The doctrine of salvation (soteria) has historically stood at the center of Christian theology, shaping not only doctrinal identity but also ethical and communal life. Yet in postcolonial and plural contexts, classical Western formulations require contextual rearticulation through dialogue with indigenous wisdom. This study examines Poda Na Lima, the Batak Toba moral-ethical system, as a theological resource for reinterpreting Christian soteriology in North Sumatra, Indonesia. Poda Na Lima - literally “five instructions” - articulates principles of harmony, wisdom, discipline, respect, and knowledge that have guided Batak communal life across generations. Drawing on a qualitative theological-ethnographic methodology, the research integrates two complementary sources: textual analysis of Batak oral traditions and cultural codifications, and fieldwork among Huria Kristen Batak Protestan congregations, including participant observation and conversations with pastors and elders. Data were analyzed through three stages: hermeneutical reading of Poda Na Lima in relation to biblical themes of repentance, reconciliation, and transformation; doctrinal correlation with Christological and soteriological affirmations; and contextual theological synthesis that integrates Batak ethical wisdom with Christian doctrine. Findings demonstrate that Batak Christians reinterpret Poda Na Lima not merely as cultural heritage but as a living moral compass aligned with Christological virtues of humility, service, and obedience. When placed in dialogue with soteriology, Poda Na Lima enriches the understanding of salvation as both divine redemption and ethical-communal transformation. The study concludes that indigenous wisdom, far from being peripheral, can function as a theological interlocutor, offering a contextual soteriology that affirms the integrity of Batak culture while contributing to global theological discourse on salvation and human flourishing.
Meghan J. Clark, Anna Kasafi Perkins, Emily Reimer-Barry
Intersectionality is a tool for theological analysis that invites sustained critical reflection on how gender, race, social class, sexual identity, citizenship status, and other forms of difference shape people’s perceptions of God, the human person, the church, and the moral life. Scholars of moral theology increasingly recognize how the biases of one’s lived experience integrally shapes one’s theological reasoning. Beyond the need to name, identify, and analyze our biases as an integral part of our theological methods, we also need to create space for discourse that seeks to bridge our differences. This special issue of the Journal of Moral Theology brings together seven essays that focus on intersectionality as a theological method and its implications for the practice of moral theology. Scholars in moral theology, liberation theologies, feminist and womanist theologies, and decolonial theologies demonstrate how intersectional methods are employed in constructive theological discourse.
The author argues that Orthodox theology and intersectionality can be mutually illuminative both in theory and in praxis ordered to dismantling interlocking systems of oppression and to the creation of the Kingdom of Heaven on earth. By taking an approach that looks for spaciousness for the “both/and” to exist, rather than single-axis thinking, the author seeks to model what intersectional coalition can look like with Orthodox theology. The author overlays the Orthodox concepts of sobornost’, icon, and theosis with the intersectional concepts of coalition, subjectivity, and the basement metaphor, tying theory to activist praxis with beloved community, emergence, and transformative justice.
Unlike Islam, Judaism and Christianity, religions in antiquity were non-confessional and lacked moral instructions for worshippers. Patron–client associations seemed to depict gods-worshipper relations in Paul’s time. In this paper, I argue that Paul in 1 Cor 10:1–4 uses both his former religious traditions and those of the first audience, Jews and non-Jews, to convince them about his novel God–Christ patron–covenant theology. Paul abruptly introduced Moses (10:2), spiritual food/drink (10:3–4a) and Christ (10:4b) into the classic Jewish wandering story in the wilderness to delineate his anti-idol rhetoric throughout 1 Cor 10. Paul paradoxically warned the first audience against their idol-worshipping lifestyles by utilising and transforming Jewish Shema worship into a binitarian God–Christ covenantal relation, and idol-worship traditions to the only patron family god of the Christ-follower community. Paul’s rhetorical purpose of (re)introducing the concept of God as Moses’ God and Christ as an anti-idol polemic is a coherent theme throughout 1 Cor 10 and probably throughout 1 Cor 11–14.
Abstract Several scholars in practical theology have lamented inattention in the field to environmental crises, raising the question: what is the state of research on climate? This report analyzes the scholarship with the hope of raising consciousness about contributions and sparking greater political and moral engagement. Contrary to initial impression, the review concludes that practical theologians have written more than people realize, offering up-close analysis of human proclivities toward climate violence and religious practices of earth justice. If anything, practical theologians need to do a better job drawing on past research in the field and honing what we have to offer.
Since its emergence after the Council of Trent, moral theology as a discipline has had an intimate but problematical relationship with philosophy. It is not rare, even today, to hear or read moral theologians expounding their views with no explicit acknowledgement of the importance of the philosophical terms and theories they use in the formulation of their positions. All this would seem to be particularly the case with a term that has gradually become quite central to moral theological discourse: conscience. The purpose of this article is to suggest that phenomenology, as a relatively new and profoundly revolutionary branch of philosophy, has become an indispensable resource for moral theological reflection on conscience. In particular it will be argued that the thought of Maurice Merleau-Ponty (1908–1961) constitutes a profound -unintentional- critique of traditional conceptions of conscience and simply cannot be ignored (as it normally is!) in contemporary discussions of this theme. What follows, then, divides into four sections: the first on a traditional vision of conscience; the second on consciousness in the thought of Merleau-Ponty; the third on conscience as a form of consciousness; and the fourth on the potential contribution of this line of thought to ethics and fundamental moral theology.
Bu yazı “İslam Düşünce Geleneğinde Tanrı Anlayışları I Eş’arîler” isimli kitabın kritiğini içermektedir. Allah’a inanmak İslam’ın en önemli prensibidir. Ancak kelâm düşüncesinde bu prensibin açıklanması bakımından farklı anlayışlar söz konusu olmuştur. Kitap, Eş’ari kelamındaki Tanrı tasavvurunu ayrıntılı bir şekilde ele almaktadır. Aynı zamanda Eş'ari kelâmında ortaya atılan düşünceleri de kronolojik bir sıralamayla aktarmaktadır.
Veterans of the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan often experience moral injury as an ambiguous sense of guilt or deep confusion or annihilation of a sense of what is good and right. Augustine argued that as personal agents, our willing follows that which we desire—the problem is that our desires are externally and internally distorted and our willing thus follows goods that are twisted and false. I argue that an Augustinian framework of human willing in pursuit of distorted goods holds a great deal of explanatory power in terms of the pathology of human violence and the phenomenon of moral injury in combat veterans. As several prominent psychological studies suggest, evolutionary, societal, and cultural forces condition our capacity to make critical moral decisions. Those studying moral injury in combatants have observed the profound guilt that eventually results from their participation in acts of violence and even in support of missions whose moral “good” they come to question. An Augustinian framework recognizes both the power of these external forces and the distortable nature of our own moral values and therefore allows us to locate moral injury in the realm of systemic, widespread societal and cultural problems. This definition allows the experience of differing levels of participation in wartime violence from “front-line combat” to support missions to be understood as valid experiences of moral injury while simultaneously recognizing that one’s active agency is required in order to experience moral injury. Further, this framework may resonate with veterans who experience hopelessness as a result of reflection on the malleability of human willing and its profound vulnerability to outside forces.
İlmi araştırma yapan kimseler için çeşitli ilim dallarındaki klasik kaynaklar büyük önem taşımaktadır. Makalede Suriye ilmi dergilerinde ilk dönem islâm tarihi, Emeviler, Abbasiler, Fatımiler, Eyyubiler, Begteginliler, Osmanlılar ve 20.yy tarihi ile ilgili makaleler alt başlıklar halinde sıralanmaktadır.
Bu çalışmada İslam’da kurumsal yardımlaşmayı temsil eden vakıf kurumunun, Kitap ve Sünnetteki referansları ile Allah rızası hedeflenerek kurulan vakıflara Hz. Peygamber, Raşit halifeler ve sahabenin bakışı ile daha sonraki yüzyıllarda özellikle Osmanlı uygulaması üzerinde durulmuş, özelde de aile vakıflarının genel durumları açıklanmıştır. Vakıf kurumunun özellikle de zürrî vakıfların serencamını ortaya çıkarabilmek için vakfiyeler, vakıfla ilgili kronikler ve konuyla ilgili ikincil çalışmalar ele alınarak incelenmiştir. Ebu Yusuf’un fetvası doğrultusunda kurulan, aile vakıflarının lehinde ve aleyhinde ortaya çıkan görüşler doğrultusunda ortak bir noktaya ulaşılmaya çalışılmıştır. Çalışmanın sonunda da, bazı zürrî vakıfların vakfiyelerin incelenmesi sonucunda elde edilen bilgilerle, evlatlık-zürrî vakıfların genel özellikleri örneklerle ortaya konulmuştur
A congregation can easily get lost in the labyrinth of catechism syllabi available for an educational ministry today. Calvin’s wish was that the church would have one catechism common to all churches. However, he consented to different churches developing different catechisms. He also warned about the power of catechesis, as it has the potential to influence the church for decades to come, and as the body of Christ can be strengthened or wounded through catechesis. Can Calvin provide a golden thread to navigate the labyrinth of catechisms available in the church today? Different models of catechesis are discussed briefly. The similarities and differences with Calvin’s approach to catechism are highlighted, and the article concludes with guidelines for contemporary catechesis.