Justin

2019 ◽  
Vol 79 (5) ◽  
pp. 343-352
Author(s):  
Jörg Ulrich
Keyword(s):  
Fourth Century ◽  
Christian Tradition ◽  
Christian School ◽  
Church Fathers ◽  
Doctrine Of God ◽  
Critical Response ◽  
The Church

AbstractAmong the polyphonic theology of the »church fathers« of the first centuries, Justin, who lived from about 100-165, who led a Christian school in Rome and died there as a martyr, contributes an important voice. He is concerned with the conversation between Christianity and pagan philosophy as well as Judaism, and in this seeks to prove the supremacy of Christianity. To accomplish this, he also emphasizes the proximity between Christianity and Platonism. His theology can be analyzed and structured in terms of ethics, anthropology, the doctrine of God and the Logos, demonology, and eschatology. The Christian tradition received and discussed Justin and his ideas up until the fourth century, while the pagan world opposed him, most strongly through the critical response of the philosopher Celsus.

scholarly journals Fulfilment of righteousness: Historical and ontological perspective of Matthew 3:15

2014 ◽  
Vol 48 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul R. McCuistion ◽  
Colin Warner ◽  
Francois P. Viljoen
Keyword(s):  
Historical Event ◽  
Christian Tradition ◽  
Church Fathers ◽  
The Third ◽  
Hebrew Scriptures ◽  
The Law ◽  
Relationship Of ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
The Church

This article maintained that the historicity of Jesus’ baptism was intended to flesh out the righteousness of God that was well-documented in the Hebrew Scriptures. Furthermore, the historical event initiated the ontological emphasis on the relationship of baptism to righteousness. To support this proposal, this article focused on Matthew’s fulfilment statement in Matthew 3:15. Looking specifically at this verse within its context, the article examines what Matthew may have intended for his community to grasp regarding the Christian tradition of righteousness. The article is divided into four sections that are intended to examine Matthew’s intentions. Firstly, the immediate context is examined, showing the influences and setting for the fulfilment statement. The following section explores the fulfilment statement within this context. The third section uncovers some of the theological traditions in Paul and the church fathers. Finally, the baptismal statement of Matthew 3:15 will be tied directly to the relationship of the law and righteousness in Matthew’s ἦλθον statement of Matthew 5:17. Hierdie artikel betoog dat die historiese waarheid van Jesus se doop bedoel was om die geregtigheid van God, wat volledig uiteengesit is in die Hebreeuse Bybel, te versterk. Verder het die historiese gebeurtenis die ontologiese klem op die verhouding van die doop tot geregtigheid geïnisieer. Om hierdie voorstel te ondersteun, fokus hierdie artikel op Matteus se verklaring van verwesenliking (Mat 3:15). Deur spesifiek na hierdie vers binne sy konteks te kyk, ondersoek die artikel wat Matteus moontlik beplan het sodat sy gemeenskap die Christelike tradisie van geregtigheid kon begryp. Die artikel is in vier afdelings verdeel om sodoende Matteus se bedoelings te ondersoek. Eerstens word die onmiddellike konteks ondersoek wat die invloede en agtergrond van die verklaring van die verwesenliking uitwys. In die volgende afdeling word die verklaring van die verwesenliking in hierdie konteks verken. In die derde afdeling word ’n paar van die teologiese tradisies van Paulus en die kerkvaders aan die lig gebring. Ten slotte is die doopverklaring van Matteus 3:15 regstreeks aan die verhouding van reg en geregtigheid in Mattheus se ἦλθον verklaring van Matteus 5:17 gekoppel.

scholarly journals EVANGELICAL REFORMULATIONS OF THE DOCTRINE OF THE TRINITY AND CALVIN ON THE FULL EQUALITY OF ALL PERSONS OF THE TRINITY

2018 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 65-84
Author(s):  
DOUGLAS F. KELLY
Keyword(s):  
Historical Survey ◽  
Church Fathers ◽  
Proper Understanding ◽  
Doctrine Of God ◽  
Doctrine Of The Trinity ◽  
The Church ◽  
The Trinity

In the context of Evangelical reformulations of the Trinity in a new sub-ordinationism, the article reasserts the traditional assertion of the full equality of all persons of the Trinity. To that end, the author exposits John Calvin’s formulation of the Trinity and that of the church fathers, which anticipates Calvin’s doctrine. Crucial to a proper understanding are the distinctions between essence and persons and between the ontological Trinity and each person’s role in redemption. The historical survey concludes with B. B. Warfield’s and Thomas F. Torrance’s assessments of Calvin’s contribution. Finally, three implications linked to our doctrine of God—knowledge, forgiveness, and love—are considered.

Economics in the Church Fathers

2014 ◽  
pp. 21-43
Author(s):  
Hennie Stander
Keyword(s):  
Fourth Century ◽  
Church Fathers ◽  
Property Ownership ◽  
Monastic Communities ◽  
The Church

The “Fathers of the Church” is used to refer, broadly speaking, to all the theological writers of the first six centuries who represent orthodox teaching. Their writings are not homogeneous, and there are important shifts in the fourth century when Christianity moves from being persecuted to being the religion of the Roman Emperors, with substantial property holdings and with the rise of monastic communities. Certain themes recur, and this chapter considers the Fathers’ writings on property ownership, the nature of wealth, trade, charity and almsgiving, slavery, and interest.

From Jewish Apocrypha to Christian Tradition: Citations ofJubileesin Epiphanius'sPanarion

2018 ◽  
Vol 87 (2) ◽  
pp. 345-370
Author(s):  
Anne Kreps
Keyword(s):  
Dead Sea Scrolls ◽  
Fourth Century ◽  
Dead Sea ◽  
Christian Tradition ◽  
Reading Practices ◽  
Early Christian ◽  
Reading List ◽  
The Dead ◽  
The Church ◽  
Similar Reading

In the growing canon consciousness of the fourth century, Christians debated what should constitute the official reading list for the church. Epiphanius of Salamis was part of this conversation. His massivePanariondescribed eighty heresies, and, for Epiphanius, wrong books were a marker of wrong belief. However, although Epiphanius was a stringent supporter of Nicene orthodoxy, he, too, referred to books outside the canon. In thePanarion, he frequently referencedJubilees, an expanded, rewritten Genesis found among the Dead Sea Scrolls and which also circulated among early Christian readers. TheDecree of Gelasiuslater declared the text anathema. This paper explores the significance of a vocal heresiographer readingJubilees, particularly when he defined heretics based on similar reading practices. It suggests that Epiphanius saw close kinship betweenJubileesand his ownPanarion. The citations ofJubileesin thePanarionalso indicate that Epiphanius defined the text as a part of a larger Christian tradition. In doing so, Epiphanius transformedJubileesfrom Jewish apocrypha to Christian tradition. Thus, the citations ofJubileesin Epiphanius'sPanarionshow the complicated dynamics of canon consciousness in the shaping of Christian Orthodoxy.

Byzantine Visual Culture: Conditions of “Right” Belief and Some Platonic Outlooks

Numen ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 63 (2-3) ◽  
pp. 210-244
Author(s):  
Anne Karahan
Keyword(s):  
Visual Culture ◽  
Fourth Century ◽  
Culture Conditions ◽  
Image Of God ◽  
Human Condition ◽  
Church Fathers ◽  
Dionysius The Areopagite ◽  
The Image Of God ◽  
Maximus The Confessor ◽  
The Church

Monumental picture programs of Byzantine churches exist within a spatial and liturgical setting of rituals that depend on circumstances that create a distinction from profane to sacred. The core theme is the epic narrative of the holy drama of the incarnated son, i.e., the image of God (eikon tou theou), acknowledged as indivisibly as much human as divine. In a Byzantine religious sense, images of Christ prove the incarnation, yet human salvation depends on faith in the incarnation but also in the transcendent unknowable God. From the perspective of visual culture, the dilemma is that divine nature is, in a religious sense, transcendent and unknowable, beyond words and categorizations, unintelligible, as opposed to human nature, which is intelligible. This article concerns the strategy of Byzantine visual culture to weave together expressible and inexpressible in order to acknowledge “right belief,” without trespassing the theology and mode of thought of the church fathers on the triune mystery of the Christian God and the incarnation. In a Byzantine religious sense, circumscribed by time and space, the human condition is inconsistent with cognition ofwhat God is. Nonetheless, salvation depends on faith inthat God is, a “fact” acknowledged through holy images. Particular theoretical and methodological focus will be on how the three fourth-century Cappadocian fathers and Dionysius the Areopagite, but also Maximus the Confessor discuss God’s unintelligibility but also intelligibility, with some comparative Platonic outlooks.

scholarly journals God in het dagelijkse: De bijbelse God en de God van filosofen en kunstenaars

2015 ◽  
Vol 36 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Wessel Stoker
Keyword(s):  
Everyday Life ◽  
Philosophy Of Religion ◽  
Western Society ◽  
Paul Tillich ◽  
Christian Tradition ◽  
Church Fathers ◽  
Ordinary Life ◽  
The Everyday ◽  
Analogia Entis ◽  
The Church

God in the everyday: The biblical God and the God of philosophers and artists. Life in secular Western society is lived and experienced within an immanent framework, with no reference to God. For many there is no longer any self-evident connection between God and ordinary life � ordinary life here broadly conceived as painted or narrated in art and literature. Since the time of the church fathers, the Christian tradition has conceived of God not only as personal but also, with reference to Exodus 3:14, as being or being-itself. Heidegger criticised this as onto-theology. Is it not better to speak about God without being (J-L Marion)? This problem is discussed from the approach of the philosophy of religion and it is argued that it is possible to speak about God in terms of being. This article further explores how Paul Tillich and Richard Kearney connect God with everyday life by speaking of God in terms of being. Tillich�s ontology is a-historical and classical insofar as he uses the concepts of participation and analogia entis. Kearney proposes ontology as onto-eschatological, dynamic, historical, and hermeneutical. This article thus shows that the biblical God is viewed as the God of the philosophers in terms of being-itself (Tillich) and the God who may be (Kearney). The biblical God is also the God of the artists in whose works of art a trace of the religious ultimate is visible in the sacramental power of sensory reality or in secular epiphanies.

Simboli ecclesiali dal Commento a Matteo in area aquileiese

Augustinianum ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 56 (1) ◽  
pp. 85-117
Author(s):  
Giuseppe Peressotti ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Critical Edition ◽  
Gospel Of Matthew ◽  
Fourth Century ◽  
Church Fathers ◽  
Complete Work ◽  
De Viris Illustribus ◽  
The Church

Writing in his pamphlet, De viris illustribus, St. Jerome informs us that Fortunatianus, bishop of Aquileia, wrote a Commentary on the Gospels. However, until a few years ago, we knew only a few fragments of this work. Now, thanks to the scholar Lukas Dorfbauer and to the manuscript Köln – D, we have the complete work. This paper presents this work, pending a critical edition, in which the Author dwells on the text of the Gospel of Matthew, capturing Fortunatianus’s interpretation and his references to the Church. To this are added some thoughts about the Church found in the commentaries of other Church Fathers of the fourth century.

Petrarch's Defense of Secular Letters, the Latin Fathers, and Ancient Roman Rhetoric

1993 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 119-134
Author(s):  
Brenda Deen Schildgen
Keyword(s):  
Classical Rhetoric ◽  
Church Fathers ◽  
Rhetorical Situations ◽  
Epistolary Form ◽  
The Church ◽  
Roman Rhetoric

Abstract: Like the Church Fathers before him, Petrarch was forced to defend secular learning against its detractors, and his defenses draw on many of the same arguments that Augustine and Jerome had used. In these defenses he blends classical rhetoric and Christian values, and his procedures also follow the traditions of classical rhetoric, relying on the epistolary form and utilizing the Ciceronian manner of debating all topics from opposite standpoints. Perhaps, however, because his indecisiveness complemented the classical rhetorical premise that many issues present many possible resolutions, Petrarch also rejects secular learning in some of his writings. His arguments are therefore conclusive only within their unique rhetorical situations.

Christus Virgo

2012 ◽  
Vol 41 (2) ◽  
pp. 22-27
Author(s):  
Sissel Undheim
Keyword(s):  
Moral Status ◽  
The Other ◽  
Late Antique ◽  
Church Fathers ◽  
Early Christian ◽  
Female Sex ◽  
The One ◽  
The Church

The description of Christ as a virgin, 'Christus virgo', does occur at rare occasions in Early Christian and late antique texts. Considering that 'virgo' was a term that most commonly described the sexual and moral status of a member of the female sex, such representations of Christ as a virgin may exemplify some of the complex negotiations over gender, salvation, sanctity and Christology that we find in the writings of the Church fathers. The article provides some suggestions as to how we can understand the notion of the virgin Christ within the context of early Christian and late antique theological debates on the one hand, and in light of the growing interest in sacred virginity on the other.

The Aggiornamento Phenomenon and the Second Vatican Council

2020 ◽  
pp. 98-105
Author(s):  
Hiermonk Ioann ( Bulyko) ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Catholic Church ◽  
Roman Catholic ◽  
Roman Catholic Church ◽  
Second Vatican Council ◽  
Church Fathers ◽  
John Xxiii ◽  
The People ◽  
Vatican Council ◽  
Pope John Xxiii ◽  
The Church

The Second Vatican Council was a unique event in the history of the Roman Catholic Church. Initiated by Pope John XXIII, it was intended to make the Roman Catholic Church more open to the contemporary society and bring it closer to the people. The principal aim of the council was the so called aggiornamento (updating). The phenomenon of updating the ecclesiastical life consisted in the following: on the one hand, modernization of the life of the Church and closer relations with the secular world; on the other hand, preserving all the traditions upon which the ecclesiastical life was founded. Hence in the Council’s documents we find another, French word ressourcement meaning ‘return to the origins’ based on the Holy Scripture and the works of the Church Fathers. The aggiornamento phenomenon emerged during the Second Vatican Council due to the movement within the Catholic Church called nouvelle theologie (French for “new theology”). Its representatives advanced the ideas that became fundamental in the Council’s decisions. The nouvelle theologie was often associated with modernism as some of the ideas of its representatives seemed to be very similar to those of modernism. However, what made the greatest difference between the two movements was their attitude towards the tradition. For the nouvelle theologie it was very important to revive Christianity in its initial version, hence their striving for returning to the sources, for the oecumenical movement, for better relations with non-Catholics and for liturgical renewal. All these ideas can be traced in the documents of the Second Vatican Council, and all this is characterized by the word aggiornamento.

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