TA 5-6/2017 (122. vuosikerta)

Change in Policy towards Religion in the Soviet Union and its Reflections in Finland in the Post-War Years — The Second World War prompted a shift in the policy towards religion in the Soviet Union. In a departure from previous practice, Stalin allowed the Orthodox Church to operate. He also aimed to use this new policy approach as a tool for an expansive foreign policy, aiming on the one hand to make Moscow the centre of the Orthodox world and on the other hand to dispel the perception that the Communist regime was actively anti-religious. However, restoring freedom of religion at the national level did not curb active action against religion on the part of the Communist Party. Stalin’s policy towards religion partly reflected on Finland: there was a call for the Orthodox Church of Finland to return to the Patriarchate of Moscow. The new policy also fostered new connections with the Lutheran Church, particularly in the area of peace policy.

Theology of Johannes Brenz — The Württemberg Reformer Johannes Brenz (1499–1570) was a major Lutheran theologian in the 16th century. However, his theology has not gained wider scholarly interest. This article provides the first Finnish introduction to his theological career and thinking. As a theologian, Brenz closely followed Luther’s views on God and justification. In his Confessio Virtembergica, written for the Council of Trent, Brenz created a confessional document with an appreciation of the Catholic opponents’ view. The most notorious trait of Brenz’s theology is the idea of ubiquity of Christ’s body, which was – for Brenz – a Christian’s greatest consolation and the seal of Christ’s victory.

Working on Pure Inwardness. Construction of the Self in (Radical) Pietist Diaries — Based on the reading of diaries of two Radical Pietists in early 18th-century Sweden-Finland, Peter Schäfer and Sven Rosén, the article explores how the Pietist self is constructed. The article shows how the Pietist subject is actively involved in purification and spiritualization processes, aiming at the constitution of a pure, inner self, and how these processes are entangled in embodiment and material practices. The desired self comes into being as a cultural value and a fundamental point of reference, yet remains embedded in materiality.

The Atheistic Argument from Divine Hiddenness — The argument from divine hiddenness has become the second most important philosophical argument raised against the existence of God (the first one being the problem of evil). According to J.L. Schellenberg (b. 1959), God does not exist because non-resistant non-belief exists. In other words, there are forms of non-belief that are not the result of people resisting a relationship with God. For instance, some people honestly seek God but feel that they cannot find him or good evidence of him. Schellenberg claims that a perfectly loving God would always be open to enter into a relationship with non-resistant individuals. The article explains the argument and some common suggestions why God may hide from some people.

Argument and Intuition: Assessing the Kalam-Argument — The ‘Kalam-argument’, which is a version of the cosmological argument, relies on convictions regarding the principle of sufficient reason, the impossibility of actual infinite, and the universe having a point of temporal beginning. These are axioms that cannot be proven to be necessarily true, but we nonetheless have strong intuitions about their veracity. Cognitive scientists have pointed out how our intuitions are not necessarily truth-tracking, and this seems to make kalam open for debunking arguments. I argue that cognitive debunking does not work for two reasons. Firstly, it is not possible to draw a line between true and false uses of intuition without begging the question, and secondly, the intuitions are supported by arguments which are not obviously false.

Ecclesial Self-Understanding and Relationships of Local Churches in the Documents of the Pan-Orthodox Council of Crete — The Pan-Orthodox Council of Crete (2016) represented a new form of inter-Orthodox co-operation. The council aimed to give voice to the Orthodox Christian approach to various contemporary issues. The article discusses firstly how ecclesiology was defined by the Council in relation to canonical rearrangement of the Orthodox diaspora. Secondly, the ecumenical implications of the Council are examined. In holding to the fundaments of Orthodox ecclesiology, the Council adopted a cautious ecumenical stance. At the same time, it aspired to give guidelines for initial steps in normalising canonical conditions in diaspora. In relation to diaspora and ecumenism alike, the Council emphasized the role of the Ecumenical Patriarch for inter-Orthodox unity.

Anders Nygren’s Last Disciple: The Self-Evident in Tage Kurtén’s Thinking — In this article, I discuss how the philosophical and theological thinking of Anders Nygren has influenced the Finnish theologian Tage Kurtén. Specifically, I argue that Kurtén develops the idea of self-evident truth in Nygrens’s thinking. Nygren maintains that all cultures are founded on self-evident truths that are seldom discussed or referenced to. Kurtén argues that every context is determined by such self-evident truths, which has consequences for the individual’s basic orientation in the world. The purpose of this article is therefore to analyse how Kurtén makes use of Nygren’s thinking on the self-evident and in what respects Kurtén’s thinking differs from Nygren’s.