Vercelli Homily VIII and the Christ

PMLA ◽  
1927 ◽  
Vol 42 (2) ◽  
pp. 314-330
Author(s):  
Rudolph Willard
Keyword(s):  
Central Feature ◽  
Son Of Man ◽  
Last Judgment ◽  
The World ◽  
Resurrection Of The Dead ◽  
The Creation ◽  
The Dead ◽  
Hands And Feet

Homily VIII of the Vercelli Codex CXVII, is a brief dramatic sermon on penance and the Last Judgment, intended for the first Sunday after Epiphany. It opens with an admonition to the faithful to remember the Lord's warning of the tribulation attending the end of this world. Let us never think our sins too grievous or too shameful for confession: for it is better to confess our sins here before one man, than to confess them at the Day of Judgment, before God and the whole host of Heaven, when all our deeds shall be revealed. The homilist briefly outlines the advent of the Judgment: the coming of the Son of Man in power and great glory, God's mercy to the righteous, the angels blowing their trumpets to the four ends of the world, the resurrection of the dead, and the raging fire. All this, however, is introductory to the central feature of the homily—the address of the Judge to the guilty souls. From His throne of Judgment, God the Son reviews His dealings with man: the Creation, the establishment of man in the joys of Paradise, the Fall, God's mercy to fallen man in His Incarnation, Passion, and Death. The Savior dramatically calls the sinner to behold the wounds in His hands and feet and side; then, charging man with indifference and ingratitude, He sentences him to dwell forever with Satan and his host in Hell. After a brief description of the torments of Hell, the homilist closes with an exhortation to be worthy of the Lord's welcome to the righteous, and of the bliss of Heaven.

The Concept and Task of Eschatology — Theological and Philosophical Reflections

1988 ◽  
Vol 41 (4) ◽  
pp. 499-515 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gerhard Sauter
Keyword(s):  
Final Section ◽  
The State ◽  
Human History ◽  
Preceding Section ◽  
Last Judgment ◽  
The World ◽  
Resurrection Of The Dead ◽  
The Dead ◽  
Lutheran Orthodoxy ◽  
And Task

(1) The term ‘eschatology’ stems from Abraham Calov who entitled the twelfth and last section of his masterpiece of dogmatics, Systema locorum Theologicorum (1677), ‘EΣXATOΛOΓIA Sacra’. This final section, which concludes the Dogmatics of a leading representative of Lutheran Orthodoxy, deals with the ‘last things’ (de novissimis), specifically death and the state after death, the resurrection of the dead, the last Judgment, the consummation of the world, hell and everlasting death, and, finally, life everlasting. Calov does not define the artificial term ‘eschatologia’ which he himself had probably coined; he hardly even explains it in the course of his presentation, so that it remains a mere heading. Clearly it applies to the eschaton, namely ‘the end’, which, according to I Cor. 15.24, comes about when Christ, after subjugating all powers and authorities, delivers over the dominion to God the Father (quaestio 2). In the preceding section Calov had cited NT texts which explicitly or implicitly speak of the eschata, the last things, or of the last day/days as the conclusion of human history.

Antichrist, Simon Magus, and Dante's ‘Inferno’ XIX

Traditio ◽  
1980 ◽  
Vol 36 ◽  
pp. 373-398
Author(s):  
Richard Kenneth Emmerson ◽  
Ronald B. Herzman
Keyword(s):  
Subject Matter ◽  
Late Medieval ◽  
Religious Significance ◽  
Last Judgment ◽  
The World ◽  
Resurrection Of The Dead ◽  
The Subject ◽  
The Dead ◽  
Christian Iconography ◽  
Key Events

Luca Signorelli's frescoes portraying the last days and the end of the world which decorate the Cappella di San Brizio in Orvieto Cathedral are often described as reflecting Dante'sCommediaor as having a Dantesque quality. Commissioned in 1500 to complete the decoration of the cathedral begun by Fra Angelico half a century before, Signorelli painted — along with such scenes traditionally associated with the Last Judgment as the Resurrection of the Dead, the Damned in Hell, and the Saved in Paradise — two frescoes which portray the deeds of Antichrist and the signs of the end. Together with his illustrations from Dante'sPurgatorio, also at Orvieto, these frescoes depict the key events of Christian eschatology. The entire cycle reflects, in other words, the artist's awareness of eschatology as encompassing not only the fortune of the soul after death, but also the events which occur in the last days of the earth's history, a view of eschatology which is both personal and cosmic. It is certainly appropriate to see Dante's influence upon the artist's representation of such scenes as the ‘anti-Inferno’ and the suffering of the damned in hell. Although the subject matter need not have been drawn exclusively from Dante, a knowledge of theCommediahelps one to understand these frescoes better. Both Dante and Signorelli reflect a concern with the last events which is typical of their times, and along with other artists and poets, they share a common background in Christian eschatology. In some respects, therefore, their individual achievements are analogous, so that an understanding of the frescoes can also help us to understand theCommedia, even though the painter worked a century and a half after the poet. Particularly, Signorelli's ‘Fatti dell’ Anticristo,’ a portrayal both of the traditional Christian beliefs concerning the great deceiver of the last days and of late medieval apocalypticism, provides insights into Dante's description of the contemporary church inInferno19 (Fig. 1). The artist and the poet each draw upon long-established Christian iconography and symbolism to infuse their work with an apocalyptic expectancy which, by placing contemporary scenes in a cosmic perspective, underscores its religious significance and ultimate consequence.

A Peculiarly Christian Account of Sin

1993 ◽  
Vol 50 (2) ◽  
pp. 220-228 ◽  
Author(s):  
William H. Willimon
Keyword(s):  
Human Nature ◽  
The Sun ◽  
General State ◽  
Dead Tree ◽  
The Waste Land ◽  
Waste Land ◽  
Son Of Man ◽  
Adam And Eve ◽  
The World ◽  
The Dead

“The Church's notion of sin, like that of Israel before it, is peculiar. It is derived, not from speculation about the universal or general state of humanity, but rather from a peculiar, quite specific account of what God is up to in the world. What God is up to is named as covenant, Torah, or, for Christians, Jesus. If we attempt to begin in Genesis, with Adam and Eve and their alleged ‘fall,’ we will be mistaken, as Niebuhr was, in thinking of sin as some innate, indelible glitch in human nature.”April is the cruellest month, breeding Lilacs out of the dead land, mixing Memory and desire, …Winter kept us warm, covering Earth in forgetful snow, …What are the roots that clutch, what branches grow Out of this stony rubbish? Son of man, You cannot say, or guess, for you know only A heap of broken images, where the sun beats, And the dead tree gives no shelter. …T. S. Eliot, The Waste Land, I, 1922

scholarly journals “Eternity roll’d wide apart”: The Creation of the World and Man in William Blake’s The [First] Book of Urizen in Light of Emanuel Swedenborg’s The Last Judgment

2021 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Csaba József Spalovszky
Keyword(s):  
Human Life ◽  
William Blake ◽  
Religion And Science ◽  
Creation Myth ◽  
Last Judgment ◽  
The World ◽  
Emanuel Swedenborg ◽  
Inner World ◽  
The Creation ◽  
Creation Stories

Beginnings are usually regarded as either hard or energizing times that set our inner world in motion. However, there is a beginning that is more important for humanity than any other: the origin of human life and of the world. The knowledge of our origin and the mystery concerning the beginning of the world have been the most intriguing and most engaging issues since man became aware of their own physical and spiritual existence. For many centuries, it was the duty of religion to provide humanity with a teaching about their origin and the foundation of human dignity. However, the 18th and 19th centuries were critical in the treatment of the biblical creation stories in Europe. The debate between misinterpreted creation myth accounts and scientific theories led to a sharpening confrontation between religion and science, but it also divided the believers and resulted in the birth of new theories. Emanuel Swedenborg, an influential theologist of the period, wrote detailed commentaries and genuine tractates related to the topic that influenced the ideology and art of William Blake, a versatile and ingenious artist and thinker of the era, whose influence is still significant today. The aim of this study is to highlight the parallels and contrasts between Blake’s Genesis myth and Swedenborg’s teachings, mainly through the unusual pairing of The [First] Book of Urizen and The Last Judgment, to show the connection between Swedenborg’s unorthodox views and Blake’s ideas about the creation of man and the world.

The Core of the Qur'an: Sūrat Yā Sīn (Q. 36)

2013 ◽  
Vol 15 (2) ◽  
pp. 65-82
Author(s):  
M.A.S. Abdel Haleem
Keyword(s):  
Central Theme ◽  
Special Significance ◽  
The Core ◽  
The World ◽  
Resurrection Of The Dead ◽  
The Dead

The Prophet dubbed Sūrat Yā Sīn the ‘core of the Qur'an’. This article attempts to explain the reasons for this. It highlights the central theme of the sura, the resurrection of the dead: Yā Sīn provides the longest presentation of this subject in one single sura, dealing with all the arguments the disbelievers bring up against it. Contrary to the opinions of some scholars, the structure of this sura, seen in the succession of its well-connected parts, with additional consolidation from a web of recurring expressions, is shown to be completely coherent. The article elucidates some of the stylistic features of the sura and ends with an account of the special significance of Sūrat Yā Sīn for Muslim believers, individually and collectively, throughout the world.

Zoroastrian motifs in non-Zoroastrian traditions

2008 ◽  
Vol 18 (2) ◽  
pp. 155-165 ◽  
Author(s):  
WERNER SUNDERMANN
Keyword(s):  
Strict Sense ◽  
World Religion ◽  
Near Eastern ◽  
The World ◽  
Resurrection Of The Dead ◽  
History Of ◽  
First Millennium ◽  
The Dead ◽  
Important Position ◽  
Good And Evil

We owe to Zoroaster one of the oldest religions of mankind. We cannot call Zoroaster's doctrine a world religion in the strict sense, for it did not spread far beyond the limits of the Iranian world, nor did its followers spread over the world as the Parsis do now and the Manichaeans once did. But many ideas first expressed by Zoroaster or his followers, such as the all-encompassing dualism of good and evil, light and darkness, or the resurrection of the dead in the flesh, or the responsibility of mankind for the fate of this world and the world beyond, have influenced, from the middle of the first millennium BCE on, the spirituality of the near eastern peoples and so also the religions of Judaism, and by way of Judaism, Christianity and Islam, too. This is sufficient to grant the religion of Zoroaster a most important position in the history of human religiosity.

Eschatology

2018 ◽  
pp. 228-246
Author(s):  
Paul O'Callaghan
Keyword(s):  
Christian Doctrine ◽  
The World ◽  
Resurrection Of The Dead ◽  
The Dead

This chapter considers the Christian doctrine of the end of all things and the character of our hope about that end. The chapter begins with an introduction to the ‘Parousia’, the coming of Christ at the end of time. It then considers the resurrection of the dead, the renewal of the cosmos—the establishment of the new heavens and new earth—and the final judgement. A consideration of heaven is matched by discussion of how Christians should imagine scriptural teaching on perpetual retribution. The chapter then considers how Christian eschatological doctrine shapes our experience in the world. The chapter closes with a treatment of purgatory and the space between death and resurrection.

The Central Beliefs of the Xhosa Cattle-Killing

1987 ◽  
Vol 28 (1) ◽  
pp. 43-63 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. B. Peires
Keyword(s):  
Colonial Rule ◽  
The Earth ◽  
The People ◽  
Peculiar Form ◽  
The World ◽  
Resurrection Of The Dead ◽  
The Dead

The Xhosa cattle-killing movement of 1856–7 cannot be explained as a superstitious ‘pagan reaction’to the intrusion of colonial rule and Christian civilization. It owes its peculiar form to the lungsickness epidemic of 1854, which carried off over 100,000 Xhosa cattle. The Xhosa theory of disease indicated that the sick cattle had been contaminated by the witchcraft practices of the people, and that these tainted cattle would have to be slaughtered lest they infect the pure new cattle which were about to rise.The idea of the resurrection of the dead was partly due to the Xhosa belief that the dead do not really die or depart from the world of the living, and partly to the Xhosa myth of creation, which held that all life originated in a certain cavern in the ground which might yet again pour forth its blessings on the earth. Christian doctrines, transmitted through the prophets Nxele and Mhlakaza, supplemented and elaborated these indigenous Xhosa beliefs. The Xhosa and the Christian elements united together in the person of the expected redeemer Sifuba-sibanzi (the broad-chested one). The central beliefs of the Xhosa cattle-killing were neither irrational nor atavistic. Ironically, it was probably because they were so rational and so appropriate that they ultimately proved to be so deadly.

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