Two general remarks arise from the synthetic interpretation of the biblical christocentrismpresented by Saint Hilary. e first concerns the subject of theologicalstudy and biblical studies. e above-mentioned presentation of the argumentsof Hilary implies that the mystery of Christ manifesting itself in history, of whichhe is the creator and interpreter at the same time, constitutes the essence of theologyand exegesis. e biblical senses, considered as the result of biblical andtheological research and study, in this approach are nothing but different aspectsof incomprehensible mystery of Christ. Because the mystery of Christ is revealedin history and is history itself, therefore the theological and exegetical studyis of a historical nature at least in the sense that this mystery can be recognizedby applying the aspect-oriented method by comparing what is contained in theScriptures with what people are currently experiencing in a particular episodeof history, because the creator of the latter is Christ. One could say that it seemsto follow from the last statement, that for Saint Hilary, there are no rigid formsof dogmas established once and for all but one: the incomprehensible mysteryof Christ. Although always and everywhere studied, it will never be understoodand expressed in words. In the act of studying it, a person constantly extractsnew aspects from it. It is the task of the exegete and theologian to update it,to make the faithful acquainted with the complexity of its message. If ordinarybelievers do this even at liturgical meetings, then, according to Hilary, eventhough they have not completed specialist theological and biblical studies, theycan read and interpret the holy text fruitfully.e second remark indicates the conditions sine qua non of the existenceand operation of the theologian, exegete, no matter if he is a specialistor an ordinary faithful. ese conditions are faith in Christ and perservancein participation in the Christological reality of the Church and the communityof the faithful. e above claim does not undermine the value of biblical andtheological studies – as understood by us in terms of erudite knowledge. Scholarlybiblical commentaries and the theological and historical writings of Saint Hilary can be regarded as the denial of such a conclusion. e Bishop of Poitiers,by encouraging his readers – by his own example – to intellectual and moralpreparation for the study of the Scriptures, also emphasizes the pointlessnessof practicing exegesis and theology if it is not accompanied by faith in Christ,in isolation from tradition, the continuity of history, finally in isolation fromthe community of the members of Church.
+. It is true that the concept of creation takes on theological focus in Israel quitelate. e chosen nation was primarily interested in history and its relationto God, and then asked a question about the beginning of the world. Over time,as a result of historical events, it gradually developed a lesson on creation. Babylonianslavery played a decisive role in the theological reflection on creation.&. e Old Testament texts testify that the statement “Yahweh has made heavenand earth” corresponds to a threefold theological intention. It has at the sametime a doxological, soteriological and polemic character. e Old Testamenttaken as a whole evokes a cosmogonic fact to praise the glory of the God of Israeland emphasise His transcendence, to question the worship of nature, freeingman from the caring cosmic and agrarian forces, and to guarantee salvationfor Israel and the world, relying on the power of God, able to make all thingsnew out of love for his chosen.3. e Old Testament shows us that the theological reflection on the creationof the world and mankind has been expressed in various forms in the historyof Israel, there is no single formula of Israel’s faith in creation, but it is alwaysabout the same faith expressed in a formulation conditioned by the currentcultural context, always with the triple theological intentions mentioned above.is can be seen in the Old Testament writings, starting with the Jehovah andthe priestly writer, through Deutero-Isaiah and the author of the Book of Job,whose faith was later expressed in the first article of the creed: “I believe in Godthe Almighty Father, the Creator of heaven and earth.”
For Aristotle, the bond of a valuable friendship was created for the sake of its own value of giving friendship or the experience it furnishes, and not for the sake of expediency or the sheer joy of sharing friendship. A sustainable friendship basically finds its roots in what a human being is. Hence, it is loving rather than being loved that makes people real friends, ethically perfect. Biblical authors knew that a true friendship was difficult to obtain and that it could easily be lost. Thus, for their readers, to observe their advice means to obtain valuable hints and guidelines and to be protected from disillusionment. These guidelines had been drawn by them from the experience of everyday life, as a result of watching and drawing conclusions from what they saw following different man’s response to different situations. Might they have been victims to unjust action themselves, or had they committed something that made them feel ashamed, but kept that it in their mind as a warning to their prospective readers? Whatever the answer is, they managed to draw conclusions from the experience that, ultimately, could be helpful in making those who would perpetrate something that would hurt or kill a friendship repent.
The author of the article analyses different meanings of the term ‘mercy’. He begins with the ancient use of the word by pagan philosophers. This is the background for the analysis of the term ‘mercy’ in the Old and New Testament. The biblical sources lead to the definition of dogmatic foundations of God’s Mercy and allow the ethical and moral aspects of the human mercy to be shown. Closely connected with the last is the social dimension of the mercy. The author also deals with other dimensions of the mercy, such as: pastoral, liturgical, psychological and juridical. He also discusses the meaning of the mercy in the spirituality and Christian art.
In this article the author uses the method of philosophical exegesis for the Parable of the Sower and for Jesus ‘answer to the disciples question’ regarding the metaphorical nature of His teachings. The idea of this exegesis is such that biblical symbols are paralleled with philosophical and anthropological concepts. The anthropological project derived from the results of this interpretation is then confronted in two of its details with F. Ebner’s concept of word and D. von Hildebrand’s description of depth. This juxtaposition shows the possibilities of anthropological reflection engendered from a philosophical reading of Bible.
The article deals with the newest document of the International Theological Commission “God the Trinity and the Unity of Humanity. Christian Monotheism and its Opposition to Violence”. Concretely, its use of the Bible is analyzed. The document focuses, on the one hand, on the most important biblical message: God initially offers salvation to Israel, and consequently to the whole of humankind; he overcomes the law of revenge through the cross of Jesus Christ and does so without compromising truth and justice. It discusses, on the other hand. the violence in the Old Testament too superficially and completely neglects all controversial pericopes of the New Testament (e.g. the cleansing of the Temple, the prophecy about bringing fire to the earth). If the International Theological Commission does not deal with these issues, it risks a criticism of being too eclectic and presenting Christianity in an embellished, but unreal way.
The article is devoted to the printing Cyrillic South Slavic Biblical texts from the beginning (incunabula) until the early seventeenth century, along with the presentation and characteristics of the sources from Montenegro, Venice, Serbia, Wallachia and others. This history is referred to some Glagolitic sources and to the much better recognised history of Eastern Slavic paleotypy, both from the area of the First Republic of Poland, as well as from typographical centres of the Russian Tsardom.
The Bible is full of mythological narratives- on the concept of violence. Thus, it becomes possible to construct a biblical anthropology on this con- cept, appears in Bíble, as a concept that is both endogenous and exogenous. Of course the Good Samaritan parable is the illustration of two forms of vio- lence, ranging from identity to alterity.
The article hereunder presents a human yearning for the God’s words, which had been so strong that eventually led to important changes in the history of Europe. It cannot be forgotten, that the changes were accompanied by strong emotions, which sometimes got out of control. The central part of work is concerned with the most famous Bible translator – Martin Luther, whose contribution to the history of Bible translations and the history of Germany and Europe is unquestionable. His achievement contributed to development of the new high German language. Moreover, he left in it a set of words and expressions which were bound to extinct, but thanks to him, are still in use. The last chapter introduces a comparison of chosen extracts from different Bible translations (Mentelin- Bibel – 1466, Otmar-Bibel – 1507, Luther-Bibel – 1522, 1534, 1546) and aims to present the motivation of Luther to make the work of his life understandable to as many Germans as possible. Moreover, there are two extracts from the Luther’s translations (1522 and 1546) which clearly demonstrate a passion to make his work as close to ideal as possible.
In the oldest Czech translation of the whole Bible from the mid-14th century, the Pauline Epistles are preceded by short prefaces containing a brief summary of the given letter, the so-called Argumenta. At first, the article analyses the Argumenta included in three Bibles of the so-called first redaction and compares them with the respective prefaces, included in two 15th century collections of the Prologues, the so-called Litoměřice Prologues and St. Vitus Metropolitan Chapter Prologues. The following part of the paper studies the occurrence and character of these prefaces in the Bibles of the second redaction and their employment in the Bibles of the third redaction. The conclusion is arrived at that the Argumenta were newly translated for the collection of Prologues, and this text was taken over by the Bibles of the second redaction; in the Bibles of the third redaction, the text of the Argumenta was substantially modified or replaced by a new translation. In the Bibles compiled beyond the main evolutionary stream of the Old Czech Bible translations, the Argumenta of the Pauline Epistles were subject to more frequent changes.
The biblical image of man shows the value and the dignity of man, but also his limitation, weakness and insufficiency, so his sinfulness and the need for redemption. Awareness of human limits and sinfulnes in front of God, who is a personal and loves mankind, creates the deepest basis for the affirmation of man himself and the affirmation of another person. The relationship of love to God, man and the world is a fundamental element of the human community.
The article presents a new found Old Czech manuscript fragment of the Gospel of Matthew with Sermons (Evangelium sv. Matouše s homiliemi) from the third quarter of the 14th century (Prague, National Museum Library, shelf mark 1 D a 2/18b). The translation of the Gospel of Matthew, accompanied by sermons, had been previously known from a single manuscript (Prague, National Library, shelf mark XVII A 4, the 1370s) and from the paraphrases of the Gospel of Matthew without sermons in the Old Czech biblical manuscripts (Bible drážďanská, Bible litoměřicko-třeboňská, Bible olomoucká). This paper compares the text of the fragment with those biblical sources. The strip from the parchment folio contains only short passages from Matthew 8 and 9, which are divided into pericopes similarly to the Evangelium sv. Matouše s homiliemi, however, no sermons are included. Therefore this fragment poses new questions about the origin and history of the Gospel of Matthew with Sermons.
Comparative studies of the Bible and the sacred texts of adjacent nations have a rich tradition, but research generally focuses on comparing passages of the biblical text with adequate sacral texts of adjacent nations. However, this approach involves two problems: 1* difference of religious status - the Bible is a living reality, whereas the sacral texts of other ancient nations of the Near East are only relics; 2* form of the writings - the Bible is a uniform work, modified by the conscious acts of communities of faith while the writings of adjacent nations survive to our times only in fragments. The article takes off from a different comparatistic conception. My primary concern is not so much to bring out the similarities or discrepancies between Bible passages and adequate sacral texts of adjacent nations but rather to show the whole canon of the holy scriptures of Israel against the backdrop of the sacred writings of the Region. The comparison is built on two assumptions: 1 * origin and usage; 2* addressee of the text. Therefore, it does not refer to the question of literary genres but first and foremost to the dependencies between the text and the community.
Pascal intuited nothingness very much as did King Solomon in the Bible. He experienced a clear and convincing vision of human being as a mere speck of dust in this enormous and infinite universe. He felt that in the face of eternity we, humans, are powerless and worthless creatures and belong to nothingness indeed. Seeing such powerlessness, helplessness, emptiness, vanity of humankind and tragedy that they bring sufficed Pascal to awaken and to realize nothingness. To add to King Solomon’s words in the Bible ‘vanity of vanity, all is vanity’ Pascal stressed that ‘human is no more than a reed, but a thinking reed’. Pascal was a supporter of the principle of nothingness as he both realized nothingness being the origin of all creation as well as he strove for that infinity. His ideas by far precede the advent of the Big-Bang theory, being the beginning of the world out of nothingness, as well as conform with the description of the world creation from the Bible’s ‘Genesis’. Here, I would like to present Pascal not only in the light of the prevailing view of his dialectics on the Church, but also as a supporter, conscious or not, of the nothingness principle. In European philosophy, the thinkers that are associated with the development of the concept of nothingness are existentialists, the most famous of which were Nietzsche, Heidegger and Sartre to list only a few. However their philosophical systems would never have a chance of being created, if there was no Pascal, who laid the foundations for them long before. By many thinkers Pascal had been looked down upon for his strong attachment to the Church and resulting from his religious belief that casts a shadow on his work. Still, if looked at from the nothingness principle perspective, that work of his cannot be underestimated.
The paper describes a very significant role of Bible translation in the development of the Slavic national languages. The author focuses on the Polish language which in its literary form was shaped in the Middle Ages but its full functional efficiency was reached in the 16th century. Among the medieval relics, the translation of psalms and other Bible passages played a great cultural role. However, the complete Polish translations of the Holy Bible appeared in the 16th century (Biblia Budnego, Leopolity, Wujka). Those renditions enriched the Polish language with a number of new words. Moreover, they provoked a scientific reflection on the Slavic languages. As a result, the author proposes a thesis asserting that the act of Bible philological translations contributed to further linguistic research.
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