Foundational Frames (Asynchronous Session)
An Eschatological and Soteriological Reading of Genesis 1-3: A Theological Case for Ethical Vegetarianism View Digital Media
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Robert M. McDonald
The mythology of the first chapters of Genesis have most prominently been interpreted as the "beginnings" of humanity and the world. In as much as it is the first book of the Hebrew Bible, it makes sense that it would be interpreted as genetically prior to the rest of the Jewish and Christian scriptures. This paper decidedly flips such a convention on its head: rather than interpreting Genesis genetically, the author has chosen to read the first three chapters of Genesis both eschatologically (in terms of the "end times") and soteriologically (in terms of "salvation"). The aim of such a reading is to, first, better understand Genesis within our post/modern world, and (second) to establish a religious, Judeo-Christian foundation for ethical vegetarian. Tangentially, the establishment of such a lifestyle will hopefully predicate a greater, worldwide transition from the current regime of industrial farming.
Is there Pain in Hell? View Digital Media
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Franco Manni
I present a short summary of the traditional pagan and Christian legacy claiming that hell is above all a place of pain and the objections that have been addressed to it. Then I proceed to my main point: tracing a philosophical thread from Plato to Aristotle and then from Augustine to Aquinas, and citing a psychological experience of everyday life, I maintain that: 1) either there is no pain in hell, or 2) hell is not the worst thing that can happen to a human being. Then I present four possible objections to my thesis and attempt to counter them. In the last section, I point to some practical consequences on the pastoral level that could ensue from a different doctrine on the nature of hell.
The Portrait of Christian Faith in the Indonesian Nias Ethnic Culture: The Influence of Cultural Animism in Spiritual Practice View Digital Media
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Sonny Zaluchu
Since the gospel entered Nias's island, all Nias ethnic in North Sumatra Indonesia has experienced a conversion from tribe religion to followers of Jesus. However, this conversion process has been a problem to this day —parts and practices of ethnic religion adopted in the preparation of Christian worship. It can identify from some behaviors like prohibitions, customs, advice from parents, all of which originate from the animistic belief system. One of the most fatal is still going on in villages, and remote areas is there a custom to go to shamans, seers and prayers addressed to the dead, in this case, the ancestral spirit. The main argument, this happens because the church is powerless to make radical changes in the way people look at their new faith. The explanations began about how the process of entering the gospel in Nias and the challenges faced by missionaries. The involved discussion elements of animism that already existed in the Nias tribe as a pre-Christian religion. What follows is describing the integration of what the church has done in culture as a contextualization practice, which turns out to provide an entrance for the preparation of animism into the Christian faith. The last part is a proposal to overcome the problem, so that old cultural practices eroded. This study's results provide input for missionaries who carry the gospel to tribes with reliable cultural power.
Thomas Aquinas’s Metaphysics of Creation and Evolution: Revisiting the Creation and Evolution Debate View Digital Media
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Reuel Rito Seno
Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274) is reckoned as the scholastic philosopher and theologian par excellence who produced a comprehensive synthesis of Christian theology and Aristotelian philosophy that influenced and continues to influence Roman Catholic doctrine for centuries and was adopted as the official philosophy of the Church in 1917. The Doctrine of Creation provides the general metaphysical framework of most of his philosophical, theological, anthropological, and ethical inquiries for the notion of creation pervades his writings. There is the ongoing debate between the scientific evolutionists on the one side and fundamentalist Christians on the other. The Christians maintain that the theory of evolution contradicts the biblical account of the creation of the human beings whereas the evolutionists point to the mountain of scientific data which has been amassed in support of the theory of evolution. Who is currently winning this debate? This paper revisits the creation and evolution debate scrutinizing it through the lenses of Thomas Aquinas metaphysics of creation wherein evolution is placed within the ambit of creation.
The Evolution of Religion: An Indigenous Perspective View Digital Media
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Blair Stonechild
Dr. Blair Stonechild will recount over 40 years of research with Indigenous Elders as described in his book Loss of Indigenous Eden. Topics covered will include the origins of humanity, purpose for living, relationship with the created world, spiritual practices, and norms of behavior. Indigenous spirituality is a viable system that has existed universally for tens of thousands of years prior to the rise of civilization. How has the relationship evolved between Indigenous spirituality and religions, particularly the Abrahamic traditions, and is there now a need for reconciliation?
Religion and Creativity: The Creative Process in the Individual View Digital Media
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Indrani Margolin, Tulshi Sen
Religion means to return to the root and was created to give humankind a path back to our source of existence. While religions vary and grew out of specific cultural and political contexts, all major religions are founded upon unity. For example, Ecud, in Hebrew, Ekam in Sanskrit and Unum in Latin mean one and are central to the ideology of unity. As the wave of the ocean is the ocean; it can never be separated or isolated. To establish this unity, each religion has its own Cosmogony, a parable of the creative process of the human, based on the principle, “As the macrocosm, so the microcosm.” This means the individual holds the same power and function as the universe. The etymology of the word God has Persian or Sanskrit roots and means one who comes by oneself. We will demonstrate this relationship through well-known cosmogonies such as The Turtle Island of the Indigenous people of the Americas, the Genesis of the Judeo-Christian and Islamic world, and the story of Brahma, Vishnu, Shiva-involution, evolution, dissolution of the Vedic world. We will also highlight Mary Magdalene and Thomas’ Apocrypha to exemplify Jesus’s teachings of unity. In our paper, we consider how religion can be taken back to its pristine position of unity for the further evolution of humanity where justice and equality can be established and each individual can reclaim their own creative power.
The Visual and Literary Construction of Jerusalem in Christian van Adrichom Atlas "Theatrum Terrae Sanctae" View Digital Media
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Zamfir Ioana
During the 16th century, Jerusalem continues to be assessed through the established textual tradition of the west, relying mainly on the Bible, but also on marginal, popularization publications such as cosmographies, travel literature and theological atlases. The presentation of Jerusalem in words is often doubled by cartographic descriptions. The visual language of the Renaissance maps translate in cartographic form concepts such as distance, sacred space and truthful experience. In this study we deconstruct Christian van Adrichom's map of Jerusalem published at the end of the 16th century in Köln. The analysis of the literary and visual material contained in the Jerusalem dedicated section of Adrichom's atlas "Theatrum Terrae Sanctae" reveal a complex perspective on the Holy City, as a familiar but exotic place, a geographic but yet a spiritual space, a documented reality but still a subject which leaves enough room for imagination.
