Like medieval maps with their intricate illustrations, unusual proportions, and omission of seemingly crucial details, medieval works of theology were designed to provide not an objective lay of the land for disinterested study but an itinerary for individuals traveling a specific route. To read was to be taken by the hand and to join fellow travelers on a journey of participation -- and ultimately union -- with God.
In "Theology, Rhetoric, Manuduction," Peter Candler re-reads a number of medieval texts and demonstrates that they were intended as vehicles not for the transmission of data, but for the leading of readers to contemplation of God. Like medieval maps with their intricate illustrations, skewed proportions and omissions of details that to us today seem crucial, medieval works of theology were designed not to depict an objective overview for disinterested study, but were meant to provide an itinerary for individuals traveling a specific route. To read was to be taken by the hand, in a process called manuduction, and to join fellow travelers on a journey to a particular goal. In "Theology, Rhetoric, Manuduction," Candler is recovering this understanding of reading and doing theology and illustrates how it can enrich our present understanding of great works of medieval scholarship. He begins with the invention of printing in the 16th Century and the change of the bible from liturgy in worship and community to a physical object, a book and with it the birth of our modern understanding of scripture. He then turns to Augustine's understanding of rhetoric, examined in a critique of the Confessions. Then two texts, "Glossa Ordinaria" (a 12th-century glossed bible) and "Aquinas' Summa Theologiae" are read in terms of the concepts of memory and itinerary. The former, Candler believes, is an "iconic illustration of the mutual indwelling of Christ and the Church," rendering the notion of separating Scripture from tradition absurd and the latter he views as a "curriculum of persuasion" which leads readers by manuduction along a path towards union with God.
Reveals how the divorce of divine perfection from human perfection undergirds the divorce of theology and philosophy. This work shows how these discourses were originally joined by the Church Fathers, to how they were separated in the Middle Ages and modern Anglicanism, to how they can be rejoined.
In 85 new and updated essays, this comprehensive volume provides an authoritative guide to the philosophy of religion. Includes contributions from established philosophers and rising stars 22 new entries have now been added, and all material from the previous edition has been updated and reorganized Broad coverage spans the areas of world religions, theism, atheism, , the problem of evil, science and religion, and ethics
Modern biblical scholarship is often presented as analogous to the hard and natural sciences; its histories present the developmental stages as quasi-scientific discoveries. That image of Bible scholars as neutral scientists in pursuit of truth has persisted for too long. Modern Biblical Criticism as a Tool of Statecraft (1700-1900) by Scott W. Hahn and Jeffrey L. Morrow examines the lesser known history of the development of modern biblical scholarship in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. This volume seeks partially to fulfill Pope Benedict XVI’s request for a thorough critique of modern biblical criticism by exploring the eighteenth and nineteenth century roots of modern biblical scholarship, situating those scholarly developments in their historical, philosophical, theological, and political contexts. Picking up where Scott W. Hahn and Benjamin Wiker’s Politicizing the Bible: The Roots of Historical Criticism and the Secularization of Scripture 1300-1700 left off, Hahn and Morrow show how biblical scholarship continued along a secularizing trajectory as it found a home in the newly developing Enlightenment universities, where it received government funding. Modern Biblical Criticism as a Tool of Statecraft (1700-1900) makes clear why the discipline of modern biblical studies is often so hostile to religious and faith commitments today.
For some, Hooker and Anglicanism are basically reformed; for others, fundamentally Catholic; for some embodying a 'middle way' between Roman Catholic and Protestant extremes; and for others simply confused and incoherent. This book challenges those perceptions by showing that 'reformed' and 'catholic' are not intrinsically opposed. Reading Hooker alongside a representative theologian of each tradition (the 'catholic' Aquinas and the 'reformed' Calvin) on theological method, Hobday shows there is much greater congruity between theologies and theologians often considered in tension. On the role of scripture in theology, the theological capacity of human reason, and the place of tradition, these 3 theologians have far more in common than many subsequent commentators have understood. This book shows how both Hooker and the Anglicanism he defended in such elegant prose, can be coherently both 'catholic' and 'reformed' (rather than one, or the other, or some middle way). Relocating Hooker, and Anglicanism, in this way reveals them to be rich, fruitful conversation partners in ecumenical dialogue and theological debates across Christian traditions.
This book unfolds a vision for philosophical theology centered on the practices of the care of the self, the city, and creation. Rooted in Paul’s articulation of the wisdom of the cross, and in conversation with ecological, radical, and political theologies; continental philosophy; and political ecology, it addresses the challenge of injustice and ecological catastrophe. Part one reads 1 Corinthians as an exercise in reading and writing that shapes and changes relationships and capabilities. Part two follows this alternative path for theology through Derrida and Kierkegaard, and neglected trajectories in Origen, Augustine, and Luther. Along the way, reading and writing are explored as exercises that transform selves, communities, and even habitats. They are creaturely acts that can scandalize the dominant orders of consumption and competition for the ends of love and justice. This is a philosophical theology engaged with political ecology, exercises that help cultivate new creation.
In Scriptural Interpretation, Sarisky brilliantly draws together Patristic Theology and a theological interpretation of Scripture in the modern day, to examine Scripture’s central place in the life of the Church and ordinary believers. Examines the importance of scriptural interpretation in the life of Christians and of the church Draws together two lively discussions: a study of the theology of the Cappadocian fathers, and a discussion of theological interpretation of Scripture in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries Covers an impressive historical range, from Basil of Caesarea right up to the work of the major contemporary thinkers, Stanley Hauerwas and Rowan Williams Offers a sophisticated understanding of many Patristic thinkers – an area of huge current interest in the field – and challenges accepted readings of the theology of Basil of Caesarea
Modern historical biblical criticism, while having many strengths, often operates under the pretensions of objectivity, as if such scholarship were neutral and disinterested. Examining the history and roots of modern biblical scholarship shows that such objectivity is elusive, and was never intended by the method’s earliest practitioners. Building upon his earlier work in Three Skeptics and the Bible and Theology, Politics, and Exegesis, Morrow continues this historical investigation into the political and philosophical roots of modern biblical criticism in Pretensions of Objectivity, in the hope of developing a criticism of biblical criticism and of making space for theological exegesis.
