|
|
| AUSTRALASIAN THEOLOGICAL STUDIES |
 |
|
|
| AUSTRALASIAN THEOLOGICAL STUDIES |
|
|
|
Volume 14, Number 1, February 2001 Contents, Abstracts, Editorial Notes on Contributors
Articles ANDREW
HAMILTON, God and Australian Federation – A Mismatch? 1 Abstract: The paradigms for theological discussion of public affairs were set by Eusebius of Caesarea, who believed they could accurately be located within God’s providence, and by Augustine who was sceptical. While most theologians would follow Augustine in restricting themselves to an ethical rather than a theological account, a rich theology of the multiform body of Christ suggests a distinctively Christian perspective for reflecting on events like the Centenary of Australian Federation (1901-2001).
BRUCE
LANGTRY, Metaphysics and a Personal God 17 Abstract: Many
people think of God as similar to a human being, but without various limitations and defects, and with much greater powers.
They hold that although much that we say when likening God to human beings is
either analogical or metaphorical, much is not: it is literally true that God
has beliefs, intentions and other mental states, in the same sense, or in
close to the same sense, as when we say that human beings do. This paper
defends this view by arguing that it is consistent with thinking of God as
God's incorporeal, omniscient, immutable, and timeless. It is inconsistent
with the claim that God lacks a plurality of properties; but one does not need
to hold anthropomorphism to find simplicity with respect to properties
implausible. RICHARD
TRELOAR, The Hermeneutics of Textual Exile: Comparing
Rabbinic and Poststructuralist Readings of Esther 31 Abstract: This
article falls into two main parts. The first reviews the debate over the nature of rabbinic exegesis and its comparison with
post-structuralist reading strategies, especially as this has been fuelled by
the work of Susan Handelman. The second section focuses on the Masoretic text
of the Book of Esther in the light of that review, setting Timothy Beal’s
recent work on Esther alongside some features of its reception in rabbinic
literature. Some potentially common interpretive ground can be identified, but
in what sense the indeterminacy of meaning maintained by such con-temporary TOM
RYAN, Aquinas’ Integrated View of Emotions, Morality,
and the Person Abstract: In
this article the author argues that there are five components in Aquinas’ integrated account of emotions, morality and the person.
Firstly, it is the rationally “fitting” or “consonant” with human
nature that mediates the affective virtues as they structure the objects of
emotions as specific emotional responses. Secondly, Aquinas outlines
principles to ascertain a) how emotions are moral and voluntary and b) the
need for WILLIAM
W. EMILSEN, Gandhi, Scripture and the Bible 71 Abstract: Mohandas
K. (“Mahatma”) Gandhi considered it the duty of every cultured man and woman to sympathetically read the scriptures of
the great world religions. Though not himself a biblical scholar, Gandhi’s
facility and familiarity with the Bible (especially the New Testament) has
been insufficiently appreciated. This article explores the following
questions: What principles of interpretation did Gandhi bring to the
scriptures of the great world religions? What, in particular, was the extent
and depth of his knowledge of the Christian scriptures? In essence, what was
Gandhi’s Bible?
WILLIAM R. FARMER ET AL.
(eds.), The International Biblical Commentary Veronica
Lawson 87
DAVID JOBLING, 1 Samuel Antony F. Campbell 89
PETER O’BRIEN, The Letter to the Ephesians Laurie
Woods 90
LORETTA DORNISCH, Paul and Third World Women Theologians Anne
Elvey 92
PATRICK J. HARTIN, A Spirituality of Perfection: Faith in Action in the
Letter of James
GERD THEISSEN, The Religion of the Earliest Churches: Creating a Symbolic World John Hilary Martin 96 T. V. PHILIP, East of Euphrates: Early Christianity in Asia Hans
Spykerboer 100 T. V. PHILIP, Edinburgh to Salvador: Twentieth Century Ecumenical
Missiology
DENIS EDWARDS, The God of Evolution: A Trinitarian Theology John Honner 103
TIMOTHY BACKUS AND WILLIAM C. GRAHAM (eds.), Common Good, Uncommon Questions: a Primer in Moral
Theology Cormac M. Nagle 106
MARY-JO IOZZIO, Self-determination and the Moral Act: A Study of the
Contributions of Odon Lottin David
Willis 108
JULIA UPTON, A Time for Embracing Patrick
Negri 110
WILLI BRAUN AND RUSSELL T. MCCUTCHEON (eds.), Guide to the Study of Religion William
M. Johnston 111
ADRIAN THATCHER (ed.), Spirituality and the Curriculum Denham
Grierson 114
ANNE O’BRIEN, Blazing a Trail: Catholic Education in Victoria
1963-1980
JAMES H. KROEGER, Remembering Our Bishop Joseph W. Regan MM Cyril Hally 119
AS MOST READERS of Pacifica will be aware, 1 January 2001 marks
the anniversary of the federation of six former colonies to become the
Commonwealth of Australia. Though often regarded as a “young” nation – a
youthfulness hymned in the current national anthem – Australia is in fact
one of the oldest continuing democracies. For this, as for many other things,
its citizens have much cause to be grateful. The anniversary also serves to
remind thoughtful Australians of the many social and political challenges that
stand high on the national agenda as the new century gets under way. Chief
among these is the satisfactory completion of the process of reconciliation
between descendants of settlers from overseas and the original inhabitants of
the Land, whose long-standing historical hurt and present disadvantage in so
many areas remain sources of shame and scandal. Where once the “White
Australia” policy reigned, contemporary Australian society is now regarded
as one of the most successful examples of large-scale immigrant inclusion
without social dislocation or division. Nonetheless, All these factors call for theological, as well as for
social and political reflection. I am grateful that in this first issue of the
new Australian century Andrew Hamilton has once again drawn out of the
patristic tradition material for a theological reflection of this kind. Pacifica
will continue in this way to strike the balance between the contextual and
the more universal that has been its aim from the beginning. We are happy to
announce that three further theological bodies – the Auckland Consortium for
Theological Education, the Griffith University School of Theology and the
Sydney College of Divinity – have formally accepted invitations to become
corporate sponsors of the journal, along-side the primary sponsor, the
Melbourne College of Divinity. The Rules of the Pacifica Theological Studies
Association are currently being Brendan Byrne, S. J.
ANDREW HAMILTON S.J. lectures in Church History and Christology at the
United Faculty of Theology in Melbourne. He studied Patristics at the
University of Oxford and is associated with the Jesuit Refugee Service. BRUCE LANGTRY is senior lecturer in Philosophy at the University of
Melbourne. He is currently the president of the Australian Association for
Professional and Applied Ethics and the editor of Res Publica. His main
research field is philosophy of religion, where his publications include
“God and the Best”, Faith and Philosophy 13 (1996) 311-328, and RICHARD TRELOAR is Associate Chaplain to Trinity College in the University of Melbourne and a staff member of Trinity College Theological School, teaching at the United Faculty of Theology. He is undertaking doctoral research in the field of biblical narrative at Monash University. TOM RYAN S.M. is a Marist priest who teaches Pastoral and Practical Theology at the University of Notre Dame, Fremantle, Australia. He recently completed a doctorate on a comparative and evaluative study of the moral significance of emotions in Aquinas, the Manualists and Catholic Moral Theology 1960-1990. He has a continuing interest in this area, especially in its interdisciplinary implications. WILLIAM EMILSEN is Lecturer in Church History and World Religions at United Theological College, Sydney. He has written several books and articles on Mahatma Gandhi. Recently, he has edited The Goldfields Journal of William Diaper (alias “Cannibal Jack”) 1851–1853 (1999) and Mapping the Landscape: Essays in Australian and New Zealand Christianity (2000). He co-edits Uniting Church Studies.
|