Journal index

Authenticity as a way of being has been considered one of the defining concepts of a minister’s life. The current lecture aims to pinpoint three major issues related to this subject, namely authenticity in a minister’s relation to the Word, to the organization and to himself/herself. This presentation can more appropriately be regarded as a summary of a professional life rather than a full-fledged scientific enquiry. It aims to provide an opportunity to reflect on one’s human and professional credibility.

After the death of Stalin the church policy of the communist states formerly belonging to the Soviet bloc began to change gradually. In 1955 Áron Márton, a Roman Catholic bishop sentenced to death, was released from prison, and many other priests, monks and ministers were freed. Hungarian Protestant churches in Romania were allowed to contact sister churches in Hungary and the world. Following a simplified administrative procedure for obtaining passports, people were allowed to travel abroad and build relationships. Romanian citizens became aware of the unease and dissatisfaction towards the political system in Hungary. The events of the 1956 Revolution were followed mostly through the radio, and Hungarians in Romania have openly expressed their sympathy, especially university students and students of theology. They openly opposed the official propaganda labelling the Hungarian uprising as counter-revolution. After the revolution in Hungary was suppressed, the Romanian state power also retaliated. In the first period the Hungarian clergy were mingled especially in other kind of political issues. Then, after 1958, several explicitly church oriented suits followed. Four lawsuits against 26 Protestant theological students, ministers and theology professors. In three so-called Bethanist-cases 21 ministers and church members were found guilty. 15 further church members were convicted in show trials, in many cases based on their attitude towards the 1956 Revolution. These trials were part of an anti-religious propaganda started in 1957, but in a larger context they were intended to intimidate the Hungarian ethnic people. They intended to create a context of fear, in which the communist power could take the initiative to liquidate the autonomous Hungarian university and undergraduate school system, and in which, by means of his own delegated church representatives, could intervene and control the church from within.

We are always seeking for the sense of the life, for ourselves and for the place in our family and community. Religion shows a new way to us, according to Jesus Christ’s principles. The son of God not only created a religion, but gave us an example how to live, and sacrifice himself for us. Sándor Karácsony reckons religion as a spiritual behavior, the base of our social contacts. We have to see into our lives and character according to the message of Jesus Christ. The right and appropriate personality can be evolved by individual training.

The views of Sándor Karácsony about religious education can be clearly discerned from his writings. The main task of reformed pedagogy is to activate continuously the divine notions in this continuously changing world. Protestant teachers must accomplish their daily work according to the Gospel of Christ. The Hungarian Reformed Church was a so-called “church of schools” for hundreds of years. This means that even between WWI and WWII it owned more schools than churches. The number of Reformed schools is significant even today. Sándor Karácsony claims that only Reformed people and communities are able to maintain Reformed schools by people who “are ready to serve and sacrifice themselves” for this cause (Karácsony, Sándor: A magyarok Istene. Széphalom Könyvműhely, Budapest 2004, 172).

Walter Jens, die hervorragende Gestalt des deutschen literarischen und kulturellen Lebens weist in seiner vielseitigen Tätigkeit eine reiche Verbindung zwischen Theologie und Literatur auf. In dieser Studie möchten wir ihn von einer speziellen Seite vorstellen und zwar anhand sei-ner Tätigkeit als Bibelübersetzer. Welchen Quellen, Methoden und welchem Stil folgt er in seiner Übersetzung und warum? Gelingt sein Anliegen, das Hörerlebnis der ersten Jesus-Anhänger authentisch durch seine Übersetzung uns heute zu vermitteln? Welche Verbindung hat er mit der Übersetzung von dem großen Vorfahren Luther?