O presente artigo tem por objetivo desenvolver uma breve análise sobre o Sínodo Diocesano, orquestrado e vivido pela Igreja particular de Santo André, no ABC Paulista, no período de 2016-2017. Ele reflete o significado e a importância de um Sínodo dentro de uma Igreja tipicamente urbana, seus desafios e suas urgências, suas inspirações e finalidades; seu lema, “o sonho missionário de chegar a todos”, o sonho salvífico de Deus, que para isso se encarna na realidade humana, inculturando-se em uma determinada (...) cultura. (shrink)

This article seeks to clarify the value of the Christian faith improvements through well founded arguments, in order to protect it from a certain lessening to the immanent and temporal ideas, aiming to the existentiality of the Christian being who reads up on what is eschatological. The proposed itinerary is achieved by the authentic awareness of sin, so that the sinner recognizes himself as such one and experiences the saving presence of God, both personally and socially. The methodology used was (...) based on bibliographical and electronic researches related to the proposed theme. Basically there was the usage of some renowned authors like Zygmunt Bauman, on his expressiveness of the liquid modernity, Alonso Schökel, on his biblical approach, and also several pronouncements of the Magisterium of the Universal and Latin American Church, as well as references to Sacred Scripture. The route passed through the present liquidity in today's reality to the firmness of spirituality, more specifically the one concerning the people of Israel through the Psalms, in the revisiting of such spiritual genesis. Among these, one opted for the penitential sphere, with a greater focus on Psalm 32. A deep-rooted and permanent spirituality was achieved through the cultivation of communion with God, assuring master pilasters to live the faith extensively in the midst of the contemporary times swifts. (shrink)

The theology’s statute as a science is very controversial. For several years, it has been asked about its task and how a study can be considered scientific, starting from a revealed fact and, therefore, a dogmatic one. The Christian theology bases its discourse upon the biblical writings and upon the interpretations of those who are known as the Church Fathers. As Saint Augustine is one of the greatest names on the Latin Patristic period, this study will focuses on the task (...) of the theology, according to his thought, specially about faith and reason relations. The first source for this essay is the proem of his most popular work, Confessions, where the confessional act will be exposed as the theological method of Saint Augustine, wishful for the Truth, which, ultimately, is God itself. Finally, the light of the patristic thought will be reflected over the contemporary need to postulate the theology epistemic statute as a divine science. (shrink)

Philo of Alexandria is a forerunner of both the union of philosophy and theology and the biblical hermeneutics of the text at various levels of deepening. Heir of a long tradition had his thinking rejected in Judaism after a break in the first century AD with Greek culture, but remained as a reference of Patristics and all Christian thinking, having a perennial influence. The hermeneutics in Philo is studied, its option for Platonism, its allegorical method and what our author sought (...) to contemplate through this method. The union of Greek, Jewish and Christian cultures is approached, seeking to analyze the complex reality that emerged from this encounter and the mark it left in the Bible, the works of Philo and the authors who were influenced by him. (shrink)

The objective of this article is to present research results on the Gnosticism, motivated by Pope Francis’ Apostolic Exhortation Gaudate et Exsultate. Gnosticism appears characterized as a knowledge system that aims to attain true gnosis, that is, true knowledge. The origins of the gnostic movement are not easy to be identified, but their vestiges can be already found in the philosophy of Plato, in the Jewish literature and in the apocryphal writings of the primitive Christianity. Fought as heresy, especially by (...) Irenaeus of Lion, the gnostic concepts have not been totally overcoming, being somehow rescued today and that has influenced the Christian way of life of many Catholics. Called by Pope Francis as an enemy of Christian holiness, we point out, in the development of the text, the main Gnostic concepts, its formation as a movement, diffusion in the Christian communities, and its concerns in the evangelist life of the Catholic Church, in the present times. (shrink)

The present article intends to approach as its theme the encounter between the religions in the perspective of the hope in Jürgen Moltmann. In the first moment, it is noticed that, due to the serious problems that affect today’s society, there is the necessity of having a cooperation among the different religions, which will only be possible if there is a perspective of change based on hope in the transformation of the current reality Secondly, there is the discussion about the (...) need for a theology of hope that changes our thoughts and builds new perspectives from faith, and that strengthens the collaborative bonds of all those who seek the same ideal of building an alternative world, where justice and peace are its base. A third moment will be based on the following question: from the eschaton, what other world is it possible to build? As a thesis, Moltmann’s thought will be the reason to understand that in the eschaton what unites prevails over what divides, for the urgencies of transformation overcome divergences, being fundamental the perspective of hope as lens from which it is possible a collaborative encounter between religions. (shrink)

From the convocation of the Gospel, proclaimed by Jesus Christ in Palestine in the 1st century, the outskirts of the Roman Empire, to Pope Francis proposal in announcing it to the existential and geographical peripheries. How to understand the convocation of Jesus Christ to his church? How to understand Pope Francis ecclesiology: Church that goes forth? To dynamize and proclaim the wonders of the Kingdom of God, Christ Jesus built his Church over the Apostles, having Peter as the one responsible (...) for its unit. The Pope has not been saying anything new, but has presented the eternal words of Christ Jesus as something new. The Pontiff brings dynamism and joy to the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. (shrink)

This article contemplates a reflexive approach about technological Christianity, emphasizing the technological growth in the XXI century, evangelical churches and their relationships with technology, and the problems that arise from this relationship. It is known that technology advances very quickly, invading more and more all sectors of society, and that it is indispensable in the globalized world. The computer, the TV, the cell phone, the notebook, the internet, the smartphone, the tablet, etc., are new things in constant evolution. This work (...) points to the internet as a resource that can provide content that qualifies the relationship of the individual with God, which has become an extremely useful and necessary tool for the articulation of sectors of the evangelical church, since it dynamizes time and information and, above all, updates and broadens horizons. It is concluded, therefore, that the internet, doubtless, is a field of Christian action. In the case of the digital age, it is possible to affirm that the current Christian context demands a modernity of the languages and the multimedia interactions. However, faith can be affected by the many offers of distraction from technological resources when the central content is not communicated in a proper language to time and environment. (shrink)

The purpose of this communication, written on May 18th, 2018 at the National Shrine of Aparecida, during the XII Mariologycal Congress, is to present a "theological restoration" of the image of Our Lady of the Conception Aparecida, through an ecclesiological perspective, from a symbolic, biblical and pastoral re-reading, of the elements present in the found of its image and the meaning of the image itself, in order to, by its iconography, extract a significant message about the mystery of the Church (...) that has the Virgin Mary as Mother, Member and Model. (shrink)

The present text deals with some of the ways used to argue in favor of the existence of God. It seems, however, that an appeal to the arrangement of the world in order to evidence the truth of theism faces a number of limitations. The central hypothesis of theistic worldview, however, is consistent with the assumption of science itself, an intelligible universe being what one would expect from a reality created by someone intelligent with purpose. The approach of focusing on (...) the cognoscibility of the world, although not eliminating the doubt about the existence of God, seems to be a more promising proposal, in the context of the dialogue between science and theology, than the proposal that focuses on gaps in human knowledge, in order to fit God in these gaps, since the previous one, contrary to this, can’t be eroded by the progress of scientific knowledge. (shrink)