Christ in the Life and Teaching of Gregory of Nazianzus
Christ in the Life and Teaching of Gregory of Nazianzus

Author: Andrew P. Hofer

Publisher: OUP Oxford

Published: 2013-08-29

Total Pages: 283

ISBN-13: 0191504173

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Christ in the Life and Teaching of Gregory of Nazianzus is the first full-length book devoted to an overview of the Christology of this fourth-century Father of the Church. Andrew Hofer examines the breadth of Gregory's corpus-orations, letters, and poems (often neglected in doctrinal studies)-to argue that Gregory's writing on Christ can be best understood in tandem with his autobiography. This study begins with an articulation of Gregory's theology of the Word in which words come from the Word who became incarnate. Hofer then offers a close reading of how Gregory writes to or about Christ in the poetry known as 'on himself'. Within a three-part study of 'autobiographical Christology', Hofer explores the philosophical background of Gregory's rhetoric for what he calls the 'mixtures' of Christ and himself. He then elucidates this autobiographical concern in Gregory's famous Ep. 101, a landmark text in the Christological controversies. Thirdly, Hofer considers how Gregory celebrates the mysteries of Christ in the festal orations. Before the book's epilogue, a chapter describes how Gregory wrote of Christ for his pastoral ministry. Throughout the work, Hofer demonstrates the importance in Gregory's writings of the language of blending (such as in the Greek word krasis, rejected by the Council of Chalcedon to describe the Incarnation). This book thus offers a unique perspective on the one known as 'the Theologian' in Chalcedon's acts and in subsequent Christian tradition.

Women in Early Christianity
Women in Early Christianity

Author: Patricia Cox Miller

Publisher: CUA Press

Published: 2005

Total Pages: 361

ISBN-13: 0813214173

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What emerges from these texts is a colorful portrayal of the many faces of ancient Christian women in their roles as teachers, prophets, martyrs, widows, deaconesses, ascetics, virgins, wives, and mothers.

The Cappadocian Mothers
The Cappadocian Mothers

Author: Carla D. Sunberg

Publisher: BoD – Books on Demand

Published: 2018-01-01

Total Pages: 254

ISBN-13: 0227176901

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The Cappadocian Fathers had great influence on the church of the fourth century, having brought their passion for Christ and theological expertise to life in their ministry. Their work was not devoid of influence, including that of their immediate family members. Within their writings we uncover the lives of seven women, the Cappadocian Mothers, who may have had more influence on the theology of the church than previously believed. As the Cappadocians wrestle with the Christianization of the concept of deification, we find the women in their lives becoming models for their theological understanding. The lives of the women become points of intersection in the kenosis-theosis parabola. Not only are the Cappadocian Mothers uncovered in the texts, but they become models of an optimistic theology of restoration for all of humanity without constraint of gender.

Popular Religion in Russia
Popular Religion in Russia

Author: Stella Rock

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2007-09-10

Total Pages: 249

ISBN-13: 1134369786

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This book dispels the widely-held view that paganism survived in Russia alongside Orthodox Christianity, demonstrating that 'double belief', dvoeverie, is in fact an academic myth. Scholars, citing the medieval origins of the term, have often portrayed Russian Christianity as uniquely muddied by paganism, with 'double-believing' Christians consciously or unconsciously preserving pagan traditions even into the twentieth century. This volume shows how the concept of dvoeverie arose with nineteenth-century scholars obsessed with the Russian 'folk' and was perpetuated as a propaganda tool in the Soviet period, colouring our perception of both popular faith in Russian and medieval Russian culture for over a century. It surveys the wide variety of uses of the term from the eleventh to the seventeenth century, and contrasts them to its use in modern historiography, concluding that our modern interpretation of dvoeverie would not have been recognized by medieval clerics, and that 'double-belief' is a modern academic construct. Furthermore, it offers a brief foray into medieval Orthodoxy via the mind of the believer, through the language and literature of the period.

Constantine's Sword
Constantine's Sword

Author: James Carroll

Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

Published: 2002-04-01

Total Pages: 576

ISBN-13: 0547348886

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The “monumental” New York Times bestseller in which a Catholic explores the problem of anti-Semitism through Church history (The Washington Post). A Los Angeles Times Best Book of the Year and a New York Times Notable Book In this “masterly history” (Time), National Book Award-winning author James Carroll maps the profoundly troubling two-thousand-year course of the Church’s battle against Judaism and faces the crisis of faith it has provoked in his own life as a Catholic. More than a chronicle of religion, this dark history is the central tragedy of Western civilization, its fault lines reaching deep into our culture. The Church’s failure to protest the Holocaust — the infamous “silence” of Pius XII — is only part of the story: the death camps, Carroll shows, are the culmination of a long, entrenched tradition of anti-Judaism. From Gospel accounts of the death of Jesus on the cross, to Constantine’s transformation of the cross into a sword, to the rise of blood libels, scapegoating, and modern anti-Semitism, Carroll reconstructs the dramatic story of the Church’s conflict not only with Jews but with itself. Yet in tracing the arc of this narrative, he implicitly affirms that it did not necessarily have to be so. There were roads not taken, heroes forgotten; new roads can be taken yet. Demanding that the Church finally face this past in full, Carroll calls for a fundamental rethinking of the deepest questions of Christian faith. Only then can Christians, Jews, and all who carry the burden of this history begin to forge a new future. “Carroll discusses the history of Christian-Jewish relations honestly, touchingly, and personally…Carroll investigates his own prejudices as a believing Christian, a former Catholic priest, and a long-time civil rights activist. As he unearths history (using all the best sources), he also encounters emotions he didn't realize he had and shows how his historical journey was also a personal pilgrimage of faith.”—Booklist “A triumph.”—Atlantic Monthly