Overview
Aims
to know and understand the mission’s exigencies;
to apply theories and methods to the missionary practical realities;
to know and understand the concept of Trinity and missions;
to explain the mission’s effects upon the Church;
to define and apply the concept of missionary exigency from a theoretical standing point.
Course contents
1. The expansion of new religious movements; 2. Brief history of the heretical and sectarian phenomenon. Explanatory notions: Church, religious cult, denomination, heresy, schism and sect; 3. The causes of the emergence of neo-Protestant cults; 4. The emergence of neo-Protestant cults in Christianity; 5. The Baptists: new considerations on Baptist missionary work; 6. The Baptist denomination; 7. The Pentecostal denomination or the Apostolic Church of God; 8. Seventh-day Adventists - "Seventh-day Adventist Church"; 9. Seventh-day Adventists in Romania. Expressions of the Adventist denomination; 10. The Mormons - The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints; 11. Jehovah's Witnesses; 12. New syncretistic religious movements; 13. Occultism and Satanism; 14. Magic, witchcraft and pseudo-medical practices. Seminar: 1. Syncretism. Features and typologies; 2. New Age syncretism; 3. The anti-calendar movement; 4. The Maglavit phenomenon; 5. The Vladimirești movement; 6. M.S.I.A.- "Movement for Spiritual Integration in the Absolute"; 7. Dowsing; 8. Oriental religious movements: Zen and Ananda Marga ("The Path of Bliss"); 9. Transcendental Meditation and Sahaja Yoga; 10. Osho Meditation and Sathya Sai Baba; 11. The Secret (Hidden) Church of the Mother of God; 12. Reincarnation in the New Age movement; 13. Orthodox mission facing the proselytism of certain Oriental groups; 14. Missionary remedies to fight occult phenomena
Learning outcomes
critical, selective and systematic attitude towards missiological information; ability of applying the principles for understanding a patristic document in an appropriate manner, respectively, to take into account all elements involved (linguistic, socio-cultural, religious).
Assessment
Written paper-interpretative essay – 30%. Frontal evaluation / Oral exam: 70%