Theology

Title of Contribution:

Time:

The Reformer John Calvin and Various Interpretations of his Work

9:00

9:30

University / Faculty / Department / Institute:

Catholic Theological Faculty

Abstract of the contribution:

John Calvin (1509-1564) is to be known as the sharp critic and opponent of catholic church. My intention is to show, that there are other possible intepretations of his Work and his Personality. On one side there is much, that he has in common with catholic reformers of his time, on the other side his personality was rather fragile, not so stony, as  many people take for granted.

Three questions about your contribution which could arouse interest (propagation of the conference)

If  we mentioned the name John Calvin, many catholics would respond emotionally negative. Much more negative than in the case of Martin Luther. Who was actually John Calvin? What he was striving for? Was he succesful or failed?

Title of Contribution:

Time:

Prominent Jews in Habry and the Surrounding Christian Society

9:30

10:00

University / Faculty / Department / Institute:

Charles University / Hussite Theological Faculty

Abstract of the contribution:

The aim of the study is to point out the uniqueness of the way of life of the Jews in the Haber region in relation to the Christian surrounding population, which developed into a unique religious rite connected with the uniqueness of Judaism in Bohemia within the history of Judaism as a whole, a characteristic mutual understanding. As the basic method of research, the direct method examining the original archival sources was chosen, which is connected with the progressive and retrospective method, with which the comparative method is closely related. Due to the subject of research, the biographical and geographical method is also a necessary part of the research. The research shows that the city of Habry is unique in the matter of Jewish-Christian relations, because as such it belongs to the history of Bohemia connected with a specific relationship between Judaism and Christianity, which later partially influenced Judaism in the USA and Israel. The study contains previously unpublished and unknown historical materials. In conclusion the Habry region is exceptional not only for the personalities of the Jewish nationality who moved in the circle of President Masaryk and were important supports forthe building of the first republic, but also for their peaceful and merciful relationship with the poor people around them, which also constitutes one of the foundations of Christianity.

Title of Contribution:

Time:

The Constructive Imagination in Post-Medieval Scholasticism

10:00

10:30

University / Faculty / Department / Institute:

University of South Bohemia

Abstract of the contribution:

Post-medieval scholastic treatments of the imagination took their starting point from a set of broadly agreed-upon issues found in the exposition of authoritative texts, most prominently Aristotle’s De Anima III. Within the context of demarcating the domains of the different powers of the soul, controversies concerning the imagination often centered on specifying its nature and function as an internal sense power. The distinctive appearance of philosophical disputes about beings of reason from the late sixteenth century onwards gave rise to new considerations about the imagination’s causal contribution to non-existent objects of cognition. The aim of this paper is to identify some of the principal lines of argument for and against this causal contribution, tracing its development in several major representatives of seventeenth century Baroque scholastic thought, beginning with the highly influential work of Francisco Suárez (1548-1617). My hope is to suggest that post-medieval Aristotelian views of the imagination did not limit it to the function of merely reproducing the objects of external perception, but assigned it an active role in the construction of human experience of the world.

Title of Contribution:

Time:

Nature as creative divine unity and a source of peak-experiences

11:00

11:30

University / Faculty / Department / Institute:

Charles Univeristy / Faculty of Humanities / Department of anthropology

Abstract of the contribution:

Nature has always been a source of inspiration for artists, prophets, thinkers and all who are sensitive enough to feel a deep connection with all living things. Even the inanimate parts of nature have been seen in certain traditions as part of God's grace. Francis of Assisi was convinced that God's will could be understood through the study of Scripture and also through a meaningful relationship with the natural environment. Some areas of contemporary environmental aesthetics are very close to this conception of nature as something sacred and holy, an approach that is humanistic yet not anthropocentric. Seeing nature as a source of inspiration is not a new idea. We often identify two dichotomous approaches, one that sees nature as a soulful transcendent unity of which we are a part and whose essence can only be described by art and religion, or one that sees nature itself as merely a resource to be harnessed in the pursuit of human flourishing and happiness. The second approach views nature as an object and does not seek satisfaction and meaning in a simple appreciation of nature as the finished and mysterious work of God. We encounter these dichotomies in environmental aesthetics today in the controversy between scientific cognitivism and non-cognitive approaches to the natural environment. I would like to look at this dichotomy in light of the humanistic psychology of Abraham H. Maslow, who identified a special capacity in humans to have transcendent peak experiences associated with nature and the divine. He believed that our ability to have these experiences is a key element of human thriving and happiness.

Title of Contribution:

Time:

Arguments for Natural Indissolubility of Marriage in the work of St. Thomas Aquinas and their relevance today

11:30

12:00

University / Faculty / Department / Institute:

Charles University / Catholic Theological Faculty

Abstract of the contribution:

St. Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274) understands indissolubility to be an essential trait of marriage as the natural association of man and woman, not only as this association becomes sacrament in case of two Christians. The aim of this paper is (1) to present his arguments contained in Summa Contra Gentiles and Commentary on the Fourth Book of Libri Sententiarum, and principles they include in contrast with ideas of philosophers of the Enlightenment; (2) show how his philosophical argument involves contemporary knowledge of sciences; and (3) try to briefly detect elements which may be relevant today.

Title of Contribution:

Time:

Was Josaphat Kuntsevych a true hesychast?

12:00

12:30

University / Faculty / Department / Institute:

Charles University / Catholic Theological Faculty

Abstract of the contribution:

One of the most controversial figures in the byzantine-slavonic church environment, is Josaphat Kuntsevych, the prominent leader in establishing the union between Ruthenian and Roman Catholic churches. We can see on one side his canonization in the Catholic church and demonization in the Orthodox church on the other. Modern scholars understand that all works of Josaphat were in the shadow of his violent death, and they examine precisely his works. One of the breaking works was the article of Sophyia Senyk, who studied the spiritual sources of Josaphat and concluded that he was firmly rooted in the genuine eastern monastic tradition; this knowledge was further developed in the popularization works. The 20th century increased the interest of eastern catholic and orthodox scholars in traditional patristic spirituality resulting in the renaissance of interest in hesychastic tradition. These two research directions have resulted in a unified conclusion portraiting Josaphat as a hesychast.

Doubts raised a strong contradiction between this image and prominent orthodox views, which agree that hesychastic spirituality is impossible outside The Orthodox Church. Furthermore, Josaphat is a prominent example of an outgoing from The Orthodox Church by unity with Rome.

Title of Contribution:

Time:

‘Terms and Conditions‘ or ‘Commandments and Statutes’? Deuteronomistic Interpretation of the Deed of Purchase in Jeremiah 32

14:00

14:30

University / Faculty / Department / Institute:

Charles University / Catholic Theological Faculty

Abstract of the contribution:

The narrative in Jer 32:10-14 contains a phrase ‘terms and conditions’ (v. 11) usually understood in close relationship with deed of purchase made by the prophet Jeremiah in a notarial act. The difficulty in understanding the meaning of the phrase originates in the fact that it is in apposition to the preceding words of the verse 11. The phrase is missing in the ancient Greek translation (the Septuagint). This omission has been often attributed either to the textual error in the history of textual transmission or to the Greek translator deliberately omitting the phrase. The proposed paper argues that the omission in the Greek version is not a result of a textual error nor it is an outcome of an intervention of the Greek translator. The phrase, proper to the Masoretic text, was in fact missing in the Hebrew Vorlage of the Greek translation and is a result of a redaction that can be attributed to the Deuteronomistic theological tradition.

Title of Contribution:

Time:

The Book of Genesis and the Great Christian Dream of Carl Gustav Jung

14:30

15:00

University / Faculty / Department / Institute:

University of Hradec Králové / Faculty of Education

Abstract of the contribution:

In his memoirs titled Erinnerungen, Träume, Gedanke von C. G. Jung , the founder of analytical psychology also offers background information about the origin of some of his most influential and controversial analyses of Christian symbols and doctrines. The chapter called On the Origin of the Work includes a detailed account of a dream that foreshadowed, inspired and faciliated Jung’s writing of books Aion, Antwort auf Hiob and other psychological interprerations of Christian Scripture. The dream takes place first in a large house, originally a tavern built in 18th century. Here Jung’s late father serves as a custodian of tombs belonging to famous guests to the tavern. Moreover, Jung’s father also conducts experiments on fishes in his ichtyological laboratory and during the dream lectures his son and two sceptical psychiatrists on many a convoluted and deep interpretation of the Genesis. Jung never made it to Rome due to neurotic resistence and his attitude to Christianity remained highly idiosyncratic all his life. It is a generally accepted assumption that this was caused by his father’s lapsed faith and ongoing hypocritical continuation of work as a protestant pastor. C. G. Jung was therefore psychologically unable to see parallels between his psychological investigations and biblical scriptures as clearly as in the case of alchemy and gnosticism. However, his published dream hinted towards the deepest mysteries being hidden in the book of Genesis.

The proposed contribution identifies structural similarities between Jungian process of individuation and the story of Adam and Eve with a central role of two dichotomies. The first one is quite obviously related to gender-specific processes conceptualised by anima/animus archetypes and narrated about Adam and Eve from a decisedly unipolar male perspective. The other dichotomy consists in the complementarity of conscious and unconscious areas or functions of psyché that are central to Jung’s notion of individuation as a path towards conscious asimilation of impulses from collective unconsciousness. Central position in Eden is taken by mysterious tree of life and of knowledge of good and evil. The tension between biblical narrative and Jungian concepts is introduced as a false dichotomy because we can approach one source of meaning from several points of view without claiming exclusive right of epistemological dominance over other viewpoints.

Title of Contribution:

Time:

The crucified glory of God?

15:00

15:30

University / Faculty / Department / Institute:

Charles University / Catholic Theological Faculty

Abstract of the contribution:

The proposed paper aims to help clarify the hermeneutic principles of working with authoritative biblical texts in early Christianity, which partly adopted Jewish practices in Palestine and the diaspora, but broadly accepted as a new key to understanding Scripture through Christocentric hermeneutic principle. The case study is Hebrews 1.3a, where Jesus is the brightness of the glory. 

It will be discussed on what basis the author, to the Hebrews, could call Jesus the brightness of the glory of God;  how God's glory perceived in the Old Testament; Why God's glory personified; What are the limits of God and how His glory overpass those limits.

Title of Contribution:

Time:

Liturgical Translation of Psalter in the Time of Oppression (Never published Translation of Psalter by Ján Švec-Slavkovian, Slovak priest, translator, poet and linguist)

15:30

16:00

University / Faculty / Department / Institute:

Constantine the Philosopher University in Nitra / Slavistický ústav Jána Stanislava Slovenskej akadémie vied, v.v.i

Abstract of the contribution:

In this paper we would like to present the work of the Catholic priest, biblical scholar and translator Jan Švec-Slavkovian, who was involved in the process of translating biblical texts into Slovak during the Nazi and communist dictatorships. His work has influenced the contemporary modern translation of the Psalter into Slovak. At the same time, he was a victim of circumstances that prevented the publication of his last scholarly work. In this paper, I want to highlight the efforts, original approach and attempts of a professionally qualified person who has never received recognition.

Title of Contribution:

Time:

The Yoruba Religion, Chrislam and Selected Syncretisms in Nigeria

16:30

17:00

University / Faculty / Department / Institute:

Charles University / Catholic Theological Faculty / Department of Systematic Theology and Philosophy

Abstract of the contribution:

The paper discusses the Yoruba religion and Nigerian syncretisms, in particular, the syncretism of the Yoruba religion and Chrislam. Not only the Yoruba religion, but also other indigenous African religions in the West and Central African regions – such as Vodun, Juju, Thron, or Bwiti – have seen increased interest among Africans, including African Muslims and Christians, in the recent years of their revival. The primary objective of the paper is to present the Yoruba religion – the influence of which is gradually growing in Nigeria – and the syncretism of the Yoruba religion with Chrislam. The secondary objective is to map interfaith relations in contemporary Nigeria. The topic is approached using the method of my own field research, which took place in Africa between 2001 and 2019, in the total length of three years, supported by the comparison of applicable literature.

Title of Contribution:

Time:

What to Interpret? The Quest of Origen's Thought

17:00

17:30

University / Faculty / Department / Institute:

Charles University / Hussite Theological Faculty

Abstract of the contribution:

The conference paper deals with Origen's literary work in connection with the search for real Origen. It endeavours to estimate the number of writings penned by this erudite theologian during his lifetime and divide them into categories according to their nature (including form, intention, genre, etc.). Because Origen's writings have not survived in their entirety to the present, the paper's objective lies in the portrayal of the remnants of Origen's colossal literary corpus and the exploration of their reliability with respect to the authentic theological thought of Alexandrian scholar.

Title of Contribution:

Time:

The Sermon on the Mount and celestial transformation according to Hilary of Poitiers

17:30

18:00

University / Faculty / Department / Institute:

Charles University / Catholic Theological Faculty

Abstract of the contribution:

This contribution is based on the work of Hilary of Poitiers Commentarius in Matthaeum, on the part of his commentary relate to The Sermon on the Mount (Mt 5-7). Hilary give the original interpretation of this sermon of Christ. He take a view to the sermon and think about transformation of man to the life eternal. He produce many ideas, but also some questions. His original interpretation is influenced by stoic philosophy and his latin predecessors, mainly by Tertullian.