Homiletikai tűnődések a Jelenések könyve 5,1–7 kapcsán

Homiletical Reflections on the Book of Revelation 5:1–7. The passage mentioned in the title bears several motifs and style characteristics of the apocalyptic literature. One of the many difficulties dealing with the text is that such motifs convey the message (Kerygma) in apocalyptic coded language. Therefore, this study seeks to study the biblical text from the aspect of homiletics. It endeavours to provide some guidepost for preaching and to unfold the messages that are relevant for today’s listeners in the church. It addresses several significant topics such as God’s rule, Christ’s (the Lamb slain) mandate, stepping on the throne, the judgement about the earthly power, and the interpretation of human history in the light of divine rule. Keywords: apocalyptic, Book of Revelation, history, God’s omnipotence, the stepping in the throne of the Lamb

Orientierung durch Katastrophen

Catastrophes that threaten life and health have characterized the history of humankind from the very beginning, as has the search for meaning. The descriptions of end-time catastrophes in apocalyptic literature are also concerned with their meaning for the present. In the New Testament, the book of Revelation belongs to this kind of literature. It does not provide a roadmap for the end of the world; the horror images of a subversive narrative aim at understanding the current reality. Using the example of the so-called »damage cycles« (Rev 6:1-17; 8:2-11:19; 15:1-16:21), it will be argued that these texts aim at a theological interpretation that consoles and admonishes its readers by creating narrative spaces for the transience of the seemingly unchangeable Roman rule.

Coronavirus Apocalypse: A Representation of Despair and Resilience

This paper explores Mathias Besong’s My Struggle with COVID-19 (2020), Nikita Gill’s Love in the Time of Coronavirus (2020), and Elizabeth Mitchell’s The Doctor and Apocalypse (2020) and focusses on how these poems illustrate authors’ reactions to the spread of coronavirus. Therefore, it engages genre theory and argues that the examined verse adopts features and themes of post-apocalyptic literature. The research employs a comparative approach that divides the poems into three categories: the poetry of despair, the poetry of hope, and the ambivalent poetry that depicts responses to the pandemic inconsistently. The study shows that the explored poems express contradictions between social distancing, physical isolation, and global connectedness and oneness. This paper scrutinizes the concept of survival and examines features of coronavirus survivors as significant elements in the explored genre. The research debates that human reactions to distress are universal. It also draws attention to the effectiveness of writing poetry to aspire to hope, achieve global human solidarity, and challenge fear and hardships. The research demonstrates the social impacts of Covid-19 and how poetry becomes a means that expresses fear and hope through its employment of post-apocalyptic conventions and tropes. Finally, the researcher suggests that the examined poets depict their anxieties and psychological distress; however, they overlook illustrating the physical pain associated with coronavirus. This study contributes to ongoing scholarly discussions that focus on selected poems produced during the Covid-19 context and sheds light on their genre, conventions, and tropes.

Coronavirus Apocalypse: A Representation of Despair and Resilience

This paper explores Mathias Besong’s My Struggle with COVID-19 (2020), Nikita Gill’s Love in the Time of Coronavirus (2020), and Elizabeth Mitchell’s The Doctor and Apocalypse (2020) and focusses on how these poems illustrate authors’ reactions to the spread of coronavirus. Therefore, it engages genre theory and argues that the examined verse adopts features and themes of post-apocalyptic literature. The research employs a comparative approach that divides the poems into three categories: the poetry of despair, the poetry of hope, and the ambivalent poetry that depicts responses to the pandemic inconsistently. The study shows that the explored poems express contradictions between social distancing, physical isolation, and global connectedness and oneness. This paper scrutinizes the concept of survival and examines features of coronavirus survivors as significant elements in the explored genre. The research debates that human reactions to distress are universal. It also draws attention to the effectiveness of writing poetry to aspire to hope, achieve global human solidarity, and challenge fear and hardships. The research demonstrates the social impacts of Covid-19 and how poetry becomes a means that expresses fear and hope through its employment of post-apocalyptic conventions and tropes. Finally, the researcher suggests that the examined poets depict their anxieties and psychological distress; however, they overlook illustrating the physical pain associated with coronavirus. This study contributes to ongoing scholarly discussions that focus on selected poems produced during the Covid-19 context and sheds light on their genre, conventions, and tropes.

Why Paul doesn't mention the ‘age to come’

This essay examines the popular claim that the apostle Paul deploys an apocalyptic ‘two-age’ scheme in his eschatology, adapted from Jewish apocalyptic thought but reworked in an ‘inaugurated’ configuration in his theology as ‘now and not yet’. This reading is challenged as representing an oversimplified and anachronistic reading of the Jewish apocalyptic literature, and in respect of its claim to be a Pauline innovation. Furthermore, it is a reading not adequately sensitive to the fact that Paul rarely (if ever) uses the phrase ‘age to come’. The second section of the essay examines this Pauline evidence, and some of the language Paul uses instead of this phrase. Finally, the essay closes with a theological proposal for why Paul might do this, and makes some suggestions regarding Paul's view of time, the relationship between time and eternity, and possible ways this might be articulated once dogmatically located within his christology.

Rehearsal of the Apocalypse: Christians of the Post-Soviet Regions about Covid-19

The Covid-19 pandemic has confronted the global religious community with the need to review the traditions and practices that have developed over the centuries. It has clearly shown that apocalyptic literature and its ideas are closely related to the context of this crisis. The former Soviet regions are no exception to this tendency. The connection between Covid-19 and the Revelation of John has become a point of discussion in different kinds of media. The purpose of this article is to analyze the representative views of various Christian confessions within the post-Soviet region. The intention is to identify an appropriate hermeneutical paradigm. There are four basic hermeneutical schools of interpretation of the apocalypse – the preterist, historicist, idealist and futurist. What is emphasized in the experience of post-Soviet Christians is the idealistic and/or futuristic. Covid-19 is perceived as a rehearsal of the apocalypse.