Studia Universitatis Babeș-Bolyai Theologia Graeco-Catholica Varadiensis

THEOS-UL ARISTOTELIC ȘI DUMNEZEUL „TOMIST”: DESPRE REVELAȚIA NATURALĂ ȘI SUPRANATURALĂ

Cristian BĂLĂNEAN — Mon, 30 Dec 2019 00:00:00 +0000

The Aristotelian Theos and The “Thomistic” God: On the Natural and Supernatural Revelation. If in Aristotle, the first mover unmoved (πρῶτον κινοῦν ἀκίνητον), which represents God in the strict sense, never leaves its absolute autarchic state, being, at the same time, coeternal with movement and matter, in Thomistic theology, based predominantly on Supernatural Revelation, God is the only timeless, eternal one. Although the universe was created by Him, ex nihilo, His relationship with the world and, in particular, with people it was, it is and it will be a personal one, based on the being (esse) given to each thing through participatio, but also on His eternal love („amor Dei aeternus est”).

CARACTERUL PNEUMATOLOGIC AL LITURGHIEI SFÂNTULUI IOAN GURĂ DE AUR

Sergiu-Bogdan CHIRILOAEI — Mon, 30 Dec 2019 00:00:00 +0000

The Pneumatological Character of the Liturgy of Saint John Chrysostom. This article presents itself as a brief deepening of the pneumatological discourse, in order to understand and penetrate through the eyes of faith, the mystery and the work of the Holy Spirit in the life of the liturgical man. The discourse starts from man's personal experience in the life of faith, so that later, guided by the Holy Spirit, he reaches the true encounter with God in the Holy Liturgy, receiving a new existence in a new time, a new life lived in the Spirit God's. The experience of faith and the spiritual life of the believer mark man's path to the fulfillment of the times, when the Kingdom of God will receive man deified by the grace of the Holy Spirit. This perfect dynamism of the spiritual life finds its fulfillment in the Holy and Divine Liturgy, where heaven and earth unite, so that the love of God may flood all mankind. The Holy Spirit is present throughout the Holy Mass, as it is mysteriously present throughout history, from Creation to the present days.

RĂSPUNSURI TOMISTE LA DOUĂ OPȚIUNI MORALE EXTREME: MARTIRIUL (EX CARITATE) ȘI CONSERVAREA PROPRIEI VIEȚI

Cristian BĂLĂNEAN — Mon, 30 Dec 2019 00:00:00 +0000

Thomistic Responses to Two Extreme Moral Options: Martyrdom (ex caritate) and Preservation of One's Own Life. Starting from the supreme sacrifice of Father Maximilian Kolbe, this article aims to justify, with additional arguments from the moral theology of St. Thomas Aquinas, the decree of Pope John Paul II that of canonizing him as a martyr ex caritate. Far from being just a simple issue of terminological distinction, martyrdom of charity – totally opposed to the attitude of preserving one's own life – constitutes a true martyrdom for Christ.

PEDAGOGIA INTERVALULUI – MODELUL PEDAGOGIEI DIVINE (A EDUCA ÎN VEDEREA LIBERTĂȚII – INTERVALUL CA PEDAGOGIE DIVINĂ)

Radu-Ioan MUREŞAN — Mon, 30 Dec 2019 00:00:00 +0000

The Pedagogy of the Interval – Toward a Model of Divine Pedagogy (educating for freedom – interval as divine pedagogy). This study is an attempt to substantiate human pedagogy on the model of divine pedagogy - the pedagogy of the interval, whose symbolic image might be the empty space existing between the Creator and Adam in Michelangelo's fresco Creation of Adam. It is the antinomic structural space par excellence, the space of freedom and lack of freedom, of order and disorder, that make the flowering of the human creativity possible, according to the logic of a harmonious life seen as a whole. Freedom includes, as a spiral of the opposites, the aspiration for freedom (the good, truth, beauty, justice, etc.) and the run away from freedom (disharmony, disorder, injustice, malice, etc.). Without the acceptance of this dramatic antinomic dynamics of pathos - passion, joy - suffering, death - life, there can be no evolution, no progress, no real foundation for a viable human pedagogy.

ETICA TRANSCENDENTALĂ ȘI „CRITICA RAȚIUNII PRACTICE” - STUDIU CRITIC

Caius Ștefan STEPANESCU — Mon, 30 Dec 2019 00:00:00 +0000

Transcendental Ethics and the “Critique of Practical Reason” – Critique and Evaluation. One of the most prominent ethical system is Kant’s deontological ethics, exposed in his critique of practical reason. The basis off all this ethical system relies on the categorical imperative, that is, obedience of the will by the will of obedience in itself. We consider such an ethics first of all as deceitful, because it lacks an objective basis. Kant’s only basis is his moral faith, which lacks objectivity. On the other hand, we propose a realistic ethics based on the objective criteria of right reason. Kant’s ethics, based on the blind fulfillment of the act itself is also contrary to human nature, the latter being actually moved by a different purpose in all its actions. Therefore, lacking an objective basis and a purpose Kant’s ethics lacks any true obligation, therefore making the subjective intention of law obedience the only criteria in order to consider human actions as morally good. On the other hand, we consider the real human being, naturally moved by purposes in its actions, and who’s moral goodness depends on the object, intention and circumstances of any human action. The postulation of practical reason also presents many problems, first of all because they are not the result of rational speculation, but an act of blind faith in one’s own will. Human liberty according to Kant presents no particular interest, cause it’s all about the noumenal human and not the real human revealed to us by our conscience. Kant’s proof of the existence of God and of the immortal nature of human soul are just a pure and absolute adherence of our faith to what our will wishes to be, therefore none is a true proof, just blind faith. We, on the other hand, speak about the true liberty, of the real human being, as we actually experience it. Also, we consider God and the immortal nature of the human soul as truths of natural reason, proven so after applying the principle of causality to the empirical evidence.

SENECA, QUINTILIAN, AND PLINY THE YOUNGER, EXCEPTIONAL PERSONALITIES OF ROMAN CULTURE FROM THE 1ST CENTURY AD

Călin Ioan DUȘE — Mon, 30 Dec 2019 00:00:00 +0000

Seneca, Quintilian, and Pliny the Younger, Exceptional Personalities of Roman Culture from the 1st Century Ad. In the first century AD, the Roman culture managed to give the universal heritage exceptional personalities, who, through their writings influenced both contemporaries and those of the next generations. Thus, through his vast work, Seneca will remain one of the great personalities of his time. In his writings he pursued, with priority, the improvement of moral life and therefore he managed to be over time a source of inspiration for many cultural and philosophical personalities, but also for some of the Church Fathers and Christian moralists. Quintilian is a pedagog-practitioner, who shows the means of training a good speaker, but, at the same time, builds a pedagogy with rich nuances and pragmatic openings. Quintilian’s personality was appreciated not only by his contemporaries, but also by future generations. Saint Jerome (347-420 AD), Rufinus of Aquileia (345-410 AD), as well as Cassiodorus (490-580 AD), quoted from Quintilian’s work. In the correspondence between Pliny the Younger and Emperor Trajan are two letters, dated 112 AD, which are important for the history of Christianity, because here we have some information about the moral life of Christians, but also about Christian worship and the Eucharistic assembly practised on Sundays.

DESPRE PICTORUL NICULIȚĂ (NICOLAE) POP (1907-1995) – AMINTIRI

Blaga MIHOC — Mon, 30 Dec 2019 00:00:00 +0000

Memories of Painter Niculiță Pop from Beiuș. The creation of painter Niculiță Pop is located in the so-called idiomatic area, an area of creators who are circumscribed to a certain ethnological space that is limited, in this case, to the rustic world of the Stone Land (Țara Moților). Although it belongs to history, this land is revived in our imagination by the paintings of an artist who embraces lovingly and joyfully everything that surrounds him.

CONSIDERAȚII CU PRIVIRE LA SECULARIZARE ȘI ANTICLERICALISM IV/2. ROMANUL MĂNĂSTIREA DIN PARMA DE STENDHAL

Ovidiu Horea POP — Mon, 30 Dec 2019 00:00:00 +0000

Considerations on secularization and anticlericalism IV/2. The Novel The Charterhouse of Parma by Stendhal. Henri-Marie Beyle, Stendhal's real name, would not have published anything if the Empire had not fallen, the writer being closely related to Napoleon. For this reason, Stendhal comes to literature so late and somewhat by accident, writing essays on painting and music in 1817 with his first book, Rome, Naples and Florence. We find here impressions about Italian society, written at the beginning of a seven-year stay in Milan, Italy. His critical reflections will continue in the Promenades dans Rome in 1829 and in the Memoirs of a Tourist, in 1838. They would have continued in posthumous volumes as intimate notes, memories, diaries and would have remained in manuscript if, at the age of forty-four, Stendhal had not discovered himself by chance, a novelist.

THE METAMORPHOSES OF MATTEO RICCI: A CASE STUDY ON RELIGIOUS VISUAL COMMUNICATION

Kenan WANG — Mon, 30 Dec 2019 00:00:00 +0000

The Metamorphoses of Matteo Ricci: A Case Study On Religious Visual Communication. The Jesuit missionary Matteo Ricci’s consecutive adoption of three different Chinese attires was crucial to the establishment of the Catholic Church in Late Ming China. An appropriate cultural contextualization suggests its nature and contributes to a better understanding of its consequences and relevance to the Church in our times.

PREMISE ALE GÂNDIRII CRITICE

Florica BODEA — Mon, 30 Dec 2019 00:00:00 +0000

Prerequisites for Teaching Critical Thinking. Our contemporary society is characterised by increasingly rapid, complex and intense change that require a reshaping of the educational vision. Globalization, cultural diversity, the impossibility of staying locked up in their own ideas, attract the need to accept different opinions, ideals, innovative future projects. We need to educate young people to be able to assess differences, in respect for their own vision in order to develop interpersonal skills that enable them to communicate effectively through the spectrum of ethnicity, nationality, language, culture, values and political ideology. It is necessary to overcome the simple joining in the diversity, the cold tolerance of the other and to discover diversity as a mutual wealth.

BOOK REVIEW: Amos Oz, Cum să lecuiești un fanatic, Ed. Humanitas, Bucureşti 2011, 124 p.

Ionuţ Mihai POPESCU — Mon, 30 Dec 2019 00:00:00 +0000

Cartea cuprinde trei eseuri și un interviu, grupate nu doar din rațiuni editoriale, ci și dintr-o logică internă. Primul eseu, care dă și numele cărții, prezintă esența fanatismului și remediul lui, iar următoarele îl completează. Al doilea eseu (Între dreptate și dreptate) oferă o soluție pentru ca dreptatea să nu-i transforme pe toți în fanatici atunci când ambele părți ale unui conflict au dreptate. Fragmentele autobiografice din al treilea eseu, Plăcerile secrete, ilustrează situațiile concrete în care apare fanatismul, dar și cum să-l previi, apropiindu-ți străinii prin imaginație. Ordinul linguriței, a patra parte a cărții, este un interviu în care ideile din cele trei eseuri (inițial conferințe ținute în 2002) sunt confruntate cu schimbările politice din Israel și din lume. Titlul eseului exprimă ideea autorului despre contribuția pe care fiecare individ poate să o aducă la rezolvarea unei probleme globale, a unei probleme care-l depășește cu mult. Oricât de puțin ar contribui, fie și numai cu o linguriță de apă împotriva unui incendiu, nu este în zadar, fiindcă în cele din urmă, nenumăratele intervenții bune, mărunte și anonime, pot zădărnici un rău foarte mare.

BOOK REVIEW: Laurent Alexandre, Jean – Michel Besnier, Pot face roboții dragoste? - 12 întrebări despre transumanism, Ed. Humanitas, București 2019, 140 p.

Ionuţ Mihai POPESCU — Mon, 30 Dec 2019 00:00:00 +0000

Laurent Alexandre și Jean-Michel Besnier, un chirurg prezent pe canalele media (șaizeci de mii de abonați pe Twiter, fondator al siteului Doctissimo, unul dintre cele mai vizitate siteului franțuzești cu sfaturi pentru sănătate și întreținere), încrezător în viitorul unei vieți tot mai tehnologizate și un profesor emerit de filosofie la Universitatea Paris-Sorbonne, atașat de înțelegerea omului ca ființă intermediară între animal și transcendent, prezintă miza întâlnirii tehnologiei cu dorințele omului de a fi mai capabil, mai sănătos și chiar nemuritor: ameliorarea permanentă a omului va duce la dispariția lui, în favoarea transumanului.