Research Articles (Dogmatics and Christian Ethics)

Permanent URI for this collectionhttp://hdl.handle.net/2263/2561

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New wine into old wineskins : a theological reflection on police brutality in South Africa
(Africa Journals, 2024-01) Mokoena, Katleho Karabo
South Africa is one of the most violent countries in the world with different types of violence associated with crime, gender-based violence, and sexual violence amongst others. While the South African Police Service (SAPS) is supposed to protect the most vulnerable victims of violence in communities, they are also the perpetrators of violence in various forms of police brutality such as using excessive force and torture which leads to death in some cases. Police brutality is not a new phenomenon in South Africa; the South African Police (SAP) during apartheid was para-military and known for its brutality. It was transformed into SAPS in democratic South Africa to regard human dignity in policing. However, police brutality is still a major problem, especially towards the poor in society. This was also evident during the COVID-19 lockdown as South Africa was one of the top countries that had the most brutal lockdown enforcement in the world. This article provides a theological reflection on police brutality from the biblical text Mark 2:18-22 ‘…no one pours new wine into old wineskins…’ This article argues that the SAPS has not transformed regarding policing that upholds human dignity. It argues that SAPS is losing confidence in communities as wounds of the past are re-emerging. This article proposes Ubuntu in the SAPS for its transformation and emphasises collaborative efforts to combat police brutality, heal wounds, and restore human dignity.
Influence of spirituality on bitter kola consumption among Pretoria residents in response to COVID-19 and related Illnesses
(MDPI, 2024-12-11) Orogun, Daniel; Koenig, Harold G.
The agrarian continent of Africa has many fruits with nutritional, medicinal and spiritual values. Regardless, Africa leads the statistics of poor healthcare globally. Two major challenges in Africa’s healthcare system are poor access and the high cost of medical healthcare. Among others, the effects of such challenges include low responsiveness to medical treatment and a high mortality rate. However, it seems the nosophobia that accompanied the global mortality rate during the COVID-19 pandemic may have triggered a spiritually influenced alternative. One of the traditional alternatives was a subscription to Garcinia Kola, popularly known as Bitter Kola (BK). This article, majoring in spiritual and not psychological influence, raised a hypothetical question: does spirituality influence Africans’ traditional response to COVID-19? To answer this question, Sunnyside in Pretoria was chosen as a demography to investigate the hypothesis. Data were collected via mixed research methods. There were 16 qualitative respondents, including sellers, herbalists and clergies, and 75 consumers as quantitative respondents under probability sampling. The results analysed using Excel and Python’s regression analysis demonstrated strong connections between consumers’ spiritual motivations, the sales period, the sales rate, and the swift traditional response to the pandemic and related illnesses. The outcome validated the influence of spirituality on 60.9% of quantitative respondents and showed how 25–72% responded to COVID-19 symptoms with BK. Likewise, 87.5% of qualitative respondents consumed BK via indigenous spiritual knowledge in response to the pandemic. Subsequently, this article discussed the benefits, limitations and lessons of spiritual influence on BK consumption in the post-COVID-19 era
Imago dei and soul : how to justify a special position of humans?
(Institut Agama Kristen Negeri Toraja, 2024-06) May, Andreas
Today, it is highly controversial in Western societies, that humans are made in the image of God (“imago Dei”). This article is looking for a unique feature of man that can justify his special position. The methodological approach consists of contrasting research results and social developments documented in current publications with modern theological and philosophical publications. Our intelligence and the fact that we are self-aware are no longer sufficient as a unique human feature, because biology, palaeoanthropology and computer technology call it into question. This article shows that the soul remains the unique feature of the human being. But often no clear distinction is made between the transcendent soul and the immanent mind. The article therefore emphasises that the soul is transcendent, eternal and a gift of God from transcendence. In order to achieve this, we must abandon the bipartition of man into body and soul and accept the tripartite division of man into body, mind and soul. The transcendence of the soul provides us with a justification for why humans and only humans are “imago Dei”. This gives us a basis for claiming the right of every human being for life and personal realisation.
Cry the beloved country? Revisiting Mamdani's South African moment through Chief Albert Luthuli's self-narrated alliance politics
(Routledge, 2025) Mushambi, Dambudzo Darlington; Van Wyk, Tanya; dambudzo.mushambi@tuks.co.za
Mamdani posits that the nation-state, an institution inextricably linked to violence and exclusion, creates and politicizes racial and tribal identities, inscribing some as permanent majorities and others as minorities within the political community so constructed. Mamdani avers that in the “South African moment” in the 1970s and 1980s, South Africa decolonized the political by reconstituting the political community without reference to race. This article revisits Mamdani’s analysis through Chief Albert Luthuli’s autobiography Let My People Go, suggesting that the South African moment was birthed earlier than Mamdani argues. Autobiography, which is part of history-making, inscribes one’s personal identity and subjectivity, challenging imposed identities and implicating the lives of others by framing them as friends or strangers in the narrative. In this way, autobiographies create associations or distance between the self and others, resulting in entrenched or contested hierarchies, and the possibility of reconstructing or fabricating social realities and political communities.
Is embracing metaphysical determinism or free will a better response to suffering?
(AOSIS, 2024-12-19) Antombikums, Aku Stephen
Metaphysical determinism argues that God divinely predetermines everything, including human suffering. Contrary to metaphysical determinism, free will or libertarianism argues that not everything is predetermined by God. Therefore, evil does not serve any divine purpose. Libertarianism argues that metaphysical determinism is simply incoherent because it holds that God can predetermine an action and, at the same time, holds that He could stop such an action. This study seeks to find out which of these two views might be promising in responding to the problem of suffering. Contrary to these two positions, this study argues that suffering must be understood contextually. The above-stated responses do not always provide viable answers to the problem of suffering because they are often generalised and conceived from the God-eye view without considering the sufferers’ perspectives. CONTRIBUTION : Although there are a plethora of publications on metaphysical determinism and freewill, this study re-examined both and sheds a nuance for a further development of these two competing views. The article argues that none of these two responses offers the best response to the problem; rather, each has its strengths and weaknesses because they seem to focus on God rather than the sufferer.
Honouring Andries van Aarde : a journey of faith, justice, and inclusivity
(AOSIS, 2024-12) Buitendag, Johan; johan.buitendag@tuks.co.za
The passing of Andries van Aarde on Monday, 25 November 2024, marks a profound loss for the Church and the academic community. Born on 25 April 1951, Andries dedicated his life to pursuing theological understanding and promoting social justice.
Religious hydro-healing and medical hydrotherapy : links, benefits, contrasts and challenges
(AOSIS, 2024-09) Orogun, Daniel
There seems to be some recognition of the relevance of dihydrogen oxide (water) in many spheres. Among others, literature in poetry, religious texts and medical science, address the value of water in emotional, physical and psychological healings. To understudy how religion, spirituality and medical science connect and contrast in domesticating water for healing purposes, this article undertook literary research on religious and medical hydrohealings in Christianity, African and Native American traditional religions, and medical science. It presented links, benefits, challenges and contrasts between spiritual healing and medical water therapy as well as inter-religious connections. Based on the literature, the article discovered that spiritual hydro-healing is spiritual, instantaneous and nonscientific, but medical hydrotherapy is organic, naturopathic, gradual and scientific or logical. On the positive side, the article found that indigenous spiritual knowledge is a key motivating factor in the popularity of hydro-healing practices. Whereas, on the negative, it observed the danger of the grey areas of spiritual hydro-healings which include, but are not limited to, unethical practices, commercialisation of healing waters, addiction, river baptism mortality and the quest for instantaneous hydro-healing leading to health hazards and death. CONTRIBUTION: The article concluded with an urgent call to stakeholders to pay attention to the hydro-healing practices that can compromise public health and safety.
Analytic philosophy and scriptural interpretations
(AOSIS, 2024-10) Antombikums, Aku Stephen
The task of interpreting the Holy Scriptures has been a daunting enterprise throughout the history of the Church. This article explores how analytic philosophy could be promising in biblical interpretation. Notwithstanding the suspicion related to analytic philosophy, this article argues that analytic philosophy could creatively aid the interpretation of the Holy Scripture. My interest is in how its focus on coherence and clarity of description could add force to making sense of the truth claims of the Bible. I argue that when used creatively, analytic philosophy holds excellent prospects for biblical interpretation, especially in distinguishing between the presupposition of the message of a Bible text and the presupposition of the interpreter. CONTRIBUTION: The article argues that the omission of the Hebrew Bible from academic discussion in fields like political philosophy or psychology and mainstream philosophy because it is considered a product of revelation that must not be approached using reasoning is a false dichotomy because, in the Scriptures, we find God inviting us to reasoning.
Intersections of compassion, science, and spiritual care in global health for public health benefits
(Springer, 2024-12) Orogun, Daniel; Harris, Harriet; u19396652@tuks.co.za
Across the globe, spiritual care is offered by individuals, healthcare chaplains, and humanitarian, social and related spiritual groups on account of zeal, voluntary and paid services. Sometimes, services are provided without understanding the connectivity of compassion, spiritual care, and scientific protocols. There are instances where health professionals and managers disagree with spiritual caregivers or reject spiritual services because of poor service deliveries in conflict with healthcare protocols. Against this background, this article focuses on how spiritual care services can be provided scientifically to improve service delivery. It presents leading questions to link the scientific and compassionate approach to spiritual care. These include- What is science? What is compassion? What is spiritual care? What makes compassion and spiritual care scientific? Are there tenets of compassion in religions? How are compassion, science and spiritual care linked? What are the implications of the intersections for public health and safety? Hopefully, the provided answers may improve the service delivery performance of spiritual caregivers and their collaboration with healthcare professionals, social workers, and related groups.
The Roman Catholic conceptualisation of morality : its essence and distinctive character
(AOSIS, 2024-02-05) Pope, Stephen J.
Over the course of its history Catholicism has generated several different conceptions of morality. The early medieval church conceived morality primarily in terms of caritas and other virtues, the modern church generated a legalistic conception of morality, and the post- Vatican II church proposes a relational conception of morality. INTRADISCIPLINARY AND/OR INTERDISCIPLINARY IMPLICATIONS : The essence of morality concerns natural virtues and natural moral law, which all people of goodwill can grasp, appreciate, and act upon. The distinctive conception of morality is identified with our ultimate end, the beatific vision, the theological virtues, and the ethics of discipleship centred on caritas.
Reformation of marital laws in Hungary : early reception of Luther, Calvin and Beza before and until 1667
(AOSIS, 2024-03-07) Magyar, Balazs D.
The main achievements of the huge research on the history of the Hungarian Protestantism show that at the beginning of the Protestantism the local reformers and preachers were interpreting Luther’s ideas, but from the 1550s Calvin’s doctrines became decisive. The reception of the great reformers’ ideas was far from being evident in the practice. It means pastors and preachers in Hungary did not cite directly from the written heritage of Luther (Pelikan & Helmut 1955-1986), Calvin (Calvin 1863–1900) or Beza. They used to use the Bible itself. Nevertheless, many new and unknown problems raised, which deserved prompt and clear theological and moral advice. Most of the challenges were related to the burning, everyday questions of sexual sins and of family life. Therefore, it is not surprising that contemporary preachers were trying to commit everything to renew the public morality of people. The article intends to illuminate the evolution of the early Protestant marriage law system and theological thinking in Hungary after the temporary ’collapse’ of the Roman Catholic Church and its canon law in the 1550s. At the same time, it is raising the question, how did the ’great reformers’ influence the early Protestant marriage law system and theological thinking in Hungary. INTRADISCIPLINARY AND/OR INTERDISCIPLINARY IMPLICATIONS : This article is based on the field of systematic theology. The study intends to understand the development of Hungarian Reformed regulations of marriage in the 16th and 17th century from theological, judicial and historical perspectives.
The ethical debate about the use of autonomous weapon systems from a theological perspective
(AOSIS, 2024-07-18) Engelhardt, Wolfgang; Kessler, Volker
‘Pope calls on G7 leaders to ban use of autonomous weapons’ (The Guardian 2024) is the headline from statements which pope Franziskus made during the G7-summit on June 14th, 2024. In general it can be observed that the ethical debate concerning the use of autonomous weapon systems (AWS) is an extremely complex and contentious issue, raising both technical and ethical challenges. Through a comparative analysis of relevant literature the theological perspective is introduced into the debate and highlight potential implications for the use of AWS. The increasing autonomy, where machines can autonomously select and engage targets, raises questions regarding compliance with international humanitarian law, the preservation of human dignity and moral responsibility. The research question addressed in this article is as follows: ‘What are the theological-ethical arguments regarding the use of AWS?’ In conclusion, three key points for a theological-ethical examination consist of the question about the pessimistic human image as a premise of the pro-AWS argumentation and ethical questions based on the highest or preferable good as well as on moral responsibility. It is synthesised, that the pessimistic human image can be represented, that as highest good right to life should be preferred against human dignity and that moral responsibility always should stick on humans and not on AWS. INTRADISCIPLINARY AND/OR INTERDISCIPLINARY IMPLICATIONS : This article positions theological ethics within the emerging field of ethical dilemmas arising from autonomous functions in the realm of technical ethics.
Divine presence and absence : a theodicy of narrative analytic theology
(AOSIS, 2024-05-03) Antombikums, Aku Stephen
For centuries, philosophers and theologians debated how to reconcile the existence of an allpowerful, all-loving, and ever-present God with the problem of evil. However, the question of why the righteous suffer remains unanswered. Given the omnipresence of God, one wonders why the sufferers experience what seems like God’s absence in their adversity. This study presents a theodicy of narrative analytic theology because the experiences of the saints of old compel us to rethink our approach to the problem of evil from the ‘God’s-eye view’ to the experiential and existential worries of the sufferer. The study looks at the story of Job and Daniel and his friends in Babylon. The narrative theodicy approach helps us understand why the righteous never denounced God in the Old Testament. The New Testament, in line with the Old Testament, reveals a suffering motif of the saints, which includes participation in the atoning work of Christ and the purification of the souls of the sufferer. Nevertheless, it seems some evils are pointless. The sufferers do not see their suffering as a punishment or a weakness from God but as a distraction and a test to perfect their covenantal relationship with the Triune. Ultimately, the suffering of the righteous will be overcome at the eschaton. INTRADISCIPLINARY AND/OR INTERDISCIPLINARY IMPLICATIONS : This article aligns with the scope of Verbum et Ecclesia. It contributes to the current discussion on the problem of suffering within the broad discipline of theology, philosophy of religion, and how narrative analytic theology can enhance our response to the problem of evil.
Are religious experiences immediate revelations? A study of Pentecostal hermeneutics
(AOSIS, 2024-01-20) Antombikums, Aku Stephen
Religious encounters are essential to every religious tradition in which the worshipper encounters the divine. Although religious experiences have been reported in many religious traditions, they occupy a premium place in Pentecostalism. Given the ontological distinction between humans and the transcendent, the Abrahamic religions speak about revelation, where the divine is revealed to the worshipper. This article explores the Pentecostal understanding of religious experiences, particularly in relation to whether religious experiences are immediate revelations. The article examines prophecies, words of knowledge and testimonies from personal encounters to ascertain whether they constitute immediate revelation. In other words, what is the epistemological relevance of such experiences? Further, if such expressions or personal encounters can be equated to immediate revelation, how should such revelations be understood in the broader context of divine revelation? This article argues that religious experiences are subjective and can only be valid if they do not contradict biblical teachings. Lastly, the article argues that religious encounters in Pentecostalism raise many theological questions and objections because they have been overemphasised, overgeneralised and inform its hermeneutics. INTRADISCIPLINARY AND/OR INTERDISCIPLINARY IMPLICATIONS : The article contributes to the current discussion on discerning divine presence using the methods of analytic theology. The article looks at how Pentecostalism biblicised and appropriated its current spiritual experiences into redemptive history, especially with respect to the outpouring of the Holy Spirit in the book of Acts of the Apostles.
Possible motivations for Christians to preserve creation
(Wydawnictwo Naukowe Uniwersytetu Kardynała Stefana Wyszyńskiego w Warszawie, 2024-01-08) May, Andreas
Three different aspects are presented that can motivate people to work for the preservation of creation. All three motivations are closely linked to Christianity, so that Christianity could become the key to solve the global problems. The three motivations are 1) the admiration and the praise of creation, 2) the personal relationship with the God of Christianity and 3) the planet Earth is precious because of Jesus Christ. The third motivation results from the incarnation, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Every suffering and death of every human being and every other living being gets its meaning, value and redemption through the suffering, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. This is explained using the keywords enabling, participation, solidarity and resurrection. This salvation event took place on this planet and the Creator of the universe became a human being, a creature of this planet. Through this, all human beings, but also all the other living beings on Earth and even the entire planet Earth are sanctified in an extraordinary way. In this way, all living beings on Earth and the entire planet have an inalienable dignity and a supreme value that is established, defended and restored by the Creator of the universe.
Orthodox justification of collective violence : an epistemological and systematic framework
(AOSIS, 2024-01) Simion, Marian G.
Using a religious studies methodology, this paper offers a detailed contextual mapping and a structural configuration of how collective violence is justified in Orthodox Christianity. The research design is explanatory, whereby the functional perspectives of doctrine, ethics and worship are all investigated and probed as phenomena of lived religion and orthopraxy. While predominantly initiatory and pedagogical, the paper also proposes a systematic platform for advanced research on this subject, by flagging contexts, themes and areas of inquiry that a researcher might examine in order to untangle the inner workings of the justification of violence in the mind of the Orthodox. Given the ongoing Russian War on Ukraine, relevant samples are drawn from this case. CONTRIBUTION: This paper outlines the Orthodox Christian justification of violence from the perspectives of doctrine, ethics and ritual and identifies pivotal areas of ambiguity between orthodoxy and orthopraxy.
A historiography of victory : R.J. Rushdoony’s Christian philosophy of history as constitutive of his postmillennial theopolitics
(Africa Journals, 2023) Schlebusch, J.A.
The twentieth-century Calvinist philosopher-theologian, Rousas John Rushdoony is considered to be the father of the 1950s Christian Reconstructionist movement in the United States—a movement dedicated to advancing the idea that Biblical ethics should be perpetually normative for all societies, including in the civil realm. In essence this was a social theory and Rushdoony based his Christian Reconstructionism on his idea of theonomy, which he considered to be the only alternative to the heresy of antinomianism, the rejection of Divine Law. His theonomic principle, the basis of his Christian Reconstructionist political position and engagement, was rhetorically sanctioned by a distinct eschatological optimism, which was in turn shaped by his distinctly Christian historiography—a philosophy of history for which he was, via the Dutch- American philosopher Cornelius van Til, largely indebted to the Christian-historicists of the nineteenth-century, in particular the Swiss scholar Jean-Henri Merle d’Aubigne. By means of the phenomenological-narrative approach of the contemporary philosopher of history, David Carr, this article amplifies how Rushdoony's philosophy of history played an integral role in shaping his eschatological optimism or postmillennialism in which the expectation that the preaching of the gospel in the contemporary age will result in amazing revivals, and this will mean that before Christ returns, the world’s inhabitants will for the most part, be considered to be Christian in orientation. Rushdoony consciously employed this notion as a narrative framework that sanctioned his distinct theopolitical position and engagement. The role of Rushdoony’s distinctly Christian philosophy of history in terms of narratively sanctioning his postmillennial theopolitics, is thereby amplified in a novel way.
The monument that is epistemology a proposition for atheists and theists as elucidations of epistemology in religion and theology
(Sciendo, 2023) Van Rooyen, J.A. (Johan)
For scholars that are working with epistemology and the importance thereof within the context of the ongoing bickering (fighting/mudslinging) between theist and atheists, or rather between rationality and irrationality of epistemology in theology and religion, may come to view epistemology of religion and theology as a monument from where a better belief system (as an incentive) can have a better effect on the current faith systems. Therefore, the Judeo-Christian-Islamic language games should be able to form this massive, sovereign metaphysical game. This affirmation should follow the historical fact of any metaphysical promise so that such a religious custom, should suggest that not only the Judo-Christian-Islamic language games, yet, all relevant creative queries should also be evaluated as components of the single game, with a solitary position of a decree and therefore all seven headings used in this article are relevant. The author is in a short discussion with Peter Forrest regarding his article Epistemology of Religion (2021) in establishing a positive outlook on how different views on the epistemology of religion and theology may surpass scholars which can expand and then better the current integrity-base epistemology of theology and religions.
Geskiedenis, natuur en algemene openbaring in die Christelik-historiese denke van Groen van Prinsterer
(LitNet, 2023-06) Schlebusch, Jan Adriaan
Groen van Prinsterer (1801–1876) se Christelik-historiese beskouing is gekenmerk deur ’n tweeledige waardering vir die Godsopenbaring soos dit neerslag vind in die Skrif aan die een kant en in die geskiedenis aan die ander kant. Gegewe die feit dat sy openbaringsleer beduidend begrond is deur die Gereformeerde belydenisskrifte, beoog hierdie artikel om vir die eerste keer sy beskouing van die rol en aard van algemene openbaring – soos beskryf in artikel 2 van die Nederlandse Geloofsbelydenis – te ondersoek en in verband te bring met sy Christelikhistorisme. In navolging van veral die Réveil sowel as die Historische Rechtsschule van Friedrich Carl von Savigny (1779–1861) verwerp hy die idee van ’n normatiewe natuurreg en beskou hy daarteenoor die goddelike openbaring as te vinde in die besondere openbaring van die Bybel, sowel as in die geskiedenis as algemene openbaring. Hierdie historiese algemene openbaring behoort volgens Groen egter beskou te word in die lig van die besondere openbaring, en met name spesifiek die openbaring van Jesus Christus se verlossingswerk en die verheerliking van Sy heerskappy as die oorhoofse doel van die wêreldgeskiedenis. Alhoewel Groen nie die rede of sintuie as middels tot die verkryging van kennis as sodanig verwerp nie, verwerp hy wel die idee dat die mens by wyse van waarnemings of rasionele konstruksies, los van die verligting van die goddelike openbaring, kernwaarhede aangaande die werklikheid kan bekom. In hierdie opsig was sy beskouing van die algemene openbaring beduidend anders as dié van sy Neo-Calvinistiese opvolgers Abraham Kuyper (1837–1920) en Herman Bavinck (1854–1921).
The problem of evil : does open theism have a better response?
(University of the Free State, 2024) Antombikums, Aku Stephen
Open theism argues that traditional responses to the problem of evil fail to provide comfort amidst suffering because of their notion of metaphysical determinism and over-dependence on Greek philosophy. Open theists argue that the best solution to the problem of evil lies in our understanding of the nature of God’s power, which has been relinquished due to his love, the open nature of creation, and the creatures’ inherent powers. This study argues that the open-theistic notion of divine power is reductionistic because it does not consider coercive power as part of divine power. Further, the open theistic logic-of-love defence propagates a loveless God who respects his covenant with the beloved more than the beloved. Finally, the study argues that the open theists’ notions of divine omniscience and divine power are not viable; they raised many questions and objections and, therefore, created room for despair rather than comfort in adversity.

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