Faith and dogmatic issues
More general subjects:
The Donatist Compendium of 427 and Related Texts
Exegetical Materials from a Dissident Communion
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.
Lettere. Il Dio santo e immortale
Ugo Eteriano da Pisa (ca. 1110/1120-1182) costituisce una particolarissima figura di intellettuale occidentale: dopo una prima formazione nelle scuole logiche di Parigi egli si ambienta a Bisanzio alla corte di Manuele Comneno a tal punto da diventare bilingue (greco-latino) e da familiarizzarsi a fondo con la tradizione teologica e filosofica bizantina e con il pensiero antico. È autore fra l’altro di opere dottrinali dedicate alle psicologia (De anima) alla controversia contro i Bogomili orientali oltre che di un importante opuscolo legato alla controversia cristologica bizantina del 1166 (De minoritate). L’opera che è qui presentata con traduzione e sussidi esegetici è il De sancto et immortali Deo un trattato in tre libri composto in via definitiva fra 1175 e 1177 su esortazione di Manuele Comneno e dedicato alla difesa del Filioque. Polemizzando contro i più importanti sostenitori della posizione antifilioquista degli orientali (in prima battuta Nicola di Metone e Fozio) Ugo Eteriano fa ampio ricorso non solo alla tradizione teologica latina (Agostino e gli altri autori sostenitori della processione dello Spirito ab utroque) ma attinge a piene mani anche ai testimonia di tutti quei padri greci che potrebbero in qualche modo avallare la posizione latina. Punto di interesse dell’opera sta anche nel rinnovato rapporto con la filosofia secolare: fra le fonti citate in parte dal greco in parte da traduzioni latine figurano Aristotele e i suoi commentatori greci Platone Plotino gli autori neoplatonici che sono rivisitati alla luce della passione per la logica e di un forte interesse per l’Organon già sviluppati nel corso della iniziale formazione parigina.
Faustus of Riez, On Grace
Faustus was a Gallic representative of what has been referred to as 'semipelagianism'. In his De Gratia he fiercely opposed the Augustinian view of Grace and Predestination that had been upheld by Lucidus a presbyter who possibly misunderstood Augustine's thought. Faustus did not open new ground about these contested doctrines but put significant roadblocks to their possible extreme trajectories.
Arnobius Iunior, Praedestinatus
For the first time in English the Praedestinatus represents a moment in the fifteen-century old theological conversation in Latin Christianity about the topics of grace predestination and free will. Written as a response to Augustine’s growing theological influence this book should not merely be regarded as a work of apologetics despite the author’s intention but seen as breaking controversial new ground because of his claim that a small circle of heretics was acting as a ‘fifth column’ within the Church undermining orthodox beliefs concerning God his providence and all-inclusive love.
After a three hundred year hiatus since Jacques Sirmond’s 1643 editio princeps interest in the Praedestinatus revived in the twentieth century thanks to German and French scholars who studied the book’s theological trajectory and claims. Its critical edition was eventually accomplished in 2000 by Italian scholar Franco Gori. The present translation is based on Gori’s edition.
Through the Bone and Marrow
Re-examining Theological Encounters with Dance in Medieval Europe
This book is a conversation starter. The author is re-imagining the theological landscape of historical practices of dance in order to open up a space where further explorations can be made. This is done in a two step manner. First the book uncovers the restrictions of earlier research on the topic of dance in and around churches. In the second step Hellsten suggests a practice for how historical sources can be imagined in a new frame. Opening up a new field of previously neglected and much needed historical studies on Dance in the Christian churches of the Latin West this study aims at questioning old paradigms and opening new vistas rather than reinterpreting concrete liturgical manuscripts or scrutinizing all the details of the historical sources presented.
The Donner Institute for Research in Religion and Culture in Turku Finland has awarded its Nordic Research Prize 2021 to Dr. theol. Laura Hellsten for her creative research widening our understanding of sacral dance in general and of the role of dance in the Christian church in particular.
Eight Logismoi in the Writings of Evagrius Ponticus
This book presents the teaching of Evagrius of Pontus (345-399) about eight passionate thoughts (logismoi) i.e. gluttony impurity avarice (greed) sadness anger (wrath) acedia vanity and pride. The study first reconstructs cosmology eschatology anthropology and spiritual teaching of the monk of Pontus in order to show the nature dynamics and ways of combating against the eight passionate thoughts as proposed by Evagrius. His teaching in this regard became the basis for later Christian teaching on the Seven Deadly Sins and an inspiration in the future for some currents of modern psychology.
The Son is Truly Son
The Trinitarian and Christological Theology of Eusebius of Caesarea
Theology in the early fourth century was engrossed with questions about the nature of the Son of God in relation to the Father. How was he ‘from the essence’ of the Father? Was there a time when he was not? While generally treated as a minor footnote in the development of trinitarian and christological theology by most modern scholars Eusebius of Caesarea provides a rich and original contribution to these debates about the trinity and theology in the midst of the Arian controversy. This project explores the theological framework of Eusebius focusing specifically on his understanding of the Son of God. Therein it proposes and employs an underutilized lens to view the bishop - according to his exegetical strategies and his explicitly theological works. In doing so Eusebius’ primary understanding of the nature and role of the second person of the Trinity comes to the fore: the Son is truly Son. By focusing on his theology of the Son in multiple facets - trinitarianism cosmology soteriology and Christology - his unique theological contribution to the church becomes clear. Eusebius is an important transmitter of Origenian theology and a foundational thinker for the later fourth and early fifth century.
Excerptum de Talmud
Study and Edition of a Thirteenth-Century Latin Translation
In 1239 the Christian convert Nicholas Donin submitted thirty-five articles to Pope Gregory IX that decried the indecency blasphemy and heresy in the Talmud. As a result the pope triggered a campaign across Europe that gave rise to a trial of the Talmud in Paris in 1240. The Latin translation of the Talmud - namely the 1245 Extractiones de Talmud and later versions such as the Excerptum de Talmud - emerged from these events.
This volume offers the first critical edition along with an English translation of the Excerptum de Talmud. Drawing on the substantial translation of the Babylonian Talmud known as the Extractiones de Talmud (Paris 1245) the Excerptum provided a selection of passages from the Talmud which its compiler organized according to controversial topics.
This book consists of two principal parts. The first contains a study of the Excerptum its textual source (the Extractiones de Talmud) and an overview of the historical background which prompted this translation. The second part consists of an edition and translation of the text as well as an edition of the passages from the Extractiones which served as the basis for the Excerptum.
These texts mark a significant chapter in Christian anti-Jewish disputations and Latin polemical works in the Middle Ages. This volume will thus prove useful to scholars interested in Latin philology religious disputation medieval translation and transmission of knowledge and the history of Christian-Jewish relations.
In Defence of Faith, Against the Manichaeans
Critical Edition and Historical, Literary and Theological Study of the Treatise Aduersus Manichaeos, Attributed to Evodius of Uzalis
The subject of this publication is the treatise Aduersus Manichaeos attributed to Evodius of Uzalis. Evodius was a friend and contemporary of Augustine of Hippo. The treatise Aduersus Manichaeos is an important source on the North African Catholic church and its polemics against the Manichaeans. Although the treatise is strongly influenced by the anti-Manichaean writings of Augustine of Hippo it also offers much original and likely authentic information on the Manichaean movement. Thus far however no systematic study had been conducted on this anti-Manichaean treatise attributed to Evodius. As a result some of its historical circumstances have been shrouded in mystery.
The present volume reconstructs the circumstances in which Aduersus Manichaeos was written and studies the treatise in relation to its fifth-century North African context. The study offers a literary historical and theological analysis of Aduersus Manichaeos. The publication also complements the study of Aduersus Manichaeos with a new critical edition of the original Latin text with a facing English translation.
Lucifer of Cagliari, Concerning Athanasius
Why no one must judge or condemn a man in his absence
Lucifer was Bishop of Cagliari in Sardinia in the middle of the fourth century. He was a devoted ally of the great theologian and Bishop of Alexandria St Athanasius and a strong opponent of Arianism and the Roman Emperor Constantius II. Exiled at the same time as Athanasius in AD 355 his surviving writings are all vituperative attacks on the emperor. The two books ‘Concerning Athanasius’ are his most substantial work written in 359-360. Lucifer gives us a vivid picture of the passion aroused in the fourth century by debates about the nature of Christ and the relationship between the Church and the Roman Empire. This volume is the first translation into English of any of Lucifer’s works.
Prosper D’Aquitaine contre Jean Cassien
Le Contra collatorem, l’appel à Rome du parti augustinien dans la querelle postpélagienne
Composé en 432-433 le Liber contra collatorem de Prosper d’Aquitaine entend réfuter les positions d’un certain « conférencier » - comprendre : l’auteur des Conférences Jean Cassien. C’est dans cette oeuvre que Prosper défenseur autoproclamé de saint Augustin et de sa doctrine sur la grâce a pu fournir la première critique et la plus complète des théories propagées à Marseille et dans le sud-est de la Gaule par les adversaires provençaux de l’évêque d’Hippone en s’appuyant exclusivement sur des extraits tirés de la Conlatio XIII « Sur la protection de Dieu » publiée quelques années plus tôt.
En s’attachant par une approche philologique historique stylistique et doctrinale à étudier les diff érentes spécifi cités de l’oeuvre de l’Aquitain (la fi nalité du traité le modus operandi de l’auteur le genre littéraire adopté les stratégies du polémiste et les enjeux théologiques du traité) le présent livre cherche à défendre l’hypothèse qu’en composant son Liber Prosper a voulu constituer un dossier à charge suffi samment étayé pour obtenir de l’évêque de Rome nouvellement élu Xyste III (432-440) une condamnation offi cielle de ce que l’on a nommé le « semipélagianisme » et par là la reconnaissance de l’autorité de la doctrine augustinienne en matière de grâce.
La controverse carolingienne sur la prédestination
Histoire, textes, manuscrits
La controverse carolingienne sur la double prédestination au paradis et à l'enfer (années 840-870) provoquée par la prédication du moine Gottschalk d'Orbais est la plus importante querelle théologique de l'histoire carolingienne : elle met aux prises le roi la cour les évêques les abbés et clercs lettrés les simples clercs et moines et déchire les clergés des royaumes francs - qui pour la première fois se condamnent les uns les autres en concile. Ce conflit entraîne la production de documents de tous genres : actes conciliaires traités savants libelles et feuilles volantes de polémique et de propagande florilèges et autres notes préparatoires... Les manuscrits annotés par les acteurs de la controverse (Florus de Lyon Hincmar de Reims Loup de Ferrières Prudence de Troyes Ratramne de Corbie) sont préservés par dizaines. Ces documents n'ont pas encore été suffisamment étudiés pour ce qu'ils sont vraiment : les témoins d'une compétition acharnée autour des textes et de leurs supports manuscrits pour le contrôle de l'information. Pour comprendre les raisons sociales et politiques de la controverse il faut entreprendre l'étude croisée philologique et historique de ces textes de leurs sources de leurs formats et de leurs supports manuscrits. À travers une série de cas d'étude les contributeurs de ce volume collectif le premier jamais consacré à cet épisode vont au contact de la réalité matérielle de la controverse pour éclairer les structures du débat public : la stratégie littéraire des auteurs leur travail d'atelier la participation des simples clercs le rôle respectif de l’oral et de l’écrit dans les querelles théologiques du haut Moyen Âge.
Biblical and Manichaean Citations in Titus of Bostra’s Against the Manichaeans
An Annotated Inventory
This volume is the third and final part of a trilogy devoted to Titus of Bostra’s Against the Manichaeans. The first part the critical edition of the remains of the Greek text and of the complete Syriac version as well as of the excerpts from the Sacra Parallela attributed to John Damascene appeared in 2013 as volume 82 in the Series Graeca of the Corpus Christianorum. The second part a French synoptic translation of the Greek and the Syriac was published in 2015 as volume 21 in the Corpus Christianorum in Translation series. The main objective of the present inventory is to make available to specialists and all those interested the rich Biblical and Manichaean documentation used by Titus of Bostra in his refutation. With the exception of the Contra Faustum of Augustine Titus of Bostra’s Against the Manichaeans is indisputably the most extensive Christian refutation of Manichaeism. Titus’ work is also a goldmine of information on the Manichaean doctrine and a valuable source for the history of the text of the Old and New Testament in Greek and Syriac. The fact that the manuscript of the Syriac version is not only very ancient but also precisely dated (to November 411) adds to its value as a witness of the Syriac biblical text.
Philosopher-monks, episcopal authority, and the care of the self
The Apophthegmata Patrum in fifth-century Palestine
This volume explores the Apophthegmata Patrum in the context of church-monastery dynamics in fifth-century Palestine. Positing that the Apophthegmata Patrum was compiled in response to perceived external interference Zachary B. Smith provides the first examination of the Apophthegmata Patrum in its Palestinian context illuminating monastic strategies for resisting episcopal control. Engaging literary and historical methods this volume weaves a narrative that places the Apophthegmata Patrum squarely in the political and philosophical worlds of the eastern Mediterranean in late antiquity. The Apophthegmata Patrum’s compiler carefully selects stories to highlight problematic interactions between monks and ecclesiastics. He then appeals to classical and late antique philosophical categories of self-care to assert monastic autonomy making the monks the new philosophers. In the context of contentious theological debates during the fourth and fifth centuries these selected interactions and assertions tacitly advocate a path of monastic autonomy.
Cristiani, ebrei e pagani: il dibattito sulla Sacra Scrittura tra III e VI secolo - Christians, Jews and Heathens: the Debate on the Holy Scripture between the Third and the Sixth Century
Many of the contributions here collected were presented on the International Day of Studies entitled “Cristiani ebrei e pagani: il dibattito sulla Sacra Scrittura tra III e VI secolo” held in Lecce (October 4th 2013). The book explores the different approaches to the Sacred Scriptures by Christians Jews and Heathens considered according to their various internal geographical and chronological articulations and more generally to the debate on the Scriptures developed between the 3rd and the 6th centuries in a society in which the interactions and meetings between peoples religions and intellectuals were rather widespread. In particular the contributions which contribute to the reconstruction of a complex and articulated cultural landscape are organized in three sections: I. Contraddizioni bibliche e cultura pagana (S. Morlet C. Moreschini A. Capone); II. Esegesi e polemica: Celso e Macario di Magnesia (E. Saponaro P. De Giorgi A. Cataldo); III. III. Ebrei pagani e Sacre Scritture (P. Andris G. Rinaldi M. Ryzhik).
Pluralisme religieux : une comparaison franco-vietnamienne
Actes du colloque organisé à Hanoi les 5-6 octobre 2007
Les notions de pluralité de pluralisation de pluralisme sont l’objet de débats récurrents. Elles n’en sont pas moins clairement identifiées et inscrites dans le vocabulaire scientifique. En prolongeant un dialogue instauré dans le domaine des sciences religieuses depuis de longues années la rencontre franco-vietnamienne qui s’est tenue à Hanoi en octobre 2007 a permis à un groupe de chercheurs de l’École pratique des hautes études et du Groupe Sociétés Religions Laïcités (GSRL) d’une part à leurs homologues de l’Institut de Recherches sur les Religions et d’autres instances vietnamiennes d’autre part d’échanger sur diverses formes du pluralisme sur la pertinence de ses définitions sur les défis et les nécessités d’une homogénéisation du lexique religieux. Elle a surtout livré - et les présents actes nous les donnent à lire - des descriptions et des études de cas spécifiques visant à analyser en vue de les comparer les situations les processus et les modes de régulation du religieux en France et au Viêt Nam.
Si le passé colonial et ses legs tendent à expliquer la relation particulière que ces deux pays entretiennent ce fait ne peut expliquer à lui seul une telle mise en miroir. Héritière d’une histoire religieuse complexe la France continue aujourd’hui de se diversifier et de se transformer sous les effets d’une laïcité plus que centenaire et de son intégration au sein de l’Union européenne. De son côté - et peut-être plus que tout autre pays de la région - le Viêt Nam a synthétisé les enjeux contemporains du XXe siècle en Asie et il soulève aujourd’hui les questionnements fondamentaux en matière de politique et d’épistémologie du religieux.
Religions du monde et courants minoritaires constructions étatiques et nationales laïcités au regard des sciences politiques et juridiques structurent un dialogue sur le pluralisme religieux qui se veut porteur à la fois d’une meilleure connaissance mutuelle et d’une réflexion plus globale sur ce qu’est en ce début de XXIe siècle la modernité religieuse.
Pascal Bourdeaux historien des religions de l’Asie du Sud-Est est maître de conférences à l’EPHE et membre du GSRL (EPHE-CNRS).
Philippe Hoffmann directeur d’études à l’EPHE est ancien doyen de la Section des sciences religieuses et actuel directeur du Labex Hastec.
Nguyễn Hồng Dương spécialiste du catholicisme vietnamien est ancien directeur de l’Institut de Recherches sur les Religions (Académie des Sciences sociales du Viêt Nam Hanoi).
Dynamiques de conversion: modèles et résistances
Approches interdisciplinaires
Cet ouvrage est issu des travaux sur la conversion menés au sein du Centre Interdisciplinaire d’Étude du Religieux (CIER) à la MSH de Montpellier. Certes on écrit beaucoup et on a beaucoup écrit sur cette thématique : le sujet présente en effet un intérêt majeur. Mais l’approche pluridisciplinaire a été l’occasion de soulever des questions et d’obtenir des résultats qui méritent d’être publiés. La combinaison des différentes approches disciplinaires qui se retrouvent au sein du Centre a permis de mieux appréhender le processus complexe que constitue la conversion dans ses expressions ses enjeux ses finalités et ses conséquences de manière synchronique et diachronique. Si le point de départ des réflexions s’appuie toujours sur les définitions courantes de la conversion - retour à l’origine (ou retour à soi) ou changement de pensée mutation ou renaissance - la présente publication cherche à mettre l’accent sur l’analyse des dynamiques qu’induit aux différents moments de l’histoire la conversion retenue comme modèle. Il s’agit de considérer ces dynamiques non seulement dans le champ du religieux mais aussi en tant que la figure religieuse de la conversion a pu être ou devenir figure de pensée ou d’expression posture sociologique ou éthique dans d’autres domaines que le religieux : mythologique laïc politique littéraire artistique… En conséquence la conversion a fourni un espace conceptuel à la théologie mais aussi à d’autres disciplines comme le politique l’histoire la littérature ou la psychanalyse… Enfin lorsque les modèles de la conversion contaminés par ces autres champs opèrent un retour sur le fait religieux s’ouvre alors un questionnement particulier et peu étudié jusqu’à présent. En effet les dynamiques de constitution d’adhésion et de résistance à ces modèles touchent pratiquement à tous les aspects du domaine culturel et peut-être à l’assise même de la culture puisqu’elles interrogent les processus d’individuation et de communautarisation - processus opérant autant dans leur capacité transférentielle que dans leur rapport à une éventuelle transcendance. Les contributions si elles s’inscrivent nécessairement dans un domaine et un champ méthodologique disciplinaires réussissent à maintenir une ouverture interdisciplinaire qui permet d’appréhender le phénomène étudié dans toute sa complexité.
Béatrice BAKHOUCHE est professeur de langue et littérature latines à l’Université Paul-Valéry Montpellier III.
Isabelle FABRE est maître de conférence de langue et littérature françaises médiévales à l’Université Paul-Valéry Montpellier III.
Vincente FORTIER est directeur de recherche du CNRS (UMR 5815 « Dynamiques du droit »).
A catalogue of works pertaining to the explanation of the creed in Carolingian manuscripts
The catalogue identifies works used to explain the creed in Carolingian collection volumes compiled for the instruction of the clergy. It includes both edited and unedited works and some recently edited in a companion volume to this one Explanationes Symboli aeui Carolini (CC CM 254). The catalogue shows that the teaching of the creedal faith was assembled from snippets of or whole patristic works homilies personal professions of faith and works of many other genres. In the past we have had little concept of the range of works known to those responsible for teaching the faith at the parish and missionary level of the Carolingian world. In this catalogue crucial attention is paid to the contents of the manuscripts as a whole in which the creed explanation is found and how these collection volumes may have functioned. It is hoped that the manuscript descriptions will be of benefit to students and specialists working on other kinds of texts for the education of the clergy.
Dr Susan Keefe is Associate Professor of Church History at Duke Divinity School Durham NC.
From Augustine to Anselm: The Influence of De trinitate on the Monologion
Anselm (1033-1109) described the Monologion his first major theological work as a model meditation on the divine essence; and he enjoined his potential critics to read Augustine’s De trinitate diligently and then judge the Monologion by it. In following Anselm’s admonition I have paid particular attention to Anselm’s claims about the persuasiveness of his arguments and probed the cogency of some of the many arguments that make up the Monologion. The result is something like a critical companion to the Monologion. It is not meant to replace an actual reading of the Monologion which is an experience worth having since no interpretation or paraphrase can capture the feeling of wading through Anselm’s analytic arguments. And I have resisted the common tendency of reading the Monologion merely as a prelude to its more evocative sequel the Proslogion. Because Anselm’s arguments attend to fundamental themes in philosophical theology this book also provides comment on the state of early medieval philosophical theology and Anselm’s unique contribution to it. The book has implications not only for our understanding of Anselm’s thought and its relation to ancient and early medieval Christian tradition but also for the ways in which theologians and philosophers since Anselm have appropriated his ideas. Since a good deal of that appropriation often overlooks the Monologion this study should help towards a re-orientation to Anselm and his relevance to contemporary debates about theological method in general and analytic theology in particular.
Dr. F. B. A. Asiedu is a visiting scholar at Emory University (Atlanta GA). His research and teaching cover a wide area including ancient and medieval Christianity intellectual history philosophical hermeneutics and social and political thought.
Entre dévotion et théologie scolastique
Réceptions de la controverse médiévale autour de l'Immaculée Conception en pays germaniques
La deuxième moitié du XIIe siècle voit surgir en Occident les prémisses de ce qui deviendra dès le XIVe siècle une véritable controverse celle de l’Immaculée Conception. Dans l’instant où elle fut conçue Marie avait-elle contracté le péché originel ? La question débattue dans des traités scolastiques mais également dans des sermons a quitté immanquablement la sphère des doctes litterati pour venir toucher les illitterati qui ne comprenaient pas le latin.
Cet ouvrage est le premier dédié à la réception de la controverse dans la littérature allemande. Dans une approche résolument ouverte et pluridisciplinaire il confronte l’évolution du débat universitaire et de la célébration liturgique avec leurs résonances dans les textes vernaculaires et dans les sources iconographiques. Quelles idées circulent entre litterati et illitterati ? Cette étude s’attache à les reconstruire et tout à la fois à identifier les acteurs de cette transmission à discerner les modalités de diffusion du savoir religieux qu’ils privilégient voire à restituer ce que l’illitteratus pouvait comprendre de la controverse et comment il parvenait à se l’approprier. Réalisée sur le temps long sans renoncer à mettre en relief certains cas exemplaires de la transmission des idées elle montre l’étonnant accueil réservé par une littérature vernaculaire aux débats savants. L’étendue du culte marial y trouve de nouvelles confirmations tandis que l’on constate la volonté d’auteurs de catégories socio-culturelles diverses du professeur au simple laïc de familiariser les moins doctes avec l’une des questions théologiques les plus complexes qui soient.
Docteur de l’Université de Genève Réjane Gay-Canton est chargée de recherche au sein du projet européen OPVS (ERC Starting Grant IRHT Paris).