Diakonia - Evangélikus Szemle, 1990
1990 / 2. szám - Summary, Aus dem Inhalt
DUKOMIA Lutheran Review Summary Publication of the Lutheran Church in Hungary Editor: Imre Veöreös Editorial and Publishing Office: H-1088 Budapest, Puskin u. 12 Subscriptions to above address. Annául Subscription: 160.- Forints In the last issue of ours four persons of Lutheran inteligentsia declared their opinions on Lutheranism. Jointly in this series the personal views of János Szentágothai, academician, may be found. He considers getting acquainted with the psychophysiologist and Christian thinker M. MacKay in the sixties as a privileged event in his life. All of our brain activities are biologically determined but it is the consequence of the relation between the brain activities and the consciousness that what is believed by a human may change the sturcture of his consciousness. The problem of predestination was solved for both of them by the perception that till our decision we are free and responsible. The „original sin” derives out of our human status that is why one needs righteousness which can be achieved by faith. The changes in Hungary as well as in the other Central European societies in the years of 1989-1990 are often characterized by the publicism as a transition from totalitarianism to democracy. University professor Iván Szelényi, sociologist, (Los Angeles, Budapest) as the author of the paper debates this conception. The Kádár regime cannot be considered as a totalitarian one in the years 1963-1964 because the Kádár’s elite made compromises with various circles of the society. The parliament election of plural party system in 1990 as well as the constitutional reforms launched the country on a developing process of a democratic civil society. It is, however, also necessary for the realization of democracy that such a bourgeoisie should arise which is the proprietor of the country. This must be emphasized because Hungary had already started several times to advance in the direction of democracy (1848-49, 1867,1918 and 1945) but either outer or inner forces always broke the development of bourgeois civilization and becomig democratized and therefore right- or left-sided authoritarian political systems came into being. In the series of „Contemporary Theologians” Professor Hans Kilng of Tübingen is introduced by LAszló Benczúr, pastor in pension. He cites a witty remark of a Hungarian Roman Catholic theologian as follows: „First I thought that his theology was a Protestant one, later I found he was still Catholic, now I know that Küng is Küng.” After reporting on his carreer and on the most important works of him Küng’s intellectual world is introduced with the help of his study published in a Protestant periodical (Zeichen der Zeit, 1988/1.). Where is Christianity going to? - Küng asks. He thinks we have reached a „postmodern” era. The treasures of Enlightenment should not be thrown away but have to be surpassed on a higher level. To urge the unity, universality and dialogue, that will be the task of the church. The historian of literature, Professor István Fried writes on the authors’ portraits by Sándor Márai. On the one hand as a newspaper man this famous writer having been living in emigration enlightened the up-to-date problems through literature phenomena, on the other hand, he acted as a reviewer, he wrote necrologies and reported on his reading experiences. Out of these a world literature history arises though it is not of a cronological structure but has a culture historical character. Márai typifies the writers through the pattem of the contrast and relation between Erasmus and Luther as a relation presuming each other (Goethe - Schiller, Tolsztoj - Dosztojevszkij). He himself emphasized the importance of the civil courage of the „ideal citizen”. Besides the papers reviewed above also a full Table of Contents is included in the english and German languages.
