Theological Anthropology

It is hard to think of an area of Christian theology that provides more scope for interdisciplinary conversation than the doctrine of creation. This doctrine not only invites reflection on an intellectual concept: it calls for contemplation of the endlessly complex, dynamic, and fascinating world that human being inhabit. But the possibilities for wide-ranging discussion are such that scholars sometimes end up talking past one another. Productive conversation requires mutual understanding of insights across disciplinary boundaries. Knowing Creation offers an essential resource for helping scholars from a range of fields to appreciate one another's concerns and perspectives. In so doing, it offers an important step forward in establishing a mutually-enriching dialogue that addresses, amongst others, the following key questions:

- Who is the God who creates?
- Why does God create?
- What is "creation"?
- What does it mean to recognize that a theology of creation speaks of a natural world that is subject to the observation of the natural sciences? What does it mean to talk about both a "natural" order and a "created" order?
- What are the major tensions that have arisen between the natural sciences and Christian thinking historically, and why? How can we move beyond such tensions to a positive and constructive conversation, while also avoiding facile notions such as a "god of the gaps"?
- Is it feasible for a natural scientist to maintain a belief in God's continuing creative activity?
- In what ways might a naturalistic understanding of the natural world be said to be limited?
- How can biblical studies, theology, philosophy, history, and science talk better together about these questions?

At a time when the doctrine of creation - and even a mention of "creation" - has been disparaged due to its supposed associations with anti-scientific dogma, and theological offerings sometimes risk appearing a little more than reactionary exercises in naive apologetics, ill-informed by science or distinctly wary of engagement with it, it is more important than ever to offer a cross-disciplinary resource that can voice a positive account of a Christian theology of creation, and do so as a genuinely broad-ranging conversation about science and faith.

In this paper, as a final year student at the Faculty of Theology and Religion at the University of Pretoria, in fulfillment of the requirements for a Bachelor of Divinity Theology qualification, I aim to explore the history of Sexuality and Marriage as well as the concerns surrounding sexual and marital constructs as sociological issues, which 21st century Theology is often faced with: whether the Biblical ethics regarding premarital sexuality in its relation to marriage are still relevant for the 21st century...

Edith Stein (1891–1942) was a German-Jewish philosopher who joined the Carmelite Order after her conversion to the Roman Catholic faith in 1922. She has written a number of books, out of which the Potency and Act (1931) and the Finite and Eternal Being (1937) stand as monumental works, in which she probes the wonder and mystery of human being in relation to the divine being. She suffered an untimely death under the
Nazi regime at Auschwitz in 1942. She was later canonized as a martyr and saint by Pope John Paul II in 1998 as Sister Teresa Benedicta of the Cross.
In this book, Donald Wallenfang is presenting a holistic theological anthropology as he distills this theme from the works of Edith Stein.

This was a research paper for a course entitled Feminist and Multicultural Theologies. I unpack what gender complementarianism is, examine its history, and compare it to how Scripture and earlier Christian Tradition understood gender. This allows me to establish that gender complementarianism is a recent innovation in secular and Christian thinking about gender, and that it can be described as a "trajectory" from Scripture and Tradition on gender, influenced by social, ideological, and intellectual developments in secular societies. I then pursue a critique of gender complementarianism, arguing that it is an "unsatisfactory trajectory" because it has troubling implications for orthodox theology, is not borne out by empirical experience and observation, and has harmful effects on human beings and societies and on ethical development.

Alfa e Omega è un breve manuale che, come indicato dal titolo, studia la protologia e l’escatologia cristiana, alla luce del cristocentrismo trinitario e del principio sintetico. La luminosità di Cristo risorto si espande verso gli inizi della storia e anche verso la fine di essa. Le diverse dimensioni del disegno trinitario creatore e salvifico confluiscono nel mistero di Cristo, in modo tale che né la creazione è solo la questione dell’origine né l’escatologia è solo il problema del destino, ma entrambe si collegano in Colui che ne dà ragione della loro identità presente. Essendo Cristo il Logos, la sua luce non contrasta con la ragione umana, ma la porta al suo vero compimento. In questo senso, ci si avvale in queste pagine in modo particolare della compagnia di due grandi maestri, Tommaso d’Aquino e Joseph Ratzinger, nell’intento di mostrare, nello sviluppo dei diversi temi che compongono la protologia e l’escatologia, non solo la compatibilità della congiunzione dell’approccio metafisico con quello storico-salvifico ed esistenziale, ma anche la fecondità di una tale sintesi. Il manuale è destinato agli studenti del primo ciclo degli studi istituzionali, ed è frutto di più di quindici anni d’insegnamento.

An early undergraduate piece dealing with the extent to which theological language is metaphorical. This draws on concepts of divine transcendence and immanence, creation, the imago dei and the incarnation. Biblical materials used to illustrate the argument are the narratives of creation and the tower of Babel, Job, Ezekiel's merkabah vision and the Johannine call to brotherly love (1 John 4:7-12)

This thesis is primarily an examination into Eberhard Jüngel’s concept of theological anthropology. Secondarily, this thesis examines how Jüngel’s theological anthropology can support the correction that Howard Zehr for in his book Changing Lenses. Zehr proposes that a better approach to our penal system would be to transition it from a retributive justice orientation to a restorative justice orientation. While Zehr makes a very good point, his biblical theological approach to supporting why such a change can be supported from a Christian perspective neglects the doctrine of justification, relegating it to a side note at the end of the discussion. It is the opinion of this author that Jüngel’s theological anthropology with its emphasis on the doctrine of the justification of sinners is the groundwork for Christian support for a program like Victim Offender Reconciliation program.

The author proposes a model for theological anthropology as embodied sensing that is based on an interdisciplinary exploration of the corporeal turn from a southern African
perspective. The work of James B. Nelson is acknowledged, stating that body theology
starts with the concrete, the bodily expressions of life and not with doctrines about God and humanity. The theological anthropology of David H. Kelsey is evaluated as a theological
anthropology with a sentiment of the flesh. Based on clearings in the work of David Kelsey and an interdisciplinary research, the author proposes a model for theological anthropology
as embodied sensing which functions within the intricate and complex connection of the
living body, language and experiencing in a concrete lifeworld with an openness to the ‘more than’. The author considers the use of bodymapping within narrative therapy as a way in which to uncover the intimate and intricate connection between the living body, experience and language, and implementing insights from theological anthropology as embodied sensing.

The purpose of this dissertation is to promote full-spectrum expository preaching by producing a homiletical model that addresses the intellect, emotions, and will. The dissertation formulated this model through an analysis of the Bible's metaphorical use of the "heart," an exploration of the homiletical literature, and an examination of the duplicable elements of preaching to the heart found in the sermons of John MacArthur Jr., John Piper, and Timothy Keller. The candidate incorporated the homiletical model in a series of ten sermons which were evaluated by his dissertation committee.

Constructive and narrative intersex confessional queer liberation theology responds to the evangelical Christian anti-LGBTQ "Nashville Statement" of 2017 and also expands and updates 2013 coming out sermon that led to public / media events that ensued in 2013 (very public dismissal from teaching post) “Come as You Are: God’s Good News for All People”  (Psalm 139, Luke 14:7-24, Galatians 3:28 and 5:1) August 18, 2013. LaVerne Church of the Brethren, La Verne, California. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Y_Hns6IYT4&feature=youtu.be. This chapter was published as “Every Body Is Good. You’re Welcome.” in OtherWise 2: Stories of Resistance, ed. Mx. Chris Paige. OtherWise Engaged Publishing, 2020: 29-36.

The purpose of this research is to show the changing face of cultural participation in hidden sub-cultures of the West. Through repackaging social partnership to adapt to post-modern realities, Middle-Earth Strategy Battle Gamers establish community, identity, and social mobilization through tabletop wargaming. This research is a call for anthropologists to expand their presence on social media as a means of understanding shifting images of culture. It is also a call for Christian participation in all segments of society.

Der am Institut für Evangelische Theologie der Universität Osnabrück lehrende Systematiker Gregor Etzelmüller (E.) legt eine theologische Anthropologie vor, die ihren interdisziplinären Sitz im Leben im Heidelberger Marsilius-Projekt "Verkörperung als Paradigma einer evolutionären Kulturanthropologie" hat.

A partir del estudio de la antropología de Henri de Lubac (1896-1991) el autor investiga la relación de esta antropología con la cristología en el pensamiento del teólogo francés. Sobre la base de las grandes obras lubacianas y de un amplio material de textos cristológicos, dispersos a lo largo de la obra del teólogo, Persidok muestra  la fuerte unidad de la visión teológica que subyace en las obras mayores y en los “escritos de ocasión” de De Lubac. La investigación llevada a cabo muestra que la clave de la unidad de esa teología es la categoría de “mediación” y de “Mediador”, razón por la cual se puede afirmar que hay una verdadera cristología en el autor de "Le Mystère du Surnaturel".
Esta obra recoge una parte reelaborada de la tesis doctoral del autor "Cristología y antropología en Henri de Lubac. Mediación y Cristo mediador" defendida en 2016.

The number of "single, never married"​ individuals is steadily on the rise in the United States, currently standing at 20% of the population over the age of 25.  Among Catholics, 27% are single, never married.  If we include other forms of 'singleness'​--divorced, separated, widowed--more than 40% of Catholics were "single"​ in 2000. In spite of these numbers, the church remains overwhelmingly focused on marriage and nuclear family life. The single life is an ecclesial wilderness, an unchartered territory within a landscape dominated by marriage and family life.

This paper attempts to put the single life "on the map"​ by inquiring about the ecclesial and ecclesiastical location of the single person and asking if we can consider the intentional and committed single life an authentic vocation in the church.  Drawing from the work of Sandra Schneiders and Hans Urs von Balthasar, I suggest that we can to consider a vocation to the committed single life as a permanent commitment to an expansive horizon of love through friendship and stewardship of personal charism within the lay apostolate.

Viewing the imago Dei as an act of God’s historical election whereby the human lineage is functionally designated as priests of creation, I propose that the neurobiological capacities for mirroring and mental simulation—if and when such capacities are clearly shown to exist within humans—can be viewed as key substantive preconditions that are required for any beings who would be called and elected to fulfill the vocation of the imago Dei. In this way the capacity for mirroring and neuro-simulation would be necessary requirements for election as the imago Dei but not sufficient in and of themselves to establish their possessor as the imago Dei. It is God’s election alone that establishes human beings as God’s living reflections and imitators, but without certain capacities (such as the ability to mirror and/or simulate the minds of others) the calling of the imago Dei could not be fulfilled.

For centuries, Christian theology has understood the Eucharist in terms of metaphysics or in protest against it. Today an opening has been made to imagine the sacrament through the method of phenomenology, bringing about new theological life and meaning. In Dialectical Anatomy of the Eucharist, Donald Wallenfang conducts a sustained analysis of the Eucharist through the aperture of phenomenology, yet concludes the study with poetic and metaphysical twists. Engaging the work of Jean-Luc Marion, Paul Ricoeur, and Emmanuel Levinas, Wallenfang proposes pioneering ideas for contemporary sacramental theology that have vast implications for interfaith and interreligious dialogue. By tapping into the various currents within the Judeo-Christian tradition--Jewish, Catholic, Orthodox, and Protestant--a radical argument is developed that leverages the tension among them all. Several new frontiers are explored: dialectical theology, a fourth phenomenological reduction, the phenomenology of human personhood, the poetics of the Eucharist, and a reinterpretation of the concept of gift as conversation. On the whole, Wallenfang advances recent debates surrounding the relationship between phenomenology and theology by claiming an uncanny way out of emerging dead ends in philosophical theology: return to the fray.

N.T. Wright has offered a proposal to Christian philosophers where it is apparently possible to hold the belief in the intermediate state-resurrection of the body and an ontological holism in the same sense at the same time. I argue that this not only creates a basic contradiction in Wright's ontological paradigm, but also it is not a coherent and tenable proposal despite the fact one might eventually find a potential solution to such a quandary.

Dieser Artikel über Person bei Edith Stein wird gekürzt im Edith Stein-Lexikon 2017 bei Herder veröffentlicht. Er vermittelt die Quellen von Steins Personbegriff, die komplexe Entwicklung in ihrem Werk und die verschiedenen Bedeutungen. This article on "person" in Edith Stein will be published in a shorter version in the "Edith Stein-Lexikon" (Herder 2017). It shows Stein's sources, the complex development in her work, and the different meanings of the term.

Joseph Sverker explores the division between social constructivism and a biologist essentialism by means of Christian theology. For this, Sverker uses a fascinating approach: He lets critical theorist Judith Butler, psycholinguist Steven Pinker, and systematic theologian Colin Gunton interact. While theology plays a central part to make the interaction possible, the context is also that of the school and the effect of institutions on the pupil as a human being and learner.

In order to understand what underlies the division between nature and nurture, or biology and the social in school, Sverker develops new central concepts such as a kenotic personalism, a weak ontology of relationality, and a relational and performative reading of evolution. He argues that most fundamental for what it is to be human is the person, vulnerability, bodiliness, openness to the other, and dependence.

Sverker concludes that the division between constructivism and essentialism discloses a deeper divide, namely that between fundamentally vulnerable persons on the one hand and constructed independent individuals on the other.

We współczesnej interpretacji teologicznej (katolickiej) owoc z „drzewa poznania dobra i zła” rozumiany jest symbolicznie w kontekście biblijnej historii upadku człowieka. Dlatego „owoc” (i jego spożycie) jest utożsamiany z naturą grzechu pierworodnego. Uważa się, że „grzech pierworodny polega na tym, że człowiek zamiast otworzyć się na działanie Boga, zamyka się w sobie. Inaczej mówiąc, jest to grzech pychy. Hagiograf ujął tę prawdę w formie obrazowego opisu i dlatego nie możemy bliżej określić natury tego grzechu (…)” . Usiłując doprecyzować naturę upadku, autorzy komentarzy biblijnych i opracowań teologicznych interpretują go jako próbę przejęcia przez człowieka władzy posiadanej jedynie przez Boga. „Uwzględniając bogatą symboliką zawartą w analizowanej sentencji, można wysnuć wniosek, iż zakaz „jedzenia z drzewa poznania dobra i zła” oznacza: mieć władzę decydowania, czyli orzekanie o tym, co jest poprawne, a co nie jest. Władza taka obejmowałaby wszystkie płaszczyzny istnienia, ale głównie chodzi tu o możliwość ustanawiania porządku w istniejącym świecie. A to przynależy się tylko Bogu, z racji tego, że to On jest jedynym Stwórcą świata i człowieka” .
Nie negując powyższej interpretacji upadku człowieka i rozumienia symboliki genezyjskiego „owocu”, należy zauważyć, że są one silnie uwikłane w kontekst teologiczny całości objawienia biblijnego oraz tradycji teologicznej Kościoła. Dlatego mogą zostać zaakceptowane przede wszystkim przez tych, którzy utożsamiają się ze wspomnianą teologiczną wizją ludzkiego pochodzenia, ludzkiej natury i ludzkiego przeznaczenia. Ponadto, ściśle teologiczna propozycja rozumienia „owocu” utrzymana jest w nurcie teologii moralnej, gdyż bardzo mocno ukierunkowuje symbolikę „owocu” na wymiar moralny ludzkiego postępowania i sprowadza ją do sytuacji nieprzestrzegania zakazu, a więc złamania prawa nadanego człowiekowi przez Boga. Wydaje się więc, że oba wspomniane aspekty stanowią pewne ograniczenie głębi i uproszczenie złożoności symboliki „owocu”, a wskutek tego nie pozwalają na uchwycenie tego poziomu interpretacji „owocu”, który odwołuje się do jego antropologicznej i aksjologicznej (a nie jedynie teologicznej) istoty. Szczęśliwie pojawiają się ostatnio próby interpretacji historii biblijnych (także tych zawartych w początkowych rozdziałach Księgi Rodzaju), które na drodze hermeneutyki i filozofii biblijnej poszukują pogłębionych i uniwersalnych znaczeń obecnych w Biblii symboli, w tym również genezyjskiego „owocu”

Existential Theology: An Introduction offers a formalized and comprehensive examination of the field of existential theology, in order to distinguish it as a unique field of study and view it as a measured synthesis of the concerns of Christian existentialism, Christian humanism, and Christian philosophy with the preoccupations of proper existentialism and a series of unfolding themes from Augustine to Kierkegaard. To do this, Existential Theology attends to the field through the exploration of genres: the European traditions in French, Russian, and German schools of thought, counter-traditions in liberation, feminist, and womanist approaches, and postmodern traditions located in anthropological, political, and ethical approaches. While the cultural contexts inform how each of the selected philosopher-theologians present genres of “existential theology,” other unique genres are examined in theoretical and philosophical contexts, particularly through a selected set of theologians, philosophers, thinkers, and theorists that are not generally categorized theologically. By assessing existential theology through how it manifests itself in “genres,” this book brings together lesser-known figures, well-known thinkers, and figures that are not generally viewed as “existential theologians” to form a focused understanding of the question of the meaning of “existential theology” and what “existential theology” looks like in its varying forms.

There is a striking similarity, in terms of both strategy and purpose, between certain modern AI algorithms and the way demonic intelligence is described in some Christian traditions. Social media algorithms are constantly at work, trying to predict our behaviour, and presenting us with just the right 'temptations' that might trigger our reaction. AI gathers enormous data from our external behaviour and builds actual voodoo-like models of who we are and what we care about, potentially leading to a point when, in Yuval Harari’s words, algorithms come to "know us better than we know ourselves”

In some Christian traditions, the devil is seen as doing a similar job (Book of Job, Life of  Anthony, C.S. Lewis’ Screwtape Letters etc.). Without access to one's internal thoughts or ‘soul’, the devil can only infer our triggers based on our external behaviour (actions, gaze etc.) and physiologic data (heart rate, certain neurons firing etc.). The devil is thus, to some extent, our imagined upper limit of what AI algorithms could ever be capable of.

In spite of the devil’s huge informational advantage over us, Christian belief affirms that we are ultimately free and still able to choose our actions. In contrast, current concerns that AI algorithms could easily manipulate us and rob us of our freedom are built on the presupposition that we are ultimately hackable. 

Which one is it? Is Christian anthropology naïve in ascribing such a high degree of agency to humans? Or, on the contrary, should we see the failure of demonic intelligence to completely break the human being as a reason to be less worried about AI’s ability to manipulate us? I argue for a third type of answer, which is an admission that traditional demonologies, which speak of quasi-omniscient devils, are rather untenable.

Apophatic Measures: Toward a Theology of Irreducible Particularity is a work of constructive comparative theology examining select writings of Śaṅkara (Eighth Century, India) and Nicholas of Cusa (Fifteenth Century, Germany). It investigates the theological significance of individuality, difference, and diversity from the perspectives of these provocative thinkers. It argues that, for Śaṅkara and Cusa, apophasis does not culminate in what Michael Sells calls a “semantic event,” but instead in a sensual event. For each, negation removes intellectual distractions, awakening one to a heightened state of sensual attentiveness. Thus awakened, one attends to other persons, perceiving individuals as unique disclosures of ultimate reality.
For Śaṅkara, this is observed in the embodied encounter wherein a teacher incarnates Vedānta scripture, literally points at a student, and reveals “This Self is Brahman” (Māṇḍūkya Upaniṣad 2). In part, a student comes to see himself/herself as Brahman because of being seen as such by the guru who gives voice to the scripture in order that it may be heard (śruti). For Cusa, the intimate encounter between Jesus and the Samaritan woman at Jacob’s well (John 4) is paradigmatic of true, attentive sensuality. Though thirsty and fatigued, Jesus genuinely sees the woman just as she is, speaking to her particularly and personally, rather than reducing her individuality to socially or religiously constructed categories.
Employing a heuristic device termed “apophatic measure” in its trifold meanings of method, sensuality, and particularity, this dissertation contributes to contemporary discourses on the ontology of difference, the theo-ethical valuation of diversity, and the singularity of unique bodies. Rather than reducing individuals to ethnic, gendered, or other essentializing measures, persons are regarded as unique disclosures of ultimate reality. Each person is re/cognized as an unprecedented imago Dei (from Cusa’s perspective) or as a particular manifestation (vyakti) of Ātman-Brahman (from Śaṅkara’s perspective). Through the pedagogy and performance of apophatic theology, one progressively removes epistemic universals (including race, gender, and religious identity) superimposed upon unique persons, thereby cultivating a phenomenology of irreducible particularity. In other words, one learns to perceive the unique divinity of individual persons. Cusa and Śaṅkara refer to this, respectfully, as a vision of God and as seeing the highest Self. Awakened to an attentive sensuality, one re/cognizes this Self, incarnate before one’s very eyes, as an apophatic measure of the immeasurable divine.

Does Jesus save the Neanderthals? Do the Neanderthals need saving? Are they worth saving? And what about other non-human animals? What theological sense can be made of the boundaries of human nature when considered in light of contemporary evolutionary biology and paleoanthropology? This article explores how theologians can begin to approach such questions by looking at four key areas where theological anthropology, evolutionary biology, and paleoanthropology intersect—1) human nature, 2) human uniqueness, 3) the imago Dei, and 4) the incarnation.

This essay introduces new horizons of study in the realms of technology
and science. It suggests that technological advances challenge Christian
scholars and pastors to readdress theological topics that these advances
affect. The first section looks at scientific fields of study involving data,
intelligence, and environments in order to introduce these developments and suggests further research opportunities for pastor-theologians. The second section addresses human enhancement, which in some way interplays in all three areas of data, intelligence, and environments. This article argues that pastors and theologians should take the objectives of Posthumanists and Transhumanists seriously.

This study assesses the present themes and gaps in the theology of food literature (TFL) as well as where there is fertile ground for the development of an explicit theology of joy. This task is accomplished by examining the most prominent themes in the current body of TFL as well as placing these works alongside Jürgen Moltmann's theology of joy to display the value of strengthening the TFL with a more fully developed theology of joy.