Viaţa şi activitatea teologului protestant Rudolf Bultmann (1884-1976)

Author(s): Mihai Iordache / Language(s): Romanian Issue: 01/2017

Regarded as one of the leading Protestant theologians of the twentieth century, Rudolf Bultmann was born in 1884 in Wiefelstede and died in 1976 in Marburg, Germany. Through his work and theology, he particularly marked modern and contemporary Protestant theological thought, being one of the followers of the dialectical theology movement that are in opposition to traditional liberal Protestant theology of nineteenth century and proposing the rediscovery of God’s word through a theology „from top to bottom” by returning to the original ideas of the great reformers of the six- teenth century. Among the most important of his works are: the New Testament and Mythology (Neues Testament und Mythologie), liberal theology and new theological movement (Die Liberal Theology und die jüngste Theologische Bewegung), Church and teaching in the New Testament (Kirche und Lehre im Neuen Testament) Faith and Understanding (Verstehen und Glauben) etc.

Omul şi valoarea lui existenţială în gândirea filosofului Nikolai Berdiaev

Author(s): Ioniţă Apostolache / Language(s): Romanian Issue: 05/2017

Although he suffered a lot, being four times imprisoned, deported and then exiled, Nikolai Berdiaev’s philosophy was not darkened nor secluded into hostility against the world, but always strove to demonstrate the true essence of human spirit and freedom. His Existentialism is profoundly Christian, assimilating the main coordinates of ecclesial anthropology and morals. Nikolai Berdiaev asserts that man, in his capacity of microcosm, is the center of existence, the sun around which all revolve. Everything is in the man and for the man. In the man is the mystery of universal life. At the heart of his philosophical preoccupations, Berdiaev therefore placed the man. As far as we are concerned, the novelty that his rich written inheritance reveals is undoubtedly the Christian foun- dation of his existentialism.

Cum (nu) a fost cenzurat Manualul de Dogmatică pentru Seminariile Teologice (Bucureşti, 1958)

Author(s): Silviu-Constantin Nedelcu / Language(s): Romanian Issue: 11/2020

Dogmatics textbook; Department of Cults; Censorship; Romanian Orthodox Church; Patriarch Justinian This study explains how the Dogmatics textbook was published in 1958 in Bucharest, at the Publishing House of the Biblical and Orthodox Mission Institute. The Department of Cults, through the Directorate of Studies, proposed the removal of certain passages considered non-compliant in1960, two years after the first printing. According to the report prepared by Dumitru Dogaru, the general secretary of the Department of Cults, there were 25 “non-compliant” passages. One of the proposed solutions was to retain the Dogmatics textbook in the warehouse and to melt the others that were sent for sale.

Közös unitárius teológiai konferenciák a 20. század utolsó évtizedében

Author(s): Elek Rezi / Language(s): Hungarian Issue: 3/2020

This article examines the eight joint Unitarian theological conferences from 1993 through 2000 including the theological work of the conference organizer, Sztankóczy Zoltán (1916, Arad – 2000, Budapest), as well as each conference’s program details and lecture titles. The article highlights that the material of the lectures unfortunately remain fragmentary and recommends that all the conferences’ materials should be collected for theological and ethical evaluation.

O komunii stworzeń i dobrostanie zwierząt ad vocem Roku troski o stworzenie i Roku pokoju

Author(s): Dorota Brylla / Language(s): Polish Issue: 1/2020

With respect to the Evangelical Church of Augsburg Confession in Po-land mottos of the Year 2019, namely the “Year of Concern for Creation”and the“Year of Peace”, I argue about the necessity of reflection among Christians regarding the fate of animals in industrial farming (intensive livestock farming) and – as a consequence – about the necessity of em-bracing these creatures with respect and care. Only such attitude – when one divests himself/herself of pretensions for dominium terrae – appears to be in accordance with the thought of the God of the Bible, with the spirit of Jesus’ teaching and with the spirit of Christianity. The covenant and brotherhood of people and animals – as God’s creation – the rec-ognition of their dignity and inherent value, can be explicitly deduced from the biblical verses, whilst the “dominion” of man over nature (Gen 1, 28) means in fact a dominion (authority) of peace. To a large extent, I make use of two prominent Protestant theologians’ considerations: Jürgen Moltmann and Albert Schweitzer.

Czy w doktrynie Kościoła Adwentystów Dnia Siódmego jest miejsce dla klasycznego teizmu?

Author(s): Damian Dorocki / Language(s): Polish Issue: 1/2020

The contemporary Seventh-day Adventist Church distances itself quite considerably from so-called Classical Theism. Essential elements of the traditional model of God, such as simplicity, immutability, eternity and im-passibility are criticized by two leading Adventist specialists in the doctrine of God – Fernando L. Canale and John C. Peckham. The author analyzes the criticism and theological proposals of F. L. Canale and J. C. Peckham, evaluating them from the perspective of a classical theist. He then goes on to show that Classical Theism does not conflict with Adventist theology, and that its reception in the SDA Church is possible. In the author’s opinion, the traditional doctrine of God can give Adventism a solid metaphysical foundation that will improve the exposition of doctrines important to this tradition, such as the Theology of the Great Controversy, Sancturiology or Apocalyptic theology. Thus, Classical Theism appears more like an “ally” than the “enemy” of Adventist theology, which is worth taking advantage of by engaging in a creative dialogue with it.

Vigasztalások: vigasztalás tehetetlenségben

Author(s): István M. Ledán / Language(s): Hungarian Issue: 4/2020

„Nem hagylak magadra téged, és nem hagylak el."

Author(s): Sándor Kovács / Language(s): Hungarian Issue: 4/2020

LOVING NATION, ENDORSING THE ECCLESIAL UNIVERSAL: A ROMANIAN PERSPECTIVE

Author(s): Paul Andrei Mucichescu / Language(s): English Issue: 2/2020

This theological and philosophical article aims for a solution to the provocation of nationalism and offers a series of interconnected arguments for this purpose. In doing so it makes use of Romanian cultural realities and sources (stances of Dumitru Stăniloae, of Daniil Sandu Tudor and others, as well as dictionary entries). The considerations start from the topic of politics and of what politics consists of – ideology. Turning towards ecclesiology and social theology, the relationship between hate and phyletism is assessed. Considering this relationship, the analysis shows that, from an Orthodox point of view, true nationalism should be understood as a form of love – corruptible but legitimate. Ideological nationalism is identified as its opposite. The Gordian Knot of ideological nationalism is found to be a false understanding of “national interests”. Finally, a second relation is investigated – the one between the national and the universal, seen from Romanian premises.

Persoana umană, purtătoarea chipului Sfintei Treimi, în viziunea psihologiei moderne

Author(s): Sorin Cosma / Language(s): Romanian Issue: 02/2021

The image of God refers to the intellectual and moral side of the soul, that is, to God-oriented reason and freedom. The fall into sin has led to the alteration of the image of God in man, that is, the deterioration of the integrity of the soul’s powers and the antagonism between the spiritual and the sensual. In the preoccupations of modern psychology, the psychoanalytic conception is also included. If Sigmund Freud sees unconsciously the whole background of the psychic life, it will be inner-closed, because neither the self, nor the ego, nor the Freudian superego have a social aproach. Eduard Pamfil, the founder of the psychiatric school and clinic in Timişoara, demonstrates that the person designates the dynamic unitary organization of the most representative features of the fully developed and complete individual. Eduard Pamfil, through an original system of thinking, proves that the human person is not the ego itself, but it is structured in a triple laboratory formed by the me-you-him. The human self is an unfulfilled reality, and only the person defines human consciousness to become axiological. And the person structured in the incandescent triple laboratory, is defined as love, materialized in generosity and altruism. Nothing is more appropriate than to see in man the image of the Holy Trinity and the ascension of its axiological future after its likeness, according to the demonstration provided by Father Professor Dumitru Stăniloae.

Antoni Młotek – teolog moralista

Author(s): Tadeusz Reroń / Language(s): Polish Issue: 1/2021

The Second Vatican Council required of moral theology to make attempts to renew its methodological approach and ways of communication to a wider audience. Theologians participating in this process had to reckon with the current views of the discipline and the rapid changes that were taking place in the present world. Professor Father Antoni Młotek was among theologians distinguished in the field of the renewal of moral theology in Poland. Through his love of the Holy Bible and the Church, he actively co-created the environment for practicing moral theology. He pointed to the basic determinants of a Christian’s moral life, the value of referring to patristic tradition and to some issues of detailed moral theology.

THE SPECTRUM OF INERRANCY: AN EXPLORATION OF DAVID S. DOCKERY’S TYPOLOGICAL CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE INERRANCY DEBATE IN EVANGELICALISM

Author(s): Gabriel A. Desjardins / Language(s): English Issue: 1/2021

The present article explores the typological contributions to the inerrancy debate of David S. Dockery, the Chancellor of Trinity International University. Resulting from controversies in the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) during the 1970s and 80s, Dockery provided a valuable typological framework for identifying a spectrum of positions in the inerrancy debate. Dockery’s frameworks provide a helpful lens for understanding the complexity of inerrancy. Some positions are more conservative and deductivist, and other positions are more liberal and inductivist. These distinctions often create a barrier, a presuppositional divide, which is difficult to cross in a debate context. Dockery’s variations provide a means of at least understanding the divide and the positions that differ from one’s own. To that aim, I present Dockery’s variations as a vital component for all attempts at dialogue in the inerrancy debate.

AZ EMBER ISTENKÉPŰSÉGE, MINT LÉTANALÓGIA

Author(s): Csaba Tódor / Language(s): Hungarian Issue: 1/2021

Regular theological examination of human nature seems to be the exploding germ of a longer reflection and analysis. My expectations of this study, and hopefully also of the following ones, is that the crisis and uncertainty into which our churches have drifted can (and should) be the subject of theological inquiry. If we keep our study in the right trajectory, then, hopefully, a new light will be shed on the practical aspects of our church life as well.We need to show the world that the God we believe in has remained an active and immanent force in human lives and that there is a reason for a pure, diverse, and substantial unity of the world and existence. This monotheism, however, must be polar, in which the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit have their place as elements of analogy in the interaction of which the beauty and efficiency of service can be renewed and given a new meaning.This analysis implies a simultaneous two-way approach. On the one hand, it should be a God-centred approach that simultaneously embraces the realities of the horizontal world, and, on the other hand, in the vertical-horizontal pattern, it leaves room for a contemporary interpretation of the concept of analogia entis. I am aware that there has been an attempt to do this in the twentieth century. The reference to the dialogue between Karl Barth and Urs von Balthasar could serve as a good example of a fruitful conversation for the benefit of our spiritual and institutional lives. Together with Barth, the other “dialectical” theologian hoped and opened their dialogue in the hope of a “true rebirth of Protestantism”. The dialogues of the last century therefore must be the driving force behind the dialogues of today.

ZUR KOLLEGIALITÄT DES BISCHOFSAMTES IM LICHTE DER COMMUNIO-EKKLESIOLOGIE DES ZWEITEN VATIKANISCHEN KONZILS

Author(s): János Vik / Language(s): German Issue: 1/2021

The collegiality of the episcopate was a particular concern of the Second Vatican Council. Consequently, ordination always integrates the individual bishop into the college of bishops, so that the episcopal authority conferred on him personally can only be exercised as a member of this college. Through the exercise of the collegiality of the bishops, the synodality of the churches is also expressed. In this context, it can be stated that for centuries the universal Church understood itself as a community of the many local churches of equal theological rank, which were in communion with one another. In the first three centuries, the primacy of Rome in the communion was much more strongly connected with the entire Roman community and not with a person or an office. In the West, a new form of ecclesiastical self-understanding and self-realization established itself in the fifth century, in which the bishop of Rome with his office increasingly detached himself from his own church.This ultimately led to the development of a centralised papal church, which was predominant in the second millennium. Since the Second Vatican Council, the Pope has once again been seen primarily as the bishop of a local church, and only from there as the bearer of primacy, and therefore he remains visibly and concretely inserted into the collegiality of the bishops in the service of the synodality of the churches.

Św. Jan Paweł II w patrymonium bazyliki papieskiej Santa Maria Maggiore

Author(s): Michał Jagosz / Language(s): Polish Issue: 51(2)/2020

Mistyczna jedność Kościoła w dziełku Dominus vobiscum św. Piotra Damianiego

Author(s): Janusz Królikowski / Language(s): Polish Issue: 52/2020

The Mystical Unity of the Church in St. Peter Damian’s Short Treatise Dominus Vobiscum.St. Peter Damian (1007–1072), in his rich theological acheivements, left also a short treatise entitled Dominus vobiscum. In this work he deals with the question of the unity of the Church, which he approaches from an eucharistic perspective. He shows how the Eucharist allows for a proper understanding of the unity of the Church, as well as for its proper spiritual experience. This issue is all the more important since it highlights the salvific meaning of the unity of the Church, which in an original way describes the mystery of ecclesial communion. An important element of St. Peter Damian’s treaties is to show some of the more detailed, somewhat phenomenological, aspects of this unity arising from its eucharistic concentration, such as unity in worship to God, unity in prayer, unity of a multitude of celebrations, etc. All these aspects make the unity of the Church appear in its deep reality and its spiritual and historical significance emerge clearly.

Mare profesor de teologie şi cu sufletul plin de o bună nelinişte

Author(s): Andrei Andreicuţ / Language(s): Romanian Issue: 09/2021

Professor Ioan Ică was a resonant name in the theological education of Cluj. His zeal for study is well known, his studies of orthodox and, later, protestant theology were crowned with a doctorate in Bucharest. His passion and verve in approaching especially dogmatic theology topics or any other topics are well known. The atmosphere he triggered in class or at the various events he attended was exhilarating. He was passionate about reading, especially theological readings, and he also encouraged students to read.

Am întânit un Părinte Profesor providenţial

Author(s): Nicolae Nicolescu / Language(s): Romanian Issue: 09/2021

The article outlines the personality of Father Professor Ioan Ică Senior. Father Ioan Ică from Sibiu, dean for a while at the Faculty of Theology in Cluj, had a finesse of high sensitivity. His charm gained over you directly, spontaneously, with nothing else to interfere. He used to wrap himself up in theological discourse and rise to the sphere of lofty words, in the theological, patristic-philosophical field to nuance various science topics. His speech often became incandescent. Above all, he was constantly talking about prayer, which he was personally experiencing. His respect for the Church and for God was not only theoretical and he was very careful at the liturgical act and the holy objects. He greatly respected the icons, as windows of divine grace. Everything around him indicated the fullness of the dogmatic truths he lived, in faith.

„La izvoare!” Testamentul de dascăl al Părintelui Ioan Ică sr

Author(s): Florin-Cătălin Ghiţ / Language(s): Romanian Issue: 09/2021

Father prof. dr. Ioan Ică Senior was a personality who marked for ever the theological education in Transylvania by transmitting with much inspiring enthusiasm, until the end of his life, the sources of the Orthodox faith, the foundation of authentic spirituality and of the revival of church life in Christ, in order to offer a genuine answer, alive and always in the present, to any kind of problems the contemporary man might have.

Formacja teologiczna w ordo virginum

Author(s): Beata Stypułkowska / Language(s): English,Polish Issue: 52/2020

This study focuses on the initial formation, pre-consecration formation, and permanent formation of consecrated virgins living in the world who represent an individual form of consecrated life. It speaks of two dimensions of formation resulting from the nature of the state of virgins: Christocentric and ecclesial. The Christocentric dimension concerns the problems of establishing a close relationship with Christ, while the ecclesial dimension concerns service to the Church. Both dimensions are related to the work of the Holy Spirit, therefore special attention has been given to charisms. The article also addresses the issue of those responsible for the formation process, especially the candidate or consecrated woman herself. It also deals with the forms of education suitable for adults, which can be applied in the formation of consecrated persons, and other specific issues concerning formation