Category: Publications

Theology, Phenomenology and the Retrieval of Experience: A Homage to Peter Kemp

Article by Jayne Svenungsson in Eco-ethica, 9 (2020), 17–34. DOI: 10.5840/ecoethica20213830

This article engages in a re-reading of Peter Kemp’s 1973 dissertation Théorie de l’engagement with a view to exploring its persisting theological value. After briefly revisiting its main argument, I turn in the following section to a discussion of its way of relating phenomenology and theology in terms of short-comings as well as possibilities. In the concluding section, I bring together Kemp and the contemporary phenomenologist and philosopher Dorthe Jørgensen and offer a reflection on what theology could and should be and why I believe that it still has a significant role to play in academia as well as in the wider culture. In particular, I argue that phenomenological theology—with its long tradition of reflecting on mythopoetic language—is particularly well-suited to provide a cultural hermeneutics of relevance not only for practicing religious people but also for a broader audience in a culture that is still to a high degree immersed in biblical imagery.

The Emergence of I

Article by Andreas E. Masvie in Journal for Continental Philosophy of Religion.

Among the ancients, there was no proper conception of the I. Yet an I emerges in ancient Israel. I therefore inquire into the philosophical anthropology of ancient Israel. How did the I emerge? By interpreting the Song of Songs as political myth, from which a philosophical anthropology can be unearthed and reconstructed, I theorize that not only an I, but also a different kind of we emerged through gift-dynamics. Then I demonstrate that these gift-dynamics are compatible with the ancient Israelites’ religious-political institutions and manifest itself in their collective psyche.

Green Purpose: Teleology, Ecological Ethics, and the Recovery of Contemplation

Article by Andreas Nordlander in Studies in Christian Ethics.

According to one influential narrative, a significant root of our ecological crisis is to be found in the Christian appropriation of teleology, undergirding the anthropocentrism endemic to Western thought. This article challenges this argument in three steps. First, I present the Aristotelian understanding of teleology, which is intrinsic to living organisms, and which has been suggested as a resource for ecological ethics. Second, I argue that the rejection of intrinsic teleology in favour of an extrinsic teleology first occurs with modern philosophy, in tandem with a new pragmatic conception of knowledge. Third, I provide an alternative construal of the early Christian understanding of teleology, through the figure of Maximus the Confessor, arguing that his understanding of the contemplation of nature is a key resource to be recovered for ecological ethics. I end with a sketch of such a recovery, as articulated by Thomas Merton.

Gudstjeneste i antropocen? Økoteologi og liturgikk

Article by Carl Petter Opsahl in Tidsskrift for Praktisk Teologi.

How does liturgy cope with climate change and ecological crisis? By engaging ecotheological writings of Sallie McFague, Larry L. Rasmussen and Elizabeth A. Johnson, the article explores possible ways of understanding relations between humans, nature and God. While they are not writing explicitly on liturgy, they develop thinking of liturgical implications, such as cosmology, sacramentalism and liturgical expression. These themes are further developed liturgically in dialogue with the liturgical theologian Gordon W. Lathrop. As the era of Anthropocene as suggested by Paul J. Crutzen is still “terra incognita,” the article acknowledges the difficulties of liturgical response to an ecological crisis of unknown proportions. Thus, it allows for liturgical efforts to be clumsy, hesitant and experimental

Searching for the missing theology in the Nordic discussion of practice

Article by Auli Vähäkangas in Studia Theologica – Nordic Journal of Theology.

The aim of this article is to analyse the relationship between theory and practice and the role of theology in this discussion. The data is formed from writings of prominent scholars who are active in the International Association of Practical Theology (IAPT). The relationship between theory and practice is crucial when we try to answer what role theology has when studying practices. Nordic Practical Theology has traditionally studied pastoral care, liturgy and homiletics in the majority Lutheran contexts. However, today there is a need to expand to various faith communities and a wider variety of practices. This new research has to acknowledge the changed pluralistic context and how it challenges the role of religion/religions in the Nordic societies and how it challenges theological studies as well. Emerging topics in the Nordic context are connected with the pluralistic context in changing Nordic societies, with sexuality/gender as well as with issues connected with rituals. All of these topics connect practice and theory together and require deep theological reflection in which embodiment is acknowledged. My model, Theology of Encounter, is an example of theological reflection over a central religious practice of counselling.

Hans Nielsen Hauge i fortid og nåtid

Special issue in Norsk Tidsskrift for Misjonsvitenskap.

‘Alle vil ha en bit av Hans Nielsen Hauge (1771–1824). Slik kan man på en folkelig måte karakterisere den sterke og ferfoldige interessen for Hauge som vi opplever i år ved 250-årsjubileet for hans fødsel. Men interessen for Hauge har vært levende helt siden siste del av 1800-tallet. Det er ikke overraskende når vi tenker på hans personlige begavelse, hans evne og vilje til å følge opp sin tro i visjoner og i handlinger, og den bevegelse han skapte ved sin forkynnelse i skrift og tale. Den ulærde bondegutten fra Tune er blitt sett på som en avgjørende kraft bak utviklingen av det moderne Norge – religiøst, sosialt, kulturelt og politisk.’

Towards a New 1933? The Fascist Labor of the Extreme and Radical right

Article by Jone Salomonsen in Dialog.

Ten years ago, right‐wing extremist Anders Behring Breivik conducted a carefully planned terrorist attack on Norway (July 22, 2011). During the trial, he claimed to have defended Norwegian culture, people, and religion from the seemingly destructive powers of multiculturalism, feminism, and Islamic migration. Yet, which “religion” did Breivik defend? What were his larger political goals of waging “war”? With Hannah Arendt, I will show how Breivik, his American admirer Greg Johnson, and their allies have no political project and not one religion but primarily articulate (with words and/or with violent acts) a yearning to return to racialized, kin‐based, patriarchal camps that ideally are to be organized according to “the aristocratic principle of nature,” as theorized by Adolf Hitler in Mein Kampf.