A „NAGY FELSÓHAJTÁS ZSOLTÁRA”. A ZSOLT 124 MAGYARÁZATA

Author(s): Zoltán Kustár / Language(s): Hungarian / Issue: 1/2019

The study examines Psalm 124, one of the greatest gems of the biblical psalm-poetry. After briefly expounding the metre, the genre and the poetic structure, the author dates the poem, analyzes the role of the Psalm in its immediate literary context, and provides linguistic, formal, tradition-historical and theological analysis passage by passage. The author regards the Psalm as one of the post-exilic impressions of the Zion theology along with the collection of Psalms 120–134 which was formed around 400 BCE. Regarding the form of the poem, it is masterfully structured. Traces of later adaptations and additions cannot be proven unequivocally. The theological specialties of the poem are the articulation of the preventive providence of God, the thanksgiving and the consistent trust toward the God of Israel. The Psalm fits in well with the collections of Psalms 123–125 and Psalms 123–130, where the preceding Psalm of lament continues with the themes of thanksgiving and teaching, and goes further toward the theme of salvation of the end times.

A ZENE HATÁSA AZ ÉRTELMI ÉS AZ ÉRZELMI INTELLIGENCIÁRA

Author(s): Lajos Király / Language(s): Hungarian / Issue: 1/2019

This study analyses the effect of music on aesthetic and emotional intelligence. Since creativity also means healing creation at the same time that implies digging deeper and transcendence as well, we would like to talk about the therapeutic effects of music with an intercommunication outlook. Some state that musicality is inborn and coded into our genes, which we call talent that can be further developed and transferred to the following generation. According to others, musicality and the ability to play and sing is not merely a matter of genetics but also the social and cultural background the individual grew up in is very important. We shall see that there are cultures in which music is the sole instrument with which the individual can adapt into the respective culture. Many deem that music is the “peak of human intellect and emotionality”, and that is why many studies were published in the second half of the 20th century about its effects on intellectual and emotional development. In what follows, we shall also talk about the debated Mozart effect, the biological basis of music and the stimulation of logical thinking. By music, the help, the counselor, the attender, the priest have a tool with which they can positively influence cognition, the expression of feelings, the development of creativity, whilst „the effects of the expansive transfer prevails through the intellectual, emotional and motivational changes”. But for all that, we must be familiar with the effects of music on intellectual and emotional intelligence.

ABACS MÁRTON ÉS ZALÁNYI LÁSZLÓ VITÁJA ÉS A HIT ARTIKULUSAI

Author(s): Vilmos József Kolumbán / Language(s): Hungarian / Issue: 1/2018

The Dispute between Márton Abacs and Laszló Zalányi and the Principles of Faith. Disputes regarding economic issues, like the one that lasted from spring until the autumn of 1751 was not unique events in the history of the Reformed church in Transylvania. The influential and respected Abacs family had numerous conflicts with their contemporary of church dignitaries. When their personal interests and demands need¬ed, the members of the Abacs family did not take into account anyone or anything. They reached their goals using less legal methods. Abacs Márton junior became a priest of Torda (Turda) taking advantage of the support of the wealthy nobility of Torda (Turda), and as a “devoted brother” he also tried to obtain another congregation of the city for his brother. Besides the economic dispute with Zalányi László, it was also a Reformed dogmatic conflict between the two. Abacs accused Zalányi of apostasy of the Reformed faith, but later, as a former student with theological education gained in Kolozsvár (Cluj-Napoca), managed to clarify his religious position. Their dispute reached the Consistory, where they soon remedied their divergences on economic issues. However, in order to investigate Zalanyi’s supposed apostasy, a broader analysis of the Consistory was needed. On this occasion, the Bishop of the Reformed Church emitted an interesting document of dogmatic history, called the Fundamental Articles of Faith. The document clearly demonstrated that in the middle of the 18th century the official position of the Reformed Church was still based on the official doctrines of Orthodox Protestantism. It denied the idea of free will, human goodness, and sustained the idea of original sin.

Abusi sessuali e spirituali nella Chiesa Cattolica

Dilemmi e questioni aperte

Author(s): Andrej Saje / Language(s): English,Polish,Italian / Issue: 2/2020

L’abuso sessuale è ogni azione non verbale, verbale o fisica con cui si viola la dignità e si oltrepassano i confini di un’altra persona di qualsiasi età o sesso allo scopo di raggiungere il piacere sessuale o di compiere violenza. Parliamo di abuso spirituale quando in un contesto religioso viene violata la dignità della persona, per cui essa non gode più della sua piena autonomia. Ciò accade in modo manipolativo e senza il consenso del singolo, per cui sotto il pretesto della spiritualità nel senso più ampio della parola lo si umilia o annulla. La violenza sessuale e quella spirituale sono due diversi tipi di abuso che possono avvenire in modo indipendente l’una dall’altra, ma in entrambi i casi si tratta della questione dell’esercizio del potere e dell’autorità. L’abuso spirituale in ambiente religioso è spesso il preludio dell’abuso sessuale ed è meno studiato del primo. Sulla base di una descrizione storica dello sviluppo delle prescrizioni giuridiche nel trattamento della dinamica e della natura di entrambi i tipi di abusi, l’articolo propone alcune soluzioni, giungendo alla conclusione che gli abusi sono anche un problema strutturale della Chiesa, che offre agli autori degli abusi un ambiente favorevole a selezionare le vittime e la possibilità di nascondere quanto commesso.

Adam și Eva. Perspectiva biblică și perspectiva evoluționistă. Aspecte introductive

Author(s): Daniela Luminita Ivanovici / Language(s): Romanian / Issue: 02/2020

This paper is an introduction to the problem of the relationship between the creation of man in Genesis 1-3 and the scientific perspective of the evolution of the human species. Therefore, we aimed to identify the main research questions and the objectives arising from them. As main questions we have: Did death exist before the fall of man? How did the fall affect the entire creation? How does the biblical account of human creation reconcile with the information about the multitude of hominid species provided by paleontology? At what point in history did Adam and Eve appear and what species were they part of? When exactly did they become in the image and likeness of God? Consistent with these questions, we will have as objectives: the state of the world before the fall of Adam; the creation and fall of man; the origin of death and evil in creation. Another section of this paper deals with the way in which Orthodox theologians approached the problem of the creation-evolution relationship and the solutions they proposed.

Advanced Technology (Quantum Mechanics) Applied: The Science Behind Scriptural “Miracles”

Excerpted from Scriptural and Secular Parallels

Author(s): Eloise T. Choice / Language(s): English / Issue: 1/2017

Nanotechnology ( the mechanics of Quantum Theory) is science, engineering, and technology conducted at the nanoscale, which is about 1 to 100 nanometers (1 billionth of a meter) on the metric scale and involves imaging, measuring, modeling, and manipulating matter at this length scale (10-9). Therefore, nanotechnology, nanoscience and nanobiology involve the ability to see and to control individual atoms and molecules “the internal movement of matter with a certain external cause” (Tudor 227) at the nanoscale. The focus of this discussion is on the “miracles” described in the Judeo/ Christian Old Testament and the Christian New Testament. This paper postulates that God, Jesus, the heavenly angels, and their human emissaries (Moses, Aaron, Elijah, the disciples/apostles) harnessed and applied similar scientific techniques (albeit far advanced beyond what mankind has done today) to accomplish what are often referred to as “miracles” (secular “magic”). Therefore, what we in the religious communities have long referred to as “miracles” (as are recounted throughout Holy Scripture and non-canonical Scriptures) were actually the result of advanced technologies applied. In the case of most of the Biblical “miracles,” the creation, restructuring and/or replication of physical matter were conducted at the atomic and molecular levels (10 -9). However, one in particular may have been conducted at the giga scale (10 9) when “… the sun stood still in the midst of heaven, and hasted not to go down about a whole day.” (Joshua 10:13). Nonetheless, this discussion proposes that these extraordinary events, manifestations of Divine intervention, were all accomplished in either of two ways: (1) A force of energy – referred to in Scripture as the Holy Spirit -- was tapped, harnessed, calibrated and channeled directly by way of Divine Word – the voices/ commands of God and Jesus -- to the intended target and (2) A force of energy – the Holy Spirit – was tapped, harnessed, calibrated and channeled indirectly by way of conduits such as rods, by way of Divine and human hands and the human body to the intended target. As the reader will come to realize over the discussion of this Theory, the ways in which these supernatural events came about sometimes overlap. Moreover, not all of the Biblical “miracles” will be discussed here.

AFRICAN AMERICAN RELIGIOSITY FROM A CO-CULTURAL PERSPECTIVE IN THE 1950S AND 60S

Author(s): Péter Gaál Szabó / Language(s): English / Issue: 22/2016

Co-cultural discourse proves fruitful in delineating African American response to white challenges even in the context of religion. The paper attempts to map the nature of the response on the basis of one aspect of this intercultural communication theory, i.e., the communication tactics of assimilation, in speeches and sermons of leaders of the Black Church and the Nation of Islam.

AL-ATTASOVA FILOZOFIJA ZNANOSTI: ISLAMIZACIJA ZNANJA

Author(s): Dževad Hodžić / Language(s): Bosnian / Issue: 14/2010

Muslim understanding of modern science is predominantly marked by its instrumentalist conception according to which modern science is metaphysically and ethically neutral. Such understanding of modern science overlooks its basic epistemistic and methodic event which lies in abstract mathematical, leveling, reductionistic plan, set up before any research, that determines the way in which beings or happenings are being thrown to the very research. In such a predominantly Muslim understanding Naquib al-Atttas stands out with his own critical position. He belongs to the circle of contemporary Muslim thinkers who have devoted significant attention to the consideration and revival of Islamic philosophy, knowledge and education in which horizons one should seek answers to the challenges of modern technological scientific western culture.

Ali Abdurazik i teorija odvojenosti islama i politike: kritičko vrednovanje

Author(s): Seid Halilović / Language(s): Serbian / Issue: 1/2018

A year after Atatürk abolished the institution of the caliphate, Ali Abdel Razek, an Islamic scholar from the traditional al­Azhar University, published a not-too-thick volume entitled Islam and the Foundations of Political Power and initiated a new and dynamic discussion of completely unexpected proportions about the relationship between Islam and politics. Distinguished professors of al-­Azhar had an urgent meeting and made a decision that Abdel Razek should be stripped of his title of an Islamic cleric because of the views he had expounded in his book. However, despite this, in the following decades his book became one of the most popular texts among the contemporary Muslim thinkers in the Egyptian scientific and political circles and beyond. On the basis of a detailed analysis of the contents of this book we notice that Abdel Razek persistently attempts to show that the caliphate did not have any benefit for the Muslims, and that it even was a source of permanent injustice and evil. He concludes that the political power, the state and even the judiciary should not be connected with religion, because they are exclusively political phenomena. He also insists that the Prophet Muhammad was a purely spiritual leader and that he had never contemplated the concepts of political authority or the state. For this reason he explicitly claims that politics and religion are mutually incompatible and warns Muslims that they must follow the latest results of human reason in the field of political science if they wish to consolidate the foundations and structure of the political power in their societies. However, we notice that, due to his frequent and generally objective criticism of the Caliphs and their policies in various historical periods, Abdel Razek ignores the fact that in the Quran and the Islamic tradition there are frequent references to the political power, the judiciary, defense issues, economic control, and the organization of internal and international politics, that is, that both the Quran and the Islamic tradition contain teachings about a different policy that leads one toward eternal bliss. Such policy, the ultimate purpose of which is the enlightenment of man and society, was written about extensively by the representatives of a brilliant political philosophy and political jurisprudence in Islam, who relied on the cognitive credibility of the religious texts and the various categories of theoretical and practical reason.

Allah Tahayyülleri Ölçeği

Author(s): Faruk Karaca,Hızır HACIKELEŞOĞLU / Language(s): Turkish / Issue: 54/2020

In this study, a culture-sensitive measurement tool was developed to measure the imaginary forms of God. Psychometric analysis conducted with scale showed that the scale is reliable and valid enough. The scale of Allah imagination has a structure consisting of four factors and 19 items that explain 50.35% of the total variance. According to factor analysis, the first factor is “Dismissive God image” (careless), the second factor is “Frightening God” (fear-punishment oriented), the third factor is “Loving and Frightening God” (balanced), and the fourth factor is “Loving God” (love oriented). As a result of confirmatory factor analysis, the four-factor structure of the scale was confirmed. Cronbach’s alpha, which is regarded as a criterion for internal consistency, is measured as ac=.61 for the scale of Allah Imagination. While the same items were analyzed via split half method, it is seen that the coefficient of correlation is .69. The correlation coefficient between the results of two measurements with 53 people and 10 days interval was calculated as .69, (p <.01). As a result of the analysis, it can be stated that the scale of Allah imagination is a valid and reliable measurement tool.

Altarul Reîntregirii

Frequency: irregular and other / Country: Romania

Altarul Reîntregirii is a tri-annual academic journal of „1st December 1918” University in Alba Iulia. Sponsored by Orthodox Archbishopric of Alba Iulia, Altarul Reîntregirii publishes peer-reviewed papers from religion, theology, bioethics and history domains.

Ambrozjańska krytyka astrologicznej koncepcji fatum Juliusza Firmicjusza Maternusa. Analiza Quaestio CXV

Author(s): Grzegorz Babiarz / Language(s): Polish / Issue: 3/2015

The polemic of Ambrosiaster against Julius Firmicus Maternus has been presented in five points. The first point is introduction. The second point describes fate in terms of an act of disbelief because it depreciates the Creator and contributes to portraying him as unjust and tyrannical. The third point presents a method of Astrology used to build a false worship: by rejecting the concept of miracle and prayer. Another point concerns the effects of rationality disorder induced by the logic of fate. The last point shows the destruction of the structure of a person trapped in irrationality. Ambrosiaster proves that he knows the work of Firmicus perfectly. He treats it as a serious threat to Christianity. In addition, Quaestio CXV is a testament to a growing disparity between cultural demonology and the one presented in the revealed teaching. The teaching of this author constitutes a part of a wide socio-religious context of the 4th century. It also opens up the field for discussion about the internal condition of Christianity of the tolerance period and its impact on the development of religious and social behaviours.

AMIKOR (KOLLEKTÍV) BŰN VOLT MAGYARNAK LENNI A FELVIDÉKEN

Author(s): Alfréd Somogyi / Language(s): Hungarian / Issue: 1/2017

After the second world war, the plan was to create a nation-state from the renewed Czechoslovakia. The head of the state, Edvard Beneš’s intention was, to make the Germans and Hungarians, living in the country, disappear. He blamed these two nations, and the German and Hungarian minorities living in Czechoslovakia for the collapse of the country in 1938. The creation of a nation-state was supported by the Great Powers. In 1945, the Red Army liberated the former territories of Czechoslovakia and in the absence of a central government, Edward Beneš started to rule by issuing presidential decrees. He issued 143 decrees, amongst them those proclaiming the collective war crime of Germans and Hungarians, loss of their citizenship, confiscation of their properties, and it sent them to forced labour. This started their expulsion from their homeland. Hungarians were deported to Czech territory, then expelled to Hungary, finally forcefully resettled to Hungary in exchange for Slovaks living in Hungary. The plan was to "shift" 400.000 Hungarians to Hungary. In the end, 90.000 people were deported, out of them 50.000 of reformed religion. This paper deals with the effects of the deportations, resettlements from the reformed church’s point of view.

An Application of Category of Fraternity to the Grassroots Ecumenism on the Basis of Pope Francis’ Encyclical Letter Fratelli tutti

Author(s): Przemysław Kantyka / Language(s): English,Polish / Issue: 20/2020

Although the encyclical of Pope Francis Fratelli tutti does not speak directly about ecumenism, the category of fraternity developed in it can and should apply in the ecumenical movement, especially in the grassroots contacts of Christians from different Churches. Top-down ecumenism, i.e. doctrinal dialogues and meetings of Church leaders, by themselves – although necessary – are not able to bring about an effective reconciliation of Christians living in different Churches and Ecclesial Communities. The hermeneutical key proposed by Pope Francis in the form of the category of the fraternity has a wider application than ecumenical relations. The article examines the determinants of this category and its possible application to the ecumenical movement. An example of the successful application of the idea of ​​fraternity in the activities of the International Ecumenical Fellowship is also given.

An Aristotelian Account of Evolution and the Contemporary Philosophy of Biology

Author(s): Mariusz Tabaczek / Language(s): English / Issue: 1/2014

The anti-reductionist character of the recent philosophy of biology and the dynamic development of the science of emergent properties prove that the time is ripe to reintroduce the thought of Aristotle, the first advocate of a “top-down” approach in life-sciences, back into the science/philosophy debate. His philosophy of nature provides profound insights particularly in the context of the contemporary science of evolution, which is still struggling with the questions of form (species), teleology, and the role of chance in evolutionary processes. However, although Aristotle is referenced in the evolutionary debate, a thorough analysis of his theory of hylomorphism and the classical principle of causality which he proposes is still needed in this exchange. Such is the main concern of the first part of the present article which shows Aristotle’s metaphysics of substance as an open system, ready to incorporate new hypothesis of modern and contemporary science. The second part begins with the historical exploration of the trajectory from Darwin to Darwinism regarded as a metaphysical position. This exploration leads to an inquiry into the central topics of the present debate in the philosophy of evolutionary biology. It shows that Aristotle’s understanding of species, teleology, and chance – in the context of his fourfold notion of causality – has a considerable explanatory power which may enhance our understanding of the nature of evolutionary processes. This fact may inspire, in turn, a retrieval of the classical theology of divine action, based on Aristotelian metaphysics, in the science/theology dialogue. The aim of the present article is to prepare a philosophical ground for such project.

AN INSTANCE OF ESOTERIC IMAGINATION: FRITZ LANG’S METROPOLIS (1927)

Author(s): Roxana Elena Doncu / Language(s): English / Issue: 12/2017

A pioneer of the science-fiction genre, Fritz Lang's Metropolis (1927) has fascinated and puzzled critics and audiences alike. Although the futuristic skyscrapers of Metropolis seem to belong more to the science-fiction tradition, the film is overloaded with symbolic and religious meanings. While the Christian symbolism has been noted and analysed by various reviewers and scholars, its esoteric side has been neglected, maybe as it was often conflated with the religious. However, esotericism is associated with the main idea of the movie, mediation. The esoteric mediates between religion and science, pointing to the birth of modern science from Renaissance Cabbalism, Hermeticism and Neoplatonism.

Analele Universității de Vest din Timișoara. Seria Teologie

Frequency: 1 issues / Country: Romania

Analele Universității de Vest din Timișoara, seria: Teologie has been founded into the year 1995. Then, the Orthodox Theology Department of the Faculty of Letters, History and Philosophy has stepped into the second year from its foundation. During time, dozens of studies, book reviews, obituaries, scholar articles, essays, and other similar were published into the issue’s pages.

Nowadays, the issue came to the no. 22nd and reflects the results of the academic research of the theological staff and of some of the students, too. The scientific committee of the issue is made of some important theologians, from the Orthodox Church and from other Christian Churches, as: Teresa Ferro, Roberto Giraldo, Dimitrios Gonis, Philipp Harnoncurt, Ioan I. Ică (jr.), Dumitru Megheșan, Gheorghios Metallinos ș.a.

ANESTEZIA ŞI TERAPIA INTENSIVĂ

Author(s): Dorel Săndesc / Language(s): Romanian / Issue: 22/2016

In the medical landscape, disease and illness as byproducts of life in the flesh were understood by theology as participation in God’s saving activity and interaction in the created world. From this perspective, the anesthesia or intensive care is a story that demonstrates into the banality and pain of human existence. At this point the theological norms, historical traditions, social and human needs etc become critical and insignificant. According Cioran „all saints are sick, but luckily not all sick people are saints... Through sickness we understand the saints, and through them, the heavens”.

Animus i anima w pismach Gastona Bachelarda i Mircei Eliadego

Author(s): Ionel Buse / Language(s): Polish / Publication Year: 0

Anna, die Schule und der liebe Gott. Der Verrat des Bildungssystems an unseren Kindern [Anna, škola a láska k Bohu. Zrada vzdelávacieho systému na našich deťoch] (Jana Juhásová)

Author(s): Jana Juhásová / Language(s): Slovak / Issue: 1/2015

Review of: PRECHT, Richard David: Anna, die Schule und der liebe Gott. Der Verrat des Bildungssystems an unseren Kindern, München: Goldmann Verlag 2013, 347 s. ISBN 978-3-442-31261-0 by Jana Juhásová