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
In the “blessing” of Gen 49.3-4, Reuben is censured for having violated his father Jacob’s concubine Bilhah. In this rebuke, the Hebrew uses a rare word, פחז, in an additionally awkward comparison: “like water.” Over the centuries the word פחז appears to have been difficult to translate and therefore the simile “like water” is also difficult to understand. This is reflected in many Bible translations, but in the last decades a solution has been provided to solve this problem. In this contribution, the cultural significance of Reuben’s offence is discussed since it is not “just” a sexual offense. In addition, the meaning of the word פחז in the other biblical texts is analysed, followed by a discussion of the comparison “as water.” The discussion not only clarifies the text of Gen 49.4, but also the background of several other texts in the Bible.
El contexto eclesial y teológico en el cual se realizó la II Conferencia General del Episcopado Latinoamericano (Medellín, 1968) comprende varios hechos fundamentales. Ante todo, desde el punto de vista eclesial, el Concilio Vaticano II cuya recepción se propuso hacer la Conferencia; desde el punto de vista teológico, movimientos como el de la teología política y el de la teología de la esperanza. A esta última está dedicado este trabajo. En él se trata de señalar los antecedentes de dicha teología (la filosofía de la esperanza de Ernst Bloch y la escuela de Frankfurt; Jürgen Moltmann y la teología protestante de la esperanza), así como su repercusión en la teología de América Latina.
It has become evident from a practical, legal and theological perspectives that there are strong reasons that the principles underlying article 15 of the Universal Declaration of Bioethics and Human Rights (UDBHR) have to be grounded in the Bible. It is clear that the UDBHR states benefit-sharing in article 15 as a global obligation. A narrower understanding of obligation means that people participating in research has the right to share in the benefits. A broader understanding of article 15 states that it is also an obligation to share abundance in the health environment with the needy outside the context of direct research. It can be said that article 15 is based on the universal principles of equality, justice, solidarity and social responsibility. The theological argumentation indicated that it is acceptable to ground both the narrower and the broader interpretation of article 15 in the biblical concept of koinōnia [fellowship]. Koinōnia can be connected with trade justice or justice-in-exchange and research, as well as the duty to share the existing abundance in the health environment with the needy. Koinōnia, as an appeal to share, gives expression to equality, righteousness, solidarity and social responsibility. Article 15 of the UDBHR can be wholeheartedly supported and promoted by the Protestant faith community.
Practical Theology, Practical religion. The Christian life
This article discusses the hermeneutical implications of three significant methodological advances in New Testament studies, namely, rhetorical criticism, narrative criticism and the use of mnemonic theories in the study of the historical Jesus. Rhetorical criticism challenges us to think again about concepts of truth and reve-lation and narrative criticism gives impulses for conceptualizing narrative theology and the complex ways in which narratives might point beyond themselves. The focus on mnemonic theories problematizes prevalent reconstructionistic ideas and practices of Biblical research makes us aware of history as a hermeneutical cate-gory that involves human existence and both fact and fiction in the creation of history. By sketching these im-plications, this articles wishes to stimulate an informed discussion concerning how churches and theology in Sweden might approach and use the Bible responsibly.
This article surveys the wider context in the 1970s–1980s that compelled Bible publishers to prepare revisions of their translations: the rapid shift in spoken English was making the masculine-heavy English of major Bible translations feel antiquated to readers. The Good News Bible New Testament was first published in 1966 and its Old Testament in 1976, but already by the mid-1980s revision was being contemplated by the American Bible Society. The revision process was thoroughgoing and collaborative, with all English-using Bible Societies participating. More than 6,000 revisions were proposed and reviewed, with about 2,500 meeting consensus. Most were related to gender-exclusion, but a few were exegetical. Although the United Bible Societies’ Hebrew Old Testament Text Project recommendations on almost 6,000 textual cruxes were published in preliminary form by 1979, the Good News Bible revision process could not incorporate those data. An addendum discusses the addition of the deuterocanonical books in 1979.
Zora Neale Hurston’s Moses, Man of the Mountain (1939) stands in the tradition of African American use of the biblical musings that aims to relativize and yet uphold a new version of the sacred story under the gaze of a black woman that manipulates and admonishes the characters of the gospel to offer a feminist side of the Bible. The novel discloses Hurston’s mastering of the aesthetics that black folklore infused to the African American cultural experience and her accommodation to bring to the fore the needed voice of black women. Rejecting the role of religion as a reductive mode of social protest, the novel extends its jeremiadic ethos and evolves into a black feminist manifesto in which a world without women equates disruption and instability. Hurston showcases the importance of an inclusive and ethic sacred femininity to reclaim a new type of womanhood both socially and aesthetically. Three decades before the post-colonial era, Hurston’s bold representation of the sacred femininity recasts the jeremiad tradition to pin down notions of humanitarianism, social justice and the recognition of politics of art. All in all, in an era of a manly social protest literature Hurston opts for portraying the folkloric aesthetics of spirituality as creative agency simply to acknowledge the leadership of the sacred femininity that black women could remodel into art.
In this contribution the view is presented that the Heidelberg Catechism should be regarded as an attempt to promote unity between 16th century reformers and churches in the Palatinate. This, to some extent, determined the content of the Catechism resulting in some controversial issues receiving less attention. This in turn not only made the Catechism acceptable to a wide spectrum of Reformed Christianity, but also resulted in a creative and unique contribution to Reformed theology, almost a ‘third option’. It was soon used in different Reformed territories as a confession and acclaimed for its clarity in formulating the basic Reformed faith. Today the Heidelberg Catechism is regarded as one of the most ‘ecumenical’ documents of the 16th century. As such, it still promotes unity amongst many Reformed churches, including those in South Africa.
<p>José Comblin, a Latin American liberation theologian, described the presence of the Spirit in five dimensions: action, freedom, speech, community and life. These pro-vide the foundation for developing an ecological pneumatology leading to transfor-mative praxis for the good of all creation. The insights of various eco-feminist theologians such as Heather Eaton, Ivone Gebara, Mary Grey, Elizabeth Johnson and Rosemary Radford Ruether demonstrate how Comblin’s five-fold pneumatology can enrich eco-feminist spirituality. Spirituality is based on experience of the Sacred, the Divine. The foundation of eco-feminist spirituality is life and liberation; it is holistic, embracing all that is created since nothing is absent from the presence of God. Themes from the Ignatian spiritual tradition of ‘seeking and finding God in all things’ also provide a helpful discernment heuristic in this time of ecological challenge.</p><p> </p><p>doi: 10.7833/111-1-14</p>
L’articolo è diviso in due parti. La prima parte è un’analisi teologica dell’antico testo sinodale, mentre la seconda riguarda la nuova interpretazione del contenuto teologico (pneumatologico) delle espressioni e termini sinodali. La pneumatologia del Sinodo è unita integralmente alla trinitologia. Lo Spirito Santo viene trattato come una persona nella simfonia di Dio uno e trino. Dal Padre e dal Figlio si distingue dalla propria “ipostasi-sostanza”. Nella divina e trinitaria simfonia lo Spirito Santo possiede il suo proprio posto e la sua gloria la quale condivide con il Padre e Figlio. Le formule sinodali non toccano il problema della processione dello Spirito Santo, ma si concentrano sulla descrizione o definizione della sua persona e sugli effetti del suo agire. La persona dello Spirito è prima di tutto il dono, perchè viene dato dal Padre e Figlio. È pure il Consolatore (Paracleto) il quale ci consola e intercede per noi presso il Padre. Nello stesso tempo il Paracleto ci ispira al credere e ci conduce alla preghiera. Tale funzione deriva direttamente dal fatto che lo Spirito Santo è l’amore personificato. Ne risulta che soltanto l’amore può dare la vera consolazione della riconcilazione e solo l’amore può accendere la vera vita della fede. La persona dello Spirito è la persona Santa (to hágion), ciò indica il sua ruolo della santificazione. La presenza dello Spirito Santo in noi ci santifica perchè ci conduce dal di dentro alla obedienza del Padre. La presenza dello pirito Santo nei credenti è una presenza nuova, perchè grazie allo Spirito Santo diventiamo la creatura nuova. Allora noi non apparteniamo più a noi stessi ma solo al Dio unico e trino. Infine la Spirito Santo viene chiamato lo Spirito della verità, perchè ci conduce alla verità attraverso l’amore. Lo Spirito della verità ci porta al Figlio il quale è la verità e ci forma secondo l’immagine del Figlio.
One thing is clear about the work of structuralists on the Bible and radically distinguishes it from previous scholarship : The focus of attention shifts from questions of document, composition, and kerygma to those of “reading” ( lecture), text, and signification.
F. P. Retief, S. J. P. K. Riekert, J. F. G. Cilliers
In Original Bible texts “eunuch” is described as saris (Old Testament, Hebrew) or eunouchos (New Testament, Greek). However, both words could also mean “official” or “commander”. The 38 original Bible references to saris and 2 references to eunouchos were studied in order to determine their meaning in context. In the Septuagint saris was translated as eunouchos, except for Genesis 37:36 and Isaiah 39:7 where spadon was used; in Jeremiah 38:7 Ebed-Melek was described as “he who lived in the king’s house”; in Daniel 1 there is reference to archi-eunouchos and archon satrapon. In the Vulgate saris was translated as eunuchus, except for Esther 2:3 where minister is used, and the terms praepositus eunuchorum and praefectus magistratuum in Daniel 1:3-
18 and Daniel 2:48 respectively. In Deuteronomy 23:1 the act of human castration is condemned, without using the word saris, while Leviticus 22:24 refers to animal castration by crushing (Hebrew word katut) of the testes.
It is suggested that saris refers to eunuch in Esther 1:10-12; 2:3,14; 4:4,5; 6:14 and 7:8; 2 Kings 20:18; Isaiah 39:1 and 56:3-5. Saris probably meant official or commander in Genesis 37:36, 39:1, 40:27; 1 Kings 22:9; 2 Kings 8:6, 23:11, 24:12; 1 Chronicles 28:1; 2 Chronicles 18:8; 1 Samuel 8:15; Esther 2: 21, 6:2; Jeremiah 34:19, 41:16, 52:25 and Daniel 2:48, 11:18. The meaning of saris is unclear in 2
Kings 9:32, 18:17; Jeremiah 38:7-13, 39:3,13 and Daniel 1:3,7,8-15. The view that Nehemiah was a eunuch (Neh. 1:11) could be based on confusion between the Greek words oinochoos (cupbearer) used by the Septuagint and eunouchos (eunuch). In Acts 8:27-39 the Ethiopian official was probably not a eunuch. Matthew 19:12 refers to three kinds of “eunuchs”, viz. castrates, congenital eunuchs and those who voluntarily renounce marriage (asceticism). The latter two concepts are further discussed.
Christianity, Practical religion. The Christian life