Kršćanska teologija kao odgovor na islamski izazov – Historijska perspektiva

Author(s): Stefan Schreiner / Language(s): Bosnian Issue: 61/2015

Od samog početka su kršćani, osobito kršćanski teolozi, Muhamedovu objavu, i iz nje proizašlo nastajanje islama kao religije i religijske zajednice sa zahtjevom na vlastitu Objavu i iz nje izvedenim odnosno na njoj utemeljenim zahtjevom na Istinu, na jednoj strani, i brzo širenje ove nove religije i područja vladavine njenih pristalica, na drugoj strani, shvatili ne samo kao društveno-politički nego, upravo, i kao teološki izazov. To se po kršćanskom uvjerenju uopće nije moglo desiti da se post Christum natum, nakon objave kroz Isusa (Mesiju) Krista, tačnije: nakon samoobjave Boga dogodi još jedna druga, nova Božija objava, kada se samoobjava Boga kroz Isusa Krista po svjedočanstvu poslanice Hebrejima dogodila “jednom za sva vremena” i “konačno” (Heb 7,27).

„W MOCY DUCHA ŚWIĘTEGO. KSIĘGA PAMIĄTKOWA DLA JEGO EKSCELENCJI KSIĘDZA BISKUPA EDWARDA BIAŁOGŁOWSKIEGO Z OKAZJI XXV ROCZNICY ŚWIĘCEŃ BISKUPICH”, RED. P. MIERZWA, M. NABOŻNY, RZESZÓW 2013, S. 496, ISBN 978-83-936516-0-3

Author(s): Waldemar Pałęcki / Language(s): Polish Issue: 18-20/2013

Theology of Education in the Second Vatican Council’s Gravissimum Educationis

Author(s): Stuart Nicolson / Language(s): English Issue: 1/2022

Theology of education regards the growth in the journey with God and being with God and others. Gravissimum Educationis (GE) calls for moral learning in education, and specifically Christian education so Christians grow in God, become more Christ-like (theosis) and an active participant in society, thus bringing Christianity to the world. The document also encourages different theological means of communicating the faith to educate Christians and reach out to others. This paper identifies both of these themes in GE, focusing on the early sections of the document.

Sprawozdanie z 54. Tygodnia Eklezjologicznego zorganizowanego przez Koło Naukowe Teologów Katolickiego Uniwersytetu Lubelskiego Jana Pawła II w Lublinie

Author(s): Michał Pierzchała / Language(s): Polish Issue: 2 (32)/2022

Do tradycji Wydziału Teologicznego Katolickiego Uniwersytetu Lubelskiego Jana Pawła II w Lublinie należy „Tydzień Eklezjologiczny”, który odbył się po raz 54. w dniach 17-19 maja 2022 roku i został zorganizowany przez Koło Naukowe Teologów KUL (dalej: KUL KNT) pod hasłem „Kościół Świętych”. Sympozjum rozpoczęło się uroczystą Eucharystią pod przewodnictwem Ks. Abp. Stanisława Budzika Metropolity Lubelskiego i Wielkiego Kanclerza KUL. Ksiądz Arcybiskup podkreślił w homilii, że Chrystus jest źródłem i dawcą wszelkiej świętości, oraz wskazał, iż Kościół ukazuje powołanie do świętości jako powszechną drogę, i zaprosił, aby wołać o świętych i nimi się stawać przez bliskość z Chrystusem i Jego Kościołem.

The Research Activity of Rev. Prof. Remigiusz Sobański in the Field of Substantive Canon Law

Author(s): Wojciech Góralski / Language(s): English Issue: 8/2022

Remigiusz Sobański (1930–2010), a long-time professor at the Faculty of Canon Law of the Academy of Catholic Theology in Warsaw, and then at Cardinal Stefan Wyszyński University in Warsaw. Although his research focused mainly on the theory of canon law, he also published several dozen works in the field of canonical matrimonial law. These works cover four main research areas: marriage law (general rules), marriage consent, form of marriage, mixed marriages. Moreover, as a judicial vicar, he prepared and published several dozen sentences in the cases of nullitatis matrimonii.

Marriage and the family issues in the research and writings of Blessed Michał Sopoćko in the light of his scientific activity and legacy

Author(s): Henryk Ciereszko / Language(s): English Issue: 1/2022

Father Michał Sopoćko, the blessed of the Catholic Church described the issues of marriage and the family in the legal and ethical aspect in his doctoral thesis. It was published in 1926 and was called: Rodzina w prawodawstwie na ziemiach polskich [The family in the legislation on Polish soil]. This article presents this publication with the background note about the scientific activity of Father Sopoćko, the scientific disciplines which he worked on (pastoral theology, pedagogy, catechetics and homiletics) as well as the apostolate of Divine mercy (teaching, the cult, publications), which were his life mission. The dissertation presents the reasons why he described the issues of marriage and family: his concern for the Christian model of the family, of the family’s rights based on the natural and on the revealed law in order to take them into account in the codification created in the freed Poland. Further on, the main content of the work consists of the vision of family and marriage, the mutual relationship of the spouses, the relationship between parents and children with regard to the natural law and to the Christian morality presented in the light of the legislation on the Polish soil under occupation. The final part in the conclusion of the article emphasises the indispensability to embed the constituted law on marriage and the family on the natural and the revealed law. This validity has not become out of date and should still be preserved. This statement adds value to the work of Father Sopoćko and makes it worth attention in the light of the contemporarily discussed issues of marriage and the family.

LA FEDE IN GESÙ, FONTE DI APOSTOLATO E MISSIONE NELLA COMUNITÀ ECCLESIALE

Author(s): Călin-Daniel Paţulea / Language(s): Italian Issue: 28/2022

We go to the encounter with Christ with disinterested, enlightened, unlimited faith. This is how the faith of a true Christian must be: it must have as its center not one's own self, but the infallible word of God. We believe because God is true and because He has spoken. We believe in faith, not because we can control its truth directly, but only relying on God, who in his sublime intelligence can neither deceive nor deceive us, and who in his great goodness wanted to reveal truths inaccessible to the human intellect alone. The individual and the community must strengthen their faith with a profound study of the revealed truths, adequate to their intelligence and responsibilities.

DRAMATISM AND DRAMATIZATION – A PERSUASIVE STRATEGY IN NICOLAE STEINHARDT'S SERMONS

Author(s): Maria Lupu / Language(s): Romanian Issue: 28/2022

N. Steinhardt proves in his homiletic discourse a real predisposition for dramatization. The Christian "tragedy" is staged and, at the same time, commented by an exceptional playwright and director. Argumentative discourse is a “mise en scene” and thus adheres to a determined social theatricality (of roles and actors). We identify the predilection for theatricality in the impeccable rhetoric, in the syntax of the sentence - the mixture of concise, elliptical sentences with astonishingly long utterances that presuppose a certain rhythm of utterance, the preference for interjection and exclamation, for the free indirect style. All this reveals a permanent concern of N. Steinhardt for the effect. Concentrated and unitary, Steinhardt's essay relies, sometimes, on the "shock" of the listener, on an aesthetic of the paradox and, apparently, of the sensational. Finally, we are witnessing, together with Steinhardt, a dramatic change in the homily paradigm. Sermons such as the ”Living Water”, the ”Hananian Woman”, the ”Tragedy of Judas”, the ”Holy Prophet Elijah”, ”Reflections on Death”, the ”Lord came to save and scandalize us”, the ”Holy Wrath” amply proves the directorial pleasure of the learned monk.

CONTRIBUTIONS OF METROPOLITAN VENIAMIN COSTACHI TO THE SUPPORT OF LAIC PRINTING

Author(s): Mirela Beguni / Language(s): Romanian Issue: 31/2022

A particularly important figure in the history of the Church, Metropolitan Veniami Costachi contributed to the regeneration of Romanian culture in the first half of the 19th century through a prodigious activity of translating and printing books in Romanian language. Interested by any activity that could have helped the development of Moldavia, the hierarch supported not only the printing of church writings, but also a series of secular writings, especially in the field of history.

CHRISTIAN PRINCIPLES IN THE PEDAGOGY OF SIMION MEHEDINȚI

Author(s): Ioan Puiu / Language(s): English Issue: 33/2023

The Holy Fathers, desiring that young people enjoy a joyful life on this earth, but also be heirs of the Kingdom of Heaven, paid particular attention to their formation. Through their writings dedicated to young people, the Holy Fathers have shown that they are called to follow the life of Christ, the greatest Teacher of all time, and that an education which helps the young person to live here beautifully but also to acquire Eternity with God is a true art. St. John Chrysostom understood by the art of education that permanent concern for the salvation of the soul entrusted to him for formation, the purpose of education being the preparation for eternal life. The Holy Fathers emphasize that education must help the young person to know and cultivate in his life the Christian virtues, and this is greatly strengthened by the model provided by those who form the young person. The great Romanian teacher and scholar of the last century, Simion Mehedinți, born into a genuine Christian family and having relatives who were priests, understood the particularly important role that knowledge and living the faith plays in the full formation of the young person. Through his writings, conferences and all his teaching activity, Mehedinți worked for the moral edification of young people, being fully convinced that the foundation of the young person's formation must be the Holy Gospel which "like a spring of clean water, which quenches thirst, is a fountain of wisdom for young and old, for the learned as well as the unlearned, for the rich as well as the poor .... and he who hears her words and weighs them carefully cannot fail to become wiser, better and happier". This study aims to present some of the Christian principles on the formation of young people drawn from the works of Simion Mehedinți and to answer questions such as: What is the role of the family in the formation of young people? What are the duties of a true educator? What Christian principles are found in Simion Mehedinți's work?

EDUCATION OF YOUNG PEOPLE IN THE CHURCH THROUGH CATECHESIS. MOTIVATION AND METHODS

Author(s): Alexandru Baciu / Language(s): English Issue: 33/2023

Increasingly, we see that the contemporary man, in order to define his role in society, seeks to progress as much as possible professionally, seeks to keep up with the "fashion" in terms of technology, is assimilated by the commercial side of society. All these factors lead to his dissipation. The spiritual side is often neglected or treated with indifference. This way of life is especially aimed at young people, those who are just starting out, who can easily be moulded to the demands of the times. With all these temptations from the outside, the Church comes with a superior proposal, urging young people to a different knowledge, a perfect one, the experience life in God. The Saviour Jesus Christ says: "This is eternal life, that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent" (John 17:3). We often hear in society, especially in the media, the idea that the Church, as an institution with social concerns, (unfortunately consumer society cannot perceive it as a divine-human reality) is unable to communicate with the young people within it. This paper aims to establish some frameworks to demonstrate that the Church is concerned with the spiritual and even intellectual formation of young people through catechesis. From its experience of more than 2000 years since the "moment of Pentecost", the Church has always known how to listen, to guide, to teach, to correct mistakes, to offer people what no other human institution has offered, a different kind of existence. A superior existence in Christ.

LE CHRISTIANISME AU BAS DU DANUBE (IVE SIÈCLE) ET LES PREMIERS MISSIONNAIRES

Author(s): Ştefan Lifa,Alexandru Fodor / Language(s): French Issue: 34/2023

Our study includes, for the most part, aspects concerning the genesis and the evolution of the way of life of the Daco-Roman population in the first millenium. This corresponds directly to the spiritual specificity of the population we are talking about, an idea to which we have tried to relate permanently. The missionary work in the Balkan Peninsula, Macedonia, Greece, Illyricum, among other regions, is due to Saint Paul, a true apostle of the peoples, and his disciples. With regard to the territory located between the Carpathians, the Danube and the Euxin Bridge, it is considered that the work of evangelization, at least for Scythia Minor, would have belonged to the Holy Apostle Andrew. Opinions that attempt to identify the Scythia of literary sources with the Scythia Major do not stand up to more detailed analysis and cannot be consistent with the reality found on the ground. But it is true that the Byzantine historians kept, until late in the Middle Ages, the ancient names and, then, the recourse to Scythia is not out of place. It is very unlikely that the Apostles present in the New Testament and in the patriotic scriptures traveled through all the provinces, spreading the Gospel in a time when Jacob, the brother of Jesus Christ and the head of the Church of Jerusalem, did not want to see it spread among the ,,peoples”; Paul, on the other hand, wanted it, and the others – John, Peter – had doubts about it. It is even possible that the other apostles, with the exception of Paul, thought only of the Jews. The new religion also had a different status in the Empire in the various periods. Some emperors persecuted their followers, others (like Gallienus, etc.) were very tolerant. The permanent relations with the Empire and its influences, the contact of Christian missionaries and refugees with the native population, the special conditions of the former province played an important role. Christian communities have become more and more numerous and powerful. An important contribution to the spread of the new religion in the northern Danubian regions was made also by the captives taken from the Empire. Probably the best known of the South Danubian missionaries was Wulfila. Wulfila, bishop of the Christians of the country of the Goths, also propagated among the Daco-Roman natives. The persecution begun by Athanaric forced Wulfila to flee south of the Danube, but contact with the land of the Goths continued. He remained an intermediary between the Goths and Emperor Valens.

LORD’S ARMY – AN ASSOCIATION CONFESSING AND SACRIFICING FOR THE ORTHODOX CHURCH

Author(s): Mihai Liviu Marici / Language(s): Romanian Issue: 35/2023

As a movement of spiritual rebirth within the Romanian Orthodox Church, the Army of the Lord had its beginning on January 1, 1923, through the initiative of the Orthodox priest Iosif Trifa from Sibiu, who published a Call in the name of Jesus Christ, through the leaflet of the Metropolitanate of Sibiu, Lumina satelor, (Village light) whose editor he was, addressed to the readers and to all Christians, to a Decision of change of life, this being considered the moment inspired to the initiator by the Holy Spirit as the beginning of the movement. It was outlawed by the communist regime in 1948, continuing its activity underground for more than 40 years until 1990, when it was legally rehabilitated as a religious association within the Romanian Orthodox Church with its headquarters in Sibiu and has been active since 28 September 1990 with the blessing of the Holy Synod of the R.O.C., which also approved its Statute.

THE EVOLUTION OVER TIME OF THE HISPANO-MOZARABIC TRADITION

Author(s): Bogdan Ștefan Avram / Language(s): Romanian Issue: 36/2024

The Hispanic Rite is the distinctive way of celebrating liturgical actions in the Spanish Church during its first ten centuries of history. It was first used by the Hispano-Roman Christians, and its use continued under Visigothic rule, during which time the great Fathers of the Visigothic Church significantly enriched it. There is no doubt that the Hispanic rite was influenced by Eastern liturgies, from which the Goths had borrowed ecclesiastical traditions through the Bishop of the Goths, Ulfila. He had Arianized the people and translated the Bible into the native language. At this point, the Hispanic rite acquired a predominantly Eastern-Byzantine character without ceasing to be fundamentally Roman. It was also used by Christians who remained under Muslim rule in various regions of Spain, as well as by those in the unoccupied regions.

REDEMPTION AND SPIRITUAL SUFFERING IN THE “MARIE DOLENTE AU PIED DE LA CROIX” POEM

Author(s): Paul-Cristian Albu / Language(s): Romanian Issue: 36/2024

The purpose of the paper is to offer a panoramic view of the relation between religion and humanism in the French evangelical poem Marie Dolente au Pied de la Croix, written in sixteen century. I am interested in discussing how the Christian religion can be reflected in a humanist century, in a world where social vicissitudes are essential for understanding the universal message of Christianity. By this poem, God would like to invite us to reflect on the concepts of peace, freedom, love, and fraternal peace. I am also interested in observing how the universal message of Eternal Love can penetrate a secular society. I will consider using the technique of close reading the poem and diverse literary and religious books, to reflect in which way it is sought to express the idea of Christian Redemption in the literary world. The creative use of language will be regarded as a means to make visible the new paradigm of fraternity can be understood by the readers in contemporaneity.

Psychologiczne rozważania o roli kobiety w Kościele

Author(s): Dorota Kuncewicz / Language(s): Polish Issue: 2/2023

The question about the role of a woman in the Church is asked in the context of the world and triggers its problems. And the modern world has difficulty accepting roles, requirements and interdependence, but also in appreciating every day, arduous effort aimed at the common good. The context for answering the question should also be the parallel definition of the roles of other members of the community - men, priests, nuns. And of course, there remains the question of why the question is asked and whether the answer is consistent with the one given in real life.

DESCENSUS AD INFEROS - AN ARTISTIC PHENOMENOLOGY OF THE SAVIOR ARCHETYPE IN EUROPEAN CONSCIENCE

Author(s): Ana-Irina Iorga / Language(s): Romanian Issue: 37/2024

With the 15th century in Western art in general, in visual art in particular, there are some clear signs of changes related to the form of beliefs, so to the soul intimacy of the Western man. Forms of religious consciousness, themselves the result of earlier changes, it changes and will change once more. The content of religious consciousness remains immutable. It has at its center the archetype of the savior from death. 14 centuries this archetype was personified in Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the conqueror of hell and death. The period of the 15th - 21st centuries conveys, through visual and musical art, that the Christ personification of the savior gradually changes until it almost disappears, its place being taken by Orpheus, the mythological hero of ancient Greece.

THE ACTIVITY UNDER CENSORSHIP OF THE LORD'S ARMY WITHIN THE ROMANIAN ORTHODOX CHURCH

Author(s): Mihai Liviu Marici / Language(s): Romanian Issue: 37/2024

The movement of religious and moral revival of the Army of the Lord, which appeared in the Romanian Orthodox Church in 1923, at the initiative of the priest Iosif Trifa (1888-1938) from Sibiu, will exert a strong influence on the Orthodox Church. The relations with the ecclesiastical authority, the Archdiocese of Ardeal, represented at that time by the Metropolitan Dr. Nicolae Bălan, and the de facto founder of the movement, the priest Iosif Trifa, at first very good, cooled down with the extension of the movement's activity beyond the borders of the Archdiocese of Sibiu, and his acquisition of a personal printing house. A tense situation built up which, in 1935-1938, degenerated into a conflict with unforeseen consequences for the Army of the Lord. Under the communist regime, which regarded the movement as anti-sectarian and chauvinist, the civil sentence of the Court of Sibiu of 22 December 1949 dissolved the Army of the Lord as a society and eliminated it from the register of legal entities. The Army of the Lord continued to exist underground and manifested itself through isolated actions of members in various parishes in the country until 1990 when it was legally and canonically rehabilitated.

THE PERSONALITY OF THE METROPOLITAN DOSOFTEI

Author(s): Nicolae Nucă / Language(s): Romanian Issue: 38/2024

Romanian Orthodox theology had a categorical and unwavering attitude on the line of the right faith in respecting the dogmatic and liturgical truth. The metropolitan of Dosoftei was a providential man in the eucharistic dispute between the two churches, Russian and Ukrainian, having a major contribution in clarifying the eucharistic liturgy. Through the holy liturgy, the most lively spiritual connection and the richest communication between Christ and his church is realized.

ETHICAL DIMENSIONS OF THE HUMAN BEING AT DUMITRU STĂNILOAE - PLEADING FOR STUDYING DUMITRU STĂNILOAE’S WORKS FROM PHILOSOPHICAL PERSPECTIVE IN THE THEOLOGICAL HIGHER EDUCATION CURRICULA

Author(s): Marius Golea / Language(s): English Issue: 38/2024

During our research on the philosophical consolidation of the theological system elaborated by Dumitru Stăniloae we have ascertained the presence of all necessary elements for asserting that Stăniloae rather elaborated a system of reflexive religious philosophy instead of simply reiterating already formulated theology. To the extent we are aware of it, Stăniloae is the only case of Orthodox religious philosopher who developed a complete theological system and, after researching his dialogue with the works most important philosophers up to the XX Century, we think that we can argue with the necessary degree of certitude that he is among the greatest religious philosophers ever existed. The purpose of this paper is to present a brief contouring of Stăniloae’s ethics on the human being seen as an active factor engaged in the transformation for better of the world. The research methods we have adopted is that of the qualitative research applied from the world view of the postpositivism. We think that we have succeed to argue that Stăniloae treated the so complex matter of the human being from an optimistic perspective, valuing the present existence, and integrating the human being and the world in a progressist project of mutual improvement, on the ground of an ethical approach.