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This paper discusses prosperity theology from the perspective of religious studies, arguably one of the most important aspects regarding the history and role of the Yoido Full Evangelical Church (hereinafter: YFGC) in the South Korean Protestant Christian religious tapestry. The current study aims to explore the history and characteristics of prosperity theology using the book titled “Blessed: A History of the American Prosperity Gospel” by Kate Bowler, a Canadian re-searcher with a Protestant theological background. The paper presents the North American context of the formation of prosperity theology from the perspective of spiritual history, history of theology and social history approaches. Furthermore, it maps the ways in which this the-ological tendency reached the Protestant Christian communities of South Korea. Indeed, the encounter of prosperity theology with the traditional Korean religious and cultural context raises many complex theological and religious issues, like the problem of syncretism and heresy. Finally, the study analyses the book of David Yonggi Cho, the leader of the largest charismatic church in South Korea, entitled “The Spiritual World of the Fourth Dimension”.

This paper aims to discover the various problems of the term syncretism, and its definition in anthropology, religious studies and theology in relation to the Korean Protestant inter-denominational discourse. Before being able to evaluate any case or accusation of syncretism within the Korean context, we need to realise, that even the term itself is a widely disputed concept. The first half of this paper examines the various standpoints related to the relevance or irrelevance of the scientific use of syncretism. The second half of the paper aims to shed light on the specific areas of the traditional Korean religiosity found to be in a direct or indirect relation to the Protestant Korean Christianity. The study chose to work through the traditional shamanism of Korea, since it is the tradition, that is most frequently correlated with Korean Christianity. In the last part of the study, the author brings several pro and contra examples regarding the question of the syncretic relation between Korean Protestant Christianity and the local shamanistic traditions. A Korean source-based research is still to be conducted for a more conclusive standpoint on the matter and further research on the question of the terms syncretism, inculturation and indigenization could also yield interesting results.

Job 19,25–27 are probably the most widely known verses from his book. This pericope is often evoked on funeral occasions, and many Christians undoubtedly ponder those while struggling with the issue of death. The current study does not aim to correct the Christian faith. From the perspective of systematic theology, the Redeemer of Job and that of the Christians is the very same Christ. This essay attempts to outline the meaning of the text through linguistic and poetical analysis. A text (including a spontaneous one) informs a reader even by the way it was created. That is emphatically true in case of a writing formed, handed down, redacted in a stabilized version. (Scribal mistakes, of course, cannot be excluded, but until proven let the principle of lectio difficilior be followed.) The present essay strives to understand the meaning of Job’s words about his Restorer, who is able to redeem even when the flesh and the heart are consumed.

Job 29,18 is one of the most disputed verses from this chapter, especially with regard to the meaning of the Hebrew term lwx. This word can be rendered either as ‘palm’ (so, e.g. in the Septuagint and the Vulgate), or ‘sand’ (e.g. Saadiah Gaon), or ‘phoenix’ (e.g. Genesis Rabbah, B.Talmud Sanhedrin). Several Hungarian versions support both ‘sand’ and ‘phoenix’. This article shows that the Massora parva suggest that lwx is an example of talHin /double entendre. This means that the massoretes who fixed the text of the Leningrad Codex probably took for granted that lwx referred to both ‘sand’ and ‘phoenix’ as a bird-name.

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).

This essay applies the method of semantic analysis for biblical metaphors. First it highlights the settled meanings of the lexemes of the metaphors under scrutiny. After establishing the sememes, the analysis focuses on the plain or hidden nominal predicative statement of the metaphor, namely only on the context of the tenor and vehicle, seeking for that conjunctive semes which can help us to understand the chosen metaphor. We can realise that the metaphor’s meaning is not definable, being imagined as a fuzzy set, where some semantic marks (or semes) are highlighted and others remain hidden. The larger context introduces other disjunctive semes too, not alluded to previously, thus enabling different connotations for metaphors.