Books by Andre van Oudtshoorn
NeoTestamentica, 2017
John's Gospel is marked by a complete absence of demons. This is not due to John reflecting a mor... more John's Gospel is marked by a complete absence of demons. This is not due to John reflecting a more secular worldview than the Synoptics. In John's Gospel, a composite figure called "the devil" has replaced the demons. The devil is said to be a liar and a murderer, which stands in sharp contrast to Jesus, who is depicted as the author of truth and life. God and the devil do not exist in a static, dualistic, metaphysical relationship. The devil is the Prince of the created world. Jesus' person and actions challenge the devil's authority and power. Through Jesus' death on the cross, the devil has been exorcised from the whole world. John's Gospel omits the particular encounters between Jesus and demons because John wishes to focus the attention of his readers on the cross as the pivotal event where evil, as a powerful cosmic reality, was finally confronted and defeated.
It is a well thought out book that leads one to meditate on the themes raised with its juxtaposit... more It is a well thought out book that leads one to meditate on the themes raised with its juxtaposition of chapters and prayers. The feel of it is different from other books for that reason. I'd encourage people to read it because it introduces crucially important themes tied to God's reconciling work and key ideas associated with those themes. The door, covenant, the world, the reconciler and the church are core biblical themes the text considers. The notes at the end of each unit cite resources with fullness to help the reader see what is behind the main text. The book claims to be devotional theology. I think that is a very apt description. It contains theology that leads you to contemplate God and his work afresh. That is a worthy goal for any book to reach. And this book reaches that goal well.
Darrel Bock (Research professor of New Testament studies at Dallas Theological Seminary in Dallas, Texas).
What a beautiful book! The style is creative and perfectly suits busy readers who quickly wants get to the core of an issue. The book is theologically well-grounded. It binds the messages of the Old and New Testament together and develops the theme of the covenant wonderfully well. It refers to the best contemporary sources and its exegesis is excellent.
Prof. H.J.C. Pieterse (Department Practical Theology, University of South Africa).
"I liked the format of reflections and prayer -- which itself communicates something essential about our doing theology. Nearly everywhere I was in agreement with the book."
Mark Seifrid (Mildred and Ernest Hogan Professor of New Testament Interpretation at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary).
Evangelical Christian Missions: An African Perspective, 2012
This book and the accompanying DVD lectures introduce new and prospective theological students to... more This book and the accompanying DVD lectures introduce new and prospective theological students to the strange and exciting world that faces them at Bible College and Theological Seminary as they seek to delve more deeply into the Word of God and prepare for Christian ministry.
A Taste of Glory deals with some crucial theological and spiritual issues that students must engage with to make a success of their theological studies, such as:
• What can I expect from my theological studies?
• What makes theological studies so unique?
• How do we develop theologically?
• What kinds of knowledge do we need to acquire in theology?
• What subjects do we have to study and why?
• How do the various theological subjects interact with each other?
A Taste of Glory also contains practical study skills material, such as:
• How to develop an aggressive reading strategy;
• How to read faster;
• How to write a good assignment; and
• How to master theological information.
Worship – The Way To Know God focusses on the object of our worship - God Himself. For this reaso... more Worship – The Way To Know God focusses on the object of our worship - God Himself. For this reason, this book reaches beyond being just another standard description of worship or merely a simple conglomeration of recipes to help us in our worship of God. Worship - The Way To Know God commits us to think through some deeper issues:
- Who is God?
- Why should we worship Him?
- How is is possible for us to know and love Him?
The unique syle of this book entices us to think carefully on the One whom we are called to worship; through it we are confronted by more than just dry academic facts about God and the worship of Him, we are invited to participate with our whole beings in the search for true worship.
Worship is conversational, a personal response to the divine initiative. In the same way this book leads the reader to first reflect on the One we worship, and to then respond in prayer.
Worship - The Way To Know God takes us on a journey, a journey away from ourselves and to the very heart of God Himself.
Papers by Andre van Oudtshoorn
Verbum Et Ecclesia, Mar 4, 2011
Journal of Adult Theological Education, May 1, 2013
Theological education can no longer operate according to a modernistic epistemology if it is to e... more Theological education can no longer operate according to a modernistic epistemology if it is to equip students to minister in a postmodern world. This article explores the possibility of developing a theological epistemology which does not blindly reflect the presuppositions of either modernism or postmodernism. It is argued that the theological notions of faith, hope and love provide a unique approach to truth that frees theological epistemology from fideism, fundamentalism and triumphalism. Faith renders theological theories vulnerable to being challenged by experiences of lived-through reality and alternative interpretations of that reality, while hope sets truth within the context of critical transformational actions based on relational commitments marked by love. A meta-theoretical model for theological education is constructed to indicate how this epistemological approach may be realized in educational praxis.
Neotestamentica, 2017
John's Gospel is marked by a complete absence of demons. This is not due to John reflecting a... more John's Gospel is marked by a complete absence of demons. This is not due to John reflecting a more secular worldview than the Synoptics. In John's Gospel, a composite figure called "the devil" has replaced the demons. The devil is said to be a liar and a murderer, which stands in sharp contrast to Jesus, who is depicted as the author of truth and life. God and the devil do not exist in a static, dualistic, metaphysical relationship. The devil is the Prince of the created world. Jesus' person and actions challenge the devil's authority and power. Through Jesus' death on the cross, the devil has been exorcised from the whole world. John's Gospel omits the particular encounters between Jesus and demons because John wishes to focus the attention of his readers on the cross as the pivotal event where evil, as a powerful cosmic reality, was finally confronted and defeated.
International Journal of Practical Theology, May 1, 2013
The command to pray invites believers to critically engage with their broken reality with a view ... more The command to pray invites believers to critically engage with their broken reality with a view of transforming it in the light of the new reality in which they participate in Christ. Practical theology, operating in the context of the bi-polar and tense relationship between theory and praxis, should be expanded to accommodate prayer as the inner mode of its operations to embrace the existential dimension of the faith praxis, instead of simply limiting itself to a socio-scientific empirically based descriptive paradigm. This implies that practical theology has to be embedded within the church as the domain of faith. Prayer, understood within the context of practical theology, offers a critique of theological theories that do not adequately address the implications for God, the world and believers inherent in the new anthropological status that the invitation to pray confers on those who pray. Prayer also critiques the existing praxis in three ways: it is, firstly, a transformational act in itself; it, secondly, acknowledges its own inadequacy to accomplish the needed transformation and is thus able to critique its own methodologies and practices; and, thirdly, it continues to hope for the transformation of the existing praxis based on the promise of the presence of God in and through the Spirit of Christ in the church. In looking beyond the existing praxis to God, believers are called to continually work and pray for signs of the coming Kingdom to be realised within their world.
In die skriflig, Sep 16, 2021
Neotestamentica
John's Gospel is marked by a complete absence of demons. This is not due to John reflecting a... more John's Gospel is marked by a complete absence of demons. This is not due to John reflecting a more secular worldview than the Synoptics. In John's Gospel, a composite figure called "the devil" has replaced the demons. The devil is said to be a liar and a murderer, which stands in sharp contrast to Jesus, who is depicted as the author of truth and life. God and the devil do not exist in a static, dualistic, metaphysical relationship. The devil is the Prince of the created world. Jesus' person and actions challenge the devil's authority and power. Through Jesus' death on the cross, the devil has been exorcised from the whole world. John's Gospel omits the particular encounters between Jesus and demons because John wishes to focus the attention of his readers on the cross as the pivotal event where evil, as a powerful cosmic reality, was finally confronted and defeated.
International Journal of Practical Theology, 2013
Pacifica: Australasian Theological Studies, 2011
3 John is the shortest book in the New Testament. It seems to lack specific doctrinal content and... more 3 John is the shortest book in the New Testament. It seems to lack specific doctrinal content and it is thus often neglected. This article employs a socio-narrative analysis to place the letter within a broader narrative framework. It then considers how the letter poetically restructures the original narrative sequence to serve its persuasive intention. The persuasive intention of 3 John is critically tested against certain compliance-gaining theories. The way in which characters function within letters is considered, and from this the symbolic worldview that forms the interpretative background to the letter's intention is constructed. The article shows that, at its core, the letter is doctrinal since the character of God and God's purpose for the world ultimately determine its contents and intention. Mission is shown to be a key factor by which the church is defined and Christians' commitment to this cause becomes a touchstone reflecting their relationship to God.
Verbum et Ecclesia, 2015
This article considers the church from a semiotic and systems-theory perspective as a revelatory ... more This article considers the church from a semiotic and systems-theory perspective as a revelatory symbol of the salvation-historical acts of God for and in the world. The church,as a communicative field of encounter between God and humans as well as between humans amongst each other, creates space for symbols that may be utilised to realise further encounters. At the same time, the church also operates as a communicative symbol in her own right which may be �read� and �interpreted� by others. The church as an operational system is shown to generate revelatory symbols to the world through her separation from,engagement with and being directed towards the world. The church is shown to exist and operate in dynamic conflict with the world as well as with the Kingdom of God through the overcoming presence of the Holy Spirit within her. An operational communicative system model of the church indicates that the church is an alternating rather than alternative community, which ensures ideolo...
Journal of Adult Theological Education, 2013
Theological education can no longer operate according to a modernistic epistemology if it is to e... more Theological education can no longer operate according to a modernistic epistemology if it is to equip students to minister in a postmodern world. This article explores the possibility of developing a theological epistemology which does not blindly reflect the presuppositions of either modernism or postmodernism. It is argued that the theological notions of faith, hope and love provide a unique approach to truth that frees theological epistemology from fideism, fundamentalism and triumphalism. Faith renders theological theories vulnerable to being challenged by experiences of lived-through reality and alternative interpretations of that reality, while hope sets truth within the context of critical transformational actions based on relational commitments marked by love. A meta-theoretical model for theological education is constructed to indicate how this epistemological approach may be realized in educational praxis.
HTS Teologiese Studies / Theological Studies, 2013
Irrevocably singular: Baptism as a symbol of unity in the church. In this article I conduct a phe... more Irrevocably singular: Baptism as a symbol of unity in the church. In this article I conduct a phenomenological analysis of the concept ‘one baptism’ in Ephesians 4:4−6. Such an analysis seeks to reveal the essence of a particular concept by bracketing out the theological and ideological presuppositions usually associated with it. The essential concept is then expanded by linking it to the terms most closely surrounding it in the text. A critical theological reflection on the expanded concept shows that ‘one baptism’ refers to an event by which believers are inducted, once and for all, into the church as the one body of the one Lord, Jesus Christ. The church exists through the presence of the one Spirit who binds believers in an unbreakable bond of love to God and to each other. Because baptism can never be undone or repeated, any liturgical act depicted as a ‘re-baptism’ is, by definition, impossible. This means that churches that baptise the children of believing parents are able t...
Verbum et Ecclesia, 2014
Jesus� imperatives in the Sermon on the Mount continue to play a significant role in Christian et... more Jesus� imperatives in the Sermon on the Mount continue to play a significant role in Christian ethical discussions. The tension between the radical demands of Jesus and the impossibility of living this out within the everyday world has been noted by many scholars. In this article, an eschatological-ontological model, based on the social construction of reality, is developed to show that this dialectic is not necessarily an embarrassment to the church but, instead, belongs to the essence of the church as the recipient of the Spirit of Christ and as called by him to exist now in terms of the coming new age that has already been realised in Christ. The absolute demands of Jesus� imperatives, it is argued, must relativise all other interpretations of reality whilst the world, in turn, relativises Jesus� own definition of what �is� and therefore also the injunctions to his disciples on how to live within this world. This process of radical relativisation provides a critical framework for...
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Books by Andre van Oudtshoorn
Darrel Bock (Research professor of New Testament studies at Dallas Theological Seminary in Dallas, Texas).
What a beautiful book! The style is creative and perfectly suits busy readers who quickly wants get to the core of an issue. The book is theologically well-grounded. It binds the messages of the Old and New Testament together and develops the theme of the covenant wonderfully well. It refers to the best contemporary sources and its exegesis is excellent.
Prof. H.J.C. Pieterse (Department Practical Theology, University of South Africa).
"I liked the format of reflections and prayer -- which itself communicates something essential about our doing theology. Nearly everywhere I was in agreement with the book."
Mark Seifrid (Mildred and Ernest Hogan Professor of New Testament Interpretation at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary).
A Taste of Glory deals with some crucial theological and spiritual issues that students must engage with to make a success of their theological studies, such as:
• What can I expect from my theological studies?
• What makes theological studies so unique?
• How do we develop theologically?
• What kinds of knowledge do we need to acquire in theology?
• What subjects do we have to study and why?
• How do the various theological subjects interact with each other?
A Taste of Glory also contains practical study skills material, such as:
• How to develop an aggressive reading strategy;
• How to read faster;
• How to write a good assignment; and
• How to master theological information.
- Who is God?
- Why should we worship Him?
- How is is possible for us to know and love Him?
The unique syle of this book entices us to think carefully on the One whom we are called to worship; through it we are confronted by more than just dry academic facts about God and the worship of Him, we are invited to participate with our whole beings in the search for true worship.
Worship is conversational, a personal response to the divine initiative. In the same way this book leads the reader to first reflect on the One we worship, and to then respond in prayer.
Worship - The Way To Know God takes us on a journey, a journey away from ourselves and to the very heart of God Himself.
Papers by Andre van Oudtshoorn
Darrel Bock (Research professor of New Testament studies at Dallas Theological Seminary in Dallas, Texas).
What a beautiful book! The style is creative and perfectly suits busy readers who quickly wants get to the core of an issue. The book is theologically well-grounded. It binds the messages of the Old and New Testament together and develops the theme of the covenant wonderfully well. It refers to the best contemporary sources and its exegesis is excellent.
Prof. H.J.C. Pieterse (Department Practical Theology, University of South Africa).
"I liked the format of reflections and prayer -- which itself communicates something essential about our doing theology. Nearly everywhere I was in agreement with the book."
Mark Seifrid (Mildred and Ernest Hogan Professor of New Testament Interpretation at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary).
A Taste of Glory deals with some crucial theological and spiritual issues that students must engage with to make a success of their theological studies, such as:
• What can I expect from my theological studies?
• What makes theological studies so unique?
• How do we develop theologically?
• What kinds of knowledge do we need to acquire in theology?
• What subjects do we have to study and why?
• How do the various theological subjects interact with each other?
A Taste of Glory also contains practical study skills material, such as:
• How to develop an aggressive reading strategy;
• How to read faster;
• How to write a good assignment; and
• How to master theological information.
- Who is God?
- Why should we worship Him?
- How is is possible for us to know and love Him?
The unique syle of this book entices us to think carefully on the One whom we are called to worship; through it we are confronted by more than just dry academic facts about God and the worship of Him, we are invited to participate with our whole beings in the search for true worship.
Worship is conversational, a personal response to the divine initiative. In the same way this book leads the reader to first reflect on the One we worship, and to then respond in prayer.
Worship - The Way To Know God takes us on a journey, a journey away from ourselves and to the very heart of God Himself.