Apostolic Discourse Research Articles

COMPARATIVE DISCOURSE ANALYSIS OF THE PRACTICS OF CHURCH WORSHIP OF UKRAINIAN AND AMERICAN PENTECOSTALS

The article demonstrates the basic concepts of discourse theory and offers a model of practical application of discourse analysis to determine the liturgical identity of the early American Pentecostals and Ukrainian Pentecostals of the Soviet period.The author demonstrates that if there are common elements in the history of the origin of the Pentecostal movement and the similarity of the dogmatic basis, the causes of misunderstandings should be sought in the hermeneutics of liturgical discourse. The "apostolic discourse" of the early American Pentecostals tended to maximize the deconstruction of all forms of worship in order to maximize the revelation of human nature for the knowledge of God. The discourse of "biblical fidelity" of the Soviet Pentecostals was formed during the period of information isolationism and brutal persecution on religious grounds. Combined with the Baptist tradition of regulated worship and Eastern Orthodox ideas of spirituality, the Soviet Pentecostals formed their own local liturgical tradition.The comparison of mystical manifestations and practices performed between the representatives of the Azusa Street Revival and the Soviet Pentecostals clearly illustrates the above theses.

In the words of the apostle: Pauline apostolic discourse in the letters of Boniface and his circle

This article analyses the correspondence of Boniface and his associates, arguing that Boniface deliberately but subtly communicates a Pauline apostolic identity in his letters, expressing his personal and professional successes, struggles, and feelings through a pervasive language of biblical allusions drawn primarily from the Pauline Epistles. The effectiveness of this hermeneutic becomes apparent when we see the complicity of Boniface's fellow correspondents and their ability and willingness to respond to his Pauline allusions in kind. They express their support of Boniface's missionary and reform projects through their participation in these discursive practices; their ability to recognize, interpret and engage with this biblical language supplies the meaning to his words and, in doing so, systematically constitutes Boniface as an apostolic figure.

The Invention of Peter: Apostolic Discourse and Papal Authority in Late Antiquity by George E. Demacopoulos (review)

The Invention of Peter: Apostolic Discourse and Papal Authority in Late Antiquity by George E. Demacopoulos (review)

George E. Demacopoulos.The Invention of Peter: Apostolic Discourse and Papal Authority in Late Antiquity.

George E. Demacopoulos.<i>The Invention of Peter: Apostolic Discourse and Papal Authority in Late Antiquity</i>.

The Invention of Peter: Apostolic Discourse and Papal Authority in Late Antiquity. By George E. Demacopoulos. Divinations: Rereading Late Ancient Religion. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2013. x + 262 pp. $69.95 cloth.

The Invention of Peter: Apostolic Discourse and Papal Authority in Late Antiquity. By George E. Demacopoulos. Divinations: Rereading Late Ancient Religion. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2013. x + 262 pp. $69.95 cloth. - Volume 84 Issue 2

Demacopoulos, George E. The Invention of Peter: Apostolic Discourse and Papal Authority in Late Antiquity. Divinations: Rereading Late Ancient Religion. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2013. 272 pp. $69.95 (cloth).

Demacopoulos, George E. <i>The Invention of Peter: Apostolic Discourse and Papal Authority in Late Antiquity</i>. Divinations: Rereading Late Ancient Religion. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2013. 272 pp. $69.95 (cloth).

The Invention of Peter: Apostolic Discourse and Papal Authority in Late Antiquity, by George E. Demacopoulos

The Invention of Peter: Apostolic Discourse and Papal Authority in Late Antiquity, by George E. Demacopoulos

The Invention of Peter: Apostolic Discourse and Papal Authority in Late Antiquity. By GEORGE E. DEMACOPOULOS.

D emacopoulos , Director and Co-Founder of the Orthodox Christian Studies Center at Fordham University, has written in the series Rereading Late Antique Religion a fascinating study with a provocative title (the word ‘invention’ is used within quotation marks only on p. 167) and cleverly chosen cover-picture (Fra Angelico), suggesting secrecy. It is indeed ‘a revisionist history of papacy’ (p. 2), a ‘reconsider[ation of] the traditional narratives of the early papacy’ (p. 169). Demacopoulos introduces his book as being ‘devoted to understanding the emergence of … the Petrine discourse, which helped to make possible what we might now call a papal theory’ (p. 1). The author takes a closer look at the occasional but deliberate use of the Petrine discourse by a few fifth–sixth-century key figures because, in this period, ‘notions of imperial, paternal, episcopal, and dogmatic authority coalesced around the figure of Peter in a way that redefined the nature, scope, and authority of the papacy’ (p. 11). He also provides a critical narrative of the development of this discourse and ultimately studies it as deliberate rhetoric for ‘spreading power and influence’ (p. 6). In other words, Democopoulos is not writing a new institutional history of papacy. Rather, he employs discourse analysis for getting a better idea of how and for which purposes Peter was rhetorically linked to the See of Rome, what made such an exclusive association possible, and how it served certain contemporary local concerns. A key contention of Demacopoulos is that popes employed the Petrine discourse mostly ‘in moments of papal anxiety or weakness’ (p. 2; cf. pp. 41, 50–1, 60, 71, 73–4, 98, 124, 153, and 171). It functioned as an attempt to establish the reality it proclaimed, rather than as a calm affirmation of what was already securely established and universally recognized.

The invention of Peter. Apostolic discourse and papal authority in late antiquity. By George E. Demacopoulos. (Divinations. Rereading Late Ancient Religion.) Pp. v+262. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2013. £45.50 ($69.95). 978 0 8122 4517 2

The invention of Peter. Apostolic discourse and papal authority in late antiquity. By George E. Demacopoulos. (Divinations. Rereading Late Ancient Religion.) Pp. v+262. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2013. £45.50 ($69.95). 978 0 8122 4517 2 - Volume 65 Issue 4

The Invention of Peter: Apostolic Discourse and Papal Authority in Late Antiquity by George E. Demacopoulos (review)

The Invention of Peter: Apostolic Discourse and Papal Authority in Late Antiquity. By George E. Demacopoulos. [Divinations: Rereading Late Ancient Religion.] (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press. 2013. Pp. vi, 262. $69.95. ISBN 978-0-8122-4517-2.)This account of the early history of the bishop of Rome has a provocative title. For George E. Demacopoulos, invention is not simply a metaphor; he underviding stands the term quite literally to designate a kind of discourse, what he calls the (p. 2), created by the early popes to shape and control events and to establish the unique authority of the successor to St. Peter. The term discourse does not, however, refer simply to words. Drawing on Michel Foucault, Demacopoulos uses it to designate, actions, institutions, and rituals as well as words.A persistent theme is that claims of papal primacy were most forcibly asserted at times of papal weakness and insecurity. Rome's hegemony intermittent and often contested (p. 8). In contrast to earlier histories such as the works of Erich Caspar and Walter Ullman, Demacopoulos argues that the rise of the papacy is not an ascent from to strength (p. 8). This is most evident in the language chosen by Demacopoulos to depict how the bishops of Rome dealt with ecclesiastical, jurisdictional, and political challenges: performance, display, self-aggrandizement, anxiety, frustration, bluster, and the like (pp. 2, 41, 42, 74, 75).The Invention ofPeter is not, however, a polemical work. Demacopoulos is a serious scholar with deep knowledge of the sources of papal history and an impressive command of the modem literature. In particular he makes good use of recent specialized studies of the social world of ancient Rome. Pope Gelasius, for example, had great difficulty, as bishop of Rome, asserting his authority over the religious practices in the homes of the senatorial elite in the city and the clergy who served them.The central argument of the book rests on the analysis of three popes: St. Leo the Great in mid-fifth century, St. Gelasius at the end of that century, and St. Gregory the Great at the end of the sixth century, with brief sections on papal dealings with the Gothic king Theodoric and the emperor Justinian. As is well known, Leo was the first bishop of Rome to identify himself with Peter. Demacopoulos calls this the single most important rhetorical development in the history of papal selfaggrandizement (p. 42). Significantly, Leo was less likely to invoke the when speaking to the laity or lesser clergy. In this pope's dealings with the East and Christological debates, the appears most often when Leo's authority was in question. The Petrine topos was a marker of papal insecurity rather than ecclesiastical strength (p. 71).The tomb of St. Peter was a key factor in the celebration of papal authority and a prime site for papal performance. When Emperor Valentinian III visited Rome in 450, Leo made certain he took part in a vigil at St. Peter. A century later, when the Gothic king Theodoric visited Rome, Pope Symmachus saw to it that the king visited the basilica. One hundred years later, Pope Gregory required those who served as his agents to swear an oath at the tomb of St. Peter before taking up their assignments.Leo used the term apostolic see to refer to the See of Alexandria and the See of Antioch. …

Book Review: The Invention of Peter: Apostolic Discourse and Papal Authority in Late Antiquity. By George E. Demacopoulos

Book Review: The Invention of Peter: Apostolic Discourse and Papal Authority in Late Antiquity. By George E. Demacopoulos

The Invention of Peter: Apostolic Discourse and Papal Authority in Late Antiquity. By Georges E. Demacopoulos. Pp. 262, Philadelphia, University of Pennsylvania Press, 2013, $42.58.

The Invention of Peter: Apostolic Discourse and Papal Authority in Late Antiquity. By Georges E. Demacopoulos. Pp. 262, Philadelphia, University of Pennsylvania Press, 2013, $42.58.

The invention of Peter: apostolic discourse and papal authority in late antiquity

The invention of Peter: apostolic discourse and papal authority in late antiquity

The Invention of Peter: Apostolic Discourse and Papal Authority in Late Antiquity by George E. Demacopoulos (review)

The Invention of Peter: Apostolic Discourse and Papal Authority in Late Antiquity by George E. Demacopoulos (review)