Rozprawy doktorskie na temat „Christian history”

Carl Bear This study considers the ways in which the complex debates about appropriate Christian funeral practices in late fourth-century Antioch indicated some of the ways in which Christians' ritual practices embodied their theological beliefs and enacted their religious identities. Sources used to study Christian funerals include the homilies of John Chrysostom, the orations of Libanius, the church order known as Apostolic Constitutions , the historiographic and hagiographic work of Theodoret, and archaeological remains. The analysis of the sources utilizes methods of liturgical history that focus on the perspectives and experiences of ordinary worshipers, and attends to the biases and limitations inherent in the historical record. It also places Christian funeral practices in the context of larger questions surrounding religious identity and ritual in Antioch, especially within the Christian cult of the saints and eucharistic liturgies.

Ordinary Christians and church leaders in fourth-century Antioch had different ideas about how to Christianize their funerals. Criticism from church authorities that Christians' funeral practices were inconsistent with Christian faith in the resurrection were one-sided. Instead, it seems that ordinary Christians had their own ideas about appropriate ways to care for their dead ritually. Especially in the case of mourning and other contested practices, Christians were giving expression to their human emotions of bereavement, loss, and concern for the dead in culturally prescribed ways. Church leaders, such as John Chrysostom., however, desired Christian funeral practices that exhibited fewer cultural influences and that distinctly demonstrated Christian belief in the resurrection in all aspects of the ritual.

All women, including Christian women, are susceptible to the diet industry’s selling of thin bodies as a commodity and media portrayals of thin women as desirable and successful. Overall, diet books are the most popular category of nonfiction, worth over $1.2 billion annually as of 2005. Evangelical Christian women believe they are obeying God’s will when they follow a Christian diet, but in reality they are subscribing to and perpetuating the prevailing American culture of thinness. The popularity of Christian diet books began in post-World War II America and continues today. They propose to solve the problem of women’s dissatisfaction with their bodies by offering diets based on Biblical teachings and Christian beliefs. This paper examines five Christian diet books published between 1957 and 2013: Pray Your Weight Away; First Place; The Weigh Down Diet; What Would Jesus Eat? The Ultimate Program for Eating Well, Feeling Great, and Living Longer; and The Daniel Plan: 40 Days to a Healthier Life. As long as the culture of thinness is an integral part of American society, there will be a market for diet books, and among evangelical Christian women for Christian diet books. This phenomenon is pernicious because it damages women’s self-assurance and alters their beliefs about the way they appear to the world.

This dissertation draws on recent historical-critical research into ancient Jewish temple theology, the priestly book of Leviticus, and especially the Yom Kippur liturgy of Leviticus 16, to develop a more paradoxical interpretation of Christ?s saving work for modern Christian systematic theology. Prompted by the pioneering research of Jacob Milgrom, there has been a surge in sympathetic interpretations of the priestly theological tradition, which has inspired fresh interpretations of the Levitical Day of Atonement. I argue that an adequate Christian theory of atonement must be attentive to both the overall ?landscape? of Jewish biblical thought, and to the specific rhythm of the Yom Kippur liturgy, which clearly distinguishes the ?work? of two goats?one elected to be a spotless sacrifice, the other called to bear the sins of Israel into the wilderness. Christian theology should observe this distinction within the united saving work of Jesus Christ. Yet modern interpretations of the cross often implicitly emphasize one ?goat? or the other. For example, we find a ?goat for the Lord? soteriology in the Anselmian satisfaction tradition, which has been beautifully rearticulated by David Bentley Hart; here Christ?s spotless sacrificial obedience recapitulates creation done well. In the controversial ?descent to hell? theology of Hans Urs von Balthasar, on the other hand, there is a ?goat for Azazel? soteriology; here Christ as the sin-bearing goat removes impurity to the furthest possible distance from the Father through his saving descent. By seeing Christ as fulfilling the work of both goats in his single act of cruciform love, the Catholic tradition can better draw on the ancient Jewish insight that atonement requires a unifying movement toward the center, to the holy of holies, as well as a removal of sin to the far periphery, the godforsaken exilic wilderness. This work is rooted in the conviction that, first, Christian theology should always honor, and remain in deep conversation with, its Jewish roots, and second, that advances in historical-critical research should be utilized to cultivate a modern theological interpretation of scripture, all in the service of a richer, more ecumenical understanding of the basic paradoxes of Catholic soteriology.

In a letter from July 21, 1840, Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy (1809–1847) shared with his friend Karl Klingemann that in his Symphony No. 2 in B-flat Major, the Lobgesang, “all the movements, vocal and instrumental, are composed to the words ‘Everything that breathes, praise the Lord’; you understand that the instruments first praise in their own way, and then the chorus and the individual voices.” This tantalizing passage is not a direct profession of faith, but the language of praising God through music does raise questions about Mendelssohn’s personal religious philosophy. The topic of Mendelssohn’s faith has been the subject of much speculation; some have assumed as the grandson of eighteenth-century Jewish philosopher Moses Mendelssohn, he ought to be considered Jewish, while others, such as R. Larry Todd, have posited that “despite a willingness to compose sacred music for different faiths, in his personal convictions Mendelssohn adhered to the Protestant creed.”

Mendelssohn’s Lobgesang contains evidence of his deeply-held Protestant identity. Its “motto” theme appears at the beginning, middle, and end of Lobgesang. The first time with instruments alone; the second time sung with the text, “Alles, was odem hat, lobe den Herrn” (“Everything that breathes, praise the Lord,” Psalm 150:6), and lastly, at the end of the work, by the instruments alone, suggesting the associated text even though it is not uttered aloud. Combining this cyclical quality with the appearance of self-quotations and the Christo-centric thrust of the rest of Lobgesang’s text, we are invited to view Lobgesang as a lens through which to view other works as having been composed for the glory of God—specifically, the God Mendelssohn knew from a Protestant perspective.

This paper contributes to the ongoing discussion about the relationship between music and identity, with a focus also placed on the continuing conversation about musical quotation and reference.

For eight centuries, from 711 until 1492, a unique combination of political, cultural, and faith traditions coexisted in the mostly southern region of the Iberian Peninsula now called Spain. From the thirteenth century through the fifteenth century, two key production centers of luster glazed ceramics emerged in this region: Islamic-ruled Málaga and Christian-ruled Valencia. Muslim artisans using Islamic decorative motifs on reflective luster glaze ceramics created objects that patrons, including nobility and Christian royalty, clamored to collect. Initially, traditional Islamic decorative motifs dominated luster glazed ceramic production by Muslim artisans in Málaga; eventually, these artisans used combinations of Islamic and Christian motifs. As wars raged near Málaga, Muslim artisans migrated to Valencia—some converting to Christianity. Here, luster glazed ceramics evolved to include combinations of Islamic and Christian motifs, and, in one example, Islamic and Jewish motifs.

This investigation of Iberian luster glazed ceramics examines religious decorative motifs and their meaning by using a methodology that combines material culture studies and art history. Material culture studies seeks: (1) To find value and meaning in everyday objects; and (2) To introduce the understanding that visual motifs communicate in a different way than texts. Additions from art historians augment the conceptual framework: (1) Alois Riegl’s concept of Kunstwollen—that every artistic expression and artifact that is produced is a distillation of the entirety of creator’s worldview; and (2) Oleg Grabar’s definition of Islamic art as one that overpowers and transforms ethnic or geographical traditions. In this dissertation, religious decorative elements on Iberian luster glazed ceramics are categorized as: (1) Floral and vegetative motifs; (2) Geometric symbols; (3) Figurative images; (4) Christian family coats of arms; and (5) Calligraphic inscriptions.

This dissertation will demonstrate how Muslim, Christian, and Jewish artisans used and combined the visual expressions of their respective faith traditions in motifs that appear on luster glazed ceramics created in the Iberian Peninsula under both Islamic and Christian ruled territories. Investigation of objects previously deemed not worthy of scholarly attention provides a more nuanced understanding of how religious co-existence (convivencia in Spanish) was negotiated in daily life.