The Belhar Confession is a modern confession that addresses issues of race, culture and socioeconomics. It originated from the Dutch Reformed Mission Church’s rejection of apartheid theology and has been adopted by other Reformed denominations, in and beyond Africa, alongside the historical Reformed confessions of the Three Forms of Unity and the Westminster Standards. This article examines whether the Belhar Confession can be subscribed without conflict alongside these historical Reformed confessions. Three common positions taken on confessional subscription are outlined: non-, quia and quatenus subscription. Then, the propositional compatibility of Belhar with the historical confessions is analysed, and potential conflicts in ecclesiology, as well as the doctrines of reconciliation and poverty, are identified. These potential conflicts are realised with quia subscription but are avoidable with quatenus subscription.
Opsomming
Die Belydenis van Belhar is ’n moderne belydenisskrif wat kwessies rakende ras, kultuur en sosio-ekonomiese geregtigheid aanroer. Hierdie belydenis het ontstaan uit die Nederduitse Gereformeerde Sendingkerk se verwerping van die apartheidsteologie en is deur verskeie gereformeerde denominasies, binne en buite Afrika, aanvaar, naas die histories gereformeerde belydenisskrifte van die Drie Formuliere van Eenheid en die Westminster Standaarde. Hierdie studie ondersoek of die Belydenis van Belhar sonder konflik saam met die histories gereformeerde belydenisskrifte onderskryf kan word. Drie algemene benaderings tot konfessionele onderskrywing word onderskei: nie-onderskrywing, quia onderskrywing en quatenus onderskrywing. Vervolgens word die proposisionele versoenbaarheid van die Belydenis van Belhar met die historiese belydenisskrifte ontleed, en potensiële konflikpunte rakende ekklesiologie, betreffende die leerstellings oor versoening sowel as armoede, word geïdentifiseer. Hierdie konflikte kom na vore by quia onderskrywing, maar kan vermy word by quatenus onderskrywing.
https://doi.org/10.19108/KOERS.90.1.2614
Tasavvur-tasdik ayrımı, Fârâbî ile birlikte İslâm düşünce geleneğinde gerek mantık gerekse bilgi teorisi bağlamında önemli bir yer edinmiştir. Bu çerçevede, hem tasavvurların hem de tasdiklerin kazanımlı (mükteseb) ve kazanıma dayanmayan (gayr-i mükteseb) şeklinde tasnif edildiği görülmektedir. Ancak Fahreddin er-Râzî, başta el-Muḥaṣṣal olmak üzere el-Erbaʿîn, el-Âyâtü’l-beyyinât ve el-Meʿâlim gibi eserlerinde bu genel kabulden ayrılarak, tüm tasavvurların kazanıma dayanmaksızın, zorunlu biçimde meydana geldiğini savunmuştur. Râzî bu görüşünü iki temel argüman üzerinden temellendirmektedir: Bunlardan ilki, Menon paradoksunun yeniden formüle edilmesi; ikincisi ise tam tanımın gerek teorik gerekse pratik düzeyde imkânsızlığına dair ileri sürdüğü iddialardır. Menon paradoksu, bilgi edinme sürecinin imkânını sorgulayan bir epistemolojik açmaz ortaya koyar. Bu bağlamda, ya bilenin bilgiye hâlihazırda sahip olduğu ya da bilinmek istenen şeye dair hiçbir veriye sahip olmadığı varsayımı kabul edilmelidir. Her iki durumda da bilgi kazanma süreci anlamını yitirmektedir. Râzî’ye göre, elde edilmek istenen bir tasavvur ya önceden bilinmekte ya da hiçbir surette bilinmemektedir. İlk durumda, bilinen bir şeyin tekrar elde edilmesi anlamsız olduğundan; ikinci durumda ise, talep edilen şeye dair mutlak bir bilinemezlik söz konusu olduğundan tasavvurun kazanımı imkânsızdır. Diğer taraftan, tanımın imkânını sorgulayan ikinci delilde Râzî, tanımlanmak istenen şeyin mahiyetine ulaşmak için onun zâtî bileşenlerine dair bilgi sahibi olmanın çeşitli felsefi ve mantıksal sorunlara yol açtığını ileri sürer. Bu iki temel argüman üzerinden Râzî, bilgi sürecinin ilk aşamasını oluşturan tasavvurların kazanıma dayalı olmadığını ortaya koyar. Buna bağlı olarak, tasavvurlara dayanan tasdiklerin ve tasdiklere bağlı iradî fiillerin de özünde kazanımlı olamayacağı sonucuna ulaşır. Başka bir ifadeyle, et-Tefsîr’de dile getirdiği “İnsan, irade hürriyetine sahipmiş gibi görünse de aslında zorunludur” görüşünün arka planında, tasavvurların zorunlu meydana gelişi yönündeki bu temel varsayım yer alır. Bunu destekler nitelikte Râzî, argümanı el-Meṭâlib’in dokuzuncu bölümünde yer alan “İman ve küfrün kulların kalbinde meydana gelmesinin ancak Allah’ın yaratmasıyla mümkün olduğunu gösteren deliller” başlığı altında ve el-Erbaʿīn’de “Kulların fiillerinin yaratılmış olup olmadığı”na ilişkin başlık altında yeniden sunar. Ne var ki, özellikle irade hürriyetini epistemolojik zeminde reddetmesi nedeniyle, bu yaklaşım, Mu‘tezilî düşüncenin temel ilkeleriyle bağdaşmamaktadır. Bu yüzden, İbn Ebî’l-Hadîd, et-Taʿlîḳ ʿale’l-Muḥaṣṣal, Şerḥu’l-Âyâti’l-beyyinât ve Ziyâdâtü’n-Naḳżeyn gibi eserlerinde Râzî’nin bu görüşünü eleştirel bir bakışla ele almıştır. İbn Ebî’l-Hadîd’in eleştirileri, öncelikle tasavvurların kazanımlı olmadığının ne anlama geldiğini sorgulamakla başlar. Ona göre, genel olarak bilinen (eş-şuʿūr fî’l-cümle) şeylerin tanım aracılığıyla tam olarak bilinmesi (eş-şuʿūr et-tāmm) mümkündür. İkinci olarak, Râzî’nin gündeme taşıdığı Menon paradoksunu aşmak adına, bilen öznenin bilgiye ‘talep olmaksızın’ ulaşabilmesini mümkün kılan alternatif bir kazanım modeli önermektedir. Buna ek olarak, İbn Ebî’l-Hadîd, başta İbn Sînâ olmak üzere birçok İslâm düşünürünün benimsediği yönler (cihetler) anlayışını Râzî’nin görüşlerine karşı bir alternatif olarak sunar. Bu teoriye göre, özne, bilinen yönlerinden hareketle onun mahiyetine ulaşabilir. Râzî’nin ikinci delili olan tam tanımın imkânsızlığına yönelik eleştirisinde ise İbn Ebî’l-Hadîd, mahiyetin zâtî unsurları ile mahiyetin kendisi arasındaki farkı vurgular. Mahiyete dair bilginin ya faal aklın feyziyle ya da zâtî unsurlarından birinin bilinmesiyle mümkün olabileceğini savunur.
This article examines the eschatological dimension of the sermons of François Le Picart (1504–1556), a prominent Parisian preacher and a precursor who established the codes that enabled the gradual maturation of a theophanic tension of violence in which human beings were destined to become its instruments. Through a close reading of his sermon collections, this study analyzes how Le Picart interwove Pauline soteriology, divine love, repentance, and apocalyptic imagery to construct a moral and affective pedagogy. His eschatological language—linking love with fear and salvation with punishment—transformed anxiety about the end times into a form of spiritual yet emotional collective mobilization. By associating divine justice with anti-heretical rhetoric, Le Picart’s preaching turned theology into an instrument for defending both faith and social order. This article situates his sermons within the broader Catholic renewal of sixteenth-century France, highlighting the imagery and rhetoric of eschatology as key components of early modern anti-Protestant propaganda prior to the religious wars.
There are lots of technologies that can be used in education. One of these technologies is video-based. Video is a visualization that can be used to facilitate the learning process, such as the Youtube application, where this application is beneficial for educators in developing video-based learning for moral theology learning media. With that in mind, this study aims to determine the benefits of video in learning moral theology. Learning moral theology often bored students because educators only use the lecture method without creativity to develop more effective and innovative learning. The type of method used in this research is quantitative by conducting surveys and interviews with teaching staff. The results of this study explain that video-based technology can help learn moral theology. This study concludes that educators can take advantage of videos for teaching moral principles based on evidence of student achievement and increased interest in learning, for this video-based technology can be used by any educator. The limitation of this research is that the researcher only researches moral theology subjects using video. The researcher hopes that future researchers will develop this strategy in other topics to get maximum results
Using the situation of French Catholicism as a starting point, this article shows how sociologists of Catholicism have continued to refine the methods and categories used to construct the representation of Catholicism and understand the expectations of Catholics. The most recent surveys are based on an in-depth analysis of how Catholics think about “their church,” and identify what is causing the crisis within it. They are of particular interest in understanding why some practicing Catholics, especially younger ones, have shown little interest in the Synod on Synodality scheduled by Pope Francis. In fact, sociological surveys help us understand how the synodal process, through its procedure and legitimization, encourages the participation of certain sensibilities and discourages others. Sociological analysis also enables us to identify resources for overcoming this resistance, developing listening among Catholics and working towards the authentically ecclesial character of synodality. In conclusion, the article argues that the contribution of the social sciences should be taken into account in the development of consultation techniques and ecclesial governance.
ABSTRACT The concept of moral injury, referring to the psychological impact of having one’s moral expectations and beliefs violated, is gaining a firm place in research on military trauma. Yet, although moral injury has the recognized potential to extend the understanding of trauma beyond the individualizing and pathologizing focus of the clinical realm, most studies nevertheless focus on clinical assessment, diagnosis and treatment. This review aims to contribute to a better understanding of contextual dimensions of moral injury. To this end, it complements current theory on moral injury with a systematic review of literature relevant to contextual factors in moral injury. It draws together insights from psychology, philosophy, theology and social sciences into spiritual/existential, organizational, political and societal dimensions of moral injury. Thus an interdisciplinary theoretical foundation is created for context-sensitive research and interventions.
This paper presents a theological critique of divine command theory, a metaethical theory stating that moral wrongness is constituted by God’s command. First, I argue that this theory does not qualify as a Christian moral theory because it lacks connections to central parts of Christian theology, such as Christology. This argument does not imply that the theory is wrong nor that it is inconsistent with Christianity—only that it is not Christian as such. Second, I argue that divine command theory does not fit well with the New Testament’s vision of the moral life, in which being conformed to the image of Christ has primacy over adherence to law. This argument implies that the Christian ethicist should look elsewhere for a metaethical theory. I next argue in favour of a moral theory of imitation, in which the moral life consists of imitating God, the prime exemplar of goodness, which is made possible through an imitation of Christ.
Guns hold a vexingly unique place in US American life. The United States has, by far, the highest prevalence of private firearm ownership and firearm-caused death among high-income nations in the world. Yet, there exist few sustained treatments of guns in the United States by moral theologians and Christian ethicists. This essay introduces the Journal of Moral Theology special issue on guns in US American life, which aims to stimulate theological reflection on this timely and pressing issue. It provides a brief overview of existing scholarship on the sociology of guns and moral theological treatments of guns and gun violence, and introduces the volume’s essays.
This article presents the opening keynote address offered by His Eminence Blase Cardinal Cupich at the second convening of "_Laudato Si'_ and the U.S. Catholic Church: A Conference Series on Our Common Home” co-sponsored by Catholic Climate Covenant and Creighton University. Cardinal Cupich observes that following _Laudato Si'_, the U.S. Catholic Church has been largely unwilling to make the sacrifices necessary to care for our common home. This is especially rooted in a distorted concept of freedom that idolizes self-interested economic growth and the “myth of progress,” and which requires three conversions: political and economic, educational, and spiritual.
This epilogue brings together threads of ideas from this special issue on AI and adds some additional yarn as well, highlighting the contributions of the authors and how much more there is to say. The epilogue does not claim to be able to untangle all knots, limiting itself to categorizing the material into anthropological, theological, and ethical threads.
In response to court cases in Italy, Colombia, and elsewhere, in which people and communities have appealed to the legal doctrine of necessity, this essay examines the moral-theological tradition reflection on the law of necessity (ius necessitatis) and its preservation in Catholic social teaching. While it is commonplace in our own day to encounter arguments that Christianity underwrites private property rights, this tradition of reflection understands such defenses as based upon a fundamental misunderstanding of what property is and what it is for, which is to meet the needs of all people, because God gives creation as a common gift. For this reason, claims of need can take precedence over claims of private property; the former does not violate the law but illumines its central purpose. Thus, the aim of this essay is to rearticulate the basic rationale and theological moorings of the law of necessity, as well to show how Catholic social teaching preserves it, especially in relation to what Gaudium et spes calls the common or universal destination of created goods. However, while social teaching continues to preserve the ius necessitatis, this law, and right it attempts to secure, remains a shadowy one because of its complex and oftentimes fraught relationship to positive law.
Ebû Hanîfe’nin itikadî fikirleri Hanefîliğin temsil edildiği her muhitte aynı düzeyde ve canlılıkta temsil edilmemiştir. Irak, her ne kadar temelde Ebû Hanîfe’nin fıkhî görüşlerinin şekillenip sistemleştirildiği bölge olsa da onun itikadî görüşleri büyük ölçüde Mâverâünnehir bölgesinde geliştirilmiştir. Bununla birlikte Ebû Hanîfe’nin farklı bölgelerdeki takipçileri ona yaslanarak Hanefîliğin kendine has ayırıcı görüşlerine benimseyip savunmuşlardır. Ancak bir kısım bölgelerde bu görüşler temel itikadî kabullerle sınırlı kalırken bazı bölgelerde buna yaslanarak bir sistemleştirme ve geliştirmeye gidilmiş böylece kapsamlı bir kelamî yapı oluşturulmuştur. Mâverâünnehir bölgesindeki takipçileri, Ebû Hanîfe’nin görüşleri etrafında geleneksel bir kelamî yapı kuran Hanefîlerin başında gelmektedir. Süreç içerisinde Mâtürîdîlik olarak anılan bu kelamî yapı, uzun sure sadece doğduğu muhitle sınırlı kalmış, 5/11. yy’dan itibaren ise batıya doğru yayılmıştır. Mâtürîdî Hanefîlerin çevreden merkeze taşınması olarak nitelenebilecek bu yayılım süreci, Hanefîlik tarihi açısından önemli bir kısım sonuçları olmuştur. Zengin bir edebiyata sahip olan Mâtürîdî Hanefîler batıya geldiklerinde yeni muhitlerinde bu kelamî geleneğin dışında kalan ve mezhebin itikadî çerçevesini temel kabullerden ibaret gören küçük ve dağınık Hanefî kitlelerle karşılaşmışlardır. İtikadî açıdan görünürdeki bu farklılık iki Hanefî kesimin etkileşime gireceği yeni bir zemin oluşturmuştur. Sahip oldukları kelamî birikimin de gücüyle Mâtürîdî Hanefîler, yürüttükleri tedris faaliyetlerinin yanı sıra kaleme aldıkları metinler vasıtasıyla Irak ve Şam gibi göç muhitindeki Hanefîleri kendi kelamî geleneklerine dahil etmeye çabalamışlardır. Bölgeye göç etmiş doğulu bir Mâtürîdî Hanefî olan Ahmed b. Muhammed el-Gaznevî (ö. 593/1197’den sonra) de bu çabanın içerisinde yer almış isimlerden biri olarak dikkat çekmektedir. Onun Usûlü’d-dîn ve el-Hâvi’l-kudsî eserleri, bu çabanın açık şekilde metinlere yansıdığı ilk örneklerdir. Gaznevî her iki eserinde, Mâtürîdî kelama direnç gösteren Hanefîler tarafından öne çıkarılan el-Akīdetü’t-Tahâviyye metnini esas alarak Mâtürîdî görüşleri sunmaktadır. O, bu eserlerinde büyük ölçüde el-Akīde’nin ibarelerini ya aynen ya da bir kısım takdim ve tehirlerde bulunarak kullanmakta ve aralarına başta tekvîn sıfatının ezeliliği olmak üzere Mâtürîdîlere özgü görüşleri eklemektedir. Bununla Gaznevî, bir yandan Mâtürîdî olmayan Hanefîlerin bir direnç unsuru olarak kullandıkları el-Akīde metninin Mâtürîdî görüşlerle uyumluluğunu göstererek oluşan direnci kırarken öte yandan metne eklediği ifadelerle söz konusu kesimlere Mâtürîdî görüşleri taşımaktadır. Bu çalışmada temelde bir el-Akīdetü’t-Tahâviyye ve Mâtürîdîlik sentezi olarak nitelenebilecek Gaznevî’nin bu faaliyeti, sözü edilen eserler üzerinden ayrıntılı şekilde ortaya konulmaya çalışılacaktır. Onun söz konusu eserlerinde el-Akīdetü’t-Tahâviyye metnini nasıl kullandığı, ibareleri nasıl ve ne şekilde metnine aldığı ve bunlara Mâtürîdî görüşleri nasıl ekleyerek muhataplarına aktardığı gösterilmeye çalışılacaktır.
In the Face of the Pandemic: Environmental Imbalances as an Ethical Reaction to Human Action
La Pandemia de Covid-19 visibilizó la vulnerabilidad de los sistemas de salud públicos sometidos al mercado libre. Pero la crisis sanitaria es apenas una muestra de la crisis civilizatoria a la que nos ha encaminado la visión colonial-moderna-capitalista. La respuesta no es una simple vuelta a la página para superar la modernidad. Dada la magnitud de la crisis es necesario hacer un planteamiento crítico para ir más allá que la modernidad. Por ello es importante escuchar a las diferentes tradiciones civilizatorias que fueron encubiertas por la modernidad. Este es el caso de la Ética indígena, la cual desde la tradición de los pueblos originarios del sur de México ofrecen una visión integral de la Ecología, expresada en su forma de vida en comunidad. El diálogo entre tradiciones civilizatorias podría ofrecer pistas para un diálogo intercultural crítico y simétrico, como medio para salir de esta crisis sistémica reflejada en la Pandemia actual.
The COVID-19 pandemic exposed the vulnerability of public health systems that are ruled by the free market. However, the public health crisis is merely an expression of a civilizational crisis due to a capitalist-modern-colonial vision. The answer is not simply turning the page to overcome modernity. Given the magnitude of the crisis, a critical approach is needed to go deeper than modernity. This is the reason why it is important to listen to the different civilizational traditions that were covered up or dismissed by modernity. This is the case of Indigenous ethics, such as the tradition of the original peoples of Southern Mexico that offers a comprehensive vision of Ecology, expressed in their way of life in community. The dialogue between civilizational traditions offers resources for a critical and symmetrical intercultural dialogue, as a way out from this systemic crisis that the current pandemic manifests.
Participation is defined as being-with and acting-for others with the aim of advancing the common good. Karol Wojtyla’s philosophy of community and the Sub-Saharan ethic known as Ubuntu are used to describe a participative ethic. These philosophies approach participation in a particular way—namely, through positing both an ‘I-Thou’ and a ‘We’ dimension. Neither in Wojtyla’s philosophy, nor in Ubuntu, do we find references to Christian theology. Though it is evident that these philosophies incorporate certain moral values embraced by the Christian community, it is necessary to make the theological alignment explicit. The main aim of the essay is to do just that. It is argued that participation is rightly construed as a Trinitarian ethic.
The paper deals with the analysis of philosophical and theological creativity of Russian theological academies’ teachers of the early 20th century. The aim of this study is to identify the impact of methodological foundations’ changes of philosophical-theological quest on the teachers of Russian theological academies and the educational process itself in theological schools. Methods. The author focuses on the content of training courses delivered in the theological academies in the first two decades of the 20th century; problem statement peculiarities; aspect and priority choice in the fundamental researches conducted by the teachers of these schools. The applied methods include the comparative method, analysis, synthesis, method of abstraction, other philosophical and scientific methods. Results. The author comes to the conclusion that the changes of methodological installations in scientific research representatives of spiritual and academic theism beginning of the 20th century can be compared with similar studies of the nineteenth century. It is mentioned that reorientation of a number of prominent representatives of spiritual and academic theism from scholastic methods, speculative psychology and metaphysics towards Patristics, asceticism and personal experiences allows us to propose this movement as West-European Philosophy searches of the same period. Thus, V. I. Nesmelov sees the basis of any religious teachings in the experience of human cognition. M. M. Tareev draws up his own moral theology reading course based on the personal experience living the Gospel Book. Archimandrite Sergious (Stragorodsky) interprets the topic of finding salvation not against the background of the changes in God, but from the standpoint of the changes that occur in humanity. Bishop Theodore (Pozdeevsky), Archbishop Hilarion (Troitsky) and Bishop Barnabas (Belyaev) make known scholasticism as epistemological malice characterizing the specifics of theological knowledge necessary to base their intellectual efforts on the personal experience of the struggle against the passions; therefore, they see the new basis of theology in asceticism. Professor S. V. Troitsky considers marriage as the key problem for religion and philosophy of the early 20th century. Professor S. S. Glagolev sees the descent of a man as the crossing point of religion and science. The author mentions that despite some heterogeneity of the proposed concepts, there is an obvious General anthropological orientation that had an impact on the educational process changes in theological academies (seminaries). Scientific novelty. The author systemizes and sums up anthropologic views of the most recognizable ecclesiastical academics in the early 20th century. Representation and analysis of anthropologic problematics in philosophical and religious papers of the Russian ecclesiastical education stage of development signify essential agreement among Russian and Western sophists; they had been discussing the same problem – a human being. The author points out that their discussions were not absolutely the same, but it gives the reason to regard the anthropology of the early 20th century as modern Philosophy; and this difference allows academic anthropology to avoid classic and non-classic types of philosophy. Practical significance. The research outcomes can be used for further understanding development of the all European searching process of the early 20th century. Received by the author of the study findings provide its scientific innovation. The results of this study can be used in assessing the role of theological academies in European cultural processes and culture of the Russian society of the early 20th century; research findings can enrich the content of the lectures on the History of Philosophy, Russian History, European History, Cultural Studies and other Humanities (non-science disciplines).