Church Reform

In the article for the first time in historiography the reviews of the diocesan bishops of the prospects of the reform of the parish council of trustees (prihodskie popechitel’stva)
at Orthodox churches are analysed in details. These reviews were submitted on request of the Ober-Procurator in the 1890s and they are analysed in the context of a more
general transformation of the Orthodox parish, planned by K.P. Pobedonostsev. The reviews of the diocesan authorities about the possibilities of reforming the parish council
of trustees were in fact revealing their attitude on the possibility of the parish reform in general. The author comes to the conclusion that the main idea of the reviews was to give
the council of trustees more «church» character. The hierarchs saw two ways of realising this task. One of them could be called the administrative way, another one — the more
natural one. The majority of hierarchy was in favor of the fi rst approach. They wanted to include the council of trustees in the existing system of diocesan administration, but subordinating them to the administrative control of the deans and the Consistory. Another group of hierarchs, which constituted the tenth part of all, who had submitted
the reports, saw it necessary to transform the council of trustees into the voluntary parish brotherhoods, thereby choosing the religious active backbone of the parish. It
is clear from the reports that they considered the experience of the Western Slavonic brotherhoods and the orthodox charity organisations which existed in America. However, neither of these projects was capable of solving the most important problem of parish life, that is the effi ciency of the parish economy, which was largely dependent on decisions of the peasant community. Bishops considered it possible to seek the help of the civil authorities in collecting the money from the parishioners. And only few were ready to give the parish organization the rights to be economically independent.

L. Meddi, La conversione missionaria della pastorale. Contributo per la receptio di Evangelii gaudium, in «Urbaniana University Journal», 68 (2015) 2, 79-126.

1. Le innovazioni della pastorale missionaria nel post-concilio; 1.1 Le dimensioni della pastorale missionaria; 1.2 Modelli e dispositivi di PM-2. L'orizzonte missionario prece-dente EG; 2.1 L'impegno di Giovanni Paolo II per la NE; 2.2 Sinodo per la Nuova Evan-gelizzazione-3. Il temario di EG: indicazioni e prospettive; 3.1 Un indice "incerto"; 3.2 La NE come conversione-riforma della Chiesa; 3.3 La evangelizzazione come compi-to pastorale; 3.3.1 La reintroduzione dell'azione evangelizzatrice; 3.3.2 Evangelizzazione come compito missionario; 3.3.3 Annunciare la gioia del Vangelo; 3.3.4 Il vero ardore missionario; 3.4 I campi e i terreni della missione; 3.5 Le azioni proprie dell'evangelizzazione; 3.5.1 Omelia e predicazione; 3.5.2 La catechesi nella formazione cristiana; 3.5.3 La pastorale biblica; 3.5.4 La dimensione sociale del Vangelo; 3.6 Il soggetto della evangelizzazione; 3.6.1 La forma "di popolo" della Chiesa; 3.6.2 Il compito missionario della parrocchia; 3.6.3 La famiglia soggetto missionario?; 3.7 I dinamismi; 3.7.1 Lo stile missionario della Chiesa in uscita; 3.7.2 L'inculturazione via della evangelizzazione; 3.7.3 Il pro-cesso formativo e comunicativo-4. Contributo per una receptio; 4.1 Prove di receptio. Oltre la polarizzazione continuità/discontinuità; 4.2 EG come "modello" o "programma"?: 4.3 Lo snodo maggiore: quale narrazione?; 4.4 La questione delle mediazioni pastorali; 4.5 Soggettivare la comunità ovvero la questione della ministerialità. Appunti finali

Cette contribution explorera plutôt sur l'importance accordée à la conversion en tant que réponse à une crise. Tout d'abord, j'esquisserai la crise à laquelle Jean Hus faisait face au tournant des XIVe et XVe siècles. Ensuite, j'éluciderai ce que signifiaient pour Hus la conversion, la metanoia, un changement du coeur et des comportements. Je conclurai en m'interrogeant sur ce que nous, qui faisons face à une crise différente au sein de l'Église et de la société, pouvons apprendre de Hus.

This contribution focuses on conversion as a way of responding to crisis. First, I will sketch the crisis Hus was facing at the turn of the 14th and the 15th centuries, then will spell out what conversion, metanoia, a change of heart and of one’s life practices, meant for him. In the conclusion I will ask what we, facing a different crisis of the church and of society, can learn from Hus.

Monasticism as Model for Ecclesiastical Reform: Emulation and Opposition, ca. 1050–1200

During the central middle ages, the monastic mode of life was the object of wide admiration and emulation, and many fundamental aspects of the ecclesiastical reforms of the eleventh and twelfth centuries were deeply indebted to it. At the same time, however, this era also saw strong resistance to the adoption of monastic practices beyond the convent walls. Some clerics viewed the monastic ideal as excessive or unattainable and consequently a hypocritical model. Others, particularly those within the canonical movement then in full flower, saw it as opposing their mandate to lead not a cloistered but an apostolic life, in order to fully guarantee the cura animarum, the pastoral care, of the Christian people.

This book examines John Calvin’s sense of vocation.

1) It begins with an analysis of thinking on prophecy in early, medieval, and Reformation theology.

2) It finds Calvin within a non-mystical, non-apocalyptic prophetic tradition that focused on scriptural interpretation.

3) It argues Calvin believed his prophetic authority was the same as Isaiah and Jeremiah, and suggests that he may have held himself to be infallible in matters related to Christian doctrine.

4) It argues that starting from about 1555, Calvin began to conceive the idea of encouraging one of the French 'lesser magistrates' (the princes of the blood royal) to rise up in armed conflict against the sitting French king with the aim of taking the throne.

5) Thus, it argues that when that did happen in 1562 when Louis of Condé gathered troops in Orléans and declared their intentions to liberate King Charles IX from the evil councillors surrounding him, this had Calvin's fingerprints on it -- Calvin was to a significant degree responsible for this turn of events.

6) Calvin pursued this plan, I argue, as one of a number of approaches to winning France for the gospel. In this way, the volume explores Calvin's sense of vocation and the impact this had on his political thought.

Solapa: Es la hora de pasar de la reforma de las mentalidades a la reforma estructural e institucional de la Iglesia, siguiendo lo que el Papa Francisco ha dicho: "el camino sinodal es el camino que Dios espera de la Iglesia del tercer milenio". El siguiente aporte pretende animar nuevos modos de participación de todas y todos en los procesos de discernimiento, la toma de decisiones y gobernanza en la Iglesia hoy

Contraportada: Hoy consideramos que es preciso avanzar hacia la reforma estructural de la Iglesia. Para tal fin, el Grupo Iberoamericano de Teología ha celebrado su Tercer Encuentro en la Universidad Iberoamericana de Puebla, reuniendo a un reconocido grupo de teólogos(as), pastoralistas y canonistas de América Latina, España, Italia y Norte América, con el fin de reflexionar las consecuencias de la sinodalidad en la vida de la Iglesia. Los aportes de esta contribución internacional responden a una nueva fase en la recepción del Concilio apenas iniciada con el pontificado de Francisco. De ahí la urgencia de profundizar en un modelo de Iglesia Pueblo de Dios que se discierna a la luz de la sinodalidad como nota eclesial que afecta y llama a la reforma de los estilos de vida, las prácticas de discernimiento y las estructuras de gobierno

This PhD thesis examines the role and importance of numerical data for the Church of Scotland in relation to areas of mission and planning at a time when the Church of Scotland has experienced sustained numerical decline in formal membership and in church attendance.
Within the various chapters of this work, the historical connection of the national church with numerical information is charted, detailing the long association it has had with the gathering and assessment of statistical data.  The role of data as a valid component within an understanding of practical theology is discussed as is the connection between mission and measurement through an assessment of ‘data rich’ missiological schemes, including the Church Growth Movement, Healthy Church and the Natural Church Development Process.
Three significant surveys of Church of Scotland leaders examine whether the national Census of 2011 and other statistical information was considered useful to local clergy for strategic purposes.  Ministers were surveyed about their use of data prior to and following the release of the 2011 census data.  They were subsequently surveyed following distribution of initial data from the Scottish Churches Census of 2016.  This study therefore provides essential insights into the use made and the value held by ministers of data of this nature.  The analysis carried out encourages the Church of Scotland nationally to further develop and enhance data provision for the benefit of their leaders.
The response of the Church of Scotland to numerical decline has been to engage in an exercise of managed organisational planning in partnership with presbyteries.  This thesis includes a critical examination of presbytery planning by the Church of Scotland and an attempt by one presbytery to utilise quantitative data as its key determinant for ministry allocation.  The case studies undertaken identify a range of issues, some being attitudinal in nature and others, practical.  An additional case study provided insight into the extent to which strategic information was available within a local congregational setting and the part it played in local decision making.
The practical nature of this thesis is evidenced in a wide-ranging list of recommendations offered to the Church of Scotland towards the creation of a new organisational framework for dealing with data, new training offered to church leaders and the enhanced provision of data for use in planning and mission - nationally, regionally and locally.

Analysis of Popes Benedict XVI and Francis' theological and pastoral approaches to ministerial priesthood. The paper sets the continuities and discontinuities between both Popes in the light of the ideals of Church Reform in the late XIX and XX century.

L'elezione di Bergoglio come vescovo di Roma ha riportato al centro del dibattito ecclesiale la riforma della Chiesa, un tema divenuto non più discutibile negli ultimi trent'anni perché immediatamente sospettato di mettere in dubbio l'autorità del magistero. Il rilancio, in chiave esplicitamente missionaria, che ne ha operato papa Francesco, ha però colto molti di sorpresa (altrettanti ne ha infastiditi) e solo lentamente vescovi, teologi – le teologhe, in verità, ne hanno sempre parlato, purtroppo del tutto ina-scoltate – e comunità cristiane stanno cominciando a proporre idee, creare spazi di confronto, tentare sperimentazioni. Anche Missione Oggi vuole contribuire a questo cantiere, naturalmente col proprio taglio specifico, cioè dando voce agli aneliti di riforma che provengono dai margini e dal basso, dove le esigenze dirinnovamento e conversione hanno una qualità universale e incrociano la struttura fonda-mentale della vita della Chiesa, che è quella della misericordia. Partendo dal presupposto che la missione costituisce il grembo della riforma e delle riforme nella Chiesa, abbiamo interpellato voci di ogni con-tinente, nella convinzione che sempre più la Chiesa cattolica è chiamata, per essere autenticamente universale, ad inculturarsi nella diversità delle tradizioni e delle realtà sociali, coniugando la fedeltà alla propria missione di riecheggiare il Vangelo dell'amore di Dio per l'umanità e l'impegno a rinnovarsi co-stantemente per testimoniarlo in modo credibile e dicibile alle donne e agli uomini del proprio tempo.

"Church and state are one."
"There is no state without church, and
there is no church without state."
These are statements made on two different occasions by Abuna Tewofilos, then acting patriarch, under the Haile Sellassie regime. In 1974, the prelate, at this time as patriarch, had to see to vast changes in the church's
fortunes: Political forces, which he himself had earlier defined as a "holy movement," brought about "historical" changes in church-state relations. The state, namely, the monarchy and the institutions closely associated with it, were swept aside and the church marginalized. The roots of these two different and conflicting positions of the church's relations with the state are deeply ingrained in the origins of Christianity in Ethiopia and the social as well as political forces that unfolded following subsequent geographical expansion that led to the reunification of the country after a century or so of breakdown and regionalization.
The article explores the relationship between the Ethiopian Orthodox Church and the State from the earliest period until late 1980s with a major emphasis on the Church as a national institution, sometimes supportive and other times in conflict with regime in power, the history of its autocephaly and the changes it faced under the revolutionary regime that succeeded the monarchy.

Symposium co-organized by the Croatian hagiography Society „Hagiotheca“, Centre for Medieval and Early Modern Studies (University of Turku), Hagiographica Septentrionalia (University of Tampere) and the University of Zadar, (University of Zadar, Zadar, September 18-21, 2014)

Qui pubblichiamo insieme con Michele Zanardi la parte iniziale di una piccola opera – il cui titolo, tradotto, suona come Quattro omelie sull’Occidente – che raccoglie le trascrizioni degli interventi di Przywara in un piccolo - ma molto significativo - ciclo di predicazione tenuto a Monaco di Baviera. Un testo che permette di riflettere sul compito del cristianesimo in tempi di - profonde - crisi storiche, sociali ed ecclesiali

El objetivo de este artículo es analizar la reforma monástica de Fernando II de Aragón durante su primera regencia castellana (1504-1507), tras el fallecimiento de su esposa Isabel. Se trata de un período poco conocido que pretendemos iluminar con documentación publicada e inédita, poniendo en relación los procesos reformadores impulsados desde la corte, con la situación de las órdenes religiosas, las negociaciones con Roma bajo Julio II, y la crisis sucesoria que enfrentó a Felipe de Habsburgo con al rey Católico. En este marco contextual advertiremos en qué medida este el monarca aragonés se implicó en la renovación monástica de principios del siglo XVI, con sus continuidades y sus transformaciones.

The study shows that Jerome of Prague considered Scripture as the highest authority. Besides other, it reveals that the absolute majority of Jerome's frequent scriptural citations in support of his philosophical and theological views is not taken directly from the Bible. Jerome derived many of these citations from Wyclif's treatises De ideis, De universalibus, De dominio Divino, and Trialogus; Augustine's treatise De doctrina christiana; and also Chalcidius's commentary on Plato's Timaeus.

This essay argues for a participatory synodal Church and the possible contributions of the African palaver as a model for participatory dialogue in the Roman Catholic Church. The African palaver is the art of conversation, dialogue, and consensusbuilding in traditional society that can be appropriated in the current search for a more inclusive and expansive participatory dialogue at all levels of the life of the Church. I will develop this essay first by briefly exploring some theological developments on synodality between the Second Vatican Council and Pope Francis and some of the contributions of the reforms of Pope Francis to synodality in the Church. Secondly, I will identify how the African palaver functions through examples taken from two African ethnic groups. I will proceed to show how the African palaver could enter into dialogue with other new approaches to participatory dialogue for a synodal Church.

Under the People’s Republic of Poland, the Polish clergy often assumed the power to speak on behalf of ‘its’ laity. However, the Church’s foray into democratic politics in the 1990s opened up a profound moral and ideological divide between itself and many Poles who now reject the Church’s institutional pronouncements as immoral and nonrepresentative. This article compares two paradigms of resistance to oppressive institutions by people affiliated with the Church in light of this change. The first, under late Stalinism, reflected hierarchy-initiated efforts to combat state oppression. The second, in contemporary Poland, reflects efforts by a small town priest (Father Wojciech Lemański) and his parishioners to resist oppression at the hands of Church institutions. I argue that the locus of the ‘enemy other’ has shifted, for many Poles, from the state to the Church. Most importantly, I show that sanctity continues to be experienced and sought after in contemporary Poland, but that its social profile has shifted from more institutional to more personal forms in light of increasing suspicion of the institutional Church.

Im Rahmen der Bestandsaufnahme, in welchen Bereichen die Kirche auf ihren verschiedenen Ebenen synodale Elemente aufweist, und des Weiterdenkens, wie sich diese im Licht des Synodalitätsparadigmas weiterentwickeln lassen, ist mir die Aufgabe zugefallen, die Synodalität auf der Ebene der Pfarrei zu bedenken. Das will ich in drei Schritten tun: 1. Ich möchte erstens das gegenwärtige Anliegen einer synodalen Gestaltung von Kirche, das mit einem dreifachen Synodalitätsbegriff-Synodalität als Stil, als Struktur und als Ereignisargumentiert, nachvollziehen. 2. Ich werde zweitens diese dreifache Synodalität auf der Ebene der Pfarrei wiederzuentdecken versuchen. 3. Ich werde anschließend, drittens, einige Beobachtungen zusammentragen, inwieweit ich gerade auf der Ebene der Pfarrei in der Verknüpfung und Interdependenz von Synodalität als Stil, Struktur und Ereignis Problemlagen identifiziere, die ich als dem synodalen Anliegen abträglich bewerte.

"Church and state are one."
"There is no state without church, and
there is no church without state."
In this second part, the article explores Ethiopian Orthodox Church and nationalism under the Italian occupation, its struggle for autocephaly and efforts in its reform and modernization.

The article (from Journal of European Baptist Studies 6 (2006), 5-19) summarises a contemporary state of Hus studies, it analyses the main themes in his theology, and rises a question concerning past and present non-doctrinal factors contributing to proclaiming someone a heretic or a saint.