scholarly journals Bakhtin and the Orthodox Christian tradition

2017 ◽  
pp. 285-302
Author(s):  
Svetozar Postic

This paper explores motifs from the Orthodox Christian tradition in the works of the famous Russian philosopher Mikhail Mikhailovich Bakhtin. The introduction offers a series of testimonies from the thinker?s personal life that confirm his affinity toward Christianity and Russian Orthodoxy, and the source of this affinity is linked to his ethnic origin, spiritual environment and the literary-philosophic tradition in which he was intellectually shaped. After presenting a few universal Christian ideas in his works - the comparison of the relationship between the author and the hero with the relationship between the Creator and His human creation, incarnation and the word (logos) - this paper points to the specifically Orthodox ideas in his writings. Those are: perichoresis or the mutual permeation of the two natures of Christ, the holiness of the body and the apophatic approach in theology, the buffoon as a fool for Christ?s sake, and communality as the essence of the existence of the Church. Finally, Bakhtin?s central idea, dialogism, is presented as a means used on the path toward divinization, or theosis, the basic characteristic of Christian spiritual life in the Orthodox East.

2007 ◽  
Vol 56 (5) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jean Laffitte

A partire dalla seconda metà del secolo scorso, la Chiesa si è trovata a dover ripensare i rapporti tra fede, teologia e antropologia in problematiche nuove come, ad esempio, la sessualità umana. Interprete privilegiato di questa rielaborazione è stato, senza dubbio, Giovanni Paolo II che in più occasioni ha avuto modo di riflettere e illustrare la teologia, la antropologia e l’etica che sostengono la visione cristiana della sessualità umana. Di questa vasta produzione, l’articolo prende in esame soprattutto le Catechesi di Giovanni Paolo II con frequenti richiami e illustrazioni del pensiero del filosofo Karol Wojty´la. L’analisi dell’autore prende le mosse dall’esposizione di Giovanni Paolo II dei dati creaturali dei tre primi capitoli del libro della Genesi, esaminando, in particolar modo, i significati fondamentali della solitudine originaria dell’uomo verso la creazione e poi il rapporto maschio-femmina. Vengono illustrati quindi l’esperienza dell’amore e l’ethos del dono: l’esperienza cristiana è presentata dal Pontefice come evento e saggezza e legata all’esperienza di amore che l’uomo sperimenta nel rapporto di filiazione che lo unisce a Dio; l’esperienza dell’amore coniugale ruota attorno alla corporeità umana e ai suoi valori/significati. Il corpo assume dunque un significato sponsale che conserva anche dopo la caduta, testimonianza dell’innocenza originaria e della libertà del dono. In tale contesto l’esperienza dell’amore è vissuta come mediazione di una conoscenza che va al di là della persona dell’amato aprendo l’orizzonte al dono divino anteriore. Nella seconda parte del contributo si prendono in esame i significati dell’amore e l’esperienza etica della sessualità così come sviluppati da Giovanni Paolo II: nella corporeità umana, in cui è impressa la complementarietà biologica, vi è una chiamata alla comunione che non è solo comunione tra i due sessi, ma che rimanda a una divina comunione di Persone. L’autore esamina anche l’esercizio della sessualità in rapporto alla legge naturale intesa come conformità alla ragione umana protesa verso la verità. Tale conformità conduce alla retta comprensione dell’intima struttura dell’atto coniugale, la cui “verità ontologica” si manifesta nell'inscindibilità delle due dimensioni unitiva e procreativa. In questa ampia visione della sessualità è compreso anche il mistero dell’amore nuziale tra Cristo e la Chiesa: la comunione di vita e d’amore tra l’uomo e la donna ha come missione propria di significare e rendere attuale l’unione tra Cristo e la sua Chiesa. L’articolo termina con l’analisi del legame tra corpo e sacramento e della dimensione sacrificale e nuziale del dono eucaristico. ---------- Since the second half of the last century, the Church has found herself having to rethink the relationship between faith, theology, and anthropology within new problems concerning, for example, human sexuality. Without any doubt, a privileged interpreter of this reprocessing was John Paul II, who on more occasions had a way of reflecting upon and illustrating the theology, anthropology, and ethics that support the Christian vision of human sexuality. Out of the vast work produced, the article examines especially the Catecheses of John Paul II with frequent appeals to and illustrations of the thought of Karol Wojty´la. The author’s analysis begins its quest with John Paul II’s exposition of creatural data in the first three chapters of the Book of Genesis, examining in particular the fundamental meanings of the original solitude of man toward creation and then the relationship between male and female. The experience of love and the ethos of gift thus come to be illustrated: Christian experience is presented by the Pontiff as event and wisdom and is connected to the experience of love that man experiences in the relationship of filiation that unites Him to God. The experience of conjugal love revolves around human corporeity and its values/meanings. The body thus assumes a spousal meaning that remains even after the Fall, serving as testimony of original innocence and the freedom of gift. Within such a context, the experience of love is lived out as the mediation of knowledge that goes beyond the person of the loved, opening up the horizon to the earlier divine gift. In the second part of this contribution, the meanings of love and the ethical experience of sexuality as such are examined as developments by John Paul II: In human corporeity, upon which biological complementarity is impressed, there is a call to communion that is not only communion between the two sexes, but which refers back to a divine communion of Persons. The author also examines the exercise of sexuality in relation to a natural law intended as conformity to a human reason reaching toward truth. Such conformity leads to the proper understanding of the intimate structure of the conjugal act, whose “ontological truth” manifests itself through the inseparability of the two dimensions: unitive and the procreative. Within this comprehensive vision of sexuality also resonates the mystery of nuptial love between Christ and the Church: The communion of life and love between man and woman that has as its own mission to signify and render present the union between Christ and His Church. The article ends with an analysis of the connection between body and sacrament and of the sacrificial and nuptial dimension of the Eucharistic gift.


Author(s):  
Lizette Larson-Miller

Christian rites for reconciliation and healing are intimately related to one another in that individuals and communities are healed and made whole through divine action In ecclesial rites, this divine response is in cooperation with prayer and ritual that operate within understandings of health and salvation for the whole person, inclusive of spiritual, physical, emotional, mental, and social healing. The historical rites and rituals of the church have undergone tremendous changes throughout history, reflecting differences in what it is that was desired and prayed for, and whether the ritual work was to reincorporate a member back into the church or into health and wholeness. The various ritual processes emerged from the intersection of these theological intentions with scripture and scriptural interpretation, with cultural patterns established or emerging, with geographical availability of physical elements and climate possibilities, and with other religious systems as well as from political and population shifts linked to all of these aspects. Rites of reconciliation were ritual responses to theological assumptions about the free will of humans, human nature and sin, the love of God, and the authority of the church as the body of Christ to challenge members when their words and actions were counter to the unity of the community and the teaching articulated by the appointed leaders. Rites of healing were ritualized acts of the prayer of faith, imitating one of the primary ministries of Jesus himself in healing people into the fullness of life, proclaiming healing as sign and symbol of the reign of God, and assuring all the members that “the prayer of faith will save the sick, and the Lord will raise them up” (James 5:14). Both of these rites, while ritually evolving as theologies and contexts changed, were always concerned with the reconciliation and healing of individuals to themselves, as well as reconciliation and healing in relationship to their communities and to their God. Of these three constituencies—God, community, oneself—one aspect or another would often take precedence in a particular time period, giving a discernable emphasis to the rites in their historical contexts. This tripartite emphasis was met with other factors that shifted historically, such as who may receive these rites, who may administer the rites, and the relationship to the church and to God as perceived by different voices. All of these factors shape the rites of reconciliation and healing over the centuries of Christian practice, contributing to the diverse practices found in Christianity today.


2014 ◽  
Vol 48 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul R. McCuistion ◽  
Colin Warner ◽  
Francois P. Viljoen

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.


2017 ◽  
Vol 47 (2) ◽  
pp. 221-235
Author(s):  
Arkadiusz Mironko

The Orthodox Church, although less known in the western Christian traditions, is a part of the changing world. The Church's liturgical tradition, however, remains largely unchanged. This article provides a detailed look at the Orthodox liturgical tradition practiced today in the Orthodox Church that may be unknown to Western Christians. The rite of the Holy Mystery of the Body and Blood of Christ has central importance and place in the life of the Church. According to St. John of Kronstadt, “the Divine Liturgy is true heaven on earth.” This is why the celebrant preparing to serve the Liturgy is required to exercise particular care and strict adherence to tradition. Yet, even the most careful preparation and observance does not guarantee the prevention of unforeseen circumstances and omissions. This work presents some norms, solutions, and rules which guide the actions that follow such cases. Note that the material presented here reflects the Orthodox Slavic, and in some cases Byzantine, tradition, and will help non-Orthodox Christians deepen their familiarity and appreciation of the Orthodox liturgical theoglogy and praxis.


2019 ◽  
pp. 175-182
Author(s):  
Marika Rose

This conclusion draws together the themes of the book, exploring what a theology of failure looks like in relation to four overarching themes: freedom, materiality, hierarchy, and universalism. This account of ontology, desire, and Christian theology suggests not only that completeness is impossible but also that purity is impossible. The internal rupture that both constitutes and disrupts every individual economic identity is also the rupture between the social economy of the relationship between the individual and others, language and the body, theology and philosophy, God and the created order. Theology can no more remain immune from its others than it can completely encompass them. Once there was no secular; and yet the genealogy of the church, of Christian theology, is constantly interrupted, contaminated, and enriched by the profane, the abject, and the horrific. Theology is failure; the task, then, is to fail better, to liberate our others in order to begin the difficult work of learning how to love them.


Author(s):  
Stephen Gaukroger ◽  
Knox Peden

What do Montaigne’s Essays have in common with modern philosophy? ‘The origins of French philosophy’ explains different approaches to relativism, humanism, and scepticism in the writings of Montaigne and Descartes, and lesser-known philosophers Gassendi and Malebranche. As a cleric, Gassendi shaped his conclusions around Christian doctrine. When Descartes was unable to argue a central scientific theory because of the Church—that the Earth revolves around the Sun—he became preoccupied by the possibility of absolute, indisputable knowledge. Thus, ontology in French philosophy was replaced with epistemology—the study of knowledge. How did early modern philosophers explain the relationship between God, the mind, and the body?


Author(s):  
A. G. Van Aarde

The foundation of the unity of the church in the New Testament and the quest for unity today Early Christendom was not an Unitarian movement, but in the New Testament there is a quest for unity. However, this unity was not juridically meant to be institutional of nature. The concern of this article is to argue that the unity of the church in the New Testament is Theologically, Christologically, Pneumatically and kerygmatically founded. Since the church is the household of God, the relationship similar to that of a family home will hold the church together. Building upon the foundation laid by the apostolic tradition the presbyters-bishops, like fathers taking responsibilty for a home, are to be providing the foundation of the unity of the church grounded on th e ir kerygma th a t the household of God is pneumatically united with the body of the crucified and risen Christ.


2019 ◽  
pp. 63-72
Author(s):  
Giuseppe Mari

The article presents anthropological, philosophical and theological foundation of the relationship between male/female identities in the light of the biblical-christian tradition. The first part introduces the concept of the primary reciprocity in Gen 1-2 focusing on affinity and difference between man and woman as well as man and woman’s reciprocal essentiality. The second part pertains to male/female reciprocity according to the “theology of the body” by John Paul II which includes a broad notion of freedom. Lastly, the article describes educational tasks including the nuptiality of human body with regards to Christian personalization. Proposed pedagogical vision involves promoting male and female identities according to their difference and to their common dignity.


2021 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 154-179
Author(s):  
Okto Vianus Polulu

 Philocalia is a collection of texts written in the fourth and fifteenth centuries by the fathers and fathers of the Church in the Orthodox Christian tradition. Fearing God is keeping God's commandments, having God's love and souls purified and united with God in salvation This article is a review, there are 7 main points of discussion. First Repentance is leaving the old man (Eph 4:22, Col 3: 9) . The second is to control oneself is to be “watchful” (1Th 5: 6, 1Th 5:10 Rev. 16:15) so as not to get lost. Third, safeguarding knowledge is to know about God. Four, doing God's commandments is that we give hope to Him with full obedience and hope of being saved by God (Psalm 78: 7, Proverbs 19:16). The five fear with all your heart is a heart that is in Divine light. The six Souls free from sin are those who have run to heavenly calls (Phil. 3:14) to attain a goal or perfection. The goal, to purify the soul is, the soul is already in Divine light.Keywords: The soul is purified; Allah's love; Control;  Keep the commandments of Allah. Philokalia adalah kumpulan teks di tulis pada abad keempat dan abad ke lima belas oleh para rahip dan para Bapa Gereja dalam tradisi Kristen Ortodoks. Takut akan Allah adalah melakukan perintah-perintah Allah, memiliki Kasih Allah dan Jiwa di murnikan serta disatukan dengan Allah dalam keselamatan Artikel ini adalah sebuah ulasan,  ada 7 pokok pembahasan Pertama Pertobatan ialah meninggalkan manusia lama (Ef 4:22, Kol 3:9). Kedua Mengontrol diri ialah “berjaga-jagalah” (1Tes 5:6, 1Tes 5:10 Why 16:15) supaya tidak tersesat. Ketiga, Menjaga Pengetahuan ialah, untuk tahu tentang Allah. Empat, melakukan perintah Allah ialah kita menaru harapan kepada-Nya dengan penuh ketaatan serta harapan akan diselamatkan oleh Allah (Mzm 78:7, Ams 19:16). Kelima takut dengan sepenuh hati ialah hati yang berada dalam cahaya Ilahi. Enam Jiwa terbebas dari dosa ialah, Jiwa yang telah berlari pada pangilan sorgawi (Flp 3:14) untuk mencapai tujuan atau kesempurnaan. Tuju, Memurnikan jiwa ialah, jiwa telah berada dalam cahaya Ilahi.Kata Kunci: Jiwa di murnikan; Kasih Allah; Mengontrol; Melakukan perintah-perintah Allah. 


1997 ◽  
Vol 43 (1) ◽  
pp. 116-133 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul B. Duff

The Revelation of John presents to its readers a scenario that describes the oppression and persecution of the early Christian communities of western Asia Minor by external pagan forces (specifically, the Roman government). Later Christian tradition tied the Apocalypse to the later years of the reign of Domitian and consequently dubbed that emperor a second Nero. Until relatively recently, this scenario has been affirmed by both the church and the academy. However, mid-twentieth century scholarship successfully challenged the validity of this viewpoint, based upon a review of the historical evidence. Since that time, scholars have scrambled to reconcile the historical world lying behind the Apocalypse with the narrative world presented by the text. Such figures as James A. T. Robinson, Adela Yarbro Collins, and Leonard Thompson have considerably advanced the discussion in our time. However, these recent attempts to detail the relationship between Christianity and pagan society have so dominated the attention of scholars that a serious discussion of the tensions within the Asia Minor Christian communities has been largely neglected. The present study is offered as a partial corrective to this trend.


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