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At the fifth centennial of the Reformation this article deals with the ecumenical and postmodern legacy of Martin Luther’s sola scriptura principle. His multifaceted and complex sola scriptura theology is defined through the concept of the authority of Scripture versus the Tradition of the church, his formulation of the broader principle of the Word of God, some basic elements of his hermeneutics, and the Christ-centeredness of the sola scriptura principle. Strategically, the ecumenical and postmodern relevance and efficiency of sola scriptura both in the church and society today cannot be properly understood without first articulating this principle of Scripture by examining both Luther’s original position and subsequent theological interpretations.
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Prominent features of the postmodernism - consumerism, individualism and relativization of system values were reflected on the spiritual life and created some new forms of manifestation of religiosity in which consumerism, faith, God, church ceremonies are converted into marketable products and services. Statistical surveys and censuses show an extremely high percentage of believers in the total population (National Statistics Institute), and ecclesiastical practice says that only few people are leading an active church life, and even less than that lead a sincere Christian life. These facts pose the following questions to the clergy and the faithful, as responsible Christians, but also to the society as a whole, which is based on the Christian culture, tradition and values: “What is the role of Christian faith in the postmodern era and the role of church in the postmdern society, and how to overcome the state that Professor Radovan Bigović called 'pathology of religion'“.
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This paper analyzes theological notion of truth which can be find in the Holy Scriptures and Church Tradition. The relationship of the concept of God’s truth of and phenomenon of secularism is here considered. Through the explanation of the main features of secularism, analysis of the origin and emergence of secularism, we come to the answer of the Church to such contemporary challenges.
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Neither the meaning itself, nor the use of the idea of fundamentalism, have always been the same. Although, particularly today, this expression has been used for various purposes, it would be more correct to speak about early fundamentalism, which starts from a tension, and later on also from a clash, with modernization and modern living conditions and new forms of fundamentalism, directed at conquering public and political fields. Therefore, the fundamentalism transforms itself from a conservative movement advocating the reform of religion within its own ranks, into a revolutionary political movement, which shrinks from no means to promote its goals. Orthodoxy is thrown away, and an active socio-political practice is adopted. If the early fundamentalism used to take religion as its goal, the new one uses it as the means of mobilization and homogenization, all in order to seize power and alter the historic development of society.
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The primary intention of this paper is to show relations between bishop Council and Pope in the Dogmatic Constitution on the Church Lumen Gentium of the Second Vatican Council. In this paper will be discussed an issue of the origin and position of the Episcopal ministry. The First Vatican Council, and all Councils did not explicitly dealt with the position of the Bishop in the Roman Catholic Church, but the emphasis was always on the Pope. The Second Vatican Council, however, a large part, we can say the most important document is devoted to bishops and their relationship both to the other bishops, and to the bishop of Rome. The central part of the work is devoted to clarify the position of Episcopal Council of Rome. In the paper it will be discussed whether in Roman Catholic Church, an Episcopal Council has a power and what kind of power it has and also will be discussed who gives to the Episcopal consecration and authority. This paper will deal with issues regarding the Pope primacy and whether the Pope primacy is truncated by establishing and evolving Episcopal Council which took place in the documents of the Second Vatican Council. And finally, in the paper it will be discussed an extent to which the Eucharistic ecclesiology influenced perhaps the most difficult and the most important issues of the Dogmatic Constitution of the Church.
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This dissertation is based on religion among Serbian monks. They’re discussing about their experience in Orthodox monasteries: prays about obsessed people and they cure for their ‘illness’. Obsessed people are trying to hurt themselves or someone else without any special reasons. If modern medicine can’t help an obsessed person is taken to a monastery. Relics which are being used to help in this ritual are Christ cross, bones of saints, holy oil and holy water.
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The aim of this paper is a brief overview of the origin and development of the institution of godparents in the first five centuries of the Church. The scientists often suppose number of external factors that caused the emergence of godparents in Church, but nevertheless, it is the institution which is par excellence Christian. Final shaping of the godparenthood as we know it today is related to the period of the fifth century, while in the time that preceded there are two mutually independent institutions with characteristics that we recognize in the later godparenthood. The first of these institutions was directly related to the Baptism of adults and concerned with the testimony of their faith and sincere intention to become Christians. The second one was related to administering Baptism of children and concerned with the answering and active participation in the Baptism in the name of the child, and was closely related to the very act of the Sacrament of Baptism, which was not the case with the aforementioned, which had strictly prebaptismal character. Each of these institutions was conditional, therefore, not legally binding. Predominace of baptizing children after the fourth century caused the synthesis of these two institutions, which will result in the emergence of godparenthood and in godparenthood becoming the indispensable part of every Baptism.
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The Holy Spirit constitutes the community between God and all human beings, but not without dialogue. God calls and man responds, with man’ s positive response the grace of God actualizes and establishes the community. The graceful dialogue is permeated with love, the love of God which is similar to man’s love. God’s love is unconditional, it shines and embraces every human being, that’s why the love of every Orthodox Christian should be calm and ready to embrace, accept and take care of the salvation of every human being. On the basis of that love, starts every dialogue between Christians. That kind of dialogue is not looking for the Truth, it owns it through the Holy Communion. Because the Truth is God’s personality, The Lord Jesus Christ. The Orthodox Christian witnesses the Truth and calls the brother with whom he has that dialogue to feel and unite with that same Truth. The Truth needs to be shown and witnessed, it is not a subject of compromises, or objective scientific rationalization. The unification of the Christians is not a matter of accepting a certain confessional minimum signed on a particular document. The unification goes beyond the ethical, intellectual and sentimental reconciliation. It can only be established in the fullfilness of personal relationships, personal loving relation ship with God and our closest ones. The real unity of secrets, the unity of life in God and His Church. If we put love similar to God’s Love as the foundation of the dialogue between Christians, and the testimony of the Truth as a methodology of the dialogue and the fullness of the relations and unity in the experience of faith as the goal of the dialogue then that’s the best way to affirm Orthodox theology in it’s width and beauty. In this way we achieve the creative dynamism of the prayer „for the unity of us all“.
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This article deals with the new possibilities of integration of psychology and Christian faith/theology. There is no genuine integration without recognition of the unified presupposed foundations for integration. This work searches for the common philosophical, metaphysical and epistemological presuppositions or assumptions necessary for the integration of Christianity and psychology. This might be a viable construction for the possible implementation of a Christian psychology program.
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Islam is the last and great monotheistic religion created in the Middle East. The undisputed influences of Judaism and heterodox Judeo-Christianity on Mohammed’s religious consciousness are present not only in the Koran, but the dogmatic teachings of Islam, which is the mythical-poetic framework, expressed as an extension of the Semitic monotheistic cycle conceived in the east. As Jerabean Judaism is considered a religion of revelation, and the Jews themselves considered themselves a God-selected nation, so Islam itself tried to incorporate ultimate truth and revelation of the existence of only the One and Only God as the last prophet. Considering that Christians teach and confess that Christianity is the only religion that is God-revealed, people are given the perfect God-embodied Personality of Our Lord Jesus Christ. Similarly, the Islamic dogmatic teaching developed the belief that the Koran is a textual Word of God, which is continually interpreted in the world as Allah’s superior linguistic.
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This paper examines the discursive practices, strategic and negotiating about the relationship of religion and politics, in the context of selected examples of articles in the journal Pravoslavlje (Orthodoxy). The aim of this paper is to point out interpretitive frames, rhetorical ensembles and „reinforcing“ toponism that withdraw pretensions to universality, and open space for the de(con)struction of common understanding of the connection between the religious and the political. Through the prism of dichotomy between tradition and modernity, politics which „logic“ relies on deliberation and unpredictability, and religion as the uncertain expectation of eschaton, the aim was to locate the niche breakthrough that could affect the „living religion“, ie. may represent the interpellation of the same, bearing in mind that equivalence does not preclude the diference.
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Having indicated difficulties in understanding the sacred in our secularized times, the author attempts to clarify the phenomenon by relying on commentaries by Rudolf Otto and Mircea Eliade. He emphasizes that Otto demonstrated that the sacred, as a religious category, cannot be reduced to the good. The sacred is a complex category that consists of irrational and rational moments. After detailed consideration of different dimensions of perception of the sacred, the author concurs with Ottos’s statement that the problem of the Western European man is the unfamiliarity with the perception of the sacred. The author also devotes considerable attention to Eliade’s delicate interpretation of the relation between the sacred and the profane, whether it be an object or a person, whether it be space and time. He concurs with Eliade’s judgement that profane has become predominant in lives of most of contemporary people, unlike mythical times when a man aimed at imitating an archetype. Having stressed that the ultimate goal of religion is man’s spiritual transformation, i. e. becoming sanctified, the author concludes that the destiny of the world depends on whether it will be reaffirmed or not.
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The aim of this paper was to present The Slava as a family ritual that connects family members and serves as a link between the family, on the one hand, and society and culture, on the other hand. There are many theories and hypothesis about the origin of The Slava in the Serbian Orthodoxy. The Slava is an important element of Serbian cultural and national identity, and as such is classified in the UNESCO List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. In our society, it has multiple functions. The Slava is an exceptional mechanism for maintaining family cohesion and balanced communication between family members, by encouraging a sense of belonging and unity, and by maintaining families together and by forbidding conflict situations among the family members. It also has a function of identification of families and through the mechanisms of socialization, The Slava transmits the values of the society on family members. In today’s celebration of The Slava, the social component is becoming more and more dominant.
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The sun in a religious understanding of ancient civilizations. From old testament Judah, who have identified him as a celestial object without of interference in the religious consciousness, all the way to eastern nations who will give him the identity of the attire of one of the most important deities. A touch of civilization, and assumption some attributes of divinity from each other. Symbol of power and authority of the Roman emperor, a sign that connects the world and spiritually. The emergence of the Christian era, and the loss of the role of the center of the religious consciousness of ancient man.
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Александрa Ђурић-Миловановић, Двоструке мањине у Србији: О посебностима у религији и етницитету Румуна у Војводини, Балканолошки институт САНУ, посебна издања 129, Београд 2015, 348 страна.
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Although practically both are sharing a common tradition with regard to justifying war conflicts, Christians and Muslims have a different approach to the ethics of warfare. While the Christians, after three centuries of non-violence and turning the other cheek, from the 4th century had started to form what is nowadays called a just war theory, the Muslims had considered warfare as a way of preserving their community, and expanding its boundaries, and, therefore, combat in this sense had been justified from the very beginnings of the Muslim society. Later, in the Middle Ages especially, there had been various circumstances for conducting just wars, on either sides, sometimes even led as holy wars, still, the fact remained that the warfare was deeply tragic, although often unavoidable activity when all other means of reaching peace were exhausted. This paper represents author's attempt to sketch an overview of just war theories in Christianity and Islam, including both traditional and contemporary approach to this matter.
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Peter Brown, The Body and Society. Men, Women, and Sexual Renunciation in Early Christianity. Twentieth-anniversary edition with a new introduction. Columbia Classics in Religion. New York: Columbia University Press, 2008. Pp. lxvii, 504. ISBN 978-0-231-14406-3
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