Theodore T.
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A Rejoinder to Dr. Bebis
Journal of Unification Studies Vol. 24, 2023 – Pages 111-115 Vassilios Bebis, who serves as a Chaplain at Harvard University (Cambridge, MA) and Professor of Eastern Orthodox and Ecumenical Theology at Graduate Theological Foundation (Sarasota, FL),kindly wrote a “supplementary note” on my article, “The Unification Doctrine of the Fall,” published in Journal of Unification Studies…
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Unification Eschatology as Compared with Christian Eschatology
Journal of Unification Studies Vol. 22, 2021 – Pages 87-116 Eschatology is the doctrine of “last things,” dealing with the consummation of the history of salvation. It is customarily treated in the last chapter of systematic theology. But many believe that eschatology actually penetrates the entirety of systematic theology, for while it specifically deals with…
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Unification Christology
Journal of Unification Studies Vol. 21, 2020 – Pages 51-76 In the history of Christianity theology, there has been a conflict between two types of Christology: “high” and “low” Christology. High Christology, which is orthodox Christology, holds that Christ, as the divine Logos “consubstantial” (homoousios) with God the Father, is actually God who assumes a…
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The Unification Doctrine of the Fall
Journal of Unification Studies Vol. 20, 2019 – Pages 57-112The traditional Christian doctrine of the fall as a whole has two different components: 1) the doctrine of Adam’s fall and 2) the doctrine of original sin proper. The reason is that Adam’s fall as his primal sinful act is usually distinguished from original sin proper,…
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Providential History of Modern Thought: A Unification Perspective
Journal of Unification Studies Vol. 18, 2017 – Pages 1-54 The Divine Principle talks about the Period of Preparation for the Second Advent of the Messiah, which is the “four-hundred-year period from the Protestant Reformation in 1517 to the end of World War I in 1918.”[1] During this period, there were three rounds of division…
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Were True Parents Born with Original Sin? How to Deal with Their Words on This Matter
Journal of Unification Studies Vol. 18, 2017 – Pages 109-120 Since 2014 the idea of True Mother as the only begotten Daughter has surfaced and stirred a controversy within the Unification movement, even though True Father himself during his lifetime actually used the term, “only begotten Daughter.” This idea has been a target of criticism…
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The Problem of Evil: Unification Theodicy
Journal of Unification Studies Vol. 17, 2016 – Pages 33-70 We experience evil in the world, whether it is “natural” or “moral” evil. [1] We also experience suffering, which is to undergo physical or mental pain caused by evil. If, however, there is an omnipotent and perfectly good God, as theism believes, then why is…
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God and the World: Advantages of the Unification Doctrine of God’s Dual Characteristics
Journal of Unification Studies Vol. 16, 2015 – Pages 27-64 The Unification notion of God’s dual characteristics as presented here may initially sound unfamiliar to many, especially in the Christian tradition. As the present essay proceeds, however, it will gradually become apparent that this Unification notion was already present in the Judeo-Christian tradition in a…
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Two Aspects of Love in God’s Heart in Unification Theism: Biblical Evidence
Journal of Unification Studies Vol. 15, 2014 – Pages 101-114 Unification theism understands God in a new way. God is a God of “Heart” who stands as the “True Parent” of human beings. God’s Heart, which is parental, is defined as his “emotional impulse to seek joy through love.”[1] With this Heart, God treats us…
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Sun Myung Moon’s Approach to the Bible
Journal of Unification Studies Vol. 14, 2013 – Pages 1-22 Many Christians suspect that the Unification Church erroneously elevates the authority of its doctrine, the “Divine Principle,”[1] above that of the Bible. But the present writer believes that the Divine Principle, no matter how unique and special it may be construed, is no more than…