The Asbury Journal

Christian Publishing in Central and Eastern Europe

Katharina Penner — Wed, 01 May 2013 13:30:56 PDT

The Johannine Writings: Symbolism and the Symbol of 'Light' in the Gospel of John

Clyde Muropa — Wed, 01 May 2013 13:30:51 PDT

Jesus says ofhirnself "I am the light of the world" (John 8:12) and the gospel of John intercepts the meaning of this statement through the motif of symbols and symbolism.

Sensing the Spirit: Wesley's Empiricism and His Use if the Language of Spiritual Sensation

James E. Pedlar — Wed, 01 May 2013 13:30:49 PDT

This paper examines the relationship betweenJohn Wesley's empiricism and his use of the language of "spiritual sensation." Through a close reading of Wesley's own espousal of empiricism, as well as his use of the language of the spiritual senses, it will be argued that Wesley, while committed to empiricism as a natural epistemology, views the experience of the Spirit as something which is known intuitively. H is references to the spiritual senses are therefore best understood as an analogy for this intuitively known experience of the Spirit. While Wesley's discussions of spiritual sensation are not simply an extension of his empiricism, he does, at times, try to integrate his acccunt of theological knowledge with his empiricism. The paper concludes by addressing challenges that Wesley's use of the language of spiritual sensation poses for both the coherence and the adequacy of his theology.

Christian Sensitivity in Interreligious Relation

Paul D. Numrich — Wed, 01 May 2013 13:30:47 PDT

This essay reflects on the implications of my mandate to guide seminary students "to think creatively and responsibly about how to proclaim the Christian gospel in multi-cultural contexts with a sensitivity to interfaith perspectives." I ask the question, What does it mean for Christian seminarians--and Christians generally--to engage adherents of other faiths with sensitivity to their perspectives? I offer a general definition of "sensitivity" and distinguish Christian sensitivity from other kinds, in that it is informed by the revelation of God in Jesus Christ and the continuing presence of the Holy Spirit in the living heritage of the Christian faith. I set forth three obligations in interreligious relations: (1) Christians must understand other religions as they are; (2) Christians must recognize "the good things" in other religions; and (3) Christians must be prepared to receive critiques from other religions. I also discuss whether Christians might learn something new from other religions, something not contained in the Christian heritage. I conclude with an application of 1 Corinthians 13 to interreligious relations.

New Directions in Transformational Development

Stephen Offutt — Wed, 01 May 2013 13:30:45 PDT

How does theology and theoryinfonn evangelical international development initiatives? The present article answers this question by reviewing the creation and growth of the international development industry, by outlining the dominant theory in evangelical development today, and by pointing to possible future directions. It argues that Transformational Development, currently the dominant evangelical development paradigm, has played a critical role in evangelical development theory and practice. But there are weaknesses to the theory. New voices, especially Wesleyan voices, are needed to shape evangelicalism's response to poverty in the 21st century.

"A Classless Society?": The Pneumatology of E. Stanley Jones in Conversation with Mortimer Arias' Theology of the Kingdom of God

Angel Santiago-Vendrell — Wed, 01 May 2013 13:30:43 PDT

This lecture addresses the pneumatology of E. Stanley Jones in

conversation with Mortimer Arias' theology of the kingdom of God. Jones was an advocate of what is known today in Latin America as mission integral. Integral mission seeks to restore every dimension of human life by requiring from Christians to be completely involved in the historical moment by the concrete demonstration of the power of the gospel in everyday life. Later, this illlderstanding of mission was used in Bolivia to propagate the gospel illldera brutal right-wing military regime by Bishop Mortimer Allas. Therefore, the kingdom of God as used by Jones and Arias was an encompassing eschatological reality that should be manifested in the present order by the power of the Holy Spirit in the lives of Christians.

"Justification by Faith": Richard Baxter's Influence upon John Wesley

Joseph W. Cunningham — Wed, 01 May 2013 13:30:42 PDT

Correction In our Spring 2009 issue we published an essay, "'Justification by Faith": Richard Baxters Influence upon John Wesley." Due to an editing error, the essay was mistakenly attributed to Floyd T. Cunningham, president of Asia Pacific Nazarene Theological Seminary. We apologize to Dr. Cunningham for the inconveniences this mistake has caused.

We also apologize to Dr. Joseph W Curmingham of Eureka College who is the correct author of the essay. In order to emphasize this correct attribution, we are republishing the essay in this issue with Dr. Joseph W Cunningham listed as the author.

-TerryC Muck Editor

The DOI number is the same as the original article, which has been corrected.

God's Silence: Psalm 28

Terry C. Muck — Wed, 01 May 2013 13:30:40 PDT

Journal in Entirety

Wed, 01 May 2013 13:30:36 PDT

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Editorial

God's Silence: Psalm 28 Terry C Muck

Essays

"Justification by Faith": Richard Baxter's Influence upon John Wesley Joseph W Cunningham

A Classless Society? The Pneumatology of E. StanleyJones in Conversation with Mortimer Arias Angel Santiago-Vendrell

New Directions in Transformational Development Stephen Offutt

Christian Sensitivity in Interreligious Relations Paul Numnch

Sensing the Spirit: Wesley's Empiricism and his Use of the Language of Spiritual Sensation James E. Pedlar

Symbolism and the Symbol of Lig!ot in the Gospel of John Clyde Muropa

Features

Christian Publishing in Central and Eastern Europe Katharina Penner

Christian Publishing in Korea

Stephen Andrew Major et al. — Wed, 03 Apr 2013 11:03:13 PDT

The Journey to God: Union, Purgation and Transformation within The Ascent of Mount Carmel and A Plain Account of Christian Perfection

Stephen L. Martyn — Wed, 03 Apr 2013 11:03:11 PDT

This article is both a call to Christian maturity and an appreciative recounting of how a Roman Catholic mystic, John of the Cross, helped me reclaim and love my own Wesleyan tradition of entire sanctification. In this article I hold up the theological doctrine of Union with God as the goal of the Christian life and review and contrast how Wesley and John of the Cross approached the issue. UThile these two spiritual masters outline differing views of the path to perfection in love, they both, nevertheless, continue to inspire and offer the light of Christ to Christians seeking full renewal in the Image of God, cleansing from sin, and filling with the pure love of God.

The Tabernacle and Contextual Worship

Craig Keener — Wed, 03 Apr 2013 11:03:10 PDT

Christians today sometimes debate the propriety of contemporary worship styles. Examining features of Exodus's tabernacle in light of cultures surrounding ancient Israel offers one biblical model for contextual worship. These features reveal that this model was relevant to its cultural setting Some contextual elements fit Israel's setting merely out of necessity or expediency. Other elements employ existing forms, sometimes even from non-Israelite religious practices, to communicate a point intelligible within that cultural sphere. Still other elements show striking contrasts with surrounding cultures, contrasts highlighted all the more conspicuously by the aforementioned similarities. Noticing which elements are similar and which elements differ is also important the contrasts appear especially at the level of fundamental conceptions about God.

These observations suggest that many aspects of a Eiven culture's forms may be adapted in worship. What must be maintained, however, is the holiness of the true God and the ways that God invites worship. Thus, for example, music styles are culturally shaped rather than universal; no one style should be imposed on all worshipers. At the same time, worship practices should never lose sigpt of what worship should be about honoring the one true God in the Spirit and in truth.

Impacting the Orienting System: The Role of Theological Education in Influencing Socio-cultural Images of God

Anne K. Gatobu — Wed, 03 Apr 2013 11:03:09 PDT

Theological educational has classically been associated with educating pastors for local church ministries, non-pastoral ministries and theologians for higher education. In this article I postulate that the role of theological education goes beyond these practical ministry perception to the shaping of societal images of God expressed through the orienting system.

In the first part of the article I argue that one's faith formation is closely related to one's development of God's image. This is not an isolated process, but an appropriation of God's image disseminated through nurture by one's immediate family and society at large. The proliferation of all these experiences are what I refer to as the orienting system - the context which presents God's image through all forms of life expressions including art, music, oral stories and proverbs, sermons, written opinions, nature, observed events, and shared experiences. It is these that are integrated into one's life experiences to form an image of God. And it is one's God image that determines how one interprets and cirnunvents life experiences, as manifest in critical situations. The question explored in this paper is the role that theological education plays in the formation of God's image expressed through the Orienting system.

A Macarian-Wesleyan Theology of Mission

Matt Friedman — Wed, 03 Apr 2013 11:03:07 PDT

In this paper, Iwill begin by providing an outline of the development of the theology of union with God, or theoric. I will have a particular focus on fourth-century Syrian monk Macarius-Symeon, whose Fifty Spiritual Homilies had an influence on early Pietism and early Methodism From there, I will seek to demonstrate how John and Charles Wesley, as well as their colleagues such as John Fletcher in the first generation of Methodist leadership, sought to critically fold this understanding into their own teaching regarding justification, sanctification and the ultimate goal of those who walk in union with God in Christ. Finally, this is integrated into a theology of mission in which this union with God is meant to be lived out individually and in community in a manner in which the missio Dei is extended in witness to the entire world.

Poetry as the Handmaid of Piety: Hymns as a Catalystfor Human Development in Early Methodism

Brian Yeich — Wed, 03 Apr 2013 11:03:06 PDT

In the preface to the 1780 edition o f Hymns for the People Called Methodist, John Wesley stated, 'When Poetry thus keeps its place, as the handmaid of Piety, it shall attain, not a poor perishable 'Wreath, but a crown that fadeth not away."l While John Wesley may have never used the term ''human development," a student of Wesley would quickly observe that Wesley and the early Methodists were focused on the transformation of individual human lives as well as the society in which they lived. This paper explores the connection between the hynmody of early Methodism and human development. John Wesley's theology is briefly surveyed to propose the doctrine of Christian perfection as the guiding vision for the early Methodists. From this vantage point, Christian perfection, as the renewal of the image of God, is suggested as the telos of human development in early Methodism Evidence is examined in the hynms of the Wesley's, as well as the design of the 1780 hynmbook in particular, to reveal how these poetical works might have been intended to serve as a catalyst for Christian perfection in the lives of eighteenth century Methodists. Implications are suggested for twenty-first century approaches to human development in the context of evangelism and mission.

Public Theology for Global Development: A Case Study Dealing with "Health" in Africa

Gregg A. Okesson — Wed, 03 Apr 2013 11:02:55 PDT

This article makes a simple assertion. The problems faced by global societies require a multi-disciplinary approach, in which theology actively engages other disciplines, such as politics, health, economics, science, and cultural studies, for the purposes of helping the Church of Jesus Christ accurately represent "the fullness of him who fills everything in every way" (Eph 1:23). This reflects the writings of John Wesley and involves a process of reinterpreting the Asburian heritage of "the whole Bible for the whole World" for relating the Gospel to such issues as poverty, disease, famine, ecological disaster, and other facets of development crisis. In the second half of the article, we explore some of the ways this can be accomplished in global stages through a closer look at ''health,'' involving the World Health Organization, mission hospitals, village beliefs, and a contemporary phenomenon revolving around the healing "powers" of a Lutheran pastor in Tanzania.

Identification by Spirit Alone: Community-Identity Construction in Galatians 3:19-4:7

Susaan Liubinskas — Wed, 03 Apr 2013 11:02:53 PDT

Interpretations of Paul's letter to the Galatians have tended to focus on its theological content, particularly Paul's attitude toward the Law and Judaism Moreover, the question of how the theological portion of the epistle relates to the paraenetic section (Gal 5:13---6:10) continues to vex interpreters. However, the author notes that the position of Jews and Gentiles within the Christian churches is ultimately a question of identity. Accordingly, the goal of this study is to perform a sociological analysis of Gal 3:19--4:7, drawing upon aspects of social identity theory, in order to analyze Paul's method of constructing community identity in terms of both a symbolic universe and a related ethos. The author argues that Paul presents the Holy Spirit as the sin qua non identity marker of those in Christ, and that the apostle's argumentative purpose in the above passage is to persuade his converts that the symbolic universe which he upholds and its related ethos, as expressed it is in Gal 5:13--6: 10, is the true gospel in contrast to the distorted version represented by his Judaizing opponents. Thus, life in the Spirit patterned after the law of Christ, rather than under the Mosaic Law is central to the ethos of those who belong to Christ. Consequently, rather than being a addendum, or an ad hoc assorhnent of disconnected exhortations, or even a later, non-Pauline interpolation, Gal 5:13---6:10 is a carefully constructed ethos which fUnctions to form and reinforce Christian identity.

Anticipating Change: Missions and Paradigm Shifts in Emergence

Sam Law — Wed, 03 Apr 2013 11:02:51 PDT

As our global community is in an unprecedented period of rapid change, missiology, being a study of crossing boundaries, plays a critical pathfinder role in anticipating, participating and mediating the change process, for change itself is a temporal boundary. Failure to do so in the past has left the Church and other groups in a position in which they lag change, and have been marginalized and considered irrelevant. Emergence theory is introduced as a new model, in place of Kuhn's pyramid of causality, to describe how change itself has changed, as networks are now the opinion leaders. As well, Emergence theory informs missiology of avenues by which Christianity can help people anticipate, participate, and in particular, mediate temporal boundaries. John Wesley is offered as a case study of how these avenues helped the Methodist movement navigate a previous wave front of change.

Journal in Entirety

Wed, 03 Apr 2013 11:02:49 PDT

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Essays

Anticipating Change: Missions and Paradigm Shifts in Emergence Sam Law

Identification by Spirit Alone: Community-Identity Construction in Galatians 3:19-4:7 Susann Liubinskas

Public Theology for Global Development A Case Study Dealing with ''Health'' in Africa Gregg A, Oktsson

Poetry as the Handmaid of Piety: Hynms as a Catalyst for Human Development in Early Methodism Brian Yeich

A Macarian-Wesleyan Theology of Mission Matt Friedman

Impacting the Orienting System: The Role of Theological Education in Influencing Socio-cultural Images of God Anne K. Gatobu

The Tabernacle and Contextual Worship Craig Keener

The Journey to God: Union, Purgation and Transformation within The Ascent if Mount Carmel and A Plain Account if Christian Perfection Steve Martyn

Features

Christian Publishing in Korea Stephen Andrew and Stephanie Zugates Major

Methodism and the Recently Revised Baptism Liturgy

Laurence W. Wood — Fri, 09 Nov 2012 10:25:45 PST