NTT Journal for Theology and the Study of Religion - Volume 64, Issue 1, 2010

In his covenant or federal theology Johannes Cocceius (1603-1669) sought to formulate a theology which described all of human history by introducing the structure of consecutive covenants or foedera. In this essay I explore the various ways in which he described the covenantal relationship between God and humankind in terms of ‘friendship with God’ (amicitia cum Deo). It enabled him to shed new light on many of the traditional topics of Protestant theology: (1) salvation history; (2) ecclesiology (church and sacraments) and (3) the Christian life (ethics). The main thesis defended is that the type of covenant theology presented by Cocceius can be best described as an interesting form of what today might be called a ‘relational theology’ with some significant hermeneutical perspectives and theological possibilities for today.

In his seminar on ethics Jacques Lacan suggests there exists a ‘filiation’ between Freudian psychoanalysis and a ‘new direction of thought’ that starts with Luther’s conceptualization of ‘a hatred that existed even before the world was created’, and is then further continued in Calvinism. In this article this thesis is explored. The author argues that there is not only a familiarity between the protestant doctrines of predestination and Freud’s reconstruction of prehistoric events, but also that Lacan’s project on ethics and his elaboration of desire, superego and morality shows an affiliation with Calvinist thought on the nature of conscience and the longing for restoration of a lost image of God.

The present paper investigates the way an authoritative text (Genesis 17) was rewritten in Jubilees 15. The source text is almost completely rewritten. By way of omissions, variations and additions, the author of the new text modifies the older text. He interprets the making of the covenant between God and Abraham as a renewal. Moreover, the author tries to diminish the prominent place of Ishmael at the circumcision. The addition at the end is related to the exact date of the circumcision and the curse related to it that is connected with the exclusive covenantal relationship.

Homiletics is a subdiscipline of Practical Theology that focuses on the theory and practice of preaching. Current thinking on homiletics presupposes that the sermon is an event-in-time. The question of the effect of this view in the language of the sermon plays an important role in the present debate. In this article the Dutch theologian K.H. Miskotte (1894-1976) throws new light on this issue. Although his hermeneutical observations stem from a much different time, they are of supprisingly contemporary interest on this point. The internal dynamics of language and its effects on its hearers are central.