Lewis Baldwin
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- September 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780195380316
- eISBN:
- 9780199869299
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195380316.001.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, Religion and Society
This book explores various images of the Christian church in the thought of Martin Luther King, Jr., with considerable attention to how he understood that institution in definitional terms. King’s ...
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This book explores various images of the Christian church in the thought of Martin Luther King, Jr., with considerable attention to how he understood that institution in definitional terms. King’s sermons, speeches, interviews, and writings are carefully examined for what they reveal concerning the identity and purpose of the church, and in terms of their focus on biblical, theological, ethical, traditional-historical, and cultural images of that institution. King’s rejection of the concept of church as hierarchy and institution in favor of the idea of church as mission and movement is also highlighted and carefully analyzed. King emerges from this study as an astute and constructive critic of the church, and as one who provided a highly workable and relevant model for church-based prophetic social witness and activism.Less
This book explores various images of the Christian church in the thought of Martin Luther King, Jr., with considerable attention to how he understood that institution in definitional terms. King’s sermons, speeches, interviews, and writings are carefully examined for what they reveal concerning the identity and purpose of the church, and in terms of their focus on biblical, theological, ethical, traditional-historical, and cultural images of that institution. King’s rejection of the concept of church as hierarchy and institution in favor of the idea of church as mission and movement is also highlighted and carefully analyzed. King emerges from this study as an astute and constructive critic of the church, and as one who provided a highly workable and relevant model for church-based prophetic social witness and activism.
Douglas E. Christie
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- January 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780199812325
- eISBN:
- 9780199979745
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199812325.003.0002
- Subject:
- Religion, Religious Studies
For Evagrius and many other early Christian monks, Mt. Sinai was a symbol of a certain intimacy with God the contemplative might hope to realize on the inner journey. The evocation of the mountain ...
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For Evagrius and many other early Christian monks, Mt. Sinai was a symbol of a certain intimacy with God the contemplative might hope to realize on the inner journey. The evocation of the mountain and the sapphire-blue tiles remains an important reminder of the intricate relationship that exists between outer and inner landscapes, and of the way the physical landscape can spark thought, open the imagination, and deepen awareness. The mountain became a place toward which the monk could direct his gaze, a point of orientation, an emblem of the awesome and charged space of his own inner life. This chapter argues that the contemplative vision arising from the ancient Christian monastic world expresses a hunger still present and familiar to us at the dawn of the twenty-first century: the longing to live with an awareness of the whole. And it speaks to the promise inherent in all great spiritual traditions of the world, that the human mind (or heart or soul) is capable of expanding and deepening to such an extent that it becomes possible to incorporate everything and to be incorporated into everything: to exist and know oneself as existing within the whole.Less
For Evagrius and many other early Christian monks, Mt. Sinai was a symbol of a certain intimacy with God the contemplative might hope to realize on the inner journey. The evocation of the mountain and the sapphire-blue tiles remains an important reminder of the intricate relationship that exists between outer and inner landscapes, and of the way the physical landscape can spark thought, open the imagination, and deepen awareness. The mountain became a place toward which the monk could direct his gaze, a point of orientation, an emblem of the awesome and charged space of his own inner life. This chapter argues that the contemplative vision arising from the ancient Christian monastic world expresses a hunger still present and familiar to us at the dawn of the twenty-first century: the longing to live with an awareness of the whole. And it speaks to the promise inherent in all great spiritual traditions of the world, that the human mind (or heart or soul) is capable of expanding and deepening to such an extent that it becomes possible to incorporate everything and to be incorporated into everything: to exist and know oneself as existing within the whole.
Todd S. Berzon
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- September 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780520284265
- eISBN:
- 9780520959880
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of California Press
- DOI:
- 10.1525/california/9780520284265.003.0007
- Subject:
- Religion, Early Christian Studies
This chapter focuses on the ethnographic and epistemological limitations of Epiphanius' Panarion. Organizing the heretical world forces the heresiologists, like various classical ethnographers before ...
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This chapter focuses on the ethnographic and epistemological limitations of Epiphanius' Panarion. Organizing the heretical world forces the heresiologists, like various classical ethnographers before them, to reflect upon their ability to comprehend the totality of the Christian world around them. Epiphanius further acknowledged that heresy knew no geographical or territorial boundaries; it was a counterworld residing in his orthodox world. The chapter illustrates how Epiphanius not only admits this loss of control but also embraces it. There is no attempt to hide the fissures within his knowledge as they reflect his humanity and humility. Although Epiphanius continuously formulated rhetorical and structural schemes to combat the ever-changing contours of the heretical world, he was consciously aware of his shortcomings, fears, and failures.Less
This chapter focuses on the ethnographic and epistemological limitations of Epiphanius' Panarion. Organizing the heretical world forces the heresiologists, like various classical ethnographers before them, to reflect upon their ability to comprehend the totality of the Christian world around them. Epiphanius further acknowledged that heresy knew no geographical or territorial boundaries; it was a counterworld residing in his orthodox world. The chapter illustrates how Epiphanius not only admits this loss of control but also embraces it. There is no attempt to hide the fissures within his knowledge as they reflect his humanity and humility. Although Epiphanius continuously formulated rhetorical and structural schemes to combat the ever-changing contours of the heretical world, he was consciously aware of his shortcomings, fears, and failures.
Dom Aidan Bellenger
- Published in print:
- 1997
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198205968
- eISBN:
- 9780191676871
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198205968.003.0008
- Subject:
- History, European Modern History, History of Religion
The thinkers of the European Enlightenment were born into a Christian world and, however jaundiced the views of many of them became of the ‘ascetic, superstitious enemies of the flesh’, it is ...
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The thinkers of the European Enlightenment were born into a Christian world and, however jaundiced the views of many of them became of the ‘ascetic, superstitious enemies of the flesh’, it is remarkable how some kind of dialogue was maintained between many Church members, including monks, and those who, to use one of Peter Gay's definitions of Enlightenment, looked towards ‘the organized habit of criticism’. Both those who remained attached to the Church and those who chose to reject it shared a love of classical antiquity and a lack of appreciation for the Middle Ages. When one looks at Benedictine monasticism today, one tends to look through a neo-Gothic filter of revived medievalism.Less
The thinkers of the European Enlightenment were born into a Christian world and, however jaundiced the views of many of them became of the ‘ascetic, superstitious enemies of the flesh’, it is remarkable how some kind of dialogue was maintained between many Church members, including monks, and those who, to use one of Peter Gay's definitions of Enlightenment, looked towards ‘the organized habit of criticism’. Both those who remained attached to the Church and those who chose to reject it shared a love of classical antiquity and a lack of appreciation for the Middle Ages. When one looks at Benedictine monasticism today, one tends to look through a neo-Gothic filter of revived medievalism.
Hugh B. Urban
- Published in print:
- 2006
- Published Online:
- May 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780520247765
- eISBN:
- 9780520932883
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of California Press
- DOI:
- 10.1525/california/9780520247765.003.0005
- Subject:
- Religion, Religious Studies
This chapter examines the impact of Indian traditions such as Hindu and Buddhist Tantra and the Kama Sutra on sexual magic in the West. It explains that although Tantra was typically singled out as ...
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This chapter examines the impact of Indian traditions such as Hindu and Buddhist Tantra and the Kama Sutra on sexual magic in the West. It explains that although Tantra was typically singled out as the most bizarre, degenerate, and extreme aspect of the exotic Orient itself, it was immediately embraced by many British and American readers, who saw in it a powerful source of sexual and social liberation. The first attempt to fuse Western sexual magic with Indian Tantra began with the highly esoteric group known as the Ordo Templi Orientis, founded by Theodor Reuss, who clearly linked sexual magic with an ideal of social transformation and liberation from an oppressive Christian world.Less
This chapter examines the impact of Indian traditions such as Hindu and Buddhist Tantra and the Kama Sutra on sexual magic in the West. It explains that although Tantra was typically singled out as the most bizarre, degenerate, and extreme aspect of the exotic Orient itself, it was immediately embraced by many British and American readers, who saw in it a powerful source of sexual and social liberation. The first attempt to fuse Western sexual magic with Indian Tantra began with the highly esoteric group known as the Ordo Templi Orientis, founded by Theodor Reuss, who clearly linked sexual magic with an ideal of social transformation and liberation from an oppressive Christian world.
Jeff Wilson, Tomoe Moriya, and Richard M. Jaffe (eds)
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- January 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780520269170
- eISBN:
- 9780520965355
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of California Press
- DOI:
- 10.1525/california/9780520269170.003.0004
- Subject:
- Religion, Buddhism
This chapter contains D. T. Suzuki's open letter to Rev. John R. Mott, a cofounder and the general secretary of the World Student Christian Federation who received the Nobel Prize for his peace work ...
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This chapter contains D. T. Suzuki's open letter to Rev. John R. Mott, a cofounder and the general secretary of the World Student Christian Federation who received the Nobel Prize for his peace work (via foreign Protestant missions) in 1946. Published in the English edition of the monthly journal Hansei zasshi (later The Orient) in 1898, the letter was Suzuki's reaction to Mott's triumphalist article that appeared in the New York Times on May 31, 1897 regarding the work of missionaries in Japan. Suzuki defended Japanese Buddhism against Mott's claim that it falls short in fulfilling “the need of moral and religious culture” felt by thoughtful people. According to Suzuki, Christianity is backward and not “in accord with scientific thoughts,” unlike Buddhism. He also objected to the Christian depiction of “Buddhism” and argues that “Christianity neither could, nor would, do better than Buddhism has done, and will do, for the general welfare of the nation.”Less
This chapter contains D. T. Suzuki's open letter to Rev. John R. Mott, a cofounder and the general secretary of the World Student Christian Federation who received the Nobel Prize for his peace work (via foreign Protestant missions) in 1946. Published in the English edition of the monthly journal Hansei zasshi (later The Orient) in 1898, the letter was Suzuki's reaction to Mott's triumphalist article that appeared in the New York Times on May 31, 1897 regarding the work of missionaries in Japan. Suzuki defended Japanese Buddhism against Mott's claim that it falls short in fulfilling “the need of moral and religious culture” felt by thoughtful people. According to Suzuki, Christianity is backward and not “in accord with scientific thoughts,” unlike Buddhism. He also objected to the Christian depiction of “Buddhism” and argues that “Christianity neither could, nor would, do better than Buddhism has done, and will do, for the general welfare of the nation.”
John Binns
- Published in print:
- 1996
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198269342
- eISBN:
- 9780191683626
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198269342.001.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, Early Christian Studies
The monasteries of the Jerusalem desert were famous throughout the Byzantine Christian world. Yet whilst much has been written about their counterparts in Egypt and Syria, this book is the first to ...
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The monasteries of the Jerusalem desert were famous throughout the Byzantine Christian world. Yet whilst much has been written about their counterparts in Egypt and Syria, this book is the first to provide a comprehensive study of the monastic movement in Palestine during the Byzantine period, from the accession of Constantine to the fall of Jerusalem to the Persians in 614. The book is divided into three parts. The first examines the lives of the holy men of the desert using contemporary source material, and looks at the culture which produced them. The second describes the environment, including chapters on Jerusalem and the expansion of monasticism into other urban centres. The third section presents some of the main themes of the saints' lives, with chapters on historical development, doctrinal debate, and spirituality.Less
The monasteries of the Jerusalem desert were famous throughout the Byzantine Christian world. Yet whilst much has been written about their counterparts in Egypt and Syria, this book is the first to provide a comprehensive study of the monastic movement in Palestine during the Byzantine period, from the accession of Constantine to the fall of Jerusalem to the Persians in 614. The book is divided into three parts. The first examines the lives of the holy men of the desert using contemporary source material, and looks at the culture which produced them. The second describes the environment, including chapters on Jerusalem and the expansion of monasticism into other urban centres. The third section presents some of the main themes of the saints' lives, with chapters on historical development, doctrinal debate, and spirituality.
John Howe
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- August 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780801452895
- eISBN:
- 9781501703713
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Cornell University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7591/cornell/9780801452895.003.0010
- Subject:
- History, European Medieval History
This chapter examines the expansion of the Christian world, which was bigger than the Roman Church and included the Latin Church itself. According to Peter Damian in his Letter to Abbot Desiderius of ...
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This chapter examines the expansion of the Christian world, which was bigger than the Roman Church and included the Latin Church itself. According to Peter Damian in his Letter to Abbot Desiderius of Monte Cassino (1069): “The Lord, the Savior, does not preside over any single chair [i.e. any cathedra, any episcopal seat] by a special right, but rather the one shepherd presides over all generally. It is clear therefore that the order of the churches is disposed according to the privilege of Peter, not according to the incomparable excellence of the Redeemer.” This chapter begins by discussing the schism between Greek and Latin churches in the eleventh century and its impact on eastern Christian communities. It then explores Latin ecclesiastical contact with the greater world by focusing on Monte Cassino, Rome, and Jerusalem. It also considers the points of contact between East and West, namely: literature, liturgy, architecture, material culture, and asceticisms and spirituality.Less
This chapter examines the expansion of the Christian world, which was bigger than the Roman Church and included the Latin Church itself. According to Peter Damian in his Letter to Abbot Desiderius of Monte Cassino (1069): “The Lord, the Savior, does not preside over any single chair [i.e. any cathedra, any episcopal seat] by a special right, but rather the one shepherd presides over all generally. It is clear therefore that the order of the churches is disposed according to the privilege of Peter, not according to the incomparable excellence of the Redeemer.” This chapter begins by discussing the schism between Greek and Latin churches in the eleventh century and its impact on eastern Christian communities. It then explores Latin ecclesiastical contact with the greater world by focusing on Monte Cassino, Rome, and Jerusalem. It also considers the points of contact between East and West, namely: literature, liturgy, architecture, material culture, and asceticisms and spirituality.
Brouria Bitton-Ashkelony
- Published in print:
- 2005
- Published Online:
- March 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780520241916
- eISBN:
- 9780520931121
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University of California Press
- DOI:
- 10.1525/california/9780520241916.001.0001
- Subject:
- Classical Studies, Literary Studies: Classical, Early, and Medieval
This study sheds new light on one of the most spectacular changes to occur in late antiquity—the rise of pilgrimage all over the Christian world—by setting the phenomenon against the wide background ...
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This study sheds new light on one of the most spectacular changes to occur in late antiquity—the rise of pilgrimage all over the Christian world—by setting the phenomenon against the wide background of the political and theological debates of the time. Asking how the emerging notion of a sacred geography challenged the leading intellectuals and ecclesiastical authorities, the book reshapes our understanding of early Christian mentalities by unraveling the process by which a territory of grace became a territory of power. Examining ancient writers' responses to the rising practice of pilgrimage, the book offers a nuanced reading of their thinking on the merits and the demerits of pilgrimage, revealing theological and ecclesiastical motivations that have been overlooked, and questioning the long-held assumption of scholars that pilgrimage was only a popular, not an elite, religious practice. In addition to Greek and Latin sources, the book includes Syriac material, which allows her to build a rich picture of the emerging theology of landscape that took shape over the fourth to sixth centuries.Less
This study sheds new light on one of the most spectacular changes to occur in late antiquity—the rise of pilgrimage all over the Christian world—by setting the phenomenon against the wide background of the political and theological debates of the time. Asking how the emerging notion of a sacred geography challenged the leading intellectuals and ecclesiastical authorities, the book reshapes our understanding of early Christian mentalities by unraveling the process by which a territory of grace became a territory of power. Examining ancient writers' responses to the rising practice of pilgrimage, the book offers a nuanced reading of their thinking on the merits and the demerits of pilgrimage, revealing theological and ecclesiastical motivations that have been overlooked, and questioning the long-held assumption of scholars that pilgrimage was only a popular, not an elite, religious practice. In addition to Greek and Latin sources, the book includes Syriac material, which allows her to build a rich picture of the emerging theology of landscape that took shape over the fourth to sixth centuries.
John Howe
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- August 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780801452895
- eISBN:
- 9781501703713
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Cornell University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7591/cornell/9780801452895.001.0001
- Subject:
- History, European Medieval History
Historians typically single out the hundred-year period from about 1050 to 1150 as the pivotal moment in the history of the Latin Church, for it was then that the Gregorian Reform movement ...
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Historians typically single out the hundred-year period from about 1050 to 1150 as the pivotal moment in the history of the Latin Church, for it was then that the Gregorian Reform movement established the ecclesiastical structure that would ensure Rome's dominance throughout the Middle Ages and beyond. This book challenges this familiar narrative by examining earlier, “pre-Gregorian” reform efforts within the Church. It finds that they were more extensive and widespread than previously thought and that they actually established a foundation for the subsequent Gregorian Reform movement. The low point in the history of Christendom came in the late ninth and early tenth centuries—a period when much of Europe was overwhelmed by barbarian raids and widespread civil disorder, which left the Church in a state of disarray. As the book shows, however, the destruction gave rise to creativity. Aristocrats and churchmen rebuilt churches and constructed new ones, competing against each other so that church building, like castle building, acquired its own momentum. Patrons strove to improve ecclesiastical furnishings, liturgy, and spirituality. Schools were constructed to staff the new churches. Moreover, the book shows that these reform efforts paralleled broader economic, social, and cultural trends in Western Europe including the revival of long-distance trade, the rise of technology, and the emergence of feudal lordship. The result was that by the mid-eleventh century a wealthy, unified, better-organized, better-educated, more spiritually sensitive Latin Church was assuming a leading place in the broader Christian world.Less
Historians typically single out the hundred-year period from about 1050 to 1150 as the pivotal moment in the history of the Latin Church, for it was then that the Gregorian Reform movement established the ecclesiastical structure that would ensure Rome's dominance throughout the Middle Ages and beyond. This book challenges this familiar narrative by examining earlier, “pre-Gregorian” reform efforts within the Church. It finds that they were more extensive and widespread than previously thought and that they actually established a foundation for the subsequent Gregorian Reform movement. The low point in the history of Christendom came in the late ninth and early tenth centuries—a period when much of Europe was overwhelmed by barbarian raids and widespread civil disorder, which left the Church in a state of disarray. As the book shows, however, the destruction gave rise to creativity. Aristocrats and churchmen rebuilt churches and constructed new ones, competing against each other so that church building, like castle building, acquired its own momentum. Patrons strove to improve ecclesiastical furnishings, liturgy, and spirituality. Schools were constructed to staff the new churches. Moreover, the book shows that these reform efforts paralleled broader economic, social, and cultural trends in Western Europe including the revival of long-distance trade, the rise of technology, and the emergence of feudal lordship. The result was that by the mid-eleventh century a wealthy, unified, better-organized, better-educated, more spiritually sensitive Latin Church was assuming a leading place in the broader Christian world.
Karla Pollmann
- Published in print:
- 2017
- Published Online:
- March 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780198726487
- eISBN:
- 9780191793295
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198726487.003.0007
- Subject:
- Religion, Early Christian Studies, Religion and Literature
The cento Christus patiens takes about one-third of its c.2,600 iambic trimeters from tragedies by Euripides, telling in dramatic form the story of Christ’s Passion, death, and resurrection. This ...
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The cento Christus patiens takes about one-third of its c.2,600 iambic trimeters from tragedies by Euripides, telling in dramatic form the story of Christ’s Passion, death, and resurrection. This chapter argues that for metrical and lexical reasons the cento’s much disputed authorship has to be decided against Gregory of Nazianzus and in favour of a twelfth-century Byzantine author. An analysis of the adaptation of the Euripidean verses demonstrates the cento not to be viewed as mere learned play. The aim of this centonic transformation is to reveal the true, hidden sense of the famous pagan original, by employing various different modes of transferral and alteration, which confirms the findings in Chapter 4. The chapter’s groundbreaking contribution consists in elaborating the cento’s ultimate and highly original goal to contrast the vindictive pagan destroyer Dionysus with the merciful redeemer Jesus Christ in this Christian anti-tragedy with its new and different world-view.Less
The cento Christus patiens takes about one-third of its c.2,600 iambic trimeters from tragedies by Euripides, telling in dramatic form the story of Christ’s Passion, death, and resurrection. This chapter argues that for metrical and lexical reasons the cento’s much disputed authorship has to be decided against Gregory of Nazianzus and in favour of a twelfth-century Byzantine author. An analysis of the adaptation of the Euripidean verses demonstrates the cento not to be viewed as mere learned play. The aim of this centonic transformation is to reveal the true, hidden sense of the famous pagan original, by employing various different modes of transferral and alteration, which confirms the findings in Chapter 4. The chapter’s groundbreaking contribution consists in elaborating the cento’s ultimate and highly original goal to contrast the vindictive pagan destroyer Dionysus with the merciful redeemer Jesus Christ in this Christian anti-tragedy with its new and different world-view.
Larry Eskridge
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- September 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780195326451
- eISBN:
- 9780199344826
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195326451.003.0005
- Subject:
- Religion, Religion and Society
This chapter explores the contemporaneous growth of the Jesus People movement in locations all across the United States in 1969 and 1970. The often spontaneous rise of counterculture-friendly Jesus ...
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This chapter explores the contemporaneous growth of the Jesus People movement in locations all across the United States in 1969 and 1970. The often spontaneous rise of counterculture-friendly Jesus People–style groups in the Pacific Northwest through such groups as the Shiloh Youth Revival Network and Seattle’s Jesus People Army, new groups in Midwestern cities such as Milwaukee and Fort Wayne, and scattered communes and fellowships from Kansas to upstate New York bespoke a vital hybrid of evangelical Christianity. While the movement attracted a growing number of church youth, the core of this expansion was rooted in its appeal to those who had been involved in the counterculture and drug culture.Less
This chapter explores the contemporaneous growth of the Jesus People movement in locations all across the United States in 1969 and 1970. The often spontaneous rise of counterculture-friendly Jesus People–style groups in the Pacific Northwest through such groups as the Shiloh Youth Revival Network and Seattle’s Jesus People Army, new groups in Midwestern cities such as Milwaukee and Fort Wayne, and scattered communes and fellowships from Kansas to upstate New York bespoke a vital hybrid of evangelical Christianity. While the movement attracted a growing number of church youth, the core of this expansion was rooted in its appeal to those who had been involved in the counterculture and drug culture.
