Hippolytus’s Apocalypticism (2022)
Diaconu, Iosif. Sfarsitul nu e acum!: Hipolit si provocarile teologice ale secolului al III-lea. Bucharest: Eikon, 2022.
“Tema eshatologiei preocupa in mod deosebit teologii primelor veacuri ale crestinismului: cand va veni Domnul pe care ucenicii l-au vazut inaltandu-se la cer? Putem sti exact, din cele spuse de Mantuitorul, cum va fi ziua venirii sale in slava? Cine va rezista inaintea venirii lui? Care va fi soarta celor care au crezut in el si cati vor fi acestia? Dar a celor ramasi in necredinta lor? Sunt doar cateva intrebari la care scriitorii crestini, incepand cu autorul Apocalipsei, au incercat sa dea raspunsuri in masura sa pregateasca discipolii lui Cristos pentru marea intalnire cu El, Mielul fara pata, care s-a invrednicit sa rupa „sigiliul cartii” si sa reveleze tainele ei.
Titlul stiintific al lucrarii de fata este Teologie si eshatologie in scrierile eshatologice ale lui Hipolit si reprezinta munca de cercetare doctorala si universitara a lui Iosif Diaconu, pastor in cultul crestin Adventist de ziua a 7-a. Martor fiind al acestui demers intelectual, pot spune ca, la inceputul cercetarii academice, autorul acestei carti era putin familiarizat cu literatura patristica si cu teologia Sfintilor Parinti. Primul an a fost unul al tatonarii si al explorarii campului de cercetare in care sa nu se simta nici prea strain de propria traditie crestina, dar nici prea indepartat de o gandire teologica dezvoltata in primele veacuri ale crestinismului. Incercand sa gasim impreuna o pista de cercetare ne-am oprit asupra lui Hipolit, unul din cei mai insemnnati teologi din primele trei secole ale crestinismului.”
Description from Libraria Bizantina’s website.
“The theme of eschatology particularly concerned the theologians of the first centuries of Christianity: when will the Lord come whom the disciples saw ascending to heaven? Can we know exactly, from what the Savior said, what the day of his coming in glory will be like? Who will stand before his coming? What will be the fate of those who believed in him and how many will there be? But of those who remained in their disbelief? There are only a few questions to which the Christian writers, starting with the author of the Apocalypse, tried to give answers in order to prepare the disciples of Christ for the great meeting with Him, the spotless Lamb, who was worthy to break the "seal of the book" and reveal its secrets . The scientific title of the current work is Theology and eschatology in the eschatological writings of Hippolytus and represents the doctoral and university research work of Iosif Diaconu, pastor in the Seventh-day Adventist Christian cult. Being a witness of this intellectual approach, I can say that, at the beginning of the academic research, the author of this book was little familiar with patristic literature and the theology of the Holy Fathers. The first year was one of groping and exploring the field of research in which he did not feel too alien from his own Christian tradition, but not too far from a theological thought developed in the first centuries of Christianity. Trying to find a research track together, we focused on Hippolytus, one of the most significant theologians of the first three centuries of Christianity.”
Translation by GoogleTranslate.
