{ARGIEF}
Vanoggend het Die Burger ons begroet met ’n opskrif: Beleggers se drome na die maan. ’n Beleggingskema wat groot beloftes rondom die wêreldbeker voorgehou het, het lelik skeefgeloop. Ek kry die mense jammer, maar dit het my laat dink. Ons het almal groot drome, maar...
Twee opmerkings het my vandag diep laat dink. Die eerste was die van die ou tannie wat skuins oorkant ons woon en elke dag die troppie tarentale wat hul in ons buurt kom tuismaak het, voer. Terwyl sy met `n salige gesig haar “kinders” kosgee het ek haar gevra, “Hoe...
MF Norwegian School of Theology
harald.hegstad@mf.no
On the Different Modes of Ecclesiology
Utrecht, 22 June 2010
As theologians we face certain challenges when defining our enterprise. A fundamental challenge is the common experience that theology has the tendency to fall apart into different autonomous disciplines. Another problem is the division between theology as an academic and theoretical project on the one hand, and religious and ecclesial practice on the other. We therefore need models for keeping the parts together.
A fruitful contribution in this respect is the model proposed by Don S. Browning in his book A Fundamental Practical Theology (Browning 1991). Understanding the theological project as essentially practical, he distinguishes between four movements in the theological enterprise: descriptive theology, historical theology, systematic theology and strategic practical theology. The merit of this model is twofold: It attempts to keep the different theological disciplines together in a comprehensive understanding of theology, and it proposes a way of relating practice and theory to each other. Theology is not understood as theory divided from practice, but as reflection built on practice, and related to practice. It starts from practice and returns to practice. It starts with the descriptive movement to describe and interpret empirical realities. This descriptive work then leads to theological questions that have to be worked with in the light of Christian history, tradition and doctrine. In historical theology questions from practice are related to central texts and events of the Christian faith, including the biblical texts. In systematic theology a critical and philosophical perspective is added to the questions, discussing normativity and the validity of truth claims (Browning 1991, 47–54).
Building on the accomplishments of the three first phases, strategic practical theology “brings the general fruits of descriptive theology and practically oriented historical and systematic theology back into contact with the concrete situation of action” (ibid., 55). It asks the question for means, strategies and rhetoric that should be used in the concrete situation. Contrary to the traditional view, this phase of practical theology is not to be understood as an application to practice of theology as a theoretical discipline, but rather “the culmination of an inquiry that has been practical throughout” (ibid., 57).
My aim in this paper is not to go into the details of Browning’s model – nor discuss strengths and weaknesses. What I would like to do, is to use it as a framework for understanding the field of ecclesiology. As a central theological field, ecclesiology should be positioned within the four movements of Browning’s model – we may thus speak of a descriptive ecclesiology, historic ecclesiology, systematic ecclesiology and strategic, practical ecclesiology. Ecclesiology is not a subject that may be restricted to one of the theological movements or disciplines, e.g. within dogmatics.
Hans Raun Iversen
Abstract:
Living in “he time of authenticity”(Charles Taylor) western people only recognise something as true when they experience it as a first person or at least trough an other first person with whom they can identify. Therefore Christ is what he is to the individual! Generally speaking we can not be Christians in the way of the church before they have become ’Christians in my own way’. This calls for a reconsideration of the Lutheran concept of pro me. To Luther faith is the personal trust that a person has in Christ, whom he has met and experienced as loving and trustworthy, present in His words, blood and body. What matters is how Christ matters to the individual, pro me. This sort of faith in Christ is a mighty thing that changes people and their criteria for acting in the world. As Christians are growing in Christ – as Christ is growing in Christian people – also the awareness of Christ as the King of the Kingdom of God and thus the universal and communal dimension of Christianity as it is reflected in congregational life may grow. But “Christ in us” is prior to “we in Christ”.
Christ in us and we in Christ
Jesus did not come to organize the church or call for church attendance Sunday morning. He came to raise signs of and faith in the Kingdom of God in which he himself is the king. “I have sometimes felt that the real purpose of church services is to enable the clergy to count the congregation”, Pete Ward tells us. In his ground-breaking book Liquid Church from 2002 he considers whether church could be understood not just as people gathered in a solid fellowship or institution, but more as a process, as something people carry out in a fluid movement. Ward suggests that our concept of ‘church’ should shift from being a noun to being a verb. We “church” whenever we “church”. With this in mind, he reflects on Paul’s Christological interpretation of church or congregation in the following passage: Paul sees our union with Christ as his presence surrounding and indwelling the believer. This relationship sustains and establishes the believer in relationship with God, but also it forges a wider community base to faith. The shared experience of the Lord unites into one body all of those who are in Christ.
Ek was gelukkig(?) om gisteraand saam met kollegas Ian Nell en Rein Brouwer kollega hier van Nederland, die wedstryd tussen Nederland en Cameroen in Amersfoort te gaan kyk in ‘n kafee neffens die Joris kerk in die stadskern. Dit was soos te wagte jolig, vrolik en oranje net waar jy kyk. Ons moes op ‘n manier tuis gevoel het want ons is tog immers van Nederland- het die ou mense nie van ons stamland gepraat nie. Sonder dat ons dit ooreengekom het, was ek en Ian se harte egter b
y Cameroen. Nou ja ‘n mens moet ook maar slim wees, so ons het Cameroen se goal maar met ingetoe lof gevier, ‘n mens kan meer as jou naam verloor in sulke situasies as jy nie slim is nie.
Op die trein terug het ek gewonder waar kom dit vandaan, hierdie intuitiewe ondersteuning van Cameroen- waar kom dit nou vandaan? Ek dink aan Antjie Krog se boek Begging to be Black. Is daar in ons blankes in Suid Afrika ‘n diep begeerte om deel te wees van die swart gemeenskap, om van Afrika te wees? Antjie se boek is daarom ‘n belangrike boek, hoewel ek eerder sou wou praat van ‘n behoefte om van Afrika te wees as om swart te wees. Ek kan en wil nie swart wees nie, ek weet sy bedoel dit nie net in ‘n etniese sin van die woord nie, maar ek kan en is van Afrika- het ek gisteraand ontdek in die Grand Kafee op die plein in Amersfoort.
Article of Shari Cohen in The Huffington Post
International development worker in the public health sector
Posted: June 15, 2010 11:35 AM
South Africa Rolls Out the Ubuntu in Abundance
I went on a rant the other day regarding the cost of the 2010 World Cup versus all the critical needs South Africa is facing and whether or not the most vulnerable of this country would gain anything from having the World Cup hosted in their country. At that time, I also had some very positive things to say about our hosts for the 2010 World Cup and I wanted to share that side of the coin as well, because it is equally important.
To say that I have been blown away at the hospitality South Africa has shown the rest of the world would be an understatement. I think back on recent Olympics and struggle to remember much reporting in the USA of athletes from other countries. I remember when a Togolese guy won a bronze medal in kayaking and NBC reported it and I thought to myself, “where are all the other fascinating stories like this one…like the Jamaican bobsledding team.” In today’s America, sadly, we have drifted so far towards being so US-centric that we only seem to root for the Americans.
Not so here in South Africa. I’ve been here since early May and each week I have become more and more impressed with the global embrace that South Africans have offered up to the world. On the way to the airport a couple of weeks ago, I heard a radio program that said each day they would focus on one country that would be coming to South Africa for the World Cup, and they would explore not only that sport’s history in soccer, but also their politics, religion, and socio-cultural practices. On the television, I’ve seen numerous programs that focus on a particular country and it’s history of soccer and how the history of that country is intertwined with their soccer history. I’ve seen programs on India, exploring why India enjoys soccer but hasn’t really excelled at the global level… yet. And I’ve seen shows on soccer in Muslim countries. Maybe it’s planned, maybe it’s unplanned, maybe it’s by chance, but it is happening. It’s not just about South Africans showing off their varied and multifaceted culture to their global guests, it’s also about using this opportunity to educate South Africa on the rest of Planet Earth’s inhabitants.
1. Introduction
The ecclesiastical community can be observed as an important link in the salvation and conversion of human individuals, who by Martin Luther are represented as by nature ‘curved in on themselves’. Encounter with the others in the local church can be a factor in the liberation of homo incurvatus in se.
In these terms I will explore the redemptive potential of the local church as a community around the Word.
I will do so first by arguing for individualism as a presupposition of true community, this in debate with Charles Taylor and in appeal to Luther (section 2). The local church is approached as a place where individuals encounter God and each other. The starting point of my approach is not the church as a community, nor the Word which creates this community, but the self-centred individual, who in the community round the Word is opened for God and other people.
In the third section I will concentrate on the reflection of the German-Jewish philosopher Franz Rosenzweig (1886-1929) on the double conversion of the closed self by a twofold call on the individual. This call on the self comes, according to Rosenzweig, firstly from the loving God, and secondly from the neighbour who waits for love. According to Rosenzweig, it is the naturally egocentric individual who is called to do acts of love. This happens fistly in the event of God’s Self-revelation to man and secondly in redemptive moments of encounter with the other.
From this perspective I will try to sketch the local community round the Word as a place of calling and salvation (section 4).
{gallery}worldcup{/gallery} PowerPoint
Nog ‘n storie van hoop kom van Vryheid. Een van die gemeentes het tans nie ‘n predikant nie. Van die gemeentelede het besluit dat hulle sal moet uitreik. Hulle gebruik die momentum van die wêreldbeker en TUG se hulpbronne om in die groter gemeenskap te werk. Sokker...
Elkeen van ons kan ‘n belangrike rol speel om van SA ‘n (nog) beter plek te maak. Steve Hofmeyr sing ‘n baie mooi lied, “Gee jy wat jy neem?” wat interessante perspektiewe onder andere hierop bied. Hier volg die woorde: