ASPECTS DU "SACERDOCE" EN SYRIE ANCIENNE: REMARQUES METHODOLOGIQUES ET EXAMEN D'UN CAS PARTICULIER

Numen ◽  
2002 ◽  
Vol 49 (4) ◽  
pp. 406-426
Author(s):  
Paolo Xella

AbstractA historico-religious study focusing on "priesthood" and "priest" has to face many difficulties, in terms of terminology and of content. On the one hand, it is methodologically incorrect to link "priesthood" to debated modern concepts such as "religion" or "cult" which, like the former, need to be (even conventionally) defined each time for every particular culture, and not to be assumed as universal keys of historical understanding. On the other hand, previous studies on the topic - where the aim has been to determine latent forms and/or particular manifestations of "priesthood" in other cultures and also to write a "general history" of this phenomenon - exhibit the total historical irrelevance of such an approach, based only on our modern (Christian) concept of "priest(hood)." In order to limit ethnocentrism and, at the same time, to employ useful conceptual categories, new heuristic parameters must be found. In addition to the criterion indicated by J. Rüpke (the religious specialist as a control-agent within the framework of symbolic systems), I propose to distinguish between professional specialisation and practical (cultic) function. The case study I present here to illustrate some aspects and problems of this research is that of ancient Syrian (Ugaritic) culture, where "priests" in our meaning are difficult to be found, whereas a fully new concept emerges if we look at the issue from a functional (and "emic") perspective.

2019 ◽  
Vol 31 (4) ◽  
pp. 5-12
Author(s):  
Gábor Szécsi

The aim of this article is to indicate how a version of intentionalist theory of linguistic communication can be adapted as a part of a contextualist methodology of the history of ideas. In other words, we attempt to clear up the way of harmonizing the theory that communication takes place when a hearer/reader grasps an utterer’s intention with the methodological conception according to which a historian of ideas must concentrate his attention on the context in which in his past author was writing. This article argues that a plausible solution to this problem is suggested in some influential methodological essays by Quentin Skinner. Therefore we shall discuss, on the one hand, the place of an intentionalist model of communication in Skinner’s methodology by providing a brief outline of the main theses of contextualism and intentionalism. On the other hand, we deal with some epistemological problems raised by the application of contextualist method. In particular, we consider the questions that can be raised about the manner in which a historian can grasp an author’s intention.


2018 ◽  
Vol 31 (64) ◽  
pp. 151-172
Author(s):  
Valerio Torreggiani

Abstract This article challenges a historiographical understanding of corporatism as an appendix of fascist ideology by examining the elaboration and diffusion of corporatist cultures in Britain during the first half of the 20th century. The case study seeks, on the one hand, to highlight the changing nature of corporatism by showing the different forms - fascist and non-fascist - that it took in Britain in the given time period. On the other hand, the article connects British corporatism with the European corporatist movement, as well as with the British constitutional heritage, underlining the close entangling of national and transnational issues.


2016 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
William Skiles

This article examines the nature and frequency of comments about Jews and Judaism in sermons delivered by Confessing Church pastors in the Nazi dictatorship.  The approach of most historians has focused on the history of antisemitism in the German Protestant tradition—in the works, pronouncements, and policies of the German churches and its leading figures.  Yet historians have left unexamined the most elemental task of the pastor—that is, preaching from the pulpit to the German people.  What would the average German congregant have heard from his pastor about the Jews and Judaism on any given Sunday?  I searched German archives, libraries, and used book stores, and analyzed 910 sermon manuscripts that were produced and disseminated in the Nazi regime.  I argue that these sermons provide mixed messages about Jews and Judaism.  While on the one hand, the sermons express admiration for Judaism as a foundation for Christianity, an insistence on the usage of the Hebrew Bible in the German churches, and the conviction that the Jews are spiritual cousins of Christians.  On the other hand, the sermons express religious prejudice in the form of anti-Judaic tropes that corroborated the Nazi ideology that portrayed Jews and Judaism as inferior: for instance, that Judaism is an antiquated religion of works rather than grace; that the Jews killed Christ and have been punished throughout history as a consequence.  Furthermore, I demonstrate that Confessing Church pastors commonly expressed anti-Judaic statements in the process of criticizing the Nazi regime, its leadership, and its policies.


2013 ◽  
Vol 54 (128) ◽  
pp. 401-417
Author(s):  
Paul van Tongeren

Is friendship still possible under nihilistic conditions? Kant and Nietzsche are important stages in the history of the idealization of friendship, which leads inevitably to the problem of nihilism. Nietzsche himself claims on the one hand that only something like friendship can save us in our nihilistic condition, but on the other hand that precisely friendship has been unmasked and become impossible by these very conditions. It seems we are struck in the nihilistic paradox of not being allowed to believe in the possibility of what we cannot do without. Literary imagination since the 19th century seems to make us even more skeptical. Maybe Beckett provides an illustration of a way out that fits well to Nietzsche's claim that only "the most moderate, those who do not require any extreme articles of faith" will be able to cope with nihilism.


2019 ◽  
Vol 30 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Tautvydas Vėželis

This article examines the problem of overcoming nihilism in Heidegger’s dialogue with Jünger. It is suggested that nihilism is manifested in various forms and is the deep logic of the whole history of European civilization. One of the main aims of this paper is to outline the relationship of nihilism and Nothing in Heidegger’s dispute with Jünger, viewing how Heidegger distinguishes his approach from Jünger’s point of view. Heidegger, on the one hand, treats nihilism as consummation of the Western metaphysical tradition, on the other hand, identifies Nothing itself as the shadow of Being, which cannot be overcome in the traditional dialectical thinking manner.


2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 27-51
Author(s):  
Doina-Cristina Rusu ◽  

This paper argues that the methodology Francis Bacon used in his natural histories abides by the theoretical commitments presented in his methodological writings. On the one hand, Bacon advocated a middle way between idle speculation and mere gathering of facts. On the other hand, he took a strong stance against the theorisation based on very few facts. Using two of his sources whom Bacon takes to be the reflection of these two extremes—Giambattista della Porta as an instance of idle speculations, and Hugh Platt as an instance of gathering facts without extracting knowledge—I show how Bacon chose the middle way, which consists of gathering facts and gradually extracting theory out of them. In addition, it will become clear how Bacon used the expertise of contemporary practitioners to criticise fantastical theories and purge natural history of misconceived notions and false speculations.


2001 ◽  
Vol 25 (3) ◽  
pp. 423-433
Author(s):  
John Trappes-Lomax

Chaplains in penal times were on occasion employed as stewards, though perhaps not as frequently as is sometimes supposed; from the point of view of their employers this is not entirely surprising; on the one hand chaplains might reasonably be expected to be literate, numerate and honest; on the other hand the restrictions under which Catholic priests worked might well leave them a sufficiency of spare time for secular affairs. The interest of the letter which follows lies not in the mere fact of such a stewardship, but in the extraordinarily vivid picture it gives of what it was like for a professed Religious to be involved in running an estate—particularly when his employer was of questionable sanity. Some light is incidentally thrown on the history of Catholicism in Linton-on-Ouse.


Languages ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 3 (4) ◽  
pp. 45
Author(s):  
Dorien Nieuwenhuijsen

In this paper we will describe the historical development of the Spanish doublet ante-antes (‘before’) and explore the question whether a process of exaptation is involved (cf. Lass 1990). We will argue that the final –s of antes, that originally marked the adverbial status of the word, in the course of time had become a kind of morphological ‘junk’ (cf. Lass 1990) and, subsequently, could be exploited in order to encode the semantic opposition between temporal meaning on the one hand, and adversative meaning on the other hand. However, based on quantitative data we will show that the incipient semantic redistribution over the course of the 16th century rather suddenly collapsed, leading to a differentiation between the prepositional ante and adverbial antes.


Author(s):  
Elio Grazioli
Keyword(s):  

One of the lesser-known works by Brancusi, Sculpture for the Blind is actually a key work, paradigmatic of the artist’s entire output. Perfectly oval in shape, it is the endpoint of Brancusi’s trajectory towards abstraction, which leads from the head to the egg as a symbol of origin. But, destined for the “blind”, on the one hand it displaces fruition from sight to touch, highlighting the importance of this modality also for other works; on the other hand it indicates the importance of “blinding” for understanding art; finally it denounces in its own way the blindness of so many self-styled art users. The essay reconstructs the history of the sculpture, its interpretations and its further implications.


Author(s):  
Karin de Boer

This chapter examines Hegel’s lectures on the history of modern philosophy in view of the tension between, on the one hand, his ambition to grasp philosophy’s past in a truly philosophical way and, on the other hand, the necessity to account for the actual particularities of a wide range of philosophical systems. Hegel’s lectures are put in relief by comparing their methodological principles to those put forward by his Kantian predecessor Tennemann. After discussing Hegel’s conception of modern philosophy as a whole, the chapter turns to his reading of Locke, Leibniz, and, in particular, Kant. In this context, it also compares Hegel’s assessment of Kant’s achievements to that of Tennemann. The chapter concludes by considering Hegel’s account of the final moment of the history of philosophy.


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