scholarly journals „Et ait: «Faciamus hominem ad imaginem et similitudinem nostram»” (Rdz 1, 26). Próba egzegezy bizantyńskiej na przykładzie Komentarza do Księgi Rodzaju Anastazego z Synaju

Vox Patrum ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 70 ◽  
pp. 545-557
Author(s):  
Magdalena Jóźwiak

The Hexaëmeron, traditionally ascribed to Anastasius of Sinai may be one of the most important works of Christian mysticism from the Byzantine era. Three factors make it especially significant. First, it is one of the longest and most detailed surviving examples of Christian mystical exegesis as practiced in the Byzantine period. Second, this commentary is an extensive and unified exposition of the theology of an important Church writer. And finally, the Hexaëmeron is not only steeped in biblical literature, but also contains a large reservoir of quotes and paraphrases of the early Church Fathers on the first three chapters of Genesis. In this article, I analyzed book VI of the Commentary to the Book of Genesis (PG 89, 921-938) by Anastasius of Sinai, in which Anastasius comments, inter alia, the verse from Genesis 1, 26. The main goal of my analysis was to answer the question whether Anastasius – the Byzantine exegete – in her exegesis of the Holy Scriptures, using the earlier considerations of the Fathers of the Church, is at least to a small extent original or uncritical rewrites the previous interpretations, not including any of these interpretations?

Istoriya ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (7 (105)) ◽  
pp. 0
Author(s):  
Natalia Zhigalova

In this article, the author turns to an examination of the status of the Jewish community in Thessalonica in the late Byzantine period. The author concludes that both in the Byzantine era and during the Venetian rule in Thessalonica, the Jewish community of the city was subjected to numerous restrictions and prohibitions on the part of the official authorities. The reason for this was the initial isolation of the community, as well as the fact that the Jews, in contrast to the rest of the townspeople, owned vast financial resources and rented trading floors, ousting local entrepreneurs from there. The Jewish community in Thessalonica, quite numerous by the standards of contemporaries, in the XIV and XV centuries was in a state of permanent conflict with the church authorities of the city and, probably, had some influence on the communities of Judaizing Christians.


Scrinium ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 143-159
Author(s):  
David C. Sim

The early Church Fathers accepted the notion of an intermediate state, the existence of the soul following death until its reunification with the body at the time of the final resurrection. This view is common in the modern Christian world, but it has been challenged as being unbiblical. This study reflects upon this question. Does the New Testament speak exclusively of death after life, complete lifelessness until the day of resurrection, or does it also contain the notion of life after life or immediate post-mortem existence? It will be argued that, while the doctrine of future resurrection is the most common Christian view, it was not the only one present in the Christian canon. There are hints, especially in the Gospel of Luke and the Revelation of John, that people do indeed live again immediately after death, although the doctrine of resurrection is also present. These two ideas are never coherently related to one another in the New Testament and it was the Church Fathers who first sought to  systematise them.



2021 ◽  
pp. 85-105
Author(s):  
Giuliana Di Biase

This chapter investigates the genesis and evolution of Locke’s idea of human life as a “state of mediocrity”. While this idea had ancient roots going back to the early Church fathers, it remained current in the seventeenth century where mediocrity was generally equated with a condition of partial ignorance and imperfection. Locke’s account of it is original; while life is a time of mediocrity, death opens the way to the extremes of eternal misery or eternal happiness. Initially, inspired by the Church fathers, Locke conceived of human life as a condition of intellectual mediocrity. Subsequently, and arguably prompted by his reading of the pessimistic outlooks of Nicole and Pascal, he redefined the state of mediocrity in more optimistic terms: humans are naturally suited to their mediocre state. A further development of his conception of mediocrity, again involving a partial rethinking of the human condition, can be found in the Essay, where Locke represents mediocrity as an imperfect state of insatiable desire. It is redeemed, however, by the ability of living human beings to attain perfect knowledge of morality.


1976 ◽  
Vol 29 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-12
Author(s):  
Robert H. Ayers

In spite of the fact that it is often ignored, one of the interesting features in the thought of some of the early Church Fathers, was a considerable skill at language and logical analysis. Given the basic liberal disciplines of Greco-Roman education it is not surprising that those Fathers who were fortunate enough to receive formal education were able to utilise the skills of rhetoric and logic as well as other skills of the liberal arts. Also it is ńot surprising that later great thinkers of the church informed by the liberal arts and by the writings of the earlier Fathers should make use of these skills. This is surely the case with Saint Augustine.


Author(s):  
Esther Chung-Kim

The retrieval of patristic exegesis made great strides during the revival of Renaissance humanism and the spread of European Reformations. While devotion to the recovery of the early Church writings was primarily an intellectual movement, it was shaped and motivated by distinct social, political, religious, and philosophical developments of fifteenth- and sixteenth-century Europe. Humanists appreciated ancient Christian writings because they sought to combine piety with eloquence, which would reinvigorate religion for educated laity. When humanists, such as LeFèvre and Erasmus, offered their translations and interpretation of Scripture and the church fathers, others responded with their own interpretations from Lutheran, Calvinist, Swiss Reformed, Anabaptist, English, or Catholic perspectives. Although the development of confessionalization shaped the integration of Renaissance patristic scholarship, the patristic reception of Protestants and Catholics portrayed both respect and criticism of ancient exegetes because they struggled to define their theological positions among a plurality of interpretations.


2002 ◽  
Vol 37 ◽  
pp. 13-33
Author(s):  
Carol Harrison

Any description of man’s ideal state tells us a lot about the culture, society, and character of its author. Early Christian writers, as one might expect, tended to turn to Scripture, to the authoritative account in the book of Genesis of God’s creation of man and woman and of their life in the garden of Eden, in order to define their conception of the ideal life. There they discovered what to us, and perhaps to them, seems a rather strange, alien portrait of the life of two celibate naturists, at ease in a luxuriant garden which provided for all their needs. By some obscure and generally unspecified means, the Church fathers thought Adam and Eve were to be the founder members and originators of a society which, on condition it obeyed one simple rule, would become an immortal society.


2018 ◽  
Vol 97 (2) ◽  
pp. 153-186 ◽  
Author(s):  
Martha McGill

The protestant afterlife is generally presented in binary terms, with departed souls going directly to either heaven or hell. However, the possible existence of an intermediate state for the dead was discussed by protestant theologians from the reformation onwards. This article traces the evolution of these debates in Scotland, with particular focus on the eighteenth century. The bishops Archibald Campbell, Thomas Rattray and George Innes produced tracts in support of the intermediate state. By the end of the century it had become a standard element of doctrine among the episcopalians, reflecting the formation of a more distinctive theological and liturgical identity, based on the teachings of the early church fathers. Presbyterians generally dismissed the idea as a papish conceit, but there were exceptions. Most notably, in the 1720s the minister William Ogilvie described a series of meetings with the ghost of Thomas Maxwell, Laird of Cool. His account framed the intermediate state as a sympathetic alternative to calvinist predestination, and spread to a wide audience when it was printed as a chapbook. As the episcopalian church declined and the Church of Scotland fragmented, there was greater scope for individuals to formulate their own theologies, potentially challenging traditional notions of what it meant to be a protestant.


2014 ◽  
Vol 6 (3) ◽  
pp. 460-472
Author(s):  
Alexandra Palantza

Abstract The Book of Genesis offers not only to Israel but also to its neighbors the reason for their existence1. In western theological thought, W. Eichrodt’s Theology of the Old Testament and Cl. Westermann’s Commentary on Genesis are two of the most important works, which are distinguished because of their method and the expression of their theological perspectives on the topic “creation narratives”. In contrast to Western theologians, Greek-Orthodox Theologians inherited their tradition of interpretation from the Church Fathers. Eastern Theology has seen the topic of interpreting the Bible as an unbreakable whole, containing God’s word and action for the salvation of humankind. Any differences between them are caused by another perspective and ecclesiastical tradition.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document