Professor Of Theology Research Articles

Embracing Wisdom: The Summa theologiae as Spiritual Pedagogy by Gilles Mongeau

Reviewed by: Embracing Wisdom: The Summa theologiae as Spiritual Pedagogy by Gilles Mongeau J. David Moser Embracing Wisdom: The Summa theologiae as Spiritual Pedagogy by Gilles Mongeau, S.J. (Toronto: Pontifical Institute of Mediaeval Studies, 2015), xi + 221 pp. Gilles Mongeau, S.J., is professor of theology at Regis College at the University of Toronto. His book ties together three threads in recent scholarship on Saint Thomas Aquinas's theology. First, it examines its sapiential and spiritual character, expanding on the work of Jean-Pierre Torrell. Second, it joins recent studies that attempt to give an account of sacra doctrina, particularly its meaning and function in the Summa theologiae [ST]. Third, it explores Aquinas's rhetorical and pedagogical methods that constitute the form of his theology. At a basic level, the book is an analysis of Aquinas's rhetorical methods in the Summa theologiae, and it focuses on those formal patterns of memory, repetition, and affect that Saint Thomas used to train student pastors and lectors in sacra doctrina. For Aquinas, as Mongeau claims, sacra doctrina is ordered to Christian practice, or the spiritual life, since revealed doctrine is the highest wisdom (ST I, q. 1, a. 4, corp.). For Mongeau, these formal structures tell us that the Summa is a series of "spiritual exercises" that Aquinas designed to teach students the way of spiritual wisdom. The first part of the book (chs. 1–4) provides the historical context that grounds the study of the Summa theologiae's rhetorical strategies in the second part (chs. 5–10). In chapter 1, Mongeau observes the ways his own argument differs from the recent rhetorical studies of Aquinas's theology. Unlike Mark Jordan, whose important work focused on dialectic in Aquinas's theology, Mongeau's book "points to the anchoring of Aquinas's text in the symbolic, the aesthetic-dramatic, and the affective elements of meaning, as well as the way in which the rhetorical form of the text mediates religious meaning" (5). For him, the Summa theologiae is a "deliberative rhetoric" that is designed to elicit actions on the part of its readers (5). It does so precisely by means of these symbolic and affective elements of meaning. Through this formal pedagogical quality, the Summa reorders the student's acts of knowing and willing to God in Christ. In chapter 2, Mongeau explains how rhetoric conveyed meaning in ancient and medieval contexts. Drawing on the work of Alain Michel, Kathryn Tanner, and Bernard Lonergan, Mongeau argues that every culture is the product of "the dialectic of 'human-centered' and 'cosmos-centered' meaning" (36). In every culture, agents attempt to negotiate and renegotiate the relation of these two poles as new social and economic contexts arise. One way Christians did this in the ancient and medieval world was through teaching rhetoric, the "science of aesthetic [End Page 712] -dramatic meaning" (39). Mongeau observes that if this recent proposal about culture is correct, then we will surely find evidence that "Thomas in the Summa is concerned with forming persons to exercise a certain cultural agency," that is, to renegotiate the way the Church mediates its teaching about Christ in the thirteenth century (29). Chapter 3 addresses the historical context that informed Aquinas's pastoral concerns and pedagogy. Drawing heavily on Mary Carruthers's studies of medieval memorial practices, Mongeau argues that Aquinas adopted memorial schemes in his writings. These memorial strategies were often based on the movements of the liturgy. Teachers of rhetoric described them as a ductus: the movement of the student's mind through the rhetorical and literary contours of a composition (43). Then Mongeau surveys some of the social, cultural, and economic changes in the medieval world that drove intellectual developments, including the reforms of the monasteries of Cluny and Cîteaux and the rise of the merchant class: these, along with the problems of a poorly catechized peasantry, drove the need for the reforms of the Fourth Lateran Council and the Dominican order's concern for preaching and education. Aquinas understood his own vocation as a theologian within this context and became involved in the educational reforms and spiritual renewal of Lateran IV (80). Chapter 4 covers the...

“Apophatic Entanglement” and the Politics of Unknowing: Catherine Keller

Catherine Keller, professor of constructive theology at Drew University, has crafted a tellingly cryptic book that challenges not merely the reader's intellect but also the validity of any forms of knowing that claim achievable certitude. Heeding Nicholas of Cusa's fifteenth-century exhortation for docta ignorantia, or “knowing ignorance” (17), Cloud of the Impossible (the title is derived from a phrase in Cusa's De vision Dei) serves to underscore the salience, when it comes to current global ferment involving dilemmas of public governance and mutual coexistence, of humbly knowing that we do not know. At a time when innumerable conundrums of governmentality,…

Liturgische Bibelhermeneutik: Die Heilige Schrift im Horizont des Gottesdienstes by Marco Benini

Reviewed by: Liturgische Bibelhermeneutik: Die Heilige Schrift im Horizont des Gottesdienstes by Marco Benini Emery de Gaál Marco Benini Liturgische Bibelhermeneutik: Die Heilige Schrift im Horizont des Gottesdienstes Liturgiewissenschaftliche Quellen und Forschungen 109 Münster: Aschendorff, 2020 xvi + 574 pages. Paperback, €76.00. Memorably, St. Jerome had stated apodictically: “Ignorance of Scripture is ignorance of Christ” (Commentary on Isaiah, Prologue). Fr. Marco Benini, professor of liturgical studies and sacramental theology at the Catholic University of America, dynamizes this fifth-century adage, arguing that within the liturgical context Scripture flourishes and in fact, comes to its own, enabling an encounter with the living Lord. Neither is the Bible “a self-supporting entity,” nor is the process of the Bible’s canon formation imaginable outside the celebrated liturgical praxis. His point de départ is Vatican II’s insight that “Sacred Scripture is of the greatest importance in the celebration of the liturgy” (Sacrosanctum Concilium, no. 24). This document’s section concludes by observing that “it is essential to promote that warm and living love for Scripture to which the venerable tradition of both Eastern and Western rites gives testimony.” In an original way, the author takes to heart this injunction in this study. He poses the question how liturgy engages Scripture and what hermeneutic significance this may possess. “A faith-filled understanding of Sacred Scripture must always refer back to the liturgy,” he quotes Pope Benedict XVI writing in Verbum Domini, no. 52. To remedy this lacuna, he chooses what he calls a “liturgical approach” (21). [End Page 197] In the first part (23–244) he examines intertextually the use of the Old and New Testaments, especially in the Roman, Ambrosian and Byzantine rites. The Rite of Milan is of particular interest, as there a new lectionary of readings had been recently instituted (2008). Benini portrays briefly the German Protestant pericope revision (2014/15–2018) as well as that of the Old Catholics (2013/2018). His lengthy analyses include readings for the commemoration of the saints and the anointing of the sick. Much attention is given to the Psalms. Included are surveys of the German and Italian missals (1975/1983), and the French “Oraisons nouvelles pour les dimanches” (1982–1984). Liturgical prayers and chant texts are shown to be biblically inspired. The book also examines diachronically the rite of baptism and the washing of the feet. In the second section (245–460) Benini systematically unfolds various dimensions of a liturgical hermeneutics. He shows how seemingly disparate Scripture readings are related to one another. More than that, Benini delves into the principles and criteria for their selection for liturgical use. The author focuses on the Latin and Eastern churches, but does explore also the proclamation of the Word among German Protestants and even within the Jewish synagogal context. Establishing this plateau, he highlights theological aspects of a Scripture-based hermeneutics. He explores the anamnetic role of Scripture and how this informs the sacramental dimension of God’s proclaimed Word. The sacramentality of the Word shines forth luminously as “Spirit-worked, performative presence of God” (462). This presence is both personal and dynamic, aiming at the listeners and hearers to become “active participants.” The presence of our Lord in the Eucharist is thereby apprehended as somewhat analogous to His presence in Scripture. Therefore, in the liturgy the author perceives a dialogical encounter between creature and Creator occurring in the present tense, much as has been described in Scripture in the past tense. Scripture came about endowed with an indwelling entelechy towards becoming presentic. The real human response of today is enabled through the recorded, inspired word. Benini describes the reciprocal interdependence of word and sacrament, as well as more specifically of that of word and the Eucharist. In this rich matrix an appreciation for a non-post-modern unity of [End Page 198] Scripture and “Christ’s Paschal Mystery” becomes tangible (402). This in turn accesses the pneumatic-epicletic dimension of God’s Word. In the intersection of Scripture and sacraments the activities of the Blessed Trinity in the economy of salvation are efficacious. “Active Participation” as enjoined by Pius X in Tra le Sollecitudini (1903) comes into prominent focus. Nothing short...

A Thoroughly Irregular Priest, Theologian, and Universalist Christian: Interview with The Rev. Isabel Carter Heyward, PhD

A Thoroughly Irregular Priest, Theologian, and Universalist ChristianInterview with The Rev. Isabel Carter Heyward, PhD Gretchen Sanders Grimshaw (bio) Keywords feminist, justice-love, mutuality, sexuality, theology, universalist Christian Click for larger view View full resolution Isabel Carter Heyward Click for larger view View full resolution Gretchen Sanders Grimshaw [End Page 131] Until I enrolled in Carter Heyward's Christology class in 1999, I knew next to nothing about Jesus, other than what I had learned from Linus in A Charlie Brown Christmas. And so, although many of my seminary classmates could have written volumes on their understanding of and relationship with Jesus the Christ, at that time, mine would have fit comfortably on a cocktail napkin. Carter Heyward changed all of that and with it, the trajectory of my life and vocation. Carter's 1998 book Saving Jesus from Those Who Are Right had just come out when I first enrolled in her class at Episcopal Divinity School (EDS).1 I read the book before I met its author. I had never encountered such an invigorating and compelling suggestion of the relationship between justice and power as it relates to gender, sexuality, spirituality, and salvation. Carter's radical theology was a potent and transformative game changer for me, and it set my course on an adventure toward a brand new horizon. The notion that Jesus's presence is manifest in the fullness of compassion and forgiveness and not just in the empty tomb opened a new way for me to think about the meaning of Christianity and my belonging in that realm. Carter's prophetic imagination, her innovatively disruptive way of understanding and communicating the presence and promise and power of God planted in me a passion for that God that I had theretofore not known. Carter Heyward is nothing if not an agent of transformation and a lifelong trailblazer. In addition to the profound substance of her work as a theologian, professor, priest, preacher, prophet, and beacon of fresh and refreshing invitations, her example of courage and creativity in breaking boundaries and crossing borders is a major legacy that has served an untold contingent of budding theologians and ministers all over the world and will serve generations to come. Carter was one of the youngest of the history-making "Philadelphia Eleven," the clan of courageous women first and irregularly ordained to the Episcopal church in 1974. The ordination was designated "irregular" because the ordaining bishops stepped around the canon of the church and offered holy orders without institutional blessing. But as it turns out, "irregular" is a fine and fitting description for the depth and breadth of Carter's life and work as a whole. Although the Philadelphia ordination was not the first border crossing in Carter's then twenty-nine years, it ushered her squarely onto the national stage (she was on the cover of Ms. in December 1974, among other high-profile appearances) and freed her to raise her profound and prophetic voice in ways that might never have been possible without her groundbreaking ascent to the priesthood in an institutional church that for centuries had ignored and often denigrated women. Much of the raw power in Carter's life and work after her ordination flowed directly from the way in which she was accorded her power in the church. [End Page 132] Since that historic event, Carter has changed the face of feminist liberation theology, taught and inspired legions of aspiring priests, prophets, and theologians, and welcomed and educated a steady stream of just plain folks from all walks of life who are curious about God and the way the divine works in our fleshy world. She has published twelve books and contributed to many more. She was the Harold Chandler Robbins Professor of Theology at EDS in Cambridge, Massachusetts, for thirty years (1975–2005). As a preacher and teacher and keynote speaker in a variety of venues large and small, she has served as a witness and a prophetic voice for the virtues of mutuality and justice-love and the sacred pursuit of kindness. Carter is currently retired and residing in Brevard, North Carolina, a founding member of the community of Redbud Springs where...

The Sermon on the Mount and Moral Theology: A Virtue Perspective by William C. Mattison III

Reviewed by: The Sermon on the Mount and Moral Theology: A Virtue Perspective by William C. Mattison III Charles Nathan Ridlehoover william c. mattison iii, The Sermon on the Mount and Moral Theology: A Virtue Perspective (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2017). Pp. xiii + 279. $100. In modern literature on the Sermon on the Mount, there is no shortage of historical-critical, literary, and, more recently, postcolonial and feminist studies. This reservoir of scholarship provides ample resources for those inquiring about the origins, structure, and background of individual passages in the Sermon. Yet, amid this body of literature, very little has been written on the convergence of virtue-centered ethics and the Sermon. William Mattison, who is associate professor of theology at the University of Notre Dame, has written the present volume to fill this perceived void. His overarching purpose is that this text will not only further studies of the Sermon and virtue-centered ethics but will also contribute to the ongoing study of their intersection. To accomplish this task, M. begins with an explanation of the book's need, structure, and methodology. M. unabashedly admits his preference for a Thomistic ressourcement (meaning in continuity with patristics) virtue approach to morality (emphasis his). The section on the book's structure is especially helpful. The book's chapter order follows from M.'s rendering of the Sermon's structure. The book ends with the Lord's Prayer, which M. argues is the center of both the Sermon and foundational for the life of the church (with which I wholeheartedly agree). In terms of the individual chapters, M. addresses exegetical questions relevant to the biblical text but always as a segue to broader questions within a virtue-centered approach to morality. The first chapter begins with an analysis of the beatitudes (Matt 5:1-16). In many ways, this chapter sets the tone for M.'s reading of the Sermon. His initial argument is that the Sermon is primarily concerned with happiness. Happiness, of course, is the topic of numerous classical treatments of ethics and, therefore, as the Sermon's argued theme justifies the present study. M. continues with an analysis of each beatitude and its relation to qualifying conditions and subsequent rewards. The second chapter details the theme of "fulfillment" in Matt 5:17-48. Included in this chapter is an examination of the differences in Jesus's relationship to both the moral and the ceremonial laws of Judaism. M. argues that there is more continuity than is generally acknowledged between the old laws and Jesus's "new law." The highlight of this chapter is M.'s attention to the questions, (1) why are there six laws, and (2) why these six laws? In chap. 3, M. examines Matt 6:1-18, arguing that this section of the Sermon is a textbook lesson for intentionality and Thomistic action theory. Thomistic action theory explains the nature of certain acts with regard to their ends—in the case of Matthew 6, the concept of rewards. M. desires to correct the misunderstanding that [End Page 328] virtue theory is focused only on interiority. In chap. 4, he details the most structurally difficult section of the Sermon, 6:19–7:12, tracing the theme of single-mindedness throughout these verses. The first section, 6:19-34, examines one's view of temporal goods, and the second section, 7:1-11, examines one's relationships with brothers/sisters, outsiders, and God. This chapter is M.'s strongest exegetical chapter, particularly in regard to 6:25-34. The conclusion of the Sermon (7:13-29) is detailed in chap. 5. Given the eschatological (future) aspect of these verses, M. explains the Sermon conclusion in light of the virtue/vice of hope and presumption. The final chapter examines the Lord's Prayer and its relation to the theological (petitions 1–3) and cardinal virtues (petitions 1–4). In reading this volume, one will immediately be impressed with the organization and writing. Each chapter's introduction clearly states the author's thesis, and the explanations of difficult concepts are stellar. As M. states in his acknowledgments, the concerns of this book are for the ongoing work of Catholic...

Introduction

Introduction Mary Emily Briehl Duba (bio) We live in a time of crisis. From the systematic breakdown of democratic institutions, the unrelenting onslaught of white supremacist violence, and the strategic disenfranchisement of minoritized communities to the rising tides of climate change and the resurgence of nationalist rhetoric, this is a moment of social-historical transition and shifts in power. The effects of this multifaceted crisis are lived and borne by real bodies and communities, real lands and waters. As teachers of theology and religious studies, we also teach in a time of crisis. This raises questions about the purposes of theological education in this time, as well as the pedagogical strategies best suited to this moment. In short, this crisis is itself a "teaching moment," one that requires careful discernment about the use of power, the relationships between theological education and civic engagement, and the vocations for which we prepare our students. In fall 2018, a group of eight early career theological educators, convened by the Louisville Institute's Vocation of the Theological Educator program, discovered a shared interest in exploring the role of theological education in this time. To frame our engagement, we turned to the action and reflection methods that feminist, womanist, and liberation thinkers have long proposed: methods that approach theological education as "round table talk," which spirals continually between context and tradition, action and reflection (Letty Russell), methods that empower communities to "say a true word" together for the sake of transforming the world (Paulo Freire), methods that contribute to an "emancipatory praxis" for [End Page 159] the sake of human liberation and creaturely flourishing (Katie Cannon).1 Together, we committed to a year-long process of bringing such pedagogical practices into our own classrooms and reflecting together on what we were experiencing and learning about teaching in and to this moment. To give us a common language, we began our year by reading Freire's Pedagogy of the Oppressed, which celebrated its fiftieth anniversary this year. Each Short Take below is authored by a different member of our cohort. Imagine us sitting around a table, sharing with one another and with you, the fruits of our year engaged in this praxis. Around this table are a diverse group of scholar-teachers, each of whom works in a different subfield within theological and religious studies, including homiletics, the black church and the African diaspora, New Testament and early Christianity, theological ethics, constructive and systematic theologies, Islamic and interfaith theologies, and theologies of disability. We teach at liberal arts colleges, seminaries, and major research universities. Held in common among us is a sense that the very theological principles we teach compel us to educate as an act of witness and a practice of hope in this time. [End Page 160] Mary Emily Briehl Duba Mary Emily Briehl Duba is assistant professor of theology at the University of Dubuque and University of Dubuque Theological Seminary. She earned a PhD from the University of Chicago Divinity School and an MDiv from Yale Divinity School and holds a Louisville Institute Postdoctoral Fellowship (2018–2020). mduba@dbq.edu Footnotes . We thank the Louisville Institute for bringing together early career scholars and teachers through its Postdoctoral Fellowship, including quarterly gatherings on the Vocation of the Theological Educator, which set us in a community of shared passion and inquiry. The Louisville Institute further supported this work with a supplemental Transformative Pedagogies grant. We owe a special word of thanks to Edwin Aponte, executive director of the Louisville Institute, and Carmen Nanko-Fernandez, our cohort mentor, each of whom offered wise counsel and support for this endeavor. 1. Letty M. Russell, Church in the Round: Feminist Interpretation of the Church (Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox, 1993), 20–21; Paulo Freire, Pedagogy of the Oppressed, 50th Anniversary Edition (New York: Bloomsbury, 2018), 88; and Katie G. Cannon, Katie's Cannon: Womanism and the Soul of the Black Community (New York: Continuum, 1996), 18. Copyright © 2020 The Journal of Feminist Studies in Religion, Inc.

Evolving Methodologies Conference: Reflections on Christian Spirituality Studies vs. Spiritual Theology

Evolving Methodologies Conference: Reflections on Christian Spirituality Studies vs. Spiritual Theology Diana L. Villegas (bio) The Society for the Study of Christian Spirituality (SSCS) co-sponsored with the Forum of Spiritual Theology Professors of Italy (FPTSI)1 an international conference on methodology in Rome, September 2019. The conference had two goals: 1) To offer a forum for the presentation of new methods by scholars from different parts of the world. 2) To offer the possibility of dialogue between the Anglophone perspective of Christian Spirituality, and the Latin-European (mostly Italians and Spaniards) perspective of Spiritual Theology, especially as pursued in Italy, which has eleven universities and seminaries offering postgraduate studies in spirituality to students from throughout the globe. In terms of the first goal, the conference succeeded in making possible a truly global exchange as there were presenters from Hong Kong, Australia, South Africa, North and South America and a number of European countries, including Latvia. Methodologies proposed by representatives of Spiritual Theology included historical methods, personalistic method, Old Testament historical-critical method, and artistic contemplation. Anglophone scholars of Christian spirituality described a broad range of methodologies: qualitative and ethnographic sociological approaches, city planning methods, literary methodologies, philosophical approaches such as mimesis, mystagogy in Biblical spirituality, self-implication as method, as well as methodologies based on systematic reflection on contemplative practice (and this is not an exhaustive list). Those wishing to read the texts of these presentations will find them available at the online journal, Mysterion.2 KEYNOTE PRESENTATIONS: SIMILARITIES From conversations with presenters and participants, both at the conference and afterwards, it became clear that many had not been able to appreciate fully the presentations of participants from the sister discipline. I propose that, in large part, this was due to a lack of information about some of the assumptions each discipline makes; these assumptions are in turn related to different academic and cultural contexts. For cultural context influences the questions asked in one’s research, and the interpretive tools used to explore the [End Page 25] questions. Scholars in Latin-European contexts work in Catholic university/seminary settings, where students assume Catholic belief, where their studies in spirituality are most often a path to teaching in seminaries and/or to offering formation once they return to their home countries. Italian institutions function in the context of a country where the doctrine of the Catholic Church is a major concern of the highest Church authorities located in Rome, seat of a majority of theological universities and seminaries. Accordingly, Spiritual Theology in Italy is based on the presuppositions of a mainline Christian tradition, and assumes students and professors are engaged in the practice of that tradition. This contrasts with Christian Spirituality studies in Anglophone contexts where universities and seminaries function in a pluralistic world. In these contexts, interest in spirituality is frequently unrelated to particular religious traditions or is the fruit of hybrid traditions. As Mary Frohlich of Catholic Theological Union pointed out in her keynote address, the context for her attempt to start with a pre-theological understanding of the spiritual is “the global trend for younger people to be less and less likely to identify with a religious group. In the U.S., at least a third of those ages 18–29 reject affiliation with any religious group, and a far higher percentage do not participate in religion practice. . . Yet . . . still remain attracted to ‘spirituality’.”3 She argued that in order to engage those who are attracted to spirituality and spirituality studies but do not have traditional religious affiliation, methodology requires constructs and language that are not conditioned by a particular religious and theological orientation. An important contextual reality for Anglophone scholars is to keep in mind that today’s Spiritual Theology, as represented by Jesús García of the Salesian University, is not the Spiritual Theology addressed in the 1980’s discussions in the Anglophone world regarding the disciplinary identity of Christian spirituality. Contemporary Spiritual Theology as represented by García, does not delineate and prescribe what is valid spiritual experience, though it does interpret experience according to Revelation. García explicitly states that spiritual experiences should be studied not because they are representative of...

Book Review: Medjugorje and the Supernatural: Science, Mysticism, and Extraordinary Religious Experience by Daniel Maria Klimek

The author of this well considered and finely argued book is a Franciscan friar and an assistant professor of theology. This book is a much later and revised draft of his postgraduate thesis. With nearly a hundred pages of notes, references and index, it has been written by an academic for others in his field. I am neither a philosopher nor a theologian, so my, of necessity brief, review is that of a lay person for other lay people. Klimek, according to the blurb, is an authority on the phenomena experienced at Medjugorje, Croatia, where several young people claimed to have had visions of the Blessed Virgin Mary (BVM) in the early 1980’s. More than thirty years later, some of them are still claiming to have daily visions, so this is a very long running phenomenon. BVM visions have occurred at several places in Europe, most notably Lourdes, all of them to people who follow the Roman Catholic religion. In a Marian vision, the experiencers claim that they are seeing the BVM and that she is conversing with them. Only the visionaries see her. Usually these are people in their late teens or early twenties. Others who attend do not have the same trance ecstasy experience and rely on the reporting of the visionaries. Klimek relates some of the conversations the Medjugorje visionaries have had with the BVM, which are all consistent with Catholic doctrine. As far as I understand it, Klimek is arguing that these visions are not the result of cultural associations, hallucinations, imaginations, etc., but are divinely inspired and part of what he calls the perennial tradition. This tradition considers that visionary experiences are worldwide and have a universal basis independent of the culture in which they appear. The other stream of opinion he calls the constructivist, where people argue that we construct our visionary experiences out of our cultural associations, imagination, etc. As far as I know Marian visions have only been experienced in countries where there are Roman Catholics, so he is having to argue pretty hard to align these visionaries with the perennial rather than the constructivist opinions. He uses the words epistemology and hermeneutics repeatedly, often several times within the same page. I am not familiar with these words, and though I think I understand them, and I most certainly recognise that they are necessary for his fellow theological academics, for myself as a lay person they didn’t help me understand his argument, and made for very slow and careful reading.

РОДИНА ГОШКЕВИЧІВ ТА ЇЇ ВНЕСОК У РОЗБУДОВУ НАЦІОНАЛЬНОЇ САМОСВІДОМОСТІ УКРАЇНЦІВ В УМОВАХ РОСІЙСЬКОЇ ІМПЕРІЇ ТА УСРР

Віктор Іванович Гошкевич археолог, краєзнавець, музеєзнавець, видавець, завновник історико- археологічного музею в Херсоні мало знаний у масштабах України. Він походив зі знаної родини професора богослов’я, ректора Київської духовної семінарії. Разом із М. Грушевським слухав лекції основоположника української класичної історичної та археологічної науки Володимира Антоновича. Опинившись у Херсоні він посів посаду секретаря Херсонського губернського статистичного комітету і, не обмежуючись державною службою, почав вивчати давню історію краю, здійснював археологічні пошуки, турбувався про збереження пам’яток. Неоціненною є його роль в утвердженні української мови та історії у нижньому Подніпров’ї.

1 Kings 1–11

1 Kings 1–11

The Qur’ān and the Bible: Text and Commentary

The Qur’ān and the Bible: Text and Commentary

The Daughter of the Word: What Luther Learned from the Early Church and the Fathers

Abstract All the major sixteenth-century Reformers knew something about the early church and used the early Fathers. As an Augustinian monk and professor of theology, however, Luther’s knowledge and use of the great Father was both deeper and more nuanced. While indebted to Augustine, Luther went further in defining what it meant for theology to be ‘scriptural’. He saw history as the interaction of God’s two regimes, and the church of every age as weak and flawed but conquering through the cross of Christ. This led him to a free use of the Fathers without being constrained to always agree with or imitate them. The comfort he received from the Apostles’ Creed in particular led him to appreciate the early creedal statements, and so it was natural for him to use them as models when formulating the new confessions required in his own day. The sixteenth-century heritage of written confessions of faith is a heritage under-appreciated but still vital for church bodies today.1

Een kennismaking met Jenő Sebestyén (1884-1950)

Abstract During the interwar period, the Hungarian theological professor Jenő Sebestyén was a well-known figure in the Reformed Churches in the Netherlands. He regularly visited the Netherlands and gave lots of lectures to raise money for charity work in Hungary. In 1930 the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam awarded him an honorary doctorate. After his death an In Memoriam appeared in Trouw on 8 June 1950, and on 12 April 1952 George Puchinger dedicated the issue of his magazine Polemios to this Hungarian neo-Calvinist. In the Netherlands there is little attention for him anymore. In this article I deal with three questions: how did Sebestyén come to study neo-Calvinism, what activities did he develop in that context, and what was the result of his efforts?

Reformation und gemeine Sprache bei den Ruthenen – Vasil’ Tjapinskis Vernakularisierung der heiligen Schrift

Summary Departing from received notions about Vasil’ Tjapinski as an early representative of Belarusian national enlightenment, who in translating parts of the gospel into Ruthenian endeavoured to turn over the established diglossic linguistic order in favor of the vernacular language of the people, this article is meant to principally reassess his cultural role and significance. By subjecting the foreword to his gospel edition to a close reading and aligning our reinterpretation of this key document with the actual make-up and design of his text-critical synoptic edition of the gospel texts, it is hoped to place Tjapinski in a more adequate manner than heretofore within the broader framework of cultural change brought about by the vivid dynamics of innovative protestant religious thought against the backdrop of orthodox traditionalism. We argue that Tjapinski, being socially rather conservative, aimed at the expansion of active bible interpretation beyond the narrow sphere of priests and professional theologians within his own social class of minor gentry (szlachta) through adopting methods of critical philology as a highly formalized and therefore reliable truth-finding device. We argue further that, in an effort to win over primarily adherents of orthodoxy, Tjapinski rather than suggesting to have Church Slavonic replaced by the Ruthenian vernacular went out of his way to reestablish Church Slavonic as the true language of the Ruthenian nation (i. e. the Ruthenian szlachta) by arguing for the authoritativeness and reliability of the original Cyrillomethodian gospel translation, which would put the Church Slavonic gospel translation on a par with its Greek source text. His synoptic gospel edition should be appreciated as an effort at making the Church Slavonic gospel accessible through the medium of a vernacular Ruthenian translation, which accordingly ought to be seen as a gloss on the Church Slavonic original rather than as an independent text in its own right.

Jesus’ Death in New Testament Thought, vol. 1: Background; vol. 2: Texts

<i>Jesus’ Death in New Testament Thought</i>, vol. 1: <i>Background</i>; vol. 2: <i>Texts</i>

A Woman’s Journey with the Uniting Reformed Church in Southern Africa: 25 Years

The methodological insights of autoethnography allow the author to write her story in critical-emphatical engagement with the structures and cultures within which her story unfolds. Her story as the only white woman minister of the Word in the Uniting Reformed Church in Southern Africa (URCSA) is told as one in which organisational, political and ethnic cultures were in constant creative conflict. An unexpected continuity of intercultural co-operation is established throughout the story of her journey with URCSA over the past 25 years of its existence. Six decisive turning points in her life are described. The first is when she was called to the ministry at the age of 15, several years before women were ordained in the local family of Reformed churches. The second was when she started studying with the liberation theologians of the 1980s. The third was being appointed as a theological professor amidst exclusively male colleagues. The fourth was working with the ill and desolate at a state hospital in preparation for a second doctorate. The fifth happened when she was ordained in a Zulu-speaking congregation in Mpumalanga. The sixth covers her experiences in the leadership of the church the past decade. Throughout, the emphasis is on the outsider-insider experience of both critically and sympathetically engaging with the Afrikaans culture in which she was born, and the black and brown cultures into which she was co-opted.

Clarity and creativity as womanist ethics for teaching and evaluating theological writing

AbstractThis article uses womanist ethics and theories of writing instruction to illuminate the experiences of black women seminarians with theological writing at a predominantly white institution. The three cases presented here highlight two ethics for teaching and evaluating theological writing: clarity and creativity. Already triply marginalized by race, sex, and class, black women are often greeted with unwritten norms around academic theological writing that threaten their self‐concept and their development as producers of theological knowledge. This work centers reflections of student‐learning on the voices of black women who found their own ways of negotiating these demands. Their responses to the problems of writing for and in white, male‐dominated theological discourses provide moral strategies that all writers can employ and that all theology professors can make a regular part of their ethical pedagogical practice.

Lichaam van Christus worden

Abstract The present article aims at making again a connection with central intuitions of the early Liturgical Movement in francophone Belgium at the outset of the 20th century. The reason for doing that is that it is still quite uncommon for professional theologians to consider liturgy as a real source for theologizing. The major focus of the article is the Body of Christ, a profound image, symbol, doctrine and reality, the impact and potential of which were rediscovered then in the circle of Benedictine monasteries. It was interpreted both in an ecclesial and sacramental way and it arguably constituted the basis for many other theological renewals prompted by subsequent representatives of the Liturgical Movement. Relying on a careful analysis of key texts by Dom Columba Marmion (1858-1923), Dom Lambert Beauduin (1873-1960) and Dom Maurice Festugière (1870-1950), I argue that their dealings with ‘liturgy intuitions’ – which are not equal to ‘liturgical intuitions’ – should be retrieved not only for scholarly purposes but, even more so, for a deepened understanding of the intrinsic and organic connections between Church, liturgy, Christ and life.

Teme pastoral-misionare și liturgice în „pimenicele“ patriarhului Justin Moisescu

As a result of the Decision of the Holy Synod of the Romanian Orthodox Church, 2019 year gives us the opportunity to honor Patriarch Justin Moisescu. He was a special hierarch due to his Olympic profile, to his complex personality and to his ministry and work, providential for the Romanian Orthodoxy of the 80’s of the last century. He was a professor of theology of high moral and scientific value, who taught the students during the communist era, at the Faculties of Theology in Warsaw and Bucharest, fundamental disciplines such as “New Testament Study”. Concerned with translating reference works into Romanian, he is the initiator of a monumental work: the translation into Romanian language of the Holy Fathers’ works. Due to his programmatic idea, more than 100 volumes have been produced so far, which are part of the collection “Parents and Church Writers” ( “P.S.B.”). The present study seeks to highlight and bring to light the texts of theb “Pastoral” which the hierarch Justin Moisescu, during his 30 years of ministry, addressed to the clergy and to the people, as: 1. Archbishop of Sibiu, 2. Archbishop of Iasi and Metropolitan of Moldova and Suceava and 3. Archbishop of Bucharest, Metropolitan of Ungrovlahia and Patriarch of the Romanian Orthodox Church.

Two Kinds of Unanimity: St. Benedict, René Girard, and Modern Democratic Governance

Research Article| May 01 2019 Two Kinds of Unanimity: St. Benedict, René Girard, and Modern Democratic Governance Nathan Lefler Nathan Lefler University of Scranton NATHAN LEFLER is associate professor of theology in the Department of Theology/Religious Studies at the University of Scranton. He has published on Augustine, Aelred of Rievaulx, Aquinas, Balthasar, Shakespeare, J. R. R. Tolkien, Flannery O’Connor, and Catholic liturgy. Search for other works by this author on: This Site Google Contagion: Journal of Violence Mimesis and Culture (2019) 26: 273–286. https://doi.org/10.14321/contagion.26.2019.0273 Cite Icon Cite Share Icon Share Facebook Twitter LinkedIn MailTo Permissions Search Site Citation Nathan Lefler; Two Kinds of Unanimity: St. Benedict, René Girard, and Modern Democratic Governance. Contagion: Journal of Violence Mimesis and Culture 1 May 2019; 26 273–286. doi: https://doi.org/10.14321/contagion.26.2019.0273 Download citation file: Zotero Reference Manager EasyBib Bookends Mendeley Papers EndNote RefWorks BibTex toolbar search Search Dropdown Menu toolbar search search input Search input auto suggest filter your search All Scholarly Publishing CollectiveMichigan State University PressContagion: Journal of Violence Mimesis and Culture Search Advanced Search The text of this article is only available as a PDF. © Michigan State University Board of Trustees Article PDF first page preview Close Modal You do not currently have access to this content.