Most Read Articles*
- Porta Fidei: The Year of Faith: The Faith of Joseph Ratzinger
Abstract
The resignation of Benedict XVI was a surprise, but not unanticipated. The legacy of his Pontificate is now under scrutiny. This article examines the faith of Benedict XVI and reconnects it with his Apostolic letter Porta Fidei, issued on October 11th, 2011 to announce the Year of Faith. This essay claims that Porta Fidei can be seen as the spiritual testament of Ratzinger's understanding of faith.
- Images and Understandings of the Church in the New Testament: An Overview
Abstract
The author investigates the range of New Testament writings for a composite picture of how the church was imaged and understood by NT Christians. Putting the colours and shapes of multiple images together sheds considerable light on the origins, nature and mission of the church as a whole.. What is highlighted in the total picture of the church of the beginnings is that it was small, multiple, varied, self-determining, personal, home-based and local. Such attractive features stand in some contrast to the massive, monolithic, centrally-governed, pyramidical, top-down, and somewhat imperial and impersonal church of more recent times. It’s no wonder, then, that a world-wide movement in the church today for the development of small and somewhat decentralized church communities should keep looking to the church of the NT as its chief inspiration.
- Aboriginal Land Rights: A Continuing Social Justice Issue
Abstract
Australian Aboriginals and Torres Strait Islanders have been the original landowners and successful custodians of the Australian landscape for over 50,000 years. In 1788 Britain took possession of the eastern half of Australia without any regard for the original inhabitants and as a result acquired the unassailable legal position of being the first occupants. This unacceptable situation has continued under the doctrine of terra nullius, a doctrine supporting the position that prior to 1788 Australia belonged to no one. While terra nullius remains at the heart of the Australian legal system there can be no social justice for Australian Aboriginals. The impact of terra nullius has been the dispossession of Aboriginal land and a denial of fundamental Aboriginal rights. Social justice is still outstanding.
- Classic and Contemporary: A Hermeneutical Exploration of Trinity
Abstract
How are contemporary Christians to understand the classical doctrine of the Trinity in a meaningful way? Hermeneutical theory—discussed here under the rubrics of 'belonging,' 'interpretation,' 'risk' and 'standing under the text' — provides the key for appropriating classical texts. Reviewing the root metaphors for God in Hebrew and Christian history, as well as early Trinitarian developments, a constructive approach to the Trinity as metaphor is then proposed.
- Narrative and Context in a Practical Theology for Papua New Guinea
Abstract
While Practical Theology encompasses both Narrative and Context, the distinctiveness of each form of theology — narrative and contextual — is expounded with particular reference to Papua New Guinea. In story-telling, oral cultures, the potential for developing narrative theology as stories of faith cannot be underestimated. Nonetheless, theological reflection for Papua New Guinea (and beyond) must also use the methods of contextual theology. Four steps in this process are explored: the issue; the faith question; dialogue with Scripture and tradition; Christian commitment and its consequences. Only such an approach will enable the Church in each culture to develop genuinely practical theological reflection appropriate for each place and time.
- Hope - Essential and Abundant
Abstract
This essay reflects on the necessity of hope for human existence. It then describes the nature, limits and pathology of human hope before comparing and contrasting it with Christian hope. I argue that the Gospel subverts and redemptively transforms the human condition through the abundant hope available by faith in the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
- Healing the Wounded Adolescent
Abstract
Drawing together various studies in media, psychology and pastoral ministry, the author analyses current youth culture with particular focus on the wounded adolescent within Generation Txt. She argues that Christian family counselling agencies and youth ministries are needed to create an extended family culture for wounded adolescents and their families. An earlier version of the paper was presented at the Melbourne 2007 Conference of The Association of Practical Theology in Oceania. [Editor]
- Deus Economicus
Abstract
In recent years there has been an upsurge of interest in religion among economists, but the content of religion has so far been neglected. This paper builds a rational choice model of divine action, in particular of the structure of the divine offer of salvation and rational human response. It considers why God might not save everyone, the pattern of salvation across individuals with different preferences and endowments, and the way religious conversion and revivals are often large and sudden changes. Rational choice analysis of divine human interactions is a contribution to the renewal interdisciplinary conversation between economists and religion scholars. [Editors Note: This article is the first part of a conversation which is continued in the article entitled Conversation on Paul Oslingtons Deus Economicus in this same issue of AEJT.]
- Inter or Intra-Religious Dialogue?
Abstract
This paper was originally presented at the Fethullah Gülen Conference, St Patricks Melbourne Campus, ACU, 15th-16th July 2009 and revised as Conversation on Inter-religious Dialogue for the Gold Coast Sea of Faith Public Lecture, 1st November 2009. It examines obstacles to dialogue especially between Christians and Muslims. Such obstacles arise from doctrinal differences as well as historical, cultural and political complexities. If interreligious dialogue is to succeed, it must not only deal with doctrinal issues, but create the circumstances in which people of diverse religious traditions may come to understanding (not necessarily agreement). For this, Raimon Panikkar suggests that a different kind of hermeneutic what he calls diatopical hermeneutics is required. Elements of this type of religious encounter include humility, empathy and hospitality or what Panikkar calls intra-religious dialogue. These are examined in relation to Islamic-Christian dialogue.
- Civil Legislation and the Catholic Politician
Abstract
Confusion exists in the minds of many regarding the responsibility of Catholic politicians to stand up for the teachings of their Church when faced in the public arena with controversial moral issues such as abortion and euthanasia. The confusion is understandable given that Catholic moral theology supports two approaches, which both appear in official documents of the Church. One approach tackles the issue from the perspective of law and maintains that civil legislation must not be in contradiction with the natural law. The second approach begins from the quite different starting point of individual freedom and rests on respect for the dignity of the human person. Arguing that the problem needs to be seen in the context of a correct understanding of a democracy based on the principle of a free society, the author goes on to analyse the two approaches and arrive at a balanced solution.
*Based on the number of full-text downloads in the first two weeks of the papers being posted and across all issues