Search Results (137)

This article reconsiders Pjetër Budi’s Christian Doctrine as a formative work of early Albanian literature in which biblical reception, vernacular writing, and communal address become mutually constitutive. Rather than treating Budi’s poetry as a derivative versification of Scripture or as a document whose religious purpose excludes literary analysis, the article argues that biblical material is transformed through poetic re-creation in Albanian. Budi receives Scripture as a narrative sequence, moral pattern, image, voice, and rhetorical authority. His retellings of the Fall, Cain and Abel, the Flood, the Passion, and Resurrection preserve recognizable biblical structures while changing their mode of address through rhythm, compression, repetition, dramatic speech, and collective exhortation. The article further argues that vernacularization is itself a literary event. Budi’s insistence that prayer must be understood in the language of the community, together with his invocation for divine illumination so that he may sing a “new song” in Albanian, makes language part of the work’s theology and poetics. Scripture thus becomes more than a source behind the poems: it becomes a medium through which Albanian acquires spiritual, poetic, and public authority. Budi’s work offers a significant case for biblical literary studies because it shows how a small vernacular literary culture with limited institutional infrastructure can convert inherited sacred forms into an instrument of literary formation and communal self-recognition. Note on translations: Unless otherwise indicated, English translations of quotations from Albanian sources are the author’s. Full article

Christian marriage has traditionally been understood in Orthodox theology as an ecclesial mystery grounded in the unity of faith and shared participation in the Church’s sacramental life. In contemporary Lebanon, increasing interaction among Christians of different traditions has made inter-confessional marriage a significant pastoral reality. Existing scholarship has examined these marriages primarily from juridical perspectives. This article offers a conceptual and interdisciplinary theological analysis of inter-confessional marriage within the Lebanese context by synthesizing biblical, patristic, theological, canonical, and sociological perspectives. It argues that, although unity in faith remains the normative Orthodox ideal of marriage, inter-confessional marriages should not be viewed solely as pastoral problems. Guided by the Orthodox principle of oikonomia, they may also become opportunities for spiritual growth, Christian witness, and mutual enrichment. Building on this synthesis, the article proposes a pastoral framework that integrates doctrinal fidelity with compassionate accompaniment in responding to the realities of religious pluralism. Although developed in relation to Lebanon, the framework offers conceptual insights that may also inform Orthodox pastoral reflection in other religiously diverse contexts. The article thus contributes to the literature by reframing inter-confessional marriage as a pastoral reality and by providing an integrated conceptual framework for Orthodox pastoral practice. Full article

Poverty stigma scapegoats people with direct experience of poverty, blaming and shaming them for being poor. The depiction of poverty as individual moral failure has enabled political leaders to sidestep its systemic causes. In breadline Britain the blaming and shaming of people in poverty as ‘undeserving’ ‘skivers’ has resembled a debilitating form of epistemic violence. Drawing on case studies and interview data from our Life on the Breadline project, this paper breaks new ground by fashioning an austerity-age theology of liberation that provides researchers with the tools to subvert the demeaning damage wrought by poverty stigma. The paper demonstrates the ways in which the power of language enabled policymakers to fashion a powerful political myth that has scapegoated and diminished the agency and the dignity of people in poverty. The use of primary research and the transformative potential of dub hermeneutics enable the paper to demonstrate how a holistic emancipatory engagement with the Biblical concept of shalom and the development of a politics of empathy and spirituality of solidarity can resource a new theology of liberative reversals that subverts poverty stigma. Full article

Unchecked artificial intelligence strengthened by large language models poses a crisis that reaches past ethics into ontology, and it demands that we reconfigure the basic categories of anthropological theology. Working by a hermeneutical–constructive method that places biblical exegesis in dialogue with philosophical thinking, this article advances three interconnected theses. The first is that contemporary AI is reminiscent of the theological hubris of the Tower of Babel narrative (Genesis 11:1–9); both instantiate a closed system of signification that forecloses transcendence by collapsing the distinction between naming and being named. The second concerns what algorithmic governance produces—what Giorgio Agamben calls bare life, a condition the biblical theology of nakedness in Genesis 2–3 can inversely illuminate, and which Simone Weil’s analysis of attention as decreative receptivity sharpens by exposing algorithmic distractedness as the spiritual antipode of contemplative openness. The third is christological: Agamben’s potentiality–impotentiality and Weil’s attention and décréation converge with the kenosis of Philippians 2:5–11 to ground an anthropology of voluntary self-emptying instead of replicable capacity. Reading imago Dei with Paul Ricœur as a dynamic process and drawing on Emmanuel Levinas’s ethics of alterity, I argue that authentic existence in the algorithmic age requires a “second nakedness”, a deliberate refusal of egotistical self-assertion that reopens creaturely dependence, so that God’s grace becomes operative in the common life of humanity. Full article

Contemporary Evangelicalism faces a paradox: despite its historical and demographic vitality, a soteriological imbalance in many (though by no means all) of its expressions—an overemphasis on afterlife-centred salvation relative to present flourishing—has contributed to a crisis of meaning for believers navigating present-day realities. This gap can leave the faith an insufficient bulwark against secular nihilism and radical ideologies, both of which thrive (however perversely) by addressing present suffering. This article argues not for the replacement of Evangelical soteriology but for its recovery and enrichment through a Theology of Human Flourishing, centred on the human person-in-communion conformed by grace to Christ—what it terms, with deliberate qualification, the Divine Individual. The theotic dimension developed here complements rather than supplants the forensic categories of justification, regeneration, and reconciliation. The argument proceeds in five moves. First, it grounds the Divine Individual in the New Testament “Son of Man” tradition, drawing on Walker’s exegesis of John 1.43–51 and Moule’s argument for Johannine individualism. Second, it deploys Jordan Peterson’s phenomenology of meaning as a modern grammar through which the patristic doctrine of theosis can be re-articulated, while critically assessing where Peterson’s anthropology of the autonomous subject diverges from a theology of grace and must be corrected by it. Third, it shows—with Henrich and Duchesne—that the Divine Individual is not a colonial construct but a long civilizational inheritance with deep biblical and Greco-Christian roots. Fourth, it answers the standard critiques: Pelagianism, syncretism, atomistic individualism, and the post-colonial objection. Fifth, it sketches the missiological implications: mission as the formation of Christ-shaped persons whose transformation ripples outward into the renewal of culture, institution, and civilization. Full article

Spatial studies play a significant role in navigating the actions, experiences, and interactions happening in a specific place and context. The intersection of spatiality and theology will expand the scope of relating the biblical elements to contemporary relevant issues. Genesis 6–9, often termed the flood narrative, is considered a major biblical evidence in terms of environmental vulnerability and divine faith. By incorporating geocriticism alongside the other spatial theories of Tuan, Bachelard, and Tally, this study offers a critical, exegetical textual analysis of Genesis 6–9 to understand the dynamics of mobility, spatial agency, and re-habitation as shown in the narrative. The paper’s primary argument is that the ark functions as an affective space and an architectural structure of protection, belonging, and preservation during and after the flood. Secondly, it focuses on how the flood narrative negotiates between the real, imagined and textual spaces of spatial re-creation and how it resonates with contemporary environmental concerns by interpreting it as an instance of environmentally induced displacement while retaining its theological significance. Full article

The study of sobriety in fashion can be understood as a form of spiritual exercise within a Christian ecological framework. This article argues that sobriety, understood as a virtue that shapes desire and moderates consumption, offers a theological response to the environmental and social consequences of contemporary fashion. Drawing on biblical sources, patristic and medieval theology, and early modern reflections, it traces the evolution of sobriety from a principle of bodily moderation to a broader philosophy of life. Through a theological analysis of fashion consumption, the article shows how sobriety can function as an ethical and spiritual practice capable of resisting hyperconsumerism and fostering ecological responsibility. The shift from modesty to sobriety thus provides a renewed framework for linking Christian virtue ethics, fashion consumption, and care for the planet. Full article

This article re-examines scenes of anagnorisis (recognition) in the Fourth Gospel by expanding upon established literary and semiotic models. While existing scholarship successfully identifies these scenes as formal tools mapping Jesus’ identity, it leaves crucial textual variations and the underlying cognitive mechanisms unresolved. To address these gaps, this study proposes a revised theoretical framework based on three integrated criteria: narrative criticism, hierarchy of compositional models, and interpretive semiotics. This threefold approach is applied to the representative analysis of John 1:19–34 and 20:1–10. The study demonstrates that textual variations from the standard type scene are deliberate adaptations driven by Johannine theological and narrative demands. Furthermore, this paper argues that Johannine anagnorisis is not of a simplistic or material kind in response to a sign. Instead, it is a profoundly relational event and a moment of mutual self-disclosure between the revealing God and the receptive interpreter. Full article

This study addresses the conceptual gap between biblical prophetic traditions and contemporary sustainable church leadership models, which often prioritize managerial efficiency over spiritual–moral authority. It constructs a biblically grounded, three-dimensional model of prophetic communication—comprising ethical, transformative, and transcendent dimensions—and analyses its potential role in fostering leadership sustainability. Employing a qualitative methodology integrating biblical exegesis (semantic analysis of Hebrew nebu’ah and Greek propheteia) and theological synthesis of contemporary literature (2019–2025), the research identifies this model as a promising framework for church leadership. Findings suggest that prophetic communication may strengthen spiritual authority, foster systemic accountability, and cultivate truth-centred dialogue essential for navigating moral complexities of the digital age. However, the study acknowledges the hermeneutical challenge of moving from biblical texts to contemporary practice and calls for empirical testing of the model. The study concludes that embedding prophetic communication within leadership praxis warrants consideration as both a strategic and theological imperative for guiding ecclesial communities toward long-term health, resilience, and faithful participation in the Missio Dei. Full article

This article proposes Migratory Theology as a framework that emerges from the lived experience of displacement and reconfigures how ecclesial life is understood. Drawing on twelve qualitative interviews conducted with migrant women engaged in catechetical and pastoral ministry in Southern California, as well as on practices of pastoral accompaniment, the study argues that migration is not merely a social phenomenon but a constitutive epistemological condition through which faith and belonging are reinterpreted. By placing these experiences in dialogue with biblical narratives—particularly the Book of Ruth—and with the itinerant character of early Christianity, the article shows that migrant communities generate relational forms of ecclesial life that extend beyond territorial structures. Migrant women emerge not only as agents of pastoral care, but as epistemological subjects whose lived experiences generate theological insight concerning belonging, accompaniment, and ecclesial identity. The study concludes that migration reveals dimensions of ecclesial life that have long been present but insufficiently recognized, offering a reconfiguration of ecclesiology in which the Church is understood as a relational communion continually formed through movement, vulnerability, and reconstructed belonging. Full article

This article theorizes a womanist semiotics of advocacy by reading the unnamed Shunammite woman of 2 Kings 4—renamed Polet (defender)—alongside Ida B. Wells’ anti-lynching crusade. A womanist semiotics decodes how Black women’s bodies and voices signify within systems of White patriarchal power that simultaneously demand their advocacy while denying them protection. Through close readings of biblical narrative and historical archive, the article identifies five components that structure Black women’s resistance: communal grounding, strategic alliance-building, trauma witness, prophetic truth-telling, and sacred self-preservation. Both women embodied kenotic love—a paradoxical self-emptying that becomes fierce self-assertion—confronting prophetic and political authority to demand accountability for life against death. This framework exposes how contemporary democratic systems exploit Black women as “democracy’s backbone” while marginalizing their policy priorities, and offers theological authorization for strategic withdrawal from exploitative contexts. By centering Black women’s epistemological standpoint, this womanist ethic reframes rest and disengagement not as abandonment but as revolutionary self-love essential for sustainable justice work. Full article

The biblical commentaries of Cyril of Alexandria (c. 376–444) represent a major contribution to the development of patristic exegesis. His Commentary on the Gospel of John demonstrates the close interaction between Christological theology, allegorical interpretation, and ecclesial polemic within late antique biblical interpretation. While Cyril’s exegesis has often been praised for its theological sophistication, modern scholarship increasingly recognizes that his interpretive framework also contains a pronounced anti-Judaic dimension. This study examines several key passages from Cyril’s Commentary on the Gospel of John in order to analyse how typology, supersessionist theology, and polemical rhetoric function together in his interpretation. Particular attention is given to Cyril’s portrayal of Jewish ignorance, his attribution of responsibility for the death of Christ, and his typological reinterpretation of Jewish law and history. The analysis demonstrates that Cyril integrates anti-Jewish rhetoric into a broader theological system in which the Mosaic law is presented as a provisional anticipation fulfilled in Christ and realized in the Christian Church. Full article

The Gospel of John’s engagement with the Book of Exodus has been interpreted primarily through Moses–Christ typology: Jesus as the new Moses who surpasses his predecessor. This study proposes a different reading. The governing principle of John’s Exodus hermeneutics is not Moses–Christ correspondence but YHWH–Christ identification: in each major Exodus correspondence, Jesus occupies the structural position Exodus assigns to YHWH, not Moses. The study proposes the term mnemosynic identification for this hermeneutical move, derived from μνημόσυνον (Exod 12:14 LXX), the word designating the Passover as Israel’s perpetual memorial. John does not cite Exodus as a prophetic text pointing forward to Jesus; within the community’s living re-enactment of Exodus, he discloses the identity of the divine protagonist at its centre. This identification is ontological, grounded in the pre-existence established by the Prologue, but its disclosure is sequential, enacted across the ministry and reaching its fulfilment in the glorification. Correspondences are established by three criteria: narrative position, role distribution, and lexical precision. They run from the Prologue to the resurrection commission, encompassing the Passover framework, wilderness episodes, and Sinai covenant. Throughout, Moses appears as mediator and witness but never as the figure whose position Jesus assumes. That position belongs to God. Full article

This work of historical theology profiles the unique role of Sergius Bulgakov (1877–1944) in the unfolding of Russian Orthodox theology over the last century. It narrates the role in his thought of the contested figure of Sophia (the personification of divine wisdom), with special focus on to how his creative appropriation of this ancient concept led him to propose modifications of the church’s doctrines of creation and deification. Our focus on deification acknowledges that patristic sources regarding this topic were only made ready for Russian theological research in the first decades of the twentieth century. Concurrently, another novelty came into vogue among the Russian intelligentsia during these same years: the evocation of both esoteric and biblical versions of Sophia, along with the promulgation of an original theological framework known as sophiology, a development pioneered by Vladimir Solovyov. These unique cultural and religious vectors, deification, creation theology, and sophiology, and their relation to Orthodox trinitarianism, converged around the year 1910 in the life and scholarship of Sergius Bulgakov, while also being firmly resisted by conservatives. A brilliant, wide-ranging, and independent thinker, Bulgakov began as a Marxist economist whose midlife conversion led him to the priesthood and a professorship at a prominent Russian seminary. Bulgakov went on to create one of the last century’s most ambitious and creative Orthodox systematic theologies, an endeavor made possible through his sheer mastery of numerous scholarly sources that, over three decades, he explicated in light of the emergence of sophiology, the worldview of which he became the leading proponent. Against opposition by colleagues at the St. Sergius Theological Institute, where he served as dean, Bulgakov expanded sophiology into a panentheistic theological system that highlighted and integrated concepts of religious living, deification, and cosmology within a vast panoply of other Christian theological dogmas that he examined. This introductory historical account summarizes a selection of Bulgakov’s pioneering innovations, with special emphasis on the reception of his ideas during his lifetime and the decades since. Full article

This study examines how Black women navigate spiritual widowhood and cosmological disinheritance in contemporary America through the biblical figure of Ruth. Employing what I call a critical embodied epistemology (CEE)—a womanist methodology integrating Hortense Spillers’ hieroglyphics of the flesh, Michel Foucault’s genealogical analysis, and Emilie Townes’ ethical reimagination—this article analyzes Ruth’s transgressive movements as a template for sacred belonging beyond State-sanctioned citizenship. Against the backdrop of reproductive rights rollbacks, voting restrictions, and the political rejection of Black women’s leadership, the research reveals how African-descended cosmology offers alternative frameworks for community, covenant, and citizenship. Findings demonstrate that Ruth’s embodied risk on the threshing floor models what I term “faith in the fracture”—an insurgent spirituality that refuses to tether sacred belonging to empire. The study contributes to womanist theology, political theology, and diaspora studies by theorizing sacred citizenship as relational rather than national, and by centering embodied knowledge as theological epistemology. Implications include reconceptualizing belonging for all marginalized communities navigating displacement, State abandonment, and cosmological rupture. Full article