scholarly journals Odpoczynek Boga (Rdz 2,1-3) w interpretacji Ojców Kościoła

Vox Patrum ◽  
2014 ◽  
Vol 62 ◽  
pp. 81-92
Author(s):  
Bogdan Czyżewski

The theme of this paper is the exegesis of Gen 2:1-3 in selected writings of the Church Fathers and early Christian writers. The Early Church authors pon­dered over the passage in question, seeking to find the meaning of God’s resting on the seventh day from all his work of creation of the world and man. In their statements, early Christian writers clearly stated that the Biblical text should be read spiritually while treated as a metaphor. For God does not need rest, but man. It is for man that the Creator made the Sabbath day, and made it holy, and since the Resurrection of Christ, Sunday has been a holy day designated for rest and celebration. Concurrently, it was the announcement of the eighth day, or eternity, in which a man, free from all the trouble and bodily decay, will forever rest in God and live a true union with Him.

2021 ◽  
pp. 55-68
Author(s):  
Phillip Sidney Horky

AbstractThis essay tracks a brief history of the concept of ‘co-breathing’ or ‘conspiration’ (συμπνοία), from its initial conception in Stoic cosmology in the third century BCE to its appropriation in Christian thought at the end of the second century CE. This study focuses on two related strands: first, how the term gets associated anachronistically with two paradigmatic philosopher-physicians, Hippocrates and Pythagoras, by intellectuals in the Early Roman Empire; and second, how the same term provides the early Church Fathers with a means to synthesize and explain discrete notions of ‘breath’ (πνεῦμα) through a repurposing of the pagan concept. Sources discussed include figures associated with Stoic, Pythagorean, and early Christian cosmologies.


Augustinianum ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 61 (1) ◽  
pp. 181-206
Author(s):  
John Joseph Gallagher ◽  

The sex aetates mundi constituted the defining framework for understanding biblical and salvation history in the Early Christian and Late Antique worlds. The origins of the idea that history can be divided into six epochs, each lasting roughly a thousand years, are commonly attributed to Augustine of Hippo. Although Augustine’s engagement with this notion significantly influenced its later popularity due to the prolific circulation of his works, he was by no means the sole progenitor of this concept. This bipartite study undertakes the first conspectus in English-speaking scholarship to date of the origins and evolution of the sex aetates mundi. Part I of this study traces the early origins of historiographical periodisation in writings from classical and biblical antiquity, taking account in particular of the role of numerology and notions of historical eras that are present in biblical texts. Expressions of the world ages in the writings of the Church Fathers are then traced in detail. Due consideration is afforded to attendant issues that influenced the six ages, including calendrical debates concerning the age of the world and the evolution of eschatological, apocalyptic, and millenarian thought. Overall, this article surveys the myriad intellectual and exegetical currents that converged in Early Christianity and Late Antiquity to create this sixfold historiographical and theological framework. The first instalment of this study lays the groundwork for understanding Augustine’s engagement with this motif in his writings, which is treated in Part II.


2018 ◽  
Vol 85 (1) ◽  
pp. 18-23
Author(s):  
Fr. James McTavish

During his earthly life, Jesus was very active in his ministry of healing. He cured the blind, opened the ears of the deaf, and brought the dead back to life. The early Church Fathers gave our Lord the title of “the Divine Physician.” However, Jesus did not cure all disease and sickness once and for all. Instead he asked us to have faith, to renounce sin, with its concomitant morbidity and mortality, and to believe in him. Jesus came to give us a life that will never end, not even with death. The Church and her members have the ongoing task of continuing his healing work in the world of today.


The article examines the theological and philosophical origins of Jewish and early Christian medicine. We have shown that the basis of the medical practice of the ancient Jews and early Christians were the books of the Old Testament. The principles of nutrition, sanitation and hygiene have been considered in detail in the context of the topic. We also have analyzed the rules of care for sick people and the means used by the Jewish people in the treatment of infectious diseases. It has been shown that in order to prevent the spread of an infectious disease, Jews isolated an infected person from close contact with other people, thus avoiding the spread of various diseases and epidemics. Some Jewish works of the post-biblical period contain a description of the development of philosophy and ethics in medicine; the main ones are the Midrash, the Mishnah and the Talmud. In the article we also have analyzed conceptual medical foundations set forth in the Pentateuch of the Moses and the Talmud. It has been shown that the main attention of Jewish treatment practitioners was focused on disease prevention, as they attached great importance to the principles of ritual purity, which in turn was directly related to public hygiene. We also have studied a number of works of the early church fathers, who initiated the practice of caring for the physically ill. As a result, it was found that in the writings of the church fathers there are many mentions of surgery and treatment of mental illness.


1969 ◽  
Vol 38 (2) ◽  
pp. 242-247
Author(s):  
Robert M. Grant

Our text is taken from one of the valuable and important articles by Hans van Campenhausen now presented in English under the title Tradition and Life in the Church. These essays deal with aspects of church life from Easter to the early middle ages and reflect their author's learning and sober judgment on such diverse topics as early Christian aceticism, church order, military service, images, and priesthood (the problem of the character indelebilis). At the beginning of an interesting study of “Augustine and the Fall of Rome.”


1946 ◽  
Vol 39 (3) ◽  
pp. 189-212 ◽  
Author(s):  
Roland H. Bainton

The attitude of the early church toward the problem of participation in warfare has been not a little studied and controverted. The data with regard to participation and the attitude toward it have been assiduously compiled by a series of investigators among whom four may be mentioned for their distinctive and permanent contributions. Adolf Harnack in his Militia Christi pointed out that the early Christians rejected the militia of the world in favor of the militia of Christ. In theory the Church was pacifist until the time of Constantine though in practice some Christians were in the legions. James Moffatt in the course of a fruitful survey called attention to the shift in early Christianity from marital to martial metaphors. Whereas in the Old Testament infidelity was called adultery, in the New Testament and the early church it is described as desertion. Such militant terminology could be used by the early Christians “without the slightest risk of misconception” because their pacifist principles were so well known. C. J. Cadoux in The Early Christian Attitude to War set the entire problem in the broad context of theological and political thinking. His work remains the indispensable point of departure for all subsequent investigation. Leclercq supplied in French translation the recorded acts of the soldier martyrs and the texts of the extant inscriptions which mention Christians in the army.


2012 ◽  
Vol 41 (2) ◽  
pp. 22-27
Author(s):  
Sissel Undheim

The description of Christ as a virgin, 'Christus virgo', does occur at rare occasions in Early Christian and late antique texts. Considering that 'virgo' was a term that most commonly described the sexual and moral status of a member of the female sex, such representations of Christ as a virgin may exemplify some of the complex negotiations over gender, salvation, sanctity and Christology that we find in the writings of the Church fathers. The article provides some suggestions as to how we can understand the notion of the virgin Christ within the context of early Christian and late antique theological debates on the one hand, and in light of the growing interest in sacred virginity on the other.


2015 ◽  
Vol 68 (4) ◽  
pp. 471-483 ◽  
Author(s):  
Matthew V. Novenson

The question of the fate of Paulinism in late antiquity, a point of controversy in early Christian studies especially since Adolf von Harnack, has benefited from fresh attention in recent research, even as, simultaneously, there is ever less agreement among New Testament scholars on the question of what Paulinism actually is. This state of affairs comes sharply into focus in Todd Still and David Wilhite's edited volume Tertullian and Paul, the first in a new series from T&T Clark on the reception of Paul in the church fathers. Reading and assessing Tertullian and Paul is a sometimes dizzying experience of intertextuality. The reader encounters, for example, Margaret MacDonald reading Elizabeth Clark reading Tertullian reading Paul. What is more, Paul himself is reading, for example, Second Isaiah, who is reading First Isaiah, who is reading parts of the Pentateuch, and so on. One thinks of Derrida's notion of différance, in which any given text refers to other texts, which refer to still other texts, which refer to still other texts, and so on, ad infinitum.


Scrinium ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 143-159
Author(s):  
David C. Sim

The early Church Fathers accepted the notion of an intermediate state, the existence of the soul following death until its reunification with the body at the time of the final resurrection. This view is common in the modern Christian world, but it has been challenged as being unbiblical. This study reflects upon this question. Does the New Testament speak exclusively of death after life, complete lifelessness until the day of resurrection, or does it also contain the notion of life after life or immediate post-mortem existence? It will be argued that, while the doctrine of future resurrection is the most common Christian view, it was not the only one present in the Christian canon. There are hints, especially in the Gospel of Luke and the Revelation of John, that people do indeed live again immediately after death, although the doctrine of resurrection is also present. These two ideas are never coherently related to one another in the New Testament and it was the Church Fathers who first sought to  systematise them.



2021 ◽  
pp. 85-105
Author(s):  
Giuliana Di Biase

This chapter investigates the genesis and evolution of Locke’s idea of human life as a “state of mediocrity”. While this idea had ancient roots going back to the early Church fathers, it remained current in the seventeenth century where mediocrity was generally equated with a condition of partial ignorance and imperfection. Locke’s account of it is original; while life is a time of mediocrity, death opens the way to the extremes of eternal misery or eternal happiness. Initially, inspired by the Church fathers, Locke conceived of human life as a condition of intellectual mediocrity. Subsequently, and arguably prompted by his reading of the pessimistic outlooks of Nicole and Pascal, he redefined the state of mediocrity in more optimistic terms: humans are naturally suited to their mediocre state. A further development of his conception of mediocrity, again involving a partial rethinking of the human condition, can be found in the Essay, where Locke represents mediocrity as an imperfect state of insatiable desire. It is redeemed, however, by the ability of living human beings to attain perfect knowledge of morality.


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