The focus of this study is revelation at the limits of communication. It considers the way in which (biblical) apocalyptic literature prominently figures the interconnection between liminality, revelation, and representation. The methodology asserts an indissoluble association between theology, philosophy and literature. As such it is interdisciplinary. A preliminary theory (and theology) of liminality interweaves the theological and philosophical contributions of, amongst others, Karl Barth, Graham Ward, Jürgen Moltmann and Jacques Derrida, thereby initiating a revised perspective on the constitution of literary apocalyptic text production and interpretation. Theorising the limen begins to describe the Trinitarian economy at work in Christian apocalyptic processing of scripture. I begin with the idea that revelation (apokalypsis) is the experience of the limen itself (in a coincidence of opposites). Thus the limen (as an actively divine space) incorporates that which stands on both sides, in vertical and horizontal, linear and cyclical, spatial and temporal movements. I then propose that apocalyptic literature re-presents this complex economy in which the end is rehearsed simultaneously as limit, threshold, and rupture. Theologically, this complicates inter-relational notions of ‘apocalyptic’ and eschatology, and stimulates a debate on a metaphysics of violence in communication (between God, man and Creation). I conclude that, at the extreme limit of human understanding (where words fail), those with faith in God’s love are opened out to revelation in the apocalyptic textual performance of the liminal economy, and thus to hope and forgiveness. Stressing the importance of reading apocalyptically, I begin to demonstrate the relationship between Christian-canonical narratives and the broader western literary canon, the critical process having invited an exploration of those literary characteristics (of tone, mode and genre) shared by (biblical, modern and postmodern) texts. An important principle in the literary analyses is the association between apocalyptic text production and hermeneutics. Christopher Rowland’s description of a ‘visionary mode’ explains how this process works. Thus the preliminary theory leads into a close reading of recent Russian and American works by Mikhail Bulgakov and Thomas Pynchon. These are compared to, and worked through, Mark’s and John’s gospels and the Book of Revelation. The interpretative approach widens the often self-limiting study of apocalyptic literature, and broadens theological debate on revelation. Thus it begins to show how the rhetoric of apocalyptic makes belief compelling.

This dissertation focuses on the 'theo-political' core of US Christian Zionism and Jewish Religious Zionism. The political militancy characterizing two Millenarian/Messianic movements such as Christian Zionism and Jewish Religious Zionism constitutes a still under-researched and under-theorized aspect that, at present, is paramount to address for its immediate and long terms implications in the highly sensitive and volatile Israeli-Palestinian issue, in the US and Israeli domestic domain, and in the wider international community. Although processes of the 'sacralisation of politics' and 'politicisation of religions' have already manifested themselves in countless forms over past centuries, Christian Zionism and Jewish Religious Zionism are unprecedented phenomena given their unique hybridized nature, political prominence and outreach, mobilizing appeal amongst believers, organizational-communicational skills and degree of institutionalization.

This thesis outlines the development of the doctrine of Purgatory in the theology of the nineteenth century theologian John Henry Newman (1801-1890). I trace the beginning of this development from 1816-1828 by identifying key theological themes from Newman’s early Evangelical writings on holiness, purification and conversion. After rejecting the Evangelicalism of his youth, Newman moved progressively towards High-Church Anglicanism from 1828 onward, and adopted the Anglican teaching of the 'intermediate state'. From 1830 he began to preach on this teaching by presenting it as an alternative to the 'depressing prospect' to the 'Romish' doctrine of Purgatory. However from 1837-1845 his views on Purgatory shifted considerably after studying the Tridentine decrees. In 1841 he claimed in Tract XC of Tracts for the Times that significant changes in the formulation of Article XXII of the XXXIX Articles meant that the Church of England did not reject the doctrine of Purgatory in its primitive form, but rather only the 'Romish' extremes of mediaeval theology which had corrupted her teaching. His claim that there was no disparity between what Trent taught on Purgatory and what the Church of England held in Article XXII caused widespread controversy among his contemporaries. In his early Roman Catholic years, from 1845-1853, he initially adopted the commonly held punitive model of Purgatory, but leaned increasingly towards an ameliorative understanding of the doctrine. By 1865 Newman had adumbrated a theology of Purgatory in The Dream of Gerontius, in which he showed how rather than being purged by material fire, the soul was purified by a singular and instantaneous experience of the holiness of God. I demonstrate how his theology of Purgatory in the Dream represents a significant contribution to a renewed understanding of the doctrine in Roman Catholic theology.

Pojetí výchovy u Jana Amose Komenského John Amos Comenius 's Approach to Education Petra Bochenková Jan Amos Comenius as a great thinker of the 17th century created a complete and comprehensive system that remained in his time misunderstood. After the Battle of White Mountain he was the greatest writer of emigration, philosopher, theologian, bishop of the Unity of Brethren. Last but not least, teacher and humanist. It should be appreciated Comenius theological importance of the creative effort, since the absolute top of the intellectual system is the existence of God. Throughout his working life has led to harmony and peace in the world, came up with the idea Pansophia. Pansophia trader a perfect connection and knowledge of all matters of life and the greatest possible realization of perfection. Opened the way to God. We can say that his ideas reached timelessness and especially in educational matters. Its comprehensive educational system can be applied in the field of education even today. His esteem gained mainly by its content overlaps with many, many areas of science and life. He sought to promote humanity and emphasized man as the pinnacle of God's creative efforts, which in his time represented something quite extraordinary. Preferred activity of theory and practice in all areas of life. The...

Le motif de la couronne, fortement présent dans les corpus iconographiques juifs et chrétiens, a été majoritairement perçu comme une contamination païenne des dits répertoires. Par la même, son interprétation symbolique est jugée secondaire et son emploi serait essentiellement d’ordre décoratif. Par la constitution d’un double corpus sélectif, l’un iconographique et l’autre textuel, notre démontrons que ce motif connaît une signification symbolique profonde et propre aux deux religions. Mes travaux permettent, d’une part, une meilleure compréhension des évolutions iconographiques et religieuses si caractéristiques de l’Antiquité tardive, et, d’autre part, de cerner les interactions entre les groupes religieux juifs et chrétiens du monde gréco-romain. En effet, la prise en compte et la confrontation de l’ensemble des sources textuelles et iconographiques tardoantiques juives et chrétiennes ont tout d’abord montré que le thème de la couronne est omniprésent. Cette omniprésence s’explique dans la mesure où les significations symboliques qu’elle véhicule sont fondamentales et multiples. Attribut de pouvoir (celui du roi celui du prêtre), attribut et sceau divin, attribut christique, angélique et céleste, la couronne est au cœur de la pensée juive et chrétienne de la rétribution. Ce symbolisme puissant s’enracine dans la Bible. C’est à partir des passages bibliques, pourtant peu nombreux, mentionnant la couronne, que les exégèses ultérieures se sont constamment développées ; cela en insistant toujours plus sur la dimension céleste de la signification de ce motif, au détriment de ses connotations terrestres liées historiquement à la royauté davidique et à la prêtrise aaronienne. Le motif de la couronne et son interprétation de plus en plus eschatologique sont présents dans tous les corpus littéraires ou épigraphiques que nous avons étudiés. Les premiers témoins de cet accroissement de la valeur symbolique de la couronne sont les littératures intertestamentaire, pseudépigraphique et qumrânienne au tournant de notre ère, dans lesquelles l’attention se focalise sur le sort des justes. / The motif of the crown, strongly present in the Jewish and Christian iconographic corpus, was mainly perceived as a pagan contamination of the said repertoires. By the same token, its symbolic interpretation is considered secondary and its use essentially decorative. By the constitution of a selective double corpus, one iconographic and the other textual, we demonstrate that this motif knows a deep symbolic meaning specific to both religions. My work makes it possible, on the one hand, to better understand the iconographic and religious evolutions so characteristic of late antiquity, and, on the other hand, to identify the interactions between the Jewish and Christian religious groups of the Greco-Roman world.Indeed, taking into account and confronting all Jewish and Christian late antique textual and iconographic sources initially showed that the theme of the crown is omnipresent. This omnipresence is explained insofar as the symbolic meanings which it conveys are fundamental and multiple. Attribute of power (that of the king that of the priest), attribute and divine seal, attribute Christic, angelic and celestial, the crown is at the heart of the Jewish and Christian thought of retribution.This powerful symbolism is rooted in the Bible. It is from the biblical passages, however few in number, mentioning the crown, that the subsequent exegeses have been constantly developed; With an increasing emphasis on the heavenly dimension of the meaning of this motif, to the detriment of its terrestrial connotations historically related to the Davidic kingdom and the Aaronic priesthood. The motif of the crown and its increasingly eschatological interpretation are present in all the literary or epigraphic corpuses that we have studied. The first witnesses to this increase in the symbolic value of the crown are the intertestamental, pseudepigraphic and qumranian literatures at the turn of our era, in which attention focuses on the fate of the righteous.

Mishkan ha-‘Edut, la Résidence du Témoignage, est le dernier ouvrage important écrit par le kabbaliste castillan R. Moshe de Leon (1240-1305). On peut considérer cet ouvrage comme une œuvre de couronnement et de maturation de la pensée de l’auteur. Connu à travers plusieurs ouvrages écrits en hébreu, R. Moshe de Leon est, d’après les jugements des historiens, l’un des auteurs principaux du prestigieux Sefer ha-Zohar, rédigé en araméen, et que la tradition rabbinique et populaire attribue à R. Shim’one bar Yohaï, rabbin galiléen ayant vécu entre le premier et le deuxième siècle de l’ère chrétienne. Le Mishkan ha-‘Edut traite de plusieurs questions fondamentales : la raison de l’existence du monde et son fondement dans la divinité ; la place de l’homme dans ce monde, la signification théologique profonde et la raison de son parcours terrestre; la nature de la transgression du commandement divin et la possibilité de repentir pour l’homme en tant qu’être psycho-physique doté d’une âme d’origine divine ; l’eschatologie de l’âme : le sort de chacune de ses composantes après la mort, sa purification dans la géhenne et la nature de son séjour dans le jardin de l’Eden. R. Moshe de Leon reprend, de manière plus structurée, plusieurs sujets abordés dans ses précédents écrits, en particulier, une théorie de l’âme et de ses « revêtements » (malbushim) après la mort. L’auteur insiste sur le caractère ésotérique des sujets développés en se considérant détenteur d’un savoir reçu. A plusieurs reprises, l’auteur insiste sur son hésitation à dévoiler « les secrets de la sagesse redoutable et intérieure ». Il ne cessera de préciser qu’il s’adresse à une élite, à ceux qui sont à la recherche de cette intériorité indispensable pour entendre le message de la transmission fondée sur l’enseignement ésotérique. Nous retrouvons dans cet ouvrage quelques-unes des idées les plus fascinantes de la Kabbale : que l’existence de Dieu n’est une que dans l’union des différents monde, le divin, le céleste et le terrestre ; que la relation entre Dieu et le monde est assimilable à la respiration. Ceci renvoie à la tâche de l’homme pendant son court parcours terrestre, qui n’est pas le caprice d’un créateur cruel mais correspond au projet d’unification des mondes. Naturellement, R. Moshe de Leon s’inspire du texte biblique pour confirmer ses idées, et bien d’autres. Le Mishkan ha-‘Edut est émaillé de citations bibliques, ses arguments sont construits comme un commentaire de la Bible, dont on exclut comme superficiel et fourvoyant le sens obvie. Les affirmations des rabbins du Talmud sont également très présentes, ainsi que celles des « anciens » (qadmonim), qui sont en réalité les kabbalistes de son époque ou des générations précédentes. / Mishkan ha-‘Edut, is the last important work written by Castilian cabalist R.Moshe de Leon (1240-1305). One can consider this work as an oeuvre of maturation of the author’s thought. Known by several works written in Hebrew, R.Moshe de Leon is, according to historians, one of the main authors of the prestigious Sefer ha-Zohar, written in Aramean, that the popular and rabbinic tradition attributes to R. Shim’one bar Yohaï, Galilean rabbi living in the first and second century of the Christian era. The Mishkan ha-‘Edut addresses several fundamental questions: the reason of the existence of the world and its foundation in divinity; the place of man in this world, the profound theological signification and the reason of its path on earth; the nature of transgression of divine commandment and the possibility of repentance for men as psychological beings carrying a divine derived soul; eschatology of the soul, the fate of each of its components after death, its purification in the géhenne and the nature of its stay in the garden of Eden. R.Moshe de Leon goes over, in a more structured way, several topics addressed in his previous writings. In particular, a theory of the soul and its “protections” (malbushim) after death. He insists on the esoteric aspect of the developed topics considering himself as owning a given knowledge. On several occasions, he also insists on his hesitation to disclose “the secrets of formidable and interior wisdom”. He stresses he addresses an elite, those who are seeking this necessary interiority to listen to the message of transmission based on esoteric teaching. One can find in this work some of the Kabbalah’s most fascinating ideas: that god existence is only one in the context of the merging of different worlds, the divine, the celestial and terrestrial; that the relationship between god and the world mimics breathing. This reflects to the task of man during his path on earth, not being directed by a cruel creator but that corresponds to the project of unification of these worlds. Naturally, R. Moshe de Leon takes inspiration in the bible text to confirm his ideas and many others. Mishkan ha-‘Edut is dotted with biblical citations, its arguments are built as a biblical commentary, from which is excluded, as if superficial, the spontaneous interpretation. Talmudic rabbi’s affirmations are equally present, as well as the “old”( qadmonim), who are in reality the kabbalists of his time or previous generations.

[pt] No livro dos doze, Ageu é o segundo em extensão perdendo apenas para Abdias. Neste pequeno livro, constituído de apenas dois capítulos, está uma mensagem que busca animar os construtores do templo pós-exílico. O oráculo em Ag 2,1-9 chama a atenção porque demonstra um interesse de YHWH pelo templo. O presente trabalho propõe-se a analisar Ag 2,1-9, com o objetivo de identificar pontos que demonstrem um enunciado escatológico profético e qual a dimensão escatológica do templo pós-exílico. Tal objetivo pôde ser alcançado, após a análise do texto, que tomou por base os aspectos da escatologia vétero-testamentária para identificá-lo como um oráculo escatológico salvífico. / [en] In the book of the twelve, Haggai is the second in a less extent, second only to Abdias. In this small book, consisting of only two chapters, is a message that seeks to encourage the builders of the post-exilic temple. The oracle in Hag 2.1-9 points out the reason why it has an interest in the temple of YHWH. This study proposes to examine Hag 2.1-9, with the aim of identifying points that demonstrate a prophetic eschatological statement and which the eschatological dimension of the post-exilic temple is. Such a goal could be reached after examining the text, which was based on the aspects of eschatology vetero-testamentary to identify him as an oracle eschatological salvation.

This thesis is a critical analysis of the theology and ethics of dispensationalist Christian Zionism in America. Chapter One introduces the thesis and its method, which draws constructively from history, sociology, and anthropology while remaining substantively theological. Chapter Two describes dispensationalism's origins in nineteenth-century Britain and its dissemination and development in America. Chapter Three moves from broad, historical description to the contemporary and particular through an introduction to Faith Bible Chapel (FBC), an American Christian Zionist congregation. This description arises from an academic term spent at FBC observing congregational life and conducting extensive interviews, as well as fieldwork undertaken in FBC's "adopted settlement" in the West Bank, including interviews with Israeli settlers about partnerships with American Christians. The remaining chapters move to more explicitly doctrinal analysis. Chapters Four through Six are shaped by William Cavanaugh's concept of 'theopolitics' (Theopolitical Imagination, 2002): a disciplined, community-gathering common imagination of time and space. Through the exploration of a key historical text (The Scofield Reference Bible, 1917) and its continuing legacies in the life and thought of FBC, these chapters examine the theopolitics of dispensationalist Christian Zionism, demonstrating that it is a complex system of convictions and practices in which the disciplines of biblicism and biblical literalism form an eschatology which subordinates ecclesiology and Christology, nurturing an imagination of the roles of Christ and the church in time and space which sever social ethics from necessary Christological and ecclesiological sources. John Howard Yoder's work is used to bring this system into relief, and to establish that eschatology per se is not inimical to Christian social ethics. Chapter Seven concludes the thesis with a summary of its findings, as well as a discussion of the positive functions of apocalyptic in Christian social ethics, pointing toward the possibility of alternative ecclesial enactments of apocalyptic theopolitics.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-04-29T14:27:29Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Anderson Fasano.pdf: 956165 bytes, checksum: e855e50eeb2358b56683d2c1b7d462bf (MD5) Previous issue date: 2009-10-30 / Objectively describe, after analysing subjectively, the Matter circunvolutions in its space-time evolution from Man, who marches to the building of his definite I was the huge challenge to Father Teilhard; and that in the present dissertation was studied along three chapters. The first chapter delineates, thus, historic contextualization of Teilhard de Chardin s work and the fundamental aspects of his Cosmovision in order to enhance through the text, the escathological mark of his thought: his methodology and epistemology, and the traces of cognitive fundamentation of his theology from theological place privileged by him in insights of this nature: the Cosmos. Besides, he had thought of the Mistery of Salvation in a christocentric perspective. His preoccupation in this specific field had its main finality to attempt to connect the Christ announced by the Church as The Savior of the World with the Universe in evolution that aims the Escathological Plenitude in the Omega, Meta-Consummatory in the sótero-cosmic-evolutive process: that was the theme that constituted the third chapter. At last, his actual and relevant systematic view of the All is also a kind of mystical contemplation of a christified Cosmos; in a transfigured Universe in the Love of God that makes His Creation always New. / Descrever, objetivamente, depois de analisar, subjetivamente, as circunvoluções da Matéria em sua espácio-temporalidade evolutiva a partir do Homem, que marcha para a construção do seu eu definitivo, foi o ingente desafio do pe. Teilhard; e que na presente dissertação fora estudado ao longo de três capítulos. O primeiro capítulo delineia, portanto, a contextualização histórica da obra de Teilhard de Chardin e os aspectos fundamentais de sua Cosmovisão de modo a realçar, no decorrer do texto, a marca escatológica de seu pensamento. O segundo capítulo tratou, por sua vez, da estruturação teórica de seu pensamento: sua metodologia e epistemologia, e os traços da fundamentação cognitiva de sua teologia a partir do lugar teológico por ele privilegiado em reflexões dessa natureza: o Cosmos. Ademais, ele pensara o Mistério de Salvação sob uma perspectiva cristocêntrica. Sua preocupação neste campo específico tivera sua finalidade precípua na tentativa de relacionar o Cristo anunciado pela Igreja como Salvador do Mundo com um Universo em evolução que visa à Plenitude Escatológica no Ômega, Meta Consumatória do processo sóterocósmico- evolutivo: esta foi a temática que constituiu o terceiro capítulo. Enfim, atual e relevante, sua visão sistemática do Todo é também uma espécie de contemplação mística de um Cosmos cristificado; de um Universo transfigurado no Amor de Deus que faz Sua Criação sempre Nova.

Les termes logos (raison) et tropos forment un couple qui est très significatif pour la pensée de Maxime le Confesseur (c. 580-662). Dans notre thèse, nous examinons les contextes dans lesquels Maxime le Confesseur emploie le terme tropos (mode) soit à l’intérieur du couple logos-tropos, soit de façon autonome. Nous ne traitons pas le concept de tropos comme un terme invariant intégré à une doctrine uniforme, mais plutôt comme un moyen ou un «outil» conceptuel qui aide Maxime à résoudre des problèmes très différents dans plusieurs domaines de sa pensée. Nous examinons les différents contextes dans lesquels Maxime le Confesseur utilise le couple logos-tropos ou le seul terme tropos, comme, par exemple, la logique, la relation entre l’universalité et la particularité, la théologie trinitaire, la question du mal et la Théodicée, la cosmologie, la théorie du progrès spirituel, la théorie de l’achèvement ontologique, la christologie et l’eschatologie. Dans chaque cas, nous insistons sur les termes qui sont déterminés par le mot tropos et sur les relations de contraste, d’opposition ou tout simplement de distinction qui se forment entre eux. Nous examinons également le champ lexical des mots qui sont relatifs au terme tropos. En général, le logos exprime la stabilité et la permanence qui est nécessaire pour qu’il y ait un sens contemplé par le sage, alors que le tropos signifie une modalité qui ouvre la possibilité de contingence, de surprise et d’innovation à l’intérieur de l’Histoire. L’emphase est plutôt mise sur le fait que le tropos est exactement une modalité qui peut coexister avec le logos sans l’annuler, altérer ou corrompre. / The terms logos (reason) and tropos (mode) form a very important couple in the thought of Maximus the Confessor (c. 580-662). In our PhD thesis, we are examining the contexts in which Maximus the Confessor is using the term tropos (mode) either inside the couple logos-tropos or independently. We are not developing the concept of tropos as a uniform doctrine, but we are examining it mostly as a means or as a conceptual “tool” which helps Maximus solving very different problems in diverse domains of his thought. We thus examine the use of the term tropos in contexts such as logic, the philosophical relation between universality and particularity, Trinitarian theology, the question of evil or Theodicy, cosmology, the stages of spiritual progress, the theory of the ontological actualization of beings, Christology and eschatology. In each case, we are insisting in the terms which are determined by the word tropos, the terms which are determined by the word logos, as well as the relations of contrast, opposition or simple distinction between them. We are equally examining the lexical field that is related to the term tropos. In general, logos expresses the stability and the permanence that are necessary for the existence of a meaning which could be contemplated by the philosopher, whereas tropos means a modality which opens a space for contingence, surprise and innovation inside History. The emphasis is placed on the fact that tropos is exactly a modality which can coexist with logos without annulling, altering or corrupting it.