Sárospataki Füzetek 17. (2013)
2013 / 4. szám - TANULMÁNYOK - Szilveszter Füsti-Molnár: Can the Heidelberg Catechism be Neglected in the Life of the Reformed Church of Hungary?
Szilveszter Füsti-Molnár and then false and naive concepts and beliefs make people easily influenced. It is not difficult to admit that dictatorships and globalized societies need the same kind of dumbed-down masses who can be directed with empty slogans, advertisements and outdated and empty ideologies. However, in today’s secularized, typically stupefied consumer society there is a growing demand for transcendence. In groundlessness, in the midst of relativism, and in the various-ways-emptied context, the desire for experience which points to the need for meaning, - all of these are emphasized while blazing a path toward values.7 But the question is whether openness is indeed able to establish contact with the transcendent, or if it merely labels as transcendent something immanent, including some elements of the contemporary world around us. Plainly speaking: admitting his or her limits, can a person become more open, or does he or she see the many programs of self-fulfillment as transcendent? The wide range of experience of society’s demand on the Church urges the Church to a theological reflection that today is called public theology. This publicity of theology comes from of the Church’s testimonies and mission in this world. Basically, the following three aspects of human life give guidance to the above formulated reflections: 1) the world in relation to God and God’s relationship to the world, 2) their relationship to each other and to love for our neighbor, and 3) the practice of solidarity.8 The areas listed above can lead to the question of identity, the diagnosis of reality-crisis, and the definition of the tasks and goals within the different public areas of the dialogue between the Church and the world. The Church can become an important player in the changes of value-orientation. 1.2 Possibilities within the temptations of the liminal status in relation to the mission of the Church In the following brief analysis I want to highlight whether there is a possible connecting point regarding the mission of the Church in the midst of the challenges of liminality. According to their denominational and theological orientation, Presbyterian and Reformed Churches try to enforce the power of Jesus Christ and the Word in their public theological manifestations. It is a complex phenomenon, in particular when the nature of the church’s mission is characterized by the external and internal shifts of emphasis that affect the Church. One can observe the intensification of this phenomenon in the present situation of the Church, which I earlier mentioned as an opportunity created through the breaking lines of the in-between stages. It makes the situation more complicated that the changes which are un7 M. Cooke, 'A secular state for a postsecular society? Postmetaphysical political theory and the place of religion', Constellations 14(2), 2007, 224-238. 8 See: Habermas response in 'Transcendence From Within, Transcendence in This World', in Don S. Browningand Francis S. Fiorenza, eds, Habermas, Modernity and Public Th eology (New York: Crossroad, 1992), pp. 226-50 48 Sárospataki Füzetek 17. évfolyam 2013 I 4
