scholarly journals „Quo vadis?” Dwa kazania Sebastiana Piskorskiego z okazji święceń kapłańskich, obłóczyn i profesji zakonnej potomków Franciszka Szembeka – struktura i problematyka

2021 ◽  
Vol 2 (25) ◽  
pp. 15-34
Author(s):  
Michał Kuran

[“Quo vadis?” Two sermons by Rev. Sebastian Piskorski on the occasion of ordination, vesture and taking vows of Franciszek Szembek’s children – the structure and main issues] This study is devoted to two sermons by Rev. Sebastian Piskorski delivered during the ceremonies of the first mass of Michał Szembek and taking the veil and religious vows by Teresa Franciszka Szembekówna, Nun of the Visitation – both children of Franciszek Szembek. The paper analyzes the roles of particular elements of the sermons in creating a persuasive message whose aim is to accompany the young in their rites of passage. The preacher shows them what the way they have chosen will look like. He makes them realize the significance of the mission they undertake as well as possible difficulties; he introduces them into the special nature of the clergy, showing them what they give up and what they let themselves in for. Those deliberations, referring to the motifs of mystical meal and mystical way, are supposed to assist them in making a free and conscious decision. What is remarkable is the exceptional skill of the preacher, who has based his discussion on Gospel pericopes devoted to certain days of the liturgical calendar. The invention base for the sermons is the Bible and the writings of the Church Fathers. What is also important is estate-related factors: the significance and consequences of the vows taken and the mission Michał and Teresa Franciszka are to undertake once they become part of the clergy. Time showed that it was particularly Teresa Szembekówna that fulfilled her task, as a promoter of the worship of the Heart of Jesus in Poland; her zeal contributed to Pope Clement XIII sanctioning the worship.

Philotheos ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 20 (2) ◽  
pp. 240-259
Author(s):  
Aleksandar Danilović ◽  

The story of David and Goliath is one of the most famous biblical stories. It had an impact on many branches of contemporary art. It is also an inevitable part of religious education and general education in all schools. Knowing the fact that the Church Fathers have an essential part in the lives of many Christians today (in the Orthodox Church, they were role models from the very beginning), it is interesting to see how did they, these original theologians, read and interpret the story of David and Goliath. Was it for them, in the time when the Bible was the most sacred book for all, important as it is for us today? Did people during the sports events of that time talk on the markets about the underdog who struck the giant? Additionally, if one looks at the ancient Greek and Hebrew text, one will find out that the Hebrew version, which was used as the source for most modern translations, is 40% longer than the Greek one. Could the works of the Fathers help us to determine which version of the story is the Holy Scripture for Christians today?


Diacovensia ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 27 (4) ◽  
pp. 637-651
Author(s):  
Wiesław Przygoda

Charity diaconia of the Church is not an accidental involvement but belongs to its fundamental missions. This thesis can be supported in many ways. The author of this article finds the source of the obligation of Christians and the whole Church community to charity service in the nature of God. For Christians God is Love (1 John 4, 8.16). Even though some other names can be found, (Jahwe , Elohim, Adonai), his principal name that encapsulates all other ones is Love. Simultaneously, God which is Love showed his merciful nature (misericordiae vultus) in the course of salvation. He did it in a historical, visible and optimal way through his Son, Jesus Christ through the embodied God’s Son, Jesus Christ, who loved the mankind so much that he sacrificed his life for us, being tortured and killed at the cross. This selfless love laid the foundations for the Church, which, in essence, is a community of loving human and God’s beings. Those who do not love, even though they joined the Church through baptism, technically speaking, do not belong to the Church since love is a real not a formal sign of belonging to Christ’s disciples (cf. John 13, 35). Therefore, charitable activity is a significant dimension of the Church’s mission as it is through charity that the Church shows the merciful nature of its Saviour. A question that needs to be addressed may be expressed as follows: in what way the image of God, who is love, implies an involvement in charity of an individual and the Church? An answer may be found in the Bible, writings of the Church Fathers of and the documents of Magisterium Ecclesiae and especially the teachings of Pope Benedict XVI and Pope Francis.


1932 ◽  
Vol 25 (1) ◽  
pp. 29-45 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joseph William Hewitt

These words in criticism of Fra Lippo's vivid and realistic painting of sacred subjects admirably typify the attitude of theology to art. In the ages when the masses were still unable to read, the church took advantage of the work of the painter to impart instruction in the Bible stories. But after all, mere enlightenment is comparatively useless, sometimes even dangerous. It is always inferior to devotion. As long as the masses could be inspired by art to perform more fully their religious duties, so long was art rendering to the church the services that were its due. If the actual facts, even as recorded in the Scriptures, stood in the way of the theological object, they had to be neglected, obscured, or denied. If by a false depiction religious feeling were aroused, there could be no doubt as to the value of such depiction.


1971 ◽  
Vol 25 (3) ◽  
pp. 329-344
Author(s):  
John H. Leith
Keyword(s):  

Calvin's theology can properly be described primarily as commentary upon Scripture as a whole and secondarily as commentary upon the way the church had read Scripture in its theology and creeds.


1976 ◽  
Vol 22 (4) ◽  
pp. 418-440 ◽  
Author(s):  
Charles H. Talbert

In spite of its popularity, the contention that the Christian conception of Jesus as a descending-ascending saviour figure was derived from the gnostic redeemer myth faces serious problems. Three are widely noted; another needs attention. (I) The sources from which our knowledge of the gnostic myth comes are late: e.g. the Naassene hymn, the hymn of the Pearl, the Mandean materials, the Manichean evidence, the accounts in the church fathers, and the Nag Hammadi documents. Sources from Chenoboskion like the Paraphrase of Shem, the Apocalypse of Adam, and the Second Logos of the Great Seth do contain a myth of a redeemer that is only superficially christianized. Hence the gnostics may not have derived their myth from Christians. It does not follow, however, either that Christians got it from gnostics or that it is pre-Christian. (2) A redeemer myth is not essential to gnosticism. Though gnosticism may contain a redeemer myth (e.g. the Naassene hymn), it may exist without one. In Carpocrates' system, for example, Jesus' soul remembered what it had seen in its circuit with the unbegotten God. The Ophites in Origen'sAgainst Celsusknow of no descending-ascending redeemer. They look to an earthly being who fetches gnosis from heaven. InPoimandres, the writer is the recipient of a vision in rapture. He then teaches the way of salvation. Indeed, the proto-gnosticism of Paul's opponents in I Corinthians apparently did not contain a redeemer myth. Such evidence demands that a distinction be drawn between two issues: (a) whether or not there was a pre-Christian gnosticism, and (b) whether or not there was a pre-Christian gnostic redeemer myth. Since a redeemer myth is not constitutive for gnosticism, the existence of a pre-Christian gnosis is no guarantee for the presence of a gnostic redeemer myth. (3) In the Christian sources where the gnostic myth has been assumed to be influential (e.g. the Fourth Gospel), there is no ontological identity between Christ and the believers as in gnosticism. There is, in the Christian writings, no pre-existence of the soul or redeemed redeemer. Given these difficulties, why the attractiveness of the gnostic hypothesis?


1980 ◽  
Vol 15 (1) ◽  
pp. 109-130 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel B. Sinclair

One of the main issues in almost every treatment of abortion in Jewish Law is the legal basis for its prohibition. The recent trend in Rabbinic literature to categorise abortion as a form of homicide, proscribed by Biblical law, seems to constitute a break with the classical Rabbinic view, according to which abortion is neither homicide, nor directly prohibited in the major literary sources of Jewish Law, i.e. the Bible and the Talmud. Moreover, in the few instances in which abortion is discussed in these sources, it would seem that no such prohibition exists.This article will analyse the Biblical and Talmudic passages which deal with abortion, and survey the various Rabbinic opinions as to the legal basis for its prohibition. Particular attention will be paid to the argument that abortion is a biblically-proscribed form of homicide, and to the reasons which may underlie the adoption of that argument by a number of authorities in recent times. We will also analyse the significance in Jewish Law of the stages of foetal development.Our analysis will be both historical and normative, and in this context it will be a valuable exercise to compare the position in Jewish Law to that in the Canon Law of the Church of Rome. Although the Church Fathers held that abortion was a form of homicide, and the contemporary position of the Catholic Church reflects this attitude strictly and unswervingly, the Medieval Canonists adopted the distinction between the formed and the unformed foetus, based on a tradition derived from the Septuagint version of the Biblical passage dealing with the consequences of striking a pregnant woman (Ex. 21:22–23).


2014 ◽  
Vol 44 (123) ◽  
pp. 237
Author(s):  
Johan Konings

Aos cinquenta anos do Vaticano II recorda-se o caminho que levou até a Constituição Dei Verbum e, daí, até a Exortação Verbum Domini. Considera-se a questão hermenêutica: a leitura da Bíblia centrada em torno do Evento Jesus e tendo seu “lugar” na vida da Igreja, que herdou o Espírito de Jesus. Como a leitura das Escrituras deve ser a alma da teologia, não se pode separar a crítica históricoliterária da hermenêutica teológica. Esta se inscreve na racionalidade ampliada do ser humano, tendo na mira não as palavras, mas a “coisa”. Unindo o horizonte original do texto ao de hoje, abre-o em diversos níveis e direções, enquanto a exegese histórico-literária segura o sentido primeiro e referencial. Descreve-se a circularidade dessa hermenêutica. Por fim, consideram-se a experiência latinoamericana, bem como e a leitura bíblica como alma da pastoral hoje.ABSTRACT: Fifty years after Vatican II we remember the way unto the Constitution Dei Verbum and from there to the Exhortation Verbum Domini. Then is treated the issue of hermeneutics: the lecture of the Bible centred around the Jesus Event and having its “locus” in the life of the Church, heiress of His Spirit. Since Scripture reading must be the soul of Theology, historical-literary criticism cannot be separated from theological hermeneutics. These are inscribed in amplified human rationality, that aims not at the words, but at the “thing”. They unite the original and the today horizon, opening the text in several levels and directions, while historicalliterary exegesis warrants the original and referential meaning. Attention is drawn to the circularity of hermeneutics. Finally is lighted the Latin American experience, and Scripture reading as the soul of pastoral praxis today.


Vox Patrum ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 64 ◽  
pp. 299-315
Author(s):  
Aleksy Kowalski

The article presents the outline of the pagan and Christian ancient anthropo­logy that is interested in its relations to the cosmology. The antique philosophers describe a man as the microcosmos which belongs to the macrocosmos. Accor­ding to Aristotle’s metaphysics and the henological metaphysics, the human being occupies the lower place in the hierarchy of the universe. The Christian thinkers, based on the Bible and the Tradition, show the human being as God’s creature made according to the image and similitude of his Creator. The Church Fathers know the Jewish and gnostic anthropologies and they make a polemic on their doctrinal issues. Investigating the patristic anthropology is possible to apply the prosopography exegesis that underlines the interpersonal dialogue. That method indicates three levels of mutual relationships: the analogical and iconic one, the dyadic and dialogical level and the triadic one. The Church Fathers creating the metaphysics of person change their research from the cosmology to the theology and the anthropology. Justin investigates the personalist logos-anthropology. Ire­naeus of Lyon and Tertullian of Carthage show the personalist soma-anthropology. Clement of Alexandria elaborates the very interesting concept of the personalist eikon-anthropology that describes the human person as the divine Logos’ image, the living statue, in which dwells the divine Logos and the beautiful instrument fulfilled by God with the spirit. Origen of Alexandria, the Cappadocian Fathers and other Christian thinkers who examine that issue, will use Clément’s personal­ist eikon-anthropology in their future investigations. That concept helps to define the solemn Christological doctrine of Council of Chalcedon.


2013 ◽  
Vol 34 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel J. Dreyer

An evolutionary perspective on the Confessio Belgica: A systematical-theological exploration. The aim of this study is to point out that the Confessio Belgica creates the opportunity to listen to both the voices of the natural sciences (especially in regard to the process of evolution) and the findings of the historical sciences. The important point of this discussion is that the human being is an evolutionary part of the process of creation. Man can no longer be seen as the ruler of creation in a personal and static sense. In the light of this we have to truly listen again to the witness of the Bible and the way in which it is formulated in the confessions of the church. The views of Wentzel van Huyssteen, Rob Bell and N.T. Wright are examples of how to respond, against the background of the science-theology debate, to the questions: �Who was Jesus?� and �What did He do?� Their insights might help us to proclaim the cosmic meaning of the message of the Gospel with integrity in a modern and postmodern world.


2021 ◽  
Vol 15 (3) ◽  
pp. 45-65

This study examines the pilgrimage of Christian women ascetics in the early Christian period from the fourth to sixth centuries AD, focusing on wealthy Roman women who were influenced by the Church Fathers, such as Jerome and left their world, freedom, family and social class. They sold their properties in order to come to the Holy Land (the Land of the Bible) to visit the holy places and the desert hermits and to build monasteries, hospitals, hospices, orphanages and accomodations for old people through the Holy Land. The pilgrimage of women ascetics was a characteristic feature of the period. In spite of the difficult journey, these ascetic women came to fulfill their religious and spiritual needs. These women have been remembered throughout the ages for their faith, piety, tenderness, purity and devotion and have served as role models for women after them. This study examines the concept of pilgrimage in Christianity and the pilgrimage of the women ascetics and their religious and social accomplishments in the Holy Land.


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