Christian Thought Research Articles

Who Rules the World: Divine Providence and the Existence of Evil by Hans Schwarz

Reviewed by: Who Rules the World: Divine Providence and the Existence of Evil by Hans Schwarz Mark Mattes Who Rules the World: Divine Providence and the Existence of Evil. By Hans Schwarz. Minneapolis: Fortress, 2021. x + 210 pp. Prolific German theologian Hans Schwarz examines theodicy, the defense of God, in his latest volume. If God is beneficent and omnipotent, then why is there evil? Before offering constructive thoughts, he surveys the major world religions, including those from antiquity which influenced Judaism and Christianity, the various presentations of evil in the Bible, and Christian thinkers from ancient times until the present. All the while he is sensitive to modern developments in the natural and social sciences. Schwarz is ever diplomatic, balanced, and charitable to whichever voice he is entertaining. The question of theodicy is urgent because, in the words of Georg Büchner, suffering is the "rock of atheism." The Bible presents a number of perspectives about the relationship between God and evil, including that God is himself the cause of good and evil (30). Even so, Genesis does not present the tempter, presumably the devil, as a participant in God's heavenly court (though the Adversary is presented so in Job) (26). Jesus' ministry included exorcism, a frontal attack on evil. Paul acknowledged that human nature is itself overshadowed by evil (49), and that humanity as a whole is alienated from God. The mature Augustine, in contrast to his Manichean youth, which adhered to a conflict between an all-good spiritual deity and an all-evil bodily deity, argued that everything evil somehow contributes to goodness, indeed, ultimately the perfection of all created things. In contrast to Augustine, who viewed evil as a privation or lack of goodness, Martin Luther saw evil as having its own agency over against God. That said, Luther also acknowledged that God worked through evil "instruments," evil persons. He also described God as doing an "alien work," punishment designed to bring us to God's mercy or grace. Nevertheless, God does not cause Satan or [End Page 76] people to be evil; but, if they happen to be evil, that does not inhibit God's agency to work through them. Indeed, God punishes thieves through other thieves. In the early modern period, Leibniz, like Augustine, interpreted evil as a privation in our universe. In contrast to the Enlightenment's tendency to affirm natural human goodness, Kant actually affirmed that the human will is prone to evil, apt to heed desires as opposed to ethical directives provided by reason (91). Twentieth-century thinkers, such as Dorothee Sölle, John Hick, or Process theologians, in light of world wars, the holocaust, nuclear proliferation, and the like, have been apt to emphasize the "weakness" of God. Schwarz is at his best when he assesses matters. It is clear that God has made a universe with various levels of interdependence amongst creatures and that he does not govern by coercion. Appealing to Martin Luther, Schwarz agrees that God orders all things in the world (154), but there are degrees of freedom, especially in matters of human choice, in which humans can either accord with God's will or not, as codified in the Decalogue (whose statutes are echoed in many other cultures) (158). Luther's great insight from his theology of the cross is that because God reveals himself under the "sign of his opposite," that is, in the crucified Jesus, we cannot trace God's working in history (164). God's agency is not transparent. Unlike Calvin, God is no puppeteer "who simply pulls strings or who preordains every detail of history. While God is above and beyond the details of this world, allowing creation and humans freedom and a degree of independence, God is also in his creation and in history providing, where necessary, predictability in the natural processes and help from self-destruction through moral norms" (166). Thereby we need neither to buy into a facile optimism nor a fatalistic pessimism (183). It is clear that Job is onto something: bad things do happen to good people (191). Hence, evil is no mere privation but a power in its own right (193). Schwarz's conclusion is...

Three concepts of natural law

The concept of natural law is fundamental to political philosophy, ethics, and legal thought. The present article shows that as early as the ancient Greek philosophical tradition, three main ideas of natural law existed, which run in parallel through the philosophical works of many authors in the course of history. The first two approaches are based on the understanding that although equipped with reason, humans are nevertheless still essentially animals subject to biological instincts. The first approach defines natural law as the law of the strongest, which can be observed to hold among all members of the animal kingdom. The second conception presents natural law as the principle of self-preservation, inherent as an instinct in all living beings. The third approach, also developed in antiquity, shifts the focus to our rationality and develops the idea of natural law as the law of reason within us. Some Christian thinkers who consider the origin of reason in us to be divine, identify the law of reason inherent in us with God?s will. This paper gives a brief exposition of the development of these three concepts of natural law in philosophy, with emphasis on the intertwining of these three concepts, which we, however, understand as primarily and essentially independent. The paper concludes with an overview of twentieth-century authors who exclusively focus on only one of the three concepts. The aim of this article is to argue against these one-sided interpretations and to uphold the independence and distinctness of the three historical conceptions of natural law.

God: An Adventure in Comparative Theology

This article explores the specific profiles of the understanding of ultimate reality in Christianity, Islam, and Buddhism to ask whether there are points of contact between the Christian-Muslim and the Christian-Buddhist conception of divine reality. Thereby, the soteriological interest of Christian trinitarian thinking and the differences to the apophatic thinking in Islam but also the personal understanding of divine reality and the transnumeric unity of God come into view. Moreover, there are Muslim positions that assign the instances of divine Word and divine Spirit as eternal prestige and attributive to the essence of God, whereby a new basis for discussion could be gained. On the other hand, the differences between Buddhist thinking of emptiness and Christian apophatism boil down to the question of whether nirvāṇa as the unconditioned (asaṃskṛta) of transcendent reality (lokottara) as a notborn (ajātaṁ), a not-brought-to-being (abhūtaṁ), a not-conditioned (asaṇkhataṁ) may be understood as a reality that is not separate from, but distinct from saṃsāra. Then emptiness or "śūnyatā is non-śūnyatā (aśūnyatā); therefore, it is ultimate śūnyatā (atyanta-śūnyatā)" (Abe). In this way, Buddhist thinking of emptiness can come into conversation with Christian thinking of self-emptying (kenosis). Muslim and Buddhist thinking on the subject of transcendence invite Christians to accentuate the apophatic side of the divine, and to locate the Trinitarian differentiation both within the divine and in the history of salvation in a cataphatic movement. With these indications, the difference between the Christian, Islamic, and Buddhist galaxies of thinking ultimate reality is not abolished, but points of contact and possible mutual suggestions become visible, which allow a further and deepening conversation.

John Henry Newman and the Development of Doctrine: Encountering Change, Looking for Continuity by Stephen Morgan

Reviewed by: John Henry Newman and the Development of Doctrine: Encountering Change, Looking for Continuity by Stephen Morgan Guy Nicholls C.O. Stephen Morgan John Henry Newman and the Development of Doctrine: Encountering Change, Looking for Continuity Washington, DC: The Catholic University of America Press, 2021 xvi + 315. Hardback. $75.00. John Henry Newman is undoubtedly one of the greatest Christian thinkers of any age, who made significant and highly original contributions to many areas of philosophy and theology. This beautifully written and closely argued book justifies the author's claim that Newman made no single contribution to theology more important than his long exploration of these questions: how can doctrine actually change and develop, whilst simultaneously remaining faithful to the original revelation? How can we know this to be so? In researching and pursuing this matter in ever greater depth and detail, Newman, according to Morgan, "addressed a question that had posed for him a serious existential difficulty for a very considerable period of time" (263), viz. how, in encountering change, can we find continuity? In pursuing this quest Newman has also bequeathed to the Church of our own time a vitally urgent hermeneutic tool to tackle questions concerning [End Page 206] the nature and extent of ecclesiastical authority to make definitive pronouncements on matters of doctrinal development. Morgan draws a striking picture of the intricacy of Newman's mind in framing the question and in devising various theories to provide its solution. In many ways it is most helpful to begin from the latest stage of Newman's research, which was the publication of the book that effectively divided his life into two halves: the first Anglican, the second Catholic. The 1845 Essay on the Development of Christian Doctrine was described by Newman as "an hypothesis to account for a difficulty." First of all, the genesis of this "difficult" question of development of doctrine is to be located in the historical and revealed nature of the Christian religion. Christianity is an historical religion based not only on the facts of the life and teaching of Christ, but on the transmission, or "tradition," of these facts down the generations which form his Church. In short, the central fact of the Christian religion is the person of Christ, who, as the incarnate Son of God, is the subject of divine revelation. This fact can also be described as an "idea" which exists in human minds and is therefore subject to the multiform processes of human thought and reflection. Morgan has skillfully traced the unfolding of Newman's thought processes and of the interaction between him and his contemporaries, both Anglican and Catholic, in arriving at a fully articulated theory of development of doctrine. In so doing, he has also constructed a robust defense of Newman against those who have called into question Newman's own claim to honesty or who have impugned the accuracy of his memory when, more than twenty years after the climax of this period had passed, he was obliged to defend himself in the Apologia Pro Vita Sua against Charles Kingsley's charge of untruthfulness in his dealings with his fellow Anglicans before his conversion. Morgan conducts a painstaking forensic examination of New-man's letters and other writings in which he tested his own intricate theories to account for the "difficulty" of the phenomenon of doctrinal development. But as Morgan shows, Newman's successive attempts to locate development within Anglican fidelity [End Page 207] to patristic antiquity and within the via media of the Anglican church between the "extremes" of Roman excess and Protestant error, were utterly "pulverised" by the Catholic Nicholas Wiseman's 1839 article on the fourth century Donatist schism. Wiseman quoted the judgement of St. Augustine, "securus iudicat orbis terrarum," which Newman immediately sensed was precisely applicable to his own contemporary view of the Anglican and Catholic churches. Newman took this to show that the Anglican church was not as he had claimed, a true branch of the Catholic Church, but rather a schismatical body. The Anglicans were in a parallel position to the Donatists of North Africa, and out of communion not only with St. Augustine but also with the papacy...

Emotion and the History of Rhetoric in the Middle Ages by Rita Copeland

Reviewed by: Emotion and the History of Rhetoric in the Middle Ages by Rita Copeland Shea McCollough Rita Copeland, Emotion and the History of Rhetoric in the Middle Ages ( Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2021), xv + 432 pp. More than three decades have passed since Rita Copeland first published Rhetoric, Hermeneutics, and Translation in the Middle Ages (1991), a study that has become an indispensable resource for scholars thinking about the development of vernacular texts and interpretative models from late antiquity to the Middle Ages. That first book laid the foundation for a body of scholarly work from Copeland that, while dealing with the variously related topics of classical reception, pedagogy, and representation, is nonetheless bound together by the through-line of rhetoric, her most persistent and pervasive research interest. Her newest book, Emotion and the History of Rhetoric in the Middle Ages, is a delightful expression of that rhetorical preoccupation, demonstrating a sustained interest in the intertwined relationships between rhetoric, emotion, and ethics that developed and redeveloped from classical antiquity to the Middle Ages and offering a compelling and comprehensive narrative of the transformations of rhetorical thought and practice over nearly two millennia. Like the good rhetorician that she is, Copeland offers a map of the book's overarching scope in apophatic terms, outlining the contours of the study by simultaneously delineating what it is not: it does not endeavor to offer a comprehensive history of medieval emotions—à la Barbara Rosenwein's Generations of Feeling (2015), or any number of similar studies that Copeland mentions throughout her footnotes—nor is it an attempt to uncover and represent the emotional experiences of medieval readers per se, although readerly experience becomes a secondary interest in the book, particularly in chapter 2. Rather, what Copeland does embark upon is a twofold history of both rhetoric through emotion and emotion through rhetoric in the Middle Ages, a history predicated upon [End Page 240] a belief that rhetoric "represented the role of emotion in shaping persuasions" and that is ultimately "concerned more with production than with consumption of emotive content" (1). Copeland builds from these initial claims, describing the "double plot" of her book "as a reception history that commences with the Ciceronian rhetorics of antiquity, that develops on a long course, and that, at a later juncture, incorporates the Aristotelian perspective" (14). Following this robust outline, the rest of the text splits into two halves, emblematized by the figures of Cicero and Aristotle, respectively. Chapter 1 analyzes Cicero's theory of affectio as presented in De inventione, establishing emotion as a valid form of invention (the process of developing an argument), as opposed to an exclusive element of style, even though the stylistic understanding would eventually come to dominate the discourse of medieval rhetoric. Chapter 2 picks up on this thread and demonstrates how early Christian thinkers, primarily Augustine and Cassiodorus, expanded their understanding of style to accommodate an ethical dimension of rhetorical appeal invested in the cultivation of "textual affection" (59), whether for the scriptures or for Virgil. As this instilled love for texts grew commonplace, it became less imperative to explicitly outline the ethical valence of style in rhetorical texts, resulting in the paradoxical effacement of this notion from Christianized rhetorical treatises by the twelfth century. Chapter 3 narrates the rise of style to a place of preeminence in the "pragmatic rhetoric" of the eleventh through fourteenth centuries by close reading pedagogical treatises (112), love letters, Chaucer's Nun's Priest's Tale, Petrarch's Seniles, and Chaucer's (again) Clerk's Prologue. Chapter 4 (re)turns to Aristotle's Rhetoric, the second piece of the book's "double plot," in order to "chart the routes through which Aristotelian rhetoric found its place in later medieval thought" (158). Copeland sketches the transmission history of the Rhetoric, arguing that the text effectively disappeared until resuscitated by a group of Arabic scholars—Al-Farabi (ca. 870–950), Avicenna (980–1037), and Averroes (1126–98)—whose commentaries treated the emotions "as both cognitive and moral forces in persuasion" (175). Chapter 5 extends the discussion of the Rhetoric's medieval afterlife by focusing on a shift in thinking about the emotions evident in Giles of Rome...

Доктрина справедливої війни у розробці християнських мислителів часів Середньовіччя

Based on the analysis of the works of medieval Christian thinkers, the article highlights the principles of the Christian doctrine of „just war”, which was formed during the Middle Ages and did not undergo significant changes until the Second Vatican Council (1963-1965). The urgency of the topic lies in the fact that many armed conflicts are now religious in nature, including the latest Russian-Ukrainian war, which is being waged under the slogan of the „Russian world” ideology, developed by Moscow Patriarch Kirill. Such and similar consecration of wars and armed conflicts by religious organizations forces us to turn to political and legal concepts, which seem to have long since disappeared, but they now, as it turns out, acquire a new meaning. The article reveals the purpose of the study, its methods and the state of study in the literature. The main part of the article shows that, although the concept of „just war” dates back to antiquity, the architects of the doctrine of just war were medieval Christian authors – Ambrose of Milan, Aurelius Augustine, Thomas Aquinas, Francisco de Vitoria. The article considers the contribution of each of these authors to the development of the doctrine, emphasizes that, in fact, the concept of „doctrine” should be attributed to the creative legacy of Thomas Aquinas in the concept of „just war”, and noted that this doctrine became the basis of Catholic doctrine of war. which has remained unchanged for many centuries. Later scholastics, and above all Francisco de Vitoria, supplemented the doctrine of just war with their research, without affecting its foundations developed by Thomas Aquinas. However, it is noted that in modern warfare, the concept of „justice” is distorted, the understanding of just war in the Christian religious and ethical tradition has been forgotten, and some church leaders even suggest abandoning the doctrine of just war. The author believes that everything needs to be redesigned, raising the whole layer of works on the theme of just war, starting with ancient and medieval authors. The article concludes with conclusions and formulations of prospects for further research in this area.

Wealth and Commerce in Eastern Christian Thought

Wealth and Commerce in Eastern Christian Thought

Перстни-амулеты с изображением святого всадника VII в. из Крыма

Introduction. The group of jewelry with Christian symbols that existed in the Crimea in the early Middle Ages includes cast bronze rings, on a flat shield of which the image of a holy rider with a cross in his hands is engraved. The rings were found in the South-West Crimea in the burial grounds near the village of Luchistoe, Skalistoe and EskiKermen, as well as in Kerch at the early medieval necropolis of the Bosporus, in the burials of the 7th century. Methods. For the attribution of published products, a circle of analogies is identified, findings from the territory of the Eastern Roman Empire are analyzed. The iconography of the holy rider is compared on various subjects. In the Crimea, three of the published finger rings were found in in situ burials, as part of a closed complex, together with tools with a narrow dating, which makes it possible to clarify the time of existence of this type of products in the region and to determine the method of wearing it. Analysis. The plot depicted on the finger rings has an undeniable resemblance to the scene of the solemn entry of Jesus Christ into Jerusalem, described in all four Gospels and well known from the numerous pictorial monuments of the early medieval period. The iconography of that scene originated in the era of Constantine the Great, under the influence of imperial art and in many ways corresponded to the Triumphal entry of the emperor to Rome or any large city of the empire. The image of Christ the rider on the Crimean finger rings belongs to the iconographic type, which became widespread in the 6th–7th centuries, mainly in Egypt, the Syro-Palestinian region and Asia Minor. The quality of execution of the published rings from the Crimea allows us to speak about their local production. Byzantine products that came to the peninsula thanks to stable trade relations with the empire or were brought by pilgrims from holy places served as models for the Crimean artisans. In the minds of ancient Christians, the image of Christ the rider had a powerful protective power. Placed on the shield of the ring, it endowed the decoration with the properties of an amulet, protecting the person wearing it from all troubles. The rings originating from Crimea belonged to a teenage girl and young women who wore them on their hands – on the right index or ring finger, or in special belt bags, in which, in addition to utilitarian items, various amulets were also put. Results. The study of rings makes it possible not only to expand knowledge about jewelry that existed in the early medieval times, but also to replenish our information about the daily life of the Christian population of the early medieval Crimea.

Dall’enciclica “laudato si” all’enciclica “fratelli tutti”. Una prospettiva sulla spiritualità e l’etica sociale

From the Encyclical „Laudato si” to the Encyclical „Fratelli tutti”. A Perspective on Spirituality and Social Ethics. The essay begins by showing that it is essential for all Christian thinking - and thus also for a Christian social ethics - to refer to a deeper meaning passively received from God. Starting from this Logos, Christian social ethical thinking tries to convey how to build a civilisation or a society of integral and humane capitalism whose inner building principle is love. This reception of meaning and love in order to be enabled to love takes place practically in liturgiacal worship as the author argues with Romano Guardini; here the absolute love of God is first received and vouchsafed as an unclaimable and yet profoundly vital gift. Liturgy focuses, like a burning glass, the experience of a greater freedom of the human being to do good in the face of a greater love, in the face of absolute love, in the face of God. In this view, liturgy is liberated freedom for the good and for the better, for the beautiful. From there, all human activity not only has a technical-instrumental and efficiency-oriented side, but is deeply ordered towards the realisation of higher values, so that the author can say: Culture grows out of cult. From here, he shows how a culture of law and ethics unfolds from the mere nature of man to faith in a personal God. In this perspective, law and morality are formulations of the primordial sense placed by God in human natural reason - the logos - and serve to shape a world conducive to life and worthy of human beings. This highlights in particular the space of political action, which plays a prominent role especially in Pope Francis’ encyclicals „Laudato si” and „Fratelli tutti”. In these encyclicals, the author primarily criticises a „technocratic paradigm”, in which human action is only reduced to questions of technical possibilities and efficiency, but in which the deeper meaning of human action is obscured. Starting from the parable of the prodigal son and the parable of the Good Samaritan, which is particularly prominent in „Fratelli tutti”, the author then develops the extent to which one must first convert to the incarnate Logos Christ in order to be able to realise the Logos instilled in man and the world, also in political thought and action. This is where the author sees the proprium of Christian social ethics as ethics of institutions and as inclusive capitalism, as also developed in the encyclicals of Pope Francis: The orientation of state, society and economy towards the realisation of higher values, of the Logos placed in the world by God. Keywords: Pope Francis, Fratelli Tutti, Romano Guardini, Liturgy and Ethics, Social Ethics, Personalism, Integral Humanism, Critique on technocracy

Od natury słowa do słowa o naturze. Recenzja książki Bolesława Andrzejewskiego pt. Filozofia słowa. Zarys dziejów

Herethis paper is review on monographical pulication „Filozofia słowa. Zarys dziejów” [The Philosophy of the Word. A Short History] by Bolesław Andrzejewski. The Polish philosopher’s book is one and only publication which dares to present and contrast concepts and theories on the word which appears in the history of Western Civilisation from the times of ancient Greek philosophers, through Christian thinkers and German romantics and representants of Enlightenment, ending with English and American pragmatists and positivists, not to omit prominent linguists like Ferdynand de Saussure, Noam Chomsky, Ernst Cassirer or Wilhelm von Humboldt. Original view of the author on philosophy of language makes the reviewed book unique, since Andrzejewski tries to break through the analytic, so common nowadays, paradigm and proposes to run the consideration concerning language in the spirit of lingua ac communitas, so to speak, he treats language basically as a tool for interpersonal communication and a way of gaining understanding within community.

James T. Turner, Jr., On the Resurrection of the Dead. A New Metaphysics of Afterlife for Christian Thought

James T. Turner, Jr., On the Resurrection of the Dead. A New Metaphysics of Afterlife for Christian Thought

La crítica de Del Noce a Maritain y los orígenes intelectuales del catolicismo de izquierda

Although Augusto Del Noce recognizes himself as a disciple and admirer of Maritain, in his famous book The Problem of Atheism, he makes a strong criticism of his teacher as a result of the latter's acceptance of certain social and economic theses of Marxism. Attributing the cause of Maritain's position to a central flaw in his view of modern philosophy and history, Del Noce will accuse Maritain of inadvertently introducing into Catholic social thought a perfectist-utopian germ incompatible with Christianity. From this criticism the Italian philosopher will leave clues in his writings about the influences on other Christian thinkers of this Maritainian openness to Marxism. In this sense, Del Noce's thinking is an effective starting point for exploring the intellectual genesis of left-wing Catholicism, both in Europe and in Latin America, in recent decades with influence to this day.

Hope for the Future of New Testament Theology

This paper presents the author’s hope for changes in New Testament (NT) theology particularly as currently experienced in American Christian culture. Those changes are based on exegetical work that seeks to place the NT texts into their Jewish first-century thought world. The first part of the paper presents examples of theological concepts that have crept into NT exegesis, translations, and Christian thinking, concepts that appear to be foreign to or contrary to that original-audience thought world. The second part of the article seeks to present a reading of Rom 3:21–26 that better represents Paul’s thinking than what is found in some English translations that read the text through the lenses of some of the foreign concepts mentioned in Part 1. The resulting vision for the future of NT theology is twofold: for NT theologies to self-critically rid themselves of the infiltration of foreign concepts, and for the field to better ground its work in exegesis and translations that better respect the Jewish thought world of the texts.

Christianity and International Law: An Introduction. By P. Slotte and John D. Haskell

This is not an easy book to classify and, despite the very best attempts of the editors, one may wonder if it appropriately labelled an ‘introduction’ to anything, let alone an introduction to ‘Christianity and International Law’. This inevitably sounds like a damning criticism—but it is not intended as such. Rather, and as the editorial introduction makes clear enough, what exactly is meant by both ‘Christianity’ and ‘International Law’—let alone ‘Christianity and International Law’ (cf 11) - for these purposes, remain somewhat inchoate. In a sense, however, this appears to be a part of what this book is about. Rather than being an ‘introduction’ to a discrete field of investigation, the book is the field of investigation. And it is in this sense that it may be understood as forming an ‘introduction’; as being an introductory exploration into the many and varied ways in which Christian thinking has contributed to...

The Political Theology of Origen of Alexandria

According to the prevailing view to date, early Christians showed no particular interest in politics. In this respect, the work of George Karamanolis, devoted to pre-Christian philosophical thought, is highly symptomatic. Although the author breaks down many stereotypical views of early Christian thinkers and presents a rather rich intellectual culture of these thinkers when Jerry approaches their political views, he notes: , As well as their modern pagan philosophers. "

Die tempel-metafoor in Efesiërs 2:11–22 as deel van identiteitsvorming van die gelowige in-groep

The temple metaphor in Ephesians 2:11–22 as part of identity formation of the believing in-group. One of the basic human needs is to belong, feel accepted and be part of a group. During the first century people from different backgrounds believed in Jesus, consequently unity among believers became a challenge. The inclusive heart of God, the atonement of Christ and the Holy Spirit unites believers from different backgrounds and groups. This article examines spiritual unity as part of the believers’ identity as portrayed by the temple metaphor in Ephesians 2:11–22. Christians should acknowledge their differences, as the author of Ephesians clearly does, without causing division in the group. Identity formation is linked to group membership, therefore the identity of the early Christian group is examined, to determine the influence it still has on the present-day unity among believers. We divide our society into groups and tend to discriminate against those that are different from us. These phenomena were part of the social interaction of Christians in the first century. To better understand the social functioning of the ancient Mediterranean world, this article uses Social Identity Theory to identify and compare the groups in Ephesians. The Jews and Gentiles were the out-groups. In the context of the letter, Gentiles were Artemis-worshippers. The Christians formed the in-group. The identity of the out-groups, to which Christians previously belonged, should be considered to determine the identity of the in-group. The metaphor of the spiritual temple identifies believers as becoming part of the temple at the time of their conversion. Unlike the Jewish temple and the temple of Artemis, which were physical buildings with exclusive membership, the temple of the Holy Spirit is an inclusive unity of believers. The Jewish temple was part of the identity of the Jews, the Artemis temple gave identity to the city of Ephesus and the spiritual temple identifies the unity of the Christian in-group. The Christian-identity, whether in the first century or in contemporary society, is unifying and inclusive regardless of our differences. According to the author of Ephesians Christ-founded and Spirit-driven identity should determine Christian thinking and actions.Contribution: The temple of Artemis and the Jewish temple were places of religious, political, economic and social status and power. The temple of Ephesians 2, however, becomes a spiritual force to which every believer has access apart from political, economic, social, ethnic and gender status. Christian identity and unity are rooted in the redemptive work of Christ.

The role of spiritual formation in the education of modern human beings: A European Christian perspective

One of the most considerable changes in the contemporary European educational mentality is a person’s disconnection from spiritual life. Christian formation has been replaced with religious pluralism, in terms of syncretism influenced by global economic ideologies. Some consequences are low resilience and low spiritual resistance to contemporary challenges, associated with mental traumas or social behaviour deficits. Is it possible to restore the modern person’s spiritual education? There is no evolution in the modern individual’s social life without a horizon of spiritual expectation and fulfilment, different from the strictly material one. Moreover, conscious education cannot deprive people of cultivating the spiritual part of their consciousness from which the real values of existence are born. A series of arguments for renewing the relation between school and the mature, Scripture-based Christian thinking in the spirit of the European pedagogy are revealed by the factual historical analyses. Both Eastern and Western European experiences have met after 13 years of evolving into two antagonist geopolitical spheres. Their lessons in the education field could be an appropriate model, academically applied at the cultural mentality and the European pedagogy level.Contribution: With this study, I want to highlight the historical and conceptual frameworks of the Christian religious education meaning in the context of the rediscovery of Orthodox Christianity by the international theological culture in post-communism. Orthodox Christianity, forgotten in dictionaries and syntheses by the Western theological elite, brings in a spiritualisation of education according to the Lord Jesus Christ’s Gospel and not of the ideological cultural interests.

Christian Divination in Late Antiquity

<i>Christian Divination in Late Antiquity</i>

The War That Never Was: Evolution and Christian Theology

The War That Never Was: Evolution and Christian Theology

Bioethical Quality of Life Concept Through the Eyes of Critics

Bioethics is an interdisciplinary science that deals with the moral aspects of medicine, biotechnology and the value of life in general. Quality of life concept is the basis for one of the models of bioethics. Its supporters understand the value of human life by relying on the categories of its qualitative characteristics. They argue that the value of life is relative and depends on certain criteria, and prove the permissibility to terminate it in some cases. Quality of life conception is criticized, above all, by those scholars who rely on religious ideas of the equal value and inviolability of all people’s lives. This article reveals several examples of such criticism in the works of Polish and American authors: T. Biesaga, H. Ciach, G. Hołub, P. Kieniewicz, R. P. George and P. Lee. Citing the arguments of that Christian thinkers, the author forms her own attitude to the problem. The ethical and ontological sources of quality of life concept, namely utilitarianism and naturalism, become the main object of criticism. It is significant that in the utilitarian appeal to maximize happiness as pleasure and calculate the gain or loss they see an attempt to establish the primacy of the overall well-being over an individual’s life as well as a reason for killing those individuals whose lives do not meet quality criteria and impair overall well-being. They also criticize such a consequence of the naturalistic view as reduction of the personality to its manifestations. The absence of such manifestations becomes for the supporters of the quality of life concept the basis for conclusion about a low quality of life of some individuals. One more critical remark towards the quality of life concept concern erasing of differences between humans and animals and their interests. The technocratic attitude that permits any manipulations of a human life if only they can be performed is criticized too. The author demonstrates that the fundamental fault of the quality of life concept which is criticized by all its opponents is a limited understanding of human nature and human life.