Knowing the Heart Sūtra by Heart

2008 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 356-370
Author(s):  
Joseph O'Leary
Keyword(s):  
Current Situation ◽  
Christian Faith ◽  
Way Of Life ◽  
Heart Sutra

AbstractThe current situation of Christian faith lends a new attraction to the Mahāyāna doctrine that nothing has substantial being and that language and religions are radically conventional constructions, to be handled skillfully with a new art of judgement. We can bring a hermeneutics of the heart to bear on the doctrine of emptiness if we note how, in the Heart Sūtra, it is voiced by the bodhisattva of compassion. The wisdom of emptiness takes form as a way of life devoted to the liberation of suffering beings. When we muse long on this alien text, we are surprised to find something familiar at its heart, the dynamic of saving love that is central to the Gospel.

“Representing” Mission from Below: Historians as Interpreters and Agents of Christianization

2010 ◽  
Vol 79 (2) ◽  
pp. 271-304 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrea Sterk
Keyword(s):  
Previous Article ◽  
Christian Faith ◽  
Way Of Life ◽  
Top Down ◽  
Present Essay ◽  
Foreign Land ◽  
In Christ ◽  
Multiple Stages ◽  
Byzantine History

Discussion of mission in east Roman or Byzantine history has typically focused on imperial ambitions, royal conversions, and a “top-down” approach to Christianization. The Christian emperor, the earthly image of the heavenly king, had been called by God to propagate the faith and civilize the barbarians. Toward this end he sent out emissaries to foreign potentates, and the conversion of the ruler was soon followed by the Christianization of his people. Such narratives largely ignore missionaries “from below,” deemed “accidental” evangelists, and focus instead on imperially sponsored or “professional missionaries.” Several recent studies have added nuance to the traditional picture by devoting increased attention to mission from below or presenting Christianization as a process comprising multiple stages that spanned several centuries. Building on my own previous article on this theme, the present essay will reexamine narratives of unofficial mission on the eastern frontiers, in particular accounts of captive women credited with converting whole kingdoms to the Christian faith. In each case a female ascetic has either been taken prisoner or has lived for some time as a captive in a foreign land just beyond east Roman borders. The woman's steadfast adherence to her pious way of life, performance of apostolic signs, and verbal testimony to faith in Christ move the ruler and his people to accept the Christian God.

scholarly journals Een theologische faculteit als huis van vele woningen: Over de institutionalisering van de theologie in de pluralistische, seculiere samenleving

2008 ◽  
Vol 29 (2) ◽  
pp. 562-585
Author(s):  
H Vroom
Keyword(s):  
Religious Pluralism ◽  
World View ◽  
Religious Studies ◽  
Christian Faith ◽  
Western World ◽  
Way Of Life ◽  
Political Issues ◽  
The Public ◽  
The Third ◽  
Religious Dialogue

A theological faculty as a house with many rooms: On the institutionalisation of theology in a pluralistic, secular society.Religious pluralism is changing the Western world. The transmission of Christian faith is less a matter of course than it has been. People are free to form their own opinions and ‘choose’ their way of life. Because pluralism affects the basic values of society that have to be supported by world view traditions, religious pluralism is one of the main political problems of the ‘secular’ state as well. Faculties of Theology can be organised better as apartments buildings for religions with common rooms, exchange and debates, instead of gradually becoming departments of descriptive religious studies. A public inter-religious dialogue on values and political issues will be supported by such an institution, and prevent accountability for views of life to disappear from the public arena into privacy and hidden places. Students can be educated in plural theological faculties of universities that reflect societal realities, in an atmosphere of respect, integrity, dialogue and accountability.The first section of this contribution describes the changing situation in the European (EU) culture; the second the consequences of pluralism for churches; the third the crisis of traditional theology; and the fourth points out the perspective of a plural but confessional institutionalisation of theology/ies.

scholarly journals O Deus único, o pluralismo e a libertação do imaginário. Quando únicos se tornam um

2018 ◽  
Vol 76 (303) ◽  
pp. 617-643
Author(s):  
Francys Silvestrini Adão
Keyword(s):  
Biblical Theology ◽  
Christian Ethics ◽  
Christian Faith ◽  
Trinitarian Theology ◽  
Existential Analysis ◽  
Way Of Life ◽  
The One ◽  
The Stranger ◽  
Biblical Sources ◽  
Biblical Figures

Síntese: Neste artigo, o A. propõe um itinerário teológico aberto à sensibilidade contemporânea, a partir de uma relação entre a singularidade e a pluralidade humanas e a confissão de fé cristã em um Deus único. Para isso, são apresentados alguns discursos sobre o “Único”, partindo de uma análise etimológico-existencial dos termos unicidade e unidade, antes de expor a dinâmica do modo cristão de confessar a unicidade de Deus, bem como as críticas daqueles que não partilham a mesma fé. Em seguida, diante da crítica contra a possível violência dos monoteísmos, propõe-se uma volta às fontes bíblicas, em busca de inspiração e de conversão do imaginário cristão sobre o Único, revisitando algumas “imagens” que perpassam o Antigo e o Novo Testamentos. Finalmente, desenvolve-se uma breve reflexão sobre o modo de existência cristã neste mundo plural. Neste percurso, as figuras bíblicas do estrangeiro, da viúva e do órfão mostrar-se-ão fundamentais para uma nova compreensão da revelação do modo divino de ser “único para os outros”.Palavras-chave: Monoteísmo. Pluralismo. Teologia bíblica. Teologia trinitária. Ética cristã.Abstract: In this article, the Author proposes a theological itinerary open to the contemporary sensitivity, starting with a relationship between the human singularity and plurality and the confession of Christian faith in one God. For this, we present some discourses about the “One”, beginning with an etymological-existential analysis of the terms oneness and unity before exposing the dynamics of the Christian way of confessing God’s oneness as well as the criticism of those who do not share the same faith. Next, in view of the criticism against the possible violence of monotheisms, we propose a return to biblical sources in search of inspiration and the conversion of the Christian imagery about the One, revisiting some “images” that pervade the Old and New Testaments. Finally, we develop a brief reflection about the Christian way of life in this plural world. In this course, the biblical figures of the stranger, the widow and the orphan will prove to be fundamental for a new understanding of the revelation of the divine way of being “one for the others.”Keywords: Monotheism. Pluralism. Biblical theology. Trinitarian theology. Christian ethics.

scholarly journals A fé como seguimento de Jesus Cristo

2018 ◽  
Vol 73 (292) ◽  
pp. 788-815
Author(s):  
Francisco De Aquino Júnior
Keyword(s):  
Jesus Christ ◽  
Human Life ◽  
Christian Faith ◽  
Way Of Life ◽  
Crisis Of Faith

No contexto mais amplo da celebração do Ano da Fé, o artigo apresenta a fé cristã como seguimento de Jesus Cristo. Começa tratando da crise de fé que caracteriza nosso tempo e suas possíveis causas: modernidade, fim da cristandade, contratestemunho. Explicita em que sentido a fé deve ser vivida e compreendida como práxis do seguimento de Jesus: é participação na fé de Jesus, é paradoxalmente dom e tarefa, diz respeito à totalidade da vida humana, necessita de muitas mediações práticas e teóricas e tem uma dimensão escatológica fundamental. Aborda os traços e desafios epocais do seguimento de Jesus, seja no que diz respeito a seu núcleo fundamental (fé de Jesus), seja no que diz respeito às características e aos desafios de nosso tempo (o hoje da fé). E conclui insistindo em que o maior desafio pastoral consiste na atualização/encarnação do modo de vida de Jesus em nosso tempo: viver como Jesus viveu, ter a fé de Jesus.Abstract: In the broader context of the celebration of the Year of the Faith, this article presents the Christian faith as the continuation of Jesus Christ. It starts by dealing with the crisis of faith characteristic of our time and its possible causes: Modernity, end of Christianity, counter testimony. It explains how the faith must be lived and understood as praxis of Jesus’ continuation; it is participation in the faith of Jesus, and paradoxically it is a gift and a task; it is concerned with the totality of human life, it needs much practical and theoretical mediation and has a fundamental eschatological dimension. It deals with the epochal traits and challenges of a follow-up of Jesus, either with regard to its fundamental core (faith of Jesus) or with regard to the characteristics and challenges of our time (the nowof the faith). And it concludes by insisting that the greatest pastoral challenge consists in the updating/incarnation of Jesus’ way of life in our times: that is, to live as Jesus lived, to have Jesus’ faith.Keywords: Faith. Modernity. Christianity. Counter testimony. Following Jesus Christ.

The death of narrative

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stanislav Borzyh
Keyword(s):  
Current Situation ◽  
Way Of Life ◽  
The Third ◽  
The Future ◽  
The Way

The monograph is devoted to the phenomenon as narrative, and all that it involves. The study is divided into five parts. The first dealt with the notion of narrative and its characteristics. Second, we study the way of life of the societies that practiced it. The third tells the story of societies that lost the narrative, but about the current situation. The fourth examines the causes of its decline and almost final loss. And fifth is building the assumption that awaits man in the future - the revival of the discourse or something else. Is intended for specialists in different spheres of humanitarian knowledge and to a wider audience.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document