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AR 26:8 - When did the church first view Jesus as God?
In this issue:
ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE - Is the mystification of AI detracting us from its real dangers?
CHRISTOLOGY - "How the early Christians used the Greek kyrios and what this title meant when they applied it to Jesus"
CRITICAL THEORY - "an excellent resource" on the topic of racism?
Apologia Report 26:8 (1,513)
February 24, 2021
ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE
"AI as a theological-humanistic challenge" -- short presentations <www.bit.ly/36XGSMh> on AI from four systematic theologians at the Toronto School of Theology and two humanities colleagues at the University of Toronto (Toronto Journal of Theology, 36:1 - 2020). In particular, some abstracts:
* - "Artificial Intelligence as a Theological Challenge" by Gordon Ambrose Rixon (pp78-80) - "Building on Brian Cantwell Smith's distinction between computational reckoning and intentional judgment in the three-step development of artificial intelligence, remarks are offered that assess the strengths and limitations of artificial intelligence in the formulation of hypotheses about the natural, human, and religious dimensions of world process."
* - "Artificial Intelligence: Three Challenges to Theology" by Christopher Craig Brittain (pp84-86) - "The emergence of artificial intelligence raises substantial and, for many, uncomfortable questions about the future of human society and existence itself. Such concerns relate to three areas of theological significance: the doctrines of the imago Dei, Providence, and ethical issues impacting on human labour and community. This paper offers brief reflection on each of these in turn and argues that it is the third area of concern that represents the greatest challenge to the Christian theological tradition."
* - "Assessing Artificial Intelligence" by Susan K. Wood (pp87-89) - "A contribution to a panel on artificial intelligence at Trinity College [unable to confirm link(s)] on January 21, 2020, this essay assesses artificial intelligence in terms of moral agency, particularly the impact of the distance between the moral agency of the operator and the effect of the moral action; the separation between computational intelligence and an insufficient or missing emotional intelligence; the power differential it establishes between those who have the knowledge and skill to exploit AI and those who do not; and, finally, its utilitarian intent, which bypasses the spiritual and transcendental dimension of the human person."
* - "Artificial Intelligence and Ultimate Questions" by Brian Cantwell Smith (pp90-92) - "It is argued that while current AI systems excel at a kind of calculative rationality, deeper levels of human judgment remain far beyond technical implementation. To understand the situation, though, requires rejecting the traditional framing of the debate in terms of a 'human' versus 'machine' dialectic. Instead, we need to develop a nuanced map of intelligence's kinds, in terms of which to ask what kinds of intelligence AIs have at the moment and are likely to have in the future, and what kinds people have now and what kinds we are likely to develop in the future."
* - "The Dangers of Mystifying Artificial Intelligence and Robotics" by Teresa Heffernan (pp93-95) - "From the outset, the field of artificial intelligence (AI) has been steeped in myth and magic, distracting us from the real threat of this technology. Promising miracles, Big Tech has amassed wealth and power by colonizing and privatizing the material world and restructuring labour. From the erosion of democracy, to data theft, to invasive surveillance, to the automation of bias, to tax-evasion, the world run by corporate-owned machines is proving to be anything but 'magical.'"
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CHRISTOLOGY
The Divine Christ, by David B. Capes [1] is reviewed by Trey Moss <www.bit.ly/3aJQ9ZD> in the Southern Baptist Journal of Theology (24:2 - 2020, pp194-8), wherein he explains that Capes <www.bit.ly/3qTgPxS> summarizes "how scholarship has understood Paul's use of kyrios [Lord] and centers his discussion around the work of Wilhelm Bousset [1865—1920]. According to Bousset in his massively influential work Kyrios Christos [2], the title kyrios was not commonly ascribed to Jesus until Christianity came to flourish within a Hellenistic context. ... Bousset argued the kyrios title is used by Paul and Greco-Roman political and religious contexts identically. In response, Capes cautions against stating parallels exist when there is little or no influence evident. ... Bousset argues the strong monotheism among the early Palestinian Christian communities would have deterred any reference to Jesus as kyrios in a way that could have been associated with the God of Israel. ... Capes concludes, 'Given Paul's own religious practices, which included confessing and hymning the lordship of Jesus, and the inclusive nature of pre-Christian Jewish monotheism, the claim by Bousset and others that Jewish monotheism itself would have precluded the use of the kyrios title for Jesus seems implausible.' ...
"Capes observes that even in statements we might overlook Paul connects Jesus 'profoundly with the covenant name of God.' ...
"Paul's use of YHWH texts to refer in context to both God the Father and Jesus demonstrates that the two figures are intimately connected, and Paul has specific reasons for referring to either God or Jesus as Lord. ... Capes' analysis shows that Paul can apply the same YHWH text to both Christ and God the Father depending on the context. ... What is striking from Capes' analysis is that Jesus was clearly identified as Lord in the context of the liturgical practices of the early church, which is clearly reminiscent of the worship of God described in the temple. ...
"While a handful of Dead Sea Scrolls do attribute the actions of other persons to OT texts which describe the actions of YHWH, they do not consistently apply those texts to one person, nor can they be understood as the work of one individual as in the case of Paul's letters. Capes then explores how his analysis of Paul's exegesis of YHWH texts relates to other recent 'High Christology' proposals from [Larry] Hurtado, [James] Dunn (a dissenting voice), [Richard] Bauckham, and [N.T.] Wright. Paul's own Christology, Capes argues, as evident by his exegesis of the OT YHWH texts, was propelled by his own experiences of the risen Christ. Capes sees resonances of Paul's own exegesis within the Gospel accounts as they recount the impact of Jesus upon his own early followers." <www.bit.ly/3j9Sv7Q>
According to his review in the Stone-Campbell Journal (23:2 - 2020, n.p.) J. Robert Ross <www.bit.ly/36XdnKD> finds that Capes "explores the answer to the question, when did the followers of Jesus begin to think of him as divine....? Instead of simply using the later Johannine texts that point to the church's faith in the deity of Christ, Capes undertakes an intensive study of the use of YHWH by the authors of the New Testament. He shows NT texts that refer to Jesus as Christ and as Lord often quote or refer to the Hebrew texts that use the divine name and thus apply the divine name to Christ himself. ...
"Capes develops a foundation for his conclusions with a detailed explanation of how the Jews began to use the Hebrew word adonai, LORD, as a vocalization when reading the YHWH texts and how this practice was incorporated into early English translations of the Old Testament. ...
"He explores how the early Christians used the Greek kyrios and what this title meant when they applied it to Jesus. ...
"Following Bousett, many twentieth century scholars concluded that for the earliest Palestinian Christians, calling Jesus 'Lord' had nothing to do with his divinity or their worship of him as divine. However, Capes demonstrates that even the first Palestinian Christians believed that Jesus deserved to be worshiped ... as LORD, the embodiment of YHWH described in OT texts, deity itself." <www.https://bit.ly/2LymcDl>
See also this helpful 2012 blog post by late New Testament scholar (and Christological specialist) Larry Hurtado <www.bit.ly/3skVP3w>, in which he comments on Bousset's much-contested views.
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CRITICAL RACE THEORY
Good White Racist?: Confronting Your Role in Racial Injustice, by Kerry Connelly [3] -- Jackson Wu's review in Themelios (45:3 - 2020) begins by explaining that Connelly "poses a serious question; it is no mere provocation. And, yes, Connelly suggests that someone can be both good and racist. Not recognizing this tension, she says, is one reason why racism persists. ... Her thesis depends on the meaning of key words, which she defines clearly. ... As a white woman, she suggests that racism in 'good' people typically is implicit, unconscious bias. The book explains how this leads to 'institutional racism,' 'individual racism,' and 'systemic racism.'
"Connelly writes in a candid but not condescending tone. In fact, she likens racism among whites to an alcoholic in recovery. ...
"Although a relatively short work, Good White Racist? examines a wide spectrum of issues and objections. ... [S]he suggests that shame and the silence about racism are intertwined. Her book attempts to break that cycle of silence and shame.
"Certainly, most readers will find something in the book that they find misguided or flat out wrong. This reviewer objected to several of the author's points. However, many of her more contentious claims are stated in passing and do not undermine her main arguments. ... She urges us to remember that 'peacemaking is not peacekeeping.'
"The most significant criticism of Connelly's book is the degree to which her work may be influenced too strongly by critical theory, a perspective that pits society into two groups, the privileged and the oppressed. ... Much of what she says could be framed in terms of implicit biases rather than entrenched social hostilities.
"For those who want to engage the topic of racism, this book is an excellent resource. Connelly presents her case with succinct clarity. Her tone strikes a good balance between winsome and challenging. She does not devolve into partisanship. Good White Racist? is written with Christians in mind. ...
"Connelly writes as a white person for white people. This enables her to anticipate the defensiveness of potential readers." Wu <jacksonwu.org> recommends a number of other resources as well. <wwww.bit.ly/36YjtKO>
However, on her blog Connelly describes herself as a writer, coach, speaker, leadership consultant, and "mystic" who, in the wake of her disappointing seminary experience, "laid out all those glittering pieces" of her faith so she could "re-order them. I took out the bull***t and replaced it with the beauty of what I'd learned in quantum physics, from Eastern Orthodoxy, from the apocrypha, from the feminine divine. And what I discovered was a perfect representation of my experience of God, and it was mystical and delicious." <www.bit.ly/3qPfKXI>
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SOURCES: Monographs
The Divine Christ: Paul, the Lord Jesus, and the Scriptures of Israel, by David B. Capes (Baker, 2018, paperback, 224 pages) <www.amzn.to/3jx7k4C>
Kyrios Christos: A History of the Belief in Christ from the Beginnings of Christianity to Irenaeus, by Wilhelm Bousset (Baylor Univ Prs, rev ed., 2013, paperback, 516 pages) <www.amzn.to/3cQcE1H>
Good White Racist?: Confronting Your Role in Racial Injustice, by Kerry Connelly (Westminster JK Prs, 2020, paperback, 184 pages) <www.amzn.to/2OpoTrR>
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