Christologische Schriftargumentation und Bildersprache : zum konflikt zwischen Metapherninterpretation und dogmatischen Schriftbeweistraditionen in der patristischen Auslegung des...
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This volume examines the early Church's methods of theological argumentation concerning the metaphorical texts of the Bible. Ps 45 presents some of the oldest biblical evidence for the divinity of Christ and was often cited in christological and trinitarian controversies. In the 4th century the conflict between the traditional interpretation of the Church and linguistic methods erupted. In the course of the debate with Arian exegesis the significance of metaphor and the possibility of speaking of God were conceived anew. This study is based on dogmatic, exegetical and spiritual texts ranging from Justin to Cyril of Alexandria and Theodoret of Cyrus. It shows how the various forms of argumentation interact: how scholarly theology was mediated through preaching, and pastoral and catechetical interests affected christological reflection.
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1 online resource (xxi, 438 pages) :
Includes bibliographical references (p. 415-428) and indexes. :
9789004312937 :
0920-623X ; :
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The dyophysite christology of Cyril of Alexandria /
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The formula 'one incarnate nature of the Word of God' has often been depicted as a summary of Cyril of Alexandria's (ca 378-444) christology. But no systematic study into his christological works has been published. Besides, there is no consensus regarding the meaning of the key terms and expressions in these works. This book addresses this deficiency by an integral investigation of the archbishop's christological writings during the first two years of the Nestorian controversy, and comes to the conclusion that his christology is basically dyophysite. This re-appraisal of his christology bears on the understanding of the Council of Chalcedon and on contemporary ecumenical relations, especially those between the Eastern Orthodox and the Oriental Orthodox.
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1 online resource (xvi, 626 pages) :
Includes bibliographical references (p. 582-603) and indexes. :
9789047426691 :
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Basil of Caesarea's anti-Eunomian theory of names : Christian theology and late-antique philosophy in the fourth century trinitarian controversy /
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Basil of Caesarea's debate with Eunomius of Cyzicus in the early 360s marks a turning point in the fourth-century Trinitarian controversies. It shifted focus to methodological and epistemological disputes underlying theological differences. This monograph explores one of these fundamental points of contention: the proper theory of names. It offers a revisionist interpretation of Eunomius's theory as a corrective to previous approaches, contesting the widespread assumption that it is indebted to Platonist sources and showing that it was developed by drawing upon proximate Christian sources. While Eunomius held that names uniquely predicated of God communicated the divine essence, in response Basil developed a "notionalist" theory wherein all names signify primarily notions and secondarily properties, not essence.
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Revision of the author's thesis (Ph. D.)--Emory University, 2009. :
1 online resource (xiv, 300 pages) :
Includes bibliographical references (p. 267-284) and indexes. :
9789004189102 :
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Marriage in the Western Church : the Christianization of marriage during the patristic and early medieval periods /
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Marriage in the Western Church examines how marriage acquired a specifically Christian identity in the Western Church from the patristic through Carolingian periods. It shows how theologians came to regard marriage as an ecclesiastical institution and how they developed a Christian theology of marriage. The first part of the book deals with marriage and divorce in Roman and Germanic law. Other parts deal with marriage and divorce in ecclesiastical law, with the Latin Fathers' distinction between the divine and human laws of marriage, and with the customary stages by which persons became married. Several chapters are devoted to Augustine's views on marriage and sexuality. The author shows how the doctrine of indissolubility became the West's chief means of christianizing marriage, and how theologians found here their preferred arguments for affirming the holiness and the 'sacramentality' of marriage. The author argues that the Western regime of indissolubility was the product of a fourth century reform movement. This publication has also been published in paperback, please click here for details.
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1 online resource (xxx, 436 pages) :
Includes bibliographical references (p. 420-427) and index. :
9789004312913 :
0920-623X ; :
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Ibn Taymiyya's theodicy of perpetual optimism /
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The Muslim jurist Ibn Taymiyya (d. 1328) is famous for polemic against Islamic philosophy, theology and rationalizing mysticism, but his positive theological contribution has not been well understood. This comprehensive study of Ibn Taymiyya's theodicy helps to rectify this lack. Exposition and analysis of Ibn Taymiyya's writings on God's justice and wise purpose, divine determination and human agency, the problem of evil, and juristic method in theological doctrine show that he articulates a theodicy of optimism in which God in His essence perpetually wills the best possible world from eternity. This sets Ibn Taymiyya's theodicy apart from Ashʿarī divine voluntarism, the free-will theodicy of the Muʿtazilīs, and the essentially timeless God of other optimists like Ibn Sīnā and Ibn ʿArabī.
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Originally presented as the author's thesis (Ph. D.--University of Birmingham, 2002) under the title: An Islamic theodicy : Ibn Taymiyya on the wise purpose of God, human agency, and problems of evil and justice. :
1 online resource (xii, 270 pages) :
Includes bibliographical references and index. :
9789047420194 :
0169-8729 ; :
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The church as paradise and the way therein : early Christian appropriation of Genesis 3:22-24 /
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In The Church as Paradise and the Way Therein: Early Christian Appropriation of Genesis 3:22-24 , Christopher A. Graham demonstrates that early Christian authors employed the words "paradise" and "way" as allusions to the expulsion narrative (Genesis 3:22-24) to signify that the benefits available in protological Paradise were once again accessible in and through Jesus and the Church. The centrality of the expulsion narrative in their literary milieus gave these authors confidence that readers would discern these allusions. After considering the reception of the expulsion in texts circulating within the early Christian milieu, Graham turns to the texts of Luke and Irenaeus of Lyons. Both authors drew from an interpretive tradition in which a return to Paradise was desirable. Both celebrated Jesus's reversal of Adam's expulsion and the constitution of Jesus's followers as the location and means by which humanity could continue to access divine truth and life. For both authors, the Church is Paradise and the way therein.
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1 online resource. :
Includes bibliographical references and index. :
9789004342088 :
1542-1295 ; :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
Der Paradox Eine : antignostischer Monarchianismus im zweiten Jahrhundert /
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These essays propose a new dating of, and historical setting for the letters of \'Ignatius of Antioch\'. In so doing this volume forms an important contribution to the study of Monarchianism and early church history as well. An examination of the fragments of Noëtus of Smyrna, the founder of Monarchianism, leads to the discovery of the oldest Regula fidei , and of its origin as part of anti-gnostic polemics. On the ground of late second-century parallels, especially Melito and Irenaeus, this Regula can be dated between 160 and 180 CE. It is within this context that the so-called Letters of Ignatius fit seamlessly. As a result of these findings this volume argues for a significant revision of our understanding of early church history. Monarchianism (\'Sabellianism\', \'Patripassianism\'), later considered heretical, is shown to have been the almost universally accepted belief within the Church up to the period of the Roman bishops Zephyrinus and Callistus.
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1 online resource (xviii, 332 pages) :
Includes bibliographical references (p. 317-332) and index. :
9789004313163 :
0920-623X ; :
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Portraits of spiritual authority : religious power in early Christianity, Byzantium, and the Christian Orient /
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This volume deals with several figures of spiritual authority in Christianity during late antiquity and the early middle ages, and seeks to illuminate the way in which the struggle for religious influence evolved with changes in church and society. A number of literary portraits are examined, portraits which, in various literary genres, are themselves designed to establish and propagate the authority of the people whose lives and activities they describe. The sequence begins with visionary and prophetic figures of the second and third centuries, proceeds through several testimonies from the fourth century to the power of holy persons, moves on to Syriac portraits of the fifth to seventh centuries, and ends with the demise of the authority of the holy man in the eighth.
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1 online resource (xiii, 227 pages) :
Includes bibliographical references and index. :
9789004295919 :
0927-7633 ; :
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Paul's glory-christology : tradition and rhetoric /
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In 1927 C.A.A. Scott, while commenting on the apostle Paul's Christology, remarked that the \'history of the word Glory in the Bible has yet to be written.\' By using methodology developed in semantics, semiotics, and, more generally, literary theory, Newman examines the origin and rhetoric of Paul's Glory-Christology. The investigation involves three distinct tasks: (1) to plot the tradition-history of Glory which formed part of Paul's linguistic world, (2) to examine Paul's letter, in light of the reconstructed tradition-history of Glory, in order to discern the rationale of Paul's identification of Christ as Glory and, (3) to map out the implications of such an identification for Paul's theological and rhetorical strategy. On the basis of this study, four conclusions are reached for understanding Paul. First, Paul inherited a symbolic universe with signs already \'full\' of signification. Second, knowing the (diachronically acquired) connotative range of a \'surface\' symbol (e.g. Glory) aids in discerning Paul's precise contingent strategy. Third, knowing the \'surface\' symbol's referential power defines and contributes to the \'deeper structure\' of Paul's theological grammar. Finally, the heuristic power within the construals of the Glory tradition coalesce in Paul's Christophany and thus provide coherence at the \'deepest\' level of Paul's Christology.
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Revision of the author's thesis (Ph. D.)--Baylor University, 1989. :
1 online resource (xvi, 305 pages) :
Includes bibliographical references (p. 248-281) and indexes. :
9789004267022 :
0167-9732 ; :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
Angelomorphic pneumatology : Clement of Alexandria and other early Christian witnesses /
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This book discusses the occurrence of angelic imagery in early Christian discourse about the Holy Spirit. Taking as its entry-point Clement of Alexandria's less explored writings, Excerpta ex Theodoto, Eclogae propheticae, and Adumbrationes, it shows that Clement's angelomorphic pneumatology occurs in tandem with spirit christology, within a theological framework still characterized by a binitarian orientation. This complex theological articulation, supported by the exegesis of specific biblical passages (Zech 4: 10; Isa 11 : 2-3; Matt 18:10), reworks Jewish and Christian traditions about the seven first-created angels, and constitutes a relatively widespread phenomenon in early Christianity. Evidence to support this claim is presented in the course of separate studies of Revelation, the Shepherd of Hermas, Justin Martyr, and Aphrahat.
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1 online resource (xxix, 232 pages) :
Includes bibliographical references (p. 195-215) and indexes. :
9789047444480 :
0920-623X ; :
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Demons and the Devil in ancient and medieval Christianity /
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This collection of essays approaches the role of demons and the devil in ancient and medieval Christianity from a variety of scholarly perspectives: historical, philosophical, and theological as well as philological, liturgical, and theoretical. In the opening article Gerd Theissen presents a wide-ranging overview of the role of the devil, spanning the Hebrew Bible, the New Testament, and patristic literature. The contributions that follow address texts on the devil, demons, and evil, and are drawn from ancient philosophy, the New Testament, early Christian apologetics, hagiography, and history. Covering primarily the patristic period, the volume also contains articles on medieval sources. The introduction discusses the different angles of approach found in the articles in an effort to shed fresh light on this familiar but also uniquely troubling theme.
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Based on a conference held Oct. 6-7, 2006 in Heeze, Netherlands. :
1 online resource (xii, 257 pages) :
Includes bibliographical references and index. :
9789004208056 :
0920-623X ; :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
The ideal of the self-governing church : a study in Victorian missionary strategy /
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It is part of current missiological orthodoxy that newly created churches should obtain independence from cross-cultural missionaries as soon as possible. It is not often realised that much Victorian missionary thinking shared that objective. This important new work examines the ideal of the self-governing church in the Victorian period through a study of the official mind of the Church Missionary Society. The study begins with an examination of Henry Venn's, the famous CMS Secretary, commitment to self-supporting, self-propagating and self-governing churches. Was he a lonely figure battling against the accepted wisdom of the mid-Victorian period? The author argues that he was not, and was, if anything a slightly conservative spokesman for much current wisdom. Far from his views being abandoned at his death, they were the accepted orthodoxy within CMS until the end of the century. Although they came under increasing attack in the nineties, it was not until the beginning of the twentieth century, particularly under the influence of Eugune Stock, that they were finally abandoned. The importance of this study lies not only in its ability to explain Victorian missionary development, but also because it takes on board the age-old issue of how quickly should a church become self-governing.
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1 online resource (xv, 293 pages) :
Includes bibliographical references (p. 265-284) and index. :
9789004319837 :
0924-9389 ; :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
Theoria-Unendlichkeit-Aufstieg : philosophische Implikationen zu "De vita Moysis" von Gregor von Nyssa /
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The relationship between theology and philosophy in Gregory of Nyssa's thought is a subject of great controversy. This study on one of Gregory's key writings does not however focus on the study of the source material, but discusses instead the philosophical implications of Gregory's ideas. Thus it is possible to place Gregory's principles in a broader context while maintaining the differences with philosophy. In the first part of the work, the Prooemium of the De Vita Moysis is examined. Following the classical rhetorical tradition, Gregory here starts off with the central themes of the entire work. The second part is devoted to the concept of theoria . This is explored through discussions of the eternity of God, \'language theory\', human striving towards God, and biblical interpretation. In the last chapter these structures of the notion of theoria are further examined in the light of the theophany in the De Vita Moysis .
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1 online resource (xii, 348 pages) :
Includes bibliographical references (p. 277-317) and indexes. :
9789004313026 :
0920-623X ; :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
Angelomorphic christology : antecedents and early evidence /
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This study demonstrates that angel and angel-related traditions, especially those growing from the so-called "Angel of the Lord" in the Hebrew Bible, had a significant impact on the origins and early development of Christology to the point that an Angelomorphic Christology is discernable in several first century texts. Significant effort is given to tracing the antecedents of this Christology in the angels and divine hypostases of the Hebrew Bible and Second Temple Jewish literature. The primary content of this volume is the presentation of pre-150 CE textual evidence of Angelomorphic Christology. This religio-historical study does not spawn a new Christology among the many scholarly "Christologies" already extant. Instead, it shows the interrelationship of various Christological trajectories and their adaptation from Jewish angelomorphic traditions.
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1 online resource (xvi, 403 pages) :
Includes bibliographical references (p. 352-370) and indexes. :
9789004332447 :
0169-734X ; :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
Die Lehre von der Oikonomia Gottes in der Oratio catechetica Gregors von Nyssa /
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This volume deals with Gregory of Nyssa's († 394 C.E.) soteriology as set forth in his handbook for catechetes. In part I-III the aim, method and structure of the Oratio catechetica are examined and the results are compared with Gregory's examples (Origen, Athanasius). Part IV presents the relationship between his theology ( theologia ) and soteriology ( oikonomia ) as well as the interrelated topics of that soteriology, thus describing the concept of oikonomia in the Oratio catechetica . Part V contrasts this concept with earlier works of Gregory and shows the developments of his thought. Part VI compares the teachings of Gregory with those of Methodius and Athanasius. The book is important for all those interested in early Christian thought and literature.
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Originally presented as the author's thesis, Göttingen, 1993. :
1 online resource (x, 339 pages) :
Includes bibliographical references (p. 323-336) and indexes. :
9789004312975 :
0920-623X ; :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
Knowledge of God in the Graeco-Roman world /
: Papers presented at an international symposium at the University of Utrecht, 1986 on the occasion of the University's 350th anniversary. : 1 online resource (vi, 290 pages) : Includes bibliographical references and indexes. : 9789004296671 : 0531-1950 ; : Available to subscribing member institutions only.
Julian von Aeclanum - Ad Florum liber primus : Text, Übersetzung und Kommentar /
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In diesem Buch analysiert Veronika Müller Julians Werk Ad Florum 1 , das durch Augustinus im Contra Iulianum opus imperfectum ausführlich zitiert und kommentiert wurde. Ad Florum 1 wird erstmalig in einem zusammenhängenden Textfluss ohne Augustins Kommentare, mit einer deutschen Übersetzung und einem Kommentar dargeboten. Die wichtigsten Erkenntnisse sind in der Hinführung gesammelt, die dem Leser eine gute Orientierung für die Interpretation des lateinischen Textes ermöglicht. Veronika Müller erhellt mit ihrer Untersuchung den literarischen und philosophisch-theologischen Kontext von Julians Werk und rückt insbesondere Julians rhetorisch-argumentative Vorgehensweise ins Zentrum der Betrachtung. In this volume Veronika Müller examines Julian's work Ad Florum 1 , which is both quoted and commented by Augustine in his Contra Iulianum opus imperfectum. For the first time, Ad Florum 1 is offered in continuous text without Augustine's comments, including a German translation and with a commentary. The most important findings are collected in the introduction providing the reader with a compass to the interpretation of the Latin text. With her analysis, Veronika Müller illuminates the literary and philosophical-theological context of Julian's work particularly focusing on Julian's rhetorical-argumentative approach.
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1 online resource. :
Includes bibliographical references and index. :
9789004510692
9789004510500
Origen : philosophy of history and eschatology /
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A common accusation made against Origen is that he dissolves history into intellectual abstraction and that his eschatology (if this is recognized at all) is notoriously obscure. In this new work, the author draws on an impressive range of bibliography to consider Origen's Philosophy of History and Eschatology in the widest context of facts, documents and streams of thought, including Classical and Late Antiquity Greek Philosophy, Gnosticism, Hebraism and Patristic Thought, both before Origen and well after his death. Against claims that he causes history to evaporate into barren idealism, his thought is shown to be firmly grounded on his particular vision of historical occurences. Confronting assertions that Origen has no eschatological ideas, his eschatology is shown rather to have made a distinctive mark throughout his works, both explicitly and tacitly. In Origen's view, history was the foundation of scriptural interpretation, a teleological process determined by factors and functions such as providence - prophecy - promise - expectation - realization - anticipation - faith - anticipation - hope - awaiting for - fulfilment - end . Since 1986, the author has argued for the unpopular thesis that Origen is, in many respects, an anti-Platonist. Nevertheless, the author casts light upon the Aristotelian rationale of Origen's doctrine of apokatastasis , arguing that its validity is bolstered by ontological rather than historical premises. The extent of Origen's influence upon what is currently regarded as 'orthodoxy' turns out to be far wider and more profound than has hitherto been acknowledged.
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1 online resource (xvii, 498 pages) :
Includes bibliographical references (p. 439-460) and indexes. :
9789047428695 :
0920-623X ; :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
The Didache in modern research /
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This volume makes available a collection of the most important and influential modern articles on the Didache or Teaching of the Twelve Apostles , many of them appearing in English for the first time. Leading Jewish and Christian scholars in the field represented in the volume include G. Alon, J-P. Audet, E. Bammel, J. Betz, J.A. Draper, D. Flusser, A. de Halleux, E. Mazza, K. Niederwimmer, W. Rordorf, G. Schöllgen, H.R. Seeliger and C.M. Tuckett. Essays included provide a representative sample of most aspects of study of this first-century Christian writing, documenting an increasing scholarly interest in its importance for the understanding of Christian origins. The editor provides an extensive review of scholarship on the Didache in the past fifty years, outlining its major trends and implications.
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1 online resource (xviii, 445 pages) :
Includes bibliographical references (p. 383-412) and indexes. :
9789004332492 :
0169-734X ; :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
The apostolic age in patristic thought /
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This volume deals with how Christians of the first centuries looked back on the period of the nascent Church. Thanks to the incomparable stature of its founder, Jesus Christ, who had descended from heaven and commissioned his Apostles, this period was authorative for all Christians in matters of doctrine, institutions, rites and morality, a new phenomenon in the Graeco-Roman world. Its implications are explored in sixteen essays dealing with various subjects such as liturgy, the canon of Scriptures, the role of miracles, art, monasticism, and ministry. All contributions, taking into account both the views of individual Church fathers and Gnostic and Manichaean texts, make a large amount of primary material available.
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1 online resource (xi, 257 pages) : illustrations. :
Includes bibliographical references and indexes. :
9789047404293 :
0920-623X ; :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.