Agamben, John Chrysostom and Alternative Politics

2018 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 278-296
Author(s):  
John Bekos
Keyword(s):  
The State ◽  
Christian Tradition ◽  
Giorgio Agamben ◽  
Stanley Hauerwas ◽  
John Chrysostom ◽  
Dialectical Tension ◽  
The Church ◽  
As If

Abstract This article presents an alternative use of The Church and the Kingdom, a homily that Giorgio Agamben addressed to the Bishop of Paris and high-ranked Church officials at Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris, in 2009. Taking advantage of the biblical and patristic sources of the homily, this article places the speech within the Christian tradition, treating it as if it was a Christian homily. It argues that the Church and the Kingdom lay the foundations for the new political comprising a dialectical tension between the State and the Church. The alternative politics of this new political is further developed by bringing together John Chrysostom, the philosopher Agamben and the theologian Stanley Hauerwas. This coming together leads to a politics of a life as strangers, sojourners and refugees.

Constantine as a ‘Bishop’

1947 ◽  
Vol 37 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 127-131 ◽  
Author(s):  
W. Seston
Keyword(s):  
Sixteenth Century ◽  
The State ◽  
Obiter Dictum ◽  
The Church ◽  
As If

The author of the Vita Constantini (traditionally and persistently identified with Eusebius, despite the silence of St. Jerome), tells us that Constantine ‘at a banquet he was giving to the bishops declared that he too was a bishop. He added these words which I heard with my own ears: ἀλλ᾽ ὑμεῖϛ μὲν τῶν εἴσω τῆϛ ἐκτὸϛ ὑπὸ θεοῦ καθεσταμένοϛ ἐπίσκοπϛ ἂν εἴην ’.In attempts to define the relations between the first Christian emperor and the Church, no phrase is more frequently quoted than this obiter dictum. In the sixteenth century the French scholar Henri de Valois rendered τῶν ἐκτόϛ as if it were the genitive of τὰ ἐκτόϛ, and since then it has been the practice to regard Constantine as an ‘évèque du dehors’: the Emperor either exercised episcopal functions though not consecrated, or supervised mundane affairs (that is, the State), after the fashion of a bishop, or else held from God a temporal commission for ecclesiastical government, the bishops retaining control of dogma, ethics and discipline. Each of these three distinct interpretations is equally admissible.

scholarly journals On be...ing political: Empat model identitas ramah-gereja di bawah bayang-bayang kanopi suci kebangsaan

Kurios ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 305
Author(s):  
Joas Adiprasetya
Keyword(s):  
Social Ethics ◽  
The State ◽  
The Other ◽  
Four Dimensions ◽  
Stanley Hauerwas ◽  
Other Hand ◽  
The One ◽  
Sacred Canopy ◽  
The Church

This article discusses the idea of a hospitable church that struggles under the sacred canopy of the state, especially in the Indonesian context. By using Stanley Hauerwas’ social ethics and ecclesiology that views the church as an exemplary community, this article proposes an ecclesial model that maintains the tension of being true to its nature on the one hand and being political on the other hand. Such a model is demonstrated through its four dimensions: beholding, becoming, belonging, and befriending. The paper ends with a conclusion, in which the author reflects on the four dimensions by using the perspective of the four classical marks of the church (notae ecclesiae). AbstrakArtikel ini membahas gagasan mengenai gereja dengan identitas-ramah yang berjuang di bawah kanopi suci negara, khususnya dalam konteks Indonesia. Dengan menggunakan etika sosial dan eklesiologi Stanley Hauerwas, yang memandang gereja sebagai komunitas eksemplaris, artikel ini mengusul-kan model gerejawi yang mempertahankan ketegangan antara menjadi setia pada hakikatnya di satu sisi dan menjadi politis di sisi lain. Model semacam itu ditunjukkan melalui empat dimensinya: beholding, becoming, belonging, dan befriending. Makalah diakhiri dengan kesimpulan yang di dalamnya penulis merefleksikan empat dimensi di atas dengan menggunakan perspektif empat tanda klasik gereja (notae ecclesiae).

Resistance to the State and the Mistreatment of Jews

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael P. DeJonge
Keyword(s):  
Direct Relationship ◽  
Church And State ◽  
The State ◽  
Jewish Question ◽  
Church Community ◽  
Nazi Regime ◽  
Two Kingdoms ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
The Church ◽  
As If

This chapter relates Bonhoeffer’s resistance to the state to the issue of his concern for the persecution of Jews under the Nazi regime. Although it has been common to see a direct relationship between these two—as if Bonhoeffer resisted the state above all because of its mistreatment of Jews—this chapter argues that the relationship is better understood as mediated by other theological concerns, namely, the two kingdoms and the doctrine of justification. This chapter advances that argument in connection with “The Church and the Jewish Question,” the first part of which is governed by the proper roles of church and state under the two kingdoms, the second part of which is governed by the concern for the message of justification that defines the church community.

The Churches of France and their Separation from the State

1914 ◽  
Vol 7 (3) ◽  
pp. 396-423
Author(s):  
Albert Léo
Keyword(s):  
Common Knowledge ◽  
The State ◽  
Christian Faith ◽  
Public Authorities ◽  
The Voice ◽  
The Church ◽  
As If

It is a matter of common knowledge that during the last ten years the Churches of all denominations in France have been passing through a profound crisis. Such convulsions are not inevitably the death-agony of religion. Only the world's contempt or the world's forgetfulness could kill the Christian faith; but it is apt to be quickened rather than deadened by struggles for its life. Yet religion has a more subtle danger to encounter than the opposition of public authorities however violent. It is not impossible for the Church to be unconsciously seduced into imitation of her adversaries. She may come to make use of their methods. She may gradually slip downwards to the level of their spirit. So that, while prophesying among men as if she were the voice of God, her actions may be indistinguishable from those of a godless world. That is the danger. It is threatening the Church at this moment, and is more or less a menace to religion, everywhere and always.

THE SOULS OF EUROPE

2009 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 126-139
Author(s):  
Govert J. Buijs
Keyword(s):  
Religious Tradition ◽  
The State ◽  
Political Order ◽  
Christian Tradition ◽  
Religious Idea ◽  
Rational Order ◽  
The Church ◽  
European Civilization ◽  
Secular State

How should Europe deal politically with its legacy as a so‐called “Christian civilization"? Should this imply an overt reference to God or to the Christian or Judeo‐Christian tradition in European constitutional documents (as was debated when the so‐called “Treaty Establishing a Constitution for Europe” was tabled)? This debate raised the old “politico‐theological problem”: does a political order need some kind of metaphysical or religious grounding, a “soul”, or can it present itself as a purely rational order, the result of a utilitarian calculus? In this article it is argued that the secular idea of the state as an inherent element in the “Judeo‐Christian tradition”, for a “divine state” usurps a place that is only God's. So, this religious tradition itself calls for a secular state, and this inherent relationship between religion and secularity has become a key element for the interpretation of European civilization, most notably in the idea of a separation of the church and the state. But the very fact that this is a religious idea does imply that the European political order cannot be seen as a purely rational political order without a soul. The idea of a “plural soul” is proposed as a way out of the dilemma.

Standing Distant from the Fathers: Smaragdus of Saint-Mihiel and the Reception of Early Medieval Learning

Traditio ◽  
2012 ◽  
Vol 67 ◽  
pp. 71-99 ◽  
Author(s):  
Matthew Ponesse
Keyword(s):  
Ninth Century ◽  
Biblical Exegesis ◽  
Church Fathers ◽  
Early Medieval ◽  
John Chrysostom ◽  
The Church ◽  
As If

Abbot Smaragdus of Saint-Mihiel elaborates on the practice of compilation in his ninth-centuryLiber comitis, a compendium of biblical exegesis organized around the readings used in the liturgy. In the preface to this work, he makes it quite clear that the ideas expressed are not his own, but instead derive from the works of the church Fathers:Seeing that many in the church wisely seek to investigate the mystical sense of the divine scriptures and pluck from them the figurative fruit, I have made an effort to gather one book from many, filled with the flowers of allegory, acting both as an abbreviator and deriver of the tractates and teachings of the great Fathers, namely of Hilary, Jerome, Ambrose, Augustine, Cyprian, Cyril, Gregory, Victor, Fulgentius, John Chrysostom, Cassiodorus, Eucharis, Tychonius, Isidore, Figulus, Bede, Primasius, and also of those who must be approached cautiously, such as Pelagius and Origen, as if reducing powerful rivers and whirling eddies of the sea into moderate currents.

„Úgy veszem, hogy itt jártak…” Egy elmaradt püspöki látogatás margójára

2021 ◽  
Vol 66 (1) ◽  
pp. 153-162
Author(s):  
Alfréd Somogyi
Keyword(s):  
The State ◽  
Political Connections ◽  
The Political ◽  
Political Arena ◽  
Historical Sources ◽  
Reformed Church ◽  
The Church ◽  
As If

"“I Take It as If They Were Here…” A Side-Note on a Cancelled Episcopal Visitation. The study examines a letter which has extraordinary importance for the Reformed community in Czechoslovakia. It was written on behalf of President Tomáš Garrique Masaryk to the bishops of the Reformed Church in 1922. At that point in history, the Hungarian Reformed people, who came under the new rule of an entirely new state, Czechoslovakia, were able to form their new ecclesiastical dioceses. However, an independent Reformed Church of Czechoslovakia had not yet been proclaimed since they were not able to convene a synod. The leaders of the church tried to make use of all kinds of political connections to serve the need of the church. Therefore, they initiate a meeting with President Masaryk, who was having a holiday in Kistapolcsány (Topolčianky) during the autumn of 1922. All preparations made seemed to be organized well and go smoothly, even the lobby executed in the political arena indicated that the much-expected meeting would take place. However, the audience was cancelled by the office of the head of the state during the very last meeting. This study investigates the preparations of the meeting, tries to assess on the basis of historical sources its assumed significance, and offers a reflection about the possible reasons why the hearing had been cancelled. Keywords: Czechoslovakia, Reformed Church, ecclesiastical policy, audience of the president of the state, state and church relations, Tomáš Garrique Masaryk, István Pálóczi Czinke "

The Prophetic Voice of the Church in a Democratic South Africa – A Theological Reflection

2018 ◽  
Vol 15 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Lufuluvhi Maria Mudimeli
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Economic Transformation ◽  
The State ◽  
Black Liberation ◽  
South Africans ◽  
Black Liberation Theology ◽  
Prophetic Voice ◽  
The Face ◽  
The Church

This article is a reflection on the role and contribution of the church in a democratic South Africa. The involvement of the church in the struggle against apartheid is revisited briefly. The church has played a pivotal and prominent role in bringing about democracy by being a prophetic voice that could not be silenced even in the face of death. It is in this time of democracy when real transformation is needed to take its course in a realistic way, where the presence of the church has probably been latent and where it has assumed an observer status. A look is taken at the dilemmas facing the church. The church should not be bound and taken captive by any form of loyalty to any political organisation at the expense of the poor and the voiceless. A need for cooperation and partnership between the church and the state is crucial at this time. This paper strives to address the role of the church as a prophetic voice in a democratic South Africa. Radical economic transformation, inequality, corruption, and moral decadence—all these challenges hold the potential to thwart our young democracy and its ideals. Black liberation theology concepts are employed to explore how the church can become prophetically relevant in democracy. Suggestions are made about how the church and the state can best form partnerships. In avoiding taking only a critical stance, the church could fulfil its mandate “in season and out of season” and continue to be a prophetic voice on behalf of ordinary South Africans.

Poland

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Detlef Pollack ◽  
Gergely Rosta
Keyword(s):  
Catholic Church ◽  
Agricultural Production ◽  
The State ◽  
Religious Culture ◽  
Key Factors ◽  
Pope John Paul Ii ◽  
National Values ◽  
The Impact ◽  
State Socialist ◽  
The Church

The chapter on Poland focuses on two questions. Why, in contrast to all other state-socialist countries, did the church’s capacity for integration actually increase rather than decrease despite persecution and discrimination during the communist period? And why has this capacity also remained more or less constant (albeit to a lesser extent) in the period since the end of communist rule? The authors have identified four key factors in the remarkable resistance of the Polish Catholic Church during the period of communist persecution: the fusion of religious and national values, the specific conflict dynamics of the church’s struggle with the state, the structural conservatism of agricultural production in Poland, and the actions of Pope John Paul II. Explanations for the surprising stability of religiosity in Poland after 1990 point to the behaviour of the Church itself, to the internal pluralization of Catholicism, and to the impact of a homogeneous religious culture.

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