Re: Ray!
Submitted by Ray on January 30 2000 at 22:09:42
In reply to Ray! Submitted by Bach on January 28 2000 at 20:02:17
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Since you asked, Bach (though only half are theology :-) -- and this is since the middle of December): James B. Nelson Embodiment: An Approach to Sexuality and Christian Theology Minneapolis, Minnesota: Augsburg Publishing House, 1978 Sexual Ethics and the Church: After the Revolution A Christian Century Symposium. Introduction and Conclusion by James B. Nelson, 1989 Daniel A. Helminiak, Ph.D. What the Bible Really Says About Homosexuality San Francisco, CA: Alamo Square Press, 1994 Daniel A. Helminiak The Human Core of Spirituality:Mind as Psyche and Spirit Albany, NY: State Universtiy of New York Press, 1996 Daniel A. Helminiak Religion and the Human Sciences: An Approach via Spirituality Albany, NY: State University of New York Press, 1998 John J. McNeill Taking a Chance on God: Liberating Theology for Gays, Lesbians, and Their Lovers, Families, and Friends Boston: Beacon Press, 1988, 1996 Just started the last one tonight! Was going to write some about the theosis thread down the list a bit, but can't do it briefly! Daniel Helminiak talks about it in the 1996 and 1998 books: The term for deification, coined by the Greek Fathers of the Christian Church , is theosis. So I call discussion about the possibility of human deification "theotics," the study of deification. This special term points out that discussion of human deification is not the same thing as simple discussion of God the Creator. Judaism and Islam, for example, believe in God, but they pursue no discussion about human participation in divinity. They present a theology without a theotics. Human deification is a question different from the God question. Theotics is another specialized discipline in comparison to theology. (Helminiak, 1996, p. 17) In the 1998 book he writes (p. 126, italics from the book): Theotic is the adjectival form of the noun theosis ... . Literally, it means the process of becoming godlike. The study or treatment of this process would be called theotics and a person engaged in such treatment would be a theotician. I use the term theotics in contrast to theology. Working within the theist viewpoint, theology limits its concern to God as Creator and to the universe as created. In my differentiated usage theology does not concern itself with the further question about the possibility of human participation in qualities proper only to the Creator-God of the Universe. The pursuit of systematic explanation whose focus is human deification is science within the theotic viewpoint. I read that last Wednesday morning and decided that's what I want to do when I grow up, be a theotician! Bach, do you know of any paying jobs for a theotician? And if you happen to find one, will it hold until I'm finished dealing with two older sisters in nursing homes? Actually, I found the theory presented in those two books to be the most valuable reading I've done in a long time. He's presenting a basis for understanding spirituality outside of religion (germane to psychology), for theology and theotics as science and for interdiciplinary human science. Thanks for asking! Ray |