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While narratives of divine healing are common, we rarely encounter scientific investigations into divine healing presented to the scientist, the theologian, and the curious alike. This research begins by highlighting the brilliance of the design of the human body that has been intricately fine-tuned through the work of the Holy Spirit (HS) to resist disease. The study discusses how creation harbors plant-derived bioactive molecules strategically placed to safeguard and heal the body of certain cancers and other diseases through dietary means–a testament to the design and protective work of the HS intricately woven into nature. The study also scientifically investigates divine healing by examining evidence-based data on significant cases from medical records and scientific literature. We investigate cases of remarkable divine healings from metastatic cancer, inherited genetic disease, cardiac arrest, and coma in response to prayer for healing after modern medicine offered no permanent solution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examines the theologies of three theologians who incorporate liberation as a prominent part of their theological framework. The goal is to expand Pneumatology beyond the ethical and draw out the implications of a Pneumatology of liberation. The Holy Spirit is working in and through the Church but is not limited to it, liberating all of creation from the negative effects of sin that leads to sickness in various forms. Ultimately, the Holy Spirit is restoring koinonia to God's good creation, which is made for the glory of Jesus Christ. This study examines how the Pneumatology of liberation can expand beyond ethics. It will review the theologians and draw implications for a Christological, ecclesiological, and eschatological Holy Spirit. Liberation from the negative effects of sin leads to healing individually, communally, and cosmically. Ultimately, the goal is to restore koinonia to God's creation for the glory of Jesus Christ. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In Acts 1--2, God empowers Jesus's followers with the Spirit to proclaim Jesus's saving kingdom across all cultural barriers, to worship God, and to form one new, multicultural community of worshipers committed to Christ and to one another. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Theological research typically pursues knowledge acquisition without the explicit integration of spirituality as a legitimate source and process of gaining understanding. This historically evolved assumption tacitly presupposes that spirituality may impede rational objectivity and thereby delegitimize some of the research findings. There is also a resolute presumption that cognitive forms of appropriating knowledge are inherently superior to all other forms of procuring comprehension. This paper argues that such a bifurcation is unwarranted, and that lived spirituality does indeed have an important epistemological function. Aspects of practiced spirituality, which are here explored through a Christian lens, offer multiple possibilities for knowledge augmentation. Motivated by love for God and neighbour, researchers can employ various epistemic methodologies for gaining greater discernment, which include embodiment, spiritual practices, religious experiences, and pneumatological insights. A deliberately spiritual approach to research provides new avenues for understanding, while at the same time inviting the researcher on a holistic journey of personal transformation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Researchers and educators have studied and taught on the employer and employee relationship, but usually from the perspective of the employer, and less on how employees are affected psychologically by leadership and management. This paper examines the employee's expectations of their employment relationship, consequences of missed or violated expectations, and how disappointments may be perceived as betrayal. This can lead to holding a grudge, an offense, or unforgiveness against an employer, manager, or co-worker. Unforgiveness fosters sin and opens the door to bitterness and resentment. Christians are commanded to forgive, but often proves to be difficult when one has been betrayed. As part of the Holy Spirit Symposium collection of papers, addressing the Holy Spirit, healing, and psychology, this paper will examine how relational disappointments and unmet expectations occur, how they may be perceived as betrayal, and how to heal and forgive in the power of the Holy Spirit. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article responds to Craig Keener's closing article in a special issue, originating with a Holy Spirit Symposium, Center for the Study of the Work and Ministry of the Holy Spirit Today, Biola University, October 27, 2023. Keener argues that the Holy Spirit empowers the church for cross-cultural evangelism through the spiritual gifts of tongues and prophecy. My response asks what empowered evangelism looks like in medicalized cultures like that of the United States. I argue that the church can more effectively cross the cultural barriers of medical science by learning to prophesy in "medical tongues"—communicating the gospel in the language, and backed by the evidence, of medical science. It is insufficient for Christians to testify to miracles; the church also needs to make it a priority to document miracles medically. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This essay was presented at a conference on the Holy Spirit and the healing of the body sponsored by the Center for the Study of the Work and Ministry of the Holy Spirit Today at Biola University. It approaches the topic metaphorically and theologically. The body of Christ, made up of men and women who are God's image, is fractured by distrust, abuses of power, and a failure to partner well together. Many conservative evangelical churches in the United States are preoccupied with the task of circumscribing the participation of women in ministry roles. One reason is a neglect of the Bible's clear teaching about the Spirit's empowerment of women. A brief survey of the interaction of the Holy Spirit with women in the entire Bible uncovers key examples of the Spirit's empowerment of women for kingdom work. This essay examines three key areas: (1) the Spirit's interaction with women, both as vessels of the Spirit's empowerment and as recipients of bodily healing (2) the distribution of the gifts of the Spirit without regard to gender, and (3) prophecy as an illustration of an essential speaking role for women in the eschaton. The prophetic ministry of women alongside men is a key diagnostic marker of the restored kingdom of God, an observation with profound implications for church ministry today. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Within Christian spirituality, contemplative prayer practice is rooted in scriptural teachings, ancient practices, and intentional silent awareness of the Holy Spirit's presence. Despite the growing popularity of this embodied spiritual practice, limited empirical evidence exists investigating its effects on Christian contemplative prayer practitioners. This grounded theory study explored the long-term (2 to 40+ years) lived experience of thirty-six practitioners. Findings conceptualized the property of the Ministry of the Holy Spirit as it analytically emerged from its four dimensions including: Holistic Healing, Spiritual Formation, Soul Care, and Faith. These findings help to further develop Holley's substantive theory integrating Christian contemplative prayer, Well-being, and Embodiment, bringing greater understanding to practitioners, minsters, and scholars alike. The findings were also part of the Holy Spirit Symposium (Biola University's 2023), which presented an integration of various aspects of the Holy Spirit's ministry of healing within the body. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The impact of trauma is pervasive, multi-faceted, and longstanding, impacting the mind, body, and spirit. Trauma can unfold with a cascading effect throughout every stage of life, leaving its mark on brain development, stunting social, emotional, and cognitive functioning, promoting risky health behavior, and increasing vulnerability to chronic disease, and ultimately leading to early death. Consistent with this reality, recovery from trauma is a gradual, iterative journey of reshaping or reparenting the brain over time. Trauma is also endemic to the Christian faith and to Christian communities, with its signs and effects persisting after divine and/or conventional healing. This was also the case with Christ, who bore scars and memories of his crucifixion in his post-resurrection body. The substantial though partial and imperfect nature of healing from trauma reflects the dynamics of the already-but-not-yet Kingdom of God in which the world remains in darkness and God's Kingdom remains incomplete. This reality coexists, however, alongside genuine signs of the eschatological Kingdom that is dawning and an invitation towards Christian community and accompaniment—perhaps the greatest gift of the Holy Spirit for healing and recovery. This paper is part of a special issue on the topic of the Holy Spirit and the healing of the body. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

What has Broadway to do with Jerusalem? This article discusses the relation between drama and theology. Firstly, I outline five different uses of drama (usus dramatis) and define dramatic theology in its own right, as well as in relation to narrative theology. Secondly, I offer a trinitarian typology of dramatic theology by distinguishing between a dramatic theology of the Father (God as author), of the Son (God as actor), and of the Holy Spirit (God as director). Thirdly, I explicitly deal with the question of the relation between drama and theology by discussing drama as a praeambula fidei or ancilla theologiae and by dealing with the question of an analogia dramatis, focusing especially on the direction of the analogical flow. Lastly, I outline the main benefits of using drama as a framework for theology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines a comment by Priscillian (d. c. 385) in his Liber apologeticus that certain people erroneously applied to God the unusual Latin neologism, masculofemina. He contrasts their perspective with scriptural teaching about the Holy Spirit being poured out on both men and women. This raises two questions, namely, how Priscillian's comment relates to accusations he faced of encouraging dangerous intimacy between men and women and the source of his information about their teaching. This paper argues that the central thrust of Priscillian's teaching is around the notion that the spirit of prophecy was manifested in both sexes, but that he distinguished his teaching from that of Valentinian gnostics to defend his own orthodoxy. It argues that Priscillian acquired this teaching about God as masculofemina from the translation into Latin of the Aduersus haereses of Irenaeus of Lyons (d. c. 202). The term also occurs within the writing of Marius Victorinus (c. 359–61) in defense of Catholic Christianity. Priscillian drew on Irenaeus to defend the orthodoxy of his notion that the gift of prophecy was given to both men and women. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Next year will be a centennial of the Council of Nicea (325), which, together with the First Council of Constantinople (381), created what we know as the Nicene Creed. This year also marks the quincentennial of Martin Luther's credal hymn "We All Believe in One True God." Luther used the opening line and tune of a late medieval hymn, reflecting both the Nicene Creed and the Apostles' Creed. His hymn accurately summarized the credal results of the councils of Nicea and Constantinople, as declaring the divinity of Christ and the Holy Spirit. This article explores these histories along with the translations of Luther's hymn into English, especially with regard to the divinity of the Holy Spirit. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper I propose a model of disability which synthesizes Amos Yong's disability theology with Elizabeth Barnes's "value-neutral model" of disability and then draws Sarah Coakley's account of ante-mortem/post-mortem bodily fluidity in with both. To construct this model, I first outline Yong's thought and then introduce Barnes's work to it as a pivot point around which its eschatological imagery can turn. I then address Coakley's work on bodily fluidity regarding gender and apply it to disability to reveal the model's capacity to hold theological clarity and mystery in tension successfully. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract This article is the result of research concerning the effort to dialogically bring about an encounter about the fundamental content of Christian faith in the Lord God, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit as inherited by Halmahera Christians from delegates of the Utrechtsche Zendingsvereeniging (UZV) with belief in Giki/Gikiri, Gòmánga, Jou, Ngomasa as the content of Halmahera religiosity before Islam and Christian. This effort uses the theological method of translation, anthropology, and praxis from Stephen B. Bevans by considering the soteriological meaning of the psycholinguistic meaning of the word diai in the vocabulary of three Halmahera subethnic groups (Galela, Tobelo, Loloda). Dialogical encounter is an effort to develop doing theology, Christology, and pneumatology with the religiosity of the Halmahera people which results in a new understanding of the character of the content of the Halmahera Christian faith about the Lord God in the form of diai theology, Jesus Christ in the form diai Christology, and the Holy Spirit in the form diai pneumatology which are more sensitive to structural injustice, both economic and political as well as gender and cultural-religious. Abstrak Artikel ini merupakan hasil penelitian tentang bagaimana upaya memperjumpakan secara dialogis isi iman Kristen fundamental kepada Tuhan Allah, Yesus Kristus, dan Roh Kudus sebagaimana diwarisi oleh orang-orang Kristen Halmahera dari para utusan Utrechtsche Zendingsvereeniging (UZV) dengan kepercayaan kepada Giki/Gikiri, Gòmánga, Jou, Ngomasa sebagai isi religiositas orang Halmahera sebelum Islam dan Kristen. Usaha ini menggunakan metode berteologi terjemahan, antropologis, dan praksis dari Stephen B. Bevans dengan mempertimbangkan makna soteriologis dari makna psikolinguistik kata diai dalam kosakata tiga subetnis Halmahera (Galela, Tobelo, Loloda). Perjumpaan dialogis merupakan usaha mengembangkan berteologi, berkristologi, dan berpneumatologi dengan religiositas orang Halmahera yang menghasilkan pemahaman baru isi iman Kristen khas ke-Halmahera-an tentang Tuhan Allah dalam bentuk teologi diai, Yesus Kristus dalam bentuk kristologi diai, dan Roh Kudus dalam pneumatologi diai yang lebih peka terhadap ketidakadilan struktural, baik dalam bentuk ketidakadilan ekonomi dan politik maupun gender dan budaya-agama.

Erken dönem Hristiyan ilahiyatçıların teolojik çekişmelerinde merkezi problem olarak zikredilebilecekolan kristolojik tartışmalardaki temel mesele, İsa Mesih’in mahiyeti ve Baba Tanrı ile ilişkisi etrafında şekillenmektedir. Çok erken dönemde başlayan bu tartışmalar Hristiyan ilahiyatında belirli bir seviyeye gelip artık teslis denilen tanrılık sistemini ortaya çıkarmıştır. İşte teslise giden bu sancılı süreçte henüz ‘olgunlaşmamış’ muhtelif bazı tanrı tasavvurlarının olduğu bilinmektedir. Bu makalede Hristiyan ilahiyatında teslis denilen üçlü Tanrı anlayışı oluşmadan önce Hristiyanlar içerisinde ikili bir Tanrı anlayışına sahip olan önemli sayıda kilise babasının olduğu iddia edilecektir. Bu ara süreci görmek teslisin kabulüne giden yolun daha iyi anlaşılmasını sağlayacaktır. İkili Tanrı anlayışı,Hristiyanların tümü tarafından kabul edilmiş standart bir inanç olmasa da önemli kilise babalarının metinlerinde bunun izleri görülebilmektedir. Bu araştırmada katı monoteist Yahudi mirasını devralan Hristiyanlığın ikili bir Tanrı anlayışını nasıl kabul edebildiği sorusu üzerinden bir tartışma yürütülecektir. Bu soruya cevap ararken Hristiyanlığın doğduğu coğrafyada farklı Yahudi yorumlarının olabileceği, özellikle de Helenistik Yahudiliğinin erken dönem Hristiyan ilahiyatını ciddi derecede etkilediği ifade edilecektir. Hristiyanlığın erken döneminde teslis öncesi kabul edilen iki farklı biniteryen (ikili) Tanrı anlayışının olduğu söylenecektir. Bunlardan birincisinde sadece Baba Tanrı ile İsa Mesih’ten oluşan bir yapı kastedilirken, biniteryen Tanrı anlayışının ikinci türünde ise tanrılık sisteminin bir tarafında Baba Tanrı varken diğer tarafında İsa Mesih ile Kutsal Ruh’un özdeşliğinden oluşan görece daha karmaşık/belirsiz bir karakterin olduğu ifade edilecektir. Bu araştırmada sözü edilen süreçte kilise babalarının metinlerinde ikili tanrılık yapısının her iki türünden de örneklerin olduğu ortaya koyulacaktır.

The article focuses on the transformative concept of the Trinity in Christian thought, emphasizing how the Triune God represents a unique model of divine communion that incorporates both unity and diversity. It explores the implications of this doctrine for understanding salvation, creation, and personal existence, contrasting it with historical heresies and theological errors.

According to plural person theory, a group of close friends can act together not just distributively, as separate individuals all at once, but also corporately, as a nonmetaphorical plural person supervening on the friends. This article proposes that the Spirit is a plural person in precisely this sense. Modeling the Spirit as a plural person not only secures the Spirit's personhood and full divinity; it also provides a new conceptual scheme for interpreting the relationship between divine grace and human agency along non‐competitive lines. What is more, it makes sense of existing Christian practices, including Ignatian contemplation, evangelical quiet time, and Quaker waiting worship. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The French Catholic theology of the beginning of twentieth century turned to the experience of the masses of working people and had a creative political angle. This invites a closer look as this experience and its condition changes, and new concerns emerge. My inquiry will look at the theological rationale and nature of this engagement with the industrial world with an eye to its contemporary significance. I will begin from the pervading influence the industrial situation had on two theological developments that explicitly refer to it. The appropriation of this sensitivity will help to ask what is unique in their particular theological approach towards the political world. I will identify a notion of spirit, spirituality, and explicitly the Spirit, and will argue that this implicit pneumatological aspect is key. To show its significance, I will focus on this spiritual impulse in a developing trajectory of pneumatology to show its continuing relevance. Once affirmed and distinguished, it will point to a creative theological stance which is even more relevant to contemporary experience and engagement. Such an explicit pneumatological emphasis, then, is key for a creative approach towards the political, which seeks human and cosmic flourishing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines the topics of prayer and the Spirit (Paraclete) that appear in textual sequence in Lk. 11.9–13 and Jn 14.13–17 but are absent from Mark and Matthew. While much attention has been devoted to the Lukan sequence, scholars have failed to offer a detailed analysis concerning the Johannine sequence and how it contributes to the author's rhetorical and missiological agendas. Therefore, this article seeks to contribute to the scholarly discussion by examining both the Lukan and Johannine sequences on their own terms and in light of one another in order to elucidate how they function within the crises that are unique to each Gospel tradition. In the final analysis, this article will demonstrate that both Luke and John establish a relationship between prayer and the promise of pneumatic assistance that is not attested by Mark or Matthew. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article explores the transformation from presenting Judah as an object, to be undervalued and held at a distance, to actively 're-humanizing' and populating Daughter Zion with the suffering that the people experienced and which continues to define them as a result of God's unabated judgment on Judah. A key literary tag propelling this transformation from object to subject is the call to be 'seen' by God. The generation who lament here, unlucky enough to be the last generation, carries the weight not only of their own sins, but those of others long gone. The God who has brought about their destruction poured out the wrath of centuries, stored up since the people's first grumblings in the wilderness. In the end, the people bet everything on the conviction that God is worthy of praise and leave open the question of whether He will look and see. Lamentations concludes with the future uncertain and God's answer yet to be heard. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A multiscale hierarchical structural analysis of the universe employing an Integrated Computational Materials Engineering (ICME) methodology reveals that a trinitarian design occurs in nature that is premised upon Romans 1:20 wherein God revealed His nature in the things that He created. The first step in the creationeering® process includes systems engineering design that downscales to the lowest-length scales. We show that the universe can be viewed into multiple length scales of distinctive design volumes in which certain designed volumes illustrate a trinity. In particular, the lowest-length scales defined in nature as subatomic or atomic particles reflect the divine "substance" that makes the Godhead one and the higher-length scale, geometric forms differentiate the hylomorphic structures between the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit in the Trinity. Since God is a trinity, we would expect that He would have revealed it in nature based on Romans 1:20 (NKJV)--For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead. We validate this premise of God being a trinity and that He demonstrated this idea in nature as 57 different trinities are quantified. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article presents the foundational importance of the Trinity for the Christian life. Considering the teaching of John Owen, and his context in the seventeenth century, helps us see that the great blessing of the Christian life is that we have fellowship with the one true and living God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. And, in particular, that we have distinct communion with him as Father, as Son, and as Holy Spirit. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presented here discusses the teaching of Bede the Venerable in his commentary on the Acts of the Apostles on the role of the Holy Spirit in the life of the Church. The author of the commentary dedicates little space to discussing the truth of the divinity of the Holy Spirit. Much more extensively, in keeping with the content of the Acts, he elaborates on His role in the life of the first-century Church. Thus, He equips the Apostles with the necessary gifts to preach the Gospel. He supports them with wisdom when they make important decisions for the Church, is present in the sacrament of baptism, overcomes evil spirits and prompts the faithful to renew their lives. All who wish to receive the gifts of the Holy Spirit must abandon sin and open themselves to His works through prayer. Bede’s teaching on the Holy Spirit is embedded in the tradition of the Fathers of the Church and has a decidedly pastoral dimension. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article describes the Christological themes that Jerome of Stridon took up in his teaching and which are found in the Letters. The article consists of three parts: the relationship between the Father and the Son, the Deity of Jesus Christ and the Humanity of Jesus Christ. They are related to the defence of the truths of faith about the Trinity and to the formulation of Christological doctrine. At the same time, they show the Monk of Bethlehem as a concerned defender of a right theology. The research carried out reveals the Vulgate Author’s firm grounding in the era in which he lived, while at the same time showing the originality of some of his thoughts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Karl Barth's final volume of his Church Dogmatics includes a subsection entitled "Baptism with the Holy Spirit" as part of his discussion of the foundation of the Christian life (Church Dogmatics IV/4, 2–40). Analysis of this subsection shows that Barth conceives of this "baptism" as a person's conversion, the beginning of human faithfulness toward God. As such, it is very different from typical pentecostal construals of the doctrine, which perhaps accounts for the surprising paucity of pentecostal engagement with this subsection. This essay presents a detailed analysis of Barth's doctrine and shows that it includes significant resonances with pentecostal doctrine, despite obvious differences. It argues that Barth's doctrine might help Pentecostals retain the charismatic and missional emphases of their doctrine within a broader theology of the Spirit's work in the Christian life. The essay suggests several points of dialogue between Barth and Pentecostals in which both parties might benefit from the other's insights, illustrating this possibility with a larger discussion of the issue of subsequence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The first letter to Timothy includes a reference to a primitive hymnic formula that grants a central role to the Holy Spirit in Jesus's resurrection. This reference coheres with other primitive (pre-Pauline) references such as Rom 1:3–4 and with Paul's earlier teaching on the Spirit (as in Rom 8:11). In a letter that seems otherwise sparse in its pneumatology, 1 Tim 3:16 is important for understanding the relationship between the Holy Spirit and Jesus's identity, and I suggest that the mention of the Spirit here informs the way that the statements in 4:1–5 should be read, and the way that the letter's overall portrayal of truth and falsehood should be understood. I will discuss the interpretation of 1 Tim 3:16—4:5, proposing a pentecostal reading of this section of the letter, one that takes seriously the vindicating role of the Spirit in Jesus's resurrection as a model for believer's future resurrection, one that coheres with the pneumatology of earlier Pauline epistles, and one that coheres with the treatment of false teachers and demonic spirits in other New Testament texts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Often considered almost an afterthought in some evangelical theological works, pneumatology among Pentecostal theologians became the quintessential focus and integrative motif for doing theology. But pneumatology should be more than an exploration of tongues and giftings; more than a study of the what, when, how, and why of Spirit baptism. Books explaining preferred interpretations of the gift of tongues as an or the evidence for the baptism in the Holy Spirit abound. The purpose of this address is to establish the narrative of Acts 2 as a formative and programmatic vision for the life and mission of the church as birthed and renewed in the power of Pentecost. This talk aims to outline some of the forays of Pentecostal pneumatological ecclesiology by underscoring the liberative dimensions of the Spirit of Jubilee. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The authors discuss articles in the issue on topics including the presidential address of Professor Sammy Alfaro at the 2024 Annual Meeting of the Society for Pentecostal Studies, reading the book of Acts from a migration point of view and the place of the Holy Spirit in Pauline theology.

This article discusses Charles Stang's understanding of a Pauline and Pseudo-Dionysian concept of deification prayer, and the role of the Holy Spirit in the heart of the believer, in light of both Neoplatonic metaphysics of participation and Paul's understanding of the term "spirit". It argues that this can be understood through a concept of divine indwelling, explicated theurgically through the Neoplatonic conception of the One of the soul. While the Christian and non-Christian Neoplatonic traditions diverge on the nature of this indwelling, particularly as it relates to divine revelation, it serves the same function for both. A theurgic perspective helps us not just discover parallels and divergences between Christianity and Pagan Platonism, but also provides us with a language and a metaphysics which helps us explicate the work of the Holy Spirit. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cyril of Alexandria is best known for his teaching on Christ (Christology). Beginning with the wider soteriological framework for Cyril's teaching on Christ, this study will first establish the core principles and then move to consider contested and controversial aspects of Cyril's Christology. By drawing attention to Cyril's frequent statements that the Incarnate Christ acts both "as man" (as a human being) and "as God", I will offer support for there being two active natures in Cyril's view of Christ and will propose that Cyril's Christ acting "as man" opens the way for recognizing the specific human activity of Christ that is intended as a model for human imitation. The study will conclude with considerations on the wider ecumenical impact of Cyril's Christological doctrine. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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This article essentially historicizes the philosophical claims of Giorgio Agamben in his book, The Kingdom and the Glory: For a Theological Genealogy of Economy and Government, focusing only on the chapter "Mystery and the Economy," where Agamben deciphers the meaning of economy. Theologically, the Fathers of the Church employed the economic model taken from Greek philosophy to understand the central profession of Christian faith in the Trinity. Using the image of the Father as the King and the Son and the Holy Spirit as representatives, they were able to interpret the relationship between the sender and the sendee and God and the world. However, by historicizing it, the model remains wanting due to the incompatibility between the perfection of the Divine Kingdom and the imperfection of the human kingdom. The history of the economy shows the limitation to capturing the equality of the Trinity in society. We have cited some critical areas where the economic model remains human and fallible. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The question if it is possible to speak of "Geltungsformen des Rechts" for the period between ca. 1050 and ca. 1150, will usually be answered with 'no', since it was not clear what was generally enforced. The intensive research of the last decades has shown that there was little canonistic activity coordinated from Rome. Instead, both compilers and users of canon law collections pursued their own interests and needs arising from pastoral care. That resulted in various forms of reception and transmission of the normative texts. What was constant throughout the period was the fact that the authority as such of canon law was taken for granted, even if individual texts were at times ignored. This consensus found its expression in the idea that the Holy Spirit was the ultimate author of the sacred canons. The present paper deals with the role of this idea by analyzing four letters of Petrus Damiani and their influence on later thinkers up to ca. 1150. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on the practical implications of the Augsburg Confession for contemporary faith and understanding of grace. Topics include the nature of faith as a gift from the Holy Spirit rather than a human achievement, the role of sacraments as visible expressions of God's promises, and the distinction between life before God and in the world, emphasizing love for neighbor and obedience to authorities while prioritizing God's law.

The doctrine of the inspiration of the Bible is commonly affirmed in the Pentecostal tradition. For the most part, Pentecostal statements regarding Scripture have parroted the views Evangelicalism that focus attention on infallibility and inerrancy. This article suggests that a Pentecostal theology of inspiration is needed that takes into account Pentecostalism’s epistemology, theology of the Holy Spirit, and understanding of prophecy. Utilizing a method that integrates theological interpretation and grammatical exegesis, this study suggests six theological maxims that can be inferred from a Pentecostal perspective on the doctrine of inspiration. These six points are offered as starting points for discussion and for the development of a robust theology of inspiration.

This article discusses Descartes' "Olympica" dream-sequence and its interpretation. Descartes believed that the dreams were inspired by the Spirit of Truth, which he associated with the Holy Spirit. The article argues that Descartes specifically linked the dreams to the Olympian Muses, seeking to Christianize their inspiration. The notes by Descartes also reveal that he considered "Olympian" to be synonymous with "spiritual," referring to objects of intellection rather than material objects. Overall, Descartes' interpretation of "Olympica" suggests a Christian perspective on spiritual matters. [Extracted from the article]

The purpose of this article is to trace the evolution of the concept of missio Dei and examine the implications of each shift for the practice of mission. First, I explore the origin of missio Dei and its development from 1932 under Hitler's regime, and then I suggest Willingen's understanding of missio Dei in 1952 as an ecclesiocentric basis for mission. I then explore two more shifts in the understanding of missio Dei. Through the report on evangelism, The Church for Others and the Church for the World (1967), I assert that the report made a paradigm shift in the understanding of missio Dei as a theocentric mission with its implications for interfaith dialogue. Then, I present missio Dei as a Spirit‐centred mission based on the World Council of Churches' (WCC's) recent policy statement, Together towards Life (2013), and how to practise the concept of missio Dei as it is presented in the document by the WCC and ACT Alliance, Called to Transformation: EcumenicalDiakonia (2022). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Augustine's sermons on the Psalms of Ascent, part of the Enarrationes in Psalmos, are a unique entry in the venerable tradition of those writings that aim to help us ascend to a higher reality. These sermons transform the ascent genre by giving, in the place of the Platonic account of ascent, a Christian ascent narrative with a Trinitarian structure. Not just the individual ascends, but the community that is the church, the body of Christ, also ascends. The ascent is up to God, the Idipsum or the Selfsame, the ultimate reality, confessed by the church as God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. Through the grace of the Incarnation, God the Son enables us to ascend, making himself the way of ascent from the humility we must imitate at the beginning of the ascent all the way up to Heaven, where he retains his identity as Idipsum. Meanwhile, the Holy Spirit works in the ascending church to convert our hearts to the love of God and neighbor. I review the Platonic ascent tradition in Plato's Republic and Plotinus' Enneads; overview ascent in some of Augustine's earlier writings; introduce the narrative setting of the sermons on the Psalms of Ascent; and analyze the Trinitarian structure of their ascent narrative. I close with some reflections on the difference between a preached Trinitarianism that encourages ascent and a more academic effort to understand God such as we find in Augustine's de Trinitate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines the resurrection from an Orthodox perspective, based on modern theological approaches, iconographic and patristic sources. It is considered that the resurrection of Christ is the principle and archetype of the resurrection of humanity. The liturgical practice of the Orthodox Church inspires an experience of the "now" of the resurrection. The importance of the relationship between resurrection, glory, transparency, and light is highlighted, as well as the encounter of the hands of Adam and Eve with the hands of Christ in Orthodox iconography. Dumitru Staniloae argues that the resurrection of Christ is a Trinitarian event in which both Christ and the Holy Spirit actively participate. Furthermore, it describes the resurrection as an active manifestation of Christ and emphasizes the participation of individuals in this event. It is also mentioned that the resurrection is a fulfillment of the divine declaration of love towards humanity. Finally, it speaks of the transformation of the world and the resurrection of the dead as part of an infinite and unfathomable love story between God and human beings. [Extracted from the article]

Many modern programmes of preparation of young people for confirmation are based on theological models which are correct in theory but ineffective in practice. They often assume that young people come to know the Holy Spirit through catechesis based on Scripture. This article demonstrates that a much better way of preparing young people for confirmation can be found in the genuine letters of Paul the Apostle. He showed that the presence of the Holy Spirit in a human person is not merely a matter of belief, but it can also be experienced in a reliable way, which is not limited to charismatic phenomena. This way is based on the discovery of a number of virtues in young people's hearts, which are quite unexpected in the context of their human egoism, laziness, etc. For this reason, they must be regarded as the fruit of the Spirit, who broadens human hearts to love and to serve the poor. In this way, young people may also discover Christ - as the one who humbled himself to serve not his social status but people in need. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The ideas of the Orthodox theologian Bishop John Zizioulas (1931-2023) particularly focus on trinitarian ecclesiology. For him, the Trinity consists of Persons in communion, and the nature of God himself is relational. Trinitarian unity is therefore the prototype, and the Church is its reflection. The essence of the Church is communion, which results from the fact that the Trinity is communion. Zizioulas' view of the Church is steeped in a trinitarian perspective. Zizioulas pointed out that the Church is based on the double divine economy: the work of Jesus Christ and the work of the Holy Spirit. The relationship of the Holy Trinity with the Church also has consequences for the structure of the Church. In this way, the Church becomes hierarchical in the sense in which the Holy Trinity itself is hierarchical: because of the specificity of the relationship. Becoming a person means breaking down the barriers of individualism and entering into communion life. This is realized in the Church through Baptism and Eucharist. The aim of the article is therefore an attempt to present and evaluate John Zizioulas' concept of trinitarian ecclesiology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Evangelicals living in a democracy are faced with the pressures of constitutionalism and the influence of secularism. These two forces unsettle God from the public spaces and enhance decadent culture. This article addresses the current challenges Evangelicals face in the decadent culture of democracy in South Africa. The essence of the proposal is how South African Evangelicals should maintain their confession, while surrounded by unethical practices of corruption and greed. An interdisciplinary approach is followed, so literature from the disciplines of Church History, Systematic Theology, Ethics, Cultural Anthropology, Sociology, and Political Studies are reviewed to address the problem. The history of the Evangelical faith and the rationale behind Evangelical awakenings open the discussion into the presentation. The Evangelical dogma is highlighted, followed by the definition of democracy with its entrenched decadent culture. Church, government, and the family are identified as places of contestation, where Evangelicals sense the threat to their doctrinal tenets. The challenge faced by Evangelicals can be addressed by remaining evangelically rooted and by holding unswervingly to three major doctrinal tenets, which are the doctrine of the Trinity, the doctrine of human depravity, and in the belief that the Bible is the measure of faith and conduct. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]