Papers by Hermen Kroesbergen
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Anthropos
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International Journal for Philosophy of Religion, 2022
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HTS Teologiese Studies / Theological Studies, 2020
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Philosophical Investigations, 2019
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Zygon®, 2018
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Neue Zeitschrift für Systematische Theologie und Religionsphilosophie, 2016
SummaryThis article deals with the question whether it is a problem to use a static imagery of vo... more SummaryThis article deals with the question whether it is a problem to use a static imagery of vocation. Four relatively recent systematic theological monographs by Volf, Badcock, Schuurman and Hahnenberg on the topic of vocation criticize the idea that God in heaven has a blueprint for every individual life. This static imagery is assumed to be too uniform, too passive and too conservative to suit the modern way of life. It will be shown, however, that these consequences do not necessarily follow. A static imagery of vocation may be applied in a pluralist, active, transformative world; and the proposed alternative of a dynamic imagery of gifts may lead to uniform, passive and conservative living. Therefore, theologians should distinguish between a picture and how it is used. In the final paragraph it will be argued that the imagery of vocation does not need to be salvaged from its static nature, since, the more static features our concept of vocation has, the more dynamic its use m...
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HTS Teologiese Studies / Theological Studies, 2014
The controversy about the importance of eco-theology or creation spirituality seems to be in a de... more The controversy about the importance of eco-theology or creation spirituality seems to be in a deadlock. Those who support it and those who oppose it do not even seem to be able to communicate with one another. On the one hand, Celia Deane-Drummond, for example, writes in her Eco-theology (2008:x): ‘I find it astonishing that courses on eco-theology do not exist in many university departments of theology and religious studies.’ Matthew Fox desperately asks in his Creation spirituality (1991:xii): ‘Need I list the [environmental] issues of our day that go virtually unattended to in our culture?’ On the other hand, evangelical Christians are known for their ecological ‘blind spot’ (Davis 2000), until recently at least. Pentecostal proponents of the prosperity gospel preach a consumer-lifestyle for all Christians, which is not very eco-friendly (cf. Kroesbergen 2013). Even in more mainline Christianity we find, for example, the well-known theologian Robert Jenson who writes in his Syst...
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The Language of Faith in Southern Africa: Spirit World, Power, Community, Holism, 2019
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Journal of Southern African Studies, 2018
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Religions, 2019
Religion in Africa is in many respects becoming religion without belief and community again, I wi... more Religion in Africa is in many respects becoming religion without belief and community again, I will argue in this article. Europeans arriving in Africa did not recognize African religion, because Africans did not have the kind of belief and community characteristic of European concepts of religion. Pentecostalization brings back this African concept of religion without worship groups defined by an adherence to a particular picture of the world, and I will show what this means at grassroots level. What matters in this concept of religion is whether something works rather than some implied truth-claims about the world. Instead of forming groups, Neo-Pentecostal ministries are more often organized around the vertical relationship between the man/woman of God and his/her client. The Pentecostalization of Christianity in Africa has led to a form of religion in which beliefs and community are not of central importance.
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The Language of Faith in Southern Africa: Spirit World, Power, Community, Holism, 2019
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The Language of Faith in Southern Africa: Spirit World, Power, Community, Holism, 2019
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The Language of Faith in Southern Africa: Spirit World, Power, Community, Holism, 2019
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The Language of Faith in Southern Africa: Spirit World, Power, Community, Holism, 2019
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HTS Teologiese Studies/Theological Studies
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Utafiti
Wittgensteinian philosophy is needed to make sense of the strange practices in neo-Pentecostal re... more Wittgensteinian philosophy is needed to make sense of the strange practices in neo-Pentecostal religion that have been in the news in recent years. Other philosophical approaches have argued that spirits and miracles are fake, or real, or reasonable; but this misses the important question of what kind of reality is at stake here. The Wittgensteinian practice of providing hints and reminders clarifies the kind of reality that is implied in a particular context on a deeper level. By introducing this ethnographically informed philosophical approach, it can be shown that the kind of reality involved in this strange religion is that of a response to experiences of a world full of contingency, uncertainty, and chance.
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HTS Teologiese Studies / Theological Studies
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Papers by Hermen Kroesbergen