Arts and Humanities Commons^™

Returning To The Sources: The Literature Of Christian Librarianship, Gregory A. Smith

Gregory A. Smith

Theological And Pedagogical Implications Of The Role Of Zionism In Reform Jewish Manifestos: A Bridge From Vision To Praxis, Haim O. Rechnitzer, Gabriella Minnes Brandes

Haim O Rechnitzer חיים א. רכניצר

In this article, we explore the transition from philosophical and theological manifestos to their practical and educational implementation as we analyze the official American Reform-Judaism discourse as curricular text. This analysis provides a tool for a discussion of the relationships between vision and its implementation particularly for educators and leaders. We highlight the possibilities of dialogue among educators, rabbis-in-training, and leaders to aid in the formation of new visionary documents and, in doing so, affect the dynamics of paving new directions. We demonstrate a model that may be used to investigate such translations from vision to a lived experience and …

The Spirit Of Calvin And The Synod Of Dordt, Steve Curtis

Steve Curtis

Beginning in November of 1618, in the Dutch city of Dordrecht, the Reformed Church of the Netherlands convened a synod to examine and consider the positions being promoted by a group of pastors and theologians known as the Remonstrants. Chief among the disputed points were the doctrines of soteriology, though there were other, ancillary issues that had developed from this time as well, such as the proper relationship between church and state and church polity. A number of countries sent delegates to the synod which met over 180 sessions. In the end, the Synod denounced the Remonstrance and confirmed the …

The Old Perspective On Second-Temple Judaism: Covenantal Nomism, Justification, And Perseverance, Steve Curtis

Steve Curtis

Beginning with the seminal work of E. P Sanders, Paul and Palestinian Judaism, in 1977, there has been a concerted effort to redefine the Pauline references to the “works of the law” (mentioned explicitly five times in his epistles and implicitly several more times). It is the contention of those in this movement (most notably beside Sanders are James Dunn and N. T. Wright) that the Reformers, in their reaction against the multi-faceted errors of Rome and, particularly, in their defense of the doctrine of sola fide, read too much into Paul, and that first century Judaism in general was, …

"Searching For The Face Of The Lord In Ratzinger's Jesus Of Nazareth", Peter J. Casarella

Peter J. Casarella

No abstract provided.

A Scientific Rationale For Belief In God?, Philip E. Graves

PHILIP E GRAVES

This paper presents a concise scientific rationale for the existence of God. The works of Ray Kurzweil and the many other artificial intelligence researchers provide a backdrop to the central thesis. An entity (computers or humans, it not mattering which) will eventually approach all-knowing. How much time passes before this occurs is not important. All-knowing is likely to be all-powerful insofar as knowledge leads to power, as has been our experience. One would suspect that this would be inclusive of time travel. The methods by which knowledge grows require “seed” facts to begin working. The seed facts can easily be, …

The Myth Of Religious Violence: Secular Ideology And The Roots Of Modern Conflict, William Cavanaugh

William T. Cavanaugh

The idea that religion has a dangerous tendency to promote violence is part of the conventional wisdom of Western societies, and it underlies many of our institutions and policies, from limits on the public role of religion to efforts to promote liberal democracy in the Middle East. William T. Cavanaugh challenges this conventional wisdom by examining how the twin categories of religion and the secular are constructed. A growing body of scholarly work explores how the category 'religion' has been constructed in the modern West and in colonial contexts according to specific configurations of political power. Cavanaugh draws on this …