Image Of Christ Research Articles

The image of Christ in John Henry Newman's religious epistemology

AbstractOn what rational grounds can one say that Christianity is true? John Henry Newman's answer to this question lays great emphasis on the subjective, personal dimensions of knowledge, which he claims are no less reasonable than formal logical argumentation. Among these dimensions is conscience. The clearest proof for God's existence, Newman argues, is provided by the experience of God in one's conscience. In this article, I will argue that there is another similar element of Newman's thought: the immediate encounter between Christ and the mind through the impress of the image of Christ. What conscience is to the certainty of God's existence, this image of Christ is to the certainty of Christianity.

Model for Describing of Speech Genre “Spiritual Essay”: Basic Parameters and Implementation (Theolinguistic Aspect)

A parametric model for describing the “essay” speech genre functioning in the church-religious style, which is called spiritual on the basis of its intentional, thematic-content, illocutionary and other features, is presented. The author suggests using the following parameters in the analysis of an essay with spiritual (religious-Christian) content: addresser, addressee, spiritual and religious intentions of the author, spiritual and religious thematic basis of content, composition, argumentation, used Christian images, tactics and strategies, representative linguistic stylistic means, intertextual content. The implementation of this model is shown on the basis of the text «“The effect of proximity” in history and everyday life» written by Archimandrite Makarii (Veretennikov). A spiritual essay is defined as a genre of a church-religious style: a text-reflection created by a clergyman and addressed to a representative of Christian culture, reflecting the personal experiences and impressions of the author. In the final part of the work, it is stated: the spiritual essay is realized as an independent genre and becomes an element of the structure of another genre, for example, writing, diary, etc., that is, it is embodied as an intragenre. The collection of spiritual essays by Archimandrite Savva (Mazuko) “Love and Emptiness” is used for research. The comparative analysis is designed to accurately and convincingly show the specifics of a spiritual essay.

“IMPATIENT MAN” RASKOLNIKOV AND MYSTERIOUS RUSSIA (ABOUT LITURGICS OF “CRIME AND PUNISHMENT” BY F.M. DOSTOEVSKY)

The article regards “Crime and Punishment” from the perspective of temple-related poetics which encompasses a universal pattern of both dogmatic and mystic Orthodox teaching about the Universe. It has enabled us to trace the connection between the novel itself and the Orthodox church service. Liturgics of the novel reveals itself through poetization of church services and sacraments. Among the sacraments mentioned above Confession and the Blessed Sacrament reflected in the Marmeladov’s storyline are of symbolic nature. Christ proves to be the most mysterious central image of the novel. Dostoevsky reproduces the Evangelic Image of Christ through the liturgic “listening” of the paroemia about the resurrection of Lazarus. The image of the priest which penetrates through the whole novel is associated with the iconography of the image of Christ. Liturgics of “Crime and Punishment” is supported by numerous evangelic images, in particular by the analogy of coffin-like room of Raskolnikov with shelters of the possessed, with the poetics of the New Testament related names and objects. The image of the Orthodox Church with its gleaming dome (the Church Raskolnikov is trying to sever all ties with) is regarded as a substantial image of particular relevance associated with the “Crime” of the novel. Exacerbation of the “spiritual impatient man” fades away in the Divine love which is reflected in love of his family and dear ones, in liturgic support of Christian symbols up to Epilogue (the most repeated symbols include images of cross, icon, grave candle, pray), motives of the sign of the cross, his mother’s blessing, cheerful acceptance of other’s person guilt. The studying of “Crime of Punishment” in the context of temple-related poetics has allowed us to define trans-historic nature of liturgic storylines. A striking point in this case could be “zaraisky storyline” which is connected with the colourman Mikolay, a native of Ryazan who reproduces the image of the Cup as Unity in Christ and as self-giving love. “Zaraisky storyline” connects “Crime and Punishment” with tragic events of the 13th century, with the cycle of stories about Nicola Zaraisky which tell about the invasion of Batu Khan and about the destruction of natives of Ryazan for the sake of faith as a reflection of the national ideal. Liturgucs of “Crime and Punishment” is strengthened by the hidden autobiographic storyline which turns the first of the Dostoevsky’s five novels into the novel-penitence.

К определению художественного метода Достоевского и его гносеологической наполненности

Toward Defining Dostoevsky’s Poetic Method and Its Epistomological Contents. The article offers a new concept of Dostoevsky’s poetic method; the concept is based on the writer’s epistemology and philosophical and religious anthropology. The article problematizes the notion of polyphony as antithetic to Dostoevsky’s system of ideas. In formulating his anti-heroes’ ideas, Dostoevsky frequently alters his own ideas in such a way that they radically change their essence while preserving their outward appearance. This is what we call an apatetic novel. To find their way in the world of apatetic ideas, readers must assess them in the perspective of truth that, in Dostoevsky’s view, has been given to people in the image of Christ in the flesh and consists in loving one’s neighbor as oneself.

Christian Images and Motifs in the Kizhi Plots of Russian Prose in 1960 — Early 1970-s

The article presents an analysis of Christian topics in prose works about the island of Kizhi. Methodologically, the study combines the approaches of studying the local text that have already become conventional, with the principles of historical poetics, bringing back the possibilities of diachronic analysis. This allows to take into account both the timeless semantic constants of the Kizhi Island image in literature, and the intellectual context of late Soviet literature, which is now attracting the attention of many researchers. 1960–70s are the period when the largest number of texts about the island appeared. The article offers a classification of the Christian topoi in the texts of that period. Three works by different authors are considered in more detail (Yu. Kazakov’ short story Adam and Eve, I. Mazuruk’s short story Kizhi, and V. Pul’kin’s book The Kizhi Tales), in which the Christian topic is represented both explicitly and implicitly — in the images of the church, icons, biblical story about Adam and Eve, gospel images of the apostles. In Soviet prose and poetry, the primordial religious meaning of Christian topoi is most often concealed in the subtext. The depiction of Christian symbols is ambivalent and requires legitimization: through folklore, through the theme of historical memory, dialogue of the past and present, etc. This kind of ambivalence clearly illustrates the complexity of the intellectual and spiritual atmosphere of the Thaw and the contradictory attitude of Russian literature towards the Christian traditions.

Iconoclash in Northern Italy circa 1500

This article draws together two works created in late fifteenth-century Mantua. Although radically different in kind, they were borne from the same acts of violence: Andrea Mantegna’s Madonna of Victory and a responsum about Jewish religious law by Rabbi Joseph Colon. Mantegna’s altarpiece, painted to commemorate the bloody battle of Fornova as a Gonzaga victory, was paid for by Daniele Norsa; Norsa, a Jewish banker, was accused of destroying a prior Christian icon and ordered to finance the new altarpiece as reparations for this crime, under threat of death. Colon’s responsum addressed the permissibility of creating a Christian image under duress—idolatry being one of the sins for which a Jew must sacrifice their life rather than transgressing. We explore the remarkable artistry and distinct craft practiced by the painter and the rabbi—image making in the one case, legal reasoning in the other—as modes of describing, interpreting, and creating reality. Both works address problems of religion and idolatry, faith and coercion, victory and violence, and triumph and lament. Together they reveal the dynamics of a fascinating iconoclash, a conflict of culture waged over the struggle between making and breaking images.

미켈란젤로의 〈최후의 심판〉에 나타난 예수 그리스도의 형상: 피치노를 중심으로

이 논문의 목적은 미켈란젤로의 〈최후의 심판〉 도상에 나타난 예수 그리스도의 형상이 구원자의 이미지라는 것을 밝히는 데 있다. 〈최후의 심판〉 도상의 예수 형상은 이제까지 대체로 죄인들을 정죄하는 심판자로 보는 경향이 우세했다, 하지만 미켈란젤로가 많은 영향을 받은 신플라톤주의 시각으로 볼 경우 예수 형상은 새로운 이미지로 드러난다.미켈란젤로의 서신, 시, 그리고 조각 등의 작품으로 미루어 볼 때,15세기 이탈리아 르네상스기의 신플라톤주의 사상의 중심인물인 피치노에게서 큰 영향을 받았다고 볼 수 있다. 따라서 미켈란젤로의 〈최후의 심판〉 도상 역시 피치노의 신플라톤주의 사상의 관점에서 바르게 이해할 수 있을 것이다. 피치노의 중심 사상은 천상의 신으로부터 지상의 사물에 이르는 위계적 우주관을 배경으로 한다. 거기서 인간은 신으로부터 나오는 빛에 끌려 그 영혼이 상승하여 신과의 합일을 이루고자하는 존재이다. 여기서 인간 영혼이 신에게로 상승하도록 추동하는 역할을 하는 것이 미이다. 이 같은 피치노의 신플라톤주의 사상은 〈최후의 심판〉 도상 전체에 반영되어 있다. 그 중에서 예수 형상에는 피치노가 신과의 합일을 향해 나아가는 과정에서 거쳐야 하는 것으로 설명한 이데아적 미적 개념들인 광휘, 조화, 그리고 사랑이 잘 표현되어 있다. 미켈란젤로는 이 같은 피치노의 미 개념들을 예수 형상에 반영하여, 예수를 광휘의 미가 깃든 활기찬 모습으로, 조화의 미가 깃든 매력적인 모습으로, 그리고 사랑이 깃든 행동적인 모습으로 표현하고 있다. 피치노의 미적개념이 반영된 예수 형상은 전체적으로 분노하는 심판자가 아닌 인간 영혼을 구원하고자 하는 사랑의 구원자인 것이다.

ЗНАКОВА СИМВОЛІКА ФІТОМОРФНИХ ОРНАМЕНТІВ ВІЗАНТІЙСЬКОГО ЗОЛОТАРСТВА IV–IX СТОЛІТЬ

Purpose of the research is to analyse of the peculiarities of the symbolic meaning and specific use of phytomorphic ornamentation in Byzantine goldsmithery of the IV–IX centuries. Methodology.The research is applied historical-cultural and art critic approaches combined with comparative and presentational methods. Results.The results of the research prove the relationship between Eastern and Greco-Roman traditions of using floral ornamentation in Byzantine jewellery in the IV–IX centuries is highlighted. The traditions and application of floral ornamentation in Byzantine jewellery of the indicated period are identified. The system of transformation of plant motifs into meaningful symbols of spiritual truth embedded in Christianity is analysed. The stylistics, symbolic meaning and artistic peculiarities of plant ornaments applied in jewellery of the above period are investigated on the example of outstanding jewellery items. Jewellery items decorated with floral ornaments from the early Byzantine and iconoclastic periods from renowned museum collections worldwide are examined. The peculiarities of the sign symbolism of phytomorphic ornaments in the Byzantine jewellery of the IV–IX centuries are identified. Artistic technologies and terminology of the Byzantine goldsmith's period are characterized and specified. Scientific novelty. The sign symbolism of phytomorphic ornaments in the Byzantine goldsmith's art of the IV–IX centuries was investigated in a comprehensive way. The causes for the use of phytomorphic ornaments in jewellery items of that time as elements specifying Christian images at certain stages of their canonical formation have been revealed. The article proves the importance of the use of the sign symbolism of phytomorphic ornaments in Byzantine jewellery for further qualitative formation and perfection of Christian traditions. Practical significance. The material of this research can be reflected in the writing of academic disciplines related to artistic technologies in jewellery. As a source of inspiration they can be applied in the process of creating new jewellery collections of Christian themes.

Piers Plowman: The A Version. William Langland. Translated by Michael Calabrese. Washington, DC: Catholic University of America Press, 2020. Pp. xlvii+160.

<i>Piers Plowman: The A Version</i>. William Langland. Translated by Michael Calabrese. Washington, DC: Catholic University of America Press, 2020. Pp. xlvii+160.

Review: Calling the Spirits: A History of Seances, by Lisa Morton

Review: <i>Calling the Spirits: A History of Seances</i>, by Lisa Morton

The Influencer Role of Charismatic Renewal in the Spirituality of Post-Covid Society

"In studies of charismatic movements, an essential aspect is often overlooked: any authentic religion requires assumption by faith, (to have no other Gods other than Me!). Or precisely this kind of mentality is promoted in the charismatic movements, of spiritual openness, which is willing to give credit to everything, is specific to culture, not religion. The religious dimension of the charismatic believer is of the syncretic type, unity in diversity, not of assumption, but based on the notion of option, and not on dogma, which leads him to donjuanism. Or it is precisely this danger that is underlined by St. Gregory Senaite, who warns us not to receive, if we see, anything sensitive or intelligible, inside or outside, whether it appears to you in the image of Christ, as an angel or a saint, or if it is shown to you as a light. For the mind itself has the ability to imagine things and can change, beware of receiving or rejecting those that do not know for sure come from the Holy Ghost. The problem of discerning between truth and lie, spiritual or devilish work, is the purpose of this scientific approach. The diverse plethora of charismatic offerings, as well as the interference with traditional Christianity, make us, like Pilate, ask: what is the Truth? or, rather, how can the Truth be distinguished among so many truths?"

Colin E. Gunton’s Christological Anthropology: Humanity’s Relationships in the Image of Christ

Abstract The anthropology of Colin E. Gunton begins with the Trinity and specifically, the person of Christ. From trinitarian persons, Gunton deduces the ontological definition of what it means to be a person, that is, a being in relationship and in distinction, or ‘free relatedness’. To be a person is to be in the image of the personal God, which is christological language, for it is Christ who bears the image of God in its fullness. As the true image bearer, Christ’s humanity is paradigmatic of what it means to be in relationship: with God, with the world and with other human persons. Gunton’s christology is also thoroughly pneumatological, borrowing Irenaeus’ metaphor of God’s ‘two hands in the world’: The Son and the Spirit. Not only do the Son and the Spirit mediate God’s presence to creation according to Irenaeus, but Gunton builds on this metaphor to include the Spirit’s mediation of the eternal Son to the Father as well as the Incarnate Son to humanity. The Spirit also reshapes humanity to be in the image of Christ, through his relationships with God, with the world and with other human persons. This is an eschatological project, for in this reshaping, the creation is recreated toward its teleological perfection. The article concludes with a potential direction for future study within Gunton’s christological anthropology. To conceive what it means to be human theologically, Gunton insists that we must look to Christ’s own person.

Is tithing a justifiable development in the Christian church?

With its over 40 000 denominations worldwide, Christianity undoubtedly remains the most fragmented of the religions of the world. One of the main causes of the said fragmentation is apparently the practice of tithing, which both genuine clergy and many shady characters that have disguised themselves as ministers of religion in society regard as the quickest way of accumulating wealth or making money. Anybody who views television programmes on religion and listens to religious leaders who give Christian preaching on various radio stations nowadays cannot fail to observe the aggressive way in which such leaders opportunistically manipulate their followers and listeners to pay tithes using what has come to be generically known as ‘prosperity gospel’. Given the extent to which it has fragmented and continues to fragment the Christian Church, as well as to taint the image of Christianity as a religion, the question asked by many people today about tithing is: Are the Christians as obligated to pay tithes as the Jews under the Mosaic Law? Using typology for its interpretative tool and arguing both scripturally and historically, this article argues that Christians are not obligated to pay tithes because tithing, as part of the temple worship system whose existence ended with Christ’s free self-offering as a sacrifice to God on the cross, foreshadowed free offering to God by Christ’s followers, not obligatory giving by law.Contribution: This article contributes to the general debate on tithing as practised in the Christian Church today. The article argues that there is no scriptural proof anywhere to validate payment of tithes to the New Testament Church or its ministers.

The Mandylions in Genoa and Rome: On the Authenticity of Christ's True Image in Counter-Reformation Italy

This essay recovers the dialectics of authenticity informed by the reinvigorated emergence of the Mandylion of Edessa as an authorized early Christian relic in Counter-Reformation Italy. The original was a miraculously generated icon of Christ's face which later became a major devotional artifact in Constantinople during the Byzantine period. However, by the seventeenth century two celebrated images of Christ's face, at San Bartolomeo degli Armeni in Genoa and San Silvestro in Capite in Rome, made simultaneous claims to be the original Mandylion. By exploring the reception of these mandylions in Genoa and Rome, and in particular the arguments advanced to vouch for the authenticity of each, this essay delineates historicized ways of perceiving holy images as faithful testaments to the origins of Christian history. This analysis therefore challenges the presumed supremacy of modern paradigms of authenticity.

PERCERAIAN DALAM KELUARGA KRISTEN DAN PERKAWINAN LAGI DITINJAU DARI MATIUS 19 DAN PENCEGAHANNYA

The number of cases of divorce, causing the image of Christianity cannot show its duty as the light and salt of the world. This research was conducted with qualitative methodology with literature study (literature). In the Bible study of Matthew 19, it is stated that divorce is prohibited, it is permissible to divorce if there is adultery. After a study it is meant that divorce is permitted because of sin in the family, it is necessary to resolve the conflict. Considering the huge impact of divorce, it is necessary to solve and prevent strategies in the Christian family.

The Survival of Maya Blue in Sixteenth-Century Mexican Colonial Mural Paintings

ABSTRACT The famous Maya blue, a nanostructured hybrid organic–inorganic material, has been the subject of numerous studies since its discovery in 1931. These mainly focused on mural paintings, manuscripts, cultural artifacts from ancient Mesoamerica, and notable examples of syncretic art produced in early colonial times in New Spain as a result of the convergence of Mesoamerican and European traditions. This article reports on the identification of Maya blue in the wall painting programs of four mendicant monasteries founded in Southern and Central Mexico during the sixteenth century. It discusses the pictorial effects, painting mixtures, and artistic inventiveness of indigenous artists who expressed themselves through the quality of color and the meanings of materials by using Maya blue in Christian images. This article proposes that Maya blue reappeared in the palette of local artists in the second half of the sixteenth century, as a traditional technology that integrated the complex worldview of Mesoamerican cultures and their knowledge of its extraction, production, and use in the art of painting.

Promessa ou conquista? Virgílio e a bandeira de Minas Gerais (1788-1963)

A Inconfidência Mineira é o único episódio do passado colonial que figura no calendário cívico brasileiro como um feriado. Além de associada à figura de Tiradentes, não por acaso oficialmente assemelhada à imagem de Cristo, a bandeira que os inconfidentes teriam esboçado acabou oficializada em 1963 na forma hoje conhecida e tornou-se outro símbolo da conjura eleita como instante fundador da emancipação nacional. Porém, o lema que a compõe – Libertas quæ sera tamen – necessitava de exame mais acurado e de uma compreensão mais precisa da intenção dos inconfidentes, em especial Alvarenga Peixoto, ao escolher esse fragmento das Éclogas de Virgílio (1.27), correntemente traduzido como “Liberdade, ainda que tardia”. Este artigo propõe outra tradução – e, portanto, nova interpretação para esse fragmento.

Courtly Motives In The Art Of The High Middle Ages

Purpose of the article. The article presents a study of courtly motives in the art of the high Middle Ages and the foundations of the ideological and figurative-symbolic representation of courtly images in various artistic forms of this era. Methodology. The study of the content of courtly motives and images, the definition of the ideological foundations of their figurative and symbolic representation was carried out through the use of historical, analytical, symbolic, and allegorical methods. Scientific novelty. The article examines courtly motives and courtly images presented in the art of the High Middle Ages, identifies the ideological foundations of their figurative and symbolic representation in various artistic forms of this era. Conclusions. The visual images of medieval masters create the world of courtly, filling the courtly universe with numerous subjects that reflect the image and lifestyle of both knights and their Beautiful ladies. And thus they help to understand the norms and prescriptions of courtesy, the models of the participants' behavior in the courteous action, the corresponding rituals and etiquette norms of courteous relations, their attributes, and stylistics. In order to do this, the artists used various techniques - bright colors, saturation with symbols, heraldry, outfits, etc. Especially popular was the use of the rose image, which became the quintessence of Gothic art, its courtly and religious symbol, the embodiment of the ideal of chivalry to the Beautiful Lady, and a kind of reflection of the Christian image of the Virgin Mary.

Between Ancestry and Belief: “Judaism” and “Hinduism” in the Nineteenth Century

Abstract This article argues that thinking about disputed conceptions of religious conversion helps us understand the emergence of both Jewish and Indian nationalism in the nineteenth century. In today’s world, Hindu nationalism and Zionism are most often understood to be in conflict with various forms of Islamism, yet the ideological formations of both developed in the context of Christian colonialism and, from the perspectives of Jewish and Indian reformers and nationalists, the remaking of Hinduism and Judaism in the image of Christianity. Even as they internalized some aspects of Protestant criticisms of “Judaism” and “Hinduism,” nineteenth century Jewish and Hindu reformers opposed definitions of “Judaism” and “Hinduism” based upon what they regarded as a one-sided emphasis on individual belief at the expense of ancestry and national identity. In making arguments about what constituted “Judaism” and “Hinduism” respectively, Jewish and Hindu reformers also rejected what they claimed was the false universalism of Christianity, as epitomized by Christian missionizing. For Jewish and Hindu reformers of the nineteenth century, “Jewish” and “Hindu” ties to ancestry marked not a parochial intolerance of others, as many Christians had long maintained, but a true universalism that, unlike Christian missionizing, allowed, promoted and embraced human difference. In these ways, contested characterizations of “Judaism” and “Hinduism” in the nineteenth century set in motion a series of arguments about conversion that became central to Jewish and Indian nationalism, some of which remain relevant for understanding conversion controversies in Israel and India today.

Christian “anarchism” of three cosmists (st. Francis of Assisi, N.F. Fedorov, Pope Francis)

The philosophy of three prominent Christian thinkers is considered: St. Francis of Assisi, Nikolai Fedorovich Fedorov and Pope Francis. Despite the time distance, each of them sets forth common ideas. It is claimed that the link between these individuals is the philosophy of cosmism. A typical representative of this trend is Nikolai Fedorov, but thinking in the categories of cosmism is also noted in the works of St. Francis of Assisi and Bishop of Rome. It is proposed to call them Christian anarchists who violate the fossilized structure of the church and society. The specificity of their anarchism is emphasized, devoid of negative features, built in the image of Christ and leading to the renewal of the sacred space, the Earth. The basic concepts of each of the three Christian anarchists are considered. The analysis of their philosophy allows for the formulation of the thesis that the ideas they propose to restructure the world and society are based on the principle of Christ – “not by force, but by love”.