A Theological Understanding of Ancestor Veneration in the Bapedi Society as an Expression of Transcendence and Anticipation of Comfort and Hope

In the Bapedi society, ancestor veneration is one area that requires scholarly attention. Historically, in the indigenous Bapedi religion there is far greater acceptance that ancestors are in existence, and ancestor veneration and culture are related. A significant dimension in the role played by the ancestors in the Bapedi culture is how they are believed to transmit and safeguard life. Therefore, an investigation of ancestor veneration as a source of comfort and hope, in the context of Bapedi people’s religious and cultural rituals is inevitable. The present study investigated the Bapedi conception of death, its meaning, the significance of the rituals performed during and after death, and how Bapedi people conceive and deal with ancestor veneration. To achieve this, the study employed direct observations, video recordings, and informal interviews. Three interrelated research questions, therefore, guided this study: 1) Do Bapedi people believe in the resurrection of the dead and eternal life for the individual after death?; 2) Does the continuing relationship of ancestors with their families have medical, financial, moral, biological, and social implications for the living?; and 3) Do Bapedi people believe in reincarnation of a dead individual in the form of another individual still living, and particularly in the powerful spirit or soul of a dead person which still has a potent functional role which affects the still living? Findings of this study have shown that ancestor veneration seems to offer Bapedi people an opportunity to express their faith and confidence in their ancestors. It has become evident from a thorough analysis of the data that music is a societal need and appears to be an expression of the most basic values and feelings of the Bapedi people. It was concluded that ancestors have unlimited powers over the lives of the living, and there are no restrictions to either the chastisement or the blessings that they can confer on their descendants.

DOGMATIC SENSES OF ST. GEORGIY (KONYS’KYJ’S) DRAMA “RESURRECTION OF THE DEAD PEOPLE”

Analyzing the old Ukrainian didactic drama “Ressurection of the dead people”, written in the middle of the 18th century by Kyiv-Mohyla Academy professor Georgiy (Konys’kyj), scientists very often pay attention to its expressive social and ethical dimension. At the same time, this well-known monument of literature must be regarded as a work, which possesses remarkable dogmatic senses as well. The aim and the tasks. The aim of the article is exploring of the connection of the drama “Ressurection of the dead people” text with sphere of the Orthodox dogmatic theology. It`s necessary to mention such tasks of the study as pointing out the different dogmatic senses of the drama and making analysis of them. Research methods. Exploring the text of the didactic drama by Georgiy (Konys’kyj), the author of the article uses 1) the cultural and contextual method, 2) the method of psychology of artistic creation and such general scientific methods as 3) the comparative method, 4) the method of systematization and 5) the method of generalization. Research results. As one can understand easily after acquaintance with the name of the drama, its central dogmatic ideas are naturally connected with the Christian eschatology: Georgiy (Konys’kyj) preaches the future resurrection of all dead people and reminds both his contemporaries and future generations of the Final Judgment. Moreover, we find the manifestation of author’s strong belief in the Holy Trinity, in the Divine and the Human Natures of Christ, in the majesty and the great role of the Atoning Sacrifice, in the immortality of human souls, in the Providence, etc. in the text. Conclusion. The text of Georgiy (Konys’kyj`s) didactic drama “Ressurection of the dead people” is regularly influenced by the important constituents of the Orthodox dogmatic doctrine (eschatology, Triadology, Christology, etc.). Taking into consideration the research results helps us to get better understanding of philosophical and theological views of such a famous hierarch as saint Georgiy (Konys’kyj) and to overcome some wrong interpretations of his works.

A tanítványok ördögűzési, halottfeltámasztási szolgálata és szenvedése

"The Disciples’ Ministry of Exorcism, Resurrection of the Dead, and Suffering. Service meant exorcism besides preaching and healing. According to Mk 3:15, Jesus calls his disciples so that they would be with him, preach the gospel, and exorcise demons. The authority of the disciples over unclean spirits (Mk 6:7) refers to their sharing in Jesus’s mission (Mk 1:22.23.27). Exorcism promoted the expending of God’s kingdom and the weakening of Satan’s power. In Mk 6:7, Jesus mentions exorcism as a concrete task for his disciples, what was fulfilled by them (6:7). We can learn from Mt 9:8 and 10:1 that the disciples were entrusted with power to cast out demons. Lk 9:1 mentions the same command. According to the report of Luke, the seventy(-two) disciples cast out demons too, although they did not receive explicit command for this in 10:9. Matthew is the only one who mentions that Jesus ordered his disciples to raise the dead (Mt 10:8). Thus, this belonged to the ministry too. The synoptic gospels do not mention anywhere that the disciples would carry out this command. But several reports mention that Jesus raised people from the dead. He answered the question that John the Baptist transmitted by his disciples by saying that the dead are raised up (Mt 11:5), so he truly carried this out as well. Some congregations of the early church had some difficulties with this command. The book of Acts reports in two cases that the disciples used this exceptional gift (Acts 9:36ff and 20:7ff). In order that the possession of this important power would not cause them any harm, when using this gift, the disciples were to ask nothing in return. Service is connected with suffering because mission supposes both. Jesus came to serve and suffer among the people, which is why he prepares his disciples for the future suffering. The disciples do share in Jesus’s mission, in his power and his authority, but in his destiny too. Following includes breaking with the family and profession, giving up the possessions, homelessness, self-denial, bearing the cross, persecution, and suffering. Mark’s congregation was persecuted. Therefore, it was a consolation for them that Jesus had suffered earlier and finished victoriously the battle against death. Jesus did not conceal the reality from his disciples and warned them that they had to flee too, they might be whipped and some of them might be executed because all of these form part of the mission. To follow him did not mean to study the Torah under his direction but to identify with his suffering. Keywords: disciple, exorcism, resurrection, suffering "

Eschatology and Revelation

A systematic study of Christian ‘revelation’ commonly involves a distinction between ‘natural’ and ‘supernatural’ revelation, which derive respectively from the created world through which God acts and speaks, and from God’s personal word and action culminating in the teaching, life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. This chapter attempts to show that this binomial stands in need of a third category, in order to fully understand Christian revelation. The category in question is eschatology, without which revelation would be incomplete and ultimately incoherent. In the first part of the chapter an attempt is made to justify the distinction between ‘natural’ and ‘supernatural’ revelation on anthropological grounds. The second part goes on to explain the richness of the notion of revelation in terms of five different models which refer to the complex process by which revelation impinges on humans as the latter attempt to assimilate and identify with God’s word and grace: the propositional, the historical, inner experience, dialectic presence, and new awareness. All five models point directly or indirectly to the needed eschatological complement of revelation. Finally, the third section presents different aspects of Christian eschatology in which God is revealed to humanity definitively, ‘face to face’: the Parousia, or final coming of Jesus Christ at the end of time; the resurrection of the dead with the new heavens and the new earth; general judgement as God’s final word; all of which take place in the power of the Holy Spirit; then, heavenly glory as the eternal vision of God, or its possible loss; lastly, the significance of the end-time signs.

An Embodied Existence in Heaven and the Non-Cartesian Substance Dualism

In this paper, I propose to imagine, through Non–Cartesian substance dualism (NCSD), how we could resurrect. Even though many objections have been addressed to the classic conception of eschatology since the beginning of the century of eschatology, I propose we have some reasons to think that a more corporeal conception of the eschaton is not only desirable but also metaphysically possible and compatible with biblical data. I shall explore what I call the Christ Body Argument, which invites us to reject, on the one hand, a disembodied existence in heaven, and on the other side to adopt a corporeal existence of Christ in heaven. A kind of Dualism, and more precisely, one possessing NCSD’s virtues, could play a role in exploring this new theological option. I expect to show that NCSD is a metaphysical option allowing us to understand better what we are. If we hope and believe in the resurrection of the dead, NCSD provides an interesting model to think about it.

The Old Testament Prophecy of the Resurrection of the Dry Bones between the West and Byzantium

The imagery of the vision of the valley of dry bones (Ezek 37. 1–14) still fascinates theologians and historians of religion with its exegetical and liturgical significance. Rarely represented in medieval art, the iconography of this singular topic related to the Last Judgment deserves closer attention on the part of art historians. The aim of the present contribution is to remedy this situation by offering an analysis of the main pictorial representations of Ezekiel’s prophecy within the medieval East and West. This paper examines the evolution of the theme from the first pictorial evidence from Mesopotamia through the Roman late antique funerary sculpture into the Catalan and Germanic illuminated manuscript production from 11th and 12th centuries. Then, the field of the investigation broadens by taking into consideration the Byzantine artistic patterns of Ezekiel’s vision of the resurrection of the dead. Finally, this paper accents the multilayered contribution of the mural paintings from the Balkan cultural field. In order to reconsider this subject through the prism of the artistic interactions between East and West, the continuity of an ancient pictorial tradition that seems to have been previously neglected is highlighted.