scholarly journals Embracing a vision of the New Jerusalem (Rv 21:1−22:5) to impact on life and society

2015 ◽  
Vol 49 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Martin H. Pohlmann
Keyword(s):  
Primary Role ◽  
City Of God ◽  
Biblical Literature ◽  
New Jerusalem ◽  
Heavenly City ◽  
The City ◽  
The Church ◽  
Society Today ◽  
Holy City

Apocalyptic biblical literature has played a significant role in motivating and mobilising Christians. As part of this genre, the Apocalypse of John has played this mobilising role within the church throughout its history. Jerusalem is often incorporated into this genre to conjure up different emotions and images to impact many different people. For example, the Jew annually recites the words to fellow Jews at every Passover meal: ‘Next year in Jerusalem’. Most Christians know the hymn ‘The holy city’, originally penned by Frederic Weatherly in 1892. It lifts many a spirit as it conjures up the idea of a beautiful, perfect, heavenly city of God. However, there is more to this apocalyptic vision, which will be explored in this article. The city upholds the hope of decent godly living today. Whilst Jerusalem is a city with an extremely chequered history, it remains to be the launching pad of a dream that believers can embrace in order to impact society for the better. The vision in Revelation 21–22 is the launch of the ‘idea’ of God’s intention for society today, and the ‘implementation impetus’ is the primary role of the church. In the greater scheme of things, the world community is the target group for a better society for everyone.Aanneming van ’n visioen van die Nuwe Jerusalem (Op 21:1–22:5) ten einde ’n invloed op lewe en die samelewing uit te oefen. Apokaliptiese Bybelliteratuur het ’n beduidende rol in die motivering en aansporing van Christengemeenskappe gespeel. Die Openbaring van Johannes het hierdie motiveringsrol deurgaans in die geskiedenis van die kerkas deel van dié genre vertolk. Jerusalem is dikwels hierby ingesluit om ’n verskeidenheid van emosies en beelde op te roep ten einde ’n impak op ’n verskeidenheid mense te maak. Die Jood, byvoorbeeld, haal jaarliks die volgende woorde teenoor mede-Jode tydens die Paasmaaltyd aan: ‘Volgende jaar in Jerusalem’. Die meeste Christene ken die gesang ‘The holy city’ wat oorspronklik deur Frederic Weatherly in 1892 geskryf is. Dit hef menige gelowiges se gemoedere op omdat dit die beeld van ’n pragtige, perfekte stad van God oproep. Daar is egter meer aan hierdie openbaringsuitsig wat in hierdie artikel verder ondersoek word. Die hemelstad bekragtig die hoop vir ’n godvrugtige lewe vandag. Alhoewel Jerusalem ’n stad met ’n uiters veelbewoë geskiedenis is, is dit tog die beginpunt vir hierdie droom van gelowiges om die samelewing te verbeter. Die visioen in Openbaring 21–22 is die bekendstelling van die ‘idee’ van God se bedoeling vir ons hedendaagse samelewing en die ‘vervullende beweegkrag’ is die primêre rol van die kerk. Holisties beskou, is die wêreldgemeenskap die teikengroep vir ’n beter samelewing vir almal.

The Holy City

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul Oldfield
Keyword(s):  
City Of God ◽  
Religious Buildings ◽  
Church Hierarchy ◽  
Patron Saints ◽  
Heavenly City ◽  
The City ◽  
Holy City

This chapter examines praise of cities through the prism of their religious virtues. It does so through the two main, but interrelated, approaches within which the medieval city was linked to the sacred. The first embedded the role of the city within wider Christian narratives about man’s salvation. It was invariably rooted in biblical and other patristic texts (particularly St Augustine’s City of God) and later connected to medieval Christian thinking on Jerusalem, the Heavenly City, and the triumph of Christianity. The second approach drilled down onto specific manifestations of the sacred character of a particular city—its patron saints, its religious buildings and shrines, its religious officials, its place within the universal Church hierarchy, and its pious citizenry.

scholarly journals Augustinus en de Joden: een inleidend overzicht

2009 ◽  
Vol 30 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
J. Van Oort
Keyword(s):  
North Africa ◽  
Positive Sign ◽  
City Of God ◽  
Augustine Of Hippo ◽  
Current Opinion ◽  
Sharp Distinction ◽  
The City ◽  
The Church

The article explores how Augustine of Hippo (354-430) deals with the Jews and Judaism. First it investigates the occurrence and meaning of the word �Iudaeus� in Augustine�s works. It turns out that Augustine, unlike many a predecessor, does not make a sharp distinction between �Hebrew�, �Israelite�, and �Jew�. Mainly on the basis of The City of God the role of the Jews in history is discussed. According to Augustine, all true believers (even those living before the time of Jesus) are �Christ believers� and are considered to belong to Christ�s body, the Church. The diaspora of the Jews is evaluated both negatively and positively: negatively as a consequence of �their putting Christ to death�; positively since through the dispersion of the Jews their Scriptures have been dispersed as well and so provide �testimony to the truth taught by the Church�. The so-called �mark of Cain� can not be interpreted as a predominantly positive sign: it provides protection indeed, but this divine protection is, once again, �for the benefit of the Church�. Contrary to some current opinion, it is stressed that Augustine knew contemporary Jews in Roman North Africa quite well.

Celebrating the Capture of Jerusalem in the Holy City

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Cecilia Gaposchkin
Keyword(s):  
First Crusade ◽  
New Jerusalem ◽  
History Of ◽  
The City ◽  
The Church ◽  
Holy City

With the successful conclusion of the First Crusade, the crusaders established the Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem and immediately established a liturgical thanksgiving for what they saw as the miracle of the First Crusade. This chapter looks in detail at the feast day that was established shortly after 1099 to commemorate the 15 July victory and capture of the city. The liturgy expressed the providential and perhaps even apocalyptic outlook of the early crusades, expressing an utterly triumphant interpretation of the Franks' role in providential history, confirming a new stage in the history of the Church and God's promise to these new Israelites of a new Jerusalem.

Saving paradise: Could Detroit be the New Jerusalem?

2017 ◽  
Vol 114 (3) ◽  
pp. 462-465
Author(s):  
Tim Phillips
Keyword(s):  
Present State ◽  
New Jerusalem ◽  
New City ◽  
State Of Affairs ◽  
The City ◽  
The Church ◽  
New Spirituality

The church has inherited a conflicted understanding of “city” both from its biblical roots and from its experience in modern America. John’s vision in Revelation could be a window for both resisting a retreat from the city and imagining “city” in new spiritual terms. Much depends on what we think we are looking for. Using reports about the present state of affairs in Detroit as a living commentary on John’s vision of a New Jerusalem, what are the “former things” that have “passed away?” What needs to pass away for imagining a new city—a New Jerusalem? What glimpses are there of that new reality? Adapted from a sermon in 2010, this article attempts to name the questions and to kindle some imagination about a new spirituality for the city.

Living with Scripture, Living in a Democracy

2020 ◽  
Vol 28 (2) ◽  
pp. 124-135
Author(s):  
Ad de Bruijne
Keyword(s):  
Political Community ◽  
The Political ◽  
Eastern European ◽  
Christian Identity ◽  
Western History ◽  
City Of God ◽  
Grass Roots ◽  
Christian Influence ◽  
The City ◽  
The Church

RésuméLes chrétiens ont souvent fait face à des tensions entre leur identité chrétienne et leur statut de citoyens d’une démocratie. Ces tensions constituent une forme particulière de l’inévitable problème fondamental que rencontrent les chrétiens dans toute société au sein de laquelle ils vivent. À la suite de Saint Augustin, on peut exprimer cela en terme de la difficulté à articuler la double appartenance, à la cité de Dieu d’une part et à la « cité des hommes » de l’autre. En dépit de ces tensions, et en vertu de la providence divine, la participation des chrétiens peut aussi contribuer à des bénédictions temporaires pour la société à laquelle ils appartiennent. L’histoire du monde occidental en fournit bien des exemples, dont fait partie l’émergence même des démocraties. Dans le contexte postchrétien actuel, ces fruits historiques de l’influence chrétienne sont souvent dissociés de leurs racines et deviennent par conséquent instables, ou sont contrecarrés par des difficultés, voire des impasses. Ayant conservé leurs racines, les chrétiens peuvent souvent clarifier les choses et proposer des solutions. La contribution chrétienne peut s’avérer fructueuse, par exemple dans le contexte contemporain de l’opposition entre la version libérale de la démocratie de l’Europe occidentale et la version non libérale de l’Europe de l’Est. L’auteur conclut en mentionnant cinq points devant retenir l’attention concernant la participation de chrétiens à la vie d’une démocratie : il s’agit de rester attaché à l’Église qui constitue la communauté politique du Royaume à venir, de considérer l’identification à un organe politique terrestre comme demeurant secondaire, de promouvoir des activités au bénéfice de la société depuis le sein de l’Église, de tenir compte du fait que les objectifs moraux dans le contexte de la société doivent être différents de ceux que l’on adopte dans le contexte de l’Église, et de demeurer fidèle à un style de vie prophétique par la parole et les actes.SummaryChristians have traditionally experienced tensions between their Christian identity and their citizenship in a democracy. This tension is a special variant of the inevitable underlying classical challenge for Christians in all societies where they live. Following Augustine, this can be expressed as the challenge to combine the dual citizenships of the city of God and the ‘city of man’. Despite such tensions, under God’s providence the participation of Christians can also lead to temporary blessings for their societies. Western history provides many examples of this, the development of democracy being one of them. In the current post-Christian context these historical fruits of Christian influence have often become detached from their roots and therefore become unstable or burdened by difficulties and even deadlocks. Being still connected to that root, Christians can often provide clarification and contribute to solutions. This Christian contribution can be made fruitful, for example, in the contemporary clash between Western European liberal and Eastern European illiberal versions of democracy. The article concludes with five points of attention for Christian participation in a democracy: staying anchored in the Church as the political community of the future kingdom, considering earthly political identifications as secondary, developing public grass roots activities from within the Church, realising that moral aims in the context of society have to be different from those in the context of the Church, and remaining faithful to a prophetic lifestyle in word and deed.ZusammenfassungChristen erleben für gewöhnlich Spannungen zwischen ihrer Identität als Christ und als Staatsbürger in einer Demokratie. Diese Spannung stellt eine besondere Variante der unvermeidlichen klassischen Herausforderung dar, der Christen in jeglicher Gesellschaftsform begegnen. Gemäß Augustinus mag sich dies in der Schwierigkeit ausdrücken, die doppelte Staatsbürgerschaft in der ,,Stadt Gottes“ und der ,,Stadt der Menschen“ miteinander zu vereinen. Trotz derartiger Spannungen kann durch die Vorsehung Gottes auch der Einfluss von Christen zu vorübergehenden Segnungen für ihre Gesellschaft führen. Die westliche Geschichte liefert viele Beispiele hierfür, und die Entwicklung der Demokratie ist nur eines davon. Im gegenwärtigen nachchristlichen Kontext haben sich diese historisch gewachsenen Ergebnisse christlichen Einflusses häufig von ihren Wurzeln gelöst und wurden daher unstabil oder von Schwierigkeiten und sogar Blockaden überfrachtet. Solange Christen immer noch mit diesen Wurzeln verbunden sind, sind sie oftmals in der Lage, für eine Klärung von Situationen zu sorgen und zu Lösungen beizutragen. Dieser christliche Einfluss kann zum Beispiel im gegenwärtigen Konflikt zwischen liberalen westeuropäischen und illiberalen osteuropäischen Formen von Demokratie genutzt werden. Der Artikel schließt mit fünf Punkten, die für den Beitrag von Christen in einer Demokratie zu berücksichtigen sind: Christen bleiben in der Gemeinde als der politischen Gemeinschaft des künftigen Reiches Gottes verhaftet, säkulare politische Zuordnungen werden als sekundär betrachtet, öffentliche Basisaktivitäten werden aus der Gemeinde heraus entwickelt, in der Einsicht, dass sich ethische Zielsetzungen im gesellschaftlichen Kontext von jenen im Gemeindekontext unterscheiden müssen und unter der Voraussetzung, dass Christen einem prophetischen Lebensstil in Wort und Tat treu bleiben.

The Sacred Home in Renaissance Italy

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Abigail Brundin ◽  
Deborah Howard ◽  
Mary Laven
Keyword(s):  
Religious Experiences ◽  
Traditional Research ◽  
Gender And Age ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Devotional Life ◽  
Renaissance Italy ◽  
New Research ◽  
The City ◽  
The Church

The Sacred Home in Renaissance Italy explores private devotional life in the Italian Renaissance home between 1400 and 1600, and suggests that piety was not confined to the Church and the convent but infused daily life within the household. Books, buildings, objects, spaces, images, and archival sources help to cast light on the practice of religion in the home. Acts of devotion, from routine prayers to extraordinary religious experiences such as miracles and visions, frequently took place at home amid the joys and trials of domestic life—childbirth, marriage, infertility, sickness, accidents, poverty, and death. The book moves beyond traditional research on the Renaissance in important ways. First, it breaks free from the usual focus on Venice, Florence, and Rome to investigate practices of piety across the Italian peninsula. In particular, new research into the city of Naples, the Marche, and the Venetian mainland offers fresh insights into the devotional life of the laity. Moreover, it goes beyond the study of elites to include artisanal and lower-status households, and points to the role of gender and age in shaping religious experience. Drawing on a wide range of textual, material, and visual sources, this book recovers a host of lost voices and compelling narratives at the intersection between the divine and the everyday. Its multidisciplinary approach enables unprecedented glimpses through the keyhole into the spiritual lives of Renaissance Italians.

More's Utopia and The City of God

1973 ◽  
Vol 20 ◽  
pp. 144-168 ◽  
Author(s):  
Martin N. Raitiere
Keyword(s):  
Point Of View ◽  
City Of God ◽  
Speaking Out ◽  
The City ◽  
The Church ◽  
Public Lecture ◽  
Good Space

Homas More ‘read for a good space a public lecture of St. Augustine, De Civitate Dei, in the Church of St. Lawrence in the Old Jewry’ shortly after his appointment about 1501 as Utter Barrister in Lincoln's Inn. Stapleton tells us that More's lectures did not treat The City of God ‘from the theological point of view, but from the standpoint of history and philosophy’; but Stapleton is relatively late (1588), and it is unclear whether he was rather inferring from More's situation as a layman and a common lawyer than speaking out of any real knowledge of the content of More's lectures. The lectures are not extant, but Stapleton's report together with the humanists’ anti-intellectualistic bias helps to shape conjecture on their character; Chambers thought they ‘may have embodied some of the criticism of social evils which More later put into Utopia’.

Augustine: De Civitate Dei The City of God Books XI and XII

2015 ◽  
Author(s):  
P. G. Walsh
Keyword(s):  
Latin Text ◽  
City Of God ◽  
Holy Trinity ◽  
The World ◽  
Two Cities ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Creation ◽  
The City ◽  
The Universe

In books I–V of De Civitate Dei, St. Augustine rejects the claim that worship of the pagan gods had brought success in this life, and in books VI–X, the prospect of a happy afterlife. In books XI–XII, Augustine turns from attack to defence, for at this point he initiates his apology for the Christian faith. Books XI and XII document the initial phase of the rise of the two cities, the city of God and the city of this world, beginning with the Creation of the world and the human race. In Book XI, Augustine rejects the theories of Aristotle, Plato and the Epicureans on the creation of the universe and addresses the creation of angels, Satan, the role of the holy Trinity and the importance of numerology in the Genesis account. In Book XII, Augustine is chiefly concerned with refuting standard objections to the Christian tradition, returning to discussion of the Creation, including his calculation, based on the scriptures, that the world was created less than 6,000 years ago. This book is the only edition in English to provide not only a text but also a detailed commentary on one of the most influential documents in the history of western Christianity. It presents Latin text, with facing-page English translation, introduction, notes and commentary.

Aspects of Mediaeval Thought on Church and State

1947 ◽  
Vol 9 (4) ◽  
pp. 403-422 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gerhart B. Ladner
Keyword(s):  
Roman Empire ◽  
Church And State ◽  
Special Kind ◽  
Human Society ◽  
City Of God ◽  
Two Cities ◽  
Love Of God ◽  
Heavenly City ◽  
The City

“Two loves,” St. Augustine says in De Civitate Dei, “have made two cities, love of self unto contempt of God the Earthly City, love of God unto contempt of self the Heavenly City,” the City of God. These “cities”—civitates—are, of course, not states, but societies; St. Augustine himself tells us that the term civitas is an equivalent of the term society. They are societies, however, of a special kind. The Ciyitds Dei is a “mystical” society of all the elect, past, present and future. The Civitas Terrena, the Earthly City, is identical neither with the earthly state nor with any particular earthly state such as the Roman Empire, nor with any merely human society, it too is a “mystical” society, that of the impious, the damned.

scholarly journals Problematyka wychowania społecznego w posoborowym nauczaniu Kościoła

2006 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 475-489
Author(s):  
Stanisław Dziekoński
Keyword(s):  
Social Life ◽  
Human Life ◽  
Social Education ◽  
Primary Role ◽  
Important Place ◽  
Vatican Council ◽  
Integral Education ◽  
Gradual Introduction ◽  
The Church

The issue of social education has an important place in the teaching of the Church. In the pronouncements of the II Vatican Council the need for the formation of the basis of the constructive and responsible participation of children in social life has been noted. Such directions of education have been developed in the teaching after the Council. Even more strongly has it been underlined that the integral education of man demands formation towards the essential values of human life and a gradual introduction of children to responsibility for the formation of the civilization of love in the contemporary world.A large part of the pronouncements of the Church and of the Popes must be seen as the reaction to the changes taking place in the world. But, independently from the period of history, the Church has always underlined the irreplaceable and primary role of the family in the personal-social education of the child.

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