Heresy and Hermeneutics

2019 ◽  
pp. 50-76
Author(s):  
Amy Nelson Burnett
Keyword(s):  
Fifteenth Century ◽  
Biblical Hermeneutics ◽  
Christian Life ◽  
System A ◽  
Justification By Faith ◽  
Philipp Melanchthon ◽  
Medieval Heresy

The two most important factors for the development of the Eucharistic controversy were medieval heresy and the application of humanist biblical hermeneutics to passages concerning the sacraments. John Wyclif’s criticisms of transubstantiation were further developed by Hussite theologians in the fifteenth century and spread into Germany in the early 1520s. The inner-evangelical debate over the sacraments grew from the different understandings of the sacraments expressed in Erasmus’s devotional and exegetical works and in Martin Luther’s alternative to the medieval sacramental system. A comparison of the exegetical works of Erasmus with Philipp Melanchthon shows that the former emphasized affective piety and the Christian life, while the Wittenbergers highlighted justification by faith and the assurance to consciences given by the sacraments. By 1524, both Johannes Oecolampadius and Ulrich Zwingli had rejected belief in Christ’s corporeal presence.

Battista Carioni da Crema (c.1460–1534) and the ‘Third Life’: Visions of Reform in Early Sixteenth-Century Italy*

2020 ◽  
Vol 135 (573) ◽  
pp. 303-336
Author(s):  
Querciolo Mazzonis
Keyword(s):  
Sixteenth Century ◽  
Fifteenth Century ◽  
Christian Life ◽  
Systematic Analysis ◽  
Religious Reform ◽  
Historical Significance ◽  
The Third ◽  
Spiritual Director ◽  
New Geography ◽  
The Church

Abstract This essay sheds new light on the spirituality and historical significance of the influential and controversial Dominican friar Battista Carioni da Crema (c.1460–1534). A popular spiritual writer, charismatic founder of devout associations such as the Barnabites, and a spiritual director of several well-known Catholic figures, including Gaetano Thiene, Battista’s significance has not yet been fully acknowledged. The essay considers his spirituality in the framework of reforming movements emerging in Italy in the first half of the sixteenth century. In dialogue with previous interpretations of Battista, the essay provides a novel and systematic analysis of his notion of perfection and concept of the Church. Synthesising ascetic and mystic spiritual influences rooted in the monastic and humanist culture of the fifteenth century, Battista presented a distinctive view of Christian life, which included an ecclesiological perspective and a new geography of the sacred. Defined as the ‘third life’ and conceived in a period of religious fluidity, it neither fitted emerging Lutheran ideas nor the orthodox Catholicism of the Roman Church. In addition, the essay argues that Battista’s proselytism can be seen as an attempt to reform society which preceded proposals for religious reform made by groups such as the Spirituali.

Inquisition Procedure and Crime in Early Fifteenth-Century Florence

1990 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 297-308 ◽  
Author(s):  
Laura Ikins Stern
Keyword(s):  
Fifteenth Century ◽  
Criminal Law ◽  
Court System ◽  
Criminal Trials ◽  
Law System ◽  
Territorial State ◽  
Strong State ◽  
System A ◽  
The People ◽  
The Government

The central institutions of the Florentine criminal law system in the early fifteenth century were still the medieval courts of the three foreign rectors, the Podestà, the Captain of the People, and the Executor of the Ordinances of Justice, just as they had been throughout the fourteenth century. Similarly, criminal trials were conducted using inquisition procedure just as they had been from the late thirteenth century. Important changes, however, had taken place and were continuing to take place in the offices of the rectors and in inquisition procedure that greatly enhanced the effectiveness of this system. The fortuitous confluence of a strong state with improvements in inquisition procedure and the court system led to a strongly self-reliant court system that could, for the first time in the early fifteenth century, fully implement inquisition procedure by arresting criminals in flagranti, initiating cases through public initiation, gathering evidence independently, compelling witnesses, and successfully convicting. Because the political and social atmosphere influenced the effectiveness and the philosophies of prosecution of the criminal law system, a study of this system must include some consideration of political and social influences. Conversely, a study of the judicial system supplies a great deal of evidence about the government and society. When this interrelated sphere is regarded as a whole, the early fifteenth century is seen to be dominated by three closely related developments: the full implementation of inquisition procedure; the continued development of the territorial state, which made this possible; and the struggle between republican institutions and the nascent oligarchy.

Some Principles for Reconstructing a Doctrine of the Imitation of Christ

1972 ◽  
Vol 25 (1) ◽  
pp. 45-57 ◽  
Author(s):  
E. J. Tinsley
Keyword(s):  
Christian Life ◽  
Imitatio Christi ◽  
Imitation Of Christ ◽  
Justification By Faith ◽  
Catholic Tradition ◽  
The Ideal

Generally speaking the Christian catholic tradition has been more uniformly well disposed than protestantism towards the idea of the imitatio Christi. In protestantism there is a perceptible nervousness about using the term at all. This has been particularly the case since the time of Luther. His final antipathy to the ideal became the orthodox protestant tradition on the matter. Luther was critical of the ideal of the imitatio Christi, partly because he was repelled by the excesses of some of the sects where it was being interpreted in a crudely liberal way (e.g. among the Anabaptists) and partly because he became convinced that the ‘imitation’ of Christ conflicted with the essence of the Christian gospel as he had come to interpret it. He found himself unable to reconcile the presuppositions of the practice of the imitation of Christ with his doctrine of justification by faith. The imitation of Christ he believed must inevitably involve a denial of grace and conceal an incipient doctrine of works.Luther did, however, leave a more positive legacy to Christian thinking about the imitatio Christi. This was his distinction between imitatio and conformitas. Imitatio he disliked because he thought it suggested some human moral endeavour to emulate Christ undertaken apart from the work of the Spirit in grace. He preferred to speak of conformitas to Christ: the Christian life as a process of conformation to Christ through the work of the Creator Spirit.

Late Medieval Heresy: New Perspectives. Studies in Honor of Robert E. Lerner, ed. Michael D. Bailey and Sean L. Field. Heresy and Inquisition in the Middle Ages Series. Woodbridge, Suffolk: York Medieval Press and Boydell & Brewer, 2018, xiii, 267 pp.

Mediaevistik ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 32 (1) ◽  
pp. 457-459
Author(s):  
Linda Burke
Keyword(s):  
Fifteenth Century ◽  
Middle Ages ◽  
Western Europe ◽  
Late Medieval ◽  
Medieval Heresy ◽  
The Middle Ages

This highly readable Festschrift provides new insights into “the staggering variety of things a person could believe or do” in order to be persecuted as a heretic in fourteenth- and fifteenth-century Western Europe, as noted by Barbara Newman (248). The author-editors chose to focus this wide-ranging volume on relatively neglected figures, largely passing over the well-cultivated field of Wycliffe and the Hussites (4–5). Contributors have honored Professor Lerner’s example by their choice of a focused theme for the collection (11): the emphasis on manuscript sources (9–13), and a recognition of historiography as inevitably entwined with contemporary issues (vii, 11).

scholarly journals Gendered African (biblical) scholarship: An ode to Talitha

2019 ◽  
Vol 75 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Maarman S. Tshehla
Keyword(s):  
Reading Strategies ◽  
African Women ◽  
Biblical Hermeneutics ◽  
Christian Life ◽  
Women’S Experiences ◽  
Literary Context ◽  
Biblical Scholarship ◽  
Women's Experiences ◽  
Bible Reading ◽  
Do So

Attributed in Christian scripture to Jesus’s very lips, the intriguing Aramaic phrase ‘Talitha, Kum!’ has emerged as an important refrain within gendered African theological scholarship. African women’s experiences in the hands of religion and culture do so resonate with the two tangled stories that comprise the phrase’s literary context. The resonance is such that African women’s Bible reading strategies have come to be referred to as ‘Talitha cum African women’s biblical hermeneutics’ or some variant thereof. The ensuing panegyric by a male admirer engages the fresh ways whereby African women biblical hermeneutics (aka Talitha) are breathing new life into (African) biblical scholarship. In appreciation and tribute to African women theologians’ fragrant contributions to Christian life and reflection, the ode samples their work in a manner that in places feels intrusive whilst certainly nowhere near complete.

“God’s Righteousness Is Revealed in Every Believer from Faith to Faithfulness” (Rom 1.17): A Possible Reading

2021 ◽  
Vol 72 (1) ◽  
pp. 99-116
Author(s):  
Yongbom Lee
Keyword(s):  
Everyday Life ◽  
Christian Life ◽  
Faith Based ◽  
Literary Context ◽  
Justification By Faith

This study proposes understanding Rom 1.17 as: “For God’s righteousness is revealed in every believer from faith to faithfulness, as it was written, ‘The righteous will live by faith,’” based on various exegetical considerations in both its syntagmatic and literary context and its role in the overall shape of Romans. It highlights Paul’s holistic and dynamic picture of Christian life in which justification by faith produces its fruits in a believer’s everyday life.

Kingdom and Church in the thought of Martin Butzer

1955 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 48-59
Author(s):  
T. F. Torrance
Keyword(s):  
Catholic Church ◽  
The Body ◽  
Body Of Christ ◽  
Word Of God ◽  
Considerable Influence ◽  
Biblical Hermeneutics ◽  
Reformed Church ◽  
Lutheran Theology ◽  
Justification By Faith ◽  
The Face

History has not yet taken its full measure of Martin Butzer who must be adjudged as standing within the sphere of Reformed rather than Lutheran theology, not only because of his masterful influence on Calvin or Calvin's considerable influence on him, but because his pioneer work in Biblical hermeneutics and patristic study helped to shape the whole Reformed Church. If Luther's theology is to be interpreted over against the development of Western thought particularly in its medieval form, that of Butzer is to be understood in terms of the Catholic Church and patristic theology of the first six centuries, for here we have a great attempt to get behind medievalism and, as Calvin put it, writing from Strasburg, to restore the face of the ancient Catholic Church. In further contrast to the Lutheran position Butzer's theology is more broadly based on the teaching of Scripture. Ephesians, Galatians and the Johannine writings, for example, are interpreted together, and so the Biblical ideas of election and adoption into the Body of Christ are placed alongside the doctrines of rebirth and justification by faith, and they are thought into each other, while the ministry of the Gospel, as well as the Gospel itself, becomes a de fide matter. It was in line with this that, while Luther laid all the stress upon the Word of God, Butzer (to be followed by Calvin) invariably stressed the Word and Spirit in their inseparable conjunction.

New Design for a Differentially Pumped Hydration Chamber for a Siemens IA

1971 ◽  
Vol 29 ◽  
pp. 44-45
Author(s):  
R. C. Moretz ◽  
G. G. Hausner ◽  
D. F. Parsons
Keyword(s):  
Electron Microscopy ◽  
Water Vapor ◽  
Electron Diffraction ◽  
Water Vapor Pressure ◽  
Biological Materials ◽  
Thin Membrane ◽  
Reliable System ◽  
System A ◽  
Water Films ◽  
Aperture Opening

Electron microscopy and diffraction of biological materials in the hydrated state requires the construction of a chamber in which the water vapor pressure can be maintained at saturation for a given specimen temperature, while minimally affecting the normal vacuum of the remainder of the microscope column. Initial studies with chambers closed by thin membrane windows showed that at the film thicknesses required for electron diffraction at 100 KV the window failure rate was too high to give a reliable system. A single stage, differentially pumped specimen hydration chamber was constructed, consisting of two apertures (70-100μ), which eliminated the necessity of thin membrane windows. This system was used to obtain electron diffraction and electron microscopy of water droplets and thin water films. However, a period of dehydration occurred during initial pumping of the microscope column. Although rehydration occurred within five minutes, biological materials were irreversibly damaged. Another limitation of this system was that the specimen grid was clamped between the apertures, thus limiting the yield of view to the aperture opening.

High-resolution electron microscopy of Cu2O surfaces

1986 ◽  
Vol 44 ◽  
pp. 396-397
Author(s):  
V. Castano ◽  
W. Krakow
Keyword(s):  
High Resolution ◽  
Natural Extension ◽  
High Resolution Electron Microscopy ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Initial Oxidation ◽  
System A ◽  
Resolution Electron ◽  
Surface Reconstructions ◽  
Atomic Surface ◽  
Au Thin Films

In non-UHV microscope environments atomic surface structure has been observed for flat-on for various orientations of Au thin films and edge-on for columns of atoms in small particles. The problem of oxidation of surfaces has only recently been reported from the point of view of high resolution microscopy revealing surface reconstructions for the Ag2O system. A natural extension of these initial oxidation studies is to explore other materials areas which are technologically more significant such as that of Cu2O, which will now be described.

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