Journal index

László Musnai, pastor and theology professor. His work and activity can not be listed into one specific theological area. Considering his basic qualification, he is a New Testament scholar, on which field he has written his phd thesis. But if we look at his other books and publications we can say, that he is as good in Bible-translating or in church history, as in biblical studies. As far as his social and educational activity is concerned, he was a prominent church leader and appreciated teacher as well. So, he did not isolate himself into the ivory tower of science, but took an active part of the everyday life wherever his calling brought him to. With a vast life and scientific experience he was wholeheartedly committed to the Hungarian Reformed Church in Transylvania in general, and to the Gábor Bethlen middle school in particular. His example should be a guiding star for each of us.

On one occasion Jung asked the awkward question: how can a theologian, who really believes in God, affirm that God does not speak trough dreams? Indeed, may one seriously assert that God corrects, rebukes and encourages us through dreams in these days too? Can dreams help us in tomes of crisis, for instance, in the mourning process? In this paper, we attempt to answer those questions based on the experts of the subject, and taking into consideration the authority of the Bible.

In Calvin’s eschatological reflection the intermediate state of the believer is of primary importance. After death the soul leaves body, the body (and only the body) falls into sleep, the soul, however, rests by God. The perfect happiness of the soul is not diminished by the fact that in this intermediate state one still has to wait for the resurrection. Although Calvin uses platonic terminology in order to clarify his ideas, the scriptural content usually overwrites this platonic terminology. The prudence, ingenuity, critical acumen, erudition, and biblical thinking of Calvin make his eschatological cogitations worthy of (re)considering for his 21st century readers, too.

Die Wirklichkeit der göttlichen Stimme schafft im Verkünder des Wortes, der dem Wort vollständig ausgehändigt ist, unauflösbare Spannung, die nicht einmal eine sachgemäße Ausle­gung auf der Kanzel auflösen kann. Fünfhundert Jahre nach der Reformation konnten wir Prediger es sogar als Provokation auffassen, die wir das Ereignis von dem Handeln Gottes er­ warten. Das Ziel der Predigt, als Ereignis, ist jedes Mal Gott im Alltag zu erleben. Die Erwar­tung —das Ereignis —die Erfahrung, dieser Dreier drückt gut die Geschichte des Ereignisses der Predigt aus. In diesen drei Schritten wird ausgedrückt was Gott tut, was mit dem Men­schen geschieht, und wie der handelnde Mensch auf Gottes Tun reagiert.

The scholarly literature on Protestant education agrees that the delimitation of the main principles of the public educational system of the reformed congregations is strongly related to the name of Philipp Melanchton. The “preceptor of Germany”, as he came to be known, considered that the aim of education is to assume personal responsibility. Defining the purpose of reformed education in Transylvania was postponed to the 17th and 18th centuries, when the public educational system searched for its own rationales. The current study presents a short historical overview of this period.

Before the Barthian theology questioning the significance of rhetorics for homiletics has come to influence Hungarian Reformed theological thinking, László Ravasz (1882—1975) had emphasised the importance of aesthetical experience in preaching. Decades long the influence of Karl Barth remained one of the most determining factors in the Hungarian Reformed preaching tradition. Nowadays when the theory of Gerhard Schulze about social experience is increasingly gaining acceptance in several domains of social sciences, the Hungarian reformed theological thinking is again interested in using rhetorics as a helpful tool for homiletics. In this study I search for the significance o f rhetorics for homiletics.

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.

This article is concerned with the question of dichotomy and trichotomy of the human person. Following an earlier semantic analysis of biblical terms (published in Református Szemle 105.3 (2015)), the present paper introduces the reader into the significance of theological anthropology for the most important authors of the Early Church.

Am Beginn des Aufsatzes (1) wird der Begriff „Toleranz“ im kurzen geschichtlichen Kontext vorgelegt und Unterschied gemacht zwischen inhaltlicher und formaler Toleranz. Nachher wird die Toleranz in den Religionen des Alten Orients —im religionsgeschichtlichen Kontext —geschildert (2—3). Im folgenden Abschnitt (4) wird die heute als Toleranz verstandene zwischen­ menschliche Verhaltensweise vorgestellt. Im 5. Kapitel wird der Begriffunter dem Titel „Der Fremde in Israel,“ nachher (6) „Israel in der Fremde“ dargestellt. Im letzten Abschnitt (7) wird das Thema kurz zusammengefasst.

In his epigrams, Gregory of Nazianzus time and again speaks about the dead ones as sleepers. In this paper we examine the Greco-Roman and biblical background of this well-known ‘sleeping of death’-theme, and we conclude that the sleeping of death in Gregory’s usage is nothing more than an eschatologically neutral literary platitude.

This paper concludes that within the moral philosophy of Jankélévitch, the problem of forgiveness is ambiguous; or rather the author has an ambiguous attitude towards forgiveness. His point of view also has shortcomings that are due to the deficiencies of his metaphysics, his anthropology, his image of God and his interpretation of death. The God of Jankélévitch is creative energy, eternal acting goodness and love, but it is not a person and does not personally know its creations. It does not rule, does not enter into a covenant, does not bring redemption at the cost of its own heartbreak, does not judge sins and does not forgive them, does not speak, does not give commandments, does not conquer death, does not resurrect the dead, and does not offer eternal life. So the imperative of forgiveness is not —cannot —be supported by faith.

Der Aufsatz behandelt die theologischen, hermeneutischen und wissenschaftsgeschicht­lichen Grundfragen der Bibelexegese. Warum bedarf die Bibel einer Interpretation, und warum soll sie wissenschaftlich sein? Nach diesen Fragen wird die historisch-kritische Exegese defi­niert, sie als die weithin geeignetste Methode für die Auslegung von biblischen Texten aufge­zeigt und die Rolle der strukturalistischen, leser-zentrierten und adjektivischen Methoden auf das Feld der Homiletik zugewiesen. Nach der Klärung der Unterschiede zwischen Exegese und Predigt(schreiben) stellt der Aufsatz die theologischen Grundlagen einer positiven Beziehung zwischen historisch-kritischer Exegese und christlichem Glauben vor. Schlüsselwörter: Heilige Schrift, biblische Hermeneutik, Bibelexegese, Exegese des Alten Tes­taments, Exegetische Methodenlehre, Inspiration, Fehlbarkeit/Unfehlbarkeit der Schrift.

In diesem Beitrag möchte ich auf folgende Frage eine Antwort geben: In welchem Masse hat der Briefschreiber des Epheserbriefes (ein Schüler von Paulus) den Hauptgedanken von Paulus aus dem Römerbrief 3,21—30, bzw. dem Galatherbrief 2,15—21 bezüglich der Rechtfertigung des Menschen durch Gottes Gnaden bewahren? Anders: Welche Wirkungsgeschichte hat die soteriologische Lehre des Paulus in den deuteropaulinschen Briefen, besonders im Brief an die Epheser?

In the background of the increasingly popular group dynamics one should be aware of the loosening ties within the communities of the modern society. The essence of a small group is that it enables special, experimental and interpersonal learning. Their efficiency as live, open systems can be measured in the existential change of the personality. In our analysis we examine cases of adaptation to the church life at the level of complex ecclesial communal events.Studying the Bible in small groups is a genuine heritage of the Reformation, although it had taken centuries to be considered socially relevant. According to the pastoral-psychiatric practices, the most proper “social sphere” of repentance as the existential spiritual change of the personality is provided by the Bible-study groups. Group-phenomena such as group-cohesion, altruism, wholeness, dynamic balance can be matched very well to the spiritual qualities of the church as a unity of the living body of Christ. Group dynamical process will facilitate a live and fresh ecclesial life. Church services as moderated large-groups are to provide social integration for the Christians through concentric circles. Through the internalisation of a consensus-able dialogue-culture the ecclesial communities would be enabled to formulate a community model based on the love of Christ. To assign proper place of dialogic Bible study, the importance of groups should be increased within the system of church services and complex ecclesial occasions.

This lecture analyses the engaging effect ofJesus’ commissioning of his disciples on the function and ministry of the presbyters. Moreover, it sketches several modalities of cooperation between ministers and presbyters in building up together a concordant congregational life.

Die Studie gibt einerseits die Rezension einer beachtlichen deutschen Literaturgeschichte der vergangenen Jahre (Schlaffer, Heinz: Die kurze Geschichte der deutschen Literatur. Carl Hauser Verlag, München-Wien 2002), andererseits zählt sie aber auch die wichtigsten Parallelen und Unterschiede in der ungarischen Literaturgeschichte auf. Schlaffer meint, dass die Wurzeln der deutschen Literatur in erster Linie zur protestantischen Traditionen, besonders zum Pietismus zurückzuführen sind. Der Rezensent begrüßt die neuartige Auffassung der Literatur von Heinz Schlaffer, die seiner Meinung nach auch der ungarischen Literaturgeschichtsschreibung erfrischende Impulse geben kann.

This article considers the theme of politics from the perspective of Dan 4. YHWH gives people power of which they can take advantage. This power is controlled and judged by YHWH, who, on his turn, looks for human representatives who understand His will. The tree surrounded by a band (Dan 4:12) points to the possibility of perseverance in the judgment, which is proclaimed by means of human agents. Anyone dreaming of a better policy has to be-come YHWH’s servant which requires humility and obedience.