Mercy Of God Research Articles

Biblical Theology

Biblical Theology Christopher T. Begg 1475. [Yhwh; Volcanos] Nissim Amzallag, "Some Implications of the Volcanic Theophany of YHWH on [sic! for] His Primeval Identity," AntOr 12 (2014) 11-38. Yhwh's theophany and mode of action are frequently portrayed in the Hebrew Bible as a volcanic event. In this article, A. argues that this representation, which is of central importance in the story of the Sinai Covenant, is probably not anchored in any specific experience of a volcanic eruption by the Israelites in the past. In antiquity, volcanic activity was specifically associated with the gods who were patrons of metallurgy, given the similarity between lava flowing from a volcano and slag released from a furnace during the smelting process. Evidence of such a linkage can also be identified in the Bible itself. Accordingly, rather than being simply a literary device intended to evoke the overwhelming power of Yhwh, biblical references to volcanic activity may reflect the metallurgical roots of Israelite theology. This proposal is supported by biblical material associating Yhwh with metal production, and more particularly by (1) his primeval dominion in mining areas; (2) his worship by metalworkers; and (3) the representation of Yhwh's celestial environment as a giant furnace. On the basis of this evidence, A. concludes that the volcanic representation of Yhwh's theophany and mode of action reveals a surprising number of metallurgic religious traditions that have been preserved in ancient Israelite theology. [Adapted from published abstract] 1476. [Relation of the Testaments; Divine Violence in OT] José Luis Barriocanal Goméz, "Por qué tenemos que seguir leyendo el AT? La 'desviolentización' de Dios como propuesta hermenéutica," Burg 59 (2018) 15-38. B. derives the question of his title about why Christians continue to read the OT from the French exegete J.-L. Ska; the question itself alludes to the problem posed for Christians' doing this both by the seeming "superfluity" of the OT vis-à-vis the NT and the recurring divine violence in the former. B. devotes his article to addressing these two problems. Regarding the first problem, he highlights the complex, multifaceted dialectic between the two Testaments in which each needs the other for its full comprehension and appreciation. As for the second problem, B. argues that the OT's image of the violent God needs to be purified and "demythologized" in light of Christ's disclosure of a non-violent, merciful God, a disclosure that is itself adumbrated in God's own self-presentation in the "grace formula" of Exod 34:6-7. 1477. Ehud Ben Zvi, "Were YHWH's Clothes Worth Remembering and Thinking about among the Literati of Late Persian/Early Hellenistic Judah/Yehud? Observations and Considerations," Dress and Clothing, 161-82 [see #1553]. B. Z.'s concluding essay in the above volume explores the curious discursive omission of mention of Yhwh's clothing and its concomitant implications for the power of divine dress in the writings of the Judaean literati of the late Persian/early Hellenistic periods. [End Page 503] In this connection, he notes the existence of an underlying, but strong, tendency for these figures to "dis-prefer" depictions and imaginative exercises involving Yhwh's clothes, even in the absence of an alternative. He argues that a constellation of factors rendered Yhwh's clothes something not much (or even not at all) worth remembering or thinking about on the part of the literati in the above period(s). [Adapted from published abstract] 1478. Jeremiah W. Cataldo, "Biblical Strategies for Reinterpreting Crises with 'Outsiders,'" Imagined Worlds, 127-43 [see #1548]. In his essay, C. interacts with Benedict Anderson's theory on imagined communities and how prejudices shape them. For C., Anderson's theory, and the way in which it inadvertently exposes prejudice, provides an important optic through which to interpret the capacity of the Bible as a religious-cultural symbol relevant for renegotiating the dominant Western and Judeo-Christian dichotomized discourse on the identities of minorities, such as immigrants, refugees, and foreigners. Clarifying the depth of the symbolic value and role of the Bible permits one to reimagine "community" as a body constructed through relational discourse, rather than one...

Idea Miłosierdzia Bożego wobec egzystencjalnych niepokojów współczesnego świata

The need of the present times speaks for bringing the face of a merciful God once again. The concept of ”mercy” is often neglected today, and it even hinders modern man, who, through the previously unknown development of science and technology, more than ever in the human history, has subdued the earth and became its master. The awareness of man’s loneliness, his alienation from the community of the world, tradition and religion, and the conviction that he – man – is the creator of his own humanity, have become dominant. Life itself becomes the central value for him, not the immortality of life. The only content he has left are his whims and desires devoid of permanent and certain measures – doomed to variables determined by the condition and social situation – values. His existence was revealed to him in all its nakedness and fragility, arousing fear and concern with regard to loneliness, illness and death. And yet, through her life, Saint Faustine Kowalska showed unlimited trust in God’s mercy, thus opening herself to the action of grace, which allowed her to give her life the right purpose. This purpose of life is determined by faith, which for many followers of Christ became the foundation of their lives.

Dimensi Ontologis-Etis Konsepsi Ketuhanan Islam: Analisis Hermeneutika Sintetis-Logis Fazlur Rahman dan al-Ṭabāṭabā’ī

As as muslim, it is important to clear up the view of the Godness in Islam which is often misunderstood by some people. Its urgency not only as an enlightment for nonmuslim on Islam, moreover to some of muslim community today. One of those is the accusation which the conception of God in Islam is arbitrarily, cruel, desire to worshipped, requires to defensed brutally, etc. Fazlur Rahman has tried to answer this accusation using Synthetic-Logical Hermenenutics by describing three important conceptions about God in al-Qur’an, namely: the dependency of everything to God, the mercy of God, and the necessary relation between God and human. However, Fazlur Rahman elaborated Moral-Ethical aspect only, minus ontological aspect which is precisely important to answer the accusation above. This minus can be very well covered by `Allamah al-Ṭabāṭabā’ī’s Tafsīr. By the synthesis of both, the accusation is not only indisputable, but will provide a profound explanation on Godness in Islam. So, then it will appear that the conception of God in Islam not only has a dimension of theological-ethic but firmly philosophical-theoritic.

Koncepcja kary a hipoteza apokatastazy w eschatologii Grzegorza z Nyssy

Kwestia rozumienia pojęcia apokatastazy przez Grzegorza z Nyssy nie jest łatwa do interpretacji. Teksty źródłowe nie są jednoznaczne, a czasem nawet sprzeczne, i mogą budzić wątpliwości co do autentyczności. Niniejszy artykuł, na podstawie zachowanej spuścizny Grzegorza oraz współczesnej literatury naukowej, próbuje udzielić odpowiedzi na następujące pytania: w jaki sposób Grzegorz rozumiał biblijne przekazy o wiecznym potępieniu?; jak pojmował zagadnienie kary pośmiertnej?; jak rozumiał sąd szczegółowy i ostateczny?; oraz jak godził wszystkie te kwestie z nauką o apokatastazie? W pismach Grzegorza dominowało przekonanie o tymczasowości i leczniczym charakterze pośmiertnych kar. Będą ona miały charakter poprawczy i powinny trwać tylko tyle, i aż tak długo, ile będzie tego wymagać pełne oczyszczenie z pozostałości grzechu. Pozostaje kwestią nie do końca jasną, czy kara będzie miała charakter przejściowy także dla zatwardziałych grzeszników i czy Grzegorz dopuszczał dla nich wieczne potępienie. W eschatologii Grzegorza stale jest obecne dynamiczne napięcie między zbawczą łaską Boga skierowaną do całej ludzkości a ludzką wolnością i odpowiedzialnością, której Nysseńczyk nigdy nie próbował podważać. W próbie rozwiązania tej aporii przez Grzegorza centrum ciężkości przechyla się w stronę ostatecznego miłosierdzia i powszechnej woli zbawczej Boga. Chociaż przesłanki do wyrażenia tego przekonania Grzegorz czerpał z filozofii platońskiej, to jednak jego nadzieja na powrót wszystkich do Boga zakorzeniona była ostatecznie w argumentach teologicznych: wszechmocy i nieskończonej dobroci i miłosierdziu Boga oraz w zmartwychwstaniu Chrystusa.

The mercy of God as the foundation of charity of the Church

Charity diaconia of the Church is not an accidental involvement but belongs to its fundamental missions. This thesis can be supported in many ways. The author of this article finds the source of the obligation of Christians and the whole Church community to charity service in the nature of God. For Christians God is Love (1 John 4, 8.16). Even though some other names can be found, (Jahwe , Elohim, Adonai), his principal name that encapsulates all other ones is Love. Simultaneously, God which is Love showed his merciful nature (misericordiae vultus) in the course of salvation. He did it in a historical, visible and optimal way through his Son, Jesus Christ through the embodied God’s Son, Jesus Christ, who loved the mankind so much that he sacrificed his life for us, being tortured and killed at the cross. This selfless love laid the foundations for the Church, which, in essence, is a community of loving human and God’s beings. Those who do not love, even though they joined the Church through baptism, technically speaking, do not belong to the Church since love is a real not a formal sign of belonging to Christ’s disciples (cf. John 13, 35). Therefore, charitable activity is a significant dimension of the Church’s mission as it is through charity that the Church shows the merciful nature of its Saviour. A question that needs to be addressed may be expressed as follows: in what way the image of God, who is love, implies an involvement in charity of an individual and the Church? An answer may be found in the Bible, writings of the Church Fathers of and the documents of Magisterium Ecclesiae and especially the teachings of Pope Benedict XVI and Pope Francis.

Anthropology and New Testament Theology

Anthropology and New Testament Theology

Guilt and Its Purification

Guilt and Its Purification

The Educed Educational Dimensions of the mentioned Hadiths of Mercy in Sahih AL- BOKHARY

The current research aimed at educing the educational dimensions from the Hadiths, which contained the word "Mercy” in the theistic and social aspects, by using the descriptive method,in deductive approach. The research included a general framework and two axes as the first chapter dealt with the concept of mercy in language and terminology in the first axis, and the narrated hadiths of mercy mentioned in Sahih Al- Bokhary were stated in the second axis. In the second chapter, the educational dimensions derived from the hadiths of mercy on the theistic and social aspects were stated each in axis. The research concluded that Almighty Allaah was characterized by Mercy, and he made it the character of his prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) and anyone who follows his commands and rejects his taboos and prohibitions. It also concluded that mercy is one of the most important pillars on which society is based, and through which they feel unity and intimacy. The mercy of God and the mercy of his Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) considered as the educational dimensions in the theistic. and, the educational dimensions of compassion in the social side compassion for the children, the uterine connection.

Z głębokości milczę do Ciebie, Boże! "Milczenie" Endō/Scorsese jako traktat teologiczny

From the depth i am silent to you, Lord! The Silence by Endō/Scorsese as a theological treatmentThe Silence by Endō/Scorsese is a masterpiece, and it is a fundamentally Christian masterpiece. The beatification of Ukon Takayama 7.02.2017 — a samurai, who sacrificed his life to Christ — took place in the moment when the Japanese Catholic Church only half a million people of the 127 million inhabitants is being touched by crisis and attacked. In this social-cultural perspective the film by Scorsese should be placed. The Silence talks about the core of Christianity — it is a meditation on silent God. The main hero of the movie is a young Jesuit searching in Japan that is hostile towards Christianity, his master — the apostate. The whole drama of the action is implicated by the question: Will he — the protagonist — betray his faith or not? And yet Endō’s novel and Scorsese’s movie only seemingly tell the story about Jesuits in Japan of the 17th century. The point is that we are experiencing today the moments of triumph and expansion and tomorrow we may stand in front of the drama of the most tragic choices. If the measure of the size of a film work is its depth of the questions, which bother a spectator after the movie projection, The Silence by Scorsese is the emanation of what is most important in cinema. Scorsese, with admirable theological instinct leads his spectators but only these astute spectators towards the discovery of the axis of the drama. Thus, the spectators for a short while have the chance to look at the wounded creature through the eyes of God. Through the eyes of merciful God who justifies human beings because He sees all these things which are hidden for them. The film bears on itself the weight of a theological treaty.

Creation and the Cross: The Mercy of God for a Planet in Peril by Elizabeth A. Johnson

<i>Creation and the Cross: The Mercy of God for a Planet in Peril</i> by Elizabeth A. Johnson

Motyw drabiny Jakubowej (Rdz 28,10-22) w starożytnej symbolice zachodniego chrześcijaństwa

The episode of “Jacob’s ladder” in the book of Genesis inspired numeroussymbolic interpretations in ancient Christianity. Most often we find moralsymbolism, which basically proceeds in two directions. After Tertullian,“descending angels” symbolise sinners, and “ascending” ones symboliserighteous people. After Augustine, “descending” means those who careabout the needs of others, whilst “ascending” refers to those who direct theirhearts to God. For Jerome, ascending and descending angels symbolise notso much people as the mercy of God who descends to the sinner, whereas forAmbrose and Zeno of Verona the ladder depicts the Old and New Testamentand its rungs, namely the Christian virtues. An important literary motif inthe story of “Jacob’s ladder” is the stone under the Patriarch’s head, whichin the Christian tradition assumes a Christological meaning.

The Kingdom of God and the Fate of Unbaptized Africans: A Theological Reflection

This article delves into a theological reflection of the delicate question of the Kingdom of God and the fate of unbaptised persons who die without receiving baptism. The Church, since earliest times, has baptised both infants and adults with the belief that baptism is necessary for salvation. However, since Vatican II, the Church has also taught that even though baptism is necessary for salvation, there are other means through which people could receive supernatural grace necessary for salvation if through no fault of theirs, baptism is not made available to them before they die. They include those who died before the birth, passion, death and resurrection of Christ and persons of non-Christian origin (e.g. Jews, Muslims, adherents of African Traditional Religion, Buddhists, etc). God intended salvation for all people and leaves no stone unturned to make it available to all who desire or have the capacity to accept it. The Church teaches that those who are genuinely ignorant of Christ’s Church and the Gospel message and had no opportunity to hear the Word of God, but desired to be baptised may through the mercy of God attain salvation. Thus, unbaptised Africans and all those who through no fault of theirs did not receive the grace of baptism while they lived may also be saved whether they were adherents of African Traditional Religion or no religion at all, in as much as they searched for God in sincerity of heart, tried their best to do God’s will and followed the dictates of their conscience (Hardon 1975). Keywords: Kingdom, unbaptised, Africans, salvation DOI : 10.7176/JPCR/42-05 Publication date :March 31 st 2019

The Infallibility of Canonizations: A Revisionist History of the Arguments

The Infallibility of Canonizations:A Revisionist History of the Arguments William Diem The Modern Consensus and the Prima Facie Problem Since the publication of De Servorum Dei Beatificatione et Beatorum Canonizatione by Prospero Lorenzo Lambertini (later Pope Benedict XIV), a general consensus has emerged that formal canonizations of the saints are infallible papal acts.1 Indeed it is so commonly held that the New Catholic Encyclopedia simply asserts, without any note of either controversy or explanation, that canonizations are infallible declarations.2 More precisely, it is commonly held that, in canonizations, the pope infallibly [End Page 653] teaches that the one canonized is now in heaven.3 Yet, this position faces a rather significant objection. As Avery Cardinal Dulles notes, "it is difficult to see how [formal canonizations and the approval of religious institutes] fit under the object of infallibility as defined in the two Vatican councils."4 What he means is this: the two Vatican councils connect the Church's infallibility directly to the guarding and expounding of the deposit of faith handed down from the apostles. Hence Vatican II in Lumen Gentium teaches, "this infallibility with which the Divine Redeemer willed His Church to be endowed in defining doctrine of faith and morals, extends as far as the deposit of Revelation extends, which must be religiously guarded and faithfully expounded."5 So [End Page 654] much is uncontroversial: the Church's infallibility is linked directly to her office as guardian and teacher of public revelation. Now, we should note another uncontroversial point: that this infallible teaching authority extends not only to what has been directly revealed in public revelation—the primary or direct objects of infallibility—but extends also to those things that are necessarily connected with revealed truth by either a logical or a historical necessity. Defenders of the infallibility of canonizations—well aware that Christ revealed nothing about the fate of particular post-apostolic individuals—thus place canonizations among these secondary or indirect objects of infallibility. Hence, for example, Ludwig Ott writes, "to the secondary objects of infallibility belong … the canonization of saints, that is the final judgment that a member of the Church has been assumed into eternal bliss and may be the object of general veneration."6 But what necessary connection is there between a particular historical individual's beatitude and the faith? As Dulles notes, "it is not easy to see how the fact that this or that saint possessed heroic virtue is either a necessary condition or a necessary consequence of Christian faith."7 Now to complete the difficulties, we can consider the two lines of data that are examined leading up to a formal canonization and on which the determination of sainthood is ultimately made. Since the beginning of the practice of formal canonizations by the popes,8 two lines of investigation [End Page 655] have been carried out to determine sanctity: The first is an examination of the person's life, and the second is an examination of miracles attributed to the person's intercession. To the first of these, we must note that, while a thorough investigation of a person's life may give very good reason to determine that a person was holy and is now in glory, it is ultimately inconclusive insofar as we cannot read another person's soul.9 What's more, not even the individual can know his own state of grace with absolute certainty—the sentiment is clear in Paul: "I am not aware of anything against myself, but I am not thereby acquitted. It is the Lord who judges me" (1 Cor 4:4). Trent is explicit: "For as no pious person ought to doubt the mercy of God, the merit of Christ and the virtue and efficacy of the sacraments, so each one, when he considers himself and his own weakness and indisposition, may have fear and apprehension concerning his own grace, since no one can know with the certainty of faith, which cannot be subject to error, that he has obtained the grace of God."10 Note carefully the distinction, in Trent, between those things on the one hand that are matters of divine revelation—the mercy of God...

Hell and the Mercy of God by Adrian J. Reimers

Hell and the Mercy of God by Adrian J. Reimers

Confession: Catholics, Repentance, &amp; Forgiveness in America by Patrick W. Carey

Reviewed by: Confession: Catholics, Repentance, & Forgiveness in America by Patrick W. Carey Leslie Woodcock Tentler Confession: Catholics, Repentance, & Forgiveness in America. By Patrick W. Carey. New York: Oxford University Press, 2018. 392 pp. $34.95. Few practices, at least until recently, have been more central to Catholic experience and identity than going to confession. Even lapsed Catholics, it was frequently claimed, feared to die without confessing to a priest—and if the evidence in this regard is anecdotal, it generally comes from sources in a position to know. But scholarly histories of confession, especially for recent centuries, are still few in number. The reason is obvious: how to write the history of a sacramental encounter that was resolutely private? Patrick Carey, the first to offer a narrative history of confession in the United States from the colonial period to the present, has addressed the problem by focusing primarily on how confession was talked about, both by theologians and Catholic apologists. The results are both enlightening [End Page 91] and a tad bit frustrating. One learns an enormous amount from this book, which will be essential reading for scholars of American Catholicism. But it leaves a residual sadness at how much of this history—to wit, its emotional dimension—can probably never be recovered. During the colonial period and for much of the nineteenth century, most American Catholics confessed only once or twice a year. Theirs was nonetheless a religion with a strong penitential flavor. Fasting and abstinence during Lent and on Ember Days signaled the need for repentance, as did abstinence on Fridays and the vigils of certain feasts. Few Catholics would have received the Eucharist without confessing first, which also reminded the faithful of the dangers of sin and the need to repent. The various catechisms stressed human weakness, the ubiquity of temptation, and the hazards of dying in a sinful state. Even the less-than-devout, moreover, were aware that confession was "a major part of the religious and secular polemic against Catholicism in the United States" (45). This distinctively Catholic mode of repentance thus became for even the lukewarm a perverse point of pride and a badge of tribal membership. Many priests by the mid-nineteenth century were urging the laity to confess more frequently than once or twice a year. Toward the end of the century, growing numbers of Catholics began to do so. The parish mission appears to have played a key role in this regard. The success of a mission was invariably measured by the number of confessions that resulted, and mission preachers pulled out the stops to ensure that the numbers would be large. Mission sermons, while not neglecting the infinite mercy of God, nearly always trafficked in fear. As Carey notes, "The sermons threatened eternal damnation for those who died unrepentant, called attention to the embarrassment of having unconfessed sin revealed at the last and general judgement, and emphasized the eternal duration of the tortures of mind and body for the reprobate in the everlasting fires of hell" (124). The same fear-inducing themes continued as standard mission fare into the 1950s, by which time many American Catholics were confessing at least once a month. More frequent reception of the Eucharist, a trend that accelerated mightily during and after the pontificate of Pius X (r. 1903–1914), helped to account for the change. So did an increasingly heavy emphasis on what were called "confessions of devotion," where the penitent had only minor sins to confess but for whom confessing was essentially an act of worship. This was the world that produced Catholics like my late brother-in-law, who once announced that he hoped to die backing out of the confessional. [End Page 92] In certain significant respects, confessors were urged to change with the times and many presumably did so. Carey provides an especially fascinating account of the sometimes contentious dialogue between advocates of confession and experts in the psychological sciences. By the later 1950s, an up-to-date priest was expected to have sufficient psychological knowledge to distinguish between sinful behavior and behavior rooted in mental disturbance. (In the case of the latter, a priest should be ready to refer...

God in Galatians – Tendencies in the study of an important theme

Since Nils Dahl’s famous article on God as the most neglected factor in the study of the New Testament, many studies on God in the various corpi of the New Testament have been and are still being published. In this regard, the Pauline Letters have received a fair amount of attention. In this study an overview of studies on God in the Letter to the Galatians is provided. Four such studies are discussed: N.T. Wright’s study, “The Letter to Galatians: Exegesis and theology” (published in 2000), Richard Hays’s “The God of mercy who rescues us from the present evil age” (published in 2002), Jerome Neyrey’s chapter on God in Galatians (in his book, Rendering to God. New Testament understandings of the divine, published in 2004) and Christiane Zimmerman’s book Gott und seine Söhne. Das Gottesbild des Galaterbriefs (published in 2013). Each of these contributions is discussed in detail, after which the contributions of the four studies are compared, and some suggestions are made as to aspects that still need attention.

Tasks for the Catholic Church in Korea on the Path of Pope Francis

교종 프란치스코는 즉위 직후부터 전 세계인들에게서 새롭고 진정성 있는 종교 지도자로 인식되었다. 특히 2014년 8월 한국 방문 시에도 성령의 새로운 바람을 실감할 수 있을 정도로 깊은 영감과 인상을 남겼다. 교종 프란치스코는 “제2차 바티칸 공의회정신” 아래 양성을 받았고 남미의 정치사회적 억압 속에서 ‘복음’과 ‘영신수련’에 근거한 “진정성 있는 리더십(권위)”을 실천하며 아울러 “삶의 주변부”로 나아가 교회가 예언직을 수행하고 “야전병원”의 역할을 할 것을 강조해 왔다. 그중에서도 특히 제도 교회의 영역을 넘어 보편 인류를 지향하는 “하느님의 백성”과 함께 정진하는 “공동합의성”(synodality)을 사목에서 가장 중요하게 생각해 왔다. 그 정신을 성령께서 활동하시는 시대의 표징으로 해석하자면, 교회의 지도자에게는 하느님 자비와 사랑을 체험하고 하느님 백성을 돌보고 위로하는 영적 책임과 의무에 충실해야 하는 “사목적 책무성”이 있음으로 집약된다. 한국천주교회는 보유론의 특성에서 시작하였지만 전통 유교사회에서 “천주 앞에서 만인이 평등하고 존귀하다”는 복음의 기쁨을 혁명적으로 증거하여 왔다. 하지만 오늘날 천주교회에서는 유교 문화의 외피에서 벗어나지 못하고 신분(성직주의), 위계(관료제), 내재적 의식(닫힌 공동체) 등의 폐쇄적 관행, 그리고 주지주의식 교육에 대한 강조로 인해 “앎과 삶의 분리 문제”가 크게 부각되고 있다. 교종 프란치스코의 삶에 근거한 가르침을 한국 문화 안에서 수용하고자 할 때, “진정성 있는 내적 권위”의 리더십을 회복하고, “사목적 책무성”에 기반하여 영적, 제도적 책무성을 강화할 필요가 있으며, 교회 기관들, 특히 본당은 사목의 최전선으로서 울타리를 넘어 지역 사회의 가난한 이들에게 열린 소통과 봉사를 수행하도록 초대받는다. 특히, 한국천주교회는 두 가지 화두를 대면하고 있다. 세속적계층과 서열, 성공에 관해서 집합적 강박의식이 강한 한국인의 의식구조를 지배하는 전통 유교 문화에서 복음의 기쁨을 찾고 실현해 낼 수 있도록 문화의 복음화가 매우 절실하다. 또한 남북분단을 치유하고 화해하며 일치와 평화의 길로 나아가고자 하는 모든 기도와 노력에 있어 한국천주교회가 기여할 수 있는 를 고민해야 한다.Since his inauguration, people around the world, have regarded Pope Francis as an authentic and spiritual leader. During his visit to Korea, the Pope made a deep impression on the Korean people as a man of God (August, 2014). Pope Francis was formed under the influence of the Second Vatican Council, and in his struggle to realize authentic leadership in the socio-political turmoil of Latin America. These influences have lead him to emphasize the prophetic role of a church which is a field hospital for the marginalized people of the world. In particular, Pope Francis accentuated ‘synodality’ as the principle of church governance, respecting the proper vocation of ‘the people of God’ beyond the safe boundaries of the institutionalized and hierarchical church. The spirit of synodality can be interpreted, in the light of the signs of the times, as ‘pastoral accountability,’ that is, the pastors’ spiritual responsibility and duty to experience the mercy of God and take care of, and comfort, the people of God. The Catholic Church in Korea started within a culture defined by neo-Confucianism. However, the early believers radically witnessed to the joy of the Gospel, that is, everyone should be equal and respected before God. However, nowadays Catholicism in Korea faces cultural problems stemming from its uncritical embrace of Confucian traditions such as status (clericalism), hierarchy (church bureaucracy), immanent consciousness (closed community), and intellectualism separated from holistic sensibilities and integrated practices. The life-oriented messages of Pope Francis invite the Church to restore its authentic and inner authority beyond external authority and to embody pastoral accountability in both the spiritual and institutional dimensions. Moreover, parishes need to open their gates to communicate and serve the marginalized at the frontiers of the local community. Finally, there are two special conundrums for the Korean Catholic Church on the path to living out the joy of the Gospel. First, is the issue of how to evangelize the Confucian culture which has dominated the collective consciousness of Koreans and leads to an emphasis on class, status, and success? Second, what will be the Church’s role in bringing to fruition the expectations of Koreans on both sides of the Demilitarized Zone for a peaceful reconciliation between the North and the South?

Dmitrii Bortniansky’s authentic voice: musical sound and theological meaning in his sacred choral concertos

Relevance of the study. This article is based on a talk given at the Kyiv Conservatory, October 2016, marking the publication of the new Carus Verlag edition of the thirty-five Bortniansky sacred choral concertos. The author discusses her new edition, which restores the ornamentation and various detailed markings found in archival sources from the 1780s to the 1830s . Many of these fine details are altered or are absent from the Tchaikovsky edition (1880s ), which has long been used as the basis of performance and critical discussion of the choral concertos. Although the recent Grigoriev edition (2003) provides a more authentic reading of the concertos, it is somewhat problematic in that it is based on fewer sources and realizes all ornaments instead of presenting them as such.Main objectives of the study and how the study was done. The author-editor argues that the various idiosyncratic markings found in early sources and regarded as erroneous or inappropriate by previous editors such as Lvov and Tchaikovsky, upon closer consideration appear to be intentional. The composer’s detailed markings at times reveal how clearly Bortniansky – himself a singer and chorusmaster – understood the practical needs of his singers and the acoustics of Eastern Orthodox churches. They also reveal Bortniansky’s effort to underscore the meaning of sacred text in his choral concertos. Beyond the micro-level of accents, ornaments, and phrasing, Bortniansky’s rhetorical intent can also be perceived on the macro-level of choral texture, dynamics, and even musical form. The author provides musical examples from several concertos, principally from Concerto No. 32.Results. Examining the corpus of the concertos as a whole, the author submits that the genre of the choral concerto, which Bortniansky adopted and developed, by its very nature serves a rhetorical purpose. The obligatory contrasts of texture, dynamic, and tempo standard to the genre are employed by Bortniansky not merely for the sake of aural amusement. In his concertos, Bortniansky confronts the contradictory nature of the Judeo-Christian god – a god of majesty whose power lies, paradoxically, in compassion. The Psalm verses that he chooses often juxtapose words related to milost (mercy) with words related to velichie (greatness). Hence, contrast and paradox are both musically and theologically central to his concertos.The author traces her own process of research and discernment regarding the concertos over several decades. Her recent observations probe a deeper understanding of Bortniansky’s artistic intention. This understanding contradicts Bortniansky’s critics who have long regarded his music as false due to its Italianate style or spiritually shallow due to the formal constraints of the choral concerto genre. The author’s close and broad consideration of his concertos from minute detail to overall genre uncovers Bortniansky’s deeper and fuller creative «voice».In many of its liturgical prayers, the Orthodox faith expresses the notion that the act of singing brings humans closer to God. Bortniansky’s music acknowledges this principle and fulfills a theological objective. His choral concertos make the contradictory nature of the Judeo-Christian God – a god of both majesty and mercy – abundantly manifest to singers and listeners alike.

Signs of a Future Transformation in Mission

In his gestures, choices, and words Pope Francis offers a new path for missionary transformation. This new path is rooted in his recognition that he is a sinner and in need of the mercy of God. From this space of lowliness he invites all Christians to recognize their calling as missionary disciples in a time of ongoing missionary conversion. He recognizes the necessity of ecumenical and interreligious collaboration in discovering a way to communicate the Gospel, which is rooted in the culture of encounter, is based upon the experience of authentic contemplation, and always has a place for others.

Creation and the cross: The mercy of God for a planet in peril. Elizabeth A. Johnson. Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 2018. 238 pages.

DialogVolume 57, Issue 4 p. 316-317 BOOK REVIEW Creation and the cross: The mercy of God for a planet in peril. Elizabeth A. Johnson. Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 2018. 238 pages. Ernest Simmons, Ernest Simmons Concordia CollegeSearch for more papers by this author Ernest Simmons, Ernest Simmons Concordia CollegeSearch for more papers by this author First published: 05 December 2018 https://doi.org/10.1111/dial.12442Read the full textAboutPDF ToolsRequest permissionExport citationAdd to favoritesTrack citation ShareShare Give accessShare full text accessShare full-text accessPlease review our Terms and Conditions of Use and check box below to share full-text version of article.I have read and accept the Wiley Online Library Terms and Conditions of UseShareable LinkUse the link below to share a full-text version of this article with your friends and colleagues. Learn more.Copy URL Share a linkShare onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditWechat Volume57, Issue4December 2018Pages 316-317 RelatedInformation