Scripture in the Christological Controversies

2019 ◽  
pp. 454-472
Author(s):  
Andrew Hofer, OP
Keyword(s):  
Biblical Interpretation ◽  
Cyril Of Alexandria ◽  
Early Christian ◽  
John Of Damascus ◽  
In Christ

After its introduction on believing in Christ in accordance with Scripture, this chapter begins its treatment of biblical interpretation in the Christological controversies with methodological matters at stake in assessing early Christianity’s journey from biblical questions to scholastic answers. It then examines the era of the ancient ecumenical councils and select theologians of those times in their increasingly developed Christological scholasticism, with special attention to Christ’s suffering in their treatments of offering rules for reading Scripture rightly. Most influential is Cyril of Alexandria, whose exegetical arguments opposed Nestorius’ rejection of the Marian title Theotokos, a term symbolizing an exegetical method that seemed to Nestorius to insult God’s impassibility and that needed further clarification. It concludes by returning from John of Damascus’ intricate rules for biblical interpretation on Christ, after centuries of scholastic development, to the biblical questions that generated early Christian responses and continue to generate answers today.

Posthumanism

2019 ◽  
pp. 196-218
Author(s):  
Denise Kimber Buell
Keyword(s):  
Critical Theory ◽  
New Testament ◽  
Biblical Interpretation ◽  
Vantage Point ◽  
Gender And Sexuality ◽  
Human Origins ◽  
Early Christian ◽  
Genesis 1 ◽  
Early Christian Studies

For New Testament and early Christian studies, posthumanism provides a vantage point for contemporary readers to appreciate just how fully contingent ancient texts perceive “the human” to be. This chapter opens by linking the study of gender and sexuality with posthumanism. Situating posthumanism especially in relation to intersectional feminisms, this chapter explores ways that New Testament and early Christian scholarship has engaged posthumanism and might further contribute to this field. Juxtaposing New Testament and non-canonical writings with contemporary critical theory that may be associated with posthumanism, this essay offers new possibilities for reading ancient narratives of human origins such as Genesis 1-3 and its retellings, for identifying non-reproductive kin-making and multispecies mutualisms through rhetoric and ritual, and for reconsidering temporality. A brief case study of Ephesians also shows how biblical interpretation offers a caution to those who view posthumanism’s potential as primarily liberatory.

Condescension, anticipation, reciprocal ecstasies: theological reflections on early Christian readings of Isaiah 6 and Daniel 3

2018 ◽  
Vol 71 (4) ◽  
pp. 425-440
Author(s):  
Bogdan G. Bucur
Keyword(s):  
Reception History ◽  
Early Christian ◽  
In Christ

AbstractIn the biblical theophanies of Isaiah 6 and Daniel 3, divine condescension and human ascent constitute reciprocal ecstatic moves towards a divine–human encounter. The christological interpretation, widespread in early Christian reception history, further discerns in Isaiah 6 and Daniel 3 an anticipation of the radical condescension of the Logos-made-human and, conversely, an anticipation of the deifying ascent of humanity in Christ. Finally, the early Christian reading of Isaiah 6 and Daniel 3 as ‘christophanies’ – that is, as manifestations of the Logos-to-be-incarnate – also allows us a glimpse into the performative aspect and experiential claims of early Christian exegesis, broadly construed to also incorporate hymnography, iconography and ritual.

scholarly journals The Topic of Penetration of Fire into Iron in Byzantine Christology

2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (3) ◽  
pp. 409-423
Author(s):  
Dmitry Biriukov
Keyword(s):  
The Other ◽  
Cyril Of Alexandria ◽  
Theological Discourse ◽  
John Of Damascus ◽  
Theodoret Of Cyrus

Abstract In this article I seek to show in what manner the Stoic principle of total blending, illustrated by the example of the penetration of fire into iron, finds its refraction in Byzantine Christological teachings. According to the Stoics, total blending occurs when one body accepts certain qualities of the other, while remaining itself, or when both mixed bodies acquire qualities of each other while preserving their natures. I argue that Origen’s use of the example of incandescent iron had an effect on the later theological discourse. There it appears in two contexts, Christology and deification. In this article the focus is on Christology. I claim that the example was introduced into the Christological discourse by Apollinarius of Laodicea. Then, I investigate how it was transformed in later theological writings by (Ps.-) Basil of Caesarea, Theodoret of Cyrus, Cyril of Alexandria, Sever of Antioch, John of Damascus, and the Corpus Leontianum. In this context, I pay special attention to the discrepancy between John of Damascus and Leontius of Jerusalem as regards the issue of the complexity of Christ’s hypostasis. I clarify the causes of this discrepancy.

Tragical Mimesis and Biblical Interpretation II

2020 ◽  
pp. 67-101
Author(s):  
Paul M. Blowers
Keyword(s):  
Case Studies ◽  
Biblical Interpretation ◽  
Judas Iscariot ◽  
Early Christian ◽  
Hebrew Scriptures ◽  
John The Baptist ◽  
The Bible ◽  
Divine Justice ◽  
The New Testament ◽  
The Sacrifice

This chapter, following on the last, expands to other case studies of dramatic interpretation and tragical mimesis in patristic exposition of tragic narratives in the Bible beyond Genesis, in Old and New Testaments alike. The horrific story of Jephthah’s fateful vow and the “sacrifice” of his daughter (Judges 11), perhaps the best single example of tragedy in the Hebrew Scriptures, vexed its patristic interpreters by its ostensive moral senselessness and resistance to theological redeemability. The flawed character of other tragic heroes such as Samson and King Saul added to the hermeneutical perplexity, while the story of Job was largely taken as a testament of pious endurance of tragic circumstances. The New Testament meanwhile presented, to its patristic interpreters, the proto-Christian “tragic heroics” of the Holy Innocents and John the Baptist, and the “tragic villainy” of Judas Iscariot and Ananias and Sapphira, each story prompting its own questions about freedom, determinism, and divine justice. Early Christian interpreters consistently put forward and even amplified the elements of tragedy in these stories in order to educate their own audiences in confronting irrevocable evil and suffering.

Christian Apocrypha

2019 ◽  
pp. 284-294
Author(s):  
Stephen J. Shoemaker
Keyword(s):  
New Testament ◽  
Biblical Interpretation ◽  
Direct Connection ◽  
Parallel Development ◽  
Early Christian ◽  
Equal Importance ◽  
The New Testament ◽  
Canonical Texts

This chapter focuses on the production of early Christian apocryphal writings as an act of biblical interpretation. Particular attention is given to the ‘parabiblical’ nature of many such writings—that is, the ways in which these texts often reflect parallel development of traditions that came to be included in the biblical canon. Many early Gospel traditions and Pauline apocrypha preserve independent, even rival versions of the earliest Christian traditions. For the historian, these texts frequently share equal importance with the canonical traditions in the effort to understand the earliest formation of the Christian biblical traditions. Other early Christian apocrypha relate to the canon in a more supplementary fashion. These serve to fill major gaps in the New Testament tradition, some having a more direct connection to the canonical texts than others.

scholarly journals Euzebiusz z Heraklei i jego "Homilia efeska" (CPG 6143) z etiopskiej antologii patrystycznej Qerellos

Vox Patrum ◽  
2012 ◽  
Vol 57 ◽  
pp. 807-819
Author(s):  
Rafał Zarzeczny
Keyword(s):  
Cyril Of Alexandria ◽  
Early Christian ◽  
The Core ◽  
Patristic Literature ◽  
Ancient Manuscripts ◽  
Christian Literature ◽  
Council Of Ephesus

Classical oriental literatures, especially in Syriac, Arabic and Coptic lan­guages, constitute extraordinary treasury for patristic studies. Apart from the texts written originally in their ecclesiastical ambient, the oriental ancient manuscripts include many documents completely disappeared or preserved in their Greek and Latin originals in defective form only. The same refers to the Ethiopian Christian literature. In this context so-called Qerəllos anthology occupies a particular place as one of the most important patristic writings. It contains Christological treaties and homilies by Cyril of Alexandria and other documents, essentially of the anti-nestorian and monophysite character, in the context of the Council of Ephesus (431). The core of the anthology was compiled in Alexandria and translated into Ge’ez language directly from Greek during the Aksumite period (V-VII century). Ethiopic homily by Eusebius of Heraclea (CPG 6143) is unique preserved ver­sion of this document, and also unique noted text of the bishop from V century. Besides the introduction to the Early Christian patristic literature and especially to the Qerəllos anthology, this paper offers a Polish translation of the Eusebius’s Homily with relative commentary.

Introduction

2019 ◽  
pp. xxx-3
Author(s):  
Paul M. Blowers ◽  
Peter W. Martens
Keyword(s):  
Crucial Role ◽  
Biblical Interpretation ◽  
Theological Hermeneutics ◽  
Early Christian ◽  
Christian Communities ◽  
Sacred Scripture

This Introduction sets out the crucial role of sacred Scripture in the life, faith, and practices of the early churches, a centrality that is the very premise of all the essays in this Handbook. The editors also contextualize this Handbook within the burgeoning of interest in early Christian biblical interpretation that has unfolded in patristic studies in recent decades, and indicate its interest for scholars and readers from disciplines broader than patristics. An important aspect of this Handbook, highlighted here, is its attention to forms, modes, and genres of biblical interpretation beyond line-by-line commentary undertaken by scholarly exegetes. Only by observing these does one begin to grasp how Scripture was the lifeblood of early Christian communities. The Introduction closes by insisting on the importance of including early Christian biblical interpretation, whatever its foreignness to modern biblical-critical methodologies, in contemporary conversations over philosophical and theological hermeneutics.

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