Journal index

In the first part of the essay, we summarise the constitutive elements of the concept of justification in the Reformation. These elements are the iustitia Christi aliena, Jesus’ substitutionary atonement as historical basis, Calvin’s unio mystica cum Christo and Luther’s “happy exchange”, the concept of sola fide, the principle that “faith is not a merit” and the “true faith contains true knowledge as well”, the forensic context of justification, imputatio is not infusio, the sharp distinction between justification and sanctification, the truth of simul iustus et peccator, the justification as existential experience and the adoption of all believers. In the second part, we inquire how Paul Tillich, in his Systematic Theology, reinterprets the concept of justification compared to the classic authors of the Reformation. It will be shown that Tillich basically changes the cognitive content of justification. The essay does not address the historical development of the concept of justification from Luther to Tillich, but concentrates only on the comparison of Tillich and the theology of the Reformation.

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.

Paul Tillich reinterpreted Christology along the lines of the method of correlation. We need to ask whether this gigantic enterprise has indeed succeeded in preserving Christianity in its original form. I attempt to prove that a significant discrepancy exists between orthodox and Tillichian theology, especially with respect to dealing with the issue of the historical Jesus, the use of ontological concepts and “incarnation”. I therefore set forth the following observations: 1. Tillich mistakenly sets the reality of faith against fides historica and restricts the latter to just one dimensionless point. 2. The ontological concepts employed by Tillich contain contradictions and are unable to adequately express the infinite, qualitative differences between Christ and other human beings. 3. Tillichian Christology misinterprets the dogma of Chalcedon and is a modern, ontological version of Nestorianism.

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).