Tertullian's Polemic Against Social Co-optation

1971 ◽  
Vol 40 (1) ◽  
pp. 7-14 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dennis E. Groh

One of the major strengths of a political and technological system is its ability to absorb into itself and to direct toward social purposes the aspirations and abilities of diverse groups and peoples. Empire, as opposed to despotism, traffics in the relentless proclivity of societal man to find contentment in the culture's values and personal advancement within the society's political, social, and economic structures. To paraphrase an old political maxim, a man who can be rewarded by the social system can be ruled by it. In this proclivity of societal man to make a place for himself in the social structures lay one of the major dangers to the church of Tertullian's day. Tertullian's attempt to lay the foundations for a divine community which could withstand the “pull” of society's “success” or “status” ethic on Christians is the focus of this article. It goes without saying that Tertullian's understanding of the essentially unique and separate character of the Christian community was also formulated against the heretics' theological “push,” but I would like to concentrate on the social problem in keeping with the theme of the meeting.

2019 ◽  
pp. 107-122
Author(s):  
Ana Sentov

This paper will examine how Grace Marks, the female protagonist/narrator of Alias Grace (1996), reclaims her history, which is comprised of many different, often contradictory stories of her life and the crime for which she is imprisoned. These stories reflect the dominant discourse of a conservative male-dominated society, in which Grace is an outsider, due to her gender, class, age, and immigrant status. The law, the medical profession, the church, and the media all see Grace as a disruptive element: a woman who committed or assisted in a murder, a lunatic and/or a member of the working class who dared disturb the social order. Grace is revealed not as a passive victim, an object to be acted upon, but as an agent capable of reclaiming history and constructing herstory, challenging and defying the expectations of dominant social structures. The paper will show that Alias Grace, as a novel giving voice to the marginalized and the silenced, stands as a compelling work that examines and provides insights into the position of women and its changes over the course of history, provoking a discourse that remains relevant today


2004 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 106-120 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tom Frame

ABSTRACTIn the light of recent theological controversies, the Anglican Communion urgently needs what Archbishop Rowan Williams has described as an ‘agreement over a common accountability’. Such an agreement must differentiate the things that define the essence of the Anglican Church from those that merely imparta distinctive cultural flavour. It will be built on a nuanced theological debate involving questions of self-definition that recognize the social, economic, political and cultural contexts enveloping the Communion's various national churches. In the same way that social structures and economic conditions bear directly upon the shape of religious organizations, it will become apparent that political pressures and cultural mores influence doctrinal commitments. The church-sect-mystic group typology developed by Ernst Troeltsch has the potential to help the Anglican Communion understand the origins of its theological diversity as part of a larger project that seeks to maintain corporate identity and to preserve organizational unity. His attempts to define the ‘essence of Christianity’ in the context of what might otherwise seem random, chaotic and possibly irreconcilable responses to Christ's teaching offers some interpretative insights that will assist Anglicans achieve a consensus on which ‘agreement over a common accountability’ might be based.


Perichoresis ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 17 (s2) ◽  
pp. 27-40
Author(s):  
Corin Mihăilă

Abstract The social structure of the Corinthian ecclesia is a reasonable cause for the dissensions that had occurred between her members. The people from the higher social strata of the church may have sought to advance their honor by desiring to extend their patronage over those teachers in the church that could help them in that regard. This situation was aided by the fact that the members of the Christian community have failed to allow the cross to redefine the new entity to which they now belonged. Rather, they perceived the Christian ecclesia according to different social models that were available at that time in the society at large: household model, collegia model, political ecclesia, and Jewish synagogue. As a result, the apostle Paul, in the first four chapter of 1 Corinthians, shows how the cross has overturned the social values inherent in these models. He argues that the Christian ecclesia is a new entity, with a unique identity, and distinct network of relations, which should separate those inside the Christian community from those outside.


2020 ◽  
Vol 24 (4-5) ◽  
pp. 430-436
Author(s):  
Hedda Reindl-Kiel

Abstract The paper questions the function of the anti-Ottoman approach that, until recently, prevailed in Southeastern European historiography. This mindset and its concomitant attitudes were steps in nation building. A short comparison of the Ottoman social system with the social structures of countries in the region that did not come under direct Ottoman rule shows only minor differences. Thus, the adoption of Ottoman cultural practices including material culture was not a difficult choice. At the same time, we see individuals and whole groups whose lifestyles were oriented toward the West. Changing eating habits serve as an illustration for this phenomenon.


2014 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 55-107 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xiangdong Che ◽  
Areej Salaymeh ◽  
Robert Reynolds

It has been conjectured that “Culture is an optimizing process”. That is, the social structures that emerge in a given organization support the efficient solution of problems that the organization must deal with. Here we will present an escalating sequence of static problems to our system. Our goal will be to study how the social network infrastructure affects the overall performance of social system of a given complexity. We develop a Cultural Engine metaphor in terms of measures used to describe the entropy of each of the Cultural Algorithm components. The influence function worked analogous to Maxwell's Demon in order to inject new entropy into the system so as to counteract the effect of the second law of thermodynamics. We then applied the system to the solution of a 150 randomly generated problems of varying complexity produced by a problem generation system based upon complexity theory.


2021 ◽  
Vol 72 (2) ◽  
pp. 347-364

Abstract Although well known to the community of Avar Age archaeologists, the old excavated cemetery of Edelstal (Hung. Nemesvölgy) played a quiet limited role in the discussion about social structures and societies, even for the northwestern part of the Carparthian Basin. This circumstance was also linked to the lack of publication of all graves. Based on this and the complete analyses of this cemetery the author wants to illustrate how important the burial community might have been in the social system of the Late Avar Khaganate. A special focus lies hereby on prominent items like gilded boar belts, buckles with the emperor's image or golden earrings and hair clips indicating wealth, communication, relations and links to the top social elites and presuming a high elaborated prestige chain network.


1986 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 9-15 ◽  
Author(s):  
P. Susan Penfold ◽  
Gillian A. Walker

While purporting to be benign, compassionate, and helpful, psychiatry functions as a social regulator. Its unrecognized inter-relationship with the social system allows psychiatry to participate in women's oppression, locating the problem within the individual woman and obscuring the invidious effects of social structures. Psychiatric theories can reflect and reinforce longstanding beliefs about women's status and role, contribute to her devalued status, blame her for her difficulties, minimize violence against her, and suggest that her behaviour should be shaped so that she can conform to the traditional role. A feminist perspective provides a different view and alternative treatment approaches.


Author(s):  
Sergey A. Denisov ◽  

This article considers the incorporation of Prussians, Sudovians, and Scalovians who migrated to territories which were not theirs originally, into the social system of the State of the Teutonic Order between the 1280s and 1370s. The author examines the main aspects of this issue, i.e. property status and duties of migrants, with reference to data from 41 acts granted to them by the Order and the church, and the Chronicles written by Peter of Dusburg and Caspar Shuetz. The study of these data with the help of the prosopographical and historical and comparative methods makes it possible to determine the main directions of migration, number of migrants, size, and composition of their property and duties performed in relation to the Order and the church. The main regions for migration were Sambia and Pomesania, receiving 5 144 out of 5 166 persons. The choice of the regions was caused by the lack of local farmers that was the result of the devastation committed during the struggle of Prussians, Scalovians, and Sudovians with the expansion of the Order between 1260s and 1280s. Another reason was the remoteness of Sambia and Pomesania from the migrants’ native lands and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. On the one hand, it prevented possible union between the settlers and the Lithuanian rulers and, on the other hand, fostered communication between the migrants and the Order which guaranteed the former status in the new community. The incorporation of Prussians, Scalovians, and Sudovians was carried out by granting them fief or locator’s office and implied the definition of their rights and duties similar to those enjoyed by the local inhabitants. The migrants served in the military, paid taxes, had jurisdiction over their peasants, added unclaimed lands to their property, received permission to fish in the nearby waters, etc. These features testify to the successful incorporation of migrants into the new social system that contributed to a further development of the State of the Teutonic Order.


Author(s):  
Karin Sánchez Manríquez

ResumenEl objetivo de este artículo es analizar el desarrollo del pensamiento católico chileno sobre el rol del Estado para enfrentar la Cuestión Social a principios del siglo XX. Se argumenta que la Iglesia Católica chilena le daba al Estado un rol secundario en la solución de la Cuestión Social. Pese a reconocer la necesidad de establecer normativas legales para solucionar los problemas entre patrones y obreros, la realización de obras en favor de los trabajadores correspondía a iniciativas privadas que el Estado debía fomentar, lo que la Iglesia denominaba “Acción Social Católica”. Esta preferencia por un Estado con una acción social limitada mostraba a una Iglesia que seguía considerándose como la institución rectora de la sociedad en tanto su accionar incluía tanto la vida terrena como también la vida después de la muerte. El Estado, al centrarse sólo en problemas terrenales, era una institución de rango menor, cobijada por la Iglesia. Se estudiarán textos escritos por sacerdotes de la jerarquíaeclesiástica chilena sobre el rol del Estado en la resolución de los problemas sociales y sobre la discusión en la esfera pública de dos leyes sociales: la ley de habitación obrera de 1906 y la ley de descanso dominical de 1907.Palabras clave: Iglesia, Estado, Cuestión Social, Legislación Social.Catholic social action or State social intervention? The role of the State in the resolution of the Social Problem according to the Chilean Catholic Church at the beginning of the 20th CenturyAbstractThe objective of this article is to analyze the development of Chilean Catholic thinking about the role of the State in facing the Social Problem at the beginning of the 20th Century. It is argued that the Chilean Catholic Church gave the State a secondary role in the solution of the Social Problem. Despite recognizing the need of establishing legal regulations to solve problems between employers and workers, the performance of works in favor of workers corresponded to private initiatives that the State should promote, what the Church called “Catholic Social Action”. This preference for a State with limited social action showed a Church that continued to be considered as the governing institution of society, as its actions included both earthly life and life after death. The State, by focusing only on earthly problems, was an institution of lower rank, sheltered by the Church. The research studied some texts written by priests of the Chilean ecclesiastical hierarchy dealing with the role of the State in the resolution of social problems and the public discussion about two social laws: the 1906 Working Class Law and the 1907 Sunday Rest Law.Keywords: Church, State, Social Problem, Social Law.Ação social católica ou intervenção social do Estado? O papel do Estado na resolução da Questão Social segundo a Igreja Católica Chilena no início do século XXResumoO objetivo deste artigo é analisar o desenvolvimento do pensamento católico chileno sobre o papel do Estado para enfrentar a Questão Social a princípios doséculo XX. Argumenta-se que a Igreja Católica chilena tinha dado ao Estado um papel secundário na solução da Questão Social. Apesar de reconhecer a necessidade de estabelecer normativas legais para resolver problemas entre empregadores e trabalhadores, a realização de obras a favor dos trabalhadores correspondia a iniciativas privadas que o Estado devia promover, o que a Igreja denominou “Ação Social Católica”. Essa preferência por um Estado com uma ação social limitada mostrava uma Igreja que seguia considerando-se como a instituição governante da sociedade, tanto na sua ação incluía a vida terrena como também a vida após a morte. O Estado, ao centrar-se só em problemas terrenais, era uma instituição de alcance inferior, protegida pela Igreja. Vão serestudados os textos escritos por sacerdotes da hierarquia eclesiástica chilena sobre o papel do Estado na resolução de problemas sociais e na discussão na esfera pública de duas leis sociais: a lei da habitação trabalhadora de 1906 e a lei do descanso dominical de 1907.Palavras-chave: Igreja, Estado, Questão Social, Legislação Social.


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