Suchergebnisse

Studies in the Intercultural History of Christianity, published by Peter Lang since 1975, is nowadays the largest series in the wide field of missiology, intercultural theology, and comparative religion/theology. The present editors decided to celebrate the publication of no less than one hundred and fifty volumes by evaluating and rethinking "intercultural theology". This book is meant to encourage Christian theology to be done more thoroughly, adequately, and effectively in the contemporary global and local setting. On the one hand, the volume offers new insights into the nature of doing biblical studies, church history, and systematic and practical theology as well as comparative theology, in an intercultural way. On the other hand, it argues for accomplishing interdisciplinary studies in the fields of theology and religion.

To engage into a new dialog between Christianity and modern African culture in post-colonial Africa is nowadays to be considered beyond doubt an inevitable assignment to African theology. The current social, political and economic life of people on the black continent demands a challenge (consideration) of the christian liberation message. In the first step of the analysis this article attempts to highlight reference points (geo-political and cultural events) which have shaped African christianity in post-colonial Africa. At this juncture the focal point is steered to what the religious and cultural heritage of numerous women and men, who have associated themselves to the message of liberation proclaimed by Jesus as the intermediary, establishes. The evangelization Africas is owed to the dedication of the pioneers, the missionaries and the preachers of the Gospel. Their commitment bears testimony to the vitality of the religious beliefs and the dynamics of cultures on the African continent. The encounter with the Christian faith has shaped the African human being, and altered his life considerably; which is not supposed to insinuate that he surrenders his cultural identity. This analysis dedicates itself to the methodic thoughts of two African theologists: On the one hand the paper is about Vincent MULAGO, an advocate of the identity movement in theology, on the other hand Jean-Marc ELA takes center stage, who is considered to be the protagonist in liberation theology in Africa. This movement campaigns for justice, for a new social order and the liberation of oppressed people. It understands itself as the attorney of the poor. In the second and third sections of the article two fundamental principles of African theology are discussed: the hermeneutic of the symbol and the proclamation of the Gospel as a liberating message. In the last point the impact of Ernst Cassirer's philosophy of symbolic forms within African symbolic thinking is illustrated, and its lasting significance emphasized. Finally, the question regarding the ambivalent relation between confrontation and denial, stigmatization and dynamism, transformation and traditionalism in the living environment and in the living of faith of African human beings is discussed. Against this background, the exclamation of the African believer turns out to be a bold experiment, to abstain from the beaten path and options in order to settle in an experience of faith entrenched in the culture.

The Thesis of the doctorate, which we elaborated, concerns the religious history of the Armenian high plateau. According to its title «The pre-Christian substratum and the Armenian conversion to Christianity», it is going to shed a light on the religious, liturgical, cultural, anthropological, sociological and historic vision, as well as the philological study of the people of the Armenian high plateau generally and the Armenian people specifically. The scope of this dissertation is to study the field of the religion: the sociology, the history, the liturgy, the mythology and the anthropology following the traditions, the customs, the myths, the feasts, the superstitions as well as the key elements which define the culture of the religion. In our study, the purpose of our research will be to see which pagan Armenian religious elements were passed onto Christianity from the time of the conversion. In the first four chapters of the thesis, we are going to study the Armenian mythology, which have been practiced by the Armenian people, as to almost all the ancient civilizations. The political and geographical situation of Armenia played a significant role to create its rich vision of the religion. The Armenian view of religion, being an amalgamation of local and non local faiths, evolved through various periods. Even before the cult of idolatry, Armenia was under the influence of the religions and the cults of the nearby nations. These nations were the Assyrians, the Chaldeans, the Babylonians, the Acadians, the Persians and the Greeks, with whom the Armenians maintained linguistic, spatial, ethnic or subordination relations. Under the influence of foreign policy, the vision of Armenian religion being a mixture with the local religions had its unique character. Through the thesis, we are going to analyze the scope of the religion: the spiritual powers, represented by the divinities, the spirits, the forefathers, the sacred places, the trees, waters, fires, and animals. Later, we are going to study the subject of the ...