The Biblical Doctrine of the Holy Spirit and Present Religious Life

Joachim of Fiore (1135-1202) – a Middle Age exegete and mystic – is the author of an impressive work on the vision of history, whose most renown element is the tertius status, i.e. the age of the Holy Spirit which precedes the end of the world and the Final Judgment. As an author, Joachim was also interested in the history of religious life in the Middle Ages and in various exegetical tools which he developed to analyze this subject. In his works, especially the minor ones, he also discusses practical problems related to religious life in the 12th century. The small tractate, Questio de Maria Magdalena et Maria sorore Lazari et Marthae, has been preserved in a single 13th century manuscript and is kept in the Biblioteca Antoniana in Padua. In his exegesis on various Gospel passages which deal with the anointing of Jesus’ feet and head in Galilee and Bethany, Joachim of Fiore intends to show that the actions of women who performed this gesture possess a hidden moral significance: the certainty concerning the internal unity that occurs between contemplation and the virtue of humility. An example of this unity is Mary of Bethany who anointed the feet of Jesus and wiped them with her hair (cf. Jn 12:3) as a person who is humble and – at the same time – given to contemplation. Still – according to Joachim – as a righteous person, she had the right to reach for the head of the Savior.

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“The Way of the Heart” in the Experience and Reflection of St. Augustine

Collectanea Theologica ◽

10.21697/ct.2020.90.5.20 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 90 (5) ◽

pp. 477-504

Author(s):

Mirosław Mejzner

Keyword(s):

Holy Spirit ◽

Human Heart ◽

Religious Life ◽

Image Of God ◽

Spiritual Life ◽

Latin Word ◽

The Holy Spirit ◽

The Impact ◽

The Image Of God ◽

The Trinity

In the writings of St. Augustine, the Latin word cor occurs more than 8,000 times, being one of the most important, though ambiguous, terms of his anthropology and spirituality. As a synonym for the inner man (homo interior) it encompasses the whole affective, intellectual, moral and religious life. In this sense, it is the privileged place for a personal encounter with God. The analysis of Augustine’s writings reveals a link between the concept of the Trinity and indications concerning the spiritual life of man. Reflections on the “heart” can be put into a kind of triptych: creation “in the image of God,” illumination by Christ, and dilatation by the Holy Spirit. The impact of God on the human heart should find its completion in a voluntarily adopted attitude of adoration, humility and love.

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The Centrality and Scope of Conversion

Journal of Psychology and Theology ◽

10.1177/009164718100900104 ◽

1981 ◽

Vol 9 (1) ◽

pp. 26-36 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Robert M. Price

Keyword(s):

Holy Spirit ◽

Personal Growth ◽

Religious Life ◽

Evangelical Christianity ◽

Psychological Realism ◽

Point Of Entry ◽

Biblical History ◽

The Holy Spirit ◽

Life Itself

This article argues that conversion understood as a miracle of the Holy Spirit is not merely the point of entry to evangelical Christianity. On the contrary, it has a centrality that is often overlooked, relative both to the theological program and to the shape and style of the religious life itself. This importance is so far-reaching in scope that when the miraculous character, of conversion is redefined by well-meaning evangelical psychologists, the results are serious and surprising. First, when God's activity in conversion is located in overall significance rather than supernatural causation, the door is opened to a liberal (non-miraculous) understanding of God's acts in biblical history as well. Second, when conversion is understood as a crisis-transformation, a pattern is established which can lead to stereotyped thinking and stunted personal growth. When this understanding of conversion is softened in favor of psychological realism, evangelistic claims for “changed lives” are made ambiguous. The dilemma can be solved if one is willing to apply the designation “miraculous” only to the saving truth to which one is converted, and not to the process of Conversion itself.

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The Myth of Religious “Radicalism”

Al-Albab ◽

10.24260/alalbab.v9i1.1546 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 9 (1) ◽

pp. 107-122

Author(s):

Amanah Nurish

Keyword(s):

Holy Spirit ◽

Religious Life ◽

Research Paper ◽

Religious Behavior ◽

The West ◽

Critical Questions ◽

Cultural Impacts ◽

Violent Extremism ◽

The Holy Spirit ◽

Religious Radicalism

This work examines an academic exposure on the issues of religious radicalism increasing globally not only in the West but also in the east countries. As a majority Muslim populated country, Indonesia is one of the reluctant examples in facing the problem of religious radicalism. In addition, this research paper examines the term of “radicalism” politically associated with extremism and terrorism. The primary issue is explicitly addressed to religious radicalism in terms of meaning and image. Hence, we perceive that religious radicalism can be understood as mainstream feature on religious behavior including religious actions leading to the steps of violent extremism or terrorism. Religious radicalism today is massively defined as a negative rather than positive connotation. Such glimpse traps us to be “narrow minded” in perceiving the role as well as the holy spirit of religions. Therefore, the critical questions of this research paper include what happens with the framing of religious radicalism today; How is the historical narration of radicalism; and is it a problem when someone being radical to practice and understand religions or beliefs. Lastly, how philosophical meanings of the word radicalism alone response such debate. However, the general terminology of religious radicalism has led significant social, political, and cultural impacts toward religious harmony and religious life particularly in Indonesian context.

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‘Man Is Ill Because He Is Badly Constructed’: Artaud, Klossowski and Deleuze in Search for the Earth Inside

Deleuze Studies ◽

10.3366/dls.2011.0003 ◽

2011 ◽

Vol 5 (1) ◽

pp. 18-34 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Rick Dolphijn

Keyword(s):

Performance Art ◽

Holy Spirit ◽

The Body ◽

Deleuze And Guattari ◽

The Earth ◽

The Holy Spirit ◽

Life Itself ◽

Body Without Organs ◽

Ways Of Thinking ◽

And Performance

Starting with Antonin Artaud's radio play To Have Done With The Judgement Of God, this article analyses the ways in which Artaud's idea of the body without organs links up with various of his writings on the body and bodily theatre and with Deleuze and Guattari's later development of his ideas. Using Klossowski (or Klossowski's Nietzsche) to explain how the dominance of dialogue equals the dominance of God, I go on to examine how the Son (the facialised body), the Father (Language) and the Holy Spirit (Subjectification), need to be warded off in order to revitalize the body, reuniting it with ‘the earth’ it has been separated from. Artaud's writings on Balinese dancing and the Tarahumaran people pave the way for the new body to appear. Reconstructing the body through bodily practices, through religion and above all through art, as Deleuze and Guattari suggest, we are introduced not only to new ways of thinking theatre and performance art, but to life itself.

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