Entre santos e demônios: a percepção do mal na teologia e hagiografias do Reino Visigodo de Toledo (séculos VI-VII)

Pós-graduação em História - FCLAS

Muslimische Theologen und Philosophen im Wett- und Widerstreit um die Ratio - Ein Thesenpapier zum Diktum der 'Vernunftreligion' Islam im 11.-14. Jahrhundert

In this paper I investigate the vivid discussions among Muslim theologians and philosophers about the relationship of reason and religion from the 11th to the 14th centuries – which continue to be used as points of reference today. I argue that the idea of Islam as a religion which is in harmony with reason was one of the key postulates of the dominant thinkers of that period, regardless of their school of thought or their attitude towards literal or allegorical ways of understanding the Coran. In consequence, religion has been rationalized or even intellectualized to a high degree while philosophy in turn has been deeply coloured by religious images and concepts. Yet the understanding of religion as well as of reason and its instruments has been so heterogeneous that rationalization could bear very different, even conflicting meanings, thereby undermining the postulated harmony. In seven theses I foreground several striking similarities and differences between theologians and philosophers who diverge in their usage and understanding of reason as well as of the nature of religion.

The Social Principles of Jesus: A Critical Re-examination of Walter Rauschenbusch’s Social Gospel

It has been nine decades since Walter Rauschenbusch (1861-1918) published a slim volume entitled The Social Principles of Jesus. Though today less well known than his other works Christianity and the Social Crisis (1907) and Theology for the Social Gospel (1917), it is Social Principles that most adeptly summarizes the theological ethics of Rauschenbusch’s “social gospel.” Taking the form of a pedagogical treatise, Social Principles reads as both a finely tuned analysis of the modern relevance of the teachings of Jesus, and an impassioned plea on the part of its author for an end to the folly of interpreting Christianity solely in “individualistic” terms. It is Rauschenbusch’s expressed aim to resurrect the core teachings of Jesus, which are social and ethical, and apply these to a renewed, socially conscious liberal democracy, establishing a grand harmony between religion, ethics, and social evolution. How far this vision was from the burgeoning “fundamentalism” of his day (and ours) is more than evidenced by the critical reaction of many of his more conservative peers, but also indicates the continuing relevance of his work for theologians and others looking for alternative paths. The following exposition is supplemented with appreciative and critical comments.

Must We Forgive?: Exploring the Limits and Possibilities of Forgiveness and Resentment

Conflict has marked civilization from Biblical times to the present day. Each of us, with our different and competing interests, and our desires to pursue those interests, have over time wronged another person. Not surprisingly then, forgiveness is a concern of individuals and groups¿communities, countries, religious groups, races¿yet it is a complex idea that philosophers, theologians, political scientists, and psychologists have grappled with. Some have argued that forgiveness is a therapeutic means for overcoming guilt, pain, and anger. Forgiveness is often portrayed as a coping mechanism¿how often we hear the phrase, ¿forgive and forget,¿ as an arrangement to help two parties surmount the complications of disagreement. But forgiveness is not simply a modus vivendi; the ability to forgive and conversely to ask for forgiveness, is counted as an admirable trait and virtue. This essay will explore the nature of forgiveness, which in Christian dogma is often posited as an unqualified virtue. The secular world has appropriated the Christian notion of forgiveness as such a virtue¿but are there instances wherein offering forgiveness is morally inappropriate or dangerous? I will consider the situations in which forgiveness, understood in this essay as the overcoming of resentment, may not be a virtue¿when perhaps maintaining resentment is as virtuous, if not more virtuous, than forgiving. I will explain the various ethical frameworks involved in understanding forgiveness as a virtue, and the relationship between them. I will argue that within Divine Command Theory forgiveness is a virtue¿and thus morally right¿because God commands it. This ethical system has established forgiveness as unconditional, an idea which has been adopted into popular culture. With virtue ethics in mind, which holds virtues to be those traits which benefit the person who possesses them, contributing to the good life, I will argue unqualified forgiveness is not always a virtue, as it will not always benefit the victim. Because there is no way to avoid wrongdoing, humans are confronted with the question of forgiveness with every indiscretion. Its limits, its possibilities, its relationship to one¿s character¿forgiveness is a concern of all people at some time if for no other reason than the plain fact that the past cannot be undone. I will be evaluating the idea of forgiveness as a virtue, in contrast to its counterpart, resentment. How can forgiveness be a response to evil, a way to renounce resentment, and a means of creating a positive self-narrative? And what happens when a sense of moral responsibility is impossible to reconcile with the Christian (and now, secularized imperative of) forgiveness? Is it ever not virtuous to forgive? In an attempt to answer that question I will argue that there are indeed times when forgiveness is not a virtue, specifically: when forgiveness compromises one¿s own self-respect; when it is not compatible with respect for the moral community; and when the offender is unapologetic. The kind of offense I have in mind is a dehumanizing one, one that intends to diminish another person¿s worth or humanity. These are moral injuries, to which I will argue resentment is a better response than forgiveness when the three qualifications cannot be met.

John Calvin's Impact on Church and Society, 1509-2009. Essays for the 500th birthday of Calvin

A tribute to the monumental influence of John Calvin in the 500 years since his birth. / What legacies, still enduring today, have John Calvin and Calvinism given to the church and society in Europe and North America? An international group of scholars tackles that question in this volume honoring Calvin's 500th birthday. These chapters together provide a comprehensive and accessible introduction to Calvin's life and thought, the history of the Reformation in Switzerland and worldwide, and his continuing relevance for ecclesial, social, and political questions today. / Contributors: Philip Benedict, James D. Bratt, Emidio Campi, Wulfert de Greef, Christopher Elwood, Eva-Maria Faber, Eric Fuchs, Ulrich H. J. Krtner, Christian Link, Christian Moser, Andrew Pettegree, Christoph Strohm, Mario Turchetti./ The essays in this book fit beautifully together to provide a solid, complete work that gives precise insight into the many different facets of Calvin and Calvinism. The high-level research found here clearly shows the great impact that Calvin has had on both church and society. It is a great pleasure to see Calvin here anew. Eberhard Busch / University of Gttingen / That John Calvin made a deep and lasting impact on many aspects of history is common knowledge but the character of the man and the nature of his influence are perhaps as controversial as any that can be named. It is thus a challenge to examine even a fraction of the many ways that Calvins life and thought have contributed to the shaping of later ages in both church and society. This volume offers essays on key points from an appropriately international group of authors appreciative but critical, drawing on a rich range of recent scholarship, presented in a pleasing and accessible form. It is a fine place for the new reader of Calvin to get a glimpse of his impact, while offering a fresh summary of some significant issues for more advanced students of the Reformer. Elsie Anne McKee / Princeton Theological Seminary / Hirzel and Sallmann have succeeded in gathering essays by an illustrious circle of experts both historians and theologians on important areas of Calvins thought and impact. Ranging from an insignificant city at the edge of the Swiss Confederation in the 1530s to the Accra Confession of 2004, these essays will serve to correct popular misconceptions. A fine introduction for a broader readership that wants more than mere armchair theology. Peter Opitz / University of Zurich

Die historische und ekklesiologische Tiefe voll ausschöpfen. Respons zum Beitrag von Dorothea Sattler

This contribution responds to Dorothea Sattler’s thoughts about ecclesiology in an ecumenical context. First it describes in short the influence of Kurt Stalder’s theology for his generation of Old Catholic theologians, parish priests and lay people, as well as his contribution to the ecumenical theology in the 20th century. After that the author reacts on the three parts of Sattler’s contribution: on the Petrine function, on the apostolicity of ministry and on contemporary plurality and the unity of the church.

Gender in Theology and Religion: a Success Story?! Report from a Conference

In January 2011 some fifty scholars from different parts of Europe met in Groningen, the Netherlands for an expert meeting entitled Gender in theology and religion: a success story?! to analyze the factors that contribute to the successful mainstreaming of gender in a theological discipline and to reflect on the future of gender studies in theology and religious studies. Different speakers highlighted the many successes of gender studies in theology and religious studies: its power to 'trouble' the disciplines and their heuristic categories; its contribution to the development of other disciplines such as queer studies and postcolonial studies; the many PhD studies produced; the number of significant publications that had appeared over the last years. All indicate that gender studies in theology and religious studies have matured. But the participants also pointed towards the ambiguity of the success of gender studies in the academy: the indeterminacy of the institutional position and positions of gender studies in the theological disciplines in seminaries, departments faculties and universities; the lack of male scholars’ engagement in gender studies, which is expressed by their absence in these studies and/or the low reception of gender studies publications in their disciplines. Both ambiguities represent a danger for the future of gender studies, according to the participants in the meeting. In order to further the success of gender in theology and religion they formulated the following recommendations: to analyze the position of these studies in their institutions from the perspective of the implied audience (church, academy, ordinary theologians); engage men in gender studies; embrace the cultural turn in religious studies; develop interdisciplinary cooperations with gender studies in the humanities; engage creatively with the changing role of religion in contemporary society; analyze whose perspective one follows and authorizes in the perception of theology, religious studies and gender studies themselves; record the history of women’s and gender studies in theology and religion, and honor and celebrate the successes.

Professors of German Universities (e.g. Cologne, Heidelberg) in Italy (1400-1550) and the Repertorium Academicum Germanicum (RAG)

The RAG’s task is to collect biographical and social data on those Theologians, Jurists, Physicians, and Masters of Arts, who studied at a university between 1250 and 1550. The information is entered into a prosopographic database that will finally cover the entire territory of the Holy Roman Empire. Non-graduated noble visitors of universities are also taken into account. The RAG, which in the end will be a “who is who” of the scholars of the Old Empire, offers divers new and interdisciplinary perspectives due to its vast collection of data. Qualitative and quantitative statements on the intellectual elite of the Empire, their European networks, as well as institutional and territorial comparisons will be possible. Thus the scholars' role in pre-modern society can be described on a firm empirical basis and explained within the framework of modern educational research, with special reference to social, cultural, and scientific history. Up to 50,000 scholars are to be expected.

Das Repertorium Academicum Germanicum (RAG). Ein digitales Forschungsvorhaben zur Geschichte der Gelehrten des alten Reiches (1250-1550)

This article aims at presenting an already existing research project. The Repertorium Academicum Germanicum (RAG) is supposed to be a "Who’s who" of the graduated and noble scholars of the late medieval Empire. It is designed to record biographical and social data of graduated theologians, jurists, physicians and Masters of Art as well as data of nobles from universities between 1250 and 1550. Furthermore, the project focuses on their examinations, networks, fields of activity in ecclesiastical and secular offices as well as their achievements and legacies (books, treatises, tombs etc). Right now, over 49.000 prosopographic entries are stored in the RAG database, partly available online (www.rag-online.org) and combined with digital maps (infographics), which already provide a basis for research in academic mobility determined by the top scholars of the time. In a next step, it should be possible to draw conclusions not only about personnel and knowledge transfer from university to society, its effects on political systems, daily life, the emergence of new occupational groups and professions, but also about cultural exchange within Europe.

Transregional Interactions between Jansenists, other Catholics, and Protestants in Seventeenth Century Northern Europe

This paper discusses the theological and cultural exchanges between Catholic clergy and theologians, and specifically between the neo-Augustinian-minded, the so-called “Jansenists”, and other Catholics, in Northern Europe during the seventeenth century. It also explores the Jansenists’ encounters and theological engagement with Protestantism. In this period, interaction and transfer between French Jansenist Catholics and other Catholics in other countries took place in various ways: 1. Via traveling and migration: French theologians and clergy returned home from their travels with reports about the situation of Catholicism and Protestantism in other countries; moreover, in the second half of the 17th century, French Jansenists fled to the northern Netherlands. 2. Via networking: it is little known that for a brief period on the North Sea island of Nordstrand, adherents to Port-Royal were buying land, and clergy of the Flemish Oratory provided pastoral care for the island’s Catholics. This project was not successful, but at the end it strengthened the network between French “Jansenists” and Catholics in the Dutch Republic. 3. Via publications by leading Jansenists and their counterparts. In this paper, the focus is on the view of Protestantism held by Jansenist writers.

Los Diálogos sobre religión natural de Hume : el teísmo moral o la utopía de Cleantes

En este artículo procuro elucidar el vínculo que David Hume establece entre religión y moral en los Diálogos sobre religión natural (1779). A la luz de esta temática pueden diferenciarse tres especies de religión: el teísmo mitigado, la religión vulgar y el teísmo moral. La primera variedad evita toda injerencia en la vida moral de las personas, en tanto que las dos últimas aspiran a regular el comportamiento. Por otra parte, si tomamos en cuenta el criterio de su existencia efectiva, el agrupamiento cambia: sólo los dos primeros tipos se dan en la realidad empírica, mientras que el tercero es un mero paradigma especulativo. Para esta clasificación tripartita resulta esencial, además, la disquisición acerca de la naturaleza divina. Ahora, en el marco de esta taxonomía, mi hipótesis central es que para Hume el teísmo moral es un mero tipo ideal con el cual algunos teólogos fantasean.

El tratado demonológico como espacio del conflicto político entre la autoridad religiosa y los emergentes Estados territoriales : El Malleus Maleficarum y la subordinación de la autoridad seglar a la eclesiástica

Tomando en consideración las motivaciones particulares de los autores del Malleus Maleficarum y los condicionantes culturales de su redacción, este trabajo pondrá el foco en las reflexiones allí vertidas acerca del rol de la autoridad secular, y su relación de cara a los inquisidores como representantes eclesiásticos, en la extirpación de la nueva secta de las brujas. Finalmente establecerá la relación existente entre la producción del texto y la emergencia del Estado territorial moderno. Podemos adelantar que un período en el que comienzan a emerger las nuevas estructuras estatales, nuestros teólogos exaltaron, por sobre cualquier otra fuente de poder fáctico, la potestad del vicario de Cristo, haciendo del discurso demonológico un espacio de debate político entre dos fuentes de autoridad en pugna (a pesar de sustentarse en el mismo fundamento -Dios-)

El tratado demonológico como espacio del conflicto político entre la autoridad religiosa y los emergentes Estados territoriales : El Malleus Maleficarum y la subordinación de la autoridad seglar a la eclesiástica

Tomando en consideración las motivaciones particulares de los autores del Malleus Maleficarum y los condicionantes culturales de su redacción, este trabajo pondrá el foco en las reflexiones allí vertidas acerca del rol de la autoridad secular, y su relación de cara a los inquisidores como representantes eclesiásticos, en la extirpación de la nueva secta de las brujas. Finalmente establecerá la relación existente entre la producción del texto y la emergencia del Estado territorial moderno. Podemos adelantar que un período en el que comienzan a emerger las nuevas estructuras estatales, nuestros teólogos exaltaron, por sobre cualquier otra fuente de poder fáctico, la potestad del vicario de Cristo, haciendo del discurso demonológico un espacio de debate político entre dos fuentes de autoridad en pugna (a pesar de sustentarse en el mismo fundamento -Dios-)

El tratado demonológico como espacio del conflicto político entre la autoridad religiosa y los emergentes Estados territoriales : El Malleus Maleficarum y la subordinación de la autoridad seglar a la eclesiástica

Tomando en consideración las motivaciones particulares de los autores del Malleus Maleficarum y los condicionantes culturales de su redacción, este trabajo pondrá el foco en las reflexiones allí vertidas acerca del rol de la autoridad secular, y su relación de cara a los inquisidores como representantes eclesiásticos, en la extirpación de la nueva secta de las brujas. Finalmente establecerá la relación existente entre la producción del texto y la emergencia del Estado territorial moderno. Podemos adelantar que un período en el que comienzan a emerger las nuevas estructuras estatales, nuestros teólogos exaltaron, por sobre cualquier otra fuente de poder fáctico, la potestad del vicario de Cristo, haciendo del discurso demonológico un espacio de debate político entre dos fuentes de autoridad en pugna (a pesar de sustentarse en el mismo fundamento -Dios-)

The Double‐Edged Sword Of Interdict: Some More Warnings From History

In this paper I revisit the age-old question of the relationship between philosophy and theology by rejecting the claim that throughout the history of the Christian Church, whenever Christian thinkers have baptized philosophy, they have done so to the detriment of theology. Church history reveals just the opposite, i. e., that sometimes theologians have creatively and fruitfully used philosophical language, concepts, methods, and conclusions to understand and express the faith. In addition, church history records numerous attempts to limit philosophical enquiry for theological reasons that proved unsuccessful and counter-productive. Both types of interaction between philosophy and theology occurred at the University of Paris during the thirteenth century. Despite repeated efforts of some officials to place philosophy under interdict, that is, to ban the reading of particular philosophical works or the teaching of philosophical propositions from the university faculties, a series of university theologians applied Aristotelian tools of enquiry to questions about the Christian faith with positive and constructive results. If academic theology at Paris during the thirteenth century has anything to teach us, it is that interdict cuts both ways. It might protect some theological claims from philosophical contamination or compromise, but it can also insulate theological claims from much needed critical analysis. The thinkers and developments surveyed in this paper suggest that perhaps instead of placing deconstruction under interdict, today’s Christian thinkers should use some of the language, concepts, methods and conclusions of Derrida to further theological understanding.