The Bible, Wisdom and Human Nature
of his definition of sin as God-displacement. A further cause may link to the model’s Augustinian roots where finding God within us de-emphasises finding God in others. Such views can offer an explanation as to why Hughes does not develop a theology regarding how God may be mediated through the Church, other people and the world in general. A further factor is the consequence of classical evangelicalism (Hughes’ formative context) and its over-emphasis on the God–self relationship at the expense of the God–neighbour relationship.
Repentance Repentance is an important biblical concept. The most common term for repentance shub in the Old Testament occurs over a thousand times, and is translated ‘repent’ or ‘repentance’, however, most commonly in the New International Version it is ‘turn’ or ‘return’. A second term is naham which expresses both a cognitive and affective component – sorrow, lament, grief and a change of mind. In view here is a turning from evil and a turning to good. Volf defines the process as a profound moral and religious turnaround. The inclusion of ‘religious’ helps keep the biblical context of relationship to God as opposed to any turnabout. Of critical importance theologically is the turning to God, which by definition involves turning away from evil. In the Old Testament, this call to turn is largely found in the prophets and applied to Israel corporately, and so can be understood in terms of the covenant obligation to reflect God. In the New Testament, the call to repentance becomes individual, yet universal via the Church’s call to mission (Matt. 28:18–20). Both Mark (1:15) and Matthew (4:17) start Jesus’ public proclamations with the call ‘Repent’. The key Greek word for repentance is metanoia, which Dunnet claims has two senses – a change of mind and an affective sense of remorse or regret. Adams, however, focuses exclusively on the cognitive when defining repentance, arguing that affective elements will be part of the overall experience, but are in fact a consequence to rethinking our attitudes and behaviours. His definition emerges from his understanding of the Greek term metanoia. He states:
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