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Cover -- Table of Contents -- Introduction -- 1. Analysis of the Context -- 2. Definition of the Problem -- 3. Aims -- 4. The State of the Research -- 5. Methodological Questions -- 6. Methodology and Procedures -- 7. Achievements and Limitations -- Chapter 1 Virgil Gheorghiu -- 1.1 Introduction -- 1.2 Virgil Gheorghiu's Biographic Profile -- 1.3 Virgil Gheorghiu's Works -- 1.4 The Historical Context and Its Relevance for Virgil Gheorghiu's Work -- 1.5 Conclusion -- Chapter 2 The Reflections of Virgil Gheorghiu on Communism -- 2.1 Introduction -- 2.2 Before 23rd of August 1944 -- 2.3 After 23rd of August 1944 -- 2.4 Conclusion -- Chapter 3 Virgil Gheorghiu's Conception of National-Socialism -- 3.1 Introduction -- 3.2 Virgil Gheorghiu's Conception of National-Socialism before 23rd of August 1944 -- 3.3 Virgil Gheorghiu's Conception of National-Socialism after 23rd of August 1944 -- 3.4 Conclusion -- Chapter 4 Virgil Gheorghiu's Reflections on Capitalism -- 4.1 Introduction -- 4.2 Virgil Gheorghiu's Reflections on Capitalism before 1955 -- 4.3 Virgil Gheorghiu's Reflections on Capitalism from 1955 to 1992 -- 4.4 Conclusion -- Chapter 5 The Feasibility of Virgil Gheorghiu's Political Reflections -- 5.1 Introduction -- 5.2 The Actuality of Virgil Gheorghiu's Political Reflections -- 5.3 Conclusion -- General Conclusion -- Bibliography.

Important personality of the Romanian space, the Jew Nicolae Steinhardt that will discover the Christianity in prison and will be baptised in Jilava prison, will be not only an intellectual with ecumenical vocation, but also a writer that offers a rich testimony about the way how Communism from the Romanian space can not only ruin a life, but also make one to come closer to God and arrive to a deeper consciousness of the real values of life and spirituality that will therefore be connected to the cultural space, seen as an alternative and a form of survival in the Prison life. Both the experience that he had as an imprisoned for political reasons, like the one after his release will be emphasized in his discontinuous journal and therefore aspects like political theology will come as outcomes of his experiences or as forms of presenting the conclusions of his lectures.
Contribution: Based on The diary of happiness, the most important and the most translated work of Nicolae Steinhardt (translated in 20 languages), that constitutes also an important part of the samizdat literature from Romania during the Communist period, the present research emphasizes the way how Steinhardt's spiritual autobiography comes in contact with the political theology, bringing into attention the pillars of his conception.

The Romanian exile, an important category of political opponents to the Romanian Communist regime, constituted a social and intellectual category which has been investigated by researchers who edited their diaries, memoirs, or letters and published studies regarding their works and lives. Nonetheless, there are some aspects still to be revealed regarding this sociopolitical category of individuals and their work. Thus, we will try to fit the exile within the category of migrants – and examine how the Romanian Securitate regarded them from this perspective. We will therefore resort to their works, studies, and articles, and also to documents found in the Securitate Archives, in an attempt to present their perception by the repressive political body which forced them into migration/exile.

In this research, we will present the way how the poor and their image is reflected in the spiritual autobiographies from the Christian space from the 19th and 20th centuries. Saint Silouane the Athonite, Saint John of Kronstadt together with Faustina Kowalska, Mother Teresa of Calcutta, or other authors will be our sources from the Orthodox and Catholic space, while from the protestant area we will not neglect works like Dag Hammarskj old's one. We will try therefore to bring into attention a topic that has not been enough valorised by the contemporary research, has relevance for spiritual health, and constitutes an actual subject of discussion.

Author of more than 80 studies and articles of theology and bibliotheconomy and of the book: Cenzurarea presei ortodoxe în comunism ( The Censorship of the Orthodox press during the communist period) (Nedelcu 2019), but alsoPhD in philology and member of important associations and cultural institutions, Silviu-Constantin Nedelcu is already a name known in the Romanian cultural space. His recent book, entitled: O scurtă istorie a bibliotecilor byzantine (A short history of the Byzantine Libraries) (Nedelcu 2020), published by the acclaimed Lumen Publishing House from Iassy, comes to offer a new testimony of the quality of his investigations.

An important personality of the Catholic space of the 20th century and, at the same time, of the ecumenical and the inter-religious, Thomas Merton (1915–1968) is one of the most important authors of spiritual autobiographies in the Christian space. Knowing this and the fact that from other points of view, his work has been investigated by different researchers from all around the world, we will try to present the aspects of the political theology which can be found in works such as: The Seven Storey Mountain (1948), The Sign of Jonas (1953), among others, which he wrote and which contain passages of spiritual autobiographies. These works emphasise aspects such as his attitude towards racism (a problem which he encountered in the America of the 1960s), war or Communism (because of the fact that before he studied at Columbia University, but also during this period, he also sympathised with the Communists). The author will therefore try to present some practical aspects of his works, and show how they can be used to create bridges between society and church; the answer he gives to the challenges of his time. CONTRIBUTION : The article presents the main aspects of political theology which can be found in Merton's work and shows how keywords such as war, racism or Communism have been seen by him and the views he has of a potential attitude of the Church towards them. ; http://www.hts.org.za ; am2022 ; Dogmatics and Christian Ethics

Amongst the recent documents released by the Greek Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople, the one titled 'For the Life of the World', published before the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, touches upon an important section of the life of the Orthodox Church, namely, the social one. As a result of the fact that, so far, there is no official document of the aforementioned Church dedicated to this aspect, whilst the Reformed Churches and the Catholic one have already issued similar documents, I consider the existence of such an article, with all its minuses, important. Moreover, it can constitute a bridge and an invitation to dialogue with other Christian traditions or backgrounds. Being aware of this fact, I have decided to analyse this document in this article to emphasise its influence and its elements of novelty and to speak about both its utility and its weaknesses. As a result of the fact that the Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew has had an important contribution to its drafting, I will also try to present this aspect and to show how the ecological vision that he has, amongst other aspects, influenced its content. CONTRIBUTION : Considering the importance of the recent document 'For the Life of the World of the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople', I will try to analyse it and to present its social relevance and meaning. ; This research is part of the research project 'Political Theology and Reconciling Diversity', directed by Dr Tanya van Wyk, Systematic and Historic Theology, Faculty of Theology and Religion, University of Pretoria ; http://www.hts.org.za ; am2022 ; Dogmatics and Christian Ethics

An important genre of the theological area, spiritual autobiography is currently undergoing a rediscovery process, because of recent research on this topic. Written by important mystical personalities belonging to different Christian traditions (such as Saint Silouane the Athonite or Saint John of Kronstadt for the Orthodox area, Saint Teresa of Avila for the Catholic one and Dag Hammarskjöld for the Lutheran one), spiritual autobiographies can constitute a valuable source for the understanding of their authors' thinking and perception of fundamental topics such as ecumenism. Being aware of this aspect, we will start from a case study, namely that of Dag Hammarskjöld, and we will try to see how this category of texts can be used in order to understand the attitude of the authors of spiritual autobiographies and their motivation in the ecumenical space. CONTRIBUTION : The research helps the reader to see how the spiritual autobiographies can be a source of understanding the ecumenism of mystical vocations, using as example Dag Hammarskjöld's Markings. ; Rev. Iuliu-Marius is participating in the research project, 'Political Theology', directed by Dr Tanya van Wyk, Department of Systematic and Historical Theology, Faculty of Theology and Religion, University of Pretoria. ; http://www.hts.org.za ; am2022 ; Dogmatics and Christian Ethics

An important moment in the recent history of the Eastern Orthodox Church was for sure the recognition granted to the Ukrainian Orthodoxy by the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople with the Tomos of autocephaly (2019). Praised by some Orthodox churches and damned by other, it was preceded by some attempts of negotiation initiated by the Ecumenical Patriarchate and by a few meetings between the representatives of the aforementioned institution, Russian Patriarchate and the Ukrainian local churches that was later recognised by Constantinople and by a Schism between the Constantinople and Moscow. At the same time, it divided the local Orthodox churches between the ones who sustain one or the other side or prefer to remain in a neutral state and determined later meetings like the one from Amman in Jordan (2020), between leaders and representatives of the Orthodox Church. Conscious of the relevance of the event and its potential consequences, we have tried here to see how it was reflected in the ecumenical space. Therefore, we have proceeded to the investigation of the journals from the ecumenical area that spoke about it, and we analysed the way how they saw it and emphasised the main elements that have raised their interest. Together with the ecclesiastical challenges, we found that they were also interested in this problem not only for its theological meaning but also because of its geopolitical relevance. The research, based on the literature investigated, therefore presents the Ukrainian problem and its image in the ecumenical space. CONTRIBUTION : The research investigates how the image of the Eastern Orthodox Church changed in the ecumenical space after the foundation of the New Ukrainian Church and the debates that followed inside of the Orthodox space in this context. It is linked with the scope of the journal due to the fact that investigates a topic relevant for the ecumenical area and presents a topic that can contribute in the future to the change of the relationships with different churches with ...

By resorting to the spiritual autobiography of Mother Teresa of Calcutta, an important religious and cultural personality of the 20th century, the author tries to emphasise the aspects of political theology that defined her way of acting and thinking and to show how she understood the relationship between religion and politics. Topics like poverty, love, giving, peace, sacrifice or responsibility are presented as keywords in the understanding of a complex vision with interdisciplinary relevance, while the two levels of poverty, namely the material one, often accompanied by physical pain, maladies and other types of suffering, and the spiritual one, that is not necessarily related to the lack of basic material needs and can be found even in developed countries like the United States of America or Japan, are seen through the lenses of political theology. The author shows that, by finding practical bridges between spirituality and politics and by using as sources of inspiration not only Christian thinkers, but also thinkers from other religions, like Ghandi, the Albanese militant accomplished her vocation and also offered important and perennial principles which can help in the understanding of the contemporary world and in finding solutions to some of its crises. Although her message is a sort of combination between theology and social life, the political accents, sometimes theoretical, at other times practical, are important and can be used today for the development of a sustainable discourse for both the theological and the political sphere. CONTRIBUTION : The article brings into attention a spiritual autobiography that was not valorised properly by the contemporary research and in the same time offers an inter-disciplinary approach with ecumenical value. ; Rev. Iuliu-Marius is participating in the research project, 'Political Theology', directed by Dr Tanya van Wyk, Department of Systematic and Historical Theology, Faculty of Theology and Religion, University of Pretoria. ; http://www.hts.org.za ; am2020 ...

Nicolas Berdyaev's spiritual autobiography was, unfortunately, the least well-known of his publications. Therefore, we will try to shed light on it, emphasising its philosophical and political value. We will describe the manner in which the author speaks in order to deepen our understanding of it. We will also consider the genesis of some of his works, noting the influence his spiritual experiences had on them. We will emphasise some of the main political aspects his spiritual autobiography contains, showing its usefulness in areas like political theology. Therefore, we will present the interdisciplinary value of this autobiography, together with its potential for building bridges between spirituality and different areas of science (theology, psychology, philosophy, politics, history, philology and possibly sociology) in an analysis dedicated to providing a holistic understanding of his work. We will observe how his spiritual experiences informed his way of thinking, allowing him to critique topics like modernity, a system based on freedom, love and human dignity and a profound understanding of eschatology as the accomplishment of the world and its mission. CONTRIBUTION : The research investigates Berdyaev's memorial work showing why it can be considered a spiritual autobiography and it emphasises also its relevance for the philosophical area. ; Rev. Iuliu-Marius is participating in the research project, 'Political Theology', directed by Dr Tanya van Wyk, Department of Systematic and Historical Theology, Faculty of Theology and Religion, University of Pretoria. ; http://www.hts.org.za ; am2020 ; Dogmatics and Christian Ethics

Despite its importance for the understanding of ideas and the genesis of Nicholas Berdiaev's works, his spiritual autobiography, written at the end of his life, has not been fructified enough by contemporary research until today. Therefore, this research aims at bringing it into attention and emphasising the aspects of political theology it contains. The author investigates elements such as the philosopher's eschatological notes, his conception about freedom and slavery or about the superior human condition, trying to see how they influence his representation of political theology. Moreover, he links his political and religious attitudes, in an attempt not only to identify the context in which his ideas regarding this topic were born and to find influences of the context in which he lived, but also to emphasise the contemporary dimension of his way of thinking and the place the topic holds in his spiritual autobiography. For this purpose, he also uses the works of the aforementioned philosopher, the book reviews and dictionary entries dedicated to his autobiography, as well as the books, articles and reviews dedicated to Berdiaev and his work, starting from his lifetime and up to these days. ; http://www.hts.org.za ; am2019 ; Dogmatics and Christian Ethics

An important moment in the history of the Orthodox Church is despite the withdrawal of local churches like the Bulgarian, Russian, Georgian and Alexandrian ones and the fear of Serbian Church to take part in it, the Pan-Orthodox Council of Crete remains an important meeting that influenced the history of Orthodoxy and shifted its conception to the world. The relevance of some of the topics discussed there explains why it can be found inside the important theological journals from the entire world chronicles of the event and articles dedicated to some of the topics investigated. Noticing this fact, we have tried to see the way the social thinking of the Orthodox Church is reflected in the documents released by the participants and its encyclical letter. Because of the fact that, until today, only the Russian Orthodox Church has a document that defines in an articulate way its social thinking and this one was published in 2002, when many challenges were not present in society, the ideas presented there are not only important for their relevance and actuality (because there are approached topics like fundamentalism, terrorism, nuclear weapons, family crisis, persecution of Christians of migration crisis), but also for the fact that they became the official document that articulates the landmarks of social thinking of the Eastern Orthodox Church, seen as a federation of local churches that are in Eucharistic and doctrinaire communion. Therefore, we have tried to see how the bishops presented to the Pan-Orthodox meeting, the way they understood and approached these topics and what represented the motivations of their conclusions. ; Rev. Iuliu-Marius is participating in the research project, 'Political Theology', directed by Dr Tanya van Wyk, Department of Systematic and Historical Theology, Faculty of Theology and Religion, University of Pretoria. ; http://www.hts.org.za ; am2020 ; Dogmatics and Christian Ethics

An important personality of the Swedish cultural space and of the world diplomatic space, Dag Hammarskjöld (1905–1961), left to posterity, besides his literary works, his economic and diplomatic contributions, the most important spiritual autobiography from the Swedish protestant space of the 20th century. Discovered shortly after his death and published by his disciples in 1963 in an English version in London (at Faber and Faber Publishing House), Markings presents the struggle of the author with himself, illustrated in a great diversity of styles, from haiku poems to short meditations, pastels (lyrics or prose), biblical exegeses and so on. Apart from the description of his spiritual life, his relationship with God, or his conception of spiritual issues, the work also contains some interesting references to aspects of political theology. These aspects represent the subject of our research. After a short presentation of his life and activity and of the influence of his family on his education, we will try to present the way in which aspects of political theology are emphasised in the aforementioned work and which are some important elements of the author's conception of this subject. In this respect, we will resort not only to his spiritual autobiography, but also to the most important writings about him, published by specialists in diplomacy, literature and politics. Unfortunately, it is difficult to find theologians who wrote about his spiritual autobiography (except some who talk about him in theological dictionaries). Therefore, one of the main strengths of this research will be the fact that it presents a theological approach to Dag Hammarskjöld. ; Rev. Iuliu-Marius is participating in the research project, 'Political Theology', directed by Dr Tanya van Wyk, Department of Dogmatics and Christian Ethics, Faculty of Theology, University of Pretoria. ; http://www.hts.org.za ; am2018 ; Dogmatics and Christian Ethics

It has been often said nowadays that since the fall of Constantinople, the Eastern-Orthodox Church has not been concerned with political theology. In this research, we will try to show that aspects of the aforementioned topic can be found even in works like the spiritual autobiographies from that space. Therefore, our analysis will focus on the diaries of an important Russian Orthodox priest, Saint John of Kronstadt, who lived in the second half of the 19th century and in the first decade of the 20th century. An important personality of his time, he was a great priest who developed the Eucharistic life, highlighting the relevance of the Holy Liturgy in the Christian life, the social life, offering accommodation, food, money and a place to work for the poor people from his parish and abroad. At the same time, he had a political and intellectual life, being in a good relationship with the tsar and his family, and wrote in his diaries, published during his lifetime and translated into English, his spiritual experiences, his daily life ones and his teaching and opinions on different topics and so on. By highlighting and investigating here episodes like his attitude towards the failed attempt for revolution that took place in Kronstadt in 1905, his relationship with the poor ones and his critique directed to the unfairly attitude of the rich people of his time towards the less fortunate ones or even his preaches against the famous contemporary writer Lev Tolstoy, we will try to show how political theology was understood by such a great father as John of Kronstadt and to emphasise the actuality of some of his ideas related to this topic. ; http://www.hts.org.za ; am2018 ; Dogmatics and Christian Ethics