ACTA facultatis theological Universitatis Comenianae Bratislaviensis is a peer-reviewed scholarly journal, which aims to present the results of scientific activity as professionals and doctoral students working at the faculty, as well as authors from other universities and scientific institutions in Slovakia and abroad in all theological and related disciplines.

ACTA 2/2022

The issue 2/2022 is available in pdf format for download in the Archive.

Contents

Justice as integrated into the unity of God in the thought of St. Irenaeus

Summary: The goal of this contribution is to demonstrate the harmonious unity in God’s attributes. This includes justice which acts in absolute unity with God’s loving goodness. It is thus sometimes necessary for God to punish his creatures if their actions do not correspond to their knowledge of God’s love. Man has to experience being loved by God and respond by choosing freely to obey him.

prof. Dr. theol. Gloria Braunsteiner, PhD.
Trnava University
Faculty of Theology
Department of Systematic Theology

God’s justice and mercy from a charismatic perspective

Summary: Pope Francis points out the importance of mercy and the correct interpretation of justice in correlation with mercy. In the bull Misericordiae vultus points to the great gift of Jesus’ mercy, which seeks sinners, to offer them forgiveness and salvation. Mercy interpreted in this way comes to the fore before the understanding of justice, which stands for the observance of the law, according to which people are divided into righteous and sinners. Jesus’ attitude is expressed in the statement: „For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners“ (Mattew 9:13). The merciful Jesus shows love to man, which is a gift of God’s grace. God loves us in the fullness of His righteous love, which accepts anyone who does not hinder the reception of that love.

prof. ThDr. Anton Adam, PhD.
Comenius University Bratislava
Faculty of Roman Catholic Theology of Cyril and Methodius
Department of Systematic Theology

The perils of the technocratic paradigm for justice and peace

Summary: The aim of this paper is to point out some of the perils of the technocratic paradigm in the form of transhumanism. The adherents of this trend use the achievements of the ongoing fourth industrial revolution, which is called cybernetic, to support their futuristic ideas. In this paper we will try to critically analyze and evaluate some transhumanist ideas in the light of the social doctrine of the Catholic Church, which is continuously followed by Pope Francisʼ recent Encyclical letter Fratelli tutti on fraternity and social friendship. Transhumanism represents one of the true forms of (theoretical and practical) deconstructivism, anthropological and moral reductionism and relativism. Such a way of thinking and acting morally promotes a wrong materialistic (hedonistic and consumistic) lifestyle that threatens the real goods of human life at the individual and social level. The official teaching of the Catholic Church offers us clear guidelines on how to properly understand and use modern technological advances to help us realize Godʼs intention for this (created) world. This intention includes, among other things, the requirement of peaceful and just coexistence.

doc. ThDr. Michal Vivoda, PhD.
Comenius University Bratislava
Faculty of Roman Catholic Theology of Cyril and Methodius
Department of Systematic Theology

From the idea of social justice to justice in practice.
Social justice in the service of deacons

Summary: The aim of the paper is to address the question of how the diaconate can be implemented so that it fulfills the idea of social justice in practice. The paper also raises the question of how the diaconate can link the service of social justice in an ecclesial environment in the administration of social justice in a society that is increasingly profiled as non-religious. Attention is drawn to the history of the diaconate in the XX. century. The paper points to its development in the context of the focus on social justice. It describes the paradigms in which this ministry was understood, and concludes with a perspective for practice. Thematically, the paper focuses on the theology of services with an overlap into practical theology and ecclesiology.

doc. PhDr. ThDr. Tomáš Pružinec, PhD.
Constantine the Philosopher University in Nitra
Faculty of Arts
Department of Philosophy and Political Science

OPUS IUSTITIAE PAX

Summary: The title of this article is a papal motto of Pope Pius XII, which adopts the Latin translation of the prophetic text in Isaiah 32:17. Pius XII ascends the Chair of Peter in the turbulent years of the outbreak of the greatest armed conflict in human history. The motto literally means “The work of justice is peace”, or “The consequence of justice is peace”. This paper will attempt to illuminate this corollary phrase with a panoramic survey of the perception of the virtue of justice in antiquity, Scripture and moral theology and its powerful impact on peace in the light of the contemporary Magisterium of the Church. In the first two parts of this paper, therefore, we will attempt to contextually define justice from the perspective of Moral theology. We will describe justice in terms of moral and social virtue as well as classical typological divisions and attempt to trace the fontes from which the Magisterium draws. In the third and fourth parts of the paper we will discuss the importance of the concept of justice in Scripture and the Magisterium of the Church’s social doctrine, and we will pay particular attention to the importance of this teaching in Pope Francis’ recent social encyclical Fratelli tutti in an attempt to answer the question, whether this encyclical is a step towards building lasting peace together in the spirit of the previous Magisterium, or whether we find in it an attempt to dilute values and a step towards the creation of a kind of world global religion, as some might fear.

ThLic. Dott. Peter Juhás
Accademia Alfonsiana, Institutum ad instar facultatis
Pontificia Universitas Lateranensis
Pontificium Collegium Germanicum et Hungaricum de Urbe

Impact of distance education from the point of view
of primary and secondary school pupils

Summary: The aim of the presented study is to statistically analyze the real situation and to make clear if there are some impacts of distance education on behalf of the opinions, a change in behavior and favourable conditions for pupils of 2nd grade of primary school and secondary school students. The research group consisted of 1492 respondents, of whom 698 were pupils of the 2nd grade of primary schools and 794 students of secondary schools. Data collection was performed using an online questionnaire method. Verification of the hypotheses confirmed that a significant majority of students prefer the full-time form of education. Further verification showed that, despite distance learning, students spend significantly more free time at the computer than in full-time teaching. It has also been shown that there is a certain connection between the type of school students attend and students themselves. Although the vast majority of pupils consider distant learning as satisfying, there are some secondary school students who definitely dislike it. From their answers it is evident that secondary school students miss the direct contact with the teacher, while primary school students reported they were missing mostly trips which are usually organised at schools. A significant fact is that primary school students admitted that they were more lazy. On the contrary, secondary school students were much more likely to be annoyed by having more tasks. Clearly contradictory attitudes between primary and secondary schools have been demonstrated in the issue of spending free time, where significantly more secondary school students read or engage in hobbies. On the contrary, significantly more respondents from primary schools indicated that they were only at home and bored. Finally, significantly more secondary school students referred to be more internally balanced, while primary school pupils declared that it was the relationship with their parents which helped them a lot.

PaedDr. Ing. Martin Hibký, PhD.
Secondary Vocational School of Business and Services
Nové Mesto nad Váhom

Defended dissertation theses at FRCTH CU in the academic year 2021/2022

ThLic. Ing. Peter Šantavý: Ethical Issues and Moral Aspects of Current Artificial Intelligence Systems
Supervisor: ThDr. Ing. Vladimír Thurzo, PhD.

ThLic. Andrej Filin: Sebadarovanie ako základný antropologicko-teologický princíp a jeho percepcia v procese dospievania
Supervisor: doc. ThDr. Ľubomír Hlad, PhD.

 

Published/updated on 09.02.2023