The Reception of the Gospel of John in the Long Recension of Ignatius’s Letters

2020 ◽  
Vol 42 (4) ◽  
pp. 496-520
Author(s):  
Jonathon Lookadoo

The reception of Pauline and Johannine writings in the three centuries after their composition is of interest to NT researchers, and Ignatius of Antioch’s letters have rightly been taken into consideration when studying NT reception history. This article aims to fill a lacuna in reception historical studies of Ignatius’s epistles by exploring the role of John’s gospel in the fourth-century long recension. The long recension employs John when discussing Christology, Trinity, unity, Jewish-Christian identity, resurrection and for polemical purposes. This article thus contributes to ongoing reception historical studies of the NT within Ignatian literature, examines how the Gospel of John was employed by a fourth-century author and explores ways in which John is utilized to expand, update and modify the Ignatian middle recension.

Author(s):  
Mattias P. Gassman

Worshippers of the Gods Worshippers of the Gods tells how the Latin writers who witnessed the political and social rise of Christianity rethought the role of traditional religion in the empire and city of Rome. In parallel with the empire’s legal Christianisation, it traces changing attitudes toward paganism from the last empire-wide persecution of Christians under the Tetrarchy to the removal of state funds from the Roman cults in the early 380s. Influential recent scholarship has seen Christian polemical literature—a crucial body of evidence for late antique polytheism—as an exercise in Christian identity-making. In response, Worshippers of the Gods argues that Lactantius, Firmicus Maternus, Ambrosiaster, and Ambrose offered substantive critiques of traditional religion shaped to their political circumstances and to the preoccupations of contemporary polytheists. By bringing together this polemical literature with imperial laws, pagan inscriptions, and the letters and papers of the senator Symmachus, Worshippers of the Gods reveals the changing horizons of Roman thought on traditional religion in the fourth century. Through its five interlocking case studies, it shows how key episodes in the Empire’s religious history—the Tetrarchic persecution, Constantine’s adoption of Christianity, the altar of Victory affair, and the ‘disestablishment’ of the Roman cults—shaped contemporary conceptions of polytheism. It also argues that the idea of a unified ‘paganism’, often seen as a capricious invention by Christian polemicists, actually arose as a Christian response to the eclectic, philosophical polytheism in vogue at Rome.


Author(s):  
Benjamin E. Reynolds

The central place of revelation in the Gospel of John and the Gospel’s revelatory telling of the life of Jesus are distinctive features of John when compared with the Synoptic Gospels; yet, when John is compared among the apocalypses, these same features indicate John’s striking affinity with the genre of apocalypse. By paying attention to modern genre theory and making an extensive comparison with the standard definition of “apocalypse,” the Gospel of John reflects similarities with Jewish apocalypses in form, content, and function. Even though the Gospel of John reflects similarities with the genre of apocalypse, John is not an apocalypse, but in genre theory terms, John may be described as a gospel in kind and an apocalypse in mode. John’s narrative of Jesus’s life has been qualified and shaped by the genre of apocalypse, such that it may be called an “apocalyptic” gospel. Understanding the Fourth Gospel as “apocalyptic” Gospel provides an explanation for John’s appeal to Israel’s Scriptures and Mosaic authority. Possible historical reasons for the revelatory narration of Jesus’s life in the Gospel of John may be explained by the Gospel’s relationship with the book of Revelation and the history of reception concerning their writing. An examination of Byzantine iconographic traditions highlights how reception history may offer a possible explanation for reading John as “apocalyptic” Gospel.


Author(s):  
Genevieve Liveley

This book explores the extraordinary contribution that classical poetics has made to twentieth- and twenty-first-century theories of narrative. Its aim is not to argue that modern narratologies simply present ‘old wine in new wineskins’, but to identify the diachronic affinities shared between ancient and modern stories about storytelling, recognizing that modern narratologists bring particular expertise to bear upon ancient literary theory and offer valuable insights into the interpretation of some notoriously difficult texts. By interrogating ancient and modern narratologies through the mutually imbricating dynamics of their reception it aims to arrive at a better understanding of both. Each chapter selects a key moment in the history of narratology on which to focus, zooming in from an overview of significant phases to look at core theories and texts—from the Russian formalists, Chicago school neo-Aristotelians, through the prestructuralists, structuralists, and poststructuralists, to the latest unnatural and antimimetic narratologists. The reception history that thus unfolds offers some remarkable plot twists. It unmasks Plato as an unreliable narrator and theorist, and offers a rare glimpse of Aristotle putting narrative theory into practice in the role of storyteller in his work On Poets. In Horace’s Ars Poetica and in the works of ancient scholia critics and commentators it locates a rhetorically conceived poetics and a sophisticated reader-response-based narratology evincing a keen interest in audience affect and cognition—and anticipating the cognitive turn in narratology’s mot recent postclassical phase.


Author(s):  
Frank Russell

This chapter analyzes tactical intelligence, following a division by posture: offensive and mobile, and defensive or localized. There was an increase in the use of vanguards among the Greeks after the fourth century BC and among the Romans in the first. Cavalry widely used in this role. The role of reconnaissance in border security is then evaluated. It is noted that the speculatores who accompanied the legions left the field for the office sometime in the first century AD. Greek military intelligence never became professionalized, and did not ponder the sophistication of the prototypical organizations fielded by the tyrants of Cyprus and Sicily in the fourth century. Professionalism and unit identification in intelligence came neither to the poleis nor the kingdoms of Classical or Hellenistic Greece, and came finally to the Romans at least a century after they had pervaded the legions.


Perichoresis ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 16 (4) ◽  
pp. 3-18
Author(s):  
Stephen R. Holmes

Abstract This article considers the post-Reformation debates over the extent of the Atonement. It traces the origins of these debates from the articles of the Arminian Remonstrance of 1610 through the declarations of the supporters of the Synod of Dort in 1618-19. The debate is then considered in relation to an English Baptist context, and specifically the exegetical dispute over the meaning of the word ‘all’ in 2 Corinthians 5:14-15 and Romans 3:23-4. Three options are examined and the various difficulties in arbitrating between these various interpretations. Recognising these difficulties, the article goes on to explore the relationship between scriptural exegesis and theology with reference to the formulation of the ecumenical doctrine of the Trinity in the fourth century. It argues that while theology should always attempt to be consistent with the exegetical data on occasion it proves inconclusive, as in the case of the debate over the extent of the atonement. In such cases the role of theology becomes one of mediation as it seeks a way of reading the texts of Scripture that allows them to be heard without contradicting each other. Again, this is illustrated from the fourth century and the Christology of Basil of Caesarea and Gregory of Nyssa. Returning to the question of atonement with this understanding of the task of theology the article seeks to propose a way to reconcile the biblical texts which speak of the atonement as both universal and limited.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Febriani

ABSTRAK - Arus globalisasi yang mendunia sudah tidak dapat dibendung lagi keberadaannya di negara Indonesia. Indonesia menjadi salah satu dari berbagai negara yang telah dipengaruhi oleh perkembangan teknologi dan iptek yang semakin canggih, sehingga dunia kini telah memasuki era industri 4.0. Generasi milenial adalah salah satu kelompok yang dipengaruhi oleh perkembangan teknologi yang serba instan, bahkan peran penting generasi milenial sudah mulai surut tergantikan oleh kemajuan teknologi. Menghadapi tantangan tersebut diperlukan solusi yang solutif yaitu mengimplementasikan model pemuridan kontekstual sebagai panggilan pelayanan terhadap generasi milenial di era industri 4.0, sehingga membentuk generasi milenial supaya beridentitas Kristen dan bertumbuh menjadi dewasa dalam iman. Pendekatan yang dilakukan adalah dengan pendekatan kualitatif yang melibatkan studi pustaka. Penelitian ini menghasilkan kesimpulan bahwa model pemuridan kontekstual layak dijadikan pedoman dalam mengarahkan para generasi milenial di era indutri 4.0 agar mampu bertahan (survive) dalam perkembangan zaman yang semakin canggih.Kata kunci : Pemuridan, Kontekstual, Panggilan Pelayanan, Generasi Milenial, Revolusi Industri 4.0ABSTRACT - The current global globalization can not be dammed anymore its existence in the country of Indonesia. Indonesia has become one of a variety of countries that have been influenced by increasingly sophisticated technological and technological developments, so that the world has now entered the industrial era 4.0. Millennials have become one of those groups influenced by the development of instantaneous technology, even the important role of millennials has begun to subside replaced by technological advances. Facing these challenges requires a solution that is to implement a model of contextual discipleship as a service call to millennials in the industrial era 4.0, thus forming millennial generations so that Christian identity and growing into adulthood in the faith. The approach taken is a qualitative approach that involves the study of literature. This research concludes that the contextual discipleship model deserves to be used as a guideline in directing millennial generations in the 4.0 industry era to be able to survive in the development of increasingly sophisticated times.Key Words : Discipleship, Contextual, Service Call, Milennial Generation, Industrial Revolution 4.0


2004 ◽  
Vol 12 (4) ◽  
pp. 353-368 ◽  
Author(s):  
George Aichele
Keyword(s):  

AbstractThis essay explores the problematic story of the "woman taken in adultery" (John 7:53-8:11) in relation to logocentric structures that define the Gospel of John. Jesus's two acts of writing on the ground, unique to this story, point to texts that we cannot read and which are therefore unable to signify. I suggest that Jesus's earthy texts do eventually appear in John's Gospel, where they reassure the reader that the Gospel has after all succeeded sufficiently in its task of signifying the incarnation of the pre-existent Word, even as they announce the inherent finitude and incompleteness of any text.


2021 ◽  
pp. 1-36
Author(s):  
David M. Friel

Abstract Chrysostom’s homily De coemeterio et de cruce (CPG 4337) was delivered during a full eucharistic synaxis on Good Friday in a cemetery outside the gates of late-fourth-century Antioch. It demonstrates both rhetorical and theological prowess. Chrysostom consoles his hearers by likening death to sleep and reflecting on the cemetery as a “sleeping place” (koimeterion). The text is notable for its theology of physical space, its conception of liturgical anamnesis, and its presentation of the Christus Victor atonement motif. The homily also highlights the liturgical role of the Holy Spirit, especially by alluding to the eucharistic epiclesis, and it chastises the congregation for their poor behavior during the communion rite. This article presents the homily’s full text in Greek with English translation, followed by a commentary that probes its major themes and liturgical aspects.


Exchange ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 49 (3-4) ◽  
pp. 278-296
Author(s):  
Tala Raheb

Abstract In describing Christianity in the Middle East, scholars often highlight religious oppression, especially in relation to the larger Islamic context. Such contentious descriptions often cast Christians in the role of dhimmis, who are tolerated but not regarded as equal members of Muslim societies. Only in recent years some scholars have begun to modify their depictions of Christians and Christian-Muslim relations in the Middle East. While Christians in the Middle East have experienced and in certain regions continue to experience persecution, solely portraying them as victims does not do justice to the reality on the ground. By means of a case study on Palestine, I argue that an examination of the interaction between sharia (Islamic law) and Christian personal status laws sheds a different light on Christian identity and Christian-Muslim relations in the Middle East, and demonstrates the agency of Palestinian Christian communities in this respect.


Author(s):  
Ilaria L.E. Ramelli

This chapter points out and examines evidence for the role of female ‘colleagues’ or ‘partners’ (syzygoi) in the early churches. It focuses initially on the meaning(s) of syzygos, literally ‘yokefellow’, and the patristic debate about it. The chapter takes into consideration iconographic and archaeological evidence, and literary material, from Paul to patristic writings, including the Acts of Philip and its portrait of the apostolic couple of Philip and Mariamme. The chapter also points to the suggestion of a pairing in the Acts of Paul and Thecla, and includes assessment of Clement, Origen, Theodoret, and Gregory Nazianzen. Nazianzen testifies to the existence of a woman presbyter, colleague of a male presbyter and bishop, and highly respected in Cappadocia in the late fourth century, Theosebia, who was most likely the sister of Gregory Nyssen. It also notes that the women syzygoi need to be seen in the context of other women office holders in the Church, and provides a detailed overview of the key evidence, ending with Origen, who could even use passages of the Pastoral Epistles as a means of acknowledging them.


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