scholarly journals The Normativity of Measure in Gregory Nazianzus’ and Gregory of Nyssa’s Orations on Love for the Destitute Poor

Vox Patrum ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 78 ◽  
pp. 239-268
Author(s):  
Monica Tobon
Keyword(s):  
Social Policy ◽  
Historical Context ◽  
Imago Dei ◽  
Gregory Of Nyssa ◽  
Christian Anthropology ◽  
The Poor ◽  
Egyptian Desert ◽  
Theological Argument

Gregory Nazianzus and Gregory of Nyssa between them composed three orations on love of the destitute poor: Nazianzen's Oration 14, Peri philoptōchias and Nyssen's On love of the poor 1 and 2 (De beneficentia and In illud: quatenus uni ex his fecistis mihi fecistis). All three situate leprosy as the most extreme, and therefore paradigmatic, form of poverty as a basis for exhorting Christians to the practice of love. Those suffering from leprosy were stigmatised and excluded from society even by Christians, yet the Gregories exhort them to serve Christ by serving them, supporting pastoral entreaty with theological argument. This paper aims to introduce these orations to those unfamiliar with them and contribute new insights to those who already know them. After situating them in their historical context I summarise each then comment on their content, highlighting Nazianzen's reconfiguration of classical motifs in the service of a revisionist social policy and Christian anthropology rooted in the imago Dei and Nyssen's recourse to ascetic theory with marked similarities to that of Egyptian desert asceticism as taught by Evagrius. This paper's discussion of these prophetic orations will contribute to knowledge of them and by extension of the two Gregories.  

The Concept of Imago Dei as a Symbol of Religious Inclusion and Human Dignity

2020 ◽  
Vol 25 (1) ◽  
pp. 13-36
Author(s):  
Wojciech Szczerba
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Modern Philosophy ◽  
Human Dignity ◽  
Imago Dei ◽  
Future Generations ◽  
Gregory Of Nyssa ◽  
Relational Concept ◽  
Secular Society ◽  
Protestant Theologian ◽  
Inclusive Theology

This article aims to examine how the concept of Imago Dei can serve as a symbol for the broadly understood idea of religious inclusion and human dignity. The article explores the concept of Imago Dei primarily from a protological perspective, analyzing its usage in biblical writings, theological tradition and modern philosophy. The substantial, relational and functional—which three usages of the concept can be found in the inclusive theology of Gregory of Nyssa—are analyzed in this article. Arguably, in the context of religious inclusion, the relational angle of Imago Dei seems to be the most important. Similarly contemporary Protestant theologian, Jürgen Moltmann states in his book, God in the Creation, that the “relational” concept of Imago Dei underscores the fundamental dignity of every person. In his book, God for Secular Society, Moltmann states that properly understood human rights should include democratic relationships between people, cooperation between societies, concern for the environment in which people live, and responsibility for future generations. From these perspectives, the concept of Imago Dei can be utilized as a symbol indicating the dignity of every person and human community, but also a symbol against any types of racism, nationalism or xenophobia.

St Gregory of Nyssa

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
John Anthony McGuckin
Keyword(s):  
Historical Context ◽  
Family Members ◽  
General Outline ◽  
Gregory Of Nyssa ◽  
Christian Leaders ◽  
Close Family

Chapter 1 gives Biographical background and studies the historical context(s) of Gregory of Nyssa and his close family members, situating them as aristocratic and long-established Christian leaders of the Cappadocian area. It offers along with the course of Gregory’s Vita a general outline of the main philosophical and religious controversies of his era, particularly his ecclesiastical involvement in the Neo-Nicene apologetical movement associated with the leadership of his brother Basil (of Caesarea), which he himself inherited in Cappadocia, with imperial approval, after 380. It concludes with a review of Gregory’s significance as author: in terms of his style as a writer, his work as an exegete, his body of spiritual teaching, and lastly, the manner in which his reputation waxed and waned from antiquity to the present.

scholarly journals Eastern Church Fathers on Being Human—Dichotomy in Essence and Wholeness in Deification

Religions ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (8) ◽  
pp. 575
Author(s):  
Olga Chistyakova
Keyword(s):  
Old Testament ◽  
Philosophical Tradition ◽  
Church Fathers ◽  
Gregory Of Nyssa ◽  
Early Christian ◽  
Christian Anthropology ◽  
Church Father ◽  
Byzantine Church ◽  
God's Image ◽  
Maximus The Confessor

The article traces the formation of Eastern Christian anthropology as a new religious and philosophical tradition within the Early Byzantine culture. The notion “Patristics” is reasoned as a corpus of ideas of the Church Fathers, both Eastern and Western. The term “Eastern Patristics” means the works by Greek-Byzantine Church Fathers, who in the theological disputes with the Western Church Fathers elaborated the Christian creed. Based on an analysis of the texts of Greek-Byzantine Church Fathers, the most important provisions of Eastern Patristics are deduced and discussed, which determined the specificity of Christian anthropology. In this context, different approaches of the Eastern Fathers to the explanation of the Old Testament thesis on the creation of man in God’s image and likeness and the justification of the duality of human essence are shown. Particular attention is paid to considering the idea of deification as overcoming the human dualism and the entire created universe, the doctrine of the Divine Logoi as God’s energies, and the potential elimination of the antinomianism of the earthly and Divine worlds. The article reflects the anthropological ideas of the pre-Nicene Church Father Irenaeus, the non-canonical early Christian work The Shepherd of Hermas, and the teachings on the man of the classical Eastern Patristics period by Athanasius of Alexandria, Gregory of Nyssa, and Maximus the Confessor.

scholarly journals Two decades after Korpi and Palme’s “paradox of redistribution”: What have we learned so far and where do we take it from here?

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-16 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dimitri Gugushvili ◽  
Tijs Laenen
Keyword(s):  
Social Policy ◽  
Income Inequality ◽  
Critical Review ◽  
Institutional Design ◽  
State Of The Art ◽  
Causal Chain ◽  
Empirical Literature ◽  
The Poor ◽  
History Of ◽  
Per Se

Abstract Over two decades ago, Korpi and Palme (1998) published one of the most influential papers in the history of social policy discipline, in which they put forward a “paradox of redistribution”: the more countries target welfare resources exclusively at the poor, the less redistribution is actually achieved and the less income inequality and poverty are reduced. The current paper provides a state-of-the-art review of empirical research into that paradox. More specifically, we break down the paradox into seven core assumptions, which together form a causal chain running from institutional design to redistributive outcomes. For each causal assumption, we offer a comprehensive and critical review of the relevant empirical literature, also including a broader range of studies that do not aim to address Korpi and Palme’s paradox per se, but are nevertheless informative about it.

scholarly journals Globalisation and older people: effects of markets and migration

2002 ◽  
Vol 22 (5) ◽  
pp. 647-663 ◽  
Author(s):  
GAIL WILSON
Keyword(s):  
Social Policy ◽  
Older People ◽  
Economic Restructuring ◽  
Older Men ◽  
World Trade Organisation ◽  
Men And Women ◽  
The Poor ◽  
The World ◽  
The Rich ◽  
Older Men And Women

This paper discusses the material aspects of globalisation and the effects of the movements of trade, capital and people around the world on older men and women. While some older people have benefited, most notably where pensions and health care are well developed, the majority of older men and women are among the poor who have not. Free trade, economic restructuring, the globalisation of finance, and the surge in migration, have in most parts of the world tended to produce harmful consequences for older people. These developments have been overseen, and sometimes dictated, by inter-governmental organisations (IGOs) such as the International Monetary Foundation (IMF), the World Bank and the World Trade Organisation (WTO), while other IGOs with less power have been limited to anti-ageist exhortation. Globalisation transfers resources from the poor to the rich within and between countries. It therefore increases social problems while simultaneously diminishing the freedom and capacity of countries to make social policy. Nonetheless, the effects of globalisation, and particularly its financial dimensions, on a nation's capacity for making social policy can be exaggerated. Political will can combat international economic orthodoxy, but the evident cases are the exception rather than the rule.

scholarly journals Christian Personalism versus Utilitarianism: An Analysis of Their Approaches to Love and Suffering*

2020 ◽  
Vol 87 (4) ◽  
pp. 425-437
Author(s):  
Peter J. Colosi
Keyword(s):  
Historical Context ◽  
Human Person ◽  
Christian Ethics ◽  
Human Suffering ◽  
Christian Anthropology ◽  
Christian Perspective ◽  
Utilitarian Approach ◽  
The Difference ◽  
Polar Opposite

Although Christian ethics and contemporary utilitarian ethics both employ terms such as “love” and “compassion” in their efforts to deal with human suffering, they are in fact polar opposite ethical views. This fact is not at all easy to discern. One key to perceiving the radical opposition between them lies in clarifying their respective concepts of love and suffering and the relation between the two. In Christian personalism, suffering is always understood as the suffering of individual persons, while in utilitarianism, suffering is primarily understood as a quantifiable entity detached from the individuals who experience it. This detachment of suffering from individuals leads to the depersonalizing and commodifying recommendations of utilitarianism. The dignity of persons as understood in Christian anthropology serves as the foundation of Christian ethics and is the only basis on which ethics can avoid commodifying people. The article begins with an explanation of the utilitarian approach to suffering and its concept of love. It then proceeds to express the view of love and suffering that flows from the Christian perspective. The article concludes by exposing the inherently self-defeating structure of utilitarian ethics and offers the hope-filled, if challenging, approach of Christian personalism. Although Christian anthropology and ethics developed within the historical context of Christianity, and in fact could only have developed there, the arguments here are primarily philosophical elucidations of the differences between the two opposing schools of thought discussed, while here and there including occasional theological points. Summary: The article examines the difference between Christian ethics and utilitarian ethics, bringing out their stark opposition on the topics of love, suffering and the human person.

scholarly journals Welfare State Policy Model as A Poverty Reduction Strategy in the West Sumatra Districts and Cities

2019 ◽  
Vol 21 (2) ◽  
pp. 227
Author(s):  
Azwar Azwar Azwar ◽  
Emeraldy Chatra ◽  
Zuldesni Zuldesni
Keyword(s):  
Social Policy ◽  
Welfare State ◽  
State Model ◽  
The West ◽  
Policy Model ◽  
The Poor ◽  
The Social ◽  
West Sumatra ◽  
The Government ◽  
The Welfare State

Poverty is one of the social problems that the government can never completely solve. As a result, other, more significant social issues arise and cause social vulnerability, such as conflict and crime. As a province that is experiencing rapid growth in the last ten years, the West Sumatra find difficulty to overcome the number of poor people in several districts and cities.  The research outcomes are the models and forms of social policy made by West Sumatra regencies and cities governments in improving the welfare of poor communities. It is also covering the constraints or obstacles to the implementation of social policy and the selection of welfare state models for the poor in some districts and municipalities of West Sumatra. This research is conducted qualitatively with a sociological approach that uses social perspective on searching and explaining social facts that happened to needy groups. Based on research conducted that the social policy model adopted by the government in responding to social problems in the districts and cities of West Sumatra reflects the welfare state model given to the poor. There is a strong relationship between the welfare state model and the form of social policy made by the government.

What Was Gained

2018 ◽  
pp. 286-310
Author(s):  
George R. Boyer
Keyword(s):  
Twentieth Century ◽  
Social Policy ◽  
Social Welfare ◽  
Local Governments ◽  
Safety Net ◽  
Social Welfare Policy ◽  
The Road ◽  
The Poor ◽  
The Great War ◽  
Welfare Reforms

This concluding chapter summarizes the book's major findings. The road to the welfare state of the 1940s was not a wide and straight thoroughfare through Victorian and Edwardian Britain. As the previous chapters have made clear, the story of British social policy from 1830 to 1950 is really two separate stories joined together in the years immediately before the Great War. The first is a tale of increasing stinginess toward the poor by the central and local governments, while the second is the story of the construction of a national safety net, culminating in the Beveridge Report and Labour's social policies of 1946–48. The prototype for the welfare reforms of the twentieth century cannot be found in the Victorian Poor Law. The chapter then offers some thoughts regarding the reasons for the shifts in social welfare policy from the 1830s to the 1940s.

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