Simeon Zahl
Biographic Data
| ID | 2153583 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Simeon Zahl |
| GIVEN NAMES | Simeon |
| FAMILY NAME | Zahl |
| SIGNATURE | ZAHL S |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of Cambridge |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-3286-2356 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 11 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 0 |
| WORKS AS AUTHOR | 11 |
| WORKS AS EDITOR | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2010 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2025 |
| H-INDEX | 0 |
Agency Experience and the Limitations of Non‐Contrastive Transcendence
This essay argues that although the principle of non‐contrastive transcendence (NCT) is persuasive on its own terms, there are theologically important dimensions of the relationship between divine and human agency that are not captured by an interpretive framework governed by NCT alone. Agency is not just a philosophical category; it is also a terminology that describes and interprets important aspects of human experience of both themselves and G…
An Anglican theology of grace
Beyond the Critique of Soteriological Individualism
This article examines an influential conceptual trope in theology and biblical studies: the distinction between ‘individualistic’ and ‘communal’ orientations as a typology for distinguishing soteriological frameworks. This distinction has been widely deployed in Paul studies, in particular, where for decades it has been invoked in order to illuminate problems with traditional Protestant soteriologies. The present article clarifies and extends rec…
Sin and Bodily Illness in the Psalms
Much recent Christian theology has sought to reconsider the significance of the body in theological reflection. At the same time, a number of areas of suffering traditionally associated with the experience of sin have come to be reinterpreted, for good reasons, as medical disorders without moral valence. The result is that the doctrine of sin has become increasingly dissociated from the body in contemporary theology. This article addresses this d…
Non‐Competitive Agency and Luther's Experiential Argument Against Virtue
This article examines a critique that has been levied against Martin Luther's account of the passivity of the human agent in salvation, and his corresponding critique of Aristotelian and Scholastic accounts of virtue. According to Reinhard Hütter and Jennifer Herdt, among others, Luther's theology of passivity is primarily the product of a philosophical failure to recognize that divine and human agency can be conceived in non‐competitive terms. T…
Revisiting ‘the Nature of Protestantism’
This article builds on contemporary debates about the doctrine of justification by faith alone to revisit the old question of the “nature of Protestantism”. Traditionally a core feature of Protestant theology, the doctrine of sola fide has been under assault for the past forty years, including within Protestant theology. This essay begins by showing that the major contemporary critique that sola fide bases salvation on a “legal fiction” misses th…
Tradition and its 'use
This article argues for the importance of attending to the subjective dynamics involved in retrieval of past theological traditions for contemporary purposes. Building on a close analysis of Martin Luther's distinction between the 'substance' of a thing and its 'use', the article makes a theological case for the importance of attending not just to what we retrieve from tradition, but also to how and why we retrieve it. Analysis of Luther's distin…
The Bondage of the Affections
On the Affective Salience of Doctrines
This article builds on the work of George Lindbeck to examine the role of doctrines in the shaping of religious experience and emotion. Using a series of historical examples, it argues for the value of identifying a mode of theological argument that supports claims through attending to perceived affective effects of particular doctrines. It then applies this approach to Philipp Melanchthon’s classic articulation of the forensic model of the doctr…
Rethinking ‘Enthusiasm’
This article uses resources from the theology of Christoph Blumhardt to argue that Luther was mistaken in identifying a necessary theological connection between ‘enthusiastic’ views of the Spirit and naive anthropology. It demonstrates that Blumhardt successfully combined an abiding concern over the problem of spiritual self‐deception together with a pneumatology that affirmed the importance of affective experience of the Spirit not mediated excl…
The Blackwell Companion to the Theologians
No prominent works on this page.
Rethinking ‘Enthusiasm’
This article uses resources from the theology of Christoph Blumhardt to argue that Luther was mistaken in identifying a necessary theological connection between ‘enthusiastic’ views of the Spirit and naive anthropology. It demonstrates that Blumhardt successfully combined an abiding concern over the problem of spiritual self‐deception together with a pneumatology that affirmed the importance of affective experience of the Spirit not mediated excl…
The Blackwell Companion to the Theologians
On the Affective Salience of Doctrines
This article builds on the work of George Lindbeck to examine the role of doctrines in the shaping of religious experience and emotion. Using a series of historical examples, it argues for the value of identifying a mode of theological argument that supports claims through attending to perceived affective effects of particular doctrines. It then applies this approach to Philipp Melanchthon’s classic articulation of the forensic model of the doctr…
The Bondage of the Affections
Revisiting ‘the Nature of Protestantism’
This article builds on contemporary debates about the doctrine of justification by faith alone to revisit the old question of the “nature of Protestantism”. Traditionally a core feature of Protestant theology, the doctrine of sola fide has been under assault for the past forty years, including within Protestant theology. This essay begins by showing that the major contemporary critique that sola fide bases salvation on a “legal fiction” misses th…
Tradition and its 'use
This article argues for the importance of attending to the subjective dynamics involved in retrieval of past theological traditions for contemporary purposes. Building on a close analysis of Martin Luther's distinction between the 'substance' of a thing and its 'use', the article makes a theological case for the importance of attending not just to what we retrieve from tradition, but also to how and why we retrieve it. Analysis of Luther's distin…
Non‐Competitive Agency and Luther's Experiential Argument Against Virtue
This article examines a critique that has been levied against Martin Luther's account of the passivity of the human agent in salvation, and his corresponding critique of Aristotelian and Scholastic accounts of virtue. According to Reinhard Hütter and Jennifer Herdt, among others, Luther's theology of passivity is primarily the product of a philosophical failure to recognize that divine and human agency can be conceived in non‐competitive terms. T…
Sin and Bodily Illness in the Psalms
Much recent Christian theology has sought to reconsider the significance of the body in theological reflection. At the same time, a number of areas of suffering traditionally associated with the experience of sin have come to be reinterpreted, for good reasons, as medical disorders without moral valence. The result is that the doctrine of sin has become increasingly dissociated from the body in contemporary theology. This article addresses this d…
Beyond the Critique of Soteriological Individualism
This article examines an influential conceptual trope in theology and biblical studies: the distinction between ‘individualistic’ and ‘communal’ orientations as a typology for distinguishing soteriological frameworks. This distinction has been widely deployed in Paul studies, in particular, where for decades it has been invoked in order to illuminate problems with traditional Protestant soteriologies. The present article clarifies and extends rec…
An Anglican theology of grace
Agency Experience and the Limitations of Non‐Contrastive Transcendence
This essay argues that although the principle of non‐contrastive transcendence (NCT) is persuasive on its own terms, there are theologically important dimensions of the relationship between divine and human agency that are not captured by an interpretive framework governed by NCT alone. Agency is not just a philosophical category; it is also a terminology that describes and interprets important aspects of human experience of both themselves and G…
Philosophy (10 works) · Epistemology (8 works) · Theology (8 works) · Biblical Studies and Interpretation (4 works) · Psychology (4 works) · Christian Theology and Mission (3 works) · Law (3 works) · Reformation and Early Modern Christianity (3 works) · Doctrine (2 works) · Political science (2 works)