Bogoslovska smotra, Vol. 91 No. 3, 2021.
Preliminary communication
https://doi.org/10.53745/bs.91.3.4
More than a Treatment. The New Testament’s Change of Paradigm of the Cause‑Effect Relation between Sin and Illness
Stipo Kljajić
; Catholic Faculty of Theology, University of Zagreb, Zagreb, Croatia
Abstract
Since the primary intention of this article is to attempt to clarify the cause‑effect relation between sin and illness in the Bible, after the introduction the author presents the Old Testament’s cause‑effect understanding of sin and illness in a panoramic way. In that presentation, he pays particular attention to those places and examples that, in opposition to the dominant cause‑effect paradigm, correct that understanding or even put it entirely into question in some cases. In the second, central part of the article, the author discusses the New Testament’s or Jesus’ understanding of sin and illness. He tries, therefore, to present who, how, and why did Jesus treat, while sometimes forgiving sins, and to discern the meaning of Jesus’ treatments that were, in many cases, healings, i.e., much more than a simple treatment. The author then turns his attention to a more detailed presentation of Jesus’ rejection of the cause‑effect relation between sin and illness on the example of healing of the man who was blind from his birth (see Jn 9), which is followed by a concise description of healings in other New Testament writings. The conclusion summarises the central claims of the article and attempts to provide guidelines for further work on this, in author’s opinion, important and current Biblical and theological topic.
Keywords
illness; sin; God’s punishment; treatment; healing.
Hrčak ID:
273597
URI
Publication date:
2.2.2022.
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