For the Life of the World / Yale Center for Faith & Culture

Does your approach to theology bring healing and reconciliation? Does it introduce Christianity as a way of life and peace, flourishing, justice, and shalom? Does your theology have space for diverse and difficult questions to occupy the same space? That kind of hospitable theology would indeed make a difference in our world. Today on the show, we're playing a conversation between Matt Croasmun and Amy Brown Hughes, Associate Professor of Theology at Gordon College and author of Christian Women in the Patristic World. Amy and Matt reflect on the promise and hope of a hospitable theology, grounded in a way of life, sensitive to the difference theology makes for the most pressing issues of our lives today.About Amy Brown HughesAmy Brown Hughes is Associate Professor of Theology at Gordon College. She received her Ph.D. in historical theology with an emphasis in early Christianity from Wheaton College and is the author (with Lynn H. Cohick, Wheaton College) of Christian Women in the Patristic World: Their Influence, Authority and Legacy in the Second Through Fifth Centuries (Baker Academic). Amy also received a M.A. in history of Christianity from Wheaton College and her B.A. in theology and historical studies from Oral Roberts University. While at Wheaton, she worked with the Wheaton Center for Early Christian Studies, which encourages dialogue about the interplay between our modern world and early Christian texts. The overarching theme of Amy’s work as a historical theologian is that early Christian writers continue to be fruitful interlocutors in modern discussions of theology. Her research interests include Eastern Christianity, Trinitarian and Christological thought, Christian asceticism, theological anthropology, the intersection of philosophy and theology, and highlighting the contributions of minority voices to theology, especially those of women. Her dissertation, “‘Chastely I Live for Thee’: Virginity as Bondage and Freedom in Origen of Alexandria, Methodius of Olympus, and Gregory of Nyssa,” explores how early Christian virgins contributed substantively to the development of Christology. She regularly presents papers at the annual meeting of the North American Patristics Society.Recently, Amy contributed to an edited volume of essays from a symposium on Methodius of Olympus at Friedrich Schiller University Jena, Germany,Methodius of Olympus: State of the Art and New Perspectives(De Gruyter) and co-authored a series of essays about early Christian writers with George Kalantzis (Wheaton College) for the early Christianity section of a volume for Protestant readers of the Christian tradition (T&T Clark).Show NotesBrown Hughes’s experience with theology students: “they're making the connection now much more than I've experienced in the past with, oh, this actually has to matter.”A growing hunger for theology in churches: “The stuff that I do is not only mattering pedagogically in the academy for students, but also with the church as well, that it's starting to be something that they're starting to, like, want books and they want things recommended to them.”A discussion of one challenge in modern theology: an inclination for saying "I have more theology on my side or more on this side. And so therefore I'm more right.”A vision of theology: “I feel like theology can be a really hospitable place for people to actually access Christianity, where there are some big ideas and some values there that we can talk about.”Brown Hughes’s vision of a participatory theology focused on the flourishing of life: “with the United Nation's global goals, for instance like gender equality, no poverty, these different goals, they're worldwide conversations about how humans can flourish, largely speaking. So how can theology with how we think about humanity--how can we participate in those conversations? And I think that sort of requiring ourselves to think, "can we actually participate in that conversation" and say, "yes, I think we can." So how can we do that? Like what can we bring to bear on the conversation of eradicating poverty in the world?”Learn more about Gregory of NyssaA summary of the field: “theology's a little bit wilder, a little bit messier, but I think that's actually an opportunity for the future.”Production NotesThis podcast featured Amy Brown Hughes and Matt CroasmunEdited and Produced by Evan RosaHosted by Evan RosaA Production of the Yale Center for Faith & Culture at Yale Divinity School https://faith.yale.edu/aboutSupport For the Life of the World podcast by giving to the Yale Center for Faith & Culture: https://faith.yale.edu/give

If we all weren't so cynical, we might expect professional ethicists—or say a professor of ethics or morality at a university—to also be a really morally virtuous and good person. And by extension, you might also expect a theologian to be a person of deeper faith. And that's because intellectual reflection about matters of justice, right and wrong, God and human flourishing all cut to the core of what it means to be human, and the things you discuss in an ethics or theology course, if you took those ideas seriously, just might change the way you live.Today, in our series on the Future of Theology, Matt Croasmun hosts Eric Gregory, Professor of Religion at Princeton University and author of Politics and the Order of Love: An Augustinian Ethic of Democratic Citizenship. Eric reflects on what it's like to teach theology in a secular institution—the good, the bad, and the ugly of that exercise; the complications of making professors of humanities, ethics, and religion into moral or spiritual exemplars; the centrality of the good life in the purpose of higher education; and the importance of discerning and articulating the multifarious visions of the good life that are presumed by the institutional cultures in which we live, and move, and have our being.About Eric GregoryEric Gregory is Professor of Religion at Princeton University. He is the author of Politics and the Order of Love: An Augustinian Ethic of Democratic Citizenship (University of Chicago Press, 2008), and articles in a variety of edited volumes and journals, including the Journal of Religious Ethics, Modern Theology, Studies in Christian Ethics, and Augustinian Studies. His interests include religious and philosophical ethics, theology, political theory, law and religion, and the role of religion in public life. In 2007 he was awarded Princeton’s President’s Award for Distinguished Teaching. A graduate of Harvard College, he earned an M.Phil. and Diploma in Theology from the University of Oxford as a Rhodes Scholar, and his doctorate in Religious Studies from Yale University. He has received fellowships from the Erasmus Institute, University of Notre Dame, the Safra Foundation Center for Ethics, Harvard University, the National Endowment for the Humanities, and The Tikvah Center for Law & Jewish Civilization at New York University School of Law. Among his current projects is a book tentatively titled, The In-Gathering of Strangers: Global Justice and Political Theology, which examines secular and religious perspectives on global justice. Former Chair of the Humanities Council at Princeton, he also serves on the the editorial board of the Journal of Religious Ethics and sits with the executive committee of the University Center for Human Values.Show Notes“Part of the virtue of the humanities, I think, is to kind of dislocate us and to kind of allow us to inhabit different worlds than the ones that we have prior to encountering these texts.”“There is a kind of healthy way in which unifying or directing the task of theology with respect to a particular vision of that good life that will be fleshed out in different ways by different theologies is one way to find a place for the discourse of theology.”“Universities are not just places of the production of information, but are also sites where people seek to ask questions about how they should live. And if universities can't do that, it's very difficult in our current culture to find spaces of reflection that allow that possibility.”“[Universities should have] a desire to shape whole persons and to not just view education as a commodity that we are delivering to customers, but to kind of reconsider what a liberal arts education might look like.”Production NotesThis podcast featured religious ethicist Eric Gregory and biblical scholar Matt CroasmunEdited and Produced by Evan RosaHosted by Evan RosaA Production of the Yale Center for Faith & Culture at Yale Divinity School https://faith.yale.edu/aboutSupport For the Life of the World podcast by giving to the Yale Center for Faith & Culture: https://faith.yale.edu/give

Ryan McAnnally-Linz reflects on the May 24, 2022 school shooting in Uvalde, Texas.

Miroslav Volf has said that every Christian is a theologian. This is important not so much because it demands of an individual Jesus-follower to exert the best of her cognitive abilities, but because it demands of theologians that theology take seriously the experience, perception, and lived realities of human life. As part of our Future of Theology series, Keri Day (Princeton Theological Seminary) joins Matt Croasmun to discuss the purpose and promise of theology today, honing in on this phenomena and the temptation to see theology as an abstract exercise cut off from the particularities of faith. Keri Day is Associate Professor of Constructive Theology and African American Religion at Princeton Theological Seminary. She’s author of Unfinished Business: Black Women, The Black Church, and the Struggle to Thrive in America as well as Religious Resistance to Neoliberalism: Womanist and Black Feminist Perspectives. About Keri DayKeri Day is Associate Professor of Constructive Theology and African American Religion at Princeton Theological Seminary. She’s author of Unfinished Business: Black Women, The Black Church, and the Struggle to Thrive in America as well as Religious Resistance to Neoliberalism: Womanist and Black Feminist Perspectives. Production NotesThis podcast featured Keri Day and Matt CroasmunEdited and Produced by Evan RosaHosted by Evan RosaProduction Assistance by Nathan Jowers and Annie TrowbridgeEpisode Art by Luke StringerA Production of the Yale Center for Faith & Culture at Yale Divinity School https://faith.yale.edu/aboutSupport For the Life of the World podcast by giving to the Yale Center for Faith & Culture: https://faith.yale.edu/give

Jesus's teaching to be in but not of the world (John 17:14-15) has gone from a mode of prophetic witness that could lead to martyrdom, to bumper sticker ethics that either feeds the trolls or fuels the tribe. We're in a moment where the ways that Christianity's influence on culture—and vice versa—are writ large and undeniable. And yet, how are we to understand it? How are we to live in light of it? How does that relationship change from political moment to political moment? In this conversation, ethicist Luke Bretherton (Duke Divinity School) joins Matt Croasmun to reflect on the purpose of theology as a way of life committed to loving God and neighbor; the essential virtue of listening and its role in public theology; the interrelation between Church and World; the temptation to see the other as an enemy to be defeated rather than a neighbor to be loved; and how best to understand secularism and religiosity today.Show Notes Do you call yourself a theologian? “You can't understand the water you're swimming in without understanding something of the theological frameworks that have helped shape it”Where does the idea that our contemporary context is secular come from? “The world is as furiously religious as ever”People think that our modern age is like a shower, that we can just “step into the shower and be washed clean from the foul accretions of superstition and step out enlightened, rational men and women,” but we're actually in a ‘jacuzzi’ of ideasThe internet and plurality of opinionWhat happens when we step away from the institutional framework of the Church?“Who tells the children what Christianity is, who tells the children, what Islam is?”Do you actually want to show up on a Sunday? Then tension between believing and belongingSacrality and its many guises “The many forms of life which we don't necessarily name as religious, but they're functioning in that way”How do we name them? If you talk to an atheist, they feel marginalized in this country, but if you talk to an Evangelical Christian they feel the same way “Everyone feels under threat, whether you're a humanist or an atheist or a Christian or Muslim”“But if you take the victim view, it generates a failure of imagination, a failure of patience, and a failure of paying attention”Churches talk a lot about how to speak but not about how to listen “What does Christian listening look like in a pluralistic context?”Learning something about God by talking to an atheistListening is pointing to what is already there: “We point to what Christ and the Spirit are already doing. And it is a privilege is to participate in that.”What is truth?“It is how well you love God and neighbor. And the apprehension of the truth is measured by the quality of the relationships”“So, I think faith begins with hearing and listening first”What’s right with theology? How can we have a synthesis of tradition and critique? Having a sensitivity to political order and whether it is constructive or destructive is theological work Epistemic humility and interdisciplinary study The beauty in becoming aware of what you don’t know What is the state of the field right now? The overemphasis on the hermeneutics of suspicion, and the world as it is versus the world as it should beCynicism and redundancy“If all we’re saying is that wolves eat sheep, well, we kind of knew that already”What is a realistic hopefulness? What does ‘the world as it should be’ feel, taste, smell like? What is the purpose of theology? It “articulates what it means to heal a particular form of life in the light of who we understand God to be”“There shouldn't be an over-inflation of what theology, as a technical act, does. But neither is it nothing”“It is a cultivation of a faithful, hopeful and loving way of being alive”About Luke BrethertonLuke Bretherton is Robert E. Cushman Distinguished Professor of Moral and Political Theology and senior fellow of the Kenan Institute for Ethics at Duke University. Before joining the Duke faculty in 2012, he was reader in Theology & Politics and convener of the Faith & Public Policy Forum at King's College London. His latest book is Christ and the Common Life: Political Theology and the Case for Democracy (Eerdmans, 2019). His other books include Resurrecting Democracy: Faith, Citizenship and the Politics of a Common Life (Cambridge University Press, 2015), which was based on a four-year ethnographic study of broad-based community organizing initiatives in London and elsewhere; Christianity & Contemporary Politics: The Conditions and Possibilities of Faithful Witness (Wiley-Blackwell, 2010), winner of the 2013 Michael Ramsey Prize for Theological Writing; and Hospitality as Holiness: Christian Witness Amid Moral Diversity (Routledge, 2006), which develops constructive, theological responses to pluralism in dialogue with broader debates in moral philosophy. Specific issues addressed in his work include euthanasia and hospice care, debt and usury, fair trade, environmental justice, racism, humanitarianism, the treatment of refugees, interfaith relations, secularism, nationalism, church-state relations, and the church’s involvement in social welfare provision and social movements. Alongside his scholarly work, he writes in the media (including The Guardian, The Times and The Washington Post) on topics related to religion and politics, has worked with a variety of faith-based NGOs, mission agencies, and churches around the world, and has been actively involved over many years in forms of grassroots democratic politics, both in the UK and the US. His primary areas of research, supervision, and teaching are Christian ethics, political theology, the intellectual and social history of Christian moral and political thought, the relationship between Christianity and capitalism, missiology, interfaith relations, and practices of social, political, and economic witness. He has received a number of grants and awards, including a Henry Luce III Fellowship (2017-18).Production NotesThis podcast featured ethicist Luke Bretherton and Matt CroasmunEdited and Produced by Evan RosaHosted by Evan RosaProduction & Editorial Assistance by Nathan Jowers and Annie TrowbridgeIllustration: Luke StringerA Production of the Yale Center for Faith & Culture at Yale Divinity School https://faith.yale.edu/aboutSupport For the Life of the World podcast by giving to the Yale Center for Faith & Culture: https://faith.yale.edu/give

Over the past two centuries, colleges have slowly replaced theology departments with religious studies departments. But what happens when theology becomes religious studies? It can produce a more neutral, observational approach that might not fully appreciate the normative claims of religious adherents and their values, commitments, and beliefs.A careful historical and objective study of religious history and the dimensions of religious practice are deeply valuable. But engaging religious texts and voices without a serious appreciation for the normative elements—that is, the things about a theological or religious idea that means your life would have to change—that would be a problem. It would evacuate the true substance and meaning of theological claims as they're experienced by religious adherents. But it would also fail to form students of religion and the humanities in a way that poses significant challenges to their own lived experience. For living a life worthy of their humanity.Today, we share a conversation between Tyler Roberts and Matt Croasmun from November 2016. Tragically, Roberts died at the age of 61 on June 3, 2021. He was Professor of Religious Studies at Grinnell College. In this conversation, Roberts reflects on the contribution of theology to the humanities, the role of religious studies in a critical examination of theology, and the importance of appreciating the kinds of theological and moral claims that can change your life. May his memory be a blessing. Show NotesWhat happens when theology becomes religious studies? Is serious appreciation missing? How does theology contribute to the humanities? What is going right in Christian theology? Scholars like say what they do ‘is not theology,’ but they have the wrong definition of theology, according to Tyler“We who care about studying religion have ‘dropped the ball’” “It’s helpful to the Church to have external critique”Theology as a straw man What could theology be saying to those outside of the field?“The line between theology as data and theology as something else is pretty blurry” Theology reveals how self-critical religious people are “More interestingly to me is how those of us in religious studies, perhaps the academy more broadly, can learn how to think from theologians” ‘Critical ascent’The humanities can raise great questions, but can they articulate normative positions? Theology and credulity “It’s seemingly either/or, either you’re going to be critical, or you’ll believe anything” How religious people appear credulous in the eyes of the secular But in actuality, theology charts out how we come to our beliefs“There’s nothing particularly blind about this”Hermeneutics of suspicion Students are very good at pointing to the limitations of a textBut how can we engage in texts in ways that make students think about their own lives? “That’s a much harder task, and it’s one that many students, I find, aren’t that comfortable with” It’s hard! “Humanities is about reading not just what was true for the author, but what is true for me” “How can we take these texts as real options for us?”Christian theology has an important role to play in the pluralistic conversationHow does someone think constructively and critically at the same time? How theologians can teach us that Obituary: Tyler Roberts (1960-2021) (Political Theology)Production NotesThis podcast featured Tyler Roberts and Matt CroasmunEdited and Produced by Evan RosaHosted by Evan RosaProduction Assistance by Nathan Jowers and Luke StringerA Production of the Yale Center for Faith & Culture at Yale Divinity School https://faith.yale.edu/aboutSupport For the Life of the World podcast by giving to the Yale Center for Faith & Culture: https://faith.yale.edu/give

"Real wars always begin with culture wars." Theologian Aristotle Papanikolaou discusses Eastern Orthodox perspectives on war and violence; the impact of Communism on Eastern Orthodox theology; the complicated ecclesial structures of Eastern Orthodoxy, where bishops, patriarchs, and nation-states interact in unpredictable ways; he reflects on Eastern Orthodoxy in Russia and Ukraine, the ways Christianity is enmeshed and caught up in the authoritarian, nationalist regime under Putin, and the idea of  "Russkii Mir" (the Russian world), which has come to motivate and justify a great deal of violence and aggression in the name of peace and unity.AboutAristotle Papanikolaou is Professor of Theology and the Archbishop Demetrios Chair in Orthodox Theology and Culture at Fordham University. He co-directs the Orthodox Christian Studies Center, and is author of The Mystical as Political: Democracy and Non-Radical Orthodoxy and has edited several volumes of Eastern Orthodox theological and political perspectives.Show NotesThe long, complicated relationship between Eastern Orthodoxy and Communism in the former Soviet UnionDavid Bentley Hart on Orthodoxy and Communism (NYT article)Eastern Orthodoxy on the ethics of war (book: Orthodox Christian Perspectives on War)What's a patriarch? What's a patriarchate?What does that mean for autonomy and power?How does Ukraine factor in Orthodox patriarchates?Autocephalous Ukrainian Church2022 Sunday of Forgiveness sermon. Kirill states: Russia promotes traditional values, Ukraine led astray by western liberals and Nazis.How does theology function in this conversation?"Russkii Mir" as a political idea: we're one people with a common heritage"To be Russian meant to be Orthodox."Russian "Democracy"Heresy of "Russkii Mir""A God given mission to save Ukrainians from themselves."Theology of HistoryFormal and Material levelsChristian faith is a trans-national faithGreece: "So in your country, are you Orthodox?"Saving UkrainiansLong-term implicationsDynamics within Orthodox ChurchThe hope for reconciliation: "that will take decades in my opinion"Culture warsVisit Public Orthodoxy onlineVisit Fordham's Orthodox Christian Studies CenterProduction NotesThis podcast featured theologians Aristotle Papanikolaou and Ryan McAnnally-LinzEdited and Produced by Evan RosaHosted by Evan RosaImage Credit: An Orthodox church in Malyn, Ukraine, northwest of Kyiv, destroyed by Russian warplanes. Miguel A Lopes/EPA, via ShutterstockA Production of the Yale Center for Faith & Culture at Yale Divinity School https://faith.yale.edu/aboutSupport For the Life of the World podcast by giving to the Yale Center for Faith & Culture: https://faith.yale.edu/give

What is the future of theology? We asked that question of several leading theologians 7 years ago, including today's featured guest, Katherine Sonderegger, The William Meade Chair of Systematic Theology at Virginia Theological Seminary, a priest in the Episcopal Church, and has written widely, covering Creation, Christology, Election, the Jewishness of Jesus...Her approach to theology is beautifully summed up in the following, “There really is no more beautiful thought in all reality than the thought of God. I believe that theology is ultimately just that: thinking the thought of God and worshipping the Reality who is God.”In this conversation, Katherine Sonderegger joins Matt Croasmun to discuss the importance of a free and unapologetic, unembarrassed approach to Christian theology; the interplay of Christian theology with other religious texts and pluralistic perspectives; the practice of peace, listening, and being knit together even in difference; the strong unity and center of theology, which is the capital-R Reality that is God, who is, in Sonderegger's words, "the great hope of theology."Show NotesWhat’s right with theology these days? Women and theology The relationship between Old Testament studies, New Testament studies, and theology“In the major universities, it is an odd thing to be a religious person”Intellectualism, depth and transcendence The relationship between Christianity and JudaismChristianity between Judaism and IslamWhat is central to Christianity? Ties between Christian faith and the secular realm“Religious people can bring our own reflections on wisdom, as well as folly” Thomas Aquinas and God ‘God and all things in relation to God’ Theology and thinking the sublime Theology is for exploration of God Intellectual worship of God Does theology have a center?Scripture and the mystery of God “I want to see theology losing itself in the ocean of reality”God’s abundance Galatians 5:14 “Love your neighbor as yourself,” Loving God through love of neighborAugustine: “Love God and do what you will” The future of the field of theology “God is the great hope of theology”indifference to religion The seminary graduates fill her with hope “If it is of God, it cannot fail” About Katherine Sonderegger Katherine Sonderegger is The William Meade Chair of Systematic Theology at Virginia Theological Seminary. She joined the VTS faculty in 2002, after fifteen years as a professor of religion at Middlebury College. Her academic career began at Smith College, where she undertook interdisciplinary research in medieval studies. Her priestly vocation began at Yale Divinity School, where she completed her M.Div. and STM degrees, writing a thesis on feminist theology. The first years after graduation brought her to congregational ministry and chaplaincy training at Yale New Haven Hospital. Raised a Presbyterian, the Reformed roots run deep in her vocation. She brought these into the Episcopal Church when she was ordained deacon and priest in 2000.Twin topics have characterized her academic career: the dogmatic theology of Karl Barth and constructive work in systematic theology. She has published in several areas of Barth studies, from Barth’s interpretation of Israel, Jews, and Judaism, to his Doctrine of God, his Christology, and his remarkable exegesis of Scripture. More recently, Sonderegger has turned to constructive theology, writing shorter works on the Doctrines of Election, Creation, and Christology, and launching a new systematics. Volume 1: The Doctrine of God appeared under the aegis of Fortress Press in 2015, and Volume 2: The Trinity: Processions and Persons was published in 2020. She is currently working on Volume 3: Divine Missions, Christology, and Pneumatology.Sonderegger is also the author of That Jesus Christ Was Born a Jew: Karl Barth’s “Doctrine of Israel” (University Park: Penn State Press, 1992) and coauthor, with artist Margaret Adams Parker, of Praying the Stations of the Cross: Finding Hope in a Weary Land (Wm. Eerdmans Press, 2019).Production NotesThis podcast featured theologian Katherine Sonderegger and biblical scholar Matthew CroasmunEdited and Produced by Evan RosaHosted by Evan RosaProduction and Editorial Assistance Nathan JowersA Production of the Yale Center for Faith & Culture at Yale Divinity School https://faith.yale.edu/aboutSupport For the Life of the World podcast by giving to the Yale Center for Faith & Culture: https://faith.yale.edu/give

Miroslav Volf offers his personal reflections about the war on Ukraine. His theological and ethical commentary speaks to various facets of the situation, including: the global cultural clash between authoritarian nationalism and pluralistic democracy; the primacy and priority of God's universal and unconditional love for all humanity, including evildoers; the call to actively resist evil and guard our humanity; the importance of truth in an age of disinformation and suppression of real facts; the need for Christians to remain "unreliable allies" with governments or parties while remaining faithful to the humanity in the friend, neighbor, stranger, and enemy; but ultimately his message is one to soberly—and dare I suggest joyfully, with unabashed hope—lift up our hearts (and the hearts of those suffering through war, dislocation, death, and destruction) to the Lord.Episode Art Provided by Fyodor Raychynets. "ні війні!" = "NO WAR!"Show Notes Gustavo Gutiérrez, On Job: God-Talk and the Suffering of the InnocentGustavo Gutierrez, The God of LifeMiroslav’s experience in Yugoslavia in the 90s and how it is reflected in UkraineThe theological dimension of the war in Ukraine “The war in Ukraine is part of a resurgence of nationalism as a global phenomenon”Two types of nationalism: exclusive nationalism, inclusive nationalism or patriotismRussian nationalism and the superiority of an ethnic group, the Russian Orthodoxy“What is the role of religion in the public sphere?"To what extent do Christians have stake in advocating for any position? The birth of Russian Orthodoxy in Kyiv The origins of faith and nation in Russia “Such close ties between religion and religious sacred spaces have made religion complicit in the violence of the state”Samuel Huntington, The Clash of Civilizations and the Remaking of World OrderHow Russian Orthodoxy is divided – the war is fought internally, rather than between Roman Catholicism + Protestantism and Orthodoxy on the other the division between The Orthodox Church of Ukraine and Muscovite Patriarchate is reflected in the divisions in global OrthodoxyThe struggle within Orthodoxy for primacy in MoscowGod is love“God does not simply love and therefore can love or not love, but God actually is love always and without exception. And therefore that the love of enemy is a central tenant of the Christian faith”Every single oppressed and suffering person and every single wrongdoer, no matter how heinous the crimes they've committed, every single individual is an object of God's unconditional love.”John 1:29  "The Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world"“in secular terms, we ought to respect the humanity of each person, even the worst among us, and that we ought to care for them”God's love for the weak and assaulted Love for the enemyHow does this fit with the idea of Jesus’ teaching on non-resistance? “Resistance against the aggressor can be, and I think ought to be, an expression of love, both for the victims of aggression and for the aggressor”The Just War Theory: there are different ways to transform an aggressor “I myself do not subscribe to Just War Theory”I think that any engagement with the enemy has to be led by the command of loveOliver O’Donovan and love of the enemy “The interest of the Christian faith is also interest in the good of the aggressor. And we cannot exempt the aggressor from the universality of the love of God”“It's crucial to keep careful watch over the state of our humanity. Evil is infectious, especially for those who struggle against it”Collective guilt“It has been said that truth is often the first victim of war”What is the place of emotions in war? Job and suffering“What's really interesting is that Job dares to speak to God. He brings his anger, his lament, his disappointment, all of this displaced before God”How truth can transform anger Psalm 137 “Blessed is the one who dashes your little ones against the rock”Karl Barth: “Christians and unreliable allies.” Their ultimate allegiance is to God, not to a political party Ron Williams: “God has no particular interest of God’s own”The strength of pluralistic democracies “One of the reasons for the rise of authoritarianism is a certain dysfunctionality of pluralistic democracies”Reconciliation One way to reconcile is to enforced peace and suppress war But reconciliation is a moral practice “Naming the wrong that has been committed and finding ways to go beyond that, to live together in peace"How to sustain hope in the midst of such overwhelming powers of evil"sursum corda,”"lift up your hearts," or more literally "hearts up!"Production NotesThis podcast featured theologian Miroslav VolfEdited and Produced by Evan RosaHosted by Evan RosaProduction Assistance by Martin Chan, Nathan Jowers, Logan Ledman, and Annie TrowbridgeA Production of the Yale Center for Faith & Culture at Yale Divinity School https://faith.yale.edu/aboutSupport For the Life of the World podcast by giving to the Yale Center for Faith & Culture: https://faith.yale.edu/give

Today we're sharing a conversation between Miroslav Volf and Fyodor Raychynets, a former student of Miroslav's when he taught at Evangelical Theological Seminary in Osijek, Croatia in the early '90s. Fyodor is a theologian and pastor in Kyiv, and is head of the department of theology at Ukrainian Evangelical Theological Seminary on the northwest outskirts of the city, 20 kilometers outside downtown Kyiv.We spoke to Fyodor on Sunday, March 13, 2022, just as he came in for the 8pm curfew after a day of feeding the elderly, the sick, weary soldiers, and women and children stuck in the basements without electricity, without clean water, without medication, and increasingly, without a clear idea of how any of this will end for them. That day Fyodor visited his seminary campus to find it had been shelled by three missiles, destroying much of the campus, including his office, leaving his library of books destroyed.In this conversation, Fyodor shares his experience, now after 20 days of war, 20 days of being under siege, and 20 days of prayer and feeding the hungry.Fyodor posts daily updates and reflections on his Facebook page, you can find a link in the show notes. Each daily post begins with developments in the war and how it's impacting him, his team of fellow ministers, and the city around him. He then reflects on the nature of war itself, and its impact on human life. He closes each post with a prayer for Ukraine, for freedom, for humanity. I'll quote just a few of his moving passages.Day 7, "War is when the safest place to sleep in your apartment is the bathroom, although that's obviously for other purposes.."Day 11, "War is when the most vulnerable suffer. That's when ordinary things, for example, going to the store and buying fresh, warm and fragrant Ukrainian bread (I've visited about 70 countries, but I've never eaten such delicious bread) become impossible. It's when you meet people every day who haven't eaten bread for 4 or 5 days, not to mention anything else...."Day 15, "War is when evil reaches unseen dimensions and lowest forms, and when good manifests itself in its highest manifestations against the backdrop of total uncontrollable madness."Day 19, "War is when you wake up in the morning, if you managed to fall asleep at all, not from the alarm clock or birds singing, but to the sounds of sirens, or bomb explosions that make you tremble. War is when your emotional state shifts from optimistic to pessimistic more often than in peaceful time, and the emotional range itself is much wider."Day 20, written just a few hours ago. "War is when your understanding changes when not in theory but in practice you especially appreciate the moment "here and now" and live it more consciously..."Show Notes"War is when the safest place to sleep in your apartment is the bathroom”Fyodor’s connection with Miroslav Volf, and his experience with war in Croatia and Bosnia“I was joking when I was coming back to Ukraine... that ‘I am returning to the most peaceful country in the world.’ And here we are.”“When the US government and UK government warned us about the impending full-scale invasion of Russian troops, we thought that they were exaggerating.”Three missiles hit his campus the day before this interviewFyodor’s volunteer group feeds the elderly trapped in basements                                                                                                                         Why Fyodor decided to stay and help, rather than leave“Thanks to God, I was able to evacuate my children.”The risks involved in visiting those trapped in basements"Is it worth that degree of risk?"Fyodor’s seminary was hit by a missile: “Let me put it in one word: it's an apocalyptic scene, you know?”Giving communion in a destroyed landscape, “What does Christ's body, given for the life of the world, mean in that moment?”“I started to believe in what we called an open Lord's Supper: when everyone is welcomed”Giving communion to people from different religious backgrounds‘What the people ask for’ Grappling with the Russian support for Putin’s war: “It’s a wider problem”“When the intellectuals support that kind of aggression, we have a serious problem.”“Ukrainians were always a pain in the back to the Russians because of our free will. We love freedom.”Is the Russian Orthodox Church involved in a Russian imperial project?Public versus private support of the war, and neutrality, by the Russian Church“Martin Luther King used to say there is a special place in hell for these kinds of people who pull or choose neutrality in the times of moral crisis.”“As we say in Ukraine, the war did not start 18 days ago, it started eight years ago.”How can our humanity be preserved in the midst of evil? “I have to remind myself on a daily basis that we are humans and we are-- not just remain --but it is so crucial, in the midst of hell, not to lose our humanity. But to preserve it, and to show it, and to demonstrate it.”How to keep anger from taking control Is faith a consolation? “It is challenging to sustain a faith in the situation where there is a sense that you cannot control anything that is happening.”Faith and responsibility “Your faith is challenged by this simple statement of a soldier who says, ‘You go there on your own responsibility.’”Faith tested by family as much as the war1 John: “Love conquers all fear”Emotional extremes in wartime, and the simple comforts of a croissant from the local church “I don't know what's wrong with the policy in this world that we cannot square one crazy dictator.” About Fyodor RaychynetsFyodor Raychynets is a theologian and pastor in Kyiv, Ukraine. He is Head of the Department of Theology at Ukrainian Evangelical Theological Seminary, where he teaches courses in Leadership and Biblical Studies, particularly the Gospel of Matthew. He studied with Miroslav Volf at Evangelical Theological Seminary in Osijek, Croatia. Follow him on Facebook here.Production NotesThis podcast featured theologians Fyodor Raychynets and Miroslav VolfEdited and Produced by Evan RosaHosted by Evan RosaA Production of the Yale Center for Faith & Culture at Yale Divinity School https://faith.yale.edu/aboutSupport For the Life of the World podcast by giving to the Yale Center for Faith & Culture: https://faith.yale.edu/give