The Background Of Calvin’s Thoughts

Every age, God will raise up certain people who will become church leaders in their day, to be witnesses of God through the truth of God's word. Their presence did not only appear suddenly, but also through a long process of life and education. In this article, we will explore about The Background of Calvin’s Thoughts, whose influence has revealed the world of theology to this day. Calvin was not only influenced by France Humanism but also medieval Theology at that time. Voluntarism was a popular theology in Calvin era. Calvin received only education in theology from medieval tradition on the first stage of his studies because he never studied theology at university. Calvin’s method which was used to build his theology is inseparable from his studying in Civil Law in Orleans. His studying in Orleans has changed Calvin to be a good jurist and he used his skill later in Geneva to compile codifications of legislation and regulation for Church and government in Geneva. In addition to regulation of life, Calvin also noticed the purity of Christian faith teaching.

Mercy and/oder Justice: Almsgiving in the Catholic Thought, the 16th–17th Centuries

Approaches to almsgiving in the Catholic tradition of the Early Modern Times largely fol­lowed the ideas, developed in the previous period: surplus and need are taking into account, and only a certain correlation of them turns alms from pious counsel to an obli­gation, gives the poor certain rights as well; important is a distinction between different categories of needy recipients (by criterion of moral dignity, place in the hierarchy of the so-called “or­dered love”, etc.). At the same time, approaches to almsgiving slightly vary in the “high” theology and in writings addressed to the laity. In the first case, there is a noticeable depar­ture from the medieval understanding of alms as mainly spiritual practice, or an act of char­ity directed at the benefactor himself; the understanding of alms as a form of redistribution of goods, or an act of justice directed at another comes to the fore. This is also reflected in the development of practical criteria for distribution of alms: to whom, on what grounds, how much is due. These trends are less pronounced in the “popular” theology: as before, the reasoning on almsgiving in the 16th and 17th centuries focuses on the person of a benefactor and his merits – lifetime and posthumous. In this context, almsgiving acts primarily as an act of charity. At the same time, the focus in the “high” and “popular” theo­logy is not so much on the problem of poverty as a social phenomenon and of opportunities to eradicate it, as the question of opposing its specific manifestations.

The Borthwick Sisters

Jane Laurie Borthwick (1813–97), and her sister Sarah Borthwick Findlater (1823–1907), take their place alongside the Englishwomen Catherine Winkworth and Frances Cox as the foremost translators into English of German hymnody. Their volume, Hymns from the Land of Luther (1853, rev. 1884), introduced into Scottish churches the popular theology of Lutheran and Moravian Pietists. Previously, the Reformed distrust of ‘human words’ had limited congregational singing in Scotland to Psalms and Paraphrases; while an Established Church with a heavy investment in social conformity had resisted the Pietist stress on individualist faith. However, with the Disruption and the founding of the Free Church, a space was opened for this profoundly experiential theology of an intimate relationship with Jesus. The Borthwick sisters were instrumental in popularizing in Scotland an evangelical vocabulary of suffering, guilt, desire, and ecstatic consummation, in which there was a natural association between the Christian virtues and the feminine.

„Czyściec” kontra „podniebne cła” w literaturze polemicznej czasów unii w Brześciu XVI/XVII metropolia kijowska — wybrane przykłady

“Purgatory” versus “celestial customs duty” in polemic literature of the times of the Union of Brest Kyivan Metropolitanate: Selected examplesIn the Kyiv Metropolitanate, reflections about the afterlife of the soul became important right before and after the Union of Brest. The familiar polemical theme of purgatory returned and the followers of the union with Rome evoked the legendary visions of celestial customs duty tollgates. The identification of both conceptions was meant to convince and convert the Orthodox to the Catholic doctrine. However, instead it brought about their reaction, prompting them to thoroughly confront both visions, demonstrate the similarities but also fundamental differences, and above all, to systematize their teachings. The polemical process of ordering eschatological beliefs begun in polemic literature and was continued by the authors of sermons, the works of popular theology, and was also reflected in official statements of the Orthodox Church in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. Чистилище проти митарств у полемічній літературі часів берестейської унії Київська Митрополія — вибрані прикладиДискусії довкола теми чистилища, що не були новиною уже в конфесійній полеміці, посилилися в часи Берестейської унії та сприяли відродженню серед уніатів легендарної візії піднебесних митарств. Утотожнення митарств із чистилищем стало засобом переконати православних у правильності католицької доктрини, водночас викликало активну реакцію у відповідь. Зіткнення обох концепцій виявило не тільки подібності, але і принципові розходження між ними, спирияло систематизації уявлень та переконань представників кожної зі сторін у питаннях есхатології. Полемічна література започаткували процес формування есхатологічних вірувань, який пізніше продовжили проповідники та автори праць з популярного богослов’я, що пізніше було відображено також в офіційних заявах Православної Церкви в Польсько-Литовській державі.

’Tis in the Spirit Not in the Form

This chapter describes material culture, popular theology, and the new ideologies that they informed. Without established communities to procure authentic Jewish objects or religious authorities to offer orthodox theological positions, mobile Jews improvised, drawing together diverse material and intellectual resources. As they did so, emerging Judaica markets struggled with the growing pains of free-market capitalism, including inefficiencies, mismatches between supply and demand, and threats of fraud. Although they still invoked the communal God of Israel at some moments, Jews also embraced a more expansive and personal theological orientation that interpreted and explained both the possibility and uncertainty of Jews’ mobile lives. This combined with the increasing eclecticism of Jewish practice to foster new ideologies—including but not limited to American Reform Judaism—which were concerned less with legal obligation and communal participation than with personal intent as a marker of Jewish authenticity.