Gospel Of Truth Research Articles

Gospel Truth and Artistic Imagination

Gospel Truth and Artistic Imagination

The Rev. John Stainsby and the ‘diffusion of Gospel truth’ in Early Nineteenth-Century Jamaica

First dispatched to Jamaica in 1818 by The Conversion Society, the Rev. John Stainsby became a prominent figure on the island. This article examines his intense involvement in Anglican missionary affairs to reveal how dishonesties and concealment of belief were used to expand Anglican missions in the Caribbean. Firstly, this article examines two key sites of contention between missionaries and the plantocracy – Sunday markets and baptism – where Stainsby used deception to reconcile his religious duties and colonial law. Secondly, it considers the motivations and actions of The Conversion Society and the Church Missionary Society more generally, including the heavily censored material used for religious instruction. Finally, it examines Stainsby as an enslaver, and considers the religious justifications used to support enslavement by many resident Anglican clergymen in the early nineteenth century.

Gospel Truth in Gender Diversity Debates in Dutch Evangelical Churches

Abstract The inclusion of women in leadership navigates between the issues of unity and what is considered biblical. Recent empirical research in two evangelical churches in the Netherlands indicates that addressing female leadership as a secondary topic relative to the centrality of the gospel facilitates local churches to meet both values. The classification secondary is clarified as well as challenged by the evangelical definition of salvation. This article argues that a broader understanding of what is seen as the heart of the gospel might be beneficial in the approach to contemporary topics like gender roles in the church.

ТЕЛЕОЛОГИЧЕСКИЙ СЮЖЕТ В ПРОИЗВЕДЕНИЯХ ДОСТОЕВСКОГО И ТОЛСТОГО О ДЕТСТВЕ

The article discusses the teleological plot in the works of F.M. Dostoevsky's "A Little Hero" and Leo Tolstoy's Childhood. This plot includes the motives of the test, the choice of the hero and his movement to salvation. During the choice, the dominant character, based on self-sacrifice, is revealed. Freeing himself from Dvoikin, the hero who makes a moral choice, according to the teachings of A.A. Ukhtomsky, takes the path of the Interlocutor. A common locus for the works of Tolstoy and Dostoevsky is the garden park, which is associated with autobiographical allusions (memories of childhood in Yasnaya Polyana and Darovoe). The garden becomes a symbol of the lost paradise and a place of "revelation", the spiritual ascent of the little hero. In both works, the little heroes behave like "knights", fighting for the heart of their Beautiful lady. At the same time, in Tolstoy's story there is a prediction of a fool and a prophetic dream of a mother about death, which she accepts with humility. The commandments of the Gospel, which are observed by the hero's mother and nanny Natalia Savishna, become a model for the narrator. Dostoevsky's little hero also shows freedom of choice, following the Gospel Truth. Both works were written in a situation of ordeal: Dostoevsky was in the Peter and Paul Fortress, Tolstoy was in the Caucasian War. In both works, the writers reflect on salvation and lead the reader.

How the Gospel of Truth Depicts Paul’s Secret Teaching: A Study in Second-Century Reception History

AbstractThis article shows that the Gospel of Truth (NHC I, 3), dense with allusions to sources now in the New Testament, most often explored for its resonances with Johannine literature, also offers significant evidence for second-century reception of Paul’s letters, while highlighting poetic images often overlooked. Correlating the language and literary structure of such Pauline passages as 1 Cor 1–6 with the opening of the Gospel of Truth shows that the latter implicitly claims to reveal the secret and primordial “wisdom of God” that Paul declares he teaches only orally to initiates (1 Cor 2:6–7). Thus, this text exemplifies a kind of “heretical” reading that heresiologists like Irenaeus deplore, when, for example, he cites this very passage to complain that “each of (the heretics) declares that this ‘wisdom’ is whatever he invents (fictionem videlicet), so that sometimes they claim that the truth is in Valentinus, or in Marcion, or in someone else …” (Haer. 3.2.1). Furthermore, this research suggests that the Gospel of Truth, narrating primordial creation, followed by a dramatic account of Christ’s incarnation and redemption, claims to offer, as the “true gospel,” a spiritual interpretation that far transcends the brief kerygmatic version set forth in 1 Cor 15:1–3. Finally, I suggest, investigating the Gospel of Truth’s interpretation of Paul’s teaching (which here includes echoes of Ephesians and Colossians) invites us to recognize elements of Paul’s letters most often overlooked. For, from patristic times to the present, exegetes who accept Irenaeus’s insistence that Paul had no secret teaching have dismissed the apostle’s emphatic claim that he did. Furthermore, those focused on dogmatic and ethical themes in Paul’s letters often miss poetic and mythological language at play in sources like the Gospel of Truth.

THE GLOBAL NUTRACEUTICAL DOMAIN

Dear Reader, Nutraceuticals is no more a fancy word shrouded in a mysterious veil. It is a gospel truth and now a well-embraced norm, that ‘positive health’ can only be fostered by nutraceuticals – be it called supplements, ayurceuticals or herbals. Although advocating and consuming ayurceuticals is an Indian-centric reality, the impetus to embracing nutraceuticals (which is a general term encompassing supplements and biologicals or herbals) by Indians has definitely come from the globally proliferating OTC (Over-The-Counter) market with such products and their overflowing into the Indian subcontinent in the 1990s!

Challenges on the Way to the Revival of Icon Painting – on Certain Aspects of the Canonical Norms

The article presents results of the research undertaken within the framework of the project #PHD-21-403 financed by Shota Rustaveli National Science Foundation of Georgia (SRNSFG). Revival of the modern Georgian icon painting started from the seventh decade of the 20th c. From the very beginning, national artistic form was a priority both in visual and musical ecclesiastic art; however, on the turn of the 20th to the 21st cc., general attitude towards national form proved to be quite critical. The problem emerged – which chanting and what icon painting is canonical for the Orthodox Church. Holy Synod of the Church of Georgia sanctioned Georgian polyphonic chanting. From the 17th c. onwards, canonical norms of the Georgian icon painting were influenced by the Church of Russia. Norms established there were obligatory for Georgian icon painting, as well as the norms of Russian church service. At present, widespread practice links norms of the canonical icon painting with the particular Russian and Byzantine style. Such an approach hinders development of the icon painting and, in its own turn, does not correspond to the world church law. As decreed by the Seventh Ecumenical Council, the main purpose of the icon painting is visualisation of the Gospel truth in such a way that the represented is perceptible, can serve as a model and should be venerated. Viewpoint of various famous icon painters concerning this issue coincides with that expressed in Georgia – development of modern icon painting requires establishment of the true criteria of the canonical norms; they should be linked with the theological purpose and not with any particular artistic style. This is the attitude of the Orthodox Church and the goal of the icon painting is striving for the modern ecclesiastical artistic language.

Проявление архаической религиозности в образах севернорусских юродивых в эпоху Средневековья (XIII–XIV вв.)

St. Sergius of Radonezh lived at a crucial time for formation of Russian Orthodox religiosity. This period is characterized not only by the growing popularity of the monastic system of life according to the model set by the founder of the Trinity-Sergius Lavra, but also by the appearance of bright personalities who carried the feat of foolishness for Christ (St. Procopius of Ustyug, St. Nikolay Kochanov and St. Theodore of Novgorod). Being an alternative way of ascetic order of religious life, foolishness expressed at the same time as the most understandable and evoked the sympathy and respect of the people of the gospel qualities (self-denial, asceticism, testimony of the truth of God, denunciation of social injustice), and rather archaic ideas of holiness, dating back to the pre-Christian period of the existence of the Slavs and associated with the idea of an excess of vital forces. Such a paradoxical combination of two ideological systems in the phenomenon of foolishness, one of which — Christianity — continued to be professed by the people, and the second — paganism — remained in the consciousness and everyday life of people, revealed a special «cultural dialect» of Russian Orthodoxy. Foolishness became a type of holiness, the closest to the archaic worldview. Being largely a legacy of religious beliefs and practices of previous eras, it was a wild branch, grafted by the labors of many ascetics of faith to the tree of Christian tradition and became a «community of the root and juice of the olive tree» (Rom. 11, 17) of the Gospel Truth.

Apocryphal Gospel Titles in Coptic

During the 2nd–5th centuries, the usual format of the canonical gospel title is “The Gospel According to [person]”. While becoming well-established in this period, the title is reused and transformed when naming the apocryphal gospels. In order to study the meaning of the emerging canonical and apocryphal gospel titles, the claims of these titles will be analysed to determine who each title presents as the gospel’s source (often a divine figure) and who is implied to be that gospel’s author (often a human person). By revisiting well-known apocryphal gospels, and expanding on their number, new insights are achieved regarding the role of titles, authors, and apocryphal gospels. Results concern, for instance, the long recension of the Apocryphon of John, whose title comes to display a prominent gospel title; the Gospel of Judas, of which the author may be the infamous Judas himself; and the Gospel of Truth, which may not be an apocryphal gospel at all.

Book review: The making of biblical womanhood: How the subjugation of women became Gospel truth by Beth Allison Barr

Book review: <i>The making of biblical womanhood: How the subjugation of women became Gospel truth</i> by Beth Allison Barr

The embodiment of the dialogue-polemic of A. Zhid with F.M. Dostoevsky and F. Nietzsche in the artistic space of the story "The Immoralist"

The object of the study was the work of A. Zhid "The Immoralist" (1902). The work reveals and analyzes the originality of the artistic thought of the French writer, which manifests itself through an oxymoronic combination of the concepts of two philosophers-thinkers – F.M. Dostoevsky and F. Nietzsche. The reading of the work of A. Zhid in the context of a kind of dialogue is used. On the one hand, it is a dialogue with F. Nietzsche, with his idea of the role of a superman who takes the place of God in a world where "God died". On the other hand, with F. M. Dostoevsky, for whom the gospel truths remain indisputable. At the same time, it is a dialogue between F.M. Dostoevsky and F. Nietzsche in the artistic space of the work of the French writer. It is determined that the dialogue, carried out in a kind of triangle, reveals the main moral and philosophical problems of the "Immoralist" – the clash of Christian morality and Nietzschean absolute freedom. The scientific novelty lies in the fact that the analysis of the little-studied work of A. Zhid "Immoralist" was carried out in the parameters of an exclusive dialogue-polemic with radically opposite thinkers, F. Dostoevsky and F. Nietzsche, who significantly influenced the spiritual climate of the twentieth century. A. The Jew combines two opposing concepts in one artistic space, but no one wins in this struggle. F. Nietzsche and Dostoevsky reinforce the peculiar disturbing reflections of A. Zhid about the moral conflicts of the modern world. The work comprehends a number of general issues essential for the study of the history of literature, in particular, these are questions of philosophy, religion, morality.

The New Calling

The New Calling

THE CONCEPT OF SIN IN “SINS”, A SHORT NOVEL (‘POVEST’) BY I. N. POTAPENKO

The article discusses the concept of sin in Sins, a short novel (povest') by I. N. Potapenko in the context of the patristic teaching on sinful passions and virtues. According to the Church Fathers, sin is the cause of all human misfortunes and evil, and the origin of sorrow and death. Exploring the phenomenon of sin, the writer examines various types of human vices, trying to understand the sources of the origin of sin, ways to overcome it and the possibility of salvation in the world. The work is written in the form of an adult’s memories of childhood. Through the prism of children’s perception, the attitudes of different types of people to faith, awareness of their own sinfulness, the desire for repentance and salvation of the soul are revealed. The short story presents the main sinful passions (gluttony, fornication, avarice, anger, sadness, despondency, vanity, pride) and the main sources of sin (human self, egoism, pride). The work has an edifying character. The tragic fate of some characters is a clear example of the destructive effect of sins. There is a clear link between a vicious life and incurable diseases, death without repentance, suicide. Through preaching the gospel truths, I. N. Potapenko tried to convey the idea that despite the ubiquity of sin, it is possible to be saved in the world. This requires faith in God, repentance, humility, following the commandments, and leading a virtuous Christian life.

Chief Isaac Oluwole Delano: A Legend and His Legacy

No honor befits a person who enjoys life without helping his country. What glory is entitled to a lazy person that the courageous man does not have? The head of a lazy person is not comparable to the nail of the strong; shame follows the pride of the lazy.2 Chief Isaac Delano discovered his intellectual mission during the colonial moment. The nature of the colonial state influenced his writings. The body of his work operated in a context of colonial-modernist state. The colonial power, in its imperialist/messianic philosophy and the quest to inscribe European ethos on other cultures, the colonized people of Nigeria, like others elsewhere, were told that the root to modernity was the European way of life. Tough it claimed to be liberal as it evolved from an already civilized society, “magnanimous” enough to spread the gospel truth of this civility and civilization to other societies still living far below their human potentials in their various crude and barbaric enclaves, it was not liberal enough to the extent of accommodating all indigenous cultural elements of the colonized people. Delano had to respond to the limitation of the colonial modernist project. Tus, for one to be qualified as being civilized—or call it “modern” if you like—is to be successful in the indoctrinated inevitability of combating every feature of one’s culture, values, and traditions to win the trophy of modernity.

What is “the Middle”? Theological Diversity in Valentinian Christianity | Academia Letters (2021): 1-5.

This short-form article explores the various presentations of &quot;the Middle&quot; within Valentinian authored documents (the Gospel of Truth and Gospel of Philip) and sources which report about the Valentinians (Irenaeus and his report about

Addressing the biblical and ecclesial obligation of Nigerian Roman-Catholic priests in promotion of peace and social justice

Some of the Nigerian Roman-Catholic priests had been murdered by armed criminals in the presbyteries on account of their witnessing to the gospel truth. Others have continued to receive threats of molestation and death for the same reason. This necessitated the current study that adopted an etymological approach and secondary sources of data, such as journal articles, newspaper publications and policy briefs, to discuss on how to address the biblical and ecclesial obligation of Nigerian Roman-Catholic priests in promotion of peace and social justice.Contribution: The article provides that the target of the Nigerian Roman-Catholic priests was not just to console the dejected of the society over the neglect of the leaders but include the thrust of actions that would get both the leaders in the government and the populace to know their respective duties and be compelled to do them.

A Study on Position Change in Pronunciation Indications of Canonical and Noncanonical Pictophonetic Characters of Longkan Shoijian with Dialect of Northwestern China in the Five Dynasties

&lt;p&gt;遼僧行均所著《龍龕手鑑》，成書於宋太宗至道三年（997），乃專為佛教徒通解文字研讀佛典所編纂的一部字書。當中引用他書的情況相當複雜，除了佛經音義書，還有不少前代字書、韻書，因此不管是在音韻性質或者語料時代的判別上，皆不宜做太單純的思考。本文在孔仲溫、儲泰松等學者的啟發下，一方面考察當中眾多參用資料的成書年代，以確定其語料的時代性，繼而觀察筆者從中整理所得的四百多筆正俗體字聲符替換字組，並分析存在其間的音韻現象。發現當中某些音韻表現與唐五代西北方音的音韻特徵具有一致性，與過去學者們運用反切系聯法，以系聯當中複雜音切所得結果有所不同。在跳脫《切韻》或是通語雅音的音系框架之外，得以看見《龍龕手鑑》不同面向的音韻內涵。&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Longkan Shoujian, a dictionary completed by a Liao dynasty monk named Xingjun in 997, is used to aid Buddhists in the study of Buddhist text and scriptures. Because Longkan Shoujian cites from numerous sources including yinyishu (dictionaries of pronunciations and meanings), dictionaries published in previous dynasties, and rhyme dictionaries, one must investigate thoroughly when attempting to decipher the phonological characteristics of Longkan Shoujian and the dynasties in which its corpuses were written. Inspired by scholars such as Chung-wen Kung and Tai-song Chu, this study examined the years in which many of the cited materials were completed to verify the dynasties in which the corpuses of Longkan Shoujian were written. Subsequently, this study explored the phonetic component substitution groups for the 400+ canonical and noncanonical Chinese characters that it had organized and summarized; and analyzed the phonological phenomena within. The study results showed that some of the phonological characteristics were similar to those of Northwestern China in the Five Dynasties period, challenging the results obtained by previous scholars using the fanqie association method (which involves separating a character&amp;rsquo;s pronunciation into two other characters). By not accepting information preached in Qieyun and the phonological system of common languages in China as the gospel truth, this study discovered the different phonological characteristics observed in Longkan Shoujian.&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;

The Gospel of Truth as the Gospel of the Saved Saviors

Abstract In this article, I present a new reading of the Gospel of Truth, Nag Hammadi Codex I.3. Although Gnostics often have been described as taking part in the Godhead, the consequences are understudied. According to my analysis, the knowers are not subordinated to, but on equal footing with the Savior. Here, I draw the attention to some gradual processes. The Savior understands more and develops in the encounter with the need of others, saved as well as not yet saved. Through mission and deepening insight, the knowers more and more actualize themselves as Saviors, thereby embodying divinity. The consequence of this is a gradual actualization of the godhead itself. As the knowers gradually are enlightened and their divine nature disclosed, the insight of the godhead accordingly evolves. Thus, mutuality is a key concept. The Saviors cannot actualize their own nature without first having been saved and then they need to save others. The godhead, Saviors and saved are interdependent. The godhead evolves into actualized divinity through the evolving enlightenment of all its parts. Thus, the daily-life encountering with others is of fundamental importance on all levels, from the individual to the cosmic.

CHURCH CALENDAR, GOSPEL AND LITURGICAL TEXT IN THE NOVEL THE RAW YOUTH AND A WRITER'S DIARY (1876) BY FYODOR DOSTOEVSKY

F. M. Dostoevsky's novel The Raw Youth (1874-1875) and A Writer's Diary (1876) were created in the tradition of Christian calendar prose, which is aligned with sacred time. The two works are united by the idea of the religious transformation of personality, the salvation of the soul and unification around the Gospel Truth, the search for ideal foundations in the Russian people, and reflections on their purpose. Dostoevsky introduces Easter narratives into the novel and into A Writer's Diary in 1876: the story of Makar Dolgoruky about the merchant Skotoboinikov, the opera by Trishatov, the story The Peasant Marey. The plot and storyline motives of these works and the novel go back to the parable of the Prodigal Son and the Book of Job. They share the motives of suffering, redemption and resurrection. A Writer's Diary of 1876, which utilizes a system of references to the novel, starts from January and contains a reference to the celebration of the Nativity (the Christmas story The Beggar Boy at Christ's Christmas Tree, quotes from a Christmas worship service), and ends in December, at the beginning of advent. A Writer's Diary contains an appeal to Christmas and Easter as the most significant dates of the church calendar and the writer's personal biographical time. In the chapter More on a simple but tricky case (December), Dostoevsky recalls how he survived the December 22 execution on the Semyonovsky parade ground and a revival on Christmas Eve; in the Easter story The Peasant Marey (February), he tells the story of how he acquired faith in the Russian people in penal servitude during Easter. The author's position in the novel The Raw Youth and A Writer's Diary of 1876 can’t be comprehended without referring to the gospel and liturgical text. The Gospel parable of the Prodigal Son and the Book of Job, which are referenced in the novel and A Writer's Diary, are read in church before and during Great Lent.

THE SENSE-GENERATING ROLE OF BIBLICAL TEXT IN LYDIA NELIDOVA’S STORY POLOSA

The article analyzes the semantic functions of the Old Testament and New Testament texts in the story Polosa (Stripe), a landmark for the literature of the final stage of Russian classical realism, written by Lydia Nelidova, whose work has not yet been the subject of special study. The relevance of the research is defined by the rather high role of Nelidova’s creative activity in the literary process of the last decades of the 19th century. Biblical references, quotations, reminiscences, allusions and paraphrases, which determine the sequence of the text that creates the semantic field of the work, perform the dominant ideological and aesthetic function in creating the story as a “non-trivial new text.” Nelidova’s innovation is based on the active use of Dostoevsky’s literary traditions (orientation toward the idea of “finding a person in a person” and the “living life” constant). As a “semantic whole,” Nelidova’s story is organized by the internal dialogue of three concepts of “life.” One of them is based on the Christian teaching, the other on an appeal to science, and the third – on the idea of life as an all-dominating objective force. The author's moral and aesthetic position, which confirms the biblical concept of life, is objectified in the logic of semantic actualization of the gospel truths associated with the interpretations of the eternal theme of the struggle between good and evil, ways of human salvation, overcoming the sin of thoughts, pride and selfishness. The artistic historicism of the story, manifested in the coverage of the social contradictions of the post-reform Russia, sanctions the author’s intentionality associated with the assertion of universal human spiritual, moral and humanistic ideals. Formation of meaning at the level of the author’s intentionality and at the level of meaning generation is carried out by activating the intertextual, hypertextual and contextual functionality of biblical pretexts and traditions of Orthodox Christian culture. It is implemented in the process of illuminating conflicts of time and characters' psychological disclosure. Intertextual reminiscences and quotes from biblical texts, the works of Christian ascetic writers and patristic sources aim to form the semantic core of the main character’s narrative and implement the principle of intersemantization of meanings enshrined in sacred texts. Thanks to these texts, they manifest in the thoughts of a character seeking a way out of spiritual and moral impasse. The author's artistic experience stimulated the formation of the Dostoevsky school in the literature of the last decades of the 19th century. The author's quote-based thinking anticipates the narrative strategies that will become characteristic of the artistic discourse of subsequent historical and literary eras.