Református Szemle 108.3 (2015)

In this paper we provide a short semantic analysis of the most important anthropological terms of the Bible. By this analysis we would like to point out that in the biblical anthropological view humans cannot be divided into either two or three parts, but they are unitary beings. What we call flesh (body), soul and spirit (or mind) are not independent substances but rather different aspects of manifestation of the same being. On the one side, we see that terms denoting the soul, body or spirit can also refer the whole man as well. On the other side, the Bible does not provide pure anthropology, because anthropology always appears in the context of other important topics of theology (hamartology, soteriology, etc.).

There are several types of anxiety disorders including generalized anxiety disorder, panic disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder, social anxiety disorder, and specific phobias. While each anxiety disorder has a different set of symptoms describing the disorder, each one involves a certain level of recurring, irrational and excessive fear. Anxiety disorders may cause distress that interferes with a person’s ability to lead a normal life. In this article we will focus on panic disorder and the possibilities of pastoral care. First we will look at panic disorder and some related phobias, such as generalized anxiety disorder, social anxiety disorder, and agoraphobia. We continue with the therapeutic ways of psychiatry and psychotherapy, and will end up, with the special aspects of pastoral care.

Es ist eine Zumutung sondergleichen, die man an jeden, der sich mit Problemen christlicher Ethik beschäftigen will, stellen möchte, folgende zwei Fragen, die ihn überhaupt zur Erörterung ethischer Probleme führten, beantworten zu können. Wie werde ich gut? und Wie kann ich etwas Gutes tun? Auf diese Art formulierte Fragen muß man aber von vornherein als der Sache unangemessen verzichten, und die zwei sehr verschiedenen Fragen sollten in das Licht Gottes Willens gestellt werden um sie beantworten zu können.

Proclaiming equality before the law for denominations by the Statute nr. XX. in 1848, challenged both the churches and the civil rights. In many cases religious freedom goes hand in hand with national identity. This essay aims to review the attitude of the First Hungarian Government (lead by count Lajos Batthyány from March to September 1848) towards the churches of the Hungarian Kingdom at that time. We will follow the historical events, the debates of the Parliament, the interpellations of emblematic characters of the Revolution and Freedom Fighting in 1848–49, using mainly the reports of the newspaper Pesti Hírlap, which became the Official Gazette of the Batthyány-Government in 1848 and the primary source to study and understand the political thinking and liberal attitude concerning equality and freedom of religious faith. Beside the Reformed Church’s perspective, this analysis reviews the implications of these debates for the Roman and Greek Catholic Churches, Greek Orthodox (Eastern) Church and Israelites.

The father, Farkas Bolyai (1775–1856) descends from a very old but impoverished noble family. He studied at the Calvinist colleges of Nagyenyed/Aiud and Kolozsvár. Afterwards, as the mentor of Simon Kemény, he continued his studies at the Göttingen University. There he became a friend of C. F. Gauss. In 1804 F. Bolyai was invited to become a professor of Mathematics, Physics and Chemistry at the Calvinist College of Marosvásárhely/Târgu Mureş, where he taught until his retirement in 1851. He was a famous mathematician who wrote some textbooks, but he was also interested in philology, agriculture, viticulture, medicine, literature, and music. He was a stove builder and a play writer, too. That is the reason he was considered a polymath. His most important mathematical work entitled Tentamen was written in Latin.
From Farkas Bolyai’s first marriage with Zsuzsanna Benkő his first son János Bolyai was born at Kolozsvár (1802–1860). János studied under the direction of his father at the Marosvásárhely Calvinist College, then he was sent to the Military Engineering Academy in Vienna, where he spent five years. After graduating in 1823 he was promoted second- lieutenant and sent to Temesvár/Timişoara. During the next few years he served at Arad, Lemberg/Lviv, Olmütz/Olomouc up to 1833, when he got retired as a captain because of illness. He lived at Domáld/Viişoara and Marosvásárhely until his death. His father introduced János Bolyai into the problem of parallels, the questions connected with Euclid’s XIth Axiom. János contemplated on this problem while he was in Vienna. His letter written on the 3rd of November, 1823 to his father declares that he was able to solve the problem, and that by this he created “a new world”. His study on the parallels was published as an Appendix to his father’s Tentamen (1832). A copy of it was sent to the greatest mathematician of those times, Gauss. He recognized the geniality of the work but only in some private letters. Only towards the end of the century was János Bolyai recognised as the father of the Non-Euclidean Geometry. He is considered the greatest Hungarian mathematician. His cult in Kolozsvár started in 1902 at the centenary of his birth. The birth-house was identified and a memorial plaque was unveiled there. The first Hungarian Bolyai-researchers were professors of the Kolozsvár University.