Ecclesiologie fondamentale
Sommaire
L’auteur s’interroge dans cet article sur la gense, la nature et la structure méthodologique de l’ecclésiologie fondamentale. Il démontre que l’originalité de cette discipline théologique consiste en l’exploration de la conscience que l’Eglise a d’ellememe sous l’angle de la crédiblité. Cette exploration doit avoir un caractre rationnel et empirico-historique et non confessionnel-dogmatique ou confessionnel-apologetique. A la fin le pére Seweryniak consacre ses réflexions aux modes de l’argumentation dans l’ecclésiologie fondamentale (viae: paradoxae, notarum, historica, aujourd’hui encore: dialogica, communionis, ethica) et ses thmes principaux.
This article covers a complex relationship between the Bible and English literature from, to quote D.L. Jeffrey, ,,the swift Christianization of Britain in 7th CE [...] down to the present 'post-Christian' era". The author concentrates on and discusses the most essential results of more than thirteen centuries of this spiritual insemination, dealing mainly with a depiction of the most essential motifs and themes and occasionally commenting on various works' generic and technical aspects. Although we see that almost every writer explored biblical allusions in one way or another, emerging as the most significant developments are Anglo-Saxon poetry, Medieval drama, works of the Metaphysical poets as well as those of J. Milton, J. Bunyan and W. Blake. Having reached this peak, literature seems to have started losing interest in the Bible, or rather instead of the mission to evangelize, it preferred filling the old purport with new words and ideas, the most notorious 'deconstructionists' being Blake and his Romantic followers, decadent Swinburne and such modernists as D.H. Lawrence or J. Joyce.
The title of the article, formulated by the Editors, requires a few clarifcations of terms. Both phenomena – Christianity and the African culture – are de facto plural and have to be regarded and treated as such. The title also juxtaposes a term that describes a religious reality with a cultural one (this also touches on the understanding of the relation between religion and culture). This can only be done on the assumption that “Christianity” means “a culture permeated by the Gospel message”.
The author argues that Christians have never presented a unifed attitude towards the African culture. As in the Christian antiquity, as in later times (including the present) Christians showed ambivalent attitudes towards the African culture. Some strongly opposed it, some allowed a restricted borrowing, some engaged actively with the African culture. One cannot see these attitudes in terms of development or regress because they have been synchronically present at all times. The attitudes towards African culture also changed at times within the particular strands of Christianity. What was rejected of hardly acceptable at one time becomes the order of the day at other. However, these attitudes have not been synchronized in all christian churches and communities.
After stating the article’s argument and making the terminological reservations, the author substantiate the argument presenting three types of interaction between Christianity and African culture giving examples from different times and regions.
The article describes the Roman Catholic understanding of the ecumenical dialogue as stated in the Decree on ecumenism of the Second Vatican Council and in further documents of the RC Church. This ecumenical dialogue may be conducted only among Christian Churches and Church Communities as it aims the restoration of full visible unity of Christians.
The dialogue should primarily lead to the common rediscovery of the truth, and never to any kind of establishing the truth, of elaborating it or reaching the compromise. The true dialogue has nothing to do with negotiating the common position, where each party wants to force oneself upon another and to make the less concessions possible. This is because we cannot reduce the requirements of the Gospel to any kind of necessary minimum, a common basis recognized by all the churches and ecclesial communities.
Such a dialogue contains its inner dynamics, its existential dimension. The truth is personal, as Christ himself is the Truth, so the search for unity belongs to the proper essence of being a Christian. So the ecumenical dialogue is “an imperative of Christian conscience” (John Paul II), so it is something that inevitably ought to be taken and accomplished by Christians.
The ecumenical dialogue however is not the goal for itself. Neither it is only mutual recognition of Christian Communities or even common prayer. The common aimis the restoration of full visible unity of divided Churches. On the way of ecumenism we cannot limit to the prayer or the ecumenical dialogue. On the contrary – we should develop all the possible ways of collaboration, because unity of action leads to the full unity of faith. Neither the unity nor uniformity of doctrine or churchly traditions, but only the unity in one faith is the far-reaching goal of the ecumenical dialogue.
The documents of the RC Church give also clear hints how to lead the ecumenical dialogues: the dialoguing parties must be expert in theology, seeking the truth, not a victory, moving from easier topics to the more diffcult ones, trying to use the language free of polemical connotations.
Before the Second Vatican Council the Catholic Church didn’t lead any offcial ecumenical dialogue, what didn’t mean the lack of any ecumenical encounters. The first ones, however, were unoffcial and did not engage the offcial Church authority. Widespread engagement in the ecumenical dialogues in the time of popes Paul VI and John Paul II can be justly perceived as a direct fruit of the Second Vatican council and its Decree on ecumenism.
During the decades the commissions of dialogue have already elaborated thousands of pages of common statements and agreed declarations. The Churches must be however aware, that without strong effort of reception of these documents in their midst, the fruits of the dialogues will have no infuence on the reconciliation of Christians in one faith.
Even if there may be some kind of deception because of slowness of ecumenical process, we can be certain that meetings in the dialogue enabled Christians of various Churches an Church Communities to grow towards full, visible unity wanted by our Lord for His disciples.
From Methodology of the Pastoral Theology
Summary
Pastoral theology conducts four kinds of research: monodisciplinary, multidisciplinary, interdisciplinary and intradisciplinary research.
The first kind of research is characterized by the common aim and method, the second has the common aim but the methods are different, the third one has both different aims and methods, the forth one has the same methods but different aims. Contemporary pastoral theology requires multidisciplinary, interdisciplinary and intradisciplinary research, and the pastor of this theology needs to possess the necessary qualifications to do his job properly.
The paradigm of pastoral theology is based on the practical syllogism. In the construction of this syllogism, the major preamble of faith contains the general principles of the given case, while the minor preamble of faith contains the analysis of the contemporary reality; the conclusion is normative and timely. In each phase of the pastoral theology research, there are used various working methods.
In the first phase of the pastoral theology research (the ecclesiastical phase), apart from the deductive method, there are employed other methods such as: the comparative method, the positive method, exegesis, the interpretation of the text and analogy, etc. The second phase of the research (kairological) includes the historical and theological method, sociological and theological method, and the methods commonly used in the empirical science, such as: observation, interview, soundings, a study based on a questionnaire, and a study based on documents. The study of documents uses such methods as: the historical method, criticism and interpretation of the source material, comparisons, the analysis of the text etc. The third phase (praxeological) of the research of the pastoral theology paradigm, uses synthesis, interpretation and classification, etc.
Since Vatican II there have been issued many Church documents of different rank, which are explicitly devoted to dialogue with non-Christian religions or contain statements on the matter; there is also a very comprehensive bibliography on interreligious dialogue. The article presents three issues which occupy a signifcant place in these works. The frst is the theological bases for dialogue. They have been expressed in the trinitarian structure. At the heart of the dialogue is faith in God, the creator and father of all people, in the Son, through whom universal salvation took place and the Spirit, which everywhere personifes the salvation work of God in three persons. The second issue, which is the content of the article, expresses a unique position of Judaism in dialogue of Christianity with other religions. The importance of Israel for the emergence and existence of the Church, and at the same time for her salvation role for the entire Jewish people, is an important spur to the refection on the salvation relationship of christianity to other religions. The dialogue is diffcult to operate without a proper spiritual attitude. This issue is the subject of interest of the third point in the article. Spirituality shaped by attitudes of conversion and submission to the will of God, especially in the prayerful elation of the human heart, becomes a source of behaviours which are conducive to dialogue.
Die Methodenvielfalt in der Liturgiewissenschaft
Zusammenfassung
Die Liturgiewissenschaft als eigene theologische Disziplin verwendet in ihrer wissenschaftlichen Forschung verschiedene Methoden. Außer bisher am öftesten gebrauchten historisch-genetischen und synthetisch-theologischen Methoden muss sie heutzutage auch die Methoden, die aus der pastoralen Dimension der Liturgie hervorgehen, verwenden. Daher müssen die Methoden benutzt werden, welche man in den Humanwissenschaften verwendet um die interdisziplinäre Forschung zu ermöglichen. Die besondere Bedeutung haben die hermeneutischen Methoden der Textkritik. Mann soll nach der Semantik, Syntaktik und Pragmatik der verschiedenen Elemente des Textes fragen. Die Liturgie als die Welt der Außenzeichen und Symbole muss auch mit der empirischen Methoden erforscht werden (Fragebogen, Interview und Beobachtung), wie man es in den Sozialwissenschaften tut. Die obengenanten Methoden werden abhängig vom Forschungsziel und Aufgabenkreis verwendet.
The present overview of current Christian-Jewish dialogue shape firstly specifes the dialogue and its partners concept meaning applied to the relations between religious societies. It draws our attention to the polarisations within the Christianity and Judaism as well as to the differencies in dialogue advancement between bodies keeping the dialogue and the general public. It points out the different motivation prompting Jews and Christians to keep the dialogue and the infuence of this on understanding the sense, the choice of its representatives and the theme of the dialogue.
The deepening mutual cognition along with the growing awareness of both; chances and limits of consensus in the dialogue, are indicated among the previous achievements. From the side of the catholic church, irreversible will of the dialogue along with the appropriate directions of doctrinal clarifcations of the Church Teaching are strongly emphasized.
The theological questions are raised that on the Christian side develop from the acknowledgment of irremovability of the covenant between God and Israel. The questions refer to the contemporary situation and the eschatological perspective of existence of two communities considering themselves as continuation of the covenant between God and Abraham, as well as their relation towards Israel Land. The article at its conclusion stipulates the deepening of the awareness of the mystery whenever resuming the religious topics in the dialogue.
The purpose of the article is to systematize the main issues related to the encounter of Christianity with Latin American cultures. The study is based on both Latin American theological publications and various documents of the Roman Catholic Church. In the first part the problem of Christianity’s encounter with cultures of this region from historic perspective is discussed by pointing out to its negative, ambiguous and positive aspects. The second part is devoted to classification of culture circles, significant from the point of view of evangelization and inculturation (cultures of urban agglomeration, rural regions, Indian and Afro-Latin American cultures, poverty, elites, cyber culture and popular culture). In the final section we paid attention to the issue of up-coming culture and its trends (modernism and postmodernism, secularism, socio-political ideologies, the role of mass media, the tensions between globalization process and appreciation of local traditions).
The Moral Theology
Summary
The study of the principles of the pursuance of a certain scientific discipline is related over all to the question of its identity, its specificity and that is why also of its separateness from other disciplines. This methodological reflection is very essential for maintaining the unity of the scientific discipline but also for its correct and easier pursuance. When the moral theology is concerned it is particularly essential today because contemporary discussions about postcouncil restoration of this discipline have resulted in the new research for the status of this discipline.
The concern about the identity of the moral theology should be connected with the concern about the future development of this discipline. It depends on the one hand on a better, fuller and more and more integral recognition and utilization of the specific Christian sources. On the other hand it depends also on a bolder utilization of the sources in general as well as also these non-theological which are connected over all with a development of the human sciences. It must not be forgotten that the moral theology as a separate discipline of the scientific reflection on the Gospel, guarding its status as a normative science, can 'cannot be reduced to a body of knowledge worked out purely in the context of the so-called behavioural sciences. The latter are concerned with the phenomenon of morality as a historical and social fact; moral theology, however, while needing to make use of the behavioural and natural sciences, does not rely on the results of formal empirical observation or phenomenological understanding alone' (Veritatis Splendor 111). The aspiration for the development of this scientific discipline can not take no account of the fundamental truth that it still remains the theological discipline, it means it is the science springs from the faith and it is fundamentally connected with the salutary mission of the Church.
The use of canticles in liturgical monody goes back to the early Middle Ages when the practice of canonical hours began to be used extensively. The canticles of the Gospel (Benedictus, Magnificat and Nunc dimittis) were successively incorpora- ted into the structure of the canonical hours and became in time the most important chants of the Liturgy of the Hours (Laudes, Vesperae, Completorium).
Some shorter canticles of the Old Testament books were also included in the Divine Office but it was only after the Second Vatican Council that shorter canticles of the New Testament books came into Vespers. They replaced the final (i.e. the third) psalm.
The designation „song" which was used to describe „canticle" in the Polish translation of the revised Liturgy of the Hours appeared to be highly controversial and inadequate. Thus, it was necessery to explain such definitions as: canticle, psalm, hymn, song. Based on the studies it is possible to definitely determine that a return to the original designation (canticle) is necessary and inevitable, in order to avoid confusion in terminology. Benedictus and Magnificat have received the primary thrust of poetic translations of canticles into Polish. In the latter case there are as many as five different Magnificat translations in Polish church song-books; only two versions of the Benedictus have been found. These canticles have a wide liturgical application; their use is not limited to the Divine Office alone.
They have been introduced into the Roman Catholic Order of Mass as the chants after Communion, or as the responsorial psalms, or as the verses sung before Gospel. Some of them have become independent processional chants for Mass, especially the ones intended for Lent. As far as the number of musical settings is concerned, it can be said that the Magnificat canticle seems to be highly favored. Nevertheless the melodies connected to other canticles, including the ones with the texts from „non-Gospel" biblical books, deserve attention as well. The melodies originated either in the Gregorian chant, or in the ecclesiastical songs, or in foreign sources, or, finally, in indigenous pieces of original compositions.
Thus, the repertoire of the New Testament canticles exhibits itself as a rich resource of new chants which have been included in the official liturgy in Poland since the Second Vatican Council. Clearly, further research is required in the aera.
This article focuses on an extremely urgent problem of today’s Christian dialogue with China, i.e. the culture (and politics) of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) and asks whether a Christian dialogue with China – which understand herself as an atheist and Communist state, which, however, is a country of many religious traditions, is possible, and if so in what form? What are its prospects and challenges?
The starting point of the article, after some historical remarks, is a kind of heterotopy of the dialogue in Chinese context, involving (III.1.) the historical and political context, then (III.2) its partners, and fnally (III.3) its forms and contents. in this framework, this article is (IV) refection on the challenges, opportunities and prospects of the Christian dialogue with Chinese culture. This refection is not taken here from the standpoint of theology, but is rather a phenomenological description of the status quo. At the end of the article (V) some statements of pope John Paul II with regard to the dialogue of Christianity with Chinese culture are quoted as a kind of summary.
The article states a great asymmetry of partners of the dialogue in China caused by the restrictive religious policy. There are some forms of dialogue which, however, are realized outside of the institutionalized Christianity, i.e. the Christian Churches. The Churches themselves, due to their historical background, are not very interested in or prepared for an inter-religious dialogue.
Storia della spiritualit cristiana sotto il aspetto metodologico
Sommario
L’oggetto della storia della spiritualit lo studio dell’esperienza dell’uomo nella sua relazione con Dio come Essere Assoluto, che si attua e sviluppa nel corso dei tempi. la trascendenza a permettere allo spirito umano di mettersi in contatto con l’Assoluto e in tale caso si pu parlare della storia di spiritualit giudaica, musulmana, buddista, induista e ovviamente cristiana. La storia della spiritualit come disciplina scientifica nata agli inizi del XX secolo, la sua importanza incresciuta grazie allo sviluppo delle scienze storiche soprattutto della storia della Chiesa e della teologia. Il suo constante sviluppo attestano molte ricerche scientifiche, periodici, specialistiche edizioni enciclopediche, dizionari. La storia della spiritualit cristiana analizza e cerca di dare la spiegazione della relazione che l’uomo sperimenta nel suo contatto con Dio Uno e Trino, che si rivelato pienamente in Ges Cristo. Essendo di sua natura una disciplina scientifica interdisciplinare usa metodi adatti per arrivare alla verit. La costatazione, la descrizione e l’interpretazione dei fatti, di cui si occupa la storia della spiritualit, ha un valore enorme per la cultura umana.
The article presents a relation between a word and a picture against a background of art theology developing in Christianity. Such an assumption releases from the presentation of a selection of illustrations to biblical texts. Assumed deliberations have a form of an outline illustrated by the examples from the field of miniature painting and engraving, depicting in a literal sense a transformation of a word into a picture. The studies from the field of a word function in faith tradition created the whole theological and biblical literature. On the other hand analyses of the analo- gical role of a picture in Christianity are relatively new and only seldom are they conducted by theologians or art historians.
The title of the present dissertation constitutes a travesty of a sentence announced by St. John in the prologue of his Gospel: "And the Word was made flesh" (1:14). When John is talking about the Logos it means in our perspective a written word, that is the Revelation described in the Bible. Based on what St. Paul said in the Letter to the Romans (10:14-18) the expression: Fides ex auditu started to be used in theology. The question of the role of a picture in religion can be encapsulated in a paraphrase of this expression, as: Fides ex visu. Certain people in specific circumstances acquire faith through the sense of sight, through image.
The Prophets attributed to pictures magic forces and the power of influencing human souls. Therefore they pushed them into the field of magic and witchcraft, into the world of dark forces, using signs. According to their teaching a real cult does not need any material signs. A monotheistic religion wants to remain a religion based on reading and not watching „suspicious" pictures. Rejecting visual representations, the Old Testament favours verbal symbols. And not only has the image of a false godbecome the idol, but also a false image of the true God. The invisible God can be described, but not painted. Art is too weak to show the greatness of God. The undescribed God remained invisible. He made himself known to people only through the revealed word and depicting Him in paintings was forbidden because it was a threaten to the primary Plan of Salvation. In such an approach a word becomes a power and the rejected picture becomes weak because it is useless and even harmful. This was well expressed by Re'gis Debray, who wrote that art with its altars, paintings and figures was too heavy to be carried by the Jew, this eternal wanderer, on his way. Thus he took the book.
Despite strict bans we can find in the Old Testament statements containing human longing for watching God, either during the sleepas in the case of patriarch Jacob, or in a „face-to-face" meeting as Moses at Mount Sinai, or in a prophetic seeing as it was experienced e.g. by Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Daniel, or the other ones „seeing".
The situation changed in the New Testament, when the eternal Logos - the son of God became a man. It was possible to see God through the incarnate Word, as Jesus Christ became the most ideal icon of God. The incarnation gave a possibility of depicting the one that was so far Invisible. This can be contained in a sentence that „the Word was made a picture". The Mystery of the Incarnation was invoked by the iconodules at the Second Council of Nicea, in 787.
Christianity is a religion of a word and a picture, but Protestants are different from Catholics in their approach to pictures. Taking a doctrinal assumption on the sole primacy of a word (sola Scriptura), certain sections of the Reformation rejected a picture as a form of superstition. The specific character of Protestant art became the custom of placing citations from the Bible on paintings, or even placing the sole citations or the sentences of the Reformation in altar reredos.
The aim of this article is to present the relation between Christianity and Korean culture. The problem here is not the concept of Christianity, but the concept of Korean culture. In the Korean thought is hard to distinguish between religion and philosophy. Philosophy, religion and culture are synonyms for “philosophy of life”.
The original Korean philosophy is Shamanism and received from China Confucianism, Buddhism and Taoism. In the case of Christianity we have to consider Catholic Church, Protestant Church and Orthodox Church. Special attention we have to pay to the Korean theology, which is based on Korean tradition. Special role in the history of Catholic Church in Korea played Korean martyrs. Sanguis martyrum, semen christianorum.
The article The Influence of the Bible on Civilization (The Bible and Natural Sciences) shows us the importance of the Holy Bible in relation to the forming of Western civilization. The Bible is at the foundation of the heritage of European civilization. Written down during the period of almost 1500 years, it contains truths that concern all fields of life, both on the individual and the social level. As a work of literature it had its role, together with the civilization of Ancient Greece, in the origins of sciences. Science and religion are two very important elements of human culture. All reflections on the subject of the genesis of the world have their roots in these two basic aspects of seeing reality. Everything that exists needs an explanation of its origin. Thus the basic question that gave the beginning to philosophy was the question of the human being about himself and about the Universe. The relation of the science of creation, originating from the biblical description showing God as giving existence to everything, came into conflict with the empirical description of the beginning of the Universe and man in it. The questions that Latin civilization took from Greek philosophy and Christianity, based on biblical foundations, were transformed during the course of history to a conflict between science and faith, which began with the Copernican revolution and the Galileo issue. It had its greatest inflammation in the 19th century, as the result of the discoveries in the field of bio- logy, mainly connected with the theory of evolution of C. Darwin. One of the basic aspects of this conflict is the question of the origin of the world, which issue is, so to say, a natural place of meeting of theology with natural sciences. This conflict began as a result of trying to discover the essence of God's message contained in the Bible, by natural sciences. This discovering was an interpretation of the inspired text in relation to the eternal truth and to cultural variables, and also to civilization frames.
The aim of this article is to present the relation between Christianity and Japanese culture. The problem here is not the concept of Christianity, but the concept of Japanese culture. In the Japanese thought is hard to distinguish between religion and philosophy. Philosophy, religion and culture are synonyms for “philosophy of life”. The original Japanese philosophy is Shinto and received from China Confucianism, and Buddhism. In the case of Christianity we have to consider Catholic Church and Orthodox Church. Special attention we have to pay to the process of inculturation of the Good news in the Japanese soil.