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Az 1Móz 18,1–16 értelmezése a vendégszeretet szokására vonatkozó újabb társadalomtudományos jellegű, Ószövetség-kutatások fényében
The ancient world regarded the custom of hospitality as a crucial, unwritten rule to maintain the fragile encounter between host and stranger. Thus, a rather fixed protocol of the custom took shape in ancient times. The Hebrew Bible contains numerous passages which seem to build on the ancient norms of hospitality, and throughout these passages it is possible to reconstruct the ideal process of hospitality in Old Testament context.In absence of the Old Testament protocol of hospitality it is impossible to thoroughly interpret those passages which inevitably build on this ancient custom.By choosing a paradigmatic text (Gen 18,1–16), the present study intends to show that in light of the current social-scientific type of Old Testament research regarding the ancient custom of hospitality it is possible to derive a historically, culturally adequate hermeneutical tool to interpret those passages in the Old Testament which presuppose ancient hospitality.
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In this article, the author studies the relationship between religious freedom and human will. Is religious freedom guaranteed by law only a convention established in a democratic society, or is it a fundamental right, derived from the intrinsic nature of the human being? God created man with free will and with the ability to choose. God respected man’s will, even when he chose to sin. The question is: How did the will of man fall into sin? The study analyzes the philosophical and theological conceptions regarding the will of man: determinism, indeterminism, self-determinism. Further studying the teaching of the Bible, it turns out that, through the Fall, man’s intrinsic nature suffered profound degradation, which also affected his will. But people have not lost their freedom of decision, and God respects man’s own will, even if this is affected by sin. God invite man to salvation, but he does not force anyone to choose salvation. If religion is not enforced by the Creator, even more, human society must respect the freedom of conscience and religion of every citizen.
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Religious freedom is perceived as a basic human right, and one that should be respected by people and governments around the world. Buy why? Is it because of its economic or political advantages, or the benefits it brings? These are good things, yet more important is the philosophical basis of religious freedom, which needs to be anchored in human dignity, a central concept in the biblical and Christian worldview. As such, freedom of religion is not something governments must grant but something they must recognize and respect. And if one is to respect another’s conviction to eat only vegetables, how much more should one respect another’s convictions when it comes to religion and worship based on the dictates of one’s conscience? Yet, it should not be forgotten that religious freedom is one of a package of rights, privileges and responsibilities that man has as he fulfils his mission as God’s viceregent on earth.
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The white little stone hides the precious sign of the love of God and the new name inscribed on it points to the name of the victor. The declaration reveals a special relation to God, a mystery between the „stone keeper” and God. The victors should not be regarded as a particular cast only - the Christ’s victors - for each one of them will enjoy God’s recognition in person, a grace shared with no one but the Emperor. There is a particular friendship consuming between Christ the Lord and the victorious ones. We dare say they are marked with a token of identification - the antitypical white stone - in the holy world of God of nowadays.
More...Un punct de vedere ortodox
The following study takes a look at the particularity of divine nature of human rights, a hotly debated topic of our days. YHWH through the Law of Moses, offer some sorts of rights for the man created into His Image (Iș 21, 16; Dt 24, 7; Lv 25, 42; 2 Rg 15, 19; 1 Par 29, 15; Ps 94, 5-6; 146, 9; Ir 7, 6; Za 7, 10; Mal 3, 5), in order to emphasize the freedom and dignity of humankind. Human Rights, by it’s divine nature, cannot be actual without bolding the necessity of integrating into a religious and inspired background. The secularism of Human Rights in our days, emerge through a point where it cannot have a global application – the right of rich people, the right of capitalism, violates the dignity of the weak. Overtaking this vicious mode of contextualization the concept of Human Rights, needs to be realised without any delays, an we can do that if we rediscover the roots of Human Rights. The Jews (people of God) succeded to apply it on a global scale, where nobody was discriminated, even strangers and slaves benefit on it. Taking everything into consideration, we can sum up by saying that the only path of transgressing it’s by recognition the importance of the right to sanctity: the moral man it’s the only one who respect the dignity of others by his way of life, this human behavior of sanctity, will never eclipse the freedom and dignity of others. By ignoring this vision, we will face with an end of the contemporary Human Rights, because it’s fallacies.
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Questions regarding the Holy Spirit are usually answered on the basis of the New Testament. This is as it should be up to a point, for the New Testament has much to say concerning the Third Person of the Godhead. However, the Old Testament has much to say concerning the Holy Spirit, and its testimony should not be overlooked. The Holy Scripture is the Book of books and its two Testaments are merely closed related. The Old Testament pro-vides the background and basis for New Testament truth, while the New Testament expands and enlarges on seed-forms of thought set forth in the Old Testament. Also, the subject of the person and work of the Holy Spirit is always important for study, for He is the Third Person of the Holy Trinity, which indwells the Christian and gives daily guidance and enablement. The fact that the Holy Spirit is a Person and not merely an influence, force, or power is important to recognize and we can recognize Him as Person and His holy work in the Old Testament from the beginning of the Creation (Fac 1, 2), to the period of Patriarchs, from Moses to Samuel, in the United Monarchy and the Divided Monarchy and in the Exilic and Postexilic Period. In the isainic corpus we can identify the Person and work of Holy Spirit resting upon the Person of Mesaiah, but also in His holy work to regenerate the human being.
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The subject to be addressed in this paper refers directly to the Lord’s Prayer before His Passion, a reflection of Jesus’ care for the mission that should always be comparable to Him. If, in the apostolic period, the exhortation was obeyed, with all who professed Christ having a common goal, not the same can be said of their offsprings, Christian history being often turmoiled, and the consequences have been manifested to the personal level. The pur-pose of this article is to examine the concept of unity of believers, stemming from the pattern of reciprocity of the Father and the Son, the source of unity and its essential element. The purpose of this unity is to bring joy to believers and motivate them to mission in the world. The topic deserves to be explored carefully, especially in the contemporary context, to know where we are in our interpersonal relationships. The Savior’s requirement that His followers be united is quoted from all the church pulpits, but sometimes questions remain unanswered.
More...O comparaţie în lumina cărţii Faptele Apostolilor
Throughout the ages, many adherents, conquered by the beauty of two basic principles underlying the first Christian community, namely equality and fraternity, attempted to build some commnunities, alike those of first centuries, masterly described in Acts of the Apostles. However, all these attempts were doomed to failure.In this context, various questions arise: Why did these attempts of building such communities fail? Can such Christian communities be built nowadays?In order to answer these questions, I will begin by describing the life of the first Christian community, following that, in the next chapters of the paper, to recall the guild community, the so-called „Christian communism society”, built in North America in the sixteenth and nineteenth century, and about Communist society. Only in the last part of the paper, I will try to answer the question „Can such Christian communities be built nowadays?”, whereas, I believe that, in order to answer this question, it is necessary to know how such communities changed history.
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The article approaches the using of the expression ”this is what the Lord says..!” and also other expressions that indicates the Words of God, all of them found in the Book of Acts.The article argues that the using of these expressions, in the redaction of the Book of Acts, is not incidental, but the expressions are chosen with attention and exposes the concern of the Apostles: receiving correctly the words of God, obeying God’s Word and communicate His Word untainted. The using of an expression that indicates the speech of God, „this is what the Lord says…!”, is not an element of novelty in the Book of Acts. The presence of this expression is a continuity of a prophetic tradition of the Old Testament writings. This solemn expression – „this is what the Lord says…!” – shows that the following is a divinely inspired word. The article analyzes the imperative nature of the expressions which indicates the speech of God and proves the exigence in treating these expressions.
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The article describes the particularities of the seven churches of Asia Minor, highlighted in the letters dictated by Christ to the Apostle and Evangelist John (Revelation 2 and 3). The differences between these churches are given by the social, political and religious context in which they lived, details which confirm the variety of expression of primary Christianity. We have also identified a series of similarities in the belief and church life, that is, certain common features and attitudes. Synergistically, the differences and similarities between these communities lead to unity based on a deeply Christological and ethical consciousness. Fundamentally derived from the teachings of the Savior and the Holy Apostles, they form a solid and lasting ecclesiology. At the paradigm level, the atmosphere and principles established then continue to energize the Church of Christ to this day and continue to do so until Parousia.
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Discovering the many meanings of “Song of Songs” allows us to formulate important theological issues: the image of God the Bridegroom (Christ the Bridegroom), the image of the people of God's Bride, the image of man and woman created for spousal relationships. The research of this book inspires to show new images of the Church: sister, friend, dove, heart.
More...Res sacra miser – człowiek cierpiący rzeczą świętą
The basis for the biblical answer to the question of why man suffers is found in the ancient civilizations. In the civilization of Egypt, suffering was associ- ated with the violation of the principles of Maat. In Mesopotamia there existed two sources of suffering, one was the wrong decisions of human beings, and the other was the work of demons. In the Greek civilization, in mythology, the source of suffering may be the rebellion of man. In philosophy, one tries to rationalize suffering and lead a person to such a state where he would experience as little of it in life as possible. Inspired authors know suffering, which is recorded in the nature of the living world, and man, through the gift of reason, should prudently avoid it. Most often, however, these authors see the source of suffering in sin. In the history of theology, there has also appeared the question about the possibility of the suffering of God. Under the influence of the Greek philosophical ideas of controlling passions and accepting the attitude of apatheia, the possibility of God experiencing suffering was rejected. God was pushed into the sphere that is only driven by love to a limited degree, and yet God is love. It went unnoticed that there are two ambivalent sources of suffering, one is born of evil, and the other is the highest bond of love. Those who love are most fully united in suffering, therefore, God was open to this narrative when His Son suffered and is also open when man suffers.
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The article, in its first part, offers a brief glance at historical context of developing critical exegeses in 16th century and mentions reactions of the Catholic Church. Afterwards takes a look at life and work of Flacius Illiricus and Lawrence and points out similarities between them. In its second part it inquires ten sermons of Lawrence on Magnificat of Mary preserved in his Mariale. Main focus is on the Old Testament women parallels, to their verbal expressions, reminding of some phrases of the Magnificat. Finally, it deals with humility of Mary perceived by Lawrence with special attention.
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The article briefly confirms indispensability of a historico-critical approach to the biblical text, presents a short overview of the history of its origins, and mentions some important figures which had an impact on its development. According to the author, the historico-critical exegesis places the biblical text in an objectivizing distance and represents the only approach capable of understanding the text. Not only does it bring him back to his historical reality, but also to his historizing reality, to the extent that he makes the play of Revelation and Incarnation more tangible. There is no sense to oppose critical exegesis and exegesis of profession of faith. Without any dualism and fear of analysis and discoveries, that only remove ignorance and naivety, only such access to the Bible can be in the service of truth.
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Dumitru Staniloae in his Dogmatic Theology develops the connection of the Experience of God as Revelation and knowledge of the Triune God based and on the works of Dionysius Areopagite. The divine essence remains inaccessible eternally. For this reason, the man as finite logic being should articulate a moderate thought. The knowledge of God commensurate with the ability of the finite man to know the infinite God. He doesn’t completely escape from the reality of darkness - a general characteristic of the created nature. The very fact that man was created out of nothing, and the characteristics of createdness and decay contain in his nature, this is an essential differentiation between him and his Creator. Thus, the basis for every human expression or knowledge about God is the fact for the ontological distinction between the created and the uncreated nature. The knowledge of God should be understood as the knowledge of God’s attributes and His modes of being, the direction from the “heaven” to the “earth” and not the opposite one. The sole ground of man’s knowledge of God is thus God’s self-revelation; it is premised on the idea of divine incomprehensibility. The term revelation signifies two things; that the knowledge of God itself by itself is impossible. However, God can be known (economically) through revelation, and a human being is capable of receiving this knowledge according to her/his capacity.
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After a short discussion of main terms for aliens in the Hebrew Bible, ethnic Foreign characters of the Old Testament narratives are depicted. The presentation is not restricted to persons who were described as ger, zar or nochri. In the case of groups, Foreigners are most often Israel’s enemies or rivals whereas individuals (men and women) were, for the most part, favourable characters. In the Hebrew Bible the role and attitudes toward aliens was hotly debated, but there are many voices which did declare themselves in favour of openness towards Foreigners and of universalism (particularly strong in the Books Jonah and Ruth).
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For centuries the issue of Filioque, that is, whether the Holy Spirit proceeds not only from the Father, but also from the Son, has been debated. It gives rise to a further question, namely, whether the Spirit of God can also proceed from a human being. Some biblical texts, as well as statements of mystics, suggest a positive answer, yet assuming it may seem presumptuous. The author of this paper searches for an answer to this question. First she presents the main arguments used by Filioque advocates to defend their faith and then she reflects on their testimonial value with respect to the first and second questions. Subsequently she pays attention to two relevant texts from the Gospel of John. Based on theological arguments implied by the analogy of faith and the analogy of being and also based on what Scripture says the author reaches the conclusion that spiration of the Spirit of God by human beings is grounded and that the human vocation is realized in it. From orthodoxy she draws implications for orthopraxis.
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The Exorcism in the Latin rite: theology, discernment and practice theology of exorcism in the Latin Rite presupposes a full assent of faith to the data of Divine Revelation, which affirms the existence of the demonic world and its action on men and on creation. The discernment of an “or-dinary” and “extraordinary” influence of the evil one requires careful dis-cernment regulated by spiritual doctrine but also by modern human sci-ences where there is need.Demonic possession phenomena intertwine with more or less serious forms of pathology that the deputy priest must find himself having to evaluate and manage. What is highlighted in the article is presented as a set of elements (theological, psychological and pastoral), which as “chal-lenges” challenge ecclesial action and reflection, in view of an exorcistic practice not marked by provisionality or carelessness, but which present themselves as a path based on the criteria of discernment indicated by the Church and its doctrinal and pastoral practice.
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