reformation – Page 4

Review on the monography «Lyuterane v Karelii: Istoricheskie zametki» [Lutherans in Karelia: Historical notes] by S. E. Yalovitsyna (Petrozavodsk, 2016)

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

Krylov P. V. Review on the monography «Lyuterane v Karelii: Istoricheskie zametki» [Lutherans in Karelia: Historical notes] by S. E. Yalovitsyna (Petrozavodsk, 2016), 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, 2016, vol. 5, pp. 314–320.

doi: 10.24411/2308-0698-2016-00016

Language: Russian

The monograph of S. E. Yalovitsyna «Lutherans in Karelia: Historical essays» (Petrozavodsk: IP Markov N. A., 2016. 216 p.) is reviewed. The book examines the main stages of the history of Lutherans in Karelia, which originated from the time of reforms of Peter the Great and due to emergence of a large number of Lutheran professionals, who formed a basis of the local communities. The author gives a high estimation of the work of S. E. Jalovitsyna, marking out extensive source base, clarity and reasonableness of the material, absence of significant factual errors. Special attention is given to the general idea of the monography, i. e. the evidence of the harmonious coexistence of representatives of different Christian denominations in Karelia, which can serve as a good example for our contemporaries.

Key words: Peter the Great, Protestantism, Reformation, parish activities, Laestadius

URL: //rcs-almanac.ru/krylov-p-v-2016-en/

The problem of the Middle Ages in the Martin Luther’s Theology

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Alexey Igorevich Ivanenko PhD in Philosophy, assistant professor, Theological Institute of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Ingria (der. Kolbino, 25a, Leningrad region, Vsevolozhsk district, Russia, 188680), iwanenkoalexy@hotmail.com

Ivanenko A. I. The problem of the Middle Ages in the Martin Luther’s theology, 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, 2016, vol. 5, pp. 34–41.

doi: 10.24411/2308-0698-2016-00003

Language: Russian

The article is devoted to the interpretation of the Middle Ages from the engle of the Martin Luther’s theology. The main problem is dual status of the Middle Ages. It’s the time of Christian hegemony, but also the period of negative pre-Reformation tendencies. The Lutherans found a middle position between negative humanistic and positive Catholic estimations. In Luther’s texts the Middle ages are seen within two general concepts — of Millenialism and the Babilonian captivity of the Church. According to Luther, millenialism is not in future, it describes the ancient period of the Church’s history. Here Luther bases on ecclesiology of St. Augustine. Millenialism was the time of undivided Church. The Babylonian captivity of the Church began from the Great Schism in 1054. Luther here concentrates not on the question of procession of the Holy Spirit «from the Son» (Filioque), but on the role of priest and understanding of the sacraments. He critisized the idea, that during the liturgy eucharistic bread transformed into the Body of the Lord. This magical interpretation was invented by Thomas Aquinat in the 13th centure. According to Lutheranism, a priest is a pastor, who predicts the Word of God, but not a wizard, who transforms the substance of bread. Another aspect of the Babylonian captivity of the Church is absence of national language in the liturgy. Western Church had a Latin liturgy in the Middle Ages, because Latin was a national language at the time of St. Jerome and St. Augustine, but it was a dead language by the 10th centure.

Key words: the Middle Ages, Millennialism, Babylonian captivity of the Church, Reformation, Lutheranism

URL: //rcs-almanac.ru/ivanenko-a-i-2016-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/