Asking enables listening. This paper explores how the practice of asking, when enacted as an intentional social scientific process, can facilitate the synodal value of listening across the global Catholic Church. Drawing upon social science methodologies and evidence, it demonstrates that effective listening is not merely passive reception but proactive invitation to engage diverse or silenced perspectives. Systematic asking incorporates everyday people and experiences otherwise overlooked and creates space for difficult topics. Seeing listening as a practice of asking underscores the value of setting rules for engagement that promote a posture of reception that fosters trust and openness through humility, curiosity, and willingness to step into worlds different from one’s own. Embracing this mutual approach can prompt a more inclusive synodal process, enhancing the church’s ability to engage meaningfully with all in its midst.
Przedmiotem studium egzegetyczno- teologicznego jest perykopa Rz 8, 14–17 odczytywana poprzez inne teksty Starego i Nowego Testamentu oraz świadków Żywej Tradycji Kościoła. Celem jest zbadanie, na jakie istotowe wymiary życia ochrzczonych wskazuje św. Paweł w Liście do Rzymian (8, 14–17) oraz jak, w mistyczny sposób, ukazuje działanie Trójcy Świętej w osobie ochrzczonego. Pierwszym etapem analizy egzegetycznej było określenie kontekstu literackiego perykopy, które pozwoliło
wskazać zasadniczą specyfikę chrześcijan, mianowicie przyjęcie Ducha Świętego jako
przewodnika na drodze życia. Duch Święty pozwala poznać dar usynowienia, który
wprowadza wierzących w relację z Bogiem Ojcem, podobną to tej, jaka jest między Ojcem i Synem. Godność dzieci Boga ściśle łączy się z dziedziczeniem życia wiecznego. W drugiej części artykułu została wyjaśniona przestrzeń współdziałania chrześcijanina z Bogiem oraz zależność, jaka zachodzi między świadomym współcierpieniem z Chrystusem, a współudziałem z Nim w chwale Bożej. W końcowym wniosku należy zaakcentować, że w proces upodabniania się ochrzczonych do Chrystusa zaangażowany jest
przede wszystkim Bóg, który swoim dzieciom daje Swego Ducha Świętego i pragnie być z nimi w intymnej więzi. Ze strony człowieka potrzebna jest współpraca, polegająca przede wszystkim na uważnym słuchaniu Ducha Świętego oraz jednoczeniu się z Chrystusem szczególnie wśród trudów życia codziennego. Proces ten prowadzi do współdziedziczenia z Chrystusem dóbr wiecznych.
Death and the afterlife have always evoked both fear and hope among people. Consequently, they have endeavoured to gain a deeper understanding of what lies beyond life’s earthly realm. Christian teachings and the official doctrine of the Church offer a broad overview of this reality, leaving room for an expectation of a more detailed explanation of the fate that awaits individuals after death. Female mystics, particularly those who lived during the late Middle Ages, played significant roles in elucidating these destinies. Their visions and subsequent writings contain a wealth of details concerning the nature of eternal life, providing meticulous descriptions of the places and events that unfold after death. This article delves into their visions of purgatory and hell, examining their relationship with the official Catholic doctrine.
In the whole world, independently of the country, we observe the process of media concentration. More and more huge consortia and media groups are being created. This often causes small, individual, autonomous titles, portals, radio or television stations to be displaced. This process of media evolution also affects religious media. An example of this could be the America Media consortium, with headquarters in New York. It belongs to the Jesuits, the Catholic order, and it is administered and developed by the same order. This descriptive study presents the process of the evolutionary transformation of America weekly magazine, which is over 100-years old, into a multi-dimensional media platform with a global scope. The new and modern media consortium is developing the wonderful history of the printed Catholic magazine. It is present in all the most important media areas: magazine, radio, television and internet. According to global trends, a key factor in America Media is the social media through which they bring a large number of readers, listeners and viewers. Most popular are radio podcasts and TV interviews available via Facebook and the YouTube channel. This evolutionary process is presented in the context of variety of Catholic American media. The specific elements of the mission of the Catholic consortium, the adopted development strategy, possible perspectives of this media complex in the near future, and existing difficulties are also discussed in this paper. The study was largely based on a visit made to America Media headquarters in October 2018.
It has taken two millennia to arrive at the Roman Catholic Church’s Mary – a figure similar but distinct from the biblical account of Mary. Early Christian Church history attests that Mary was accorded titles which did not reflect in the New Testament. These titles served to buttress the historical and present day claims made among the Roman Catholic Church’s faithful. The most influential title for Mary accepted by the Christian Church was that of Theotokos. For classical theology, this title affirmed and sharpened the definition of the undivided divinity and humanity of Mary’s Son, Jesus. In due time, this title served to support the addition of numerous other Catholic titles for Mary such Mother of the Church, queen of heaven, and more. Consequently, traditional theology began to accommodate the inclusion of Mariology in its taxonomy. This was necessary to address assumptions and claims such as Mary’s continual virginity, assumption into heaven and mediating role(s). While Mariology depicts Catholic doctrine, it is not defined by the Magisterium. That means that it cannot be finally accepted as divinely revealed and infallibly defined. For that reason, this article suggests that the Mary of the Catholic Church is still a figure in the making in stark contrast to the Mary of the Bible and classical Protestant theology and Reformed Christian faith.
Practical Theology, Practical religion. The Christian life
Friendship has been valued since classical times and is also an important category from a theological perspective; Christians are even called ‘friends of God’ (Jn 15:15). For a theological reflection on friendship, we will be drawing upon the work of Dietrich Bonhoeffer and Jürgen Moltmann in this contribution. While numerous differences exist in Bonhoeffer and Moltmann’s theology, both have written about the Christian community extensively. We will examine friendship as the theological environment in which we learn how to relate to others not only privately, but also in the public arena, seeking the common good. Friendship, we argue, should not remain in an enclosed area within the personal relationship where we remain friends with those who are similar to us. Rather, friendship, as a theological model, is the space where we can practice the attributes of friendship to enable us to live this out within the broader society with those with whom we are not necessarily friends, but with all people. Friendship can form the environment for us to be ‘trained’ in the characteristics of theological friendship where we are friends in freedom and without hierarchy, and, in so doing, learn to treat all human beings as equal.
Practical Theology, Practical religion. The Christian life
Background: Education is a universal need in health care and a tool for quality improvement. We developed a two-day medical education conference in Iringa, Tanzania, that has now evolved to teach the basics of quality improvement to an inter-professional audience from the 28 hospitals in the southern zone of the Tanzania Christian Social Services Commission (CSSC). Methods: We describe the planning, budget, implementation, evolution and evaluation of this on-going medical education conference. Representatives from medicine, nursing, pharmacy and administration from all 28 hospitals were invited to attend. Attendees evaluated the conference and individual lectures on a 5 point scale. In addition, attendees were asked to rate the most important learning aspect of the conference. Results: Over 100 Tanzanian health professionals and administrators from the 28 hospitals in the southern zone of the CSSC attended. Evaluation forms were completed by 82 attendees. The 2016 conference received an overall rating of 4.0 on a 5 point scale. The individual lectures received an overall rating of 4.2 on a 5 point scale. Quality improvement techniques and co-leadership topics were rated as most useful by attendees. Conclusion: We provide a framework for developing a medical education conference that can be replicated in other settings. Teaching the basics of quality improvement by having hospital leadership teams develop individual quality improvement projects is a highly useful method of instruction.
Public aspects of medicine, Practical religion. The Christian life
Language is one of the most important means of comminication for humans. Because it provides communication among them. There have been some discussions about the origin of language. Socrates was one of the formers who discussed the origin of language. After him some philosophers also discussed the origin of language. Ghazali, one of the philosopher of Islam also discussed the origin of language and put forward some opinions. In this article Socrates and Ghazali's ideas about the origin of language will be discussed
Pope John Paul II in his teaching on marriage had not limited the issue only to the principle that matrimonial consent makes marriage, but he put a real challenge in front of the canonists stating that the proper understanding of the consent may not be reduced to a certain historical patterns, but must be developed on the basis of anthropological and legal sciences. The article discusses four issues. Firstly, the author engages in the issue of impoverishment of ius in corpus as an essential element of the contract of marriage. Then, she sketches the view of the Second Vatican Council on matrimonial consent as a mutual gift of one person to another. Subsequently, the author deals with the influence of personalism on the legal dimension of marriage. Finally, she presents the personalistic criteria in the Magisterium of John Paul II and its immediate legal dimension.
Mission and missiology have been driven to the periphery of the life of both the church and theological institutions. Missiology has, in many theological institutions in the world, struggled to find a home. It has in some instances been regarded as an intruder, in some as an interloper and in others as irrelevant. Missiology is without a doubt a voice from the margins. This article seeks to go beyond the exercise to identify reasons for such a marginalisation by looking at ways in which mission and missiology can be restored to the heart of theological education. This article reminds us that the definition and practice of missiology should be firmly grounded in the missio Dei; hence all theological disciplines should intentionally have a missionary dimension. This will in essence allow missiology to exist as an independent subject but at the same time exercise its multidimensionality. It is, therefore, critical to maintain a dynamic and creative tension between intention and dimension to understand the place of missiology in the theological encyclopaedia.
'n Gereformeerde perspektief op die neem van sending en sendingwetenskap na die hart van teologiese opleiding. Sending en sendingwetenskap is na die periferie van die lewe van sowel die kerk as teologiese instellings verdryf. Sendingwetenskap het by baie teologiese instellings gesukkel om 'n tuiste te vind. In sommige gevalle is dit as ‘n indringer beskou, in ander as 'n tussenganger, en in sommige gevalle as irrelevant. Sendingwetenskap is sonder twyfel 'n stem vanuit die buiterante. Hierdie navorsing poog om die redes vir so 'n marginalisasie te ontdek deur te kyk na maniere waarop sending en sendingwetenskap herstel kan word tot die hart van teologiese opleiding. Die artikel herinner ons dat die definisie en praktyk van sendingwetenskap stewig gegrond behoort te wees in die missio Dei, en daarom behoort alle teologiese dissiplines doelbewus 'n sendingdimensie te hê. Dit sal sendingwetenskap toelaat om as 'n onafhanklike vak te bestaan en om terselfdertyd multidimensionaliteit uit te oefen. Dit is gevolglik krities om 'n dinamiese en kreatiewe spanning tussen intensie en dimensie te behou om sodoende te verstaan wat die plek van sendingwetenskap in die teologiese ensiklopedie is.
Practical Theology, Practical religion. The Christian life
The worth of human dignity in bioethics
Bioethicists and jurists put forward that the notion of “human dignity” adds nothing to the field of bioethics and is essentially a meaningless term. Against this presupposition the view is put forward that the notion of “human dignity” belongs to the heart of the Bible and can therefore be used as a valuable notion in bioethics. Human dignity is founded in the fact that man is created in the image of God. The fact that man is created in God’s image, and therefore has human dignity, undoubtedly has implications for bioethics. Human dignity by and towards man in bioethics has the meaning that one must strive for the healing of disease; that man must act and be treated as a psychosomatic unit; that reproduction may occur exclusively within marriage; and that all human life has to be maximally protected. Where the aforementioned does not occur, God- given human dignity is impinged upon.
Practical Theology, Practical religion. The Christian life
In hierdie respons gaan dit om “teologiese perspektiewe” op die reformasie van die onderwys. Dit gaan dus nie om die respons van ’n onderwysspesialis per se nie. Ek “staan” openlik in die reformatoriese tradisie waarvoor Van Wyk pleit.
Practical Theology, Practical religion. The Christian life
Ds. Molenaar begin sy boek, waarvan hy self die publikasienie beleef het nie, deur te wys op 'n groot tekort, ’n manko,nie alleen in die Gereformeerde vroomheid of lewe nie maarook in die Gereformeerde teologie. Hy beskou dit as hoogsmerkwaardig dat die Gereformeerde teologie in die verledeso goed as niks raakgesien het van die groot betekenis vandie sogenaamde doop met die Heilige Gees nie. Daarby meenhy dat die Gereformeerde predikante verleë sit met die Pinkterfees.Talle probleme meen hy vir die Gereformeerde teoloograak te sien, veral ten aansien van die moontlikhede van dieGees teenoor die so tasbare „onmoontIikhede” in ons lewe. Dieprobleme is syns insiens nie onoplosbaar nie, as mens maardie moontlikhede van die Gees nie beperk tot die verlede nie.
Reading a text presupposes, at least to some extent, an attempt on the part of the reader to understand the text. This process is not always a smooth one, especially not when the text dates from a time and place very foreign to the reader. This article investigates one of the ways in which these “rough places”, that inevitably limits the understanding of an ancient text, can to some extent be overcome. It takes as point of departure a modern-day contribution to literary theory. This is placed within the framework of a discussion in the GKSA with regard to the role of women in the church. It is suggested that the continuation of an interpretative tradition depends on the interaction between such a tradition and society.