Acta Historica Universitatis Klaipedensis

This article analyses relationship between theological since and psychology. Bible’s and Catholic Church teaching regarding person’s dignity, free will and equality are presented. From that perspective analysed methods used by representatives of cognitive and experience psychology schools in process of spiritual – psychological counselling. Spiritual counselling is understood as open to religious feeling (faith) relationship between too persons or between person and the group. Church, by proclaiming Gospel, brings hope to the people, gives meaning to the life and death, love and suffering, brings existential foundation to the daily life. Such spiritual counselling gives truthful assessment of the person’s situation and helps to see in the light of faith, meaning that the person is helped by the spiritual counsellor to go throe crisis situation getting strength from the faith. Article gives special notice to the personal faith of the counsellor and its importance in his service. Counsellor wile using different psychological methods should fill them with Christian approach to the human person, and by doing so help ones who find them selves in crisis or trying to find answers to the existential questions of life’s meaning. Every psychology school has it methods to understand and to help human persons. Article takes special notice of the cognitive and experience psychology schools and their methods and how they treat human person looking from the Christian perspective of human dignity, his freedom of will and unconditional worth in it self. It is noticed special need to see human as person created by God, seeking to see him more than a victim of circumstances or a person afflicted by different fears and complexes.

A short description of the relationship between Physics, Philosophy and Theology is: Physics neglects or passes by Natural Realism, which is the origin of Philosophy. In turn, Natural Realism is backed up by Judeo-Christian revelation. Therefore, Physics neglects or passes by Theology. That relationship between Physics and Theology is widely used as a background for exercising an intense pressure on Theology. The defence of Theology should begin by pointing out certain shortcomings of Physics and formulating a philosophical control of these shortcomings. This is tantamount to turning Physics instead of Theology into a “site under construction”. Only a “controlled” Physics and Theology are adequate discussion partners. The author of this article is a Catholic. However, the ideas expressed are, by and large, acceptable for Orthodox and Lutheran Christians as well, with possible differences only regarding natural theology.

The article deals with burial customs in culturally varied regions in the eastern Baltic, comparing them with an interpretation of Late Prehistoric society. Social analyses, which up to recent times were predominantly based on written sources and evolutionary ways of thinking, suggest somewhat different social systems for the culturally diverse regions of the eastern Baltic. However, at first glance, this cannot be seen in the archaeological evidence, including burials. The discussion in this article subjects some particular features of burial customs to closer consideration: representativeness, collective versus individual attitudes, and gender aspects. The results suggest that societies were hierarchical both in the southern and northern parts of the eastern Baltic, but power was arranged in different ways.

During the Late Iron Age, the southeastern part of Latvia, particularly the upper and middle course of the River Dubna, was one of the most densely populated areas of Latgallian habitation. In the course of archaeological research at Late Iron Age cemetery sites, various burial practices have been observed that have not been encountered at Latgallian burial sites outside this area. Here, in addition to evidence of the familiar Latgallian burial practices, horse-trappings have been found in several tenth to 11th-century male grave inventories.

The article is devoted to the role of military activities in socio-political developments in Latvia during the Late Iron Age (tenth to 12th centuries). The topics of weapons as prestige items, warrior burials and their relation to the retinue, as well as military symbolism and warfare as the source of power, are discussed on the basis of archaeological material of the Livs, Curonians*, Semigallians and Latgallians.