Numerous films, especially reinterpretations of the Gospel, can be read as loci theologici. Nevertheless, it’s important to recognize that the commercially motivated interest of filmmakers has its theological consequences: a resulting challenge is the catechetical use of apocryphal films in the pastoral praxis of the Church. The paper recalls main documents of the Church, relating to the cinema, stressing the absence of official teaching on the cinema in the last 20 years. Films, produced with commercial motivation, are often kitsch; it’s a result of tendencies to gain the possibly large audiences and to fulfill their expectations. An analysis of selected films (e.g. The Passion of the Christ and Son of God) indicates that the kitschy audiovisual apocrypha, superficial, emotional and lacking of authenticity, become a false filmic transformation of the message of the Bible. The paper postulates the need of constructing a theology of film: its object could be audiovisual texts, which extra-ecclesial theologies influence religious imagination and thinking of the viewers.
The presence of the Bible in the movies is a complex reality: besides direct interpretations of the stories from the Holy Scriptures, a number of films has been inspired by other cultural sources (passion-plays, arts, literature, music, other films). By reason of its subject and its non-religious origin, a biblical film is important for theologians: numerous audiovisual adaptations of the Gospel have raised the issues of the faithfulness of this particular kind of translation (transmediatization) of the Bible. A particular attention should be paid to Jesus-movies because of their impact on the audiences and very different ways of portraying of Jesus (from a relatively simple „historical" Jesus till elaborated Christ-figures).
University and the Church need each other. Following the example of Christ incarnated, Christianity “incarnates” the spiritual. The Church and theology need university and cooperation with other sciences to be able to “incarnate” Christ’s issue into our world. Th e university, on the other hand, needs the Church and theology because otherwise it would be deprived of cultural and spiritual foundation: there is no alternative to a discussion about Christ (God and a human). Theology is sometimes defined as scientia fidei; it is determined by the mind and faith. It’s a discussion about God, but due to the Christ event it is also a discussion about mankind. Th erefore it has the form of a dialogue, a discussion. The dialogue is always held in a specific context (nowadays postmodern), in which theology not only has to ask but also answer the question about the meaning. In this sense it is wisdom. Theology as a discussion has to approach the most urgent human problems. These include agnosticism towards which Benedict XVI suggests the “veluti si Deus daretur” rule, relativism in case of which theology cannot stop asking about truth, despair in case of which theology reminds about God, in whom there is no darkness.
Joseph Ratzinger binds together the triptych “theology – the university – science” by the common issue of a search for the truth and the service to the truth. Theology is being done “in the Church and with the Church”, it belongs to the Church and depends upon her. Thus, theology is ecclesial in its essence, it teaches not in its own name but on behalf of the Church.
The ethos of the university – particularly of a Catholic university – consists in the common witness to the truth and in forming the transcendent dimension of man. Thus, the service to the human person is expressed by the university in developing “a new humanism” as a response to cultural and spiritual desires of the humankind. The mission of the university is not only its service to knowledge but also to the education, which means bearing witness to the truth that has been found.
According to Benedict XVI both theology and the university with science should know how to unite the two ways of knowing – faith and reason into one common tone, with its unique enhancing of reason. In a characteristic way Ratzinger gives special attention to rationality which leads to the ultimate Truth.
This paper focuses on three issues. First, it is about the context and environment of pre-Nicene theology. It is emphasized that pre-Nicene theology did not neglect ca-techetical and liturgical reflection (ad intra) while at the same time successfully ente-red into a critical and creative dialogue with both the Semitic and Greco-Roman world where first Christians lived (ad extra). For contemporary theology its means that it cannot reject historical reasoning, placed in space and time. The second part stresses that, in spite of different situations and all historical and cultural contexts, theology before Nicea was above all an understanding of Sacred Scripture to which the key is the Risen Christ as the source and definitive fulfilment of the inspired writings. Finally, the third part of the paper focuses on the existential and spiritual experience from which pre-Nicene theology originated. For this theology the Gospel of Christ is not just the rule of faith but also the rule of life. This leads to a conclusion that a contem-porary theologian is a to take up an existential-personalistic reflection on Revelation using the historical-hermeneutic method .