scholarly journals The Sistine Mosaics of S. Maria Maggiore in Rome: Christology and Mariology in the Interlude between the Councils of Ephesus and Chalcedon

2017 ◽  
Vol 21 ◽  
pp. 33-64
Author(s):  
Per Olav Folgerø

In the present re-reading of the Sistine mosaics of S. Maria Maggiore, which embraces the Old and New Testament scenes in their totality, it will be argued that the iconography is a visual manifestation of the Christology predominating in the Roman Episcopate during the interlude between the Councils of Ephesus and Chalcedon (AD 431 to 451). The fact that the Old Testament narration opens with the Life of Abraham and concludes, on the opposite wall, with the Battles of Joshua, including a distinct pictorial indication of the position of Rahab, the harlot of Jericho, who became the great-great-grandmother of King David, has led the present author to the suggestion that the lost panels concluding the cycle may have included at least one Davidic scene. Such a scene would have extolled the soteriological meaning of the human nature of Christ, “the Son of David, the Son of Abraham” (Mt 1:1), thoughts expounded by Leo the Great in his Tomus ad Flavianum, which laid the ground for the Chalcedonian Council. By the same token the thesis will be advanced that, on the triumphal arch, the matron in the blue maphorion, who sits on Christ’s left side, counterbalancing the Virgin in the Adoration of the Magi scene, may be a personification of the women in the genealogical line of Jesus Christ listed in the Gospel of Matthew (Mt 1:1-16). The two women counterpoised in the Adoration scene would thus exalt and substantiate the Gentile, non-Jewish, contribution to the lineage of Our Saviour. The divine providence expressed through these `extraneous´ links in His ancestry (the key figures of whom were the Gentile women Rahab and Ruth), in the story which led to the Descent of the Logos and the Birth of Christ, may have been the underlying, unifying theme in the vast decoration of the basilica.

Vox Patrum ◽  
2003 ◽  
Vol 44 ◽  
pp. 99-117
Author(s):  
Jan Słomka

Origen's reflections on priesthood, as well as his interpretation of the Book of Leviticus, arc based on the assumption that there exists inner priesthood which is inherent in human nature. Such priesthood means human ability to offer spiritual sacrifices to God. Origen points to the human mind as the priest in man. It is the mind that is capable of turning to God. The spiritual priesthood imposes a moral obligation on every human being. Only against this background does Origenes consider priesthood in the Old and the New Testament. The Old Testamental priesthood was established by Moses and involved the ability to make both material! and spiritual offerings. That priesthood was an anticipation of the priesthood Jesus Christ. Jesus is, at the same time, a priest and a sacrifice, thus he fulfills all the promises of the Old Testament in himself.


2016 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 16-38
Author(s):  
Jonathan Octavianus

As every epoch there are there a transition time, on Old Testament like Moses with Joshua, Joshua selected by God an supported fully by Moses, Conversely Moses have liberally to be changed. Like Elijah to Elisha too.Pattern on New Testament there are an examples of transition time too, like Jesus Christ to His Disciples, an transition from Paul to his successor Timothy. This is a heart and soul a big leader, and shall all leadership owners shepherd in church, Christian institution, etc.Which most be remembered in transition of leadership, that people of God leadership, about who will lead, who continue leadership, like a principle in biblical, hence a role of God, is determinant an anoint man which be selected the absolute God choice and constitute all other, but a succession router leader is which have been selected His own. An can be anointed in front of believers.


2010 ◽  
Vol 63 (2) ◽  
pp. 101
Author(s):  
Dariusz Kasprzak

Neither the Apostles nor any Christian minister is admitted to use the priest’s title in the text of the New Testament. Nevertheless, in the New Testament we can perceive the development of the doctrine of the priest ministry in the early Church. Albert Vanhoye maintains that the lack of the term “priest” in the New Testament suggests the way of understanding of the Christian ministry, different from this in the Old Testament. It can’t be considered as a continuation of Jewish priesthood, which was concentrated mainly on ritual action and ceremonies. In the first century the Church developed the Christology of priesthood (Hbr) and ecclesiology of priesthood (1 P). Early Christians focused first on the redemptive event of Jesus Christ’s sacrifice and Jesus as the mediator of a new covenant. Only then the religious communities adopted the priest’s title for their ministry.In the early years of the Church, all the ministries were regarded as a charismatic service among the Christian communities. In their services the early Christians followed Jesus Christ sent by God to serve. The Holy Spirit sent by God in the name of Jesus bestowed the spiritual gifts upon the Church (1 Kor 12–13). Consequently the disciples of Jesus and their successors could continue his mission. The Twelve Apostles’ ministry was the very first and most important Christian ministry. It was closely connected to the service of Jesus Christ himself. The Apostles were sent by the authority of Jesus Christ to continue his mission upon earth and they preached the Good News of the risen Christ. The Apostolicity was the fundamental base for every Church ministry established in different Christian communities. Successive ministries were established in order to transmit the teaching of Jesus Christ and to lead the community. For the early Christians the priesthood was not an individual privilege. It had rather the community character.


1995 ◽  
Vol 51 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
P. Van Staden

Taking cognizance of the fact that language - especially metaphorical language - can be expressive of deeplying cultural or religious symbol sets in man, the study explores the  possible original content of the syntagma εἰΚὼν ΤΟῦ θεΟῦ in both the Old and the New Testament. It is argued that there is a definite shift in the symbol set of which the concept (metaphor) 'image of God' is expressive. Whilst the Old Testament usage of the term probably attests to the conviction that humankind is part of the genus God and may even resemble him physically, the New Testament substitutes Jesus Christ for man as the primary carrier of the 'image of God'. Humankind in general does not reflect that image any more. It is only to be found in those who through faith in Jesus Christ regain the image of God. Our thesis is that the concept of 'image' is to be regarded as much an ethical injunction as it is an ontological state-ment. The faith of adherents to the community of believers finds expres-sion in distinctive behavior - that is, in conduct that clearly identifies them as reflecting the image of God.


1996 ◽  
Vol 17 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-14
Author(s):  
G. M. Booy

Isaiah 52:13-53:12: Prediction or word of comfort? The New Testament frequently applies this poem to Jesus Christ as well as to the receiving and proclamation of the gospel. It is possible to regard the New Testament’s use as criterium for the interpretation of Isaiah 52:13-53:12 and to understand it therefore as a direct prediction of Jesus Christ. Such an interpretation, however, degrades the Old Testament and ignores the meaning which the Isaiah-text has in its historical and literary context.


Author(s):  
Gerald O’Collins, SJ

‘Saving truth’ is a more biblical and positive term than ‘inerrancy’ or freedom from error. Rather than being identified with biblical inspiration, the truth of the Scriptures is a major consequence of inspiration. It is close to the notion of the divine faithfulness and reliability. A progressive approach to biblical truth acknowledges that truth is to be found primarily in the whole Bible. Jesus Christ is the Truth, attested prophetically in the Old Testament and apostolically in the New. Ultimately biblical truth is something to be lived and practised. A closed list of inspired and authoritative books (which determine the Church’s faith and practice), the canon was constituted by maintaining the inherited Scriptures and accepting the New Testament on the basis of their apostolic provenance (taken in a broad sense), orthodox teaching (or adherence to the ‘rule of faith’), and wide and consistent usage in the Church’s liturgy and teaching.


Author(s):  
Paul M. Blowers

Early Christian interpretation of Scripture on the theme of creation not surprisingly gave considerable attention to the Genesis account of the origins of the world, in part to counter the claims of Graeco-Roman cosmology, but more importantly to expound the latent theological meaning of the many details of the biblical cosmogony. But patristic exegetes were also keen on the fact that ‘creation’ in the Bible implied far more than beginnings; indeed, it designated the whole economy (oikonomia) of the Creator’s ongoing relation to the creation as set forth in sacred history and as requiring the further interpretative lenses of Christology, soteriology, and eschatology. Early Christian interpreters plumbed a wide variety of Old Testament texts beyond Genesis (especially the Psalms, Deutero-Isaiah, and the Wisdom literature). In their New Testament commentary they focused on such motifs as the subjection of creation to ‘vanity’, the work of Jesus Christ in recapitulating God’s creative purposes, and the eschatological renewal and transformation of the created universe in its relation to human salvation.


Author(s):  
Peter Schäfer

This chapter deals with an exegesis of Daniel 7:9, found only in the Babylonian Talmud, which boldly assigns the Messiah–King David a throne in heaven, next to that of God. This presents a clear evidence that certain rabbis felt attracted to the idea of a second divine figure, enjoying equal rights with God. The angry rejection of this idea by other rabbis demonstrates that such “heretical” ideas gained a foothold within the rabbinic fold of Babylonian Jewry. The Bavli's Daniel exegesis finds its counterpart in the David Apocalypse, which gives an elaborate description of the elevated David and his worship in heaven. This unique piece is structurally similar to the elevation of the Lamb (that is, Jesus Christ) in the New Testament Book of Revelation and can be interpreted as a response to the New Testament.


1985 ◽  
Vol 39 (1) ◽  
pp. 20-33 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hughes Oliphant Old

The Old Testament psalms of praise, which expressed the awe and joy of being in the presence of God, presented the early Christians both text and model for the expression of their joy that in Jesus Christ God had revealed himself.


2020 ◽  
pp. 11-44
Author(s):  
Sergiy Victorovich Sannikov

The article uses typological understanding of the Lord's Supper to analyze Old Testament text. Intertextual hermeneutics, which connects the lexical units of various parts of texts for comprehensive understanding allowed to see an echo of the Eucharist in Old Testament. One of the most expressive prototypes or typos of the Lord's Supper in the Old Testament is the idea of the Covenants and changing of the covenants. The author analyzes the concept of testament and all cases of using this term in Old Testament texts, and concludes that the word “berith” in the biblical text cannot be identified only with the concept of contract, agreement or union. Also, it cannot be identified only with the concept of law, command or statute. The Testament should be taken holistically, combining different meanings of this concept. In this way, the “berith” describes the idea of a specific agreement, which has the character of a bloody decree. Therefore, on the basis of biblical ideas, the concept of a covenant in a broad sense can be presented as a relationship between God and people, which can be described as a God-initiated contract of a personal-corporate nature, which provides for mutual obligations. This kind of relationship is characterized by a fixed immutability and is accompanied by signs, evidence and a special memory procedure. Therefore, in the Old Testament period, we can confidently talk only about the Covenant with Noah, Abraham and Moses, who were revealed and showed their inner, spiritual essence in the New Testament of Jesus Christ. Only in these cases did the signs of covenant relations in the narrow sense be revealed, namely: God's initiative, personal-corporate relations, the invariability and obligatory commemorativeness are caused. Other ancient covenants do not contain a complete religious component and are not eucharistic prototypes. An important sign of the typos of the Lord's Supper in the Old Testament is the blood of the covenant. All covenants were accompanied by the shedding of sacrificial blood, which indicated the sacrifice of Christ and its echo in the Eucharistic cup. This emphasizes the difference between “berith” as a covenant and “berith” as a commandment or statute. Bloodless covenant are not testaments in the full biblical sense of the word. The idea of a testament as a bloodline expresses the highest seriousness of mutual testamentary obligations. That is, a Testament is an inviolable contract, the non-fulfillment of which threatens death. An additional feature of the testament, as shown in the article, was the theophanic Presence. It manifested itself not only at the time of the covenant, but also in an invisible way throughout its validity. The establishment of a covenant relationship has always been associated with theophany and could not have been otherwise, because the covenant is always personal, so God considered it necessary to show a personal presence at this crucial time. The author proves that in all pre-Christian covenants there is a single prototype line that was revealed in Jesus Christ. By the faith and merit of the ancestor, his descendants enter into the covenant and enjoy the benefits and blessings of their predecessor, as well as inherit all his obligations to God. The people of the New Testament enjoy all the benefits and advantages not because of their own merits, but only because of the merits of Jesus. The sign of entering into the Covenant of Jesus is water baptism (Col. 2: 11-13), which, as an external action, plays the role of a spiritual sign that indicates spiritual circumcision as a clipping of all sins. Thus, the intertextual analysis of the New Testament and Old Testament texts revealed the typos of Lord's Supper and shows the Christ as a single one, who determines the conditions of the covenants and makes it valid.


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