Nicolaas A. Broer, Johannes L. van der Walt, Charl C. Wolhuter
The study examined the role of family, school and church educators towards cultivating Christian citizenship in children up to the age of 16 amid increasing societal pluralism. It was undertaken in response to a global moral crisis marked by social fragmentation, secularisation, and diminished civic participation. Within this context, the article explored how Christian moral formation, grounded in divine command ethics and virtue ethics, could contribute to social renewal. Christian citizenship was considered a response to the societal need for individuals who integrate moral integrity, faith, and civic responsibility. The objective was to determine how parents, church leaders and teachers could foster the development of Christian citizens who engage constructively with a diverse society while remaining faith-rooted. The study focused on the potential of Christian (inclusive and compassionate) education to address moral decline and civic disengagement, cultivating virtues essential to democratic and inclusive participation in society. A conceptual, normative research methodology was employed, drawing on theological, ethical, and educational literature. Divine command ethics and virtue ethics were analysed as complementary frameworks for Christian moral education. The study evaluated the application of these frameworks in the family, church, and school contexts, identifying key virtues and strategies for effective moral formation. The article relies on critical engagement with Scripture, classical philosophy, and contemporary scholarship. The study indicated that families nurture moral character through modelling and habit formation; churches instil civic virtue through theological instruction and social outreach; and Christian schools integrate biblical ethics into citizenship education. Families, churches, and schools face contemporary challenges, including pluralism, digital distraction, moral relativism, and political polarisation. Nevertheless, when consistently aligned with a virtue-based ethical framework, these institutions can significantly contribute to the moral and civic formation of children. The study concluded that Christian citizenship can be meaningfully fostered when education in family, church and school is grounded in both the divine command and virtue ethics. These frameworks support the development of moral character, civic responsibility, and respectful engagement with societal diversity. Intentional collaboration among family, church, and school strengthens this process, enabling children to grow into compassionate, just, and principled citizens.
Contribution: This article contributes to the scholarly conversation on moral and citizenship education by proposing a Christian ethical model, rooted in divine command and virtue ethics. It offers a normative framework for integrating Christian faith with civic responsibility, aligning with the journal’s focus on education, human rights, and diversity in contemporary society.
Practical Theology, Practical religion. The Christian life
AbstractThe idea of ‘Christian doctrine’ has become sundered over time from its spiritual roots as part of the formative Christian life shaped by a vision of the whole that sees everything in integral and open‐ended relation to God. This review article explores some of the reasons behind this severing of Christian doctrine from everyday Christian practice. It then unpacks how the unity between Christian doctrine and spiritual formation is retrieved in three recent publications that variously explore the nature of Christian doctrine. Together, they offer a vibrant account of Christian doctrine, its formative power and its calling to be humbly confident as a form of life under God.
Student formation is a key missional goal for Catholic colleges and universities. In many instances this involves requiring coursework in theology and ethics that exposes students to the essentials of the tradition and key themes of Christian life such as vocation, marriage, family, work, and society. And yet, historically we fail to consider the changing landscape of life in community, especially for women and other gender minorities. The personhood of women and reproductive autonomy, both topics that have been tangled in the culture war of the abortion debate, is a particular challenge to the goal of formation. The US Supreme Court decision overturning Roe v. Wade provides a fresh opportunity to examine how we might better attend to student formation in ways that more accurately and faithfully incorporate women’s personhood and reproductive autonomy.
The church, as a representation of God's family, should actively provide support and guidance to individuals who have been released from prison and are capable of reintegration into society. Unfortunately, in reality, many churches fail to demonstrate acceptance towards former inmates, which leads to their isolation and drives them to seek support in less positive environments. This study utilizes a literature review approach, involving the search, selection, and evaluation of published materials like books, academic journals, articles, theses, and prior research reports relevant to the subject. The findings from this method reveal that the church's role as God's family remains largely unfulfilled, especially concerning those individuals labeled as 'ex-convicts.' Hence, it is imperative for the church to rekindle its commitment to embracing, loving, and guiding former prisoners through spiritual and social assistance, recovery and rehabilitation programs, community empowerment initiatives, and by offering hope and forgiveness to those seeking redemption
BAHASA INDONESIA ABSTRACT: Gereja sebagai keluarga Allah harus berperan dalam memberikan dukungan dan bimbingan kepada para mantan narapidana yang sehat setelah mereka dibebaskan dari penjara. Namun, pada kenyataannya, banyak gereja yang tidak menerima kunjungan mantan narapidana, sehingga kehadiran gereja justru mengucilkan mereka dan mendorong mereka untuk mencari dukungan dan bimbingan di lingkungan yang kurang positif. Metode yang digunakan dalam penelitian ini adalah tinjauan pustaka. Metode ini melibatkan pencarian, pemilihan, dan evaluasi literatur yang telah dipublikasikan, seperti buku, jurnal ilmiah, artikel, tesis, dan laporan penelitian terdahulu yang berkaitan dengan topik yang diteliti. Berdasarkan metode ini, diperoleh hasil bahwa peran gereja sebagai keluarga Allah belum sepenuhnya terlaksana, terutama bagi mereka yang dikenal sebagai ekses. Oleh karena itu, gereja perlu menyadarkan kembali bahwa hal tersebut termasuk menerima, mengasihi dan membimbing para mantan melalui pendampingan rohani, pendampingan sosial, pemulihan dan rehabilitasi, pemberdayaan masyarakat, serta memberikan pengharapan dan pengampunan kepada para mantan penyandang disabilitas.
Christianity, Practical religion. The Christian life
For several years, Vatican officials have been involved in discussions regarding AI. In this interview, Bishop Paul Tighe, Secretary of the Pontifical Council for Culture, tells about this history, the various people and organizations involved in the discussions, some of the topics, and why the Vatican cares about the social impacts of technology, especially AI. The Vatican’s convening power, interest in protecting human dignity, and neutrality when it comes to commercial interests in technology, combined with its long tradition of reflecting on human nature both theologically and philosophically, give it a unique ability to host important conversations about creating a more humane future for AI and technology more broadly.
In the field of philosophy of religion, the issue of the existence of world after death and the doctrine of rewards and punishments in the hereafter is one of the important and confusing issues as persuades theologians and philosophers of religion to present various and contradictory views about it. Meanwhile, despite David Hume's considerable reputation as one of the most important philosophical critics of religion, the secular irreligious significance of this philosopher's views, especially on the issue of induction and probable reasoning, has not attracted the attention and energy of Hume's researchers in recent decades. The main objectives of this paper, on the basis of methodical research, are to identify the relevance of induction and probable reasoning to the problem of belief in a future state and to the doctrine of rewards and punishments of human acts in philosophy of religion, and to show that the goal of Hume's critical analysis of the credibility and practical significance of religious inductive arguments, by providing an account of the foundation of probable reasoning, is to reject the principal aims of defenders of Christian orthodoxy. It was orthodoxy defender’s aim to show, on the basis of our experience of this world, that there is a future state of rewards and punishments, and that prudence requires that we guide our conduct in this life with a view to our expectations of happiness or misery in the next. We will show that Hume provides a naturalistic account of the psychological mechanisms for the foundations of probable reasoning that generate our beliefs concerning the future, and this account serves to explain why religious arguments concerning the doctrine of a future state inevitably fail to persuade us or influence our conduct, so the doctrine of state of rewards and punishments is of little or no practical consequence for human.
South Africa is the country of many cultures and many religions. This diversity had not created or led to significant internal strife, especially after 1994 when South Africa entered the era of democracy from the shackles of colonialism and apartheid. The previous regimes marginalised cultures as tools of unity, but preferred to use them as tools of separation, segregation, and isolation. This context calls for some dialogue between theology and cultures within South African multi-cultural and multi-religious context. Social divisions perpetuate discrimination based on culture and religion. The scope of this article is to demonstrate that when theology and culture have a dialogue with each other, an understanding of each other is heightened and harmony becomes inevitable. Through literature on history, sociology, theology, and current events, the hypothesis was made that there is a gap between culture and theology. This has created divisions in societies. Conclusions are based on theological findings that when dialogue is used, people of different cultures and religions come to understand each other. Dialogue is a biblical and theological tool to unite diverse people. It brings mutual understanding and promote cooperation and coexistence. South Africa can be a united diversified society living in peace if dialogue is given a chance. As much as there can be understanding and acceptance of people of other cultures and religions, there can be some resistance due to the historical legacy of separateness and societal isolation. Openness to others and dialoguing with them, however, breaks down walls of hostility.
Contribution: This article demonstrates the importance of theo-cultural interaction within a multi-cultural and multi-religious society. It points out the importance of the theology of dialogue engaging culture and theology to build a harmonious coexistence in a diverse society such as South Africa.
Practical Theology, Practical religion. The Christian life
This article will attempt to draw from the deep wells of Nicholas Wolterstorff’s understanding of justice and beauty, respectively, so as to find possible linkages between the two that might be helpful in our quest to understanding this important theme. In order to do this successfully, this article, first, invites readers into Wolterstorff’s understanding of justice based on inherent worth. Hereafter, in a similar fashion, the article explores, as a second theme, Wolterstorff’s understanding of beauty as related to the so-called grand narrative of art. Regarding both themes, I follow a basic structure: outlining the problem; offering critiquing, and exploring possible alternatives. It is hoped that this article will finally, and by way of conclusion, resolve some of this tension between justice and beauty, by examining three specific ways in which Wolterstorff has attempted to link these two themes.
Christianity, Practical religion. The Christian life
İran'daki Şiî entelektüel dinî düşüncenin önde gelen isimlerinden olan Abdülkerim Sürûş'un vahiy hakkındaki görüşleri 90'lı yıllardan beri tartışılmaktadır. Bu bağlamda Sürûş ve eleştirmenlerinin yazılarından bir tenkit literatürü meydana gelmiştir. Son olarak Dr. Öğretim Üyesi Asiye Tığlı, Sürûş'un vahiy teorisi kapsamında öne sürdüğü fikirleri ile bazı İranlı düşünürlerin bunlara ilişkin kaleme aldıkları eleştirileri içeren yazıları derleyerek Türkçe'ye çevirmiştir. Bu çalışmada Güncel Vahiy Tartışmaları üst başlığında iki cilt olarak yayımlanan söz konusu seçkinin önemi, arka planı, içeriği ve neşrine dair değerlendirmeler yapılmakta, birtakım teklif ve tavsiyeler sunulmaktadır.
The way in which Paul exercises his authority in the Letter to Philemon has been studied from various angles, but as far as could be determined, the reception of this aspect of his letter by its interpreters in the fourth and 5th centuries CE. has not yet received much attention. Accordingly, this aspect is addressed in this study. The views of the following six interpreters are discussed (in chronological order): Ambrosiaster, Jerome, Pelagius, John Chrysostom, Theodore of Mopsuestia, and Theodoret of Cyrus. It is shown that each of them has his own view in this regard, but that two general trends can nevertheless be identified: Firstly, all of these writers accept that Paul had authority over Philemon; and secondly, the commendable way in which Paul exercised this authority is a regular theme in their works.
Keywords: Letter to Philemon, Church Fathers, Authority
Practical Theology, Practical religion. The Christian life
Günümüzde bir kültür ve kimlik krizinde bulunduğumuz kabul edilmektedir. Makale kültür ve kimlik meselesinin hangi kavramlar altında ele alındığı ve bu kavramların tarihsel, kültürel ve toplumsal dayanaklarının ne olduğu sorusuna cevap aramaktadır. Yorumbilgisel anlama sanatı anlamına gelen hermeneutik yöntemin kullanıldığı makale, belge eksenli modern çalışmaların Üç Tarz-ı Siyaset (Türklük Osmanlılık ve İslamlık) çerçevesinde bir tarih felsefesi ve bu çerçevede bir kimlik oluşturup oluşturamadığını incelemek amaçlanmıştır.
Felsefe yapmanın yollarından biri kabul edilen soru-cevap tekniği Müslüman filozofların sıkça kullandığı metotlardan biridir. bu metodun en önemli özelliklerinden birisi, düşüncelerin sorular biçimine konularak anlatılmasıdır. soruların kendisi de en az cevaplar kadar önemlidir. Ebu Hayyan Tevhidi'nin İbn Miskeveyhe sorduğu sorular ve İbn Miskeveyhin bunlara verdiği cevaplar, İslam Felsefesinin erken dönemlerinde tartışılan problemlere ışık tutması ve hicri dördüncü asırda kullanılan felsefi dilin öğrenilmesi bakımından ayrı bir önem taşımaktadır. Makalede Tevhidi'nin soruları verilmekte, gerekli görülen yerlerde İbn Miskeveyhin cevaplarına da değinilmektedir.
Ukrainian nationalists tried to de-polonize the South-Eastern Borderlands by
means of mass genocide and they achieved this goal to a
great extent. That, however,
puts them on a
par with the criminal regimes of Joseph Stalin and Adolf Hitler.
The author of this article describes the genocide of Polish inhabitants in Volhynia
and Eastern Galicia committed by the Organisation of Ukrainian Nationalists
(Orhanizatsiya Ukrayins’kykh Natsionalistiv, OUN) and the Ukrainian Insurgent
Army (Ukrainska Povstanska Armiya, UPA) between 1943 and 1944. These events
in European history are not well-known.