CC BY
20УДК 27-75
Иерей Роман Кирей, магистрант Белгородской Православной Духовной семинарии (с миссионерской направленностью), настоятель храма св.Николая Чудотворца Белгородской
и Старооскольской епархии Россия, г.Белгород bpdsroma@yandex.ru)
Сотериология в традиционном кальвинизме, либеральной теологии, неоортодоксии: сравнительный анализ (тезисы)
Аннотация. В статье рассматриваются основополагающие доктрины сотериологии в пресвитерианстве. Приводятся особенности понимания ключевых понятий для учения о спасении в трёх богословских направлениях пресвитерианства: традиционном кальвинизме, либеральной теологии и неоортодоксии. В результате сравнительного анализа делается вывод, что богословие неоортодоксии показывает высоту пресвитерианской мысли в области сотериологии. Идеи традиционного кальвинизма имеют ригористический характер. Особенно выделяется учение о предопределении одних людей ко спасению, других к погибели. Либеральная теология не предлагает придерживаться каких-либо христианских догматов, как непререкаемых Богом открытых истин. И, наконец, в богословии неоортодоксии мы видим положительные изменения. В богословии неоортодоксии переосмысливаются доктрины традиционного кальвинизма и интересным образом трактуются взаимоотношения человека с Богом. Рассматривается двойное предопределение в неоортодоксии, анализируется взгляд, очень близкий к православному пониманию.
Ключевые слова: пресвитерианизм, кальвинизм, либеральная теология, неортодоксия, предопеределение, сотериология, спасение.
Priest Roman A. Kirey, master student of the Belgorod Orthodox Theological Seminary (with missionary orientation) senior priest of the Church of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker
of Belgorod and St.Oskol Diocese Russia, Belgorod bpdsroma@yandex.ru
Soteriology in traditional Calvinism, liberal theology, neo-Orthodoxy: comparative analysis (theses)
Abstract. The article deals with the fundamental doctrines of soteriology in Presbyterianism. It is given the understanding of the key concepts of the
doctrine of salvation in three theological directions of Presbyterianism. The three directions are traditional Calvinism, liberal theology, and neo-Orthodoxy. As a result of the comparative analysis the conclusion is done that theology of neo-Orthodoxy shows the height of Presbyterian thought in the field of soteriology. Ideas of traditional Calvinism are of a rigorist character. The doctrine of predestination of some people to salvation, others to destruction is especially specific for this direction. Liberal theology does not offer to follow any Christian dogmas as indisputable truths revealed by God. Finally, we see positive changes in the theology of neo-Orthodoxy. The doctrines of traditional Calvinism are reinterpreted. In the theology of neo-Orthodoxy the relationship between man and God is defined in an interesting way. The double predestination in neo-Orthodoxy is examined, the view very close to the Orthodox understanding is analyzed.
Key words: Presbyterianism, Calvinism, liberal theology, neo-Orthodoxy, predestination, soteriology, salvation.
Today there are three main comprehensions of Calvinism that have historically developed in Presbyterianism. There are three branches of Presbyterianism: Orthodox Calvinism, or traditional Calvinism, liberal theology, and neo-Orthodoxy. These branches can be united by one community. Despite the marked difference in theology, all three branches of Presbyterianism remain one. It is assumed that they are more or less based on the teachings of Calvin. However, liberal theology, as we shall show later, deviated greatly from traditional Calvinism.
In traditional Calvinism, the main theological regulations are: the belief in an Almighty God, the absolute, who has Supreme power (the so-called "paramount position"), and a kind of calling card of Calvinism - the doctrine of God's predestination of some people to salvation, others to destruction.
Let's consider briefly the" Tulip " of Calvinism. The five points of Calvinism make up the acronym TULIP. These are a number of theological propositions in the context of "predestination".
Total Depravity. This regulation means that in the Fall a human nature is completely afflicted by sin. The depravity of man is extremely deeply affected his composition. Without the special influence of God, no one can do good nor abstain from evil. The person can't even wish the good. "Because of this original depravity, we are in the highest degree not disposed and not capable of good, have become his opponents, completely inclined to sin and commit all sorts of offenses". [1]
Unconditional Election - this regulation speaks about God's election of some to salvation, others to destruction. Predestination is unconditional. "To all those for whom Christ has purchased redemption, he certainly and effectually applies and communicates it."[1]. In other words, no conditions of Christian life will change the afterlife of man. Fate is determined by God. This position has arisen historically. The first theologians of this Christian direction, such as
Guillaume Forel, Jean Calvin, John Knox, Theodore Beza proceeded from the principle of opposition to errors. All four persons were children of the Catholic Church until the break in the XVI century. The Catholic Church in the XVI century had already had in its arsenal a number of distortions of Christianity. Among other things there was a system of offering to God satisfaction by means of indulgences, good works, sufferings in purgatory. The Catholic scheme of man's relations with God was rejected by these theologians. What had they come to? What or Who can determine a person's salvation? Certainly not the works of man, and not his faith, as the Catholic Church proposed. No conditions or human efforts can't solve the after-death fate of the person. Only God can do that. This is the unconditionality of predestination. When we consider this concept, we see its logical connection with the "paramount position". God is not guided by what man does. God is driven by an unknown motivation hidden in his Autonomous will.
Limited Atonement - this regulation means that Christ's sacrifice is not offered for everybody, but only for those who are pre-selected for salvation. "Men predestinated to eternal life, God, even before the creation of the world, according to his eternal and unchangeable intention and the secret will of His good will, chose in Christ to eternal glory, and this solely by his grace and love, without any foresight of their faith or good works, or their faithfulness, or anything else in people that would be for God a condition Everything is done only to glorify His great grace". [1]
Irresistible Grace - the main idea of this regulation is that those who are destined for salvation have no possibility to resist the action of God's saving grace, i.e. the all-conquering grace will produce the necessary state in the chosen one for salvation. "Having predestined the elect to glory, God, by the will of his eternal and independent will, ordained all that was necessary for this purpose. The elect who fell in Adam are redeemed by Christ, are effectively called to faith in Christ by His Spirit working in due time, are justified, adopted, sanctified, preserved by His power through faith to salvation". [1]. The saved are kept "by His power."
Perseverance of the Saints - this regulation means that the saved or saints cannot lose their chosen one. Since God has a definition about each person, the saved cannot fall away. In other words, the firmness of the saints is conditioned by God. "All angels and men, both predestined and ordained, are predestined personally and invariably, their number is determined and established in such a way that it cannot be increased or diminished". [1]
As we can see, in the traditional direction of Calvinism there are specific dogmas or fundamental regulation of faith. There is a founding document "The Westminster confession of faith". This confession was made by more than one hundred theologians - reformers. Their sessions began in Scotland in 1647 and ended in 1648 in Westminster Abbey, England. Initially, the reformers confessed the infallibility of one source of doctrine - the Holy Bible. Now this principle -"only Scripture" formally remains. Nevertheless, the community that rejected the tradition of the Christian Church created its own one. For traditional Calvinism, the "Westminster confession of faith" is a measure of faith. In these theses we shall
not examine all the theological positions of the " Westminster confession of faith." We are only interested in one thing: predestination to salvation and predestination to destruction in the given "confession" exists: "By God's predestination, for the manifestation of his glory, some men and angels are predestined to eternal life, others are predestined to eternal death" [1].
How does modern Calvinism accept such an unsuccessful theological notion? Or maybe there is a new understanding of the old dogma? We will find answers on these questions later, in the theology of neo-Orthodoxy.
The Bible, the "Westminster confession of faith" - what do these sources of creed mean at all? Maybe their writing were caused by the historical characteristics of a society? Maybe considering these sources of doctrine and others we need to examine the personality of an author or authors? Does the degree of education of an author play a role? Is anything written an allegory? Such questions were asked by representatives of theology, which would be called liberal theology, i.e. theology free "from anything". One of the founders of this direction is Friedrich Schleiermacher.
For liberal theology, the sources are only dogmas, definitions, confessions of faith and the Bible. Each source can be viewed in a historical perspective, taking into account the degree of erudition of an author, ethnic or cultural characteristics. Every author examined questions of the faith from the point of view of his knowledge. What are the conclusions of liberal theologians? The emergence of Christianity is analogous to the emergence of other religions. But in the course of history, humanity has developed. Therefore, faith can be expressed in another language, more modern. Such events from the New Testament as the Resurrection of Christ, the Ascension, the Gospel miracles, can be the result of allegorical presentation. So, all this in reality could not be. Jesus Christ can be seen as just a man. But God incarnation is one of the foundations in the salvation of mankind! However, liberal theology maintains that Jesus was simply the ideal of a moral man. He gave no doctrinal basis. Another "discovery" of liberal theology is that Jesus Christ is a collective person, the Bible not a Revelation but a way of expressing faith in ancient language.
As we can see, the tendency to a scientific approach in this theology results in skepticism. The principle of a scientific character through liberal theology rejects many fundamental positions of Christianity. Looking at religion and the Bible through science and historical context destroys the correct concept of God.
The traditional Calvinist can reconcile both the transcendence and the immanence of God. For liberal theology to approach the highest reality is possible only at the level of human emotions. God did not reveal Himself to men. There is no Divine Revelation. The categories of the supernatural are not a subject of investigation for liberal theology. Liberal theology is anthropocentric.
Theological truth or revelation in liberal theology becomes approximately an unstable concept as in philosophy. The liberal view is based on accepted admissions, and this does not give rise to a religious worldview. There are initial
unprovable admissions, working hypotheses that are born through conclusions. This interpretation of faith is even more difficult to accept than traditional Calvinism.
"Liberals are usually recognized by one distinctive feature. Often differing in all sorts of details, they all agree in denying anything truly supernatural - for example, miracles, revelation and inspiration from above, the immaculate conception, the resurrection of the flesh (Christ or believers), answers to prayer from above - in denying any act of God inconsistent with the laws of nature and the ordinary phenomena of human life. For many of them (liberals) there is not even a supernatural Creator, a divine Person who thinks and wills beyond man, a Person who can hear you when you pray. God to a liberal is simply an impersonal force in the Universe. If you believe like that, what your faith will give you? God cannot hear you. Nothing unusual will happen to you, even if you pray. What the pantheist liberal means by faith in God is this: believe in the Divine inside you, in other words, be sure of yourself, for you are a part of God. Moreover, a liberal can not believe in the Bible as the Supreme revelation of God."[3, 29-30]
A sane theologian cannot be satisfied with this approach. And representatives of the theology of neo-Orthodoxy became ones of such theologians. Among them, the most interesting is Carl Barth. Paradoxical fact from his life - many of his teachers were representatives of liberal theology. However, in Barth we find another theology. After he broke connection with his teachers, his theology changed cardinally. Adolf von Harnack who was a respected teacher of Barth signed a Manifesto in support of Germany and in support of the First world war which had started. Many from his teachers somehow supported or accepted the actions of Germany. Bart participated in the social movement against the First war. He was also an opponent of the World War II. Karl was the inspirer of the Bartender's Declaration (1934), which was directed against the Pro-fascist movement "German Christians". All these strokes tell us about Carl Barth as a man honest with his conscience. We can say that the character of his theology is hidden in his own character as a person.
One of Barth's first works with a new understanding of faith and Presbyterianism is "The Epistle of the Apostle Paul to the Romans".
We refer theology of K. Barth to neo-Orthodoxy, because in it we find a new interpretation of traditional (Orthodox) Calvinism. His theology was born in opposition to liberal theology. The Bible is perceived as a Revelation of God.
All positions of Christianity justified by the Gospel are preached by neo-Orthodoxy. Such a thing as an absolute and Almighty God is confessed. Anthropocentrism is rejected. Important meaning is given to understanding of the damage of human nature after the fall. This direction of theology is called "crisis theology."
Let's examine its main ideas. Man, by his own efforts, is not able to know God either through history, through culture, or through science. The fall, which deeply affected humankind, formed an insuperable gap between man and God.
That's the "crisis." On the one hand there is a transcendental God, on the other hand there is a fallen man who is incapable of knowing God. Who overcomes this gap? Who resolves this "crisis"? even God. God becomes man. God made it possible for man to know Himself.
Barth's interpretation of God's predestination is noteworthy. The negative attitude of God to man is signified by Bart with the word "no", a positive attitude -with the word "Yes". According to the traditional understanding, some people are predestined to salvation, others to destruction. And why should not this double predestination be attributed to every man? Bart believes that every man is predestined to both salvation and destruction. Both God's hands - God's "Yes" and God's "no" - are stretched out to man. "He does not take away the self from us without returning it to us again in Jesus Christ. But He has to take it away from us to bring it back to us again as the redeemed."[2,92]. Thus God's double predestination is turned to each person. Once a sinner, now "the righteous before God through faith was described as a man reconciled to God: he is the enemy of God, who by virtue of the incomprehensible love of God in Jesus Christ was made a friend of God."[2,62]
The "predestination" itself for Bart is not considered as an inevitable fate. "Contrary to the nature of the wild and noble olive tree, it was said that the Gentiles were torn from their hopeless estrangement from the true God and called to believe in Him, the God of Israel."[2,144]. So the alienation of the pagans is not final. Bart has his own explanation of the predestination of men.
In Christ himself, both aspects of predestination were realized. In Christ was God's "no" (He bore our sins and He was crucified). In Christ we find God's " Yes " (by His Cross we were justified). "It is Jesus Christ who is the sum and totality of the law, inasmuch As he has fulfilled and accomplished it, inasmuch as he leaves to the true hearer of the law only faith as real active obedience-faith in Him as the judge condemned for us, through whom we are righteous only before God, but in this way are really and perfectly righteous."[2,45]
Briefly mentioned theses of Karl Barth tell us about the Christ-centricity of his theology. Christ is the center of revelation about God and the Founder of Salvation.
The surprising changes in Presbyterian theology take place due to a new understanding. Karl Barth's neo-Orthodoxy becomes as close to Orthodoxy as it is possible for Protestant theology. Christianity, enormously distorted, revives in Bart's hands. Of the three main lines of Protestantism, Calvinism went away from a correct understanding of the Evangelical Saviour. We mean the beginning of Protestantism in of England, Germany, Switzerland (Anglicanism, Lutheranism, Calvinism). And what a positive result we see thanks to rejection of liberal theology! If the positive theological ideas of the soteriology of Presbyterianism form the religious consciousness of this Protestant community, then we will have great prospect in the dialogue.
Protestantism is not able to give Orthodoxy anything new or enrich it. On the contrary, Orthodoxy can teach, enrich and open the depth of the Christian
doctrine to a Protestant as a potential Orthodox. It is much easier to graft to the base that is better. In other words - teaching a Calvinist traditionalist theology of neo-Orthodoxy is a positive way.
Literature
1. Westminster confession of faith 1648. Moscow: Protestant, 1995. All-Russian state library of foreign literature (VGBIL). - M. I. Rudomino. URL https://ru.b-ok.cc/book/2977372/fa4705 (request date 26.11.2019)
2. Barth, Karl. Interpretation of the Epistles to the Romans and Philippians. - Moscow: biblical and theological Institute of St. Andrew the Apostle. 2010. 306 p.
3. H. Henry Meeter. The main ideas of Calvinism. - SPb.: Christian bridge. 1995. 236 p.
УДК 29/94
Иерей Николай Николаевич Черный, магистрант Белгородской Православной Духовной семинарии ( с миссионерской направленностью),
клирик храма свт.Николая, Брянская епархия, Россия, г.Карачев- г. Белгород, chernyy n@inbox.ru
Социальная и миссионерская деятельность Древней Руси в лице отца русского монашества преподобного Феодосия, чудотворца Киево-
Печерского
Аннотация. В данной статье рассматривается актуальность вопроса о разновидности миссионерской деятельности древности, тесно переходящей в современность. Основной акцент делается на сосредоточении "закона любви" в деятельности миссии. За основу взяты жизнь и подвиги основателя иноческого общежительного монастыря, преподобного Феодосия Киево-Печерского, а также его нравственные и духовные труды.
Ключевые слова: Православие, вера, преподобный Феодосий, святость, миссия, подвиг, общественное служение, любовь, сострадание, духовный путь, монастырь.
