Cruel God, Kind God

Finding Ourselves after Darwin: Conversations on the Image of God, Original Sin, and the Problem of Evil

Theological Anthropology for the World of Today: 1 Gaudium et Spes 22

Adresatami tekstów biblijnych mówiących o grzechu Adama i jego skutkach dla całej ludzkości są ludzie żyjący już pod jego wpływem. Od początku objawienie wyznacza perspektywę odkupienia dla człowieka dotkniętego grzechem pierworodnym. Właśnie ta perspektywa jest kluczem interpretacyjnym objawionej rzeczywistości. Perspektywa odkupienia prowadzi do Chrystusa. Przez grzech Adama ludzka natura została pozbawiona łaski uświęcającej oraz pewnych darów wiążących się ze stanem pierwotnym. Człowiek wciąż jest obrazem Boga i jest do Niego podobny, ale grzech pierworodny ogranicza wyrazistość tej fundamentalnej właściwości ludzkości stworzone przez Boga, a człowieka stawia na drodze oczekiwania na przyjście jego Odkupiciela. Chrześcijańska koncepcja śmierci nie ogranicza się jedynie do jej nieuchronności i powszechności oraz ścisłego związku z grzechem i nieposłuszeństwem. Chrystus rzucił nowe światło na jej tajemnicę. W świetle tym śmierć jawi się jako narzędzie zbawienia, a oddanie życia jako wykonanie Bożej woli w imię posłuszeństwa. Natura człowieka jest wyznacznikiem „porządku stworzenia” i tworzy ścisły związek z rzeczywistością Bożego obrazu. Z jego „trynitarnym rozumieniem” wiąże się kategoria daru, poprzez który mężczyzna i kobieta w communio personarum stają się jednością. Grzech pierworodny nie zniszczył tego układu. Historia mężczyzny i kobiety jest zapisem zbawczego dopełniania się „oblubieńczego” znaczenia ludzkiego ciała. Podstawą tego zapisu jest obraz Boży w człowieku, a jego głębia dotyka tajników ludzkiego serca.

The ideas that religion capitalizes on the operation of the attachment system and that believers’ perceived relationships with God can be characterized as symbolic attachment relationships have been well established in the psychology of religion. This study aims to explore the relationships between early caregiver experiences and religious and spiritual struggle and whether loving, distant, and cruel God images are mediators of these relationships. The Experiences in Close Relationship Scale, God Image Scale, and Religious and Spiritual Struggle Scale were applied to the research. Correlations of parent–child attachment with religious and spiritual struggle measures support a correspondence between working models of parents and God. The study has shown that a distant God is a mediator of the relationship between avoidant attachment to one’s parents and divine, meaning making, and religious doubt struggle. A cruel God is a mediator in the relationship between avoidant attachment to one’s parents and interpersonal struggle.

The Big Bang theory is, in contrast to evolutionary theory, relatively uncontroversial among Christian believers. But does this imply that the Big Bang is consonant with the Christian doctrine of creation? This article presents some reflections on the relation between the doctrine of creation, the image of God, and scientific theories, such as the Big Bang theory. It is argued that scientific theories are ‘theologically ambiguous’, which results from a difference in approach between the natural sciences and religion. This theological ambiguity should make theologians cautious about identifying scientific theories and theological doctrines.

Review of
 Stanley P. Rosenberg, Michael Burdett, Michael Lloyd and Benno van den Toren, eds., Finding Ourselves After Darwin: Conversations on the Image of God, Original Sin, and the Problem of Evil (Grand Rapids, Mich.: Baker Academic, 2018), pp. vii + 375, ISBN 978-0801098246. £19.99

During the Elizabethan era there was a considerable body of knowledge concerning birth control techniques including coitus interruptus, penis ointments, pessaries, purgatives, genital baths and bloodletting. Works were available describing the symptons and causes of abortion and reporting some abortifacients. The Puritans were aware of birth control techniques, but were opposed to them for several reasons: 1) it would go against the biblical injunction to be fruitful and multiply; 2) birth control frustrated the creation of what was in the image of God; 3) fecundity was a blessing and should not be thwarted; 4) the society of the elect should be increased; and 5) through childbirth a woman could atone for Eve's original sin. Although some Puritans recognized that marriage was for comfort and solace as well as for the bearing of progeny, birth control was frowned upon, the the Puritan clergy practiced what it preached. In a random sample of Puritan clergy there was an average of 6.8 children born per family, which was higher than the average to be found among English nobility of the same period.

This essay attempts to lay out some of the most central aspects of Kant’s relationship to Christianity, which is as influential as it is complex. The first section explains several core claims in Kant’s philosophical theology by elucidating both Kant’s criticisms of the traditional arguments for the existence of God (i.e., the cosmological, teleological and ontological arguments) and his own positive theistic arguments, which he believes to be more compelling. The second section examines some important elements of Kant’s constructive Christian theology by looking at his interpretations of the doctrines of (i) creation in the image of God, (ii) original sin, (iii) redemption, and (iv) grace.

The Catholic Historical Review VOL. LXXXIIIJANUARY, 1997No. 1 PENITENTIAL SERMONS IN RENAISSANCE ITALY: GIROLAMO SERIPANDO AND THE PATER NOSTER Francesco C. Cesáreo* The revival of interest in classical antiquity during the Renaissance had an important effect on the style and content of preaching. Thematic in structure, the medieval scholastic sermon, with its focus on abstract doctrine, had as its principal aim docere.1 During the Renaissance , preachers began to utilize and adapt the classical rhetorical form, thereby broadening the scope and content of the sermon. Not only was the sermon meant to teach doctrine to the listeners, but also move them to action through persuasion.2Among those responsible for this shift in emphasis was Erasmus, whose work on sacred oratory, the Ecclesiastes, was published in 1535. In this work Erasmus defines preaching as an act of teaching, but a different type of teaching from that found in the medieval sermon. "For Erasmus, truly Christian teaching is never dialectical or argumentative, never frigidly abstract, for it must always be persuasive of a godly life."3 Consequently, Erasmus located the sermon in the genre of deliberative oratory, giving it a greater *Mr. Cesáreo is an associate professor ofhistory inJohn Carroll University, Cleveland. 'John W. O'Malley, S. J., "Content and Rhetorical Forms in Sixteenth-Century Treatises on Preaching," in Renaissance Eloquence:Studies in the Theory and Practice ofRenaissance Rhetoric, ed. James J. Murphy (Berkeley, California, 1983), p. 240; reprinted in O'Malley, Religious Culture in the Sixteenth Century (Brookfield, Vermont, 1993), ??, 240. See also idem, Praise and Blame in Renaissance Rome (Durham, North Carolina, 1979), p. 43. O'Malley,"Content and Rhetorical Forms,"p. 244. 2 PENITENTIAL SERMONS IN RENAISSANCE ITALY moralistic quality since it was most often addressed to a group of ordinary people.4 Given the moral tone of the sermon, by the middle of the sixteenth century the Gospel came to be linked in "preaching theory with a turning from vice and an embracing of virtue, under threat of punishment and the hope of reward."5 Preachers began to paint a picture of a religion based on sin and atonement where salvation was possible to those willing to alter their way of life.6 The way to salvation was taught by preachers in familiar, simple language so that the ordinary person could understand. Theological doctrines were taught through the use of images from family life and human relations. "The central theme of late medieval Catholic theology was that God gave man the ability to cooperate with grace, to do what was in him. The preachers did not demand the impossible, but insisted that man's creation in God's image allowed him to participate in the business of his own salvation."7 As a result, preachers were more concerned with moral reformation and penitence than condemnation. This emphasis gave rise to a series of treatises on preaching that contributed to a new understanding of the sermon. In 1543 Alfonso Zorilla published De sacris concionibus recteformandis, the first treatise on preaching printed in Italy that broke with the medieval style,which saw the sermon as an informal, familiar discourse between the preacher and the congregation.8 In 1576 Diego de Estella published his Modus concionandi ,which turned the teaching of the sermon to a moral purpose. The preacher, in de Estella's mind, focuses on the moral sense of scripture , aiming to move the audience away from sin and to a life of virtue and good works.9 Luis de Granada, following Erasmus' ideas on preaching , viewed the sermon as persuading individuals to live a life of justice and piety.10 4JoImW. O'Malley, S. J.,"Erasmus and the History of Sacred Rhetoric:The Ecclesiastes of 1535," Erasmus ofRotterdam Society Yearbook, 5 (1985), 14. 'John W O'Malley, S.J.,"Form, Content, and Influence ofWorks about Preaching before Trent: The Franciscan Contribution," in I Frati Minori tra '400 e '500.Atti del XII Convegno Intemazionale, Assist, 18-20 ottobre 1985 (Assisi, 1986), p. 49; reprinted in O'Malley, Religious Culture in the Sixteenth Century, IV, 49. 'Larissa Taylor, Soldiers of Christ: Preaching in Late Medieval and Reformation France (NewYork, 1992), p. 84. 7Ibid., p. 101. "O'Malley, "Content...

We live in a world of social change. Within that world, Christian teachers are used to thinking of all people as made in the Image of God. That assumption has often meant practising a deep respect for all people. This respect has similarly extended to how Christians understand relationships in the classroom. Yet there are competing narratives about the design and purpose of life within our Western world. Part of this competition of ideas is caught up in implications that come from how we view human beings as persons. This article proposes that one of these new Australian alternatives to Christian ways of viewing life is creating an unstated but real caste system amongst so-called different kinds of persons.

Under a hermeneutics of disclosure that prioritizes a subjective “ready-to-hand” relationship with the biblical text and, concomitantly, the ontological realities of solicitude and the knowing of a priori understanding, this article interprets Rom 1:17 and Gal 3:15–19 utilizing the literary-critical principles of a close reading of the text and consistency building. Paul’s perspective in Rom 1:17 is that the gospel, not the law, discloses God’s justice and its movement, “out of trust into trust,” is interpreted in relation to Gal 3:15–19 and the testament of inheritance that God established with Abraham and his seed, Christ. The law is relegated to a codicil, constituted by angels and added to the testament of inheritance through Moses’ mediation between God and Israel at Sinai. Its function is to raise to consciousness the infection of sin ( hamartia) and to serve as the guide to Christ, the end of the law. Christ, the testamentary heir, fulfilled its conditions by eradicating sin and making the benefits of the testament universally available. Accordingly, the phrase, “out of trust into trust,” implies the movement “from the trust of Abraham into the trust of Christ” and establishes the possibility of actualizing the justice of God and delivering the creation from its corruption. Luther and Calvin’s formulation of a law-oriented gospel, combined with their adoption of Augustine’s doctrine of original sin—that continues to dominate the interpretation of Romans—limited salvation to God’s accreditation of dikaiosynê (usually translated as “righteousness”) to those who receive Christ into their lives. Their theology of atonement, determined by their law-oriented gospel, presupposed a punitive God who was compelled to inflict the punishment of law-transgressing humanity upon God’s Son in order to satisfy God’s law-directed retribution. The result: a gospel of individual salvation without commitment to the actualization of God’s justice.

This extended review essay examines Klaus Detlev Schulz’s Theological Anthropology and Sin, highlighting its comprehensive approach to understanding human nature from a Lutheran perspective. Schulz’s work is structured around three major themes: humanity’s original relationship with God at creation, the consequences of the Fall and the pervasiveness of sin, and the restoration of this relationship in Christ as lived out in daily existence. Drawing on Scripture and the Lutheran Confessions, and engaging with modern scientific and philosophical perspectives, Schulz explores the doctrine of original sin, the image of God in humanity, and the importance of Christ’s redemptive work. The review underscores Schulz’s critique of contemporary individualism and alternative ethical systems, his analysis of social structures such as family and vocation, and his call for Christians to actively engage the world as stewards and coworkers with God. Ultimately, the essay commends Schulz for providing a nuanced and robust theological anthropology that integrates interdisciplinary insights while maintaining a distinctively Lutheran, Christ-centered understanding of human identity and responsibility.

Animals in Brazil: Economic, Legal and Ethical Perspectives

Three basic themes played indispensable roles in Reinhold Niebuhr’s engagements with economic issues: (1) the foundational importance of a theological anthropology for his critical assessment of complex social, economic, and political issues; (2) his focus on two clashing theories of economic order: Adam’s Smith’s doctrine of laissez-faire capitalism and Karl Marx’s revolutionary vision for the collective ownership of property within a centralized state system; and (3) his endorsement of a realistic yet viable alternative to these two classic theories, one that involved pragmatic and incremental steps toward fostering economic justice through the public regulation and oversight of a free-market economy. These pragmatic measures included allocating government resources for vitally important public goods and services at federal, state, and local levels. Though Niebuhr was initially drawn to some form of democratic socialism, he embraced this incremental strategy within the context of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s implementation of his New Deal agenda. My analysis of Niebuhr’s contributions concludes with attention to new challenges confronting contemporary quests for economic justice in a post–New Deal era, one marked Soundings, Vol. 95, No. 4, 2012 Copyright © 2012 The Pennsylvania state University, University Park, Pa di sc us sio n diussion

This year (2021) Pope Francis beatified Cardinal Stephan Wyszynski on september 12th, two days before Laborem Exercens fortieth anniversary. This essay presents some aspects of the book El espíritu del trabajo (The spirit of work) written by cardinal Wyszynski, published in Spanish in 1958, to show its influence in Laborem Exercens contents. Effectively, considering the close relationship between Wyszynski and Wojtyla, better known as John Paul II, results of a special importance to show how much has influenced the poland primate in the Pope. Christianity brought the real elevation of human work according to human dignity, in which, work finds the sources of its own dignity: being an action produced by human intelligence and will. This is the first step to develop the idea of a work ethos referred to human person as image and resemblance of God. Work contributes to the whole development of human person through the perfecting of rational nature. The meaning of work as participation in God’s labour creation is understood as man’s cooperation in His creative labour. Work is also an effective way to approach to God, as Christ has shown himself working with Joseph, at the point of being considered the son of the carpenter. Before original sin work provided only satisfaction and joy, but after it, effort and pain appeared. This is connected with the importance of work as a way of sanctification and salvation for men, aspect specially considered in order to show the redemptive value of human work.