A living sacrifice

"When Susannah Birch was two years old her mother cut her throat, in a ritual sacrifice, Susannah was very lucky to survive. This was the first of her mother���s psychotic episodes as she enacted a passage from The Old Testament...In this moving documentary Susannah and her father describe their memories of this shocking event and how it has affected them."--publisher website

Jacopo Bassano freskomaalarina : Cartiglianon ja Enegon kirkkojen freskot: konteksti, rekonstruktio ja tulkinta

The object of this study is Jacopo Bassano (c. 1510 1592) as a fresco painter and the significance of frescoes in his late production. The research focuses on the only surviving cycle of frescoes of his later years in the Cartigliano parish church, bearing the date 1575. The other cycle studied here was painted for the 16th century parish church of Enego. It contained one of the most extensive fresco decorations executed by Jacopo Bassano together with his eldest son Francesco. However, nothing has survived of the fresco cycle and the ceiling paintings of the church, nor is any visual documentation of them left. Only the small altarpiece attributed to Jacopo Bassano and depicting Saints Justine, Sebastian, Anthony Abbott, and Roch (dated to c. 1555/1560) has been preserved. I have suggested that the frescoes of the Cartigliano parish church should be examined in the interpretational context of the spirituality of the post-Tridentine period. This period frames the historical context for the frescoes and functions as a basis for the iconographical interpretation that I have proposed. I have shown that the iconographic programme of the frescoes in the choir of the Cartigliano parish church has obvious points of contact with the Catholic doctrines reconfirmed by the Council of Trent (1545 1563). I also argue that the fresco cycle and the ceiling paintings of the Enego church should be placed in the same interpretational context as the frescoes of Cartigliano. I present a reconstruction of the frescoes in the choir attributed to Jacopo Bassano and of those on the walls of the nave attributed to his son Francesco Bassano. According to my reconstruction, the frescoes in the choir and nave walls formed a coherent cycle with a unitary iconographic programme which included the 28 paintings with Old Testament subjects in the nave ceiling. The reconstruction includes the dating and the iconography of the fresco programme and its interpretative basis. The reconstruction is based on visitation records and inventories from the 16th and 17th centuries as well as on the oldest relevant literature, namely the descriptions offered by Carlo Ridolfi (1648) and G. B. Verci (1775). I also consider the relationship of the large compositional sketches attributed to Jacopo Bassano and depicting Christological subjects to the lost frescoes in Enego. These studies have been executed with coloured chalks, and many of them are also dated 1568 or 1569 by the painter. I suggest in this study that these large studies in coloured chalks were preparatory drawings for the fresco cycle in Enego, depicting scenes from the life and suffering of Christ. All the subjects of the aforesaid drawings were included in the Enego cycle.

"Secoituxesta j��rjett��m��in luondocappalden canssa" : Perversiot, oikeusel��m�� ja kansankulttuuri 1700-luvun Suomessa

Bestiality was in the 18th century a more difficult problem in terms of criminal policy in Sweden and Finland than in any other Christian country in any other period. In the legal history of deviant sexuality, the phenomenon was uniquely widespread by international comparison. The number of court cases per capita in Finland was even higher than in Sweden. The authorities classified bestiality among the most serious crimes and a deadly sin. The Court of Appeal in Turku opted for an independent line and was clearly more lenient than Swedish courts of justice. Death sentences on grounds of bestiality ended in the 1730s, decades earlier than in Sweden. The sources for the present dissertation include judgment books and Court of Appeal decisions in 253 cases, which show that the persecution of those engaging in bestial acts in 18th century Finland was not organised by the centralised power of Stockholm. There is little evidence of local campaigns that would have been led by authorities. The church in its orthodoxy was losing ground and the clergy governed their parishes with more pragmatism than the Old Testament sanctioned. When exposing bestiality, the legal system was compelled to rely on the initiative of the public. In cases of illicit intercourse or adultery the authorities were even more dependent on the activeness of the local community. Bestiality left no tangible evidence, illegitimate children, to betray the crime to the clergy or secular authorities. The moral views of the church and the local community were not on a collision course. It was a common view that bestiality was a heinous act. Yet nowhere near all crimes came to the authorities' knowledge. Because of the heavy burden of proof, the legal position of the informer was difficult. Passiveness in reporting the crime was partly because most Finns felt it was not their place to intervene in their neighbours' private lives, as long as that privacy posed no serious threat to the neighbourhood. Hidden crime was at least as common as crime more easily exposed and proven. A typical Finnish perpetrator of bestiality was a young unmarried man with no criminal background or mental illness. The suspects were not members of ethnic minorities or marginal social groups. In trials, farmhands were more likely to be sentenced than their masters, but a more salient common denominator than social and economical status was the suspects' young age. For most of the defendants bestiality was a deep-rooted habit, which had been adopted in early youth. This form of subculture spread among the youth, and the most susceptible to experiment with the act were shepherds. The difference between man and animal was not clear-cut or self-evident. The difficulty in drawing the line is evident both in legal sources and Finnish folklore. The law that required that the animal partners be slaughtered led to the killing of thousands of cows and mares, and thereby to substantial material losses to their owners. Regarding bestiality as a crime against property motivated people to report it. The belief that the act would produce human-animal mongrels or that it would poison the milk and the meat horrified the public more than the teachings of the church ever could. Among the most significant aspects in the problems regarding the animals is how profoundly different the worldview of 18th century people was from that of today.

Der Prediger vom wei��en Berg : Zur Rezeption der besseren Gerechtigkeit aus Mt 5 in Martin Luthers Predigt��berlieferung 1522 1546.

The purpose of this study is to examine the reception of Matthew 5 in Martin Luther s sermons; in other words to investigate how Luther interprets and applies Jesus teaching of the better righteousness and the law in Mt 5. The study applies the reception-historical approach and contributes to the history of effects and the history of interpretation in New Testament exegesis. The study shows that Luther understands the better righteousness of Mt 5 as good works and fulfillment of the law. Luther s interpretation coheres with the intention of the Evangelist, even if Luther s overall concept of righteousness is foreign to Matthew. In Luther s view righteousness is twofold: The greater righteousness of Mt 5 is the second and the actual righteousness (iustitia activa), which follows the first and the foreign righteousness (iustitia passiva). The first righteousness (faith) is for Luther the work of God, while the second righteousness (good works) is co-operation between a Christian and God. In this co-operation the law, as it is taught by Jesus, is not the opposite of the gospel, but the gospel itself in the sense of Christ as an example . The task of the law is to show the dependence of a Christian on God and to help one to love and to serve one s neighbour (brothers as well as enemies) properly. The study underlines a feature in Luther s thinking that has received little attention in Lutheran theology: Luther insists on preaching the law to Christians. In his view Mt 5 is directed to all Christians and particularly to pastors, for whom Jesus here gives an example of how to preach the law. Luther believes similarly to Matthew that Jesus reveals the real meaning of Mosaic Law and confirms its validity for Christians in Mt 5. Like Matthew, Luther insists on the practicability of the commandments of Mt 5 in his view Christians fulfil the law also with joy yet his interpretation of Mt 5 attenuates the radical nature of its commandments. Luther s reception of the individual pericopes of Mt 5 is considerably generative and occasionally contradictory, which is explained by the following factors, among others: Luther receives many ideas from tradition and reads them and his own theological concepts into Matthew s Gospel. He interprets Mt 5 through his understanding of some Old Testament passages as well as Paul. Most of all, Luther s reception of Mt 5 is shaped by his own experience as a preacher, by his relation to his religious enemies, rulers and to the congregation of Wittenberg. Here Luther shares with Matthew the experience of being opposed and concern about the upright living of the believers, which in both cases also explains the polemical tone of the paraenesis.

Evil Gods and Reckless Saviours : Adaptation and Appropriation in Late Twentieth Century Jesus-Novels

Late twentieth century Jesus-novels search after a completely new picture of Jesus. Novels written for instance by Norman Mailer, Jos�� Saramago, Mich��le Roberts, Marianne Fredriksson, and Ki Longfellow provide an inversive revision of the canonic Gospels. They read the New Testament in terms of the present age. In their adaptation the story turns often into a critique of the whole Christian history. The investigated contrast-novels end up with an appropriation that is based on prototypical rewriting. They aim at the rehabilitation of Judas, and some of them make Mary Magdalane the key figure of Christianity. Saramago describes God as a blood thirsty tyrant, and Mailer makes God combat with the Devil in a manichean sense as with an equal. Such ideas are familiar both from poststructuralist philosophy and post-metaphysical death-of-God theology. The main result of the intertextual analysis is that these scholars have adopted Nietzschean ideas in their writing. Quite unlike earlier Jesus-novels, these more recent novels present a revision that produces discontinuity with the original source text, the New Testament. The intertextual strategy is based on contradiction. The reader wittnesses contesting and challenging, the authors attack Biblical beliefs and attempt to dissolve Christian doctrines. An attack on Biblical slave morality and violent concept of God deprives Jesus of his Jewish Messianic identity, makes Old Testament law a contradiction of life, calls sacrificial soteriology a violent pattern supporting oppression, and presents God as a cruel monster who enslaves people under his commandments and wishes their death. The new Jesus-figure contests Mosaic Law, despises orthodox Judaism, abandons Jewish customs and even questions Old Testament monotheism. In result, the novels intentionally transfer Jesus out of Judaism. Furthermore, Jewish faith appears in a negative light. Such an intertextual move is not open anti-Semitism but it cannot avoid attacking Jewish worship. Why? One reason that explains these attitudes is that Western culture still carries anti-Judaic attitudes beneath the surface covered with sentiments of equality and tolerance. Despite the evident post-holocaust consciousness present in the novels, they actually adopt an arrogant and ironical refutation of Jewish beliefs and Old Testament faith. In these novels, Jesus is made a complete opposite and antithesis to Judaism. Key words: Jesus-novel, intertextuality, adaptation, slave morality, Nietzsche, theodicy, patriarchy.

Justino presenta la divinidad de Cristo ante jud��os y paganos

Resumen: El autor nos ofrece una r��pida visi��n de la Trinidad en Justino, fruto de una larga investigaci��n. Resume primero el camino del Di��logo, donde Justino atribuye las teofan��as del Antiguo Testamento al Logos. Este Dios es num��ricamente distinto del Padre Creador del universo, pero est�� por debajo de ��l. En las Apolog��as, en cambio, se confronta con el paganismo y el platonismo: ubica al Logos en el segundo lugar, y al Esp��ritu en el Tercero. El Hijo, unig��nito, es engendrado por el Padre antes de las creaturas, sin dividirlo, sino como un fuego enciende a otro fuego. El Padre todo lo hace por medio de ��l. Poco alude a la actividad propia del Esp��ritu prof��tico. Estos dos caminos confluyen en una cierta inferioridad del Hijo respecto al Padre, la que es t��pica de diversos Padres prenicenos. Los perversos demonios han perseguido a todos los que, como S��crates, han vivido seg��n el Logos. Plat��n copi�� a Mois��s sin entenderlo del todo. La cruz del Hijo es c��smica. Jes��s es el maestro crucificado

�����No les corresponde conocer el derecho?��� : estudio de Miqueas 3, 1-12

Resumen: El autor se propone estudiar desde una perspectiva literaria, cr��tica y ret��rica el cap��tulo 3 del profeta Miqueas. Para esto, en primer t��rmino plantea una estructura a partir de los or��culos de condena que el discurso posee. Luego intenta aproximarse al texto desde una perspectiva po��tico���literaria que intente explicar la fuerza discursiva de las figuras ret��ricas y del movimiento de la trama del texto. Tambi��n se integra en el an��lisis la perspectiva teol��gica de las expresiones, sobre todo evaluando su alcance a partir de su relaci��n con la tradici��n veterotestamentaria. Finalmente, se eval��a la intencionalidad del texto a partir de la composici��n redaccional y de lo que el an��lisis anterior fue brindando para poder imaginar un camino de actualizaci��n del mismo.

Jesucristo, plenitud de la revelaci��n : el testimonio del Nuevo Testamento

Desde la perspectiva del Nuevo Testamento, el autor se propone un estudio que ayude a comprender y profundizar la ense��anza del Concilio Vaticano II acerca de ���Jesucristo, plenitud de la revelaci��n��� (DV 2). La exposici��n se organiza en dos secciones relativas al Antiguo y al Nuevo Testamento: en el primero se presenta c��mo Israel fue descubriendo en su historia el proyecto de Dios para s�� y para la humanidad; en el segundo se trata sobre Jes��s, el ���lugar��� donde el designio de Dios tuvo y tiene su plena realizaci��n. Para todos los disc��pulos, Jesucristo sigue siendo el camino hacia una vida plena (cf. DA 375).

Nuevas lecturas sobre lo jud��o en el Milagro XVI de los Milagros de Nuestra Se��ora de Berceo

Integran este n��mero de la revista ponencias presentadas en Studia Hispanica Medievalia VIII: Actas de las IX Jornadas Internacionales de Literatura Espa��ola Medieval, 2008, y de Homenaje al Quinto Centenario de Amadis de Gaula.

A cicatriz do Tatarana: o sagrado feminino em Grande sert��o: veredas

O trabalho analisa, na obra Grande Sert��o: Veredas de Jo��o Guimar��es Rosa (1956), elementos discursivos indicadores de um modo de narrar que ficcionaliza, tanto na forma quanto no teor de sua mensagem, manifesta����es do sagrado origin��rias da Antiguidade grega e da tradi����o judaico-crist��. A partir da analogia entre a obra de Guimar��es Rosa e a Odisseia de Homero, tornam-se evidentes vest��gios do ��pico e de modelos cl��ssicos de narrativa que, revestidos do peculiar trabalho da linguagem rosiana, adensam a complexidade do romance. O paralelismo com as Sagradas Escrituras, mais difuso, projeta as a����es num patamar dram��tico, em que se decidem o destino das personagens e a solenidade do discurso memor��vel. A fundamenta����o te��rica articula o pensamento de Erich Auerbach, Andr�� Jolles, Rudolf Otto e tamb��m de estudiosos que se dedicaram �� obra do autor mineiro, como Kathrin Rosenfield. Esse recorte mostrou a presen��a do sagrado em microc��lulas entretecidas ao emaranhado de hist��rias e causos que costuram a obra prima de Rosa. A cicatriz da Tatarana alude �� cicatriz de Ulisses, sinal revelador da identidade do her��i grego e que, no caso do jagun��o Riobaldo, desoculta um amor negado por meio da purga����o do passado, elaborada numa conversa "unilateral com um suposto interlocutor. Em linguagem m��tica e m��gica, a figura nebulosa de Diadorim funciona como ��ndice de ambiguidade e, ao mesmo tempo, da revela����o alcan��ada atrav��s da morte. A pesquisa, por seu turno, segue as veredas abertas pelo estudo de Tereza Virg��nia Ribeiro Barbosa a respeito das mulheres vestidas de sol, met��fora relacionada a Medeia, mas que se projeta na Virgem Maria e numa linhagem de figuras femininas da Am��rica Latina ligadas ao sagrado. Verificamos, na perspectiva das transfer��ncias culturais do tipo passado m��stico-mist��rico/posteridade fabular, que o discurso de Riobaldo �� atravessado por micronarrativas de longa tradi����o que sincretizam diferentes s��mbolos exot��ricos. O trabalho encerra sua investiga����o desvendando a dualidade do sert��o rosiano, onde impera o embate entre f�� e ceticismo, a d��vida e a raz��o, o amor e o ��dio, o masculino e o feminino, que resulta no inacabado, na travessia, a vida como met��fora, no campo das infinitas possibilidades do homem humano

As representa����es de Deus em Caim, de Jos�� Saramago: um estudo sist��mico-funcional

Uma das inst��ncias de representa����o do mundo �� a linguagem. Por meio da l��ngua representamos dados de nossa experi��ncia f��sica e ps��quica, ou seja, representamos a realidade que nos cerca. Investigar como o homem representa essa realidade �� uma quest��o inesgot��vel. Desse modo, �� necess��rio selecionar um aspecto dessa realidade, i.e., fazer um recorte. Para tratar de como o homem representa o mundo, foi escolhido como objeto de pesquisa uma das mais recorrentes representa����es feitas pela humanidade, a saber, deus. Os questionamentos em torno do personagem deus podem ser considerados uma das quest��es ontol��gicas do homem. No ��mbito dos estudos da linguagem, a Lingu��stica Sist��mico-Funcional mostra-se como suporte te��rico ideal, pois entende que a linguagem possui a habilidade de representar a realidade. O prop��sito da linguagem de representar ideias e expressar experi��ncias remete �� Metafun����o Ideacional que tem como ferramenta de an��lise o Sistema de Transitividade. Sendo assim, nosso objetivo �� investigar, por meio do Sistema de Transitividade da LSF, que representa����es de deus Jos�� Saramago nos mostra em seu ��ltimo romance, Caim, e responder ��s seguintes perguntas: Qual a representa����o do personagem Deus em Caim a partir da investiga����o dos enunciados do narrador, do personagem Caim e do pr��prio personagem Deus? A an��lise lingu��stica corrobora ou n��o o posicionamento de Saramago expresso por meio de um narrador que se coloca contra Deus? Como a an��lise lingu��stica pode corroborar e sustentar uma an��lise liter��ria? O conceito de religi��o e a rela����o homem-deus t��m uma presen��a constante na obra de Saramago e, em Caim, o autor desconstr��i uma tradi����o judaico-crist��, atrav��s das pr��prias narrativas b��blicas do Velho Testamento. Por meio dos processos analisados �� poss��vel observar que o divino, na obra em quest��o, �� revestido de caracter��sticas humanas, �� vingativo, rancoroso e demonstra pouqu��ssima compaix��o por suas criaturas. Para Saramago, o Deus crist��o faz dos seres humanos suas marionetes, por exemplo, quando induz Caim ao primeiro homic��dio da historia crist��. Desse modo, o autor desconstr��i a concep����o judaico-crist�� do Deus justo, onipotente, onisciente e bondoso. Para o autor, Deus �� ego��sta, vingativo e se deixa levar pela ira

Fragments bibliques coptes

Identification et r����dition de deux ostraca, un papyrus et un parchemin coptes. Les documents portent des textes bibliques. O. Brit. Mus. Copt. II 44 :Ps. 18, 8; 36, 1; 78, 9 (?) et 98, 6. O. Brit. Mus. Copt. II 45 :Ps. 31, 10-11. P. Med. Copto Inv. 246b :Mt 1, 18; 20. P. Med. Copto Inv. 71.41c :Lc 1, 64-65; 68-69.

Tartessos: a constru����o de identidades atrav��s do registo escrito e da documenta����o arqueol��gica : um estudo comparativo

Tese de doutoramento, Hist��ria (Arqueologia), Universidade de Lisboa, Faculdade de Letras, 2014

Job et la providence de Dieu chez Thomas d���Aquin

Conf��rence donn��e le 22 mars 2006 au Dialogue jud��o-chr��tien de Montr��al. ��Jean Duhaime, 2006.

�� Et ils proph��tiseront �� : la proph��tie de Jl 3,1-5 reprise en Ac 2, 17-21 : cl�� d'interpr��tation du ph��nom��ne pentecostal

Cette pr��sente recherche vise �� d��fendre le point de vue selon lequel le don de l���Esprit dans le r��cit de la Pentec��te (Ac 2, 1-13) s���interpr��te principalement comme l���investissement d���une puissance habilitant au t��moignage. �� cette fin, nous posons l���hypoth��se que le contenu d���Ac 2, 17-21 est un axe fondamental de la th��ologie pneumatique de l�����uvre lucanienne, lequel interpr��te la manifestation pentecostale dans une perspective proph��tique. La d��monstration se fait par le biais d���une analyse r��dactionnelle d���Ac 2, 17-21, une citation de Jl 3,1-5 ins��r��e dans un discours explicatif de Pierre du ph��nom��ne pentecostal. Nous examinons d���abord le lieu d���inscription de ce passage dans l�����uvre lucanienne afin d�����valuer la valeur strat��gique de son emplacement (chapitre 1). Nous ��tudions ensuite l���interpr��tation que fait Luc de cette proph��tie pour en venir �� la conclusion qu���il envisage l���intervention de l���Esprit essentiellement dans une perspective d���habilitation �� la proph��tie (chapitre 2). Nous v��rifions cette premi��re conclusion dans l�����vangile de Luc (chapitre 3); puis ensuite dans les Actes des Ap��tres (chapitre 4). Nous en arrivons ainsi �� ��tablir un parall��lisme entre les ��tapes initiatiques du minist��re de J��sus dans le troisi��me ��vangile et celui des disciples dans les Actes, pour y d��couvrir que, dans les deux cas, l���effusion de l���Esprit habilite �� l���activit�� proph��tique. Le minist��re des disciples s���inscrit de la sorte dans le prolongement de celui du Ma��tre. Nous soutenons, en fait, que tout le discours pneumatique de l�����vangile de Luc converge vers l���effusion initiale de l���Esprit sur les disciples dans le r��cit pentecostal, d���une part, et que cette effusion jette un ��clairage sur l���ensemble de l�����uvre missionnaire des Actes, d���autre part. Bref, le passage explicatif du ph��nom��ne pentecostal, en l���occurrence Ac 2, 17-21, met en lumi��re un axe central des perspectives de Luc sur l���Esprit : Il s���agit de l���Esprit de proph��tie. Dans cette optique, l���effusion de l���Esprit �� la Pentec��te s���interpr��terait essentiellement comme l���investissement du croyant d���une puissance en vue du t��moignage.