The Giant and the Underdog

The story of David and Goliath is one of the most famous biblical stories. It had an impact on many branches of contemporary art. It is also an inevitable part of religious education and general education in all schools. Knowing the fact that the Church Fathers have an essential part in the lives of many Christians today (in the Orthodox Church, they were role models from the very beginning), it is interesting to see how did they, these original theologians, read and interpret the story of David and Goliath. Was it for them, in the time when the Bible was the most sacred book for all, important as it is for us today? Did people during the sports events of that time talk on the markets about the underdog who struck the giant? Additionally, if one looks at the ancient Greek and Hebrew text, one will find out that the Hebrew version, which was used as the source for most modern translations, is 40% longer than the Greek one. Could the works of the Fathers help us to determine which version of the story is the Holy Scripture for Christians today?

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THE PILGRIMAGE OF WEALTHY PIOUS CHRISTIAN WOMEN FROM ROME TO THE HOLY LAND IN THE FOURTH TO SIXTH CENTURIES AD

Jordan Journal for History and Archaeology ◽

10.54134/jjha.15.3.3 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 15 (3) ◽

pp. 45-65

Keyword(s):

Role Models ◽

Spiritual Needs ◽

Holy Land ◽

Church Fathers ◽

Christian Women ◽

Early Christian ◽

The Bible ◽

Holy Places ◽

To Come ◽

The Church

This study examines the pilgrimage of Christian women ascetics in the early Christian period from the fourth to sixth centuries AD, focusing on wealthy Roman women who were influenced by the Church Fathers, such as Jerome and left their world, freedom, family and social class. They sold their properties in order to come to the Holy Land (the Land of the Bible) to visit the holy places and the desert hermits and to build monasteries, hospitals, hospices, orphanages and accomodations for old people through the Holy Land. The pilgrimage of women ascetics was a characteristic feature of the period. In spite of the difficult journey, these ascetic women came to fulfill their religious and spiritual needs. These women have been remembered throughout the ages for their faith, piety, tenderness, purity and devotion and have served as role models for women after them. This study examines the concept of pilgrimage in Christianity and the pilgrimage of the women ascetics and their religious and social accomplishments in the Holy Land.

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The mercy of God as the foundation of charity of the Church

Diacovensia ◽

10.31823/d.27.4.4 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 27 (4) ◽

pp. 637-651

Author(s):

Wiesław Przygoda

Keyword(s):

Jesus Christ ◽

Image Of God ◽

Church Fathers ◽

Pope Francis ◽

Pope Benedict Xvi ◽

Benedict Xvi ◽

The Bible ◽

1 John ◽

The Image Of God ◽

The Church

Charity diaconia of the Church is not an accidental involvement but belongs to its fundamental missions. This thesis can be supported in many ways. The author of this article finds the source of the obligation of Christians and the whole Church community to charity service in the nature of God. For Christians God is Love (1 John 4, 8.16). Even though some other names can be found, (Jahwe , Elohim, Adonai), his principal name that encapsulates all other ones is Love. Simultaneously, God which is Love showed his merciful nature (misericordiae vultus) in the course of salvation. He did it in a historical, visible and optimal way through his Son, Jesus Christ through the embodied God’s Son, Jesus Christ, who loved the mankind so much that he sacrificed his life for us, being tortured and killed at the cross. This selfless love laid the foundations for the Church, which, in essence, is a community of loving human and God’s beings. Those who do not love, even though they joined the Church through baptism, technically speaking, do not belong to the Church since love is a real not a formal sign of belonging to Christ’s disciples (cf. John 13, 35). Therefore, charitable activity is a significant dimension of the Church’s mission as it is through charity that the Church shows the merciful nature of its Saviour. A question that needs to be addressed may be expressed as follows: in what way the image of God, who is love, implies an involvement in charity of an individual and the Church? An answer may be found in the Bible, writings of the Church Fathers of and the documents of Magisterium Ecclesiae and especially the teachings of Pope Benedict XVI and Pope Francis.

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The Legal Basis for the Prohibition on Abortion in Jewish Law

Israel Law Review ◽

10.1017/s0021223700006531 ◽

1980 ◽

Vol 15 (1) ◽

pp. 109-130 ◽

Cited By ~ 5

Author(s):

Daniel B. Sinclair

Keyword(s):

Catholic Church ◽

Canon Law ◽

Jewish Law ◽

Legal Basis ◽

Church Fathers ◽

Biblical Law ◽

Foetal Development ◽

The Bible ◽

Literary Sources ◽

The Church

One of the main issues in almost every treatment of abortion in Jewish Law is the legal basis for its prohibition. The recent trend in Rabbinic literature to categorise abortion as a form of homicide, proscribed by Biblical law, seems to constitute a break with the classical Rabbinic view, according to which abortion is neither homicide, nor directly prohibited in the major literary sources of Jewish Law, i.e. the Bible and the Talmud. Moreover, in the few instances in which abortion is discussed in these sources, it would seem that no such prohibition exists.This article will analyse the Biblical and Talmudic passages which deal with abortion, and survey the various Rabbinic opinions as to the legal basis for its prohibition. Particular attention will be paid to the argument that abortion is a biblically-proscribed form of homicide, and to the reasons which may underlie the adoption of that argument by a number of authorities in recent times. We will also analyse the significance in Jewish Law of the stages of foetal development.Our analysis will be both historical and normative, and in this context it will be a valuable exercise to compare the position in Jewish Law to that in the Canon Law of the Church of Rome. Although the Church Fathers held that abortion was a form of homicide, and the contemporary position of the Catholic Church reflects this attitude strictly and unswervingly, the Medieval Canonists adopted the distinction between the formed and the unformed foetus, based on a tradition derived from the Septuagint version of the Biblical passage dealing with the consequences of striking a pregnant woman (Ex. 21:22–23).

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Orygenes i hebrajski tekst Pisma Świętego

Vox Patrum ◽

10.31743/vp.3266 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 69 ◽

pp. 393-404

Author(s):

Janusz Królikowski

Keyword(s):

Old Testament ◽

Hebrew Text ◽

The Other ◽

The Bible ◽

Other Hand ◽

Hebrew Version ◽

The One ◽

Christian Writer ◽

The Church

Origen is the exegete and Old Christian writer whose influence on the understanding of the Bible has always been determinative. Undoubtedly, for ecclesiastical reasons he deemed the Septuagint superior and regarded it as the Christian Old Testament. He thought highly of Hebrew text as well, which he often used for his research. An expression of this belief was among others the Hexapla worked out by Origen, which can be regarded as an exceptional manifestation of esteem towards the Old Testament and its Hebrew version. Origen’s attitude towards the Bible can be characterized by two approaches: on the one hand it is the ecclesiastical approach which gives the first place to the text commonly accepted in the Church namely the Septuagint, but on the other hand he is open to every other text Hebrew or Greek, trying to understand it and take it into account in his commentary.

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Zagadnienie personalizmu w "Protreptyku" Klemensa Aleksandryjskiego

Vox Patrum ◽

10.31743/vp.3717 ◽

2015 ◽

Vol 64 ◽

pp. 299-315

Author(s):

Aleksy Kowalski

Keyword(s):

Human Person ◽

Human Being ◽

Church Fathers ◽

The Bible ◽

Clement Of Alexandria ◽

Origen Of Alexandria ◽

Cappadocian Fathers ◽

The Universe ◽

The Church ◽

Aristotle's Metaphysics

The article presents the outline of the pagan and Christian ancient anthropology that is interested in its relations to the cosmology. The antique philosophers describe a man as the microcosmos which belongs to the macrocosmos. According to Aristotle’s metaphysics and the henological metaphysics, the human being occupies the lower place in the hierarchy of the universe. The Christian thinkers, based on the Bible and the Tradition, show the human being as God’s creature made according to the image and similitude of his Creator. The Church Fathers know the Jewish and gnostic anthropologies and they make a polemic on their doctrinal issues. Investigating the patristic anthropology is possible to apply the prosopography exegesis that underlines the interpersonal dialogue. That method indicates three levels of mutual relationships: the analogical and iconic one, the dyadic and dialogical level and the triadic one. The Church Fathers creating the metaphysics of person change their research from the cosmology to the theology and the anthropology. Justin investigates the personalist logos-anthropology. Irenaeus of Lyon and Tertullian of Carthage show the personalist soma-anthropology. Clement of Alexandria elaborates the very interesting concept of the personalist eikon-anthropology that describes the human person as the divine Logos’ image, the living statue, in which dwells the divine Logos and the beautiful instrument fulfilled by God with the spirit. Origen of Alexandria, the Cappadocian Fathers and other Christian thinkers who examine that issue, will use Clément’s personalist eikon-anthropology in their future investigations. That concept helps to define the solemn Christological doctrine of Council of Chalcedon.

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The Creation Narratives in the Western and Greek-Orthodox Theology of the 20th Century

Review of Ecumenical Studies Sibiu ◽

10.2478/ress-2014-0134 ◽

2014 ◽

Vol 6 (3) ◽

pp. 460-472

Author(s):

Alexandra Palantza

Keyword(s):

20Th Century ◽

Old Testament ◽

Church Fathers ◽

Greek Orthodox ◽

The Bible ◽

God's Word ◽

The Creation ◽

Book Of Genesis ◽

Theological Thought ◽

The Church

Abstract The Book of Genesis offers not only to Israel but also to its neighbors the reason for their existence1. In western theological thought, W. Eichrodt’s Theology of the Old Testament and Cl. Westermann’s Commentary on Genesis are two of the most important works, which are distinguished because of their method and the expression of their theological perspectives on the topic “creation narratives”. In contrast to Western theologians, Greek-Orthodox Theologians inherited their tradition of interpretation from the Church Fathers. Eastern Theology has seen the topic of interpreting the Bible as an unbreakable whole, containing God’s word and action for the salvation of humankind. Any differences between them are caused by another perspective and ecclesiastical tradition.

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Repliek op Van der Watt se artikel oor ‘Intertekstualiteit en oorinterpretasie: Verwysings na Genesis 28:12 in Johannes 1:51?’

In die Skriflig/In Luce Verbi ◽

10.4102/ids.v51i1.2266 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 51 (1) ◽

Author(s):

Hennie F. Stander

Keyword(s):

Church Fathers ◽

John 1 ◽

History Of Interpretation ◽

The Bible ◽

History Of ◽

The Church

A response to Van der Watt’s article on ‘Intertextuality and over-interpretation: References to Genesis 28:12 in John 1:51?’ This article is a response to an article of Van der Watt titled ‘Intertextuality and over-interpretation: References to Genesis 28:12 in John 1:51?’ (2016). He states in this article that his aim is ‘to illustrate the dangers of over-interpretation when dealing with intertextual relations between texts, especially when allusion is assumed’. He then gives a brief survey of different interpretations of John 1:51. Van der Watt shows in his article how theologians use themes from Genesis 28:12 (like the ladder, Jacob or Bethel, which are not mentioned in John 1:51) in their expositions of John 1:51. Van der Watt regards some of these expositions as examples of over-interpretation. The aim of my article is to show how Church Fathers interpreted Genesis 28:12 and John 1:51. I show in my article that the Church Fathers saw several parallels between these two sections from the Bible. Furthermore, I suggest that the early theologians’ interpretations formed a tradition that probably influenced modern interpreters of the Bible. I also discuss the role of typology in the history of interpretation, specifically also in the case of Genesis 28:12 and John 1:51. I then argue that it is perhaps not so far-fetched to see an intertextual relation between Genesis 28:12 and John 1:51.

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The Effects of Confessional Strife on Religious Authority in the First Half of the Seventeenth Century

The Oxford Handbook of Calvin and Calvinism ◽

10.1093/oxfordhb/9780198728818.013.17 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 303-324

Author(s):

Henk Nellen

Keyword(s):

Seventeenth Century ◽

Hard Core ◽

Roman Catholic ◽

Religious Authority ◽

Church Fathers ◽

Biblical Authority ◽

The Bible ◽

The Status ◽

History Of ◽

The Church

This chapter discusses the confessional controversies on biblical authority and ecclesiastical tradition in the first half of the seventeenth century. While Protestant theologians upheld the status of the Bible as a divinely inspired, unique, coherent, and self-evident source of faith and stressed the subordinate significance of the patristic legacy, the Roman Catholic camp embraced the importance of the teachings of the Church Fathers, conciliar decrees, and papal decisions as a rock-solid criterion for a sound interpretation of the Bible. On the basis of treatises authored by eminent and hard-core exponents of Calvinism like Abraham Scultetus, Jean Daillé, Louis Cappel, and André Rivet, set against the views of the Jesuit Denis Pétau, expert in the history of the primitive church, it is argued that debates led to a reciprocal undermining of viewpoints, which eventually paved the way for more radical positions at the end of the century.

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Learning to Pray by Singing

European Judaism ◽

10.3167/ej.2021.540213 ◽

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.

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The Ruddy Boy in the Words of the Golden Mouth

Philotheos ◽

10.5840/philotheos20212112 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 21 (1) ◽

pp. 26-44

Author(s):

Aleksandar Danilović ◽

Keyword(s):

Popular Culture ◽

Art Music ◽

The Other ◽

Church Fathers ◽

Apostle Paul ◽

The Bible ◽

John Chrysostom ◽

Hebrew Version ◽

The Difference ◽

The One

There is almost no Christian who has never heard about John Chrysostom, one of the greatest preachers since the Apostle Paul himself. He is honored as a saint, and his Liturgy is the most celebrated one in the Byzantine Rite even today. On the other hand, the story about the Gittite Goliath and a young boy named David, the future king of Israel and the one from whose royal line Christ will be borne, is one of the most read and used biblical stories. Art, music, popular culture, even sports, and politics – all of them, in their own way, used this story to tell how a tiny ruddy boy can win the giant. But how was it in the time of Saint Chrysostom? How did he read this story? If one knows the difference between the Greek and Hebrew version, which one did John read and preach to his community? Can his approach to this biblical text help us better understand Church Fathers’ exegesis and the Bible itself?

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