Theological Studies

The author of this work argues that North American evangelicals support of or opposition to Donald Trump's presidency attests to what they value politically even more so than their faith in a preexistent Creator. Moreover, a Black theologian's acceptance of the possibility that "God" is an image of what one values helps him or her stay focused on liberating praxis for the wellbeing of the African-American community.

With the help of Toni Morrison's novels Beloved and The Bluest Eye, Josiah Young questions several claims G. W. Leibniz makes in his Theodicy: Essays on the Goodness of God, the Freedom of Man and the Origin of Evil. Specifically, Young casts doubt on Leibniz's assertions that this world is the best of all possible ones; that God permits evil as a moral necessity; and that the victims of evil either deserve their misfortune or should endure it for "Goodness's" sake. God…takes care of the whole universe, whereof all the parts are connected; and one must thence infer that he has had innumerable considerations whose result made him deem it inadvisable to prevent certain evils. 1 Wonder what God had in mind. You must of did something. Don't run off nowhere now. 2

This paper sets out to do four things. First, it situates the concept of Subalterns in the Indian context. Caste plays an important part in its definition. Subalterns are the outcaste (Dalits) and non-caste (Adivasis) communities in the process of contracting a labouring people's solidarity. Second, it submits a methodological argument. In dialogue with postcolonial discourse on biblical interpretation, it makes the case that subalternity is characterized by the primary interplay of domestic, local and particular mechanisms of power. Thus, this location must be the starting point for interrogating the Bible from the Subalterns' viewpoint. Third, it examines the complex pattern of changes that the Bible brought about for Subalterns. Three aspects are accentuated while discussing the Bible in relation to Subalterns in India: the Bible entered into a Subaltern world that already had a long history of iconizing material objects of sacred power; the Bible was an important instrum...

The postmodern era poses significant challenges to Christian faith in God. For many, a subterranean question lies just beneath their tenuous faith: "Is there an objective reality upon which faith in God is based?" This essay argues that, in addition to other important factors, a dominant worldview or epistemologa within postmodern culture conceals the multidimensional nature of reality and discredits religious faith. Critical realism is introduced as an epistemological framework of both science and theology in which Christian faith makes sense. Significant implications are drawn for teaching and learning and pastoral ministry in Christian congregations.

It is our contention that business education does a generally good job of instructing students in the foundations of business leadership. However, it does not do as well in applying lessons from theological approaches to leadership, especially in areas where a theological perspective could serve to deepen leadership theory. For example, while theories of transformational leadership evoke theologically relevant concepts, such as charisma and inspiration, little connection has been drawn to theological perspectives on these concepts. We will show, in the specific area of iconography, how taking seriously the notion of leaders as iconic can provide new depth to our students' understanding of transformational leadership. Specifically, the iconic dynamics of reflection and refraction illumine how leaders may function for others as catalysts of selfdiscovery and a more purposeful life.

This essay explores the nature of Christian leadership by contrasting one particularly dominant image of leadership in the church with a case study of a congregation whose life was transformed by bearing its cross faithfully. This case will be viewed through the lens of James E. Loder’s transformational logic and its theological framework to illumine the work of the Spirit in a particular congregation. We will come to discover key insights into the nature and function of leadership for the church..

John and Charles Wesley had a developed understanding of and reverence for sacramental practice and theology that suggests a dynamic sacramental ecclesiol-ogy and lends itself to a robust concept of sacramentality. Taking seriously Wesley's imperative of 'constant communion' , this paper looks to the Eucharist for an underlying , fundamental pattern of participation in the divine life whereby we embody and enact it by the power of the Spirit. The proposed Eucharistic pattern emphasizes a dynamic movement of ever greater participation in God by gathering together, offering all that we have and are, sharing our lives fully in trinitarian communion , and extending the communion we have become to little altars everywhere , especially to the 'least of these'. To reframe Wesleyan ecclesiology in terms of a dynamic, relational sacramentality, patterned after the Eucharist, overcomes conventional oppositions of communion and mission by integrating them fully in the effort to follow Jesus Christ.

We are concerned here to explore the relation of transformation and Christian leadership. And as we come to greater clarity about the central role of transformation to Christian leadership, we will question the overriding - if not in many cases exclusive - emphasis in theological training of leaders upon gaining command and control, upon power over or with others, in short, upon the mastery of the ego as definitive of effective and successful leadership. We will wonder aloud whether the theological methods taught in seminaries and promoted by academics and denominational officials are sufficiently spiritually oriented and thus theologically adequate. Do they help leaders practice theology and ministry theologically? To paraphrase theologian David Kelsey, are the practices of leadership helping us to understand God and everything in relation to God more truly?

PRECIS If the church Is to express authentically its nature as the Body of Christ in the world, how might its community and ministry be understood and enacted? It is argued here that all authentic forms of ministry arise out of the worship of the church and are, therefore, litnigftcalty structured. Fundamental to the liturgy of the church is the sacrament of the eucharlst by which assembly and its ministries are constituted communally in Christ by the Spirit This essay seeks to discern in the historic dialogue between Reformed and Orthodox churches clues of a fundamental structure by which the diversity of institutional forms and ministerial practices of churches may be more truly sacramental embodiments of Christ's communion with the Father in the Holy Spirit

If the church is, as the apostle Paul claims, the Body of Christ in the world, then the church is always and everywhere a historical and social manifestation. Its particular social forms are of infinite variety: from the spontaneous gathering of two or three in Christ's name to ecclesiastical bodies that endure the passing of millennia and extend to the far reaches of the globe. Of these, congregations are one of the most common and recognizable manifestations of the church. It is exceedingly important for scholars, clergy, and congregants to take this form seriously in its personal, social, and cultural aspects; only when these aspects are examined in their particularity can they be intentionally reformed to be more truly the theological reality that the church is. In recent years we have seen the development of two distinctive modes of analysis, "congregational studies" and "critical pedagogy," both of which hold great promise for the future transformation of the church. Congregational studies is primarily a framework that loosely incorporates the interrogative methods of the social sciences for the description and clarification of congregational life. To discern and understand the actualities of the life of religious communities is the first step to addressing adequately their needs. Critical pedagogy, on the other hand, is oriented to educative contexts such as public schools. Rooted in the critical theory of the Frankfurt School, Paulo Freire's "pedagogy of the oppressed," and the interrelated discourses of gender, class, and race critique, critical pedagogy aims to unearth and expose dynamics of oppression, as well as to foster creative resistance against oppression in schooling. In essence, critical pedagogy is an expanded and refined reincarnation of critical theory specifically oriented to educative contexts. Through its herme-neutics of suspicion regarding relations of domination, such a critical perspective will provide the church with methodologies of critical self-reflection to illumine the shadow side of congregational life. This essay critically correlates congregational studies and critical pedagogy for the purpose of discerning how they might contribute to ecclesial transformation.

This paper will explore the complicated relationship and power dynamics between the Church and systems of poverty. I will argue that the Church should take a cue from Kendrick Lamar’s "How Much A Dollar Cost," in their response to income inequality and poverty in a contemporary world. By emphasizing missional and incarnational theology the Church can bring life to those oppressed by systemic poverty.