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Elijah in the New Testament and Apocryphal Literature
Hládek, Mária ; Dus, Jan (advisor) ; Mrázek, Jiří (referee)
The prophet Elijah is according to the Hebrew Bible understood as a righteous individual who did not die but was taken to heaven on a fiery chariot. This thesis attempts to clarify how the New Testament and the Old Testament Pseudepigrapha treat this legend in their own contexts which are dependent on the imagery of religious background in which Elijah is expected to return. Since both New Testament and the Old Testament Pseudepigrapha deal with possible or fictitious continuum with the Hebrew Bible, (canon of which was not necessarily settled at the time of creation of a particular New Testament or Pseudepigraphic writing), explicit mention of Elijah the prophet leads to assumptions about the nature of belief in the era of the late Judaism and early Christianity and the manner this legendary motif evolved. Depending on the phenomena and characters Elijah the prophet is dealing with in a particular writing and taking into account religious context of the writing, it is possible to find out which motifs touching this character might be considered to be brought to an end in the Christian canon and which are sort of autonomous in realms influenced by Judeo-Christian materials.
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Dance as a Religious Expression: History and Application in Christian Liturgy
Zídková, Veronika ; Kotas, Jan (advisor) ; Bravená, Noemi (referee)
The diploma thesis "Dance as a Manifestation of Devotion, its History and Use in the Christian Liturgy" enquires into the phenomenon of dance in the context of Christian culture. It outlines the development of the religious dance in the history of mankind, its forms and modes of perception in different cultures and religions. The thesis also deals with dance as an expression of faith in Jewish culture whence the Christian liturgical dance often drew inspiration and thus went back to its own roots. It seeks to explore the positive attitudes of believers towards dance, but also the mistrust that accompanied dance throughout the history of Christianity. Additionally, the paper presents the situation of dance in the contemporary Christian culture on different continents (Europe, America, Africa), to pursue finally the question of dance as a manifestation of devotion in the Czech Republic. Based on the collected material, the thesis seeks to present the deep potential of dance that make believers express through gestures and movements their respect to God, their joy and anxiety, grief and hope, and thus can, alongside music and singing, enrich the liturgy to a great extent. Keywords Dance, gesture, liturgy, prayer, expression.
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The Mystical path of St. Teresa of Jesus: reflection in the Czech environment since 1900 to the present
Bušková, Magda ; Sládek, Karel (advisor) ; Lorman, Jaroslav (referee)
Saint Teresa of Jesus, the Spanish mystic of 16th century and the Carmelite order reformer presents the doctrine of internal prayer and all its stages in her works based on own personal experience of life with the God. The intention of this work is to analyze Teresa's mystical path as a process of spiritual life with various stages of transformation. It will deal with what it means to be united with the God for the human life in Teresa's conception. It will also submit how Teresa's doctrine of mystical path has been reflected in the Czech environment since 1900 to the present, respectively by Czech authors and by foreign authors of whose works were translated into the Czech language. The work will be based on the concrete text of Interior Castle, in which Teresa represents the soul with number of dwelling places. The structure will be defined by single dwelling places, which are considered the ascetic and mystical stages of the prayer. The work itself, the Interior Castle, will be introduced together with the first to third ascetic dwelling places which had been the subject of previous bachelor's work. The mystical stages of the prayer, which are represented by fourth to seventh dwelling places, will create the main part of the thesis. The reflections of various authors are considered as the...
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Christian mysticism in selected works of Zeyer prose from 90's
Raušerová, Andrea ; Vaněk, Václav (advisor) ; Wiendl, Jan (referee)
IN ENGLISH LANGUAGE This thesis deals with the genre of Christian mysticism present in the shorter legends and novellas by Julius Zeyer from the end of the 19th century. The thesis consists of a theoretical and practical part. The theoretical part contains a brief biography of Julius Zeyer along with a short introduction into the Czech historical and literary context of the 1890s. The second chapter of the theoretical part defines the term Christian mysticism as understood in the context of Zeyer's experience. The practical part focuses on the analysis of chosen texts - Three legends of The Crucifix, The Garden of Mary and Christine The Miraculous. Apart from their brief summation in the third chapter the thesis outlines three bigger thematic parts of the texts in the fourth chapter, which consists the core of the work. Every theme is matched with one of the texts - love together with Three legends of The Crucifix, beauty with The Garden of Mary, pain and suffering with Christine The Miraculous. The fifth chapter delves into the motif of prayer in all of Zeyer's texts. Prayer here is divided into three types - loving, beautiful and painful. We can see the connection of this division with the previous chapter. The last chapter refers to other Zeyer's prose works which we also consider to be a part...
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Founder of Czech hospitals of the 13th century Saint Agnes and St. Zdislava - their life and work
LEITGEBOVÁ, Zdeňka
The aim of this thesis is to describe the life and work of St. Zdislava and St. Agnes of Bohemia. In the first part, there is a description of biographies of both saints, their vocation in life, charity and foundation work, their life-works. The second part compares the differences between St. Zdislava and St. Agnes of Bohemia and vice versa, it mentions their commonalities, further it describes motivation and source of strength St. Zdislava and St. Agnes of Bohemia for their foundation and charity activities. The conclusion is devoted to the reference and relevance of the topic of marriage and religious life today.
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The view of the Christian asceticism and its significance for spiritual life by St. Teresa of Jesus
Bušková, Magda ; Sládek, Karel (advisor) ; Lorman, Jaroslav (referee)
The purpose of the work is to introduce the conception of the Christian asceticism and its significance for spiritual life by St. Teresa of Jesus. The work is defined by three main writings of St. Teresa: The Book of Life, The Way of Perfection and The Internal Castle. The subject analysis is the Teresa's life, intellectual reflection and her specific advices. The following areas structure the scheme of the work: Teresa's ascetic formation, ascetic reform program and Teresean asceticism prayer. The differentiation of active and passive asceticism and its presence in her writings has been established as the theoretical base of the whole work. This methodology is used to analyse Teresa's expressions of spiritual life and her science. The ascetic formation is followed in her two living stages, firstly before entering the Monastery of the Incarnation and then at the Monastery of the Incarnation. The ascetic program of reform presents Teresean triada which includes love of neighbour, detachment and humility. The last part of the work deals with Teresean asceticism prayer, where the basic aspects of her prayer are introduced. The ascetic stages of the prayer have been investigated within the scope of schemes placed at her writings, The Internal Castle and The Book of Life, Keywords Asceticism, active,...
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Charismas, their recognition and their role in the life of the Church
Prívara, Michal ; Sládek, Karel (advisor) ; Lorman, Jaroslav (referee)
The Diploma work explores and develops one of the many gifts of the Holy Spirit, that Catholic Church has like a treasure, and it is charisma. Many times in the Church or outside the Church a man can encounter with a negative attitude when the concept of charismas is mentioned, because many people do not know the true meaning and purpose of these gifts of the Holy Spirit. The purpose of the Diploma work is to raise in a simplicity the main issues of the topic and to offer answers to certain questions connected with the exposing of authenticity of this gift, which the Saint Paul is writing about. In the first part the Diploma work deals with the main attitudes of the Catholic Church towards charismas from the perspective of what Holy Scripture and Catechism of the Catholic Church says on the charismas. The Diploma work efforts to develop a spiritual knowledge of charismas, their authenticity and also a danger of sliding out of the Church. It discusses the criteria for distinguishing and recognition of charismas. The work discusses the gifts, charismas and fruits of the Holy Spirit. The topic is focused on identifing of the gifts of Holy Spirit and their presence in the Church and in the life of individual. Finally, the Diploma work describes topics such as "baptism in the Holy Spirit", thus...
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Luis de la Puente, Guía espiritual and the importance of the Jesuits in Prag to the diffusion of La Puente ́s work
Cuhrová, Nora ; Novotný, Vojtěch (referee) ; Svoboda, David (referee)
The thesis "Luis de la Puente, Guía espiritual and the importance of the Jesuits in Prag to the diffusion of La Puente's work" is dedicated to the person of Luis de la Puente (1554-1624), especially to his work Guía espiritual (Dux Spiritualis), and to the diffusion of La Puente's work by the activities of the Jesuits of Prague's Klementinum. This is a work of the history of spiritual theology. Luis de la Puente was a Spanish Jesuit, theolog, he has also been sought as confessor and spiritual leader. Toward the end of his life he wrote works dedicated to the spiritual life, their meaning was considerable. One of his works is "Guía espiritual" , as the author's preface says, handbook of spiritual life. The work Guía espiritual is significant also because it interferes La Puente in the debate that the first generation of Jesuits address: on one side there was a great emphasis on the contemplative life, and on the other hand there were requirements of the apostolic ministry. La Puente combines both these aspects, with particular focus on the uniting with God in love, not in the outward signs of life. The thesis maps also in brief the role of the Jesuits Klementinum in Prague spreading La Puente's work.
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Intrinsic religiosity practice. Psychological aspects of intrisic religiosity of Catholic mothers
Bartáková, Vladislava ; Slaměník, Ivan (advisor) ; Muchová, Ludmila (referee) ; Tavel, Peter (referee)
INTRINSIC RELIGIOSITY PRACTICE Psychological aspects of intrinsic religiosity of Catholic women - mothers of small children. Key words: Intrinsic religiosity, Prayer, Spirituality of an Everyday Life, Motherhood, Catholic Faith, Identity, Narrative Analysis Secularisation of the current post-modern Europe represents a collapse of Christianity in the sense of an integrating power of the society; however, it does not mean extinction of Christianity as such. The largest European church has been responding to the changes in the post-modern society by moving the emphasis from Catholicism (institutionally - as a doctrine attitude of the church) to Catholicity (openness and universal attitude of the church). Despite this inner movement, the Roman Catholic Church is losing numbers of their members and frequently it does not satisfactorily address, among the competition in the 'religious market', agnostics or even the 'searching' ones. From another point of view, however, it is obvious that for many people it still remains a 'home' in which they develop their faith as an individual expression of existential needs. The symbolic universe of the traditional Catholic religion provides these people with factual as well as symbolic tools to develop spirituality. Significant changes in religiousness and...
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