Taking into review the newly published series of substantial multi-authored volumes on ecumenical theological education internationally, this article identifies, from the author’s own experience in ecumenical theological education and from his publications in this field, the central issue of specificity, locality and context in theological education. This takes place within two broadly developing new and relevant trends: post-secularism and inclusive liberalism, briefly described and then related to theological education. In the light of these trends, some questions are asked on theological education, and a plea for greater interdisciplinarity is made. The article thus contains a considerable part of self-reflective material, based on substantial professional experience in theological education, which enables engagement with the new publications and newly developing international contextual features that will shape theological education for the foreseeable future.

In a number of academic disciplines, expression has been given to the recently rising awareness that the category of the religious has not disappeared from public life. What the �masters of suspicion� � Feuerbach, Marx, Nietzsche, Weber, Durkheim and Freud � had sensed was the intellectual spirit of their times and not the dawning of a broadly post-religious phase in Western/ised humanity. In different academic disciplines, this new awareness has been given expression to by means of a series of newly developed concepts. In this contribution, these developments are briefly tracked as they relate to one another. Although these formulations and discussions in some ways correspond to one another, it has not yet been undertaken to relate them to one another, which is the contribution of this article: these developments reflect, as largely parallel expressions, the recently rising awareness that the category of the religious is currently present in private and public life more so than in previous decades.Intradisciplinary and/or interdisciplinary implications: This article traces recent developments in Sociology, Philosophy, Law and Theology on the unfolding place of religion in the world currently, as a first step to bringing these disciplines into discussion with one another on this matter.Keywords: Religiosity; Post-secularism; Sociology; Philisophy; Law; Theology

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The prosaic Mosaic death in Deuteronomy 34 leaves the way of life [foreign font omitted] as constituted in [foreign font omitted]. That is, par excellence: Life [foreign font omitted] is found in words. In Qohelet, another kind of existentialism, in the face of death, is found, namely in the sensual life of enjoyment of food, drink and companionship. These two approaches constitute different, competing Second Temple period conceptions of how to live, despite death, <em>coram Deo</em>. These two conceptions indicate the existence of more than one ethos within ancient Judaic society – a dynamic often lacking in the South African context.<p><strong>How to cite this article: </strong> Lombaard, C., 2009, ‘Two approaches to life in the Second Temple period: Deuteronomy and Qoholet’, <em>HTS Teologiese Studies/Theological Studies</em> 65(1), Art. #185, 4 pages. DOI: 10.4102/hts.v65i1.185</p>

It has become almost impossible to critique the concept of contextual exegesis of the Bible in Africa. Moreover, "relevance" in biblical interpretation is implicitly understood as the texts of the Bible affirming the current socio-political project(s) of a group with a current claim to power. Clearly, such hermeneutics are ideologically determined efforts at seeking legitimacy for these socio-political projects. Criticism of or alternatives to such efforts in biblical interpretation are regarded with severe suspicion. Building forth on previous studies, this paper analyses the ways in which, first, "apartheid" and now, "Africa", have functioned as such narcissistic hermeneutical keys. The critical religious and socio-political functions of the biblical texts are thus lost in this "political carnival" (J Ellul).