Ivana Noble

Embodied in the Landscape: How Places We Inhabit Shape Our Theology

František Štěch

Here I Am: A Prolegomena to Theology of the Landscape

Marion L. S. Carson

Sheer Grace: Psalm 88, Depression and the Dark Night of the Spirit

Michaela Vlčková

Human Body and 'Landscape Body' as Determining Factors of Liturgical Celebrating as a Ritual Activity: Theological and Anthropological Meanings

Viorel Coman

Dumitru Stăniloae's Theology of the World: Reflections on the Margins of the Relationship Between Humankind and Creation

Anne Marie Reijnen

Landscapes of the Spirit in the African American Experience: From the Lonesome Valley through the Deep River and the Mountaintop

Tim Noble

'The Mind Has Mountains': Gerard Manley Hopkins, Landscape and Poetry

Jan Lamser

Book review: Jürgen Moltmann, Hoffnung für eine unfertige Welt

Author:

Ivana Noble

Abstract:

The article examines where the modern concept of landscape came from and how it developed to hear both a physical and a symbolic meaning, associated in theology with the interrelationship between human beings, nature and God. Through close readings ofthe biblical and theological texts operating with the neighbouring images, such as the earth, the garden and the land, it examines various modes of human beings’ relationship to their surrounding and through that to God, various interplays between nature, culture and eschatology. It shows why speaking about landscape (both physical and symbolic) is outside ofproperty relations and how it helps in addressing issues of human and ecological solidarity. While the article pleadsfor human responsibility in relation to otherpeople, nature and God, it also shows that such responsibility is possible because the divine creative energies continue to flow to this world, because Messiah comes to restore the broken forms of communion among people, nature and God, and the Spirit transforms us and accompanies us as we cooperate with the messianic work.

Keywords:

Creation - ecology - eschatology - landscape - earth - garden - Garden of Eden - land - Promised Land.

Cite As:

Noble, Ivana. “Embodied in the Landscape: How Places We Inhabit Shape Our Theology.” Communio Viatorum 59, no. 2 (December 31, 2017): 130–47.

Author:

František Štěch

Abstract:

Theology of the landscape represents one of the possible ways of the human search for God. In this article, I argue that people usually perceive their life not only in the context of the nature, environment, landscape or places they live in, but also in relation to reality transcending the immanence ofthe world. Therefore, the introductory passage deals with the biblical uhere I am” phrase, which refers to one's own complete context, to the specific place within a network ofmultiple relationships. One ofthem is certainly a relationship of human beings to nature, living together in the landscape that is a metaphor oftheir mutual coexistence, a space oftheir mutual dialogue and creative encounter. Therefore, landscape could be seen as space organizedfrom places where religious experience is lived and interpreted. Consequently, thefirstpart ofmy article asksfor a deeper understanding ofthe human -landscape relationship, and the second offers a preliminary thought on the theology ofthe landscape. Landscape is presented theologically as a liturgical space, where salvific revelation is perceived, incarnation is lived, resurrection confessed and the eschatological coming expected. Landscape is the space where God - Father, Son and the Holy Spirit-is invoked and experienced.

Keywords:

Landscape - theology - humanity - place - experience.

Cite As:

Štěch, František. “Here I Am: A Prolegomena to Theology of the Landscape.” Communio Viatorum 59, no. 2 (December 31, 2017): 148–59.

Author:

Marion L. S. Carson

Abstract:

The innerlandscape described in Psalm 88 is one ofterrifying inner darkness, devoid ofa sense ofcomfort or hope. As a result, the Psalm is often neglected as a resource for pastoral care and spiritual direction. It is the view ofSt John ofthe Cross, however; that this Psalm presents an example ofthe “dark night of the spirit ”. Adopting this interpretation as a hermeneutical tool, this article considers how Psalm 88 might he used to help people who are going through an experience of extreme spiritual dislocation and distress.

Keywords:

Psalm 88 - St John of the Cross - Biblical Hermeneutics - depression.

Cite As:

Carson, Marion L S. “Sheer Grace: Psalm 88, Depression and the Dark Night of the Spirit.” Communio Viatorum 59, no. 2 (December 31, 2017): 160–76.

Author:

Michaela Vlčková

Abstract:

The aim ofthis study is to searchfor the context ofshaping the liturgical space and liturgy as a ritual activity with the perception ofthe human body and the landscape. Itfocuses on the meaning ofthe human body and corporalityfortheformation ofsymbolic action in the liturgy and the role ofthe concept ofthe arrangement ofthe universefor the liturgy and the formation of the liturgical space. It examines the relationship ofthe physical landscape and the liturgy and points out the limitation of the liturgical celebration to “the world inside ” that deserves reflection and the seeking of ways to overcome this historic and culturally-based dualism.

Keywords:

Liturgy - landscape - body - space - ritual.

Cite As:

Vlčková, Michaela. “Human Body and ‘Landscape Body’ as Determining Factors of Liturgical Celebrating as a Ritual Activity: Theological and Anthropological Meanings.” Communio Viatorum 59, no. 2 (December 31, 2017): 177–88.

Author:

Viorel Coman

Abstract:

This article explores Dumitru Stäniloae’s understanding of the relationship between creation and humankind in light of the idea that the world we inhabit is a theophany, gift, and sacrament. In so doing, the article argues that Stäniloae ’s theology of creation drew inspirationfrom his childhood existence in Vlâdeni/Transylvania, where the solidary between humans and creation, as well as the sense of sacred permeating the world were essential components ofthe rural life.

Keywords:

Orthodox theology - Dumitru Stäniloae - creation - sacramentality - nationalism.

Cite As:

Coman, Viorel. “Dumitru Stăniloae’s Theology of the World: Reflections on the Margins of the Relationship between Humankind and Creation.” Communio Viatorum 59, no. 2 (December 31, 2017): 189–209.

Author:

Anne Marie Reijnen

Abstract:

The African American religious experience may he the best exemple ofa faith shaped by places. After the brutal loss ofthe African place ofbirth, the captives were deprived oftheir original cultures, and the 'natural world' took on great importance. The enslaved gradually adopted and adapted Christianity. It was a creative process which resulted in a novelform ofthe faith, classical yet highly original, infused by 'soul' and 'rhythm'. As a part ofthe appropriation, the Scriptures heard rather than read, atfirst, became the drivingforce of the hope and the struggle: the “fusion ofhorizons “ (Gadamer) allowed the Black believersto see the biblicalriver Jourdan, the desert, and the mountaintops in their own actual landscapes. The deep river beckons with redemption and concrete escape. To conclude, we pay tribute to James Baldwins strong ambivalentfeelings about the Black church.

Keywords:

Spirituals - African American religion - fusion of horizons - Deep River - James Baldwin.

Cite As:

Reijnen, Anne Marie. “Landscapes of the Spirit in the African American Experience: From the Lonesome Valley through the Deep River and the Mountaintop.” Communio Viatorum 59, no. 2 (December 31, 2017): 210–23.

Author:

Tim Noble

Abstract:

This article examines the use made by English Jesuit poet, Gerard Manley Hopkins (1844-1889) ofimages oflandscape. Itfirst gives a briefsummary ofHopkins' ideas ofinscape and instress, and then through three poems, “As kingfishers catch fire", “Ribblesdale", and “No worst", it shows how Hopkins uses the external landscape to talk about the human condition before God. The article demonstrates thatfor Hopkins the human being, created by God to praise, reverence and serve the creator, is embodied in a wider creation that hasthe same end.

Keywords:

Gerard Manley Hopkins - poetry and theology - embodiment-inscape - instress.

Cite As:

Noble, Tim. “‘The Mind Has Mountains’: Gerard Manley Hopkins, Landscape and Poetry.” Communio Viatorum 59, no. 2 (December 31, 2017): 224–35.

Author:

Jan Lamser

Abstract:

Review of the book: MOLTMANN, Jürgen. Hoffnung für eine unfertige Welt . Ostfildern : Patmos Verlag, 2016. ISBN: 978-3-8436-0755-1.

Cite As:

Lamser, Jan. Book review: Jürgen Moltmann, “Hoffnung Für Eine Unfertige Welt.” Communio Viatorum 59, no. 2 (December 31, 2017): 236–41.