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Volume 17, Number 3, October 2004

Contents, Abstracts, Notes on Contributors

Articles 

TIM MEADOWCROFT
History and Eschatology in Tension:
A Literary Response to Daniel 11:40-45 as Test Case 243

Abstract: Dan 11:40-45 has long been a crux interpretum in the exposition of the visions of Daniel. This is principally due to disagreement over whether to interpret the verses historically with respect to the Hellenist kingdoms of the second century BCE, or eschatologically. My proposal is Daniel 11:pression of chapter 11 and of the account of the final vision in chapters 10-12 as a whole provide us with clues that enable us to unite the temporal and the eschatological in our appreciation of these verses.

Abstract: This essay offers a critical appraisal of several recent contributions to ecclesiology by theologians from the "Free Church" tradition, addressing the claim that the church can be understood by analogy with the Trinity. Three central issues are discussed, beginning with the argument of Miroslav Volf that the church can be understood as a community of persons, called into faithful response to God and gathering as a charismatic community. Critical discussion of this idea leads to consideration of the ecclesial character of salvation, drawing upon the ideas of Volf and of Stanley Grenz. Finally, the paper considers Paul Fiddes' argument that it is inadequate to speak of the church corresponding to the triune life. Fiddes sees the divine persons not as subjects but as movements in relationships, and the community of the church as participating in the divine movements of relationship.

Abstract: This article explores the term "ecstatic" in particular relationship to the Holy Spirit. Aware that "ecstatic" may apply generally to the triune God, the author argues for a special fittingness of this term to the Holy Spirit, especially in regard to the Holy Spirit's relation with creation. Recurring theological voices within the Christian tradition support the argument. Three aspects of the Holy Spirit's nature as "ecstatic" are highlighted - God as self-giving, God as relating in freedom and God as leading creation into God. Finally, the article suggests two sets of implications that may arise from an understanding of the Holy Spirit as the "ecstatic" God.

Abstract: This essay draws upon a well-established theological vision of the Spirit as "God in-between" to develop two ongoing conversations concerning the locus of the contemporary spiritual quest. The first section, "Life between Father and Son", introduces von Balthasar's idea that the Spirit both holds open and bridges over the Father-Son relationship, thereby securing a place for the world in God. The second section, "Life between Friday and Sunday", relates this picture of the Spirit to a discussion that suggests life in the world after the Shoah is situated on Holy Saturday (the "day between"). The third section, "Life between a rock and the deep blue sea", utilises the above framework to indicate an alternative to the predominant view that the locus for the Australian spiritual quest is either at the centre (the desert) or on the margins (the sea).

Abstract: Arguing that the experience of place is an important element in the development of an Australian identity, spirituality and theology, this essay reviews some Australian voices, both indigenous and non-indigenous, which have highlighted the significance of land and place. It maintains that the "Australian soul" will remain underdeveloped and diminutive until the shadows in the nation's history are fully acknowledged and the reconciliation process embraced unreservedly. A robust Australian theology will involve a grafting of the new and more recently arrived upon the old. It will involve the convergence of that ancient and abiding sense of sacred place with a vibrant, contemporary experience of land and place. The experience of land and place is one important pathway towards a maturing sense both of Australian theology and, indeed, of Australian identity as a whole.

Abstract: This article aims to establish a credible contemporary spirituality through insights gained from the medieval Eastern Orthodox tradition. It argues that such a spirituality is based upon three foundational presuppositions: (a) the creation of the human person in the image and according to the likeness of a Trinitarian God; (b) the renewal of human persons in Christ and the deification of their nature and (c) the possibility for human persons to become participants in the gift of Christ by the grace of the Holy Spirit. In a challenge to both East and West, it proposes that contemporary spirituality should be understood not only in monastic or private terms, that is as an individual's "ascent to heaven" but also as action in the world, as a "descent into the world".

Notes on Contributors

TIM MEADOWCROFT is National Dean of Studies at the Bible College of New Zealand. His principal research interest has been the book of Daniel, including his doctoral thesis, published as Aramaic Daniel or Greek Daniel (JSOTSup 198; Sheffield: 1995). He has published in the area of hermeneutics, recently co-authored a commentary on Daniel in the Asia Bible Commentary series, and is currently involved in research in the area of the restoration prophets.

FRANK REES is Professor of Systematic Theology and Dean (since 2000) at Whitley College, in the Melbourne College of Divinity. He is a member of the Baptist World Alliance study commission on Doctrine and Inter-Church Relations. His current research involves explorations of contextual approaches to Christology and ecclesiology, with particular reference to Australian context and in association with scholars in Asian situations. His most recent book is Wrestling with Doubt: theological reflections on the journey of faith (Collegeville: 2001).

HELEN BERGIN, a Dominican sister, teaches systematic theology for the Catholic Institute of Theology within the School of Theology, University of Auckland, and is also involved in theological programmes for parishes and teachers of religious education. Her special research and teaching interests focus upon the theologies of the Holy Spirit, the Trinity, and the theologian Edward Schillebeeckx. Her doctoral dissertation (CUA, Washington) was entitled The Triune God as Liberating God: Edward Schillebeeckx's Recent Theology of the Trinity.

JOHN W. ROBINSON is pursuing research under an Australian Postgraduate Award at Charles Sturt University, School of Theology. John is based at St. Mark's National Theological Centre in Canberra where his current focus is on the theology of the Holy Spirit.

DIGBY HANNAH has been pastor at St Kilda Baptist church in inner Melbourne for the past six years. He was editor of Zadok publications for five years and before that conducted residential programs for low-income families and teenagers with Anglicare at Phillip Island.

PHILIP KARIATLIS, a graduate in arts and theology, is pursuing research under an Australian Post-graduate award within the Sydney College of Divinity, examining the notion of koinonia in Orthodox Ecclesiology. He is currently Academic Secretary at St Andrew's Greek Orthodox Theological College and Assistant Lecturer to Archbishop Stylianos of Australia in Systematic Theology. He has published in St Andrew's academic review Phronema, and also in the Voice of Orthodoxy and Vema.