Bogoslovska smotra, Vol. 73 No. 4, 2003.
Pregledni rad
Iconological Foundations of Faith. Faith as Friendship with God
Anton Tamarut
; Katolički bogoslovni fakultet Sveučilišta u Zagrebu, Zagreb, Hrvatska
Sažetak
The author points out that faith is a gift of reciprocity, the potential for man to reply to God for the gift of life. Namely, man is called to define his relationship with God on the basis of God's relationship with man. Having founded our reflection on the Bible where man is the image of God, that is, a friend of God, the author emphasises that man's relationship with God has to be whole, personal and creative.
The author's opinion is that man can choose to live differently in so much as he is motivated by a personal relationship towards another person, in so much as that person is a revelation and recognition of his private life, and in so much as in the person's proximity finds a particular security and confirmation of its own values as well as inspiration for its creativity, and that it senses and feels, that only in complete unity and in unity of the will and love can there be realised the inner most longing of its being. The author believes that only faith that can be compared with a relation offering the fullness of love and a trust towards the liked person can be called a living faith, i.e. a faith from which one can live.
Faith as a live and dynamic reality includes growth and advancement that are sometimes slowed and even endangered by different forms of inner resistance. Sometimes this refers to an infantile understanding and experience of God's relationship with man; such an experience of faith is reduced exclusively to an experience of pleasure and satisfaction. On the pilgrimage towards the fixture, faith is fed by hope. It is a gift of the Spirit; encouraging us to come to terms with the expectations of love and that we not become discouraged and come to a halt, due to the recurrence of the same transgressions followed by a repetitive decision and recurrence of our transgressions.
Finally, the author emphasises that a son-like and friendly relationship with God essentially seeks its own expression in love of neighbour. To love one's neighbour with the love that God has instilled in our hearts through the outpouring of his Spirit (cf. Rom 5:5), means recognising in our neighbour God's abode. It also means to rejoice with God because of their existence and therefore cooperating in the redemption of the world from envy, jealousy, selfishness, intolerance, and hatred. The one who loves in an honest manner, argues the author, will never conclude that he has completely fathomed the person. On the contrary, he will observe the person as another secret, and will be open for growth and change. He will rejoice in his transformation.
Ključne riječi
faith; friendship; life; hope; love; image of God; growth
Hrčak ID:
27504
URI
Datum izdavanja:
10.2.2004.
Posjeta: 2.105 *