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The article shows the fundamental requirements of parenting in Christian marriage, the difficulty of implementing them in the present, and some postulates that can improve this situation.
More...Pastoral Care, Pastoral Counseling
The care of souls or“pastoral care goes back to ancient times, it is found in all faith traditions and cultures and it usually refers to the emotional and spiritual care given to individuals in need. In the more recent times, along with the development of medicine, psychology and other disciplines of social sciences different types of helping relationships have emerged. The resulting split between the psychological/scientific and theological/religious approach to the care of mind and spirit has gradually shifted towards attempts at integration: in the religious sphere pastors, care givers began to integrate in their ministry the knowledge and expertise accumulated by social sciences, whereas psychology and psychotherapy are opening up to the spiritual dimension of care. Besides the possibilities, the integration of psychology and spirituality also poses numerous challenges, especially in the context of postmodernism and constructivism. The present article explores the model of pastoral integration, which makes it possible to look at different types of psychological help as pastoral: pastoral care, pastoral counseling, pastoral psychotherapy. In the pastoral approach presented here, integration happens in the person of the helper; consequently it has important implications for the training programs for pastoral counselors. This approach has been implemented in the Ecumenical Interdisciplinary, and Integrating Specialization Program in Pastoral Counseling at the Institute of Mental Health of Semmelweis University in Budapest, Hungary.
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Angelology in the sermons of the Bishop of Ravenna improves the doctrine of angels presented in the writings of the Church Fathers. It includes the ontological, historical and salvific dimension. St. Peter Chrysologus presents angels as free spiritual beings created by God. On the other hand, he strongly emphasizes their role in God’s salvific plan focusing on the two fundamental events in the life of Christ: the Incarnation and the Resurrection. The heavenly beings reveal to people the saving plan of God, prepare for the mystery of the Incarnation and Jesus’ coming to the world, grant God’s gifts to people and pray before God for them. They announce the Resurrection of Christ and inspire his disciples to proclaim the truth to all nations. The angelology of St. Peter Chrysologus is not particularly new and original as he uses the themes and ideas well known to the authors of Christian antiquity, especially the Greek Fathers. Nevertheless, knowing the teaching of the Bishop of Rawenna enriches the knowledge of the teaching of the Church Fathers of the Fifth Century.
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In Poland in the 18th century both Jews and Christians were interested in Talmud and its teaching. In Jewish societies the Jews carefully investigated the content of. They also cared about publishing the Talmud and about importing the copies from abroad. However not all the Jews (belonging to different heterodox movements) showed such an interest in promoting the Talmud. Some of them even fought against it. Christians’ attitude to the Talmud was unchanged in this time and it caused the hostility between the Jewish and Christian (especially catholic) communities. The Catholic’s approach is presented in this article in two cases: bishop Franciszek Kobielski and bishop Mikołaj Dembowski. Bishop Kobielski clearly showed his attitude towards the Talmud at a time of his managing of the dioceses Łuck and Brześć in the years 1739-1755. This attitude was differently evaluated by historians: some of them show Kobielski as an enemy of the Jews and others as their friend. Kobielski was the most famous for the Christianization of the Jews, and for his unique program of preaching to them. He used Jewish literature, but omitted the Talmud. It is worth mentioning that Kobielski knew the origins of the Talmud, but he forbade using it. According to him the Talmud is a blasphemous book. He tried to show it in 23 points. The case of Bishop Mikołaj Dembowski is a much different. He tried to promote the peaceful coexistence between Jews and Christian in 18th century Poland. He was viewed by his contemporaries as the protector of Frank- and Shabbat-movements. He organized the debates between Jews and Christians in Kamieniec (1757) and Lvov (1758). Some of them ended with the public act of burning the copies of Talmud. The attitude against the Talmud can be noticed even in the Jewish community in these times. For example doctrine of the mentioned above two Jewish movements based mainly on the Kabala with rejection of the Talmud and rabbinical codes.
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The paper deals with two inconspicuous theological ideas put forward by Plutarch of Chaeronea in his two dialogues of the so-called ‘Delphi series’: one is the ‘ontological’ idea, pertaining to being or existence (On the E at Delphi), and the other is the ‘social’ conception of god (On the Obsolescence of Oracles). In the former dialogue, Plutarch describes god as a fulfi lled, self-existent, and unchangeable being, in opposition to the incomplete, dependent, and changeable being of material things that are in continuous process of becoming. In the latter dialogue, Plutarch characterizes god as a being able to love and maintain social relationships marked by love. Both conceptions appear to anticipate theological ideas of some Christian philosophers. Plutarch’s theological conceptions are depicted against the background of Greek theological tradition.
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Form Blessed Rev. Jerzy Popieluszko and the content of his sermons, preached in the church Stanislaus Kostka in Warsaw's Żoliborz already permanently etched in Polish history. Celebrated by him during martial law masses for the country attracted crowds of the faithful, and the content of homilies were full of patriotic and historical aspects. “Żoliborz preacher” in their teaching often referred to the events connected with the history of Poland, as well as profiles of genuine patriots to show a true and lasting values, as well as a remedy for man during the communist enslavement. Images of Polish history in the ministry, “the words” served Rev. Popieluszko to show the source of hope and witness the strength and, above all, to the example of the rebirth of the nation, even the most tragic moments of history. Using the historical aspects of the “martyr of communism”, he also wanted to show where lies the cause of the fall of man and the nation, and how, building on God, tormented society can be reborn.
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The book “The exit” is generally speaking one of the fundamental biblical places for the Judeo-Christian biblical theology. Here, the inspired author describes in detail the release of the Jews from the Egyptian slavery and their path to the Sinitic beach of the Red Sea, to shelter from followers and having opened before them the freedom and renaissance path as nation of God. We find a very interesting exploitation and, at the same time, exploitation of the biblical themes from the book “The exit” of Arnold Schoenberg, Moise şi Aron (1926-1927).
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The article presents Jan Hus, Czech reformer burnt at a stake during the Council of Constance in 1415. 600th anniversary of his death as a martyr and the context of the 500th anniversary of Reformation causes interest of this distinctive figure. In the views and postulates of Jan Hus many historians of Christianity as well as theologians are likely to see the prediction of Reformation initiated by Martin Luther in 1517. In three points first there was shown the context, which enabled Luther to state “We are the Hussites – all of us” (1), then there was shown the image of Jan Hus as depicted in various post-reformation writs (2), of such authors as Matthias Flacius Illyricus, Ludwig Rabus and John Fox. The article sums up some final evaluations and conclusions.
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From the biblical perspective one should perceive miracles as signs of the saving action of God. Therefore, the authors of the Old and New Testaments did not focus on describing the extraordinary phenomenon of the miracle itself. The miraculous events are primarily to know God and to believe in Him, and consequently to accept His will, which is the salvation of man.
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The aim of the article was an attempt to form a reply to the question: is consumerism a new religion of contemporary man, understood in its sociological formulation? After initial terminological considerations (consumerism), sociological definitions of religion were discussed (objective and functional) as well as the symptoms of consumerism allowing it to be treated as a new religion. Objects of religious cult in contemporary consumerist culture were analyzed (trademarks, goods, places, services as well as sensations and pleasures associated with these), ways of celebrating and new feasts, significant persons (idols), religious functions achieved by consumerism, its compulsory dogmas-myths, convictions, as well as the behaviour of consumers (rituals and ceremonies) in the new religion. The whole was concluded with a summary.The analytic-synthetic method was applied in the article. The thesis accepted in the research process: consumerism is a new religion of contemporary man, was refuted.
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The text, which follows the teachings of the Rev. Aleksander Zienkiewicz, a legendary academic chaplain from Wrocław, is an attempt to elicit and discuss his anthropological thought. The first part of the text emphasizes the inseparability of Zienkiewicz’s theology from anthropology. His discussion of God constitutes a discussion of man and, conversely, he never regards man as an isolated being-in-itself, but always in relation to the Creator. This thought underpins the teachings of the Rev. Aleksander Zienkiewicz on the sense of life of man or human pursuit of happiness. Furthermore, his teachings on the structure of man as a being consisting of two spheres of power: upper (reason and will) and lower (desires and feelings) and the risks incurred by disturbances in their proper functioning are explained. The final part of the text forms a recommendation of a preferred model of human relations with particular focus on the necessity to respect human dignity.
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Questions about the origin of moral attitudes and behaviors usually lead us to the phenomenon of religion. Traditionally, religion was seen as the foundation of morality. It also provided justifications for moral norms. However, contemporary sociological research in Poland clearly demonstrates the existence of an ongoing process of secularization of morality, which means that morality is becoming independent from the influence of religion. This process does not involve a planned rejection of religion, yet a growing number of Poles presume that religion is superfluous in the search for optimal moral decisions, and even more irrelevant in the domain of moral justifications. Instead of turning to religion, people say that they derive justification for their moral choices from their own consciences. In light of the empirical evidence, we may observe that personal conscience has taken precedence over other sources of justification of moral choices, such as the advice of friends, family members or priests, or even the teaching of the Church. Many who claim to depend on their conscience have an understanding of conscience that favors their subjective experience, their attachment to particular rights, and an emphasis on freedom as a primary value. It seems, however, that most of these people cannot define what conscience is. It is nearly impossible for them to relate conscience, which constitutes a subjective norm of morality, to objective moral norms. All of this poses some serious challenges in the domain of the moral education of the Polish people.
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Spirituality Theophane the Recluse refers to the metaphor of the heart, the source of which is found in the patristic tradition, particularly in the Philokalia. Theophan drawing from the heritage of the Fathers of the Church, appealed especially to the theory of the spiritual senses and identify the heart with the mind (rus. “um”). Using the metaphor of the heart tried to explain the Christian spiritual life, the heart would be a place of a spiritual encounter between God and man. Human being can ‘see’ God only by a spiritual eyes and a pure heart. Theophan also drew attention to the spiritual gifts of discernment and vigilance in the heart.
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A fragment of Sermon on the Mount about the eye and the light (Matt 6: 22-23) makes exegetists difficult to interpret. Most of them refer to different biblical and extra biblical traditions, which are the basic context for the passage. This article refers to the interpretation of Jesus’ saying by the Natural Semantic Metalanguage method, developed by Anna Wierzbicka, professor of linguistics. The main criteria for text analysis are: the criterion of depth and the criterion of coherence. The text analysis includes the context of the Bible as a whole, some of the Church’s documents, which references to discussed biblical subject, and also language philosophy issues. In that one allows to reach a few propositions, which are simple, transparent for people of all cultures and languages, expressing the essence of Jesus’ words, and the three universal notions of truth, good and evil that underlie Jesus’ teaching of natural light.
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In Poland, the Catholic Church has always maintained its vital role across society. During the communist regime, the Catholic Church supported resistance and autonomy and provided legitimacy to any organised form of protest and opposition. Since 1989, it had to re-position itself across the changing social and political life. One of the main aims of the democratization process in the country was Polish membership to the EU. Yet, the Catholic Church never assumed homogenous and coherent positions. Although levels of public support for EU integration were rather high up to the middle 1990s, concerns started to emerge around possible secular European threats towards Polish culture and values. The Catholic Church could so represent the ally of those who sought to defend Polish traditional values. If the official Catholic Church remained rather pragmatic towards EU integration, and finally supportive, although never enthusiastic, it was in these years that radical right and right wing groupings became electorally successful, as with the League of Polish Families (Liga Polskich Rodzin: LPR), campaigning on Euroscepticism and the mobilization against abortion, euthanasia and the role of the Church in the Polish life. An analysis on the Polish National Election Studies shows that these issues are still significant after fifteen years. Despite an overall positive macro-economic situation, in 2015, at the presidential and parliamentary elections, Poles voted against the incumbent, Civic Platform (Platforma Obywatelska: PO). Young people’ disillusionment and citizens’ disappointment towards the incumbent shifted the votes towards PiS (Law and Justice, Prawo i Sprawiedliwość: PiS), Kukiz’15, and KORWiN. Their agenda, advocating social national conservative (PiS), sometimes populist (Kukiz’15), and radical right and hard Eurosceptic (KORWiN) programmes can still indicate that Polish values and Polish policy towards the EU are salient factors, while the radical Catholic Church can still play an important role in the social and political life of the process of Europeanization of Poland.
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Considering the fact that the present young generation shall decide about the religious face of the Church in the years to come, it is worth asking – “what is the religious and moral condition of young people today?” A perfect opportunity to have a close look at this condition was provided by the World Youth Day taking place in Krakow in 2016. The present article, based on study conducted by The Institute of Statistics of the Catholic Church in Poland among participants of the World Youth Day and entitled : Stages of Religious Socialization and Elements of Religious Attitudes of Participants of the World Youth Day in 2016 undertakes an attempt to draw a religious portrait of a young Catholic at the beginning of the 21st century. The article shows the genesis, objectives and history of the WYD in the World and in Poland. It presents the methodology of studies conducted among participants of the World Youth Day in summer 2016. Next, follows the discussion of religious attitudes, that is the faith and the identification of young people with the Church, presentation of their religious practices, their opinions on moral issues, awareness of membership of parish communities and religious movements and finally, attitude towards Church as an institution. Summing up, it should be concluded that the experience of membership and participation in the life of community plays an important role in the life in faith and its conscious professing.
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Modernity has long been a dominant paradigm in producing knowledge and in determining theoretical framework of disciplines although it is in connivance with a Eurocentric ideology and conflict of paradoxes inherent to itself. The other participant of the crime, committed with Eurocentric ideology, is sociology as a method of observation that modernity uses to observe itself and that developed with it. They also display a tautological view with each other. Disharmony of paradoxes inherent in modernity makes such othering notions as rejection and negation inevitable. Otherization in sociological literature has been a reference point in historiography that is developed with the claim that historical process experienced throughout Europe is the only straight and universal one with an essentialist perspective, in the Orientalist discourse that is established in parallelism with colonial activities and generating ideal tips. This article aims to criticise the framework and the narrative in modernity and sociology as they contain Eurocentric discourse according to post-colonial theory. While chasing a non-othering paradigm, inquiring troubles and dilemmas that post-colonial theory faced will also be the another of this study. This paper aims to be authentic by determining the problems of post-colonial theory that criticises the dominant paradigm through orientalist discourse yet falls into clutches of self-orientalism.Summary: The past and the present have been separated due to modern history writing. Linear history writing that transforms the past into a dead object that can be represented has been established on difference. The contributions of anthropology which is the science of primitive societies cannot be denied in “cleaning” the past and separating it from the present and in establishing it as an object of knowledge. It is clear that anthropology is functional in teaching Oriental societies that they have remained in the past and that they do not have a place in our day by way of results put forth by anthropology in its tense relationship with the past –protecting and destroying at the same time. Similarly, in sociological thought this modern concept of history attributing a direction and integrity to history has been seminal. Dual categorizations that the sociological canon consults in depicting the historical development process of societies have been arranged in accordance with the linear history writing. The hierarchical order established between dual concepts has been established at the same time according to the modern which is also a concept of time. The beginning has been determined according to the end in the Eurocentrism history writing that has been formed as though trying to prove that the problem of history is not the past but the present. Such history writing that moves from the primitive to the modern, from the simple to the complex has been drawn out according to the final state of the writer of linear history. The West has fortified its hegemony on the subordinate masses that it has suppressed as those “without history”, those “who wish to enter into history”, those “who are late to history.” In this paper, its own development has been depicted through the primitiveness of the other that it has otherized. Therefore, the Other has been taken into consideration as the place of reflections or denial within the context of the formation of Western identity in sociological thought. The Other that is inherent to the process of establishment for the Western mind and knowledge preserves its qualification as a prerequisite for sociology that acts in a coordinated manner with modernity. Whereas the notion of Othering puts forth the East as not only passive and irrational but also closed to change, it emphasises the difference with regard to the uniqueness of the West. Therefore, sociological thought has established its contact with the “discovery team of colonization” in the words of Cemil Meriç by way of the othering notion of modernity with which it acts in a coordinated manner. Whereas social change in sociological thought is formulated as from the traditional to the modern, the difference has been suppressed as “tradition,” thus preserving the homologizing perspective of modernity that disregards differences. In addition, presenting the private experience of Europe as universal is an indication of the organic bond between Euro-centralist discourse and social science with its one-directional, linear and essentialist form. Indeed, the statement, “The country that is more developed industrially only shows, to the less developed, the image of its own future,” by Marx has been used in sociological literature as a fundamental assumption during the construction of a modernization project. Thus, a Euro-centralist social sciences understanding with claims of universality has been developed that positions itself in the center and that others those not belonging to itself. Even though the effects and dimensions of Euro-centralist practices are presented differently by the researchers in the field, we are of the opinion that Arif Dirlik has put forth the most comprehensive judgment by stating that “Eurocentrism is the product of an unusual desire and effort put forth for organizing knowledge about the world in a systematic whole. Other societies that strive in vain to catch the West by imitating it in its Eurocentrism, linear and one-way “advancement” adventure have all been placed at certain spots behind the West. In this regard, sociology can be considered as a knowledge system that has not only been fitted to Western history but also established by that history. And of course, factors such as colonization and slave trade have always been ignored in “history.”The approach of the West that places itself in the center has resulted in reactions from the “periphery.” In this regard, cultural diversity was tried to be emphasized through the idea of multiple modernities; however, evaluation of the generated alternative modernities in comparison with Western modernity has strengthened the current understanding. A similar danger is present in the practices of culturality that is another alternative. The culturalist paradigm that considers the universality claim of the Western-centered mental structure as unnecessary generates new others by means of the belief in the superiority of its own culture. It tries to object to the Eurocentrism with a reductionist, reactionary and hegemonic structure by loading all areas of social experience to culture. However, it is exactly due to these characteristics that it turns into an approach that serves the existence of the current structure due to these characteristics.Eurocentrism and othering are the two main approaches that result in orientalism. These three concepts enlarge their scopes thus strengthening its hegemony. The West has started off from the East to define itself after which it has defined the East based upon itself. This definition results in pushing it to an “order” in the upcoming stages. One of the formative question of sociological thought, the reason for the initial emergence of industrial capitalism in the West points to another dimension of the discussions based on East/West comparisons. Indeed, the claims in Islamic societies regarding the lack of an autonomous bourgeoisie class, independent cities, autonomous law, rational law, private property and civil society have been put forth as an answer to this question. The claim that there is no civil society has especially been used in the analysis of Muslim societies. Whereas according to Bryan Turner, “the orientalist discourse on the lack of a civil society in Islam was a reflection of the basic political anxieties regarding political freedom in the West. In this regard, the problem of orientalism was not the Orient but the Occident. Later, these problems and anxieties were transferred to the Orient. Thus, Orient became a caricature of the West and not a representative of the East.” The orientalist discourse imposed its uniqueness once again by putting forth its “difference.” As an answer to the question of why capitalism emerged not anywhere else but Europe, Weber put forward the opinion that the aforementioned factors, “are prevented by the patrimonial nature of Islamic political institutions.” We are of the opinion that the problem is equivalent to accepting the whole world excluding the West as “abnormal” regardless of the reply given.However, responses to this and other similar questions/criticisms may lead to other problems. For instance, Sabri Ülgener, a representative of the Weber sociology in our country, seems as if he has accepted that capitalism is a precondition for advancement by stating that Islam has been an urban religion since its foundation. This attitude should be the product of a self-orientalist perception. And this type of perspective, in the simplest expression, enables an evaluation in the form of “Westernization for fighting the West.”
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