Petr Sláma

Notes from the coasts of Bohemia or Doing theology amidst violence

Ondřej Macek

I will not let you go, unless you bless me (Gen. 32:26)

Imre Peres

Hermeneutic Modalities in the Exegesis and Theology of Petr Pokorný

Maria Horyacha

The Ukrainian Orthodox Churches in the Crucible of War

Jobst Reller

Dietrich Bonhoeffers „religionslose“ Evangelisation: Formate seiner ökumenischen Spiritualität und die Oxfordgruppenbewegung

Olena Chemodanova

Book review: Robert Collins, Global Tensions in the Russian Orthodox Diaspora

Author:

Petr Sláma

Abstract:

Editorial

Citation:

SLÁMA, Petr. "Notes from the coasts of Bohemia or Doing theology amidst violence." Communio Viatorum. 2023, vol. 65, issue 2, pp. 99-101.

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.14712/00103713.2023.2.1

published: 01.11.2023

Author:

Ondřej Macek

Abstract:

In this article I point out the possibilities of a blessing in a society which does not look favourably upon religious institutions and traditions. Across history and religions, people come to realize that they are only partially able to provide for their own well-being and secure the foundations of their lives. They therefore need hope, love, energy for a good life, and a protective and invigorating force: in other words, blessings. The Bible sees blessing as an expression of continuous divine action. By their willingness to be blessed, the blessed confess their trust in God and present their needs to Him. A blessing can be part of a ritual game that helps structure life in an unstructured reality. A blessing is a space for an encounter between God and people, but also for their encounter with tradition.

Keywords:

blessing, secularization, ritual, liminality, blessing as a commitment, gesture of faith

Citation:

MACEK, Ondřej. "I will not let you go, unless you bless me (Gen. 32:26)." Communio Viatorum. 2023, vol. 65, issue 2, pp. 102-113.

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.14712/00103713.2023.2.2

published: 01.11.2023

Author:

Imre Peres

Abstract:

Petr Pokorný (1933-2020) was a long-time professor of New Testament at the Evangelical Theological Faculty of Charles University in Prague. He authored a number of books and studies in which he dealt directly and indirectly with hermeneutical issues important for the proper understanding and reliable interpretation of the biblical text. In 2005, in collaboration with 12 other authors, he published a kind of hermeneutical compendium, or rather a modality of the hermeneutical approach to Scripture, entitled Hermeneutics as a Theory of Understanding from Basic Questions of Language to the Interpretation of the Bible (508 pages). Part of Pokorný's Hermeneutics (pp. 17-215) was published in 2011 in the English translation Hermeneutics as a Theory of Understanding. Pokorný did not intend to present the traditional history of hermeneutics or to create a foundational theoretical work. As he notes, he was initially inspired by Paul Ricoeur and his hermeneutical practice, but developed his own stance based on his own understanding of the problems of interpreting Scripture and his critical reflections. He admits that he does not address some of the issues of hermeneutics and that there are several ways to process the material of hermeneutics. Therefore, his work can be considered as hermeneutic modalities rather than a finished compact hermeneutic work. Nevertheless, in Professor Pokorný we can read a lot of useful and rich material from different areas of hermeneutics, such as: Language as a coding system, symbol and metaphor, text between tradition and future, reader and text, genre, various methods of interpretation, strangeness and attractiveness of texts, history and revelation, revelation and testimony, etc. Based on this hermeneutical set and other exegetical works, the reviewer attempts to highlight these modalities and provide a definable picture of Pokorný hermeneutical approaches and procedures.

Keywords:

Biblical exegesis; Biblical hermeneutics; Interpreting Bible; Petr Pokorný

Citation:

PERES, Imre. "Hermeneutic Modalities in the Exegesis and Theology of Petr Pokorný." Communio Viatorum. 2023, vol. 65, issue 2, pp. 114-128.

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.14712/00103713.2023.2.3

published: 01.11.2023

Author:

Maria Horyacha

Abstract:

The article examines the main transformations in Ukrainian Orthodoxy over the past few years, with a special focus on the position of Orthodox Churches in Ukraine after the outbreak of Russia's full-scale war against Ukraine. Tracing the course of events in the Orthodox Churches in Ukraine over the last year of the war, the author shows how the war accelerated the irreversible process of separation of Ukrainian Orthodoxy from the Russian Orthodox Church and their withdrawal from Moscow's influence. Taking into account the moods in the Churches, Ukrainian society and the involvement of the state in this process, she considers possible scenarios for the development of events in the near future, assesses their probability and tries to project the most likely one. Pointing out the advantages and disadvantages, dangers and outcomes of each of these scenarios, the author concludes that the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate, if it does not radically change its course and continues to maintain ties with the Moscow Patriarchate, is destined to gradual decline in Ukraine, while the Orthodox Church of Ukraine under the jurisdiction of the Ecumenical patriarchate has a great chance of growing and eventually obtaining recognition of its autocephaly in the Orthodox world.

Keywords:

war, the Orthodox Church of Ukraine, the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, the Moscow Patriarchate, “the Russian world”.

Citation:

HORYACHA, Maria. "The Ukrainian Orthodox Churches in the Crucible of War." Communio Viatorum. 2023, vol. 65, issue 2, pp. 129-165.

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.14712/00103713.2023.2.4

published: 01.11.2023

Author:

Jobst Reller

Abstract:

Dietrich Bonhoeffer (1906–1945), made a martyr by the Nazi German regime in 1945, is still widely read because of his ideas: the proclamation of Christian faith in a non-religious comprehen-sive worldly way, a Bible oriented spirituality of silence, confession with a political horizon. In Norwegian sources the profile of the US based Oxford Group Movement, founded by the Lutheran pastor Frank Buchman (1878–1961; later: Moral Rearmament, today: Initiatives of Change) has been identified as an influential revival movement appe-aling to political elites in Europe in the 1930’s. The article tries to show to which extent Bonhoeffer may have shaped his ideas on preaching and spirituality in confrontation with Buchman’s movement. The Nor-wegian author Ronald Fangen (1895–1946) plays a substantial role for the profile of the Oxford Group Movement in Norway.

Keywords:

Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Religion, Spirituality, Oxford Group Movement, Frank Buchman, confession, silence, preaching, comprehensiveness, Ronald Fangen, Sven Stolpe

Citation:

RELLER, Jobst. "Dietrich Bonhoeffers „religionslose“ Evangelisation: Formate seiner ökumenischen Spiritualität und die Oxfordgruppenbewegung." Communio Viatorum. 2023, vol. 65, issue 2, pp. 166-193.

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.14712/00103713.2023.2.5

published: 01.11.2023

Author:

Olena Chemodanova

Citation:

CHEMODENOVA, Olena. "Book review: Robert Collins, Global Tensions in the Russian Orthodox Diaspora." Communio Viatorum. 2023, vol. 65, issue 2, pp. 194-201.

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.14712/00103713.2023.2.6

published: 01.11.2023