Islamic Images of Isa/Jesus in the Chester Beatty Manuscript Collection: Visual Art as Framework for Comparative Christology

2012 ◽  
Vol 16 (5) ◽  
pp. 488-506
Author(s):  
Miriam Y. Perkins
Keyword(s):  
Sixteenth Century ◽  
Visual Art ◽  
Textual Analysis ◽  
Religious Tradition ◽  
Visual Media ◽  
Theological Reflection ◽  
Comparative Theology ◽  
Sacred Texts ◽  
Textual Interpretation ◽  
Interpretive Process

Abstract Textual analysis has served as a paradigmatic approach to comparative theology for some time while analysis through artistic and visual media has received less attention. Most approaches to comparative theology rely on textual comparison of sacred texts. However, visual art is also a compelling way to engage in comparative theology and specifically comparative Christology. To demonstrate the power of visual art as a tool for comparative theology, I draw upon two recently published sixteenth-century Islamic images of Isa/Jesus from the Chester Beatty manuscript collection to illustrate how artwork can structure the work of comparative Christology by providing an entry point into Islam’s aesthetic tradition and relevant sacred texts. Paul Ricoeur’s theory of textual interpretation provides a theoretical framework, and I draw upon and extend his theory to describe the way visual art can initiate the interpretive process and move us through explanation toward understanding of another religious tradition, which in turn has the potential to transform theological reflection and generate theological insight.

Comparing Faithfully

2016 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Theological Education ◽  
Religious Tradition ◽  
Theological Reflection ◽  
Systematic Theology ◽  
Comparative Theology ◽  
Religious Thought ◽  
Christian Doctrine ◽  
Doctrine Of God ◽  
Spiritual But Not Religious ◽  
Theology Students

In recent decades, comparative theology has emerged as a method of thinking as an adherent to a particular religious tradition, through deep and focused conversation with another tradition. This discipline has the potential to enrich Christian systematic theology and, by extension, theological education, at its foundations. For this purpose, Comparing Faithfully: Insights for Systematic Theological Reflection reconsiders five central areas of Christian doctrinal reflection in light of focused interreligious readings, as a resource for pastors and theology students. The dialogical format of the book creates conversations about the doctrine of God, theodicy, humanity, Christology, and soteriology. The comparative essays span examples from Hindu, Buddhist, Jewish, Muslim, Jain, and Confucian traditions, Aztec theology, and contemporary “spiritual but not religious” thought, to offer exciting new perspectives on Christian doctrine.

Masao Abe and Comparative Theology

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Leo D. Lefebure
Keyword(s):  
Graduate Students ◽  
Jesus Christ ◽  
Religious Tradition ◽  
Christian Theology ◽  
Western Philosophy ◽  
Comparative Theology ◽  
Graduate Course ◽  
Beliefs And Practices ◽  
Faith Tradition ◽  
Mahayana Buddhist

A leading form of comparative theology entails commitment to one religious tradition but ventures out to encounter another tradition, with the goal of generating fresh insights into familiar beliefs and practices reliant upon both the tradition of origin and the newly encountered faith tradition. This chapter, based on a graduate course at Georgetown University, examines how Zen Buddhist thinker Masao Abe engages in a dialogue with Western philosophy and Christian theology. Abe interpreted the meaning of the kenosis (emptying) of God in Jesus Christ in Christian theology in light of Mahayana Buddhist perspectives on Sunyata (emptying) and the logic of negation. The chapter includes responses to Abe from various Christian theologians, including Georgetown graduate students.

How to Cite a Sacred Text

2013 ◽  
Vol 6 (4) ◽  
pp. 844-861
Author(s):  
Ron E. Hassner
Keyword(s):  
Political Science ◽  
Religious Tradition ◽  
Sacred Text ◽  
Sacred Texts ◽  
Appropriate Treatment ◽  
Ancient Texts

AbstractAllusions to holy scriptures and quotes from sacred texts appear in hundreds of political science articles. Yet while we treat other ancient texts with reverence and diligence, we have not extended a similar care to the holy scriptures of the world's religions. Political scientists often refer to biblical events, statements, and turns of phrase but rarely cite them, chapter and verse. They are careless about referencing the precise translation of the holy texts used, tend to cite religious passages out of context, and disregard the role of religious tradition, interpretation, and practice in shaping and reshaping the meaning of holy texts. I offer examples for these trends, provide evidence for their harmful implications and offer guidelines for the appropriate treatment of sacred texts as formal scholarly sources.

Introduction

2021 ◽  
pp. xviii-25
Author(s):  
Bruce Gordon ◽  
Carl R. Trueman
Keyword(s):  
Popular Culture ◽  
Sixteenth Century ◽  
Broad Spectrum ◽  
Religious Tradition ◽  
The Reformation

A handbook to Calvin and Calvinism must address the complexities of assessing the influence of one sixteenth-century figure on a religious tradition still very much alive from Brazil to China. Calvinism is a slippery term that suggests that an extremely diverse and often contradictory tradition can be traced to one man. In many respects this is unsustainable, yet patterns emerge. Arguably, the term ‘Reformed’ is more appropriate to reflect the protean character of a branch of Christianity that emerged out of Switzerland during the Reformation to become a global faith. The contributions to this volume bring fresh perspectives to Calvin’s thought and influence and explore the broad spectrum in which they have been manifested over four hundred years in doctrine, institutions, literature, art, politics, and popular culture. Just like its eponymous founder, Calvinism has continually reinvented itself, acquiring new forms and adapting to changing circumstances and cultures.

Khipu Transcription Typologies: A Corpus-Based Study of theTextos Andinos

Ethnohistory ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 68 (2) ◽  
pp. 311-341
Author(s):  
Manuel Medrano
Keyword(s):  
Statistical Analysis ◽  
Sixteenth Century ◽  
Multivariate Statistical Analysis ◽  
Statistical Evaluation ◽  
Multivariate Statistical ◽  
Historical Interpretation ◽  
Spanish Conquest ◽  
Textual Interpretation ◽  
Early Colonial ◽  
And Diffusion

AbstractDespite ongoing efforts to compile both Andean khipus and their written colonial references, initiatives in this domain have emphasized the benefits of aggregation vis-à-vis preservation and diffusion, largely forgoing opportunities to analyze khipu data in aggregate. This article introduces multivariate statistical analysis to colonial khipu texts, enlisting the aid of a heretofore little-studied source: the Textos Andinos, a compilation of sixteenth-century Spanish transcriptions of Indigenous khipu “readings.” The largest syntactically annotated corpus of khipu transcriptions to date is compiled. Textual interpretation informs an exegetical typology of “paper khipus”—a division of the texts into distinguishable categories. The initial typology is expanded using the outcome of its statistical evaluation. Pre- versus postconquest content and the incorporation of currency emerge as the primary distinguishing attributes of khipu transcriptions. The expanded typology in turn enables the assessment of previous hypotheses in the study of paper khipus, responding to criticisms of their generalizability; suggestions of a diminishment in khipu complexity following the Spanish conquest are revisited and corroborated to this effect. A corpus-based study of khipu transcriptions offers a promising inroad to negotiating the highly mediated conditions of their original creation while expanding the study of khipus in the early colonial Andes. The aggregative methodology is proposed to ethnohistorians as an additional strategy for complementing and enriching historical interpretation.

The buffered, technological self: Finding associations between Internet use and religiosity

2020 ◽  
Vol 67 (3) ◽  
pp. 461-478
Author(s):  
Paul K McClure
Keyword(s):  
Internet Use ◽  
Religious Tradition ◽  
Theoretical Work ◽  
The Internet ◽  
Sacred Texts ◽  
Religious Services ◽  
Using Data ◽  
Religiously Unaffiliated

Explanations for the rise of the religiously unaffiliated have regained attention from sociologists in light of recent declines in religiosity. While the secularization thesis has seen revisions across disciplines, few studies link lower levels of religiosity with greater Internet use. This article draws from Charles Taylor’s widely regarded account of secularity and his concept of ‘the buffered self’ to argue that individuals who use the Internet more frequently are less religious. Using data from the Baylor Religion Survey (2017), I find that with higher levels of Internet use, individuals are less likely to pray, read sacred texts, attend religious services, consider religion personally important, or affiliate with a religious tradition. Greater Internet use is further associated with being an atheist, while other media activity such as watching television is not similarly linked. These findings ground Taylor’s theoretical work by specifying empirically measurable, contextual conditions that explain recent declines in religiosity.

Sharing Abraham? Narrative Worldview, Biblical and Qur’anic Interpretation and Comparative Theology in Turkey

2020 ◽  
Vol 28 (1) ◽  
pp. 91-92
Author(s):  
Heiko Wenzel
Keyword(s):  
Theological Reflection ◽  
Comparative Theology ◽  
Qur'anic Interpretation

SummaryBristow offers an important contribution to really crucial issues. He deals with many significant aspects, stimulates further thinking and invites one’s own positioning. The author impressively demonstrates the value of theological reflection growing from the interaction with others and developing its meaning in such setting. His book excels through helpful observations and important perspectives, which offer many beneficial stimuli. This represents the successful start of a series and more volumes will hopefully follow soon.RésuméBristow apporte ici une contribution importante sur des questions cruciales. Il aborde de nombreux aspects pertinents, stimule la réflexion et invite le lecteur à se positionner. Il montre de façon impressionnante l’intérêt d’une réflexion théologique qui progresse dans l’interaction avec d’autres et qui élabore sa signification dans un tel contexte. Cet ouvrage est excellent en vertu de ses observations utiles et de ses perspectives importantes, avec de nombreux apports stimulants. C’est un début réussi pour une série dans laquelle de nombreux autres volumes devraient suivre dans un proche avenir.ZusammenfassungBristow legt einen wichtigen Beitrag zu durchaus weichenstellenden Fragen vor. Er behandelt viele wichtige Aspekte und regt zum Weiterdenken und zur eigenen Positionierung an. Der Verfasser demonstriert eindrücklich den Wert von theologischen Reflexionen, die aus der Begegnung mit Menschen herauswachsen, daran wachsen und dort ihre Bedeutung entfalten können. Das Buch zeichnet sich durch gute Beobachtungen und wichtige Perspektiven aus, die viele gute Impulse anbieten. Der Start in diese Buchreihe ist damit gelungen. Weitere Bände schließen sich dem hoffentlich bald an.

The Hermeneutical Rehabilitation of Supposition Theory in Seventeenth-Century Protestant Logic

Vivarium ◽  
2013 ◽  
Vol 51 (1-4) ◽  
pp. 464-481 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephan Meier-Oeser
Keyword(s):  
Eighteenth Century ◽  
Seventeenth Century ◽  
Sixteenth Century ◽  
Early Modern ◽  
Semantic Function ◽  
The Third ◽  
Textual Interpretation ◽  
Supposition Theory

Abstract The paper focuses on some aspects of the early modern aftermath of supposition theory within the framework of the protestant logical tradition. Due to the growing influence of Humanism, supposition theory from the third decade of the sixteenth century was the object of general neglect and contempt. While in the late sixteenth-century a number of standard textbooks of post-Tridentine scholastic logic reintegrated this doctrine, although in a bowdlerized version, it remained for a century out of the scope of Protestant logic. The situation changed when the Strasburg Lutheran theologian J.C. Dannhauer, who in 1630 developed and propagated the program of a new discipline which he called ‘general hermeneutics’ (hermeneutica generalis), accentuating the importance of supposition theory as an indispensable device for the purpose of textual interpretation. Due to Dannhauer’s influence on later developments of hermeneutics, which in the seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries was regarded as a logical discipline, supposition theory is still present in several logical treatises of the eighteenth century. The explication of the underlying views on the notion of supposition and its logico-semantic function may give at least some clues as to how to answer the question of what supposition theory was all about.

“When the Son of Man is Lifted Up”: The Redemptive Power of the Crucifixion in the Gospel of John

Horizons ◽  
2005 ◽  
Vol 32 (1) ◽  
pp. 100-116 ◽  
Author(s):  
John W. Romanowsky
Keyword(s):  
Gospel Of John ◽  
Textual Analysis ◽  
Theological Reflection ◽  
Historical Event ◽  
Crucial Aspect ◽  
Ample Evidence ◽  
Spiritual Meaning ◽  
Son Of Man ◽  
The Cross ◽  
John's Gospel

AbstractSome scripture scholars argue for an interpretation of Johannine soteriology as primarily one of revelation which questions the redemptive centrality of the historical crucifixion. Others insist on the primacy of historical event in the Johannine narrative—“The Word became flesh” (Jn 1:14)—and the spiritual meaning of this event, which is at once concrete in its historicity and universal in its meaning as symbol. The historical event of the crucifixion as an object of Johannine theological reflection is indeed central in his soteriology, but only insofar as he reflects upon its transcendent meaning. The three “lifting up sayings” in John's gospel offer us a window into this crucial aspect of his soteriology. In this essay, the author's textual analysis of each saying provides us with ample evidence for the redemptive centrality of the historical crucifixion; but it also will make clear that the “lifting up of the Son of Man” in his “hour” on the cross is at the same time his exaltation and glorification, when he returns to the Father whence he came.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document