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This paper explores the profound lessons of the Qur’ān about equality and social justice, as well as how these lessons relate to promoting world peace. The goal is to clarify the fundamental ideas of the Qur’ān that support gender equality, economic justice, and human dignity while examining their applicability in the modern world. The study uses a thorough examination of Qur’ānic verses, closely examining particular allusions to social issues and their historical background to produce complex interpretations. One of the main goals is to determine the connection between social justice, equality, and world peace. The study recognizes and tackles widespread misunderstandings and historical obstacles that have impeded the successful application of Qur’ānic principles, even despite the rich Islamic tradition that places a strong emphasis on these values. Additionally, the paper evaluates the current obstacles to social justice advocacy and offers solutions. A thorough examination of the role of Muslim communities and leaders is conducted, emphasizing their obligations to advance social justice and peace worldwide. Furthermore, a comparative examination with alternative religious and ideological viewpoints is conducted to find points of agreement for interfaith communication and cooperation. The article concludes by making suggestions on how communities, governments, and legislators can incorporate the Qur’ānic teachings into real-world projects. It emphasizes the critical role that social justice and equality play in bringing about enduring world peace.

This paper explores the Apostle Paul's teachings on righteousness and justification, emphasizing forensic, covenantal, apocalyptic, and sacramental aspects of his theology. Analysing key passages in Romans and Galatians, it integrates insights from contemporary theologians Douglas Campbell, N.T. Wright, and Pope Benedict XVI. Central to Paul's theology is the concept of justification by faith and the transformative power of divine grace. This study highlights the theological richness of Paul's teachings, while also acknowledging their ecumenical potential. By synthesizing these perspectives, the paper offers a comprehensive understanding of Pauline righteousness and its enduring relevance in contemporary Christian life.

This paper, taking into account previous partial studies, formulates the methodology, aspects, and aims of a pioneering study of emotions in all the major literary genres of the Old Testament books. Special attention is given to the literary representation of the emotional state of female characters in Old Testament narratives and poems. In light of previous representations of emotions in the Old Testament, the study proposes an integrated analysis of the selected texts that combines linguistic-literary, historical-anthropological, and ethical-moral aspects. The focus is on the study of emotions in the relationships between male and female persons and between humans and God. The analysis of the selected texts takes into account the broader textual and intertextual relationships in relation to similar texts in the Old Testament. The paper focuses on how partial, often abstractly cognitive and allegorical methods can be complemented by a more holistic approach at both the diachronic and synchronic levels in assessing the authenticity of the emotions of the acting subjects. From a methodological point of view, it is also important to pay attention to the relationships between the explicit and implicit representation of the emotions of the main and secondary characters.

This paper presents the pre-Islamic Jews’ and Christians’ conception of Jerusalem, the Temple Mount and the Basilica of the Holy Sepulchre. The first part of the paper presents Jewish views of the Temple Mount, pointing out that Jews hoped, and still do, to rebuild the Temple, and that there was a widespread belief in rabbinic Judaism that in the centre of the Temple stood a stone called the šǝtiyyâ, which marked the centre of the world, and from which the world was created. The second part of the paper analyses the notion of the eternal desolation of the Temple Mount among Syriac Christians, which developed in close contact with rabbinic Judaism. The article shows that the Christian thesis on the eternal destruction of the Jewish Temple is closely related to the Christian critique of rabbinic Judaism as such and of religious practices of Jews. In the course of the development and construction of the Christian earthly Jerusalem, Christians developed a distinctive system of beliefs that integrated some of the characteristics that Jews ascribed to the Temple, including the belief in the Temple as the centre of the world. In the conclusion, the article sketches the basic tensions between Judaism and Christianity regarding the future of the Temple Mount at the beginning of the 7th century. When Muslims conquered Jerusalem and entered into the world of these tensions, they forever changed it through the deliberate use and refutation of Christian and Jewish belief in accordance with their own religious teachings.

The paper outlines the historical background of the phenomena of starets (starchestvo) in monasticism, which has its roots in the early days of monastic life in Egypt and is primarily linked to the education of young monks under the guide of an experienced teacher. Particular attention is paid to the development of the phenomena in Russia, which, although with a time lag, initially imitated the Byzantine tradition, but nevertheless in the 18th and 19th centuries developed original traits, especially around the monastery of Optina Pustyn and the figure of the starets Macarius, who opened the monasticism ≫outwards≪ and became a spiritual guide of the laity – the intelligentsia and the common people. The monastery's connection with the world later led to specific forms of elderhood in which also diocesan priests and even lay people, men and women, were recognised as starets. Of course, this was largely connected with the historical situation in Russia, with the communist persecution of monks and the closure of monasteries. Particularly outstanding are the so-called ≫yurodiviy≪ (fools for Christ), who are an unique embodiment of God's wisdom and its redemptive power. The paper attempts to present the basic traits of the spirituality of the starets and the relationship with his spiritual sons and daughters from the perspective of Russian scholars. We can see a deeply Trinitarian and Christologically rooted spirituality, which presupposes a kenotic attitude of the starets in order that the person who is led by him reach God through him. Far from any spiritual manipulation and domination, the unique aim of the starets is to lead the spiritual son or daughter to theosis, divinisation, i.e., to freely accept the grace of salvation.

At the center of Trstenjak's life and work is man. This is why anthropology has a special place in his scientific interest, not as a specific discipline, but as a search for an answer to the question who a human being is and how to live together in interpersonal relationships, in society and in culture. In the paper, we discuss Trstenjak's scientific and human-experiential ≫reflections≪ of society and culture. We are particularly attentive to his understanding of man as a person and as a being of symbol, not of reason. His approach has a strong and a weak side. The strong one seems to be his fundamental intuition about the person and the symbol that enabled him to have a deep insight into the soul of man, nation, and culture. The weakness of the approach, however, is some of its limitations and ambiguities, so we critically confront Trstenjak's thought with authors who have deepened the theme of the person and the symbol. In the next part of the paper, we discuss his thoughts on the Slovenian man, family and nation. We believe that his thoughts are still relevant and worthy of attention. The paper concludes with a reflection on the importance of Trstenjak's thoughts for our times. This, we believe, cannot be shown without taking into account his reflection on the five great thinkers who for him were a key mental reference and the challenge of how to face the choices of life.

The subject of research in this paper is the relationship between religion and politics in the current Bosnian moment. The research sample is limited to the appearance and analysis of cases/examples of the relationship between religion and politics in a period of one month of the current year. More precisely, from the end of January to the end of February 2023. The paper follows and analyzes the dynamics of three characteristic phenomena of the relationship between religion and politics in the public space, with an emphasis on the relationship between religious themes and political actors.

In this paper, we present the influence of religion on the revolutionary movement that led India to political independence in the last century. The most credit for the changes has Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, who achieved political changes through satyagraha without violence. After introducing the term satyagraha, the authors outline Gandhi's life and his spiritual development, which enabled him to think and act nonviolently. The sources of his spirituality are highlighted as the Bhagavad-gita, the Bible and Leo Tolstoy's prose. He was also influenced by Jain religious practice, especially the principle of ahimsa practiced by Mohandas' mother. The paper concludes with an outline of the influence of satyagraha in India and beyond after Gandhi's death.

After the Second World War, Europe faced the question of what kind of political future to choose. Exactly five years after the end of the war, Robert Schuman proposed a declaration that opened the way for European integration: the European Community, later renamed the European Union, was created. This paper presents the circumstances of the creation of the Schuman Declaration and the vision that led him and other founding fathers to the realization of a completely new way of connecting European states. Three of the founding fathers of the European Community, Robert Schuman, Konrad Adenauer and Alcide de Gasperi, were devout Christians. In the paper, we show their understanding of the relationship between democracy, European integration and Christianity. According to Schuman, European institutions need a spirit, Europe needs a soul. What does this mean and how is it that only a few of the later European political leaders paid attention to this aspect? The last part of the article regards the efforts of Pope Francis to make Europe a place of peace and economic development, and furthermore, to strengthen the essence of its identity, encourage creativity and recognize its responsibility to its own nations and citizens, as well as responsibility to others in a globally connected world. The series of speeches by Pope Francis on Europe, including in the European Parliament, shows his closeness to the vision of Schuman and the founding fathers of the European Union on the one hand, and on the other hand, he directs attention to the present and the future.

The aim of this paper is to address the issues dealing with politics and religion in the Middle East, focusing on secularism vs. Islamism; the aftermath of the Arab Spring, and the Shia and Sunni split, as key themes for the purpose. Via analysis of the complexity of the Middle East, the Secular-Islamist Conflict, the Arab Spring and its outcomes, the article explains how the Arab Spring hardened the traditionally fluid relationship between the politics and Islam. It argues that Islam has never actually left the political realm, as there is still political contestation about the role of Islam in public life. The paper then deals with the complexity of the Shia and Sunni relationship and the split between the two, giving the explanation for such occurrences on the three levels – doctrine, legitimacy, and power.

The paper introduces the concept of Velayat-e faqih (Guardianship of the Jurist) as actual political system in Iran. The Farsi concept transfers the authority, political and religious, to the Shia clergy called ruling faqih (ruling jurist). It means that the religious leader (Vali-e faqih) is in fact the supreme leader in Iran. He gets his authority from God and he has already been appointed by the Hidden Imam and he would just be discovered by Maraj-e taghlid. Shia Islam knows a particular meaning of the concept Velayat-e faqih, started by Islamic Revolution in 1979. The paper presents the interpretation of the doctrine formulated by the dissident Iranian cleric Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini. The presentation is based on his book Islamic Government: Governance of the Jurist. The paper compares different views of Velayat-e faqih and it describes the relation of the actual Iranian understanding of Velayat-e faqih with traditional Shia custom and practice. This paper is written in English but it is based on the Farsi bibliography and is supported by the life experience of the political system.

The Black Notebooks [Schwarze Hefte] are personal notebooks that Heidegger wrote from the beginning of the 1930s to the end of the war. The first notebook has been lost, but transcripts of the next fourteen, which originated in the decade 1931–1941, were published in 2014 in three consecutive volumes of the philosopher’s Gesamtausgabe (more recently, further notebooks up to 1970 have been published). Their publication triggered a new wave of public polemics about his Nazism and anti-Semitism. This paper evaluates Heidegger’s multistage and multilayered relationship to Judaism and National Socialism, and the most prominent modern interpretations of that relationship, especially in light of the Black Notebooks. Among such readings, some of the most profound and lucid are those of the editor of the German edition of the Notebooks, Peter Trawny, and the Spanish philosopher Jesus Adrian Escudero. Many early reactions to the first publication of the notebooks were characterized by a combative outrage that was not supported by serious study and understanding of the material in question. This paper studies the reasons why that initial, sensationalist reaction stimulated precisely the opposite effect from what might be expected: Instead of jeopardizing Heidegger’s well-established place in the Western philosophical canon, the controversies of 2014 triggered a kind of renaissance of interest in his life and work.

Spirit Christology has resonated within Anglican, Protestant, and Catholic theology. This is due to several limits of the traditional approach based on the formula of Chalcedon which have been highlighted since the 18th century. Entangling Christology and Pneumatology is regarded a promising solution to the notorious problem of explaining the person of Jesus Christ. In this paper, both the intentions and the challenges of Spirit Christology are being displayed. An important aspect will be to differentiate between two types of Spirit Christology: first, attempts to deepen and enrich the understanding of the traditional approach, and second, attempts to replace it. In recent theological discourse, both views are being expressed.

This paper presents and critically evaluates dr. Jakob Aleksič’s view of dialogue, the unity of the Scripture, and Judaism, based on the discussions published by him in the journals Zbornik teološke fakultete and Bogoslovni vestnik after the Second World War. The paper is a continuation of the article Jakob Aleksič – The Messenger of the Biblical Science Spring published in the Unity and Dialogue 74 (2019‑1). In his discussions Aleksič »faithfully follows the teachings of the Church« (Stainer 1980, 497), i.e. the Council’s and other documents of the Church. As Aleksič (1955, 144) himself asserted, his discussions do not represent an original scientific contribution but a more professional presentation, »which has only a more general introductory character«. Aleksič understands the Bible as a written record of the dialogue between God and man or as a historical sediment of this dialogue woven into the history of the elected people. In harmony with the Dogmatic Constitution on Divine Revelation (Dei Verbum), he emphasizes the unity of the two covenants, the Old and the New, for the history of salvation »did not begin with the wood of the cross on Golgotha, but with the tree of the knowledge of good and evil in Eden« (1967, 6). Thus, the message of Jesus of Nazareth cannot be properly understood without »observing it in the context of the living, millennial prophetic tradition and historical reality of the Jewish people« (1965, 236b). Similarly, the question of Jews and Judaism is placed within the framework of God’s universal plan of salvation. Due to the fact that Aleksič was the first in Slovenia to report very accurately and extensively on the so called Declaration on the Jews, which in its final (fourth) form became known as the Declaration on the Relation of the Church to Non-Christian Religions (Nostra aetate), he is valued as a national awakener who educated future generations of priests for dialogue. His work thus in a special way prelude the present (and previous) issue of Unity and Dialogue, which marks the 55th anniversary of the publication of the Nostra aetate.

After the emergence of Islam in the early seventh century, the Arabic language saw its rapid expansion and eventually become a theological language as well. Non-Muslim theologians living in the Islamic world began to express themselves in Arabic and wrote polemical literature against their adversaries from different religions and religious denominations. Of special importance were also Jewish theologians who wanted to demonstrate the correctness of their own religious beliefs and the ill-foundedness of Christian and Muslim doctrines. This paper is dedicated to the Arabic speaking Jewish theologian Dāwūd al-Muqammaṣ (the 9th century A.D.), whose work Twenty Chapters (ʿIšrūn maqāla) is the earliest extant summa theologiae in Arabic, i.e., a work which aims to address the totality of theological teachings of a certain religion. The eight chapter of this work contains a critique of the Christian doctrine that God is three, while the tenth chapter refutes the Christian teachings that the Son is from eternity begotten by the Father and that God was incarnated in reality. This paper places Dāwūd’s critique in the broader context of trans-confessional polemic in the medieval Islamic world with special attention to Judeo-Arabic tradition.

The paper discusses and systematically analyses the term μετάνοια (most commonly translated with the word repentance), and the Scriptures of the Old and New Testament. The general introductory part of the article explores the etymological and semantic meaning of the term μετάνοια in the original Greek language and classical Greek literature, as well as a brief history of the translation of this term into modern languages. The second part of the paper deals with the Hebrew biblical concepts ≫naham≪ ( נחם ) and ≫šub≪ ( שׁוּב ), which are related to the term metanoia, with an overview of their translation into Greek (LXX) and other modern languages, while the third, last part analyses the use of the term μετάνοια/μετανοεῖν in the New Testament, with particular emphasis on Luke's two-volume work (Gospels and Acts), which mostly uses these terms.

In this paper, the author examines the earliest Christian treatise, Athanasius’ De incarnatione, in the light of the subsequent development of theological thought on the incarnation, and more specifically on the causes of the incarnation. The medieval scholastic reflections on the Logos’ incarnation as a good in itself, or as the means of the consummation of our salvation, applied to Athanasius’ work, do not represent a methodological shortcoming of anachronism, but rather help better understand the text itself. Indeed, a close analysis of the text shows that through two key passages in Athanasius’ work (On the Incarnation 1.3; 4.2-3) we can trace the two schematic aspects that would later be highlighted and developed by scholastic theology.

This paper presents Blessed Anthony Martin Slomšek as a man who led an above-average virtuous life. The author presents Slomšek concretely in the exercise of the main or cardinal virtues of prudence (wisdom), justice, cordiality and temperance throughout his life. He also shows their gradual growth. In the process of Slomšek's beatification, the extraordinary influence of Slomšek's personality became clear, as other people were drawn to him as a kind of ≫incandescence≪ for these virtues. Slomšek's extraordinary pastoral zeal was not only based on theoretical teaching but also rooted in a personally lived life of the cardinal virtues, which shaped him into an extremely harmonious and positive personality. Given the gradual resurgence of interest in the virtues in both ethics and morality, it is very appropriate to present and examine Slomšek's virtuous life.

The paper answers the key questions regarding Ravnikar-Zupan's translation of the Pentateuch: why it remained in the manuscript, when it was translated and who is its translator. The translation is first placed in the wider socio-cultural situation by presenting the attitude of the Catholic Church towards the translation of the Bible in the first half of the 19th century and shedding light on the functioning of state and church censorship. By evaluating the correspondence between the members of Zois's circle who participated in the creation of the translation, the questions of authorship and the year of creation of the translation are addressed. In contrast to the current practice, which addresses the translation as Ravnikar's, it is shown that it is more correct to speak of Ravnikar-Zupan's translation, since it is clear from the letters between Kopitar, Zupan and Zois that Ravnikar did not translated the Pentateuch himself. The letters also show that the entire translation of the Pentateuch was completed in November 1812. In the last part of the article, by analysing a few lines of the first chapter of the Genesis in both versions of the manuscript, it is shown that the R1 manuscript depends on Japelj-Kumerdej's translation solutions, which mostly fully or partially summarizes it, and also on Dalmatin's translations solutions. It is indicated that in the case of manuscript R1, the translators did not start from scratch, but rather, similar to their contemporaries, adapted the biblical text of already existing translations. The same applies to manuscript R2, but to a lesser extent and with a greater dependence on Dalmatin, which also exhibits specific linguistic characteristics evident in Ravnikar's printed books.

This paper provides a historical overview of the development of Protestantism in the Scandinavian countries up to the 19th century. Like the rest of Europe, the Reformation reached Scandinavia in the 16th century. It differs from other regions that have embraced Protestantism in that the new religious movement was imbued with a national identity and integrated into the highest levels of state power. The Church played a central role in the life of the citizens, not only as a religious and socio-cultural but also as a political institution. The established Lutheran state churches became the centre of the social life and, as a religious-political force, have been actively involved in the governance of the state (co-legislative and executive power, control of state education, administrative role of dioceses and parishes) until the 21st century.

The architectural image of the Jewish portable sanctuary is the problem framework of the paper. The conviction that the sacred tabernacle, as a work of God, is a complete work of art leads to a search for starting points to discover the uniqueness of its in-depth structure. The research established two: the first is the preparation of an authentic architectural scheme of the Jewish portable sanctuary as a basis for compositional analyses. The second is dictated by the determination of the possible presence of a compositional tools which manifests itself mainly in the use of proportions. The perceptible richness of the presence of almost the entire range of harmonic proportions is revealed in the texts discussed. Their abundance and affinity dispel the suspicion of accidental presence in the underlying tissue of the architectural image of the portable sanctuary. They rather point to the enviable building skills of the priestly elite and their concern to protect this knowledge from the uninitiated.

The article deals with the positioning of the Catholic Church in American society from the founding of the Apostolic Prefecture of Baltimore in 1784 to the First World War. The paper begins with a quote from Rudolph Veccoli, the longtime director of the Immigration History Research Center at the University of Minnesota, who wrote that the history of the Catholic Church in the United States is actually the history of the Catholic Church's relationship to immigrant communities. The authors also note that the contribution of the Slovenian higher clergy to the development of the structures of the Catholic Church in the USA was significant, especially in the area of Michigan's Upper Peninsula and Northern Minnesota, Iron Range. The contribution describes some of the important issues, i.e. the establishment of the institutions of the Catholic Church after the American Revolution and its placement in American society until the First World War; the attitude of the Catholic hierarchy in the USA and the role of the Roman Curia towards the Americanization of immigrants and/or the preservation of their ethnic identities; the development of Catholic education and the attitude of the Catholic Church in the USA towards the institutions of public education; the movement to Americanize the Catholic Church; its attitude to the issue of slavery and its attitude to the African-American community after the abolition of slavery, as well as the question of the attitude of the Catholic Church to the treatment of the Native Americans by the USA till the end of the 1st World War.

This paper critically presents the new Slovenian translation of the Divine Liturgy by John Chrysostom and Basil the Great, which is the third in almost a hundred years, but the first to be made according to the Ruthenian Review (Old Church Slavonic) and above all, the first to be officially approved by Rome. Firstly, the article presents the historical and liturgical context of the origin, the first Slavonic translations, the structure and the celebration of the Divine Liturgy, and then gives some theoretical orientations on the modern translation of (Eastern) liturgical texts. Finally, the circumstances in which this new translation was made are explained, and some concrete translation issues and the reasons for their solution are presented.

This paper analyses Tertullian’s innovative syntagm “religious freedom” (libertas religionis) from several perspectives, presenting the historical and literary context that enabled the Carthaginian thinker to coin this idea. In the second part of the study, which is devoted to a critical reflection on the relationship between religious freedom and religious pluralism in Tertullian’s optic, it becomes clear that when the principle of religious freedom emerged at the end of the 2nd century in North Africa, at least in the case of the Carthaginian teacher, there was no talk of any religious indifferentism. Tertullian makes the greatest Pauline-like concession to other religions in merely recognising that other religions, even if unconsciously, already worship the one true God, the God of the Christians. For Tertullian believes that every human soul is already Christian by nature, but this belief cannot be equated with a principled acceptance of religious pluralism in the sense of indifferentism.

The article outlines the importance of Judaism for the existence and development of the ideology of Zionism, which played a key role in the creation of modern state of Israel. The Jewish national movement was based on the direct relationship between nation, religion and land. Without Judaism, such a vivid political involvement of the Zionists would not have been possible. They initially developed their ideas in Europe, and in 1948, their dreams came true in the land of Zion and Jerusalem. The article also presents the political influence of religious orthodox parties in Israel. These have strong power, especially the following two parties: UTJ (United Torah Judaism) and Shas. They are both parties of Orthodox Jews from different political background, but always with desire to participate in the right wing government, which in recent years has been led by the Prime Minister and leader of party Likud, Mr. Benjamin Netanyahu. By shedding light on the influence of religious parties, the paper also indicates the wide socio-political significance of Orthodox Jews in Israel. Their number is increasing year by year, which also affects the balance of power in the 120-member parliament, the Knesset.

The article introduces the Syriac Alexander Legend, a text that was written in the context of the Byzantine imperial propaganda and aimed to present the Byzantine Empire as the fourth empire from Daniel’s prophecy on the four kingdoms. In the first chapter, the author analyzes the prophecy on the succession of the four kingdoms contained in the Book of Daniel. The second chapter is dedicated to the analysis of Aphrahat’s Demonstration on Wars, which is presented as an example of Syriac political theology. In the third chapter, the author sketches the story line of the Alexander legend and offers a Slovenian translation of the selected passages of the Alexander Legend. In the fourth chapter, a short commentary on the Alexander legend is provided. The commentary addresses the origins, basic theological concepts, and authorship of the Alexander legend. In the conclusion of the paper, the author highlights the importance of the Alexander Legend for the subsequent apocalyptic literature in the Christian as well as in the Islamic world.

This paper addresses the question of how to remain faithful to the tradition of the Church, and at the same time live its newness today with respect to the last Council and to look to the bright future of Christ's Church. The long-standing difficult situation concerning the congregations celebrating the liturgy according to the 1962 Roman Missal, and some of them accusing the Church of often interpreting the prescriptions of the last Council in an arbitrary and in many cases erroneous way, has recently been reinforced by a document of Pope Francis. The Holy Father has issued motu proprio, Traditionis custodes, in which he restricts the possibility of celebrating such forms of liturgy, or places the decision in the hands of local bishops, who are to judge in their own diocese whether such liturgies do not undermine the unity of the Church. The resulting tension imposes even more than before the responsibility to ensure that our celebrations truly reflect the eternal Beauty, remain faithful to the prescriptions, and at the same time allow for creativity where and only where the liturgy itself provides for it. It is necessary to humbly acknowledge that many young people have turned to the traditional liturgy after having witnessed many examples of celebrations which, according to the new Missal, have impoverished the rite, distorted it, and thus did precisely what Pope Francis warns traditionalists against – rejected the Second Vatican Council. With the Holy Father's statement in which he points out ≫that the liturgical books promulgated by the saintly Pontiffs Paul VI and John Paul II, in conformity with the decrees of Vatican Council II, constitute the unique expression of the lex orandi of the Roman Rite≪ (Letter), we therefore commit ourselves to the fact that every liturgy should ≫be celebrated with decorum and fidelity to the liturgical books promulgated after Vatican Council II, without the eccentricities that can easily degenerate into abuses≪ (Letter). It is precisely liturgical inculturation that is charged with the task of preserving fidelity and at the same time producing the fruits of a rite that is transforming culture, and it is therefore important to reflect on the current situation in the light of this, and to seek liturgical expressions that are capable of transcending the tensions.

Both in Judaism and Christianity Jesus was to some extent separated or detached from Judaism. However, as Matthias Henze says, in the last 50 years we have been witnessing significant changes in the approach and view of the Jewish world of the Gospels and consequently the New Testament. This positive shift should affect not only our view of the ≫Jewishness of Jesus≪ but also of biblical interpretation. Namely, we can expect that Jesus lived, thought, spoke and taught as a Jew and not as a ≫Christian≪ in the historical sense of the word. In terms of biblical interpretation, that means that the proper context for interpreting the Bible is the context of the biblical writers. Accordingly, our goal should be studying historical, cultural or literary contexts in order to discover a worldview context of the biblical authors and with these ≫glasses≪ approach to reading the Scriptures. Based on this reasoning, in the first part of the paper, we will address certain theological and historical reasons for the exclusion of the Jewishness of Jesus from both Judaism and Christianity. In the second part, we will discuss the importance of the Jewishness of Jesus for understanding the worldview context of the biblical authors. In the last part, as a case study, we will demonstrate through the interpretation of Matthew 16,13‑20 (the issue of ≫the rock≪) and Luke 11,1‑4 (the Lord’s Prayer) through ≫Jewish eyes≪ that we can gain a different and even better interpretation of these two texts that better fit the context of the biblical writers.

For the purpose of this paper, we have set out to answer some key questions of the debate, mainly relating to the timing and cause of the arrival of the Jews in individual smaller urban locations. We have selected smaller cities where the Jewish presence is recorded in the documents as prime examples. We have to note that the role of the sovereigns, especially the Habsburgs, has proved to be crucial in encouraging and supporting the Jews in their decision to settle in a particular place. This is probably most evident in the different histories of the two border towns of Ormož and Brežice, both of which are owned by the Archbishop of Salzburg. Both towns are therefore owned by the Archbishop of Salzburg, but while Ormož was largely owned by the Ptuj family and their close ties with Salzburg were largely shaken due to their support on Styrian Dukes, the subjugation of the Salzburg rule in Brežice remained very pronounced. This is also shown by the fact that Ormož (though relatively short-lived) experienced the formation of the Jewish community of Ormož, while there is nothing comparable in Brežice. However, the commitment of Styrian Dukes seems to be best in the case of the (Slovenian) Bistrica, where it is clear that their interest that has not only made the arrival of Jews in the town possible, but also largely regulated their activities. The case of Slovenj Gradec also points to a similar pattern. Here, too, the influence of the landed gentry is decisive for the arrival of the Jews in the city, but in this case it is indirectly expressed through the actions of the Aufensteiner landed gentry, which was undoubtedly entirely in the spirit of their master, the Duke of Carinthia. From the overall picture, the example of Dravograd stands out most, where we are dealing with a rather unusual moment when the Jews from Styria (at least as the fact that they are subject to the judge for the Jews of Graz) settle down in one place. Especially the example of Dravograd shows how small the amount of data is, because neither the time of arrival and thus the longevity of the data is clear, nor the connection of Dravograd Jews with potential communities from Carinthia or Styria. The fate of Jew David from Dravograd in Vienna only shows that the connection with Dravograd was very tight and had to go beyond a purely short-term stay. In any case, it can be concluded that it was not only the role of Provincial Lords that largely controlled the presence or absence of Jews in individual places, but that the role of the Habsburgs (and Tyroleans as Dukes of Carinthia) as Styrian sovereigns is also particularly exposed. Different approaches to the (non-)presence of Jews can be seen in the comparison of the Salzburg town of Brežic, where Jews are freely sought, and the Salzburg town of Ormož, where they were freely sought in the 14th century. The emphasis on the Habsburgs is also brought to our attention by the analysis of the material of the town Slovenska Bistrica In any case, this analysis must be added for further answers in a similar way for the Kranjska region and for the Goriška and Istra regions.

The beginnings of the mekteb in Slovenia date back to the second half of the 20th century, while a visible development occurred with the establishment of the Islamic Community in the Republic of Slovenia (1994) and the arrival of imams. Today, it is implemented in all seventeen committees of Islamic communities, as well as in other Islamic communities and societies in Slovenia. This paper presents the differences in the implementation of mekteb lessons within the committees of the Islamic Community and alternative Muslim organizations in Slovenia, with special emphasis on the use of the language and division into groups.

The article deals with the complex relations between the Jewish and Christian communities in the late antique Aquileia, one of the most important cities of the Roman empire at the time. After synthetizing the historical evidence for the existence of the Jewish community and the beginnings of the encounters between the two competing religious groups, our research focuses on the two most important sources for understanding the Christian viewpoint on the Aquileian Jews: a newly discovered (2012) work Commentarii in evangelia, composed by the bishop Fortunatian of Aquileia († ca. 369), the earliest Christian written source in Aquileia, and the opus of Chromace of Aquileia († 407; Sermones and Tractatus in Matthaeum). Especially in the context of the New Testament exegesis we face a strong emphasis on the rival relations between the synagogue and the Church, henceforth the aim of the paper is to offer a genuine interpretation of the relations between Jews and Christians, based on the two fascinating documents, in the light of the literary and historical critique.

The paper presents the key elements of exploring the New Perspective on Paul, which placed Paul and his theology more strongly in the context of the Judaism of his time. A holistic view of Paul also gives new impetus to the relationship between Jews and Christians. In selected passages from the Epistle to the Galatians, we will examine Paul’s understanding of the Law, works of the Law, and of justification by faith, as the foundation of a new life. Paul, like his Jewish opponents in the Galatians, never understood the Law narrowly as a way to achieve justification, but as a fundamental revelation of God that established God’s chosen people. We want to show that a new view of Paul can also give new impetus and new content to the development of Christian-Jewish relations. Paul’s and Jewish theology builds on a common foundation of revelation that stems from God’s call of man to the promised land, i. e. into a new covenant communion with him. This call is also a challenge for modern relations between Jews and Christians.

The paper examines the relationship between the Catholic Church and the Jewish community in a particularly important and traumatic time for Jews, i.e. during the establishment and consolidation of the new Ustasha government in the Independent State of Croatia in 1941. As the Catholic daily newspaper Hrvatski Glas (Croatian Voice) was published regularly from January to the end of August 1941, we will look for the answers to the following questions by analyzing newspaper contents: How does this Catholic newspaper deal with the Jewish question which became particularly relevant with the establishment of the Independent State of Croatia? Is anti-Semitism present in this newspaper and to what extent? Is it something imposed or can one conclude that the newspaper editorial team and the Ustasha authorities worked together in an informal manner? The comparative analysis will compare the anti-Semitic content of Hrvatski Glas with other Catholic media in order to find similarities and differences on the subject in a broader context. If we look at anti-Semitism within the scope of the entire Catholic press in the area of the Independent State of Croatia, we can see a multitude of possible reactions to the official anti-Semitism of the Ustasha authorities. This investigation shows that Hrvatski Glas belonged to the circle of newspapers that actively and unreservedly supported the anti-Semitic policies of the Ustasha government.

The decades following the tragedy of the Shoah marked a crucial turning point in how Christian theology would define its approach not only to Judaism but also to the first part of Scripture – the Old Testament or the Hebrew Bible. Gradually, Christian churches had to confront their own centuries-old, anti-Jewish tradition and slowly came to the realization that Christianity’s anti-Judaism and the Church’s wide-spread silence in the face of the atrocities of World War II had contributed to the heinous crimes committed by the Nazi regime. Grassroot initiatives for a Jewish-Christian Dialogue are one significant result of that shift in mindset. This paper concentrates on Jewish-Christian Dialogue initiatives based on the Hebrew Bible, which were established in the years and decades after the Second Vatican Council in post-Nazi Germany as well as in post-Nazi Austria.

Empathy is an important mechanism of interpersonal communication and dialogue. It could be defined as our ability to feel another person’s feelings and thoughts, and thus gain insight into someone else’s experience. By this we put ourselves in the situation of other, which is the fundamental essence of dialogue – to be human with other human. The ability to understand others has always interested many authors. Among them was Edith Stein (1891–1942), one of the important women who marked the 20th century. She was a recognizable philosopher and teacher, born a Jew, and later a Christian and a martyr, and the first Jew born person since the days of the first Church to be canonized. Edith Stein dedicated her doctoral dissertation to empathy, entitled On the Problem of Empathy, and through her later research and way of life revealed what it means to be empathetic and how to live a dialogue with another human being and God. In this paper, we present the fundamental aspects of understanding empathy at Edith Stein and highlight the importance of empathy as a competence that is crucial for real, deep and healthy interpersonal relationships and dialogue.

The Spanish flu after World War I meant a global threat. It spread from the United States of America and took between 20 and 50 million victims, in some estimations twice that much. The first news of the disease in Slovenia dates to July 1918, that is during the second wave of its spreading. The paper presents the aspect of the Slovenian Church leaders on the disease and its dimensions in some Church educational institutions in Slovenia. Frequent contacts among the institutions were a favourable circumstance for a relatively fast and vast spreading of the disease. The most affected was the Salesian College of Veržej, in that period destined to the formation of the Austrian aspirants for the Salesian life, where from the very beginning a lack of fundamental food and difficult economic situation were met. Mainly young members of the community turned sick, and four of the staff members, the age between 29 and 34 years, died.

Readers from the homilies of St. Jerome were translated from Latin into Church Slavonic, probably when the Church Slavonic version of the breviary was created in the mid-13th century, when Pope Innocent IV. approved the use of Slavic liturgy by the Benedictines in Senj and Krk. The authors of the Croatian-Glagolitic breviary used older Old-Church Slavonic translations of the biblical text, other texts – among them the homilies of St. Hieronymus – were translated straight from the Latin breviary, so we can trace in them the characteristic elements of actively used Croatian Church Slavonic. In this paper, we review the authenticity of the Jerome’s authorship of the texts in the breviary and show that some of the lexical elements of the translation of homilies are the same as those of the biblical texts in the Croatian text books of the southern textual group.

We present Rafko Mihael Vodeb (July 26, 1922, Dolenja vas pri Artičah – July 5, 2002, Maribor), a priest, art historian, poet, translator and editor who was a man of many gifts and a multiculturalist. He attended primary school in Artiče, grammar school in Maribor, accomplished master's degree in philosophy and theology (licentiate) at the Pontifical Urbanian University in Rome (1941–1948), studied (1958–1962) art history and archeology and in 1962 graduated at the Universite catholique in Louvain (Leuvna). In Rome, he was a deputy director at the Pontificio collegio Urbano (1949–1958), a lecturer in missionary art and archeology at the University of Urbaniana (1962–1971), participated in the Slovenian broadcasts of Vatican Radio (1948–1958), and hosted broadcasts in 1964–1971. In 1971 he returned to Slovenia and became a lecturer in art history, missiology and apologetics at the Maribor Unit of the Faculty of Theology in Ljubljana, in the 1980s he lectured only on art history and the protection of sacral heritage. In 1973–1974 he was the editor of the family magazine Nova mladika, in 1974–1986 the editor-in-chief of the magazine Znamenje, in 1976–1982 the secretary and editor of the Mohorjeva družba in Celje. In 1988 he joined the Catholic Charismatic Renewal or the spiritual stream Renewal in the Spirit and engaged in pastoral work there primarily as a priest until his death, and in 1996–1997 also as the editor of the paper Prenova.

The Vita et Transitus Sancti Hieronymi was a main devotional work upon which the humanist and the renaissance cult of Saint Jerome was built, testified by a large number of manuscript copies, and printed editions of the work. This paper explores the previously unacknowledged presence of the work in the Eastern Adriatic Coast, especially in the Dalmatian communes, where Jerome has been praised as a national saint since the 15th century. Based on the archival documents, quotations of the Transitus in other written works, and its use as a textual model for the visual representations, it discusses the direct and indirect influence on the promotion of veneration of Jerome. Furthermore, it contributes to the notion of the exchange of ideas and artistic models between two shores of the Adriatic Sea during the Late Middle Ages.

The paper presents Vinko Avguštin Škafar, a Capuchin priest, theologian and associate professor of pastoral theology, who is one of the most prominent contemporary ecumenical workers in Slovenia. His basic field is pastoral theology, he still lectures at the Catechetic Pastoral School in Maribor. He also leads a few marriage groups and is a pastor in a parish where the population is rapidly aging, and consequentely often deals with the problems of aging. As a member of the Slovenian Ecumenical Council, he works at important ecumenical events and represents a link between the older and the younger generation of Slovenian ecumenical workers. In his research work, he often delves into the field of history, especially his native Prekmurje and the history of the Capuchin order and individual Capuchins.