Cultivating Christian Love

2021 ◽  
pp. 191-210
Author(s):  
Adam C. Pelser
Keyword(s):  
Christian Tradition ◽  
Christian Life ◽  
Christian Love

In his “Great Commandments” Jesus places love at the heart of the virtuous Christian life. Yet, the task of trying to cultivate Christian love might seem impossible from the start. For, a prominent Christian tradition understands love (charity) to be a gracious gift from God, not a virtue we can acquire through practice. Moreover, love seems to involve emotions that are outside of our control. In response to these worries, Pelser explains how it is possible to work toward the cultivation of Christian love, even though it is an infused, emotional virtue. He develops Søren Kierkegaard’s insight that Christians can contribute to the cultivation of love in one another’s hearts by “presupposing” love in each other. Pelser concludes by explaining how certain practices that combine loving action with contemplative reflection can help till the ground of our hearts so that love might be cultivated in us by God and others.

scholarly journals Pilgrimage In The Celtic Christian Tradition

Perichoresis ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 15 (1) ◽  
pp. 3-19
Author(s):  
Rodney Aist
Keyword(s):  
Christian Tradition ◽  
Short Discussion ◽  
Christian Life ◽  
The World ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
The Ideal

Abstract This papers explores the diversity of pilgrim expressions in the Celtic Christian sources, focusing largely upon scriptural and theological images-namely, the image of Jerusalem, the example of Abraham, and journey as a metaphor for the earthly life. Discussion on Celtic interest in Jerusalem will focus on the text, De locis sanctis, by Adomnán of Iona (d. 704). Central to Abrahamic pilgrimage is the ideal of being a stranger, foreigner, exile and alien in the world. Columbanus (d. 615) and Columba (d. 597) are both described as pilgrims in the tradition of Abraham. The life of Patrick raises the question of the relationship between Abrahamic pilgrimage and the missionary life. The phenomenon of the seafaring monks, most famously St Brendan, will also be discussed through the lens of Abraham, while the corresponding text, The Voyage of St Brendan, will lead to a short discussion of liturgy as a form of pilgrimage. Finally, the lifelong journey of the Christian life-expressed through the metaphors of road and journey in the writings of Columbanus-will be discussed.

scholarly journals CHARITY OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH IN MEDIEVAL POLAND

2018 ◽  
pp. 23-25
Author(s):  
Leszek Aftyka
Keyword(s):  
Middle Ages ◽  
Catholic Church ◽  
Poor People ◽  
Christian Tradition ◽  
Moral Principles ◽  
The Poor ◽  
Christian Love ◽  
The Needy ◽  
Important Form

Charity in the Christian tradition is a voluntary form of care and help, which consists in material support provided by wealthy people to the weak, poor and helpless. The article discusses the most important form so institutional assistant ce provided by clergy, religious or dears, confraternities and corporations - guilds. In the Middle Ages, the greatest social problems were poverty, begging and vagrancy. The actual guardian of the poor was the bishop, where he was obliged to collect funds "provided by the faithful members during the monthly services, from the Sunday collection and imposed penitential penalties. All lay people who performed this task by giving alms to the needy were obliged to provide basic help to their neighbours. Very important institutions that helped the needy were monasteries, especially those that had their own agricultural economy. Their duties included providing a one-off accommodation and a modest meal for travelers. The monks regularly supported local poor people, often playing the role of seasonal employers, e.g. during the harvest season. Various fraternities and corporations – guilds were created in medieval cities. From their members they required observance of moral principles and the provision of Christian love to their fellow men. From the collected contributions, as well as from fines for breaking corporate rules or privileges, a fund for charity was created.These organizations were created primarily by craftsmen. One of the most important goals was to care for old and sick members, as well as their decent burial. Some corporations had their own hospitals and shelters.

Salvation, Baptism in the Holy Spirit, and Experience of God

2021 ◽  
pp. 67-80
Author(s):  
William J. Abraham
Keyword(s):  
Holy Spirit ◽  
Human Agency ◽  
Christian Tradition ◽  
Divine Action ◽  
Union With Christ ◽  
Christian Life ◽  
Experience Of God ◽  
The Holy Spirit ◽  
Point Of Departure ◽  
The Church

This chapter begins by charting the failure of Herbert Asbury’s conversion, using this as a point of departure to review two classical ways to provide a taxonomy of divine action for the Christian life, especially the experience of the Holy Spirit. The Christian tradition imparts a variety of concepts like sanctification, theosis, holiness, baptism in the Spirit, and union with Christ to speak of the experience of the Christian believer. Furthermore, the tradition speaks of the action of the church and the action of other believers on Christians. By attending to the concepts of divine and human agency, this chapter provides a way forward through this debate.

scholarly journals Hospitalitas suatu kebijakan yang terlupakan di tengah masyarakat aksi hospitalitas atas nama agama

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pitriani Padatu
Keyword(s):  
Social Service ◽  
Gender Issues ◽  
Political Orientation ◽  
Christian Tradition ◽  
Christian Life ◽  
Space And Time ◽  
Entry Points ◽  
Harm To Others ◽  
The Church ◽  
New Entry

Abstract: Hospitality was once an important value in Christian life. However, hospitality has become a forgotten value in today's world. In fact, the long practice of hospitality in the Christian tradition has shaped the mission of the church. Hostility offers new entry points to live together in the struggle for differences in ethnicity, education and social backgrounds, religion, gender issues, political orientation and so on. Hospitalitas is an urgent practice for today's society because hospitality does not only provide for those in need, but also creates other people's space and time. Because hospitality opens the door to live together in the context of a society that has been tainted by violence, harm to others in the name of difference, hospitality is not a tolerance to offer money to transcend differences and try to learn from one another, and recognize authenticity or each other.The church, as the recipient of God's hospitality, should go ahead as a driver on how people can live together. As a display of God's work, the Church herself builds a model of society like this, which appears first of all in communal and private worship, social service and endeavors to bring about peace. In the same way Christian institutes should also strive towards this vision with a view to realizing how deep the peaceful work of God is.Abstrak: Hospitalitas pernah menjadi nilai yang penting dalam kehidupan orang Kristen. Namun hospitalitas telah menjadi nilai yang terlupakan dalam dunia masa kini. Padahal, praktek panjang hospitalitas dalam tradisi Kristen telah membentuk misi gereja. Hospilitas menawarkan jalan masuk baru untuk hidup bersama dalam pergumulan perbedaan etnis, pendidikan dan latar belakang social, agama, isu gender, orientasi politik dan lain sebagainya. Hospitalitas adalah sebuah praktek yang mendesak bagi masyarakat masa kini karena hospitalitas tidak hanya menyediakan kebutuhan bagi yang membutuhkan, tetapi juga menciptakaan ruang dan waktu orang lain. Oleh karena hospitalitas membuka pintu untuk hidup bersama dalam konteks masyarakat yang telah tercemara oleh kekerasan, kerugian terhadap orang lain atas nama perbedan, maka hospitalitas bukanlah toleransi menawarkan uang untuk melampaui batas perbedaan dan berusaha untuk belajar suatu sama lain, serta mengenali otentisitas atau sama lain. Gereja sebagai penerima hospitalitas Allah, seharusnya berjalan di depan sebagai pramotor tentang bagaimana masyarakat dapat hidup bersama. Sebagai tampilan atas karya Allah, Gereja diri dalam dirinya membagun model masyarakat seperti ini, yang tampak pertama-tama dalam ibadah secara komunal maupun pribadi,pelayanan social dan usaha keras dalam mewujudkan perdamaian. Dengan cara yang sama institut Kristen juga seharusnya bekerja dengan keras kearah visi ini dengan maksud untuk mewujudkan betapa dalamnya kerjaan Allah yang penuh damai. Kata Kunci:

All is of God

10.1558/32682 ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 83-104
Author(s):  
Jon Paul Sydnor
Keyword(s):  
Christian Tradition

This essay elaborates a constructive, comparative, nondual theodicy for the Christian tradition based on the Hindu Vai??ava tradition. According to the Indologist Henrich Zimmer, in Vai??avism everything is an emanation of Vi??u, therefore everything is of Vi??u. All apparent opposites are inherently divine and implicitly complementary. Good and bad, joy and suffering, pain and pleasure are not conflicting dualities; they are interdependent qualities that increase one another’s being. The Hindu myth of Samudra Manthan, or the Churning of the Ocean, exemplifies Vai??ava nondualism. In that story, gods and demons—seeming opposites—cooperate in order to extract the nectar of immortality from an ocean of milk. If “opposites” are interdependent, hence complementary, then they are not “opposites” but mutually amplifying contrasts. Given this phenomenology, and applying it to the Christian tradition, a benevolent God who desires full vitality for her creatures would have to create pain, suffering, darkness, and death in order to intensify their correlates. Love would demand their creation, because love would want abundant life for all. In this aesthetic theodicy, the interplay of all contrasts results from the love of a life-giving God.

Kenotic Gestures

2019 ◽  
Vol 3 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 198-218
Author(s):  
Michelle Voss Roberts
Keyword(s):  
Gender Norms ◽  
Spiritual Practice ◽  
Aesthetic Theory ◽  
Power Structures ◽  
Christian Love ◽  
Love Of God ◽  
Shed Light

Christians sometimes take Christ's ken?sis, or self-emptying, as the pattern for Christian love of God and neighbor. Feminist critics suspect that this model reinforces unhealthy gender norms and oppressive power structures and contest the nature and extent of this template. Interreligious study can shed light on the debate. The Gau??ya Vai??ava tradition employs the categories of Indian aesthetic theory to explain how types of loving devotion (bhakti rasa) toward Krishna are evoked and expressed. The subordinate and peaceful modes of love for Krishna can serve as a heuristic for understanding Sarah Coakley's and Cynthia Bourgeault's retrievals of ken?sis in spiritual practice. A comparative reading suggests that objections to Coakley's version, which resembles the subordinate love of God, are more intractable due to the rootedness of its aesthetic in oppressive human experiences, while Bourgeault's reclamation of ken?sis aligns with a peaceful or meditative mode of love that feminists may more readily appreciate.

“O EVANGELHO DE PAULO”: EM QUE CONSISTE? ANÁLISE A PARTIR DO PENSAMENTO DE JAMES D.G. DUNN

2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (25) ◽  
pp. 409
Author(s):  
Vicente Artuso ◽  
Adriano Lazarini Souza dos Santos
Keyword(s):  
Good News ◽  
Spiritual Life ◽  
Christian Tradition ◽  
New Covenant ◽  
Pauline Theology ◽  
New Perspective

O presente artigo tem por objetivo analisar o teologúmeno concentrado na expressão “Evangelho de Paulo” e suas notas características dentro da Teologia Paulina. James D.G. Dunn, famoso exegeta escocês, traz o tema para o centro do debate e o coloca como a dimensão capital da vocação e missão do apóstolo Paulo. Neste ensaio procuraremos, ao modo de uma montagem de painéis, explicitar alguns dos principais aspectos da mensagem paulina sintetizadas na palavra “Evangelho de Paulo” e suas expressões correlatas. Para tal finalidade, utilizaremos o método expositivo-descritivo, apresentando: 1) Origem e significado do termo εὐαγγέλιον no Primeiro e Segundo Testamentos; 2) Análise temática do termo εὐαγγέλιον no Corpus Paulinum sob a ótica de James Dunn; 3) Relação do εὐαγγέλιον  paulino com os Sinóticos a partir das contribuições do exegeta Johan Konings. “THE GOSPEL OF PAULO”: ANALYSIS FROM THE THOUGHT OF JAMES D.G. DUNNAbstractThe article aims to explain some aspects of the "Gospel of Paul" axiom as presented in the works of James Dunn. His research highlights aspects of Paul’s Gospel inherited from Scripture and the Gospel of Christ. The break with Judaism occurs with the resurrection of Christ. In fact, the death and resurrection of Christ inaugurates a new covenant, new life, spiritual life. The study shows James Dunn's contribution in highlighting the tension between new and old, between the historical-salvific and apocalyptic perspective in Pauline theology. Contributions are not opposed. The apocalyptic genre is common in the Jewish and Christian tradition. Thus in Paul's new perspective, the opposition between Judaism and Christianity, faith and works is not accentuated. The Gospel of Paul is good news that eliminates antagonisms and includes differences.Keywords: Perspective. Paul. Gospel. Jesus. Judaism.

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