There have been many changes in the organisational structure, leadership style, and divisional groups of the Christian Church that form their own identity and brand. For each group, sect and denomination, the methods used differ widely. Musical instruments were also introduced into church worship over time. While many of these organisations have maintained the foundational message of Christ, many have begun to adopt newer technology to communicate
both internally and externally about their ministry. Smartphones are ubiquitous, and they are an advancement in new media technology, particularly with the introduction of the Internet. The internet and WEB 2.0 applications made it possible for smartphones to emerge. As internet speeds increased, the experience of accessing information became more seamless. Making
the gospel message visual and sharing it over social media through the use of smartphones allows the gospel message to reach a wider audience in a shorter period of time. When God spoke to Moses, he communicated with him visually. Through his prophets like Hosea 12:10, Numbers 12:6 and Isaiah 1:1 he also used visions, dreams, and the spoken word. The Bible also mentions an increase in knowledge, and new media innovations are part of that process.
As a result, this paper investigated the use of smartphones to share messages during church services and whether such usage is a digital distraction. This paper employed a qualitative secondary data analysis as well as focus groups with pastors and congregational members. This paper was conceptualised using the Uses and Gratification Theory (UGT) which is essentially an audience-centered approach to understanding mass communication. According to the findings, appropriate smartphone use can be a very effective communication device;
however, not everyone uses them correctly. It is clear that new media is constantly evolving, and it would be advantageous for the local church to intentionally use smartphones to engage in ministry and share the gospel message. As a further study, it would be interesting to conduct
comparative research on the use of smartphones and social media among other religious groups.
Maria Tania Oktaviani Pelita Peda Hella, Grace Purnamasari Christian
The role of the teacher as a guide is expected in leading students in the class, not only in knowledge but also in all aspects of education. The role of a teacher as a guide must be to guide a student to understand and to do the will of the Lord in his or her life. Teachers must be able to guide students to experience the changes and growth that meet the educational purposes. The teacher's role as a guide in performing his or her role requires a student's response in learning. However, the fact is that in learning there are students who participate less actively in the classroom and hinder the learning process. This paper aims to analyse the role of Christian teachers as guides in building students' active participation in the classroom through a literature review. One strategies offered to solve the problem is is through the application of the learning method or media. It could be concluded that the teacher's role as a guide is essential in showing love, leading students to Christ, and encouraging the students’ active participation the goal of learning. The writer's advice for the next researcher is to make direct and thorough research possible so that the teacher can perform his/her role as a guide.
BAHASA INDONESIA ABSTRACT: Peran guru sebagai pembimbing sangat diharapkan dalam membimbing murid-murid di kelas, tidak hanya dalam aspek pengetahuan tetapi juga dalam semua aspek pendidikan. Peran guru sebagai pembimbing haruslah membimbing murid untuk mengerti dan melakukan kehendak Tuhan dalam hidupnya. Guru harus dapat membimbing murid untuk mengalami perubahan dan pertumbuhan yang sesuai dengan tujuan pendidikan. Peran guru sebagai pembimbing dalam menjalankan perannya membutuhkan respon siswa dalam belajar. Namun, faktanya dalam pembelajaran terdapat siswa yang kurang berpartisipasi aktif di dalam kelas dan menghambat proses pembelajaran. Makalah ini bertujuan untuk menganalisis peran guru agama Kristen sebagai pemandu dalam membangun partisipasi aktif siswa di dalam kelas melalui kajian literatur. Salah satu strategi yang ditawarkan adalah melalui penerapan metode atau media pembelajaran. Dapat disimpulkan bahwa peran guru sebagai pembimbing sangat penting dalam menunjukkan kasih, menuntun siswa kepada Kristus dan mendorong partisipasi aktif siswa sebagai tujuan pembelajaran. Saran penulis untuk peneliti selanjutnya adalah untuk melakukan penelitian secara langsung dan menyeluruh agar guru dapat menjalankan perannya sebagai pembimbing.
Christianity, Practical religion. The Christian life
Imam Kanafi, Harapandi Dahri, Susminingsih Susminingsih
et al.
Radicalism and Islamic phobia have the potential to cause conflict amongst religious communities so that it needs social movements in building religious moderation. This study aims to understand and analyse the Ahlussunnah Waljamaah theology in the six largest Islamic community organisations in Indonesia in implementing religious moderation. This study uses a qualitative method with a phenomenological approach. Data obtained from interviews, observations and in-depth interviews regarding the process of externalising, objectifying and internalising the theology of Ahlusunnah Waljamaah in Nahdlatul Ulama, Rifa’iyah, Muhammadiyah, Al-Irsyad, Lembaga Dakwah Islam Indonesia and Front Pembela Islam organisations. Then, the data were analysed through social construction theory of Peter L. Berger and T. Luckman. The results show that the six largest Islamic community organisations in Indonesia apply Ahlussunnah Waljamaahs theology. Those Islamic community organisations differently understand the externalisation of Ahlussunnah Waljamaah theology based on its teaching. Thus, it has implications for Aswaja’s model of application (objectification) in the fields of state, preaching, social and cultural life. Aswaja’s internalisation is reflected in the moderate character of the figures and followers of mass organisations in Indonesia. The Islamic community organisations contribute to build Islamic moderation character by applying an established and consistent theology of Ahlussunnah Waljamaah in various fields.
Contribution: This article provides insight into the contribution of Ahlussunnah Waljamaah’s theology in establishing moderate Islam in Indonesia. It contributes to build Islamic moderation’s character by applying an established and consistent theology of Ahlussunnah Waljamaah in various fields.
La mística cristiana tiene su vértice en la relación recíproca Gloria (Resurrección) y Cruz, cuyo fruto es la verdadera alegría del cristiano que es la alegría pascual y su compromiso en el mundo. Hans Urs von Balthasar ha expresado esta intuición fundamental en su magna obra Gloria: Una estética teológica y ha formulado esta perspectiva a la luz de su encuentro con la mística conversa Adrienne von Speyr. Su teología se ha nutrido, en gran parte, de los coloquios con esta mística basilense. A los veinte años de su fallecimiento, explorar esta cuestión resulta decisivo para comprender mejor su teología.
The current technological and scientific developments of the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) signal great leaps in human intellect and creativity. At the crossroad of great steps into the future, a future that will be determined by science and innovation, the smeared bond between theology and science recoils upon theological consideration of human intellect. Black liberation theology has stressed a change in paradigm, which takes oppression, class and intellect seriously. This research seeks to elaborate that a general acceptance of human intellect and science tends to ignore that modern-day science is part of Western civilisation. The Western world view remains dominant in the world. It will be argued that while the 4IR is important, the intellect, politics, economics and need for a 4IR, however, remain synonymous with the need of the West to ‘civilise’ the world. Institutions such as the World Economic Forum are Western institutions and still represent the goals of Western civilisation. This article argues that great leaps in science must be measured by the Christian church’s commitment to eschatology and a building of an egalitarian society on earth. The article seeks to explore if the notion of a black church can be instrumental in the 4IR for focusing on the human condition and humanity of the oppressed in Africa and Latin America. The article argues that the church’s role is to witness great change in society and it must be prepared to actively respond to great societal change posed by the 4IR.
Contribution: This article focuses on theology and the Fourth Industrial Revolution, as such, cutting across disciplines. This allows engagements to occur in all disciplines, proving the relevance of theology today. The contribution of this research is its emphasis on the role of theology within techno-political development.
This article studies a note in the Middle Arabic language found before the Book of Job in the second volume of the earliest copy of the complete Arabic Bible kept in the collection of the Institute of Oriental Manuscripts of the Russian Academy of Sciences. This note, the author of which is unknown, deals with the seizure by the Roman Catholics of those Holy Places in Jerusalem and Bethlehem which belonged to the Greek Orthodox; the seizure was made with consent from the Ottoman authorities. This event, which in fact happened in 1690, is in the note erroneously dated two years earlier. In 1922, the text of the note was published by Archimandrite Elij ah from Alexandria in a considerably edited version in accordance with the rules of Classical Arabic grammar. This edition was carried out on the basis of an inaccurate copy taken in 1908 from the above-mentioned manuscript of the Arabic Bible which at that time was kept in the monastery of Balamand near Tripoli in Northern Lebanon. As a result, the content of the note was distorted in certain places, which aff ected its Greek and French translations. In this article, the original text of the note is published for the first time. The publication is accompanied by a Russian translation and commentaries. It identifies all political and church fi gures mentioned in the note, including the ambassador of France hidden under the nickname of Zamaria (in all probability, a distorted form of ce marquis).
La investigación se presenta, ya como un intento de aproximación "desde lo minucioso", que se parece, como-técnica, a la investigación de la señal mínima, a veces señal clave de complicados procesos; ya como un intento "binario" al considerar un mismo (¿análogo?, ¿ dependiente ?) concepto sobre dos frentes terminológicos de "palabras diversas, para agarrar su significado específico y su diseño global casi en un claroscuro.(...).
Through baptism the new Christian is born of water and immersed in the resurrection of Christ. This paper addresses, firstly, the liturgical dimension of the act of faith, according to the studies of the Bavarian theologian. This reviving immersion influences all the dimensions of the person: from the cognitive to the ethical, without forgetting the relational and emotional ones. After this, the social and communitarian dimension of the act of faith is emphasized, which introduces us into a believing and saving community. Finally, the author reminds us of the effects, such as the light and joy that the believer experiences after becoming aware of the baptism received. Being the common patrimony of all Christians, the first of the sacraments constitutes a good bridge and starting point for ecumenical dialogue, as the Second Vatican Council recalls (cf. UR 22).
This paper studies what chapters become when they are adapted into sequences of films or series. I focus on the widely popular adaptations of Harry Potter and A Song of Ice and Fire. This type of adaptation calls into question the distinction between episode as a part of an unfinished whole, and chapter as a part of a complete opus. Adapting chapters into a film requires eliminating a lot of details, but also expanding on the main events, especially at the end. Adapting a chapter into an episode requires a change in rhythm and composition as well: chapters are condensed into short, two minutes sequences, and combined in a montage which makes characters and storylines alternate much more tightly. Chapters and episodes thus differ in rhythm and content, but this distinction is blurred when we examine their function in the overall structure: both provide an incomplete closure, promising some form of sequel. Thus the adaptation of chapters into episodes reopens the text to narrative potentialities. Even if the adaptation does not modify the “Bible”, as screenwriters call the adapted material, some measure of suspense emerges, in that the public wonders how and how much their expectations are going to be fulfilled. In the context of transmedia narrative, suspense keeps popping up in new ways, and the teleology which turns episodes (of an unfinished work) into chapters (once the work is completed) has to be questioned, as chapters can go back to being episodes.
The objective of this paper is to discuss accounts related to money in Apophthegmata Patrum, a collection of sayings attributed to famous Egyptian monks. The collection as we know it was produced in the 6th century. By describing the organisation of monastic centres in Egypt in the 4th and 5th century Apophthegmata also offer us some information about the period’s economic aspects. However, by and large, the data is very general. It pertains to: prices, wages, tax issues as well as money that was given to monks by pilgrims. Limited as it is, the data confirms that money was present in the everyday lives of Egyptian monks in late antiquity. Naturally, the major consideration behind whether a monk possessed money was whether he had contact with the outside world. This included selling self-made handcraft at markets, particularly woven mats and ropes, clay pots and sometimes also more specialised items (such as copied codices of the Bible). In Apophthegmata Patrum, similarly to what is the case with other Early Byzantium hagiographic texts, we find little information about moral evaluation of money or about the “appropriate” way to manage it.
Slavic languages. Baltic languages. Albanian languages
The Old Testament projects not only a Deity that created the world and human beings but also one that is violent and male. The debate on the depiction of the God of Israel that is violent and male is far from being exhausted in Old Testament studies. Thus, the main question posed in this article is: If re-read as ‘Humans created God in their image’, would Genesis 1:27 account for the portrayal of a Deity that is male and violent? Feuerbach’s idea of anthropomorphic projectionism and Guthrie’s view of religion as anthropomorphism come to mind here. This article therefore examines, firstly, human conceptualisation of a divine being within the framework of the theory of anthropomorphic projectionism. Because many a theologian and philosopher would deny that God is a being at all, we further investigate whether the God of Israel was a theological and social construction during the history of ancient Israel. In the end, we conclude, based on the theory of anthropomorphic projectionism, that the idea that the God of Israel was a theological and social construct accounts for the depiction of a Deity that is male and violent in the Old Testament.
This paper discusses, in which sense a theological perspective on the one hand substantially enriches the self-understanding of religious education as theory and on the other hand how it can profile and enliven bible didactics as practice. It is based on an understanding of theological education that focuses on ‚the whole person‘. A bible-oriented education can be described as worthwhile if it is shaped in a general educational and socially critical way addressing life-relevant issues.
In recent scholarly debate, more attention has been given to the Book of Proverbs. This book, unlike others, has not been extensively studied when it comes to translation techniques or text-critical research. Nevertheless, the textual witnesses of Proverbs demonstrate some variants, more particularly a lot of minuses and pluses, which are relevant to our understanding of the text. This article provides a text-critical analysis of Prov 16,1-7 using the methodology proposed by Bénédicte Lemmelijn presented in her book ‘A Plague of Texts? A Text-Critical Study of the So-Called ‘Plague Narrative’ in Exodus 7,14-11,10’. The results of this analysis lead to the conclusion that the LXX translator, who translated freely, had a different Vorlage, which had another verse order than MT and 4QProvb. This contribution offers a step forward in the quest for a better understanding of the translation technique of LXX-Proverbs.
<p>The entry of women into religious and theological studies has revolutionised the modus operandi of these disciplines. Especially with the formation of the Circle of Concerned Women Theologians, the study of these disciplines has never been the same. In this article, an attempt is made to consider the legacy of women theologians in the area of biblical interpretation. Specifically, the article looks at how members of the Circle have interpreted the Bible in their quest for a theology that responds to African women�s experiences. The article discusses Circle biblical scholars� methods of interpreting the Bible, what they have managed to achieve, as well as pointing out areas that still call for attention. It concludes that Circle biblical scholars, like all African Biblical Interpretation, are engaged scholars who serve both the need for intellectual growth as well as solving the pressing needs of their societies.</p><p><strong>Intradisciplinary and/or interdisciplinary implications:</strong> This article primarily focuses on how members of the Circle of Concerned Women Theologians have interpreted the Bible in their quest for justice. It therefore engages several disciplines: biblical interpretation, theology, gender, politics, health, and so on.</p><p><strong>Keywords: </strong>African Biblical interpretation; Women theologians; Bible; legacy;engaged Biblical Scholarship</p>
This is the second of two articles which briefly introduce the life and work of a so-called “local missionary” of the Dutch Reformed Church in South Africa. This second part of the article discusses Odendaal’s involvement in theological and pastoral training, as well as his continued contributions on synodical level, in particular his endeavour for church unity, his appreciation of and working in the vernacular, his appointment as Bible translator, his passion for preaching the gospel, a testing experience in his life, and the way in which he was honoured by old students and the University of the Free State. The article concludes with a short missiological assessment of Odendaal’s life and work.
Christianity, Practical religion. The Christian life