The Kélah Ritual of The Manggaraians in Flores-Eastern Indonesia and Its Theological Significance For Roman Catholics

This paper aims to discuss the theological significance of the traditional religious practice of the Manggaraians in Flores, eastern Indonesia called the Kélah Ritual. It is an aspect of the traditional religion of the Manggaraians. The authorities of the Catholic Church in Manggarai have been very tolerant toward the ritual and provide enough space for the Catholics to practice it. The Church, however, does not have a sufficient understanding of its theological significance due to insufficient previous studies on the subject. This paper demonstrates that the ritual has a deep theological significance. This study employed direct observation, direct participation in the Kélah Ritual in several places in Manggarai, focus group discussions, key informant interviews and questionnaires. The results of this research indicate that this ritual is a rite of passage about the human soul departing from this world to heaven conducted a few days or months after the body’s interment. It was on the day of the soul’s ascension to heaven where all of the family ancestors meet with God eternally. This research concludes that, with its theological meaning, the ritual conforms with the Catholic faith doctrine regarding the gradual departure of the human soul to heaven after its corporal death – purgatory. No soul goes right away to heaven when it is not 100% holy. The ritual, therefore, could be valued and officially incorporated into the Catholic faith tradition in order to enrich its worship to God.

Qurʾan and Context

The historical context that gave rise to the Qurʾan remains one of the most persistent mysteries from the end of antiquity. Although the Islamic historical tradition contains abundant details concerning the Qurʾan’s origins, the information in these accounts was written down at least 100 or 200 years after the fact. Accordingly, most critical scholars view these reports with considerable skepticism for understanding the nature of the Qurʾan’s historical milieu. Little is definitively known about the context or conditions in which the Qurʾan first came to be; in many respects it seems to appear out of thin air into a world already saturated with Abrahamic monotheisms. Modern Qurʾanic scholarship has been largely governed by traditional Islamic views of the Qurʾan. Even many scholars who seek deliberately to undertake historical-critical study of this text remain under the powerful influence of the Islamic tradition’s pull, at times without fully realizing it. When the Qurʾan and the process of its composition are analyzed outside of the faith tradition, questions arise regarding the nature of its historical matrix. The cultures of the central Hijaz in Muhammad’s lifetime were, according to the current consensus, fundamentally nonliterate. Therefore, we must assume that if this is where the Qurʾan first was born, it likely would have circulated orally for several decades before being written down. Given what we know about human memory and oral transmission, this means that the text of the Qurʾan was continually composed and recomposed for decades after Muhammad’s death. Therefore, it likely would have circulated orally for several decades before being written down, and its written form was likely ultimately determined by his followers once they had settled in as a regnant minority alongside the other Abrahamic monotheists of the late ancient Near East, particularly Jews and Christians. Although scholars have frequently assumed a sizable Christian presence in the Hijaz, since the Qurʾan engages extensively with Christian traditions, it must be noted that there is no evidence for any Christian presence in the central Hijaz during Muhammad’s lifetime or before; the closest Christian communities that we know of were at around 700 kilometers distant from Mecca and Medina. In the absence of any evidence indicating a Christian presence in the central Hijaz, it seems most likely that most of the Christian traditions included in the Qurʾan were learned by Muhammad’s followers—and thus added to the emerging collection of scriptural traditions—after and in the context of the occupation of the Near East.

Kontekstualisasi Teologis Sakramen Tobat dalam Tradisi Sob Lor pada Masyarakat Kei Provinsi Maluku

Contextualization of theology is no longer optional but is the essence of theology itself. One of the contextualization spaces is the cultural tradition of the community. In the Kei community in Maluku Province, various traditions contain theological elements that form theological contextualization. This study aims to find the theological aspects of the Sacrament of Penance in a Kei cultural practice known as Sob Lor. The method used in this study is a qualitative-descriptive method with a semiotic approach. The data described were collected through literature review and in-depth interviews at Kei. This study succeeded in finding a meeting point between the sacrament of penance and the Sob Lor tradition in the Kei community. The sacrament of penance aims to improve the sinner's relationship with the Church due to sin. At the same time, the Sob Lor tradition or village cleansing rite is primarily a cleansing due to violations of customary law. This study found four theological elements of the Sacrament of Penance contained in the Sob Lor ritual: Allah, Sin, the conditions of forgiveness, and the results of participation in the rite. These four things meet each other between the theological concept of the sacrament of penance with the Sob Lor tradition. Thus, the meeting point of the Catholic faith tradition and the Kei culture can be material to deepen and increase the Catholic faith.

Environmental protection as a global bioethical principle: Protestant faith tradition in conversation with United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization

The Universal Declaration on Bioethics and Human Rights (UDBHR) is an important, modern human rights instrument regulating global bioethical challenges. The Protestant faith tradition was excluded from any discourse regarding the UDBHR; consequently, the universality and credibility, especially in Protestant circles, have been questioned. For the Protestant faith tradition, the voice of the Bible is decisive. An ethical foundation for article 17 of the UDBHR (enviromental protection and health) is, therefore, important, as it can contribute to the internalisation of the principle. In the analysis of article 17, it has been shown that the international community is convinced that an irrefutable relationship exists between nature and the health of the human interconnectedness. A damaged creation harms the health of the human and, therefore, the protection of nature is an indisputable obligation. From a Protestant ethical perspective, this global principle could be associated with or founded on the themes of creation, sin, covenant, Christology and eschatology. Grounded in this preliminary evaluation, article 17 can be supported by the global Protestant community. A few facts from South Africa indicate the necessity of promoting the global bioethical principle in this country.Intradisciplinary and/or interdisciplinary implications: This study is an interdisciplinary analysis in the sense that it focuses on Theology and Human Rights Law within the context of Global Bioethics. It challenges the view that the Protestant perspective can be excluded in the discourse regarding the relation between environment and human health (article 17 of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization [UNESCO] Bioethics Declaration).

The Church as an Ecological Community: Practising Eco-Ecclesiology in the Ecological Crisis of Indonesia

Given the ecological crisis in Indonesia, the churches must implement an ecclesiological reconstruction based on the church as an ecological community and on the understanding that the churches are an inseparable part of Indonesian society and cultures which emphasise respect for nature, while at the same time reconstructing their identity in the Christian faith tradition rooted in the Triune God, faith in Christ as Saviour, and an eschatological dimension. Ecclesial praxis will promote ecological awareness among church members, involvement in conservation efforts and in making public policies related to ecological issues.

The Dissemination and Implementation of Islam within the African American Community

The United States may be the most racially diverse and religiously pluralistic nation-state today. However, it is also arguably the most societally biased, one where many religious communities are frequently divided along distinct lines predicated upon race, color, ethnicity, and faith tradition. The sociohistorical displacement and dissemination of Islamic power away from indigenous African American Muslims to the newly disembarked post-1965 immigrant Muslims underscore the nascent religio-racial origins of how Islamic identity, membership, community, and consciousness within America has now become unusually conflated with race, culture, and ethnicity within our nation’s social imaginary. That is, what it contextually means to be a Muslim in the United States has now become a highly contested, problematic, and racialized category within American Islam—a segregated Islamic reality and existence that is being renegotiated and challenged by modern-day Black Muslims dissatisfied with their oppressed, marginalized and subaltern condition as Muslim Americans within the umma.

S. Turgenev - Russian Hamlet (Toward of Turgenev’s Attitude to the Religious Faith Tradition)

Настоящая статья посвящена исследованию вопроса о взаимоотношениях И. С. Тургенева и традиции религиозной веры. Приступая к этой теме, автор обращается к образу Гамлета, который выведен И. С. Тургеневым в статье «Гамлет и Дон¬Кихот», а также в очерке «Гамлет Щигровского уезда», и является во многом автобиографическим. Особое внимание автора привлекает такая черта характера персонажа, как неверие и связанное с ним настроение тоски. Прямые параллели этому автор находит в биографии самого И. С. Тургенева, который переживал отсутствие веры как «личное несчастье», что, в свою очередь, явилось причиной формирования в его мыслях и творчестве специфической формы пессимизма. This article is devoted to a study of Turgenev’s relations with the traditions of religious faith. Getting to this topic, the author refers to the image of Hamlet, which was derived by I. S. Turgenev in his article «Hamlet and Don Quixote», as well as in his story «Hamlet of Shigrov district» and is largely autobiographical. The author’s special attention is drawn to the character trait of the hero of disbelief and longing associated with it. The author finds direct parallels in the biography of I. S. Turgenev himself, who experienced a lack of faith as a «personal misfortune», which in turn led to the formation of a specific form of pessimism in his thought and work.

Guns and human suffering: A pastoral theological perspective

This article considers the immensity of human suffering caused by gun violence. In an attempt to understand why the United States has not been able to enact reasonable gun control measures, I explore the origins and influence of gun culture and its shaping by the National Rifle Association (NRA). This situation is discussed from theological perspectives and concepts of idolatry, redemptive violence, the spiraling effects of violence as sin, and the nonviolence of Jesus. Finally, I consider pastoral responses in caring for individuals, the faith tradition, the congregation, and the larger sociocultural context.