Journal articles on the topic 'Descent of Jesus Christ into hell'

In her remarkably forceful and learned book,Light in Darkness: Hans Urs von Balthasar and the Catholic Doctrine of Christ's Descent into Hell, Alyssa Lyra Pitstick offers a comprehensive critique of Hans Urs von Balthasar's theology of the descent into hell. Pitstick contributes to a sharpening of readings of Balthasar and forces one to make precise interpretative judgements. Clearly, she has produced a work with which anyone interested in Balthasar must engage, and the conversation and debate the book has started will, to be sure, continue for many years ahead. This said, I am afraid that Dr Pitstick's unrelenting and totalising prosecution of Balthasar's theology leads her to disallow any charitable reading and critical appropriation of Balthasar's creative and, at times, sublime theology. Although not necessarily the final evaluative word on Balthasar, or on the doctrine of the descent into hell, Pitstick's book provides a tremendous spark for those interested in Balthasar's theology and for much needed reflection on the significance of the church's confession that Jesus Christ descended into hell.

In the Apostle’s Creed, undoubtedly the most enigmatic phrase is Christ “descendit ad inferos,” descended into hell. After surveying various interpretations of the doctrine, this paper seeks to integrate the Reformed tradition’s view of the descent as the subjective experience of God-forsakenness with Hans Urs von Balthasar’s proposal that Christ entered into solidarity with the dead in hell with no hope of being found by God. The paper then draws three ethical implications from this reading of the descent: the importance of self-surrender, the necessity of solidarity with the oppressed and a chastened confidence towards the prospect for social change in our world.

By far the shortest of the Thirty-nine Articles of the Church of England is the third, ‘Of the going down of Christ into Hell’. In its entirety it reads: ‘As Christ died for us, and was buried, so also is it to be believed, that he went down into Hell’. One might be forgiven for thinking that the brevity of the article, together with the notable absence of polemic, indicates the doctrine’s relative unimportance amid the other great debates of the day. In fact, the descent of Christ into hell was one of the most controverted of all the creedal articles in the Reformation era. Article III is so short, not because it was a routine recital of the Apostles’ Creed, but because no further elaboration or explanation of the doctrine could command consent in the febrile climate of early Elizabethan England: disagreement over what was meant by ‘hell’, what was meant by Christ’s ‘descent’, and over the doctrine’s fundamental significance, was rife. This particular manifestation of the afterlife – be it only Christ’s afterlife, and only a temporary destination at that – is not the most obvious candidate as a theological cause célèbre of the Reformation era. But the intensity and the longevity of trie debates it fuelled make it at least an intriguing footnote to the study of the period.

The article focuses on the unsolved mystery of the novel by I. S. Turgenev Fathers and Children — the Italian-style al fresco painting The Resurrection of Christ, located above the entrance to the church at the entrance to the Odintsova estate. None of the researchers and commentators of Turgenev’s novel were puzzled by the question: what does “Italian-style” mean in the Easter image? Meanwhile, Turgenev directly points out that, instead of the gateway Orthodox icon, there is a religious painting The Resurrection of Christ (al fresco painting) in the church, where both the sacrament itself and the outsider witness (“a swarthy warrior in a spiked helmet in the foreground”) are presented. In the Orthodox Easter iconography, however, an outside figure is an unacceptable detail, and the sacrament of the Resurrection as the highest sacred reality in accordance with the spirit and letter of the Gospel was not depicted. The Easter sacrament was replaced by the scene of the Descent into Hell, but such an icon was still called Resurrection. Meanwhile, canonically, the procession of Christ is captured, when the Savior does not descend into hell, but rises from there on the icon of the Resurrection of Christ/Descent into Hell: he leads Adam and other biblical heroes out of the underworld by “grabbing of the wrist.” In this way, the Resurrection of Christ begins with the salvation of man, with co-resurrection. In the value and semantic space of the novel, the Orthodox icon of the Resurrection of Christ/Descent into Hell is concealed behind the “Italian” fresco-veil. If Turgenev knows the “Italian” semantics of the Resurrection, then it is quite natural that the author is more familiar with the semantics of the Orthodox icon from liturgical recollection and makes it covertly actual. The behind-the-scenes presence of the icon of the Resurrection of Christ/Descent into Hell and everything that is liturgically and theologically associated with it and experienced transubs the structure of Fathers and Children. The Easter hierotopy of the novel, outlined by the Orthodox icon and supported by the prayerful hopes of the finale 1) creates a very special, breathtaking and enlightening value space, correlated with eternity, the infinity of the spiritual, which affirms, elevating all present to endless life through participation; 2) sets up the supertext dimension, gives rise to the motive of transcendental hope: “You will not leave my soul in hell”; 3) and also strengthens the Russian word as the Christocentric foundation of Russian culture.

The main theme of folk stories about the biblical King Solomon is his wisdom, which allows him to solve difficult problems and find a way out of difficult situations. Such stories include stories about Solomon in hell: left in hell during the descent of Christ into hell, for the liberation of the souls of the Old Testament righteous languishing there, Solomon, thanks to his wisdom, finds a way to get out of there – he threatens the devils to build a church, for which he is expelled from hell and so freed; they are the subject of consideration in the article. Neither the Holy Scriptures nor the apocryphal narratives known in ancient Russian literature about the descent of Christ into hell contain an episode about Solomon being left in hell, therefore they could not be the only source of folk legends. But similar stories are noted in the indexes of plots of folklore prose: AaТh 804В The Church in Hill; SUS 804В=AA 804* Solomon (soldier, blacksmith) in hell. For analysis, along with records of the European territory of historical Russia, Russian Siberian texts containing the indicated plot were involved in the work. The identified Siberian variants of the stories about Solomon in Hell expand our knowledge about the plot “repertoire” of Russian folklore prose in Siberia, and against the background of the fact that the Siberian fixations of this plot are not taken into account in the SUS, they clarify ideas about the geography of the existence of plot type 804B. Along with this, they replenish the general East Slavic fund of records of narrative folklore with new materials, which expands the source base for research. The results of the examination of folklore narratives about Solomon in hell, including their Siberian records, allow us to assert that not only the wisdom of King Solomon, but also the book motif of the biblical Solomon the temple builder, which was considered not represented in oral legend, was reflected in folk narratives based on folklore plot fund.

Of all the Reformation theologians, John Calvin exerted arguably the most influence on the English Puritans. That did not mean, however, that his theology was uncritically accepted. This chapter considers the reception of Calvin’s theology at the Westminster Assembly on two doctrines that were debated among the Westminster divines, namely, the eternal generation of the Son of God and the so-called descent of Christ into Hell. Calvin’s somewhat unique position on the Son’s aseity and his interpretation of Christ’s descent were considered by the Assembly, but ultimately rejected by the majority, though not all, of the Westminster divines. Nevertheless, the Westminster documents are not quite detailed enough to contradict Calvin’s position on the Son’s aseity, but the Larger Catechism definitely departs from Calvin’s teaching on Christ’s descent into Hell. Moreover, the relation of the Apostles’ Creed and Nicene Creed to Reformed theology in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries also comes under consideration in this chapter.

В статье предпринят богословский анализ корпуса канонов Великой Субботы, который включает в себя 6 текстов. Из числа всех тем, отраженных в этих текстах, в статьерассматриваются 4: сошествие Христа во ад, мотив Христа-победителя, божество и человечество Христа во время страдания, покой Бога в седьмой день. В богослужении Великой Субботы мотив сошествия во ад является одним из центральных литургических воспоминаний этого дня. Наиболее восторженно тему разрушения ада воспевает преп. Косма Маюмский. При описании разрушения ада Христом мы встречаем яркий образ Христа-Победителя, одолевшего диавола и смерть (преп. Кассия, преп. Косма, преп. Андрей Критский). В каноне Космы Маюмского находит отражение чисто догматическая тема: нераздельность Божества и человечества Христа во время Его смерти и погребения. Темы «богословия субботства» встречается в корпусе канонов Великой Субботы лишь дважды: у св. Марка и у св. Андрея Критского. В статье используется метод контекстуального анализа: богословие канонов соотносится с общим святоотеческим преданием и помещается в широкий контекст вероучения Церкви. The article undertakes a theological analysis of the corpus of the canons of the Holy Saturday, which includes 6 texts. In the article, the author highlights 4 main themes reflected in these canons: the descent of Christ into the hell, the motive of Christ the Conqueror, the Divinity and the humanity of Christ during his suffering, the rest of the God on the seventh day.In the orthodox worship of the Holy Saturday, the motif of the descent into the hell is one of the central liturgical recollections of that day. The most enthusiastic theme of the destruction of the hell is sung by St. Cosmas of Maiuma. When describing the destruction of the hell by Christ, we encounter a vivid image of Christ the Conqueror, who has overcome the devil and the death (St. Cassia, St. Cosmas, St. Andrew of Crete). The canon by St. Cosmas of Maiuma reflects a purely dogmatic theme: the inseparability of the Divinity and the humanity of Christ at the time of His death and burial. The themes of "the theology of Sabbath" occur only twice in the corpus of canons of the Holy Saturday: in the St. Mark’s and the St. Andrew’s of Crete.The article uses the method of contextual analysis: the theology of the canons correlates with the general patristic tradition and is placed in the broad context of the Church doctrine.

The article deals with the study of the development of the new iconography "Resurrection with the Descent into Hell", which appeared in Russian art in the 16th century. Variants of new iconography are considered on the examples of certain monuments. Iconographic types are distinguished by the arrangement of the two main plots, sequential or vertical. At the same time, in the first iconographic type, it is possible to see either a literal adherence to the Dutch engraving, or a rethinking: the placement of the image "Resurrection" below, under the main stage.The influence of the Old Believers' work "The Passion of Christ" on the iconography "Resurrection with the Descent into Hell" is investigated. This influence is evident not only in the new storylines that become commonplace for the new image. This can be seen both in the text on the icon and in the stamps of monuments. Examples of citing the text are given. Certain iconographic features associated with this influence are noted.

The article refutes the widespread view that Dostoevsky's Christian beliefs were strictly Orthodox. It is proved that Dostoevsky's religious and philosophical searches' central tendency is the criticism of historical, ecclesiastical Christianity as a false, distorted form of the teaching of Jesus Christ and the desire to restore this teaching in its original purity. Modern researchers of the history of early Christianity find more and more arguments in favor of the fact that the actual teaching of Jesus Christ is contained in that religious movement, which the church called the Gnostic heresy. The exact philosophical expression of the teaching of Christ was received in the later works of J.G. Fichte, whose ideas had a strong influence on the Russian writer. Like Fichte, Dostoevsky understands Christ as the first person who showed the possibility of revealing God in himself and gaining divine omnipotence and eternal life directly in earthly reality. In this sense, every person can become like Christ. Dostoevsky's main characters walk the path of Christ and show how difficult this path is. The article shows that Dostoevsky used in his work not only the philosophical version of true (Gnostic) Christianity developed by German philosophy (Fichte, Schelling, Hegel), but also the key motives of the Gnostic myth, primarily the idea that our world, filled with evil and suffering, is created not by the supreme, good God-Father, but by the evil Demiurge, the Devil (in this sense, it is hell).

Scripture is replete with the antithesis of descent and ascent, and the early Church Fathers often employed this framework for understanding the relationship between the ascension of Jesus and the sending (descent) of the Holy Spirit. This essay outlines how many of the early Fathers saw an inseparable connection between the bodily ascension of Christ and the gift of the Spirit at Pentecost. While not normally denying the historical reality of these events, their main emphasis was theological rather than merely historical. In this way the Fathers creatively attempted to relate their Christology to their pneumatology without allowing one to swallow the other.

Christ's brides were hell bound by the end of the Middle Ages, when women—in the figure of the witch—were increasingly seen as Satan's spouses. Such is the narrative arc of Dyan Elliott's significant recent study ofsponsa Christi(bride of Christ),The Bride of Christ Goes to Hell. Elliott points toward the incarnational logic of Christianity in general and the type of physically immanent bridal mysticism that flourished among late medieval women in particular to locate some of the dynamic forces that helped make possible the theological ideas about witches that flourished from the fifteenth century onward. Elliott has done much to enrich our understanding of the development of an embodied version of the bride of Christ. Medieval and early modern Christianity held out an option, for women at least, to marry Jesus—to become asponsa Christi—in a literal sense, a form of marriage sustained by such things as legal mechanisms, theological visions, particular emotions, religious rituals, and spiritual practices. But Elliott's argument, stopping as it does right before the tumultuous sixteenth century, lends itself to a reading that the literalizedsponsa Christiwas bound henceforth to the early modern witch craze. Desiderius Erasmus's 1529 treatiseDe vidua christianaprovides us evidence that the literalizedsponsa Christideveloped in alternative ways in the early modern period, including the creation of a distinctive vision of the Christian widow who is, at times, bigamous.De vidua, then, can serve as the basis for expanding upon an alternative historical trajectory for the bride of Christ that Elliott mentions in passing in her study.

The idea for this paper come from the writings of St. Irenaeus on the Holy Spirit and His relationship with Jesus of Nazareth to empower Him in His ministry and final sacrifice. While Irenaeus wrote of the descent of the Spirit on Jesus during the baptism, this paper discusses the idea that the Spirit was upon Him from the moment of the incarnation by the perichoresis or circumincession between the human and divine natures of Christ. While the author agrees with the Chalcedonian definition that the two natures exist in unity due to being instantiated in one hypostasis, this paper attempts to demonstrate that the unity of the two natures was also maintained by the Holy Spirit who has always rested on the divine Logos by Trinitarian perichoresis from eternity and on the incarnated human nature of Jesus from the moment of the incarnation. To summarize, the Holy Spirit (Spirit of God/Christ) who has always rested eternally on the Word also came to dwell upon His human incarnation at the time of the conception to maintain the two natures in unity resulting in the reciprocal interchange of attributes and the oneness of their wills. This occurred due to a combination of Trinitarian and Christological perichoresis.

Is the theology of universal salvation reconcilable with the New Testament warnings about the possibility of damnation and with the long-standing teaching of the Church on hell? Does it take into account the doctrine of the last judgement where the just God gives to each man and woman according to his or her deeds? How can God be both just and merciful? Did God punish Jesus for our sins? If the greatness of God's transcendence consists in the infinite quality of God's mercy and God's saving justice, may we not hope that God's love made visible in the cross of Christ will wear down the heart of even the most hardened sinner.

Abstract What does God do with the “holes” or “troumatisms” that comprise the limits of our existence, that “original solitude” whereby we are confronted with the impending annihilation of all sense? Are we left enclosed in it or does God accompany us there? This essay considers to what extent Christ’s descent on Holy Saturday takes part in the extra-phenomenal “impossibility of possibility” of this original solitude. Such a consideration requires distinguishing between that “underworld” Christ descends to on the Second Day from the sin that is the proper domain of “hell.” Christ descending to the underworld marks God entering our finitude so it may be transformed (Holy Saturday) rather than our faults so that we may be resurrected (Last Judgment). Philosophically, Holy Saturday, as the ab-sense and non-sense residing between Crucifixion (Good Friday) and Resurrection (Easter Sunday), exemplifies the extra-phenomenal in which nothing is manifested (phenomenology) nor signified (hermeneutics). This intermediate realm is then one in which God comes to meet us at the limit of our own finitude.

В статье исследуется тринитарный аспект эсхатологической концепции Г. У. фон Бальтазара. Автор применяет «синхронический» подход к предмету исследования. В первой части статьи автор выявляет методологические особенности эсхатологической концепции Бальтазара, её теоцентричность и таинственность, а также особенности её описания, использование иносказаний и аналогий. Во второй части описываются тринитарные основания концепции. Далее автор приводит интерпретацию Бальтазара учения о сошествии Христа в ад, как солидарности с мёртвыми, и констатирует её отличие от существующей богословской традиции. В следующей части статьи анализируется следствие тринитарного подхода Бальтазара к эсхатологии. Автор утверждает, что для Бальтазара все домостроительные действия Христа являются событиями, имеющими тринитарный аспект, и это сказывается на его понимании смерти, посмертного суда, ада и рая. Бальтазар понимает их не как реальности, характер которых сложился «до того, как» Христос соприкоснулся с ними, а как реальности, характер которых определяется именно их контактом со Христом. Также в статье описывается представление Бальтазара о соотношении Божественного бытия и страданий. The article examines the trinitarian aspect of the eschatological concept of H. U. von Balthasar. The author applies a «synchronistic» approach to the subject of research. In the first part of the article, the author reveals the methodological features of Balthazar’s eschatological concept: its theocentricity and mystery; as well as the features of its description: the use of allegories and analogies. The second part describes its trinitarian foundations. Further, the author cites Balthasar’s interpretation of the doctrine of the descent of Christ into hell as solidarity with the dead, and states its difference from the existing theological tradition. The next part of the article analyzes the implications of Balthasar’s trinitarian approach to eschatology. The author argues that for Balthazar all the dispensational actions of Christ are events that have a trinitarian aspect, and this affects his understanding of death, the posthumous judgment, hell and Heaven. Balthazar understands these things not as realities whose character was formed «before» Christ came into contact with them, but as realities whose character is determined precisely by their contact with Christ. The article also describes Balthazar’s idea of the correlation between Divine existence and suffering.

The icon of The Descent of the Holy Spirit includes a mission message. The origins of the iconography of this mystery date back to the 6th century. The icon of Pentecost depicts the apostles, and an empty place between them, destined for the coming again of Jesus Christ. Adam was presented below, and then the pagans as representatives of the peoples and nations to whom the apostles are sent. Later in this place is presented Old King as a personifi cation of the Cosmos, that is here a personifi cation of all creatures. The apostles, as the fi rst missionaries, will proclaim the Gospel to this Cosmos.

In this article I begin with an outline of the connection between theological concepts related to the person of the Gnostic Christian Saviour and the ritual practice of Gnostic Christian groups. After setting the scene in this general way, I look specifically at theGospel of Philip, investigating the connection between the description of the rebirth of the Saviour at the Jordan and the rebirth of the Gnostic in the ritual of the bridal chamber.The Nag Hammadi corpus, to which theGospel of Philipbelongs, contains many texts which may be identified as Gnostic Christian, partly because of the fact that, in these texts, the key figure of the Saviour or Revealer is identified as Jesus or Christ. The work that Jesus performs in the world for the Gnostics is revelation, for the most part, rather than redemption in the sense in which mainstream Christianity identified his activity. His revelation may involve imparting secret knowledge, especially during that time prior to his final ascent into the heavenly region of light (for those texts which are closely aligned with the mainstream Christian pattern of descent and several stages of ascent for Jesus), but it must be generally categorised as activity designed to awaken the Gnostic to the insight (gnosis) which this person already possesses.

Two of the oldest Christian Paschal homilies, one by Melito of Sardis and the other of unknown origin (preserved under the names of Hippolytus of Rome and John Chrysostom), testify to the expectation of the descent of the divine and salvific glory during the Paschal night. I would call the theological doctrine behind this liturgical practice glory-soteriology or kabod-soteriology. Rabbinic materials such as the targums Neofiti 1 and Pseudo-Jonathan attest to a similar expectation on the night of the festival of Pesach. The salvific power of this glory seems to constitute the first rationale for this expectation, and the Festival of Pascha the privileged time for the divine descent and manifestation. Since further investigation identifies similar elements in the writings of Philo of Alexandria, the present study proposes what might be called a «two-branched» theory: one might reasonably suppose that both the Christian and the Jewish-rabbinic expectations of the descent of the salvific glory of Pascha may constitute two different developments of a common matrix in the Second Temple festival of Passover. Major doctrinal and ritual shifts emerge in Christian worship where Jesus Christ took the place of Yahweh or of his Word.

In his momentous writing Religion within the Bounds of Bare Reason, Kant attempted to conduct a complete rational-idealistic interpretation of traditional dogmatic Christology. The Son of God was represented by Kant as an idea of the good principle mystically existing in the human soul, and the Incarnation of the Son of God as a descent of the good principle into evil human nature. Therefore the Lord Jesus Christ, according to Kant’s representation, should be merely a simple man (an example for human beings) who realised the good principle in his life, becoming a model for us to copy and a proof that we also can realise this principle – having Christ as an example, though on our own, independently, i.e. without having any special ontological relation with Him, and without any other external factors having impact on us. St Innocent (Borisov) was the first thinker in the whole tradition of Russian theology who seriously dealt with the theological opinions of Kant, especially with his rational Christology. St Innocent did not neglect the meaning of Kant’s Christological views, but attempted, firstly, to incorporate their positive roots into traditional Christology and, secondly, to respond to Kant’s “challenge”, i.e. his notion that the doctrine of Christ’s native holiness is not compatible with the view of Him as an example and ideal. The Russian theologian stated that Christ is the Ideal and God Himself. To respond to Kant, he formulated the conception of the gradual manifestation of divinity in Christ.

В 2023 г. в здании бывшей Англиканской церкви Иисуса Христа на Английской набережной в Санкт-Петербурге была начата масштабная реконструкция и приспособление здания для современного использования. В рамках этой работы с западной стены главного Церковного зала была снята картина «Снятие с Креста» — копия, выполненная специально для этого интерьера с одноименной работы П.П. Рубенса. В ходе реставрации было проведено исследование произведения, изучен состав материалов картины и предпринята попытка устранения изломов красочного слоя без дублирования на новое основание. In 2023, a large-scale reconstruction of the former Anglican Church of Jesus Christ on the English Embankment in Saint Petersburg started seeking to adapt the building for modern use. As part of this work, the painting Descent from the Cross — a copy of the eponymous painting by P.P. Rubens specifically made for this interior — was removed from the western wall of the main Church Hall. During the restoration, the work was carefully investigated, the composition of the painting materials was researched and an attempt was made to eliminate the fractures of the paint layer without duplication on a new support.

The author of this paper tries to prove that the origins of Christian drama shouldn’t be sought in Latin liturgical drama crystalized in 9th and 10th century – as it is commonly accepted – but rather much earlier: in Eastern dramatized patristic homilies of 5th, 6th and 7th century. All fully dramatized homilies of those days are arranged in three groups: The homilies about John the Baptist and the Baptism of Jesus Christ; The homilies about descending of Jesus Christ into the abyss and libera­tion of those who are righteous from hell; Homilies about the Annunciation of Blessed Virgin Mary – most numer­ous texts. In this article only homilies from group 1 and group 2 are analyzed. The eight most dramatized speeches from these two groups were chosen. From these homi­lies some fragments or full parts of dialogs are chosen and quoted, as examples of dramatic action, shown in the clearest way (containing the fullness of psychologi­cal expression and motion, rhetorically built dialogs of Biblical characters). These parts are explained and commented in the context of the idea of drama proposed by Origen (Commentarius in Cantica Canticorum. Prologus 1, 1-3; I 1, 1-2). From Group 1, the author of this article presents two homilies: Homilia in Sanctam Theophaniam (which authorship is mistakenly assigned to St. Gregory the Wonderworker) and Homilia de baptismo Christi [CPG 5520] of Pseudo- Eusebius of Alexandria. From Group 2 six speeches are chosen. Five of them are written by Pseudo- Eusebius of Alexandria. They make specific cycle, known as Eusebian cycle of de­scending Christ into the abyss. This cycle – in its contents and structure – is a rhe­torical amplification of apocryphal Evangelium Nicodemi (17-27) and Quaestiones S. Bartholomaei Apostoli (I 1-9). These homilies are summarized by the author of this paper. These five Eusebian homilies are completed with well-known Homilia de divini corporis sepultura et de Christi adventu in infernum [CPG 3768] of anonymous author. This last one is quoted on the Holy Saturday in the Liturgy of the Hours (II 386-388). According to some modern authors (i.e. G. La Piana), all these six homilies seem to set up the Christian Passion Drama in three acts (A-C). The structure of this drama is as follows. At the beginning we have well doc­umented theological introduction about descensus in inferos. Then we have three acts with following homilies (first five of them are written by Pseudo-Eusebius of Alexandria): A. Descending of John the Baptist to the abyss to prepare those who are righ­teous for the coming of Christ: Homilia in illud: „Tu es qui venturus es, an alium exspectamus” [CPG 5521] and Homilia de adventu Joannis in infernum et de ibi inclusis [CPG 5522]; B. The Judas’ betrayal, imprisonment of Jesus and the dread of rulers of the underworld – Satan and Hades – after they have heard about coming of Christ: De proditione Judae [CPG 5523] and Homilia in Diabolum et Hadem [CPG 5524]; C. The Passion and Death of Christ and his descending into the abyss: Homilia de Christi passione [CPG 5526] and Homilia in divini corporis sepultura et de Christi adventu in infernum [CPG 3768]. The numerous and widely presented fragments of dramatized homilies – com­pleted with highly quoted literature of subject – seem to convince clearly, that the origins of Christian drama (reconstructed in unspecified way during the liturgy in the Church) could be reasonably sought as far as in patristic dramatized homily of 6th and 7th century.

What is the Ascension? Is it merely a narrative of a post-paschal community? In what spatio-temporal reality has it been fulfilled? How should we understand its placement in time: forty days after the Resurrection, and ten days prior to the Descent of the Holy Spirit? The Ascension should be analyzed integrally in connection with the mystery of death and the Resurrection. This paper presents an attempt at deepening New-Testament ecclesiogenesis while also moving away from the narrowed understanding that the Church emerged solely as a result of the words, deeds and person of Jesus Christ. On the one hand, it is a reference to the five stages of the Church's emergence as an event of the entire Holy Trinity in the still-unfinished history of salvation. On the other: it is a presentation of the typically ignored of the Ascension, which is usually reduced to the event of the Resurrection of the glorious Lord. Analysis of the Ascension – performed in the light of ecclesiogenesis – leads to uncovering the pneumatological and eschatological components, which are most interesting in reference to the multi-dimensional establishment of the Church and its mission.

The modern Christianity that has been going on in the world for many centuries is not the initial Christianity that was brought by the Prophet Jesus (PBUH). Now it consisted on a pretended and mixed faith, which St. Paul's was invented for his popularity. In the life of Hazrat Eesa bin Maryam (PBUH), Paul was his staunch opponent and he had never met him. After Jesus was taken up to heaven, this man suddenly began to sing in sympathy and harmony, and began to show excessive devotion to Jesus. In order to spread his beliefs widely, Paul made a mixture of the fanatical beliefs of the Greeks, Christians and Sun-worshipers and declared it to be true Christianity. The fact is that after Jesus (PBUH) his twelve disciples began to spread the teachings of Jesus (PBUH) on the planet with great zeal, and with great speed people began to abandon the outdated traditions of Judaism and started to join Christianity. The Jewish priests of that time were disturbed to see that their glory was in danger because of Christianity. To prevent this, St. Paul from Judaism announced that he had converted from Judaism to Christianity. And he gains the sympathy of other disciples by telling the story of Jesus descent upon himself. And he engages in the preaching of Christianity and shows such zeal that, he pushes the rest of the disciples into the background and even proclaims Prophecy in the name of revelation. He severely persecuted the followers of Christ in the enmity of Jesus and even martyred some. As a Jew, he used to go to his synagogue, a place of worship. Gradually he stopped going to Sina Gag too. He told his Christian followers that one day, fourteen years after Jesus, he came to him in a dream and demanded that he renounce violence against his followers. Paul said that after that incident his world changed and he repented of all his oppression. This article will provide a critical overview of St. Paul's personality in the light of the Bible and his impact in the modern Christianity.

The Cycle of services of Novgorod Cathedral of the Holy Wisdom included sing-ing services (ᾀσματική ἀκολουθία) after the practice of the Hagia Sophia in Constantinople. Its description is known since the 13th century from the Novgorod liturgical manuscripts. Since the end of 15th century the double- sided proskynesis icons has been an important inte-gral part of singing service in Novgorod Cathedral. The unique complex of the images of the Saviour, Mother of God, saints, and the Bible scenes was created at this time. The complicated organization composition of the Novgorod series allowed to lay one icon in the church naos at festive day or to carry out all icons with images of saints to square near Cathedral during the rites of the New Year on September 1 and on Sunday of the Last Judgement. The icons replaced one another during the Holy Week. The Shroud with the embroidery image of dead Christ was carried out from altar and put on a table in the middle of naos at Holy Saturday. The icon Resurrection (Descent into Hell) replaced the Shroud at early morning of Resurrection Sunday. It was a real “mystery of images”.

Grundtvig and Liturgical ExegesisBy Christian ThodbergLiturgical exegesis is defined as the way in which the Church re-actualised the words and deeds of Jesus in the service of worship in trying to answer the need of the congregation for being simultaneous with the biblical events. In the Western Church this liturgical exegesis received an emphatic exposition in connection with the old series of pericopes in the roman mass and in most of protestant churches as well.Many modem preachers do not like the old lectionary because it is crammed with the stories of Jesus’ miracles which - as they say - have no relevance to churchgoers of today. Grundtvig, however, always met those stories with pleasure, because in his opinion, they dealt with Jesus’ strong deeds in the worship today in baptism and communion. And essentially the biblical readings are worked out on the Sundays before and after the old baptismal terms, either at Easter time, or on the sixth of January, or at Whitsun. Thus baptism is defined in three ways by the three old baptismal terms: on January sixth as a birth with Christ, at Easter as death and resurrection with Christ and at Pentecost as the reception of the gift of the Holy Spirit.The Western system of gospel readings in general survived the Reformation, but in the course of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries the account of Christ’s acts of power came under critical scrutiny. They were understood as magical elements, which obscured the character of the bible as the teaching of Christianity. Parallel with this, in the context of the liturgy, the renunciation and the naming of the Devil and the word Hell was removed from the Apostles’ Creed in the baptismal rite and the Annunciation, the Resurrection and the Ascension were understood as images.As an old-fashioned believer, Grundtvig protested against all this. Christianity depended on Christ’s works of power. But despite his faith that the bible was literally God’s word, his problem was this: When and how did God’s word and Christ’s deeds of power touch him personally? Theologically, the question about the presence of God was a problem for Grundtvig throughout his life. In simple terms: Where does God speak to mel Grundtvig’s problem was solved by his famous »unparalleled discovery«, which became the hermeneutic key to his sermons. The thesis of liturgical history scholarship is that liturgical exegesis has its place already in the New Testament, and that the secondary epistles of St. Paul in connection (Ephesians, Colossians) can be rehabilitated, since they give us the key to the understanding of Jesus’ miracles in relations to baptism. In the end it points to Grundtvig’s persistent attempt to find the place where God speaks to him, where he intuitively rediscovers the early church’s understanding of the connection between Jesus’ works of power and baptism, and which thus becomes a contemporary challenge to New Testament scholarship and preaching today.

In the present re-reading of the Sistine mosaics of S. Maria Maggiore, which embraces the Old and New Testament scenes in their totality, it will be argued that the iconography is a visual manifestation of the Christology predominating in the Roman Episcopate during the interlude between the Councils of Ephesus and Chalcedon (AD 431 to 451). The fact that the Old Testament narration opens with the Life of Abraham and concludes, on the opposite wall, with the Battles of Joshua, including a distinct pictorial indication of the position of Rahab, the harlot of Jericho, who became the great-great-grandmother of King David, has led the present author to the suggestion that the lost panels concluding the cycle may have included at least one Davidic scene. Such a scene would have extolled the soteriological meaning of the human nature of Christ, “the Son of David, the Son of Abraham” (Mt 1:1), thoughts expounded by Leo the Great in his Tomus ad Flavianum, which laid the ground for the Chalcedonian Council. By the same token the thesis will be advanced that, on the triumphal arch, the matron in the blue maphorion, who sits on Christ’s left side, counterbalancing the Virgin in the Adoration of the Magi scene, may be a personification of the women in the genealogical line of Jesus Christ listed in the Gospel of Matthew (Mt 1:1-16). The two women counterpoised in the Adoration scene would thus exalt and substantiate the Gentile, non-Jewish, contribution to the lineage of Our Saviour. The divine providence expressed through these `extraneous´ links in His ancestry (the key figures of whom were the Gentile women Rahab and Ruth), in the story which led to the Descent of the Logos and the Birth of Christ, may have been the underlying, unifying theme in the vast decoration of the basilica.

Por muito tempo a pregação em torno do inferno distorceu a compreensão e a vivência da fé, contribuindo assim para a pastoral do medo. Atualmente pesa quase um silêncio em torno do assunto. Não obstante os equívocos do passado apoiados na pastoral do medo, a questão não pode ser silenciada, embora não seja central no anúncio do Evangelho. As Sagradas Escrituras anunciam a vontade salvífica universal de Deus por meio de Jesus Cristo agindo no Espírito Santo, mas não escondem a misteriosa possibilidade de uma recusa por parte do ser humano. Na reflexão teológica foram influentes a apocatástase e a predestinação. O debate prossegue. A esperança de salvação para todos não pode fazer-nos fechar os olhos para aquelas pessoas e grupos humanos, especialmente ricos e poderosos, em cujo agir transparece uma íntima sintonia com o mistério da iniquidade e sua multiforme ação na história. O anúncio da esperança de uma salvação universal deve acontecer sempre em primeiro lugar, mas acompanhada do alerta em relação a uma entrega definitiva e total ao mistério da iniquidade, entrega que se inicia nas ações e decisões cotidianas.Abstract: For a long time the preaching about hell distorted the comprehension and the experience of the faith, thus contributing for a pastoral of fear. At present, there is almost silence around the subject. In spite of the mistakes of the past based on the pastoral of fear, the issue cannot be silenced, even if it is not central in the announcement of the Gospel. The Sacred Scriptures announce God’s will of universal salvation through Jesus Christ acting upon the Holy Spirit, but they do not hide the mysterious possibility of a refusal on the part of the human being. In the theological reflection the apocatastasis (the ultimate salvation of all human beings) and the predestination were influent. The debate continues. The hope of salvation for all cannot let us close our eyes to those people and human groups, especially the rich and powerful, whose actions show an intimate harmony with the mystery of the iniquity and its manifold action on history. The announcement of the hope in a universal salvation must always happen in the first place, but followed by a warning with regard to a definite and total surrender to the mystery of the iniquity, a surrender that begins in the everyday actions and decisions.Keywords: Salvation: Hell; Apocatastasis; Predestination; Hope.

St. Paul in his Letter to the Galatians does not criticise all the stipulations of Law. He pays attention only to the works required by the Law and rejects them as insufficient for the proper education of the Christians. Considering this insufficiency of the Law, St. Paul claims that it was based on inheritance and not on the promise given to Abraham (3:16). The Law was limited and served as an educator (3:24-25). So, the purpose and the way of education is the Gospel of Christ (1:6-9) which the Apostle received directly from the Resurrected (1:12) and then presented to the most influential people in Jerusalem, thus acquiring their acceptance (2:1-2). Incarnation of the Son of God (4:4-5), crucifixion and death of Jesus (2:19-21, 3:1, 6:14) and the descent of the Holy Spirit (4:6) are the three essential elements of Paul’s Gospel. Another crucial constituent of education according to the Letter to the Galatians is faith (2:16), and more precisely, the obedience of faith (3:1-5), which in no case can be connected with the stipulations of Law.

On July 22, 1908, Pope Pius X established the Association of Our Lady of a Happy Death as universal for the whole Church. On May 1987, the Primate of Poland, Cardinal Joseph Glemp, approved the Polish Branch of the Association at the Shrine to the Virgin Mary in Górka Klasztorna. He also permitted the Missionaries of the Holy Family to carry out this work. The purpose of the Association is the propagation of prayer and preparation for a good death. The question is, however, can death be good? If so, what is a good death? The article titled „What makes a good death? An attempt to answer the question based on the teachings of K. Rahner, H.U. von Balthasar and J. Ratzinger – Benedict XVI“ is an analysis of the thoughts of the three great contemporary theologians. It does not, however, aim to analyze deeply the mutual similarities and differences between the German-speaking theologians. The study aims at explaining what we really ask God for when praying for a „happy death”. Even a cursory reading of selected books by Rahner, von Balthasar and Ratzinger – Benedict XVI reveals that thinking about death as something good is not unreasonable. Why? Because the positive aspect of dying does not come from the nature of death, but from God’s action in it. It was Him who in the Person of Jesus Christ became man and conquered the hell of death (Ratzinger) by transforming a “bad death” into a “good one” (von Balthasar), and thus gained eternal redemption for us (Rahner).

The naming of 2021 as the "Year of Nizami" is a manifestation of the high value given to our literature, language and culture by the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Heydar oglu Aliyev. This article talks about the immortality of the world-famous great Azerbaijani philosopher and poet Nizami Ganjavi, the antiquity of the ethnic lineage of the Azerbaijani Turks and the formation of the Azerbaijani language on the basis of the ancient Turkic language. All this is substantiated by the example of Nizami's personality and creativity, and it is concluded that Nizami Ganjavi is an Azer Turk of Albanian descent who converted to Islam. Nizami Ganjavi is a world-famous philosopher and poet. If he was not a Turk, he would not marry his Kipchak daughter Afag. Of course, they spoke Turkish at home. This Turkish language was Gargar-Kipchak dialect. The Armenian province of Caucasian Albania, reflected in the works of Nizami Ganjavi, is not present-day Armenia. The Caucasus is a province of Albania and was inhabited by Albanians. If the Armenian name existed in the 12th century, Nizami, the mirror of his time, would have told the world about the Armenians and their characteristics. Nizami considers himself a "stranger" to the philosophy of life. This is due to the fact that the people and environment that formed Nizami have just moved from fire-worship, idolatry and Christianity to Islamic thought. Therefore, Nizami was neither a Christian nor an Islamist like Islam. Therefore, standing at the crossroads of these two roads, he says that I - the double Nizami is a stranger, half the vinegar in the world, half the honey. I think he emphasized that he was as sour as vinegar because he left Christianity and that he tasted honey because he converted to Islam. Therefore, pre-Islamic beliefs and discoveries in the works of Nizami Ganjavi. Christianity, sayings and feelings about Jesus Christ are widespread. This is due to Nizami's commitment to his ethnic roots as a Christian Albanian. Nizami Ganjavi leaned on Albanian literature and culture and presented pearls to the treasury of world culture. Key words: Nizami, poet, Kipchak, Afag, Harum, Barda, Christian, Caucasus, Albanian, Albanian, Armenian, Marzankush, Marzili

This article reveals the features of the artistic embodiment of the image of the “living earth” in the chapter “The Trinity Day” of the novel The Summer of the Lord by the writer of the Russian émigré of the first half of the 20th century Ivan Sergeevich Shmelev. The Summer of the Lord is the pinnacle work in the author’s oeuvre. The book is based on the autobiographical material. In the chapter “The Trinity Day” the author depicted his own childhood memories of celebrating the Orthodox holiday of the Trinity. In the picture of the lush Russian summer nature shown in the chapter “The Trinity Day” and filled with special value and meaning semantics, the image of the blessed “living earth”, correlated with the image of Russia, becomes the leading one. The artistic technique of color painting dominates in revealing the figurative and motif text range, which acquires a symbolic meaning. The motif of the “revival” of the earthly world on the day of the holy celebration reveals the connection of Christian ideas about God as a life-giving principle, the source of real life. Images of birches, motifs of light, brilliance, fragrance, and spiritualization of the earth receive the important symbolic and spiritual significance in the narrative structure of the chapter “The Trinity Day”. The image of the “living earth” in the text of the novel The Summer of the Lord acquires a universal, comprehensive meaning, includes not only images of nature, but also the home space surrounding the main character of the work – a seven-year-old Vanya, as well as images of the temple, Moscow, the Kremlin. The main idea of this chapter of the novel is the belief in the direct descent of the Lord Jesus Christ on the day of Trinity onto the earthly world in order to bless it. The nostalgic intonation of the adult narrator sounding in the chapter “The Trinity Day”, introduces in the text the idea of making the image of Russia sacred. The bygone childhood and Homeland, forever lost in terrible historical cataclysms, acquire a sacred character, appear in the author’s understanding as the blessed world of Holy Russia. The Russia of his childhood turns out to be included in the single circle of Christian Eternity and existential being.

Was Grundtvig’s New Discovery in 1832 A Tragic Event?By Bent ChristensenThe title of this lecture for the Degree of Divinity has been given its provocative wording by the Faculty of Theology at the University of Copenhagen. In his thesis for the Degree of Divinity, published in 1987 and reviewed in Grundtvig Studies in 1988, Bent Christensen has described and evaluated Grundtvig’s attitude in the field of church policy over the years from 1824 to 1832, a critical period of time for himself, in such a way as to give the reader the impression that the writer regards the attitude taken by Grundtvig in the comprehensive Introduction to his ’’Norse Mythology”, 1832, towards the thoughtful people of his time, as a step backward compared to the attitude taken by Grundtvig in his great autobiographical poem, "New Year’s Morning", 1824, and in the preface to it. In this preface Grundtvig wrote that the goal which God "surely wants to be achieved" is "the revival of the heroic spirit of the North to Christian deeds in a direction suited to the needs and conditions of the time."In a book "The Land of the Living 1984", a series of lectures held in the 200th anniversary of Grundtvig’s birth, Professor Aage Henriksen proposed the view that the poem "New Year’s Morning” is the crowning achievement in Grundtvig’s writings. However, already in 1963 Dr. Kaj Thaning had advanced the idea that the Introduction to "Norse Mythology", 1832, was a decisive turningpoint in Grundtvig’s literary career since, from 1832 onwards, human life and the human world acquired an entirely different position and importance in his understanding of Christianity than was the case before that crucial year. Bent Christensen is inspired by both these writers, but adopts a critical attitude to Kaj Thaning.In part 1 of his lecture Bent Christensen describes the entire progress of his Grundtvig studies and the problem he has posed: What is it really that the Introduction has which was not already present in the inspiration behind the poem "New Year's Morning’? In the answer to this question he particularly emphasizes the sermons from 1823 to 1824, which are influenced by Irenaeus, and which are imbued with the thought that man was created in God’s image and has preserved this image of God also after the Fall. According to Bent Christensen they represent "a Grundtvig who is at least as good as the Grundtvig we got".Next he asks "if the ’Grundtvig of 1832* is in any way better than the ’Grundtvig of 1824’"? - Before he answers this question he presents a survey of the development from 1824 to 1832. He agrees with Thaning that "the deeds came to nothing". There was a general atmosphere of stagnation, but in the meantime the situation in the Church came to a head: members of a so-called "godly assembly" in Funen were positively persecuted. And at the University of Copenhagen the popular Professor H.N. Clausen propagated his "Protestant Christianity", diluted beyond recognition. In opposition to this, Grundtvig pointed to "the real Jesus Christ’s Church on Earth" and published his "The Rejoinder of the Church" against Professor Clausen’s latest book. "This was where the tragedy began. For instead of entering into an ecclesiastical discussion, Professor Clausen brought an action for libel against Grundtvig!" According to Bent Christensen the full extent of the tragedy was that the country had a state church which everybody had to be a member of, and which was bound to Lutheran Christianity, but in reality it also had a clergy whose leading circles represented a rationalism and idealism, which was completely at variance with Christianity. This was the situation which Grundtvig described as "the legal Hell", Bent Christensen says. He describes Grundtvig’s writings on church policy in this situation as a development consisting of 3 phases:1. The time from the discovery of the Apostles’ Creed in July 1825 and the Rejoinder in September 1825 until his resignation from office in May 1826. At this time Grundtvig thought that the anomaly could be redressed once it was clearly pointed out.2. The time from September 1826, shortly before the sentence was pronounced, until winter 1830/1831, when Grundtvig presented various proposals for church organization with a Christian state church, while those who did not want to join such a church could leave it in complete freedom of religion.3. The time from April 1831 when Grundtvig declared himself willing to be in charge of the organization of a free-congregation church, thus agreeing to the ’’amicable settlement” which, towards the end of February 1832, led to his permission to function as a free evensong preacher in Frederick’s Church.During the time up to this "amicable settlement”, Grundtvig had worked his way through the numerous drafts for the Introduction to his new ”Norse Mythology”, and in the process, according to Bent Christensen, ’’had managed to construct an entirely new model of church policy”, characterized by peaceful coexistence and competition between the real Christians and those Grundtvig called the "Naturalists”, "within the framework of what Grundtvig continues to term a ’’church”, but what is in reality a common, public religious service system". In the same year he drafted his proposal for "sogneb.ndsl.sning" i.e. abolition of the obligation to use the vicar in the parish where one is a resident, for all church ministrations.According to Kaj Thaning, Grundtvig had now finally "found himself, having learnt to distinguish rightly between what is "human” and what is "Christian”, so he could now call off the ecclesiastical controversy and instead throw himself into a cheerful effort to turn his new view of life to practical use”. ”In my opinion, I have invalidated this evaluation," Bent Christensen says. Grundtvig’s concept of Christianity was optimistic already in 1824, as was the factual distinction between the intrinsic value of life and the salient feature which is Christian salvation. The question now is what it was that Grundtvig managed to free himself from in the years 1831 to 1832. Bent Christensen’s thesis is that he 1) managed to free himself from the ecclesiastical controversy that he could not win, and 2) from the feeling of obligation to be in charge of an illegal organization of free-congregation churches which would isolate him from ordinary public and cultural life.In the context of church policy, Bent Christensen describes what happened with the Introduction to "Norse Mythology" as an emergency solution. - But is this the same, then, as "a tragic event”? - No, he answers. The tragedy was that Grundtvig’s dream from ’’New Year’s Morning” did not come true, but was on the contrary followed by the nightmare of the libel lawsuit and the church controversy. ”But there is another tragedy which we suffer from even today – namely the failure of influential circles to properly understand what it was Grundtvig found himself obliged to do in 1832, so that it has almost come to be regarded as the only right way to practise church organization! In that perspective what happened in 1832 may be seen as a tragic event, Bent Christensen claims in the conclusion of part 1 of his lecture.Part 2 of the lecture is a discussion of key passages in the two main texts, "New Year’s Morning” and the Introduction to ”Norse Mythology”. The intention is to show that the fundamental ideas in the Introduction (and in The Rejoinder of the Church) have been anticipated in the great poem from 1824: ’’Indeed, themythical-biographical descent of this poem through Danish history to the Land of the Living ... stands out as a great "a human being first!'"What the Introduction has ... to a fuller extent and in a clearer form than ’’New Year’s Morning" is the fully developed view of evolution and explanation and the scientific programme connected with it. Thus the Introduction provides a unique contribution to the understanding of what it means that the world exists, and that we exist in it as human beings!”In the concluding part 3 of his lecture, Bent Christensen poses the question "whether what happened in 1831/32 really and truly meant that Grundtvig gained himself, or whether it meant that he lost at least part of himself’. Like Aage Henriksen, Bent Christensen considers "New Year’s Morning" to be a culmination in Grundtvig’s writings, and incidentally the point from which Grundtvig’s comprehensive influence on the Danish people stems, and he sees the Introduction as a point, from where Grundtvig moves on by leaving something behind. Aage Henriksen blames Grundtvig that from being a personal poet he changed into a reformer. Bent Christensen asks instead "from the point of view of the church - whether it was after all the right programme with which Grundtvig attempted to save his dream that had been crushed by the outside world."The alternative he mentions is that Grundtvig could have left the Church with whoever wanted to follow him, and could have worked with unflagging solidarity on this basis for the public life of the people as well as for "universalhistorical scholarship". At least he did not have to make quite so much good fortune of necessity - with the tragic consequences for the Danish Lutheran Christian congregation’s self-conception that it has to this day.He concludes by emphasizing a passage towards the end of Grundtvig’s book, "Elemental Christian Teaching" (Den Christelige B.rnel.rdom), where Grundtvig imagines the situation that church and state were completely separated. In that case the Christians would have to establish their own educational institution for clergymen. But this would have to be a "Christian high school", i.e. a whole university. Bent Christensen finds there is good reason to turn one’s attention to this thought from 1861 - as well as to Grundtvig’s dream from 1824, when one seeks inspiration in Grundtvig.

A Rooted Man and a Sacred PoetBy Viggo MortensenA Review of A.M. Allchin: N.F.S. Grundtvig. An Introduction to his Life and Work. With an afterword by Nicholas Lossky. 338 pp. Writings published by the Grundtvig Society, Århus University Press, 1997.Canon Arthur Macdonald Allchin’s services to Grundtvig research are wellknown to the readers of Grundtvig Studier, so I shall not attempt to enumerate them. But he has now presented us and the world with a brilliant synthesis of his studies of Grundtvig, a comprehensive, thorough and fundamental introduction to Grundtvig, designed for the English-speaking world. Fortunately, the rest of us are free to read as well.It has always been a topic of discussion in Denmark whether Grundtvig can be translated, whether he can be understood by anyone except Danes who have imbibed him with their mother’s milk, so to speak. Allchin is an eloquent proof that it can be done. Grundtvig can be translated and he can be made comprehensible to people who do not belong in Danish culture only, and Allchin spells out a recipe for how it can be done. What is required is for one to enter Grundtvig’s universe, but to enter it as who one is, rooted in one’s own tradition. That is what makes Allchin’s book so exciting and innovative - that he poses questions to Grundtvig’s familiar work from the vantage point of the tradition he comes from, thus opening it up in new and surprising ways.The terms of the headline, »a rooted man« and »a sacred poet« are used about Grundtvig in the book, but they may in many ways be said to describe Allchin, too. He, too, is rooted in a tradition, the Anglican tradition, but also to a large extent the tradition taken over from the Church Fathers as it lives on in the Orthodox Church. Calling him a sacred poet may be going too far.Allchin does not write poetry, but he translates Grundtvig’s prose and poetry empathetically, even poetically, and writes a beautiful and easily understood English.Allchin combines the empathy with the distance necessary to make a renewed and renewing reading so rewarding: »Necessarily things are seen in a different perspective when they are seen from further away. It may be useful for those whose acquaintance with Grundtvig is much closer, to catch a glimpse of his figure as seen from a greater distance« (p. 5). Indeed, it is not only useful, it is inspiring and capable of opening our eyes to new aspects of Grundtvig.The book falls into three main sections. In the first section an overview of Grundtvig’s life and work is given. It does not claim to be complete which is why Allchin only speaks about »Glimpses of a Life«, the main emphasis being on the decisive moments of Grundtvig’s journey to himself. In five chapters, Grundtvig’s way from birth to death is depicted. The five chapters cover: Childhood to Ordination 1783-1811; Conflict and Vision 1811-29; New Directions, Inner and Outer 1829-39; Unexpected Fulfilment 1839-58; and Last Impressions 1858-72. As it will have appeared, Allchin does not follow the traditional division, centred around the familiar years. On the contrary, he is critical of the attempts to focus everything on such »matchless discoveries«; rather than that he tends to emphasize the continuity in the person’s life as well as in his writings. Thus, about Thaning’s attempt to make 1832 the absolute pivotal year it is said: »to see this change as an about turn is mistaken« (p. 61).In the second main section of the book Allchin identifies five main themes in Grundtvig’s work: Discovering the Church; The Historic Ministry; Trinity in Unity; The Earth made in God’s Image; A simple, cheerful, active Life on Earth. It does not quite do Allchin justice to say that he deals with such subjects as the Church, the Office, the Holy Trinity, and Creation theology.His own subtitles, mentioned above, are much more adequate indications of the content of the section, since they suggest the slight but significant differences of meaning that Allchin masters, and which are immensely enlightening.It also becomes clear that it is Grundtvig as a theologian that is the centre of interest, though this does not mean that his work as educator of the people, politician, (history) scholar, and poet is neglected. It adds a wholeness to the presentation which I find valuable.The third and longest section of the book, The Celebration of Faith, gives a comprehensive introduction to Grundtvig’s understanding of Christianity, as it finds expression in his sermons and hymns. The intention here is to let Grundtvig speak for himself. This is achieved through translations of many of his hymns and long extracts from his sermons. Allchin says himself that if there is anything original about his book, it depends on the extensive use of the sermons to illustrate Grundtvig’s understanding of Christianity. After an introduction, Eternity in Time, the exposition is arranged in the pattern of the church year: Advent, Christmas, Annunciation, Easter and Whitsun.In the section about the Annunciation there is a detailed description of the role played by the Virgin Mary and women as a whole in Grundtvig’s understanding of Christianity. He finishes the section by quoting exhaustively from the Catholic theologian Charles Moeller and his views on the Virgin Mary, bearing the impress of the Second Vatican Council, and he concludes that in all probability Grundtvig would not have found it necessary to disagree with such a Reformist Catholic view. Finally there are two sections about The Sign of the Cross and The Ministry of Angels. The book ends with an epilogue, where Allchin sums up in 7 points what modem features he sees in Gmndtvig.Against the fragmented individualism of modem times, he sets Gmndtvig’s sense of cooperation and interdependence. In a world plagued with nationalism, Gmndtvig is seen as an example of one who takes national identity seriously without lapsing into national chauvinism. As one who values differences, Grundtvig appeals to a time that cherishes special traditions.Furthermore Gmndtvig is one of the very greatest ecumenical prophets of the 19th century. In conclusion Allchin translates »Alle mine Kilder« (All my springs shall be in you), »Øjne I var lykkelige« (Eyes you were blessed indeed) and »Lyksaligt det Folk, som har Øre for Klang« (How blest are that people who have an ear for the sound). Thus, in a sense, these hymns become the conclusion of the Gmndtvig introduction. The point has been reached when they can be sung with understanding.While reading Allchin’s book it has been my experience that it is from his interpretation of the best known passages and poems that I have learned most. The familiar stanzas which one has sung hundreds of times are those which one is quite suddenly able to see new aspects in. When, for example, Allchin interprets »Langt højere Bjerge« (Far Higher Mountains), involving Biblical notions of the year of jubilee, it became a new and enlightening experience for me. But the Biblical reference is characteristic. A Biblical theologian is at work here.Or when he interprets »Et jævnt og muntert virksomt Liv paa Jord« (A Simple Cheerful Active Life on Earth), bringing Holger Kjær’s memorial article for Ingeborg Appel into the interpretation. In less than no time we are told indirectly that the most precise understanding of what a simple, cheerful, active life on earth is is to be found in Benedict of Nursia’s monastic mle.That, says Allchin, leads us to the question »where we are to place the Gmndtvigian movement in the whole spectmm of Christian movements of revival which are characteristic of Protestantism« (p. 172). Then - in a comparison with revival movements of a Pietistic and Evangelical nature – Allchin proceeds to give a description of a Grundtvigianism which is culturally open, but nevertheless has close affinities with a medieval, classical, Western monastic tradition: a theocentric humanism. »It is one particular way of knitting together the clashing archetypes of male and female, human and divine, in a renunciation of evil and an embracing of all which is good and on the side of life, a way of making real in the frailties and imperfections of flesh and blood a deeply theocentric humanism« (p. 173).Now, there is a magnificent English sentence. And there are many of them. Occasionally some of the English translations make the reader prick up his ears, such as when Danish »gudelige forsamlinger« becomes »meetings of the godly«. I learnt a few new words, too (»niggardliness« and »esemplastic«) the meaning of which I had to look up; but that is only to be expected from a man of learning like Allchin. But otherwise the book is written in an easily understood and beautiful English. This is also true of the large number of translations, about which Allchin himself says that he has been »tantalised and at times tormented« by the problems connected with translating Grundtvig, particularly, of course, his poetry. Naturally Allchin is fully aware that translation always involves interpretation. When for example he translates Danish »forklaret« into »transfigured«, that choice pulls Grundtvig theologically in the direction that Allchin himself inclines towards. This gives the reader occasion to reflect. It is Allchin’s hope that his work on translating Grundtvig will be followed up by others. »To translate Grundtvig in any adequate way would be the work of not one person but of many, not of one effort but of many. I hope that this preliminary study may set in train a process of Grundtvig assimilation and affirmation« (p. 310)Besides being an introduction to Grundtvig, the book also becomes an introduction to past and contemporary Danish theology and culture. But contemporary Danish art, golden age painting etc. are also brought in and interpreted.As a matter of course, Allchin draws on the whole of the great Anglo-Saxon tradition: Blake, Constable, Eliot, etc., indeed, there are even quite frequent references to Allchin’s own Welsh tradition. In his use of previous secondary literature, Allchin is very generous, quoting it frequently, often concurring with it, and sometimes bringing in half forgotten contributions to the literature on Grundtvig, such as Edvard Lehmann’s book from 1929. However, he may also be quite sharp at times. Martin Marty, for example, must endure being told that he has not understood Grundtvig’s use of the term folkelig.Towards the end of the book, Allchin discusses the reductionist tactics of the Reformers. Anything that is not absolutely necessary can be done away with. Thus, what remains is Faith alone, Grace alone, Christ alone. The result was a radical Christ monism, which ended up with undermining everything that it had originally been the intention to defend. But, says Allchin, Grundtvig goes the opposite way. He does not question justification by faith alone, but he interprets it inclusively. The world in all its plenitude is created in order that joy may grow. There is an extravagance and an exuberance in the divine activity. In a theology that wants to take this seriously, themes like wonder, growth and joy must be crucial.Thus, connections are also established back to the great church tradition. It is well-known how Grundtvig received decisive inspiration from the Fathers of the Eastern Church. Allchin’s contribution is to show that it grows out of a need by Grundtvig himself, and he demonstrates how it manifests itself concretely in Grundtvig’s writings. »Perhaps he had a deep personal need to draw on the wisdom and insight of earlier ages, on the qualities which he finds in the sacred poetry of the Anglo-Saxons, in the liturgical hymns of the Byzantine Church, in the monastic theology of the early medieval West. He needs these resources for his own life, and he is able to transpose them into his world of the nineteenth century, which if it is no longer our world is yet a world in which we can still feel at home. He can be for us a vital link, a point of connection with these older worlds whose riches he had deciphered and transcribed with such love and labour« (p. 60).Thus the book gives us a discussion - more detailed than seen before – of Grundtvig’s relationship to the Apostolic Succession, the sacramental character of the Church and Ordination, and the phenomenon transfiguration which is expounded, partly by bringing in Jakob Knudsen. On the background of the often observed emphasis laid by Grundtvig on the descent into Hell and the transfiguration, his closeness to the orthodox form of Christianity is established. Though Grundtvig does not directly use the word »theosis« or deification, the heart of the matter is there, the matter that has been given emphasis first and foremost in the bilateral talks between the Finnish Lutheran Church and the Russian Orthodox Church. But Grundtvig’s contribution is also seen in the context of other contemporaries and reforming efforts, Khomiakov in Russia, Johann Adam Möhler in Germany, and Keble, Pusey and Newman in England. It is one of Allchin’s major regrets that it did not come to an understanding between the leaders of the Oxford Movement and Grundtvig. If an actual meeting and a fruitful dialogue had materialized, it might have exerted some influence also on the ecumenical situation of today.Allchin shows how the question of the unity of the Church and its universality as God’s Church on earth acquired extreme importance to Grundtvig. »The question of rediscovering Christian unity became a matter of life and death« (p. 108). It is clear that in Allchin’s opinion there has been too little attention on this aspect of Grundtvig. Among other things he attributes it to a tendency in the Danish Church to cut itself off from the rest of the Christian world, because it thinks of itself as so special. And this in a sense is the case, says Allchin. »Where else, at the end of the twentieth century, is there a Church which is willing that a large part of its administration should be carried on by a government department? Where else is there a state which is still willing to take so much responsibility for the administration of the Church’s life?« (p. 68). As will be seen: Allchin is a highly sympathetic, but far from uncritical observer of Danish affairs.When Allchin sees Grundtvig as an ecumenical theologian, it is because he keeps crossing borders between Protestantism and Catholicism, between eastern and western Christianity. His view of Christianity is thus »highly unitive« (p. 310). Grundtvig did pioneer work to break through the stagnation brought on by the church schisms of the Reformation. »If we can see his efforts in that way, then the unfinished business of 1843 might still give rise to fruitful consequences one hundred and fifty years later. That would be a matter of some significance for the growth of the Christian faith into the twentyfirst century, and not only in England and Denmark« (p. 126).In Nicholas Lossky’s Afterword it is likewise Grundtvig’s effort as a bridge builder between the different church groupings that is emphasized. Grundtvig’s theology is seen as a »truly patristic approach to the Christian mystery« (p. 316). Thus Grundtvig becomes a true all-church, universal, »catholic« theologian, for »Catholicity is by definition unity in diversity or diversity in unity« (p. 317).With views like those presented here, Allchin has not only introduced Grundtvig and seen him in relation to present-day issues, but has also fruitfully challenged a Danish Grundtvig tradition and Grundtvigianism. It would be a pity if no one were to take up that challenge.

Статья посвящена анализу христианских интерференций в самобытной этноре- лигиозной системе осетин. В «Осетинских этюдах» Миллер со ссылкой на работу Б. Га- тиева привел легенду о Барастыре. Этот правитель загробного мира по ходатайству неизвестного, но «великого гостя» выпустил грешников из ада и ввел их в рай. Миллер, предположивший в данной легенде отражение христианского догматического предания о сошествии Иисуса Христа в ад, не стал доказывать свою гипотезу, и в некоторой сте- пени настоящее исследование является ее научной проверкой. Анализ сюжета позволяет с уверенностью констатировать его христианскую основу. Предпринятое сравнитель- ное изучение осетинской легенды и христианского догмата выявило как совпадения, так и несовпадения отдельных элементов легенды с каноническим преданием, что обусловило необходимость обращения к ветхо- и новозаветным апокрифам, касающимся данного со- бытия. Их разбор также не оставил сомнений в точности миллеровской догадки. Отсыл- ка к неканоническим текстам в ходе настоящего исследования была обусловлена также скудостью упоминаний о событии Сошествия в ад в библейском каноне. Обращение же к неканоническим евангелиям в ходе сравнительного анализа способствовало его существен- ной объективации, вследствие чего в статье особо подчеркивается проблема апокрифиче- ских заимствований, остающаяся, судя по небольшому количеству публикаций, одной из наименее изученных в осетиноведении. Кроме того, материалы сравнительного изучения способствовали выявлению третьего, неожиданного объекта анализа — иудейских элемен- тов в предпасхальной этнорелигиозной обрядности осетин («суфæхæрæн æхсæв»), что позволило вывести исследование за рамки собственно мировоззренческой сферы в другую область религиозной системы — этнорелигиозную культовую практику. The article is devoted to the analysis of the Christian interference into the original ethnoreligious system of the Ossetians. V. Miller in his «Ossetian etudes» referred to B. Gatiev’s work where the legend about Barastyr is narrated. This ruler of the world of the dead at the request of the «great guest» released sinners from the hell and welcomed them to the paradise. V. Miller suggested that this legend reflects the Christian dogmatic tradition of the Descent of Jesus Christ into hell. He, however, did not develop this hypothesis, and, to some extent, the present study is a scientific verification of this hypothesis. The analysis of the plot allows us to state with certainty its Christian basis. The undertaken comparative study of the Ossetian legend and Christian dogma revealed both coincidences and discrepancies between the separate elements of the legend with the canonical gospel. This necessitated addressing the Old and New Testament apocrypha, which relate this event. The present analysis leaves little doubt about the accuracy of Millerʼs guess. The reference to non-canonical texts in the course of this study is also due to the meagerness of references to the Descent into hell. The analysis of the non-canonical Gospels in the course of the comparative study contributed to its significant objectification, as a result of which the article highlights the problem of apocryphal borrowings. Judging by the small number of publications, this problem is one of the least investigated in the Ossetian studies. In addition, the materials of the comparative study helped to identify the third, unexpected object of analysis — the Jewish elements in the religious pre-Easter ritual («sufæhæræn æхsæv») among Ossetians. This made it possible to extend the research beyond the actual worldview scope to the other field of the religious system — ethno-religious cult practice.

John Calvin structured his soteriology and doctrine of atonement around the patristic principle of graced exchange, the idea that Christ became what we are in order to make us what he is. In them, Christ’s descent to hell and the believer’s ascent to God represent the two furthest poles of the exchange. Descent to hell and ascent to God both involve vision of God. Calvin explains descent to hell as the terror sinners experience in their souls when they sense God’s wrath and judgment. In the passion and crucifixion, Christ arraigned himself before God’s tribunal as our surety to make satisfaction. Standing in the place of the accused, he saw God as an angry judge prepared to punish sin. As a real human being with the affections and infirmities common to human nature, Christ could not help but experience terror in his soul and even fear for his own salvation. Christ willingly underwent this ordeal to prove his obedience, demonstrate his love for humanity, and secure a more lavish redemption than otherwise possible. Christ emerged from the ordeal victorious and the Father accepted his obedience as satisfaction for our sin. As a result, the redeemed are adopted as sons who will ascend to God and see him face-to-face as a propitious Father.

Abstract This article traces out the receptions of the Gospel accounts of the removal of Jesus from the cross (which has been variously titled the “deposition of Christ” or the “descent from the cross”). This scene is narrated only very briefly in the four canonical Gospels and receives very little attention in the commentary tradition. However, it does receive attention in creative retellings of the Gospel narratives in antiquity and the middle ages; whereas receptions of this scene are less frequent in antiquity, they explode in the high middle ages. Focusing on the Gospel of Peter, Nonnus of Panopolis’ poetic Paraphrase of John, and the Pseudo-Bonaventuran work Meditationes Vitae Christi, this article explores what might have interested these authors in Jesus’ descent from the cross, and then what these receptions teach us anew about the scene as narrated in the canonical Gospels.

Central to the question of evangelism in the Southern African context is to “begin again at the beginning” of what exactly the gospel is and what it entails. This article contends that any formulation of the gospel of “the living Lord Jesus Christ …” that envisions even the possibility of the notion of hell as eternal separation from God, annihilation, or punishment for anyone is not “good” news at all, but is in fact, as one writer in the South African context puts it: “the bad news of the Gospel.” Moreover, holistic, or missional conceptions of eschatology, such as that of the influential New Testament Scholar N.T. Wright, inasmuch as they reject or do not explicitly accept universal salvation, lack theological coherence, and cannot be inculcated and shared as good news in the Southern African context. The Dutch Reformed Church and the ecumenical church urgently need to (re)discover the doctrine of ??????????????? for its rediscovery of evangelism not to be in vain.

Texts, co-texts, and con-texts of the empty tomb in the Jesus traditionAn investigation of texts, co-texts and con-texts of the empty tomb in the Jesus tradition provides a “situation-specific common background knowledge” (Auer, 1996:18-19) from which perspective this article is written. The article aims to argue that the myth behind the empty tomb in the Jesus tradition deploys a trajectory of five links. Its origin, the first of the five links, is to be found in the metaphorical use of the motif of recreation analogous to the foundational narrative in Israel’s historical memoirs of God’s “creatio ex nihilo”. The foundational narrative consists of a collective anthropological facet and an indivdual psychological facet. The anthropological facet is manifested in the memoir of the suppression of Israel as a downtrodden nation. The individual facet pertains to the martyred heroes in Israel’s history. In this article the five links of the trajectory are conceptualised in five chronological phases represented by specific textual evidence. They are, firstly, the descent of a corpse into the sheol; secondly, the objectifying of metaphorical language about the resurrection of the dead, which refers to either Israel as a “corporate personality” or individuals; thirdly, the Hellenisation of the resurrection belief pattern which existed in the Semitic, Eastern-Mediterranean world, in the light of the theology of apotheosis/divinisation and ideas about immortality and reincarnation; and fourthly, the empowerment of suffering righteous mortals when participating in the renewed life of resurrected/ascended divine heroes. The fifth phase pertains to the period when the other four phases reached an apogee and resurrection belief served as a kind of coping-healing. The article aims to argue that the hermeneutical significance of the empty tomb in the Jesus tradition is to be found in the third phase. The modes in terms of which Jesus’ empty tomb were interpreted by the first “Christ-followers” are to be found in phases four and five.

Sadhu Sundar Singh (1889-1929) was a Christocentric Indian Christian Mystic, known for his efforts to Indianize Christianity and whose thoughts on Christ, Bible, Spirituality, Christianity etc, are very original. Born in Sikh religion, by the age of sixteen he read Bhagavadgita and memorised Granth, Koran and several Upanishads. He hated Christianity so much, that he tore up and burnt the bible at this teen age. But next year, in a powerful vision he saw Jesus and was converted to Christianity. At the age of Seventeen, he set out on his journey as a new Christian, penniless, except with a New Testament copy, wearing a saffron turban and the saffron robe of a sadhu, as an ascetic devoted to spiritual practice, to preach the Gospel and about Jesus. Due to the Sadhu's uncanny physical resemblance to the Incarnate Jesus, similarities to the life and ministry of Apostle Paul, he was considered as a Biblical gure coming alive. He travelled extensively in India and around 24 countries in his missionary work. His thoughts on Prayer, Visions, Bible, and Heaven on Earth etc were so strong and original, that it even surprised most of the western theologists. His entire theology is based on his personal and spiritual experiences (Anubhava) with Lord Jesus. His thoughts about the primacy of Prayer in a Christian's life are compa red with that of other great European Christian mystics like St. Augustine, St Francis of Assisi, and St. Thomas a Kempis. Many of his theological thoughts are similar to that of Luther, even though he never met him nor read about him, but he also had some differences too. In his various severe sufferings that he faced in his efforts to preach the Gospel, even when he was persecuted, left to dead, imprisoned in Ilom, dumped in a dark well in Rasar, among skeletons and bones, he said Christ's presence has turned his prison or hell into a heaven of blessing. In him Christianity and Hinduism meet, and the Christian is like a ower which blossoms on an Indian stem. He says non-Christians, who did not get an opportunity or left an opportunity to accept Jesus, will get another opportunity afterlife to have their false and partial views of truth corrected. Even though he says all other religions are inadequate and only through Jesus one can get salvation, in his fullment approach, he says there is dim measure of “light of the truth” among the followers of different religions and provides for “continuity” in fullment and that they will eventually get full knowledge of true God, the “True Reality”. Sundar Singh is thoroughly convinced, that Christianity can enter Indian hearts and souls if offered in Indian form. He had done more than any man in the rst half of the twentieth century to establish that "Jesus belongs to India” and Christianity is not foreign.

Because of continual shifts in the sociocultural, political, and economic realities of any setting, theology, in order to maintain relevance, must be reflective of such shifts. It must commit itself to the maintenance of recognised confessional constants, but it must speak in relevant ways to the needs of the church’s present situation. This is the voice of many African Christian theologians. Black theology in the United States is confronted with the same type of challenge, namely, what is relevant reflection for the black church and the black community in the present? Confronting and overcoming racism has been a constant challenge for people of African descent in the United States. What kind of theological reflection emerging from the black church, would best accomplish two things: to enable the black church to exercise leadership in the movement toward black flourishing despite the effects of racism, and to contribute to the enhancement of Christian theological reflection for the church of Jesus Christ, in general. There are a number of important factors to be considered, but I see three areas of needed consideration. First, what is the meaning of “blackness” in play today? Second, what is the nature of “oppression” experienced in the present? Finally, is there a place for forgiveness in the black church in the present?

This article considers the previously unstudied Homily for the Nativity of Our Lord Jesus Christ found in the manuscript of the early sixteenth century from the Kornilievo-Komelsky Monastery. Based on a comparison with other works attributed to Spyridon-Sava and considering the typical features of his works, i. e. his teleology and Graecisms, the author puts forward a hypothesis that the Metropolitan of Kyiv and All Russia is the author of the Homily. The material used by the author to substantiate his attribution is withdrawn from the title of the Homily for the Descent of the Holy Spirit which is stylistically akin to the homily found. The plot comparison of the Homily for the Nativity makes it possible to single out a common motif that unambiguously connects this homily with the Message about the Monomachus’ Crown, whose belonging to Spyridon has been questioned. After summarising all known information about Spyridon, the author puts forward a concept that determines his participation in political contacts between Muscovite Russia, the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, and the Patriarch of Constantinople. Referring to the chronicle entries, the author suggests revising the relationship between Spyridon and Ivan III, whose patronage can explain the high assessment of Spyridon’s activities by Archbishop Gennady, Abbot Dositheus, and Maksim Grek. The author revises Spyridon’s message about his “imprisonment” in the Ferapontov Monastery, suggesting that the condemnation of Spyridon and his “curse” in the charters issued may have been caused by a change in the political situation at the end or after the reign of Ivan III.

This article examines one of M. Prishvin’s key texts, i. e. the novel The Worldly Cup (Mirskaya chashcha) (1922), which has never been analysed as a mystery text in the context of the European mystery tradition and theatrical mystery of the Silver Age (The Twelve (Dvenadtsat’) by A. Blok, Christ is Risen (Khristos voskres), The Antichrist/Coming/The Maw of the Night (Antikhrist/Prishedshii/ Past’ nochi) by A. Bely, Demonic Action (Besovskoe Deistvo) by A. Remizov, and Dream in the Desert (Son v pustyne) and The Human Face (Lik chelovecheskii) by V. Gippius). Prishvin acts as successor of the mystery tradition, as it was perceived in Russian culture from V. Solovyov to J. Brodsky. The story highlights the following features of the mystery tradition: going beyond the visible world (meta-history), its transformation, the symbolism of the cross, the resurrected Lazarus, the number “12” and “X”, and the communion cup. The Worldly Cup is both a mystery of the revolution (“Black Mass”) and “The Mystery of Golgotha”. The key to the mystery reading of the text is the symbolism of the communion cup, which refers to the archetypal plots of the Western Middle Ages (myths of the Grail and Faust). Prishvin was familiar with the myth of the Holy Grail in R. Wagner’s interpretation (Parsifal), whose music the writer greatly appreciated in his youth. The article reveals plot similarities (stages of “initiation”) between Alpatov, Parsifal, and Lancelot. Alpatov is a Russian Parsifal; for him, every meeting is an already acquired Grail, according to the evangelical and mystical law, which was accentuated by Russian religious thought. According to this law, what is given is returned; the face of Christ appears in everyone. Compassion as Alpatov’s main feature becomes a real active force, since in the Gospel it extends to everyone, including those who “do not know what they are doing”. Alpatov thereby finds himself in the role of the mother of God, praying “for everyone indiscriminately”, from The Descent of the Virgin Mary into Hell (Khozhdenie Bogoroditsy po mukam), which Dostoevsky defined as a mystery. It is established that Prishvin’s acquaintance with V. Gippius’s mystery play Dream in the Desert (Son v pustyne) influenced the mystery plan of The Worldly Cup. Prishvin interprets the writing vocation as the role of a mystic who initiates the reader into his mystery and opens to them the possibility of a new reunion of man and God, new relationships between people, and the gift of discerning harmony in nature.

They are like the grass which groweth up. In the morning it flourisheth and groweth up; In the evening it is cut down and withereth... . So teach us to number our days, That we may get us a heart of wisdom. -- Psalms 90:5-6, 12 Funeral service workers in New Zealand have watched with interest the changes in our communities' approach to the experiences surrounding death and dying. Working closely with families, friends and communities and observing the human reaction to loss at a very close and often personal level allows Funeral Directors a unique view of the changes in religious, philosophical and cultural approaches to these events. The first observation must be that the end of life in the physical sense never indicates the finality the term 'end' seems to carry with it. More, the end of physical life would in almost all circumstances carry more connotations of beginning than of the finite. Religion has always endeavoured to put a framework around dying and death as a foundation for new beginnings either on the journey toward a higher plane or by suggesting that another form of life follows. The Christian viewpoint allows the dying human the experience of the natural fear of death and dissolution while still being able to state with conviction "Father, into your hands, I commit my spirit" (Luke 23:46). Christianity, in common with Judaism, Buddhism and others, sees the end of physical life as the beginning of existence "secure, calm and happy, unaging, deathless, emancipated". Hinduism, through the Bhagavad Gita, teaches: "the wise do not grieve for the dead or the living. Never was there a time when I was not, nor when you were not... . Never will there be a time hereafter when we shall not be. As in this body, there are for the soul, childhood, youth and old age, even so there is the taking on of another body after death. The wise are not confused by this." As the influence of mainstream religion in New Zealand has diminished Funeral Service has observed the confusion that fills the gap left in the community where once belief, doctrine, philosophy and ritual provided an ordered and understandable approach to aging, dying and death in our communities. The strength of those beliefs did not prevent the natural human fear of death but provided support on the journey and a hope for the future once the death journey was complete. The nature of rituals for the dying and the ritual farewelling of the dead reinforced people's beliefs and provided that much-needed framework of support. Nor has it mattered much that the theological interpretation of the need for Funeral rite and the understanding of the general populace of that need have often been some distance apart. There appear to be few people who have adopted an "end" view which involves final dissolution of the organised being as being the end absolute. Amongst those who have no firm belief in an after life in the religious sense it is more common to observe an approach which looks to the resonance of the individual journey as providing a form of after-life. This resonance being through ongoing influence, be that in the major impact of their life or work upon future communities (e.g. Shakespeare) or in the somewhat less resonant journeys (of the masses) where the influence may be seen in contribution to the family, the community, the gene pool or by (as once heard at a Funeral as the celebrant struggled to find an appropriate phrase :-) "adding just a little to the advancement of the vastness of humanity". During the last millennial period, medieval man, driven by millennial movements that predicted the imminent second coming of Jesus Christ, or perhaps influenced by the harshness of life in times of plague, seemed to have a preoccupation with the state of preparedness of their own souls. Their fear of death being fuelled by fear of punishment, purgatory or hell. Funeral rites of the time reflected and reinforced this view. In Black robes the priest would offer prayers of intervention which beseeched God to have mercy on the souls of sinners. Mourners were warned that death required accountability. As the end of this millennium hovers we have not seen a real revival of Millennial second coming movements; the Y2K Bug being the closest thing we have to plague fear. It is understandable then that our personal states of preparedness are more about the laying in of bottled water and the preservation of the integrity of our electronically recorded fiscal assets than about the integrity of our personal ethics or the preparedness of our soul. Nothing profound in all of this, we live in a life-reinforcing, death-denying culture that tends to marginalise the experience of dying. In this culture of the individual dying, death and its aftermath is left to the individual. Society now provides only the choice of frameworks of support and any individual is free to choose from these. A religious death, a secular dying, a traditional funeral, a civil celebration, a direct disposal or, as is more common now, a postmodern borrowing, adaptation and short-term adoption of selected philosophies and partly recalled rituals. Whichever choice is made however, as much now as it ever was life's end remains less about 'end' and more about beginning. Where once we emphasised the mourning of the loss of one from amongst us, we now emphasise recovery and reconnection, the management of our grief following the loss. The 'after life' is ours not theirs. End, as dying, death and dissolution, has always been personal, the experience of the aftermath has always been personal and continues to be able only to be experienced in the personal. Our end like everything else around us has changed. We have discarded some, perhaps much of the societal, cultural and religious frameworks that surrounded our end in the previous millennium. We have yet to build a replacement framework. Presently we allow the individual to choose their support system for their end experiences and this includes the right to choose a pre-built framework, a custom-made framework or the choice of no framework at all. Should we build on this further? Perhaps it is enough, in a state that champions managerialism above all, that we each remain responsible for managing our own support systems right to the end. The end. Citation reference for this article MLA style: Michael C. Wolffram. "Ends and Beginnings: Observations on Changing the Approach to Our End." M/C: A Journal of Media and Culture 2.8 (1999). [your date of access] <http://www.uq.edu.au/mc/9912/approach.php>. Chicago style: Michael C. Wolffram, "Ends and Beginnings: Observations on Changing the Approach to Our End," M/C: A Journal of Media and Culture 2, no. 8 (1999), <http://www.uq.edu.au/mc/9912/approach.php> ([your date of access]). APA style: Michael C. Wolffram. (1999) Ends and beginnings: observations on changing the approach to our end. M/C: A Journal of Media and Culture 2(8). <http://www.uq.edu.au/mc/9912/approach.php> ([your date of access]).