NTT Journal for Theology and the Study of Religion - Volume 47, Issue 4, 1993

A praxis-based response to another kind of challenge by the problem of evil coming from Hume. It results in a reformulation of the divine goodness: it means a participating God, who is moved by the suffering of all creatures. This leads to a description of a God who liberates and a different understanding of God’s power. In many cases human beings are responsible for suffering.

The aim of this article is to show that the life and work of the most influential Father of the Western Church were inextricably interwoven with Manichaeism. Two main points are discussed: 1. To what extant was Augustine, first as a Manichaean and later as a Catholic bishop, acquainted with Manichaeism and in what form did this ‘Religion of Light’ manifest itself to him?; 2. What can be said about the significance of this Manichaeism for Augustine’s theology, his philosophy, in short: for his whole thinking and being? The author concludes inter alia that without a thorough knowledge of Manichaeism Augustine’s theology and essential elements of Western theology as such can not be truly comprehended.

The article deals with an episode in the history of German Jewry. The Neokantian philosopher Hermann Cohen pleaded for an almost complete fusion between German culture and Judaism. The article concentrates on the reactions of the interbellum generation to this view. It is an attempt to address the question which of these reactions stand up in the light of presentday, post-holocaust experience. It is suggested that Franz Rosenzweig’s account of the famous 1929 disputation in Davos is mistaken. There are two alternatives: either the uncompromising Zionism of Gerhard Scholem or the universalist humanism of Ernst Cassirer.