scholarly journals Can a major religion change? Reading Genesis 1–3 in the twenty-first century1

2007 ◽  
Vol 28 (1) ◽  
pp. 259-279 ◽  
Author(s):  
IJJ Spangenberg
Keyword(s):  
Old Testament ◽  
Paradigm Shift ◽  
Fourth Century ◽  
Roman Catholic ◽  
Biblical Studies ◽  
Historical Account ◽  
Adam And Eve ◽  
Protestant Churches ◽  
Genesis 1 ◽  
The Church

Ever since the fourth century Christian theologians read Genesis 1–3 as a historical account about creation and fall. Augustine (354–430), one of the Latin fathers of the Church, introduced the idea of “original sin” on account of his reading of these chapters. According to him God created a perfect world which collapsed because of the sin of  Adam and Eve. This idea became a fixed doctrine in the Roman Catholic and Protestant Churches.  The doctrine holds that every human being, by the very fact of birth, inherits a “tainted” nature in need of regeneration. Since the paradigm shift in Biblical Studies which occurred towards the end of the nineteenth century, the doctrine has come under severe criticism by Old  Testament scholars. In recent years even systematic theologians are questioning the interpretation of  Augustine and proclaim: “There is no fall in Scripture.” This issue is discussed in detail and an answer is given to the question whether Christians can accept other readings and whether Christianity can change.

scholarly journals Celebrating the feasts of the Old Testament in Christian contexts

2006 ◽  
Vol 62 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Magdel Le Roux
Keyword(s):  
Old Testament ◽  
Religious Experience ◽  
Catholic Church ◽  
Roman Catholic ◽  
Roman Catholic Church ◽  
Early Christian ◽  
Christian Churches ◽  
Protestant Churches ◽  
The Reformation ◽  
The Church

Many early Christian churches incorporated a number of non-biblical, even “pagan” symbols and rituals into their liturgy (e. g. the origin of Christmas). They were contextualized into the church by a brand new Christian content to them. From its first inception Christianity attempted to slander and suppress the pagan myths and rituals in the name of its own message. This, however, does not alter the fact that the church also sought some connections in the sphere of myth. Since the Reformation many Protestant churches have tended to “cleanse” the church from all forms of symbols and rituals that could be reminiscent of its earlier connection with the Roman Catholic Church. The article argues that this left an emptiness, a longing for symbols and rituals which usually form an essential part of a normal religious experience. The Old Testament has both a “deficit” and a “surplus” which might have an abiding significance for Christians. It has become clear from archaeological discoveries that Jewish societies formed an integral part of early Christian societies.

scholarly journals On the origin of death: Paul and Augustine meet Charles Darwin

2013 ◽  
Vol 69 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Izak J.J. Spangenberg
Keyword(s):  
Old Testament ◽  
Charles Darwin ◽  
Biblical Studies ◽  
Original Sin ◽  
Eternal Life ◽  
Theory Of Evolution ◽  
Adam And Eve ◽  
Life On Earth ◽  
The 19Th Century ◽  
The Church

Ever since the 4th century, Christian theologians have linked Romans 5:12–21 with Genesis 2–3. Augustine (354–430), one of the Latin fathers of the Church, propagated the idea of ‘original sin’ according to his reading of these chapters. This idea eventually became a fixed doctrine in Western Christianity and a large number of Christians still believe and proclaim that humans would have lived for ever but for the misconduct of Adam and Eve. They also proclaim that Jesus, through his obedience, death and resurrection, re-established God’s original creation plan. Death was conquered and eternal life can be inherited by all who believe in Jesus as saviour and second Adam. However, since both the introduction of the theory of evolution into biology and the paradigm shift in biblical studies (at the end of the 19th century), the view that death was to be linked to ‘original sin’ came under severe criticism. This article argues that Romans 5:12–21 and Genesis 2–3 do not support the idea of ‘original sin’ and that death is a normal part of life on earth, as argued by evolutionary biologists and proclaimed by many Old Testament texts.

Charlemagne as a Patron of Art

1992 ◽  
Vol 28 ◽  
pp. 43-77
Author(s):  
Henry Mayr-Harting
Keyword(s):  
Catholic Education ◽  
Old Testament ◽  
Roman Catholic ◽  
Church Art ◽  
Catholic Schooling ◽  
The Church ◽  
Looking Back

The lesson that people hold radically differing views about church art is the harder to learn when one comes to it from the iconodul-istic side. Looking back on my own Roman Catholic schooling, and the place of statues and holy pictures in the religious devotions of that milieu, I realize that once sacramental awareness develops, it is not always easily confined to the matter of the theological sacraments themselves. The beheading of the statues in the Lady Chapel at Ely, which I visited at the age of eleven, seemed a shocking circumstance whose motivation was totally incomprehensible, even allowing for the fact that it was the work of Protestants, and the Old Testament, which might have brought the dawn of understanding, was, of course, no part of an ordinary Catholic education at that time. In short, the author of Charlemagne’s Libri Carolini would have found much upon which to make adverse comment in me, my fellows, and the monks who taught us. With the first artistic love of my student days, which was Romanesque sculpture, came an awareness of the voices and practice of those great medieval Protestants, the Cistercians. But only in the later encounter with Charlemagne was I forced to listen seriously to the moral and theological arguments against the unbridled use of figurai art in the service of the Church.

scholarly journals Depictions of Christ’s ancestors in the altar of Markov Manastir. A contribution to research

Zograf ◽  
2018 ◽  
pp. 89-106
Author(s):  
Marka Tomic-Djuric
Keyword(s):  
Human Nature ◽  
Old Testament ◽  
Adam And Eve ◽  
The Church

The paper discusses the figures on the bema of the altar apse in the Church of St. Demetrios of Markov Manastir (Marko?s Monastery) painted in 1376/1377. It offers a more detailed overview of the programmatic and iconographic characteristics of previously known depictions of the Virgin?s ancestors and identifies the second ancestral couple. Following a reexamination of hypotheses that have been suggested so far, the paper concludes that the second pair of Old Testament personages should be identified as representing the original ancestors of humanity - Adam and Eve. The visual solution incorporating Sts. Joachim and Anne as well as Adam and Eve is highly unusual. The paper also discusses the peculiar thematic concept in the central apse of Markov Manastir, which was conceived so as to draw attention of the faithful to the human nature of Christ, while the choice of ancestors underlines the role of the Virgin?s parents in the economy of salvation and emphasizes the theological idea of absolution from ancestral sin and the rebirth of humanity beginning with the incarnation of God-Man.

The Nation and Nationalism

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Halvor Moxnes
Keyword(s):  
Central Government ◽  
Roman Catholic ◽  
National Character ◽  
German Empire ◽  
Protestant Churches ◽  
Independence Movement ◽  
Political Independence ◽  
Nation States ◽  
American National Identity ◽  
The Church

This chapter discusses the relations between Christianity and nation in three different state constructions: the unification of smaller states into a nation state, older states already with a central government, and nation states that were established by peoples breaking away from empires. It emphasizes new forms of sources for nationalism such as: the Lives of Jesus studies that portrayed Jesus as a model for democratic nationalism or for national character; the use of conservative nationalism to establish the German Empire in 1871; the Anglican Church’s attempts in England to give the Church an inclusive, national character; Roman Catholic ultramontanism, which emphasized the centralized rule of the Church from Rome; the Balkan political independence movement which led to the establishment of independent Orthodox churches; and finally, the ‘mainline’ Protestant churches which influenced the formation of an American national identity.

Double Honor: Elite Hutterite Women in the Sixteenth Century

2010 ◽  
Vol 79 (4) ◽  
pp. 753-782 ◽  
Author(s):  
Adam Darlage
Keyword(s):  
Sixteenth Century ◽  
Early Modern ◽  
New Testament ◽  
Fourth Century ◽  
Roman Catholic ◽  
Early Church ◽  
The New Testament ◽  
The Face ◽  
The Church

Studies of early modern Anabaptism have shown that many Anabaptists sought to model their communities after the examples of the New Testament and the early church before the “fall” of the church into a coercive, sword-wielding institution through the person of Constantine in the fourth centuryc.e.The Anabaptists claimed that one had to voluntarily choose to become a Christian through believer's baptism and suffer for his or her faith just as the martyrs of old had done in the face of Roman persecution. During the course of the sixteenth century, their Protestant and Roman Catholic enemies did not disappoint, as hundreds of Anabaptists were executed for their rejection of “Christendom.” To the “magisterial” Christians, Anabaptists were dangerous heretics because they denied the God-given power of spiritual and secular authorities.

Recasting Genesis in Bronze: Ghiberti's Visual Exegesis in The Gates of Paradise

2012 ◽  
Vol 20 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 126-155
Author(s):  
Joel M. LeMon
Keyword(s):  
Old Testament ◽  
First Century ◽  
Renaissance Art ◽  
Composite Image ◽  
Creation Story ◽  
Critical Elements ◽  
Adam And Eve ◽  
Genesis 1 ◽  
Visual Exegesis ◽  
The Mind

AbstractThe bronze doors of Lorenzo Ghiberti (1378–1455) on the east side of the Baptistery at Florence are composed of ten “Albertian Renaissance windows” that depict scenes from the Old Testament in stunning detail. From an art-historical perspective, these panels demonstrate a significant development in Renaissance art. Rather than depicting a single instant in a biblical narrative, Ghiberti's panels combine multiple scenes into one composite image that conveys critical elements of long and complex stories. In the first of these panels, Ghiberti illustrates God's creation of Adam and Eve, the act of disobedience at the tree, and the expulsion from the garden. Ghiberti's organization of these events, his rendering of the characters, and the various details he includes (and omits) provide a window into the mind of a sophisticated exegete. When modern biblical scholars peer through this window, we note that Eve emerges as the central figure, while Adam is a largely peripheral one. We also note how Ghiberti establishes the literary pericope for his visual exegesis in a way that generally accords with modern source-critical hypotheses about Genesis 1-3. Indeed, by illustrating certain elements of the creation story and excluding others, Ghiberti is practicing de facto source criticism. Furthermore, Ghiberti's portrayal of the various characters in the text presaged twentieth- and twenty-first-century feminist readings of Genesis 1-3, as well as modern literary-critical analysis and ethico-theological critiques.

An “Echo in the Soul”: Worship Music in Evangelical Spanish-Language Latino Churches of Oregon

2020 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 203-225
Author(s):  
Deborah L. Berhó
Keyword(s):  
Roman Catholic ◽  
Spanish Language ◽  
Latino Population ◽  
Worship Music ◽  
Protestant Church ◽  
Significant Growth ◽  
Protestant Churches ◽  
Worship Services ◽  
The Church ◽  
The U.S

Abstract While a majority of the fast-growing U.S. Latino population is Roman Catholic, a significant and growing percentage is Protestant – some calculate that they now number 10 million in the U.S. Despite this significant growth, Latino Protestant churches remain understudied, particularly the music in worship services. Several Latino theologians criticize the music as being of foreign extraction, a form of neocolonialism in the church, not an autochthonous expression of worship. However, these claims do not align with music actually being used in these congregations. This carefully documented study of 25 Spanish language Protestant churches in Oregon reveals that, while music used in worship at one time may have been created and imposed by non-Latinos, this is no longer the case, and bi-musicality is the norm, reflecting the diaspora and agency of the Latino Protestant church.

The Ethiopian Orthodox Church: A Study in Indigenization

1988 ◽  
Vol 16 (3) ◽  
pp. 259-278 ◽  
Author(s):  
Calvin E. Shenk
Keyword(s):  
Old Testament ◽  
Fourth Century ◽  
Orthodox Church ◽  
African Christianity ◽  
The People ◽  
Indigenous Church ◽  
Ethiopian Orthodox ◽  
Hebrew Culture ◽  
The Church ◽  
Ethiopian Church

The Ethiopian Orthodox Church is a fascinating study in indigenization. Its deep rootage in the lives of the people is evidenced by the way in which the Church has been preserved since the fourth century in spite of repeated threats from enemies within and outside of Ethiopia. The church has Christianized important aspects of Old Testament and Hebrew culture as well as certain remnants of primal religion. It adapted beliefs and symbols which reflected and reinforced African traditions, and either absorbed or transfigured that which suited its purposes. The Ethiopian Church is an indigenous church, not an indigenized one. The process of its indigenization is described and important lessons from this rather natural development are identified that help in understanding the importance of critical contextualization. The successes and failures of the Ethiopian Church provide perspective for contemporary attempts at contextualization. This study is significant for understanding African Christianity but also has missiological implications for the wider world.

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