Peter-Ben Smit
Datos Biográficos
| ID | 1107315 |
|---|---|
| NOMBRE | Peter-Ben Smit |
| NOMBRES | Peter-Ben |
| APELLIDO | Smit |
| FIRMA | BEN SMIT P |
| AFILIACIONES | Utrecht University |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-7450-571X |
| VERIFICADO | Sí |
| TOTAL DE OBRAS | 49 |
| TOTAL DE CITAS | 7 |
| TOTAL COMO AUTOR | 47 |
| TOTAL COMO EDITOR | 2 |
| PRIMER AÑO DE PUBLICACIÓN | 1981 |
| AÑO MÁS RECIENTE DE PUBLICACIÓN | 2026 |
| ÍNDICE H | 1 |
Constructing Meaning and Group Identity Through the Gender Debate
In this study, we examined the gender debate within the conservative Dutch reformed pietist community. Using social scientific methods, we conducted an empirical analysis of 65 opinion articles on the platform ‘Biblical Council M/F’, to analyze how theological interpretations of gender and gender diversity functioned in the context of processes of meaning making and construction of group identity. Selected articles referred to either ‘gender ideo…
Towards ritual intervention in meat consumption practices
Meat consumption is widely recognized as socially and culturally embedded, yet sociocultural intervention strategies to reduce meat-eating practices remain underdeveloped. This article aims to help fill this research gap by combining insights from social practice theory, ritual studies, and cultural sociology in order to explore 'ritual intervention' strategies. While interventions are usually thought of as initiated from the outside, this articl…
Witnessing to a Liberating God
This paper focuses on Filipino church leader and theologian Alberto Ramento (1936-2006) and adds to the study of this leading Filipino bishop by focusing on his hermeneutics, which gives an impression not only of what his theology stood for, but also of how this theology was anchored in the two main sources that Ramento can be shown as having drawn on: Scripture and history. In order to analyze Ramento’s hermeneutics, use will be made of selected…
Reading Romans 8 in Times of Ecological Crisis
In this study, we focused on the process of meaning construction for young adults from the reformed pietist community, in the context of ecological crisis. We empirically examined their practice of Bible reading; twelve respondents participated in a focus group (2×6) wherein they discussed an initial and contextual reading of Romans 8. In addition, they answered a brief individual questionnaire. It was found that respondents struggle with questio…
Participation and Atonement
Philippine, Independent and International
Parrēsia beyond Humankind? Exploring the Representation of the Voice of Creation in the Epistle to the Romans
In this article, the notion of parrēsia, freedom of speech, is explored with regard to the voice of (non-human) nature in Paul’s Epistle to the Romans. Instances from chs. 1, 8, and 11 of this letter are discussed in interaction with both the broader discourse on parrēsia and the newer approach of “wild pedagogies” that focuses on allowing nature to speak for itself. The exegetical findings are sobering, as it becomes clear that Paul’s appeals to…
Credibility of Churches’ Antiracism Engagement
This article aims to explore how the entanglement of Protestant Christianity and race and racism is manifested in contemporary Dutch society, and to identify which themes for introspection this yields for majority white Dutch Protestant churches. We argue that introspection on perceived superiority of white Dutch Protestantism is crucial to uncover subtle, unconscious mechanisms and ideas that are present in majority white Dutch Protestant church…
Prefiguration of the Nation
The Iglesia Filipina Independiente was established in 1902, in the context of the US occupation of the Philippines. The church has become known for its outspoken emancipatory political stance in the course of the 20th century. Yet, in its early days, the church wrestled with the question how to negotiate the restrictions that had been imposed regarding explicit political agitation. This paper argues that the church found a way forward regarding t…
Prefigurative Peace in Philippians
Paul refers to peace twice in Phil. 4:7 and 4:9. This paper argues that the peace of God is a prefiguration of the eschatological peace to come in God's world. It is be proposed that as Philippians is dealing with a social order (i.e., that of life in Christ) that is distinct from the dominant social order of the Roman empire or that of the colony of Philippi, political implications are at the very least a corollary of what Paul is writing to the…
‘Count your Blessings!’ The Interpretive Potential of Sacramental Theology for Everyday Ritualizations around Food
In this article, the authors explore the yield of a sacramental lens on extra-ecclesial ritualizations around food in contemporary Dutch ‘secularized’ culture. In an effort to explore the scope of sacramental theology beyond the liturgical ritual of the Eucharist/Holy Communion, they conclude that sacramental theology as a heuristic lens has a promising potential to reveal what is at stake when it comes to ordinary practices of food. Taking Louis…
Religiously Exclusive, Socially Inclusive
The present volume Religiously Exclusive, Socially Inclusive?A Religious Response is the fruit of a research project of scholars and academic researchers.Between exclusion and inclusion there exists a certain tension.To some extent all religions are exclusive, either in their view on salvation or in their outlook on society, as will be introduced in Chapter 1.Amid all kinds of challenges and conflicts between religious groups in our world today, …
Building bridges towards a more humane society
In 1994, the Bridging Gaps programme started with four students at the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam. Now, the programme that is aimed at engaging students in contextual theological reflections and intercultural exchange yearly brings a group of 15 students from all over the world to Amsterdam. This volume is the depiction and elaboration of the eponymous symposium that was held in 2020 to celebrate the Bridging Gaps programme’s 25th anniversary. …
Exploring the Eschaton. The Lord’s Supper as a Cultural Technique Enabling Prefigurative Politics
Focusing on 1 Cor. 11, this article argues that the early Christian meal can be understood as a cultural technique that enables new knowledge and insight, specifically about the world to come. The argument takes its vantage point from an understanding of the early Christian meal as a form of social experimentation that engages in prefigurative practices, thereby anticipating the world to come. To explore the latter phenomenon, this article makes …
Verlossing door verleiding
Samenvatting De laatantieke paus Gregorius de Grote speelt een belangrijke rol in het discours over de beeldvorming rondom Maria Magdalena in de traditie van het (Westerse) Christendom. In veel, zowel wetenschappelijke als populair-wetenschappelijke, publicaties wordt gesteld dat Gregorius per decreet haar identiteit, met name als op seksueel vlak zondige vrouw, zou hebben vastgelegd. Een centrale bron daarvoor is zijn preek 33 die echter maar we…
Food and Gift
This article examines the significance of the notion of the ‘gift’ and ‘givenness’ in the account of Jesus’ last meal (‘last supper’) in the Gospel of Mark. It asks whether attention to the notion of the ‘gift’ can be a useful heuristic for the exegesis of the Markan account of Jesus’ last meal with his disciples, particularly regarding the symbolic actions that Jesus performs during this meal. This question is answered affirmatively by highlight…
The Most Significant Book of the Netherlands — And Its Ordinary Readers
Although the Netherlands has become one of the most secular countries in the world, the Bible still plays an important role for many people as a source of cultural and spiritual inspiration. Despite extant empirical research, there remains a pressing gap of knowledge concerning the actual use of the Bible by “ordinary readers.” This makes it more difficult for organizations such as the Dutch Bible Society to engage the public with the distributio…
God, the beautiful and mathematics
Volker Kessler (‘God becomes beautiful ... in mathematics’ – HTS 2018) argues two points to Rudolf Bohren’s list of four areas where (1) God becomes beautiful should be extended with a fifth one: mathematics and (2) mathematics can be argued as a place where God becomes beautiful. In this response, we would like to argue that (1) the extension of Bohren’s list that Kessler argues in favour of is superfluous and (2) that Kessler makes a number of …
Crisis as a Catalyst
While scholars of early Christianity generally know how to approach ‘κρίσις’ in \nthe ancient sense of the word, ‘crisis’ in the modern sense of the word, at least as \nit has become part of the lived realities of many in the COVID-19 pandemic, is \nanother story. In this special issue of JSNT ‘crisis’ is taken as a vantage point for \nresearching early Christian sources and their reception(s). In so doing, both an \nexploration of ‘crisis’ (a se…
Paul, Imprisonment and Crisis
COVID-19 has stimulated reflections on crisis as a catalyst for interpretation in both the present and the past. This article reads Philippians as embedded in different forms of crisis, most specifically the negotiation of Paul’s own context of crisis: his imprisonment. The bodily, social and spiritual dimensions of this liminal incarceration experience are here set out and the ways in which these influence the fulfilment of mission within the ep…
Chalcedon on the Road to Justice and Peace
In the context of the bilateral dialogue between the Mar Thoma Syrian Church and the Old Catholic Churches of the Union of Utrecht, the question of Christology – and with that the joint reception of the conciliar tradition of the early church – played an important role, given the “families” of churches that both traditions belong to: “Western Catholic” and “Oriental.” This paper, written from the vantage point of Old Catholic ecumenical theology,…
Biblical Studies
Amsterdam University Press is a leading publisher of academic books, journals and textbooks in the Humanities and Social Sciences. Our aim is to make current research available to scholars, students, innovators, and the general public. AUP stands for scholarly excellence, global presence, and engagement with the international academic community
Jesus, Religion, Gender
This special issue of Religion and Gender explores gendered presentations and constructions of Jesus from antiquity to the present. Sharing a broadly intersectional approach to gender analysis, the authors in this issue offer new insights into the dynamics of religion and gender, particularly as these dynamics concern central religious figures such as Jesus. The issue sheds new light on a diverse religious tradition by analyzing the gendering of …
Legitimizing Context
One of the more striking and, likely, widely-used publications of Gregorio Aglipay, one of the founding fathers of the Iglesia Filipina Independiente, is the so-called Novenario de la Patria (1926). It contains both a specific kind of -emancipatory -Mariology and a statement in devotional form of Aglipay's religious views at the time of its publication. The Mariology of the work has recently been addressed by Gealogo, Furusawa, and De la Cruz: th…
Masculinity and the ‘Holy Child’ of the Birhen sa Balintawak
The Birhen sa Balintawak is the first indigenous representation of the ‘Virgin-with-child’ in the Philippines. Associated with the revolutionary movement of the Katipunan and promoted by Gregorio Aglipay, a revolutionary priest and a founding figure of the Iglesia Filipina Independiente , this representation of Mary is connected with the political and religious emancipation of the Philippines. This paper explores the construction of the masculini…
Old Catholic and Philippine Independent Ecclesiologies in History
This study researches the historical development of the self-understanding of the Old Catholic Churches of the Union of Utrecht and the Iglesia Filipina Independiente. Throughout the 20th century, both churches have been in a developing relationship with each other, resulting in full communion in 1965. In the same time period, both churches developed an ecclesiological self-understanding in which an ecclesiology of the national church gradually g…
Prefiguration of the Nation
The Iglesia Filipina Independiente was established in 1902, in the context of the US occupation of the Philippines. The church has become known for its outspoken emancipatory political stance in the course of the 20th century. Yet, in its early days, the church wrestled with the question how to negotiate the restrictions that had been imposed regarding explicit political agitation. This paper argues that the church found a way forward regarding t…
On Being Consumed
The manner in which humans and the divine are brought into communion with each other, a key aspect of many religious traditions, is frequently, if not always, material (or sacramental) in character. Meals and food play an important role in this; such meals can include the consumption of the deity (theophagy), as well as the consumption of the human being by the deity. This paper takes its cue from the discussion of constructions of divine-human c…
Ecumenical Dialogue as Intercultural Encounter
This paper provides an overview of a recent ecumenical dialogue, the one between the Mar Thoma Syrian Church and the Old Catholic Churches of the Union of Utrecht (2011-2014) and analyses the dialogue through the lens of intercultural theology, arguing that the fields of ecumenical dialogue and intercultural theology can be brought into conversation with each other fruitfully, even if this is not currently being done in appertaining scholarship
Reaching for the Tree of Life
This paper considers the role of foodstuffs and their (non-)consumption in 4 Ezra. While foodstuffs figure prominently in 4 Ezra, no prior research has been conducted on food and 4 Ezra. The paper argues that both the narrative progression of the work and significant parts of 4 Ezra are expressed through foodstuffs
Jesus Traditions and Masculinities in World Christianity
This opening article offers an introduction to the theme of this special issue of Exchange : Jesus traditions and masculinities in world Christianity. Highlighting the historical trajectory of feminist theological debates on the maleness of Jesus Christ and its implications for configurations of gender (read: the position of women) in Christian traditions, the article particularly explores two recent developments: first, the critical discussion i…
Die Huidige Stand Van Geesteswetenskaplike Navorsing In Die Rsa Met Enkele Verwysings Na Sosiologie
THE PRESIDENT STATE OF HUMAN SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH IN THE RSA WITH SOME REFERENCES TO SOCIOLOGY sociology: The author criticises the role of the human sciences in South Africa. Special reference is made to the solution or better understanding of socio economic problems: the acceptability of research findings: the scientific quality of research: the measure in which an own methodology is developed: inter-disciplinary co-operation, particularly in in…
Die sosio-ekonomiese en politieke posisie van die stedelike Swart bevolking
The socio-economic and political position of the urban Black population. Suprisingly little is known about the urban Black population in South Africa. Few in-depth studies of Black urbanization have been made and very little is known about the pace of Black urbanization, the aspirations, perceptions and preferences of urban Blacks. There is overwhelming evidence that the urban Black population is gradually taking a normal demographic profile. The…
Historiese Grondslae van Swart Verstedeliking in Suid-Afrika
(1987). Historiese Grondslae van Swart Verstedeliking in Suid-Afrika. South African Historical Journal: Vol. 19, No. 1, pp. 7-29
The Bishop and his/her Eucharistic Community
In the essay the hermeneutical views of Jean–Luc Marion, as they are expressed in his God without Being: Hors–Texte in relationship with the Eucharist and the story of Luke 24, are presented and critically assessed. The criticisms registered touch in the first place upon the concept of in persona Christi , which concerns the relation between the celebrant and Christ. Furthermore, the issue of the relationship between the eucharistic minister and …
Christian Theologies of Scripture
Fellowship and Food in the Kingdom
Peter-Ben Smit studies the role meals and scenes of nutritional abundance play in the vision New Testament authors had of the upcoming reign of God. The texts in which these themes occur offer valuable windows on the thought world and theology of the authors and communities concerned.
Wissenschaftliche Untersuchungen Zum Neuen Testament 2. Reihe
Fellowship and food in the Kingdom
Peter-Ben Smit undertakes the first encompassing study of New Testament eschatological meals and scenes of nutritional abundance. His study thus fills a large gap in current research. In terms of its main contributions and emphases, the study challenges the widespread assumption that the origin of the imagery of eschatological meal fellowship and nutritional abundance can be found in Isa 25:6-8 by showing how the images of meal fellowship and nut…
An Old Catholic Response to 'The Local and Universal Dimensions of the Church
This paper responds from an Old Catholic perspective to the report 'The Local and Universal Dimensions of the Church.' Specifically, it raises questions about the composition of the dialogue that produced the report and the potential of a Eucharistic ecclesiology for ecumenical rapprochement, and it offers further reflections on catholicity and apostolicity, as well as the episcopal ministry in a local and supra-local context from an Old Catholic…
Something about Mary? Remarks about the Five Women in the Matthean Genealogy
The occurrence and significance of the five women in Jesus' genealogy in the Gospel of Matthew has been a source of continuous scholarly debate. Taking a gender-sensitive approach, this contribution argues for looking at the five women as one group, viewing them as simultaneously accentuating the messianic line that Jesus is part of and vindicating his somewhat irregular birth, as well as substantiating the openness of Israel for Gentiles by addu…
Old Catholic and Philippine Independent Ecclesiologies in History
This study researches the historical development of the self-understanding of the Old Catholic Churches of the Union of Utrecht and the Iglesia Filipina Independiente. Throughout the 20th century, both churches have been in a developing relationship with each other, resulting in full communion in 1965. In the same time period, both churches developed an ecclesiological self-understanding in which an ecclesiology of the national church gradually g…
A Symposiastic Background to James
The Epistle of James is not commonly seen in relation to early Christian common meals. At the same time, the work is preoccupied with the common life of an early Christian community, which in turn was, generally speaking, closely related to the way in which it celebrated its meals. In other words, ethics, ecclesiology, and etiquette were closely related. Based on this consideration, this essay attempts to relate aspects of the epistle to symposia…
John Milbank, Theology & Social Theory
In 1990 publiceerde John Milbank zijn manifesto Theology & Social Theory waarin hij een aantal fundamentele theologische overwegingen presenteert. Het is gericht aan aan theologen en sociale wetenschappers. In zijn boek probeert hij sociale theorievorming vanuit het perspectief van christelijke theologie te interpreteren (en te relativeren) om zo christelijke theologie te herpositioneren in relatie tot andere wetenschappelijke disciplines. Milban…
Jesus Traditions and Masculinities in World Christianity
This opening article offers an introduction to the theme of this special issue of Exchange : Jesus traditions and masculinities in world Christianity. Highlighting the historical trajectory of feminist theological debates on the maleness of Jesus Christ and its implications for configurations of gender (read: the position of women) in Christian traditions, the article particularly explores two recent developments: first, the critical discussion i…
Paul, Plutarch and the Problematic Practice of Self-Praise (περιαυτολογία)
Paul's boasting is often considered to be problematic. This paper explores Pauline boasting from the perspective of Plutarch's views on self-praise. Outlining what kinds of self-praise were and were not acceptable to someone like Plutarch, the paper analyses and positions Paul's boasting in Phil 3 in this context, concluding that, however offensive it may be to modern ears, this boasting was probably less so to the ears of his contemporaries
Reaching for the Tree of Life
This paper considers the role of foodstuffs and their (non-)consumption in 4 Ezra. While foodstuffs figure prominently in 4 Ezra, no prior research has been conducted on food and 4 Ezra. The paper argues that both the narrative progression of the work and significant parts of 4 Ezra are expressed through foodstuffs
St. Thecla
This paper interprets the Acts of Thecla , as they are part of the non-canonical Acts of Paul (and Thecla) as a piece of literature that seeks to make the Pauline heritage meaningful in a new context and a for a new kind of audience, specifically through a renewed accentuation of his apostleship and his teaching on self-control. By remembering Paul as Thecla’s mentor and subsequent colleague in the apostolic ministry, the Acts of Thecla make the …
Ecumenical Dialogue as Intercultural Encounter
This paper provides an overview of a recent ecumenical dialogue, the one between the Mar Thoma Syrian Church and the Old Catholic Churches of the Union of Utrecht (2011-2014) and analyses the dialogue through the lens of intercultural theology, arguing that the fields of ecumenical dialogue and intercultural theology can be brought into conversation with each other fruitfully, even if this is not currently being done in appertaining scholarship
Truth and Relevance
While an individual Quebecquois thinker, such as James Taylor, has become a ‘household name’ in religious studies (and the philosophy of religion), the broader narrative of religion in Quebec and i
Negotiating a New World View in Acts 1.8? A Note on the Expression ἕως ἐσχάτου τῆς γῆς
This article argues that the expression ‘to the end of the earth’ in Acts 1.8, while not referring to one specific geographical location, as has often been argued in contemporary scholarship on Acts, is best understood as a way of (re)ordering the world geographically and, therefore, ideologically. Drawing on Greco-Roman geographical and literary conventions, the article suggests that the author of Acts invites the work's readers to look at the w…
Ecclesiology in the Trenches
Intercultural Ritual Transgression as a Catalyst for Early Christian Theological Reflection — A Consideration of 1 Corinthians 8
What led to the issues that Paul addresses in 1 Corinthians 8? This paper argues that the missionary expansion of the early community led to a renegotiation of its ritual boundaries, in particular concerning question of ritual participation. Theory concerning ‘ritual failure’ is used in order to analyse the dynamics involved
Ecumenism in Praxis
Biblical Studies
Amsterdam University Press is a leading publisher of academic books, journals and textbooks in the Humanities and Social Sciences. Our aim is to make current research available to scholars, students, innovators, and the general public. AUP stands for scholarly excellence, global presence, and engagement with the international academic community
Jesus, Religion, Gender
This special issue of Religion and Gender explores gendered presentations and constructions of Jesus from antiquity to the present. Sharing a broadly intersectional approach to gender analysis, the authors in this issue offer new insights into the dynamics of religion and gender, particularly as these dynamics concern central religious figures such as Jesus. The issue sheds new light on a diverse religious tradition by analyzing the gendering of …
Philosophy (35 obras) · Sociology (26 obras) · Theology (21 obras) · Political science (20 obras) · History (18 obras) · Biblical Studies and Interpretation (17 obras) · Art (16 obras) · Law (16 obras) · Philosophy (12 obras) · Christian Theology and Mission (11 obras)