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The beauty of the body and the ascension: A reclamation and subversion of physical beauty Scottish Journal of Theology Pub Date : 2024-03-08 Laura Cerbus
In the last century, beauty has not often found itself enlisted in struggles for justice. As Alexander Nehemas recounts, beauty's severance from goodness and truth in the modern period renders beauty dangerous, its charm easily wielded as an instrument of oppression in the hands of the powerful. While some scholars have argued for a return to the pre-modern metaphysics that binds beauty to truth and
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The theological sources and poetic priorities of Milton's narrative theodicy Scottish Journal of Theology Pub Date : 2024-03-06 David B. Alenskis
This study of Paradise Lost, interpreted through the lens of John Milton's treatise De doctrina Christiana, argues that the poet seeks to breathe new life into the tropes of orthodox Christian theodicy by radicalising concepts chosen eclectically from both Reformed and Arminian schools of thought, integrating them within the patchwork of his own idiosyncratic heterodoxies and thus catalysing a fundamentally
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Visualising the super-temporal vulnerability of God: Balthasar's theological use of John's biblical image of ‘the Lamb slain’ Scottish Journal of Theology Pub Date : 2024-02-01 Boram Cha
Hans Urs von Balthasar's kenotic trinitarianism and theodramatic Christology is designed to dramatise the triune God's kenotic engagement with the world without introducing a change in God. It continues to be disputed whether Balthasar ends up divinising suffering and making God into a tragic deity or succeeds in redefining and complexifying divine immutability. To engage with this question, this article
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A critical assessment of Bruce L. McCormack's christological proposal Scottish Journal of Theology Pub Date : 2023-12-14 Alex Irving
Bruce L. McCormack's recent christological proposal intends to move beyond the apparent impasse in theological discourse between God's aseity and God's world relation. In describing the second mode of divine being as personally constituted by receptivity to the human Jesus of Nazareth without losing the logos asarkos, McCormack's proposed christological innovation offers a way to consider relation
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‘The enemy of my enemy is my enemy’: Markus Barth's awkward hostility to critics of his theology of reconciliation Scottish Journal of Theology Pub Date : 2023-12-12 Mark Lindsay
Markus Barth (1915–1994) is best-known for his pioneering work in Jewish-Christian dialogue, and his Anchor Bible commentaries. Convinced that Ephesians 2:14–16 is the core of Paul's gospel, Barth concluded that the ‘one new man’ in Christ not only necessitates an indissoluble solidarity between Christians and Jews, but entails that all enmities have been negated by Christ's reconciliatory work. Ironically
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The unity of Christ in Cyril of Alexandria's Festal Letters Scottish Journal of Theology Pub Date : 2023-12-11 Jonathan Morgan
Cyril of Alexandria's Festal Letters are an underutilised source of his theology. Through them one can trace the development of his thought throughout the tumultuous years of his episcopacy. In this article, I draw attention to Cyril's ‘unitive’ Christology and the way he explains the incarnation to those under his pastoral care. Cyril employs key strategies informed by strong theological convictions
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Incest as a rhetorical device: The shock effect of the allegory in Ezekiel 16 Scottish Journal of Theology Pub Date : 2023-11-20 Gili Kugler
Ezekiel 16 paints one of the harshest pictures in the Hebrew Bible. In a brokenhearted cry of rage, the prophet contemplates Jerusalem's history of relationship with God. Employing familial imagery, the relationship is characterised by constraints and penalties, including instances of sexual violence imposed by God. Consequently, the allegory challenges the perception of the deity as an exemplary figure
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The blood of Christ: Sacrificial death or moral authority? Scottish Journal of Theology Pub Date : 2023-08-18 Tammy Wiese
The phrase blood of Christ has traditionally been interpreted as and used interchangeably with Christ's sacrificial death. As such, Jesus’ death is seen to be more crucial to salvation than his incarnation and resurrection. The blood of Christ language in the New Testament books of Hebrews and Romans echoes Old Testament cultic atonement language. Given recent and ample exegetical biblical scholarship
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Critical analysis of the Moscow Patriarchate vision on the Russian–Ukrainian military conflict: Russkiy mir and just war Scottish Journal of Theology Pub Date : 2023-08-04 Viorel Coman
This article contrasts the teaching on just war as presented by the 2000 document, ‘Bases of the Social Concept of the Russian Orthodox Church’ (Moscow Patriarchate), with the insights provided by a similar social document issued in 2020 by the Ecumenical Patriarchate, ‘For the Life of the World: Towards a Social Ethos of the Orthodox Church’. The article argues that whenever religion is instrumentalised
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God and being at an impasse: The case of John Duns Scotus and Jean-Luc Marion Scottish Journal of Theology Pub Date : 2023-07-31 Casey Spinks
This essay examines the relationship between Jean-Luc Marion's argument of ‘conceptual idolatry’ and John Duns Scotus’ doctrine of the univocity of being. I argue that Scotus does fall under Marion's criticisms, which radically undermine the use of ‘being’ in theology, but that univocity, in its barest Scotist form, also seems impossible to avoid. After arguing that attempts to move past this ontological
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Mediating Feuerbach and Barth: Bonhoeffer's this-worldly theology Scottish Journal of Theology Pub Date : 2023-07-31 Frank Della Torre II
In this paper, I revisit a debate between Ludwig Feuerbach and Karl Barth, known as the ‘Barth–Feuerbach confrontation’. I begin by framing the contours of this dispute as it was initiated by Barth and carried forward by his interpreters, who have sought in vain to make Barth's and Feuerbach's positions commensurable. Having narrated the history of this ongoing scholarly discussion and clarified why
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Schleiermacher's reduction of incarnation to deification Scottish Journal of Theology Pub Date : 2023-07-31 Jared Michelson
Schleiermacher's theological champions like Kevin Hector contend that his Christology is ‘high’ and is Chalcedonian in spirit. I offer a number of objections to this view, suggesting that Schleiermacher offers a distinctive, early modern account of Christ as a uniquely deified redeemer but not of Christ as the uncreated God. This raises some surprising questions for the dogmatic relation of Christology
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Towards a theology of the Psalm titles: The Davidic voice and the totus Christus Scottish Journal of Theology Pub Date : 2023-07-31 Rory J. Balfour
This article explores the ways in which the thirteen ‘biographical superscriptions’ which are found throughout the Psalter contribute to the blending of the Davidic voice which they invoke and the corporate voice of the community which receives them. It suggests that by receiving these thirteen Psalms, the canonical community enters an intensive identification with David and participates in the Davidic
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Beyond Cyril? Martin Luther's quest for christological agency Scottish Journal of Theology Pub Date : 2023-07-03 Piotr J. Małysz
This article examines a long-standing association of Martin Luther's christology with that of Cyril of Alexandria. However, for all its heuristic promise, the designation ‘Cyrillian’, must in Luther's case be understood either as an overly generalised statement of a well-established grammar of christology – in which case it simply is Luther's foundation and, as such, explains nothing specific about
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How is the coming generation to go on living? Bonhoeffer's preservation orders for the ‘sixth extinction’ Scottish Journal of Theology Pub Date : 2023-07-03 David S. Robinson
This essay adapts Dietrich Bonhoeffer's ‘orders of preservation’ to address the sharp rise in species extinctions due to human causes. I argue that Bonhoeffer's creative use of preservation orders to build an international alliance provides the scope required to meet the present biodiversity crisis while pre-empting Karl Barth's criticism of static regionalism and avoiding problematic elements in Carl
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Wisdom and suffering in Teresa of Cartagena Scottish Journal of Theology Pub Date : 2023-04-20 Kristen Drahos
I argue that Teresa of Cartagena's Grove of the Infirm offers a recalibration of the wisdom emergent from suffering by moving from a cruciform spirituality to an intellectual ‘scientia,’ which benefits specific marginalized groups (prolonged sufferers) by establishing new paths of agency (through distinctive cooperative virtues) for those who suffer. I show that by disengaging suffering's spiritual
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Martin Luther and the metaphysics of music Scottish Journal of Theology Pub Date : 2023-04-17 James R. W. Crockford
This article traces convergences and differences within the classical philosophical tradition of musica and its later Christianisation, exploring Martin Luther's engagement with such metaphysical accounts of music's significance. Recent scholarship on Luther's agreement with a reformulated Boethian account of music is critiqued, distancing Luther from the main currents of this tradition. The article
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The doctrine of participation in Augustine's totus Christus ecclesiology Scottish Journal of Theology Pub Date : 2023-04-14 Alex Fogleman
Augustine's understanding of the church as part of the totus Christus – the ‘whole Christ’ – has become an important resource in contemporary theology, offering a robust vision of the church's union with God. Yet a key critique maintains that it threatens to elide the distinction between the perfected Christ and the created church. This article addresses this issue by asking how the totus Christus
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‘God corresponds to Godself’: John Webster's doctrine of God ‘after’ Karl Barth Scottish Journal of Theology Pub Date : 2023-03-29 Brent Rempel
The nature and extent of Karl Barth's significance in John Webster's theological formation is widely recognised but remains to be explored in detail. Addressing this lacuna, this essay considers how Barth's doctrine of the triune God animates Webster's teaching on the same. In approaching the topic, I show how Webster carries forward Barth's deep sense of God's aseity in relation to the world and follows
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Donald Macleod: Free Church liberation theologian? Scottish Journal of Theology Pub Date : 2023-03-27 Hunter Nicholson
Donald Macleod (1940–) has been called one of the two most important Scottish Reformed theologians of the twentieth century. This article shows that by the 1990s Macleod in his public theology consistently used language and concepts which were also trademarks of Latin American liberation theology. By comparing his work to the three mediations of liberation theology, I show it is possible to speak of
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Evaluating a neglected tradition of (Ana)baptist Christology Scottish Journal of Theology Pub Date : 2023-03-10 Stephen R. Holmes
Oosterbaan identified a tradition of Anabaptist christology running from Ziegler in Strassborg in the 1520s to Menno Simons in the 1550s. I demonstrate that this tradition continued until at least around 1700, first amongst the Waterlander Mennonites in the Netherlands, and then amongst the English General Baptists. I sketch the development and diversity of the tradition, and then ask whether it might
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Johannes Polyander and the inefficacious internal call: An Arminian compromise? Scottish Journal of Theology Pub Date : 2023-03-10 Cory Griess
In the thirtieth disputation of the Leiden Synopsis (1622), Johannes Polyander elucidates what he considers to be the Reformed doctrine of vocatio. In his explanation of this doctrine, Polyander makes surprising statements concerning the internal call. He teaches that not only the external call, but also the internal call can come to the reprobate. It does not do so all the time, but it does so sometimes
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Can God's work in history be discerned? The ambiguities of providence in the poetry of John Milton Scottish Journal of Theology Pub Date : 2023-02-22 Ben Myers
Is the doctrine of providence a guide to interpreting history? The early work of John Milton is optimistic about the possibility of such providential discernment. Milton lived during one of the most turbulent periods of English history and was actively involved in the cause of revolution and social reform. His poems typically centre on moments of historical change that seem to illuminate the ultimate
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The sacrifice of the Holy Christ in an unholy world Scottish Journal of Theology Pub Date : 2023-02-17 Katherine Sonderegger
In much modern christology, the notion of the incommensurate governs the relation of divine to human in Jesus Christ. In christologies influenced by Austin Farrer, and more distantly, by Nicholas of Cusa, the incommensurability of the infinite to the finite makes the idiom of paradox congenial, even necessary. Such demanding and unrelenting emphasis upon diastasis echoes a more ancient preoccupation
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Prayer, formation, and scriptural interpretation Scottish Journal of Theology Pub Date : 2023-02-16 Jonathan Rowlands
In this article, I argue for the centrality of prayer within Christian interpretation of scripture. This argument is made in two stages. First, Christ on the road to Emmaus is the interpreter of scripture par excellence, such that scriptural interpretation is fruitfully understood as participation in Christ's interpretation of scripture to and for the church. Second, scriptural interpretation must
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T. F. Torrance, Catholicism, and the quest for church unity Scottish Journal of Theology Pub Date : 2023-02-15 Stanley Maclean
This article examines T. F. Torrance's engagement with Catholicism. It uncovers the breadth and depth of his ecumenical spirit, while concurrently shedding light on his own theological development. The article reveals an evolution in Torrance's posture toward Catholicism, moving from fierce criticism to critical praise, with the Second Vatican Council as a watershed in his thinking. His criticism was
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The architecture of transcendence: John Webster and Dietrich Bonhoeffer on divine agency, Christology and theological method Scottish Journal of Theology Pub Date : 2023-02-07 Andrew Clark-Howard
John Webster and Dietrich Bonhoeffer are two theologians invested in prioritising certain conceptions of divine transcendence within their respective theological projects. Specifically, both appeal to conceptions of divine transcendence and agency amidst what they understand to be the problematic naturalisation of theological discourse in modern Protestant theology, particularly within its liberal
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‘Draw me after you’: Toward an erotic theosis Scottish Journal of Theology Pub Date : 2023-02-07 Aaron Brian Davis
In this article I propose an erotic theosis as a fruitful possibility for conceptualising our final participation in union with God in the beatific vision and for imaging said participation on earth. Particularly, I propose a synthesis of recent work from Oliver Crisp on theosis with that of Sarah Coakley on sexual desire as an especially helpful way in which to conceive of our ever-deepening participation
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The second imprisonment of Paul: Fiction or reality? Scottish Journal of Theology Pub Date : 2023-02-03 John-Christian Eurell
This article examines the commonly held conception that Paul was released after his first Roman imprisonment, went to Spain and was eventually reimprisoned and executed in Rome. After examining the available evidence it is concluded that the theory of a release of a release and second imprisonment of Paul is ill founded.
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Theological exegesis and internal trinitarian relations Scottish Journal of Theology Pub Date : 2023-02-03 Timothy Wiarda
The Gospel of Mark includes a series of passages that depict direct interaction between Jesus and God. When viewed in their full literary, historical and canonical contexts, these passages can be seen to address an embryonic trinitarian question concerning the relationship between trusting and worshipping Jesus and trusting and worshipping the one God of Israel. They provide grounds for affirming that
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The utility of adoptionism as a heuristic category: The baptism narrative in the Gospel of the Ebionites as a test case Scottish Journal of Theology Pub Date : 2023-01-30 Michael Kok
Although the Christology of the Ebionites in general, and the so-called Gospel of the Ebionites cited by Epiphanius of Salamis in particular, has been commonly classified as adoptionist, the utility of the term ‘adoptionism’ has been recently called into question. This article will focus on the fragment about Jesus’ baptism in Panarion, 30.13.7–8 to determine whether it depicts Jesus’ adoption to divine
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When prayer goes wrong: A negative theology of prayer Scottish Journal of Theology Pub Date : 2023-01-10 Ashley Cocksworth
Prayer is often taken to be the solution to all manner of things. But what happens when prayer is not so much the solution to the injustices of the world as part of the problem? In this article, I present Karl Barth's idea of the ‘shadow-side’ of creation as a way of querying the prayer-as-the-solution-to-everything trope and encouraging more disciplined thinking about prayer – one that is self-critical
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Reading Rahab: How criticism serves itself or eats itself Scottish Journal of Theology Pub Date : 2023-01-10 John Goldingay
Studies of the Rahab story in Joshua illustrate how, as interpreters, we can read our interests and convictions into a text, allow it no room to protest that it did not have these interests or convictions, and give it no opportunity conversely to question the interests and convictions that we bring to it as interpreters. This raises the question whether we actually want to discover things from texts
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Rethinking adoptionism: An argument for dismantling a dubious category Scottish Journal of Theology Pub Date : 2023-01-10 Jeremiah Coogan
This article argues that adoptionism is an anachronistic category when used to describe texts from the first three Christian centuries, a mirage created by later theological controversies about the relationship between the Father and the Son. I survey the evidence for second- and third-century figures and texts generally identified ‘adoptionist’ in order to show that these figures do not advocate a
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Does Barth's understanding of sexual difference conflict with his theological anthropology? Scottish Journal of Theology Pub Date : 2023-01-10 Jess Wyatt
Faye Bodley-Dangelo argues that in his passive depiction of Eve in the Church Dogmatics Karl Barth truncates the agency of all women, thereby creating conflict between his theology of sexual difference and his theological anthropology, and denying women image-bearing humanity. This article challenges Bodley-Dangelo's characterisation of ideal agency as active self-assertion and self-determination,
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Trinity or German idealism? Reconsidering the origins of Herman Bavinck's organic motif Scottish Journal of Theology Pub Date : 2023-01-10 Bruce Pass
This essay re-examines the origins of Herman Bavinck's organic motif. Contending with a central claim of the new interpretative paradigm in Bavinck studies, this article problematises the claim that Bavinck's organic motif does not draw on German idealism but derives solely from a classical western doctrine of the Trinity. This essay argues that the denial of Schelling's influence on Bavinck's organicism
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Swimming against the theological and pedagogical stream: Lessons from Karl Barth on teaching within the theological disciplines Scottish Journal of Theology Pub Date : 2022-10-14 Kimlyn J. Bender
Karl Barth's deeply rooted theological convictions directly shaped his pedagogical practice. These convictions continue to merit reflection today. Barth's theological pedagogy is dedicated to his convictions pertaining to: 1) the particularity of theology's subject matter; 2) the necessary embodiment of theology's practice in an ecclesial and confessional tradition; 3) an open and charitable reading
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Whole God and whole man: Deification as incarnation in Maximus the Confessor Scottish Journal of Theology Pub Date : 2022-10-14 Samuel Korb
Maximus the Confessor says that the Word of God wills to be embodied always and in all things. Against many who wish to render this ‘universal incarnation’ metaphorical, I attempt a literal reading. When Maximus speaks of the Word's universal incarnation, he refers to the deification of human beings, which constitutes a single reality with the Word's incarnation. For Maximus, deification perfectly
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Beatific embodiment: An Augustinian appraisal of our end-time embodiment Scottish Journal of Theology Pub Date : 2022-10-14 Sean Luke
In this paper, I seek to articulate a positive role for the body in our eschatological joy in God. I draw on Augustine's thought to argue that the body makes a positive contribution to our joy in God by being a pedagogy for our imaginations, training us to imagine the beautiful character of God in Christ through embodiment. While Augustine might seem like a surprising choice for this task, I argue
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Forming the imagination: Reading the Psalms with poets Scottish Journal of Theology Pub Date : 2022-10-14 Ethan C. Jones
Genre, parallelism and canonical shaping have long been important to Psalms studies. Scholarly advances on these fronts are easily observed. Instead of working the same ground once more, this article sets off on a different path. It aims to read Hebrew poetry, especially the Psalter, with poets. It intends to listen carefully to three influential voices: George Herbert (1593–1633), R. S. Thomas (1913–2000)
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Karl Barth on election and nationhood: Christological reflections from 1936 Scottish Journal of Theology Pub Date : 2022-10-14 Shao Kai Tseng
This article probes into Karl Barth's theology of nationhood set forth in Gottes Gnadenwahl, a volume on the doctrine of election published in November 1936. I will attend to his use of Hegelian terms and concepts to demonstrate his refutation of secularist and immanentist reinterpretations of the Christian doctrines of election and providence under the Enlightenment principle of historical progress
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Infant baptism and the disposition to saving faith Scottish Journal of Theology Pub Date : 2022-10-14 Oliver D. Crisp
Reformed accounts of infant baptism are usually covenantal and promissory in nature. They are about bringing the child into the ambit of the visible church in the hope the infant will own the faith upon reaching the age of reason. This paper sets out an alternative Reformed account of baptism, drawing on the Scottish confessional tradition. On this account, infants have a disposition to faith conveyed
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Sharing in nature or encountering a person: A tale of two different supralapsarian strategies Scottish Journal of Theology Pub Date : 2022-08-19 Edwin Chr. van Driel
Supralapsarian christologies all hold that the incarnation is not contingent upon sin but may differ on the nature of the gift given to us in the incarnation. In this essay I conceptualize and evaluate a crucial difference between two supralapsarian strategies. One strategy, exemplified by Kathryn Tanner, focuses on the natures of the incarnate One: it argues that in the incarnation the Word takes
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God's definite command? Some theological thoughts on a puzzling theme in Barth's ethics Scottish Journal of Theology Pub Date : 2022-08-19 Michael Bartholomaeus
One of the most puzzling features of Barth's ethics is the insistence that God's divine command encounters us so definitely and concretely that it simply requires immediate and unquestioning obedience. This article offers an interpretation of these comments by reading them through the framework of Barth's description of the secularity, one-sidedness and spirituality of God's Word in Church Dogmatics
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Revisiting Bavinck on Hegel: Providence, reason, and the unsublatable Scottish Journal of Theology Pub Date : 2022-08-19 Shao Kai Tseng, Nathaniel Gray Sutanto
Herman Bavinck's reception of the organic motif has become in recent years the central locus for discussing the means by which the unity of his thought may be recognised. This article provides a critical reading of Bavinck on Hegel on the locus of providence for the purpose of contributing to the ongoing discussion that identifies the unity of Bavinck's thought not in his confessional self in simple
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Articulating the atonement: Methodology and metaphor in atonement theology Scottish Journal of Theology Pub Date : 2022-08-19 William J. O. Hartley
Doctrines of the atonement have tended either to elevate the status of one biblical metaphor or to gather together various metaphors into a unified concept or chorus of equal metaphors. The purpose of this article is to shed light on how the biblical metaphors function, using by way of reference the contrasting interpretations of Charles Hodge and Joel Green, who tend towards opposing theories of language
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Psalms for restless memory: The logic of grace and rest in Augustine's Confessions Scottish Journal of Theology Pub Date : 2022-08-19 Euntaek D. Shin
The notion of rest frames Augustine's Confessions: the expression of the desire for rest and the prayer for God's bestowal of rest. Between these bookends is an extended account of Augustine's past expressed in the form of a confession, one that is saturated with the Psalms. How are these major motifs – rest, memory, confession and the Psalms – related? And how do they relate to the seemingly paradoxical
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The ‘cosmic terrorist’: Reconsidering sin as personal agent Scottish Journal of Theology Pub Date : 2022-08-19 Thomas McCall
An important contemporary approach to understanding a Pauline account of sin takes sin to be a self or personal agent who acts in the world. This article engages with such a proposal by offering theological analysis. It is argued that the exegetical arguments in favour of the proposal that sin is a personal agent are less than convincing, and it is argued further that the theory encounters serious
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Rewriting Calvin: Schleiermacher on the atonement and priestly office of Christ Scottish Journal of Theology Pub Date : 2022-05-25 Joshua Ralston
The burden of this essay is to show that Friedrich Schleiermacher's theology of the atonement and account of Christ's soteriological work as priest is marked by recognisably Reformed commitments and logics that both build from and critique John Calvin and later Reformed scholastics. The essay contends that it is when Schleiermacher departs strongly from orthodox conclusions regarding substitutionary
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Paranoia and the law: Martin Luther and critical theory in hermeneutical dialogue Scottish Journal of Theology Pub Date : 2022-05-25 Jonathan Donald Torrance
Critical theory represents the dominant theoretical framework currently deployed in the humanities, yet it is a framework that many theologians have been slow to engage. The recent ‘postcritical’ turn in critical theory, however, has striking affinities with several key concerns of Christian theology, as is becoming increasingly recognised. This article suggests that dialogue between critical theory
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The body's availability: Ezekiel 37, Robert Jenson and disabled flesh Scottish Journal of Theology Pub Date : 2022-05-25 Luke Zerra
This paper puts Ezekiel 37 in conversation with Robert W. Jenson's theological anthropology. It claims that a theological reading of scripture can clarify moral reflection on personhood in general, and the personhood of humans with disabilities in particular. Ezekiel 37:1–14, read through Jenson's exegesis and theology, offers a theological anthropology in which human personhood is given by God's address
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Sowing seeds of progressive revelation: Origen on the knowledge of the prophets Scottish Journal of Theology Pub Date : 2022-05-25 Timothy Troutner
Many scholars dismiss Origen's theology of scriptural inspiration as hopelessly lacking in historical sensibility. They point to his anachronistic attribution to the Old Testament prophets of extensive knowledge of the details of Christ's incarnation and of the allegorical significance of their own writings. I dispute this assessment, arguing that Origen's view of prophetic knowledge is more sophisticated
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Place, history and incarnation: On the subjective aspects of christology Scottish Journal of Theology Pub Date : 2022-05-25 Alister McGrath
This article engages Thomas F. Torrance's landmark work, Space, Time and Incarnation (1969), suggesting that his approach needs amplification in the light of recent studies emphasising the importance of the affective aspects of theology. The alternative framework of ‘place, history, and incarnation’ is proposed as a means of safeguarding the important subjective aspects of the incarnation, and the
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The Hypomnemata of Hegesippus Scottish Journal of Theology Pub Date : 2022-05-25 John-Christian Eurell
This article deals with the lost work of the early Christian writer Hegesippus, whose Hypomnemata is only known through quotations in Eusebius. Faulty preconceptions regarding the dating and provenance of Hegesippus’ work are criticised, and it is argued that the Hypomnemata is a loose collection of bishop traditions from the late 170s or 180s. The purpose of the work is to connect orthodoxy with correct
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‘The whole church is here listening’: Tracing the sensus fidelium in public discourse in the early church Scottish Journal of Theology Pub Date : 2022-05-25 Charles Meeks
This essay forms the basis for the case that contemporary application of the concept of the sensus fidelium as a vehicle for transmitting accurate doctrine relies primarily on shifts in power structures in the first several centuries of the church. By investigating two documents depicting public theological dialogues in the presence of both clergy and laity, Origen's Dialogue with Heraclides from the
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Foedus and testamentum: Calvin's federal terminology in Hebrew 8–10 Scottish Journal of Theology Pub Date : 2022-03-25 J. Brittain Brewer
Calvin's significance in the development of federal theology has received much attention. Scholars have often neglected, however, the role that his exegesis played in his own construal of covenant ideas. More specifically, Calvin's reading of covenant in the book of Hebrews has played a negligible part in reconstructing Calvin's broader understanding of covenant. By looking closely at Calvin's exegesis
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‘Consubstantiality’ as a philosophical-theological problem: Victorinus’ hylomorphic model of God and his ‘correction’ by Augustine Scottish Journal of Theology Pub Date : 2022-03-25 Sarah Byers
This article expands our knowledge of the historical-philosophical process by which the dominant metaphysical account of the Christian God became ascendant. It demonstrates that Marius Victorinus proposed a peculiar model of ‘consubstantiality’ that utilised a notion of ‘existence’ indebted to the Aristotelian concept of ‘prime matter’. Victorinus employed this to argue that God is a unity composed
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Sin and the structure of Anselm's Cur Deus homo Scottish Journal of Theology Pub Date : 2022-03-25 David L. Whidden
The hypothesis of this article is that Anselm describes two consequences of sin for the human will in De casu diaboli, and these two consequences structure Anselm's later account of human salvation in the Cur Deus homo. First, sin causes us to deserve punishment for injustice; and, second, sin removes the grace by which humans were able to attain the goal of their creation, which is the happiness of
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Goodness, gratitude and divine freedom Scottish Journal of Theology Pub Date : 2022-03-25 Steven J. Duby
This essay considers the goodness of God and the psalmists’ gratitude toward God in connection with divine aseity and divine freedom. The plenitude of God's goodness entails that he is fully sufficient and actualised in himself. The psalmists’ gratitude toward God implies that he acts in freedom when he communicates his goodness to creatures. The essay then explores how contemplating this teaching
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Signposts for an Eastern Orthodox inclusive anthropological ethics Scottish Journal of Theology Pub Date : 2022-03-25 Petre Maican
Despite the strong interest of Eastern Orthodox theologians in the area of anthropology, their reflection has almost never included intellectual disability. The article aims to take the discussion further by providing the contours of an inclusive anthropological ethics. In this sense, it will develop constructively the three main principles of Dumitru Stăniloae's dialogical anthropology: (1) that each