“The Power of Translation” examines the language phenomenon of translation in the context of power relations and the transcendence of power relations. The thesis of the article can be summarized in point form: *Translation is a player in the power structure of human relating from which it cannot be extracted and based on an objective and purely translative ground. *Translation, as much as language itself, is a force which results in separation, not in connection. At the same time, the ‘tools’ (...) (technology, translation, language, eros) which separate us become connective where they retain the capacity of self-subversion and dialogue. *Subsequent to this dynamic, we discern the colonizing and eschatological plot inherent in translation. Translation is an ‘open’ phenomenon, always engaged in creating structures which are both oppressive and liberating. It is this openness which constitutes the power of translation. (shrink)

Gaining an insight on how the human perceptive apparatus has the ability to discern between the worlds, physical, divine and demonic, has intrigued many theological minds throughout the history. The concept of ‘spiritual senses’, developed in the patristic period, offers a platform for the debate on the intricate role that sensorial, psychological and spiritual skills play in perceiving the transcendent world. This paper argues that an encounter with the Judeo-Christian God presupposes, besides an innate spiritual, a priori, pre-cognitive consciousness regarding (...) the existence of the divine, also a wholistic animation, regeneration and transfiguration of the human perceptive and psychological apparatus, through sanctification by the work of the Word and the Holy Spirit, in the community of believers. (shrink)

The care of terminally ill patients can be physically, emotionally as well as psychologically exhausting. In the era where everyone is busy with his or her hectic daily schedule, caring for someone diagnosed with HIV on her or his deathbed can be a daunting challenge. Caring for someone dying of AIDS does not only challenge the physical being but rather leaves the carer emotionally drained. What was of concern to the author was to see the struggle that the caregiver goes (...) through whilst caring for the sufferer. More often than not, pastoral care and counselling concentrate mainly on the pain and the suffering of the sick person. In the process, pastoral care loses sight of the agony, the emotional strain and, above all, the trauma of the caregivers in their search for answers as they care for the infected. This scenario has prompted the author to look into the theology of caring with an emphasis on pastoral care of the carers with a view of alleviating their emotional burden in caring for the HIV patients. (shrink)

This article discusses the concept of spiritual assets or spiritual capital in community development and social transformation. It argues that much of the existing discourse on the subject tends to be reductionist in its approach, often limiting discussion of spiritual assets to the social and cultural capital of religious organizations. The study proposes an understanding of spiritual assets which acknowledges the creative and sustaining work of the Spirit in enabling and motivating communities to envision, and discern paths of renewal and (...) social transformation. (shrink)

In recent years, scholars have devoted more attention to the “prophetic” critique of mass media. Clifford Christians has served as both an originator and an ongoing contributor to these discussions. Beginning with his doctoral thesis on Jacques Ellul, a concern for the prophetic has been a consistent thread throughout his career. This paper begins by examining Ellul's influence on Christians's approach, with an emphasis on media ecology, ontology, and the concept of technique. I then summarize Christians's critique of Ellul, and (...) explain how his unique vision addresses Ellul's shortcomings. In outlining Christians's unique approach, I highlight the ways in which authenticity serves as an axial value permeating his work. In Christians's work, prophetic witness against technological fetishism is a means of protecting certain universal values such as “cultural continuity” and “authentic Being.” Through a brief examination of media coverage of Barack Obama, Sarah Palin, Jim Wallis, and the United Church of Christ, I show how Christians's discussion of authenticity and prophetic critique are not only applicable but uniquely relevant in the emerging new media environment. At this critical juncture in media, Christians's prophetic voice is among the most relevant and necessary that critical scholarship has to offer. (shrink)

The apparent tension between the moral codes of the Old and New Testaments constitutes a perennial problem for Christian ethics. Scholars who have taken this problem seriously have often done so in ways that presume sharp discontinuity between the Testaments. They then proceed to devise a system for identifying what is or is not relevant today, or what pertains to this or that particular social sphere. John Howard Yoder brings fresh perspectives to this perennial problem by refuting the presumption of (...) intratestamental discontinuity. Throughout multiple scattered works on the Old Testament, Yoder offers a coherent and provocative narration that culminates in the way of Christ and establishes the ethical continuity of the entire biblical canon. This essay presents the basic parameters of Yoder's Old Testament narration, suggests points where revision is needed, and highlights several implications for social ethics. (shrink)

Christianity is best understood not as a set of timeless doctrines, but as a historical movement capable of change and growth. In this respect, Christianity is like a science. Heretofore, most instances of Christianity have exhibited certain ways of thinking that, taken as a whole, have led to the subordination of women (and the Earth and animals as well) to men in power. This article describes these ways of thinking, then contrasts six ways of thinking and acting that can inform (...) postpatriarchal Christianity and science. (shrink)

Our current planetary emergency is one in which we are facing significant global warming as a result of human-driven climate change. This is having and will continue to have catastrophic results for the earth’s ecosystems and for life as we know it. The Christian tradition often works actively against the seriousness of these challenges due to its eschatological outlook. Process theology, as one stream within the Christian tradition, embraces a different vision of the future that fosters engagement in current concerns (...) rather than an escapist approach. A process theological proposal is therefore offered that calls for an embodied ethic that embraces the acronym SHE. SHE stands for Sustainability, Health, and Ethics. It provides a dietary grid as a way to embody ethics to bring about societal change in light of environmental challenges. SHE is proposed against a background that argues for Christian engagement in our current global crisis. The idea of “small turnings” as a conceptual idea is adopted to help frame how the SHE grid might be understood. (shrink)

In this “Response to Critics,” Cathleen Kaveny continues the conversation in the JRE symposium centered on her recent book, Prophecy without Contempt: Religious Discourse in the Public Square. The book's central argument is that adequate discussion of contention in the contemporary public square requires attending to matters of rhetoric, particularly the rhetoric of prophetic indictment. Kaveny engages the comments of four interlocutors: Alda Balthrop-Lewis, James Childress, William Hart, and Martin Kavka. The first section, “Overarching Goals,” summarizes the objectives of the (...) book. The second section, “Methodology,” engages critics regarding methodological issues, highlighting Kaveny's commitment to a version of MacIntyre's tradition theory and her indebtedness to her legal training. The third section, “Structure,” responds to particular questions her interlocutors raise about the four parts of the book. The fourth section, “Larger Questions,” ponders the next stages of the academic and political discussion about contention in the public square. (shrink)

This article examines the role of Prophecy and divination in the success of the Lumpa Church of Alice Mulenga Lenshina in Zambia. Concurring with James Amanze, the article argues that the rapid growth of Christianity in Africa is to a large extent due to its engagement with prophecy and divination. Strong growth in African Christianity takes place mainly in the African Initiated Churches which are Pentecostal-charismatic in their outlook. In these Churches the emphasis is on the prophetic ministry of the (...) Church, evident in the performance of divination, healing and in predictions of the future. A good example is the Lumpa Church of Lenshina. Taking this Church as a case study, the article argues that Lenshina’s success and that of her Church are based on the fact that divination, prophecy and a search for gender justice were taken seriously. (shrink)

This article seeks to explore a neglected perspective in pastoral theology: namely that of the influence of conservative family culture and church practice on the spiritual, emotional, and physical development of young Christian women, particularly in the area of disordered eating patterns and negative self-image. It shows the ways in which hidden tensions, particularly within somewhat marginal Christian communities, or for groups which seek to define themselves strongly against prevailing secular cultural norms, can play themselves out in the inner conflicts (...) of vulnerable young women. Such conflicts often centre on their difficulties in trying to define themselves in relation to their family and culture when they may have neither the opportunity nor the language to articulate the burden of such hidden conflicts. The author suggests models of pastoral care which involve working with Christian tradition and scriptural narratives to help Christian communities, and particularly women within them, to redefine assumptions about female roles and norms, and to develop a more open and physically grounded spirituality. (shrink)

Formal Christian theological training/education is unsurprisingly diverse. This diversity in theological training encompasses: providers and beneficieries from different denominations of modern Christianity, curricula and contents, and aims. If one supposes that theological training is imparted within or in direct/indirect relations with communities of faith one is compelled to ask: What is ‘theological education’? Is this quest worth the effort?

While greatly appreciative of Kaveny's important study of a neglected form of religious/moral discourse in the public square, this essay critically examines her metaphors for prophetic indictments and finds the metaphor of moral chemotherapy particularly problematic and the metaphor of warfare, connected with the just-war tradition, more promising. It stresses the difficulty, if not the impossibility, of avoiding contempt in prophetic indictments, as Kaveny conceives them, and finds her proposed solutions to this problem—standing with the people and expressing empathy and (...) compassion toward them—inadequate to the task. It further argues that attending to prophetic imagination, in addition to prophetic denunciation, can broaden the scope of practical deliberation and, at the same time, increase possible prophetic contributions to moral and political discourse. (shrink)

Micah 7:1-6 represents the prophet's lamentation of the deficiency of moral value in a beloved nation. The oracle is a watershed in the Book of Micah that is aptly characterised by certain degrees of socio-economic and religious unfaithfulness, especially in privileged circumstances. The oracle unit forms the darkest descriptions of degrees about the apparent moral wasteland of ancient Judah. The prophet's metaphors are used to describe the miserable moral morass of society form a kind of compendium with a progression of (...) thoughts and coherence of moral depravity. This article underscores that when people and society live in dishonesty and corruption, the essentially integrated spiritual-ethical-community of health and prosperity that is expected to unfold in time of covenant fidelity will eventually be reduced to poverty and despair, where people hunt each other for survival. This article explores aspects of dishonesty and corruption in the Book of Micah that are pointers to the tragic situation, analyses the various descriptions of corruption in the oracle unit and consequently examines its ethical imperatives for community living. CONTRIBUTION: As a biblical, literary and theological interpretation of Micah's oracle concerning ancient Judah's moral morass, this article brings together moral insights that are potentially viable for making major contributions to the life of people and just social order in an economics of affluence, politics of oppression and corruption in societies. (shrink)