TA 1/2008 (113. vuosikerta)

Sold Under Sin? Early Jewish and Christian Views of the Human Condition in God’s World — My point of departure is Dr Jari Jolkkonen’s article (Teologinen Aikakauskirja 4/2007), in which he argues that the idea of evil as destiny, inherent in the doctrine of original sin, is well documented in the Bible. My article challenges that claim. It presents a broad overall picture of the human condition in the pertinent writings and concludes that Pelagius, rather than Augustine, stood in continuity with the bulk of biblical tradition.

Encountering Other Human Beings as a Theological Topic — This article argues that the theological side of inter-human encounter can be richly understood from three perspectives: 1) communication, 2) exchange of gifts and hospitality, 3) love. While many earlier accounts of such encounter rely on personalist pre-conditions (e.g. Buber), this new account emphasizes concrete inter-human actions, in particular giving and receiving material and immaterial goods and favors. The article also contains a brief elaboration of the concept of ‘thirdness’.

Untouchability as a Human Right: Comparing the Concept of Untouchability in the West and in India — The ideological basis for human rights emerged in the late Middle Ages, for example, from the voluntarist theory emphasizing the individual and free will. According to the individualist perspective, the most fundamental right of an individual is the right to live; it follows from this that a human being is his own master and free from oppression. All modern human rights are derived from the natural rights of the individual on this basis. However, the implementation of human rights varies greatly around the world, particularly beyond the West. In this article, I discuss the ideological history of human rights and the ideological reasons for the non-implementation of human rights in India, where the caste system even today dictates the course of people’s lives.