The Myth of a Descending-Ascending Redeemer in Mediterranean Antiquity

1976 ◽  
Vol 22 (4) ◽  
pp. 418-440 ◽  
Author(s):  
Charles H. Talbert
Keyword(s):  
Fourth Gospel ◽  
Church Fathers ◽  
Nag Hammadi ◽  
The Church ◽  
The Way

In spite of its popularity, the contention that the Christian conception of Jesus as a descending-ascending saviour figure was derived from the gnostic redeemer myth faces serious problems. Three are widely noted; another needs attention. (I) The sources from which our knowledge of the gnostic myth comes are late: e.g. the Naassene hymn, the hymn of the Pearl, the Mandean materials, the Manichean evidence, the accounts in the church fathers, and the Nag Hammadi documents. Sources from Chenoboskion like the Paraphrase of Shem, the Apocalypse of Adam, and the Second Logos of the Great Seth do contain a myth of a redeemer that is only superficially christianized. Hence the gnostics may not have derived their myth from Christians. It does not follow, however, either that Christians got it from gnostics or that it is pre-Christian. (2) A redeemer myth is not essential to gnosticism. Though gnosticism may contain a redeemer myth (e.g. the Naassene hymn), it may exist without one. In Carpocrates' system, for example, Jesus' soul remembered what it had seen in its circuit with the unbegotten God. The Ophites in Origen'sAgainst Celsusknow of no descending-ascending redeemer. They look to an earthly being who fetches gnosis from heaven. InPoimandres, the writer is the recipient of a vision in rapture. He then teaches the way of salvation. Indeed, the proto-gnosticism of Paul's opponents in I Corinthians apparently did not contain a redeemer myth. Such evidence demands that a distinction be drawn between two issues: (a) whether or not there was a pre-Christian gnosticism, and (b) whether or not there was a pre-Christian gnostic redeemer myth. Since a redeemer myth is not constitutive for gnosticism, the existence of a pre-Christian gnosis is no guarantee for the presence of a gnostic redeemer myth. (3) In the Christian sources where the gnostic myth has been assumed to be influential (e.g. the Fourth Gospel), there is no ontological identity between Christ and the believers as in gnosticism. There is, in the Christian writings, no pre-existence of the soul or redeemed redeemer. Given these difficulties, why the attractiveness of the gnostic hypothesis?

History, Faith, Fortuna

Why History? ◽  
2020 ◽  
pp. 45-61
Author(s):  
Donald Bloxham
Keyword(s):  
Middle Ages ◽  
Late Antiquity ◽  
Classical Antiquity ◽  
Church Fathers ◽  
Speculative Philosophy ◽  
Causal Explanations ◽  
Greco Roman ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
The Church ◽  
The Way

Chronologically and conceptually, this chapter links classical antiquity to the middle ages. Most of its focus is on the second to sixth centuries, and especially the overlap of ‘late antiquity’ and the ‘patristic era’, or the era of the church fathers. It addresses historical thinking in Christianity in the context of Christianity’s relationship to Greco-Roman and Jewish influences. It is a story of intellectual novelty, and of imposition, but just as much it is a tale of syncretism. Of the rationales for History identified in the introduction, the two figuring largest in this chapter are History as Speculative Philosophy and History as Identity, the latter especially in its genealogical form. Along the way in the chapter, attention is devoted to the relationship between grand conceptualizations of the overall historical process and the study of human choice and agency. That discussion illustrates similarities as well as contrasts in the way causal explanations can operate in disparate sorts of historical account, whether or not divine or quasi-divine forces are involved. The point looking forward is that at certain levels secular and non-secular Histories need not conflict.

scholarly journals „Quo vadis?” Dwa kazania Sebastiana Piskorskiego z okazji święceń kapłańskich, obłóczyn i profesji zakonnej potomków Franciszka Szembeka – struktura i problematyka

2021 ◽  
Vol 2 (25) ◽  
pp. 15-34
Author(s):  
Michał Kuran
Keyword(s):  
Rites Of Passage ◽  
Church Fathers ◽  
Related Factors ◽  
Persuasive Message ◽  
The Bible ◽  
Conscious Decision ◽  
Quo Vadis ◽  
The Veil ◽  
The Church ◽  
The Way

[“Quo vadis?” Two sermons by Rev. Sebastian Piskorski on the occasion of ordination, vesture and taking vows of Franciszek Szembek’s children – the structure and main issues] This study is devoted to two sermons by Rev. Sebastian Piskorski delivered during the ceremonies of the first mass of Michał Szembek and taking the veil and religious vows by Teresa Franciszka Szembekówna, Nun of the Visitation – both children of Franciszek Szembek. The paper analyzes the roles of particular elements of the sermons in creating a persuasive message whose aim is to accompany the young in their rites of passage. The preacher shows them what the way they have chosen will look like. He makes them realize the significance of the mission they undertake as well as possible difficulties; he introduces them into the special nature of the clergy, showing them what they give up and what they let themselves in for. Those deliberations, referring to the motifs of mystical meal and mystical way, are supposed to assist them in making a free and conscious decision. What is remarkable is the exceptional skill of the preacher, who has based his discussion on Gospel pericopes devoted to certain days of the liturgical calendar. The invention base for the sermons is the Bible and the writings of the Church Fathers. What is also important is estate-related factors: the significance and consequences of the vows taken and the mission Michał and Teresa Franciszka are to undertake once they become part of the clergy. Time showed that it was particularly Teresa Szembekówna that fulfilled her task, as a promoter of the worship of the Heart of Jesus in Poland; her zeal contributed to Pope Clement XIII sanctioning the worship.

The Exhortation to Candidates for Ascetical Vows at Baptism in the Ancient Syriac Church

1974 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
pp. 59-80 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert Murray
Keyword(s):  
Nag Hammadi ◽  
The Core ◽  
Married People ◽  
Jewish Christianity ◽  
Subsequent Discussion ◽  
Basic Concepts ◽  
The Church ◽  
The Way

Throughout the present century historians of Christian asceticism, especially in the Syriac-speaking area, have returned repeatedly to the problem posed by a passage in Aphrahat's seventh Demonstration, the natural implication of which seems to be that in his day baptism was reserved for those who consecrated themselves to Christ in virginity or by renouncing marital intercourse, to become members of the ‘Covenant’ (qyāmâ) which was evidently regarded as the core or heart of the Church. The question was raised provocatively by F. C. Burkitt (1899, 1904) and taken up by R. H. Connolly, with an intervening reply by Burkitt, in 1905–7. Connolly rightly argued that by Aphrahat's time (fl. 336–45) married people must have been regarded as members of the Church, and that the ‘penitents’ discussed by Aphrahat were Christians who had ‘fallen’ after baptism, but he overplayed his hand in identifying the Bnay Qyāmâ simply as ‘monks’. An undertone of denominational controversy remained throughout the subsequent discussion, continued by (among others) H. Koch (1911), K. Müller (1927) and E.J. Duncan (1945). It was A. Vööbus who showed the way out of the impasse by his perceptive suggestion that the exhortation in Dem. VII is a liturgical text which had survived into Aphrahat's day but whose restrictive implications were no longer in force. At the same time, under the powerful impetus of the discoveries of the Qumran, Nag Hammadi and Manichaean documents, with consequently increasing understanding of early Jewish Christianity in its many varieties, and realization that Syrian asceticism was not derivative from Egypt but probably earlier, the basic concepts and terminology of asceticism were being studied anew by A. Adam, E. Beck, G. Kretschmar, P. Nagel, M. Black, J. Gribomont, A. Guillaumont and others. Study of early Syriac asceticism continues, as is shown by G. Nedungatt's recent articles but there still remains more to be done to follow up Vööbus's hint about the genre of the exhortation quoted by Aphrahat in Dem. VII.

scholarly journals Wypowiedzi Ojców Kościoła na temat wiary w interpretacji papieża Franciszka w encyklice "Lumen fidei"

Vox Patrum ◽  
2014 ◽  
Vol 61 ◽  
pp. 493-502
Author(s):  
Bogdan Czyżewski
Keyword(s):  
Church Fathers ◽  
Pope Francis ◽  
Gregory The Great ◽  
Clement Of Alexandria ◽  
Deep Relationship ◽  
Fides Et Ratio ◽  
The Church ◽  
The Way

The first Encyclical Letter of Pope Francis, commencing with the word “Lumen fidei”, contains valuable statements of the Church Fathers on the topic of faith. The Holy Father examines and interprets them in the context of his own reflections. He quotes St. Augustine (11 times), St. Irenaeus of Lyons (3 times), St. Justin and Origen (each 2 times) and the Epistle of Barnabas, Clement of Alexandria, Tertullian, St. Cyril of Jerusalem, St. Leo the Great and St. Gregory the Great. The texts of the Church Fathers, cited by the Pope, are focused on four main themes. The first is related to the way, that leads a man to faith, which is born through love looking for truth. Therefore, there is a deep relationship between two realities – fides et ratio. Faith finally demands to be shared with others, and is transmitted in the community of the Church. She is strengthened by the fact, that it bears fruit, and will change the lives of those, who believe.

Le docétisme des christologies gnostiques revisité

2017 ◽  
Vol 63 (2) ◽  
pp. 279-304 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jean-Daniel Dubois
Keyword(s):  
Church Fathers ◽  
The Real ◽  
Nag Hammadi ◽  
The Church

Gnostic studies mainly depended on the Church Fathers' approach to heresies until the discovery of the Coptic Nag Hammadi codices in 1945. As we are slowly moving away from this patristic approach to Gnosticism, docetism is still defined as a tendency to regard Jesus' body as an appearance, and not as a real incarnate body. Irenaeus' refutation of all heresies presents the Valentinian and Basilidian Christologies as clearly docetist. A comparison of direct Valentinian sources such as theExtractsof Theodotus with Valentinian tractates from Nag Hammadi shows on the contrary that Valentinians had a clear notion of the incarnation. As for the Basilidians, theElenchosof Ps.-Hippolytus, theSecond Logos of the Great Sethand the CopticApocalypse of Petercan be used to demonstrate that docetism is not the proper category to interpret Basilidian Christology and Soteriology because the purification of the real body of the Saviour lies at the heart of that system.

Petrarch's Defense of Secular Letters, the Latin Fathers, and Ancient Roman Rhetoric

1993 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 119-134
Author(s):  
Brenda Deen Schildgen
Keyword(s):  
Classical Rhetoric ◽  
Church Fathers ◽  
Rhetorical Situations ◽  
Epistolary Form ◽  
The Church ◽  
Roman Rhetoric

Abstract: Like the Church Fathers before him, Petrarch was forced to defend secular learning against its detractors, and his defenses draw on many of the same arguments that Augustine and Jerome had used. In these defenses he blends classical rhetoric and Christian values, and his procedures also follow the traditions of classical rhetoric, relying on the epistolary form and utilizing the Ciceronian manner of debating all topics from opposite standpoints. Perhaps, however, because his indecisiveness complemented the classical rhetorical premise that many issues present many possible resolutions, Petrarch also rejects secular learning in some of his writings. His arguments are therefore conclusive only within their unique rhetorical situations.

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.

AUX FONDEMENTS DE L’INSTITUTION ECCLÉSIALE: LA POSITION DE SAINT PIERRE PARMI LES APÔTRES (MT 16, 13–20) ET SON RETENTISSEMENT Á L’ÉPOQUE APOSTOLIQUE ET PATRISTIQUE

2016 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 91-105
Author(s):  
Jacek Wojda
Keyword(s):  
Special Role ◽  
Church Community ◽  
Special Place ◽  
The Subject ◽  
The Church ◽  
The Way

Big activity passed Popes, with the least Francis Bergoglio, is a question about receptiontheir lives and action, especially in times of modern medium broadcasting. Sometimes presentedcontent could be treated as sensation, and their receptiveness deprived of profound historical andtheological meaning. This article depends of beginnings of the Church, when it started to organizeitself, with well known historically-theological arguments. Peter confessed Jesus as the Christ andgot special place among Apostles. His role matures in young Church community, which is escapingfrom Jewish religion.Peter tramps the way from Jerusalem thru Antioch to Rome, confirming his appointing to thefirst among Apostles and to being Rock in the Church. Nascent Rome Church keeps this specialPeter’s succession. Clement, bishop of Rome, shows his prerogatives as a successor of Peter. Later,bishop of Cartagena, Cyprian, confirms special role both Peter and each bishop of Rome amongother bishops. He also was finding appropriate role for each of them. Church institution, basedon Peter and Apostles persists and shows truth of the beginnings and faithfulness to them innowadays papacy.Methodological elements Presented in the introduction let for the lecture of Gospel and patristictexts without positivistic prejudices presented in old literature of the subject.

The Aggiornamento Phenomenon and the Second Vatican Council

2020 ◽  
pp. 98-105
Author(s):  
Hiermonk Ioann ( Bulyko) ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Catholic Church ◽  
Roman Catholic ◽  
Roman Catholic Church ◽  
Second Vatican Council ◽  
Church Fathers ◽  
John Xxiii ◽  
The People ◽  
Vatican Council ◽  
Pope John Xxiii ◽  
The Church

The Second Vatican Council was a unique event in the history of the Roman Catholic Church. Initiated by Pope John XXIII, it was intended to make the Roman Catholic Church more open to the contemporary society and bring it closer to the people. The principal aim of the council was the so called aggiornamento (updating). The phenomenon of updating the ecclesiastical life consisted in the following: on the one hand, modernization of the life of the Church and closer relations with the secular world; on the other hand, preserving all the traditions upon which the ecclesiastical life was founded. Hence in the Council’s documents we find another, French word ressourcement meaning ‘return to the origins’ based on the Holy Scripture and the works of the Church Fathers. The aggiornamento phenomenon emerged during the Second Vatican Council due to the movement within the Catholic Church called nouvelle theologie (French for “new theology”). Its representatives advanced the ideas that became fundamental in the Council’s decisions. The nouvelle theologie was often associated with modernism as some of the ideas of its representatives seemed to be very similar to those of modernism. However, what made the greatest difference between the two movements was their attitude towards the tradition. For the nouvelle theologie it was very important to revive Christianity in its initial version, hence their striving for returning to the sources, for the oecumenical movement, for better relations with non-Catholics and for liturgical renewal. All these ideas can be traced in the documents of the Second Vatican Council, and all this is characterized by the word aggiornamento.

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