Mokslo ir tikėjimo dialogai

The article describes the origins and development of the Palanga Lutheran congregation, from its formation at the beginning of the 19th century to its closure by the communist authorities in the early postwar years after the Second World War. The life of the affiliate in the parish of Rucava is discussed, as well as its attempts to build its own church in Palanga. The congregation’s life was particularly revitalised after the city was reunited with Lithuania in 1921. As an affiliate of the Kretinga parish, and supported by it and the Gustav-Adolf-Werk, it bought its own prayer house in 1928. The article describes ecclesiastical life in this period, the disastrous effects of the 1938 fire, when the congregation lost its place of worship, and the challenges it faced in the first years of the Soviet occupation.

The article investigates the source of the historiographical topic of heroic paganism in the laments/elegies of Dionizas Poška (1764–1830). It is known that Poška read the manuscript of the first history of Lithuania (1822) by Simonas Daukantas (1793–1864). The article hypothesises that the choice of Poška’s written language ‘to lean towards the Samogitian dialect’, and the increase in a lexicon characteristic of the historiographical genre in the laments, are connected with his reading Daukantas’ manuscript. Since until now researchers into Daukantas’ legacy do not agree on the date of the completion of his first manuscript history, it is believed that research of this kind will make it possible to clarify it. The research leads to the conclusion that Poška read the ‘History of Lithuania’ by Daukantas in 1824, because in verse dating from that year we find a lexicon which is characteristic of Daukantas’ work. In elegies written after 1824, Poška found Lithuanian equivalents of the traditional topics of the heroic and lost nation, which are often taken from the text of Daukantas, and are not literal translations of Polish literature. Daukantas’ text inspired Poška to talk about a lost Golden Age, and so he can be considered a pioneer of Lithuanian historical elegy. Following Daukantas, the poet learned to replace rhetorical writing with an authentic expression of thought characteristic of Romantic authors.

The concept of meditation is common when discussing various forms of spiritual assistance. It is usually associated with eastern traditions, but it is also sometimes mentioned in a Christian context, and it often becomes a subject of discussion. The article aims to reveal the concept and meaning of Christian meditation in more detail, by analysing its interpretations and the etymology of the term, and by identifying specific features of Christian meditation. Meditation in this context is revealed as a Christian form of prayer, inseparable from individuality, dialogue and Christocentricity.

Humanity benefits from the achievements of modern technology, but man cannot avoid pain, long-term suffering, and spiritual problems. In modern society, as in all eras, man still raises fundamental questions of being: What is the meaning of life? What is spirituality? How to solve spiritual problems? Therefore, spiritual counselling or assistance is receiving more and more attention. Its needs and benefits are undoubtedly noticeable, because spiritual assistance tries to respond to the spiritual needs of people today, and to be a landmark in spreading spiritual well-being. Although spiritual counselling in Lithuania is still searching for explicit boundaries of function and definition, it is becoming quite clear that it is not the same as psychological counselling. Of course, spiritual counselling is not so far from psychological counselling, as they both have some features in common. However, the priority of a spiritual counsellor is existential questions and the search for answers to queries about the meaning of life, suffering, death, love, etc. Spiritual counselling tries to approach a person through the prism of faith. A unique element in spiritual counselling is not the methods used by the counsellors, but their personality, their world-view, faith, values, and attitude towards other people. Therefore, in order to substantiate the identity and importance of spiritual counselling, this article aims to reveal the essence and meaning of spiritual counselling.

This paper presents development of school buildings influenced by certain principles of educational paradigm and new educational ideas. The research is interdisciplinary, as it questions how physical education environment complies with the concept of education. Importance of study, which involves analysis of the educational nature and the architectural space is evident not only in Lithuania but also in the whole world at the moment of change of the educational nature, when the existing buildings are renewed according to the changed needs, and new educational architectural objects are built rarely. This article covers a review of period until the year 1940 of Lithuanian schools architecture and educational provisions in a wider context, necessary for further studies to find out whether the changing educational tasks and teaching methods have changed the school buildings.

Collaboration skills, multicultural awareness, and intercultural sensitivity are essential to the careers of maritime business professionals. The self-development of a multiculturally conscious personality contributes to ensuring safety in the maritime business. Researchers point out that more attention in the maritime industry should be paid to the employee’s personality than to increasing automation of shipping processes. The heterogeneity of employee teams at the national and religious levels is associated with the problem of increased psychoemotional stress. Instead of emphasizing the teaching of intercultural communication rules, it is appropriate to enable future maritime business professionals to cultivate values, to realize their cognitive interests, to understand that the culture or religion of their colleagues is existentially dear to them, and to be open to a culture of dialogue. Therefore, the article presents more relevant methodological prerequisites for the development of multicultural self-awareness and religious tolerance in the spirit of Neo-Thomism, theistic humanism, personalism, and constructivism.

In his literary cycle The Chronicles of Narnia Clive Staples Lewis conveyed the Biblical plot, Christian values and moral virtues. The main leitmotif apparent in The Chronicles of Narnia by C. S. Lewis is development of the relation with Jesus Christ. In order to achieve this purpose, the author skilfully employed the main characters and their actions to render cardinal moral virtues of wisdom, justice, strength and self-restraint. This article reveals the expression of the above mentioned cardinal moral virtues in C. S. Lewis’s literary cycle The Chronicles of Narnia through systematization of the actions of the characters and expressions of Biblical motifs. C. S. Lewis relies on his Christian wisdom to present a sketch of theological moral virtues which could be used as guidelines in moral education of the youth.

Die Umstände der Bildung der litauischen Intelligenz Entstehung und ihrer konfessionellen Gruppen am Ende des 19. Jahrhunderts ist eines der relevantesten und am wenigsten untersuchten Themen der litauischen Geschichtsschreibung. Der Artikel untersucht die Änderung der akademischen Bildungspolitik der litauischen evangelisch-reformierten Synode, die in den Beschlüssen der Synoden im Zeitraum der Jahren 1867–1914 festgehalten wurde, und ist ein wesentlicher Bestandteil dieses Problems.

Lapkričio mėnesį, kai krikščioniškajame pasaulyje nuodugniau apmąstomas santykis su mirusiaisiais, man vienam pirmųjų teko pasinerti į monografijos „Krikščioniškoji eschatologija“ mirties apmąstymų gelmes. Džiaugiuosi, kad dar neišgyvenęs savosios mirties gelmių, pirmiausia galėjau nerti į paskutiniųjų dalykų gelmes per knygos puslapius, kuriuose formuojamas teisingas, atviras, viltingas požiūris į mirtį. Tad norisi pasidalinti keliomis įžvalgomis, kilusiomis skaitant Lietuvių katalikų mokslo akademijos akademiko A. Ramono monografiją, kurioje pateikiama žmonijos kelrodžio į amžinybę paieška, akademiškai atskleidžiamas paskutiniųjų dalykų grožis.

Teologijos mokslo raida Lietuvoje, po Nepriklausomybės atkūrimo 1990 m. gavusi naują impulsą, nors ir tapo dinamiškesnė, vis dėlto dar nėra intensyvi. Atitinkamuose recenzuojamuose moksliniuose Lietuvos aukštųjų mokyklų leidiniuose sukaupta išties nemažai mokslinių teologinių straipsnių, reikšmingi mokslo darbai nuveikti moralės teologijos (bioetikos) srityje, pamažu stiebiasi ir kitos teologijos mokslo sritys. Tačiau akivaizdu, kad monografijos lygmeniu apie teologinius lietuvių autorių veikalus kalbame dar retai. Todėl Klaipėdos universiteto prof. Arvydo Ramono indėlis į teologijos mokslo raidą Lietuvoje ypač vertingas ir svarus, turint mintyje ne tik recenzuojamą monografiją, bet ir tai, kad autorius apskritai intensyviai rašo teologinėmis temomis, publikuoja knygas ir jau ne pirmą monografiją.