Theological Background Research Articles

LITERARY AND THEOLOGICAL BACKGROUND OF THE SERMON ON LAW AND GRACE

This article studies the literary and theological background of the Sermon on Law and Grace, a famous oration by Ilarion, the (future) Metropolitan of Kyiv, from the mid-eleventh century. The author of this article focuses also on potential patristic models for Ilarion’s theological and patriotic reflection on the recent East Slavic history in the light of the official adoption of Christianity under Volodymyr Sviatoslavich, Prince of Kyiv. The main feature of the mentioned (self-)reflection, relying on the notion of history as the history of salvation, is disregarding the Byzantine political and cultural superiority and, simultaneously, emphasizing the justice of God, who brings his grace equally to all peoples, thus positioning them on the same spiritual level. This kind of reasoning was not a peculiarity of the Rus’ culture but formed a wider phenomenon defined by apologetic attitu­de and was characteristic of the entire religious-literary tradition of the East Orthodox Slavs between the tenth and sixteenth centuries. While trying to construct a theological justification of the historical value of Kyivan Rus’, Ilarion adapted patristic patterns coming from Byzantium, for example, the explanation of (dis)continuity between the Law of Moses and Christ’s mercy, particularly following Gregory Nazianzen and Patriarch Nicephorus I, or perception of a polity led by a Christian ruler, particularly following Eusebius of Caesarea. 
 Keywords: Sermon on Law and Grace, Ilarion, Rus’ literature, history of salvation, patristic models

The Christian Contribution to the Changes of the Development Aid System: The Lutheran Approach

Unlike the previous decades, the global development aid system is more willing to admit a significant role of faith-based organisations in promoting development thinking and in the distribution of development aid. The Lutheran World Federation (LWF) approach significantly contributes to this new thinking, especially as the theological background, global structures, and long-year experience in diaconal work enable the LWF's experts to make credible and feasible utterances in the field of development aid. The article outlines the meaning and global structure of the development aid and contrasts it with the Lutheran, Christian approach to development. It stresses the significance of the theological background of such terms as sustainability and sustainable development and specific assets ascribed to faith-based organisations. The text synthesizes information and observations from relevant literature on development and selected documents of the LWF.
 

Mystère et ombres religieuses : une proposition de relecture des enjeux herméneutiques dans « Murders in the Rue Morgue » d’Edgar Allan Poe

This article proposes to reexamine Poe’s « Murders in the Rue Morgue », in order to examine its theological background : in this story, the « mystery » concerns an essentially ambivalent relationship to knowledge. The motives and narrative strategy refer to an Augustinian approach to the idea of crime in connection with an interrogation of the reasons of the blindness of the mind ; but these theological traces are only mobilized in this text in the service of the hermeneutical strategy of the story.

Dante Canonized and Discarded. Some Remarks on the Reception of the Divina Commedia in the Stalin Era

During the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, in the academic and literary circles of tsarist Russia Dante’s Divina Commedia was considered as a religious poem. The theological background underlying the work incurred ecclesiastical censorship, which made it challenging to publish its translations during Nicolay i’s and Alexander ii’s reigns. The mystic motifs and religious imagery found therein became later particularly popular with Silver Age authors. The reception of the Divina Commedia as a Christian text remained unchallenged in the early post-revolutionary Russian intellectual milieu; notably, the publishing house “Vsemirnaja Literatura” (“World Literature”) was not able to justify the preparation of a new translation on ideological grounds. Until the early 1930s, in Soviet literature Dante Alighieri was a controversial figure within the subfield of literary translation; yet in 1946, Michail Lozinskij’s translation of the Divina Commedia was awarded the Stalin Prize 1st class, which for the very first time was granted to a work of translation. The aim of this article is threefold: first it attempts to demonstrate the ways by which, beginning in the 1930s, Dante gradually came to occupy an important place in some printed media in the Soviet Union; second it investigates the circumstances under which a translation of the Divina Commedia was published, and lastly it emphasises that the religious content of Dante’s poem – once appealing to pre-revolutionary writers – was eventually disregarded. The present research, which relies on documents from public and private archives, also traces the history of the preparation of the commentaries that in the 1930s and 1950s accompanied the Russian translations of the Divina Commedia; I shall argue that the editors Dmitrij Min and Michail Lozinskij adopted an approach that was to a certain extent similar to ecclesiastical censorship in tsarist Russia.

Exploring the Theology of Expectation in Relation to Young People and Youth Ministry

Abstract This article introduces theology of expectation designed by Czech theologian Vladimír Boublík and considers its capacity to potentially enhance the theological background of youth ministry. It starts with a presentation of expectation as a characteristic feature of humanity which is specifically intensive in young age and proceeds with a particular, Christian understanding of expectation in relation to eschatology. Drawing upon Boublík’s treatment of expectation a few inspirations and impulses for the field of youth ministry research are suggested. In its conclusion, the article argues that expecting the future in general and awaiting Christ in particular forms a standpoint that comprises a potential for solid theological understanding to young people and helps to perceive youth ministry as an environment where good theology might be transformed into good projects.

The Presence and Absence of Marduk and YHWH

ABSTRACT In the inscription of the Assyrian King Esarhaddon (680-669 BCE), the Babylonian god Marduk voluntarily left his city Babylon because of his fury at the iniquities of his people. It is Marduk’s fury that caused the devastation of Babylon. In fact, Esarhaddon’s father, Sennacherib destroyed Babylon and usurped the statue of Marduk to his capital Assur in 689 BCE. After the death of Sennacherib, his youngest son Esarhaddon not only planned to rebuild the temple of Babylon, Esagila, but also to return Marduk to Babylon. His rebuilding project suggests that Marduk changed his mind and decided to return Babylon. This sequence resembles Ezekiel’s theological structure of the divine presence and absence. Although previous studies of the Esarhaddon inscription shed light on the understanding of the theological background of Ezekiel’s literary structure, they overlooked the fact that Ezekiel uses hidden transcripts, the concept which James C. Scott introduced, to resist the Babylonian Empire.

“Beer & Hymns” and Community: Religious Identity and Participatory Sing-alongs

As a series of loosely-organized events, “Beer & Hymns” started at the Greenbelt Festival in England in 2006 and migrated to the Wild Goose Festival in North Carolina in 2012. Local Beer & Hymns gatherings meet at bars, breweries, clubs, and pubs across the U.K., the U.S., and around the world. Most are not affiliated with a church or Christian denomination, instead relying on the energy of independent local organizers. Some attendees are regular churchgoers, other are not, but all find community in these sing-alongs—congregational singing, that is, outside of traditional congregational contexts. Beer & Hymns is exactly what it sounds like: we raise our cups and lift our voices together to sing hymns, spirituals, praise songs, and folk songs together. The organizers accompany on whatever acoustic instruments are available, provide songbooks, and lead the songs, but are quickly subsumed by the larger group: the sonic emphasis is on the participatory nature of the sing-along, and not necessarily on proper intonation, rhythmic precision, or vocal blend. At Wild Goose’s Beer & Hymns, song choices include both secular and sacred selections, and the nightly gatherings attract participants from a variety of theological backgrounds, many of whom have an ambivalent or troubled relationship with Protestant Christianity (including mainline and non-denominational evangelicalism). Our voices entwine, and often our arms do, too. And by the end of the night, as our singing reverberates in the night, we emerge unified by our singing, even if only for one night. In this article, I analyze the sonic and social fabric of Beer & Hymns as a participatory space that promotes community, contextualized against white U.S. evangelicalism’s contested relationship with the secular.

Karl Löwith’s Secularization Thesis and the Jewish Reception of Heidegger

This article argues that Karl Löwith’s thesis of secularization—in brief, that while modern philosophical notions present themselves as secular, they are in fact secularized, that is, they preserve features of the theological background they repress and remain determined by it—can serve as a productive hermeneutical key for framing and understanding an important strand in the twentieth century Jewish response to Heidegger’s philosophy. It takes Ernst Cassirer, Leo Strauss, and Martin Buber as test-cases and demonstrates that these three Jewish thinkers interpreted various categories of Heidegger’s Being and Time to be not simply secular but secularized Christian categories that continue to bear the mark of their theological origin even in their now-secular application and context. The article concludes with a number of reflections and observations on how Löwith’s thesis of secularization can shed light on the polemical and political-theological edge of this strand in Heidegger’s Jewish reception.

Perubahan Pola Sakramen Umat Katolik Bandung Pada Era Pandemi Covid-19

During the Covid-19 pandemic, Catholics in Bandung had difficulty understanding the Sacrament as a means and sign of salvation from God. This difficulty arises because people can only follow and celebrate the Sacraments, especially the Eucharist or Mass online. The absence of direct encounter causes reduction and degradation of appreciation of the efficacy or effectiveness of online Masses as a means and a sign of safety. People desperately need a program that can increase their understanding of the Sacrament's efficacy, especially online Mass. For this reason, the Center for Philosophy, Culture and Religious Studies, Faculty of Philosophy, Parahyangan Catholic University (CPCReS FF UNPAR) Bandung, in collaboration with the Theological Science Community (KBI) Faculty of Philosophy UNPAR, held an Extention Course Theology (ECT). The program that uses the dialogue method is followed by Catholics in Bandung online by involving speakers with theological backgrounds from FF UNPAR. The evaluation results show that the material from this course can increase understanding of the efficacy of the sacrament, especially in this Pandemic era.

Homo religiosus: The Soul of Bioethics.

Although many of the pioneers of present-day bioethics came from religious and theological backgrounds, the recent controversy about the role of religion in bioethics has elicited much attention. Timothy Murphy would ban religion from bioethics altogether. Much of the ado hinges on conflicting understandings of just what bioethics is and just what religion is. This paper attempts to make more explicit how the fields of bioethics and religion have been understood in this context, and how they should not be understood. We begin by looking at bioethics as a field: its origins, purpose, scope, and its methods. We then examine the notion of religion, looking especially at its importance for bioethics. Humanity is not just Homo sapiens but also Homo religiosus. Religion is more than a code of ethics; it gives insight into many of the foundational matters of bioethics.

Ordinary and Extraordinary

A theological and historical background is needed for understanding the terms ordinary and extraordinary regarding the care required for one seriously ill. This background is theological, since one’s care is directed to our life on earth and our ultimate happiness that comes from God. So, one needs the knowledge given by God in revelation and in natural law written in our hearts. Besides our own powers of acting, we need the help of others as well as of God, through his grace and sacraments. The historical view is given because situations change, and so our judgment must change. In God’s law, one must eat to live but not if it becomes a torture. Domingo de Soto gave the name ordinary for the former and extraordinary for the latter. With the arrival of anesthesia and antiseptics, the pain and terrible outcomes, which made amputation an extraordinary means, no longer did so.

Exil und religiöse Identität in einigen Kantaten von Johann Sebastian Bach

Summary This article examines nine sacred cantatas by Johann Sebastian Bach which address the subject of exile and religious identity. The biblical or general theological background of the text of each selected cantata, as well as the way in which Bach set the text to music, is discussed. We can learn from Bach that, first, there should be a legitimate space to express fear and insecurity about the arrival of foreigners. Second, believers who are in exile can associate their Christian identity with the life of Jesus while inviting unbelievers to find their identity in Jesus. Third, both suffering and hospitality are true features of Christian discipleship. Fourth, Bach’s interpretation of exile as a divine punishment is not the final message. The motif of exile as punishment is transformed by a Christological interpretation. Finally, the end of exile can be celebrated. In exile, believers dare to hope and to believe; at the end of the exile, believers celebrate without forgetting their past suffering. Both testify to a sound religious identity.

Historicity and Religiosity in Heidegger\u2019s Interpretation of the Reality: With an Outlook to Adolf Reinach\u2019s Contribution to Heidegger\u2019s Phenomenological Conception

The question of whether Heidegger’s phenomenological contribution to the philosophy of being originates from his pre-philosophical attitude to theology or rather, it is the methodological question of phenomenology which influenced his thinking, is one of the most essential questions in Heidegger-research. Though, this has already been elaborated on in a broader sense, the publication of the Black Notes has opened new dimensions for discussion. It is not the aim of this paper to represent Heidegger’s concept of the history of being in the light of the new debates, but rather to confirm the thesis, that, in spite of the ‘turn’; in Heidegger’s thinking, his phenomenological hermeneutics was inspired, above all, by his reflection on Christianity. Moreover, the paper will question whether the linearity of Heidegger’s thinking about the historical being remains on the horizon of the religious phenomenon, as it is thematized in his early papers and lectures. While Heidegger’s early phenomenological approaches to religion and theology have been sufficiently elaborated on by several authors, and the phenomenological–hermeneutical relevance has been proven in his thinking, the linkage between the early philosophical approaches to the problem of religiosity and of historical being arising newly in Heidegger’s thinking from the 1930s is missing. The present paper will not just refer to the thesis that Heidegger’s theological background contributed to his questioning of being, and that it was influenced in different ways, but makes an attempt to reveal the internal dynamics of Heidegger’s early thinking prior to the publication of Being and Time and the time of composing the Contributions to Philosophy of those of Heidegger’s lectures which remain in the parallel analysis of religiosity and historicity.

Patriotism & Moral Theology

This essay examines the question of the moral justification of patriotism, given a Kantian view of morality as requiring an equal respect for every human being. The essay considers the background in Kant's moral theology for his cosmopolitanism. It then considers an extreme version of cosmopolitanism that denies a proper place for love of one's country, and it engages with a contemporary atheist cosmopolitan, Seyla Benhabib, suggesting that there are resources in Kant's moral theology to ground the hope that she expresses but does not succeed in grounding. Finally, it considers patriotism as a perfection of cosmopolitanism, in the same way that love of an individual can be a perfection of love of humanity. The essay suggests that defensible versions of cosmopolitanism put constraints on what kind of love of one's own country is morally permissible. But these constraints require the background in a Kantian moral theology.

Pensamiento Europeo y Latinoamericano en Diálogo. Claves para la Formación Social y Ética

 In this article we develop our presentation presented at the XVII National Congress of Philosophy, “Critical reflection, teaching of Philosophy and crisis of humanity” (Huánuco 2019), entitled: “European thought, personalism and Latin American philosophy. Contributions for a social ethic in a solidary and integral humanism ”. We expose the dialogue and encounter between a series of currents of thought and culture inspired by faith such as European or Western, the labor movement, personalism or Latin American thought with its theological background; with authors such as E. Mounier, G. Rovirosa, I. Ellacuría, etc. Which provides us with keys and guidelines for a social thought, a culture of solidarity and ethics manifested in an integral humanism that enables a critical, liberating and transforming education-training. In this sense, it is about promoting values and principles such as solidarity, peace, justice, interculturality, integral ecology together with good living that guide a critical and transformative formative-pedagogical paradigm or model.

Karl Löwith et la critique de l’existence historique

Cette étude examine la « critique de l’existence historique » de Karl Löwith, en éclairant son émergence, sa signification, et sa portée actuelle. On distingue ici l’enquête de Löwith sur les « présupposés théologiques de la philosophie de l’histoire » et sa critique radicale du « monde historique ». Tout en mettant en évidence les difficultés d’un dépassement du paradigme moderne de l’histoire, l’article s’interroge sur la place de l’œuvre de Löwith au sein d’une réévaluation d’ensemble des rapports entre nature et histoire.

Mute Sacrum. Faith and Its Relation to Heritage on Camino de Santiago

The problem of recognizing the true motivations of secular pilgrims is often experienced on the Camino de Santiago. The faith of pilgrims seems to be hidden under the cover of many behaviors of contemporary pilgrims. At the same time on the Camino de Santiago, there could be observed a significant change in how the sacred is perceived by pilgrims: their experience is more related to “time” or “relation/event”, than “place”. The clue is the correct notion of religiosity, which for Thomas Aquinas was not a set of contents, but the relation to the ultimate end. In this light, the heritage can speak and manifest its message, when the relation is reestablished. With this theological background, I will try to answer the main question about the explanatory dimension of faith, its relation to the meaning of heritage and art and I will offer two proposals for the renewal of the theological approach to pilgrimage.

Educating for ecclesia – educating for the nation

This article sheds light upon the Norwegian theologian, educator, and politician Nils Egede Hertzberg’s (1827–1911) understanding of school, and traces the theological background of this understanding. Hertzberg played an important role in public debates on schools and education in the 1870s and 1880s in Norway, and he is commonly regarded to have been a conservative counter-voice, who strove to uphold the confessional character of schools. During his student days at the University of Christiania, Hertzberg studied under the prominent theological educator Gisle Johnson. This article provides an in-depth analysis of how Hertzberg’s confessional background is reflected in his writings on school and education, and discusses how Hertzberg’s understanding of school relies upon Johnson’s ecclesiology, as well as Johnson’s understanding of the nation. This understanding of school includes a definition of public-mindedness which is in opposition to Hertzberg’s Grundtvigian adversaries; the “people” are limited to those who have received the Christian revelation. Belonging to “the people” is thus not a question of being educated, but it is a question of having received the grace of God, as humans born with original sin.

Mission Animation: Christian Higher Education, the Common Good, and Community Engagement

Christian institutions are founded on a diverse set of historical and theological backgrounds and strive to integrate faith, learning, and living in a way that not only educates and develops students, but also responds to the Christian call of service. Community engagement, therefore, becomes a way for Christian institutions to achieve said goals—fostering authentic partnerships, responding to the needs of communities and individuals, and encouraging student learning and development. This article maps the landscape of community engagement in Christian higher education by exploring its history as well as its philosophical, theological, and theoretical foundations. In addition, practical expressions of community engagement are addressed through a review of two national Christian higher education associations—the Council for Christian Colleges & Universities (CCCU) and the Association of Catholic Colleges and Universities—as well as a consideration of programmatic exemplars at evangelical Christian and Catholic institutions and an accounting of CCCU and ACCU members receiving the Carnegie Classification for Community Engagement. The article concludes with a consideration of how community engagement represents a critical dimension of Christian mission in action for evangelical and Catholic colleges and universities.

“Providential Machine” Against “Mental Doing”: History of Governmentality, the Mistery of the Economy and Anthropology of Holiness

The main topic of the article is religious genealogy of “governmentality”. The phenomenon of “governmentality” itself was described and analyzed by Michel Foucault, and Giorgio Agamben investigated the theological background of “governmental” practices in modern Western culture. Agamben showed that liberal free market societies owe their birth to the work of theological “providential machine”. It was this machine that put the “economy” at the forefront, provided the triumph of the Western economical development. In Russian Orthodoxy, however, another model prevailed. In his work “Orthodox Ethics and The Matter of Communism” David B. Zilberman demonstrated that the Hesychast anthropology of holiness contributed not to autonomous development of economic sphere, but to the sacralization of political power.