Hungarian Church Press, 1968 (20. évfolyam, 2. szám)

1968-06-01 / 2. szám

HOP Vol XX Special Number

1968 No 2

315)- 109 -'

their own acts of self-assertion — alien to their o>vn esser ce - in the sense of trying to establish a theocrarcic rule-over the world« Taus they would yield to the same temptation which they are learning to resist today, in today's society,, in terms of the ’’theology of the diakonia", the theology of the "serving church"0

Revolution, in the commonly accepted, sociological sense of the word, is - theologically speaking <■» a worldly process (weltlich Ding - Luther)« It pertains to the realm of the first article of the Creed, that is* to jfche realm of God's hidden activity whereby He shapes the events of history* So revolution does not belong to t.,e realm of God's redeeming and sanctifying activity, that is, to the realm of the dynamic presence of God's Kingdom« Tlie mixing up of the "revolution of the Gospel” with the revolutions in the worldly sense is based on what seems to be common to both, that is, the abruptness, the non—continuous nature of the radical change functioning as a formal "AnkrJlpfurgspunkt" a point of contact between the two* But, at the same time, no attention is paid to the difference between the operation cf God the Holy Spirit in renewing our perecről lives inwardly and outwardly and the hidden work of the Pens absconditns in His reign over the world under which the economic, social and political transformations cf the world take place* In other words* the battleground of the revolutions is not the field either in which the church wore entitled to wield the sword which is committed not to her bub to the civil magistrate*

This, however, cannot be interpreted as a separation between the activity of faith and active Christian participation in secular events, in the processes of history* Christian faith is a dynamic factor, a source of energy for social conduct, both in the individual and in the social areas of life0 The Christian, therefore, sooner or later faces the; decision in his conscience how to take part in the effort to charge the world in the direction of a better, mere just and mere human state of affairs. We must be on guard against a two-.pronged temptation* The first is to identity Christianity as, in its essence, a conservative antagonist of every radical, revolutionary change and ally of the statusquo to which it is ready to give its sanction at all times* And secondly, the temptation to make Christianity the "vanguard of revolutionary change” (.Richard Shaull) t thus, whether purposely or not but, at any rate, also in contradiction to the essence of the Gospel, actually linking Christianity closely or bringing it into rivalry with the great historical change which is taking place in the world, with the new world order which is emerging in the revolutionary process.

Our fourth question cor earns the ethical responsibility cf the Christian and the limits of his participation in revolutionary events* Impelled by his faith and faith—inspired love to fight against all farms of sin, injustice and misery and indefatigably to struggle for what is good, the Christian faces today, in tin company of millions in. many parts of the world, especially in Latin America, Africa and Asia, the momentous decision whether or "ho what extent he can and should be involved in the just revel11-