Bogoslovska smotra, Vol. 91 No. 4, 2021.
Original scientific paper
https://doi.org/10.53745/bs.91.4.5
The Practice of Faith in City of Today and Tomorrow. Pastoral Care in the Context of Cultural Changes
Nikola Vranješ
orcid.org/0000-0002-0895-0284
; Theology in Rijeka, Dislocated Studies of Catholic Faculty of Theology, University of Zagreb, Rijeka, Croatia
Abstract
Christian faith does not owe its existence to any human culture, insofar as its foundation is laid by a supernatural source. Nevertheless, it is a well-known fact that in its realization, it has a need for expressive forms of the cultural order. These forms are always and in various ways conditioned by concrete givens, frameworks, and elements of human co-existence and organization, among which »city« has a special place. According to clear and multiple socio-demographic indicators, for centuries and decades, the city is, in various intensities and forms, a special target of millions of people who were and are trying to realize their desire for a meaningful and happy life. In other words, the city has been for a long time, and is especially today, in a state of expansion. That expansion influences, in various ways, contemporary forms of living out faith in the city. This article, therefore, engages with the topic of theological-pastoral discernment of today’s state of practice of faith in cities in Croatian and similar, culturally related European urban environments and offers a theological-practical analysis of trends related to this area that will obviously be current also in the future. Since the issue of the concrete realization of Christian faith in this environment is hardly a marginal social issue, it demands a systematic approach, especially in terms of a theological analysis of conditions of living out Christian faith amidst cultural changes in an urban environment. Hence, the article puts emphasis on relating elements of faith with certain newer cultural forms while aiming at seeking possible solutions that might be of help in the future when it comes to quality encounters between human cultures and faith in the urban environment.
Keywords
city; faith; practice; culture; change
Hrčak ID:
275030
URI
Publication date:
15.3.2022.
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