The Theological University of Apeldoorn (TUA) is the Dutch theological university of the Christian Reformed Churches (Christelijke Gereformeerde Kerken). More than 130 students study at the university in Apeldoorn. The theological course lasts six years. The student is in the bachelor's program for the first three years. This has a more orientating character, and includes the languages Classic Greek and Koine Greek, Latin and Biblical Hebrew. In the three-year master's program that follows, further studies and specialization are discussed. The training is specifically aimed at educating pastors (for the Christian Reformed Churches). Furthermore, one tries to keep together the reformed character of the faith and the church and the scientific level of the university. The syllabus consists of subjects such as ethics, apologetics, Old and New Testament, canonical studies, dogmatics, church history, church law and civil subjects.Although the university is mainly a preacher training for the Christian Reformed Churches, a minority of them become preachers or preachers within this church federation. In addition to students from the Netherlands, there are also students from outside the Netherlands, especially from Korea, Indonesia and other countries in Asia.There is also close contact and cooperation with the university of the Reformed Churches (Liberated) (Gereformeerde Kerken Vrijgemaakt) in Kampen. By integrating their research programs, the theological universities of Apeldoorn and Kampen are able to present a combined tradition of more than two centuries of classical theology. Their research program is a daring initiative to combine two fields of research that are all too often kept strictly separated: Biblical Exegesis and Systematic Theology (BEST).The university is one of the few universities in the Netherlands where truly reformed theology is being taught..
One of the most striking judgment scenes in the book of Acts is the death of Herod as described in Acts 12:20–23. Research on this text has neglected Second Kings 19:35 as a possible allusion. In this text, Sennacherib’s army is struck down by an angel of the Lord. This description is highly similar to that of Herod’s death. The aim of this article is to show that 2 Kings 18–19 functions as a background to the death of Herod. There are several connections between these texts, both on a semantic and theological level. This allusion was recognizable to Luke’s audience.
In Matthew 11:29–30, Jesus uses the image of a yoke in his interaction with the Pharisees. It is most common to interpret these verses as depicting the Jewish leaders – placing the ‘yoke of the Torah’ upon the people as an oppressive burden, in contrast to Jesus’s teaching, offering a different kind of yoke – one that is light and provides rest for the soul. In this article, it is argued that this contrast is insufficient for an appropriate understanding of Jesus’s use of the yoke metaphor. Firstly, to portray the ‘yoke of the Torah’ as an unbearable burden would be in tension with Jewish tradition, in which this ’yoke’ is regarded as a source of joy. The first part of this article therefore explored the concept of the ‘joy of the Torah’ within Jewish tradition, the very context in which the New Testament was written and within which it should be interpreted. It turned out that this joy is a prominent aspect in Jewish religious life, connected to the image of taking up the ’yoke of the Kingdom’. It is within this view of the term yoke that Jesus speaks to the Jewish leaders. The second part of the article proposed an alternative reading of Jesus’s reference to his own teaching as a ‘yoke’. If Jesus’s message opposed concrete obedience to the Torah, this would not only contradict the understanding of the yoke of the Torah as a source of joy among his audience, but also contradict his own affirmation of the Torah, as, for example, in the Sermon on the Mount. An intertextual analysis of the words used in Matthew 11:28–30 elucidated that Jesus’s use of the yoke metaphor echoes a positive use of this image, specifically by Jeremiah and Ecclesiasticus. Thus, there is much more continuity with the Old Testament and Jewish usage of the yoke metaphor than is suggested in the traditional exegesis of this passage. Contribution: Finally, it is concluded that this not only sheds new light on the use of the yoke metaphor by Jesus in this passage, but it could also stimulate a fruitful dialogue with the Jewish tradition on how to live with the Torah as a source of joy. Moreover, this interpretation aligns with the whole framework of Matthew’s Gospel, never abolishing the Law, as underscored in the dissertation of Francois Viljoen, to whom this contribution is offered as a token of friendship.
Hartmut Rosa has shown that the fundamental conflict of modernity lies in the categorical confusion of two concepts: accessibility and availability. In sermon preparation there is a tension between the controllability of the text and the uncontrollability of a resonant relationship with the meaning of the text. In my search for the homiletical implications of Rosa’s resonance-theoretical view, I investigate the sacramental view of Scripture as set out by Hans Boersma. I offer in the epilogue of this article three coordinates to stimulate a resonant relationship with the text in the process of sermon preparation.
Abstract This article contends that Hartmut Rosa's resonance theory can stimulate ecclesiological imagination regarding the relationship of churches to their contexts. After a brief explanation of Rosa’s central images, the argument turns to their ecclesiological relevance. Churches are called to generate an integrative transformative dynamic in which vertical resonance with God correlates with resonance on the horizontal and diagonal axes. Rosa’s images of an oasis and an echo chamber help to identify ecclesiological one-sidedness, while the diachronic dimension of the vertical axis shows that resonance is also rooted in the historical depth of Christian tradition. Using an actual congregation as a testcase, the article demonstrates that genuine resonance requires both openness to the Spirit in the present and participation in practices handed down across centuries.
