective I will concentrate on LeDoux and Damasio. I call my contribution an evolutionary-theological re-conceptualisation of religious experience for which I make use of Pascal’s famous words from his Pensées (1670) “The heart has its reasons which reason does not know” and “(i)t is the heart which experiences God and not the reason”. Therefore the title: With reasons of the heart before God. Such a formulation however immediately raises the question: Does such an emphasis on the “heart” reintroduce irrationality into the scientific scholarly dialogue? The answer is clear: Yes, it does. It is argued that it should be re-introduced constructively into contemporary science-theology discourses in order – on the one hand – to critically address the very accusation, and – on the other hand – to present us with a far richer, deeper understanding of personhood. From the constructive integration of the two perspectives, namely the theological and neuroscientific the words of Pascal is finally re-formulated from an evolutionary-theological perspective and qualified in which emotion is presented as the embodiment of the logic of survival.Paper that was read at 15th European Society for Studies in Science and Theology Conference, Do Emotions Shape the World?, Assisi, Italy 30 April – 4 May 2014 has been re-worked for publication as article.http://ngtt.journals.ac.za/hb201

Geneem en gelees : oor Dirkie Smit as hermeneutiese teoloog

Met spesifieke toespitsing op die werk Neem, lees! (2006) van die sistematiese teoloog Dirkie Smit van die Fakulteit Teologie, Stellenbosch, word krities gevra na sy benadering tot en verstaan van die plek van hermeneutiek in teologiese besinning. Op grond van ‘n uiteensetting van sy diepgaande hermeneutiese verstaan, word sy benadering beskrywe as ‘n ekumenies-ekklesiologiese rasionaliteitsmodel. Ten opsigte van hierdie model word die vraag gestel “waarheen?” dit ons hermeneuties neem. Hierdie “waarheen?” word aangedui en krities bespreek met as kernpunt van kritiek die volledige ignorering van die eietydse teologie-wetenskap debat wat op geen wyse vormgewend neerslag vind in Smit se hermeneutiese model nie.http://ngtt.journals.ac.za/am201

Habitat, emotion and an eco-theological understanding of humanity : in conversation with Johan Buitendag.

The question on what his viewpoint of an eco-theological understanding of life entails is firstly posed in conversation with the South African systematic theologian Johan Buitendag. His standpoint, in which he argues for the constitutive significance of habitat against the background of the philosophical, biological and theological contours of descriptions of what life is, is set forth. He suggests that human life should be described with regard to habitat in its constitutive significance and subsequently in regard to a value system, and concludes that human life as homo religiosus must be understood from an eco-theological viewpoint as ontologically extended (‘ontologies uitgebreid’). His eco-theological viewpoint is secondly taken up in an explication of the sense making of human life by humans, determined and shaped by their biological roots in their habitat. Lastly the affective-cognitive dimension of being human with specific emphasis on affectivity is expounded as representing the embodiment of the logic of survival of personhood in their habitat.http://www.hts.org.zaam201

Geen water, geen volheid : die dringende boodskap van die eksistensieël-teologiese betekenis van water

Kok (2014:15) omskryf dit soos volg: ‘The term οἰκοδομέω as verb denotes the act of building or edifying and as noun (οἰκοδομὴ) it denotes physical buildings like the temple or figurative buildings like the community of faith as God’s οἰκοδομὴ. In the later tradition of Paul and Peter for instance, we see that office bearers should be like stewards serving the community and building forth on and protecting the mysteries that have been received from the apostles. In the NT, the action of the “up-building” or edification seems to be directed towards those on the inside, i.e. it seems to have a sentripetal focus towards the insiders. But, what about the rest of the world? Do we find any evidence that this “up-building” also has a focus towards outsiders? The answer is yes! The early Christfollowers had a radical focus towards those on the inside ánd also towards the up-building and restoration of those outside the community of faith’.This article represents a theological reflection on the Faculty Research Theme (FRT) of the Faculty of Theology, University of Pretoria, entitled ‘Ecodomy – Life in its fullness’. The theme is portrayed from the perspective of various theological disciplines. A conference on this theme was held on 27–28 October 2014.http://www.ve.org.zaam201

Stil van my verlange na God: oor Johann Wilhelm Herrmann se verstaan van die ervaring van God

Quenching my thirst for God: On Johann Wilhelm Herrmann's understanding of the experience of God:This article, which is divided into two parts, focusses on the concept of the "experience of God" as understood by the German systematic theologian Wilhelm Herrmann (1846 - 1922) of Marburg in his "Der Verkehr des Christen mit Gott" (1886). The first part of the article explains the historical and theological context of Herrmann's "Der Verkehr ... " as well as the theological frontiers over against which he responded in his understanding of the experience of God. For Herrmann, this experience can not be justified by means of historical investigation. Neither is this experience a "holding for true" of doctrines nor has it its origin in humans themselves, but is rather a "search-find-experience" of the overwhelming "image of Jesus" in God's revelatory engagement with humanity. If, and only if, we search for the gracious God wholeheartedly, can he himself be found and not one or other doctrine or gift of God. The second part of the article elaborates on this "search-find-experience" by humans of God as understood by Herrmann, and indicates the influence it had on Herrmann's two greatest pupils, namely Karl Barth and Rudolf Bultmann. It is argued that Herrmann's understanding of the experience of God makes up the kernel of their theological vantage points, and in this respect, is critically evaluated.Continued 2001 as 'Verbum et Ecclesia'Spine cut of Journal binding and pages scanned on flatbed EPSON Expression 10000 XL; 400dpi; text/lineart - black and white - stored to Tiff Derivation: Abbyy Fine Reader v.9 work with PNG-format (black and white); Photoshop CS3; Adobe Acrobat v.9 Web display format PDFhttp://explore.up.ac.za/record=b102527