Christian Debate Research Articles

The Gospel According to Bolo

For the most part, the scholarship on T.S. Eliot's faith and Bolo writings fail to explain the significance of his Bolovian Christianity. Eliot's Bolo writings played an important role in his conversion to Anglo-Catholicism, as evidenced by his frequent references to the debate between Christian modernists and fundamentalists in 1927. Eliot was neither a fundamentalist nor a modernist (theologically speaking), and his Bolo writing suggests that he was pursuing the Anglican via media as he considered these theological issues. Bolo thus played an integral role in the early moments of his Anglo-Catholicism by helping him to pursue the via media within a complex Christian debate.

The Problem

A spirit bundle from Wye House, Talbot County, Maryland, is described and interpreted as a function of the Afro-Christianity created during and after the Atlantic slave trade. The bundle is made up mostly of worn shoes and boots; it dates to after Emancipation and was discovered in the 1990s. This interpretation attempts to use the Slave Narratives of the 1930s to understand the meaning of the bundle. The imminence of the supernatural in the bundle and the simultaneous structure of the nearby Methodist Episcopal and African Methodist Episcopal churches is tied to the early Christian debates of the third and fourth centuries of the immediacy and individuality of access to God in contrast to the hierarchical structure of the church.

『바울과 테클라 행전(Acts of Paul and Thecla)』에 나타난 초기 그리스도교 육신 부활 논쟁

『바울과 테클라 행전(Acts of Paul and Thecla)』에 나타난 초기 그리스도교 육신 부활 논쟁

Always Something New out of Africa

This paper explores changing attitudes toward novelty in early Christianity by focusing on a case study: Augustine of Hippo. It demonstrates that Augustine develops an unapologetically Christian version of the argument from antiquity, unapologetically Christian in that he redefines the very meaning of antiquity in terms of proximity to Christ and in that he relocates the argument from antiquity from the realm of apologetics, where it had become a stock weapon in the arsenal of his predecessors, to the realm of intramural Christian debate. In the process, Augustine relativized temporal measures of “novelty” and “antiquity” and recalibrated the meaning of these terms theologically, with reference to Christ.

In coelestibus: The Spiritual Combat of Onésime Lacouture, S.J.

This paper examines the history of Lacouturisme, a retreat movement founded by the Jesuit retreat leader Onésime Lacouture (d.1951), in Québec and the United States. Based on a redaction of the Ignatian Exercises, Lacouture’s ascetic theology was especially popular among Canadien seminarians, until it was subject to formal censure—based both on questions of orthodoxy and its apologists’ pugilistic iconoclasm. “The retreat” migrated southward, largely under the stewardship of Pittsburgh diocesan priest John Hugo (1911–85), and became deeply critical in the spiritual formation of Dorothy Day. Lacouturisme signaled an upswell of enduring Christian debates, such as the relationship between nature and grace, the boundaries of orthodoxy, and the call to moral perfection. Although the retreat’s theology counselled a measure of social withdrawal, it became spiritual fodder for the Catholic Worker Movement’s radical personalism.

Universal Salvation in Late Antiquity: Porphyry of Tyre and the Pagan–Christian Debate. By Michael Bland Simmons

Universal Salvation in Late Antiquity: Porphyry of Tyre and the Pagan–Christian Debate. By Michael Bland Simmons

Translating Christianity and Buddhism: Catholic Missionaries in Eighteenth- and Nineteenth-Century Burma

Catholic mission in Burma during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries provides evidence for the importance of translation as an element of both Christian evangelism and apologetic. In Burma missionaries were faced by a varied linguistic environment, which became more complex over time. An effective mission required Burmese and the two Karen dialects. Additionally, missionaries were pastors to existing Portuguese Christian communities. British expansion during the nineteenth century added English and Tamil to these pastoral languages. English also became a language of education, Christian debate and mediation. Those wishing to understand Buddhism through its canonical texts had to acquire, or borrow from Buddhist monks, expertise in Pali. This translation and interpretation of Buddhist texts became a tool for both evangelization and Christian defence. In this latter role, the manner in which Buddhist terms were translated or employed became significant within wider European debates concerning the relationship of Christianity to Buddhism.

The Impediment of the Passions: The Testimony of Truth (nhc ix,3) as Deliberative Rhetoric Against the Teaching that the Confession of Faith and Baptism are Salvific without Celibacy

The fragmented nature of the Nag Hammadi treatise known as The Testimony of Truth (nhc ix,3) has seriously impeded our interpretation of this remarkable text, the only Nag Hammadi text in which opposing Gnostic Christian groups are identified by name. Nevertheless, in the past decade, this treatise has become an important reference to the early Christian debate about martyrdom. The question should be asked, however, whether the passages cited by scholars have been interpreted correctly, if we have not first understood the rhetorical strategy of the author and theSitz im Lebenof the text. As the speaker advises an audience seeking after the truth, this text is best read as deliberative speech, despite its many lacunae. Viewing the text rhetorically allows us to reconstruct the message of the text, and interpret its arguments accordingly. When this is done, it becomes clear that the author does not try to persuade his audience with respect to martyrdom, but rather with respect to the passions of the soul that could prevent the soul’s salvation. TheSitz im Lebenof the text is the shared discussion among Christians in general and Gnostic Christians about the efficacy of testimony and baptism for salvation, and the acceptability of sex and procreation.

Surrogate Fathers: imaginary dialogue and patristic culture in late antiquity

This article seeks to contribute to recent debates over Christian dialogue in late antiquity. It explores a specific form of dialogue text: invented debates about the definition of correct doctrine, often starring renowned church Fathers and notorious heretics. It argues that, far from symbolizing an ‘end’ to dialogue in late antiquity – closed down by appeals to patristic authorities – these heresiological dialogues helped to perpetuate controversial Christian debates.

THE SŌMA AND THE PSYCHĒ IN THE GOSPEL OF MATTHEW AND IN PLATO’S TIMAEUS

Both Christianity and Plato claim that the psychē is immortal, that there is life after death. However, Plato’s theory of the psychē has been misinterpreted by some Christian scholars and theologians, who rail against Greek philosophy for distorting Christianity’s doctrine of the psychē, and who hold further that Plato’s theory of the psychē is a dualism. This thesis will prove that Plato does not assert the sōma-psychē bipartite, and try to solve the Christian debate between the sōma-psychē bipartite and sōma, psychē and pneuma tripartite. The importance of Plato’s Timaeus in the ancient world - particularly in the Academy - is the same as that of the Bible in the modern one. This paper will focus on Plato’s Timaeus with the help of his Phaedo and Gorgias to discuss his theory of the birth of the psychē and sōma and the relationship between them. So the main purpose of this article is to inquire into the Gospel of Matthew, thus I hope to show the similarities and the discriminations between the relative thought of Christianity and of Plato. Furthermore, I would like to illustrate that Plato is not a dualist, contrary to the assertions of some Christian scholars Keywords Sōma, Psychē, Pneuma, Self-Dismemberment, Salvation

Sealing the Demons, Once and For All: The Ring of Solomon, the Cross of Christ, and the Power of Biblical Kingship

Abstract This paper traces the historical development of the tradition that King Solomon made use of a signet-ring to marshal the demons as a labor-force for the construction of the Jerusalem Temple and analyzes the shifting ritual uses to which this tradition was put.We argue that this tradition, which is most fully articulated in the Testament of Solomon, is a Christian innovation of the third and fourth centuries rather than a venerable Jewish tradition with roots in the Second Temple period. This branch of the Solomon tradition first emerged within the context of internal Christian debates of the third century concerning proper baptismal practice, where the power of baptism to provide protection from the demons was linked to debates concerning the efficacy of Solomon’s act of sealing the demons in the temple. In the post-Constantinian period, the ring of Solomon was venerated by pilgrims to Jerusalem as a “relic” of Israelite kingship alongside the True Cross. Like certain strands of the Testament of Solomon literature, the pilgrimage practices performed at this potent site figure Christ’s victory on the cross as the fulfillment-once and for all-of Solomon’s only provisional mastery over the demons. In this context, Solomon’s ring gave concrete expression to Christian claims on the Old Testament past, while also mediating between imperial and ecclesiastical power.

Chronology and eschatology: a Jewish–Christian debate, France 1100

The text that is discussed here, written in France in 1100, contains the first debate between a Jew and a Christian on the date of the birth of Jesus. The Christian believed that Jesus was born in 2–3 CE, while the Jew (a pupil of Rashi) disagreed but did not propose an alternative year. The Jew also claimed that the Messiah may appear on 1102 – an eschatological computation which is solely in accordance with Christian records of the 1100th anniversary of the birth of Jesus. This debate, which actually is based on a misunderstanding of both sides, had a considerable impact on the chronological computations of Ashkenazi rabbinical authorities in subsequent centuries. They adopted the Christian calculation of Jesus’ lifetime and augmented it with a Jewish interpretation following the rules of the Jewish calendar, which led them to totally different conclusions than the original Christian view.

Christus Virgo

The description of Christ as a virgin, 'Christus virgo', does occur at rare occasions in Early Christian and late antique texts. Considering that 'virgo' was a term that most commonly described the sexual and moral status of a member of the female sex, such representations of Christ as a virgin may exemplify some of the complex negotiations over gender, salvation, sanctity and Christology that we find in the writings of the Church fathers. The article provides some suggestions as to how we can understand the notion of the virgin Christ within the context of early Christian and late antique theological debates on the one hand, and in light of the growing interest in sacred virginity on the other.

THE RHETORIC OF RIGHTS IN THE UK CHRISTIAN CHURCHES REGARDING NON-HETEROSEXUAL CITIZENSHIP

One of the major deliberations, indeed source of conflict, within and between Christian churches across the globe is what might be termed the ‘gay debate’. This debate is not merely related to the legitimacy of civil marriages, gay clergy, alongside the broader issue of the citizenship and well-being of gay people within the churches, but has expanded to embrace other forms of non-heterosexuality, including bi-sexuality and transgenderism/sexuality and issues regarding their natures. The debate has also been impacted by matters of secular civil rights and the human rights upon which they are contingent. Christian churches, alongside additional faith communities, are now forced to confront legislation that increasingly sanctions matters of citizenship and equality for non-heterosexual people in the wider social context. This paper considers the major Christian debates in the UK and how both those sympathetic to the cause of gay rights and those opposed are forced to integrate the rhetoric of rights into their respective platforms. Analysis includes examination of the contestation between those advancing such rights on the one hand, and those who oppose them on the basis of religious morality and conscience, in short, religious rights, on the other.

Tres aportes al concepto de persona: Boecio (substancia), Ricardo de San Víctor (existencia) y Escoto (incomunicabilidad) / Three Settlements in the Concept of Person: Boethius (substance), Richard of St. Victor (Existence) and Scotus (Incommunicability)

The philosophical concept of person has a prominent role both in understanding the human being as most important in modern debates about ethics, politics and law. In this article we’ll discuss some aspects of the idea of person, following the path in search of their genealogy, especially in the most important area of developing this concept, the Christian debate on Trinitarian theology. Our challenge will be to support the efforts of some intellectuals in seeking to resolve the dialectical tension between what is proper to the individual and what is common to all. We’ll dedicate in this case to the work of Boethius, Richard of St. Victor and Scotus on this matter.

Faith and Force: A Christian Debate about War; Just Policing, Not War: An Alternative Response to World Violence

Faith and Force: A Christian Debate about War; Just Policing, Not War: An Alternative Response to World Violence

Modalities of Belief in Ancient Christian Debate

While central to most aspects of early Christianity, the concept of belief has itself received little attention. In this essay, the author challenges a common distinction between belief and practice and argues that belief itself functions, not simply as a private mental act, but as a complex social performance. Recent anthropological treatments confirm what Augustine, in De utilitate credendi , suggests: believing depends crucially on some form of recognition from one's fellows. Attention to this dynamic allows for a more amplified conception of belief, which stresses the continuity between thought and action, admits of highly textured "modalities" of believing, and helps explain the behavior of multiple sides in theological debates. As a case in point, the early Pelagian controversy illustrates how agents employ various strategies of accommodation—even at the risk of appearing inconsistent or duplicitous—in order to maintain the very ground of belief, i.e., the apparent expectation of a larger body with whom one is in consensus.

Faith and Force: A Christian Debate about War – By David L. Clough and Brian Stiltner

Faith and Force: A Christian Debate about War – By David L. Clough and Brian Stiltner

Faith and force: a Christian debate about war

List of TablesPreface Introduction The Debate over War in a Christian Context Chapter 1 Sources and Methods for a Christian Ethic of War Chapter 2 Christian Pacifism and Just War Tradition Chapter 3 Does Humanitarian Intervention Pass the Test? Chapter 4 The Challenges of Weapons Proliferation Chapter 5 Political and Holy Terrorism: Frameworks for Analysis and Action Chapter 6 Spreading Democracy or Asserting National Interests? The case of the Wars on Iraq ConclusionA Christian Agenda for a Warring World NotesBibliographyIndex

Constructing Antichrist: Paul, Biblical Commentary, and the Development of Doctrine in the Early Middle Ages. By KEVIN L. HUGHES.

This study makes a useful complement to the Richard Bauckham's Tudor Apocalypse, which looks back to the period at which this book ends. It would have been interesting to see the link made. The book is not cited, perhaps because here the author is approaching the topic from within a different cluster of disciplines. Here we have the story from New Testament times, told principally in terms of the history of the exegesis of 2 Thessalonians. Antichrist was encouraged to emerge from the pages of Scripture in the course of early Christian debate. 2 Thess. 2:3–4 contributes the theme of Antichrist as the deceiver and usurper, the reverse of what Christ is, and pretender to his throne. The urgency of the early expectation of the second coming gave way to increasingly complex speculation about the way the end would come and when and where, and about the role within the process of an Antichrist figure. The genre of apocalyptic literature emerged from Hellenistic Judaism not Christianity and not until the third century.