Theological Anthropology

Transformation Theology in its Historical Context

by Oliver Davies

This locates Transformation Theology in the history of theology. This locates Transformation Theology in the history of theology.

Transformation Theology and Radical Orthodoxy

by Oliver Davies

Nonreductive Physicalism and the Image of God as Telos

by Ryan Newson

This is a sample from a paper submitted in partial completion of a course on "Theological Anthropology," Fall, 2011. In it I argue that the image of God is best understood as humanity's telos (which is revealed in Christ), and pursue what growing into the image of God may look like given a nonreductive physicalist anthropology. This is only a sample and thus, an excerpt from this paper; major sections have been cut, and some parts of the argument are missing.

The Cosmic Liturgy: The Theological Anthropologies of the New Cosmology and Eastern Christianity.

by Bishoy Dawood

A Thesis submitted to the Faculty of Theology of the University of St. Michael's College and the Department of Theology of the Toronto School of Theology in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Theological Studies awarded by the University of St. Michael's College.

Toronto 2007
(c) Bishoy Dawood

This thesis will examine the role of theological anthropology in Thomas Berry's New Cosmology and in the Irenaean... more This thesis will examine the role of theological anthropology in Thomas Berry's New Cosmology and in the Irenaean tradition of Eastern Christianity in the context of the ecological crisis. Such an examination of our human nature and destiny is necessary within the context of the ecological crisis, since it sets the horizon within which a human person relates, operated, and is motivated to function in the environment, whether destructively furthering the ecological crisis, or constructively working on methods to reduce the ecological crisis.

Then, I will establish that the theological anthropologies of both traditions share a non-anthropocentric and dualistic view of the place and role of the human person in the universe, and argue that it is possible to integrate the theological anthropologies of the New Cosmology and Eastern Christianity, such that they induce a joined praxis of liberating the earth from the present ecological crisis, in order to live in communion with the living and non-living components of the earth community, with the whole universe as a Cosmic Church, and in such communion, celebrate the Cosmic Liturgy.

Participatory Ontology, Materialism and The Multiple Incarnation Question

by Lucas Wright

Presented by Lucas Wright in "Contemporary Christologies" seminar at Fuller Theological Seminary, under Dr. Oliver Crisp

Husbands - Reconciliation as the Dogmatic Location of Humanity

by Mark Husbands

Published in Women, Ministry and the Gospel: Exploring New Paradigms, Mark Husbands and Timothy Larsen, eds., InterVarsity Press: Downers Grove, 2007.

Acknowledgment and the Ordinary: (Theological) Anthropology in Karl Barth and Stanley Cavell

by KC Flynn

Presenting at the 2012 Southwest Commission on Religious Studies Conference in Dallas, TX, Philosophy of Religion and Theology Section: Karl Barth and Post-Modernity

In Search of the Third Space: Theological Anthropology in Eastern Orthodoxy and Sino-Christian Theology

by Alexander Chow

Ching Feng, new series, 10.1-2 (2010-2011), forthcoming.

Transhumanity and the Imago Dei: A comparison of Christian and Transhumanist anthropologies

by Max Baker-Hytch

Transhumanism is an increasingly influential worldview which advocates the radical technological transformation of... more Transhumanism is an increasingly influential worldview which advocates the radical technological transformation of humans, with a view to eliminating aging and death and vastly expanding the range of human possibilities. Underpinning these bold aspirations is a very specific notion of what it means to be human; but one which has yet to be thoroughly explored in relation to Christian understandings of human nature. In this dissertation I attempt to answer the questions: “What is the interrelation of transhumanist and Christian anthropologies?”, and “To what extent can Christian anthropology affirm the goals of transhumanism?” Such a study is especially apt due to Transhumanism's concern—unusual for a secular worldview—with primarily the same themes as Christian theology: the nature, vocation, and destiny of human beings. In conducting this study, I draw on major twentieth-century theological analyses of human nature by Jürgen Moltmann and Wolfhart Pannenberg, and more recent studies such as those of J. Wentzel van Huyssteen and F. LeRon Shults. Salient themes which emerge from these works include the crucial importance of human embodiment and the fundamentally social nature of our existence. I attempt to bring this literature into creative dialogue with transhumanist writers such as Ray Kurzweil, Nick Bostrom, and Max More, who understand human flourishing rather in terms of overcoming all limits which our nature places upon us and even emancipation from the inherent fragilities of the body by uploading the mind into cyberspace. I argue that a small measure of consensus may be reached between these two anthropologies regarding the use of technologies which can help to alleviate suffering, but in the end, I conclude that transhumanism seeks ultimately to use technology as a means to supplant God through the attainment of humanly-wrought immortality and virtual omnipotence—goals that Christian anthropology cannot endorse.

The Way into Triune Life: Balthasar, Gender, and the Mystery of the Form Made Flesh

by Kirsten Guidero

Eating Our Way to Holiness: Anglican Resources for Agricultural Ethics

by Kirsten Guidero

Filled with His Own Glory: Reclaiming the Christological Foundation of Theosis

by Kirsten Guidero

'Consuming the Body: Contemporary Patterns of Drug Use & Theological Anthropology,' in Public Theology in Cultural Engagement, ed. Stephen Holmes (Milton Keynes: Paternoster, 2008), pp. 94-130.

by Luke Bretherton

Human liberty as participation in the divine in the work of Nicholas Cusanus

by Knut Alfsvåg

« L’agapè, amour purement gratuit ? », Mélanges de Science Religieuse, 66/2 (2009) 35-48.

by Jean-Baptiste Lecuit

« Enjeux actuels de la “spiritualisation”. Approche interdisciplinaire », dans Lemoine, Laurent (dir.), Vérité, désir, expérience spirituelle et expérience psychanalytique, (coll. « Sciences humaines et religions »), Paris, Éditions du Cerf, 2010, pp. 55-83. [Reprend des extraits de mon livre L'Anthropologie théologique à la lumière de la psychanalyse. L'introduction et la conclusion sont nouvelles.].

by Jean-Baptiste Lecuit

« Y a-t-il un désir naturel de Dieu ? », Revue d’éthique et de théologie morale, 262/4 (2010) 57-81. [Reprise, avec corrections, de Lecuit, Jean-Baptiste, « Y a-t-il un désir naturel de Dieu ? », dans Lemoine, Laurent (dir.), Vérité, désir, expérience spirituelle et expérience psychanalytique, (coll. « Sciences humaines et religions »), Paris, Éditions du Cerf, 2010, pp. 139-163.]

by Jean-Baptiste Lecuit

« La théologie de la relation entre Dieu et l’être humain, pensée avec A. Vergote à la lumière de la psychanalyse », dans Gaziaux, Éric (éd.), Pour une raison de la foi : la théologie. Conférences de l’École doctorale en théologie (2006-2008), (coll. « Cahiers de la Revue Théologie de Louvain », 39), 2011, pp. 175-215.

by Jean-Baptiste Lecuit

Pourquoi la controverse créationniste n’est pas près de disparaître. La place de Gn 1,1–3,24 dans la théologie évangélique (2005)

by Dany Rodier

Paru dans Scriptura : Nouvelle Série, 7/1 (2005), p. 129-147.

Cette étude cherche à identifier ce qui, sur le plan théologique, peut inciter aujourd’hui une large part du mouvement... more Cette étude cherche à identifier ce qui, sur le plan théologique, peut inciter aujourd’hui une large part du mouvement évangélique à défendre, en face du discours scientifique moderne, une lecture littérale de Gn 1,1–3,24. La démarche consiste à relever, dans la théologie évangélique, les principaux points d’ancrage du créationnisme, par l’analyse générale de deux approches des récits de la Création et surtout par la mise en relief du rôle déterminant que jouent les premiers chapitres de la Bible dans l’anthropologie biblique et, par là, dans l’ensemble de la théologie chrétienne traditionnelle.

Evolutionary Biology

by Oliver Putz

Book chapter in Teaching the Tradition: A Disciplinary Approach to the Catholic Intellectual Tradition, edited by M. Morey and J. Piderit, S.J. Oxford: Oxford University Press (anticipated publication date Fall 2011)

This chapter takes a closer look at Karl Rahner’s response to limit questions raised by biology. It also submits a... more This chapter takes a closer look at Karl Rahner’s response to limit questions raised by biology. It also submits a constructive proposal for a cosmic theodicy in response to evolutionary suffering. More often than not, Catholics who engage evolutionary biology do so by turning to Jesuit and paleoanthropologist Teilhard de Chardin. No one can dismiss Teilhard’s fundamental contribution to either the Church or theology and science in general. Nevertheless, Rahner’s approach to integrating creation theology and evolutionary biology is metaphysically and methodologically more robust, which is why it will be the focus of this essay. In particular, it will concentrate on his treatment of biological anthropology, mainly because few other topics in the dialogue between theology and biology have had such profound implications for believers and unbelievers alike. For theological anthropology, human existence is grounded in the unique personal relationship with God, which constitutes “humanness” and gives it meaning. With human evolution as its central theme, biological anthropology specifies humanity’s relationship to the rest of nature, thereby challenging long-held ideas of human uniqueness. How to respond to limit questions prompted by biological anthropology in light of theological anthropology is doubtlessly one of the most challenging and pressing issues in religion and science today.