Wilhelm Dancă
Evanghelizarea şi îndreptarea privirii spre Cristos
The present editorial explains the genesis of the 13th Theological Dialogue magazine edition that takes over the international discussion documents organized by the Roman-Catholic Theological Institute of Iassy during the March 8th and 9th 2004. The great number of participants, their confessional and professional diversity – Catholics and Orthodocs, students and teachers, clerics and lay people – but also the special quality of the conferences and discussions applied to the given themes are the empirical proof of the fact that, in spite of all bets and negative statistics regarding the fate of Christianity in the post-modern period, the world of today is willing to listen to the Gospel. In this case, the evangelizers’ mission consists in the reorientation of post-communist and post-modernist man’s look and existence towards Christ’s mystery.
COMUNICĂRI
Anton Carpinschi
Nevoia de filozofie politică în lumea de astăzi
The need of political philosophy has always been integrated within the horizon of human’s social existence. On the other hand, the present article also wishes to make a short presentation of the laid effort in the common welfare administration, mostly in the modern and nowadays period. Although willing to analyze in what manner the today’s political philosophy still reflects the human needs and the social realities, the author observes that it has become more speculative and reactive than comprehensive and prospective. In consequence, knowing that the new political knowledge’s openings and perspectives depend mostly on the way that the various types of political theories correlate to the modernity’s legacy and to the post modernity challenges, the author’s approach is a methodological one. So there is proposed to outstrip of scientism, of ethics and of historicism, but also there is proposed the rehabilitation of practical philosophy, very good bounded with the philosophical conscience of the opening, of the plurality and complementarity and also with the permanent exercise of the human reflexivity in the aspiration toward wisdom in the common welfare administration.
Alois Gherguţ
Cuvântul sacru şi era consumismului. O abordare psiho-sociologică
An authentic reproposal of the sacred message in the consuming era cannot leave aside the multiple socio-cultural’ transformation endured by the nowadays man. In a clearly psycho-sociological key the author distinguishes the presence of a certain non-balance between the aspiration and the behaviour of the contemporary man. This state of being it is translated concrete by the apparition of new forms of social and psychic enslavements – devices to influence the human belief -, by the desperate chase for earnings, which puts in many times under question the values inherited from generation to generation, and last by the attitude of indifference toward the religious values or by the superficial and emotional perception of the Gospel’s message. The new evangelization must in this case identify and offer a new perspective in the perception and the understanding of divinity, which to make it known and lived according to the socio-cultural conditions of the contemporary society. Only in this way the mind and the heart of many people will be able to be reoriented towards an authentic Christian faith.
Wilhelm Dancă
Omul recent şi noua evanghelizare
Starting from two terms – new and recent –, towards the contemporary spirit has a certain predilection, this study enlarges upon the missionary speech of the Church, situating itself in this manner in an anthropological perspective. The author’s intention, as he confesses, is to show that the raised man within the modern rationalism’s horizon – horizon that has become universal through science and technology – cannot and mustn’t remain only recent. And the evangelization also – which propose itself to take the contemporary man out of the nowadays cultural and religious dead end – cannot and mustn’t remain only new. In the end, the new evangelization it is not only a manner resumed to a simple method or some words. This fight for the world’s soul regards the man’s life itself. It is the renewal of the meeting with the generations’ man that has fallen away from Christ and from the Church. It is this man’s taking out from non-sense, from frustration, from boredom and from despair. It is also the Gospel’s announcing, the good news about Jesus Christ in whom God shows it’s total and true love towards every man. Fully recovered, the man could take himself out of nihilism’s whirlpool, in which everything is relative, evanescent and fragmentary, and will be able to draw back from its memory the substantial things, whether it is about the Christian message or the fundamental elements of the human being.
Gheorghe Petraru
Evanghelizare şi mărturie creştină prin cult
This study is regarding the evangelization function of the liturgical cult, which is the live expression of true Christian faith living. An eventual separation of the liturgical dimension from the Church’s missionary action would make from the evangelization a pure human action or a simple religious ideology. The author structures his speech in two parts. In the first part, a special attention it is given to the evangelization function of the sacred language, the sacred text – brought up to date and paraphrased in the poetical-liturgical Church’s creation, which is considered as the first step in communicating with God. In the second part, the author is referring to the sacramental dimension of the liturgical cult, especially to the Holy mess and to the Eucharist, a participation in time, through the Holy Ghost’s graces, to the eschatological reality of god’s kingdom.
Vladimir Petercă
Noţiunea de sărăcie în Biblie şi în lumea de astăzi
The church has always had the conscience of Christ’s Gospel preaching mission’s universality, of its duty to announce God’s kingdom to all mankind, regardless of social status or material wealth. Knowing the social problems that tare apart the contemporary man’s life, the author wishes to determine the impact and the endings that the new evangelization must have on the society’s lowest parts, especially on the poor and needy ones. First of all, the study concentrates upon the biblical concept’s development of poverty. Following the salvation history, the author presents us the material poverty, especially in the Old Testament period, in which many times the prophets’ demands are real social protests (Am 8.4-6; Michae 3.2-7; Is 3.13-15). After this, the study’s accent moves upon the poverty’s social dimension, especially in the New Testament period. The author analyzes closely the Mountain preach (Matt 5.3) and the story of the foolish rich man (Luke 12.16-21). The poverty becomes in this way the fundamental disposition required to all those who wish to enter in God’s kingdom. In the second part of the article, the author follows the poverty concept in the recent teachings of the Church, especially in pope John Paul the second’s document Ecclesia in Europa and in the emitted document of the SE Europe’s Bishops Conference Poverty: a challenge for the Church. So, in order to receive and to serve the poor ones we must receive and serve Christ itself. This means the duty to announce the Gospel of hope bringing proof that all men are loved equally by God.
Eduard Ferenţ
Noua evanghelizare a Bisericii Romano-Catolice de Iaşi de-a lungul Sinodului Diecezan de la Iaşi (08.12.2001 – 08.12.2004)
The author underlines that, even from its opening, the Iasi’s Roman-Catholic Church’s Synod has proposed itself to assimilate the sacred doctrine of the Second Vatican Council and the teaching of the Pope’s John Paul the second, just as it has been formulated in the twelve speeches pronounced by his Sanctity with the occasion of the apostolically and pastoral visit that he made in Romania during the May 7th -9th 1999. This study analyzes from the dogmatic point of view the stimulus Duc in altum and records that the synod’s motto coincides with the new evangelization of the Iassy’s local Church. This work has been requested by the Pope in the mentioned documents. According to the author, the evangelization means the proclamation that Jesus Christ is the Son of God and human’s Redeemer, proclamation that wishes to lead to the enrichment of man in Christ. After he analyzes the evangelization mission in four paragraphs – the local ecclesial context of the new evangelization; who is the local Church of Iassy; the evangelized and the evangelizator local Church; Mary, the mystic star of the evangelization – the author formulates a conclusion in which he states that during the synod’s period the local Church has became more conscious of the fact that Christ’s self-giving through word and in the Eucharist is really making the Church. The answer to this self-giving of God’s Son is the gratitude towards the local Church, because through the sacraments of initiation administered by this Church, lot of people that lived on the Moldavian land have been introduced into the redeeming mysteries and transformed in missionaries in a forever young world.
Vittorio Possenti
Cambiare la natura umana? Biotecnologie e questione antropologica
The present article analyzes the thesis according to which the modern technologies to improve the physical life postulate an adequate knowledge of the human being and its primordial necessities. After the latest events that occurred in this domain this hard penetrating element has become more problematic. In consequence, the author wishes to look into the significance of the human nature concept, presenting from the philosophical and not from the theological point of view different ways of understanding the concept under discussion. In this case, the reference to Habermas J. and Fukuyama F. seems inevitable. With the help of Habermas we can track the future human nature identification, with a pronounced ethical character. With Fukuyama we can remake the human nature concept in a key that can be called neo-aristotelique. The author’s opinion is that the human nature cannot be changed, even if there can be modified lots of accidental elements from the human being when applying the modern technologies from the medical domain. Also, neither the human and social relations can be influenced: the human person cannot ever be modified in its base structure. Because it is an individualized human nature within a singular entity the person is guarantee of man’s unity. The present article contains some justifications for the thesis above, shortly analyzing the disease and therapy concepts and analyzing a little more the risks that the reduction understanding of a reality’s content can have. In the end the author shows how important it is the correct understanding of the human nature concept in domains such as philosophical anthropology, bio-ethics, and also political, moral and educational sciences.
Flavio Pajer
L’educazione cristiana e il nuovo umanesimo
The author observes that occidental civilization knows a progressive diminution of ethical, religious and symbolical values because it is far away from man and his real needs. In the first part, the author presents different humanism perspectives from the 20th century and points out their partial and sometimes contradictory character. This character is inherited by the post-modern humanism, which represents a true challenge for the Christian education. The post-modernity’s challenge presents more elements: the gathered presence of some visions about the world; the significance loss of a certain type of anthropology and Christian education; the person’s unity which is threatened by a vast set of structural and cultural ruptures (the rupture between progress and the spiritual values, the radical distinction between the public and the private sphere); the lack of Christian acts cultural consistency. In the second part, the author makes evident the necessary conditions to answer man’s moulding challenge in the post-modern period. Here are a few examples of these conditions: the complexity’s criteria assumption, the wisdom growth strategy identification and the answer to the ethical imperative of personal responsibility. In the end, the author takes over the pope’s John Paul the second’s stimulus from the Fides et Ratio encyclical (no. 107) and pleads for a better look deep down in the human being inmost parts, where it is forming the wish for truth and ration.
Wilhelm Müller
Provocările evanghelizării în Asia: cazul Chinei
The Asia’s evangelization is regarded by the author as a challenge for the solemn mission given by Jesus Christ to his apostles. The author also underlines the enormous energies invested in this mission’s realization and the Church’s presence result on the Asian continent. The main historical moments of Asia’s evangelization and China’s especially: the apostolic evangelization through saint Bartholomew and saint Thomas, the Franciscan and Jesuit evangelization through saint Francis Xavier and through Matthew Ricci, and the rites controversy are being presented. The author brings out the actual problematic of Church’s missionary’s activity in China, underlining both the positive aspects that impel the community on the road of Christian faith (churches and sanctuaries, seminaries and monasteries, ways of communication) and painful historical aspects that mark the life of this community (the on-going persecution, the Church’s authority’s crisis and its division in the Peter’s jurisdiction, the stressed diplomatic relations with the Holy See). The evangelization does not encounter difficulties from the other religions part, but contrarily the difficulties are generated by the materialism, by the will of power and moral conscience decay. So the challenge of today’s China evangelization is tight related with the entire world’s Christian faith situation being a provocation for the entire Church’s faith life.
Gerard Njen
A fi creştin şi a fi african
Monsignor Njen presents in an attractive and a full of life style the history and the evangelization situation of Africa. He also tells about the biggest representative men of modern African Christian culture, such as Arinze cardinal and reverend Jean Marc Elá and about his personal experience. Being Christian in the African society of the nowadays world means, above all, to recognize yourself as a Christian, means to love your socio-cultural environment to which you belong, to appreciate its good and bad parts, receiving the Christian legacy, saving it and passing it forward.
