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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.

This paper aims to present, based on the Church’s current teaching on synodality, the attempt at synodality of the Catholic Church in Czechoslovakia, which was entitled The Decade of Moral and Spiritual Renewal of the Nation. The paper briefly analyses this little-known event based on contemporary testimonies and their expert processing. It begins by clarifying the concept of synodality to gain a deeper understanding of the theological significance of this task that God asks us to do. Then we present the main actors of the Decade of Moral and Spiritual Renewal of the Nation, its content, and a summary of its effects on walking together of the Church in Czechoslovakia in the still totalitarian atmosphere of the 1980s. At the same time, the paper attempts to compare this event with the current course of the Synod on synodality. The successes and failures of the Decade of the Spiritual Renewal of the Nation, as well as the catechetical work of the so-called underground Church in Slovakia, show that it is necessary to look at man and history not as the addressees of one’s agenda, but as those with whom one wishes to have a relationship characterised by mutuality and dialogue.

The paper is divided into two parts. The first part explains the concept of solidarity and fraternity on a theoretical level, especially in the light of Catholic social teaching. The second part analyzes the principles of solidarity and fraternity in Croatian society during the National Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. In addition to solving the national question under a specific aspect of brotherhood, this term was understood in the spirit of the communist ideology of brotherhood and unity of the Yugoslav peoples, and the ideology of solidarity was present predominantly in the form of self-governing socialism. The paper, therefore, shows how socialist Yugoslavia had many characteristics of a totalitarian system defined by communist ideology.

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.

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.

This paper explores the role of Church leaders in fostering resilience. It begins by acknowledging the contemporary context characterized by volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity; brittleness, anxiety, nonlinearity, and incomprehensibility. The Church addresses the spiritual and cultural crisis of individualism by providing a sense of community, support, belonging, and formation, particularly in virtues. Church leaders can foster personal resilience by guiding individuals when interpreting reality, developing self-awareness, and promoting a sense of responsibility. Mapping available resources, categorized as skills, supports, strategies, and sagacity (4 S’s), is an effective method. Additionally, practicing virtues, as advocated by the Church, plays a crucial role in building resilience. Learning routines, resembling virtues in their curiosity-driven and ongoing nature, origin in society, contextual flexibility, focused action, and commitment to improvement, empower individuals as lifelong learners, promoting growth and resilience. The Church’s approach embraces personalism, highlighting the unique, rational, and personal nature of human beings and recognizing the inherent dignity of each individual. A person-centered approach to resilience is teleological, value-based, integrative, collaborative, and responsive. Reflection and assessment are vital for intellectual development and continuous learning. Moreover, personalist resilience acknowledges the importance of cultivating relationships and receiving community support. Furthermore, the Church can foster personal resilience by enhancing its own organizational resilience. This involves prioritizing process reliability and promoting a culture of learning, adaptation, and proactivity. By doing so, trust and a sense of community are built, contributing to the personal resilience of Church members.

The hypothesis of this paper is based on an examination of the relationship between Christology and eschatology with soteriology, and through the analysis of their selected core concepts, it seeks to contextualize the discourse on salvation within a contemporary framework. Specifically, the study explores the terms of hope, faith, freedom, and bodily resurrection, which provide a framework for a modern approach to soteriological reality. The selected terms, when considered together, demonstrate their suitability in connecting the experiences of the contemporary individual, their existential position, and perspectives on salvation, while also drawing on rich theological traditions and Catholic doctrine. The initial research question that stemmed from the interconnection of the two treatises (Christology and eschatology) with soteriology has provided us with significant insights into various possibilities for the contemporary understanding of salvation.

In this paper, through three chapters, we try to deal with the idea of salvation in the psychological context of the Swiss psychologist and psychiatrist Carl Gustav Jung. The first chapter will discuss Jung’s approach to religious issues, his basic assumptions, and the similarities and differences between theology and psychology. The topic of the second chapter is the trinitarian and quaternary aspects of Jung’s doctrine, where the reality of the cross as a central symbol of human individuation but also of the entire cosmic totality comes to the fore. In the third chapter, we will talk about the development of consciousness in God and man, with a special focus on Jung’s apparently most dramatic work – »Answer to Job«. The ultimate goal of this work is to present Jung as an original and courageous thinker and author who managed to bring religion and psychology closer together.

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.