Abstracts numero 2008/1

Articles varia

  • - Les Eglises en chantier
  • Fritz Lienhard first examines the predicament with which the French Reformed churches now find themselves confronted : decreasing congregations, lack of visibility and transmission, the uncertain condition of theology. He then goes back to the founding texts which according to him define the Church as the place of the reception of the Word, meaning both strength and frailty, and eventually pleads for a shared reception through missionary effort and charities.

  • - La richesse selon 1 Timothée 6,6-10 et 6,17-19
  • The First Epistle to Timothy develops the theme of wealth in two different sections (6:6-10 and 6:17-19), not far apart but clearly separated. This doubleness is surprising, and Samuel Bénétreauwonders whether it is mere redundancy or, on the contrary, tension, or even opposition? His study endeavours to point out what belongs to each, one being an outcome of the antiheretical controversy, the other instructions aimed at the rich in the church. The addressees are not the same, but the basic message is. Desire to possess is a lure for for all, whether they are longing for wealth or already well off. What really matters is the heart and how it induces priorities.

  • - Trois notules
  • Daniel Lys proposes three short meditations about the plural èlôhîm in Hebrew, blood in the synoptics, and the future of the human being.

  • - L’idéal de chasteté dès les débuts du christianisme, pourquoi ?
  • Alain Houziaux wonders why the ideal of chastity was present so early in Christianity. He explores the religious as well as psychological reasons that can explain such a craving: desire of a heavenly life, of getting rid of the flesh and stain of sin, of martyrdom, etc.

Dossier

  • - Le péché originel. Approche paulinienne
  • Rom 5: 12-21 has long been considered in the Christian tradition as a crucial text on original sin and on its outcomes-not without a consequential reflection upon God’s gracious and plentiful remedy. Jean-Noël Aletti highlights the critical issues of these puzzling verses.

  • - Le péché originel : un héritage défectueux
  • What sense can we possibly make of the doctrine of orignal sin, asks Martin Henry. The doctrine has left its negative mark not only on theology, but according to a thinker like Nietzsche, on Western civilization as a whole. Augustine generally takes the blame for this sombre tradition, not least because of his association of procreation with the transmission of original sin. Despite its apparent endorsement of pessimism, does the doctrine nonetheless conceal an unexpected message of hope ?

Notes et chroniques

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