Climbing the Lampstand-Witness-Trees: Revelation's Use of Zechariah 4 in Light of Speech Act Theory

2011 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
pp. 81-92
Author(s):  
Cullen Tanner

AbstractThis article traces John's use of Zechariah 4 through its most likely first century perceptions in conjunction with the implicit ecclesial audience of Revelation. After placing the Apocalypse amid the atmosphere of Second Temple Judaism in the Roman Empire, it provides conjecture as to the theological implications of these speech acts on the Church of Revelation. These findings are then used to piece together the illocutionary force of John's use of Zechariah 4 and the resulting perlocution, which together comprise an essential element of the pneumatology that John supports in Revelation. When interpreting through such a lens, one ought to ask not only who the Spirit is but how this biblical author anticipated his audience to act in response to this document and to the Holy Spirit.

Author(s):  
Cecil M. Robeck

This chapter traces Pentecostal and related congregations, churches, denominations, and organizations that stem from the beginning of the twentieth century. They identify with activities at Pentecost described in Acts 2 and in the exercise of charisms in 1 Corinthians 12–14. Each of them highlights is the significance of a personal encounter with the Holy Spirit leading to a transformed life. These often interrelated organizations and movements have brought great vitality to the Church worldwide for over one hundred years, and together, they constitute as much as 25 per cent of the world’s Christians. This form of spirituality is unique over the past 500 years, since it may be found in virtually every historic Christian family/tradition, and in most churches of the twenty-first century.


Vox Patrum ◽  
2012 ◽  
Vol 58 ◽  
pp. 315-324
Author(s):  
Józef Grzywaczewski

The article shows Sidonius Apollinaris’ admiration for all intellectual acti­vities. For example he congratulated Faustus of Riez after reading his book „On the Holy Spirit”. In all the Sydonius’ writings one can see that he has always had a lot of respect for poets and writers as Lampridius or to scholars as Phoebus. In the context of the fall of the Roman Empire Sidonius really appreciated those who reach for the teachings of ancient philosophy, rhetoric, astronomy and music in the proclamation of the Gospel. So Claudianus Mamertus, author of the book „De sta­tu animae” did. According to Sidonius he was a great master of the three cultures: Roman, Greek and Christian. In the works of Sidonius we can see a gradual transi­tion from the vision of the Empire as a political power to the vision of the Church as a spiritual power. In this context, he gladly stated that the Plato’s Academy was working for the Church of Christ. For this reason, he appreciated each quotation from pagan’s works in Christian works. Polish reader can see common elements in Sidonius and Sienkiewicz: both writers were living in a difficult political situa­tion, the home of the two was ruled by foreign rulers: both writers set themselves the same goal – to write to encourage hearts with glorification of excellent people. Both writers wanted to help people get out of the crisis and to lay the foundations for a better future.


Author(s):  
Андрій Кобетяк

The article considers the basic principles and mechanisms of functioning of the church-administrative system of government of the Ecumenical Church. It is established that two opposing ecclesiological traditions (Greek and Slavic) were gradually formed, which testify to the lack of Unity and Conciliarism. The formation of two approaches to understanding the structure of the system of universal Orthodoxy was the reason for only a partial presence at the Great All-Orthodox Council in 2016. The article argues that in the Orthodox tradition there is no generally accepted interpretation of the interdependence of the principle of locality and the autocephalous status of churches. It is proved that the autocephalous church is always local, but the modern ecclesiological interpretation of locality does not automatically lead to the acquisition of autocephalous status. It is proved that the apostles and their closest disciples did not know and did not foresee any other principle of the existence of the Ecumenical Church than autocephaly. It is emphasized that such a mechanism of church government was based on the territorial principle. It is pointed out that such a division underlies the concept of locality in the Ecumenical Church. It is established that the study of the problem of autocephaly today is a key task of world Orthodoxy. Since the founding of Christianity, autocephaly has been a basic principle of apostolic preaching, which took into account the national and ethnic characteristics of the population of the Roman Empire. Autocephaly is one of the oldest institutions of the Church, which is a defining feature of Orthodoxy today. For two thousand years, this phenomenon remained unchanged, but there were different, even radically opposite approaches to understanding it. Because the theory of autocephaly emerges with Christianity, it is not an imposed or borrowed institution, but the very essence of Orthodoxy, the way it exists. It is claimed that the Ecumenical Church, being united in essence, is divided into independent Local Churches on an administrative and national basis. On a universal scale, the Orthodox Church testifies to the unity of the churches through the Eucharist. Every Local Church is already self-sufficient, for it has the fullness of the grace of the Holy Spirit, but through the Eucharist and the Councils the unity of the Universal Scale is expressed. Key words: cathedral, church, autocephaly, ecclesiology, canon law, patriarch, parish, metropolitan.


2004 ◽  
Vol 60 (1/2) ◽  
Author(s):  
N.H. Taylor

Luke-Acts was written during the period after the destruction of the second temple, when, for most Jews, hopes for future restoration were conceived largely in terms of rebuilding the temple and city of Jerusalem and resuming the cultic life associated therewith. Against this background Luke poses an alternative vision, in which the divine presence associated previously with the [foreign font omitted] is seen no longer as localised but as dispersed. The Holy Spirit manifested in the life and expansion of the Church transcends and supersedes the notion of sacred space associated with the Zion traditions.


2021 ◽  
Vol 19 (1) ◽  
pp. 74-98
Author(s):  
Federico Adinolfi ◽  
Joan Taylor

Abstract In his recent study on John the Baptist Joel Marcus suggests that John founded a sect that was in competition with the early Jesus movement. Marcus also suggests that John himself was a former member of the 'Qumran community'. His baptism is considered as a kind of sacrament in which the Holy Spirit was imparted. How secure are these proposals? In this discussion, we conclude that in the oldest literary witnesses – Q, Mark and Matthew – the relationship between John and Jesus is seen in terms of mutual agreement (despite Jesus’s obvious superiority) and there are no recognizable traces of serious competition with John’s disciples, even less a ‘Baptist sect’. The evidence used by Marcus to suggest that John was once a member of the ‘Qumran community’ connects John with broader patterns of thought in Second Temple Judaism, not simply sectarians at one location. That John imparted the Holy Spirit in a sacramental rite can only be supported by radically altering biblical readings. However, Marcus has suggested that in light of all this that John thought of himself not only as Elijah but as a kind of Messiah, with the role of his successor, the Coming One, being to destroy the chaff. In doing this, Marcus redesigns John as a kind of alternative Christ of Faith. However, the underlying ‘competition model’ needs to be rejected and replaced with one that sees Jesus as claiming to be a successor to John, his highly esteemed teacher.


2020 ◽  
Vol 11 ◽  
pp. 13-34
Author(s):  
Kazimierz Ożóg ◽  

The subject of the analysis performed by the author were the names of God in the songs recorded in the “Church Songbook”, by Rev. Jan Siedlecki. It is a relatively large collection of nominations the centre of which contains a collection of the names related to God the Father, successively to the Son of God Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit. There are also frequent references to “Lord, Creator, Lamb of God”. The use of a given name depends on Christian dogmas and the prayer purposes of the speech acts.


2020 ◽  
Vol 117 (4) ◽  
pp. 453-463
Author(s):  
David W. Priddy

In this essay, I pose the question, “How might local congregations participate in food reform and agricultural renewal?” Given the problems of industrial agriculture and the wider ecological concern, this question is pressing. Instead of advocating a specific program, I focus on how the Church might address this question while keeping its commitment to being a repentant Church. First, I discuss the significance of attention and particularly the habit of attending to the Word and Sacrament. This posture, I argue, maintains the Church’s integrity, preventing it from merely branding itself or relying on its own resources. Second, I briefly explore the association of eating with the mission of the Church in the New Testament, highlighting the repeated theme of judgment and call to humility in the context of eating. Third, I draw out the importance of continual remorse over sin. This attitude is essential to the Church’s vocation and rightly appears in many historic liturgies. I argue that this posture should extend to the question of eating responsibly. Penitence demonstrates the Church’s relationship to the wider world and testifies to the source of the Church’s own life, the Holy Spirit, who does the work of renewal.


1975 ◽  
Vol 32 (3) ◽  
pp. 234-242
Author(s):  
Jay G. Williams

“Might it not be possible, just at this moment when the fortunes of the church seem to be at low ebb, that we may be entering a new age, an age in which the Holy Spirit will become far more central to the faith, an age when the third person of the Trinity will reveal to us more fully who she is?”


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