Search

The ceremony of Rambu Solo’, a traditional Torajan funeral ritual, is often met with scepticism by Christians, particularly within the Pentecostal community, due to perceived spiritistic elements conflicting with Christian doctrines. Despite this, the deep-rooted cultural significance of Rambu Solo’ persists among the Torajan people, including Pentecostals. This necessitates exploring aspects of the ceremony that align with Pentecostal values of spirituality and character education. Therefore, studies are needed that show the dimensions of spirituality and character education that Pentecostal believers can accept. The research method used in this article was qualitative ethnography, and the analysis used was the theological triad in Steven Jack Land’s Pentecostal spirituality, namely orthodoxy, orthopathy and orthopraxy. Findings revealed a divergence between Rambu Solo’s orthodoxy and Christian tenets. Nonetheless, aspects of orthopathy and orthopraxy within the Rambu Solo’ ceremony align with Pentecostal spirituality, mainly through its emphasis on character education. Contribution: Using triad theology in assessing local culture in Indonesia provides a more comprehensive meaning of cultural values for constructing spirituality and character education.

Entering the field of Disability Studies, we question the necessity of the physical integrity of Roman priests in the sense of ius sacrum. This questioning must be analyzed in terms of orthopraxy and purity. We must distinguish between Roman priests according to whether they are «statue priests», i.e. physical incarnations of the divinity they serve, or simple «masters of the sacred». The first ones must be physically perfect, whether it is at the time of their entry in function or throughout the exercise of their dignity. This total physical integrity is both necessary to guarantee the proper performance and purity of religious rituals, and also - and above all - because priests in this category are assimilated to the gods whose worship they must maintain. As for the «masters of the sacred», they are probably chosen on the basis of a sufficiently good physical condition to ensure orthopraxy. Apart from this minimum requirement, our certainties become less clear and we can think that the Romans proceeded on a case by case basis. During the course of their duties, the «masters of the sacred» had to maintain the physical qualities that guaranteed the proper execution of the rites, otherwise they risked having to be replaced.

ABSTRACT Balinese Hinduism has incorporated local animistic traditions and offerings, which play a key role in the religious ceremonies called “five holy ceremonies” or Panca yadnya. Since plants constitute fundamental elements of these offerings, we aimed to contribute to their knowledge. We analyzed plants used during ceremonies by interviewing key informants in four ancient villages of Bali (Bali aga). We identified exclusive and common species associated with different kinds of ceremonies and assessed whether there was any pattern in the selection of plants for the various offerings. We recorded 125 species (112 genera, 49 families), most of which belong to the wild ethnoflora of Bali, but also 36 species that are not native to the Malesian region. The religious relationships among ceremonies, called yadnyas, reveal specific compositions of the offerings, with the plants falling into two main groups: common, which comprises 58 plants shared by all yadnyas, and specific, mostly connected to a single yadnya. This pattern of plant use is similar to the previously detected pattern in the traditional ecological knowledge (TEK) of aga villages. The use of plants for Panca yadnya can help avoid cultural erosion related to globalization.

This article explores the connection between life and theology. Today, many people do not understand the connection between theology and everyday life. In particular, many of today’s theological students are leaving theological institutions and entering the ministry with a fragmented theology instead of an integrated theology. A brief historical and literature review indicates that there are three perspectives in contemporary theology, namely the theological triad of orthodoxy, orthopathy and orthopraxy. A brief analysis of the three perspectives indicates a close connection between theology and everyday life: theology and life are linked in praise (orthodoxy), action (orthopraxy) and passion (orthopathy). This article focuses on the paradigm of narrative theology and shows that, when used correctly, narrative theology provides the building blocks for systematic theology and biblical theology. Narrative theology also provides helpful insights when it takes into account legitimate literary concerns, such as the historical background of the Bible passage and the author’s theology and purpose. The close connection between theology and everyday life is clearly portrayed in a narrative approach to Isaiah 6:1–8, especially when it illustrates how the story (narrative) shapes each of the three perspectives of the theological triad.