The Calling of the Church in Times of Polarization

Erscheinungsjahr 2022
ISBN: 978-90-04-52764-5
Verlag: Brill

Buch, Englisch, Band 46, 402 Seiten, Format (B × H): 155 mm x 235 mm, Gewicht: 699 g

Reihe: Studies in Reformed Theology

In many societies all over the world, an increasing polarization between contrasting groups can be observed. Polarization arises when a fear born of difference turns into ‘us-versus-them’ thinking and rules out any form of compromise. This volume addresses polarizations within societies as well as within churches, and asks the question: given these dynamics, what may be the calling of the church? The authors offer new approaches to polarizing debates on topics such as racism, social justice, sexuality and gender, euthanasia, and ecology and agriculture in various contexts. They engage in profound theological and ecclesiological reflection, in particular from the Reformed tradition.

Contributors to this volume are: Najib George Awad, Henk van den Belt, Nadine Bowers Du Toit, Jaeseung Cha, David Daniels, David Fergusson, Jan Jorrit Hasselaar, Jozef Hehanussa, Allan Janssen, Klaas-Willem de Jong, Viktória Kóczián, Philipp Pattberg, Louise Prideaux, Emanuel Gerrit Singgih, Peter-Ben Smit, Thandi Soko-de Jong, Wim van Vlastuin, Jan Dirk Wassenaar, Elizabeth Welch, Annemarieke van der Woude, and Heleen Zorgdrager.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Weitere Mitwirkende

Zorgdrager, Heleen E.

Vos, Pieter

Fachgebiete

• Geisteswissenschaften Christentum, Christliche Theologie Christentum/Christliche Theologie Allgemein Kirchliche Bildungseinrichtungen, Diakonie, Caritas
• Geisteswissenschaften Christentum, Christliche Theologie Christliche Kirchen, Konfessionen, Denominationen Protestantismus, evangelische und protestantische Kirchen Reformierte Kirchen, Calvinisten, presbyterianische Kirchen

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Notes on Contributors

Introduction

Pieter Vos

PART 1: Polarization in Church and Society

1 Can Conviviality Trump Polarization? Exploring the Notion of Conviviality as Calling of the Church in Times of Polarization

Nadine Bowers Du Toit

2 Re-forming the Conversation as a Response to Polarization: A Case Study Exploration of the Dallas Statement

Thandi Soko-de Jong

3 Retrieving the Concept of Unio Mystica cum Christo and Applying It to Concepts of Sexuality in a Pluralistic Postmodern Culture

Willem van Vlastuin

4 Theological Assessment of the Gender and Sexuality Debate in the Netherlands: The Case of the ‘Nashville Statement’

Heleen Zorgdrager

5 Passivity, Abuse, and Self-Sacrifice: Daoism and Feminist Christology

Jaeseung Cha

6 “Remove the Sandals from Your Feet”: Holiness in the Dutch Euthanasia Debate

Annemarieke van der Woude

7 Sowing Hope in a Polarized Agricultural Debate

Jan Jorrit Hasselaar, Phillipp Pattberg and Peter-Ben Smit

PART 2: Polarization and the Reformed Tradition

8 Reformed Social Theology: Contexts and Constants

David Fergusson

9 Preclude to a “Post-xenophobic” Future: Interrogating the 1618 Baptism Debate at the Synod of Dort

David Douglas Daniels III

10 Protestant Schools and Hospitals in the Context of Religious Polarization in Yogyakarta

Jozef Mepibozef Nelsun Hehanussa

11 Election and Hope: Van Ruler and Dort

Allan J. Janssen

12 Polarization and the Pursuit of Unanimity in the Church: Ecclesiastical Decision-Making in the Dutch Reformed Tradition

Klaas-Willem de Jong and Jan Dirk Wassenaar

PART 3: The Calling of the Church

13 Fighting against Polarization: The Indonesian Communion of Churches, Religious Plurality and Sexual Orientations in Indonesia

Emanuel Gerrit Singgih

14 Developing Koinonia in an Age of PolarizationThe Significance of Ecumenical Dialogue, with Particular Reference to The International Reformed Anglican Dialogue (2015–2020)

Elizabeth Welch

15 No Calling without Being Called: The Vocatio Interna at the Heart of Sanctification

Henk van den Belt

16 ‘They Are in the World, But Not of the World’: Biblical and Contextual Reflections on Church, Alterity and Self-Otherizing

Najib George Awad

17 Theology of Migration in the Discourse of the World Council of Churches and the Ecumenical Council of Churches in Hungary (2015–2019)

Viktória Kóczián

18 Against Polarization: Forming a Sense of ‘Otherness’ from a Conversation between Anthropology and Neo-calvinism

Louise Charlotte Prideaux

Epilogue

Heleen Zorgdrager

Index

Über Autor(innen)

Heleen E. Zorgdrager, Ph.D. (2003), is Professor of Systematic Theology and Gender Studies at Protestant Theological University, Amsterdam, and Visiting Professor at the Ukrainian Catholic University, Lviv. She has published on sexuality, gender, and rethinking Protestant soteriology from the tradition of theosis.

Pieter H. Vos, Ph.D. (2002), is Professor of Military Chaplaincy Studies and associate professor of Ethics at Protestant Theological University, Amsterdam/Groningen. He is Director of the International Reformed Theological Institute. His publications include Longing for the Good Life: Virtue Ethics after Protestantism (2020).