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According to Christian anthropology, the self is the image of God in man. As a thinking being, man is a great creature, called to achieve the likeness of God through the knowledge of the self. But full knowledge can only be achieved in Christ. Without a profound relationship with God, man loses the consciousness of ontological plenitude, falling into the desolation of the soul and the loss of his own self. The reconstruction of the self of the man who has fallen into sin has been achieved objectively by Christ, through His incarnation and sacrifice on the cross, to which everyone is called to participate subjectively. The salvation of man from the bondage of passions and depressions can only be accomplished through frequent confession and Communion, through a life of endeavours, prayer, humility, love of God and of the fellow men.
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Important personality from Banat space, Melentie Şora was unfortunately not enough emphasized until now by the historiographical or theological research. His activity as a writer, preacher or cultural militant for Romanians were insufficient presented up to this moment by the researchers. Therefore, in this research we will try to see how it is reflected the image of the Great Union in his publications. We will investigate there his articles from journals like: Mitropolia Banatului (Timişoara), Duh şi Adevăr (Timişoara) or Biserica şi şcoala (Arad). Here, in these Church publications, we wrote a lot studies, preaches and articles on different topics. In these texts, he speaks also about the Great Union and its relevance for Romanian people. We will also try shortly to present his life and activity and to link it with his conception.
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This article is an attempt to interpret Pieper’s philosophical treatise On Faith with the help of Newman’s thoughts given that Pieper in his treatise refers to certain Newman’s theses, but he does not delve deeper into them. Apart from comparing these two authors in the context of philosophical discussion of faith, this paper aims to show that a properly understood faith has a capacity to provide man with that which is most needed today, both in personal and in social context, and that is security. To this end, in four parts, the article presents the meaning of faith, the aspects of informal security of faith and moral predispositions that are necessary for living personal faith in a general cognitive and religious form. In this sense, love imposes itself as the final imperative – the fundamental moral predisposition that protects faith from all abuses, shapes it, gives it consistency, direction, and leads it to the truth.
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Over the centuries, in many areas of its activity the Church has contributed greatly to the development of humanity. One of the ways in which the Church articulated and realized this contribution is evangelization. After the introductory part, which only points to the importance of a new anthropological question as the context from which the need for evangelization towards humanization arises, the aim of this article is to highlight the importance of evangelization as a permanent task of the Church, and to point to the fact that the object of evangelization is everything that is human and that is lived in a particular culture. In this sense, evangelization presents itself also as a way of humanizing our relationships. We then point to the selected specific areas that need to be evangelized, which have appeared as a consequence of newly emerging cultural changes, such as, economics and transhumanist project. The final part of the article highlights certain specific contributions of evangelization to the humanization of our relationships, such as the culture of coexistence, the culture of compassion and solidarity, intercultural dialogue and the culture of hospitality. In the end, the article suggests that the reference point and the horizon of evangelization which focuses on the humanization of our relationships is Jesus Christ, his person and his actions, and especially his lifestyle and the way he behaved with those he encountered.
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In the philosophical expression of the prominent names of the philosophical hermeneutics of the 20th century (Heidegger and Gadamer) the paper discusses the meaning and significance of Judaism and the closely related Hebrew language in view of the insights of the biblical-theological work of Adalbert Rebić. Adalbert Rebić was a famous Croatian theologian, Bible scholar, polyglot, Hebraist, university professor, and Roman Catholic priest. In academic, as well as in wider cultural circles in the country and abroad, Adalbert Rebić is remembered as an expert on Hebrew language and Judaism. Everyday people and the media remember the name of Adalbert Rebić thanks to his selfless engagement in the field of public services in the early 1990s in the Government Office for Displaced Persons and Refugees. Dozens of generations of students at the Catholic Faculty of Theology at the University of Zagreb remember the moment when Adalbert Rebić ≫introduced them to the secrets of the Hebrew language≪ – the language in which God spoke to people; the language that played a key role in understanding the history of salvation and the New Testament message of Jesus’ resurrection. And, perhaps, his name is best remembered by pilgrims whom Adalbert Rebić had taken countless times to the Holy Land. The Hebrew language, Judaism, Jesus’ resurrection, and the Holy Land are just some of the motifs and themes that will be discussed in the content of this work, which is conceptually divided into three parts (though it methodologically includes six parts): in the first part of the work, in a way that is inherent only to poets – the author uses metaphors to focus on understanding Adalbert Rebić as a writer, where the key role, as the author observes, belongs to his personal identity, i.e. the character consistency manifested in all his expert works. The second and largest part of the paper covers the topics of language, the classification of Rebić’s works with emphasis on the issue of the Hebrew language and Judaism. The third part brings the author’s personal reflection on the Rebićly understood ontology of a pilgrimage, that is, the synopsis of main themes and motifs in the Guide through Holy Land, since this work, according to the author’s personal opinion, besides the Resurrection of Jesus, is crucial for understanding Adalbert Rebić, and his life and work.
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This article is a continuation of the rhetorical-critical analysis of the Epistle to the Galatians started previously. The first article discussed the method of rhetorical criticism, its relationship with epistolography and the question of the partition of the rhetorical act. Then we started the analysis of the Epistle which is, due to the limited space, continued in this article with a demonstrative section (Gal 2:15 – 4:31). Here Paul argues for the correct understanding of the history of salvation, the relationship between the Law and faith, and the true identity of the faithful. Then, in the parenetic section (Gal 5:1 – 6:10), he sets the standard by which the faithful must live their newly found freedom in Christ. The Epistle ends with a hand-written conclusion in which Paul summarizes its key theological themes and controversies.
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The article analyses Paul’s Epistle to the Galatians according to the principles of rhetorical criticism. This approach to biblical text has become prominent in the last four decades. Early adherents of this method worked under the assumption that Paul wrote in conformity with the then known manuals of rhetoric. To that effect, the introduction of the article questions the relationship between Paul’s epistles and the ancient rhetoric and literary world. It also analyses the possibility of accepting a broader understanding of rhetoric offered by the modern study of the discipline. The introduction is concluded by the question of the relationship between rhetoric and epistolography, as well as the question of partition of the rhetorical act and its application to the Epistle to the Galatians. It is followed by the analysis of the main rhetorical elements of the Epistle to the Galatians, which will, due to the limited space, be continued in a future issue of this journal.
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After the departure of great Protestant theologians-teachers, such as K. Barth, R. Bultmann, P. Tillich, and D. Bonhoeffer, J. Moltmann became the most influential figure in modern Protestant theology and is considered by many the forerunner of a new Protestantism. In the early sixties, Moltmann, with W. Pannenberg and some other theologians, set out a new course in contemporary Evangelical theology, giving it a new profile. Tirelessly working on the renewal of theology, he always tried to bring it closer to the concrete life, to today’s culture and today’s man. In all this, he offered three keys for reading theology: the eschatological (the theology of hope), the staurological (the theology of the Cross) and the political key (the theology of revolution). It can be rightly said that to Moltmann belongs the ≫fatherhood≪ of two theological movements that have had a great influence on today’s theology in general, both Protestant and Catholic, the theology of hope and theology of the Cross. In reading Moltmann’s works and his projects on the theology of hope, theology of the Cross, messianic ecclesiology and Christology, as well as pneumatology, it can be rightly concluded that in the second half of the 20th century he had greatly enriched modern Christian theological thought. It should be particularly emphasized that he seriously takes history as a living reality and the foundation for his theology. Because of this he presents himself as one of the first European theologians that tried (quite successfully) to look at the Cross and the Resurrection of Jesus Christ and to understand them within the framework of his historical-earthly life. He does not forget the problems that accompany and trouble the present world and man; by putting them in theological frameworks, he strives to find a way that would lead and bring the world and man to the general wellbeing, in the relationship between God and men, in relationships between men, and in the relationship between mankind and the whole of God’s creation. Because of all this, Moltmann is rightly placed among the most prominent and most prolific theologians of the last decades, who have left visible traces behind them and who are responsible for the development, deepening and advancement of Christian theology.
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The article presents and analyzes the most important determinants of Josef Pieper’s thought form (»Denkform«). The first part of the paper examines the influence of Romano Guardini’s thought on the development of Pieper’s thought form. Particular attention is put on Guardini’s lecture on the classical spirit which Pieper had an opportunity to hear and which left a deep impression on him. Such an understanding of the classical spirit, together with the influence of the phenomenological thought, is the basic characteristic of Pieper’s thought form. The classical spirit, as a thought form, here means the insistence on the objective, on observing what is being given to us, as it is given to us. The second part of the paper seeks to broadly present, based on some texts of the German author, a thesis on the classical spirit as Josef Pieper’s thought form. The third part of the article shows and analyzes Pieper’s understanding of philosophy, leisure, and myths which he, in line with Guardini and the phenomenological approach, determines within the idea of the classical spirit. Part four is a critical review of Pieper’s thought form. Here, the absence of problematization of the practical mind (action) is seen as the basic lack of the same. Nevertheless, there is an emphasis on the great importance and the actuality of Josef Pieper’s thought, especially in the age of universal subjectivism, which is incapable of free, unobtrusive observation of the object, of all that is given.
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Speaking of wine in liturgy, the author begins with the role and meaning of wine in the everyday and liturgical life of ancient nations. It is emphasized that wine has a particular importance in Jewish ordinary life and worship, especially in the ritual of the Passover dinner. Since the Eucharist was established precisely on the Passover dinner, the bread and wine became the basic elements of the Eucharist. Though the Eucharistic meal is imbued in the very essence of the Eucharist, in history, believers have only rarely received Communion, while the Communion from the chalice is barely present even today. In the end, the author emphasizes that a pure, natural wine has always been used for the Eucharist, without any other ingredients. Only in some special cases the bishop may allow a priest to use pure grape juice instead of wine for the mass.
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This paper is dedicated to the theological-pastoral elaboration of the question of approaching the elements, stages and perspectives of the marriage and family pastoral care in the post-synodal apostolic exhortation of Pope Francis Amoris Laetitia, with special attention being paid to the subject of marital and family spirituality. The marriage and family pastoral care is one of the most difficult areas of church activity today. In the exhortation, Pope Francis looks at it from a broader perspective by framing it into a contemporary social and pastoral context. In this regard, the Pope also elaborates certain, we could say, priority tasks which the Church today has been called to realize more strongly in this area of its activities. Regarding the elements, stages and perspectives of the marriage and family pastoral care, and the family spirituality, we examine these tasks and priorities in the paper by following the order and the dynamics of developing the themes present in the exhortation itself, while keeping in mind some of the challenges from the pastoral situation in Croatia.
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The aim of this paper is to point to the specific source of Christian identity that allows for authentic proclamation of the mighty deeds of God. This source is the person of Jesus Christ who as a true man lived his life for others. It is this reality of the »me and you« relationship that should be the source of Christian identity and the way Christians relate to the others and the different. The Christian identity today is in crisis because Christian communities are generally taking a defensive position toward the challenges of the modern world and thereby extinguish the natural openness of the Christ’s Gospel to the burdened world. In the paper, the author tries to portray the paradigm of the early Christian community as it is presented in the Book of Acts 2:1-13. In this biblical text, the early Christian community based their relationship toward others on their identity that stemmed from their relationship with the living Christ. This is evident in the following characteristics of the early Christian community: first of all they are waiting for the power from the high – the Holy Spirit; understanding the need for this power unites them – they are gathered together; when they are filled with the expected power of the Holy Spirit they are equipped for the ministry of proclaiming the mighty deeds of God; equipped this way, they are serving the others and the different – all nations under the heaven; they are open to the specific identities of others – but in this openness they are not losing their own identity; they are not preoccupied with themselves but with proclaiming God; and finally, the proclamation of God remains an invitation open to everyone, without coercion. A community that lives such an authentic Christian identity becomes God’s instrument in the world through which God expresses his hospitality to every person on earth.
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The election of J. M. Bergoglio to the Chair of Peter, caused a great deal of attention considering the numerous special characteristics that he embodies: the first non-European pope after many centuries (the first ever from overseas), the first pope religious after more than a century and a half, and the first Jesuit as the head of the Church. With his diverse life experience and cultural heritage, Bergoglio brings new elements in the way of governing the Church, gives new emphases and points to new areas of evangelization of the Church. Given the fact that the Society of Jesus is Pope Francis' spiritual cradle, the Ignatian spirituality and method of operating is evident in many of Pope's actions which may surprise the general public, but considering that within the experience of the Society of Jesus they have been extensively verified, there is no reason to characterise them as particularly new or even risky. The papacy as the universal office of governing the Church, at the same time, keeps both the unchanging elements of the office, but also the personal accents of each Successor of Peter.
More...The Anthropological Relevance of the Encounters of Jesus with Women in the Fourth Gospel
Pope John Paul II introduced the expression of the “Feminine Genius” in his Apostolic Letter Mulieris Dignitatem of 1988. If this characteristic belongs to all women in history, there must be traces of it in the Gospel. The article verifies that this is the case in the Gospel of John. Indeed, taking a closer look to the different encounters between Jesus and individual women, we see that the latter have a specific influence on the action of Jesus and participate in a particular way in the mission of Jesus. Two key ideas can help us clarify in which way these women participate in Jesus’ mission. The first is the fruitfulness of fait h. Those who believe are born from God himself (1:13), through faith in Christ. This is particularly the case for the Samaritan woman (4:4–42). Her life changes when she comes progressively to faith in Christ: “could he be the Christ?” (4:29). The second key idea is the prophecy of the High Priest Caiaphas: “Jesus was to die for the nation and not for the nation only but also in order to gather into one the scattered children of Go d.” (11:51–52). Again, the Samaritan woman can serve as an example. She goes back to her town and brings her fellow Samaritans to faith in Jesus (4:39: “Many of that town believed in him”). They represent the first fruits of the great eschatological harvest, the gathering of those who believe in Jesus. Both ideas can shine a light on the specific mission of women in the Fourth Gospel. From Mary in Cana or at the foot of the cross to Mary Magdalene at the tomb, from the Samaritan woman to the adulterous woman and the sisters Martha and Mary, they all influence Jesus in his specific mission of arousing faith and gathering the scattered children of God. These encounters will help us to understand more concretely what John Paul II meant by Feminine Genius and what the role of women in the mission of the Church could be now.
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In this article we present the contemporary approach to the theological understanding of the concept of person according to the theodramatical current of thought represented by H. U. von Balthasar and J. Tischner. We describe the basic anthropological (agathological–dialogical) and teological (christological–trinitological) aspects characteristic for the approach of both authors. We pay a particular attention to the original contribution of Balthasar and Tischner in the analyzed problem, especially as far as the application of theatrological terminology to the considerations regarding the theological notion of person is concerned. The axis of the analysis is the comparison of the two key theatrological–theological analogies regarding the notion of person introduced by the above mentioned authors concerning respectively the relation role–mission (Balthasar) and mask–face (Tischner).
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An adequate anthropology is an anthropology that sees each human being as a person. It reveals fully our complexity and the fascinating dignity of human beings. ‘Adequate anthropology’ is a term proposed by John Paul II and based on three sources: The Bible, theology, and philosophy. Generally speaking, its aim consists in the defense of a large and holistic concept of our existence in opposition to all contemporary reductionistic accounts. Developing an adequate anthropology enables us to discover the very truth about ourselves. While considering the results of scientific research, it never loses sight of revelation. It is through revelation that the Creator of our being gives us the best insights into ourselves. An adequate anthropology begins by reflecting on our existential situation, which is the splintering of God’s image in us, and ends with the incarnate Word as the model of a perfect personhood.
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In the article the concept of the transcendence of the human person worked out by cardinal Karol Wojtyla is presented. The supremacy of human activity over activity of other beings is expressed in it. It manifests itself, according to Karol Wojtyla, in performing free, spiritual cognitive and appetitive acts. The description of transcendence accentuates the phenomenology of the human act as a cognitive and volitional act. The ultimate internal rationality of the person’s transcendence is, according to Wojtyla, their spirituality.
More...Napätie medzi univerzálnou a miestnou cirkvou
This article presents the relationship between the universal and the local church on the basis of the classical tension of two thinking worlds – Platonic and Aristotelian, which in this theme are represented by Ratzinger and Kasper. The fi rst author demonstrates the ontological preference of the universal church in comparison with to the local church. The second debater rather seeks to promote their equal signifi cance. Both of these views, however, are present in the whole history of the theology from the beginning. Therefore, in this article I am not trying to favour one of them, but to preserve both in the right dialectical tension, where they can complement and correct each other.
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In today’s society of technological advancement, evangelizing through the Internet is an adequate tool for proclaiming the Good News. By using the Internet, the Church communicates on a local level to its local church but also on a broader scale at the global level, thus fulfilling its mission of proclaiming the Gospel “to all the nations.” The paper talks about the need of using the Internet and social networks for evangelism, as a medium for communicating the message of salvation and hope in Jesus Christ. By analyzing the usage of the Internet in Evangelical churches in Croatia we gain an insight into the current condition and the possibility of a more efficient way of using the new media in proclaiming the Good News.
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