NTT Journal for Theology and the Study of Religion - Volume 48, Issue 4, 1994

Abstract In this article it is argued – over against the communis opinio – that (Christian) freedom was not a conception of any importance in the Johannine communities. In John 8:31-36, the only passage in the Johannine writings where the terms έλενθεροῡν/έλεύθερος occur, they have been introduced only because of their ambiguity. A fine parallel is found in Epictetus, Dissertationes 4, 1, 7-10. In contrast to the claim of the J Read More

Abstract It is widely held that religious pluralism poses a problem for believers who are Christians. In the first section it is argued that the problem at hand emerges from truth claims which Christians make: Christians make truth claims that are contested by adherents of other religions. Section 2 discusses John Hick’s proposal to interpret religious truth claims in a Kantian way and argues that Hick’s position is self-referentially inc Read More

Abstract The development of Dutch religious education (RE) is described in the light of literature of the last decade. Current learning-teaching models are examined: a kerugmatic, an open and an intercultural model. These models are discussed in two ways: normative-culturally and educationally. In practice one is usually working in a less scientific way than is proposed here. School teachers may do so, but church ed Read More

Abstract In the so-called Enlightenment Project, the task of natural theology is to establish the truth of the proposition that God exists by deriving it from religiously neutral and universally compelling premises. In theology this project is rejected by the followers of Karl Barth and in philosophy of religion by the followers of Wittgenstein. The latter considers the claim that God exists to be a tacit presupposition which is constitutive f Read More