October 8, 2020
Wandering With The Master A Theological Learning Experience
Wandering with the Master and learning from experience, instruction and reflection are integral features of contextual theological formation.Theology becomes a personally transforming experience, when it is animated and enthused by"feetmoving with hope", "hands doing good with love"and "eyesseeing wonders with faith." The model and ......
October 5, 2020
Whither the Church in India: A Contextual Analysis
The Church in India is undergoing a tough time of testing, troubles, and tribulations. At times the developments in the Church give an impression that they not only disturb the people, but that they shake the whole edifice of the Church. But she is neither withering, nor is she withdrawing from the public square. Nevertheless, it is a challenging time; it is a wakeup call ......
March 15, 2012
Efficacy and Ethics of Narco-analysis
The search for effective aids to interrogation is probably as old as man’s need to obtain information from an uncooperative source and as persistent as his impatience to shortcut any tortuous path. Any technique that promises an increment of success in extracting information from an incompliant source is ipso facto of interest in intelligence operations. In the annals of ......
March 1, 2012
Abraham
Die Forschung zur biblischen Geschichte Abrahams neigt heute überwiegend dazu, sie nicht als eine literarische Legende anzusehen, sondern in ihrem Kern, der Gestalt Abrahams, einen konkreten Menschen mit seinem Clan aus den Uranfängen der Geschichte Israels zu erkennen (vielleicht zwischen 2000 und 1400 vChr). Mündliche und schriftliche Überlieferungen reichern sein Bild ......
June 1, 2011
Christ-Centered Ethics And the Celebration of the Divine Liturgy
In a changed and changing world the faithful find themselves at a crossroads. They are perplexed with the flood of information. The media with its business interests keeps on feeding fleeting news and views continuously, one item after another. There is no space and time to pause a while for proper discernment and decision-making; everything is being ......
December 19, 2010
Wahrheit und Recht
Wer ist Dietrich Bonhoeffer? Seine Mutter ist Lehrerin, der Vater Neurologe, zuerst Professor in Breslau, wo Dietrich Bonhoeffer als sechstes von acht Geschwistern am 4. 2. 1906 geboren wird. Ab 1912 lebt die Familie in Berlin. Es ist eine musisch aufgeschlossene Familie, politisch wach, angesiedelt zwischen der liberalen „Vossischen Zeitung“ und dem ......
October 25, 2010
Vedic Monotheism, not Polytheism: Upadhyaya
Bhavāni Charan Bānerji (1861-1907). The Bengali Brāhman boy came under the influence of Keshab Chandra. Banerji became a teacher in a school at Hydrabad in Sind. He became an Anglican at the age of 30, and before the end of 1891 he had become a Roman Catholic, had chosen the name Theophilus. He translated it 'Brahmabandhab', 'the friend of Brahman'. In ......
July 1, 2009
Question of Ancestral Traditions
“Return to Ancestral Traditions” was the call of Vat.II to all Individual Churches. “if they have (unduly) fallen away due to circumstances of times or persons, they are to strive to return to their ancestral traditions”.[1] Return to the vision and foresight of the ancestors is the most sublime duty and right of the young generation since that vision and foresight of the ......
August 22, 2008
Mission – Epiphanie Gottes durch uns
Wir sind missionarische Kirche in vielen kleinen Gemeinschaften und Gemeinden, für andere da, selbstbewusst, glaubwürdig und mit Nachwuchs ......
June 10, 2007
Introducing Vacanas
Throughout the centuries religion and religious devotion had played a very important role in shaping and enriching the literature of a country and that of a race. Hebraic literature is nothing without the Songs of Solomon, the Psalms and Proverbs. Without the poems of Kabir, Sur Das and Tulasi Das, Hindi literature will be incomplete. With its origin in religion and social reform Vacans became a household name to each and every Kannadiga and has contributed much to Kannada literature. ......
March 10, 2007
New Religious Movements And Gurus
This paper is an attempt to look at the evolution, function and impact of the new religious movements in India. We propose to critically analyse the role played by these movements in making Hinduism a living reality for the contemporary world. Emphasis is placed on the relevance of these ......
March 1, 2007
Jesus Christ Needs No Birth Certificate From Sita Ram Goel*
Aristotle had sensibly pointed out that something is better understood in its causes. Sita Ram Goel ’s book Jesus Christ : An Artifice for Aggression, New Delhi: Voice of India, 1994, with its biased and selective approach and its preconceived and forced conclusions betrays the causes that have ......
November 14, 2006
Die Sorge der Gemeinde um ihre Kranken und Alten Theologische und diakonische Reflektionen einer Pastoraltätigkeit
Der Kranke wartete nur noch auf seinen Tod. Aber nicht nur er, sondern auch seine Frau, seine Kinder, die Angehörigen - alle die ihn in dem Zustand erlebten; denn er hatte Krebs im fortgeschrittenen Stadium. Die Schmerzen quälten ihn ununterbrochen. Was könnte man ihm da Besseres wünschen? Als ich die Krankenschwester fragte, in welchem ......
October 14, 2006
Historische Theologie und interreligiöser Dialog
Daß Gott Mensch werden müsse, um den Menschen das Wesen Gottes zu offenbaren, ist kein ausschließlich im Christentum verbreiteter Gedanke. Im Bhagavata Purana, einer der heiligen Schriften der Hindus, spricht Gott Vishnu bei Gelegenheit seiner Menschwerdung als Krishna den oben zitierten Satz. In einer immer kleiner werdenden Welt gewinnt die gegenseitige ......
September 6, 2006
Biblical View Of Salvation
Why not begin exploring the relevance of the concept of salvation? Salvation is a controversial topic today. Everybody wants to save and be saved! Maybe not everybody! In Hollywood in a men’s room of a prominent hotel, there was this graffiti written on the wall: Jesus saves, but Moses invests! The revolutionary who kills millions of people wants to save ......
June 28, 2006
Motherhood – Biotechnological Research and its Religio-Ethical Implications
When science was born in the 16th century, its intention was to study the nature, understand its dynamics and manipulate it for human benefit. Its methodology of observation, experiment, hypothesis formation, verification/falsification, law statement, technological adaptation has paid high dividends and ......
May 18, 2006
HIV/AIDS in Africa: a Challenge to the Search for African-Christian Sexual Ethical Principles
Our age seems to be very rich in sexual matters: rape, heinous sex crimes, adultery, skyrocketing divorce rates, prostitution, paedophilia, abortion, pornography in its manifold forms and materials: blue movies, internet sex, pornographic compact disks, etc. Without sex T.V. programs are less attractive. Sex even ......
April 18, 2006
Love of Knowledge and Knowledge of Love : The Philosophy of Raymond Panikkar
Panikkar will be satisfied with nothing less than whole, purnam. This purnam is ekam and ekam is advidiyam. And advidiyam is an all embracing multiplicity. Nothing is outside this plurality.[1] All things will acquire a unique role. This vision of Panikkar is reflected also in his philosophy. His philosophy, multi-voiced or rather pluridimensional, is the result of the East- ......
April 1, 2006
Beten und Verstehen
Friedrich Heiler als Religionswissenschaftler' - so lautete die ursprünglich vorgesehene Formulierung des Themas. Im Prozeß des Nachdenkens gab es gute Gründe für eine Modifikation. Zunächst ist die begriffliche Näherbestimmung von 'Religionswissenschaft' weithin zu einem positionellen Unternehmen geworden. Der Bogen spannt sich von einem ......
March 31, 2006
Secular Perspective of Salvation
There is an ‘inextinguishable yearning’ in every human person to unite with that which is infinite, eternal, absolute, permanent, even a loving Father, that is to say, God, in order to defeat death in all its forms including despair, meaninglessness, and abandonment. Only God can and does offer human ......
March 15, 2006
Eucharist and the Ministry of a Canon Lawyer
The 'tranquility of order' may flourish while justice is administered in the Church. The role of a canon lawyer in the Church is to foster the administration of justice corresponding to the true nature of the Church. The Church, born on the Pentecostal day, is continuously nourished by the Eucharist. The institution of the ......
February 10, 2006
Eucharistic Catechesis
Recently I received an e-mail message entitled: Why Go To Church? The evocative reflection that followed the title portrays the true significance of Eucharistic celebration in our Christian life. It was all about a church-goer who wrote a letter to the editor of a newspaper and complained that it made no sense to go to church ......
January 5, 2006
Die Theologie Vishnus auf der Grundlage religiöser Erfahrungen der Hindus
Im Rigveda, der altindischen Sammlung von Gesängen des Heiligen, heißt es über Vishnu: "Mögen die Götter uns vor dem Ort, von dem aus Vishnu über die sieben Bereiche der Erde schritt, bewahren. Vishnu schritt über (das Universum); dreimal setzte er seinen Fuß auf; die Welt war in seinem Staub eingehüllt; Vishnu, der unbesiegbare Bewahrer, den niemand ......
December 20, 2005
Kant on Inclinations: ‘Alien’ or ‘Human’?
The central thrust of Kant’s ethics is practical as well as transcendental with its emphasis on the synthetic a priori nature of the moral law in the form of the categorical imperative. Kant defends the necessity and universality that are characteristic features of the moral law with a view to safeguard its transcendental ......
December 10, 2005
Culture, Conversion, Baptism in the Indian Mission Context
The evangelising mission of the Church in India in the pluralistic context of different religions faces conflicts and challenges. The religions are often strongly convinced of the uniqueness of their own faith. Sometimes this conviction leads to the extreme form of religious fundamentalism[1] which hatches animosities among religions enough to threaten the very ......
December 9, 2005
The Search for Truth: Trials and tribulations of Brahmabandhab Upadhyay
Cardinal Ratzinger, the present Holy Father Pope Benedict XVI, published his deep reflections on Christianity and World Religions in a commendable work titled “Truth and Tolerance: Christian Belief and world Religions”[1]. This book is the result of his continuous reflections on Christianity and its relationship with the World ......
December 8, 2005
Jesus Christ the Divine Eternal Asvattha
A tree mysteriously leads its roots deep into the earth and magnificently spreads its branches high out into the sky as if it is an intermediary of the underworld, the earth and the sky. The fascination of the tree is in its endurance, its longevity and its constant upward movement. A great tree might have witnessed the rise and fall of different generations of human beings. ......