Church, theology and the holiness of God
This paper addresses the identity crisis of Christian churches under the conditions of late modernity. With Jürgen Moltmann, I describe the dilemma of the contemporary church and of its theology as a crisis both of relevance and identity. I suggest that churches have responded to the loss of their s...
| Main Author: | |
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| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Journals Online & Print: | Drawer...
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| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Published: |
Cambridge Univ. Press
[2019]
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| In: |
Scottish journal of theology
Year: 2019, Volume: 72, Issue: 2, Pages: 207-226 |
| Standardized Subjects / Keyword chains: | B
Moltmann, Jürgen 1926-2024
/ Church
/ Identity crisis
/ Crisis of faith
/ Consumer society
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| IxTheo Classification: | CH Christianity and Society KDD Protestant Church NBN Ecclesiology |
| Further subjects: | B
Relevance
B Church B Cross B Holiness B Alterity B Identity |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (Resolving-System) Volltext (doi) |
| Summary: | This paper addresses the identity crisis of Christian churches under the conditions of late modernity. With Jürgen Moltmann, I describe the dilemma of the contemporary church and of its theology as a crisis both of relevance and identity. I suggest that churches have responded to the loss of their stronghold in the Western world in three ways: liberal Protestants embrace modernity, evangelicals oppose it and a third group, whom I identify as church theologians, try to ignore it. I argue that none of the three approaches successfully solves the church's crisis in late modernity and especially in a consumer culture with its commodification of religion. I trace these struggles of the contemporary church to its loss of alterity, both of God and of the human other, and suggest that we can regain a sense of God's otherness by rediscovering God's holiness. |
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| ISSN: | 1475-3065 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: Scottish journal of theology
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1017/S0036930619000061 |