Journals of Faculty of Orthodox Theology, Babes-Bolyai University (Romania)
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Bosko I. Bojovic "“ L"™Eglise Orthodoxe Serbe. Histoire "“ spiritualite "“ modernite
Get PDFThe history of the Serbian Orthodox Church is not very well known in the Romanian space. Some pages from the works about the history of the universal Church published by authors like Father Ioan Rămureanu1, Father Nicolae Chifăr, Father Vasile Muntean or Father Mircea Păcurariu show some aspects of it (especially from the medieval period, when this Church had also a Patriarch) and some works present the relationships between this Church and the Romanian Orthodox Church. However, these works only give a general vision (and not always a complete one) about the history of this important ecclesiastic institution
PIETISTIC WAY OF LIFE AND SOPHIOLOGY
Get PDFAfter the fierce polemic (1720-1740) between Joachim Lange and his Pietist companions from Halle, on one hand, and Christian Wolff as representative of the Enlightenment, on the other hand, the two sides have reached a common denominator: the refutation of the philosophy of Benedict Spinoza as "œacosmism"/Pantheism with fatalist consequences. Spinoza and the Spinozism became the common enemy of both, Pietism and Enlightenment. Against such an interpretation, the German radical Pietist Gottfried Arnold proposes in the second volume of his work Unpartheyische Kirchen- und Ketzerhistorie (1700/1741) another, very original Spinoza"™s reading. The Dutch philosopher thinks and actually lives as an authentic Pietist. He affirms and practices the unity between thinking and life and proposes a kind of metaphysics of the unity between God and nature, which should not be understood as pantheism, but as sophiology: all the things are included in God because their concepts are thought by the "œEternal Wisdom of God"
ANDREI ȘAGUNA AND THE LEADERS OF THE EVANGELICAL-LUTHERAN CHURCH IN TRANSYLVANIA
Get PDFBorn, educated and living in the multilinguistic and multiconfessional space of the Austrian Monarchy, Andrei Șaguna has been able to fructify both the cultural and the patristic heritage of Orthodoxy, and the modern and liberal spirit of the second half of the 19th century, cultivating good relationship with Bishop Georg Daniel Teutsch and friendships with Alois Sentz and Jakob Rannicher. His correspondence and the historiographic evidence reveal these contacts as having been marked by respect, due to the function his acquaintances had in the academic staff, the imperial and local administrative and educational mechanism, but especially by reverence and appreciation. The life, activity, and works of Metropolitan Andrei Șaguna, make him a European figure, because of his formation, his pastoral mission, his strong dedication to education and to bringing the culture closer to the Transylvanian Romanians, and his part in the inter-confessional dialogue before the initiation of the Ecumenical Movement and the official contacts between the Orthodox and the Lutheran churches
LAITY IN THE LEGISLATION OF THE ROMANIAN ORTHODOX CHURCH
Get PDFThe present study analyzes the role and the rights of the laity, in various Statutes of the Romanian Orthodox Church. The present study shows that within the Romanian Patriarchate there are two different approaches concerning the extent of the involvement of the laity in the three"fold ministry of the Church, in particular as to its role in the field of Church governance. Thus, on the one hand one sees a strong tendency to limit the laity"™s role and rights in the governing of the local Church (the diocese) or at the supra"local level (the Metropolis or the Patriarchate). On the other hand, there is another position that allows a greater involvement of the laity in the governing of the Church. The lack of laity"™s involvement in the recently held Pan"Orthodox Council determines us to look again and critical to the situation within the ROC and argue for a return to an old and ecclesiologically sound canonical practice of total integration and active participation of the laity in the Church
CHURCH CONFESSING WORK IN THE EARLY CENTURIES OF CHRISTIANITY
Get PDFThe value of Latin apologists was confirmed over the centuries due to their written confessions, where we find both the ground for the theological, spiritual and polemical argument, and honest assessment of contemporary realities. Realistic tone and moderate spirit give the advantage of a safe opening towards contemporary theology. From legal notions, to socio-moralizing records and to great profound theological arguments, this direction of theology provides an inexhaustible source of priceless help to define current reality. This is, because many of the cases and situations apologetically analysed in those times are still up to present true. On the other hand, if it were to talk about a specific methodology of the Latin apologists, we would definitely stop on the practicality of their works. From Tertullian to Minucius Felix, from St. Cyprian to Lactantius, the professing work of the Western Church aimed at highlighting the manhood truth, the only essential reality to religious metamorphoses undergone by human being
INTERPRETATION OF THE EPISTLE TO THE COLOSSIANS
Get PDFThe purpose of the present study is to offer an overall perspective of the historic of Epistle to the Colossians"™ interpretation. Ever since the 2nd century, we can remark an intense debate regarding the contents of the epistle, in the context of Gnosticism"™s development, reaching a peak in the 4th century, where the dispute revolved around the Christological accent. In the philokalic times, the focus of the interpretation will transit from the first two chapters of the Epistle, onto the third, chapter dedicated to understanding the Christian"™s mystical relationship with God in Christ. Starting with the Reform, especially in the last two centuries, the focus of the interpretation is determined by the new debates in the field of the epistle"™s isagogy
DIRECT COMMUNICATION AND COMMUNICATION THROUGH SOCIAL NETWORKS IN THE 21ST CENTURY
Get PDFThe person is ontologically a communicational person, a relational being. Through communication we do not communicate just a message formed of words, but most of the times, beyond words we share a part of who we are and we receive a part of what the other is. Communication has as a final target to achieve communion, it is meant to lead us to the other"™s inner self, to advance from me and you to the opening of us. Social networks, as the most used means of communication today, may enhance the entire process, but they may also limit it. In order to explore the facilities and excesses that pertains the use of social networks, we have used a questionnaire specifically designed for this aim, and the results of this research are presented in the last part of the present study
WHY CHRIST MUST ALSO BE GOD
Get PDFDoes it make sense to celebrate jubilees like "œTwo thousand years of Christianity", "œSeventeen hundred years Edict of Milan" or "œFive hundred years of Reformation in Europe and the World" in times like ours, when Christian traditions are open to doubt and wide-spread suspicion, even in the formerly "œChristian Occident"? No doubt, the critique must be taken seriously, if it proves to be valid. If not, Christians are free or, what is more, obliged to criticize the critics, e.g. as far as one of the principal items of the Christian tradition is concerned, the Christology, interpreted by one of the major Church Fathers, Athanasius of Alexandria (ca. 294-373), who was convinced, that Jesus Christ must be no less than God himself (αá½Ï„ὸς ὠθεός) in order to be our Saviour
Joachim G. Persoon, Spirituality, Power and Revolution
Get PDFIn a special way, the Volos Theological Academy from Greece published in 2014 a book written by two authors about the relationships between the Orthodox Church and Communism. The first part of it (p. 11- 259), signed by the English researcher Joachim G. Persoon, specialised in the history of the Ethiopian Church (he gained his PhD at the School of Oriental and African Studies from the University of London), is in fact the PhD thesis of the first author
GROWING WITH THE HOLY FATHERS
Get PDFIt is argued that the "œreturn" to the "œbiblical" faith should find a parallel in a "œReturn to the Fathers". Early Christian thought was biblical, and one of the lasting accomplishments of the patristic period was to forge a way of thinking which was scriptural in language and inspiration. Forgetful of this truth, the Holy Fathers have been isolated from the Scripture and there is therefore an imperative to seek to relate more closely the two. A particular hermeneutical perspective called theoria "“ an "œinspired vision" of the Divine Truth, shaped their works. For Holy Fathers exegesis never had a purpose in itself; rather patristic hermeneutics directly addressed the reader"™s life situation. As an antidote to the chasm between modern and pre-modern exegesis we propose the advice of Christopher A. Hall: "œRead the Bible holistically" with the Fathers, which if actualized, would mean that the Church would recognize that it possesses a living Truth, one that cannot be limited purely to the biblical text. Further, it is proposed that Christ Himself is to be the "œhermeneutic" principle or the principle of interpretation. The Bible does not contain its own principle of interpretation Orthodoxy operates in a closed "œhermeneutic circle" through the dynamic that exists between Scripture and Tradition (the permanent presence of God). Unlike some former approaches to biblical interpretation, many of today"™s scholars do not see this circular process as an obstacle to biblical exegesis, but understand it in terms of a "œhermeneutical spiral" (G. Osborne), which describes the interaction between text and interpreter. The "œhermeneutical spiral" takes place via the interaction of inductive and deductive research and via the movement from biblical to systematic and to homiletical theology. Finally, it is argued that the "œhermeneutical bridge" between the word of Scripture and the present life of the Church as thus understood could be strengthened by rediscovering the "œhermeneutic function" of the Holy Spirit, His continuing work of inspiration that allows the Word of God to be interpreted again, in any time and for each new generation