Leben im österlichen Vertrauen

Abstract

Many contemporary societies are experiencing deep cultural
transformations. Until recently, discovering values and preserving
them in social and private life was an integral part of tradition
passed on from generation to generation. Today, this task is left to
the individual. It also refers to the sphere of religion. Nowadays,
everybody has to build his own world of religious images. Functioning
well until recently, traditional forms of passing on the faith
collapsed to a large degree. Everybody has to settle in the world of
religion, in a way, under his own steam, which is the reason for
miscellaneous „religiousnesses” and „christianities” emerging. In
this context, the answer to the question about the specificity of
Christianity, about Christian identity, becomes an inevitable necessity.
Explaining the idea of Christianity, its peculiarity, has become
the necessity for the Christians themselves, for Christian communities
and churches, but also for non-Christians.
The author of this article makes an attempt to show that the
question about Christian identity is one of the oldest questions
asked by Christian tradition. Already St. Paul provides the model
answer (1 Cor 15, 3a-5). Also, the twentieth-century theologians
face this question and try to reply to it according to their times
(cf. R. Guardini, K. Rahner). In the end, the author himself makes
a bold attempt to present his own concise formula of Christian
identity (Life in paschal trust), in order to encourage others to
seek their own formulas based on a sound foundation of Judeo-
Christian tradition as well as their own Christian traditions. In
this new way, individual autonomy in the sphere of religiousness
and Christian identity may interweave and complement one
another in the concrete way of life of each Christian.