confession

Review on: “Contemprorary religious problems of the region of specialization. Religion and Church in the Nordic countries: A learner’s guide” (Saint-Petersburg, 2013) by V. I. Musaev

Pavel Valentinovich Krylov, PhD in history, leading researcher, Russian Academy of Sciences, Institute of History (Petrozavodskaya ulitsa, 7, Saint-Petersburg, 197110)
pavel_kryloff@mail.ru

Krylov P. V. Review on: “Contemprorary religious problems of the region of specialization. Religion and Church in the Nordic countries: A learner’s guide” (Saint-Petersburg, 2013) by V. I. Musaev, Religiya. Tserkov’. Obshchestvo. Issledovaniya i publikatsii po teologii i religii [Religion. Church. Society: Research and publications in the field of theology and religious studies], Saint-Petersburg, 2013, vol. 2, pp. 296–302.

DOI: 10.24411/2308-0698-2013-00003

Language: Russian

The recent work by V. I. Musaev on Church history of Nordic countries is critically reviewed. The text comments on the author’s methodology, views and logic, markering out positive as well as negative point of the leaner’s guide. Having done several critic comments, the reviewer, however, describes the book as worth reading.

Key words: Nordic countries, confession, Church

Permanent link: //rcs-almanac.ru/krylov-2013-en/

On the question of several religious terms

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Anatoliy Kirillovich Pogasiy, PhD in history, professor, Kazan Institute, Eastern Academy of Economics, Law and Humanities (ulica Jurnalistov, dom 6a, Kazan, Republic of Tatarstan, 420029)
kazan_prihod@mail.ru

Pogasiy A. K. On the question of several religious terms, Religiya. Tserkov’. Obshchestvo. Issledovaniya i publikatsii po teologii i religii [Religion. Church. Society: Research and publications in the field of theology and religious studies], Saint-Petersburg, 2012, vol. 1, pp. 35–49.

DOI: 10.24411/2308-0698-2012-00007

Language: Russian

Specifics of religious terminology is that it is called in the field of human consciousness and the world comprehended by human intelligence to fix concepts phenomenal that can’t be realized by human reason. The article is devoted to a problem of interpretation of some Christian terms.

Key words: religion, Christianity, term, theology, Church

Permanent link: //rcs-almanac.ru/pogasiy-a-k-2012-en/

The Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland and its ecumenical relations

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Juha Pihkala, PhD, in 1997–2008 bishop of Tampere (Tampere, Finland), juha.pihkala@jp ihkal.pp.fi

Pihkala J. The Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland and its ecumenical relations, Religiya. Tserkov’. Obshchestvo. Issledovaniya i publikatsii po teologii i religii [Religion. Church. Society: Research and publications in the field of theology and religious studies], Saint-Petersburg, 2014, vol. 3, pp. 322–333.

doi: 10.24411/2308-0698-2014-00022

Language: Russian

In this paper the author shares his observations about the specifics of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland, in particular, in terms of its role in interconfessional dialogue and ecumenical relations. The author notes the major stages in the development of the Church, starting from first Christian preaching to the Reformation time and then reform of the State and Church in the 19–20^th centuries. The Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland occupies a unique position, being a legal person and having legislative functions, while State has no right to change Church law. Brief amount of Church structure that reflect in organizational principles democratic ideas is also given, and as it is noted by the author the Church of Finland isn’t an ideological monolith, including a variety of ecclesial movements and groups of believers. Largely due to these features the Church of Finland occupies leading role in ecumenical dialogue in recent decades. Especially, the author notes the relationship with the Anglican Church, regular conversations with the Russian Orthodox Church and the Catholic and other Lutheran churches in Scandinavian region. Of great interest are author’s observations on correlation in Church position and State international policy, that have different bases. However, Church being a universal phenomenon faces national and political background and reflects it in a variety of ways.

Key words: Lutherans, confession, ecumenism, Reformation, Finland, Ingria

URL: //rcs-almanac.ru/pihkala-2014-en/

Review on: Makarov I. V. Ocherki istorii reformatsii v Finlyandii (1520–1620 gg.): Formirovanie natsionalnoy tserkovnosti. Portretyi vyidayuschihsya deyateley finskoy Reformatsii [Notes on history of Reformation in Finland (1520s–1620s): Development of national churchism and portraits of leading churchmen], Saint-Petersburg, 2007

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Krylov Pavel Valentinovich, PhD, leading scientist, Institute of History, Russian Academy of Science (Saint-Petersburg, Russia), pavel_kryloff@mail.ru

Krylov P. V. Review on: Makarov I. V. Ocherki istorii reformatsii v Finlyandii (1520–1620 gg.): Formirovanie natsionalnoy tserkovnosti. Portretyi vyidayuschihsya deyateley finskoy Reformatsii [Notes on history of Reformation in Finland (1520s–1620s): Development of national churchism and portraits of leading churchmen], Saint-Petersburg, 2007, Religiya. Tserkov’. Obshchestvo. Issledovaniya i publikatsii po teologii i religii [Religion. Church. Society: Research and publications in the field of theology and religious studies], Saint-Petersburg, 2014, vol. 3, pp. 337–340.

doi: 10.24411/2308-0698-2014-00020

Language: Russian

The first Russian monograph dedicated to Reformation in Finland is reviewed in the text. The author appreciates the positives and negative sides of the book that gives to Russian public a detailed tableau of Church history of the neighbor country within contexts of Swedish and World politics, theological thought and religious controversy of the late Middle Ages and the Early Modern time. In spite of its remoteness from the centre, Finnish province of Sweden is depicted as a part of Western Christendom, influenced by its main political and intellectual trends. This thesis, according to the reviewer, could be argued. However, the biographical notices describing main figures of the Finnish Reformation (for example, Michael Agricola or King Gustav Vasa) with a short anthology of their texts translated in Russian is a unique and valuable feature of the book. The reviewer finds out some disadvantages of the text. Firstly, the researcher demonstrates little knowledge of both recent and classical Russian historiography on Swedish history. Secondly, the book lacks attention to the theme of Ingria and its Evangelical Lutheran Church. Thirdly, I. V. Makarov often explains religious or any other specific by “national character of Finns” that sounds quite a primordialist formula. In general, the book appears to be worth reading for everyone interested in the Finnish Church and intellectual history.

Key words: Reformation, Sweden, Ingria, Finland, confession

URL: //rcs-almanac.ru/krylov-2014-en/

Confession and name: Male names of German Protestant nobility in the 16–17th centuries

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Prokopiev Andrey Yur’evich, PhD, professor, Institute of History, Saint-Petersburg State University (Mendeleevskaya linia, dom 5, Saint-Petersburg, Russia, 199034)

prokopiev65@mail.ru

Prokopiev A. Y. Confession and name: Male names of German Protestant nobility in the 16–17^thcenturies, Religiya. Tserkov’. Obshchestvo. Issledovaniya i publikatsii po teologii i religii [Religion. Church. Society: Research and publications in the field of theology and religious studies], Saint-Petersburg, 2014, vol. 3, pp. 298–313.

doi: 10.24411/2308-0698-2014-00014

Language: Russian

The article deals with names given the 16–17^thcenturies ruling elite in order to study influence of the confessional and other factors on naming. The author focuses on the male names of Württemberg and Dresden rulers within period after the Augsburg Peace to the Thirty Years’ War. Concerning house of Württemberg, offspring of Duke Friedrich I (1558–1608) up to the children of the Duke Eberhard III are studied. Saxon house of Wettin is limited to children of Elector August I and their offsprings up to the heirs of Johann Georg II. The study involves a wide amount of archival materials and, in particular, the funeral sermons, made by confessors. Author concludes that most names were absolutely neutral, regardless to the elite faith. Luther called to stop the practice of christening in honor of the old saints in favor to biblical and old German names, but for his adherents from elite social class this question was hardly relevant. In contrast, a significant influx of new names from Catholic houses, especially obvious in the history of Württemberg, or reproduction of Moritz-name in Wettin family, demonstrate that naming was influenced by dynastic interests. In spite the importance of confessional consciousness in the period, family roots and dynastic course were to overcome confessional limits.

Key words: confession, Reformation, the House of Wettin, the House of Württemberg, Luther, naming

URL: //rcs-almanac.ru/prokopiev-2014-en/

Truth and tolerance: what are the borders of the acceptable plurality in Christian faith?

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Juha Pihkala Doctor in theology, docent of dogmatics, University of Helsinki (Universitetsgatan, 4, Helsingfors, Finland, 00100), juha.pihkala@jpihkal.pp.fi

Pihkala J. Truth and tolerance: what are the borders of the acceptable plurality in Christian faith?, Religiya. Tserkov’. Obshchestvo. Issledovaniya i publikatsii po teologii i religii [Religion. Church. Society: Research and publications in the field of theology and religious studies], Saint-Petersburg, 2017, vol. 6, pp. 44–67.

doi: 10.24411/2308-0698-2017-00003

Language: English

This article, based on the lecture read in St. Petersburg (24.10.2017), at first discusses the Christian concept of truth. It differs from the philosophical concept of truth, which relies on the commonly accepted knowledge-based arguments. The Christian concept of truth relies on events experienced in history whose existential meaning, it’s most important identity, is recorded in the rule of the faith – regula fidei. Within the core domains of the rule of faith, the Christian concept of truth does not know the tolerance liked by modern thinking. It is, however, also necessary for the Church mission to interpret the rule of the faith in different cultures in their own language and to apply practices that differ from the original. This means: tolerance also is needed. Religious freedom is necessary concerning the assumption of the faith. In the history, however, this freedom has been damaged, causing great harm. When Constantine used the Christian faith as an ideological creator of the unity of the state, he still did not change the old Roman law of religion: the religion of the ruler was also during the Christian era necessarily the religion of the empire. This principle has been followed until the new era (cuius regio, eius religio).

Key words: Confessio Augustana, Luther, Church, creed, confession, Reformation, ecumenism

URL: //rcs-almanac.ru/pihkala-2017-en/