John L. Meech
- Published in print:
- 2006
- Published Online:
- September 2006
- ISBN:
- 9780195306941
- eISBN:
- 9780199785018
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0195306945.001.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, Theology
The self has become a problem in postmodern thought, and this problem poses a sharp challenge for dialogue between Christians and others who tell different stories of self and community. A healthy ...
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The self has become a problem in postmodern thought, and this problem poses a sharp challenge for dialogue between Christians and others who tell different stories of self and community. A healthy suspicion of the self’s transcendence lets the self approach the other in humility, but what can create the community where the self and other can embrace? Paul was humbled before Christ, yet to embrace the crucified Christ in one community he had to retell his community’s story. Can the Church today repeat Paul’s costly embrace? Paul in Israel’s Story addresses the problem of the self in community in a theological hermeneutics that brings together recent biblical scholarship and constructive theology. Proponents and critics of the new perspective on Paul join philosophers in an ongoing conversation about selfhood. Paul’s story extends Paul Ricoeur’s “hermeneutics of the self” into stories of communities; hermeneutics deepens our sense of Paul’s “I have been crucified with Christ” and “Christ lives in me”. Linking hermeneutics with Paul’s story is a critical engagement with Rudolf Bultmann. Avoiding the stark either/or that can characterize critiques of Bultmann, the book reconceives demythologizing as an ongoing conversation about how to embrace the other from out of the past in one community. It concludes by situating the communal self in a contextual framework built on Jürgen Moltmann’s “community in Christ” and Robert Jenson’s pneumatology. This framework carries communal selfhood into interreligious and ecumenical dialogue, ecclesiology, and pneumatology. Just as retelling Israel’s story challenged Paul’s self-understanding, Paul in Israel’s Story challenges us to risk our reliable understandings of self and community to embrace Christ crucified and the other in Christ.Less
The self has become a problem in postmodern thought, and this problem poses a sharp challenge for dialogue between Christians and others who tell different stories of self and community. A healthy suspicion of the self’s transcendence lets the self approach the other in humility, but what can create the community where the self and other can embrace? Paul was humbled before Christ, yet to embrace the crucified Christ in one community he had to retell his community’s story. Can the Church today repeat Paul’s costly embrace? Paul in Israel’s Story addresses the problem of the self in community in a theological hermeneutics that brings together recent biblical scholarship and constructive theology. Proponents and critics of the new perspective on Paul join philosophers in an ongoing conversation about selfhood. Paul’s story extends Paul Ricoeur’s “hermeneutics of the self” into stories of communities; hermeneutics deepens our sense of Paul’s “I have been crucified with Christ” and “Christ lives in me”. Linking hermeneutics with Paul’s story is a critical engagement with Rudolf Bultmann. Avoiding the stark either/or that can characterize critiques of Bultmann, the book reconceives demythologizing as an ongoing conversation about how to embrace the other from out of the past in one community. It concludes by situating the communal self in a contextual framework built on Jürgen Moltmann’s “community in Christ” and Robert Jenson’s pneumatology. This framework carries communal selfhood into interreligious and ecumenical dialogue, ecclesiology, and pneumatology. Just as retelling Israel’s story challenged Paul’s self-understanding, Paul in Israel’s Story challenges us to risk our reliable understandings of self and community to embrace Christ crucified and the other in Christ.
John L. Meech
- Published in print:
- 2006
- Published Online:
- September 2006
- ISBN:
- 9780195306941
- eISBN:
- 9780199785018
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0195306945.003.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, Theology
After his encounter with the risen Christ, St. Paul had to retell Israel’s story, and in so doing, his own understanding of self and community underwent a profound shift. Is it possible that the ...
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After his encounter with the risen Christ, St. Paul had to retell Israel’s story, and in so doing, his own understanding of self and community underwent a profound shift. Is it possible that the strong tie between Paul’s understanding of self, community, and the community’s story is something we should bracket or, as Rudolf Bultmann says, demythologize? Rather, this book asserts that two conversations in philosophy and theology can mutually contribute to our present understanding of the self in community: Paul Ricoeur’s hermeneutics of the self, and the new perspective debate in biblical studies about the meaning of law, works, faith and justification in St. Paul’s letters. With respect to the first conversation, the chapter places Paul Ricoeur’s hermeneutics of the self in the context of theological debates about selfhood. With respect to the second conversation, the chapter demonstrates how the book’s interpretation of the Pauline texts draws critically from the new perspective studies within a Lutheran framework that is responsive to critics of the new perspective.Less
After his encounter with the risen Christ, St. Paul had to retell Israel’s story, and in so doing, his own understanding of self and community underwent a profound shift. Is it possible that the strong tie between Paul’s understanding of self, community, and the community’s story is something we should bracket or, as Rudolf Bultmann says, demythologize? Rather, this book asserts that two conversations in philosophy and theology can mutually contribute to our present understanding of the self in community: Paul Ricoeur’s hermeneutics of the self, and the new perspective debate in biblical studies about the meaning of law, works, faith and justification in St. Paul’s letters. With respect to the first conversation, the chapter places Paul Ricoeur’s hermeneutics of the self in the context of theological debates about selfhood. With respect to the second conversation, the chapter demonstrates how the book’s interpretation of the Pauline texts draws critically from the new perspective studies within a Lutheran framework that is responsive to critics of the new perspective.
John L. Meech
- Published in print:
- 2006
- Published Online:
- September 2006
- ISBN:
- 9780195306941
- eISBN:
- 9780199785018
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0195306945.003.0002
- Subject:
- Religion, Theology
In order to reconstruct the kind of self presupposed in Paul’s letters, this chapter explores the relation between Pauls self-understanding and the story he tells to identify Israel. As a dyadic ...
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In order to reconstruct the kind of self presupposed in Paul’s letters, this chapter explores the relation between Pauls self-understanding and the story he tells to identify Israel. As a dyadic personality, Paul understands himself in relation to Israel: “I have been crucified with Christ” signifies that Paul has died in Israel. Sacrifice symbolizes the death and resurrection of the sinner; thus, that Christ is a sacrifice means that Israel has passed through death and resurrection in its King, Jesus. Christ can be raised because he goes to the cross anointed with God’s Spirit. Christ is the righteous community in the world that goes into death and rises again. Paul recognizes, in retrospect, that this is the event that “the faith of Abraham” had always anticipated. The Pauline categories of spirit and conscience relate the crucified and resurrected self to the Spirit in the community that dies and rises with Christ.Less
In order to reconstruct the kind of self presupposed in Paul’s letters, this chapter explores the relation between Pauls self-understanding and the story he tells to identify Israel. As a dyadic personality, Paul understands himself in relation to Israel: “I have been crucified with Christ” signifies that Paul has died in Israel. Sacrifice symbolizes the death and resurrection of the sinner; thus, that Christ is a sacrifice means that Israel has passed through death and resurrection in its King, Jesus. Christ can be raised because he goes to the cross anointed with God’s Spirit. Christ is the righteous community in the world that goes into death and rises again. Paul recognizes, in retrospect, that this is the event that “the faith of Abraham” had always anticipated. The Pauline categories of spirit and conscience relate the crucified and resurrected self to the Spirit in the community that dies and rises with Christ.
John L. Meech
- Published in print:
- 2006
- Published Online:
- September 2006
- ISBN:
- 9780195306941
- eISBN:
- 9780199785018
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0195306945.003.0003
- Subject:
- Religion, Theology
Should Paul’s communal sense of self remain in any sense normative for us, or is it simply an outmoded husk we should shell to get at the kernel? This chapter argues, rather, that to embrace Paul as ...
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Should Paul’s communal sense of self remain in any sense normative for us, or is it simply an outmoded husk we should shell to get at the kernel? This chapter argues, rather, that to embrace Paul as another we must take a final detour to the self through community: We must interpret Paul’s horizon, interpret our own horizon, and narrate the continuity between the two as the historical life of one community. The chapter argues that Rudolf Bultmann’s attempt to avoid this detour on appeal to a transcendental self cannot be sustained. Yet two crucial aspects of Bultmann’s work are retrieved: First, a phenomenological account articulates the transcendence of self and other in the encounter with the risen Lord. Second, a variant of demythologizing bridges the gap between Paul’s context and ours — but a demythologizing that invites greater suspicion of our own framework while affirming the work of the Spirit in our community.Less
Should Paul’s communal sense of self remain in any sense normative for us, or is it simply an outmoded husk we should shell to get at the kernel? This chapter argues, rather, that to embrace Paul as another we must take a final detour to the self through community: We must interpret Paul’s horizon, interpret our own horizon, and narrate the continuity between the two as the historical life of one community. The chapter argues that Rudolf Bultmann’s attempt to avoid this detour on appeal to a transcendental self cannot be sustained. Yet two crucial aspects of Bultmann’s work are retrieved: First, a phenomenological account articulates the transcendence of self and other in the encounter with the risen Lord. Second, a variant of demythologizing bridges the gap between Paul’s context and ours — but a demythologizing that invites greater suspicion of our own framework while affirming the work of the Spirit in our community.
Mary Morrissey
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- September 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780199571765
- eISBN:
- 9780191728709
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199571765.003.0001
- Subject:
- Literature, 16th-century and Renaissance Literature, 17th-century and Restoration Literature
This chapter provides an account of the pulpit at Paul’s Cross and the arrangements for having the sermons delivered there. It demonstrates how current assumptions about the institutional stability ...
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This chapter provides an account of the pulpit at Paul’s Cross and the arrangements for having the sermons delivered there. It demonstrates how current assumptions about the institutional stability of this sermon series are mistaken. The physical space occupied by preacher and hearers, the process for appointing preachers, and the arrangements made for paying and accommodating them are explained, using newly discovered materials from the Corporation of London’s archives. The composition of the auditory is described as far as possible. The sum of these details provides us with a clearer sense of the changing reputation of Paul’s Cross as a sermon series from Elizabeth’s reign to the destruction of the pulpit, probably in 1634.Less
This chapter provides an account of the pulpit at Paul’s Cross and the arrangements for having the sermons delivered there. It demonstrates how current assumptions about the institutional stability of this sermon series are mistaken. The physical space occupied by preacher and hearers, the process for appointing preachers, and the arrangements made for paying and accommodating them are explained, using newly discovered materials from the Corporation of London’s archives. The composition of the auditory is described as far as possible. The sum of these details provides us with a clearer sense of the changing reputation of Paul’s Cross as a sermon series from Elizabeth’s reign to the destruction of the pulpit, probably in 1634.
Paul B. Clayton, Jr.
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- September 2007
- ISBN:
- 9780198143987
- eISBN:
- 9780191711497
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198143987.003.0006
- Subject:
- Religion, Early Christian Studies
This chapter begins by looking very briefly at the tenth sermon of Theodoret's on providence. It then examines the Isaiah and Pauline commentaries, the most important regarding the question of ...
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This chapter begins by looking very briefly at the tenth sermon of Theodoret's on providence. It then examines the Isaiah and Pauline commentaries, the most important regarding the question of Theodoret's Christology.Less
This chapter begins by looking very briefly at the tenth sermon of Theodoret's on providence. It then examines the Isaiah and Pauline commentaries, the most important regarding the question of Theodoret's Christology.
Jeffrey S. Sposato
- Published in print:
- 2005
- Published Online:
- May 2008
- ISBN:
- 9780195149746
- eISBN:
- 9780199870783
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195149746.003.0005
- Subject:
- Music, History, Western
This chapter discusses Felix Mendelssohn' first major oratorio, Paulus or St. Paul. First performed in 1836, Paulus demonstrates Mendelssohn's pattern of increasing the anti-Semitic content in his ...
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This chapter discusses Felix Mendelssohn' first major oratorio, Paulus or St. Paul. First performed in 1836, Paulus demonstrates Mendelssohn's pattern of increasing the anti-Semitic content in his early sacred works. Mendelssohn rejected many of the less anti-Semitic suggestions of his libretto contributors Julius Furst, Adolf Bernhard Marx, and Julius Schubring, and modified the Biblical story of St. Paul to depict the Jews in a harsher light. Following the death of Mendelssohn's father, Abraham Mendelssohn, in 1835, Mendelssohn softened the anti-Semitic content of the published version of the score. This suggests that Mendelssohn's fear of his Jewish heritage was instilled in him by his father and lessened after his father's death. The chapter also discusses Mendelssohn's cantata Die erste Walpurgisnacht, which mimics Paulus in glorifying the Germanic gentile (or heathen) heritage.Less
This chapter discusses Felix Mendelssohn' first major oratorio, Paulus or St. Paul. First performed in 1836, Paulus demonstrates Mendelssohn's pattern of increasing the anti-Semitic content in his early sacred works. Mendelssohn rejected many of the less anti-Semitic suggestions of his libretto contributors Julius Furst, Adolf Bernhard Marx, and Julius Schubring, and modified the Biblical story of St. Paul to depict the Jews in a harsher light. Following the death of Mendelssohn's father, Abraham Mendelssohn, in 1835, Mendelssohn softened the anti-Semitic content of the published version of the score. This suggests that Mendelssohn's fear of his Jewish heritage was instilled in him by his father and lessened after his father's death. The chapter also discusses Mendelssohn's cantata Die erste Walpurgisnacht, which mimics Paulus in glorifying the Germanic gentile (or heathen) heritage.
Wm. A. Little
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- September 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780195394382
- eISBN:
- 9780199863556
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195394382.003.0008
- Subject:
- Music, History, Western, Performing Practice/Studies
This chapter shows that Mendelssohn's organ part for St. Paul was the first of five separate organ parts that he composed for his own larger choral works. The other four are Lobgesang (Op. 52, 1840), ...
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This chapter shows that Mendelssohn's organ part for St. Paul was the first of five separate organ parts that he composed for his own larger choral works. The other four are Lobgesang (Op. 52, 1840), Psalm 2 (Op. 78.1, 1843), Psalm 98 (Op. 91, 1843), and Elijah (Op. 70, 1846). The scores for his other choral works, such as Psalm 42 (1839) or Psalm 95 (1839), contain only minimal directions for organ (e.g., “col organo” or “senza organo”).Less
This chapter shows that Mendelssohn's organ part for St. Paul was the first of five separate organ parts that he composed for his own larger choral works. The other four are Lobgesang (Op. 52, 1840), Psalm 2 (Op. 78.1, 1843), Psalm 98 (Op. 91, 1843), and Elijah (Op. 70, 1846). The scores for his other choral works, such as Psalm 42 (1839) or Psalm 95 (1839), contain only minimal directions for organ (e.g., “col organo” or “senza organo”).
Constant J. Mews
- Published in print:
- 2005
- Published Online:
- April 2005
- ISBN:
- 9780195156881
- eISBN:
- 9780199835423
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0195156889.003.0010
- Subject:
- Religion, History of Christianity
Ethics, Sin, and Redemption. This chapter considers Abelard’s reflection on ethical issues in his Collationes, couched in the form of a debate among a philosopher and a Jew and a ...
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Ethics, Sin, and Redemption. This chapter considers Abelard’s reflection on ethical issues in his Collationes, couched in the form of a debate among a philosopher and a Jew and a Christian about the relationship between pagan ethics and Christian faith. It argues that arguments put by the philosopher reflect many of the concerns put by Heloise, to which Abelard sought to find a Christian response. It then looks at Abelard’s commentary on St Paul’s Epistle to the Romans and Expositio in Hexameron, written at the request of Heloise, in terms of Abelard’s evolving interest in the work of both creation and redemption.Less
Ethics, Sin, and Redemption. This chapter considers Abelard’s reflection on ethical issues in his Collationes, couched in the form of a debate among a philosopher and a Jew and a Christian about the relationship between pagan ethics and Christian faith. It argues that arguments put by the philosopher reflect many of the concerns put by Heloise, to which Abelard sought to find a Christian response. It then looks at Abelard’s commentary on St Paul’s Epistle to the Romans and Expositio in Hexameron, written at the request of Heloise, in terms of Abelard’s evolving interest in the work of both creation and redemption.
Michael Patrick Murphy
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- January 2008
- ISBN:
- 9780195333527
- eISBN:
- 9780199868896
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195333527.003.0003
- Subject:
- Religion, Philosophy of Religion
Chapter 3 focuses on Balthasar's theological aesthetics as a well‐articulated critical methodology. Balthasar's fusion of aesthetics with history forges both a Christology and an analogy of being ...
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Chapter 3 focuses on Balthasar's theological aesthetics as a well‐articulated critical methodology. Balthasar's fusion of aesthetics with history forges both a Christology and an analogy of being that is developed in light of that Christology. Balthasar urges us to “see the form [of Christ]” in all manner of being and experience—human activities, natural phenomena, and especially human works of art. “Seeing the form” becomes a central critical and theological hermeneutic; and the chapter cultivates a parallel between “seeing the form” and interpreting, broadly, the “word(s)” of narrative art. The first three sections of the chapter develop an aesthetics of a representative word (in this case, the term “hierarchy”); the last section is an application of what is gleaned from the first three upon Flannery O'Connor's “Revelation.” While a close reading of O'Connor's text serves as a literary exemplum of a Catholic imagination, other poets and authors who demonstrate a similar theological aesthetic are considered in order round out the discussion.Less
Chapter 3 focuses on Balthasar's theological aesthetics as a well‐articulated critical methodology. Balthasar's fusion of aesthetics with history forges both a Christology and an analogy of being that is developed in light of that Christology. Balthasar urges us to “see the form [of Christ]” in all manner of being and experience—human activities, natural phenomena, and especially human works of art. “Seeing the form” becomes a central critical and theological hermeneutic; and the chapter cultivates a parallel between “seeing the form” and interpreting, broadly, the “word(s)” of narrative art. The first three sections of the chapter develop an aesthetics of a representative word (in this case, the term “hierarchy”); the last section is an application of what is gleaned from the first three upon Flannery O'Connor's “Revelation.” While a close reading of O'Connor's text serves as a literary exemplum of a Catholic imagination, other poets and authors who demonstrate a similar theological aesthetic are considered in order round out the discussion.
Gordon D. Fee
- Published in print:
- 2002
- Published Online:
- November 2003
- ISBN:
- 9780199248452
- eISBN:
- 9780191600524
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0199248451.003.0004
- Subject:
- Religion, Theology
Aletti provides complementary studies on St Paul. Fee offers an exegetical/historical re‐examination of Paul's Christology on the question of Christ's incarnation (and pre‐existence) over against ...
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Aletti provides complementary studies on St Paul. Fee offers an exegetical/historical re‐examination of Paul's Christology on the question of Christ's incarnation (and pre‐existence) over against those who either reject or offer a diminished view of these ideas in the apostle's letters. Fee examines four groups of Pauline passages: those that explicitly presuppose the pre‐existence of Christ as the mediator of creation; texts that speak of his ‘impoverishment’ in becoming human; texts that speak of God's sending his Son into the world so as to redeem it; and several passages that emphasize Christ's humanity in a way that seems to presuppose an incarnational Christology. Since Wisdom Christology plays a major role in most versions of Pauline Christology—in support of both traditional and reductive views—a section of this chapter offers a critique of this wisdom analysis.Less
Aletti provides complementary studies on St Paul. Fee offers an exegetical/historical re‐examination of Paul's Christology on the question of Christ's incarnation (and pre‐existence) over against those who either reject or offer a diminished view of these ideas in the apostle's letters. Fee examines four groups of Pauline passages: those that explicitly presuppose the pre‐existence of Christ as the mediator of creation; texts that speak of his ‘impoverishment’ in becoming human; texts that speak of God's sending his Son into the world so as to redeem it; and several passages that emphasize Christ's humanity in a way that seems to presuppose an incarnational Christology. Since Wisdom Christology plays a major role in most versions of Pauline Christology—in support of both traditional and reductive views—a section of this chapter offers a critique of this wisdom analysis.
John Casey
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- February 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780195092950
- eISBN:
- 9780199869732
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195092950.003.0011
- Subject:
- Religion, World Religions
This chapter explores the development of ideas of the afterlife amongt the ancient Egyptians, Mesopotamians, and Jews, including accounts of ascents to heaven. The Mesopotamian earthly paradise ...
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This chapter explores the development of ideas of the afterlife amongt the ancient Egyptians, Mesopotamians, and Jews, including accounts of ascents to heaven. The Mesopotamian earthly paradise (“Dilmun”) and its difference from the Jewish paradise is described. The philosophical Judaism of Philo of Alexandria is outlined. There follows discussion of images of heaven in the sayings and parables of Jesus, and in particular the idea that heaven is within us. St. Paul's account of the spiritual, risen body is discussed, and St. John's account of the descent of the heavenly Jerusalem.Less
This chapter explores the development of ideas of the afterlife amongt the ancient Egyptians, Mesopotamians, and Jews, including accounts of ascents to heaven. The Mesopotamian earthly paradise (“Dilmun”) and its difference from the Jewish paradise is described. The philosophical Judaism of Philo of Alexandria is outlined. There follows discussion of images of heaven in the sayings and parables of Jesus, and in particular the idea that heaven is within us. St. Paul's account of the spiritual, risen body is discussed, and St. John's account of the descent of the heavenly Jerusalem.
Charles M. Stang
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- May 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780199640423
- eISBN:
- 9780191738234
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199640423.001.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, Early Christian Studies, Religion and Literature
This book argues that the pseudonym, Dionysius the Areopagite, and the influence of Paul together constitute the best interpretive lens for understanding the Corpus Dionysiacum [CD]. This book ...
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This book argues that the pseudonym, Dionysius the Areopagite, and the influence of Paul together constitute the best interpretive lens for understanding the Corpus Dionysiacum [CD]. This book demonstrates how Paul in fact animates the entire corpus, that the influence of Paul illuminates such central themes of the CD as hierarchy, theurgy, deification, Christology, affirmation (kataphasis) and negation (apophasis), dissimilar similarities, and unknowing. Most importantly, Paul serves as a fulcrum for the expression of a new theological anthropology, an “apophatic anthropology.” Dionysius figures Paul as the premier apostolic witness to this apophatic anthropology, as the ecstatic lover of the divine who confesses to the rupture of his self and the indwelling of the divine in Gal 2:20: “it is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me.” Building on this notion of apophatic anthropology, the book forwards an explanation for why this sixth‐century author chose to write under an apostolic pseudonym. It argues that the very practice of pseudonymous writing itself serves as an ecstatic devotional exercise whereby the writer becomes split in two and thereby open to the indwelling of the divine. Pseudonymity is on this interpretation integral and internal to the aims of the wider mystical enterprise. Thus this book aims to question the distinction between “theory” and “practice” by demonstrating that negative theology—often figured as a speculative and rarefied theory regarding the transcendence of God—is in fact best understood as a kind of asceticism, a devotional practice aiming for the total transformation of the Christian subject.Less
This book argues that the pseudonym, Dionysius the Areopagite, and the influence of Paul together constitute the best interpretive lens for understanding the Corpus Dionysiacum [CD]. This book demonstrates how Paul in fact animates the entire corpus, that the influence of Paul illuminates such central themes of the CD as hierarchy, theurgy, deification, Christology, affirmation (kataphasis) and negation (apophasis), dissimilar similarities, and unknowing. Most importantly, Paul serves as a fulcrum for the expression of a new theological anthropology, an “apophatic anthropology.” Dionysius figures Paul as the premier apostolic witness to this apophatic anthropology, as the ecstatic lover of the divine who confesses to the rupture of his self and the indwelling of the divine in Gal 2:20: “it is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me.” Building on this notion of apophatic anthropology, the book forwards an explanation for why this sixth‐century author chose to write under an apostolic pseudonym. It argues that the very practice of pseudonymous writing itself serves as an ecstatic devotional exercise whereby the writer becomes split in two and thereby open to the indwelling of the divine. Pseudonymity is on this interpretation integral and internal to the aims of the wider mystical enterprise. Thus this book aims to question the distinction between “theory” and “practice” by demonstrating that negative theology—often figured as a speculative and rarefied theory regarding the transcendence of God—is in fact best understood as a kind of asceticism, a devotional practice aiming for the total transformation of the Christian subject.
Brian Cummings
- Published in print:
- 2002
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198187356
- eISBN:
- 9780191674709
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198187356.003.0010
- Subject:
- Literature, 16th-century and Renaissance Literature, 17th-century and Restoration Literature
This chapter explores the religious writing of John Donne, a figure caught in the crossfire between opposing theologies. Donne's writing from the death of Elizabeth to the eve of the English ...
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This chapter explores the religious writing of John Donne, a figure caught in the crossfire between opposing theologies. Donne's writing from the death of Elizabeth to the eve of the English revolution forms a summary and archetype of English religion in its most difficult century. The chapter starts by presenting Donne's Conversion of St Paul. Campion's Brag and Campion's Bloody Reasons are shown. In addition, the noise of the Holy Sonnets is explained. The dating of the Holy Sonnets has undergone the same vicissitudes as the timing of Donne's conversion: the two have moved hand in hand. The chapter also considers Donne's dangerous question. Donne's writing shows the paradox of religion and literary culture in the wake of Reformation.Less
This chapter explores the religious writing of John Donne, a figure caught in the crossfire between opposing theologies. Donne's writing from the death of Elizabeth to the eve of the English revolution forms a summary and archetype of English religion in its most difficult century. The chapter starts by presenting Donne's Conversion of St Paul. Campion's Brag and Campion's Bloody Reasons are shown. In addition, the noise of the Holy Sonnets is explained. The dating of the Holy Sonnets has undergone the same vicissitudes as the timing of Donne's conversion: the two have moved hand in hand. The chapter also considers Donne's dangerous question. Donne's writing shows the paradox of religion and literary culture in the wake of Reformation.
Mary Morrissey
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- September 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780199571765
- eISBN:
- 9780191728709
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199571765.001.0001
- Subject:
- Literature, 16th-century and Renaissance Literature, 17th-century and Restoration Literature
Scholars do not contest that English Reformation culture centred on ‘the word preached’; that before the advent of newsbooks, sermons were the primary means available for shaping public opinion; or ...
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Scholars do not contest that English Reformation culture centred on ‘the word preached’; that before the advent of newsbooks, sermons were the primary means available for shaping public opinion; or that the sermons of men like Lancelot Andrewes and John Donne were valued as literary works of the highest order. Throughout the Reformation period, England’s most important public pulpit was Paul’s Cross, which stood in the churchyard of St Paul’s Cathedral in London. This book offers a detailed history of the Paul’s Cross sermons from the reign of Elizabeth I until the destruction of the pulpit under Charles I. It explains the arrangement for the sermons’ delivery and the tensions between the different authorities (the royal government, the bishops of London, and the Corporation of London) who controlled them. The increasing role that the Paul’s Cross sermons played in London’s civic culture after the Reformation is discussed, and an account is given of the narrowing of the sermons’ audience in the years preceding the English Civil War. This book explores early modern English homiletics, so that preachers’ adaptation of sermon genres to suit sermons on religious controversies or on political anniversaries (such as 5 November) can be described. The relationship between the different textual forms in which sermons are preserved is considered. This is an interdisciplinary study of England’s most significant sermon series, and will be of interest to early modern historians and literary critics.Less
Scholars do not contest that English Reformation culture centred on ‘the word preached’; that before the advent of newsbooks, sermons were the primary means available for shaping public opinion; or that the sermons of men like Lancelot Andrewes and John Donne were valued as literary works of the highest order. Throughout the Reformation period, England’s most important public pulpit was Paul’s Cross, which stood in the churchyard of St Paul’s Cathedral in London. This book offers a detailed history of the Paul’s Cross sermons from the reign of Elizabeth I until the destruction of the pulpit under Charles I. It explains the arrangement for the sermons’ delivery and the tensions between the different authorities (the royal government, the bishops of London, and the Corporation of London) who controlled them. The increasing role that the Paul’s Cross sermons played in London’s civic culture after the Reformation is discussed, and an account is given of the narrowing of the sermons’ audience in the years preceding the English Civil War. This book explores early modern English homiletics, so that preachers’ adaptation of sermon genres to suit sermons on religious controversies or on political anniversaries (such as 5 November) can be described. The relationship between the different textual forms in which sermons are preserved is considered. This is an interdisciplinary study of England’s most significant sermon series, and will be of interest to early modern historians and literary critics.
CAROL HARRISON
- Published in print:
- 1992
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198263425
- eISBN:
- 9780191682544
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198263425.003.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, Theology, History of Christianity
This chapter introduces the fall of man, using the metaphor from George Herbert's The Elixir of when one is looking into a mirror. Augustine makes this distinction: St Paul's looking into a mirror is ...
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This chapter introduces the fall of man, using the metaphor from George Herbert's The Elixir of when one is looking into a mirror. Augustine makes this distinction: St Paul's looking into a mirror is an act of discernment, an attempt to make out the shapes and forms in the mirror and grasp what they signify. This looking through cloudiness and obscurity to make out shapes and forms is, for Augustine, a powerful metaphor of human life following the Fall. The vision of Divine Beauty, which man has lost, can also be grasped in the mirror of created reality, albeit obscured by a veil of temporality and corporeity. This is most especially the case with the revelation of divine beauty within that realm, which serves to reform deformed or ugly man by inspiring his faith, hope, and love, not simply to look at it, but in and through it.Less
This chapter introduces the fall of man, using the metaphor from George Herbert's The Elixir of when one is looking into a mirror. Augustine makes this distinction: St Paul's looking into a mirror is an act of discernment, an attempt to make out the shapes and forms in the mirror and grasp what they signify. This looking through cloudiness and obscurity to make out shapes and forms is, for Augustine, a powerful metaphor of human life following the Fall. The vision of Divine Beauty, which man has lost, can also be grasped in the mirror of created reality, albeit obscured by a veil of temporality and corporeity. This is most especially the case with the revelation of divine beauty within that realm, which serves to reform deformed or ugly man by inspiring his faith, hope, and love, not simply to look at it, but in and through it.
John G. Gager
- Published in print:
- 2002
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780195150858
- eISBN:
- 9780199849307
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195150858.003.0003
- Subject:
- Religion, Biblical Studies
A wide range of topics including St. Paul's conversion or commission to be an apostle of Christ needs to be considered in order to understand the origins and the persistence of the traditional view ...
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A wide range of topics including St. Paul's conversion or commission to be an apostle of Christ needs to be considered in order to understand the origins and the persistence of the traditional view on St. Paul. This chapter discusses St. Paul's troubled career as an apostle, the role of his letters in the New Testament and their influence on later Christian theology, and the interpretive assumption of modern critics. The traditional position regarding St. Paul has been thoroughly explored. It was argued by some that it is self-defeating to give so much attention to views that one is seeking to undermine. But it is not enough just to put forward a new position, especially a radical one. Gentiles turn out to be the pivotal issue in the more far-reaching revisions of the traditional Paul.Less
A wide range of topics including St. Paul's conversion or commission to be an apostle of Christ needs to be considered in order to understand the origins and the persistence of the traditional view on St. Paul. This chapter discusses St. Paul's troubled career as an apostle, the role of his letters in the New Testament and their influence on later Christian theology, and the interpretive assumption of modern critics. The traditional position regarding St. Paul has been thoroughly explored. It was argued by some that it is self-defeating to give so much attention to views that one is seeking to undermine. But it is not enough just to put forward a new position, especially a radical one. Gentiles turn out to be the pivotal issue in the more far-reaching revisions of the traditional Paul.
William Oddie
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780199582013
- eISBN:
- 9780191702303
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199582013.003.0003
- Subject:
- Religion, Religion and Literature
This chapter focuses on Chesterton's school days. It is uncertain when these began. When, later, he went on to St Paul's School, he was in the same class as boys who were mostly one or two years his ...
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This chapter focuses on Chesterton's school days. It is uncertain when these began. When, later, he went on to St Paul's School, he was in the same class as boys who were mostly one or two years his junior: this may indicate that it was later than was normal — perhaps when he was around nine years old — that he was sent to Colet House. While in school, Gilbert showed resistance to being taught by others despite his fascination with the world of books and interest in ideas. In his 16th year he founded the Junior Debating Club together with his two closest friends, an event of crucial importance to his intellectual development.Less
This chapter focuses on Chesterton's school days. It is uncertain when these began. When, later, he went on to St Paul's School, he was in the same class as boys who were mostly one or two years his junior: this may indicate that it was later than was normal — perhaps when he was around nine years old — that he was sent to Colet House. While in school, Gilbert showed resistance to being taught by others despite his fascination with the world of books and interest in ideas. In his 16th year he founded the Junior Debating Club together with his two closest friends, an event of crucial importance to his intellectual development.
Richard Parish
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- September 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780199596669
- eISBN:
- 9780191729126
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199596669.003.0005
- Subject:
- Religion, Church History
The chapter is again divided into two parts. The first deals with the question of rhetoric and pulpit oratory, as successive generations of Christian teachers grapple with the inadequacies of ...
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The chapter is again divided into two parts. The first deals with the question of rhetoric and pulpit oratory, as successive generations of Christian teachers grapple with the inadequacies of “fallen” language, and do so in distinction to the simplicity and eloquence of Christ and the apostles. The notorious wager fragment of Pascal is examined in this perspective, as well as the extensive corpus of pulpit oratory delivered by Bossuet, in particular with reference to the model of St Paul. The second part explores the manifestations of divine utterance recorded in the spiritual autobiographers of the period, whose exponents claim not only to write under inspiration, but indeed to receive direct communication from God.Less
The chapter is again divided into two parts. The first deals with the question of rhetoric and pulpit oratory, as successive generations of Christian teachers grapple with the inadequacies of “fallen” language, and do so in distinction to the simplicity and eloquence of Christ and the apostles. The notorious wager fragment of Pascal is examined in this perspective, as well as the extensive corpus of pulpit oratory delivered by Bossuet, in particular with reference to the model of St Paul. The second part explores the manifestations of divine utterance recorded in the spiritual autobiographers of the period, whose exponents claim not only to write under inspiration, but indeed to receive direct communication from God.
John G. Gager
- Published in print:
- 2002
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780195150858
- eISBN:
- 9780199849307
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195150858.003.0002
- Subject:
- Religion, Biblical Studies
This chapter presents traditional views regarding St. Paul. The German historian Adolf Harnack summarizes the traditional view of Paul: his gospel stands in opposition to the law; his Christianity is ...
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This chapter presents traditional views regarding St. Paul. The German historian Adolf Harnack summarizes the traditional view of Paul: his gospel stands in opposition to the law; his Christianity is the antithesis of Judaism. Paul's conversion to Christianity forms an integral part of his tradition view. The use of the term Christianity is problematic for Paul because he himself never used the term in any form. Perhaps it could never be known what led Paul to persecute the church so violently. Some have suggested that it was the very idea of a crucified messiah that was found to be offensive.Less
This chapter presents traditional views regarding St. Paul. The German historian Adolf Harnack summarizes the traditional view of Paul: his gospel stands in opposition to the law; his Christianity is the antithesis of Judaism. Paul's conversion to Christianity forms an integral part of his tradition view. The use of the term Christianity is problematic for Paul because he himself never used the term in any form. Perhaps it could never be known what led Paul to persecute the church so violently. Some have suggested that it was the very idea of a crucified messiah that was found to be offensive.
