Significance Of Christianity Research Articles

Menstrual Blood: an icon of the kenotic atonement of Christ— A Better Way with Better Blood

For centuries, theologians have sought to understand the meaning and significance of Christ’s death. However, the current motifs and interpretations of the atonement have constrained Christology by situating Christ within a paradigm of domination and subordination. I propose that the “inferior” porous and excessively moist female body—as presumed by Greco-Roman classicists and early Christian writers—expresses the unboundaried, mutual, self-giving relationality within the Godhead. Christ’s blood, represented by menstrual blood, reveals divine love as “for” the empowerment and flourishing of others, bringing reconciliation to divine-human relationality, invoking the remembering of menstruating bodies, and supporting the healing of human-other relationships. Menstruation is an embodied icon of the kenotic atonement of Christ.

Nick Brennan. Divine Christology in the Epistle to the Hebrews: The Son as God

Nick Brennan. <i>Divine Christology in the Epistle to the Hebrews: The Son as God</i>

Osservazioni sull’espressione χύσις τῆς κακίας e sulle sue varianti in Origene

Abstract In this paper I study the expression χύσις τῆς κακίας, frequently used by Origen of Alexandria. The identification of its variants in Origen gives some criteria to identify its occurrences in pre-origenian literature. Three possible sources are examined: the pagan literature, the Scripture and Philo of Alexandria; the latter is most likely the model for Origen. Before studying the use of χύσις τῆς κακίας and its variants in Origen, I discuss the frequency of these expressions in his works. Curiously enough, Origen uses them far more often in the Against Celsus than in his other works. The most likely explanation is that the topics discussed in the apology led him to have recourse to these expressions. A survey of the multiple meanings of χύσις τῆς κακίας and its variants in all his works but the Against Celsus, then in the latter, confirms this hypothesis. Finally, I stress the originality of Origen. Although he probably found χύσις τῆς κακίας and its variants in Philo, Origen uses them in a different way: to demonstrate the necessity and the significance of Christ’s actions. An addendum presents some possible traces of χύσις τῆς κακίας and its variants in the Latin translations of Origen’s works.

The Law of Embrace: Satisfaction, Forgiveness, and the Cross in Aquinas, Lonergan, and Volf

A dialogue between Aquinas and Volf mediated by Lonergan illuminates the practical significance of Christ’s redemptive work. Aquinas contemplates the mystery of Christ’s passion as an act of satisfaction proceeding from charity that makes amends for wrongdoing. Lonergan specifies this satisfaction as a fitting expression of sorrow for the granting of forgiveness. He further identifies the essential meaning and practical significance of redemption as the transformation of evil into good, and calls it the law of the cross. Volf delineates the significance of the cross for practices of reconciliation, the movement from exclusion to embrace through repentance, forgiveness, and making space for the other. I suggest that Volf’s framework is undergirded by Lonergan’s law of the cross and assists retrieving the latent practical significance of Aquinas’ contemplation. Satisfaction for another is interpreted as forgiveness in the movement from exclusion to embrace proceeding from charity interpreted as the will to embrace.

Doorway to Devotion: Recovering the Christian Nature of the Gosforth Cross

The carved figural program of the tenth-century Gosforth Cross (Cumbria) has long been considered to depict Norse mythological episodes, leaving the potential Christian iconographic import of its Crucifixion carving underexplored. The scheme is analyzed here using earlier exegetical texts and sculptural precedents to explain the function of the frame surrounding Christ, by demonstrating how icons were viewed and understood in Anglo-Saxon England. The frame, signifying the iconic nature of the Crucifixion image, was intended to elicit the viewer’s compunction, contemplation and, subsequently, prayer, by facilitating a collapse of time and space that assimilates the historical event of the Crucifixion, the viewer’s present and the Parousia. Further, the arrangement of the Gosforth Crucifixion invokes theological concerns associated with the veneration of the cross, which were expressed in contemporary liturgical ceremonies and remained relevant within the tenth-century Anglo-Scandinavian context of the monument. In turn, understanding of the concerns underpinning this image enable potential Christian symbolic significances to be suggested for the remainder of the carvings on the cross-shaft, demonstrating that the iconographic program was selected with the intention of communicating, through multivalent frames of reference, the significance of Christ’s Crucifixion as the catalyst for the Second Coming.

Original Sin vs. Original Grace: The Adamic Fall and the Primordial Covenant

ABSTRACT The Christian doctrine of original sin—a corollary of the initial Adamic transgression—is the linchpin of the soteriological and eschatological significance of Christ. Construction of a binary opposition between the fall through Adam and redemption through Christ seems pleasing in its symmetry, yet the question of children who die in infancy poses a problem. This article considers the historical positions on this issue and compares them with the Islamic conception of original grace—a state of innate innocence due to the primordial covenant in which all souls attest to the lordship of God before birth. It then uses this concept to shed light on the fate of infants who die before reaching maturity.

Perspectives from the Christ hymn in Colossians 1:13–20 on cosmic powers and spiritual forces within an African context

The central argument of this article is that the way in which the author of Colossians makes use of this Christ hymn can provide useful perspectives within the African context where people often struggle with assumed threats of cosmic powers and spiritual forces. The author of the letter positions and utilises a Christ hymn in a strategic and functional way. This hymn forms a pivotal point in his letter and mentions the crucial theological issues that are at stake. The Colossians were threatened by false teachings according to which they were subjected to different forces and powers. Christ is, however, exalted and praised as superior to all these powers. As such, the hymn lays the basis for the refutation of all the deceiving arguments. The hymn describes the significance of Christ. He is the mediator of creation, the reconciler of the world, and the head of the church. Dependence on Christ sets one free from ties to all the proposed powers. The author assumes that his readers would also associate with the contents of the hymn regarding the supremacy of Christ. If so, the author in effect wins his argument. He, therefore, does not need to convince them of his theological viewpoint anew, but can immediately continue warning them about the dangers of false teachings threatening their community.

Are Cremation and Alkaline Hydrolysis Morally Distinct?

This article morally assesses alkaline hydrolysis as a means of final bodily disposition. Arguing from the Catholic social and theological principles of human dignity, the doctrine of bodily resurrection, subsidiarity, and the common good, the author shows that, while alkaline hydrolysis has some advantages over burial and cremation (incineration), Catholic conferences should be encouraged to resist its legalization, provided they focus renewed energy on teaching the faithful about the significance of Christ’s victory, by the Resurrection, over the corruption of bodily death.

Jacques Dupuis: The Ongoing Debate

The article evaluates what seven authors (from Terrence Merrigan in 2005 to Keith Johnson in 2011) have written about Jacques Dupuis's theology of religions. Dupuis died in 2004, but the debate about his views continues vigorously. When discussing the mediation of salvation, some, like Dupuis himself, attend to the church's prayers for “others.” But neither he himself nor his critics appreciate how such prayer, being inspired by love, enjoys some efficient causality, and not merely moral and final causality. Nor have other authors yet recognized the significance of Christ's priestly mediation for the theology of religions.

Religious Pluralism and the Coincidence of Opposites

The author discusses a theology of religious pluralism in light of the Trinity-Christ relationship. As the Trinity is the paradigm for interpreting religious diversity from a Christian perspective, so the significance of Christ as mediating center of a relational God is explored. Bonaventure's coincidence of opposites helps break open the Christ mystery as one that engages plurality and difference. Based on this paradigm Christian life is to be lived as a center of unity and from a new depth of love.

Die strategiese funksie van die Christus-himne in Kolossense 1:13-20

The strategic function of the Christ hymn in Colossians 1:13-20 The author of the letter to the Colossians positions and utilizes a Christ hymn in a strategic and functional way in his writing. This hymn forms a pivotal point in his letter and mentions the crucial theological issues that are at stake. The Colossians were threatened by false teachings according to which they were subject to different powers. Christ is, however, exalted and praised as superior to all these powers. As such the hymn lays the basis for the argumentation of the letter. The hymn describes the significance of Christ: He is the mediator of creation, the reconciler of the world, the head of the church. Dependence upon Christ sets one free from ties to all the proposed powers. The author assumes that his readers would also associate with the contents of the hymn regarding the supremacy of Christ. If so, the author actually wins his argument. He, therefore, does not need to convince them of his theological viewpoint anew, but can immediately continue warning them about the dangers of false teachings threatening their community.

Raphael's Dresden Cherubs

The writer attempts to account for the facial expressions and presence of the two cherubs at the bottom of Raphael's Sistine Madonna (Staatliche Kunstsammlungen, Gemaldegalerie, Dresden, Germany). The painting depicts a heavenly vision of the Virgin and Child revealed by a curtain. At the bottom are the two cherubs, lounging and rolling their eyes in what at least verges on an expression of boredom. The writer discusses possible iconographic sources for the painting, particularly Fra Bartolommeo's altarpiece God the Father with Sts. Mary Magdalen and Catherine of Siena (Museo Nazionale di Villa Guinigi, Lucca, Italy). She considers the composition of Raphael's painting, arguing that the two putti function as expressive foils to the Christ Child; their lackadaisical expressions are meant to ensure that the viewer does not miss the significance of Christ's more attentive and respectful expression, one of bodily calm and facial solemnity precipitated by the implicit presence of God.

"Amtscharisma": Through the Eternal Spirit (Hebrews 9:14)

Abstract The article argues a new approach to the elusive language of Heb 9:14. The phrase "eternal Spirit" refers to the Holy Spirit bestowed upon Christ for the specific purpose of carrying out his sacerdotal (that is, high-priestly) appointment. This notion of Amtscharisma is well documented in relevant Jewish literature, where the presence of the Spirit is viewed as the "insignia" of the high priest's office. The author of the epistle has modified this tradition with his own eschatological understanding of the significance of Christ's entry into the heavenly sanctuary.

John Locke and the Theological Foundation of Liberal Toleration: A Christian Dialectic of History

Locke's doctrine of toleration is best understood in the context of his larger argument about the political significance of Christ. Christ, Locke argues, separated the spiritual and political realm. His argument for separating the two realms, his basis for insisting that magistrates be tolerant of religious heterodoxy, is essentially theological. This claim is further developed by exploring Locke's thoughts of theunconcealmentof foundation of moral duty which Christ was purported to have brought about. The bearing thisunconcealmenthas on Locke's thoughts of the necessity of toleration is also explored. Finally, some comparisons between Locke and Hobbes's understanding of the significance of Christ are made, with a view to providing a new theoretical approach to their thought.