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This paper contributes toward an interdisciplinary Renewal moral theology that deals with this (apologetic) question: how do we speak of divine assistance in human moral life in a modern scientific context that shuns the idea of God intervening and acting in this world? In answering this question, it is argued that, while John Hare's Kantian ethics makes a persuasive and meaningful case for divine moral assistance as providence and grace against a naturalistic context, through James K.A. Smith's Pentecostal participatory ontology that provides a robust framework for articulating any kind of divine action in the modern scientific world, divine assistance for human moral life, using the work of Amos Yong and Frank Macchia, is construed as non-interventionistic, miraculous, human moral transformation caused by the Spirit of God through freewilled, creaturely participation in God via faith, in step with the nature and 'laws' of God's coming kingdom. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Erasmus of Rotterdam developed from a classical humanist to a Christian humanist theologian in the first two decades of the sixteenth century. In the early years of the Reformation, his theological work responded to the theological debates of the age. Although many contemporaries dismissed him as a theologian, he developed a mature theology of grace before his death in 1536 that evidenced his efforts to create space for theological compromise between Protestants and Catholics and prevent the permanent fissure of western Christianity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

"Common grace" has played an important but disputed role in the Reformed tradition's picture of God's relationship to the creation. While providing a theological foundation for many Calvinists' cultural engagement, certain ambiguities and issues plague the concept. By comparing it to another Reformed vision of God's continuing creative relationship to the creation, namely that of David Kelsey in his book titled Eccentric Existence, and examining especially three aspects of Kelsey's vision--i.e. the distinctions between God's operations, the Trinitarian underpinnings of God's creational activity, and the proper human response to that activity--promising directions for the common grace tradition are highlighted. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Few issues have been as divisive for the contemporary church as the doctrine of irresistible grace. In the debates surrounding this doctrine, there has been an overwhelming tendency for theologies of grace to focus on the effects that grace has on particular human beings. Alongside this tendency, there has arisen a danger that we forget that God's grace is God's grace; that it is God's free, personal, and beneficent disposition and action. In this article, I turn to Karl Barth to consider a way forward for interpreting the irresistible nature of grace that does not focus on its effectuality but on its theocentric, participative, and covenantal character. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An evangelical doctrine of God is concerned with not only the unfolding of the logic of God's free grace but also the antecedent conditions whereby God is said to be gracious. In this article I demonstrate the extent to which for Karl Barth grace demands a "back-ward reference," indeed the immanent processions of the Son and Spirit as the basis for their missions. Accordingly, I advance the notion that the question of antecedence-- the "whence"--represents not simply a formal but rather a material concern, a concern which the Reformed appreciate. I unfold this contention with respect some New Testa-ment texts and in relation to two doctrines, namely the doctrine of the divine attributes and that of the hypostatic union. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article seeks to define 'spiritual formation' as it would be understood by the apostle, and to relate that concept to his teaching on spiritual gifts, with particular reference to 1 Corinthians and Ephesians. It argues that in Ephesians spiritual gifts of wisdom and revela-tion build the 'body' towards the goal of cosmic re-unification in Christ, by deepening cor-porate grasp of the central mystery of the gospel. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A number of scholars have appealed to the Greek tenses of 1 John 5:1 as definitive proof that the verse teaches that regeneration precedes faith. But this argument is untenable. The purposes of the present article are (1) to draw attention to the falsity of the argument and to explain why it is invalid, and (2) to counter the contention that the underlying concern of the grammatical argument (i.e., that 1 John 5:1 implies that regeneration precedes faith) can be rescued by appeal to a pattern in 1 John of indicating the results of regeneration. It is questionable whether the tenses in 1 John 5:1 suggest any chronological or causal relationship between faith and regeneration since some grammarians deny that Greek tenses grammaticalize time, and more importantly, one of the tenses in the passage occurs in a substantival participle, which can be devoid of time significance. If the tenses are temporally related, as seems most probable, then Greek grammar suggests either that believing and being begotten of God are portrayed as contemporaneous, or perhaps more likely, that believing logically precedes being begotten of God. Invocation of statements elsewhere in 1 John indicating the results of regeneration does not rescue 1 John 5:1 as a proof text for regeneration preceding faith because of, inter alia, the distinctive and crucial role of faith in the epistle and Johannine theology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite the fact that the so-called 'Five Points of Calvinism' are based on the five main points of the Canons of Dordt, it is misleading to assume that these five points are drawn directly from Calvin. The documents of the Synod of Dordt rarely refer to any theological source, including Calvin. However, a comparison of Calvin and the Canons suggests that Calvin was a probable influence on the Canons on the issue of double predestination and a possible influence on the themes of the universal call of the gospel, human depravity, efficacious grace, and perseverance. But Calvin was an unlikely influence on the Canons' infralapsarian stance and on its formulations regarding negative-positive reprobation, particular grace, and the sufficient-efficient distinction. These latter issues became formulated in a more precise manner after Calvin, so later Reformed theologians were more likely influences. In sum, Calvin's influence on the Canons could only have been moderate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Given that Calvin served as an important source and authority for Amyraut during the controversies on universal grace which broke out ca. 1634, one might expect the same to be true for the polemics on (im)mediate grace surrounding the teachings of another (later) Saumur universalist, Claude Pajon. As this article demonstrates, however, the manuscript works written by, to, and about Pajon reveal that he did not shelter behind Calvin's name-even if he believed that the latter had shared his view. The extant sources instead show that John Cameron and Paul Testard, two earlier promoters of la grâce universelle, were Pajon's main sources of inspiration and served as his authorities. The article closes with a twofold conclusion, namely, that the marginal place of Calvin in the Pajon controversies may well be attributed to the greater acceptance la grâce universelle had gained by that time; and secondly, that one does well to recognize the existence of different currents within la grâce universelle of seventeenth-century French Protestantism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Heidegger's reflections on grace culminate in the years 1949-54 where grace names a figure for the ineluctable exposure of existence. Heidegger rethinks the relationship between what exists and the world in which it is found as one that is always open to grace. For Heidegger, this world is what he terms the 'dimension' between earth and sky. The relationship is only possible where existence is no longer construed as a self-contained presence but instead is thought as something between presence and absence. In this essay, Heidegger's references to grace in five contexts are considered: the 1949 Bremen lectures, the 1951 essay '... Poetically Dwells Man...,' the 1953 'Dialogue on Language,' the 1951 lecture on 'Language,' and the 1954 speech at his nephew's ordination. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Romans 9:6-26 is commonly interpreted to mean that Jewish unbelief and Gentile responsiveness to the Gospel was something ordained or predestined by God. This article identifies elements in the whole context of 9 - 11 which call this approach in question. It then proposes that Paul's intent is to rebut the claim that God was under obligation to ensure that Israel recognize the time of fulfillment. Paul argues that God: 1. is free to define his people on the basis of who responds to his gracious initiative; 2. is free to respond to Israel's unbelief with a judgment of hardening rather than turning up the heat of irresistible grace; 3. is free to use the occasion of a hardened Israel for a broader proclamation of the Gospel; 4. is free to show mercy to Gentiles, to those who were not understood as the primary recipients of God's covenant promises. The overarching point is that when the present situation is viewed from this perspective, God's Word has clearly not failed. The objectives of the article are 1. to challenge the traditional Calvinist reading of the text; 2. to propose an alternative which is not eisegetical but is supported by a reconstruction of the issue to which Paul was responding and the context of his whole argument in Romans 9 - 11. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The past four decades of dialogue between Methodists and Catholics as well as Pentecostals and Catholics reveal a shared soteriological substructure between each communion that is grounded in pneumatology. This article explores the shared substructure in order to point out the inherent tensions it raises with respect to baptism and conversion and then offer a possible solution as a way to advance the dialogues. The initial claim being made is that a tension exists in each communion between their commitment to the prevenient activity of the Spirit and their commitment to the sanctifying activity of the Spirit. This tension points toward a need for greater clarity on the modalities of the Spirit's presence in conversion. By reflecting on these modalities, a second claim is made that Pentecostals, Catholics, and Methodists may find agreement on the bestowal of the Spirit in infant baptism or infant dedication as part of the conversion process for those whose physical birth places them within the family of believers. The specific point of agreement would center on the Spirit's bestowal of the "will for faith" as a particular manifestation of sanctifying grace that serves to separate infants within the church from those outside the church who, nevertheless, still benefit from the Spirit's prevenient activity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Scholarship often regards the predestinarian ninth-century monk, Gottschalk of Orbais, as one who stood virtually alone promoting the sovereignty of God in a time when Semi-pelagian soteriology ruled supreme. An investigation of eighth and early ninth-century literature challenges that view. Some writings in the century before Gottschalk do reveal an influence of Pelagian and Semi-pelagian theology of grace, but the era also abounds with theological literature proclaiming the inability of human freedom to make salvific decisions and the priority of grace over free will. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The soteriological metaphor in Tit 3:5 δια λουτρου παλιγγενεσιαζ και ανακαινωσεωζ seems to be a combination of Pauline and pagan language. The Pauline neologism ανακαινωσιζ describes the individual salvation in the context of the new creation as a universal process, and seems to serve as an explanation of the preceding term παλιγγενεσια. The author of Titus uses the expression παλιγγενεσια, which is probably influenced by the reception of Stoic terminology by Philo, to describe not only the salvation of the individual person, but also of all believers in a universal sense. As the Stoic term παλιγγενεσια is used for the cosmic renewal of the world, this connotation has to be remembered even in Titus. Consequently παλιγγενεσια has to be translated rather with “regeneration” than with “rebirth”. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The traditional Catholic distinction of nature and grace is utilized to examine the importance of maintaining the 'supernatural' character of grace as Christian theology is increasingly concerned about the modality of divine agency beyond the church and the necessity of Christian witness in the world in all dimensions of human experience. The inseparability but distinction between grace and faith experience is employed in service of a common Catholic and Pentecostal witness to the signification of the supernaturality of grace to counter any tendency toward religious naturalism in the effort to promote Christian witness in the secular world. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Speaking of Mary's womb, Hans Urs von Balthasar draws attention to the place where the Word 'staked out' a space in a human being in order there itself to become man (human), as the child of a mother. In similar vein we are directed to the mystery that Catholic and Orthodox Christians have always overtly recognized: Mary's unique place among human beings as the one who 'contains the uncontainable God. If this mystery lies at the heart of our faith, then at the heart of that heart is God's grace. In grace God selects a poor, Galilean girl to be the locus of what Christians believe to be the most extraordinary thing that has ever happened. There is much to learn about 'grace, space and race' through reflection on what occurred in Mary's womb, not least in the relationship between immanence and transcendence. This and other themes which have their origin here provide both the imagery and the theological undergirding for other themes -more concrete, specific, and contemporary -- that we might explore in a theology of place in (South) Africa today. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

One area of lingering tension between Lutherans and Roman Catholics on the doctrine of justification relates to the necessity, or even the possibility, of a human response in one's justification. In this article, I argue that the Gospel of John can address this lingering tension and, in doing so, acts as a counter balance to the Pauline corpus. Through narrative and inner-textual analysis, the article claims that John 12:20-50 informs the reader that Christ, the light of the world which allows humanity to see where to walk, has been sent into the world by God the Father. In this critical passage, the point at which the light of Christ is to be taken out of the world, one discovers that John corroborates Catholic concerns that the gift of God's grace, God's light, empowers and requires a human response. Such a response, however, must not be understood as independent of God's gift of grace, or light, both in its origin and continuing efficaciousness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Contra Tony Richie, J.H. King's theology of religions proper was not 'optimistic'. 'At its core', it was pessimistic because he viewed the non-Christian faiths as products of demonic inspiration. King's theology of the humanly unreached, on the other hand, was inclusively hopeful, but he did not affirm the non-Christian religions as playing any role in the unevangelized accessing the atoning grace of Christ. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Addressed here are addressing and the address of the here and the there: the direction and indirection of words, whether written or spoken in prayer; but also of pictures, one of them sent to Derrida, one of them an icon presumably destined from God, and a third, the one reproduced on the cover of "The Post Card from Socrates to Freud and Beyond," that attends to the difficulty of locating the threshold between the to and the from, perhaps a secular version of the problem of grace—unless that is not a problem but an aporia, wherever the threshold between these has its place. The chance of oversight, επισκoπη, is addressed, and the words Derrida addressed to his friends from the grave. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines Vincent of Lérin's teaching about grace as expressed in his Christology. Vincent, who has regularly been assumed to have opposed Augustine's doctrine on grace, advanced his own teaching most clearly in a little known work, the Excerpta. The excerpts in question were significantly taken from Augustine's writings, among them the Antipelagian treatises circulated in Gaul. Exc. shows Vincent to have been a discriminating student of Augustinian theology who embraced predestination as a way of describing grace at work in Jesus Christ. A comparison of Vincent's teaching with Augustine's and with John Cassian's (their contemporary, who like Vincent has often stood accused of 'Semipelagianism') demonstrates that the three of them asserted Christ as the exemplar of grace in confrontation with Pelagianism. On this basis, the paper suggests that further re-evaluation of how Augustine's works were received by his contemporaries in Gaul is seriously needed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article summarizes the results of a previously published two-volume investigation on the biblical meaning and the historical development of these two fundamental concepts, including a further discussion on contributions to this subject which have appeared in this journal (see below section 4). In contradistinction to K. McDonnell a different catholic position is given here: The term 'Spirit-baptism' as used within the Pentecostal-charismatic movement means neither the sacramental grace of initiation nor the setting-free of it, but is a term on the experiential level denoting a special kind of infilling with the Holy Spirit in our time. It is not 'normative', but--although very widespread--something that the Holy Spirit 'distributes as he wills'. Thus, the early Pentecostal two-stage model is far more appropriate than the sacramentalistic interpretation. In that sense Spirit-baptism--normally with the gift of tongues--is a special grace of God. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Proposes a more common understanding and application of spiritual gifts. Conflicting views among Christians about spiritual gifts; Proposal that there is an exegetical/linguistic fallacy in the understanding of the word charisma; View that spiritual gifts should be thought of as ministries that generate from being part of the temple of God.

Discusses the notion of the intention and remission of place, space and the physics of grace based on the physical theories of Franciscan theologian Peter Auriol. Latitude of forms in the book `Scriptum'; Solutions to the problem related to the change in the intensity of accidental forms; Modification of the Franciscan version of the addition theory.

Presents information on Franciscan friar Peter John Olivi. Profile of Olivi; Olivi's interpretation of Franciscan movement; Criticisms and charges faced by Olivi for teaching that grace `augments the soul's essence'; Reaction of Franciscan superiors regarding Olivi's censored article claiming that the substance of human soul increases through grace.

An introduction to the journal is presented that discusses articles published on this issue including the one by Andrew Torrance on the connection of irresistible grace towards freedom, another by Johannes Climacus on absolute paradox, and the one by Michael Bräutigam on Abraham Kuyper.