Bogoslovska smotra, Vol. 89 No. 3, 2019.
Original scientific paper
Church and Christians Between Prophecy and Conformism
Josip Grbac
; Theology in Rijeka, Dislocated Studies of Catholic Faculty of Theology, University of Zagreb, Rijeka, Croatia
Abstract
It is without doubt that the influence of prophets on the religion in Israel is evident in the fact that they enlarged the reach and influence of religion beyond the boundaries of cult and ritual. Although feast-days and cult were an unavoidable part of the identity of the chosen people, prophets tried to keep the link between cult and history. From the perspective of faith they rose up against injustice and, thus, provided a manifestly ethical component to the religion of Israel. In accordance with that, the author discusses at length the prophetic (and conformist) relation of the Church towards other domains, such as politics, economics, social, and worldview issues. The issue is raised about the extent to which we were prophetic or conformist when we needed to talk about corruption, political pragmatism, bribe, and injustices in the society. However, it is obvious that the topic of prophecy and conformism is »imposed« today through the gradual loss of trust in the Church and its authenticity, i.e., it emerged from a certain crisis in the Church caused, among other things, by unfortunate events such as financial manipulations and sexual abuse. This raises an additional issue that has not been discussed extensively until now: How prophetic or conformist are we in our pastoral activity, in our dealings with sacraments and sacramentals, in relation to problems and scandals in the Church and whether we managed to find a balance between institutionalism and charisma in the Church? It is not enough for the Church and Christians to the »the conscience of society«. The key issues is: Do the Church and Christians have some sort of vision of the future, where are we going or should be going, and are we capable of leading the world prophetically and to be a step ahead of its pragmatisms?
Keywords
Conformism prophecy; Church; world; society; pastoral care.
Hrčak ID:
229167
URI
Publication date:
3.12.2019.
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