Continuing the Paul Mission for the Gentiles in the New Era

The research in this paper seeks to find some thought as a product of research that examines the important role of Paul's mission in the early church planting. In addition, this article will examine the pattern of Paul's mission so that church growth is very sporadic. The purpose of this research is to show that Paul's success strategy in mission is very worthy and interesting to be researched and studied, so that it becomes a cornerstone for the church today to continue Paul's mission pattern. Methodology in this research is going to use the theory of Francis Watson which based on the freedom of Paul mission, and also it want to take advantage based on the theory of Terence L. Donaldson that stated the universalism of Paul mission. This research shows that through God's help, Paul succeeded in establishing Gentiles churches. The churches today may learn that the preaching of the Gospel to the new generation today has its own challenges, because the different context. Another thing that today's church needs to learn is that Paul's passion and strategy in his mission has enabled him to build churches for other nations in various places for the glory of Christ.Penelitian dalam tulisan ini hendak berupaya menemukan beberapa refleksi sebagai hasil riset yang meneliti tentang peran penting misi Paulus terhadap perintisan gereja perdana. Selain itu, risalah ini hendak meneliti bagaimana pola misi Paulus sehingga pertumbuhan gereja sangat sporadis. Tujuan penelitian ini adalah hendak menunjukkan bahwa strategi keberhasilan Paulus dalam misi sangat layak dan menarik untuk diteliti dan dipelajari, agar menjadi batu penjuru bagi gereja masa kini untuk melanjutkan pola misi Paulus. Teologi misi Paulus yang berkaitan dengan pekerjaan misionaris yang dia layani saat itu. Tulisan ini mencoba menggunakan perspektif Francis Watson tentang kebebasan misi rasul Paulus. Selain itu juga didasarkan pada teori Terence L. Donaldson yang menyatakan tentang universalisme dari misi Paulus. Metodologi dalam penelitian ini akan menggunakan teori Francis Watson yang didasarkan pada kebebasan misi Paulus, serta ingin memanfaatkan teori Terence L. Donaldson yang menyatakan universalisme misi Paulus. Penelitian ini memperlihatkan bahwa melalui pertolongan Tuhan, Paulus berhasil mendirikan gereja-gereja non-Yahudi. Manfaat bagi gereja masa kini adalah bahwa Pemberitaan Injil bagi generasi era baru saat ini memiliki tantangan tersendiri karena konteksnya tidak sama lagi dengan era Paulus. Hal lain yang perlu dikaji oleh gereja era masa kini adalah semangat dan strategi Paulus dalam misinya, telah memampukannya membangun gereja-gereja bagi bangsa-bangsa lain untuk kemuliaan Kristus.

A liberális teológia kritikája. A Debreceni Hitvallás (1875) és az új ortodoxia krisztológiája a Heidelbergi Káté és a II. Helvét Hitvallás tükrében

A Critique of Liberal Theology. The Christology of the Confession of Debrecen (1875) in the Light of Heidelberg Catechism and the II. Helvetic Confession. The study aims to compare some of the Christological statements of Hungarian liberal theology and the Confession of the New Orthodoxy of Debrecen (1875). First, it explores the context where the debate took place. At the same time, it is ex-plained briefly how genuine Hungarian theology was being shaped and articulated. Then, some selected Christological texts of the Confession will be analysed in the light of Heidelberg Catechism and the II. Helvetic Confession so as to point out how far liberal, modern theology has gone with its earnest yet radically different in-terpretation of the basic tenets of the creed. As a conclusion, it will be underlined how close the confessions – regardless of space and time – stood to each other in their endeavour to combat ‘heresy’, non-orthodoxy emerging either in the early church or in modern times. Keywords: Confession of Debrecen, Christology, Heidelberg Catechism and the II. Helvetic Confession, Hungarian liberal theology

Implications of Acts 1:8 for Ghanaian Neo-Pentecostal Missiology

The book of Acts is often referred to by many scholars and preachers when discussing Christian missions with emphasis on Acts 1:8 as the centrality of the book. Unfortunately, very little exegetical study is done on the text by scholars in relation to missions. It appears that Luke fails to provide a detailed blueprint strategies or approaches to the command for missions (witnessing) in the text. This article therefore considers Acts 1:8 exegetically to establish its missionary importance. In the light of this, the article assesses the mission strategies of the Early Church, Historic Missions and Neo-Pentecostal/Charismatic Churches in Ghana. The article contends that, a reflection on the current trend of Neo-Pentecostal/Charismatic approaches or strategies to missions in Ghana gives a valuable insight of a departure from the early missionary strategies in general. The article acknowledges that, the recent widespread involvement of Pentecostal and Charismatic churches in the use of radio, social media, television, open-air crusades, street evangelism, preaching in buses, prayer and prophetic meetings/conventions, medical outreach work and social welfare are ways to fulfill missions in the light of Acts 1:8. The article also highlights the need to broaden the understanding and task of Christian missions to meet the challenges of the recent changing Ghanaian Christian religious landscape. Keywords: Missions, Missiology, Neo-Pentecostal Churches, Early Church,Strategy, Book of Acts, Historic Churches.

Das syrische Perlenlied und die manichäische Redaktion

A hundred years ago (1917/1918) Wilhelm Bousset broke new ground with the thesis that the Acts of Thomas showed traces of Manichaean editing, especially in the Hymn of the Pearl, perhaps the most famous and the most beautiful poem in the Syriac language. In this poem, according to Bousset, the stages in the life of the prince, the protagonist, strangely match the stages in the life of Mani, the founder of the Manichaean religion. The present article revisits this thesis, which enjoys as much interest as ever and is accepted by several well-known contemporary scholars. It takes account of older witnesses (such as the traditions of the early church) while introducing new arguments based on a consideration of original Manichaean literature and striking features of language and style. In a kind of panoramic view, it shows that the Hymn of the Pearl was indeed subjected to Manichaean editing: motives and themes from older traditions were adapted to refer to Mani and supplemented with new interpretive material. Taken together, the old and the new observations confirm Bousset’s thesis that the son of the king in the Hymn of the Pearl was identified with Mani and that an editor (or a school of editors) reworked the poem to make it point to him.

Roman and Christian Just War: A Re-Analysis

There is no denying that the early Catholic Church grew up in a climate predominated by a rich and broad religious pantheon. Emerging at first as a perceived outgrowth of Judaism, Christianity was exposed to, among other things, Roman culture. Roman religious practice, which was typically very open to adopting foreign cults, felt threatened by Christianity, resulting in periods of persecution. As a result, the early Christian community had a very complicated relationship with Imperial Rome. The Church stressed non-collaboration, but evidence points that there was a divide between teachings and practice on the topic of military service. The patristic writings of the Early Church fathers are noticeably sparse until Ambrose and Augustine, who present what can generally be called a theory of just war. They also waver between support and condemnation, reflecting the needs of their congregations. Despite this relative absence of discussion, the prevailing attitude in the historical scholarship of the Early Church was that the pre-Constantine Church pushed for non-collaboration with Roman society, i.e. not serving in public office or the army. After Constantine, that same scholarship points towards an about-face in Church teachings, and a co-opting of the burgeoning Christian community. What this paper seeks to address is that Roman iustum bellum, and Christian just war, were developments specific to their contemporary societies and, while there is definitely a link, the two form distinct systems of thought. One might even say that iustum bellum was more concerned with justifying war, than the moral quandaries of Christian just war.

Old Dogma, New Tricks

This chapter studies the relationship between traditional Christian beliefs and the structure of modern science. The significance of key doctrines—such as monotheism, creation, the fall, the atonement—to the scientific revolution is analyzed, with the perhaps surprising result being that Christianity provided fertile ground for what we would recognize as “modern” science to develop. The writings of Francis Bacon, René Descartes, Isaac Newton, Johannes Kepler, and more are considered through a theological lens and their religious beliefs are shown to be foundational for their scientific work. Several living scientists are also found making the same points, and it is concluded that much of what we now call the “scientific method” owes its underlying philosophy to the core beliefs of the medieval (and even early) Church.

The The Understanding of the Image of God in the Early and Medieval Church History

It is only in the Bible whereby precise details in regards to humanity's origin from the conservative Christian point of view, are recorded. The Bible clearly states that in God's image, man was made (Gen 1:27). This statement reflects the belief that the essence of human beings was created in the likeness of God, and demonstrated that man did not merely turn out to be in God's image but was carefully crafted to be so. However, despite the exalted position of man among creatures, theologians still have questions and debates about the image of God is, and what does it consists of. Many scholars have wrestled with the precise sense of the image of God from the time of the Early Church until the Medieval Era. This research uses qualitative method, whereby the early works of the fathers of the medieval church are analyzed. The research is carried out on a descriptive basis. It is the aim of this research to offer a structural and systematic understanding of the image of God, based on the perception of the early church and medieval church fathers. As a result, a conclusion is formed.