Pope Benedict’s address at the University of Regensburg created a firestorm. But far from trying to incite controversy, the Pontiff outlined a cogent argument for intercultural dialogue. This essay examines the theology of dialogue in the address, including Benedict’s claims regarding the real basis for dialogue between Christians and Muslims, the violence implicit in certain forms of nominalism, and the practical foundations for dialogue in the modern university. By interweaving experiences with students at The Catholic University of America during the attacks of September 11, 2001, the author of the present essay proposes his own interpretation of the infamous speech. He argues that if genuine intercultural dialogue takes place within the broad expanse of the logos that takes on flesh, then there is no way that Christians acting with this logos can reasonably advocate that God must be on our side because he contravenes the normal rules of civil discourse.
Imitatio Christi in Late Modern Culture: A Late Medieval Contribution
A religious conversion raises always a question on how the religious identity should be articulated in the given culture. In the late modern culture, typical choices are rugged individualism, which sets only very abstract, if any, directives for a genuine Christian way of life, or authoritarian conformism. The question is: How should the identity of a follower of Christ be articulated in our culture while avoiding both too severe and too vague expressions? In the Bible and in the subsequent spiritual tradition, conversion was understood as imitatio Christi. The reformer Martin Luther understood conversion as transformation into the likeness of Christ. This transformation is depicted through Christological rules and language, which then are linked to concrete forms of life. His account of conversion provides a well-developed and creative articulation of redeemed human agency, informed by Christological reflection, for late modern age.
Social Life and Worship Preferences: “And Now,…Here’s God”
This article suggests that worship styles reflect the social experience of God’s people to a greater degree than we may think. Using Mary Douglas’ grid and group theory, the author looks at four basic types of worship in an attempt to trace worship style preferences to their social roots. The goal is to enable the Church to have a deeper appreciation for the diversity of worship in the Church and to help us understand how God incarnates Himself in the midst of our social/cultural identities.
Theology in the Twenty-First Century Church: Or, A Concluding Unscientific Postscript to the Last Century
Based on a presentation for the Center of Theological Inquiry, Princeton, this essay profiles major theological, social, and cultural challenges confronting the Church today in North America. Using an informal and thoroughly unscientific survey of a small group of respected congregational leaders (the survey was conducted by the author in preparation for the presentation), the paper allows two questions to focus attention on concerns facing contemporary Christian communities of faith. The questions asked were: “What are the two or three biggest challenges facing your congregation as it looks to its future?” and “How do you go about reflecting theologically on these challenges?” Five challenges emerged and are explored in the paper: pluralism, stewardship, “therapeutism,” consumerism, and Pelagianism. The meaning of each of these terms takes a sometimes surprising shape because of the particular contexts of the congregational leaders surveyed.
Neighbors in Racial Reconciliation: The Contribution of a Trinitarian Theological Anthropology
Progress in racial reconciliation among evangelical Christians, especially at the attitudinal level, has been documented and acknowledged. Yet there is the recognition that injustice along racial lines has persisted to a significant degree. It has been suggested by Emerson and Smith in their book Divided by Faith that such persistence is related, at least in part, to certain theological roots of Evangelical belief. This essay explores those roots and shows that a fully Trinitarian theological anthropology addresses and calls them into question and recommends a more faithfully Christian and so Evangelical foundation. More particularly the love for the neighbor embodied in the Person and Work of Christ and rooted in the Trinitarian life revisions both the nature of the problems of racism and racialization and also shows the way forward towards true reconciliation through participation in the accomplished renewal of humanity as neighbors one to another in Jesus Christ.