To discuss the topic of Reincarnation is uncommon in Christian theology, especially since neither Protestant nor recent Catholic theology show much interest in eschatology. Yet i t is a stirring issue, of the greatest importance to any human individual. This is a sufficient reason to take it seriously, even more so in view of the growing number of psychological, thanatological and parapsycholog...

Computation has changed the world more than any previous expressions of knowledge. In its particular algorithmic embodiment, it offers a perspective, within which the digital computer (one of many possible) exercises a role reminiscent of theology. Since it is closed to meaning, algorithmic digital computation can at most mimic the creative aspects of life. AI, in the perspective of time, prove...

How to cite this article: Körtner, U.H.J., 2011, ‘Human dignity and biomedical ethics from a Christian theological perspective’, HTS Teologiese Studies/Theological Studies 67(3), Art. #953, 8 pages. doi:10.4102/hts.v67i3.953 The argument of human dignity plays an important role in current debates on human rights and their relevance in modern biomedicine. When discussing the contribution of Chri...

Famous medieval philosophers Al-Sijistani and Maimonides argued that the use of double negation helps us to better understand issues related to theology. To a modern reader, however, their arguments are somewhat obscure and unclear. We show that these arguments can be drastically clarified if we take into account the 20 century use of double negation in constructive logic. 1 Double Negation The...

Neither the Ash‘arites nor Kierkegaard’s systems of theology are anti-rational, for Kierkegaard regards the contradiction present in the object of faith as absolute rather than logical, suggesting thereby the existential dialectics for understanding this contradiction instead of resolving it. The Ash‘arites also hold that one can understand the existence of God through absolute reason, or reaso...

In the past few decades there has been a growing controversy in society and in the Church over evolution and the age of the earth. Some Christians accept the idea of billions of years, as taught by the scientific establishment, while others contend that Scripture requires that we believe that creation is only a few thousand years old. Systematic theology texts are influential in this debate as ...

ONE IMPORTANT BUT OFTEN NEGLECTED CONSEQUENCE OF THE FERMENT IN ROman Catholic moral theology since the close of the Second Vatican Council (1965) has been the gradual displacement of the traditional categories for distinguishing Roman Catholic from protestant approaches to moral matters. While obvious differences still divide “moral theology” and “Christian ethics” (the traditional terms of th...

Maurizio Lazzarato argues that contemporary capitalism functions through two central apparatuses: Social subjection and machinic enslavement. Social subjection equips individuals with a subjectivity, assigning them identities, sexes, bodies, professions, and other markers of identity, along with a sense of their own individual agency within society. Machinic enslavement arises out of the growin...

I. Basic Beliefs of Islam. Before taking up the subject of Islamic theology proper I should like, by way of introduction, to outline the basic religious beliefs which are common to all Muslims. As you may know, Islam was founded by the Prophet Muh.ammad in the Arabian Peninsula in the first quarter of the seventh century. At the age of forty the Prophet began to receive certain revelations whic...