Church Militant Research Articles

A Church Militant: Anglicans and the Armed Forces from Queen Victoria to the Vietnam War, by Michael Snape

<i>A Church Militant: Anglicans and the Armed Forces from Queen Victoria to the Vietnam War</i>, by Michael Snape

A Church Militant: Anglicans and the Armed Forces from Queen Victoria to the Vietnam War. By Michael Snape

A Church Militant: Anglicans and the Armed Forces from Queen Victoria to the Vietnam War. By Michael Snape

A Church Militant: Anglicans and the Armed Forces from Queen Victoria to the Vietnam War. By Michael Snape. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press, 2022. xvi + 492 pp. £90.00 hardback.

A Church Militant: Anglicans and the Armed Forces from Queen Victoria to the Vietnam War. By Michael Snape. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press, 2022. xvi + 492 pp. £90.00 hardback.

Michael Snape, A Church Militant: Anglicans and the Armed Forces from Queen Victoria to the Vietnam War

Michael Snape, <b><i>A Church Militant: Anglicans and the Armed Forces from Queen Victoria to the Vietnam War</i></b>

The Civil War Letters of Dr. Daniel Garrison Brinton, Surgeon in Charge at the US Army General Hospital in Quincy

The Civil War Letters of Dr. Daniel Garrison Brinton, Surgeon in Charge at the US Army General Hospital in Quincy

Hearing the Trumpets of the Church Militant: Weather Bells and Supernatural Audition in Post-Reformation Germany

Hearing the Trumpets of the Church Militant: Weather Bells and Supernatural Audition in Post-Reformation Germany

John of Garland on the Jews

ABSTRACT The works of John of Garland, an Englishman who taught in Paris and Toulouse in the first half of the thirteenth century, have many virulent passages describing the Jews of his day. Although he never denied the possibility that conversion to Christianity could redeem the Jews, he thought it unlikely they would come over to the Catholic faith or remain steadfast in the religion. His invective was extreme by the standards of the time but was influential in that it appeared in many of his pedagogical works for adolescents and young men at the universities. These works and others which were directed at a more learned audience, like those that praised the Virgin Mary and extolled the triumphs of the Church Militant, were written in rhetorically complex Latin and have not attracted the interest they deserve from scholars. This article is a first attempt toward remedying this state of affairs.

Militant Liturgies: Practicing Christianity with Kierkegaard, Bonhoeffer, and Weil

Traditional philosophy of religion has tended to focus on the doxastic dimension of religious life, which although a vitally important area of research, has often come at the cost of philosophical engagements with religious practice. Focusing particularly on Christian traditions, this essay offers a sustained reflection on one particular model of embodied Christian practice as presented in the work of Søren Kierkegaard. After a discussion of different notions of practice and perfection, the paper turns to Kierkegaard’s conception of the two churches: the Church Triumphant and the Church Militant. Then, in light of Kierkegaard’s defense of the latter and critique of the former, it is shown that Kierkegaard’s specific account gets appropriated and expanded in Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s account of “costly grace” and “religionless Christianity,” and Simone Weil’s conception of “afflicted love.” Ultimately, it is suggested that these three thinkers jointly present a notion of “militant liturgies” that offers critical and constructive resources for contemporary philosophy of religion.

Building A Bridge dir. by Evan Mascagni and Shannon Post

Reviewed by: Building A Bridge dir. by Evan Mascagni and Shannon Post Elsie M. Miranda Building A Bridge. Directed by Evan Mascagni and Shannon Post. USA: Player Piano Productions, 2021. 1 hour, 36 minutes. The documentary film Building a Bridge, produced by Martin Scorsese, does a good job of telling the story of Jesuit priest and editor of America Magazine, Father James Martin. Father Jim represents one of the first publicly identifiable Catholic priests who has come out in support of LGBT Catholics and their families at a time when the Catholic Church is deeply divided on matters of sexual ethics. Intrinsic to the Jesuit charism, "All for the Glory of God" requires that Jesuits recognize the inherent value of all human beings, including showing respect, compassion, and sensitivity to LGBT persons. For Father Jim, this is not a matter of contextually interpreting Catholic sexual ethics but rather a consequence of the foundational Catholic principle of respect for the human person. In 2018, days after the Pulse nightclub massacre in Orlando, Florida (the largest mass shooting in American history), Father Jim recalls his grief and deep disappointment by the silent apathy of many priests and bishops who in essence turned their backs on these victims and their families, even at the moment of their death, because they were gay. Indignant at the clerical cowardice to do what was right, just, and merciful, Father Jim set out to write a book he titled: Building a Bridge, How the Catholic Church and the LGBT Community Can Enter into a Relationship of Respect, Compassion, and Sensitivity. The film, by the same name, tells the story of Father Jim's emergence as an advocate for LGBT Catholics and their families and raises questions about the willingness and capacity of the Roman Catholic Church to engage in the process of bridge-building with the LGBT community. What is refreshing about the film is the joyful sincerity of Father Jim. This is on display as he tends to his garden, celebrates Eucharist, prays, shares the love of his family, and speaks to communities across the globe. Throughout the film, his demeanor is one of sincerity, born of a deep commitment to love and care for others in [End Page 67] the name of Jesus. Father Jim's humility empowers him to offer a legitimate, pastoral message of inclusion, hope, and mercy to LGBT Catholics. He listens to personal stories, recognizes people's struggles, celebrates their victories, and shows respect, compassion, and sensitivity, born out of his love of Jesus, which is just what many need to hear. At the same time, his message falls short of calling the church to real systemic change, which the institutional church has been reluctant even to consider. The film highlights these social and ecclesial tensions by giving considerable airtime to alt-right conservative Michael Voris. Founder of "Church Militant," Voris confesses to being an "ex-gay" man who "lived in sin for 13 years." He lashes out against Catholic clergy who are "not more vocal against condemning LGBT Catholics." His focused attack on homosexual behavior as grounds for damnation is enhanced with the idea that obedience to the orthodox teachings of the church and the willingness to enter into corporal suffering are what provide the path to redemption and salvation. Curiously, Voris's demeanor exhibits overt homophobia and expresses his disgust of male homosexual behavior with rage. He says, "If you do not carry that cross, you do not get into the kingdom of heaven"—Voris wears a cross around his neck that may very well be emblematic of other crosses he carries. Nevertheless, the film juxtaposes these two celibate, Catholic men as representing two faces of the Catholic Church in the United States and proposes that a reconciliatory process of bridge building be undertaken between the church and the LGBT community; however, a practical approach for how to begin this project remains ambiguous. What the film fails to do is to provide a rationale for the impasse. In the process of embarking on a narrative of "bridge-building" between the church and the LGBT community, it is necessary to understand the basic theological premise that informs the notion of...

Detection of potential biodeterioration risks for tempera painting in 16th century exhibits from State Tretyakov Gallery.

In this study, we investigated biodeterioration of materials used in tempera painting by analyzing the structure of the microbiome in ancient tempera paintings exhibited in State Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow, Russia. Samples were obtained from 16th-century paintings, including a grand Russian Orthodox icon “The Church Militant” (all exhibits were without visible signs of biodeterioration), and from surrounding walls and ceilings (with vast zones of visible microbial growth). A number of microorganisms isolated from visible signs of environmental bio-damage were also detected in tempera paintings kept in temperature- and humidity-controlled conditions unfavorable for the growth of microflora. To determine the biodegrading potential of the microbiome for tempera paintings, we developed a set of mock layers from paintwork materials used in tempera painting of 16th century and their modern analogues and inoculated them with cultures containing filamentous fungi and bacteria. The susceptibility to microbial degradation of individual tempera painting materials was examined by micro-Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy, which enabled detection of even invisible signs of biodeterioration. The results indicate that the microorganisms isolated from paintings and surrounding areas in the museum are capable of causing significant damage of various tempera materials, among which varnishes were the most resistant; however, the addition of antiseptic (sodium pentachlorophenolate) can inhibit microbial growth on sturgeon glue.

CHARLES BOXER E A IGREJA MILITANTE: RAÇA, MISSIONAÇÃO E IMPÉRIO NA EXPANSÃO IBÉRICA DOS SÉCULOS XVI E XVII

O artigo busca fazer um balanço da obra do historiador inglês Charles Boxer dedicado a missionação católica nas Américas espanholas e portuguesas dos séculos XVI e XVII. Boxer condensou grande parte da discussão sobre o assunto, após uma vida de pesquisa, no livro de 1978 intitulado The Church Militant and Iberian Expansion, 1440-1770. A questão religiosa o acompanhou ao longo de sua produção historiográfica dedicada ao Império ultramarino português. Nesse artigo, busca-se explorar o modo como Boxer compreendeu as políticas ibéricas de conversão dos nativos e seus entrelaçamentos com as próprias políticas de colonização.

Consecrated Widows: Altars of God: A Restored Ancient Vocation in the Catholic Church

Consecrated Widows: Altars of GodA Restored Ancient Vocation in the Catholic Church Christina Hip-Flores (bio) I. Introduction Recent events in the Catholic Church have brought the question of ordained deaconesses back to the fore. In August 2016, Pope Francis established a commission to re-study this proposal. Not surprisingly, the announcement brought much media coverage and heated discussion. However, many Catholics—while tending to have strong opinions about the feminine diaconate—have virtually no familiarity with another ancient female vocation alive and well in the Catholic Church today: the ancient order of consecrated widows—from which, incidentally, the deaconesses emerged. The Holy Spirit has been quietly but fruitfully inspiring a restoration of this ancient order in various parts of the contemporary Church—long before the debate concerning deaconesses attracted popular media attention. And remarkably, the pastoral functions of the consecrated widows are exactly those attributed to the female diaconate. Perhaps a serious study of this ancient, and fully sanctioned, form of consecrated life may demonstrate that the current debate concerning deaconesses is redundant in many respects. [End Page 108] The Order of Widows (Ordo Viduarum) is composed of widows who live under a vow of widowed continence for the sake of the kingdom; they vow to never remarry after the death of their first husband, and this vow is publicly received by competent ecclesiastical authority. These vowed widows give testimony to the perfect fidelity of the nuptial bond, and are dedicated to prayer and charity. The juridical bond of marriage ends with the death of one of the spouses, but the bond of love remains and continues to configure the woman into a type of the pilgrim Church awaiting the return of the bridegroom. Francis recently preached that the Church militant is similar to a widow and progresses through history searching for her divine spouse Jesus Christ. The widow of Nain in scripture is "an icon of the Church, because the Church is in a certain sense a widow," the Holy Father said, reflecting on Luke 7:11–17. "The Bridegroom is gone and she walks in history, hoping to find him, to meet with him. And she will be his true bride. In the meantime she—the Church—is alone! The Lord is invisible. She has a certain dimension of widowhood."1 Thus the consecrated widow is an eschatological sign of hope in the Resurrection and perseverance in prayer. The term "order" (Ordo Viduarum) is used in this sense as a class of persons sharing common characteristics. It can be used analogously to the Order of Deacons, Order of Presbyters, Order of Bishops, or—because it does not necessarily imply sacramental ordination—to the Order of Catechumens, Order of Virgins, Order of Spouses, and so on.2 In this case, "Order of Widows" is likewise not to be confused with the religious orders, such as Order of Benedictines and Order of Preachers, to name just two of the most prominent. The Order of Widows has its Biblical origins in the First Epistle to Timothy: Honor widows who are truly widows. But if a widow has children or grandchildren, let these first learn to perform their religious duty to their own family and to make recompense to their parents, for this is pleasing to God. The real [End Page 109] widow, who is all alone, has set her hope on God and continues in supplications and prayers night and day. But the one who is self-indulgent is dead while she lives. Command this, so that they may be irreproachable. And whoever does not provide for relatives and especially family members has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever. Let a widow be enrolled if she is not less than sixty years old, married only once, with a reputation for good works, namely, that she has raised children, practiced hospitality, washed the feet of the holy ones, helped those in distress, involved herself in every good work. But exclude younger widows, for when their sensuality estranges them from Christ, they want to marry and will incur condemnation for breaking their first pledge. And furthermore, they learn to be idlers, going about from house to house...

The Church Militant: Spiritual Warfare in the Anglican Charismatic Renewal, by Graham R. Smith

The Church Militant: Spiritual Warfare in the Anglican Charismatic Renewal, by Graham R. Smith

James Leeke, George Herbert, and the Neo-Latin Contexts of The Church Militant

This article situates George Herbert’s poem The Church Militant in new Neo‑Latin contexts. Rather than reading the poem in relation to Herbert’s English poetry, as has often been done before, it argues that it has close generic ties to Anglo‑Latin miniature epics on the Gunpowder Plot. This article first shows how Herbert’s English poem draws on and revises elements of this tradition; it then turns to a little‑known manuscript translation of The Church Militant prepared immediately after its publication. The translation – which significantly revises Herbert’s original text – attempts to pull Herbert’s poem closer to the miniature epic tradition from which it had broken. Taken together, these contexts demonstrate the surprising proximity of this English poem to a Neo‑Latin poetic genre and shed new light on Herbert’s choice of the vernacular as a departure from the politics of the miniature epic tradition

El Cuadro de Ánimas de la parroquia de Santiago, de Málaga

El “Cuadro de Ánimas” de la parroquia de Santiago de Málaga, pintado hacia 1665 por el discípulo de Alonso Cano, Juan Niño de Guevara, evidencia la verdad de la Comunión de los Santos, una idea quizá propuesta por el mismo autor, en base a su sólida formación cristiana. Hay, pues, clara alusión a los tres grupos o iglesias que integran el dogma. La Militante la ejemplifica el catafalco de los oficios de difuntos, significando los sufragios que elevan los fieles en su favor. La Purgante está presente en las ánimas sufrientes que purgan sus cultas en el fuego purificador. Por fin, la Triunfante va indicada en el santoral que preside: Santiago, el titular de la parroquia, derramando sobre los penados la gracia de salvífica, ante la presencia de la Virgen María con el Niño en brazos, y dispuesto sobre un orbe, cual símbolo del Creador, y con la cruz de la Redención mostrada en la mano; una idea que insistentemente está reiterada en esa otra cruz que corona el catafalco y centra la composición, como una concreción del cristocentrismo tridentino

Alexander Duff's 1854 North American Tour and The International Church Militant

Alexander Duff's 1854 North American Tour and The International Church Militant

Wyclif and Hierarchy

Nowadays it is widely realized that much discussion concerning the nature of the Church and of government in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries was fuelled by the conceptions of hierarchy that are found in the writings of Denis the pseudo-Areopagite. Denis was invoked and quoted in varied and conflicting ways in consideration of questions concerning the structure and the unity of the Church, the relationships between bishops, mendicants and the papacy, the location of the state of perfection within the ecclesiastical hierarchy and the relationship between temporal and spiritual jurisdiction. From the treatises on the Celestial and on the Ecclesiastical Hierarchy was derived knowledge of the arrangement of the angelic society in heaven into nine orders. They constituted an exemplar for the corresponding arrangement into nine orders of the Church Militant on earth. So an examination of the hierarchical structure of the contemporary Church seemed to require an understanding and an interpretation of the celestial hierarchy, and that entailed knowledge of the teachings of Denis. The basic propositions were familiar to many before the composition of the Bull Unam Sanctam in which they are enshrined: St. Paul has written that the powers that be are ordained of God, that is, they are arranged or constituted into an ordering, for they are not equal. To Paul’s disciple on the Areopagus in Athens were ascribed the treatises in which this ordering was elaborately explained in the light of the principle that every spirit belongs to an order or grade which forms part of a continuous hierarchy, so that the lower orders are connected to the highest ones, not directly but by the intermediate orders. Denis himself typically wrote of the differences between created beings in terms of the degree to which these unequal beings participate in the divine light which shines progressively less strongly the further it is transmitted down the orders in the hierarchy. Many medieval readers seized upon the implications of this for the exercise of jurisdiction, secular as well as spiritual. Denis’s angelology had been given a political and social extension by writers such as Alan of Lille who died in 1203 and William of Auvergne whose Magisterium divinale was written from about 1223 onwards. The role played by Denis’s writings and ideas in the debates and polemics concerning lay as well as ecclesiastical power continued to be a substantial one in the fourteenth century.

Medieval Welsh Perceptions of the Orient by Natalia I. Petrovskaia

Reviewed by: Medieval Welsh Perceptions of the Orient by Natalia I. Petrovskaia Roderick Mcdonald Petrovskaia, Natalia I., Medieval Welsh Perceptions of the Orient (Cursor Mundi, 21), Turnhout, Brepols, 2015; hardback; pp. xxxv, 241; 5 colour, 7 b/w illustrations, 4 b/w tables; R.R.P. €85.00; ISBN 9782503551555. Originating from Natalia Petrovskaia’s doctoral dissertation, this work delivers a fine exploration of the Western medieval construction of the Orient, exploring the nuances in the ways that medieval Anglo-Norman Wales conceived of itself in relation to the global East. This volume makes a significant contribution to medieval Welsh literary scholarship, ranging as it does over a diverse array of text types – prose narratives and ‘romances’, poetic and metrical narratives, historiography, geographic material (both intext and mapped), and chronicles – within a strong context of the social, political, and religious orientation of Anglo-Norman Wales, in a period of great flux and movement of people around the time of the Third Crusade. In Part I, ‘Sources of Information’, Petrovskaia contextualises medieval Welsh perceptions of the East using an array of Latin and vernacular historical, historiographical, geographical, and encyclopaedic material, drawn from a comparatively narrow time frame (covering the late twelfth to the early thirteenth century). The material is divided methodologically: the first chapter deals with traditional ways of conceptualising the world; the second with known interactions of the Welsh with the East; while the third looks at translated legendary Charlemagne material for its reflection of popular contemporary perceptions of the Orient. An important component of this third part is Petrovskaia’s masterful use of the medieval concept of translatio studii et imperii, providing a solidly based explication of the theory as lying at the heart of the Western medieval [End Page 160] learned and Christian worldview. She thereby ties translatio studii et imperii to her tripartite conception of the Orient, which she proposes as a means for understanding the medieval Western European view of the East. Petrovskaia’s three Orients overlap and interact within medieval Western European discourse. The first of these is the ‘historical Orient’, the embodiment of the perceived historical progression of civilisation from the East to the West and represented by the best of eastern civilisation, classical learning, and notions of just empire: the Orient of Alexander and Troy. The second is the ‘biblical Orient’, a fundamentally discursive construct that resides outside of time, and yet is conceptually parallel and co-existent through time with the other Orients. This is the Orient conceived of as lying alongside the contemporary world, mapped (and thereby given a kind of quasi tangibility) on medieval mappae mundi, just as the tower of Babel is represented on the ostensibly contemporary ‘Corpus Map’. The third is the ‘contemporary Orient’, that part of the contemporary world in which contemporary anxieties were present and for which the Church Militant called into existence its series of crusades. This is the Orient of Saladin and the Islamic caliphates and sultanates who ruled the Middle East in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. Indeed, the importance of translatio to the medieval Church Militant that underpinned the contemporary crusading Church is closely examined. Part II then looks at select Welsh literary texts to assess the influence of twelfth- and thirteenth-century perceptions of the Orient on native literary production. Petrovskaia assesses the ways in which place-names in the legendary poetic Alexander material indicate a knowledge of eastern geography and an awareness of concepts of empire beyond the narrower confines of the traditional Arthurian empire of Geoffrey of Monmouth. This awareness maps onto the geographic anxieties/orientations in the concept of ‘contemporary Orient’ that is developed earlier in the book. She compares these place-names to those listed in Culhwch ac Olwen to reveal a similar awareness of eastern geography in that text. She raises the issue of the influence of the Alexander material on Culhwch. Petrovskaia also considers eastern and crusading references in the ‘romances’, Peredur and Owain, in particular noting that for Owain, the discussion is primarily around parallels between giants and Saracens, whereas in Peredur a sense of the Orient poses interesting possibilities for the Arthurian tradition, linking Arthur to the contemporary Orient, beyond his traditional territory...

Church Militant: Bishop Kung and Catholic Resistance in Communist Shanghai, by Paul P. Mariani. Cambridge MA: Harvard University Press, 2011. xvi + 282 pp. US$39.95 (hardcover).

Previous articleNext article No AccessReviewsChurch Militant: Bishop Kung and Catholic Resistance in Communist Shanghai, by Paul P. Mariani. Cambridge MA: Harvard University Press, 2011. xvi + 282 pp. US$39.95 (hardcover).Robert E. CarbonneauC.P.Robert E. CarbonneauRicci Institute, San Francisco Search for more articles by this author PDFPDF PLUSFull Text Add to favoritesDownload CitationTrack CitationsPermissionsReprints Share onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditEmail SectionsMoreDetailsFiguresReferencesCited by The China Journal Volume 70July 2013 Published on behalf of the Australian Centre on China in the World at the Australian National University Article DOIhttps://doi.org/10.1086/671317 Views: 16Total views on this site Copyright 2013 by The Australian National University. All rights reserved. For permission to reuse, please contact [email protected]PDF download Crossref reports no articles citing this article.

The Memoirs of Jin Luxian, Vol. 1: Learning and Relearning 1916–1982 (review)

Far Eastern The Memoirs of Jin Luxian,Vol. 1: Learning and Relearning 1916-1982. Translated by William Hanbury-Tenison. Introduced by Anthony E. Clark. (Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press. 2012. Distrib. Columbia University Press. Pp. xxii, 296. $28.00 paperback. ISBN 978-988-8139-67-5.)Bishop Aloysius Jin Luxian (1916-2013) is one of the most significant fig- ures in the history of the Roman Catholic Church in the People's Republic of China. Yet his role in the struggles and the revival of the Church in China remains controversial. Abroad as well as in his home country, he has received both strong criticism and praise. This first volume is in part an Apologia pro Vita Sua by which Jin hopes to dispel accusations mischievously included (p. 3) against him, thereby ceasing to be a sign of contention and turning instead into a beacon of hope and reconciliation for the Chinese Catholic Church.The book is divided into five parts, each composed of several chapters that deal with the following subjects: Jin's youth and his family in the Shanghai area; his life as a seminarian and a young Jesuit from 1932 to 1947; his studies between 1947 and 1950; his ministry in Shanghai until his arrest in 1955; and finally the twenty-seven years spent in prisons and re-education camps until his return to the Diocese of Shanghai in 1982. This chronological order is sprinkled with many flashbacks and flashforwards as Jin ponders events and persons that influenced the course of his life.Apart from his three-year study abroad, Jin's life was filled with hurtful experiences. Orphaned at a very young age and ignored by most of his rela- tives, he persevered in his calling to the priesthood. Subsequently, his obedi- ence to his Jesuit superiors placed him several times in harm's way. The most painful blow came during his detention when he learned that his Jesuit con- freres had vilified him and branded him a traitor. Yet in the face of all these adversities, his love for the Jesuit Order remained steadfast.The last two sections of the book about his return to Shanghai in 1950 and his years in detention are certainly the most important and revealing. They shed a complementary and sometime different light on accounts written by two other Jesuits: Jean Lefeuvre's eyewitness account, Les enfants dans la ville, chronique de la vie chretienne a Shanghai 1949-1955 (Paris, 1956), and Paul Mariani's academic study, Church Militant: Bishop Kung and Catholic Resistance in Communist Shanghai (Cambridge, MA, 2011; reviewed ante, 98 [2012], 621-22). …