TA 4/2013 (118. vuosikerta)

On Justification — The article discusses three issues related to what is known as forensic justification. Firstly, the article proposes that the Latin concept of imputation as it appears in the texts of the Reformation contains various non-forensic dimensions. This conclusion is based on recent work by Sibylle Rolf. Secondly, it is further proposed that the concept of forgiveness involves dimensions of gift-giving and healing that cannot be reduced to a merely forensic theological concept. Thirdly, the article discusses the current use of the notion of justification in social sciences (e.g. by Rainer Forst), arguing that certain theological aspects of forensic justification display features that are parallel to, though not fully synonymous with, the philosophical use of the notion.

Eugen Drewermann’s Depth Psychology Exegesis — Eugen Drewermann integrates depth psychology into exegesis, his major influence being the dream analysis of Carl Gustav Jung. His method is to search and interpret images underlying the texts of the Bible. His claims are: 1) that those images are unconscious, archetypical images of the writers of the Bible, 2) that those images can help people abandon their anxiety and believe in God, and 3) that other images in the Bible can help similar-minded people to believe. Drewermann explores parallels in other religions and literature. He considers that every story in the Bible relates the inner life of a human being and wants to interpret them as an image of individuation. The existential attitude is important in interpretation.

Lars Stenbäck, the First Finnish Professor of Pedagogics and Philosopher J. V. Snellman as His Critic — During the Crimean War, the political scene changed in Finland. The new politics of Tsar Alexander II encouraged economic and educational reforms. Poet and Revivalist pastor Lars Stenbäck was appointed the first Professor of Pedagogics at the Faculty of Theology at the University in Helsinki in 1855. Neither the Lutheran Church nor the Faculty realised the nature of the change in official politics. It was their aim, and Stenbäck’s, to maintain the existing hegemony of religious education not only in the education of the common people but also in education in general. Stenbäck pursued a Revivalist pedagogical agenda in accordance with his own religious convictions. J. V. Snellman, previously a persona non grata, was one of the reformers now elevated to a position of influence due to the new political climate. He was principally responsible for pointing out the flaws in Stenbäck’s pedagogical system. As a result, Stenbäck resigned after only one academic term in office, and the Chair of Pedagogics was removed from the Faculty of Theology. Under Snellman and J. Z. Cleve, another philosopher, pedagogics became secularised, and this was the origin of its development as a university discipline and the basis for educational thinking in Finland.