Religion & Theology

The interconnected histories of Judaism and Christianity are explored in this compelling volume honouring the influential work of Jeremy Cohen. Cohen’s pioneering studies have reshaped our understanding of these religious traditions emphasizing the crucial role of cross-religious engagements in forming their self-perceptions and identities.

Comprising fifteen chapters the book is organized into four thematic sections. The first section Literary Mirrors and Inter-Religious Representations explores patterns of internalizations (mis)representations and appropriations between competing religious traditions. The second section Physical and Figurative Encounters addresses the roles played by visible and physical markers in setting interreligious boundaries and exchanges. The third section Agents of Anti-Jewish Discourse focuses on Christian thinkers of the late Middle Ages who propagated anti-Jewish measures or prejudices across different genres and causes. The final section The Transformability of the Jews and the Hermeneutics of Inter-Religious Conversion examines the cultural and intellectual impact of different efforts to convert Jews and Jewishness.

This collection of new studies by leading medievalists serves as a fitting tribute to Jeremy Cohen’s groundbreaking contributions and offers readers an insightful look into the complex world of medieval and early modern religious identity.

This collection of essays on religious practice in the Mediterranean Near East and Middle East (ca. 100–800 ce) celebrates the impact that Professor David Brakke has had on the study of late antique religious history. Nineteen scholars celebrate the career of Professor Brakke with essays on a range of subjects on late ancient religion. Some chapters treat monastic texts ascetic practice and ritual performance; others address the roles of magic demons and miracle stories; still others examine Christian violence and martyrdom.

In particular many of these essays explore the kinds of ascetic theory practice identity organization performance and writing found throughout the diverse authors groups and locales of Late Antiquity. Essay topics cross disciplinary boundaries and operate in the overlapping intellectual space of Religious Studies History Classics English Anthropology and Comparative Literature. By treating asceticism as a phenomenon within a relatively confined time period and geography across a variety of religious and literary traditions this volume highlights the ascetic impulse within new areas.

The volume thus stands alone for its multifaceted discussions of religion and asceticism in Late Antiquity and advances scholarly investigation of and discourse about late antique asceticism by expanding conceptual and disciplinary boundaries in new and exciting directions.

The Nordic welfare state of the 20th century has been hailed around the world as a model of how to build democratic and egalitarian societies. It has often been described as a project of social democracy often following a narrative of secularization and rationalization of society. However some of the most important actors and ideas of the "Scandinavian Sonderweg" had their roots in Protestant often Pietist and revivalist milieus that dreamed of creating an egalitarian community. The present volume explores these often forgotten roots in several case studies of phenomena from the seventeenth to the twenty-first century focusing primarily on questioning the function of aesthetics in the creation of the welfare state model. We argue that aesthetics and what Friedrich Schiller called aesthetic education played an important unifying role for Nordic societies. These aesthetics were shaped by Protestant ideas and practices. Through references to the then widespread circulation of educational texts based on Luther's catechism the later pietistic catechism of Erik Pontoppidan Nordic hymnbooks and practices such as communal singing and preaching in church church coffee reading circles and conventicle meetings a common aesthetic language emerged that unified different social groups and their competing goals and claims. Civic actors and movements learned specific ways to engage in society to develop practices of internalizing responsibility (self)critique and accountability and to communicate and develop a more democratic modern civic sphere. We therefore propose to look at this history from the perspective of a historically changing aesthetic as an integrating principle for understanding the political social cultural economic and many other aspects of the Nordic welfare state.

In his magnum opus De Trinitate the twelfth-century canon Richard of St. Victor offers sustained reflection on core dogmatic claims from the Athanasian creed. At the heart of the treatise is Richard’s argument for exactly three divine persons. Starting with the necessity of a single maximally perfect divine substance Richard reasons along four steps: (i) God must have maximal charity or other-love; (ii) to be perfectly good delightful and glorious God’s other-love must be shared among at least two and (iii) among at least three divine persons; (iv) the metaphysics of divine processions and love each ensure the impossibility of four divine persons. For Richard Scripture and trustworthy church authorities already provide certainty in these truths of faith. Even so as an act of ardent love Richard contemplates the Trinity as reflected in creation. From this epistemic point of departure he supports his conclusions from common human experience alone.

Recently philosophers of religion have employed Richard’s trinitarian reflection as a springboard for constructive work in apologetics and ramified natural theology. His unique and meticulous approach to the Trinity has garnered attention from scholars of medieval and Victorine studies recognizing the novelty and rigour of his philosophical theology.

This volume presents the first focused exploration of Richard’s central thesis in De Trinitate combining historical context with philosophical scrutiny. It confronts the most challenging aspects of his argument presenting Richard’s insights as not merely intriguing but also profoundly compelling. His thesis if validated promises to significantly enrich modern dialogues on the philosophical and theological dimensions of the Trinity.

This volume presents contributions by leading scholars on various topics and aspects of Islamic Archaeology a discipline which has recently seen the development of exciting new approaches to the study of the material culture of the Muslim world. This material culture was produced by and/or for Muslims as well as by and/or for non-Muslims living under Islamic rule from the 7th century onward in an expanding and ultimately vast area reaching from southern Europe to West Asia.

The contributions in this book focus on Jordan Oman Spain Turkey Lebanon as well as Israel and cover a timespan from the 7th century through the Mamluk period to the early 20th century. They highlight the archaeology of large Islamic centers in the past but also of the material culture in smaller sites and peripheral regions. Special emphasis is paid to pottery as one of the main artifacts that carry information on past societies but other finds and materials are discussed as well. The aspect of Islamic material culture which receives particular attention is ‘production’ specifically the production of clay vessels glaze mercury and crops.

What unites the new approaches presented here is that Islam is understood as both a ‘religion’ and a framework for economic cultural and social networks and influence. In this perspective the volume aims to offer students of Islamic archaeology historians of Islam and archaeologists of different disciplines a glimpse of the state-of-the-art in current Islamic Archaeology

La décision de Pie VII de révoquer en 1801 plusieurs dizaines d’évêques d’un seul trait de plume est totalement singulière. Jamais un pape n’avait pris une telle mesure et jusqu’à ce jour aucun des successeurs de Pie VII ne l’a réitérée. Il faut dire que le pape a agi dans des conditions très particulières.

Cet ouvrage propose au lecteur de revivre les heures à la fois tragiques et grandioses qui ont mené à cette décision unique. Cette étude captivante s’appuie sur un grand nombre d’archives dont certaines sont publiées ici pour la première fois. Elles redonnent vie aux acteurs de l’époque. Au fil des pages le lecteur sera le témoin privilégié des passions des affrontements de la qualité aussi de ces hommes qui ont forgé le destin de la France religieuse pour leur siècle.

Pie VII en destituant les évêques français a tracé un chemin juridique pour l’utilisation de l’instrument de la révocation redécouvert sous Jean-Paul II et utilisé depuis à une dizaine de reprises par ses successeurs. L’auteur sur le fondement de l’expérience de Pie VII propose de réserver la révocation aux cas où l’évêque sans faute de sa part ne pourrait plus gouverner sans dommage son diocèse. Il suggère également quelques idées pour garantir qu’elle soit un instrument au service de la justice.

This volume investigates the vivid and emotionally intense commemoration of the Passion of Christ as a key element in late medieval religious culture. Its goal is to shed light on how the Passion was communicated and on its socio-religious function in late medieval Europe. By adopting a multidisciplinary approach the volume analyses the different media involved in this cultural process (sermons devotional texts lively performances statues images) the multiple forms and languages in which the Passion was presented to the faithful and how they were expected to respond to it. Key questions concern the strategies used to present the Passion; the interaction between texts images and sounds in different media; the dissemination of theological ideas in the public space; the fashioning of an affective response in the audience; and the presence or absence of anti-Jewish commonplaces.

By exploring the interplay among a wide range of sources this volume highlights the pervasive role of the Passion in late medieval society and in the life of the people of the time.

Amoncellement de fragments ? catalogue d’extraits ? tapisserie exégétique ? Les chaînes ont pour premier principe d’organisation le texte biblique qu’elles commentent en le suivant pas à pas. Mais comment les différentes scholies sont-elles classées entre elles si elles le sont ? Jusqu’à présent la question de l’organisation interne des chaînes a fait l’objet de remarques rapides en marge de l’étude de telle ou telle collection mais rarement d’un examen approfondi. C’est pourtant un aspect essentiel pour comprendre ce genre en préciser les différentes formes et saisir l’enjeu de ces entreprises byzantines : conserver un maximum de textes favoriser la consultation la mémorisation ou la confrontation de différentes exégèses composer un commentaire continu etc. Cet ouvrage collectif rassemble des enquêtes originales portant aussi bien sur les chaînes de l’Ancien que du Nouveau Testament. Sont explorés différents phénomènes structurants relatifs à la connexion entre texte biblique et commentaire au classement des sources à l’enchaînement des contenus exégétiques à la disposition des scholies sur la page. On met au jour la méthode de travail d’un caténiste ou les étapes de l’élaboration d’une compilation ; une place est accordée au désordre et à ses causes notamment en lien avec les phénomènes de transformation et de combinaison de différentes collections. Premier tour d’horizon permettant déjà de découvrir des situations très diverses ce volume ouvre la voie à une approche comparative des chaînes nécessaire pour mieux comprendre cette pratique de compilation byzantine.

This volume contains the first translation into English of a number of documents associated with the Donatist movement in North Africa a dissident church which flourished during the fourth and fifth centuries before the Vandal invasion obscures our view of it. Donatists are often remembered for their fanatical opposition to traditores—those who had “handed over” the sacred scriptures during the Diocletianic Persecution—and their belief that those baptized by such people were not part of the true church. The writings contained in this volume add critical nuance to this portrait. At its centerpiece is the Donatist Compendium of 427 a collection of eleven exegetical texts compiled c. 427 CE by an unknown Donatist editor; other translated writings include a chronograph revised on the eve of the Vandal conquest of Carthage known as the Genealogy Book a set of section-headings for the Major Prophets and the book of Acts and a Donatist homily on the Epiphany one of the few sermons by a Donatist preacher that still survives. All of these texts were produced within a Donatist milieu and taken together they offer us a unique window into the inner life of the dissident communion as well as valuable insight into the exegetical tools that late antique bishops had at their disposal as they sought to illuminate the biblical text for their congregations.

Cette étude générale de la Réforme aux Pays-Bas retrace les développements clés du processus de réforme - à la fois auprès de la population protestante et catholique - pendant le XVIe siècle. Synthétisant cinquante ans de littérature scientifique Christine Kooi se concentre particulièrement sur le contexte politique de l'époque : comment le changement religieux a été procédé au milieu de l'intégration et la désintégration de l'État dynastique des Habsbourg aux Pays-Bas. Une attention particulière est accordée au rôle de la Réforme dans la fomentation et l'alimentation de la révolte contre le régime des Habsbourg à la fin du XVIe siècle ainsi qu'à sa contribution à la formation des deux états successeurs de la région la République néerlandaise et la Pays-Bas du Sud (Belgique). La Réforme aux Pays-Bas 1500-1620 est un outil de travail essentiel pour les universitaires et les étudiants de l'histoire européenne moderne réunissant en un seul volume des recherches spécialisées sur les Pays-Bas.