Dante's Vita Nuova and the New Testament

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
William Franke

Modelling knowledge as revelation and theology as poetry, this powerful new reading of the Vita nuova not only challenges Dante scholars to reconsider the book's speculative emphases but also offers the general reader an accessible yet penetrating exploration of some of the Western tradition's most far-reaching ideas surrounding love and knowledge. Dante's 'little book', included in full here in an original parallel translation, captures in its first emergence the same revolutionary ferment that would later become manifest both in the larger oeuvre of this great European writer and in the literature of the entire Western canon. William Franke demonstrates how Dante's youthful poetic autobiography disrupts sectarian thinking and reconciles the seeming contraries of divine revelation and human invention, while also providing the means for understanding religious revelation in the Bible. Ultimately, this revolutionary unification of Scripture and poetry shows the intimate working of love at the source of inspired knowing.

Author(s):  
Дмитрий Евгеньевич Афиногенов

Трактат 1 из сборника «Амфилохии» св. патр. Фотия на примере истолкования конкретных мест из Библии объясняет методологию библейской экзегезы вообще. Во внимание должен приниматься не только богословский или исторический контекст, но также чисто филологические аспекты: семантика, интонация, языковой узус Нового Завета и Септуагинты, возможные разночтения и т. д. Патриарх убеждён, что при правильном пользовании этим инструментарием можно объяснить все кажущиеся противоречащими высказывания Св. Писания таким образом, что они окажутся в полном согласии друг с другом. The first treatise from «Amphilochia» by the St. Patriarch Photios expounds the general principles of the biblical exegesis on a specific example of certain passages from the Bible. It is not just the theological or historical context that has to be taken into consideration, but also purely philological aspects, such as semantics, intonation, the language usage of the New Testament and Septuagint, possible variant readings etc. The Patriarch is convinced, that the correct application of these tools makes it possible to perfectly harmonize all seemingly contradictory statements of the Scriptures.


2021 ◽  
Vol 90 (1) ◽  
pp. 117-140
Author(s):  
David J. Neumann

AbstractSwami Vivekananda was the most influential pioneer of a Yogi Christ, illustrating well over a century ago how the life and teachings of Jesus might be incorporated within a larger Hindu worldview—and then presented back to Western audiences. Appropriation of Jesus, one of the central symbols of the West, might be viewed as the ultimate act of counter-Orientalism. This article begins by providing a brief biography of Vivekananda and the modern Hinduism that nurtured him and that he propagated. He articulated an inclusivist vision of Advaita Vedanta as the most compelling vision of universal religion. Next, the article turns to Vivekananda's views of Christianity, for which he had little affection, and the Bible, which he knew extraordinarily well. The article then systematically explores Vivekananda's engagement with the New Testament, revealing a clear hermeneutical preference for the Gospels, particularly John. Following the lead of biblical scholars, Vivekananda made a distinction between the Christ of the Gospels and the Jesus of history, offering sometimes contradictory conclusions about the historicity of elements associated with Jesus's life. Finally, the article provides a detailed articulation of Vivekananda's Jesus—a figure at once familiar to Christians but, in significant ways, uniquely accommodated to Hindu metaphysics. Vivekananda demonstrated a robust understanding and discriminating use of the Christian Bible that has not been properly recognized. He deployed this knowledge to launch an important and long-lived pattern: an attractive, fleshed out depiction of Jesus of Nazareth, transformed from the Christian savior into a Yogi model of self-realization. Through his efforts, Jesus became an indisputably Indian religious figure, no longer just a Christian one. The Yogi Christ remains a prominent global religious figure familiar to Hindus, Christians, and those of other faiths alike.


2017 ◽  
Vol 129 (4) ◽  
pp. 149-157
Author(s):  
Cherryl Hunt

Ordinary Christians’ responses to a dramatized reading of the New Testament, together with reflection on research in the area of performance criticism, suggests that understanding of the Bible and spiritual encounter with its texts may be promoted by the reading aloud of, and listening to, substantial portions of the Bible in an unfamiliar format; this might be found in a dramatized presentation and/or a previously unencountered translation. This practice should form part of any programme designed to promote biblical engagement within churches.


1953 ◽  
Vol 6 (4) ◽  
pp. 406-416
Author(s):  
R. McL. Wilson

In the Gospel according to St. John it is written that ‘God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have ever-lasting life. For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.’ In these familiar words is summed up the message of the Bible as a whole, and of the New Testament in particular. In spite of all that may be said of sin and depravity, of judgment and the wrath of God, the last word is one not of doom but of salvation. The Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ is a Gospel of salvation, of deliverance and redemption. The news that was carried into all the world by the early Church was the Good News of the grace and love of God, revealed and made known in Jesus Christ His Son. In the words of Paul, it is that ‘God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself’.


2001 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 125-145
Author(s):  
Ian Christopher Levy

AbstractAs an ardent advocate for Church reform in the late fourteenth century, John Wyclif found in Jewish history and practices a wealth of material upon which to draw when chastising the present Christian clerical class. Wyclif likens modern friars and prelates to the Jews of the Bible, and concludes that in their avarice and zeal for unscriptural human traditions they have in fact have proven themselves even greater enemies of Christ than the Jews themselves. Though Jews are consistently used as foils, they are not the recipients of gratuitous epithets. Noteworthy is the fact that Wyclif most often employs the term perfidia when speaking of Christian clerics rather than Jews. When he does speak of avarice, treachery, and murder on the part of the Jews those occasions are largely limited to the clerical class, and then in an effort to admonish the Christian clergy of his own day. As Wyclif read the New Testament accounts of Christ and the apostles, thereby forming his vision of an ideal Church, so he read of their adversaries and accepts them as the model for all who oppose his idealized Church.


1948 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 66-73
Author(s):  
R. Stuart Louden

We can trace a revival of theology in the Reformed Churches in the last quarter of a century. The new theological interest merits being called a revival of theology, for there has been a fresh and more thorough attention given to certain realities, either ignored or treated with scant notice for a considerable time previously.First among such realities now receiving more of the attention which their relevance and authority deserve, is the Bible, the record of the Word of God. There is an invigorating and convincing quality about theology which is Biblical throughout, being based on the witness of the Scriptures as a whole. The valuable results of careful Biblical scholarship had had an adverse effect on theology in so far as theologians had completely separated the Old Testament from the New in their treatment of Biblical doctrine, or in expanding Christian doctrine, had spoken of the theological teaching of the Synoptic Gospels, the Pauline Epistles, the Johannine writings, and so on, as if there were no such thing as one common New Testament witness. It is being seen anew that the Holy Scriptures contain a complete history of God's saving action. The presence of the complete Bible open at the heart of the Church, recalls each succeeding Christian generation to that one history of God's saving action, to which the Church is the living witness. The New Testament is one, for its Lord is one, and Christian theology must stand four-square on the foundation of its whole teaching.


Author(s):  
Song Gang

This essay examines the first Chinese New Testament translated by the missionary of the Paris Foreign Missions Society (M.E.P.) Jean Basset (1662–1707) in collaboration with Confucian convert Johan Su in the early Qing period. Though they did not complete a full translation of the New Testament, the work carried unique characteristics that went beyond the limitations of its time. One of the original manuscripts also exerted direct influence on nineteenth-century Protestant translations. With in-depth analysis of this exemplary piece among early Catholic endeavors, the essay addresses a set of key concerns that have not been sufficiently studied, including Basset’s vision of a Chinese Bible, the translation principle and techniques, Christian and Chinese terminology, and the interface of biblical translations and Chinese language and literature. The findings of this study offer fresh insights and facilitate a re-evaluation of Catholic contributions and legacy in the history of the Bible in China.


We Walk ◽  
2020 ◽  
pp. 115-138
Author(s):  
Amy S. F. Lutz

This chapter discusses the parable of the four sons, in which the author relates via the character of the wise son known as the “the child who does not know how to ask.” It talks about the representation of the “simple” child that already represents those with learning differences or intellectual disabilities. It also mentions how disability is seldom addressed in the Old Testament, noting that Moses allegedly suffered from a speech impediment. The chapter describes a token directive not to insult the deaf or place a stumbling block before the blind but is belied by the treatment of the few disabled people mentioned in the Bible. It elaborates how the New Testament, by contrast to the Old Testament, is full of disabled people.


Author(s):  
Clyde E. Fant ◽  
Mitchell G. Reddish

Crete is the largest and most southerly of all the Greek islands. It is also one of the most visited, due to both its beauty and its famous ancient sites. By far the best-known of these attractions is the spectacular Palace of Knossos, reconstructed over a period of thirty-five years by its discoverer, Sir Arthur Evans, who put more than a million dollars of his own money into the work. Scholars have criticized his reconstruction as a fanciful and not altogether accurate representation of the original, but millions of tourists delight in being able to see more at an ancient site than foundations, scattered stones, and a few columns. But Knossos is not the only dramatic ruin of antiquity on the island. Gortyna and Phaistos should not be missed, and for Christians the harbor of Kaloi Limenes (called Fair Havens in the New Testament) is a place of importance in the life of the Apostle Paul. Likewise, the Basilica of St. Titus at Gortyna commemorates the ministry of Titus, a Greek convert who was a disciple of Paul (Gal 2:3), as described in the New Testament book of Titus. Furthermore, Iraklion possesses an archaeological museum second only to the National Museum in Athens. The only site on Crete mentioned in the Bible, though Crete itself was said to be the place of the ministry of Titus (Titus 1:5), is the harbor of Kaloi Limenes (Good Harbor), referred to in the Book of Acts as Fair Havens (Acts 27: 8). After two thousand years, the site is known by the same name today. Even in New Testament times the place was distinguished only as the harbor for the nearby city of Lasea, a flourishing commercial city in the Roman period. Today the tranquil bay in its remote location harbors nothing more than sunbathers who visit its beaches to enjoy the beautiful waters of the Mediterranean. The site can be reached best by automobile, or by taking a bus from Iraklion to Moires/Mires.


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