NTT Journal for Theology and the Study of Religion - Volume 40, Issue 1, 1986

Abstract It may be concluded from the foregoing discussion that the sharîf-ship was of fundamental importance to Sultan Ismael’s princely office. His descent from the Prophet was an important factor in his political-religious legitimation. As regards his subjects’ sharîf -ship, Sultan Ismael fulfilled his duty as an Islamic ruler, treating the shurafâ’ with respect and favoring them as long as he was certain of their loyal support, Read More

Abstract This article, finished by the end of July 1985, is a comparative analysis of the responses to the Lima-text, published by or prepared for the Churches in the Netherlands. It discusses the responses from Roman Catholic side, the answers given by the Mennonite and the Remonstrant Brotherhood and study reports prepared for several Protestant Churches (Reformed, Lutheran). Every response starts from its own tradi Read More

Abstract In the light of Hare’s argument in his latest book on Moral Thinking we might deal with two fundamental questions concerning normative reasoning: (1) What precisely is the content of a utilitarian criterion of moral rightness, i.e. what does it mean to say of an action that it results in an ‘equal amount of happiness’ or in ‘more happiness’ than another action? (2) How should a utilitarian criterion be used in a process of del Read More

Abstract Attention is drawn to the question: Is dogmatics science or mere ideology? The answer depends upon our concepts of dogmatics and science. To clarify this we have to know what the object of theological research really is. If it is the Bible only, dogmatics is reduced to literature. After discussing proposals of Hodge, Barth, Pannenberg, Kaufman and Hick, it is concluded that this object is God in relation to human b Read More

Abstract The recently published Papyrus Bodmer 29 contains a very curious, if not bizarre, Christian hexametric poem by a certain Dorotheüs, son of Quintus the poet, probably Quintus Smyrnaeus, the author of the Posthomerica. In this poem of 343 lines, probably written about 300 A.D., Dorotheus describes a visionary experience in which he enters heaven and is entrusted with the task of gatekeeper in God’ palace. Sinc Read More

Abstract This article deals with the theological faculty of the State University at Groningen during the Nazi period, both before the Second World War and during the occupation time. It focusses particularly on reactions of students and professors to the struggle of the Confessing Church in Germany. During the occupation period two serious problems confronted the students: the German demands to dismiss Jewish member Read More

Abstract In his philosophy of religion the Japanese philosopher Nishitani (b. 1900) argues the idea that Western civilisation is driven inevitably to nihilism both by the results of its science and by a greed inducing liberalist economy. Nihilism is the inevitable consequence of the feeling that things no longer make sense. While holding to supposed entities (God, Jesus, self or soul, eternity), Christianity is not able to withstand the attac Read More

Abstract During the temptation in the desert Jesus shows He is free from the necessity to gather wealth, from the lust for power and from the inclination to act like God. This is the freedom Jesus bestows on the church. When Christians act in this freedom the interest of the other person (seen as an irreplaceable individual created by God) is paramount. Ellul pleads for realism: idealism which blurs reality is a danger for ev Read More

Abstract The usual rendering of Luke 4,17a, ‘when he had opened the book’ in English versions, since Tyndale and the King James version, is quite remarkable, as it was based on texts which read ‘when he had unrolled the book’. Both verbs, however, are present in textual tradition. The reading ‘opened’ is predominant in early Egyptian (Alexandrian) and Syriac witnesses, whereas the verb ‘unrolled’ occurs in some early Read More

Abstract Religious representations and customs in which death has a central place have always been of paramount import for the scientific study of religion. In this paper various theories on the origin of religion are discussed briefly, especially with respect to death. Moreover, attention is paid to Hertz’s study of secondary burial (1907) and Van Gennep’s concept of tripartite structure of rites of passage (1909). Their ideas are appl Read More

Abstract In TJ two images of women are presented that are diametrically opposed. On the one hand Job’s first wife is presented, to be true, as a loyal and loving wife and mother, but apart from that as a creature that is easily led astray, does not have any spiritual insight and is characterized by a continuous lack of awareness of where God and Satan are at work. On the other hand there are Job’s daughters (from his second Read More

Abstract The article summarizes some results of a study project on the ‘witness’-theme. The main developments in the witness theology and shifts of meaning of ‘witness’ and derivatives, in the documents of the World Council of Churches, the Vatican, and the Joint Working Group in the period 1948-1985, are indicated. For instance, in recent documents (especially of the JWG) ‘witness’ is no longer a strict missiological category, Read More