Aspects of Arminian Soteriology in Methodist-Lutheran Ecumenical Dialogues in 20th and 21st Century

The aim of this thesis is to analyse the key ecumenical dialogues between Methodists and Lutherans from the perspective of Arminian soteriology and Methodist theology in general. The primary research question is defined as: "To what extent do the dialogues under analysis relate to Arminian soteriology?" By seeking an answer to this question, new knowledge is sought on the current soteriological position of the Methodist-Lutheran dialogues, the contemporary Methodist theology and the commonalities between the Lutheran and Arminian understanding of soteriology. This way the soteriological picture of the Methodist-Lutheran discussions is clarified. The dialogues under analysis were selected on the basis of versatility. Firstly, the sole world organisation level dialogue was chosen: The Church – Community of Grace. Additionally, the document World Methodist Council and the Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification is analysed as a supporting document. Secondly, a document concerning the discussions between two main-line churches in the United States of America was selected: Confessing Our Faith Together. Thirdly, two dialogues between non-main-line Methodist churches and main-line Lutheran national churches in Europe were chosen: Fellowship of Grace from Norway and Kristuksesta osalliset from Finland. The theoretical approach to the research conducted in this thesis is systematic analysis. The Remonstrant articles of Arminian soteriology are utilised as an analysis tool to examine the soteriological positions of the dialogues. New knowledge is sought by analysing the stances of the dialogues concerning the doctrines of partial depravity, conditional election, universal atonement, resistible grace and conditional perseverance of saints. This way information is also provided for approaching the Calvinist-Arminian controversy from new perspectives. The results of this thesis show that the current soteriological position of the Methodist-Lutheran dialogues is closer to Arminianism than Calvinism. The dialogues relate to Arminian soteriology especially concerning the doctrines of universal atonement, resistible grace and conditional perseverance of saints. The commonalities between the Lutheran and Arminian understanding of soteriology exist mainly in these three doctrines as they are uniformly favoured in the dialogues. The most discussed area of soteriology is human depravity, in which the largest diversity of stances occurs as well. On the other hand, divine election is the least discussed topic. The overall perspective, which the results of the analysis provide, indicates that the Lutherans could approach the Calvinist churches together with the Methodists with a wider theological perspective and understanding when the soteriological issues are considered as principal. Human depravity is discovered as the area of soteriology which requires most work in future ecumenical dialogues. However, the detected Lutheran hybrid notion on depravity (a Calvinist-Arminian mixture) appears to provide a useful new perspective for Calvinist-Arminian ecumenism and offers potentially fruitful considerations to future ecumenical dialogues.

Opin hermeneutiikka : Kanonis-kielellisen ja kulttuuris-kielellisen hermeneutiikan keskeiset erot

Tämän tutkielman tarkoituksena on selvittää ja analysoida, miten Kevin Vanhoozerin teoksessa The Drama of Doctrine esittämä kanonis-kielellinen hermeneutiikka eroaa George Lindbeckin teoksessa The Nature of Doctrine esittämästä kulttuuris-kielellisestä hermeneutiikasta. Kyseiset teokset toimivat tutkielmani päälähteinä. Käytän tutkielmassa kolmea tarkentavaa tutkimuskysymystä: Mitkä ovat perusteet Vanhoozerin ja Lindbeckin väliselle vertailulle? Miten Raamattu on syntynyt ja millainen sen luonne on? Miten Raamatun, tradition ja yhteisön välinen suhde tulisi kristinuskossa ymmärtää? Tutkielman tutkimusmetodi on systemaattinen analyysi. Kanonis-kielellistä hermeneutiikkaa ei ole ennen tätä työtä tutkittu suomeksi. Myös kansainvälistä sisällöllisesti katta-vaa tutkimusta kanonis-kielellisestä hermeneutiikasta on erittäin niukasti. Tutkimuksen vähyyden vuoksi selvitän tässä työssä aiheeseen liittyvää problematiikkaa varsin laajalti. Samasta syystä suhteutan kanonis-kielellistä hermeneutiikkaa kulttuuris-kielelliseen hermeneutiikkaan. Näin voin havainnoida keskustelun pidempiaikaista ohjautumista. Analyysissa olen kuitenkin keskittynyt tutkimustehtävän ja -kysymyksien ohjaamaan suuntaan. Johdannon ja loppukatsauksen lisäksi tutkimus jakaantuu taustalukuun (luku 2), kolmeen päälukuun (luvut 3, 4 ja 5) sekä loppukatsaukseen. Tutkielman lähtökohtana on Vanhoozerin väite, jonka mukaan teoriat ovat sukua toisilleen. Tutkielmassa käy kuitenkin ilmi, että monista yhteisistä lähtökohdista huolimatta kanonis-kielellinen ja kulttuuris-kielellinen hermeneutiikka eroavat toisistaan monessa suhteessa. Lindbeckin ja Vanhoozerin käsitykset opista ovat merkittävästi erilaisia. Tutkielmassa osoitan, ettei Lindbeck hyväksy inspiraatioteorioita, vaan ajattelee niiden heikentävän Raamatun auktoriteettia. Vanhoozer on inspiraatio-opin tarpeellisuudesta täysin vastakkaista mieltä. Tämän osoittamiseen Vanhoozer käyttää puheaktiteoriaa. Raamattu on hänen mukaansa Jumalan mahtava puheakti ja sellaisena korvaamaton ainesosa hänen pelastussuunnitelmaansa. Inspiraatio ei siis merkitse vain sitä, että sanat (lokuutiot) ovat Jumalan, vaan myös sitä, että sana-aktit (illokuutiot) ovat pohjimmiltaan Jumalan. Tämän havaitsin edelleen vaikuttavan heidän totuuskäsityksiinsä. Vanhoozerin mukaan Raamattu on kaikessa puheessaan tosi ja erehtymätön. Lindbeckille Raamattu taas on uskonyhteisön ilmaus uskostaan, eikä se siten ole kaikessa esityksessään tosi. Tutkielmassa osoitan myös, että vaikka Lindbeck yrittää paikantaa Raamatun tekstin merkityksen Raamattuun itseensä, niin tosiasiassa hän paikantaa sen yhteisöön, joka tekstiä tulkitsee. Vanhoozerin mukaan merkitys taas tulee sijoittaa tekstiin tai oikeammin tekstissä ilmenevään kirjoittajan intentioon. Vanhoozer korostaa sitä, että kirjoittajan intentio aukeaa meille julkisten puheaktien kautta. Vanhoozerin mukaan jumalallisen auktoriteetin paikantaminen tiettyihin kirjoihin, Raamatun kaanoniin, ei ratkaise tulkinnan ongelmaa. Vaikka Raamatun merkitys on kaanonissa ja vaikka Jeesus toimii hermeneutiikassa avaimena Raamatun ymmärtämiseen, on Vanhoozerin mukaan kuitenkin ymmärrettävä myös ne kirjallisuuden lajit eli genret, jotka Raamatussa on, jotta ymmärtää Raamatun sanoman oikein. Vanhoozerin mukaan raamatuntulkinnan Lähtökohta on se, että ensin teologinen auktoriteetti on paikannettava Raamattuun ja sen jälkeen on tulkittava, mitä Jumala haluaa Raamatun kautta sanoa. Raamatuntulkinnassa on Vanhoozerin mukaan keskeistä ymmärtää, etteivät Raamatun historialliset totuusväittämät tule koskaan oikein ymmärretyiksi ellei niitä kirjallisuuden lajeja, joilla ne on esitetty, ymmärretä. Vanhoozer väittää, että tämä pätee kaikkeen Raamatun asiasisältöön, ei vain sen historialliseen sisältöön. Osoitan tutkielmassa, ettei raamatuntulkitsijalle riitä Vanhoozerin mukaan yksittäisten sanojen merkityksen tunteminen, vaan hänen täytyy tunnistaa, mitä kyseessä olevassa tekstissä tapahtuu kirjallisella kokonaistasolla. Tästä johtuen kirjallisuuden lajeista eli genreistä muodostuu Vanhoozerille avain Raamatun sanoman ymmärtämiseen. Tässäkin yhteydessä osoitan puheaktiteorian läpitunkevan vaikutuksen Vanhoozerin hermeneutiikassa.

Kansanterveysongelman synty : Tuberkuloosi ja terveyden hallinta Suomessa ennen toista maailmansotaa

The study focuses on the emergence of tuberculosis as a public health problem and the development of the various methods to counteract it in Finland before the introduction of efficient methods of treatment in the 1940s and 50s. It covers a time period from year 1882 when the tuberculosis bacterium was identified to the 1930s when the early formation of tuberculosis work became established in Finland. During this time there occurred important changes in medicine, public health thinking and methods of personal health care that have been referred to as the bacteriological revolution. The study places tuberculosis prevention in this context and shows how the tuberculosis problem affected the government of health on all these three dimensions. The study is based on foucauldian analytics of government, which is supplemented with perspectives from contemporary science and technology studies. In addition, it utilises a broad array of work in medical history. The central research materials consist of medical journals, official programs and documents on tuberculosis policy, and health education texts. The general conclusions of the study are twofold. Firstly, the ensemble of tuberculosis work was formed from historically diverse and often conflicting elements. The identification of the pathogen was only the first step in the establishment of tuberculosis as a major public health problem. Important were also the attention of the science of hygiene and statistical reasoning that dominated public health thinking in the late 19th century. Furthermore, the adoption of the bacteriological tuberculosis doctrine in medicine, public health work and health education was profoundly influenced by previous understanding of the nature of the illness, of medical work, of the prevention of contagious diseases, and of personal health care. Also the two central institutions of tuberculosis work, sanatorium and dispensary, have heterogeneous origins and multifarious functions. Secondly, bacteriology represented in this study by tuberculosis remodelled medical knowledge and practices, the targets and methods of public health policy, and the doctrine of personal health care. Tuberculosis provided a strong argument for specific causes (if not cures) as well as laboratory methods in medicine. Tuberculosis prevention contributed substantially to the development whereby a comprehensive responsibility for the health of the population and public health work was added to the agenda of the state. Health advice on tuberculosis and other contagious diseases used dangerous bacteria to motivate personal health care and redefined it as protecting oneself from the attacks of external pathogens and strengthening oneself against their effects. Thus, tuberculosis work is one important root for the contemporary public concern for the health of the population and the imperative of personal health care.

Hiippakunta diakoniatyön tekijänä ja tukijana : Diakoniatyön kehitys Mikkelin hiippakunnassa 1945-1991

ABSTRACT The diocese as the agent and advocate of diaconial work. The development of diaconial work in the Mikkeli diocese 1945–1991. The roots of Finnish diacony are in the individual devotional life of Pietism. An acting faith had to be evident in acts of love. Following German institutional diacony, diaconial institutions were established in Finland until congregational diacony emerged alongside these institutions in the 1890s. Pastor Otto Aarnisalo acted as a pathfinder in this. He aimed to unite diacony with the Church and the life of the congregation. Diacony had been based on the idea of volunteering to separate it from statutory social work. In 1944 the church law was amended, which made diacony the concern of every member of the congregation. In the years immediately following the Second World War, discussion took place in the Church of Finland about the direction that diacony should take. In the consequential debate, caritative services overcame social diacony. The diocese administration moved to Mikkeli in 1945, when the majority of the Vyborg diocese became part of the USSR in the armistice negotiations. The Mikkeli diocese acted in its diaconial work with the same objectives as the diaconial solutions of the whole church. The acting principle of the diocese diacony became a form of helping which emphasised assistance of the individual. Especially from the 1960s onwards, the country's industrialisation and the reduction of agricultural trade had an effect on the Mikkeli diocese. The diocese administration, specifically Bishop Martti Simojoki and his successor Osmo Alaja, aimed to open up connections to the political left and people working in industry. At least indirectly this helped the diaconial work in industrial localities. In the Mikkeli diocese, a diaconial committee was established in 1971, and its work was overseen by the diocesan chapter of the bishop's office. This enabled the work of the diocese to be organised for the different areas of diacony. Previously, the diaconial work of the Finnish church had primarily been in nursing. The Health Insurance Law of 1972 brought a change to this when the responsibility for health services was transferred to the municipalities. Diacony began to move towards a psychological and spiritual emphasis. Beginning in the 1970s, the diocese started holding diaconial themed days at prescribed intervals. Although these did not result in great realignments, they did help clarify the direction that diacony would take. Large international collections were also carried out, especially in the 1980s. At the same time, socio-ethical activity vitalised and diversified Christian services. The idea that every member of the congregation should practice diacony was a strong factor in the Mikkeli diocese as well. The diocese's vision for diacony was holistic; Christian service was the responsibility of every member of the congregation. During the period of study (1945–1991), the theology of diacony was rather tenuous. Bishop Kalevi Toiviainen, however, brought forth the viewpoint of church doctrine and officially sanctioned theology. Diacony was part of the complete faith of the Church.

Beyond Words : The European Court of Justice and Legal Certainty in Multilingual EU Law

This study addresses the issue of multilingualism in EU law. More specifically, it explores the implications of multilingualism for conceptualising legal certainty, a central principle of law both in domestic and EU legal systems. The main question addressed is how multilingualism and legal certainty may be reconciled in the EU legal system. The study begins with a discussion on the role of translation in drafting EU legislation and its implications for interpreting EU law at the European Court of Justice (ECJ). Uncertainty regarding the meaning of multilingual EU law and the interrelationship between multilingualism and ECJ methods of interpretation are explored. This analysis leads to questioning the importance of linguistic-semantic methods of interpretation, especially the role of comparing language versions for clarifying meaning and the ordinary meaning thesis, and to placing emphasis on other, especially the teleological, purpose-oriented method of interpretation. As regards the principle of legal certainty, the starting-point is a two-dimensional concept consisting of both formal and substantive elements; of predictability and acceptability. Formal legal certainty implies that laws and adjudication, in particular, must be predictable. Substantive legal certainty is related to rational acceptability of judicial decision-making placing emphasis on its acceptability to the legal community in question. Contrary to predictability that one might intuitively relate to linguistic-semantic methods of interpretation, the study suggests a new conception of legal certainty where purpose, telos, and other dynamic methods of interpretation are of particular significance for meaning construction in multilingual EU law. Accordingly, the importance of purposive, teleological interpretation as the standard doctrine of interpretation in a multilingual legal system is highlighted. The focus on rational, substantive acceptability results in emphasising discourse among legal actors among the EU legal community and stressing the need to give reasons in favour of proposed meaning in accordance with dynamic methods of interpretation including considerations related to purposes, aims, objectives and consequences. In this context, the role of ideal discourse situations and communicative action taking the form of interaction among the EU legal community in an ongoing dialogue especially in the preliminary ruling procedure is brought into focus. In order for this dialogue to function, it requires that the ECJ gives persuasive, convincing and acceptable reasons in justifying its decisions. This necessitates transparency, sincerity, and dialogue with the relevant audience.

The Home of Hearing : George Lindbeck's understanding of community

The aim of this thesis was to examine the understanding of community in George Lindbeck s The Nature of Doctrine. Intrinsic to this question was also examining how Lindbeck understands the relation between the text and the world which both meet in a Christian community. Thirdly this study also aimed at understanding what the persuasiveness of this understanding depends on. The method applied for this task was systematic analysis. The study was conducted by first providing an orientation into the nontheological substance of the ND which was assumed useful with respect to the aim of this study. The study then went on to explore Lindbeck in his own context of postliberal theology in order to see how the ND was received. It also attempted to provide a picture of how the ND relates to Lindbeck as a theologian. The third chapter was a descriptive analysis into the cultural-linguistic perspective, which is understood as being directly proportional to his understanding of community. The fourth chapter was an analysis into how the cultural-linguistic perspective sees the relation between the text and the world. When religion is understood from a cultural-linguistic perspective, it presents itself as a cultural-linguistic entity, which Lindbeck understands as a comprehensive interpretive scheme which structures human experience and understanding of oneself and the world in which one lives. When one exists in this entity, it is the entity which shapes the subjectivities of all those who are at home in this entity which makes participation in the life of a cultural linguistic entity a condition for understanding it. Religion is above all an external word that moulds and shapes our religious existence and experience. Understanding faith then as coming from hearing, is something that correlates with the cultural-linguistic depiction of reality. Religion informs us of a religious reality, it does not originate in any way from ourselves. This externality linked to the axiomatic nature of religion is also something that distinguishes Lindbeck sharply from liberalist tendencies, which understand religion as ultimately expressing the prereflective depths of the inner self. Language is the central analogy to understanding the medium in which one moves when inhabiting a cultural-linguistic system because language is the transmitting medium in which the cultural-linguistic system is embodied. The realism entailed in Lindbeck s understanding of a community is that we are fundamentally on the receiving end when it comes to our identities whether cultural or religious. We always witness to something. Its persuasiveness rests on the fact that we never exist in an unpersuaded reality. The language of Christ is a self-sustaining and irreducible cultural-linguistic entity, which is ontologically founded upon Christ. It transmits the reality of a new being. The basic relation to the world for a Christian is that of witnessing salvation in Christ: witnessing Christ as the home of hearing the message of salvation, which is the God-willed way. Following this logic, the relation of the world and the text is one of relating to the world from the text, i.e. In Christ through the word (text) for the world, because it assumes it s logic from the way Christ ontologically relates to us.