scholarly journals Between Heaven and Earth: Family ownership versus rights of monastic communities. The Theodosian Code and late antique legal practice

2020 ◽  
pp. 117-170
Author(s):  
Marzena Wojtczak
Keyword(s):  
Roman Law ◽  
Late Antique ◽  
Christian Communities ◽  
Literary Sources ◽  
Monastic Communities ◽  
The Will ◽  
The One ◽  
Secular Power ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Heaven And Earth

This article investigates the relationship between the legislation introduced in the field of proprietary rights assigned to various Church entities and the practice of accumulation of wealth by the monastic communities in late antique Egypt. On the one hand, among the literary sources the predominant theme concerning Egyptian monasticism is the idea of voluntary poverty and renunciation of worldly possessions aimed at the pursuance of a contemplative life. On the other hand, the papyri offer insight into monastic life that does not seem to have been entirely detached from the outside world. In this vein, the laws of Valentinian I and Theodosius II clearly indicate that monks and nuns continued to own property without disturbance after undertaking religious life. In addition, Theodosius the Great and later emperors restricted the freedom of certain groups of citizens to disown their property, rendering the Christian ideal of voluntary poverty not always feasible. It is only with Justinian that the rules regarding monastic poverty are shaped and set by the secular power. The incentive for this study is to check for any conflict between the principles of classical Roman law in the field of private ownership and imperial legislation included in the Codex Theodosianus. Giorgio Barone-Adesi observed the tension that took place between the Christian communities and their corporations that were allotted ever broader privileges and the Roman principle of preservation of the property within the family unit. There is, however, still some room left for discussion since not all the data easily adds up to an unequivocal conclusion. In this analysis, the Code is treated as a measure for taking a stand by the legislator in the dispute between the will of the owner, recognition of the rights of the heirs and family members, and finally the privileges granted to the religious consortia.

Teaching the Faith in Early Christianity: Divine and Human Agency

2020 ◽  
Vol 74 (2) ◽  
pp. 129-164
Author(s):  
Peter Gemeinhardt
Keyword(s):  
Christian Education ◽  
Jesus Christ ◽  
Early Christianity ◽  
Human Agency ◽  
Christian Faith ◽  
Late Antique ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
The One ◽  
The Relationship

Abstract The present paper investigates the relationship between divine and human agency in teaching the Christian faith. While Christian education actually was conveyed by human beings (apostles, teachers, catechists, bishops), many authors claimed that the one and only teacher of Christianity is Jesus Christ, referring to Matt 23:8-9. By examining texts from the 2nd to the 5th century, different configurations of divine and human teaching are identified and discussed. The paper thereby highlights a crucial tension in Early and Late Antique Christianity relating to the possibilities and limitations of communicating the faith.

The Jurisprudence of Humanism

Traditio ◽  
1961 ◽  
Vol 17 ◽  
pp. 493-501 ◽  
Author(s):  
Myron P. Gilmore
Keyword(s):  
Sixteenth Century ◽  
Literary History ◽  
Roman Law ◽  
Western Tradition ◽  
Major Work ◽  
History Of ◽  
The One ◽  
Legal Concepts ◽  
The University ◽  
The Relationship

During the last decade the works of Professor Guido Kisch have made an outstanding contribution to our knowledge of the legal thought of the sixteenth century, particularly to the school represented by the University of Basel. His articles and monographs have dealt with the biographical and literary history of significant scholars as well as with the rival schools of interpretation represented by ‘mos italicus' and ‘mos gallicus.' Building on these earlier studies, Professor Kisch has now produced a major work of more comprehensive scope, which goes beyond biographical and methodological questions to the analysis of significant change in substantive legal doctrines. Convinced that the age of humanism and the reception of Roman law saw the formation of some of the most important modern legal concepts, he centers his research on the evolution of the theory of equity with due attention, on the one hand, to the relationship between sixteenth-century innovation and the historic western tradition and, on the other, to the interaction between the academic profession and the practicing lawyers.

scholarly journals On Some Sources of the Life of Alexander Oshevensky (The Theme of the Family in the Hagiography)

Scrinium ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 281-294
Author(s):  
Alexander V. Pigin
Keyword(s):  
The Other ◽  
Other Hand ◽  
Christian Morality ◽  
Literary Sources ◽  
The Family ◽  
The One ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
The Town

(1567) is a Northern Russian hagiographical work devoted to the founder of the St. Niсholas Alexander-Oshevensky Monastery, which was located nearby the town of Kargopol. The article analyses hagiographer Theodosius’ techniques for dealing with literary sources, especially with two Byzantine texts, The Ladder by John Climacus and The Life of Alexis the Man of God. Theodosius uses these sources to develop one of the major themes of his own work, that is, the relationship between St. Alexander and his family. The family theme bears ambiguous meaning. On the one hand, the family is rejected from the standpoint of monastic asceticism, but on the other hand, it is rendered as the ultimate value and stronghold of Christian morality.


RESIDENTIAL VILLAS IN LATE ANTIQUE ITALY: CONTINUITY AND CHANGE

2004 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 333-375
Author(s):  
Carla Sfameni
Keyword(s):  
Late Antique ◽  
Religious Buildings ◽  
Continuity And Change ◽  
Literary Sources ◽  
Residential Characteristics ◽  
Architectural Development ◽  
The Relationship

This paper surveys the architectural development of Italian villas with residential characteristics for the 4th–6th c. A.D. Literary sources relevant to aristocratic life in the countryside are also considered. Two broad phases of villa development are identified. During the late 3rd and 4th c. A.D. many villas were rebuilt, with some traditional and some new features. In the 5th and 6th c. A.D. new coherent plan types and further new features appear, such as fortifications and Christian religious buildings. Nevertheless, even in this later period, villa sites can show much continuity with the classical villa tradition. The evolution of Italian villas can generally be related to changing aristocratic lifestyles and ideas of leisure as described by the literary sources, though the relationship between archaeology and the texts is complex

scholarly journals The interrelationship between scriptal and linguistic variation in notary signatures of Greek contracts from late antique Egypt

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-47
Author(s):  
Antonia Apostolakou
Keyword(s):  
Roman Law ◽  
Social Semiotics ◽  
Late Antique ◽  
Greek Language ◽  
Theoretical Concepts ◽  
Latin Language ◽  
Latin Script ◽  
Greek Alphabet ◽  
The One ◽  
Do So

This study investigates linguistic and scriptal variation in notary signatures found in late antique contracts from Egypt, seeking to identify and interpret the potential relationship between choices in language and script. To answer this, theoretical concepts and methods from sociolinguistics, social semiotics, and multilingual studies are used, with the objective of adding a new, more linguistically-oriented perspective to existing research on notarial signatures. On the one hand, this research demonstrates how the Latin script seems to restrict notaries, resulting in transliterated Greek signatures with very homogeneous content. The familiarity of notaries with the Greek language and writing is, on the other hand, reflected in signatures written in the Greek alphabet, which are much more diverse and at times adjusted to the circumstances under which specific documents were composed. Even if notaries seem to lack confidence in freely producing text in the Latin script, they choose to do so due to its functional values, which are conveyed and perceived visually. Latin letters create an association between signatories and Roman law, adding to the trustworthiness and prestige of the signatures. Differentiating between script and language allows us to understand how the Latin script maintained the connotations that formerly accompanied the Latin language, gradually replacing it in the form of transliterated passages, at a time when the language was disappearing from papyrological documentation. In this sense, sociolinguistics, and especially social semiotics, prove useful when dealing with visual aspects of language in papyri, as they prevent their functions and meanings from being overlooked.

The Gnostic Sects and the Roman Empire

1954 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 25-37 ◽  
Author(s):  
W. H. C. Frend
Keyword(s):  
Roman Empire ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Early Church ◽  
Christian Communities ◽  
Political Relations ◽  
Two Generations ◽  
The Will ◽  
The Subject ◽  
New Evidence ◽  
The Relationship

Two generations of lawyers and historians of the early Church have worked over the scanty evidence bearing on the legal and political relations between the first Christian communities and the Roman Empire. It is not the intention of the present writer to add to the enormous volume of work on the subject. The results of their battles have been ably summarised by A. N. Sherwin-White, and with his conclusions the legal problem may be allowed to rest until new evidence is forthcoming. The object of this paper is to look at the question from another point of view, and to ask who were the sufferers, and in particular, who were martyred in the period before the first general persecution under Decius. Were Polycarp, Justin, Blandina and the rest chance victims of private denunciation and the fury of the mob, or did they represent a tradition of belief in which martyrdom became the climax of earthly life? And what of those who obeyed the precept to flee during persecution? Was their action due to cowardice, or was it the belief that martyrdom was not the will of God? Can we see in the controversy over martyrdom which engaged so much of Tertullian's energies, one more phase in the strife between the orthodox and gnostic concepts of Christianity, on the outcome of which so much in the future of the Church depended? What, in fact, was the relationship between the Gnostics and the Roman authorities?

Secular Power and Religious Authority in Muslim Society: the Case of Songhay

1996 ◽  
Vol 37 (2) ◽  
pp. 175-194 ◽  
Author(s):  
John Hunwick
Keyword(s):  
Sixteenth Century ◽  
Political Power ◽  
Ethnically Diverse ◽  
Power Sharing ◽  
Cultural Tradition ◽  
Religious Authority ◽  
The Stability ◽  
The One ◽  
Secular Power ◽  
The Relationship

The relationship between political power and religious authority has been a delicate one in Muslim societies. On the one hand, governments may attempt to silence religious authorities; on the other, they may themselves succumb to revolutions in the name of religion. More often governments have attempted to co-opt religious authorities as allies in exercising control or have worked directly in a power-sharing arrangement with them. In Songhay, as in several other states of pre-colonial Sudanic Africa, a more subtle balance was achieved between the ruling estate and the diverse body of scholars, mystics and holymen who made up the religious estate. The askiyas of sixteenth-century Songhay, while exercising full political power, saw it in their interest to maintain harmonious relations with these men of religion. Gifts in cash and kind, including slaves, grants of land and privilege, especially exemption from taxation, as well as recognition of rights of intercession and sanctuary, ensured their moral support and spiritual services and, importantly, protected rulers from their curse. Such a symbiosis was important for the stability of a large and ethnically diverse empire like Songhay, especially as regards its conquered western reaches, which were ethnically non-Songhay and had a strong Islamic cultural tradition. This delicate balance was upset by the Sacdian conquest of Songhay in 1591. Despite Moroccan assertions of Islamic legitimacy, religious authorities in Timbuktu were unsupportive, and harsh measures against them dealt a lasting blow to the equilibrium which had prevailed under the askiyas.

scholarly journals THE EVOLUTION OF THE RELIGIOUS AND PHILOSOPHICAL ANTHROPOLOGICAL PARADIGM IN SOVIET PHILOSOPHY IN THE 20-40-IES YEARS OF THE XX CENTURY: HISTORICAL AND PHILOSOPHICAL ANALYSIS

2021 ◽  
pp. 137-149
Author(s):  
Олег Александрович Устинов
Keyword(s):  
Soviet Philosophy ◽  
Creative Development ◽  
Totalitarian Regime ◽  
Soviet History ◽  
Semantic Concepts ◽  
The One ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Origin Of Man ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Heaven And Earth

Статья посвящена анализу эволюции религиозно-философской антропологической парадигмы в советской философии в 1920-1940-е гг. Данная парадигма занимала доминантное положение в отечественной интеллектуальной традиции с XI в. и до начала XX в. Ее последовательное развитие было прервано революцией 1917 г. и приходом к власти коммунистической партии, исповедующей материалистические взгляды. Однако на протяжении всего периода советской истории в «научном подполье» продолжалась работа по изучению актуальных проблем религиозной антропологии, представленная именами А.Ф. Лосева, А.А. Мейера, Г.И. Челпанова, Я.С. Друскина, М.М. Бахтина, К.Э. Циолковского и др. Обосновав взгляд на человека как богосотворенное бессмертное существо, призванное к обожению, философы-нонконформисты продолжили защиту религиозно-философской антропологической парадигмы как адекватной исследовательской модели, обладающей значительным эвристическим потенциалом. В статье реконструируются и анализируются базовые положения данной парадигмы: представления о сотворении человека, соотношении души и тела, свободы воли, смысла и назначения жизни, соотношении личности и общества. Делается вывод о том, что развитие религиозно-философской антропологической мысли в 1920-1940-е гг. определялось, с одной стороны, тенденцией к консервации ее смыслообразующих концептов, а с другой стороны, их творческим развитием с помощью заимствования отдельных идей марксистского учения. Вторая тенденция свидетельствовала о готовности части философов-идеалистов к межпарадигмальному диалогу, который был понят как «великий синтез неба и земли», способный поставить точку в противостоянии идеалистов и материалистов. Но в условиях тоталитарного режима указанная инициатива не имела шансов на успех. The article is devoted to the analysis of the evolution of the religious and philosophical anthropological paradigm in Soviet philosophy in the 1920-1940s. This paradigm occupied a dominant position in the domestic intellectual tradition from the 11th century to the beginning of the 20th century. Its consistent development was interrupted by the revolution of 1917 and the coming to power of the Communist Party, which professed materialistic views. However, throughout the entire period of Soviet history, work continued in the «scholarly underground» on the study of urgent problems of religious anthropology, which was carried out by A.F. Losev, A.A. Meyer, G.I. Chelpanov, Y.S. Druskin, M.M. Bakhtin, K.E. Tsiolkovsky, and many others. Having substantiated the view of man as a divine immortal being called to deification, nonconformist philosophers continued to defend the religious and philosophical anthropological paradigm as an adequate research model that has serious heuristic potential. The article reconstructs and analyzes the basic provisions of this paradigm: ideas on the origin of man, the correlation of soul and body, free will, the meaning and purpose of life, the relationship between the individual and society. It is concluded that the development of religious and philosophical anthropological thought in the 1920-1940-ies was determined, on the one hand, by the tendency to conserve its semantic concepts, and, on the other hand, by their creative development by borrowing certain ideas from Marxism. The second tendency testified to the readiness of some idealist philosophers for inter-paradigmatic dialogue, which was understood as a «great synthesis of heaven and earth». However, under the conditions of a totalitarian regime, this initiative did not have a chance of success.

scholarly journals Gdy niewolnica „wyzionie ducha w mękach” – kanon 5 synodu w Elwirze w świetle norm rzymskiego prawa karnego

2021 ◽  
Vol 30 (1) ◽  
pp. 385
Author(s):  
Bartosz Zalewski
Keyword(s):  
Legal Protection ◽  
The Other ◽  
Roman Law ◽  
Christian Communities ◽  
Other Hand ◽  
The One ◽  
Intimate Life ◽  
Eucharistic Communion ◽  
Scope Of Protection

<p>This article aims to analyse canon 5 of the Synod of Elvira (beginning of the 4<sup>th</sup> century) taking into account the norms of Roman law concerning the legal protection of slaves. This canon provided for the punishment of repentance and a prohibition of giving Eucharistic Communion to a woman who, in anger caused by jealousy, caused the death of her slave as a result of whipping. It was probably adopted based on a certain, particularly shocking matter, perhaps related to the intimate life between the master and her slave. The content of the canon suggests that the person responsible for its editing was familiar with Roman law, including probably in particular Emperor Hadrian’s rescripts – especially those addressed to the Governor of Baetica, where Elvira was located. The canon provided slaves with a wider scope of protection than the norms of Roman law did, both those in force at the time of its release and later introduced by Emperor Constantine the Great. It was also an expression of the generally discernible attitude of Christian communities towards the institutions of slavery. On the one hand, the existence of slavery was accepted and, on the other hand, there were efforts to improve the situation of slaves, especially if they were Christians.</p>

Christian Liturgical Music

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
William T. Flynn
Keyword(s):  
Case Studies ◽  
Critical Evaluation ◽  
The Self ◽  
Liturgical Music ◽  
Christian Communities ◽  
The Status ◽  
Christian Worship ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Heaven And Earth ◽  
The Church

Music in its widest definition (sound and silence organized in time) is never absent from Christian worship. The diversity of styles and forms employed both chronologically and synchronically, as well as the varied theological, aesthetic, and sociological positions concerning musical norms evident in every ecclesial community, provides a window into the self-representation and theological positioning of each community and often also of the subgroups and individuals within it. Disputes over the norms of Christian liturgical music are commonplace, most often within but also between various ecclesial communities, and may be analyzed for their theological significance. These norms concern (1) the distribution of musical roles, (2) the style of music employed, (3) the relationship between music and words (including whether to use instruments) and (4) the status of traditional repertories. Each of these may be indicative of theological commitments adopted both consciously and unconsciously by members of the community and may reflect differing theological positions, especially concerning ecclesiology. For example, congregants and whole communities may differ in their preferred self-representation of the Church, one preferring the model of the gathered community on earth, another preferring the model of heaven and earth in unity. Some individuals or communities may conceive of their church as part of a larger culture, while others may conceive of their church as a subculture or even a counterculture. New celebrations often arising from a change in spiritual emphases (e.g., the cult of saints) provide an impetus for change even within traditions that conceive of their music as sacral and inviolable. Perceived deficiencies in liturgies, whether due to a need for updating or to return to an earlier, purer form, also provoke musical changes. Careful case studies investigating such interactions between musical and liturgical practice illuminate the theological commitments of both individuals and ecclesial communities, and offer a method for the critical evaluation of the varied musical responses made by Christian communities.

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