Református Szemle 107.3 (2014)

In Israel’s theological understanding the idea that YHWH is a God, who makes promises, is a rather central element. Among the numerous promises of YHWH there is none as influential to Israel’s self-understanding as the promise of the occupation of the land of Canaan. The theme of the Promised Land is prominent from the beginning to the end of the Old Testament theological thought. The development of the theology of the Promised Land in the Old Testament – from promise to inheritance and from losing to regaining it – raises the relevant question: In what sense was the promise of the Land fulfilled in the Old Testament? Or to put it another way: In what sense did the ancient Israelites inherit the Promised Land? The purpose of this paper is to study the topic of the promise of the Land from a historical, source-critical point of view, in order to understand the development and changing theological perspectives in this central theological theme of the Old Testament.

In the current study we present the conclusions of a research conducted in 2012 investigating the attitude of Reformed communities in Sf. Gheorghe towards people with disabilities. It is obvious that Reformed congregations are insufficiently informed about the situation and the possibilities of people living with disabilities. Disabled people are absent from the congregations and their integration into the community is still a problem to be solved. By presenting the current regrettable situation, we would like to sensitise the Reformed congregations and en-courage them to take initiatives for the amelioration of the situation.

This paper focuses on the early period of the reformer’s ministration, who was a very learned teacher, pastor and theologian at Geneva and Strasbourg. In these places he implemented his theological and ethical convictions against the destructive works of the Anabaptist radicals. Due to the persistently growing popularity of their heretical ideas concerning Christian baptism, church discipline, the Lord’s Supper, separation from the world, civil authority, and oaths, after the publication of his so called Psychopannychia (1534) and the Institutes (1536), Calvin had to continue his polemic fight against the left wing of the reformation. It is by no means surprising that Calvin’s works of 1537–1544 – for instance The Genevan Confession and Catechism,The Articles and the Brief Instruction for Arming all the Good Faithful against the Errors of the Common Sect of the Anabaptists – are full of religious and moral refutations opposing those whose beliefs were based on the “hated” articles of Confessio Schlattensis.

This sermon of the famous professor, based on the text of John 14:1, is hardly familiar for readers of Hungarian theological literature. However, it is known that a Hungarian summary was made at the time the sermon was held, and once published, an exact translation of the German text was made. Our aim is to review Barth’s visit to Oradea (Nagyvárad) on 7–8 October 1936, to revisit the above mentioned sermon, as well as the short interview with Barth that was published in one of the local newspapers at that time. This interview reflects Barth’s prophetic vision: Bolshevism and fascism must retreat at the sight of Christian faith. There is no trace of this conversation in the Barth-bibliographies, although this interview is still crucial,even after 78 years.

In the year 1859 the French Alphonse Esquiros made this remark in his itinerary: “Holland is one of the most religious countries of the earth; the Bible is really popular there.” In my lecture I outline the history of the personal and family reading of the Bible in the Netherlands during the last 5 centuries, including the current situation.Notable new research showed that in the Late Middle Ages in urban regions, in Holland as well, the Bible was spread in the national languages in wide circles of the society and was read among literate laymen. The Reformation built on this broadly recognisable interest or even hunger for the knowledge of the Bible. With the help of the newly discovered technique of printing and school teaching, and due to the fundamental reorientation of religious life through the Reformation – the Christian faith having only one source: the Bible – an intensive personal and family reading of the Bible began.