Volume 10, Issue 1

In this article, I begin to unpick the complex relationships between birth and sacrifice, taking my cue from the strange surrogacy structures in the textual triptych Genesis 21-23 (the expulsion [“sacrifice”] of Ishmael and Hagar, the surrogate mother; Abraham’s “sacrifice” of Isaac; and the death of Sarah), and the expansion of this birth-sacrifice complex in unexpected sources, including Kierkegaard’s Fear and Trembling and midrashim and liturgical poems. These traditions amplify the strange homologies between birth, sacrifice, and surrogacy (endless substitutions) around the (in)famous biblical sacrifice, in which a son is substituted by a surrogate, the ram, and still “sacrificed.” The many inflections of the birth-sacrifice relationship range from replacement (birth elided in a ritual of “birth done better”), to the triumph of natality over mortality and the anxious mimetic performance of the extreme adventure and risk of labour.

This article explores the complex identities of Sarah and Hagar within the Abrahamic narratives, focusing on themes of victimhood and perpetration. It challenges feminist biblical interpretations that portray Sarah solely as a victim of patriarchal structures or postcolonial interpretations that see Sarah solely as a perpetrator, arguing instead for a nuanced understanding that recognizes her role as both a victim and an oppressor. The article highlights the unique as well as shared struggles of Sarah and Hagar against patriarchy, suggesting that their relationship is emblematic of broader issues of race, class, and gender dynamics. The analysis incorporates illustrations from the literature, urging a re-evaluation of Sarah's character in the light of contemporary discussions on oppression and complicity. By examining the narratives through the lens of cohabiting women, the article illustrates the complexities of their interactions and the implications for modern feminist discourse. Ultimately, it aims to liberate Sarah from her archetypal role, presenting her as a figure whose experiences resonate with the struggles of diverse individuals today, fostering a deeper understanding of victimhood, and promoting a non-violent response to systemic oppression.

One of the archetypes of the Judeo–Christian (and Muslim) sacrifice is the story of Abraham and his beloved son, Isaac. The central element of the Akedah (Binding of Isaac) narrative, which moves not only theological but also philosophical discourse, is the vulnerability of the human body, the depiction of which is unimaginable in both the Jewish and Muslim religious beliefs. The sacrifice and body, as well as the ancient correspondence between these two, can be visualized in Barnett Newman’s painting Abraham (MoMa, New York/NY, 1949) created in the decade of the end of World War II. This study interprets the painting, which is painted on a dark background, as a strange and outstanding work of Newman’s abstract expressionism. The nonfigurative image creates an opportunity for a diversity of interpretations. These interpretations can be traced back from the biographical context through the national trauma of the twentieth-century Holocaust to the biblical book of Genesis. In the course of theology and comparative literature and cultural studies interpretations, the visualization of the drama of Abraham and Isaac gradually emerges, deconstructing again and again the approaches that seemed to be predictable before. The study ventures to compare Newman’s painting with as many interpretations of the title “Abraham” as possible, so that such comparisons may lead to just as many different interpretations of the image and the text.

This article focuses on sacrifice as a necessity and as an ascetic principle of the artistic process of creation. Examining the thought of Andrei Tarkovsky and the ways in which it manifests in his films, the article focuses on two concepts: ascetic iconography and sacrifice. In investigating the concept of sacrifice, not as intellectualised exercise but rather as a creative, authentic act, this article argues that sacrifice as necessity is an ascetic principle. This principle involves self-sacrificial life, which is visibly manifested through iconographic language, shaped by ascetic experience, whose final aim is to invite the observer into an active state-of-being (as being-with), the participation in historical–ontological reality in the eternal presence of God. The inverse perspective of ascetic language centralises the human being, one’s heart, as the foci point for metanoia – sacrifice – the circumcision. The transformation of the heart offers a radically new experience of reality and consequently humanity. A similar linguistic–experiential principle is applied in the film language of Andrei Tarkovsky whose originality, which though cannot be “decoded,” can be examined closer in the light of the ascetic iconographic tradition that moulded him, as well as his cultural context, influencing greatly the film language of many other notable film artists, including Sergei Eisenstein. For Andrei Tarkovsky (self) sacrifice was the only possible manifestation of ontological freedom, the state of joyful sorrow, in man’s striving for eternal love. Tarkovsky’s thought is inseparable from its iconographic tradition in the sense of “seeing the world by denying oneself.”

Georges Bataille is undoubtedly a key reference for all relevant contemporary thoughts about sacrifice. This article attempts to follow his impulses and intuitions, which are often misunderstood because they are highly personal, provocative, and suggestive. The problem of sacrifice is approached in three concentric circles. The first presents a view from a distance, from the cosmic standpoint of “base materialism” and “general economy.” The second takes a closer look at the sacrificial site and deals with Bataille’s fascination with Aztec sacrificial culture. The concluding third part looks at sacrifice from the point of the altar, the place of communication and communal consumption of death, as a site of the emergence of the sacred and of community. In this way, the article seeks to highlight Bataille’s transgressive thinking as a worthwhile contribution to post-metaphysical theology.

From its origins, the Christian religious imaginary has been inhabited by the sacrificial fantasy, which finds its most radical symbol in the crucified body. According to the principle of imitatio Jesu , believers have always been called to consider pain as an experience to be lived and shared with Christ, to be offered to him as a gift of self to the Other. Already the masters of suspicion condemned this ascetic-religious cult of sacrifice and showed its dehumanizing and superegoic side, characterized by the violence of abuse, authoritarianism, submission, and above all the denial of life. However, this beneficial and liberating critique has removed the donative and not merely alienating aspect not of the sacrificial body, but of the symbolic sacrifice. Starting from a close dialogue between systematic theology and (Lacanian) psychoanalysis, this contribution aims to question both the sacrificial (religious) fantasy in its alienating character and the equally superegoic drive of the imperative of unlimited enjoyment as a reaction to any kind of symbolic limitation. Against this background, an attempt will be made to think of a form of sacrifice that follows the logic of the gift (of the body), without being subjected to a logic of alienating exchange.

Sacrifice is mainly a patriarchal institution. Nancy Jay argued that sacrifice serves as a ritual supplement and replacement for natural birth, and attempts to establish the dominance and priority of descent through the father over descent through the mother. I demonstrate the cogency of Jay’s analysis across a number of traditions. My focus is not on sacrificial rituals, but instead on a series of myths – Hebrew biblical, ancient Greek, and Vedic Indian – that disclose the manner in which sacrifice inhabits a continuum with a broader array of struggles for dominance within the family including, but not limited to, the contestation between patriarchy and matriarchy. In many myths, the kinship group becomes a primary metaphor, both for the competition over scarce goods, including power and authority within the family unit, and for modeling the body politic in a microcosm.

Empirical research methods have traditionally been absent from and are still foreigners to systematic theology. However, the turn toward practices in academic studies of religion and theology implies that empirical research methodologies cannot be deemed irrelevant to systematic theology. This article explores Hanna Reichel’s theory of theology as design, focusing on the understanding of theology as practice and the potential implications regarding the relevance of empirical methods to systematic theology. Bringing Reichel’s concept of theology as design into dialogue with Geir Afdal’s concept of distributed normativity, this article makes the case that the question of the affordances of a theological interpretation is not only an imperative theological one but also an empirical one, calling for empirical research methods.

This article argues that theology (systematic or otherwise) is ultimately grounded in (religious) experience. To that end, I methodologically demonstrate that theological inquiry cannot coherently be pursued without attention to people’s experience of the divine/sacred. Thus, this article stands as a methodological development and defense of a family of theological viewpoints that I call context-attentive theologies. In order to do so, I examine the writings of three authors whose different approaches to the problem of divine revelation will help me to clarify the meaning of context-attentive theology: Jean-Luc Marion, H. Richard Niebuhr, and Gustavo Gutiérrez. I proceed in four steps. First, I provide an account of context-attentive theology through an examination of the task of theology. Second, I focus on Marion’s phenomenology of revelation to ascertain to what extent it incorporates contextual analysis. Third, I turn to Niebuhr’s account of revelation, which I construe as a context-attentive theology shaped by the “historical turn.” Fourth, I turn to Gutiérrez’s liberation theology to show how Niebuhr’s “radical reconstruction” within the context of the historical turn is further radicalized by liberation theology, which I take as a prime example of context-attentive theology.

In this article, I inquire about the value and significance of the concept of Constructive Theology, more specifically, the value and significance of the concept constructive when it is related to the concept of theology. In the first part of the article, I inquire about the meaning of Constructive Theology. The story of Constructive Theology is a story of many stories. In this part, therefore, specific reference is made to one such story, as it has taken shape in and through the Workgroup on Constructive Theology since 1975, more specifically, the publications of the working group. In this section, a connection is also made between this constructive theological work and theology as it has taken shape in South Africa. Although the concept of Constructive Theology as such has not been adopted in South Africa, theology in South Africa shares the focus of Constructive Theology on theology as hermeneutics. In the second part of the article, a step back is taken. In light of the focus of Constructive Theology on hermeneutical theology, the question is asked about the relationship between theology and construction. Thus, I inquire about the meaning of constructed theology. I do this by looking at the Tabernacle-traditions in the Old Testament. Here, it is argued that the Tabernacle-traditions offer a perspective on theology as construction. In light of these insights into theology as constructed theology, in the subsequent third part, I inquire how theological constructing can be done in such a way that theology functions constructively and contributes constructively. To do this, I look at the interconnections between construction and creation – also in the Old Testament traditions. In conclusion, I argue for the importance of doing constructive after Systematic Theology in South Africa today.

Over the last decades, the role of narratives in Christian theology and ethics has been debated controversially. In light of this, this article explores the ethical potential of Christian narrative testimonies. First, it shows that the mode of Christian testimony to God’s incarnation in Jesus Christ is narratively structured. Second, it unfolds a threefold hermeneutic of these narratives: a hermeneutic of the simultaneous presence and absence of God in these testimonies, a hermeneutic of commentary and criticism, and a hermeneutic of attentive humility in the face of other narratives. Last but not least, ethical potentials of Christian narrative testimonies come into view: These narratives can bear witness to God’s absent presence, especially when they reveal themselves as radical contingent, when they are open to transformation by narratives of the other and when they motivate people to question the status quo of any given society in order to act for a more just future.

The article explores how Digital and Public Theologies, two separate but overlapping discourses, can combine empirical and normative efforts. The article highlights the role that the sensitivity for context should play in the development of each of these theologies. To better understand the role of the context, the category of the imaginary is outlined with reference to Charles Taylor and Cornelius Castoriadis. This category helps to describe and criticize imaginaries that determine the social, psychological, political, and contextual realities which theology reflects on – this will be called the reflective or critical task of theology. The category also helps to describe and criticize the imaginaries that determine theological thinking itself, the perspective of a given theology as well as the orientations it suggests. This is the self-critical task of theology. Furthermore, I will suggest to see it as a constant and remaining task of theology to make its imaginations explicit and open to critique because these imaginations are the source of orientations that theology articulates. This calls for theologies that understand themselves as dynamic, unfinished, and discursive.

This article approaches the relationship between theory and practice based on Lived Theology. The concept is introduced through empirical insights and an overview of various definitions. Additionally, the article highlights the implications of Lived Theology on the field of academic theology and the concept of theology itself. Subsequently, Lived Theology is juxtaposed with the research field of Empirical Theology. The article explores how Lived Theology can be researched adequately, revealing that Empirical and Lived Theology are interdependent from one another.

It is usually assumed that protestant systematic theology has a contemporary relevance and engages with the present in its work. However, it is unclear what significance the present in the form of findings and observations of social developments – including faith expressions embedded in practices and the belief(s) of the laities – have to the research of protestant systematic theologians, especially in north-west Europe. This article introduces inductive systematic theology as a form of systematic theology that incorporates theological statements from laypeople and non-believers, often obtained through empirical methods, into its work. It aims to initiate a discussion on principles, requirements, and objectives of inductive systematic theology. Therefore, a particular focus is set on arguing for the necessity of a respectful and open stance toward subjects of inquiry. It is furthermore discussed, why and to what extent this stance entails self-reflection and transparent articulation of one’s positionality. Using public theological statements on self-love as an example, it is illustrated how such assertions can orient systematic theologians in their research by showing certain connections and indicating possible inquiries.

This article examines the feminine aspect of Sophia, a significant title for Christ in Origen of Alexandria’s theology. It investigates whether Origen recognized and utilized Sophia’s femininity to develop a Christology that incorporates female elements or if he downplayed this aspect to counter Gnostic interpretations, particularly those of the Valentinians, who sexualized the divine. The analysis begins with an overview of the Wisdom figure in Prov 8:22-25 and its representation in Valentinian Gnosticism, highlighting Origen’s reliance on biblical texts as foundational to his theological framework. Key passages from Origen’s “On First Principles” and “Commentary on the Gospel of John” are explored to reveal his understanding of Sophia as both a mediator in creation and an integral part of Christ’s identity. The article concludes that while Origen acknowledges Sophia’s femininity, he strategically avoids sexualized language and imagery, likely to prevent misinterpretation among simpler Christians and to distance himself from Gnostic thought. Ultimately, this nuanced approach reflects Origen’s complex engagement with the feminine in his theological discourse.

This article explores the use of feminine metaphorical language in the works of Plato and Origen. Drawing from Hanne Løland’s definition of gendered metaphorical language, it examines how Plato and Origen both inherit and challenge the stereotypical use of feminine metaphorical language to advance their philosophical and theological agendas. While partially adhering to the stereotypical uses of gendered metaphorical language, both Plato and Origen navigate beyond them to conceptualize a fluid and multifaceted feminine continuum. By anchoring the analysis in Plato’s Symposium and Timaeus and in Origen’s exegetical works, the article demonstrates how both authors represent intellectual ascent and spiritual transformation through feminine metaphors. In this regard, the article suggests the possibility that Origen inherited this feminine continuum from Plato’s philosophy. Through this comparative analysis, the article contributes to a deeper understanding of feminine metaphorical language in ancient philosophy and theology, thus challenging a simplistic interpretation of gendered metaphorical language. Overall, the article underscores the complex interplay between cultural constructs, philosophical frameworks, and gender representations in the intellectual legacies of Plato and Origen.

Posing as the first attempt to study systematically Origen’s doctrine of memory, this article pieces together the sparse references to memory in the Origenian literature. While no systematic attempt to investigate memory is traceable in Origen’s thought, the psychological function of memory does present itself as a minor but significant element in his theology. First, I clear the way from unnecessary connections to the Platonic doctrine of recollection suggested by the few scholars who have tackled the issue. Then, I frame Origen’s understanding of memory within his “doctrines of names.” Memory is shown as the result of the nature of names and their ontological capacity to evoke the power of the named object and make it present in the mind of the utterer even before reaching a full intellectual understanding of it. Secondly I analyse biblical characters, especially Zechariah, Mary, and Elizabeth, showing how Origen turned the function of memory into a step of the human ascensive path toward God. The act of seeking God in one’s memory is overcome when his presence occurs in contemplation, shifting from an economy of memory/imagination/manifestation to one of presence/contemplation. In the doctrines of divine names, the “memory” is opposed to the “voice,” which is the distinctive trait of the new economy. Thirdly I show that, not only men, but also women are presented by Origen as examples of how to overcome the economy of memory, thus becoming “voice” of God. In fact, women represent the shift from memory to voice even better than men. They embody literally the path from “memory” to “voice,” as the image that Origen uses to represent this shift is pregnancy, which thus metaphorically expresses the whole history of salvation as a process of spiritual transformation towards God.

In this article, I wish to build on the little work previously done on the theme of Origen and women by focusing on Origen’s exegetical treatment of the speech uttered by a selection of female scriptural characters. I focus on their speech as a way of applying the observations made by Mark Randall James in his 2021 monograph, Learning the Language of Scripture: Origen, Wisdom, and the Logic of Interpretation, concerning one of Origen’s primary exegetical goals, namely, to teach his pastoral-exegetical audience to become those who speak the words of scripture. I therefore focus on Origen’s exegetical treatment of Mary and Elizabeth in his Homilies on Luke, the mother of the 7 martyrs in his Exhortation to Martyrdom, the Samaritan woman at the well in the Commentary on John, the Canaanite woman in the Commentary on Matthew, and finally the bride of the Song of Songs in the Commentary on the Song of Songs. I demonstrate that Origen’s approach to this female scriptural speech was textured and complex. In some cases, Origen was not prepared to provide fitting contexts in which their words might be spoken by his audience, but in others, he could be found teaching his audience to use female characters’ words as exemplary prayers, as words of encouragement in the face of a situation that may lead to martyrdom, as exemplary modes of proclaiming Christ, and even in difficult exegetical contexts. This focus on female utterances in the scriptural record allows us to see how thoroughly pastoral was Origen’s exegesis, thus moving us beyond the idea that Origen used “the feminine” only for the sake of understanding complex theological and philosophical ideas.

Origen expected elderly women and men to be “teachers of good things” in Christian congregations (cf. Titus 2:2–3), and he allowed women to give “spiritual instruction” to younger women. He wrote that women can have “pure minds” and receive divine revelations. At the same time, he followed the (Deutero-)Pauline prohibitions on women to speak and teach in church. This article investigates Origen’s argumentation and his emphases when mentioning female teachers, in order to determine to which degree it is based on theological principles, and where he is following social norms. Why is it, as Origen writes in his Commentary on 1 Corinthians (in catena), shameful for a woman to speak in church, “even if she should speak marvelous and holy words”?

This article examines Jerome’s use of bridal and military imagery in his writings to male and female ascetics. The metaphor of the “bride” and the “soldier” had been used in earlier Christianity to describe the Christian identity of the baptized person, and in the writings of Jerome and other fourth-century ascetic writers, these motifs came to be increasingly employed in discourses on the ascetic life. While previous scholarship has claimed that Jerome mainly used the image of the bride in descriptions of and advise to ascetic women, and military imagery in writings to and about men, the article argues that his employment of these imageries was more complex. It is shown that while the bridal metaphor signals femininity and passivity, and the soldier metaphor manliness and activity, Jerome’s employment of them does not depend first and foremost on the gender of the ascetic. Rather, both images are used to support certain aspects of his theology – mainly his ideas about the postlapsarian, fleshly condition and the human possibility of transcendence – as well as his ascetic ideology, by marking the ascetics as superior to non-ascetics through their unique relationship with Christ.

My goal here is to make use of Deleuzian philosophy as a springboard for cultivating “being a child of the moment,” which is a phrase stemming from Sufism. Being fully present and aware in each moment is associated with surrendering oneself to the divine will and accepting whatever comes in the present moment without resistance. Unlike approaches that translate Deleuzian insights into theological concepts, the way of proceeding here involves traversing his philosophy, similar to traversing the phantasy in Lacanian psychoanalysis. Consequently, it neither fully adopts nor rejects Deleuzian philosophy but offers a parallax view that aims at deepening one’s connection with transcendence. The underlying premise is that strengthening this connection can be enhanced by engaging with an immanent philosophy that acknowledges non-representable singularities, provided its limitations are clearly delineated to prevent absorption into the depths and intricacies of that philosophy. To this end, the contrasting perspectives of eternity as a realm of potentialities and eternity as a timeless dimension detached from worldly connections are emphasized. During the writing process, the publication of MM Knight’s book “Sufi Deleuze” added a tangible ally and opponent, thereby lending further justification to the article’s title in retrospective. At the end, I will also delve into the relationship between Deleuzian philosophy and Derridean ontology, the realms of mysticism, and the existential aspect of death, and elucidate why Deleuzian philosophy can serve as a pivot for character development.

Gender equality and women’s rights are among the most discussed issues in the context of Islam. Any thorough analysis of the persistence of conservative patriarchal religious interpretations in Muslim communities should also consider social factors. The conservative appropriation of Islam is not only the result of theological factors but also a manifestation of a conservative and patriarchal habitus. This article draws attention to the vitality of empathy in establishing universal equal human dignity. It dwells on the idea of the universal innate nature of the child to offer some solutions to overcome the persistence of conservative religious interpretations and develop gender equality in the Muslim context. Also, the reformist views of the Jadids and Alash intellectuals, the Eurasian Muslim reformists of the early twentieth century, are analyzed as authentic historical and conceptual precedents to develop gender-egalitarian Islamic interpretations. Overall, this article establishes a connection between women’s rights in Islam, the universal innate nature of the child (and the universality of children’s right-friendly parenting and education that fosters empathy and critical thinking), and the intellectual legacy of the Jadids and Alash intellectuals, who wanted to transform the conservative and patriarchal habitus through educational reform, literary works, and a rationalistic, thematico-holistic approach to Islam.

This work argues that because Quantum Mechanics (QM) is superb at simulating natural, physical phenomena, so-called quantum-native phenomena, and that Quantum Natural Language Processing (QNLP), its child, is also quantum-native, God’s generative language of physical creation is native to a quantum world; therefore, it is now possible to postulate an argument for God’s creation of the world through language without requiring divine revelation. This argument is, in essence, an extension of the Augustinian argument – the baseline argument from mathematics and abstract objects – for the existence of God that accounts for contemporary advances in QM. Additionally, this work invites further research and investigation into applying category theory to model the theistic universe thereby allowing both modeling and simulations of the symbolic world.

Studies of blasphemy in the book of Revelation are usually discussed in isolation from the book of Daniel, which provides an incomplete picture of this topic. This article investigates the meaning of blasphemy in the books of Daniel and Revelation. We argue that these apocalyptic books often describe the actions of the forces of evil in the Cosmic Conflict as blasphemy. The human dimension of blasphemy is expressed in the actions of kings and people (Dan. 1-6; Rev. 2:9; 16:9, 11; 21), while the eschatological dimension of blasphemy is expressed in the actions of the Antichrist (Dan. 7-12; Rev. 13:1, 5, 6; 17:3). We argue that the book of Revelation repeats and furthers the theme of blasphemy articulated in the book of Daniel.

Though a relatively quiet minority, some commentators since the eighth-century Bede have suggested that the notorious “666” of Revelation 13:18 alludes to the measurement of King Solomon’s excessive gold accumulation which immediately precedes his idolatrous downfall in the Biblical narrative. We now bolster that hypothesis with the observation that the letters of Solomon’s (New Testament Greek) name add up to 1,260, thereby linking this passage with the repeated references to “1,260 days” and related time durations in the preceding sections of the Apocalypse. We go on to adduce a diverse array of reasons to confirm Solomon as the intended solution over against competing candidates such as Nero Caesar and against other types of interpretations such as the purely symbolic. This approach to John’s “calculate the number” riddle – intertextuality feeding into forward gematria feeding into further intertextuality – has hermeneutical, exegetical, spiritual, canonical, geometrical, logical, and aesthetic advantages over popular reverse gematria attempts to search for a (generally extra-Biblical) name producing the value 666.

In 2019, right before arriving in Salvador, Brazil, to develop missionary activities, an international Protestant organization declared that this city – the center of the black culture in the country – was “known for its people’s belief in spirits and demons.” The statement soon triggered indignation from activists and devotees of Candomblé, the Afro-Brazilian religion that is a key element of the city’s history and identity. This article analyzes the transformation of this case into a public problem, which demanded different forms of reparation and affirmation of religious differences. The text debates the extension of Candomblé's semiotic community in Salvador and how the circulation of its symbols in different social contexts furthers the dissolution of boundaries between “religion” and “politics.” I pursue such ideas by describing a form of civil protest that moves liturgical forms from the Candomblé temples to public spaces. Such civil protest technology engages music, dance, and a set of materialities, presenting an instructive performance of the constitution of “religion” and the “public” in a post-colonial landscape.

The analytic method of theological inquiry has been around (in name) long enough to be identified by certain literary patterns. One such pattern appears in the liberal use of the term “worry.” More than some trivial terminological tic, in this article, I argue that “worry” names a methodological problem, which, left unaccounted for, increases the risk that analytic theologians will, as Westerholm suggests, “[drift] further and further into constructed abstraction.”

It has long been recognized that paratexts – those liminal features that accompany the main text in a book – perform a primary role in interpretation since they mediate the text to the readers. They function like a commentary, trying to influence and guide readers to a better comprehension of the text. At the same time, they are artifacts of reception because in the pre-modern period, paratexts are the product of scribes and reading communities. Thus, by studying paratexts, one can have access to how the text was received and how readers shape the reading practices of subsequent users. The study of paratexts in the field of biblical studies has been a booming area of research, while the study of these features in the so-called apocryphal literature is only in its dawn. This article intends to help to remedy the situation by studying the titles of the 1 Apocryphal Apocalypse of John . Since this text exerted a huge amount of influence in shaping the eschatological imagination of many Christians in Late Antiquity and given the scarce amount of information that we have on its reception, studying the paratexts of the manuscripts – titles, specifically – is the safest bet to recover its reception/interpretation and the reading practices of its readers. Based on the study of 1 Apocr. Apoc. John’s titles, this article concludes that (1) 1 Apocr. Apoc. John was read as an apocalypse; that is, readers thought that the text mediated hitherto unknown divine knowledge; (2) readers of 1 Apocr. Apoc. John believed that it was an authentic work of John the apostle and thus authoritative and true; (3) readers were guided to navigate 1 Apocr. Apoc. John as dealing primarily with classical eschatological topoi : the antichrist, the second coming, and the end of the world.

The Cleaner Marina Abramović Retrospective Exhibition in the Centre of Contemporary Art in Toruń, Poland, sparked much protest. This article analyses the protesters’ attitudes to capture their habitus. The analysis employs Norbert Elias’ sociological theory on national habitus. Demonstrations of protest invite interpretations of the peculiar national conservative Catholic habitus that – in the light of my study – stems in Poland from selective post-Tridentine pre-Vatican II Catholic magisterial thought and a sociopolitical historiography of traditional Polish culture. I recognise that the aim of the national conservative Catholics is to preserve a specific kind of Polish culture based on its early-modern image: strong state influenced by the Catholic Church in both policy and culture, with the accompanying theology of art taken from the Tridentine Council and the post-Tridentine debate. As a result, the national conservative Catholics invest much energy in remembrance politics and historical politics. I conclude that this habitus requires theological and religious reworking of national conservative Catholics’ understanding of the term “catholic.”

This article argues in favor of Open conception of divinity and theology in Islam. In Section 1, I explain the main textual difference between traditional transcendent conception of divinity and the open conception. Then, I will demonstrate the essential elements of this theology according to the various interpretations of the texts. I will then introduce a different meaning of God’s power as freedom bestowment. Next, I will argue that open theology can be supported rationally through its capability to dissolve some philosophical concerns of theism. It will be concluded that since in the modern era, human beings have changed their position in the world consciously, this change in the position of the man-world state definitely affects our epistemic position toward God, which is our theo logy . Nowadays, after challenging the sociopolitical paternalistic hierarchy of the world, we become more ready to understand the immanence, nearness, and love of God instead of seeing Him as the almighty King who governs the world from an eternal and too transcendent position. In my view, Open theology could be a fruitful avenue for Islamic theology to pursue as it seeks to answer the emerging questions concerning Man–God relationship in our modern world.

In this article, I delve into the studies of digital religion and female witchcraft, examining Polish witch stereotypes and tracing their evolution from a historical and religious perspective. I portray the harmful image of the persecuted witch within a misogynistic society and contrast it with the contemporary, positive stereotype of an independent, strong, and wise woman. A total of 724 study participants shared their opinions about witches, which were then subjected to sentiment analysis, revealing eight fundamental emotions along with their polarizations. Additionally, gender was juxtaposed with the SD-WISE scale measuring wisdom-related cognitive, reflective, and affective qualities in individuals, including emotional regulation, reflection, empathy, acceptance of diversity, and spirituality. The outcomes indicated that studied women experienced stronger and more positive emotions toward female witches and higher levels of wisdom-related traits typical of witch-related connotations. Male participants demonstrated greater emotional regulation and decisiveness. These findings bear significance for sociologists and researchers exploring gender studies, religion, culture, and the realm of witchcraft.

Changes in beliefs among former clergy, who have now left the ministry, may add an extra dimension to research on church decline. In fact, there are changes in belief among thirty former clergy interviewed for this study that show remarkable similarity to the beliefs of previously interviewed non-religious “spiritual but not religious” (SBNR) persons in the author’s qualitative research, as reported in Belief without Borders: Inside the Minds of the Spiritual but not Religious (Oxford University Press).

The focus of this article is a symbolic image often found in world mythology – a giant snake or a dragon biting its own tail. This image is usually denoted by the Greek word “ouroboros” (οὐροβόρος), which means literally “eating its own tail.” This essay is devoted to an interpretation of this symbol, which the author sees as leading to the much broader topic of human unfreedom and the forms that this unfreedom takes. The first section deals with the unique features of Gnosticism which have made it appealing in extremely varied times and situations. Gnosticism will be the basis for my considerations about ouroboros. The author’s reflections start from understanding the Gnostic worldview as an expression of apprehensiveness about the radical otherworldliness of the human spirit and its alienation from the universe. The second section deals with the symbolism of the ouroboros and its place in Gnostic conceptual schemes as a reference to the closed cycle of nature that enslaves the human spirit. The third section attempts to decipher layer by layer the Gnostic conceptions associated with the ouroboros. Various levels of interpretation are identified: literal, mythological–magical, psychological-ascetic, and sociopolitical. In the fourth section, the author connects Gnostic ideas with Christianity by interpreting St. Paul’s Epistles, particularly his ideas concerning rulers and authorities. The place occupied by the ouroboros in the Christian universe is analyzed. The last section relies on the ideas of René Girard, Jacques Lacan, and Alain Badiou to illustrate the manifestations of the ouroboros in different dimensions of human existence, both individual and collective, with special emphasis on human desire and its futile circlings.

Urban theology is an enduring theme in scholarly literature, yet to our knowledge, no comprehensive reviews have been carried out on its recent developments. To answer this shortcoming, we present a systematic literature review on the following question: “How is urban theology understood in Western academic literature published in English in the twenty-first century?” We present the 29 research outputs yielded from our review and findings of a thematic content analysis. The findings propose three main themes: 1) Theological rootedness, 2) Societal rootedness, and 3) Reforming urban theology. Through these themes, urban theology emerges as an intertwining research of theology and society that includes both reflection and praxis. It aims to understand and diagnose the city as a place and space through theological reflection and doing theology, and vice versa; to transform the way and content of (doing) theology through the engaged analysis of urban society. Urban theology is done for, by, and within individuals and communities of the urbanized planet holistically, whereby it emerges as theology “from below.” It distinguishes itself from the urban theology of the last century, highlighting the critical need for inclusion and reflexivity in the emerging context and the positionality of the researcher.