Search Results (147)

This article provides a critical evaluation of Giorgio Agamben’s argument that Adam Smith’s metaphor of the invisible hand is representative of economic theology and providential control. Although Agamben’s analysis does not explicate a nuanced view of the invisible hand, it does reveal the embedded economic theology in its misuse by neoliberal economists who characterise the invisible hand as a fundamental mechanism of market coordination consistent with a providential order. Conversely, this study argues that such perspectives fail to account for the intricacy and ambivalence inherent in Smith’s philosophy. Through textual analysis of the invisible hand in The Theory of Moral Sentiments, The Wealth of Nations, and The History of Astronomy, the manuscript highlights that Smith presents three distinct perspectives and that the theological interpretations do not adequately capture this divergence. Rather than endorsing a providential or theological framework, Smith’s use of the invisible hand is shown to be a conditional and intricate metaphor that serves as a critique, a form of social engagement, ethical commerce, and empirical analysis of irrational belief in markets that support the common good. Therefore, this interpretation transcends economic theology and reductive neoliberal economics, offering a more nuanced understanding with important implications for contemporary economics. Full article

The call for a dialogue between the disciplines of anthropology and theology was initiated by anthropologist Joel Robbins in 2006. Within theology it was elaborated in 2014 by Michael Banner. This article compares both authors in order to understand what the highly generalising formulation of a dialogue between disciplines is about. They will turn out to aim at a conversation about what the disciplines are ultimately concerned with, formulated as otherness and everydayness, respectively. However, Robbins and Banner do not elaborate on their grand claims in a systematic and detailed way. This article offers a more systematic elaboration and aims to evaluate their views as a contribution to what is at stake in their calls for dialogue. For this purpose, it is necessary to better account for the complexity of the specific character of studying morality. Full article

A growing body of empirical study recognises a tendency for users to form (para)social bonds with Large Language Models, even when users know explicitly that these systems lack interiority or personhood. This contribution argues that such attachments arise from evolved human capacities to attribute being, moral status and, in some ways, ‘soul’ to nonhuman others—and that this capacity now operates without the belief-systems that have historically mediated it. When users encounter helpful, patient, emotionally available behaviour in conversational agents, they project the interior states that would produce those behaviours in themselves: authentic interiority and phenomenal consciousness. Humans have been making such assessments throughout our cultural history, developing ontologies and theologies for managing our relations with nonhuman, mythic and spiritual others. By contrast, modernity has disenchanted its landscapes, dismantling these cultural models even as the ‘ensouling architecture’ of our social and semiotic cognition remained unchanged. Contemporary users thus encounter machine others through the same neurocognitive lens as their ancestors did with spirits and animals on enchanted, animate landscapes, but without the mediation of culture, norm and taboos which place a premium on appropriate conduct, reciprocity and moderation. The resulting condition—a ‘Turing Animism’—leads users to ‘feel soul’ where there is only simulacrum. Full article

With a focus on how both traditions influence identity, memory, and lived spirituality in African contexts, this article examines the theological and cultural interactions between Christianity and African Traditional Religion (ATR). This study highlights the ongoing interaction between ATR and Christianity as two significant systems ingrained in African life, notwithstanding the continent’s religious diversity. In Africa, religion and culture are inextricably linked, influencing social customs, moral standards, and a sense of community but also constantly changing due to personal experience. African spiritual systems were frequently disregarded by missionary Christianity in the past, which led to conflicts that still exist in modern African Christianity. The importance of ancestors, rituals, and supernatural beliefs all of which are still fundamental to the worldviews of many African Christians are areas where these conflicts are especially noticeable. This article makes the case for a positive theological approach that acknowledges ATR as an essential tool for African Christian identity rather than as a rival or subpar system, drawing on the idea of inculturation. The article illustrates how African spirituality serves as a storehouse of collective memory and identity over generations by delving into issues of ancestry, ritual, and spiritual mediation. Additionally, it offers a liberative and dialogical theological concept that promotes understanding between Christianity and ATR. Such an approach not only bridges spiritual divides but also contributes to the development of a contextually grounded liberation theology that affirms indigenous knowledge systems while remaining open to global theological discourse. Full article

This paper investigates the anthropological and ethical roots of the global ecological and social crisis, centered on Pope Francis’s critique of the “throwaway culture” (Laudato Si’, LS). While LS identifies this crisis in the linear “take–make–dispose” model and the technocratic paradigm—which prioritizes efficiency over moral reflection—this research argues that these macro-societal failures originate in a foundational spiritual pathology: concupiscence. Drawing upon St. John Paul II’s Theology of the Body (TOB), we analyze concupiscence as “appropriation,” the direct antithesis to the human vocation of the “sincere gift of self.” This study aligns LS’s socio-economic critique with Karol Wojtyła’s personalist anthropology, asserting that the systemic exploitation of nature and the marginalization of the vulnerable are structural extensions of the human failure to reread the “language of the body” in truth. The throwaway culture is thus revealed as an axiological reduction—a societal manifestation of lust that reduces both the body and creation to mere objects of utility. Consequently, a genuine ecological conversion (LS) necessitates embracing the “ethos of redemption” (TOB). This transformation of desire is essential to restoring the harmony between humanity and nature, recognizing that the ‘cry of the earth’ and the ‘cry of the poor’ are inextricably linked within an integral ecology. Full article

This article reexamines Paul’s use of athletic imagery in 1 Corinthians 9:24–27 within the broader argument of chapters 8–10. Against readings that treat the passage as a call to individual moral striving or competition for salvation, this study situates Paul’s metaphor within the honor–shame dynamics of Greco-Roman Corinth and his own defense of apostolic self-restraint. Paul’s “race” and “imperishable wreath” do not exhort believers to outperform one another but dramatize the paradox of freedom expressed through voluntary limitation. Drawing on insights from social-scientific and rhetorical criticism, the essay demonstrates that Paul’s imagery functions as the rhetorical climax of the section, translating his ethical argument into the moral grammar of the agon. By reconfiguring the contest from rivalry to service, Paul transforms the competitive ethos of Corinth into a vision of communal flourishing in which believers “compete” for the good of others. The passage thus offers a distinctly Pauline theology of self-control as the discipline of love, turning the agonistic spirit of the games into an image of the gospel itself. Full article

This article explores the role of Christian ethics in fostering community development within the South African context. Guided by the central question, how can Christian ethics contribute to sustainable and equitable community development in South Africa? The study examines the ethical principles and theological values that can address pressing societal issues, including poverty, inequality, and social fragmentation. Sub-questions include: What ethical frameworks within Christian thought support transformative social engagement? How can churches and faith-based organisations mobilise communities for collective action and empowerment? The analysis is grounded in a Christian-ethical framework shaped primarily by liberation theology’s emphasis on justice, the preferential option for the poor, and transformative social engagement, complemented by insights from African communitarian ethics and Protestant moral traditions. The study emphasises the importance of integrating Christian ethics into community development strategies, highlighting their potential to inspire moral responsibility, promote social cohesion, and drive holistic well-being. By aligning ethical reflection with practical application, this article offers a critical framework for understanding how faith-based principles can catalyse meaningful societal change. This investigation is significant as it provides actionable insights for religious leaders, policymakers, and development practitioners working to advance community resilience and justice in South Africa. This article contributes to a deeper understanding of how Christian ethics are vital for transforming societies. It offers insights for scholars and practitioners seeking to enhance community development within South Africa. Full article

This article argues that Angela of Foligno’s Memoriale constructs seeing and hearing as epistemic operations through which theological knowledge becomes possible. Rather than treating vision and audition as devotional motifs, the study reads them as structured modes of knowing that transform affect into cognition. Using selective close readings of key passages in the Latin tradition of the Memoriale alongside modern translations, the article shows how sensory language mediates authority, discernment, and transformation. The analysis proceeds in four steps: a methodological clarification concerning textual mediation; an examination of seeing as theological cognition; an analysis of hearing as interior authorization; and a discussion of affective pedagogy in which suffering and compassion become forms of knowledge. The article further argues that Angela’s itinerary moves from Christological imitation toward Trinitarian participation, reframing the culmination of the journey as participation in medio Trinitatis. The Memoriale thus emerges as a theology of perception in which embodiment, affect, and cognition are inseparable. Full article

The 19th century Protestant missionary James Legge is acknowledged for his voluminous and Christianity-inflected translations of Chinese classics of “Three Teachings”, yet his rendition of Buddhist texts remains under-examined. This study analyzes whether a value of Western theology exists in his portrayal of the Chinese monk Fâ-hien in A Record of Buddhistic Kingdoms, where the pilgrim should emerge as a devout Buddhist, a pioneering explorer, and a morally sensitive figure. Legge foregrounded these facets through paratexts such as illustrations and footnotes, but also repeatedly framed Fâ-hien within a biblical interpretation by frequently drawing parallels between Christianity and Buddhism. At the textual level, he shifted the original first-person narrative to a third-person perspective, which weakened the emotional and spiritual sense of Fâ-hien’s journey. Legge’s scholarly competence in Chinese learning and his role as Oxford’s first Professor of Chinese determined his precise representation of the rich connotations of Fâ-hien’s image, balancing academic rigor with an orientation toward Great Britain’s colonial education and imperial interests. His Christo-Buddhist intervention in the paratexts, associating the primary text with Christian culture, reveals his underlying missionary purpose to evangelize China. To this end, this study reveals how religious translation served both missionary and scholarly ends, contributing to Western perceptions of Chinese religion while illustrating the broader power dynamics of Christian engagement with modern China. Full article

During his address to the World Council of Religions for Peace in the summer of 2025; Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I of Constantinople; the leading voice for ecological awareness in the Eastern Orthodox Church; issued a profound call for people of faith to unite together in common cause to develop a ‘new natural philosophy’ that unites the scientific and the spiritual and which can serve as a framework for what he called a “common sacred flourishing.” This essay seeks to contribute to this task in two ways. First; by proposing a science-engaged theological framework for the Orthodox Christian tradition; I will argue that Orthodox theology is compatible with the emerging scientific fields of biosemiotics and biomimicry; which I will suggest may serve as the basis for the new natural philosophy the Patriarch describes. Secondly; I will propose that we adopt the term euzoia to refer to this common sacred flourishing as a new ecologically synergistic state of thriving and will argue that we can work toward achieving it by following the “canon of nature’s laws” described by the biomimetic thinker Janine Benyus. In doing so; I will conclude with a discussion of how each of these “natural laws” may be applied to the organization of our social and moral lives as we all collectively pursue our common sacred flourishing. Full article

This study examines the possible points of connection between crime and reading on the basis of genre-typical roles and motifs in detective fiction. I aim to identify characteristic reading methods, strategies, locations, events, and professions with regard to the detective, the perpetrator and the victim. Following a general introduction with a focus on genre theory and thematic concerns, I proceed with an analysis of P. D. James’s crime novel Original Sin. This novel not only offers the posing and solving of a criminal puzzle, but also reflects powerfully on moral questions about sin, original sin and violent death. In my analysis, I follow the method of close reading, and as part of this approach, I also explore traces of biblical intertextuality. As a result of theoretical reflection and interpretation, I draw two important conclusions: (1) For investigators, reading texts constitutes an effective and indispensable instrument for reconstructing the past, thus uncovering the truth and revealing the perpetrator. (2) The reading events depicted in the novel refer to experiences and conceptual connections that justify discussing a kind of theology of reading: reading appears in the story as an intellectual activity that forms part of certain religious practices (penance, prayer, confession). Full article

The relationship between rural Christianity and the Chinese ethical conception of interpersonal relationships has long been a central concern in scholarly research. Existing studies often frame the two as antagonistic or argue that the Christian configuration of interpersonal relationships is a mere continuation of the traditional differential mode of association (chaxu geju). However, these perspectives often neglect local Christians’ own ethno-theology and its praxis, rendering the cultural transformations brought about by conversion invisible. Focusing on the ordinary ethics of rural Christians and based on long-term fieldwork in Shui County (a pseudonym), a rural region at the junction of Jiangsu, Shandong, Henan and Anhui provinces in China, this study reveals that Christianity instantiates a dual moral authority system within believers’ daily practices: “centripetal authority” and “centrifugal authority”. The former emphasizes inner sincerity, granting believers a degree of moral autonomy. The latter establishes a divine foundation for believers’ social relations. Employing anthropologist Marcel Mauss’s theory of gift to analyze the interaction between two types of authority in the ordinary ethics of believers, this study finds that rural Christianity both consolidates and expands pre-existing, local relational configurations. The extent of this cultural transformation is closely correlated with the depth of the divine–human relationship. Consequently, Christianity’s relationship with traditional Chinese ethics transcends binary oppositions between antagonism and continuity, instead enacting a creative reconfiguration. Full article

This paper examines the cultural and theological dimensions of Weet-Bix, an iconic Australian cereal produced by the Sanitarium Health Food Company, a department of the Seventh-day Adventist Church (SDA). It argues that Weet-Bix simultaneously embodies SDA principles of health and holiness while concealing these religious origins through secular branding. Drawing on historical and doctrinal foundations of SDA dietary reform, the study shows how Sanitarium’s commitment to plant-based nutrition reflects a theology of bodily purity and moral discipline. At the same time, marketing strategies recast these spiritual imperatives as national virtues of health, sport, and family life. Through analysis of corporate culture and a case study of the Weet-Bix Kids TRYathlon, the paper explores the tension between Sanitarium’s public-facing secularity and its religious roots, revealing how SDA foodways persist beneath the surface of Australian consumer culture. This research contributes to understanding the hidden influence of religion on everyday food practices and the construction of national identity. Full article

Humans inherit an ethical condition shaped by suffering: biological, historical, and relational. Buddhism begins by diagnosing this suffering as inherent to embodied life, while Western theology situates suffering and morality as consequences of the Fall. Levinas reframes suffering not as a problem to be extinguished but as the very site of ethical awakening: the Other’s vulnerability commands an infinite responsibility. Maria Dimitrova’s comparative work on Levinas and Buddhist thought reveals how compassion and responsibility illuminate one another and how both exceed purely ontological frameworks. This paper weaves these traditions into a single genealogy of ethics—from Edenic innocence to the historical moral burden of exile, from biological interdependence to the modern “Necropolis,” and finally toward a speculative future in which technology may allow a reconfiguration of suffering itself. The result is a proposal that ethics is neither eternal nor arbitrary but a pilgrimage arising from suffering and oriented toward a horizon of grace made possible not by divine restoration but by human and post-human agency. Full article

Techno-theology is reconsidered from a standpoint beyond modern dualisms (spirit/matter; human/nonhuman), asking how contemporary technologies come to mediate ultimate concern and thereby reconfigure meaning, agency, and moral responsibility. The article argues that techno-theology is not a new religious movement but an analytic lens for tracing the mutual mediation between technological systems and theological imaginaries. It shows, first, how technologies increasingly function as carriers of ultimacy, reorganizing authority, hope, and moral expectation. Second, it diagnoses a recurrent modern impasse: even where crude dualisms are rejected, responsibility is practically redistributed across sociotechnical arrangements in ways that diffuse accountability. Third, it proposes “divine ethics” as a minimal evaluative grammar for distinguishing idolatrous re-enchantment (salvation-by-escalation) from relational re-enchantment (limits, accountability, care). Divine ethics is operationalized through three constraints—capacity–responsibility alignment, precaution under irreversible and intergenerational risk, and future-oriented institutionalization—prioritizing prevention over post hoc blame. Full article