Pub Date : 2024-01-16DOI: 10.1163/15700720-bja10084
T. Toom
Cassiodorus grouped Eucherius’ Formulae spiritalis intellegentiae with four other introductiones, all of which are supposedly about biblical interpretation. However, and despite its Preface, Eucherius’ treatise does not fit well with the other hermeneutical treatises. This article attempts to determine the alleged purpose of Eucherius’ Formulae and assess the interpretative advice that it provides. It is argued that Formulae is a compendium assisting one in a meditative lectio divinae.
{"title":"Eucherius’ Enigmatic Formulas of Spiritual Knowledge","authors":"T. Toom","doi":"10.1163/15700720-bja10084","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/15700720-bja10084","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000Cassiodorus grouped Eucherius’ Formulae spiritalis intellegentiae with four other introductiones, all of which are supposedly about biblical interpretation. However, and despite its Preface, Eucherius’ treatise does not fit well with the other hermeneutical treatises. This article attempts to determine the alleged purpose of Eucherius’ Formulae and assess the interpretative advice that it provides. It is argued that Formulae is a compendium assisting one in a meditative lectio divinae.","PeriodicalId":44928,"journal":{"name":"VIGILIAE CHRISTIANAE","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.2,"publicationDate":"2024-01-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139618324","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-12-19DOI: 10.1163/15700720-12347533
Spyridon P. Panagopoulos
{"title":"Slaves of the People: A Political and Social History of Roman Public Slavery, written by Franco Luciani","authors":"Spyridon P. Panagopoulos","doi":"10.1163/15700720-12347533","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/15700720-12347533","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":44928,"journal":{"name":"VIGILIAE CHRISTIANAE","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.2,"publicationDate":"2023-12-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"138962070","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-12-15DOI: 10.1163/15700720-bja10068
M. D. Litwa
This article argues (1) that there is insufficient evidence to conclude that a or the “gnostic heresy” (Irenaeus, Against Heresies 1.11.1) referred to a specific social group whose theology is witnessed in Against Heresies 1.29 and (2) that the aeonology in this passage influenced Valentinus. There is no evidence that the aeonology in Against Heresies 1.29 existed prior to 160 CE, the approximate date of Valentinus’s demise; thus this material could not have shaped Valentinus’s theology. Instead of thinking with Irenaeus in terms of unidirectional influence (Irenaeus’s constructed “gnostic heresy” inspiring Valentinus/Valentinians), future theories ought to account for multiple directions of influence and entanglement between various early Christian theologians in the late second century CE.
{"title":"Did “The Gnostic Heresy” Influence Valentinus? An Investigation of Irenaeus, Against Heresies 1.11.1 and 1.29","authors":"M. D. Litwa","doi":"10.1163/15700720-bja10068","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/15700720-bja10068","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000This article argues (1) that there is insufficient evidence to conclude that a or the “gnostic heresy” (Irenaeus, Against Heresies 1.11.1) referred to a specific social group whose theology is witnessed in Against Heresies 1.29 and (2) that the aeonology in this passage influenced Valentinus. There is no evidence that the aeonology in Against Heresies 1.29 existed prior to 160 CE, the approximate date of Valentinus’s demise; thus this material could not have shaped Valentinus’s theology. Instead of thinking with Irenaeus in terms of unidirectional influence (Irenaeus’s constructed “gnostic heresy” inspiring Valentinus/Valentinians), future theories ought to account for multiple directions of influence and entanglement between various early Christian theologians in the late second century CE.","PeriodicalId":44928,"journal":{"name":"VIGILIAE CHRISTIANAE","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.2,"publicationDate":"2023-12-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139001197","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-12-15DOI: 10.1163/15700720-bja10067
Nathan E. Porter
A passage from Ps.-Basil of Caesarea’s ep. 366 contains verbatim parallels with a quotation of Valentinus given in Clement of Alexandria, Strom. 3.7.59.3. These parallels have rarely been recognized by scholars. Völker and Markschies have argued that Ps.-Basil was excerpting from Clement, but this paper argues that Ps.-Basil was independent of Clement and was likely Clement’s source. Overlooked evidence includes (i) the coherence of the parallel passages in the context of ep. 366 and their relative incoherence in the context of Strom. 3.7.59.3; (ii) Valentinian theology that is found throughout ep. 366, including the notions of spiritual bodies and Charis as God’s protological consort; (iii) grammatical errors in Clement that are not present in Ps.-Basil; and (iv) further textual evidence suggesting that ep. 366 has the original version of the passage. A plausible explanation of the evidence, this paper will argue, is that ep. 366 comes from the pen of Valentinus himself.
{"title":"A Newly Identified Letter of Valentinus on Jesus’s Digestive System: Ps.-Basil of Caesarea’s ep. 366","authors":"Nathan E. Porter","doi":"10.1163/15700720-bja10067","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/15700720-bja10067","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000A passage from Ps.-Basil of Caesarea’s ep. 366 contains verbatim parallels with a quotation of Valentinus given in Clement of Alexandria, Strom. 3.7.59.3. These parallels have rarely been recognized by scholars. Völker and Markschies have argued that Ps.-Basil was excerpting from Clement, but this paper argues that Ps.-Basil was independent of Clement and was likely Clement’s source. Overlooked evidence includes (i) the coherence of the parallel passages in the context of ep. 366 and their relative incoherence in the context of Strom. 3.7.59.3; (ii) Valentinian theology that is found throughout ep. 366, including the notions of spiritual bodies and Charis as God’s protological consort; (iii) grammatical errors in Clement that are not present in Ps.-Basil; and (iv) further textual evidence suggesting that ep. 366 has the original version of the passage. A plausible explanation of the evidence, this paper will argue, is that ep. 366 comes from the pen of Valentinus himself.","PeriodicalId":44928,"journal":{"name":"VIGILIAE CHRISTIANAE","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.2,"publicationDate":"2023-12-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"138999773","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-09-08DOI: 10.1163/15700720-bja10077
Katarina Pålsson
Abstract While previous scholarship has shown that the rhetorical figure of the “heretical woman” was important in Jerome’s slandering of male rivals, this article argues that the “orthodox woman” played a just as important role in his self-presentation as an orthodox teacher. The “orthodox woman” is characterized by true asceticism which, according to Jerome’s ascetic theology, implies that she transcends her sex. Rather than being a “woman”, in the ordinary sense of the word, she is an angelic being with a supernatural understanding, which allows her to discern the spiritual meaning of the Scriptures and to distinguish between orthodoxy and heresy. It is argued that the presentation of the “orthodox woman” as very learned, independent and strong-willed makes her the direct opposite of Jerome’s “heretical woman”, and that such a portrayal suited Jerome’s purposes, as his great reliance on women readers called for a defence of female spiritual authority.
{"title":"The Orthodox Woman: Jerome on the Relation Between Asceticism, Orthodoxy, and Gender","authors":"Katarina Pålsson","doi":"10.1163/15700720-bja10077","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/15700720-bja10077","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract While previous scholarship has shown that the rhetorical figure of the “heretical woman” was important in Jerome’s slandering of male rivals, this article argues that the “orthodox woman” played a just as important role in his self-presentation as an orthodox teacher. The “orthodox woman” is characterized by true asceticism which, according to Jerome’s ascetic theology, implies that she transcends her sex. Rather than being a “woman”, in the ordinary sense of the word, she is an angelic being with a supernatural understanding, which allows her to discern the spiritual meaning of the Scriptures and to distinguish between orthodoxy and heresy. It is argued that the presentation of the “orthodox woman” as very learned, independent and strong-willed makes her the direct opposite of Jerome’s “heretical woman”, and that such a portrayal suited Jerome’s purposes, as his great reliance on women readers called for a defence of female spiritual authority.","PeriodicalId":44928,"journal":{"name":"VIGILIAE CHRISTIANAE","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-09-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"136363144","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-07-26DOI: 10.1163/15700720-bja10072
Benedict Totsche
Starting from Letter 134 of Basil of Caesarea, the question is asked what Basil means when he uses the term ταχυγράφος. For this purpose, exemplary passages from ancient Christian and non-Christian authors are compiled. It is obvious that a shorthand system was used at that time. However, the question remains whether such a system was always used, especially since many passages do not provide a precise description of the activities of a tachygrapher. Letter 135 of Basil, on the other hand, suggests that a tachygrapher probably did not work exclusively with a shorthand system. Thus, the term ταχυγράφος has no unambiguity in its usage. In part, it is used to refer to persons who have mastered a special system of signs with the help of which they can write faster. In part, however, it is also used to refer to people who write quickly, but using the conventional alphabet.
{"title":"Tachygraphie und Tachygraphen bei Basilius von Caesarea – und darüber hinaus","authors":"Benedict Totsche","doi":"10.1163/15700720-bja10072","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/15700720-bja10072","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000Starting from Letter 134 of Basil of Caesarea, the question is asked what Basil means when he uses the term ταχυγράφος. For this purpose, exemplary passages from ancient Christian and non-Christian authors are compiled. It is obvious that a shorthand system was used at that time. However, the question remains whether such a system was always used, especially since many passages do not provide a precise description of the activities of a tachygrapher. Letter 135 of Basil, on the other hand, suggests that a tachygrapher probably did not work exclusively with a shorthand system. Thus, the term ταχυγράφος has no unambiguity in its usage. In part, it is used to refer to persons who have mastered a special system of signs with the help of which they can write faster. In part, however, it is also used to refer to people who write quickly, but using the conventional alphabet.","PeriodicalId":44928,"journal":{"name":"VIGILIAE CHRISTIANAE","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.2,"publicationDate":"2023-07-26","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"90708777","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-07-26DOI: 10.1163/15700720-bja10070
Nathaniel Betz
Of the earliest Christian authors whose interpretation of the New Jerusalem of Revelation 21–22 has gone missing, the case of Melito of Sardis is perhaps the most regrettable. Heir to early Asian Johannine tradition and author of a lost treatise on Revelation, Melito had a high regard for the text. However, his view on the text’s much-contested New Jerusalem – whether it is literal, this-worldly, and millennial or allegorical, spiritual, and perhaps immanent – has never been studied. Building on and adding to an emerging consensus that Melito was not a millennialist, I attempt to reconstruct Melito’s understanding of the New Jerusalem by drawing on his Peri Pascha and surviving fragments from elsewhere in his corpus. In the end, I discover him to have a firmly ecclesiological and mystical understanding of the city. That he advanced this understanding, which he presents without qualification or apology, indicates further that Melito likely bears witness to a yet earlier spiritual and allegorical reading of Revelation’s Heavenly Jerusalem.
{"title":"Reconstructing Melito of Sardis’s Interpretation of Revelation’s New Jerusalem","authors":"Nathaniel Betz","doi":"10.1163/15700720-bja10070","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/15700720-bja10070","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000Of the earliest Christian authors whose interpretation of the New Jerusalem of Revelation 21–22 has gone missing, the case of Melito of Sardis is perhaps the most regrettable. Heir to early Asian Johannine tradition and author of a lost treatise on Revelation, Melito had a high regard for the text. However, his view on the text’s much-contested New Jerusalem – whether it is literal, this-worldly, and millennial or allegorical, spiritual, and perhaps immanent – has never been studied. Building on and adding to an emerging consensus that Melito was not a millennialist, I attempt to reconstruct Melito’s understanding of the New Jerusalem by drawing on his Peri Pascha and surviving fragments from elsewhere in his corpus. In the end, I discover him to have a firmly ecclesiological and mystical understanding of the city. That he advanced this understanding, which he presents without qualification or apology, indicates further that Melito likely bears witness to a yet earlier spiritual and allegorical reading of Revelation’s Heavenly Jerusalem.","PeriodicalId":44928,"journal":{"name":"VIGILIAE CHRISTIANAE","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.2,"publicationDate":"2023-07-26","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"87623650","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-07-26DOI: 10.1163/15700720-bja10074
Paul K. Hosle
In this essay, I provide a holistic reading of Gregory Nazianzen’s Poemata Arcana, eight poems providing a coherent and systematic account of the elements of Christian theology. I explore in particular the reflexive didactic poetics of the work, arguing that one of the most recurring themes is that of continual and gradated spiritual progress toward God and that Gregory takes care to position himself as an instructor and exemplar for his readers in their own individual, gradual self-perfective journeys. Over the course of this argument, I critically reconsider prior judgements concerning the poem’s theological content (especially on the issue of apophasis and theōsis), literary technique and textual constitution.
{"title":"The Didactic Nature of Gregory Nazianzen’s Poemata Arcana and the Theme of Continual, Gradated Progress","authors":"Paul K. Hosle","doi":"10.1163/15700720-bja10074","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/15700720-bja10074","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000In this essay, I provide a holistic reading of Gregory Nazianzen’s Poemata Arcana, eight poems providing a coherent and systematic account of the elements of Christian theology. I explore in particular the reflexive didactic poetics of the work, arguing that one of the most recurring themes is that of continual and gradated spiritual progress toward God and that Gregory takes care to position himself as an instructor and exemplar for his readers in their own individual, gradual self-perfective journeys. Over the course of this argument, I critically reconsider prior judgements concerning the poem’s theological content (especially on the issue of apophasis and theōsis), literary technique and textual constitution.","PeriodicalId":44928,"journal":{"name":"VIGILIAE CHRISTIANAE","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.2,"publicationDate":"2023-07-26","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"83084170","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-07-26DOI: 10.1163/15700720-12347528
Clemens Scholten
{"title":"Du créateur biblique au démiurge gnostique. Trajectoire et reception du motif du blasphème de l’Archonte, written by Steve Johnston","authors":"Clemens Scholten","doi":"10.1163/15700720-12347528","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/15700720-12347528","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":44928,"journal":{"name":"VIGILIAE CHRISTIANAE","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.2,"publicationDate":"2023-07-26","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"84196934","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-07-26DOI: 10.1163/9789004228900_cgl_attos
Roel Wemarus van den Broek
Previous research on the Teachings of Silvanus has led to the generally accepted conclusion that the present form of the work is the result of a long textual development. Because of the text’s close relationship with the biblical and Hellenistic-Jewish Wisdom literature, it has been suggested that its earliest form was a Jewish sapiential writing, which over a long period of time was Christianised by the addition of New Testament material and Christian theological speculations. In the present study, the problem of the Teachings’ textual development is approached from a literary analysis of the text. It is argued that the work contains many instances of parallelismus membrorum, which in some cases are closely interwoven with biblical and Jewish sapiential texts and in other cases are abruptly broken up by Christian interpolations.
{"title":"The Teachings of Silvanus","authors":"Roel Wemarus van den Broek","doi":"10.1163/9789004228900_cgl_attos","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004228900_cgl_attos","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000Previous research on the Teachings of Silvanus has led to the generally accepted conclusion that the present form of the work is the result of a long textual development. Because of the text’s close relationship with the biblical and Hellenistic-Jewish Wisdom literature, it has been suggested that its earliest form was a Jewish sapiential writing, which over a long period of time was Christianised by the addition of New Testament material and Christian theological speculations. In the present study, the problem of the Teachings’ textual development is approached from a literary analysis of the text. It is argued that the work contains many instances of parallelismus membrorum, which in some cases are closely interwoven with biblical and Jewish sapiential texts and in other cases are abruptly broken up by Christian interpolations.","PeriodicalId":44928,"journal":{"name":"VIGILIAE CHRISTIANAE","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.2,"publicationDate":"2023-07-26","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"75904955","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
京公网安备 11010802042870号
京ICP备2023020795号-1
扫码关注我们
求助内容：
应助结果提醒方式：