The Day of Atonement as a hermeneutical key to the understanding of Christology in Hebrews

This study contributes to the discussion of the hermeneutics of Hebrews by considering the book's bachground thought and central theme. Specifically, we attempt to show how the worldview(s) and references to the Israelite cult form the décor against which the book’s Christology acts out a new, supreme story of atonement. Crucial to the Christology of Hebrews is the role of Christ as High Priest, found in Hebrews in the context of the Jewish festival, the Day of Atonement. It is precisely this relationship between the Christology of Hebrews and the Day of Atonement that forms the focus of the study. Focusing on both the background and central theme of the book (its Christology), this study proposes that the priesthood and the day of Atonement define the contours within which the Christology of Hebrews should be interpreted. We argue that the Day of Atonement functions as a hermeneutical key to the Christology of Hebrews and – since this is the book’s central theme – to the book of Hebrews as a whole. We propose, furthermore, that references to the Day of Atonement offer an interpreted religious and liturgical space for Christ to function as the superior High Priest. In this capacity, He is able to bring about a new covenant in which perfect atonement is achieved once and for all.http://journals.sabinet.co.za/ej/ejour_patris.htmlnf201

Of Eden and Nazareth : stories to capture the imagination

In pursuit of counter-traditions that have read the Eden narrative without subscribing to the Christian fall–redemption paradigm, this article engages Richard Kearney’s hermeneutical– phenomenological reading of the imagination to explore new avenues for imagining sin and salvation along post-metaphysical lines. The first section provides insights proceeding from an intratextual reading of the Eden narrative. The second section proceeds to incorporate the biblical and rabbinical concept of the yetser to elaborate the reading described above. The section follows Kearney’s reading of the Eden narrative to elicit the imagination along ethical lines as humanity’s passion for the possible. The third section reads the annunciation narrative along these same lines, illustrating how a divine kingdom of justice and love is possibilised by an imagination captured by divine promise and hospitality. By reading these two narratives together through the lense of the imagination, novel ways of rethinking sin and salvation along post-metaphysical lines emerge that portray salvation as human participation in God’s ongoing creation of justice and love, thus enabling the God Who May Be. INTRADISCIPLINARY AND/OR INTERDISCIPLINARY IMPLICATIONS : This article is relevant to the fields of philosophy, philosophy of religion and theology. The narratives of fall and promise, previously read by philosopher Richard Kearney in different contexts and not in relation to one another, are read here from a decidedly theological point of view.The University of Pretoria (postgraduate bursary)http://www.ve.org.zaam2018Dogmatics and Christian Ethic

Extinction Risk and Diversification Are Linked in a Plant Biodiversity Hotspot

Plant extinction risks in the Cape, South Africa differ from those for vertebrates worldwide, with young and fast-evolving plant lineages marching towards extinction at the fastest rate, but independently of human effects

Fides in parenthesis : a spirituality of leadership for a (post-)secular(ising) world

From the viral social media feeds showing Chief Justice Mogoeng Mogoeng in fervent prayer for the nation, to professed Christian Thuli Madonsela’s careful expression of the separation between religion and state, faith identity in the public sphere emerges as anything but a straightforward matter. By placing ‘Christian’ in parenthesis, the 2019 theme of the Theological Society of South Africa conference acknowledged that leaders operate in negotiated spaces and confirmed the complexity of the context in which we attempt to conceptualise leadership from a theological perspective. This raises the question of the role that personal faith convictions play and may be allowed to play in public life. While conceptualising leadership from a faith perspective in a context that is at once secular(ising) and post-secular(ising) may be complex, evidence emerging from leadership studies of the importance of spirituality in leadership necessitates such a reflection. This article considers the problem from a theological point of view, drawing on Schleiermacher and Bonhoeffer’s later letters from prison to provide a theological foundation for a public spirituality of leadership.This article is based on a section of the PhD thesis by Steenkamp 2016. (http://hdl.handle.net/2263/59907)http://www.hts.org.zaam2020Business Managemen

Of poetics and possibility : Richard Kearney’s postmetaphysical God

This article provides an overview of Richard Kearney’s attempt at re-imagining God postmetaphysically. In the context of a continental dialogue on the topic, Kearney has responded to onto-theology with a hermeneutic and phenomenologically informed attempt to rethink God post-metaphysically. This eschatological understanding of God is expounded in the article and is placed in relation to Kearney’s more recent concept of Anatheism. The article closes with a few remarks on what may be gained by Kearney’s work, as well as outlining a few critical questions.http://www.hts.org.zaam2018Dogmatics and Christian Ethic

Of poetics and possibility: Richard Kearney’s post-metaphysical God

This article provides an overview of Richard Kearney’s attempt at re-imagining God post-metaphysically. In the context of a continental dialogue on the topic, Kearney has responded to onto-theology with a hermeneutic and phenomenologically informed attempt to rethink God post-metaphysically. This eschatological understanding of God is expounded in the article and is placed in relation to Kearney’s more recent concept of Anatheism. The article closes with a few remarks on what may be gained by Kearney’s work, as well as outlining a few critical questions

Post-metaphysical God-talk and its implications for Christian theology : sin and salvation in view of Richard Kearney’s God Who May Be

In response to Irish philosopher Richard Kearney’s recent proposal of a post-metaphysical re-imagination of God, the thesis asks how we may begin to reimagine the Christ-event, post-metaphysically. Specifically, it investigates the implications of such post-metaphysical thought for the theological categories of hamartiology and soteriology. Methodologically, the thesis proceeds from hermeneutical re-readings of biblical narratives and traditions. Via an archaeology of the biblical yetser, the concept of imagination is offered as a way to re-imagine sin and salvation. The Eden narrative is read within its ancient Near Eastern context, and the narratives of the Annunciation and Transfiguration also receives special mention, as well as the window that Song of Songs opens on the metaphor of the desire of God. What results from this approach is, first, yet another deconstruction of the Augustinian formulation of original sin, as well as an eschatological reinterpretation of the Christ event in terms of the messianic Kingdom of God. Christ, who submits his yetser to the will of the Father in an act of worshipful surrender, becomes the perfect embodiment of the Word of God to a humanity whose yetser is perpetually put in service of itself in an act of idolatry. The enabling of the Kingdom of God in Jesus, who embodies the human telos, captures the human imagination and transfigures humanity through the existential experience of transcendence which breaks into its concrete reality through the Christ-event and its retelling. In this way, realised eschatology is possibilised through the imagination. Christ as prototype of the divinely intended telos of humanity becomes an existential possibility via the transfiguration, enacted by the imagination. This enables humanity to become co-creators with God of a new creation, symbolised by God’s messianic Kingdom of love and justice.Thesis (PhD)--University of Pretoria, 2016.University of Pretoria Postgraduate bursaryDogmatics and Christian EthicsPhDUnrestricte

Does meaning matter? Nietzsche, Jung and implications for global leadership

The Global Risks 2035 Update by the Atlantic Council, despite its clinical focus on economic, environmental and security challenges, nevertheless suggests that shared global meaning might have a role to play in enabling humanity to set off on a more beneficial trend for its foreseeable global future. The realisation that the complex challenges facing humanity is existential as much as it is pragmatic necessitates trans-disciplinary engagement and collaborative research ventures. This article contributed a trans-disciplinary reflection by bringing philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche and psychologist-philosopher Carl Jung in dialogue with critical leadership studies within the broader framework of the science–religion dialogue of this special volume. Pointing to the awareness in leadership studies of how meaning, narrative and shared vision enable greater effectiveness and collaboration, we explore nihilism as cultural problem to be addressed in order to create meaning that fosters global collaborative action. From the viewpoint of the Global Risk 2035 Update and its gloomy strategic foresight of a newly bipolarised world or further descent into chaos, the article brought Nietzsche’s idea of the Last Man into dialogue with Carl Jung’s emphasis on the need for a collective myth to reverse the decline of civilisation and enable humanity to chart a course towards unprecedented global collaboration. CONTRIBUTION : The article contributes from a transdisciplinary perspective to the question of meaning in leadership. Drawing from the contributions of Nietzsche and Jung, it argues that shared myth and shared meaning is vital to address the complex global challenges that leadership is called to address. This philosophical reflection on the crisis of nihilism contributes to the growing awareness in critical leadership studies that meaning-making is critical to effective leadership.http://www.hts.org.zaam2022Business Managemen

Hospitality as a pivotal value in leadership : a transdisciplinary engagement with the case of Chief Albert Luthuli

This article presents hospitality as a pivotal value in the context of increasing diversity that characterises the complex relations in which leadership emerges. After reviewing the concept of Otherness in philosophy, the notion of hospitality as developed by Richard Kearney in relation to his philosophy of religion (The God Who May Be) is introduced. The case of Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Chief Albert Luthuli is then presented as a biographical leadership study from the African context to illustrate how hospitality as open response to radical Otherness may inspire collaboration and foster positive change. The article then addresses ways in which the notions of hospitality and Otherness present new opportunities to leadership studies for responding to the relational challenges of the globalised world. Amidst an increased scholarly focus on relationality and the need for relational intelligence, globalisation routinely confronts leaders and their followers with radical Otherness. Through dialogue between theology, philosophy of religion and leadership studies and by presenting a case from the African context, the article offers in print what is called for in the global context, namely an open response to the alterity of the Other that enables collaboration amidst increasing diversity. CONTRIBUTION : Proceeding from a transdisciplinary engagement, the article illustrates that leadership studies stood to benefit from dialogue with theology and philosophy of religion, which offers ways of addressing the Otherness that characterise the globalised context of leadership.http://www.hts.org.zaam2022Business Managemen