scholarly journals Hyrdeliv og paradisdrøm. Om Grundtvigs syn på hyrder

1994 ◽  
Vol 45 (1) ◽  
pp. 122-141
Author(s):  
Inger Lise Mikkelsen

Pastoral Life and Paradise DreamBy Inger Lise MikkelsenIn »The World Chronicle«, 1814, Grundtvig writes that the people of poetry, the ancient Hebrews, were a race of shepherds. The shepherds are not tied to material things, but live a life in freedom. On the plains, tending his flock, the shepherd experiences everything that is alive and growing as images of God’s creative power. Thus, he intuitively perceives his position as a creature facing his Creator.With this basic view as a point of departure, Grundtvig rewrites the Biblical stories of the shepherds Abraham and Jacob, Moses and David. They are all in an immediate, intimate contact with God, but as they live at different times, God endows them with different abilities appropriate for their concrete historical situation. Abraham and Jacob are the shepherds of faith, Moses is the shepherd of fight and hope, and David is the shepherd of love. They are all models, not because they are heroes, but because they recognize their own fragility.In the church texts, the shepherds of Christmas night play a particularly important role. In the hymn .The Christmas Chimes are sounding now. (Det kimer nu til julefest) from 1817, it is a main thought that the singers must remember pastoral life and come along into the field to hear the angel’s message together with the shepherds. To people who have a sense of the miraculous as the shepherds do, the field at Bethlehem is the centre of interest. Today only children possess a genuine shepherd’s mind. The adult can learn from them. The essential thing is to learn how to regain the child’s mind.In connection with the child theme, as shown by Chr. Thodberg, Grundtvig develops, through the 1820s, his understanding of baptism as the occasion when the adult may re-enter the dreamland of his childhood. Here Grundtvig uses Jacob’s ladder as an image of the adult’s return to his hitherto forgottem baptism.Another theme that Grundtvig makes frequent use of is the dilapidated cottage of the shepherd, his hut. He uses it as an image of man’s heart, which to Grundtvig is God’s dwelling on earth. The hut and the ladder become recurring images in Grundtvig’s hymns.Frequently the two images supplement each other so that the shepherds and Bethlehem may now move into the church. It is no longer the field, but the heart that rings with the angels’ song. Here, in the shepherd’s hut, is raised Jacob’s ladder, which reminds the singer of the childhood life under God’s care.In Grundtvig’s eyes every Christian is therefore a shepherd like the patriarchs. But above all the one baptized is like the good shepherd himself, renewing the paradise life that God created man for.

2021 ◽  
Vol 20 (8) ◽  
pp. 23-33
Author(s):  
Natalya S. Gurianova

The article studies the religiosity of Russian population in the 17th century in order to find out the type of this state of public mind. Special attention is drawn to the acuteness of eschatological expectations in society, which intensified during periods of crises. After the Time of Troubles (Smuta), the Church, trying to bring society out of the spiritual crisis, had been exploiting the “end of the world” topic through publishing relevant texts. This trend was especially noticeable during the time of Patriarch Joseph. The decision of the Moscow Printing House (Pechatnyi Dvor) to extend the amount of eschatological publications was determined not only by the direction of church policy, but also by the request in society, the desire of the population to get a more complete picture of the Christian teaching about the ultimate destinies of the world and man, since the spiritual crisis had presupposed an increase of apocalyptic moods. This desire indicates that the population was characterized by the religiosity of the medieval type. The article scrutinizes in particular the 2nd half of the 17th century, which modern researchers rightly designate as the early Modern era. In a society with such a keen perception of the time, the church reform, initiated in the middle of the century by Patriarch Nikon, was naturally not supported by a part of the population. In the interpretation of the defenders of the Old Belief, the actions of the reformers turned into clear signs of the advent of the kingdom of Antichrist, as it was prophesied in Christian teaching. It was not some peculiarity of the worldview of the opponents of church reform, their behavior adjusted the religiosity of the epoch. To justify these thoughts the position of Patriarch Nikon could be mentioned. Nikon found himself in a situation of disapproval and, arguing to be wrongfully convicted and misunderstood, he also used the eschatological doctrine. Based on the analysis of such facts, the article concludes that the 2nd half of the 17th century was characterized by religiosity of the medieval type.


2021 ◽  
Vol 26 (1) ◽  
pp. 193-222
Author(s):  
Mathias G. Parding

Abstract It is known that Kierkegaard’s relation to politics was problematic and marked by a somewhat reactionary stance. The nature of this problematic relation, however, will be shown to lie in the tension between his double skepticism of the order of establishment [det Bestående] on the one hand, and the political associations of his age on the other. In this tension he is immersed, trembling between Scylla and Charybdis. On the one hand Kierkegaard is hesitant to support the progressive political movements of the time due to his skepticism about the principle of association in the socio-psychological climate of leveling and envy. On the other hand, his dubious support of the order of the establishment, in particular the Church and Bishop Mynster, becomes increasingly problematic. The importance of 1848 is crucial in this regard since this year marks the decisive turn in Kierkegaard’s authorship. Using the letters to Kolderup-Rosenvinge in the wake of the cataclysmic events of 1848 as my point of departure, I wish to elucidate the pathway towards what Kierkegaard himself understands as his Socratic mission.


2009 ◽  
Vol 38 (106) ◽  
pp. 349
Author(s):  
José Raimundo de Melo

A multiplicidade e variedade dos serviços ministeriais que se fazem presentes na celebração litúrgica do povo de Deus é elemento chave na compreensão da comunidade cristã, pois os ministérios, em definitivo, exprimem e definem a própria realidade da Igreja. A inteira assembléia é ministerial porque a Igreja mesma é toda ministerial. E esta ministerialidade se expressa na liturgia através da diversidade de funções e ofícios que cada um é chamado a desempenhar. Ao contrário do que quase sempre sucede no mundo, porém, a hierarquia de funções na Igreja não denota prestígio e nem pode conduzir à acepção de pessoas. Ancorada na mais pura linha evangélica, deve ela indicar compromisso cristão e serviço fraterno em total doação a Deus e aos irmãos. Para uma reflexão sobre esta importante realidade eclesial, que a partir sobretudo do Concílio Vaticano II a Igreja tem aprofundado e se esforçado em viver, empreenderemos a seguir, ancorados em alguns textos litúrgicos, um estudo a respeito dos ministérios presentes no momento celebrativo da comunidade cristã. Publicamos aqui a primeira parte do artigo.ABSTRACT: The multiplicity and variety of ministerial services which are present in a liturgical celebration of the People of God is a key element in the understanding of the Christian community, since ministries, of themselves, express and define the very reality of the Church. The entire assembly is ministerial because the Church itself is all ministerial. And this ministeriality expresses itself in the liturgy through the diversity of functions and offices which each one is called on to fulfill. Contrary to what almost always happens in the world, however, the hierarchy of functions in the Church does not denote prestige, nor can it lead to the classification of persons. Anchored in the purest evangelical tradition, it should indicate Christian commitment and fraternal service in total self-giving to God and to others. For a reflection on this important ecclesial reality, which, especially from the Second Vatican Council, the Church has struggled to live out, we undertake a study – anchored in some liturgical texts – of the ministries present in the celebrative moment of the Christian community. We publish here the first part of the article. 


Author(s):  
Наталья Тимуровна Энеева

Статья посвящена роли славянофильской проблематики в становлении отечественной исторической науки 1990 х – 2010-х годов. Апробированная почти двумя столетиями историософско-богословской дискуссии, эта проблематика явила себя на исходе ХХ столетия как преимущественно экклезиологическая – как насущные вопросы личностного и общественного воцерковления. Существенное значение в этом процессе имеет воссоздание адекватного научного языка и понятийного аппарата для описания роли Церкви и народной религиозности в формировании национального самосознания и религиозно-культурной общности. Подчеркивается, что в данной концепции история Церкви и народа как ее носителя – «народа-богоносца» – предстает не в качестве локальной темы, но как основной сюжет и сущностный смысл мирового исторического процесса. The article is devoted to the role of Slavophil problems in the formation of Russian historical science in the 1990s – 2010s. Approved by almost two centuries of historiosophical and theological discussion, this problematic showed itself at the end of the twentieth century as primarily ecclesiological – as pressing issues of personal and social churching. Recreation of an adequate scientific language and conceptual apparatus for describing the role of the Church and popular religiosity in the formation of national identity and religious and cultural community is essential in this process. It is emphasized that in this concept the history of the Church and the people as its bearer – the «God-bearing people» – appears not as a local theme, but as the main plot and essential meaning of the world historical process.



2020 ◽  
pp. 46-76
Author(s):  
Michael Barnes, SJ

The background of Vatican II’s pastoral and missionary concerns cannot be separated from what is arguably the Council’s most unexpected and far-reaching document, Nostra Aetate, the Declaration on the relationship of the Church to non-Christian religions. While very often interpreted as changing, not to say reversing, traditional Church-centred soteriology, this chapter argues that Nostra Aetate needs to be understood primarily as an event, a moment of self-understanding on the part of the Church which provokes a radical conversio morum. By calling the Declaration the ‘moral heart of the Council’, the chapter focusses specifically on its original purpose. That the Declaration has opened up a broader interreligious perspective to which all the major religions of the world can relate is testament less to the power of particular theological ideas than to its central conviction that the Church finds its own origins not apart from but through the faith which it shares with the people of the Sinai Covenant.


Urban History ◽  
1978 ◽  
Vol 5 ◽  
pp. 68-73 ◽  
Author(s):  
Graham Brown

‘The number of marriages in a nation perhaps fluctuates independently of external causes, but it is a fair deduction from the facts, that the Marriage Returns in England point out periods of prosperity little less distinctly than the funds measure the hopes and fears of the money market. If the one is the barometer of credit, the other is the barometer of prosperity, present in part, but future, expected, anticipated, in still greater part.’ This view was expressed by George Graham, the Registrar-General, in his 8th Annual Report for 1845, published in 1848. He argued that the fluctuatiòns in the marriages of a country expressed the views which the great body of the people took of their prospects in the world and noted that the fluctuation could be clearly seen in the towns even when the variations of the annual marriage totals were not considerable in the kingdom as a whole. D. V. Glass, in his study of marriage frequency and economic fluctuations also found that ‘the whole period, 1856 to 1932, showed a close connection between marriage and prosperity’.


2013 ◽  
Vol 47 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael Wolter

Paul is not interested in cosmological thinking in the proper sense of the word. This article starts by questioning the cosmological language of biblical writings. The authors of the books of the New Testament mostly use terms they found in the Septuagint – with a few remarkable exceptions. This article described how the specific term κόσμος has been used by the New Testament authors. There are two main usages of κόσμος: (1) as an anthropological term to describes mankind in its entirety; and (2) as an ecclesiological term to describes ‘the others’, that is the non-believers or the people outside the church. This is the reason why God is never called ‘the king of the world’; he is only its judge. Paulus was nie sodanig in kosmologiese denke geïnteresseerd nie. Hierdie artikel begin met ’n vraag na die kosmologiese taalgebruik van Bybelse geskrifte. Die skrywers van die Nuwe Testamentiese boeke het meestal die terme gebruik wat hulle in die Septuaginta gevind het − met ’n paar merkwaardige uitsonderings. Hierdie artikel verduidelik hoe die term κόσμος deur Nuwe Testamentiese skrywers gebruik is. Twee hoofgebruike van κόσμος word genoem: (1) as ’n antropologiese term om die totale mensdom te beskryf; en (2) as ’n ekklesiologiese term om ‘die ander’, naamlik die nie-gelowiges of die buitekerklikes, te beskryf. Dit is die rede waarom God nooit ‘die koning van die wêreld’ genoem word nie; Hy is slegs die regter daarvan.


2013 ◽  
Vol 47 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jaco Kruger

In hierdie artikel word ’n perspektief gebied op die tendens wat min of meer sedert die aanvang van die millennium ook in Suid Afrika posgevat het, naamlik om die kerk as diemissionale kerk te tipeer. Hierdie ontwikkeling in die nadenke oor die kerk is oënskynlik ’n reaksie op ’n vroeëre, statiese siening van die kerk, waar meer op die kerk as instelling gefokus is en wat funksioneer deur mense nader te trek en deel te maak van die instelling. In teenstelling hiermee wil die missionale kerk in haar benadering by God self begin, as die sendende God en van daar ’n meer dinamies-kommunikatiewe siening van kerkwees ontwikkel. Laasgenoemde beteken dat die kerk veel meer binne die kultuur van die wêreld aanwesig is om daar op ’n nuwe werklikheid te wys. Die navorsingsvraag wat in hierdie artikel gevra word, het te make met die filosofies-teologiese vertrekpunte van die missionale kerkweesbenadering. Watter siening van die verhouding tussen God en die skepping, oftewel die transendente en die immanente, lê ten grondslag van hierdie benadering? Watter invloed het die inagneming van filosofies-teologiese oorwegings op die beoordeling van die missionale kerkgedagte? Hierdie vrae word beantwoord deur die opvatting van missionale kerkwees, asook die institusioneel-kontraktuele opvatting van kerkwees waarteenoor dit reageer, teen die agtergrond van die sakramentele verstaan van die kerk te plaas. Die sakramentele verstaan van die kerk was deel van die deelnemende wêreldbeeld wat vir die eerste millennium van die kerk se lewe as vanselfsprekend aanvaar is.This article presents a perspective on the growing tendency – also in South Africa – to characterise the church as missional. Thinking of the church in missional terms is apparently in reaction against an earlier, static view that focused on the church as an institution, and more specifically, an institution that functions by drawing people to itself. In contrast, the missional approach to church wants to start with God, as the One that sends, and from that perspective develops a more dynamic and communicative conception of the church. An important implication of this would be to have the church much more present in and to the culture of the world, in order to effectively point to a new reality. The research question informing this article has to do with the philosophical and theological underpinnings of the missional church approach. What assumptions about the relation between God and creation, or transcendence and immanence, underlie this approach? What implications would the consideration of the philosophical and theological assumptions underlying the missional church movement have for its evaluation? These questions are answered by placing the missional notion of the church, as well as the institutional-contractual notion against which it reacts, against the background of a sacramental understanding of the church. The latter was the notion of the church that was almost universally taken for granted in the first millennium of the church’s existence.


1965 ◽  
Vol 16 (2) ◽  
pp. 152-162 ◽  
Author(s):  
H. E. J. Cowdrey

It is not at first sight easy to explain the ever-growing appeal which Cluny had during the tenth and eleventh centuries for clergy and still more for laymen, particularly in Burgundy, France, Christian Spain and North Italy. The basis of Cluniac life was the choir service of the monks and the silence and ordered round of the cloister. By and large the Cluniacs did not seek to work outside the cloister or to become involved in wider pastoral care. They were, indeed, concerned for the Church and for the world at large, but with a view to winning individuals to share spiritually and to support materially the other-worldly ends of the monastic order. Yet, especially under abbots Odilo and Hugh, there was a rapid rise in the number of houses subject to Cluny or otherwise influenced by it; a Cluniac house formed part of the neighbourhood of a large part of the people who lived to the south and west of Lorraine. Cluny itself was well situated to attract travellers, and its dependencies were especially important on the pilgrimage routes. Together with the increasing number of Cluniac houses the long series of charters which record its endowment with monasteries, churches, lands and other wealth testify to its impact upon Church and Society in western Europe.


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