Knut Alfsvåg | VID Specialized University (original) (raw)
Books by Knut Alfsvåg
Theology should be at home both in the academy and in the church. This book takes such dual affil... more Theology should be at home both in the academy and in the church. This book takes such dual affiliation seriously and lets the two different contexts illuminate each other. It explores how we should understand theology within the context of the current debate on theory of science and discusses the methodological implications of belief in God as Creator and in the incarnation. The first part of the book concludes by examining the consequences of theology's dual affiliation for the self-understanding of believers in general and theologians in particular. The second part deals with four different sources of theological knowledge and their relation to each other: the Bible, the history of the church, experience, and reason. Among the central issues are the status of the Bible in contemporary theology, the unity of the church, and the relationship between theology and the natural sciences. The central question is: where do we experience divine presence?
Boken gir en innføring i forståelsen av teologi som fag. Karakteristisk for faget er at det hører... more Boken gir en innføring i forståelsen av teologi som fag. Karakteristisk for faget er at det hører hjemme to steder på en gang, både i en akademisk og en kirkelig sammenheng. Framstillingen i denne boken prøver å ta denne dobbelte tilhørigheten på alvor og la de to ulike kontekstene belyse hverandre.
Det gjør den ved først å drøfte teologiens selvforståelse i lys av aktuell vitenskapteoretisk debatt. Så drøftes de metodiske konsekvensene av troen på Gud som Skaper og av inkarnasjonen, som ifølge den kristne tro er den viktigste gudsåpenbaringen. Første del av boken avsluttes med en drøftelse av hvilke konsekvenser dette utgangspunktet har for teologens og den troendes egen selvforståelse.
Andre del av boken tar for seg de fire ulike kilder til teologisk kunnskap, og drøfter deres stilling og forhold til hverandre De fire kildene er Bibelen, kirkens historie, erfaringen og fornuften. Framstillingen berører derfor bibelsynsdebatten, forståelsen av kirkens enhet, hvor vi finner Gud i dag, og forholdet mellom teologi og naturvitenskap.
Christology as Critique: On the Relation between Christ, Creation, and Epistemology, 2018
If the origin of the world is not a part of the world, what are the implications for our understa... more If the origin of the world is not a part of the world, what are the implications for our understanding of ourselves, the world, and its origin? In antiquity, both gentile and Christian authors agreed that the significance of this question could only be maintained by accepting the unbridgeable difference between the world and God. Not even Christology as the most ambitious attempt at developing a model for divine–human communication was allowed to undermine the principle of absolute divine difference. This changed with the modern emphasis on univocity and measurability as the defining aspects of knowledge. From the point of view of a philosophy of absolute difference, this appears as an arbitrary loss of perspective. By focusing on four authors—Cusanus, Luther, Hamann, and Kierkegaard—who have explored how the Christian and paradoxical understanding of Christ as eternal God and true human subverts the modern emphasis on unambiguity and definability, the present investigation makes an attempt to retrieve what has been lost. Classical Christology as interpreted by these authors thus appears as an indispensable tool for receiving and appreciating the gift of the world in a way that is not unduly limited by anthropocentric prejudice.
Theology is, for the sake of its own clarity, dependent on a notion of God's hiddenness and unkno... more Theology is, for the sake of its own clarity, dependent on a notion of God's hiddenness and unknowability. This is a position that over the years has been maintained by a number of theologians and philosophers. Even within the Christian tradition, which understands God as manifest in the person of Jesus, the perspective of negative or apophatic theology has remained important. This book is an investigation of the significance of this perspective. It presents the tradition of negative theology from Plato to the Reformation, focussing particularly on Maximus Confessor, Nicholas Cusanus and Martin Luther as Christologically informed thinkers who develop an apophatic theology that still seems to contain a potential for renewal both from an ecumenical and a philosophical perspective. The relevance of this perspective is then explored through a discussion of the continuity between these thinkers and some contemporary contributions both from a Western and non-Western context.
Apophaticism. By K nut Alfsvâg. Leuven: Peeters, 2010. 358 pp.
This is a slightly revised edition of a dissertation accepted by Asian Graduate School of Theolog... more This is a slightly revised edition of a dissertation accepted by Asian Graduate School of Theology for the degree of Doctor of Theology. It is mainly an investigation of Luther's De servo arbitrio, a book that started to interest me when I was a student at the Free Faculty of Theology, Oslo, Norway, about fifteen years ago. When this Faculty granted me a scholarship in 1981, this work was therefore the main target of my studies. Almost ten years later, and now a member of the teaching staff at Kobe Lutheran Theological Seminary, Japan, I was given the possibility of continuing my theological education within the framework of Asian Graduate School of Theology. It was then a natural choice to return to my Luther studies and further pursue this subject, and the result of my endeavor is the present thesis. I have worked on this project both at Kobe Lutheran Theological Seminary and at the School of Mission and Theology, Stavanger, Norway, and faculty and other staff at these institutions have always been supportive and encouraging.
Papers by Knut Alfsvåg
Open Theology, Dec 31, 2022
Roman-Catholic scholars tend to interpret Luther's emphasis on the exteriority of salvation as a ... more Roman-Catholic scholars tend to interpret Luther's emphasis on the exteriority of salvation as a critique of the goodness of creation. Through an analysis of De servo arbitrio, this article shows this to be wrong. While emphasizing the unconditionality of God's work in both creation and salvation, Luther still insists that humans are created in God's image as his co-operators, thus repeating the divine lordship over creation. This is further emphasized in other works that go beyond De servo arbitrio in finding Christology to be a key to the relationship between God and humans. Luther thus has an integrated understanding of all aspects of human life as the area of divine creation and should not be seen as a forerunner of a modern, secularized worldview. This role rather belongs to Erasmus, who insists that God stands idly by while humans make up their minds about how to live their lives.
Issues in science and religion: publications of the European Society for the Study of Science and Theology, Dec 31, 2022
Tidsskrift for teologi og kirke, Feb 19, 2004
De Gruyter eBooks, Nov 16, 2010
Neue Zeitschrift für Systematische Theologie und Religionsphilosophie, Sep 30, 2022
Summary Plato and Aristotle understood phenomena to be knowable to the extent that they participa... more Summary Plato and Aristotle understood phenomena to be knowable to the extent that they participate in the reality of the unchangeable, and this attitude was appropriated by the church fathers as a way of exploring the world’s dependence on its Creator. Luther’s insistence on the world’s sinfulness and on salvation as one-sidedly dependent on divine agency has been criticized as a rejection of this understanding of the inherent goodness of the world, thus paving the way for the secularized world view of modernity. Among these critics is Erich Przywara in his works up to and including his book Analogia Entis from 1932. However, in 1952 Przywara published an article where he found Luther’s theology of exchange to be a close parallel to his own doctrine of analogia entis, the implication being that Luther is closer to a Catholic understanding of the world’s relationship with God than mainstream post-Enlightenment Protestantism, and this article is an attempt to substantiate that claim.
Neue Zeitschrift für Systematische Theologie und Religionsphilosophie, 2012
The understanding of the relationship between God and humans has been of considerable interest in... more The understanding of the relationship between God and humans has been of considerable interest in European intellectual history, partly because of its close relationship with the understanding of salvation in Christian theology. On the one hand, we have the more or less Pelagian approach, according to which God and humans are seen as relatively independent entities, where humans are under the obligation to fulfil God's commandments and God is under the obligation to save those who in this way have properly qualified themselves. On this view, however, the content of the relationship is after all quite one-sidedly determined by the human part, and it has been the prevailing consent of Christian theology that this is incompatible with the both biblical and rational idea of God as Lord. On the other hand, one may emphasize the understanding of God as Lord to the extent that the humans' relationship with God is seen as created and maintained by God alone, the implication being that the idea of human liberty may appear as a concept void of content. Both these approaches thus tend to see God as either irrelevant or problematic in relation to an exploration of the particular predicaments of human existence, and one may therefore argue that they have both contributed to the secularization of modern European thought. These are not the only possibilities, though. Based on the understanding that a lack of an appropriate appraisal of the significance of the relationship with God tends to land anthropology in unsolvable aporiae, one may also see an informed investigation of this relationship a precondition for an adequate apprehension of human liberty. In what follows, I will try to substantiate this claim by presenting the approach of two late medieval or early modern thinkers who both in a paradigmatic way exemplify the significance of a theocentric perspective on the problem of human liberty. The 15 th century cardinal Nicholas Cusanus and the 16 th century reformer Martin Luther are not commonly brought together under a joint perspective in this way. 1 There is no doubt, however, that they both criticized late
Studia Theologica - Nordic Journal of Theology, Jan 2, 2016
Martin Luther seemingly never read the works of Nicholas Cusanus; still, scholars have found the ... more Martin Luther seemingly never read the works of Nicholas Cusanus; still, scholars have found the relationship between the two to be an intriguing one. In this essay, it is argued that this relationship is best explored as a common emphasis both on divine unknowability and on the significance of Christology, and that this common emphasis is closely related to the importance they both attached to the works of Plato and Dionysius at important points in their careers. Given this common framework, it comes as no wonder that they both found the Pauline gospel of justification through faith and Chalcedonian two-nature Christology indispensable both philosophically and theologically. In this way, they represent a renewal of central aspects of the theology of the Church Fathers that today seem both theologically attractive and ecumenically relevant.
Norsk tidsskrift for misjonsvitenskap, 1991
Dansk Tidsskrift for Teologi og Kirke, Mar 19, 2021
Et kjennetegn ved førmoderne bibellesning er den er styrt av Bibelens egen virkelighetsforståelse... more Et kjennetegn ved førmoderne bibellesning er den er styrt av Bibelens egen virkelighetsforståelse med skapelse og inkarnasjon som bærende elementer. Dette endres på opplysningstiden, hvor bibellesningen blir styrt av de endrede forutsetninger som etableres med den såkalte nominalistiske revolusjon fra det 14. århundre av. Det gjør at den såkalte historisk-kritiske tilnærming til Bibelen i stor grad er styrt av det 18. og 19. århundres filosofiske og politiske idealer. Interessante forsøk på å fornye sentrale elementer i den førmoderne bibellesning informert av en bevisst modernitetskritikk finnes hos Luther og Hamann. Disse foregriper derfor viktige aspekter av postmoderninteten, men er skarpere i sin kritikk av det moderne enn denne, og gir oss derfor bedre holdepunkter for utarbeidelsen av en konsistent bibelforståelse
Dansk Tidsskrift for Teologi og Kirke, Nov 21, 2017
Et luthersk perspektiv på kirkens enhet Professor, dr.theol. Knut Alfsvåg Resumé: Confessio Augus... more Et luthersk perspektiv på kirkens enhet Professor, dr.theol. Knut Alfsvåg Resumé: Confessio Augustana (CA) legger til grunn en forståelse av kirkens enhet som en allerede foreliggende størrelse som klargjøres for oss når feil og ensidigheter i forståelsen lukes bort. Dette forutsetter en kristologisk forankret forståelse av kirkens katolisitet som er konsekvent fastholdt gjennom hele skriftet. Det kommer til uttrykk både ved at en fastholder avvisning av vranglaere som kirken alltid har avvist, og en tilsvarende kritikk av teologiske nyheter. En slik forståelse av kirkens katolisitet ble avvist av Tridentinerkonsilet. Dette ledet til kirkens konfesjonalisering, hvor kirkeavdelinger med de oldkirkelige bekjennelser som felles laerefundament gjensidig forkjetret hverandre, en praksis som er i strid med den økumeniske visjon CA målbaerer. Møtet med moderniteten har imidlertid gjort at en slik kristosentrisk og økumenisk kirkeforståelse er blitt klart svekket også i luthersk sammenheng.
Dansk Tidsskrift for Teologi og Kirke, Mar 8, 2017
Theology should be at home both in the academy and in the church. This book takes such dual affil... more Theology should be at home both in the academy and in the church. This book takes such dual affiliation seriously and lets the two different contexts illuminate each other. It explores how we should understand theology within the context of the current debate on theory of science and discusses the methodological implications of belief in God as Creator and in the incarnation. The first part of the book concludes by examining the consequences of theology's dual affiliation for the self-understanding of believers in general and theologians in particular. The second part deals with four different sources of theological knowledge and their relation to each other: the Bible, the history of the church, experience, and reason. Among the central issues are the status of the Bible in contemporary theology, the unity of the church, and the relationship between theology and the natural sciences. The central question is: where do we experience divine presence?
Boken gir en innføring i forståelsen av teologi som fag. Karakteristisk for faget er at det hører... more Boken gir en innføring i forståelsen av teologi som fag. Karakteristisk for faget er at det hører hjemme to steder på en gang, både i en akademisk og en kirkelig sammenheng. Framstillingen i denne boken prøver å ta denne dobbelte tilhørigheten på alvor og la de to ulike kontekstene belyse hverandre.
Det gjør den ved først å drøfte teologiens selvforståelse i lys av aktuell vitenskapteoretisk debatt. Så drøftes de metodiske konsekvensene av troen på Gud som Skaper og av inkarnasjonen, som ifølge den kristne tro er den viktigste gudsåpenbaringen. Første del av boken avsluttes med en drøftelse av hvilke konsekvenser dette utgangspunktet har for teologens og den troendes egen selvforståelse.
Andre del av boken tar for seg de fire ulike kilder til teologisk kunnskap, og drøfter deres stilling og forhold til hverandre De fire kildene er Bibelen, kirkens historie, erfaringen og fornuften. Framstillingen berører derfor bibelsynsdebatten, forståelsen av kirkens enhet, hvor vi finner Gud i dag, og forholdet mellom teologi og naturvitenskap.
Christology as Critique: On the Relation between Christ, Creation, and Epistemology, 2018
If the origin of the world is not a part of the world, what are the implications for our understa... more If the origin of the world is not a part of the world, what are the implications for our understanding of ourselves, the world, and its origin? In antiquity, both gentile and Christian authors agreed that the significance of this question could only be maintained by accepting the unbridgeable difference between the world and God. Not even Christology as the most ambitious attempt at developing a model for divine–human communication was allowed to undermine the principle of absolute divine difference. This changed with the modern emphasis on univocity and measurability as the defining aspects of knowledge. From the point of view of a philosophy of absolute difference, this appears as an arbitrary loss of perspective. By focusing on four authors—Cusanus, Luther, Hamann, and Kierkegaard—who have explored how the Christian and paradoxical understanding of Christ as eternal God and true human subverts the modern emphasis on unambiguity and definability, the present investigation makes an attempt to retrieve what has been lost. Classical Christology as interpreted by these authors thus appears as an indispensable tool for receiving and appreciating the gift of the world in a way that is not unduly limited by anthropocentric prejudice.
Theology is, for the sake of its own clarity, dependent on a notion of God's hiddenness and unkno... more Theology is, for the sake of its own clarity, dependent on a notion of God's hiddenness and unknowability. This is a position that over the years has been maintained by a number of theologians and philosophers. Even within the Christian tradition, which understands God as manifest in the person of Jesus, the perspective of negative or apophatic theology has remained important. This book is an investigation of the significance of this perspective. It presents the tradition of negative theology from Plato to the Reformation, focussing particularly on Maximus Confessor, Nicholas Cusanus and Martin Luther as Christologically informed thinkers who develop an apophatic theology that still seems to contain a potential for renewal both from an ecumenical and a philosophical perspective. The relevance of this perspective is then explored through a discussion of the continuity between these thinkers and some contemporary contributions both from a Western and non-Western context.
Apophaticism. By K nut Alfsvâg. Leuven: Peeters, 2010. 358 pp.
This is a slightly revised edition of a dissertation accepted by Asian Graduate School of Theolog... more This is a slightly revised edition of a dissertation accepted by Asian Graduate School of Theology for the degree of Doctor of Theology. It is mainly an investigation of Luther's De servo arbitrio, a book that started to interest me when I was a student at the Free Faculty of Theology, Oslo, Norway, about fifteen years ago. When this Faculty granted me a scholarship in 1981, this work was therefore the main target of my studies. Almost ten years later, and now a member of the teaching staff at Kobe Lutheran Theological Seminary, Japan, I was given the possibility of continuing my theological education within the framework of Asian Graduate School of Theology. It was then a natural choice to return to my Luther studies and further pursue this subject, and the result of my endeavor is the present thesis. I have worked on this project both at Kobe Lutheran Theological Seminary and at the School of Mission and Theology, Stavanger, Norway, and faculty and other staff at these institutions have always been supportive and encouraging.
Open Theology, Dec 31, 2022
Roman-Catholic scholars tend to interpret Luther's emphasis on the exteriority of salvation as a ... more Roman-Catholic scholars tend to interpret Luther's emphasis on the exteriority of salvation as a critique of the goodness of creation. Through an analysis of De servo arbitrio, this article shows this to be wrong. While emphasizing the unconditionality of God's work in both creation and salvation, Luther still insists that humans are created in God's image as his co-operators, thus repeating the divine lordship over creation. This is further emphasized in other works that go beyond De servo arbitrio in finding Christology to be a key to the relationship between God and humans. Luther thus has an integrated understanding of all aspects of human life as the area of divine creation and should not be seen as a forerunner of a modern, secularized worldview. This role rather belongs to Erasmus, who insists that God stands idly by while humans make up their minds about how to live their lives.
Issues in science and religion: publications of the European Society for the Study of Science and Theology, Dec 31, 2022
Tidsskrift for teologi og kirke, Feb 19, 2004
De Gruyter eBooks, Nov 16, 2010
Neue Zeitschrift für Systematische Theologie und Religionsphilosophie, Sep 30, 2022
Summary Plato and Aristotle understood phenomena to be knowable to the extent that they participa... more Summary Plato and Aristotle understood phenomena to be knowable to the extent that they participate in the reality of the unchangeable, and this attitude was appropriated by the church fathers as a way of exploring the world’s dependence on its Creator. Luther’s insistence on the world’s sinfulness and on salvation as one-sidedly dependent on divine agency has been criticized as a rejection of this understanding of the inherent goodness of the world, thus paving the way for the secularized world view of modernity. Among these critics is Erich Przywara in his works up to and including his book Analogia Entis from 1932. However, in 1952 Przywara published an article where he found Luther’s theology of exchange to be a close parallel to his own doctrine of analogia entis, the implication being that Luther is closer to a Catholic understanding of the world’s relationship with God than mainstream post-Enlightenment Protestantism, and this article is an attempt to substantiate that claim.
Neue Zeitschrift für Systematische Theologie und Religionsphilosophie, 2012
The understanding of the relationship between God and humans has been of considerable interest in... more The understanding of the relationship between God and humans has been of considerable interest in European intellectual history, partly because of its close relationship with the understanding of salvation in Christian theology. On the one hand, we have the more or less Pelagian approach, according to which God and humans are seen as relatively independent entities, where humans are under the obligation to fulfil God's commandments and God is under the obligation to save those who in this way have properly qualified themselves. On this view, however, the content of the relationship is after all quite one-sidedly determined by the human part, and it has been the prevailing consent of Christian theology that this is incompatible with the both biblical and rational idea of God as Lord. On the other hand, one may emphasize the understanding of God as Lord to the extent that the humans' relationship with God is seen as created and maintained by God alone, the implication being that the idea of human liberty may appear as a concept void of content. Both these approaches thus tend to see God as either irrelevant or problematic in relation to an exploration of the particular predicaments of human existence, and one may therefore argue that they have both contributed to the secularization of modern European thought. These are not the only possibilities, though. Based on the understanding that a lack of an appropriate appraisal of the significance of the relationship with God tends to land anthropology in unsolvable aporiae, one may also see an informed investigation of this relationship a precondition for an adequate apprehension of human liberty. In what follows, I will try to substantiate this claim by presenting the approach of two late medieval or early modern thinkers who both in a paradigmatic way exemplify the significance of a theocentric perspective on the problem of human liberty. The 15 th century cardinal Nicholas Cusanus and the 16 th century reformer Martin Luther are not commonly brought together under a joint perspective in this way. 1 There is no doubt, however, that they both criticized late
Studia Theologica - Nordic Journal of Theology, Jan 2, 2016
Martin Luther seemingly never read the works of Nicholas Cusanus; still, scholars have found the ... more Martin Luther seemingly never read the works of Nicholas Cusanus; still, scholars have found the relationship between the two to be an intriguing one. In this essay, it is argued that this relationship is best explored as a common emphasis both on divine unknowability and on the significance of Christology, and that this common emphasis is closely related to the importance they both attached to the works of Plato and Dionysius at important points in their careers. Given this common framework, it comes as no wonder that they both found the Pauline gospel of justification through faith and Chalcedonian two-nature Christology indispensable both philosophically and theologically. In this way, they represent a renewal of central aspects of the theology of the Church Fathers that today seem both theologically attractive and ecumenically relevant.
Norsk tidsskrift for misjonsvitenskap, 1991
Dansk Tidsskrift for Teologi og Kirke, Mar 19, 2021
Et kjennetegn ved førmoderne bibellesning er den er styrt av Bibelens egen virkelighetsforståelse... more Et kjennetegn ved førmoderne bibellesning er den er styrt av Bibelens egen virkelighetsforståelse med skapelse og inkarnasjon som bærende elementer. Dette endres på opplysningstiden, hvor bibellesningen blir styrt av de endrede forutsetninger som etableres med den såkalte nominalistiske revolusjon fra det 14. århundre av. Det gjør at den såkalte historisk-kritiske tilnærming til Bibelen i stor grad er styrt av det 18. og 19. århundres filosofiske og politiske idealer. Interessante forsøk på å fornye sentrale elementer i den førmoderne bibellesning informert av en bevisst modernitetskritikk finnes hos Luther og Hamann. Disse foregriper derfor viktige aspekter av postmoderninteten, men er skarpere i sin kritikk av det moderne enn denne, og gir oss derfor bedre holdepunkter for utarbeidelsen av en konsistent bibelforståelse
Dansk Tidsskrift for Teologi og Kirke, Nov 21, 2017
Et luthersk perspektiv på kirkens enhet Professor, dr.theol. Knut Alfsvåg Resumé: Confessio Augus... more Et luthersk perspektiv på kirkens enhet Professor, dr.theol. Knut Alfsvåg Resumé: Confessio Augustana (CA) legger til grunn en forståelse av kirkens enhet som en allerede foreliggende størrelse som klargjøres for oss når feil og ensidigheter i forståelsen lukes bort. Dette forutsetter en kristologisk forankret forståelse av kirkens katolisitet som er konsekvent fastholdt gjennom hele skriftet. Det kommer til uttrykk både ved at en fastholder avvisning av vranglaere som kirken alltid har avvist, og en tilsvarende kritikk av teologiske nyheter. En slik forståelse av kirkens katolisitet ble avvist av Tridentinerkonsilet. Dette ledet til kirkens konfesjonalisering, hvor kirkeavdelinger med de oldkirkelige bekjennelser som felles laerefundament gjensidig forkjetret hverandre, en praksis som er i strid med den økumeniske visjon CA målbaerer. Møtet med moderniteten har imidlertid gjort at en slik kristosentrisk og økumenisk kirkeforståelse er blitt klart svekket også i luthersk sammenheng.
Dansk Tidsskrift for Teologi og Kirke, Mar 8, 2017
Dansk Tidsskrift for Teologi og Kirke, Jun 7, 2016
Mormonismen avviser den oldkirkelige distinksjon mellom én guddommelig natur og tre guddommelige ... more Mormonismen avviser den oldkirkelige distinksjon mellom én guddommelig natur og tre guddommelige personer som uttrykk for hellenistisk innflytelse, og foretrekker en bokstavelig forståelse av de antropomorfe gudsbeskrivelser som uttrykk for at Gud er et menneske som har realisert sitt potensial for guddommeliggjøring. Innenfor pinsebevegelsen er treenighetslæren avvist av den såkalte Oneness Pentecostalism, som ser Sønnen og Ånden som ulike framtredelsesformer for den éne Gud. I trosbevegelsen er dette kombinert med elementer fra mormonismen, og tanken er da at ved å tro som Gud skal mennesket binde Satan og sikre menneskets helse og lykke. I klassisk treenighetslære oppfattes forskjellen mellom Gud og menneske som absolutt, men likevel overvunnet gjennom inkarnasjonen. Når en erstatter dette med en modell hvor motsetningen mellom Gud og menneske tolkes i moralske kategorier, problematiseres det skapte, og målsetningen for menneskets utvikling blir frigjøring fra skaptheten
Det arbeides med reform av gudstjenesten i Den norske kirke. Arbeidet ledes av Nemnd for gudstjen... more Det arbeides med reform av gudstjenesten i Den norske kirke. Arbeidet ledes av Nemnd for gudstjenesteliv, som har status som rådgivende organ for Kirkerådet. Fem underutvalg har så fått ansvar for følgende deler av reformarbeidet: Gudstjenestenes rammer med vekt på inngang, utgang og forbønn, nye tekstrekker og tekstlesingens plassering i gudstjenesten, ny dåpsliturgi, ny nattverdliturgi og ny salmebok. En tenker seg en åpen og erfaringsbasert reformprosess og ivaretar dette ved å legge ut forslag på www.kirken.no for utprøving og debatt, og tenker seg at prosessen skal avsluttes ved innføring av nye liturgiske ordninger i 2010. Det følgende er et forsøk på å bidra til denne debatten ved å fokusere på de baerende teologiske motiver i reformarbeidet, saerlig slik disse kommer til uttrykk i arbeidet med gudstjenestenes inngang og utgang, dåp og nattverd. Det er også disse underkomiteen som i størst grad har lagt ut konkrete utkast på kirkens webside, utkast som for tiden også er under utprøving i enkelte menigheter. Det er naturlig å se på de konkrete endringsforslag i lys av de overordnede prinsipper for reformarbeidet slik disse kommer til uttrykk i et notat fra Nemnd for gudstjenesteliv fra 2004. De enkelte liturgier vil så bli kommentert i den form de har vaert til utprøving, og slik de fram til sommeren 2007 var tilgjengelige på kirkens web-side. Unntaket er dåpsliturgien, hvor bearbeidelsen av erfaringene fra prøveperioden allerede har ført til et revidert forslag av 21. juni 2007.
Studia Theologica - Nordic Journal of Theology, 1987
Language is a subtle and irreplaceable instrument of thought and speech. As such, it is the found... more Language is a subtle and irreplaceable instrument of thought and speech. As such, it is the foundation of cultural existence. But it is never merely a means of communication. A language always shapes the conception of reality for its users to a certain extent. In spite of a language's built-in ...
Teologisk tidsskrift, Jul 1, 2021
. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons CC-BY-NC 4.0... more . This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons CC-BY-NC 4.0 License.
Neue Zeitschrift für Systematische Theologie und Religionsphilosophie, Sep 8, 2020
Modern psychiatry has arguably been taken captive by the philosophical presuppositions of moderni... more Modern psychiatry has arguably been taken captive by the philosophical presuppositions of modernity to the extent that its descriptions of mental illness appear unstable and susceptible to misuse. Foucault pointed to Nicholas Cusanus as a possible alternative, and this suggestion is here taken as the point of departure for an investigation of how the understanding of the human as informed by the encounter with the eternal points us in the direction of a different understanding of reality. Kierkegaard stands in the same Neoplatonic tradition as Cusanus, but takes his approach one step further by investigating the psychopathology of disbelief through his work with anxiety and despair. The article argues that psychiatry has much to learn from a deeper engagement with this tradition.
Nicholas of Cusa and Times of Transition: Essays in Honor of Gerald Christianson (page proofs), 2018
Nicholas of Cusa (1401-1464) was active during the Renaissance, developing adventurous ideas even... more Nicholas of Cusa (1401-1464) was active during the Renaissance, developing adventurous ideas even while serving as a churchman. The religious issues with which he engaged – spiritual, apocalyptic and institutional – were to play out in the Reformation. These essays reflect the interests of Cusanus but also those of Gerald Christianson, who has studied church history, the Renaissance and the Reformation. The book places Nicholas into his times but also looks at his later reception. The first part addresses institutional issues, including Schism, conciliarism, indulgences and the possibility of dialogue with Muslims. The second treats theological and philosophical themes, including nominalism, time, faith, religious metaphor, and prediction of the end times.