Search Results (27)

This article delves deeply into the moral rationalism advocated by R. M. Hare. Traditionally, the ultimate normativity of morality has been attributed to divine characteristics such as the abstract concepts of universality, transcendence, necessity, and ultimate authority, but Hare explicitly rejects any theological premises and seeks to base moral obligations on a pure structure of linguistic and rational consistency. However, this paper proposes that Hare’s secular rational system inevitably reproduces the functional structure of the divine moral order at its internal logical level. To demonstrate this, the key conceptual attributes involved in “divine normativity” are separated first, and an analytical framework is constructed. At the same time, this paper analyzes how the normative requirements, such as universality and prescriptiveness in the Hare system, relate to the attributes of divine norms. The results show that although Hare appears to maintain thorough secularism on the surface, the moral rationalism emphasis on consistency and universal applicability functionally reproduces a normative structure similar to divine commands. This finding reveals a profound philosophical paradox: even stripped of metaphysical assumptions, human attempts to pursue an objective moral order still tend to appeal to transcendent structures in an implicit way. This paper offers a critical examination of Hare’s theory, affirming both his ambition in the construction of secular moral thought and revealing the underlying tension within it that cannot completely break away from the framework of theological tradition. Full article

In the Prometheus trilogy, fate dictates critical actions taken by Prometheus, such as forming alliances, stealing fire, facing punishment, and eventual liberation. This trajectory gradually aligns with the divine will of Zeus, reflecting the theological framework of early Greek religion. Within the play, Prometheus’s rebellion against the established order of distribution determines his “unlawful act”, which brings about retributive justice—a theological necessity for restoring the balance between human advancement and divine sovereignty. In essence, Prometheus’s punishment results from the interplay between fate and Zeus’s rule, yet this suffering is essential for the harmonization of the cosmic order. Consequently, throughout this process, Zeus’s divine justice undergoes continuous evolution, ultimately establishing the foundation for the legitimacy of civic ethics and providing a theological justification for the justice of human suffering. Ultimately, Aeschylus traces civic ethical norms to Zeus’s justice, demonstrating how democracy gains legitimacy through theological discourse, which highlights the intricate connections among Greek religion, democracy, and tragedy. Full article

Over the last couple of decades, the subject of women’s rights in Islam has emerged as the central tension point in discussion about the (in)compatibility of Islam with the modern concept of universal human rights. This topic has drawn significant attention from both liberal and Muslim theorists, who have questioned the source of gender inequality and discrimination against women evident in various Muslim societies. These issues are particularly pronounced in certain provisions of Islamic family law, which appear to conflict with both Islamic principles and the concept of a just and merciful God. Simultaneously, another discussion is unfolding within inner-Muslim debate where Muslims are sharply divided over an important question: Is Sharia divinely created or humanly constructed? Within this debate, Islamic female theorists argue that not only is Sharia man-made law, but one constructed dominantly through the interpretations of male jurists, theologians, and thinkers, whereas female voices and experiences were marginalized, silenced, and excluded. This profoundly influenced the construction of Sharia and embedded hierarchical gender-power dynamics within its provisions. This article explores the topic through three key points: first, the question of the creation or construction of Sharia is examined, emphasizing the unquestionable interpretative role of humans in deciphering God’s Will; second, it argues that the construction process of Sharia was dominated and monopolized by male interpreters, who have read the Qur’an through the lens of the historical context of eighth- and ninth-century Arabia, where gender inequality was a norm; third, it highlights the voices of Islamic female theorists and their egalitarian interpretations of the Qur’an, which reflect the core Islamic message of a just and merciful God. Full article

Sterba has argued that ethics does not require God and that an atheistic objectivist ethics is compatible with an evolutionary account of our development. This paper argues that though ethics does not require God specifically, it does require a god of some sort, for all normative reasons require a god and moral reasons are simply a subset of normative reasons. Sterba’s criticisms of more orthodox divine command theories of ethics are shown to raise no challenge to my view. Furthermore, even if Sterba’s alternative atheistic objectivist ethics is coherent, it would leave moral norms vulnerable to a particular kind of evolutionary debunking threat in a way that my theistic alternative does not. Full article

Ongoing discussions on creation care and agapeic ethic have paid less attention to the interplay between love, creation, waste management challenges, and mission. This paper, therefore, discusses a missional perspective of agapeic ethic as a ground norm for eco-theology and motivation for eco-care (especially proper waste management). An attempt is made to discuss the concept and dimensions of love and the nexus between love, creation, and missional purpose. This paper adopts a non-participant observation of refuse collection as carried out by refuse collectors, the waste disposal practices of people, and the waste handling and disposal practices of selected churches. This research was conducted across Port Harcourt City, Obio Akpor, Ogba/Egbema/Ndoni, Oyibo, and Eleme municipal areas of Rivers State, Nigeria. The churches observed include Protestant Churches (Seventh-Day Adventist Church, Church of Nigeria that is Anglican Communion, and Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints); the Roman Catholic Church; Pentecostal Churches (such as Salvation Ministries Worldwide, Redeemed Christian Church of God, and Deeper Life Bible Church); and African Indigenous Churches (namely, the Christ Apostolic Church, Cherubim and Seraphim, and Celestial Church of Christ). The information gathered was critically analysed and used in measuring stakeholders’ disposition to and understanding of the research focus. Ecological liberation hermeneutics was adopted as an interpretative framework, while the eco-justice principles of interconnectedness and purpose were engaged to foreground the underlying issues in this study. This paper argued that Christians’ involvement in proper waste management, keeping both private and public spaces clean, is a morally and divinely imposed duty and a practical testimonial of their love for God, their fellow human beings, and non-human others. This is a fulfilment of the mission where Christian love (agape) serves as an ethical principle of inflicting ‘no harm’ to humans or non-human others. Full article

This article studies different forms of martyrdom in secular contexts, tracing their roots back to Western European Christian traditions. The article argues that distinct trajectories of martyrdom have emerged: (a) the more passive martyr, who refuses to acknowledge sovereign power and dies for a transcendent truth, and (b) the more assertive martyr, who sacrifices their life fighting for God and the sovereign. In secular contexts, this assertive martyr fights for secular ideals such as ‘freedom’ or ‘nation’ and represents the symbolic body of the sovereign. The historical distinction between divine truth and state falsehood has been turned into differentiations between democratic rule and threats like terrorism. To further study this transition, this article studies discourses following the deaths of Pim Fortuyn and Jaques Hamel, as both were strongly labeled as martyrs. This results in the final part of the article that examines the cult of commemoration surrounding soldiers in the US and the Netherlands. It argues that the assertive martyr has reached its fully secularized form in these contexts. The transcendent imagery of state sovereignty is evident in the sacrificial discourses around fallen soldiers. At this point of death, the state’s power is reinforced as a transcendent norm and reveals itself in those who ‘sacrifice’ their lives for the freedom of many. Full article

Anyone specialising in Islamic theology at a Western university is aware of the fact that their teaching and research will either be recognised by the institution as falling under the category of “Islamic Studies” or “Divinity”. In the first case, Islam is predominantly considered a cultural phenomenon and studied as such. In the second case, for reasons that have to do with what Marianne Moyaert in her latest book Christian Imaginations of the Religious Other has conceptualised as “Christian normativity” and the “religionisation” of other faiths, Islamic theology is de facto understood as Islamic speculative theology (kalām). In both cases, the understanding of how Islam theorises and practices theology is significantly restricted, when not altogether ignored. This article unpacks the genealogy of the secular version of a Christian epistemic framework that dominates the study of Islamic theology in the West and engages with the issues related to its application in the field of Islamic theology. In doing so, it opens a critical space for the investigation of Islamic literary productions as both dissensual and consensual theological terrains, through the analysis of the poetry of two theologians and polymathic scholars from two different periods of Islamic history, namely Ibn al-Fāriḍ (d. 632/1235) and Sidi Muḥammad Ibn al-Ḥabīb (d. 1390/1971). Full article

Ever since the dissolution of the Soviet Union, various voices in the Russian public sphere have been trying to make sense of Russia’s new place in the world, its geopolitical horizons, and the identity of its people. One of the dominant trends that have emerged is Orthodox imperialism, which combines religious symbols and narratives with a geopolitical vision of Russian expansion and “reunification”. This article provides an overview of the Russian Orthodox imperialist voices, analysing the political norms and identities they have enabled. Our investigation shows that by advancing a programme that combines geopolitical restoration and eschatological religious mission, Orthodox imperialism offers an ideological solution to the problem of Russia’s lost great-power status. This solution, however, does not envisage a bright future for Russia or the world. On the contrary, it remains firmly fixated on the past, foretelling of an apocalyptic disaster if Moscow does not regain its former imperial glory and exercise its divine role as a “restrainer” to any global domination. Full article

Gendered criticism of Eve and general criticism of Eve and Adam are rooted in the idea of their moral failing when they disobey Yahweh. Two lenses bring a more ancient understanding of the text into focus. The first lens is reading the story in the context of the J source of the Pentateuch. The second lens is that of natural law as understood by Greco-Roman philosophers. These lenses provide new clarity, showing how Eve and Adam’s decision to eat from the tree of knowledge violates a non-moral norm: they transgress the boundary between humanity and divinity. It is this ontological transgression to which Yahweh responds. Mortality, many labors, and many pregnancies reflect the natural consequences of this ontological violation, not an arbitrary punishment for a moral failing. This alternative understanding of Genesis 2–3 allows us to understand that Eve and Adam are neither cursed nor punished. Full article

The article discusses Nicholas Wolterstorff’s explanations for the flourishing of philosophical theology in analytic philosophy by taking Arthur Norman Prior’s (1914–1969) development of tense-logic into account. Prior’s work challenged the prevailing anti-metaphysical norms in analytic philosophy and introduced an alternative understanding of the relationship between logic and metaphysics. Prior’s application of tense-logic to an analysis of the concept of existence in quantified tense-logic and his exploration of future contingency in branching time semantics provide a strong reason for why analytic philosophy naturally incorporates philosophical theology. These considerations lead us to modify Wolterstorff’s emphasis on the importance of meta-epistemology for the resurgence of philosophical theology. A development in logic was necessary. Furthermore, Prior’s importance questions the assumption that philosophical theology was a consequence of theistic philosophers seeking ways to defend theistic beliefs in analytic philosophy. This is not true for Prior. His invention of tense-logic and discussion of omniscience was driven by an existential interest in finding answers to philosophical problems concerning divine foreknowledge and human freedom which ultimately led him to reject his Christian beliefs. Full article

This is a response to Zain Ali’s critique in this journal of our presentation of a ‘right relationship’ normatively relativised ‘logical’ Argument from Evil. Our argument aims to show that the existence of horrendous evils (as defined by Marilyn Adams) is incompatible with the existence of the personal omniGod (a person or personal being who is all-powerful, all-knowing, and perfectly good), given certain reasonable judgments about what a personal God’s perfect goodness would imply about the way God relates to those caught up in horrendous evils. We reply to Ali’s main criticism that our assumptions about divine goodness are unjustified, and show a lack of intellectual humility. We defend the claim that, if God is a person, then God’s goodness is moral goodness according to our best human theory of what that implies. We accept that God’s situation as creator and sustainer of all that exists may justify ‘divine exceptionalism’: God’s personal moral goodness may be consistent with ways of relating to others that would fall far short of perfection in human-to-human relationships. But in that case, we argue, intellectual humility may be better served by accepting that God is so exceptional that God should not be understood as a person at all, which is the prevailing Muslim view, as Ali himself acknowledges. Full article

New Prophetic Churches (NPCs) are a recent phenomenon within Pentecostalism in South Africa that have gained popularity. Their popularity is arguably due to their syncretism with African Traditional Religion (ATR), especially in its ministry practice of prophecy. The main objective of this article is to restore the sanctity of the prophetic ministry from a syncretic practice in NPCs back to its biblical foundation, by firstly highlighting the syncretic nature of NPCs prophetic ministry with divination, commonly practiced by native doctors in ATR. This study is a literary analysis of the practices of NPC prophets and their syncretic nature, using two case studies of NPC prophets. Osmer’s theoretical framework is used to describe syncretic practices of NPCs and the rationale behind such practices, then a normative reflection of the traditional practice is presented and pragmatic ways to realign NPCs into mainstream Pentecostalism are proposed. The findings reveal that most NPC prophets are faith healers operating in familiar spirits, not the Holy Spirit. The bible rejects divination; therefore, NPCs must determine what identity they choose between ATR and Christianity, because they cannot simultaneously operate in both. Full article

Based on Henri de Mondeville’s treatise on surgery, this article focuses on his practice and explores the surgeon’s awareness of the concept of charisma and its implications for his professional activities. It seeks to demonstrate the medieval textual continuity of the concept of charisma, its relevance to medieval medical vocation and training, and the fact that charisms remained central to the act of care for this surgeon, who acted for the common good and in fear of divine judgment. This essay looks at possible limiting factors in surgical practice, such as theological issues concerning the body and soul, or the consideration of the notion of moral responsibility. Do charisma, faith, and divine intervention absolve the surgeon from such responsibility? This article will examine whether de Mondeville’s surgical practice was based on predefined principles and non-intervention in the natural order of things or if, on the contrary, the medieval surgeon was accountable for his actions and their consequences independently of divine grace, due to his making a reasoned choice in the context of an ethical approach. This analysis shows that the elements involved in medical decision-making rely on a moral basis, influenced by the Christian religion and normed by religious texts, but do not exclude recourse to an applied code of ethics for specific cases, reserving all freedom of action. Full article

According to many, human autonomy is necessary for moral action and yet incompatible with being morally accountable to God’s divine commands. By issuing commands that ground normative facts, God demands our accountability without understanding our normative reasons for moral action, which crushes human autonomy. Call this the Autonomy Objection to Theism (AOT). There is an unexplored connection between models of normative reason and AOT. I argue that any plausible AOT must be stated in terms of an adequate model of normative reason. There are two broad metaethical categories for models of normative reason: anti-realist or realist views. I defend the thesis that both anti-realism and realism about normative reasons fail to support AOT by means of a dilemma. If the AOT defender adopts anti-realism about normative reasons (subjectivism and constructivism), AOT loses its force. However, if the AOT defender adopts moral realism, they face the same problem as the theist, as normative fact constrains autonomy. Consequently, AOT is a problem for all moral realists, including non-theists, such as Russ Shafer-Landau, David Enoch, and Erik Wielenberg, among others. Full article

This paper examines the ways in which the Letters of Ammonas, John Cassian’s Conference IV, and the corpus of Macarius-Symeon appropriate and develop the motif of divine abandonment found in St. Antony and shifts it into a distinctly pneumatological key through Scriptural exegesis. Correcting a misconception popularized by Vladimir Lossky, this paper argues for a normative experience of divine abandonment in the Eastern Christian tradition via sustained engagement with the experience of those practitioners of desert spirituality. Engaging with the hermeneutics of Hans Georg Gadamer and following the previously established trajectories of Douglas Burton-Christie, I argue that the desert fathers, despite initial hesitation and eventual qualification, accepted the reality of pneumatic abandonment due to the interlocking pressures of Scripture and monastic experience. The paper concludes with some implications for contemporary pneumatological discussions by drawing critical parallels between the pneumatological tradition of the desert and the contemporary pneumatic doctrine of Ephraim Radner. Radner is affirmed in his insistence on individual pneumatic abandonment but is critically questioned regarding his articulation of the pneumatic abandonment of the Church through the vantage of Macarius-Symeon’s stabilized pneumatology. Full article