INTERTEXTUALITY AS IRONY: HERACLES IN EPIC AND IN SOPHOCLES

2006 ◽  
Vol 53 (1) ◽  
pp. 48-59
Author(s):  
VAYOS LIAPIS
Keyword(s):  
Free Will ◽  
The Other ◽  
Church Fathers ◽  
Roman Literature ◽  
Other Hand ◽  
The Church

Heracles' image in antiquity is notoriously kaleidoscopic. Comedy represented him as a gluttonous buffoon, and myth made no secret of the brutal violence of many of his exploits. On the other hand, Pindar exalts him as a superlative figure who enforced the nomos of the gods, while Prodicus in a famous myth makes Heracles a supreme example of commendable conduct, a youth who chooses the path of Virtue over the path of Vice out of his own free will. This image of a moralized Heracles soon took root in the Greek imagination, and a whole host of Greek thinkers (Isocrates, Antisthenes, Diogenes the Cynic, and Plutarch, to name but a few) found in him a perfectly malleable exemplum for their various courses in moral edification. After undergoing a large number of transformations in Roman literature and the Church Fathers, Heracles resurfaces unscathed in the early Renaissance, when we find him again as an already established exemplum virtutis, now a man of letters, now a Christian. It would appear that, despite his multifarious metamorphoses, Heracles remained throughout the centuries essentially what he had been since Prodicus' day: an exemplary figure who undertook extreme toils and gained supreme recompense.

Patronage from the Privy Chamber: Sir Anthony Denny and Religious Reform

1988 ◽  
Vol 27 (1) ◽  
pp. 25-44 ◽  
Author(s):  
Patricia C. Swensen
Keyword(s):  
Effective Means ◽  
The Other ◽  
Henry Viii ◽  
Church Fathers ◽  
Religious Reform ◽  
Other Hand ◽  
The Church ◽  
Individual Interpretation

Among the accomplished humanists who flourished in the court of Henry VIII, there were a number devoted to the promotion of the “New Faith,” which, with its emphasis on classical learning and rereading of the church fathers, also called into question certain theological truths of Rome as well as the authority of the pope. The most immediate and effective means for this promotion were the various types of patronage readily available to holders of government and household office, both high and low. There is a certain irony here as Henry had, after his split with Rome, declared that there would be no doctrinal innovation, simply that the head of the English church would be the English king rather than the pope at Rome. Yet members of his own court whose actions should have supported and carried out his expressed intentions were those who advanced the very doctrinal innovations he professed to deplore. The reason for this incongruity may be found at least in part in the actions of the king rather than in his words, as he did not develop and follow through with any consistent religious program. As a result, the signals sent to court members were at best mixed and open to individual interpretation. A remarkable latitude in personal policies resulted as members of both Protestant and Catholic factions jockeyed for power. Conservatives, believing they supported the royal wishes, opposed vigorously any further innovation in religious affairs. On the other hand, courtiers who were theologically curious quite easily could believe that, in patronizing sometimes extreme reformers, they were merely carrying out Henry's real but not clearly stated intentions.

scholarly journals Sabbath Observance in the Context of COVID-19 Pandemic

2021 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-12
Author(s):  
Geoffrey Kinyua Njeru ◽  
John Kiboi
Keyword(s):  
The Body ◽  
Seventh Day Adventist ◽  
The Other ◽  
Body Of Christ ◽  
Church Fathers ◽  
Crucial Question ◽  
Other Hand ◽  
The Church

The study of the nature of the church1 is very significant to the body of Christ. Often, when this subject is introduced, Christians tend to ask: which is the true church and how can it be identified? Most churches claim to be the only ‘true church’ based on their teachings and this has continued to divide the body of Christ across the centuries. The Seventh Day Adventist (SDA) church has maintained the physical observance of the Sabbath to be one of the marks2 of identifying the ‘true church,’ yet the church fathers described the church as One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic. The SDA uses the Sabbath worship as a mark of identifying a ‘true church’ alongside the four attributes; and on the other hand, those churches that do not worship on Saturday regards the SDA’s emphasis of worshipping on Saturday as ‘worshipping the day’ rather than the almighty God. Besides this, misunderstandings have been encountered between the SDA and the so-called Sunday churches concerning the issue of what constitutes the true Sabbath. The study employs the dialogical-ecclesiological design in its bid to understand the contestations between the SDA and the ‘Sunday churches’ and in its building on the premise that dialogue is critical in our endeavor to find a new understanding and re-interpretation of the Sabbath, as one of the marks of a true church. The crucial question remains: can the observance of physical Sabbath be considered as one of the key marks of knowing the ‘true Church’?

Three Attitudes Toward Astrology: Rabelais, Montaigne, and Pontus de Tyard

PMLA ◽  
1949 ◽  
Vol 64 (3) ◽  
pp. 530-548 ◽  
Author(s):  
John C. Lapp
Keyword(s):  
Free Will ◽  
The Other ◽  
Other Hand ◽  
The People ◽  
The Future ◽  
The Mind ◽  
The Universe ◽  
The Church

Burckhardt has remarked that during the Renaissance culture and enlightenment were almost powerless against astrology, kept alive as it was by the ardent imagination of the people, and their passionate wish to penetrate the future. But what he calls the “delusion” of astral influence charmed even the cultured and enlightened, and for rather more complex reasons than he suggests. The modern scholar, in analyzing Renaissance trends, tends to denounce the mind that surrenders to such influences in a rationalist atmosphere. A belief in the occult powers of the stars over Man did not, however, necessarily betray intellectual backwardness, nor was disbelief a proof of great enlightenment. Astrology, though often tolerated by princes of the Church, generally incurred the censure of theologians, and such a fatalistic belief, denying free will and granting powers of revelation to stars named for pagan dieties, appeared to the clerical mind as an incitement to idolatry. In many cases, then, the opponents of the art were conformists, not rebels—nor were they immune to superstition. Even so formidable an enemy of the stars as Pico della Mirandola toyed with magic and the cabala, and often directed his attack at science in general. On the other hand, such a champion of astrology as Mellin de Saint-Gelays argued that Man should remain unhindered in his desire to fathom the mysterious forces of the universe. If man remains earthbound, never lifting eyes or mind heavenward, wrote Mellin, he will sink to a level beneath all earthly creatures instead of becoming their master. For the French poet, prediction by the stars is not the chief purpose of the true astrologer, but a mere accessory of his earthly and heavenly researches. Such a defense of astrology as this stems from a reluctance to forbid any phase of Man's activity in the search for truth, an attitude which, though uncritical, remains consistent with the rationalistic spirit.

Christus Virgo

2012 ◽  
Vol 41 (2) ◽  
pp. 22-27
Author(s):  
Sissel Undheim
Keyword(s):  
Moral Status ◽  
The Other ◽  
Late Antique ◽  
Church Fathers ◽  
Early Christian ◽  
Female Sex ◽  
The One ◽  
The Church

The description of Christ as a virgin, 'Christus virgo', does occur at rare occasions in Early Christian and late antique texts. Considering that 'virgo' was a term that most commonly described the sexual and moral status of a member of the female sex, such representations of Christ as a virgin may exemplify some of the complex negotiations over gender, salvation, sanctity and Christology that we find in the writings of the Church fathers. The article provides some suggestions as to how we can understand the notion of the virgin Christ within the context of early Christian and late antique theological debates on the one hand, and in light of the growing interest in sacred virginity on the other.

The Transferable Vote: A Hundred Years of Anglican Experience

2019 ◽  
Vol 21 (3) ◽  
pp. 342-355
Author(s):  
Colin Buchanan
Keyword(s):  
Good Practice ◽  
The Other ◽  
Blind Person ◽  
Single Transferable Vote ◽  
Other Hand ◽  
The Church

I am grateful to the Society for the opportunity to mark the centenary of the Enabling Act and the beginning of the Church Assembly with some reflection on an often ignored but highly valuable feature of that inauguration: the Single Transferable Vote or STV. I tried on one respected registrar recently an illustration of what the task must be like for those who do not welcome it. Was it, I suggested, like a blind person doing a jigsaw where the pieces were all shaped differently from each other – in other words, where the blind person could ensure that it was put together accurately, but on the other hand never saw the picture? The response was that that picture reflected accurately how it had in fact felt to that registrar. That might suggest that this lecture should be explaining and commending STV as general good practice, but in the event the process and virtues of STV have here to be largely taken for granted. I offer here one short commendation of STV.

scholarly journals XIII.—On the Churches at Rome earlier than the year 1150

Archaeologia ◽  
1866 ◽  
Vol 40 (1) ◽  
pp. 157-224
Author(s):  
Alexander Nesbitt
Keyword(s):  
The Other ◽  
Careful Study ◽  
Christian Church ◽  
Roman Art ◽  
Other Hand ◽  
Articles Of Faith ◽  
The Church

It will doubtless be generally admitted that the ecclesiastical buildings of the earlier centuries of the Christian era merit careful study, as well from the investigator into the history and antiquities of the Christian Church, as from the architectural antiquary. The style and ornamentation of the church and the baptistery must necessarily reflect something of the tone of feeling towards religious matters which prevailed at the time of their erection, whilst the form of the structure, and even more those fittings and arrangements by which it was adapted to ritual purposes, must obviously have been planned and modified in accordance with the views of the age as regarded liturgical and ritual observances, ecclesiastical discipline, and even articles of faith. To the architectural antiquary, on the other hand, these buildings are interesting as enabling him to study the decline of Roman art, and as links in the great chain of architectural progress.

The Christian Church in the Last Seventy Years

1943 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 28-34
Author(s):  
Kenneth Scott Latourette
Keyword(s):  
Large Volume ◽  
The Other ◽  
Recent History ◽  
Christian Church ◽  
The Past ◽  
Other Hand ◽  
The Status ◽  
The One ◽  
The Church

A strange contrast exists in the status of the Christian Church in the past seventy years. On the one hand the Church has clearly lost some of the ground which once appeared to be safely within its possession. On the other hand it has become more widely spread geographically and, when all mankind is taken into consideration, more influential in shaping human affairs than ever before in its history. In a paper as brief as this must of necessity be, space can be had only for the sketching of the broad outlines of this paradox and for suggesting a reason for it. If details were to be given, a large volume would be required. Perhaps, however, we can hope to do enough to point out one of the most provocative and important set of movements in recent history.

Sharp and the Restoration Policy in Scotland

1906 ◽  
Vol 20 ◽  
pp. 149-169
Author(s):  
B.D. John Willcock
Keyword(s):  
The Other ◽  
General Assembly ◽  
Other Hand ◽  
The Government ◽  
Charles Ii ◽  
Political Principles ◽  
The Church

The idea that at the Restoration the Government of Charles II. wantonly attacked a Church that otherwise would have remained at peace and in the enjoyment of hardly-won liberties is not in accordance with facts. The Church was divided into two warring factions—that of the Remonstrants or Protesters and that of the Resolutioners. The former were the extreme Covenant party and had as their symbol the Remonstrance of the Western army after the Battle of Dunbar, in which they refused to fight any longer in the cause of Charles II. The Resolutioners were the more moderate party, which accepted him as a Covenanted King, and they derived their name from their support of certain Resolutions passed in the Parliament and General Assembly for the admission of Royalists to office under certain conditions. The Protesters—who numbered perhaps about a third of the Presbyterian clergy—claimed, probably not without reason, to be more religious than their opponents. They were very eager to purge the Church of all those whose opinions they regarded as unsatisfactory, and to fill up vacant charges with those who uttered their shibboleths. In their opposition to the King they naturally drew somewhat closely into sympathy with the party of Cromwell, though, with the fatal skill in splitting hairs which has afflicted so many of their nation, they were able to differentiate their political principles from what they called ‘English errors.’ The Resolutioners, on the other hand, adhered steadily to the cause of Charles II., and came under the disfavour of the Government of the Commonwealth for their sympathy with the insurrection under Glencairn and Middleton which had been so troublesome to the English authorities.

Hooker the Theologian

2003 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 104-116 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rowan Williams
Keyword(s):  
The Other ◽  
Sacramental Theology ◽  
Verbal Instruction ◽  
Divine Presence ◽  
Human Actions ◽  
Ritual Action ◽  
Other Hand ◽  
The Church

ABSTRACTFor Hooker's opponents, sacraments could only be human actions designed to further the homogeneity of that community of uniform spiritual achievement which is the holy congregation. Hooker, on the other hand, affirms the possibility of uneven, confused faith, even the confused ecclesial loyalties of the ‘church papist’, as something acceptable within the reformed congregation. This is entirely of a piece with the defence of a liturgy that is more than verbal instruction. Hooker traces these two issues to a Christology which is centred upon divine gift and ontological transformation, and a consequent sacramental theology which affirms the hiddenness but effectiveness of divine presence and work in the forms of our ritual action.

Towards the Socratic Mission: Imitatio Socratis

2021 ◽  
Vol 26 (1) ◽  
pp. 193-222
Author(s):  
Mathias G. Parding
Keyword(s):  
Psychological Climate ◽  
The Other ◽  
The Political ◽  
Political Movements ◽  
Other Hand ◽  
Political Associations ◽  
The One ◽  
Point Of Departure ◽  
The Church

Abstract It is known that Kierkegaard’s relation to politics was problematic and marked by a somewhat reactionary stance. The nature of this problematic relation, however, will be shown to lie in the tension between his double skepticism of the order of establishment [det Bestående] on the one hand, and the political associations of his age on the other. In this tension he is immersed, trembling between Scylla and Charybdis. On the one hand Kierkegaard is hesitant to support the progressive political movements of the time due to his skepticism about the principle of association in the socio-psychological climate of leveling and envy. On the other hand, his dubious support of the order of the establishment, in particular the Church and Bishop Mynster, becomes increasingly problematic. The importance of 1848 is crucial in this regard since this year marks the decisive turn in Kierkegaard’s authorship. Using the letters to Kolderup-Rosenvinge in the wake of the cataclysmic events of 1848 as my point of departure, I wish to elucidate the pathway towards what Kierkegaard himself understands as his Socratic mission.

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