Hungarian Church Press, 1968 (20. évfolyam, 2. szám)
1968-06-01 / 2. szám
ndr Tol jCL. íápeciah. iTutáber 3-96ajíű Si ipr—*' (u7öii) etkica* The errfci-2*wcűai±ix»=-aj^-staxice of L't her and the Lutheran theologians is a md l^oiown fan";* The Refonoai 0 view- is conditioned by his oonvict-ion that, since hMe^w-arld is permeated by the destructive influences of siru the abolishment of an evil system and the establishment cf a new public car den-can effect no essential improvement in tie world as long as man keeps his old, sinful* selfish nature* But we must not forget that even the reality of sin*, its- corruptive power in individual and social life* cannot justify the passivity of Christians,, the ethical deration of evil in individual and social life. On the other hand* tin theology cf the XVTth century was yet. utterly unaware of tK' degree of the -citizen's participation in the shaping of society and public life and of the measure to the extent of which we are obliged today* as a matter of course, to give our contribution to the life of the body political;. And* at last, we must not forget either hew resolutely Luther spoke in certain cases of the social responsibility and tasks of Christians (See his writings addressed to the councillors* the Christian nobility 'of the German ration* on schooling, against usury* etc)-. And* as far as the role of the groat Befonaei in the history of the peasants' uprising of 1525 is concernedhe* at first, recognized the right fulness of the peasants' demands and advised against bloodshed, that is* armed revolution* and the fact that he subsequently energetically advocated the use of arms by one of the contending parties only goes to show very clearly that the problem of "non-violence" is far from being a simple proposition. Our second question concerns the relation between God's world• governing activity and revolutionary transformation;, This is indeed a key problem* Can we relate at all God's hidden world—governing activity to the revolutionary changes of the modem world? Are we theologically justified to speak of God's hidden governing activity not only in .relation to the slow* gradual*frictionless charge's in history but also to those cases '»hen the rapid* comprehensive changes an ec nmic* social and political life are rather like upheavals caused by an earthquake"' Can we recognise, also in the latter case* God-'s punishing activity and* uno o-otu, his regenerating lpve which wills the life and survival of menki’id? There can be no doubt that traditional Christian thinking is prone to entertain a static conception of history-» It recognizes God's work in maintaining the statusquo* in preserving the traditional order cf society« The modern Christian's conception of hist ory, however* is a dynamic conception- He is able to perceive and recognize God's hand also in the cataclysms of history, in the spasmodic occurrences of revolutionary change sa It is this experience cf history as perceived by faith in our Christian lives and in the life of our churches that prompts us to accept tire above view of revolutionary trans f car mat ions. Of course* there are few Christians who* facing such vast and spasmodic changes in history are nonetheless able to perceive behind them God's hand and hence the necessity and meaning of such events. It is much more easy and simple to do this afterwards when the inevitability of the revolutionary change is in many respects a matter of historical record and thus to speak a posteriori about God's hair! in hist ary*
