Peter C.A. Morée

Commemorating in Europe: Along Lines of Separation

Thomas A. Fudge

Saints, Sinners, and Stupid Asses: The Place of Faith in Luther's Doctrine of Salvation

Pavel Hošek

Towards a Dialogical 'Global Theology': Wolfhart Pannenberg and Wilfred Cantwell Smith

Filip Čapek

History and/or Old Testament Theology: The Question of the 'Traditioning Process' from a Prague Perspective

Petr Sláma

Beyond, before, and within the Text of the Bible: On the History and Its Importance for Old Testament Theology: The Case of Slavomil C. Daněk (1885-1946)

György Benyik

Biblical Studies in Hungary Today and in the Past

Márta Cserháti

The Insider/Outsider Debate and the Study of the Bible

Miroslav Varšo

Interest (Usury) and Its Variations in the Biblical Law Codices

Uwe F.W. Bauer

Vom positiven Umgang mit Feinden

Jiří Dvořáček

Book review: Young Sam Chae, Jesus as the Eschatological Davidic Shepherd: Studies in the Old Testament, Second Temple Judaism, and the Gospel of Matthew

Pavel Šuba

Book review: Jon Parkin, Taming The Leviathan: The Reception of the Political and Religious Ideas of Thomas Hobbes in England, 1640-1700

Author:

Peter C.A. Morée

Cite As:

Morée, Peter C A. “Commemorating in Europe: Along Lines of Separation.” Communio Viatorum 50, no. 3 (December 31, 2008): 227–30.

Author:

Thomas A. Fudge

Abstract:

Luther's theology, and his identity as a Christian reformer at the end of the Middle Ages, is predicated upon his understanding of faith. While his concept is rooted in later medieval theological motifs, Luther develops it in a new and revolutionary fashion. The application of Luther's doctrine created a fundamental shift in religious practice. From a history of ideas perspective, a new chapter in the Christian doctrine of salvation emerges. The idea of faith alone (sola fide) represents a radical shift from medieval doctrines and proposes a new approach to religious practice at the dawn of the modern world. In Luther's hands, faith is neither intellectual assent nor adherence to a system of beliefs. Instead, faith is Christ, reality, relation, and dynamic spiritual being. An appreciation of Luther's idea of faith is essential to understanding Luther's theological and religious motivations.

Keywords:

Reformation - Doctrine of Salvation - Luther - Sola Fide.

Cite As:

Fudge, Thomas A. “Saints, Sinners, and Stupid Asses: The Place of Faith in Luther’s Doctrine of Salvation.” Communio Viatorum 50, no. 3 (December 31, 2008): 231–56.

Author:

Pavel Hošek

Abstract:

This article explores similar yet different proposals of Wolffian Pannenberg and Wilfred Cantwell Smith concerning the appropriate theory and framework ofinterfaith relations and dialogue. They both see the contemporary situation of a globalized and globalizing world as an imperative for developing a universal theology of human relatedness to the transcendent mystery. Both understand it as a non-confessional theological hermeneutics of the entire religious history of humankind, which must be done in dialogue and interactive cooperation of people from all religious and cultural backgrounds. But for Pannenberg Christian faith is to be offered as the relatively best candidate for the orienting centre, the anticipation and foretaste of the ultimate end of the religious history of humankind. For Smith Christian faith is the orienting centre of religious history, but may be only for Christians, because of its central function in the Christian cumulative tradition and its corresponding form of faith.

Keywords:

Wolfhart Pannenberg - Wilfred Cantwell Smith - Interreligious dialog.

Cite As:

Hošek, Pavel. “Towards a Dialogical ‘Global Theology’: Wolfhart Pannenberg and Wilfred Cantwell Smith.” Communio Viatorum 50, no. 3 (December 31, 2008): 257–75.

Author:

Filip Čapek

Abstract:

The term "traditioning process " has in Czech Old Testament scholarship from its very beginnings specific referential value which is connected especially with the name of Slavomil Ctibor Danék (1885-1946) who was the first teacher of the Old Testament at the Protestant Theological Faculty of Charles University in Prague. Concerning this "process " Danëk was occupied primarily with 'originar religions data contained in biblical texts. To reach them requires, according to him, to read critically present "canonical" texts against the chronological axis. As a result, astonishingly new insights about theological thought of Israel might be gained. Canonical process serves in Danëk's thinking in the first instance as a line connecting present biblical text with its religiously interesting remote past. Although not that inventive as his preceptor, Milos Bic (1910-2004) pushed forward main bulk of Danëk's ideas. The same applies to Jan Heller (1925-2008) who as compared with Danëk advocates that the result of the discussed process, i. e. the so-called "final form " has its substantial theological importance which should be taken in biblical interpretation as a supreme hermeneutical variable. At the end of the study an opinion is expressed, that the pursued phenomenon of traditioning process ought to be carefully studied in a broader context of contemporary biblical scholarship.

Keywords:

Biblical Studies - Old Testament Studies - Czech Theology - Traditioning Process - Slavomil Ctibor Danék - Milos Bic - Jan Heller.

Cite As:

Čapek, Filip. “History and/or Old Testament Theology: The Question of the ‘Traditioning Process’ from a Prague Perspective.” Communio Viatorum 50, no. 3 (December 31, 2008): 276–84.

Author:

Petr Sláma

Abstract:

In this essay the work of the Old Testament scholar Slavomil C. Daněk is introduced and discussed with particular attention to his relation to history. A contemporary of Walther Eichrodt, he also tried to break down the tyranny of historicism. Unaware of the helpful distinction between the historical and narrative character of the Bible, he sought to find the eternal and therefore timeless Word on the ruins of history. On the other hand, he paid due attention to the historical conditions of the readers' community.

Keywords:

Old Testament - History - Exegesis of Bible - historical criticism - Czech theology - Daněk Slavomil C.

Cite As:

Slama, Petr. “Beyond, before, and within the Text of the Bible: On the History and Its Importance for Old Testament Theology: The Case of Slavomil C. Daněk (1885-1946).” Communio Viatorum 50, no. 3 (December 31, 2008): 285–99.

Author:

György Benyik

Abstract:

This article aims to fill the gap in knowledge in international circles about the tradition of biblical studies in Hungary. The early beginnings go back to the Middle Ages. The Reformation profoundly influences the level of the discipline in the country, which had a large reformed community. Also the 19th and 20th centuries had either an encouraging or a restrictive impact on the state of biblical studies in Hungary. At present scholars are engaged in many projects and participate in the international community of biblical researcher

Keywords:

Biblical Studies - Hungary - History.

Cite As:

Benyik, György. “Biblical Studies in Hungary Today and in the Past.” Communio Viatorum 50, no. 3 (December 31, 2008): 300–312.

Author:

Márta Cserháti

Abstract:

This article explores the signifance and validity of usinemic and/or etic categories in studying biblical texts. Can we use terminology from another (e.g. modern) context to understand somtext or do we have to use only a terminology from the context of thetext itself? The author comes to the conclusion that they do not exclude each other.

Keywords:

Biblical studies - exegesis - emic - epic - anthropology.

Cite As:

Cserháti, Márta. “The Insider/Outsider Debate and the Study of the Bible.” Communio Viatorum 50, no. 3 (December 31, 2008): 313–22.

Author:

Miroslav Varšo

Abstract:

This article discusses the rules and practice for interest and usury in the Old Testament at the background of the practice in Ancient Near East. The example of the biblical Law of not taking interest makes visible how the option for the poor in a religious society is reformulated and reinterpreted and is dependent on the changes that the society undergoes in time and also in the structure of its inner organization.

Keywords:

Biblical Studies - Old Testament - Law of Interest - Usury.

Cite As:

Varšo, Miroslav. “Interest (Usury) and Its Variations in the Biblical Law Codices.” Communio Viatorum 50, no. 3 (December 31, 2008): 323–38.

Author:

Uwe F.W. Bauer

Abstract:

This article discusses four particular texts from the Hebrew Bible which about enemies in a positive way. They do not speak about love for the enemy, but suggest in a practical way how to deal with your enemy in order to live together as good as possible.

Keywords:

Old Testament - Biblical Studies - Hebrew Bible - Enemy - Love.

Cite As:

Bauer, Uwe F W. “Vom Positiven Umgang Mit Feinden.” Communio Viatorum 50, no. 3 (December 31, 2008): 339–47. 

Author:

Jiří Dvořáček

Abstract:

Review of the book: CHAE, Young Sam. Jesus as the Eschatological Davidic Shepherd: Studies in the Old Testament, Second Temple Judaism, and the Gospel of Matthew. Tübingen : Mohr Siebeck, 2006. ISBN: 3-16-148876-8, 978-3-16-148876-4.

Cite As:

Dvořáček, Jiří. Book review: Young Sam Chae, “Jesus as the Eschatological Davidic Shepherd: Studies in the Old Testament, Second Temple Judaism, and the Gospel of Matthew.” Communio Viatorum 50, no. 3 (December 31, 2008): 348–52.

Author:

Pavel Šuba

Abstract:

Review of the book: PARKIN, Jon. Taming the Leviathan: The Reception of the Political and Religious Ideas of Thomas Hobbes in England, 1640-1700. Cambridge : Cambridge Univ Pr, 2007. ISBN: 9780521877350.

Cite As:

Šuba, Pavel. Book review: Jon Parkin, “Taming the Leviathan: The Reception of the Political and Religious Ideas of Thomas Hobbes in England, 1640-1700.” Communio Viatorum 50, no. 3 (December 31, 2008): 353–56.