The article discusses Norwid’s attempts to reproduce the “true face” of Christ recorded on the pages of the second volume of Album Orbis in the form of a small gallery of the Saviour’s images. The collection consists of illustrations from various sources and Norwid’s copies of others’ works, the selection of which clearly reveals the intention of drawing on the iconographic tradition of the first centuries of the Church. The author determines the sources of the Saviour’s images and draws attention to the predilection for profile images, discussing it in the wider context of Norwid’s artistic and literary work.
The article describes the teaching of the first bishop of Poitiers on the divinity of the Son of God from a theological perspective, as described in the Holy Scriptures. His treatise, De Trinitate, has been regarded as the best book which brought calm amidst multiple controversies that arose at the time of the heresy of Arius. St. Hilary underlines that we can testify of God as merely God him-self does when teaching that his own Son is begotten and not created. The incarnation of Jesus Christ pays tribute to his divine nature. And He loses nothing with by taking our human nature. Hilary rejects the arguments of Arius, his successors, Sabellius, adoptionism, and Jews. St. Hilary, by his analyses, encourages the faithful to believe more in what is said by the Father and His Son. According to him, the believers can learn the truth about God only from God him-self. De Trinitate is a fundamental work against Arianism, and recalls that to obtain eternity one must believe that God raised up his Son Jesus from the dead, and that He himself is the Lord (Rm 10, 6-9).
The purpose of this paper is to, on the one hand, point out the importance of Psalm 118 in the setting of the Book of Psalms and its use in Judaism and to deal, on the other hand, with its usage in the Gospel of Mark in connection with the presentation of the person of Jesus and his significance. Psalm 118 (117 LXX), which is the magnificent closing Psalm of the group of Ps 113–118 entitled the Hallel, which praises God for various aspects of his saving power, is the most frequently referred to Psalm in the New Testament with 11 direct quotations and 9 allusions. The Gospel of Mark contains two explicit quotations from Psalm 118 (117 LXX). Both quotations appear in the textual unit concerning the activity of Jesus in Jerusalem and both quotations are understood as prophecies about Jesus. The acclamation of the crowd in Mark 11:9b–10, which includes the words of Psalm 118:25–26 (Mark 11:9b), discloses the identity of Jesus and his status as the Messiah. The second explicit quotation from Psalm 118 in the Gospel of Mark, the prophetic reading of Ps 118:22–23 in Mark 12:10–11, serves as Jesus’ announcement of his own death and resurrection found elsewhere in the Gospel of Mark (Mark 8:31; 9:30–31; 10:34). One could argue that the two explicit quotations from Psalm 118 (117) in the Gospel of Mark contribute to a better understanding of Jesus as the rejected and exalted Messiah.
The author of this article looks into Jesus’ attitude towards secular authority and the State as well as their law and institutions in the view of synoptic tradition (Mt 22,15–22; Mk 12,13–17; Łk 20,20–26). After deep exegesis has been completed, the author states that according to Jesus’ teaching presented in selected materials, the relations between the Church and the State should be created and guaranteed in order not to force a religious citizen choose either one or other in a situation in which faith and living according to its rules in everyday life is perceived by laic representatives of authority as opposing the state and rejecting its laws and institutions. It should also be mentioned that Jesus led his wordlylife during divine Caesar’s reign and Pax Roman and was not convicted for any political or state offence. Living in both Caesar’s kingdom and God’s kingdom he led his life according to the rules of Kingdom Gospel. Here is the meaning of His words: „The God’s kingdom is among you” (Łk 17,21).
The transmission of the apostolic faith determination are directly or indirectly pointing to the first, on the one whom the Apostles taught the new religion and he is the new religion. In Sacred Scripture, the words clearly indicating the primacy of Jesus Christ and belong to them, determine from the words „first”. Referring to the Greek text of S. Pisarek proves that it is reasonable to use the title „Jesus evangelizing”. In view of the Person of Jesus Christ is justified to use the title, which literally does not exist in the New Testament - „Jesus evangelizer”. The logical connection of words indicating the priority of Jesus Christ with the title „Jesus evangelizer” results in another title spoken by Pope John Paul II - „The first evangelizer”. As a result, one can assume that it is reasonable to use the two are not contained in the Bible, but growing out of the Scripture titles Jesus of Nazareth – „First evangelizer and catechist”.
According to Lévinas, the Face is the most expressive part of the Other. And it is in the Face E. Lévinas begins by considering that the Other reveals itself as the “distant”, where transcendence is ensured, then, the “philosopher of the Other”, to accept the Other as the neighbor, affirming transcendence here. The Other is the one I meet face to face (facie ad faciem). The Other has a similarity to the “Un-valid”, on the way, in the street, (street man) of the parable of the Good Samaritan. It is the one who is helpless (Other) in the street and that the encounter in the condition of needy, marginalized and treated by brother. that the other manifests as truly Another. It seems evident in the “philosophy of the Other” that it manifests itself in the Face. Who’s the other one? But, according to Levinas, transcendence would not be possible when the Other was initially the similar or the next. The effort of Lévinas that goes beyond considering the other just as the friend or relative. The Other arrives, confronts me with “flip-flops,” facing me, as if he has all the rights to me, facing me regardless of my will or my adhesion to him. Inevitably, the Other presents me hostile, my friend, my teacher, my student, through my Idea of Infinity. It could be said that the Other (the next) is the man of the street, the man of the road (helpless), who passes, the first one that arrives. The next as another, “says Lévinas,” does not allow himself to be preceded by any forerunner who would describe or announce his silhouette. Similarly, in the parable of the Good Samaritan, the Other is the man of the road half-living (Jesus Christ), who was the first to be present because of the robbers (Luke 10:30). The Other is the “halfdead” on the side of the road of life. The Other is the first to appear, which falls into the hands of the robbers. The Other is the first to arrive. According to the parable of the Good Samaritan, the first who came, from the way from Jerusalem to Jericho, was the Other (represented symbolically in Jesus Christ).
The aim of the study is to discuss the identity of the two disciples traveling to Emmaus and to point out the importance and role of these disciples in this story as well as in connection with the entirety of Luke’s double work (Luke‑Acts). We know the identity of one of the disciples traveling to Emmaus, Cleopas (Luke 24:18), who did not belong to the group of twelve disciples (Luke 6:14–16) and does not otherwise appear in the New Testament. The identity of the other disciple cannot be determined, although various names have been proposed for him since the Gospel of Luke was written: Simon, Nathanael, Amaon, Peter, Nicodemus, Philip, Emmaous, Luke, wife of Cleopas. The fact that the disciples are travelling in two makes it possible, on the one hand, to have a discussion that matters, and gives them the opportunity, on the other hand, to provide a reliable testimony of their experience with the resurrected Jesus. Through the testimony of a pair of disciples traveling to Emmaus, the readers of the Gospel of Luke are reminded that in reading Scripture and breaking bread, the resurrected Jesus will be truly, albeit invisibly, present.
When reading the Babylonian Talmud it has to be noted that it gives a fragmentary account of the capital punishment. However, the Talmud indicates who, for what and in what way should be condemned. The Talmud’s account of Jesus’ death is even shorter. It is not only pure fiction but is also a result of the authors’ deliberate action. The description of b. Sanh 43a, in a particular way, shows the clear goal – to discredit Jesus. What is written about Jesus’ death in the Talmud can be explained as personal and peculiar Jewish interpretation based on clearly defined intentions.
The essence of the proclamation of the Good News is a call to conversion, which seems absent from the Fourth Gospel due to the lack of any direct reference. The biblical idea of conversion is first expressed there by a call to believe in Jesus as the Son of God; then by the repeated motif of coming out of darkness into the light, approaching and discovering (accepting) the truth; being born of God and the Spirit, approaching Jesus, testifying about him, accepting and following him, and finally glorifying God. This study aims to present this multi-faceted process, whose framework is outlined by John, first in the prologue to his Gospel and then developed in the narrative. The same order is applied in the individual stages of this analysis employing a synchronic approach, which enables the readers to derive the edifying call to turn to Jesus and follow him to gain eternal life from the final, i.e., canonical, version of John’s text.
Death has always brought forth the question about life after death. As the interesting history of eschatology shows, it is not easy to find one simple answer. Therefore, it is hardly surprising that also nowadays new attempts are made to present an image of man’s eternal life. One of them is a proposal by Antonio Nitrola, professor of the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome, who made the Second Coming of Christ (Parousia) the keyword of his eschatology. According to him, if one can understand that the Second Coming of Christ (Parousia) is an event which brings life, fulfillment and judgment at the same time, then it is possible to find the fullest answer to the question what happens with a man after death. Moreover, eschatology can be called “parousiology”. This article is an attempt to synthetically present the thoughts of this Roman theologian, contained in a two-volume work entitled: Trattato di escatologia. I. Spunti per un pensare escatologico, Cinisello Balsamo (Milano) 2001; II. Pensare la venuta del Signore, Cinisello Balsamo (Milano) 2010.
The author develops a threefold approach to the issue of time. First, tracing the Aristotelian and Thomistic understanding of time, he undertakes metaphysical considerations on time in its reference to man and God. Secondly, having de-termined the position of time in the world of real beings, he analyzes the notion of religious time developed by the Catholic Church on the basis of historical events whose heroes were people connected with the revealing God, in particu-lar with Jesus Christ. Thirdly, having identified the time of the Church, he re-constructs the specific way of experiencing time by a Christian. All these three approaches together give an integral perspective to man in time which – accord-ing to the author – may be best conceived as a human pathway to God.
The text of 2 Cor 5:14, which is part of Paul’s apologia for his apostolic ministry (2 Cor. 2:14–7:4), contains a beautiful summary of Paul’s devotion and highlights the universal significance of Jesus’ death. The underlying motive of his apostolic ministry is the love of Christ, which not only influences and guides his actions but also provides him with an inner impetus and motivation (5:14a). The fact that Paul is completely controlled by Christ’s love is the result of his having come to a personal conviction of the significance of his death (5:14b). To express the depth and reach of Christ’s love, Paul uses the concept of Jesus’ substitutionary death “for the benefit of all” and links it to the idea of “corporate personality.” He points to the idea of the communion of the destiny of all with Christ, which he already used in the Adam – Christ parallel in 1 Cor 15:21–22 (cf. also Rom 5:12–19). As “Adam” determined the nature and destiny of the whole human race, so does Christ. Jesus’ actions and sufferings include all people (5:14c). The result of Christ’s death is that “all have died” (5:14d). Paul offers no further explanation of the nature of this dying, nor does he mention how Christ’s death resulted in the death of all. It is apparent, however, from 2 Cor 5:15 that people’s fellowship in death with Christ also implies their participation in his life. The text of 2 Cor 5:14 wants above all to emphasize the universal significance of Christ’s death.
The contribution analyses the texts in the Gospel of Luke and in the Acts of the Apostle (both works written by the same author, traditionally called Luke) that concern the mission of John the Baptist. John is mentioned relatively often, particularly in the Gospel of Luke, so that the resulting image of his mission recorded by the evangelist is sufficiently distinguished. John the Baptist is the culmination of the Old Testament (cf. Luke 16:16). He fulfils the prophetic mission of converting people to God. He is more, however, than a prophet (cf. Luke 7:26) because he also immediately prepares the coming of Christ. John is already closely joined with Christ although simultaneously fully submitted to him. This perspective on the Gospel of Luke is confirmed by relatively short references in the Acts, where the insufficiency of only knowing the baptism of John is strongly expressed (cf. Act 18:25; 19:3 – 4).
The article is a short analysis of the theological teaching of Joseph Ratzinger. It is focused on the idea of the Jesus’ Cross. The first part of the text considers a following subject: if Jesus were to be separated from His Cross, sooner or later such a theology would become a heresy. Such a heterodox consequence can be found in almost every Christological heresy. Cardinal Ratzinger dis-cusses this kind of thinking which he meets in liberation theology, i.e. an ideo-logical movement promoted by Gustavo Gutiérrez mainly in South America and Africa. The second part of the article is concentrated on the theology of liturgy, especially on that of the Eucharist. Joseph Ratzinger seeks to prove that the Eucharist is not a feast, a banquet, or a collective meal. The main sense of the Eucharist can only be found in the Cross where the Eucharist reveals its identity as a Holy Sacrifice of Jesus Christ the Victim-Priest. In the conclusion the au-thor claims that one cannot understand Jesus Christ without His Cross, because it is upon the foundation of the Cross that the Holy Faith of the Church, the creed of the Church, is built.
By implementing a narrative analysis, the author tries to provide an answer to the question of what and how does Mathew the Evangelist say about the involvement, guilt, responsibility of pagans, and consequently about the perspectives of their salvation. Such a question seems particularly justified in reference to the Gospel according to Mathew, because – taking into consideration place, circumstances and time of editorial works – he found himself in a situation of being forced to face that problem and give his answer to the Church he himself represented as its future in the ethno-Christian and pagan world depended mostly on that answer.
The matter of the article are „rewritten” stores of life of Jesus Christ. Author synthetically characterizes creation of such texts in the film production( mentions so-called biblical films and creating of the “adaptations” of the New Testament at the beginning of the cinema), she mentions also other contemporary film messages and literary texts dealing with that issue. Main topic concerning the author is an analysis of two novels: “Miss Ferbelin” by Stefan Chwin (2011) and “Gospel according to Jesus Christ” by Jose Saramago (2011).
Social issues have played an important role in the overall teaching of Pope Benedict XVI. Being aware of the existence of many disturbing threats to social life in all its dimensions, the Pope tried to indicate the direction of the solutions to some growing dilemmas. Trying to remedy evil, he pointed to Christ, who strengthens human hearts to overcome threats, inspired by the action of an evil spirit. In his teachings, the Pope raised awareness that a man following Christ is a hope for solving urgent social problems. His goal was not to consider the problems theoretically, but to shape the moral consciousness of a man and constantly appeal to his conscience. In this way, the teaching of Benedict XVI is an expression of the prophetic mission of the Church; is a call to repair the social life.
The author of the article Christ as the face of the Father’s mercy. A top-down and theophanic conception of God’s Mercy draws the most fundamental approach to the mystery of mercy as a form of the inner revelation of the Triune God's life from the ample Polish literature devoted to the issue of God’s Mercy, and analyzes it. Also practicing mercy, according to this conception, may be done in the right way if its features are recognized in Jesus Christ the Incarnated Son’s deeds. The author calls this perspective of theology of mercy “a top-down conception”, as humanity is not able to comprehend the essence of mercy without the aid of the supernatural world that, on the one hand, shows what God is like in His essence, and on the other, how one should follow God to be saved. God's self-revelation in the salutary events becomes – according to the author – the best interpretation key of God's theology of mercy, showing His Trinitarian character.
This article raises the question of the mutual relation between theology and prayer. Theology is knowledge about God – the Holiest – and should carry out research in a holy manner, contributing to the holiness of the person who is connected with theology as a teacher or a student. The question of the relation between theology and prayer belongs to the most fundamental issues concerning the method of theology to which we should constantly refer as to an important source of guidelines for today. This article first focuses on certain statements which appeared in the past centuries and which discussed the relation between theology and prayer, trying to find the adequate approach to the spiritual and scientific situation in the field of theology in those times. After this introduction, it presents the view that prayer may be used in service of theology. Theology, on the other hand, in its full and traditional sense, is total and complete only then, when it constitutes the foundation of piety and leads to prayer. Theology through prayer can permeate the inner life opening itself to the state when we belong to God who resides in our heart.
Jesus’ interpretation of the Hebrew scriptures is skillfully eclectic, employing techniques of rejection, interiorization, prioritization, and synthesis. The eclectic nature of Christ’s interpretation of the Hebrew scriptures specifically precludes any ascription of the contemporary strategies of rigorism or inerrantism to his hermeneutic. Instead, Christ’s hermeneutic is best described as situational, agapic, and open-hence pastoral. It is situational insofar as no hermeneutical rule can predetermine how scripture will be applied to a situation. It is agapic insofar as all texts are interpreted in service of the divine love and repaired human relationship. It is open insofar as it: 1. is characterized by bricolage, hence open to experimentation with a variety of resources, 2. resists any rigidly predetermined interpretative outcome, thereby preserving openness to agapic outcomes, 3. valorizes the micronarrative, and 4. rejects totalization. Ultimately, Jesus’ interpretation of scripture is pastoral, preferring human flourishing through scripture to blind obedience of scripture.
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