Arts and Humanities Commons^™

Jesus, The Last Scapegoat: A Chinese-Indonesian Christian Theological Imagination For Peacebuilding And Reconciliation, Hans Harmakaputra

The Journal of Social Encounters

After enduring the systematic oppression under Suharto’s three-decade regime (1967-1998) in Indonesia through discriminatory policies, Chinese-Indonesians suffered an enormous loss in the 1998 riots that signified the end of Suharto’s regime. Many Chinese-Indonesians were killed, raped, and displaced. A few years later, the new government abolished the discriminatory policies against Chinese-Indonesians, and they started to enjoy equality as citizens of Indonesia. However, negativities that resulted from the traumatic experiences cannot be diminished easily. This essay suggests a Chinese-Indonesian Christian theological imagination of Jesus’ crucifixion that aims to deal with communal trauma and contribute to the peacebuilding and reconciliation efforts. This …

Interfaith Dialogue And Comparative Theology: A Theoretical Approach To A Practical Dilemma, Michael Atkinson

The Journal of Social Encounters

Interfaith dialogue is based on the premise that there is more that unites than divides us. Epistemological humility, acceptance of religious plurality or the need for unity itself have all been presented as unifying pathways across disparate religious traditions. Despite such approaches, conceptual understandings of interfaith dialogue have not kept pace with practice. This theoretical paper argues that interfaith dialogical theory profits from a deep understanding of moral psychology and social learning theory. The former posits that a sense of ‘fairness’ and ‘universal care’ are aligned with religious acceptance. On the other hand, values of sanctity, loyalty and authority promote …

Relational Power, Music, And Identity: The Emotional Efficacy Of Congregational Song, Nathan Myrick

Yale Journal of Music & Religion

Relational Power, Music, and Identity: The Emotional Efficacy of Congregational Song

The power of congregational song to unify (or divide) people along various lines is well documented. Yet, how this process of uniting or dividing is accomplished has proven necessarily difficult to document. This paper examines the complex and polyvalent factors that contribute to the meaningfulness of congregational music making, seeking to offer a synthetic, conceptual framework with which to engage this often murky milieu.

Employing interdisciplinary research techniques drawn from sociology, ritual studies, and ethnomusicology, I construct a conceptual framework with which to understand the profoundly formative power of …

Liberation And Engagement: Toward A U.S. Latino/A Diaspora Missiology, Angel Santiago-Vendrell

The Asbury Journal

Diaspora missiology is emerging in some evangelical circles as the new paradigm that would complement traditional missiology. In this article, I will describe and analyze the writings of three first generation Cuban-American theologians and their understanding of how to construct theology in diaspora. First, I will present the multiple origins of the Latino/a population. Second, the metaphor of the Promised Land will be described and assessed though the lens of the prosperity gospel. Third, the writings of Ada María Isasi-Díaz, Justo González, and Fernando Segovia on theology in the diaspora will be described and analyzed. Finally, a Latino/a missiology of …

Inductive Bible Study: Contextual Appropriation In Northeast India, M. Sashi Jamir

The Asbury Journal

M. Sashi Jamir examines the application of Inductive Bible Study to the tribal communities of Northeast India. This postcolonial situation has some positives such as a context with a higher degree of education, but it has also lead to a prominence of Western philosophy over traditional ways of understanding, which need to be reclaimed. The reality that larger national forces in India often overshadow tribal communities also poses potential problems that prevent the local theological voice from being heard.

Historical Support For Early Methodist Views Of Water And Spirit Baptism, Joseph D. Mcpherson

The Asbury Journal

This paper is a product of the Wesleyan Studies Summer Seminar for 2011. This program at Asbury Theological Seminary, under the leadership of Dr. Kenneth Collins, provides Wesleyan scholars with a month long intensive opportunity for research, writing, and interacting with other Wesleyan scholars for the furthering of academic knowledge in fields of Wesleyan Studies.

This paper explores the historical theological positions regarding water and Spirit Baptism in early Methodism and how these views diverged in the American Holiness Movement. Early Methodist teaching was more in line with Church history in associating water baptism with the outpouring of the Holy …

The Practical Theology Of The General Rules, Andrew C. Thompson

The Asbury Journal

The “General Rules of the United Societies” were a central component of the early Methodist movement under John Wesley’s leadership. Examinations of the General Rules in contemporary literature tend to focus on their role in personal and organizational discipline for early Methodists and for the movement as a whole. Yet a close examination of the rules shows that they served a greater purpose: as the practical theological articulation of how Methodists could expect to experience sanctification in the context of their lives. This crucial aspect of the General Rules’ use can be seen by exploring Wesley’s understanding of the means …

Public Theology For Global Development: A Case Study Dealing With "Health" In Africa, Gregg A. Okesson

The Asbury Journal

This article makes a simple assertion. The problems faced by global societies require a multi-disciplinary approach, in which theology actively engages other disciplines, such as politics, health, economics, science, and cultural studies, for the purposes of helping the Church of Jesus Christ accurately represent "the fullness of him who fills everything in every way" (Eph 1:23). This reflects the writings of John Wesley and involves a process of reinterpreting the Asburian heritage of "the whole Bible for the whole World" for relating the Gospel to such issues as poverty, disease, famine, ecological disaster, and other facets of development crisis. In …

"A Classless Society?": The Pneumatology Of E. Stanley Jones In Conversation With Mortimer Arias' Theology Of The Kingdom Of God, Angel Santiago-Vendrell

The Asbury Journal

This lecture addresses the pneumatology of E. Stanley Jones in

conversation with Mortimer Arias' theology of the kingdom of God. Jones was an advocate of what is known today in Latin America as mission integral. Integral mission seeks to restore every dimension of human life by requiring from Christians to be completely involved in the historical moment by the concrete demonstration of the power of the gospel in everyday life. Later, this illlderstanding of mission was used in Bolivia to propagate the gospel illldera brutal right-wing military regime by Bishop Mortimer Allas. Therefore, the kingdom of God as used …