Journal index

In his well-known metaphor, the Book of Hosea describes the relation between YHWH and the people of Israel through the marriage imagery. Contemporary scholarship treats this metaphor in different ways. The diverging interpretations derive, on the one hand, from the dissimilar understandings of the cultic circumstances of Hosea’s age, involve high uncertainty. Moreover, the text of Hosea is regarded as one of the most challenging compositions in the Hebrew Bible. Finally, from a redaction-historical point of view Hosea is again a very complex book that needs careful approach. The most debated question concerning Hosea and the fertility cult seems to be the existence or absence of an institution of sacred prostitution within the ancient world. A decisive conclusion in this regard is impossible at the moment. While recent studies tend to question the existence of this practice, our analysis allows interpreting Hos 4,14 as a description of a sacred prostitute. The proposal that this woman, termed ‎ קְדֵשָׁה, should be regarded as person having a devoted cultic role, is worth considering. Nonetheless, based on the meagre amount of data at our disposal, this study argues that her sexual activity did not stem from this role itself, but from her loose morals and willingness of attracting partners. Within the necessary limits of a case study, the resources and texts reviewed by us hig

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).