scholarly journals Le Christianisme et l'Animal: Une Histoire Difficile.

2011 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Éric Baratay
Keyword(s):  
Old Testament ◽  
Mental Image ◽  
Spiritual Support ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
The Bible ◽  
Christian Perspective ◽  
Divine Origin

Christianity has given a great deal of thought to animals in its effort to situate Man with regard to Creation, and to forge a mental image of the latter. This task was carried out by relying on the Bible, particularly the Old Testament, though its often unclear and elliptical treatment of animals also led theologians to call on the Greek philosophers to interpret it. This move was to eventually impose the obvious and presumably "natural" idea of Man's divine origin and that of the inferiority of animal creatures.  The animal got reduced to a material, mortal being bereft of any afterlife, destined to materially service human beings, or perhaps even to yield spiritual support to them by helping them to think of God. It was not until the 18th and 19th centuries that a minority of clerics, pastors and faithful, most often Protestants, though joined later by a lesser number of Catholics, sought to re-evaluate the animal from a Christian perspective, by reconsidering its nature, fate and role at Man's side. They thus deconstructed a conception constructed by history, one which was actually incongruent with Christianity.  In accordance with Durkheim's model of religion, such changes are not of a theological but social and cultural nature, Christianity serving in this process both as a reflection and a justification of ideas extraneous to it. El cristianismo ha meditado mucho sobre el animal para situar al hombre en la creación y para pensar en ella. Esto lo hace basándose en la Biblia, principalmente en el Antiguo Testamento, aunque su contenido a menudo es poco concreto y elíptico sobre los animales, lo cual ha llevado a los teólogos a ayudarse de teorías filosóficas griegas para interpretarlo. Dicho proceso poco a poco ha impuesto la convicción evidente, es decir, "natural", del origen divino del hombre y de una inferioridad del animal, considerado como una criatura material, mortal, sin futuro en el más allá, consagrado a servir de forma material a los hombres, incluso ayudándoles a nivel espiritual y para pensar en Dios. Sólo a partir de los siglos XVIII y XIX una minoría de clérigos, pastores y fieles, principalmente protestantes aunque también católicos en menor número y de forma más tardía, inició una revalorización cristiana del animal. Dichas voces minoritarias también han considerado la naturaleza del animal, su futuro y su papel junto al del hombre, desmontando así un concepto históricamente construido, para nada consustancial al cristianismo. Dichas teorías evolutivas no tienen un origen teológico sino social y cultural, el cristianismo sirve de eco y apoyo según el modelo durkheimiano de las religiones.  Le christianisme a beaucoup pensé l'animal pour situer l'homme dans la création et pour penser celle-ci. Cela a été fait en s'appuyant sur la Bible, notamment sur l'Ancien Testament, mais dont le contenu souvent incertain, elliptique à propos des animaux, a incité les théologiens à s'aider des philosophies grecques pour l'interpréter. Cette démarche a peu à peu imposé la conviction évidente, « naturelle », de l'origine divine de l'homme et d'une infériorité de l'animal, considéré comme une créature matérielle, mortelle, sans avenir dans l'au-delà, vouée à servir matériellement les hommes, voire à les assister spirituellement en les aidant à penser à Dieu. Ce n'est qu'à partir des XVIIIe-XIXe siècles qu'une minorité de clercs, de pasteurs et de fidèles, surtout des protestants mais aussi des catholiques en moindre nombre et plus tardivement, a entamé une revalorisation chrétienne de l'animal. Ces voix minoritaires ont reconsidéré aussi bien la nature de l'animal que son avenir et son rôle à côté de l'homme, déconstruisant ainsi une conception historiquement construite, en rien consubstantielle au christianisme. Ces évolutions ne sont pas d'origine théologique mais sociale et culturelle, le christianisme servant d'écho et de caution selon le modèle durkheimien des religions.  

The Bible in a Disenchanted Age: The Enduring Possibility of Christian Faith

2020 ◽  
Vol 28 (1) ◽  
pp. 79-80
Author(s):  
Ronald T. Michener
Keyword(s):  
Old Testament ◽  
Christian Faith ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
Privileged Position ◽  
The Bible ◽  
Book Of Daniel

SummaryThis book steers away from modern entrapments of rationalism and empiricism that led to a disenchanted view of the Bible. Instead, Moberly innovatively proposes three lenses by which to view the Bible: history, classic and Scripture. Throughout the book he contrasts Virgil’s Aeneid book 1 and the Old Testament book of Daniel, chapter 7. Moberly defends giving the Bible a ‘privileged’ position for Christian faith with ‘plausibility structures’, arguing that the act of privileging one text over another for a particular worldview is common to all human beings.ZusammenfassungDieses Buch steuert weg von den Fallen der Moderne des Rationalismus und Empirizismus, die zu einer entmystifizierten Sicht der Bibel führen. Stattdessen stellt Moberly das innovative Modell von drei Linsen vor, durch welche die Bibel betrachtet werden kann: als Geschichte, als Klassiker und als Schrift. Dieses Modell behält er durch das gesamte Buch bei und kontrastiert dabei Virgils Aeneis Buch Nr. 1 mit dem alttestamentlichen Buch Daniel, Kapitel 7. Moberly verteidigt eine “privilegierte” Position der Bibel für den christlichen Glauben mit dem Hinweis auf “plausible Strukturen”. Dieses Argument besagt, dass die Praxis, einem bestimmten Text gegenüber einem anderen zugunsten einer bestimmten Weltsicht den Vorzug einzuräumen, allen Menschen eigen ist.RésuméCet ouvrage évite les pièges modernes du rationalisme et de l’empirisme qui ont conduit à un regard désenchanté sur la Bible. Moberly innove en proposant d’aborder la Bible sous trois perspectives : l’histoire, l’approche classique et l’Écriture. Il applique cela tout au long du livre et met en contraste le livre I de l’Énéide de Virgile et le livre vétérotestamentaire de Daniel, chapitre 7. Il plaide qu’il faut donner à la Bible une place « privilégiée » pour la foi chrétienne avec des « structures de plausibilité », en arguant que le fait de privilégier un texte par rapport à un autre dans le cadre d’une vision du monde particulière est commun à tous les êtres humains.

Learning to Pray by Singing

2021 ◽  
Vol 54 (2) ◽  
pp. 113-121
Author(s):  
Stefan Klöckner
Keyword(s):  
New Testament ◽  
Old Testament ◽  
Church Fathers ◽  
Gregory The Great ◽  
The Bible ◽  
Christian Perspective ◽  
The New Testament ◽  
Canonical Order ◽  
The Individual ◽  
The Church

Gregorian chants are mostly based on Old Testament texts, predominantly from the Psalms. Decisive for their interpretation in the light of the New Testament are texts of the Church Fathers (Augustine, Gregory the Great, etc.). The texts often do not follow their canonical order in the Bible, but were primarily compiled on the basis of broader associations. Hence, it is not uncommon for new content references to emerge that are committed to a Christian perspective, emotionally and theologically very bold. This article describes an imaginary ‘Gregorian Composition Workshop’: the individual ‘chambers’ include compiling texts, the choice of a suitable mode and melody, as well as the most refined rhythmic differentiations. The final piece, through its unique quality as the ‘sounding word of Holy Scripture’ permits an intensive view of the spirituality of the ninth and tenth centuries, and a realistic understanding of the Psalms as the basis of Christian existence.

“The Sword of the Lord”

2021 ◽  
pp. 159-174
Author(s):  
James P. Byrd
Keyword(s):  
Civil War ◽  
Old Testament ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
Sermon On The Mount ◽  
The Bible ◽  
Emancipation Proclamation

Motivating soldiers to kill in the Civil War was more difficult than inspiring them to die for the cause. Killing, Drew Gilpin Faust wrote, “required the more significant departure from soldiers’ understandings of themselves as human beings and . . . as Christians.” Killing was a problem for many soldiers—violence seemed prohibited by the Bible, especially the New Testament’s Sermon on the Mount, but also the Old Testament command, “Thou shalt not kill” (Exodus 20:13). In response, Americans turned to other passages in the Bible to inspire soldiers to kill, a concern never more urgent than after the bloodbath at Antietam. Soon after that battle, Lincoln announced his Emancipation Proclamation, which gave some northerners a righteous motivation to fight. It was now a war for freedom. In wrestling with these interrelated concerns—the motivation to kill and the battle for emancipation—Americans struggled with the scriptures in the second half of 1862.

scholarly journals The Comeback of the Old Theological Narratives During the Coronavirus Crisis: A Critical Reflection

2021 ◽  
pp. 131-136
Author(s):  
Jan Loffeld
Keyword(s):  
Critical Reflection ◽  
Martin Luther ◽  
Causal Connection ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
The Bible ◽  
Christian Perspective

AbstractMartin Luther had no doubt about it: diseases were a punishment from God. In espousing this view, Luther, who was one of the first people to translate the Bible from Greek into another language, stood on firm biblical grounds. For the Semitic people of the biblical world, this causal connection had been self-evident as well. Diseases, plagues, catastrophes were the consequences of the sin that people commit. Ultimately, the intuition that evil is the result of sin is the basis for the adage that adversity causes people to pray: sooner or later, human beings will be confronted with the contingency of their own lives, which, in the Christian perspective, is rooted in the fact that creation has fallen into sin. This is why the idea that adversity causes people to pray is often trotted out in times of crisis even though it has long been empirically disproven.

scholarly journals Mythology, poetry and theology

2006 ◽  
Vol 62 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Alphonso Groenewald
Keyword(s):  
Old Testament ◽  
Common Phenomenon ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
Positive Term ◽  
The Bible

Human beings have always been mythmakers. However, in view of the heavy negative connotations attached to the word “myth”, the aim of this article may, inter alia, be seen as an attempt to “rehabilitate” the word “myth” as a positive term in order to describe one of the most common genres within the Old Testament tradition. The author will indicate that the presence of myth is a common phenomenon in the Bible, and specifically in the Psalter (as poetry). The authors of the Psalms used (re-used) myth, the “mythical” and/or mythical allusions in order to express some of their most profound theologising about Yahweh – the God of Israel – as well as their relationship to that God.

scholarly journals HIDUP DALAM KERAGAMAN: MASALAH DAN WAWASAN KERAGAMAN

2020 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 54-72
Author(s):  
Barnabas Ludji
Keyword(s):  
Old Testament ◽  
Text Messages ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
Ethical Perspective ◽  
Theology Of Religions ◽  
The Bible ◽  
God's People ◽  
The Republic ◽  
Biblical Perspective ◽  
The Church

As God's people, the church needs to realize that diversity is an essential nature of the Unitary State of the Republic of Indonesia. Efforts to homogenize nations that are diverse in race, ethnicity, culture, and religion must be seen as efforts to divide the nation. Therefore religions in Indonesia, especially the Church of God must really be a motivator and encourage their citizens to be truly aware of the diversity of the nation and take part in fostering a lifeof life that respects diversity and tolerates life with fellow human beings with everything attached to himself, including his religion and culture. In connection with the above, the church leaders and theologians must really try to find an understanding of faith that encourages people to accept differences and be able to build a tolerant life together. Efforts in that direction can be built through the perspectives of all fields of theological studies. This paper contains efforts to build a tolerant shared life from a systematic perspective. Theology of Religions and the Biblical (Old Testament). The dogmaticperspective sees two basic needs, namely to nurture and increasingly take root in the faith of church members, and the need to determine attitudes towards the presence of other religious life together. Without forgetting the universal nature of religion as an expression of religious awareness. From an ethical perspective feel the need to develop global ethics that are universal. From the perspective of the science of religions, it is necessary to highlight the verses of the Scriptures possessed by each religion that is universal. While the Biblical perspective sees the importance of Christians understanding their holy books diachronically and holistically. Because improper ways of understanding the Bible make possible the birth of exclusive fundamentalists. Central themes, such as love, justice, truth, peace, redemption, goodness, and life are believed to be from God, all of which are universal. All biblical texts, if understood, diachronically, then the text messages are the central themes already mentioned.

scholarly journals A participação dos animais na fraternidade em Cristo

2018 ◽  
Vol 32 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Afonso Tadeu Murad ◽  
Marco Túlio Brandão Samapaio Procópio
Keyword(s):  
Christian Tradition ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
Biblical Hermeneutics ◽  
The Bible ◽  
Christian Perspective ◽  
Peace And Justice ◽  
The Will ◽  
Relationship Of ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Current Reality

O mistério da encarnação e da ressurreição tem repercussão nãosomente para a humanidade, mas para todas as criaturas. Há uma fraternidade cósmica que encontra respaldo não somente no relato da criação, mas também no mistério de Cristo. Particularmente os animais são colocados como verdadeiros irmãos e irmãs dos seres humanos por uma apropriada leitura teológica e hermenêutica bíblica. Entretanto, essa relação fraternal proposta pela tradição cristã depara-se com sua antítese expressa na atual relação de exploração animal. Os animais são hoje vítimas de um ciclo de sofrimento no mais alto grau, submetidos à escravidão, tortura e morte. A vontade de Deus expressa na Bíblia e em Cristo, porém, não é essa, mas de paz e justiça entre suas criaturas. Este trabalho apresenta a perspectiva cristã da relação entre os seres humanos e os animais, contrastando com a realidade atual e propondo caminhos de ação.Palavras-chave: Fraternidade cósmica. Teologia animal. Exploração animal. Ecoteologia.Abstract: The mystery of incarnation and resurrection has repercussions not only for humanity, but for all creatures. There is a cosmic fraternity that finds support not only in the account of creation, but also in the mystery of Christ. Particularly the animals are placed as true brothers and sisters of human beings by an appropriate theological reading and biblical hermeneutics. However, this fraternal relationship proposed by the Christian tradition is confronted with its antithesis expressed in the current relationship of animal exploitation. Animals today are victims of a cycle of suffering in the highest degree, subjected to slavery, torture and death. The will of God expressed in the Bible and in Christ, however, is not that, but peace and justice among his creatures. This work presents the Christian perspective on the relationship between human beings and animals, contrasting with current reality and proposing paths of action.Keywords: Cosmic fraternity. Animal theology. Animal exploitation. Ecotheology.

The Concept of Palestine: The Conception Of Palestine from the Late Bronze Age to the Modern Period

2016 ◽  
Vol 15 (2) ◽  
pp. 143-202 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nur Masalha
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Old Testament ◽  
Political Geography ◽  
Classical Antiquity ◽  
Late Bronze Age ◽  
Collective Consciousness ◽  
Ancient History ◽  
Master Narratives ◽  
The Bible ◽  
School History

The Concept of Palestine is deeply rooted in the collective consciousness of the indigenous people of Palestine and the multicultural ancient past. The name Palestine is the most commonly used from the Late Bronze Age (from 1300 BCE) onwards. The name Palestine is evident in countless histories, inscriptions, maps and coins from antiquity, medieval and modern Palestine. From the Late Bronze Age onwards the names used for the region, such as Djahi, Retenu and Cana'an, all gave way to the name Palestine. Throughout Classical Antiquity the name Palestine remained the most common and during the Roman, Byzantine and Islamic periods the concept and political geography of Palestine acquired official administrative status. This article sets out to explain the historical origins of the concept of Palestine and the evolving political geography of the country. It will seek to demonstrate how the name ‘Palestine’ (rather than the term ‘Cana'an’) was most commonly and formally used in ancient history. It argues that the legend of the ‘Israelites’ conquest of Cana'an’ and other master narratives of the Bible evolved across many centuries; they are myth-narratives, not evidence-based accurate history. It further argues that academic and school history curricula should be based on historical facts/empirical evidence/archaeological discoveries – not on master narratives or Old Testament sacred-history and religio-ideological constructs.

Witches and Forgers

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Scott Mandelbrote
Keyword(s):  
Seventeenth Century ◽  
Old Testament ◽  
Republic Of Letters ◽  
The Bible ◽  
God's Word ◽  
1 Samuel ◽  
The Witch

Scepticism and loyalty represent the poles of van Dale’s career. Two contexts have been mentioned as relevant here: the seventeenth-century attack on magic and superstition, and the circles of friendship that created a contemporary Republic of Letters. This chapter evaluates both contexts, as well as others that may throw light on his relatively neglected attitude to the text of the Bible. It brings into focus two important intellectual episodes: his treatment of the account of the Witch of Endor (1 Samuel 28:3–25), and his engagement with Hellenistic sources relating to the text of the Old Testament, especially to the miraculous composition of the Septuagint. These issues brought van Dale to ask questions about God’s Word. The chapter explores the limits of his scepticism, the extent of his scholarship, and the role of friendship and isolation in his development. Finally, it draws attention to his place in contemporary Mennonite debates.

Spinoza and Biblical Philology in the Dutch Republic, 1660-1710

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jetze Touber
Keyword(s):  
Early Modern ◽  
Old Testament ◽  
Historical Context ◽  
Dutch Reformed ◽  
Dutch Republic ◽  
Biblical Criticism ◽  
Ecclesiastical History ◽  
The Bible ◽  
Biblical Scholarship ◽  
Dutch Golden Age

This book investigates the biblical criticism of Spinoza from the perspective of the Dutch Reformed society in which the philosopher lived and worked. It focusses on philological investigation of the Bible: its words, its language, and the historical context in which it originated. The book charts contested issues of biblical philology in mainstream Dutch Calvinism, to determine whether Spinoza’s work on the Bible had any bearing on the Reformed understanding of the way society should engage with Scripture. Spinoza has received massive attention, both inside and outside academia. His unconventional interpretation of the Old Testament passages has been examined repeatedly over the decades. So has that of fellow ‘radicals’ (rationalists, radicals, deists, libertines, enthusiasts), against the backdrop of a society that is assumed to have been hostile, overwhelmed, static, and uniform. This book inverts this perspective and looks at how the Dutch Republic digested biblical philology and biblical criticism, including that of Spinoza. It takes into account the highly neglected area of the Reformed ministry and theology of the Dutch Golden Age. The result is that Dutch ecclesiastical history, up until now the preserve of the partisan scholarship of confessionalized church historians, is brought into dialogue with Early Modern intellectual currents. This book concludes that Spinoza, rather than simply pushing biblical scholarship in the direction of modernity, acted in an indirect way upon ongoing debates in Dutch society, shifting trends in those debates, but not always in the same direction, and not always equally profoundly, at all times, on all levels.

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