Utopia ’s Best Reader

Moreana ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 53 (Number 205- (3-4) ◽  
pp. 115-127
Author(s):  
Alvaro Silva

Among the many great readers of Thomas More’s Utopia, Vasco de Quiroga (c. 1488–1565) appears to be most striking, even if we don’t know when or where he read the book. The Spaniard arrived in Mexico in 1530, a few years after Hernán Cortés, sent by Emperor Charles V with full judicial powers in a land devastated by the chaos, brutality, and greed of the conquest, the native people mercilessly abused and enslaved. Almost right away, Quiroga started to give his time, talent, and treasure to create what he called a new “policy” (policía) to protect the ‘indians” from the cruelty of the conquerors. He built refuges (pueblos hospitales), islands of hospitality which he also designed for all the lands and peoples in the New World, as the best way to secure peace, protect and evangelize the populations. He would describe the “pueblos” with words and ideas from his own reading of Utopia, and More was to him a brilliant Englishman inspired by the Holy Spirit both to learn from the native people and to build a new and better Christian civilization in the new land. When Quiroga became bishop of Michoacán in 1536, he must have felt the first real bishop of More’s Utopia. This paper intends to show that this qualifies him as the Utopia’s best reader.

Author(s):  
Paul McPartlan

The chapter explores three deeply interlinked aspects of John Zizioulas’s highly influential ecclesiology: the relationship between the church and the Trinity; the relationship between the church and the Eucharist; and finally the consequences of those relationships for the structure of the church. The church is a communion through its participation in the life of the Trinity. In Christ and by the power of the Holy Spirit, it receives and re-receives the gift of communion in every Eucharist, and communion has a shape that reflects the life of God. The Trinity is centred on the Father, and so in the church at various levels the communion of the many is centred on one who is the head. This is the purely theological reason why the synodality of the church requires primacy at the local, regional, and universal levels. The chapter concludes that, while prompting many questions and needing further development, Zizioulas’s proposal has great ecumenical value.


1969 ◽  
Vol 26 (2) ◽  
pp. 199-213 ◽  
Author(s):  
William L. Sherman

The remarkable career of the adelantado don Pedro de Alvarado is associated in the minds of most with his exploits during the conquest of the Aztec state. To a somewhat lesser degree he is remembered as the conqueror, and later governor, of Guatemala. But in retrospect, perhaps his most significant, though less dramatic, achievement was the fact that he was able to maintain his preëminence for two decades. In an age when Charles V followed a policy of removing conquistadores from positions of political power, Alvarado not only retained the good will of the Crown, but also enhanced his authority and prestige. Despite the many crimes of which he was accused, he was not replaced by royal officials. At his death in 1541 he was one of the most powerful men in the New World, overshadowed perhaps only by Viceroy Mendoza, with whom Alvarado had the shrewd sense to make an alliance.


2008 ◽  
Vol 61 (3) ◽  
pp. 711-749 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elizabeth Wright

Empire building converges with print innovations in the rare Zaragoza edition (1523) of the landmark “Second Letter from Mexico” of Hernán Cortés. The Aragonese print shop owned by German immigrant George Coçi advertised what, to its first interpreters, was stunning news from a still mysterious place overseas with woodblocks drawn from their 1520 edition of Livy'sHistory of Rome. An examination of the political, social, and editorial contexts that informed these two books addressed to Charles V casts light on concerns about how the new Spanish king would communicate with his subjects in an age of imperial expansion.


2012 ◽  
Vol 6 (3) ◽  
pp. 251-261 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert Owusu Agyarko

Abstract The Akan notion of sunsum may form the basis for an ecological pneumatology. Sunsum may be understood as the central, unifying vitality which integrates various elements in Akan thought. Amongst the Akan, God has Sunsum and anything which exists in its natural state has sunsum, a spark from God. The concept of sunsum expresses how the “one” (Onyame) and the “many” (nature including human beings) are related. It is the dynamic equivalent of the Holy Spirit in the Akan Twi Bible. Sunsum is energy, life, communicating itself and transcending itself. It is absolute spirit, who enlivens the whole universe. The Akan concept of sunsum suggests the possibility of a union of the concrete with the universal. The concept of sunsum may therefore enable one to speak of the Holy Spirit and its relation both to God and to nature. This proposal may also enable one to understand the Holy Spirit as cosmic in nature and as divine in being. This contribution offers theological reflection on the implications of the notion of sunsum for ecotheology.


1989 ◽  
Vol 41 (1) ◽  
pp. 121-140
Author(s):  
Jakob Fløe Nielsen

The Christology in the Hymns of GrundtvigBy Jakob Fløe NielsenThe intention of the paper is to show the coherent and complete Christological conception that lies behind the many specific christological expressions in Grundtvig’s hymns, a christology that was never thoroughly elaborated by Grundtvig himself. The superior christological scheme is the descent and abasement of the Son of God from heaven to the land of death and the following exaltation to divine glory. Grundtvig’s strong emphasis upon man’s preserved image of God in spite of the Fall has, however, the consequence that the exaltation mentioned becomes a threefold presentation: 1. the resurrection and ascension of Christ in person repeating itself in history, 2. Christ passing through the seven leading churches of Christianity in his Word (especially in the words of the sacraments) towards the final transfiguration of the world, and 3. at the same time Christ fulfilling his own exaltation in the form of "the hope of glory" (Colossians 1.27) within each baptized. The background to this third aspect is Grundtvig’s concept of the fact that Christ offers himself to the faith in the words at baptism and Eucharist. In spite of the fall he here melts together with the preserved image of God within the believer. So at the same time as the fallen human being is reborn through baptism as the child of God, Christ is born as the tender hope of glory in the believer in the meeting of the word of the Holy Spirit and the human faith. The growth of Christ within the believing baptized is identical with that person’s transfiguration, as man’s destination from creation is realized: to be in the image of his God.In this process the Eucharist plays a decisive part. Where the words of institution are heard and believed, it signifies Christ’s victory over Satan within the baptized, and is also an expression of Christ inspiring his heavenly love into man to strengthen and glorify his earthly and powerless love. Thus, the christology in Grundtvig’s hymns in addition to being a description of a past event also becomes the rendering of the ongoing struggle between God and Satan in history and within the life of each Christian.


Acorn ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
pp. 55-86
Author(s):  
J. Edward Hackett ◽  

In “Moral Perfectionism,” an essay in To Shape a New World, Paul C. Taylor explicitly mentions and openly avoids King’s personalism while advancing a type of Emersonian moral perfectionism motivated by a less than adequate reconstruction of King’s project. In this essay, I argue this is a mistake on two fronts. First, Taylor’s moral perfectionism gives pride of place to shame and self-loathing where the work of King makes central use of love. Second, by evading the personalist King, Taylor misses the importance of love as foundational to King’s theory of community, the Beloved Community. In effect, Taylor engages in hermeneutic violence regarding King’s work and self-description as a personalist. I offer an account of King’s love informed by personalism that better situates love and shows why it is central to King’s philosophy. In conclusion I argue the following: Love is a type of orientation, attitude, and standpoint one can take in relation to another person. Philia and eros forms of love are contingent and conditional. Agapic love opens up persons to see the eternal dignity we all possess and is restorative and generative of community. The Holy Spirit that animates King’s conception of history is made manifest or hindered by the choice to act on the agapic principle of love that animates the cosmos. In the end, I suggest that Taylor’s perfectionist insights might be applied to a supplemental development of Kingian moral philosophy in the direction of a fuller virtue ethics.


1989 ◽  
Vol 18 (1) ◽  
pp. 71-76
Author(s):  
I.E. Cadenhead ◽  
C.L. Strout

In 1540 Hernán Cortés arrived in Spain to continue his fruitless efforts to clear up the matter of his estate in the New World and his position in the eyes of the Spanish monarch. His activities in Spain along with the ill-fated voyage of Antonio de Ulloa up the coast of California in 1539 caused some drain on his financial resources. The many and varied business activities of Cortés, however, supplied him with income during the remainder of his life and set the stage for legal action over his estate.


1966 ◽  
Vol 19 (4) ◽  
pp. 446-456
Author(s):  
R. H. S. Boyd

The rapidly deepening river of Indian christological thought is fed by a number of streams. The main current is of necessity the biblical witness, which has to be expounded afresh in every country and age. To this are added the various ecclesiastical channels by which theological thought has reached India; the Syrian in the South, and the many types of Western theology which have always been influential, and still continue to be so. From the other bank there comes the stream of Indian culture, in particular the philosophical systems of Sankara and Ramanuja, and the bhakti tradition of devotion to a personal God. To all these is added, like the rain, the continual influence of the Holy Spirit, who, in India as elsewhere, is ever drawing from what is Christ's and making it known to men (John 16.14). There has therefore been in India, as one might expect, a departure from some of the traditional christological formulations of the West.


2015 ◽  
Vol 49 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Johan Kommers

In a copy of Pierson’s (n.d.) work, The acts of the Holy Spirit, presented to the hostess of Salisbury House in Keswick (UK), are the signatures of 11 missionaries from all over the world who attended the Convention in 1904. These are just a few of the many missionaries who visited the yearly Keswick Convention (KC). Many missionaries were a product of the genial spiritual climate which prevailed in England after the 1859 revival. Since 1885 the KC has been the catalyst for a fresh era in missionary work. Keswick and mission became inseparable, and the KC became a factor in the life of the universal church. Throughout the years missionary operations have been given a place in its program. So many missionaries trace back their call for mission work to Keswick and reckon the momentum of their life to be fully devoted to God, lies there. This led Keswick chairman Reverent Aldis just after World War II to say, ‘I supposethe KC has done more than any other movement in the Churches to call men and women to the mission field.’ In 2014 the Convention website reads: The KC is passionate about mission and has been supporting, encouraging and hosting missionaries and their families from overhundred years! We see this as a key area of Keswick’s ministry and one in which many havebeen keen to support in their giving (KM 2014). The vision of those in the last decades of the 19th century is the issue of this article as well as the question in what way the KC is still trueand faithful to that vision in the first decades of the 21st century.In een copy van Piersons, The Acts of the Holy Spirit, aangeboden aan de gastvrouw van Salesbury House in Keswick (UK), staan de handtekeningen van elf zendelingen van over heel de wereld, die de Conventie van 1904 hebben bijgewoond. Dit zijn maar enkele van de vele zendelingen die de jaarlijkse Conventie in Keswick bijwonen. Sinds 1885, heeft de Conventie, door de introductie van de christelijke zending, een nieuwe tijd ingeslagen. Keswick en zending zijn sinds die tijd ongescheiden en de KC is een factor van betekenis geworden in het leven van de universele kerk. De jaren door heeft het onderdeel zending een grote plek in het programma. Dit bracht de voorzitter van de KC, Aldis, vlak na WO II er toe om te zeggen: ‘Ik denk dat de KC meer gedaan heeft dan enig andere beweging in de kerken om mannen en vrouwen te roepen naar het zendingsveld.’ Op de website van de Conventie staat nu: De KC is gepassioneerd over zending en heeft support, bemoediging en onderdak verleend aan zendelingen en hun families voor meer dan honderd jaar. We zien dit als de sleutelrol van Keswick en een grote factor voor velen om concreet met de zending mee te leven. Op welke wijze is de zendingsvisie van het begin leidend in de KC nu in de een en twintigste eeuw?


Author(s):  
Jele S. Manganyi ◽  
Johan Buitendag

This article is about the juxtaposition of the notion of perichoresis in the work and theology of the Cappadocian Fathers and the notion of Ubuntu in the African Traditional Religion (ATR). Perichoresis was a result of an attempt to understand and to resolve the relationships within the Trinity. The issue at hand was how to make sense between the one and the many at the same time. The Cappadocian Fathers understood the oneness of God as unity in plurality, not a singularity. One Ousia and three hypostases were based on the understanding of the relationships within the trinity. The question of three yet one God (the church in Jerusalem continued worship of God the Father and Jesus Christ in the Power of the Holy Spirit), the apostles according to the information we have never question nor try to resolve the position and status of Jesus within the oneness. It appears as though they celebrated the tension rather than resolving it. They heard from Jesus, who said to them ‘you believe in God believe also in me’ and ‘if you had known me, you would have known my Father also. From now on you do know him and have seen him … whoever has seen me has seen the Father’. They also heard him when he said ‘I am in the Father and the Father is in me’. The article is going to investigate and analyse the two notions, Perichoresis and Ubuntu, within the African Christian context. Yet there is a tension between Jesus and the ancestors. Can this tension be resolved? The notion of Ubuntu is based upon the understanding that a person becomes fully a person in the presence of other persons. It is a notion that deals with the relationships from an individual to the community and from physical to spiritual perspectives. The article shall also attempt to analyse any categories of thinking that are within the ATR that may better explain the relationship within the Trinity.


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