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This paper explored the parallels between the Jewish Yom Kippur ritual as described in Leviticus 16:11-22 and the Effutu Aboakyer festival celebrated by the Effutu people of Ghana, West Africa. Drawing upon anthropological and sociological methodologies, the study conducted a close exegesis of Leviticus 16:11–22, elucidating its atoning rituals and practices. By situating these rituals within the cultural context of the Effutu community, the paper unveiled remarkable similarities between the Yom Kippur observance and the Aboakyer festival. The chosen methodology acknowledged Scripture's inherent sociocultural insights and engages with anthropological research to enrich understanding. The study argued that atonement in traditional festivals does not achieve salvation for humanity; only Jesus’ sacrifice saves. Ultimately, this exploration offers theological reflections that resonate with both African and biblical contexts, shedding light on the enduring relevance of ancient rituals in contemporary cultural frameworks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The centrality of the person and works of Jesus Christ in Christianity cannot be denied. In relation to his works, Christ holds three offices simultaneously; namely, those of king, priest and prophet. A proper understanding of African traditional kingship may facilitate the African Christian understanding of the kingship of Christ and in the process, give the African audience a contextual expression of the Christian faith. The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate how African Christians can appreciate the kingship of Christ based on their understanding of the traditional chieftaincy institution. To this end, the paper examines relevant aspects of the Dormaa kingdom of Ghana--particularly the Dormaahene's chieftaincy appellations--from a Christological perspective. The paper used a literature-based research methodology to interpret the appellations Ɔsagyefoɔ and Ɔseadeɛyɔ as Christological titles and then linked them to Ahobammɔ Christology--that is, the protection that Christ offers believers. The main thesis of the paper is that the chieftaincy appellations of the Dormaahene have rich Christology which when developed and promoted from an Akan Christian perspective, will catalyze the decolonization and contextualization of Christianity in Africa. The paper contributes to the Christianization of African chieftaincy institutions. The findings from the paper demand that traditional rulers exercise their authority in accordance with God's purpose and will for their kingdoms, noting that only God is the Supreme Ruler. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The patristic era represents the formative period of Christian theology. As such, this period witnessed remarkable theological immaturity and complexity. One theological issue that attracted much attention in this period was atonement. Patristic scholars, in an attempt to build on the apostolic tradition, expressed varied interpretations of Christ's death on the cross. Among the different patristic interpretations, Iranaeus' recapitulation and Origen's ransom theories of atonement became the most outstanding. The recapitulation theory emphasizes the restoration of the human race to their divine-given status. The ransom theory, on the other hand, stresses the transactional dimension of the atonement which resulted in the defeat of Satan. This paper critically examines these two theories using data gathered from books, journal articles, and dissertations, among other sources. The paper concluded that, though the recapitulation and ransom interpretations of the atonement are ancient theories, they are still relevant to the overall contemporary understanding of Christian soteriology. The findings from the paper will not only contribute to modern soteriological discourses but will also help readers to avoid some pitfalls that characterize the two interpretations discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explored the parallels between the Jewish Yom Kippur ritual as described in Leviticus 16:11-22 and the Effutu Aboakyer festival celebrated by the Effutu people of Ghana, West Africa. Drawing upon anthropological and sociological methodologies, the study conducted a close exegesis of Leviticus 16:11–22, elucidating its atoning rituals and practices. By situating these rituals within the cultural context of the Effutu community, the paper unveiled remarkable similarities between the Yom Kippur observance and the Aboakyer festival. The chosen methodology acknowledged Scripture’s inherent socio-cultural insights and engages with anthropological research to enrich understanding. The study argued that atonement in traditional festivals does not achieve salvation for humanity; only Jesus’ sacrifice saves. Ultimately, this exploration offers theological reflections that resonate with both African and biblical contexts, shedding light on the enduring relevance of ancient rituals in contemporary cultural frameworks.

This paper reflects upon some modern theologians' stance on the idea of "Deep Incarnation" offering its Eastern Orthodox theological, philosophical and scientific assessment. The main problems and corresponding questions to this idea are: (1) Because of the vast and causally disconnected structure of the universe, humanity at best is consubstantial to the 4% of matter in the visible universe so that the claims for the relevance of the historical Incarnation to the whole creation are not plausible; (2) By de facto equating the transfigured flesh of Christ (through the hypostatic union), with the rest of creation, thus depriving the process of deification of humanity and transfiguration of the visible universe of its temporal dimension, Deep Incarnation goes contrary to the Orthodox stance on deification as a personal endeavour not implanted into the logic of the natural world; (3) the claims of the Deep Incarnation idea would be trivial if they were concerned only with the necessary conditions for the historical Incarnation, which are cosmological. However, the sufficient conditions of the Incarnation as an inaugural event of Christian history cannot be placed into the fabric of the material world. (4) The idea of Deep Incarnation may be treated as contributing to the old makroanthropos idea, related to humanity as a mediating agency not only between moral divisions in creation, but also between different life forms by bringing them to the unity in God. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The notion of revelation, the idea that God reveals essential aspects of God's being, will and work to human beings, has a fundamental significance in monotheistic religions, for which the dimension of worship is central. The idea of revelation is shared in both Christianity and islam, each with its own perspective on the concept. From a Christian perspective, it is based on the understanding of a personal God. What humans can know about God is not simply the result of human reason trying to understand the divine, but it also involves God's actions in revealing himself. It is only through revelation that man can have a self-knowledge of God, where he actively makes himself known, being both the subject of this knowledge and its object. On the other hand, in islam God is considered a solitary monad who remains a mystery, and the Muslim believer knows only his name and attributes described in the Qur'an. This paper aims to provide an exegetical analysis of Hebrews 1:1-14 from the perspective of its dogmatic content. Our goal is to present the islamic perspective on angels as the main messengers in the context of revelation, and in so doing to demonstrate the superiority of Christ over the angels in position (given his superior name and absolute worship) and in nature (given his superior nature as the Son, his superior existence as Creator, and his superior dignity as eternal Lord). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper attempts to interpret a gem of uncertain date and questionable origin, with Greek inscriptions and letters, and which is in the National Library of France (BNF inv.58.2220). Based on previous interpretations and the surviving impression and description of a pendant which is very similar to it in material and subject, it can be shown that the gem is original, and Christian, based on the depictions on it and the clearly legible word "XPICTOC". [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This literature-based research explored the subject of Kingship Christology as portrayed in Midnight Crew’s song “Igwe.” Through an interdisciplinary approach, the paper delved into how the song articulates the Kingship of Christ from an Igbo Christian perspective. The paper critically examined the lyrics of the song, linking it with the Christian and Igbo socio-cultural worldviews. The research established that Jesus surpasses every human king (past, present and future) in every human society and serves as a perfect King whose leadership style provides a perfect model of what human leadership ought to be. This finding formed the basis for exploring key implications of Jesus’ kingship for the Igbo/African sociopolitical setting. The paper charged African leaders to adopt a Christological model of leadership characterized by humility, servanthood, transparency, accountability, inclusivity, and a deep commitment to the welfare of their communities. In addition to demonstrating the nexus between music, theology and culture, the paper contributes to African Christian scholarship on Christology, musical theology and leadership.

This paper proposes a reading of Thomas Aquinas' doctrine of predestination as fundamentally oriented towards and realized in friendship with God. On this reading, the seemingly disparate questions, "What does it mean to be predestined?" and "What does it mean to grow in friendship with God?" are not only mutually illuminating but ultimately coterminous. In the first part of the paper, I contextualize this theological rapprochement by foregrounding Aquinas' treatment in the Summa Theologiae of predestination as a Christocentric, communal reality, and by considering friendship with God as the end of Aquinas' doctrine of grace. In the second part, I attend to Aquinas' scriptural commentaries on Romans and the Gospel of John, in order to conduct a reading of predestination in/as friendship with God. Ultimately, as invited in friendship and adopted in grace into the life of Christ, God's ordering of the rational creature to eternal life is nothing other than God's ordering of humanity as viator to friendship with Himself in the inner life of Trinitarian love itself. Zusammenfassung: In diesem Artikel wird eine Lektüre der Prädestinationslehre von Thomas von Aquin vorgeschlagen, die sich grundlegend an Gott orientiert und in Freundschaft mit ihm verwirklicht. Bei dieser Lesart sind die scheinbar unterschiedlichen Fragen: „Was bedeutet es, prädestiniert zu sein?" und „Was bedeutet es, in Freundschaft mit Gott zu wachsen?" nicht nur wechselseitig aufschlussreich, sondern letztendlich sinngleich. Im ersten Teil des Artikels kontextualisiere ich diese theologische Annäherung, indem ich die Behandlung durch Aquin in der Summa Theologiae der Prädestination als christozentrische, gemeinschaftliche Realität in den Vordergrund stelle und die Freundschaft mit Gott als den Zweck der Gnadenlehre von Aquin betrachte. Im zweiten Teil beschäftige ich mich mit den schriftlichen Kommentaren von Aquin zu den Römern und dem Johannesevangelium, um eine Lesart der Prädestination in/als Freundschaft mit Gott durchzuführen. Letztendlich ist Gottes Ordnung der rationalen Kreatur zum ewigen Leben nichts anderes als Gottes Ordnung der Menschheit als Viator der Freundschaft mit ihm selbst im inneren Leben der trinitarischen Liebe, wie sie in Freundschaft aufgefordert und in Gnade in das Leben Christi aufgenommen wurde. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper responds to the exegetical view that the argumentation of Gal 3.10 employs a suppressed praemissa minor (ʻthe Torah cannot be fully observed') and argues against the thesis of P. C. Moore, according to which the words taken up in 2.16c from Ps 143(142).2 do in fact provide exactly this premise. Not least the sequence of the particles γάρ, (ὅτι) δέ, ὅτι and δέ in Gal 3.10b, 11a, 11b, 12a draws attention to a more probable scenario: Paul argues in 3.10–12 by means of two syllogisms, and he uses premises secured by biblical formulations (from Deut 27.26; Hab 2.4; Lev 18.5). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Alustath is the property of Republic of Iraq Ministry of Higher Education & Scientific Research (MOHESR) and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This paper examines two fundamental claims by Michel Henry on his philosophy's relationship with classical phenomenology (Husserl and Heidegger) and Christianity. It shows in what way Henry's phenomenology is the radicalization and absolutization of classical phenomenology: pure phenomenological truth is the identification of appearing and what appears rather than the separation of the two. According to Henry, his notions of life and truth is fully in accordance with Christianity's Revelation of God. In the last part, the paper challenges Henry's claim that his phenomenology is a Christian philosophy from a Kierkegaardian point of view and argues that Henry's phenomenology is, as a matter of fact, a philosophy without Christ. Contrary to a popular viewpoint that Michel Henry is a Christian thinker of our age, I would argue that Henry's concept of God and Christ is essentially a scholarly philosophical invention. If Henry's philosophy is an absolute and ultimate form of phenomenology, then it is reasonable to draw a conclusion that Christ as the Truth of Christianity is outside the boundary of phenomenology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Between the death of Christ and his Ascension into heaven, is the important event of his glorious Resurrection. The Resurrection of Christ, a central doctrine of Christianity, is based on the belief that Jesus Christ was raised from the dead on the third day after his Crucifixion and that through his conquering of death all believers will subsequently share in his victory over sin, death, and the devil. This paper underscores the advantages, benefits, implications and significance of the resurrection of Christ in John Calvin's theology. The article stresses that it is the message of the Resurrection of Christ that we can hope on, so that Christians in Africa will not despair, when faced with suffering, persecution, troubles, and deaths. There is hope, because Christ lives, we will also live. The paper further relates the Resurrection of Christ in Calvin's theology to African Christianity. The methodology used in this study was the historical research method in which various relevant sources in literature were interrogated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Jesus Christ, Son of God, Savior of mankind says "Whoever desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me" (Mk. 8:34). One of the first recommendations the Lord addresses to any Christian who follows Him and His example is to deny his selfish ego and to take up his cross willingly. "Let him deny himself" means denying the old man, the inclination to sin, the denial of the selfish and sinful ego, of φιλαυτία, which is the excessive love of the flesh and its passions, of all sinful deeds, of all impudent utterances, of the willingness to think ignobly, indecently and maliciously, of one's own idiosyncrasies, of all egoistic, egocentric, unprepossessing and arrogant gestures, of all improper and void prejudices, of all vapid and nocuous conversations etc. In my paper, I wish to emphasize, starting from the writings of Holy Fathers, the fact that the phrase "take up one's Cross" has profound meanings that can be approached from different perspectives as broached in numerous commentaries and nuanced interpretations. In my paper, I also considered it necessary to underline and reveal, as completely as possible, the fact that the ones that endure suffering with serenity, peace of mind and the lack of refusal and rebellion against it, are merrily hopeful that the suffering endured accompanied by content for God leads them to resurrection, to a new life. When we suffer and view God, suffering will become for us a gate to the heavenly Kingdom. The fact Christ the Crucified is risen and rules that place of praise to the right of the Father is, for us, a sign of hope, of the promise of dwelling in praise; since we have been with Him in suffering, we will also share with Him the Kingdom of grace and endless joy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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This paper presents the work of Christ for the redemption of all creation, noticing how God made our salvation possible. In order to achieve this goal, we will look at the analogy between Adam (the old creation) and Christ (the new creation). This typological relationship outlines the principle of representation in Romans 5:12-21. From a methodological point of view, we propose to approach the Epistle to the Romans 5:12-21 and analyze the pattern it unfolds. Our working method involves three components. Firstly, we will deal with the framing and structure of this text studied in the broader context of the book; secondly, we will outline some exegetical aspects regarding the text; and finally, we will present the application of the theme highlighted by the text. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sophrony of Essex speaks about the revelation of God through scholar theology and through the life of each man who is crucified with Christ. So that God is revealed to human beings in the hiding places of his heart. Saint Sophrony's life and his writings speak about the ways that God becomes known to people. The latter as another Moses can accept this acknowledgement of Him in their hearts or can deny it. In this paper, it will be examined how the theology of Saint Sophrony stems from a focus on the idea of these, understood as the ontological meeting 'ground' between God and Man. Sophrony of Essex supports that theology cannot be and is not a philosophical science, but "it is a living penetration into divine eternity". For the believer, this revelation about the Triune God is an inexhaustible source of wisdom, joy and light pouring out on all manifestations of human existence, resolving all the perplexities of the mind and heart, leading to the endless expanses of eternal life. A theology which doesn't have any connection with the revelation of God is useless. By this way Saint Sophrony opposes the logic of many modern theologians who view God as a thing and seek to legitimize heretical views that have already been condemned by the Ecumenical Councils. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Charles H. Cooley, a pioneer in the study of Communication, had been credited regarding the notions of the looking-glass self and the primary group, but his seminal ideas related to communication – inspired by the German economist and sociologist Albert Schäffle – remained almost ignored for decades. But, after many years of obscurity, the most recent literature is outlining Cooley's contribution to symbolic interactionism and other concepts in the study of Communication. This paper focuses more specifically on how Cooley understood the relationship between communication and God. The original and surprising phrase nulla linea sine Deo (no one single line without God) that appears in his Journal, manifests his religious engagement during a time of intellectual and spiritual change in American universities. At twenty five years old he had written in his Journal on May 11, 1890: 'I want to be a scholar in righteousness, to be taught all the ways of strength and truth. I pray that may be led in hard ways so that I may know in my own life that "man shall not live by bread alone"'. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper focuses on exploring dhvani as a hermeneutical tool for reading Christian devotional literature. Dhvani is a theory of poetic suggestion proposed by Ānandavardhana in the eighth century and elaborated upon by Abhinavagupta in the eleventh century that posits layers of semantics in poetic language. By focusing on the devotional poetry of the seventeenth-century religious poets of England, this paper argues for Ānandavardhana's proposed poetics of suggestion as an enabling way of reading and cognizing devotion as a psycho emotive process. In the context of Indian Christianity, dhvani has been suggested by certain scholars as also enriching the possibilities of interfaith dialogue. This paper argues for incorporating poetic frameworks like dhvani as modes of interfaith dialogue, especially when reading Christian texts in India. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper focuses on how Philip Melanchthon organized his theology of preaching in the Apology of the Augsburg Confession, the very first defense of the early church reformers' approach to doctrine against formal papal criticism as drafted in the Confutation of the Augsburg Confession by Johann Eck, who had been commissioned by emperor Charles V to provide a papal romanist refutation of the reformist Augsburg Confession. The article is going to demonstrate that Melanchthon's theology of preaching insists on the proclamation of God's Word as Christ, Gospel, and repentance, an indication that his homiletical theory encompasses key dogmas like christology, revelation, and soteriology, all fundamental tenets which not only define the core of Protestant theology and practice but also provide listeners with the possibility of a changed life experience based on Christ's work as savior. The main contribution of this paper resides in the fact that on the one hand, it attempts to clarify Melanchthon's theological position not as a Protestant writing against Catholics but rather as reformist challenging his papal peers within the Catholic church, while on the other hand, it identifies various aspects of his early thought as presented in the Apology -- Christ, Gospel, repentance -- and places them together systematically into a building block which constitutes his early theology of preaching as dogmatically founded on as well as anchored in christology, revelation, and soteriology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Leadership is one of the key challenges facing the contemporary society despite many seminars, conferences and workshops organized on this subject. The political crises in many organizations and societies are the result of poor leadership. The subject of leadership is so important that no amount of scholarship dedicated to it can be considered too much. In a predominantly Christian society like Africa (and some other parts of the world) many people look up to Christianity to offer a leadership model that can promote quality leadership. The purpose of this paper is to provide biblical principles for leadership through a textual analysis of John 21:15-17. A literature-research methodology was used to gather data from books, journal articles and dissertations. A key finding is that shepherd leaders must show deep concern, compassion, acceptance and empathy for their followers in order to heal, sustain, nurture, and empower them. The paper ends with implications of the shepherding model of leadership for contemporary Christian ministry.

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A defining note of contemporary society is the diversity of the religious phenomenon, a diversity that extends into the sphere of religious values, morality and practices. This has led to the emergence of religious pluralism. From the perspective of religious pluralism, there are several ways to reach the divine reality - God. The world's religions are culturally determined responses to divine revelation, but the truth of each religion is to be complemented. This article aims to offer an exegetical analysis of the text in Hebrews 1:1-14 from the perspective of dogmatic content. Our intention in this paper is to give an answer to the redefined image of Jesus as presented in the Qur'an, by demonstrating the superiority and uniqueness of the person of Jesus Christ, while emphasizing his theological relevance (through concepts like exclusivism, inclusiveness, theological pluralism, etc.); Islam's perspective on the person and identity of Jesus; Christ's exegetical relevance as he is the only way; Christ's superiority in his being, and the characteristics of his relationship with the Godhead. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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The centrality of the person and works of Jesus Christ in Christianity cannot be denied. In relation to his works, Christ holds three offices simultaneously; namely, those of king, priest and prophet. A proper understanding of African traditional kingship may facilitate the African Christian understanding of the kingship of Christ and in the process, give the African audience a contextual expression of the Christian faith. The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate how African Christians can appreciate the kingship of Christ based on their understanding of the traditional chieftaincy institution. To this end, the paper examines relevant aspects of the Dormaa kingdom of Ghana—particularly the Dormaahene’s chieftaincy appellations—from a Christological perspective. The paper used a literature-based research methodology to interpret the appellations Ɔsagyefoɔ and Ɔseadeɛyɔ as Christological titles and then linked them to Ahobammɔ Christology—that is, the protection that Christ offers believers. The main thesis of the paper is that the chieftaincy appellations of the Dormaahene have rich Christology which when developed and promoted from an Akan Christian perspective, will catalyze the decolonization and contextualization of Christianity in Africa. The paper contributes to the Christianization of African chieftaincy institutions. The findings from the paper demand that traditional rulers exercise their authority in accordance with God’s purpose and will for their kingdoms, noting that only God is the Supreme Ruler.

The patristic era represents the formative period of Christian theology. As such, this period witnessed remarkable theological immaturity and complexity. One theological issue that attracted much attention in this period was atonement. Patristic scholars, in an attempt to build on the apostolic tradition, expressed varied interpretations of Christ’s death on the cross. Among the different patristic interpretations, Iranaeus’ recapitulation and Origen’s ransom theories of atonement became the most outstanding. The recapitulation theory emphasizes the restoration of the human race to their divine-given status. The ransom theory, on the other hand, stresses the transactional dimension of the atonement which resulted in the defeat of Satan. This paper critically examines these two theories using data gathered from books, journal articles, and dissertations, among other sources. The paper concluded that, though the recapitulation and ransom interpretations of the atonement are ancient theories, they are still relevant to the overall contemporary understanding of Christian soteriology. The findings from the paper will not only contribute to modern soteriological discourses but will also help readers to avoid some pitfalls that characterize the two interpretations discussed.

Matthew, the first gospel account recorded in the Bible is embedded with several terms and concepts; notable among which is 'righteousness.' The concept arguably forms the central significant theme of Matthew's gospel. Though, righteousness here is seen in the ethical sense; Matthew refers to the proper behavioral norms and attitudes for his community, which connotes the quality of being morally correct and justifiable; therefore, Matthew made use of the term in a vital and significant manner understandable to his readers. On this note, Matthew's style of presentation and expression of righteousness as a central significant theme of his account is examined and this in turn forms the theoretical framework of this paper. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Starting with Husserl's phenomenology and advancing to Jean-Luc Marion's and Jean-Yves Lacoste's phenomenology and to the revealed theology, this paper aims to answer the question: "How does the Truth appear?" Husserl's phenomenological reduction made the appearance of God, who remained in an absolute transcendence, impossible; but John's Gospel states that Christ is the Truth. We accept both of these opinions and offer the following answers: the religious phenomena, which have to do with a religious life and knowledge, could appear after one ignores or weakens the Husserlian epoché; God could appear if the phenomenological reduction became a reduction to givenness; the religious phenomena could appear after a theological counter-reduction, which separated itself from phenomenological rigor and belonged to theology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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In this paper I argue against two prevailing views of Kant's Religion. Against commentators such as Michalson and Quinn, who have argued that Kant's project in Religion is riddled with inconsistencies and circularities, I show that a proper understanding of Kant's views on grace reveals these do not exist. And contra commentators that attribute to Kant at best a minimalist conception of grace (e.g., Wood 1991 and Pasternack 2014), I show that Kant's view of it is remarkably robust. I argue that Kant works with three different conceptions of grace. These are: a) grace and the God within, b) grace and the transformation of the fundamental orientation, and c) grace that can be laid hold of; the first and the last play a significant role in his philosophy of religion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper provides a detailed interpretation of a little-known yet extraordinary painting from the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, Christ in a Landscape by Jan Swart van Groningen (ca. 1530-1540). This work is a perfect illustration of the importance of the popular Christian metaphor of the "Book of Nature" in early modern art, especially in the Reformed circles to which Swart likely belonged. Beyond offering an explanation for the presence of some strange aspects of the landscape (a snail, shells and colored pearls, unicorns, rocks with anthropomorphic features, etc.), the article explores the ways in which the elements of the landscape engaged the viewer in a hermeneutic process, a process of interpretation and reflection on the mysteries of nature and faith. The painting is a meditation on kenosis - the dual nature of Christ as both divine and human, and thus belonging to Nature just like the most insignificant of its creatures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Aphrahat's presumed unawareness of contemporary theological developments has often puzzled scholars, who as a result have deemed his theological views 'archaic' and bereft of any Hellenic influence. This image, which has begun to be questioned by a series of studies, can be further corrected by an examination of the central section, dealing with the begetting of Adam, of a Demonstration devoted to proving 'that Christ is God and Son of God' (= Dem. 17). The paper argues that in this passage Aphrahat is indebted to an exegetical tradition, attested by Philo of Alexandria, which read in the double account of the creation of Adam in Genesis (1:26-27 and 2:7) a two-staged making of the protoplast. It further proposes that Aphrahat fine-tuned this interpretation through the application to Adam of the prolation of the Logos, a schema that had in Philo its most prominent attestation and had been long appropriated by Greek Christian writers. Finally, it suggests that Demonstration 17 integrates the schema of the prolation with an Adamitic Christology, thus merging theological models traditionally linked to two cultural worlds (respectively Hellenic and Semitic) often posited as largely separate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines two fundamental claims by Michel Henry on his philosophy’s relationship with classical phenomenology (Husserl and Heidegger) and Christianity. It shows in what way Henry’s phenomenology is the radicalization and absolutization of classical phenomenology: pure phenomenological truth is the identification of appearing and what appears rather than the separation of the two. According to Henry, his notions of life and truth is fully in accordance with Christianity’s Revelation of God. In the last part, the paper challenges Henry’s claim that his phenomenology is a Christian philosophy from a Kierkegaardian point of view and argues that Henry’s phenomenology is, as a matter of fact, a philosophy without Christ. Contrary to a popular viewpoint that Michel Henry is a Christian thinker of our age, I would argue that Henry’s concept of God and Christ is essentially a scholarly philosophical invention. If Henry’s philosophy is an absolute and ultimate form of phenomenology, then it is reasonable to draw a conclusion that Christ as the Truth of Christianity is outside the boundary of phenomenology.

The present paper intends to show the atributions that the Church is fulfiling in the daily society both from the social point of view as also the misionary point of view. I will also describe the connection between social and misionary role. The purpouse of this paper is to determinate the trajectory that the Church syllabus is following through social and misionary activities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Religion & Tolerance / Religija & Tolerancija is the property of Center for the Empirical Researches of Religion and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Between the death of Christ and his Ascension into heaven, is the important event of his glorious Resurrection. The Resurrection of Christ, a central doctrine of Christianity, is based on the belief that Jesus Christ was raised from the dead on the third day after his Crucifixion and that through his conquering of death all believers will subsequently share in his victory over sin, death, and the devil. This paper underscores the advantages, benefits, implications and significance of the resurrection of Christ in John Calvin’s theology. The article stresses that it is the message of the Resurrection of Christ that we can hope on, so that Christians in Africa will not despair, when faced with suffering, persecution, troubles, and deaths. There is hope, because Christ lives, we will also live. The paper further relates the Resurrection of Christ in Calvin’s theology to African Christianity. The methodology used in this study was the historical research method in which various relevant sources in literature were interrogated.