"The Communion of Saints: Biblical, Theological and Contemporary Perspectives" - a New Issue of Theological Reflections 20.1
Dear Readers and Authors, we are pleased to introduce a new issue of Theological Reflections: Eastern European Journal of Theology 20.1 (2022). The issue theme is "The Communion of Saints: Biblical, Theological and Contemporary Perspectives."
Dear readers, this issue of "Theological Reflections" that you hold in your hands is, to some extent, unique. First, this issue should have contained lectures and notes from a theological conference dedicated to the "community of saints.” Unfortunately, this event was simply canceled after being rescheduled twice due to quarantine. At the same time, some have already sent their reports, and the usual work has begun: reviewing, editing, and approving revised versions. Secondly, during the stage of the reviewing articles, the Russian Federation attacked Ukraine. This new reality has pushed aside all other things, setting very different accents and priorities. It seemed that further work on the issue simply no longer made sense. The editorial team, along with all Ukrainians, was torn by a tsunami of events and emotions caused by the new phase of the war. But at some stage came the realization that the issue should still be finalized and released despite the situation. The work went on against the tides and contrary to circumstances. In front of you, you have the results of this hard work.
As mentioned above, most of the articles are devoted to the topic of the "community of the saints.” Here, Craigton Marlowe examines the importance of this topic through a typological understanding of the selected texts of the Pentateuch. Borys Pashke addresses the theme of the community of the saints and prayer in the New Testament. Shirley Ho reflects on home and community through the lens of corporeality in Psalm 84. The famous British researcher of the evangelical movement, Ian Randal, offers a historical study of the concept of "brotherhood" among anabaptists and its connection with the community of the saints. Shane Crombie is trying to comprehend the community of the saints in light of new challenges: pandemics and the resulting limitations. His research focuses on the impact of the pandemic on the church community in the Catholic Church. We hope these articles will encourage readers to consider further the meaning of the community of saints and the significance of this ecclesiological category for the interchurch dialogue.
In addition to the issue’s main topic, we've included two essays. Archibald van Wiringen's piece echoes the international conference on the dialogue of science and religion, which took place online in May 2021. The text indicates the cause of the dichotomy of religion and science and addresses this issue in the light of the Bible and exegesis. The work of the young Ukrainian theologian, Magomed Rubanenko, is an attempt to comprehend the key concept of the deconstruction of Jacques Derrida in the context of Ukrainian theology.
In the section "Translations," we are publishing the next part of the new Ukrainian translation of the Book of Psalms by Dmytro Tsolin. We invite you to read and discuss this translation carefully.
It would be entirely wrong to deprive this issue of "Theological Reflections" of the signs of the times – the echo of war. In the final part, we've added the text "Voices from the ruins.” A brief description of the origin introduces this appeal by Ukrainian theologians and educators to their colleagues abroad and the whole world. "Voices" is a series of zoom meetings organized by Ukrainian evangelical educators and aimed at helping the world hear what people are going through in Ukraine. Two such meetings took place: "Russia-Ukraine War: Evangelical Voices" with the participation of Ukrainian seminaries' representatives and "Russia-Ukraine War: Women's Voices" with the participation of women educators. We are confident that these voices need to be heard and hope that our readers will listen to the pain and suffering expressed in them.
The publishing of this journal issue is the labor of love of the editorial team and our authors. We offer it as our gratitude and expression of worship to the Lord Jesus Christ.
The price of this issue is 200 UAN. You can order it here https://forms.gle/sVW6uK7QW4QVWENe7
If you want to order a delivery outside of Ukraine, please email us office@eeit-edu.info
Previous issues of Theological Reflections can be found at http://reflections.eeit-edu.info/
Sincerely, Editorial Board
