Theological Studies in Japan

This essay reassesses the theological and political position of Martin Rade. It liberates him from radical criticism that labeled him a “Cultural Protestant (Kulturprotestantismus)”, a“conservative” and so on, and presents him as a “liberal nationalist”. This essay examines his political proposal in regards to the problem of the Polish migrants in the eastern part of Preussen and its theological background.

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The Syriac word for ‘spirit’, ruha, which is grammatically feminine like Hebrew ruah, had a great influence on the understanding of the Holy Spirit in the early Syriac Christianity. From the early fifth century onwards, under the increasing prestige of Greek culture, some people began to disapprove of treating the Holy Spirit as feminine, and the word ruha began to be treated as masculine wherever it referred to the Holy Spirit, even by ignoring the grammatical rules of the language. However, many feminine images and metaphors survived and had continuously been used to express the character of the Holy Spirit. Especially, the tradition to understand the Holy Spirit as mother was very strong. By using many maternal images, such as hovering (like a mother bird) and womb, Syriac Christians got a better understanding of the Holy Spirit. It is important for us to be aware of, and to have a sensitivity to, this female imagery already present in the Syriac Christian tradition, for only by gaining this sensitivity, we can attain to a better appreciation of the fullness of the Holy Spirit, not only in its fatherly character but also in its motherly character.

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The present situation of Hannah Arendt study shows increasingly elaborate and diverse aspects. However, I think that there is common understanding about her originality. That is her effort to treat each human birth as an invocation of new beginning to the world and fix this “Birth” on the central category of her political thinking. The aim of this study is to clarify the center position of Arendt's thought by surveying The Human Condition which is one of her major works. From three keywords (World Alienation, Life, Action), to begin with, we find out where she had an awareness of the issues, especially Christianity involved. Secondly, we argue about her analysis of the Totalitarianism, from which her new keyword “irresponsible co-responsibilities” emerged. Then we conclude from our consideration that the today's significance of Arendt's thought consists in her vantage point of viewing Christianity.

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In dem Aufsatz wird versucht, den undeutlichen Begriff „locus“ Irenäus von Lyon ausführlich zu untersuchen. Er benutzt den Begriff in seiner Widerlegung gegen Gnosis, z.B. Valentinian, Markion, dort wird es klar, dass es unmöglich außer einem Gott ist, ein oberstes göttliches Dasein zu halten, weil die Mehrzahl von Gott die unendlichen oder grösseren Plätze und Locus verlangt. Wenn es zwei Götter wie bei Markion gibt, ist es notwendig, mehrere und grössere Götter als sie zu sein, die sie von außen enthalten. Diese Polemik bizieht sich freilich auf die rhetorichen und philosophischen Gedanken in seiner Zeit. In der vorliegenden Forschung werden die Einflüsse auf das Gedanke des Kirchenvaters und auf die Formungen der späteren christlichen Lehre geprüft.

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