Christian tracts : being a series of essays, discourses, etc., in illustration of various practical and doctrinal subjects.

Mode of access: Internet.

Sermons preached in a college chapel /

Mode of access: Internet.

Sermons preached in a college chapel /

Mode of access: Internet.

Tullich Aberdeenshire : a reappraisal of an early ecclesiastical site and its carved stones in the light of recent excavations

Peer reviewed

The Influence of Constantinople on Middle Byzantine Architecture (843-1204) : A typological and morphological approach at the provincial level.

The influence of the architecture of the Byzantine capital spread to the Mediterranean provinces with travelling masters and architects. In this study the architecture of the Constantinopolitan School has been detected on the basis of the typology of churches, completed by certain morphological aspects when necessary. The impact of the Constantinopolitan workshops appears to have been more important than previously realized. This research revealed that the Constantinopolitan composite domed inscribed-cross type or cross-in-square spread everywhere to the Balkans and it was assumed soon by the local schools of architecture. In addition, two novel variants were invented on the basis of this model: the semi-composite type and the so-called Athonite type. In the latter variant lateral conches, choroi, were added for liturgical reasons. Instead, the origin of the domed ambulatory church was partly provincial. One result of this study is that the origin of the Middle Byzantine domed octagonal types was traced to Constantinople. This is attested on the basis of the archaeological evidence. Also some other architectural elements that have not been preserved in the destroyed capital have survived at the provincial level: the domed hexagonal type, the multi-domed superstructure, the pseudo-octagon and the narthex known as the lite. The Constantinopolitan architecture during the period in question was based on the Early Christian and Late Antique forms, practices and innovations and this also emerges at the provincial level.

Etuoikeutettu sukupuoli? : Käsitys auktoriteetista Elisabeth Schüssler Fiorenzan feministisessä teologiassa

A Priviledged Gender? The Question of Authority in the Feminist Theology of Elisabeth Schüssler Fiorenza. Elisbeth Schüssler Fiorenza (b. 1938) is one of the pioneers of Christian feminist theology. The aim of this study is to analyze what she understands by the authority of women as (re)interpreters of the Bible and the Christian tradition. The research method is conceptual analysis, and the sources consist of Schüssler Fiorenza s key writings from 1975 to 2006. The starting point of the study is Schüssler Fiorenza s definition of the task of feminist theology as claiming women s intellectual-religious authority. It is assumed that the issue of authority offers an angle from which Schüssler Fiorenza s feminist theology can be understood as a whole. It is also supposed that the notion of authority opens up a perspective on the way Schüssler Fiorenza dialogues with non-theological feminist theory in her writings. The analysis is first directed to five key concepts of Schüssler Fiorenza s work: authority, patriarchy, androcentrism, gender and women-church, i.e. the ekklesia of wo/men. Special attention is given to her gender-theoretical considerations and her neologism wo/men, by which she refers to women and marginalized men. The aim of this conceptual analysis is to clarify her thought on the subjects of feminist theology. In addition, Schüssler Fiorenza s dialogue with other feminist scholars is evaluated. It is argued that eclecticism characterizes her way of treating non-theological feminist theory. Rewriting early Christian history from a feminist perspective is at the core of Schüssler Fiorenza s scholarship. From her early writings on, she argues for women s authority to define the Christian religion, past and present. In the 1990s Schüssler Fiorenza s theoretical background is feminist standpoint epistemology, and she represents feminist women as an epistemologically priviledged group. Later she claims to defend the epistemic authority of all those wo/men women and men who want to produce emancipatory knowledge. The analysis of Schüssler Fiorenza s work on feminist biblical interpretation shows that her stated aim to regard both women and men as subjects of feminist theology is not realized in the actual descriptions of her hermeneutical model. In fact, Schüssler Fiorenza argues for the authority of feminist women to interpret the Bible in their own interests . Thus in her work, women seem to figure as representatives of the priviledged gender in the field of biblical and theological knowledge.

'Death...more desirable than life'? The human skeletal record and toxicological implications of ancient copper mining and smelting in Wadi Faynan, southwestern Jordan

Grattan, J., Huxley, S., Karaki, L. A., Toland, H., Gilbertson, D., Pyatt, B., Saad, Z. A. (2002). 'Death . . . more desirable than life'? The human skeletal record and toxicological implications of ancient copper mining and smelting in Wadi Faynan, southwestern Jordan. Toxicology and Industrial Health, 18 (6), 297-307.

'Deor and nytenu mid us': animals in the works of Ǽelfric

This dissertation examines the use of animals in Ælfric’s Lives of Saints and Catholic Homilies, outlining the transmission process of various sources of animal knowledge available to and used by Ælfric. The contexts in which Ælfric uses animals, which sources he uses in these passages and how he deviates from his source material (if at all) combine to illustrate how Anglo-Saxon authors could weave classical, biblical, early Christian and local knowledge together and incorporate the different traditions in their own work.

A Chronological Framework for the Period 208 BC to AD 600

The period, from the Iron Age through to what is sometimes
called the Early Christian Period or the Early Middle Ages, includes
some of the most enigmatic centuries in the whole of Irish
history. In this article we intend to look at various strands of evidence
that have become available from the perspective of dendrochronology.
However, interpretation of dendrochronological
results works best when there is other information to push
against. In the case of this period one of the best sources of parallel
information – information essentially as well dated as tree
rings – has to be records of atmospheric chemistry from the ice
cores that have been drilled at several locations across Greenland.
Combining such information with evidence from tree rings,
palaeoecological research, and occasionally from history, allows
us to trace out a series of events and episodes that form the beginnings
of an understanding of this period between the Iron
Age flowering – with sites such as Emain Mache, Tara, Cruachain
– and the Early Christian flowering – widespread foundation of churches and monasteries.

Infancy Gospels. Stories and Identities

Even though the canonical Jesus' infancy stories have always provoked great interest in popular culture and in the arts, they have been neglected in research during the last decades due to the relatively late date of their redaction. Since the monograph by Raymond Brown, The Birth of the Messiah , the researchers working on this topic have not attempted to consider its historical impact. In this volume, an international team of scholars proposes firstly a reconsideration of the historical background of these stories in terms of early Jewish and Christian identity quests. Secondly, they deal with early Christian questions on Jesus' infancy and childhood through canonical and apocryphal Gospels including information from Patristic and documentary literature. On the theological level, this volume illustrates the impact that these apocryphal texts, recognized as "useful for the soul" (a phrase coined by François Bovon), have had on the Christian faith.