Bogoslovska smotra, Vol. 69 No. 4, 1999.
Izvorni znanstveni članak
Towards a New Language of Faith
Ana Gabrijela Šabić
; Katolički bogoslovni fakultet Sveučilišta u Zagrebu, Zagreb, Hrvatska
Sažetak
The first part is the development of the relationship between language and human beings in their self-proclamation and self-actualisation. Particular emphasis is placed on: language as an essential component of human life; the creative power of language; the dimension/element of listening as a constitutive component of language; living contextualisation of language is its essential feature.
The second part of the text develops the concept of a language of faith and its essential characteristics. A language of faith is the language by which the word of God is communicated, and the language in which we respond on the given word of God. Within language of faith is a multi-layered mixture of life and language; language of faith possesses formational power; in language of faith can be found the best »image of God« and »image of man«; language of faith establishes itself as a dialogue, as conversation; language of faith establishes itself at the same time as personal, individual language and as language of a community/togetherness; language of faith has its origins in natural language, and is particular to the living reality in which and from which it occurs; a language of faith possesses meaningful depth, possesses evocative--supplicatory power; language of faith occurs as the coexistence of various styles of expression; language of faith is at the same time a set language (biblical as well as language of tradition), and always creates itself a new in personal and individual words.
In the middle of the article, problems with the language of faith are looked at in detail: a) the inability of faith language to express something new (new information, new contents, new experience), especially because faith language is not sufficiently connected with personal reality and concrete human life; b) thwarted understanding or misunderstanding of faith language is conditioned first of all by the semantic saturation which is a problem for many people, and which means that many words are semantically empty, meaningless; besides this, understanding of faith language is hindered by the fact that people of today often do not understand the multi-layered meanings contained in descriptive and symbolical language; a third important cause of misunderstanding faith language by people today appears in people's concrete experience i.e. their lack of fundamental believer's experience which would make possible a more complete acceptance of faith language; c) language of faith, which is stylistically and communicatively inadequate, appears as distant, impersonal, and stilted; in its moralistic style, faith language is too clear and too simplistic, leaving no possibility for the inclusion of personal language in the fabric of mutual conversation, lingua-stylisically poorly formed language; d) obstacles in faith language which continue as a result of poorly developed lines of communication within the Church. The final part of the text is a consideration of how: to creatively change faith language, that is to say, participate in the creation of a new language of faith; to learn faith language from classical faith language; to enable everyone to come into contact with fundamental and down-to-earth subject-matters, and to allow for the creative expression of personal experience; to revive the role and place of faith language in the life of every believer; to raise awareness of the fact that faith language determines the speaking being, and a developed being contributes to the creation of an authentic language of faith; to develop an awareness of a personal calling to participate in faith language, which means that in faith language it is important to more frequently alternate the roles of sender and receiver; to develop the capacity for active listening, the capacity for personal expression, both in general and as a believer, of experience, questions and attitudes. Concerning faith language, it is also necessary to develop the capacity to listen to and to pay attention to that which remains unsaid or is inexpressible, as well as the capacity to enter into contact with that which is other or different.
Ključne riječi
faith language; formational power of faith language; crisis in faith language; obstacles in faith language; misunderstanding in faith language; a new language of faith
Hrčak ID:
31417
URI
Datum izdavanja:
22.2.2000.
Posjeta: 1.416 *