The Last Adam Became a Life-Giving Spirit

2020 ◽  
pp. 102-133
Author(s):  
Giovanni B. Bazzana
Keyword(s):  
Religious Experience ◽  
Spirit Possession ◽  
The State ◽  
Eternal Life ◽  
In Christ

This chapter looks at the fundamental role played by spirit possession in the religious experience of Paul and of his Christ groups. It begins with their doctrinal and specifically christological elaborations. Being “in Christ” is the idiom through which Paul expresses the experience of possession by a πνεῦμα‎, which is identified with the risen Christ and which, through its presence in them, grants to believers salvation from the eschatological wrath and the expectation of eternal life. For Paul, Christ has achieved the state of existence designated as πνεῦμα‎ through his death and resurrection. This was an idea that was also shared by other early Christ groups, as is confirmed—albeit not without negligible difference—by an examination of a key section in the Shepherd of Hermas.

If One Does Not Have the Spirit of Christ, One Does Not Belong to Him

2020 ◽  
pp. 134-166
Author(s):  
Giovanni B. Bazzana
Keyword(s):  
Religious Experience ◽  
Moral Agency ◽  
Spirit Possession ◽  
Ways Of Knowing ◽  
The Other ◽  
Social Structures ◽  
Western Modernity ◽  
The Past ◽  
The Social ◽  
Productive Role

This chapter attends to the social and ethical functions of the religious experience of possession in the Pauline groups. Recent ethnographic literature has illustrated how spirit possession can have a truly “productive” role in shaping social structures, ways of knowing, moral agency, and even the formation of individual subjectivities. This chapter shows that these same traits are recognizable in the Pauline Christ groups. Specific attention are given to the forms in which possession enables a poiesis of the past. The sense of temporality underlying such an experience is remarkably different from the archival and academic study of history typical of western modernity. Through his very embodiment of the πνεῦμα‎ of Christ, Paul (and arguably the other members of his groups) could make the person of Christ present in a way that affectively and effectively informed not only their remembrance of and interaction with the past but also their moral agency and even their subjectification as Christ believers.

scholarly journals Mysticism, historical and contemporary

1970 ◽  
Vol 4 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carl-Martin Edsman
Keyword(s):  
Religious Experience ◽  
Mystical Experience ◽  
The State ◽  
Spiritual Training ◽  
The Way

An evident experience of God's presence is the basis for all religion. Mysticism is considered to be piety in so far as primary importance is attached to inner religious experience, to religion as occurring in the soul. Mysticism is pure religious introversion. The special religious experience of mysticism, its epistemology and its ascetic ethics or technique, occur with startling likeness in widely different times and types of religion. This does not, however, exclude a multitude of variations and differences. The way of mysticism includes different stages, but the state which generally distinguishes mystical experience is ecstasy or rapture. It is, however, often impossible to isolate this from the preparatory physical and spiritual training and even less from the revolutionary consequences for the whole life of the mystic. It can result in complete devotion to the service of one's neighbour, and the not infrequent accusation that the mystic gives himself up to a selfish and anti-social enjoyment of God is not entirely justified.

Presence and absence of προαίρεσις in Christ and saints according to Maximus the Confessor and parallels in Neoplatonism

2018 ◽  
Vol 111 (1) ◽  
pp. 39-54
Author(s):  
Grigory Benevich
Keyword(s):  
The State ◽  
Christian Tradition ◽  
Gregory Of Nyssa ◽  
In Christ ◽  
Presence And Absence ◽  
Natural Will ◽  
Maximus The Confessor

Abstract The article shows that prior to the debate with the Monothelites, Maximus the Confessor followed the Christian tradition going back to Gregory of Nyssa in recognizing the presence of προαίρεσις in Christ and the saints. Later during the debate, Maximus declined to apply προαίρεσις to Christ and started to speak about the deactivation of προαίρεσις in the saints in the state of deification. Maximus was the first Orthodox author who distinguished deliberate choice (προαίρεσις) and natural will (θέλημα), and defended the presence of natural will in Christ according to His humanity. At the same time, the opposition of desire (βούλησις) and deliberate choice (προαίρεσις) can be found in some Neoplatonists, such as Iamblichus, Proclus, and Philoponus. Iamblichus and Proclus rejected the presence of προαίρεσις in the gods and god-like humans, admitting only the presence of βούλησις - the desire for the Good. Thus, the evolution of the doctrine of Maximus the Confessor, regarding the application of προαίρε- σις to Christ and the saints, finds a parallel doctrine (and even possibly a source) in Neoplatonism.

scholarly journals Little faith: A pragmatic-linguistic perspective on Matthew’s portrayal of Jesus’ disciples

2015 ◽  
Vol 49 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Andries G. Van Aarde
Keyword(s):  
Religious Experience ◽  
Gospel Of Matthew ◽  
Reading Strategy ◽  
The State

This article argues that fear is central to the state of being of Jesus’ disciples when their religious experience is characterised as ‘little faith’ in the Gospel of Matthew. A pragmatic-linguistic reading strategy is applied to that passage in the Gospel of Matthew where the implications of fear for the experiences of the disciples can be observed most clearly, namely Matthew 13:53–17:27. In this passage their state of being is described as ‘little faith’ and it is conveyed that the integrity of the disciples’ commission would not be accepted by their hearers unless they overcome their fear.Kleingeloof: ’n Pragmaties-linguistiese perspektief op Jesus se dissiples. Die artikel voer aan dat vrees sentraal in die eksistensiële belewenis van Jesus se dissipels staan wanneer hulle godsdienstige ervaring in die Evangelie van Matteus as kleingeloof gekarakteriseer word. ’n Pragmaties-linguistiese leesstrategie word op die betrokke gedeelte, Matteus 13:53–17:27, toegepas waar die implikasies van vrees in die dissipels se ervaring die duidelikste waargeneem kan word. Hulle eksistensiële belewenis word as kleingelowig beskryf en dit word duidelik gekommunikeer dat die integriteit van hulle opdrag om disssipels van ander mense te maak, nie deur die hoorders aanvaar sal word alvorens hulle hulle vrees oorwin het nie.

The Dimension of Depth: Thomas F. Torrance on the Sacraments of Baptism and the Lord's Supper

2001 ◽  
Vol 54 (2) ◽  
pp. 155-176 ◽  
Author(s):  
George Hunsinger
Keyword(s):  
Lord's Supper ◽  
The Other ◽  
John Calvin ◽  
Eternal Life ◽  
In Christ ◽  
The Dead ◽  
The One ◽  
Living Person ◽  
The Church

‘All the gifts of God set forth in baptism,’ wrote John Calvin, ‘are found in Christ alone’ (Inst. IV.15.6). The baptismal gifts, for Calvin, were essentially three: forgiveness of sins, dying and rising with Christ, and communion with Christ himself (FV.15.1, 5, 6). They were ordered, however, in a particular way. Communion with Christ, Calvin considered, was in effect the one inestimable gift that included within itself the other two benefits of forgiveness and rising with Christ from the dead. Forgiveness and eternal life were thus inseparable from Christ's person and so from participatio Christi through our communion with him. Only by participating in Christ through communion could the divine gifts set forth in baptism be truly received. Any severing of these gifts from Christ himself would result only in empty abstractions. No spiritual gift—neither forgiveness nor eternal life nor any other divine benefit—was ever to be found alongside Christ or apart from him. Christ's saving benefits were inherent in his living person. Only in and with his person were they set forth and available to the church. Communion with Christ was thus bound up with Christ's person in his saving uniqueness. He himself and he alone, for Calvin and for the whole Reformation, was our wisdom, righteousness, sanctification and redemption (1 Cor. 1:30).

scholarly journals Performance Of Islamic Law In Indonesia In The Fields Of Civil, Private Law, Public Law And Ethics

2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
pp. 45
Author(s):  
Zarul Arifin
Keyword(s):  
Religious Experience ◽  
Constitutional Law ◽  
Islamic Law ◽  
Public Law ◽  
The State ◽  
Private Law ◽  
Positive Law ◽  
Law And Ethics ◽  
The Relationship

Abstrak.Wacana tentang hubungan Islam dan negara masih menjadi pembahasan yang menarik. Masalahnya, Indonesia negara yang mayoritas warganya beragama Islam tidak menjadikan hukum Islam sebagai dasar konstitusinya, namun Indonesia juga bukan negara sekuler. Indonesia dapat dikatakan sebagai negara yang moderat, dimana hukum ketatanegaraan tidak bertentangan dengan hukum Islam Hukum Islam di tengah masyarakat Indonesia mempunyai kedudukan yang lebih penting dari pada dua ciri hukum lainnya yaitu hukum positif dan hukum hukum, tetapi tentunya tidak secara normatif atau ideologis. rasa ordogmatis, lebih secara tekstual tetapi secara kultural. Islam sebagai agama yang dianut oleh mayoritas penduduk Indonesia tentunya sangat mempengaruhi gaya hidup bangsa Indonesia. Dalam pandangan masyarakat Indonesia, hukum Islam merupakan bagian penting dari ajaran agama dan Islam merupakan ruang utama ekspresi pengalaman beragama dan menentukan keberlangsungan serta identitas sejarahnya.Kata kunci. Kinerja, Hukum Islam, Indonesia.Abstract. The discourse on the relationship between Islam and the state is still being discussedwhich are interesting. The problem is that Indonesia is a country with a majority of its citizensbeing Muslim does not make Islamic law the basis of its constitution.However, Indonesia is also not a secular country. Indonesia cansaid to be a moderate country, where the constitutional law does not contradict Islamic lawIslamic law in the midst of Indonesian society has a positionwhich is more important than the two other legal features, positive law and lawadat, but certainly not in a normative or ideological sense ordogmatic, more so textually but culturally. Islam, as the religion embraced by the majority of Indonesia's population, certainly greatly influences the lifestyle of the Indonesian nation. In the view of Indonesian society, Islamic law is an important part of religious teachings and Islam is a space for the main expression of religious experience and determines its continuity and historical identity.Keyword. Performance,  Islamic Law, Indonesia.

Having the Spirit of Christ

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Giovanni B. Bazzana
Keyword(s):  
Religious Experience ◽  
Spirit Possession ◽  
Historical Jesus ◽  
Critical Aspect ◽  
Positive Role ◽  
The Social ◽  
Anthropological Literature ◽  
Harmful Event

The earliest Christian writings are filled with stories of spirit possession and exorcism, which were crucial for the activity of the historical Jesus and for the practice of his earliest followers. Possession, besides being a harmful event that should be exorcized, can also have a positive role in many cultures. Often it helps individuals and groups to reflect on and reshape their identity, to plan their moral actions, and to remember in a most vivid way their past. This book illustrates some of the major ways in which a critical aspect of spirit possession can emerge in texts of the early Christ movement. It begins with a reading of some well-known texts in the light of a more sophisticated notion of spirit possession, which emphasizes the cultural and religious productivity inscribed in it as well as the significance of its performative nature. The book continues by looking at the fundamental role played by spirit possession in the religious experience of Paul and of his Christ groups, and the social and ethical functions of the religious experience of possession in the Pauline groups. In conclusion, when reviewing insights drawn from anthropological literature, the book attempts to treat the “spirits” involved in cases of possession seriously and not merely as mythical and metaphorical representations.

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