Christian Principles Research Articles

Lord Atkin, the snail and the foreigner: loving the neighbour and oppressing the alien

ABSTRACT In Donoghue v Stevenson, Lord Atkin in the majority perceived the Christian principle of loving one’s neighbour to require a duty of reasonable care to the neighbour, who was [a person who is] ‘so closely and directly affected by my act that I ought reasonably to have them in contemplation as being so affected when I am directing my mind to the acts or omissions which are called in question’. In Liversidge v Anderson his Lordship held in dissent that ‘In England amidst the clash of arms the laws are not silent. They may be changed, but they speak the same language in war as in peace. It has always been one of the pillars of freedom, one of the principles of liberty for which, on recent authority, we are now fighting, that the judges are no respecters of persons, and stand between the subject and any attempted encroachments on his liberty by the executive, alert to see that any coercive action is justified in law’. Lord Atkin was a practising Christian, and both statements appear to have biblical roots. As no-one seems to have done before, this paper brings an exegetical focus to those roots to see whether or not they provide support for Lord Atkin’s approach in each case.

„Sme za demokraciu.“ Kanonik Andrej Cvinček a jeho percepcia a realizácia demokracie

This paper focuses on the years 1945 – 1948. The Slovak historiography calls this era the “people’s democracy”. A people´s government and democracy itself were supposed to be the cornerstones of post-war Czechoslovakia. The word “democracy” had not only been used very often in public by the organiser of the Slovak people’s uprising (Slovenské národné povstanie), but it was a keyword in all important political documents. Those intellectuals who were part of the revolution were fighting for a functioning democratic system, plurality, free elections, a pluralistic party system and a government that was approved by parliament. These ideals first materialized in the foundation of the Slovenská národna rada (National Councilof the Slovak Republic) and the founding of the Demokratická strana (Democratic Party in Czechoslovakia) in Banská Bystrica. Andrej Cvinček, a canon from Nitra (Slovakia), was an active player in this process. Cvinček was not only a politician with a Christian background, he was a politician who stood up against secular tendencies within the state and was a proponent of conservative political opinions. Cvinček was a forceful advocate of the Christian weltanschauung and the axioms, principles, and interests of his church and religious bodies and organizations. This paper wants to analyze his view on and perception of democracy in post-war Czechoslovakia. Cvinček was hinting at the extreme divergence of what communists described to be a people’s democracy and the very communist reality: this was a warning of what to expect from the immanent rise of totality. Simultaneously, we need to raise the question of whether changes in the political system and society had an impact on the convictions and the career of a politician that was fighting for church interests and Christian principles. This paper is based on materials kept in archives, press articles of his time, and memoirs of his contemporaries. The aim of this paper is, to a lesser extent, to portray his political career, but the focus is being laid on the creation of a typology of how he perceived and understood democracy and how democratic ideas were implemented in the given years 1944 – 1948.

“The Land of Our Fathers”: Black Internationalist Thought and the Congo Free State

“The Land of Our Fathers”Black Internationalist Thought and the Congo Free State Jeannette Eileen Jones (bio) In January 1886, D. Augustus Straker, an African American lawyer, published an article in the New York Freeman wherein he reflected on the Berlin Conference on Africa that convened during the winter of 1884/1885. The Kongokonferenz, as Kaiser Wilhelm II and German Chancellor von Bismarck called it, assembled primarily to address European concerns about free trade in the Congo Basin—the world’s second largest river basin—which was replete with rubber plants and other natural resources. One year after the conference, Straker questioned the avowed benevolence of the “scramble for Africa.” He framed the article around the query “Why Are the European Powers Grasping African Territory?” He explained, It is a matter of no small concern to the sons and daughters of Africa, wherever assembled upon the face of the globe, to perceive the deep interest which the civilized powers of the earth are taking in the development of the resources of the “Dark Continent.” These men and women would “observe the attention which said powers seem now ready to give to the civilization of its races,” understanding that “it is a matter of right and duty that we, who are identified with the African race, the native land of our forefathers … should discuss this topic.” Straker believed that the African heritage of Blacks in the West, particularly that of African Americans, positioned them as legitimate stakeholders in any international actions regarding Africa. He offered an assessment of African affairs, querying whether “the insatiable lust for dominion and wealth” or a “Christian duty” to civilize Africans motivated Europeans to colonize the continenttaking special “interest in the Congo Region.”1 [End Page 26] Access to the Congo Basin, via free navigation of the Congo River and its tributaries, could facilitate European access to the lucrative ivory trade and provide European merchants with a direct route to traverse the continent from east to west. The General Act of the Berlin Conference, ratified in 1886, established European and Ottoman spheres of influences in Africa, sanctioned the creation of foreign protectorates and colonies, ensured the free navigation of the Congo and Niger rivers, promoted free trade throughout the Congo Basin, and formally recognized the Congo Free State (État indépendant du Congo) as a sovereign polity. The act couched the actions of its signatories as necessary for “civilizing” and modernizing Africa. Straker believed that if European motives “be the uplifting of Africa from a state of mental darkness, intellectual inanition and commercial stagnation, to the position of a civilized and prosperous state” based on Christian principles and Westerns arts and sciences, then their work was noble. He reasoned, “The conquest of a barbarous people by a civilized power is justifiable through its benefits.” Accordingly, European efforts in Africa would “establish an era in the world’s progress unprecedented in the past.” Whatever European intentions, Straker emphasized that Blacks should not ignore or take an impartial stance toward the African Question. They had to participate in discussions about the future and status of Africa during this pivotal time in “world” history.2 Straker’s comments reveal an awareness of the geopolitical ramifications of imperialism in Africa from a broad perspective, during a period when most black internationalist strategies and efforts regarding the continent focused on Liberia and Sierra Leone. African Americans’ seeming fixation with the republic of Liberia and the British colony of Sierra Leone stemmed from perceptions of these locales as familial and cultural gateways to Africa. Emigration and abolitionist politics linked many African Americans to Americo-Liberians and settlers in Sierra Leone. While a visible number of settlers in Liberia were what Sharla Fett calls “recaptured Africans,” Liberia bore the political, cultural, and familial markers of African Americans. Similarly, Sierra Leone’s importance to American blacks derived from its status as a potential site for black migration to Africa. Black internationalists who paid attention to Liberia did not situate their concerns about the republic in the politics of empire. They did not view Liberia— despite its settler colonial origins—as an US imperial possession. In their minds, Liberia was not...

Космическое чувство (антропокосмизм) в прозе И. С. Тургенева

The work of I. S. Turgenev is considered in the context of the transition of literature and art of the 19th century to anthropocosmism. Turgenev’s images of nature are analyzed in its penetration with a quiet, meek, Christian principle and a mysterious, irrational principle, and how both of these principles are revealed by the writer in man as an anthropocosmos. A person’s immersion in world life is revealed through the poetics of the moment and contrast. The inseparability of love from the mysterious forces of nature and its catastrophic nature in the world of Turgenev are emphasized. In this analysis, Turgenev’s woman is the personification of a dual nature. Parallels of female images of Turgenev and Bunin are outlined. It is concluded that Turgenev connects the era of romanticism and symbolism.

The Ethical Morality of Christianity Requires an Assiduous Pursuit of the Great Commandment

This humanities style essay-formatted paper exegetically explores foundational biblical principles of Christianity, morality, Christian duplicity, and behaviors found in Christian failures and successful endeavors, particularly as these principles apply to the epistemology of Christian faith, choosing to embrace good over evil, while simultaneously failing at our own flawed human efforts to overcome evil in our thought patterns, which emanate from the (fallen) human heart of mankind. The scope of this paper is not limited to religion because the ethical principles described herein apply to law, philosophy, business, and the sociology of everyday living. The pursuit of truth and honesty impact every area of life. In setting life goals for ourselves and our children on things that matter most, what could be more important than the pursuit of truth? For Christians, this requires the relentless pursuit of truth. What is truth? Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” (John 14:6 NKJV) The Christian faith of soteriology is based entirely upon the teachings of Jesus, the Great Commandment, and the teaching of Jesus Christ that all roads don’t lead mankind to heaven. The presentation of these issues utilizes personal anecdotal vignettes and commentary by the author.

ПИТАННЯ ОНТОЛОГІЧНОЇ РІВНОВАГИ СУЩОГО У ХРИСТИЯНСЬКІЙ ТЕОЛОГІЇ

The article is a brief overview of the views of modern Christian theologians on the question of the contingency of being and ways to preserve and maintain the ontological balance of God. The context of philosophical understanding of problems is the philosophy of religion and ontology. The author tries to show that, according to religious intellectuals, it is the contingency of the world, its subtle ontological structure and the existing danger of its return to non-existence that are completely eliminated by God's providence. The providence of God is presented by theologians as two interrelated processes – ordinary natural changes, as the objectification of the boundless will of God in action and his direct creative acts of influencing the universe in a miracle. The modern elucidation of the essential and necessary features of these concepts, for the most part, strives to ensure that with any, even the most daring theological innovations, they still retain the general immutability of their content and their conformity with the basic Christian principles. The providence of God and the miracle, as a special case of it, in accordance with fundamental Christian teachings, without significant disagreement, are clearly interpreted by theologians of all major Christian denominations in their theophanic perspective, as the constant discovery of God in the realm of their own creation. Almost all major theological approaches to this issue boil down to justifying and showing the presence of God in the natural and human world through the terms "preservation" and "management", as well as by pointing to emergency cases of God's direct creative acts. Such ways of God's interaction with the world, according to theologians, are designed to preserve the ontological balance of being, which was originally established by God, which is accidental and has no basis for its existence in itself. The ontological instability of the world, consisting in its randomness and the danger of its return to non-existence, is completely balanced by the Providence of God. This Providence is aimed at preserving the originality of the world, it is also the source of its formation, it also forms its basis as an internal goal. The providence of God, without much disagreement, is shown by theologians of the main Christian movements as successive processes, on the one hand, of ordinary natural changes, as the objectification of the divine will in action, and on the other hand, as direct creative acts of God's interaction with the world in a miracle, when he creates something or superior in strength to natural things. The content of the innovations allowed here by theologians mainly covers the clarification of the existing understanding of the logical connection between the concepts of "general providence", "special providence" and "miracle" and, most importantly, the establishment of a measure of their correlation with the factors of the objective world. Common in the positions of theologians of different Christian denominations is that they unanimously emphasize the inadmissibility of a speculative interpretation of the above concepts. All this, in the end, is aimed at introducing into the minds of believers the ontological image of God, constantly testifying to itself in history and the obligatory ontologization of a miracle.

Why Nations Succeed: Evidence on the Importance of Christian Principles

Why Nations Succeed: Evidence on the Importance of Christian Principles

Ideal fundaments of the history of education as teaching disciplines in Serbia in the 19th century

The subject of this article is the ideological basis on which the study of the history of pedagogy in Serbia in the 19th century was based. The aim of the paper was to analyze the scientific and socio-ideological starting points in the conception of the history of pedagogy in Serbia. As a teaching discipline, the history of pedagogy in the research period was placed within the framework of professional education of primary school teachers and pedagogues. Therefore, the goals and tasks of the history of pedagogy were adjusted not only to the achievements of this scientific discipline in Europe at the time, but also to the projected goal of the overall education in Serbia. Textbooks on the history of pedagogy published in this period (until 1902) represent the basic source for the anal?ysis of the ideological foundations on which teaching in the field of the history of education was based. This analysis shows that the history of pedagogy was understood as a suitable means of harmonizing the spread of Christian principles with a ?rational educational approach?, so that over time there was an increasingly professional reflection on the possibilities of using educational theories in pedagogical practice. At the same time, there was a growing awareness of the influence of general cultural history on the development of pedagogical theories, as well as the importance of the national pedagogical heritage.

Christian religion and notary: points of contact

Purpose. The aim of the article is a comprehensive general theoretical and comparative analysis of the main problems concerning the things in common between the Christian religion and notary service board, clarification of the transformation of religious rules (norms) into notarial activities and notarial procedure. Methodology. The methodology covers a comprehensive analysis and generalization of available scientific and theoretical material and the formation of relevant conclusions and recommendations. The following methods of scientific cognition were used during the research: historical-legal, comparative-legal, functional, system-structural, and logical-normative. Results. In the course of the research, the historical and legal analysis of the main things in common between the Christian religion and notary service board is carried out. Scientific novelty. Having analyzed the main things in common between the Christian religion and the notary service board, the author states that some of the basic principles of Christianity were introduced into notarial activities. In particular, in the Bible we find norms that relate to the basic principles of notarial activities, as well as the rules of the notarial proceedings. Traces of Byzantine norms, which are also based on religious norms concerning the procedure for making wills and certain types of agreements, are also observed in modern civil and notarial procedure, as well as notarial records. However, Ukrainian public and private notaries cannot apply religious norms and documents during the notarial proceedings. Practical significance. The results of the study can be used in lawmaking and law enforcement activities during the preparation of normative and legislative acts on the legal regulation of notarial activities.

Considering the Contradictions of Religion and Orthodox Christianity as concomitantly endorsing strife and accord – a Social Capital Perspective

This paper contributes to the existing literature by providing an discussion and a critique of the discourse of social capital as it relates to Christianity and in particular to an Orthodox stance. Religion is acknowledged as responsible for promoting factions in the world, as well as for the strife amongst the various religious groups. The New Testament is studied with the constituents of social capital – networks (groups), norms and trust – as a foundation for evaluating the ministries and teaching of Christianity with regards to the role thereof in promoting strife and unity and ultimately harmony amongst people. The ministry of Jesus Christ was distinctly opposed to the prevailing social capital in the then Jewish territories, as is the case in the epistles when speaking to the non-Jewish parishes. The prevailing normative principles were frequently censured, and the confrontational manner in which the established social groups were related to, aggravated by the entirely inclusive but absolutely exclusive standpoint, is deemed inexcusable and resulted in the execution of Christ and a number of his apostles and other followers. The threat to the trust amongst the Jewish citizens and also between the general population groups and religious leaders proved to be a major driving force in ongoing persecutions. Unity amongst the early Christians proved elusive and the absence of heterogeneity as a requirement for socially cohesive networks and groups served to explain this challenge. Diversity of ethnicity, language and culture impeded the spontaneous social associations. The epistles provide us with a rich account of the significance of diversity and the constant efforts towards unity and societal harmony. This is in concord with the Orthodox faith which is strongly in favour of acceptance of diversity and love for others. Social capital is an stimulating idea that has since biblical days become a focus for community advancement initiatives. The social capital perspective of the New Testament easily transcends into our reality of today and supports the relevance of Christian principles two thousand years later.

John Henry Guy: A Man of Many Parts

ABSTRACTJohn Henry Guy worked in Britain and the United States throughout the first half of the twentieth century. He became the financial vice president of the M. Rumely Company of Indiana at just 31 years of age and, on his return to Britain, made a major contribution to the war effort while working as an accountant at the British Ministry of Munitions. It is also revealed that Guy took a broad view of accounting as a mechanism capable of achieving the more efficient use of resources by demonstrating its potential role within the domestic sphere. Throughout his career, Guy's religious convictions caused him great anxiety as he believed that the objectives of capitalism were fundamentally irreconcilable with the Christian principles that defined the legitimate conduct of daily life. Indeed, his own story demonstrates how easy it is for businesspeople to become associated with the shady side of commercial affairs.

RELIGION AND POLITICS IN THE CONTEXT OF THE 6 JANUARY 2021 ASSAULT ON THE US CONGRESS

On January 6, 2021, an angry mob attacked security forces and stormed the United States Congress, a significant portion of which carried placards containing Christian symbols and manifested ultra-religious conduct. The crowd chanted religious slogans and songs mixed with extremist ideological-political landmarks, QAnon conspiracy theories and racist attitudes. The protesters also followed a ritual found in the Bible, in the Old Testament, in the book of Joshua Navi, an Israelite leader to whom God indicated how he would conquer the City of Jericho, full of corrupt and fornicating people if he obeyed the divine command. The participants in the assault followed the same ritual to “conquer” the fortress of the Capitol a month before and repeated it starting with January 5, 2021. Since religion is the belief in God and represents the relationship between the faithful man and divinity, the acquisition of elements of political ideology by ultra-religious people was considered natural and mandatory in shaping a society to develop on Christian principles in the form of a “Christian city”. In this article, by analyzing the attitude of the Christian community in two distinct phases, before and during and after the assault on the US Congress, the result of the manifestation of the phenomenon of ultrareligiosity combined with an extremist political ideology will be revealed.

The Kingdom of God in the Church and the Experience of Human History

Understanding the idea of the reign of God in the affairs of humans must not only be envisaged or experienced by the ecclesiastical setting or arena. The hope in the existence of God’s kingdom transcends the spiritual emphasis to the socio-cultural and politico-economic realms. This article looks at the penetrating effects of the Christian principles and ideals of God’s kingdom envisaged in the Church and the human historical experiences which as the mouthpiece of the coming kingdom of God represents its message to the wider human sociality. Are there any socio-cultural, economic and political implications of reechoing God’s active role in making the life of the people become meaningful and peaceful? The study concentrates on the Kingdom of God in its relationship with human history. It focuses on some theological thoughts from both catholic and protestant perspectives. It elucidates the significance of the Kingdom of God in the transformation of human history by first considering the Universal Kingdom of God, as a symbol of hope for humanity and examining critically the socio-political implication of the Kingdom in the proclamation of Jesus the Christ. Keywords: Kingdom of God, Political theology, Historical Experience, Socio-political, Social transformation.

The legacy of Sir Reginald Stephen Garfield Todd in Zimbabwean public life history

This article investigates the contribution of white liberal politics of an ex-missionary New Zealander, Sir Reginald Stephen Garfield Todd (from 1953 to 1958), on the development of Southern Rhodesia towards becoming an independent state. It outlines the contribution he made towards the progress of black Zimbabweans in a number of spheres. It arouses interest in contemporary Zimbabwean religious and political discourses. Todd held a hybridity of roles in transitional politics from the blunting settler racism to the sharpening of African capability on multi-racial democracy important for our debate on the decolonisation of southern Africa. He was a rhetorically gifted radical paternalist who adopted reformist policies to advance both the African cause and his prophetic vocation. He suggested technocratic solutions that could reorganise and diversify political and economic options.Contribution: This study uses critical discourse analysis (CDA) on the wider literature on Todd’s biography and African policies in view of his Christian vocation towards changing conditions of socio-economic, political-religious and technological-technocratic solutions to contemporary African independence. He was a man of his times living and working in an increasingly problematic context guided by the Christian principles in which he was reared. He is the ‘father of faith’ in the Church of Christ in Zimbabwe (COCZ), and leaves us pedagogical lessons on human security, gender equality, church governance and human well-being that require review within the contemporary Christian fraternity.

Tenet of ubuntu in South (African) ethics

The notion of ubuntu as a moral theory in the South African and African contexts presents attractive norms of an African worldview that can be articulated and applied to contemporary Christian ethics. The proponents of ubuntu perceive it as an African philosophy based on the maxim, “a person is a person through other persons”, whereby the community prevails over individual considerations. It is not merely an empirical claim that our survival or well-being is causally dependent on others but is in essence capturing a normative account of what we ought to be as human beings. However, ubuntu has shortcomings that make it an impractical notion. Despite its shortcomings, ubuntu has natural ethic potential that enforces and engenders hospitality, neighbourliness, and care for all humanity. This article contributes to further conceptualisation and understanding of the notion of ubuntu and its relationship with hospitality in order to retrieve some principles that can be applied to effective and meaningful pastoral care. The principles drawn from ubuntu are juxtaposed with Christian principles and pastoral care to encourage embodiment of God by pastoral caregivers.

Newman, Catholicity, and the Church Today: On the Development of Christian Principles through Dialogue with the World

This article explores the following question: Given the Roman Catholic Church’s present-day teaching on catholicity, how can St. John Henry Newman’s historically conscious, imaginative view of catholicity assist Catholic Christians today in understanding the concept faithfully, but in a manner ‘open’ to its potential development in an age of shifting metaphysics? After (1) an introduction to the topic and challenges to the notion of catholicity today, this article then (2) analyzes the present-day view of catholicity as a mark of the church according to the ‘Catechism of the Catholic Church’, noting areas of development as well as limitations. The article then (3) investigates Newman’s understanding of catholicity within his sacramental and imaginative worldview. Newman’s understanding of the development of principles and doctrines is particularly relevant for a consideration today of how the church’s view of catholicity might authentically develop from a dialogue between religion and science. The article then (4) synthesizes results in a concluding section that indicates how the fruits of the preceding analysis could be realized through eco-theological dialogue.

The Social Gospel Movement. An Overview

"The Social Gospel movement developed in a time of intense urbanization and industrialization. The social context, generated by economic and political mishandlings, generated social pressure, poverty, and abuse, mainly on the poor and working classes. The Social Gospel movement tried to address the issues by applying Christian principles to social structures, as a result of political and economic changes. The promoters of the movement aligned their view of the ideal society with the eschatological perspective of premillennialism. They argued that a society that eliminates social evil is the Kingdom of God fulfilled. The movement managed to draw attention to social injustice, and it even managed to offer several productive means of alleviating the social evils it fought against. Despite its positive effects, the movement was criticized for failing to address issues such as race and gender. In this paper, the aim is to offer an introductory description of the Social Gospel movement, as it was described in various critical writings. Keywords: Social Gospel, race, gender, social evil, Kingdom of God "

The uniqueness in the Principles of Christianity

The Bible, the holy book of Christians, consists of two parts, the Old Testament and the New Testament. In the Old Testament, wrongdoers bled to get rid of it by sacrificing sheep, cattle and birds. They thought that their sins were being relieved by the bleeding. During the New Testament, Jesus came to human beings and taught people the order of life and the way to seek God by living with man. He made people realize their crimes. He bled himself to death to get rid of it. Salvation is the relief from sin by Jesus’ blood. On the third day he rose alive and recorded his marvellous event in the history of the world. It is the belief of Christians in godliness that Jesus will come back to the world for the second time, judge people according to their actions and take those who live pure life according to their principles to heaven. The purpose of this study is to express these views.

The Past and ‘Discontinuity in Religion’ in Octavia Butler’s Parables: A Feminist Theological Perspective

ABSTRACT This article employs feminist theologian Daphne Hampson’s notion of ‘discontinuity in religion’ to explore the concept of the past in Octavia Butler’s Parable of the Sower (2007) and Parable of the Talents (2007). Focusing on the activities of a black heroine who appears as a reformer who revives her dead society, this article argues that the novels reflect a posthuman, post-Biblical aspect of renovation by discarding the past which is envisioned as a paralysing obsession in these texts. The renovation in the novels is done through a kind of discontinuity in particular Christian principles, substituting them with a new doctrine of thought. The introduction of this new belief called Earthseed, confronts those principles that render Christianity a religion with roots in the past, and offers a way of being and thinking which goes against the religious, sexual, racial and classist dimensions of life founded on exclusively Christian doctrine. The aim of this article is to investigate the new social order emerging from this alternative system of belief. This is important because it brings to the fore a constructive and liberating concept of change which, challenging Butler’s negative view, reveals the capacity of the new system to create a utopian world.

Jati Diri Kaum Awam Dan Panggilannya Di Tengah Dunia Dewasa Ini

The Vatikan Council II has returned the Church is essence as a believer community. Thus, the Church is not longer identify the clergy, but include of the laity. The laity are recognized their dignity as a member of the Church with their distinctive roles anda functions in the world order. The laity are called to the direct world order on Christ. The task can only be realized if the laity undertand the contex of the realization call properly and correctly. The first, the laity must be recognized the sign of age. It means that, the laity have to have sense of sensitvity. They are also must be in networking each other. Finally, they must be know and holdfirm fundamental principles of Christianity.