Arts and Humanities Commons^™

Otto Semmelroth, Sj, And The Ecclesiology Of The ‘Church As Sacrament’ At Vatican Ii, Dennis M. (Dennis Michael) Doyle

Dennis M. Doyle

This essay will demonstrate how Otto Semmelroth’s preconciliar work on the Church as sacrament connects with several ecclesiological themes that would later be developed in Lumen Gentium. These themes include the importance of a lay-inclusive Church, the universal call to holiness, the relationship between Mary and the Church, a Trinitarian ecclesial spirituality, and the use of sacrament as a fundamental category for organizing and interpreting a variety of images and concepts of the Church.' First will come an attempt to take the measure of Semmelroth’s significant impact on Lumen Gentium within the context of the myriad contributions made by a …

The Militarization Of Prayer In America: White And Native American Spiritual Warfare, Elizabeth Mcalister

Elizabeth McAlister

This article examines how militarism has come to be one of the generative forces of the prayer practices of millions of Christians across the globe. To understand this process, I focus on the articulation between militarization and aggressive forms of prayer, especially the evangelical warfare prayer developed by North Americans since the 1980s. Against the backdrop of the rise in military spending and neoliberal economic policies, spiritual warfare evangelicals have taken on the project of defending the United States on the “spiritual” plane. They have elaborated a complex theology and prayer practice with a highly militarized discourse and set of …

The Chosen People: Election, Paul, And Second Temple Judaism, A. Thornhill

A. Chadwick Thornhill

No abstract provided.

Pusey's Sermons At St. Saviour's, Leeds, Robert Ellison

Robert Ellison

"E . B. Pusey as a Preacher." It would not be surprising to find such a phrase as the title of a nineteenth-century work. Authors in both Britain and America used it in books and articles about numerous ministers, literary figures, the Apostle Paul, and even Jesus himself.1 Edward Bouverie Pusey, in fact, was the subject of one such piece: a review of Sermons for the Church's Seasons from Advent to Trinity, published in the Spectator on 11 August 1883. Such a scope would, however, be too broad for a scholarly study in the twenty-first century. Pusey's canon is simply …

Anti-Social Media: Communal Transformation And The Barriers Of Technology, A. Thornhill

A. Chadwick Thornhill

In light of the proliferation of social media consumption in the West and across the world, this paper considers the implications for communal participation and transformation, particularly for the Christian community. The paper argues that God intends for our formation as human beings in general, and as Christians in particular, to occur primarily in the context of interdependent relationships with others, and particularly within our faith family.

The Jewish Nature Of The First Century Church, Barry D. Fike

Barry D. Fike

“When men realized that the teaching of God was no heritage that one accepts passively but rather a heritage that has to be won, they began to see this relationship to the Bible as a religious obligation. It became a supreme commandment to “study”, to explore the Scriptures. To explore means to consider the Bible as a challenge rather than a gift…..The duty to “explore” requires further rethinking: each end becomes a new beginning and each solution a new problem…Once Today’s Church is fully aware of the vast importance of learning, it too will realize that it cannot afford to …

Cyprian, Mortality, And Future Hope, A. Thornhill

A. Chadwick Thornhill

No abstract provided.

The Akron Offering: A Ladies' Literary Magazine, 1849-1850, Jon Miller

Jon Miller

FREE FULL-TEXT PDF DOWNLOAD From 1849 to 1850, Calista Cummings edited and published Akron's first literary magazine, The Akron Offering. At the time, Akron was a booming canal town on the verge of even greater prosperity. By turns religious, comic, romantic, and political, this extraordinary collection of early midwestern creative literature expresses a wide range of sometimes contradictory opinions on both the important questions of its day and the important questions of today: historical events such as the California Gold Rush of 1849 and the 1848 revolutions in Europe are considered alongside more timeless contemplations on truth, justice, and beauty. …

Fundamentalism, William Vance Trollinger

William Vance Trollinger Jr.

In America fundamentalism is a movement within Protestantism that was organized immediately after World War I in opposition to "modernism," which included liberal theology primarily, and also Darwinism and secularism. A subgroup of evangelicalism, fundamentalism staunchly affirmed with evangelicals "fundamentals of the faith," including the deity of Christ, his virgin birth, his bodily resurrection, and his substitutionary atonement. What distinguishes fundamentalists from other evangelicals is their strident opposition to modernism. They are, to quote George Marsden, "militant anti-modernist evangelicals."

Is There A Center To American Religious History?, William Vance Trollinger

William Vance Trollinger Jr.

Is there a center to American religious history? Of course, this question grows out of what David Wills has referred to as “the perennial debate that always seems to hold center stage as the Big Issue in the field ... [that is,] the ongoing quarrel between those who center their stories on the culturally formative role of a dominant Protestantism and those who emphasize the countervailing forces of religious pluralism and toleration.”

As I take the question, Is there some sort of center to American religion – dominant Protestantism or otherwise – that enables us to tell the story of …

How John Nelson Darby Went Visiting: Dispensational Premillennialism In The Believers Church Tradition And The Historiography Of Fundamentalism, William Vance Trollinger

William Vance Trollinger Jr.

In the United States the history of John Nelson Darby's dispensational premillennialism is intimately tied up with the history of fundamentalism. It is difficult to talk about dispensational premillennialism in the believers church tradition in the twentieth century without making some reference to the fundamentalist movement. In fact, the two distinguishing marks of fundamentalist theology have been the doctrine of biblical inerrancy and the eschatological schema known as dispensationalism. It is thus rather surprising that historians have de-emphasized dispensational premillennialism in explaining the history of fundamentalism. I think that this is a mistake. But to explain why I think this …

Ethics As Grammar: Changing The Postmodern Subject, Brad Kallenberg

Brad J. Kallenberg

Wittgenstein, one of the most influential, and yet widely misunderstood, philosophers of our age, confronted his readers with aporias—linguistic puzzles—as a means of countering modern philosophical confusions over the nature of language without replicating the same confusions in his own writings. In Ethics as Grammar, Brad Kallenberg uses the writings of theological ethicist Stanley Hauerwas as a foil for demonstrating how Wittgenstein’s method can become concrete within the Christian tradition. Kallenberg shows that the aesthetic, political, and grammatical strands epitomizing Hauerwas’s thought are the result of his learning to do Christian ethics by thinking through Wittgenstein. Kallenberg argues that Wittgenstein’s …

All Suffer The Affliction Of The One: Metaphysical Holism And The Presence Of The Spirit, Brad Kallenberg

Brad J. Kallenberg

When Copernicus and Galileo proposed that the earth circled the sun and not the 217 other way around, Christian believers faced the difficult prospect of surrendering a long-held belief that had seemingly undeniable support from the biblical text. After all, Joshua reported that the sun, not the earth, stood still; what could this mean if not that the sun orbited the earth? Today, centuries later, believers unanimously hold a heliocentric view of the solar system and are somewhat embarrassed by the ignorance of our pre-Enlightenment brothers and sisters. Ironically, however, such embarrassment masks the possibility that we ourselves may one …

Defending Hauerwas, Brad Kallenberg, Terrence Tilley, M. Lysaught

Brad J. Kallenberg

The commentary begins: Jeffrey Stout and Stanley Hauerwas have long been friends and conversation partners. One would not know that from reading Stout’s “Not of This World” (October 10). Nor does one emerge from Stout’s essay with an accurate sense of Hauerwas’s position. Stout’s presentation is incomplete in many ways. For example, he labels Hauerwas’s ethic as “perfectionist,” implying that it is, in the words of the article’s title, unrealistic or “not of this world.” However, Stout fails to mention Hauerwas’s untiring emphasis on human sinfulness and-most crucially- the subsequent centrality of the practices of forgiveness and reconciliation. This is …

Some Practices Of Theological Reasoning, Or, How To Work Well With Words, Brad Kallenberg

Brad J. Kallenberg

This Companion introduces readers to the practice of Christian theology, covering what theologians do, why they do it, and what steps readers can take in order to become theological practitioners themselves. The volume aims to capture the variety of practices involved in doing theology, highlighting the virtues that guide them and the responsibilities that shape them. It also shows that the description of these practices, virtues and responsibilities is itself theological: what Christian theologians do is shaped by the wider practices and beliefs of Christianity. Written by a team of leading theologians, the Companion provides a unique resource for students …

Does Donald Trump Need To Repent?, A. Thornhill

A. Chadwick Thornhill

No abstract provided.

Otto Semmelroth, Sj, And The Ecclesiology Of The ‘Church As Sacrament’ At Vatican Ii, Dennis M. (Dennis Michael) Doyle

Dennis M. Doyle

This essay will demonstrate how Otto Semmelroth’s preconciliar work on the Church as sacrament connects with several ecclesiological themes that would later be developed in Lumen Gentium. These themes include the importance of a lay-inclusive Church, the universal call to holiness, the relationship between Mary and the Church, a Trinitarian ecclesial spirituality, and the use of sacrament as a fundamental category for organizing and interpreting a variety of images and concepts of the Church.' First will come an attempt to take the measure of Semmelroth’s significant impact on Lumen Gentium within the context of the myriad contributions made by a …

Vatican Ii And Intellectual Conversion: Engaging The Struggle Within, Dennis M. (Dennis Michael) Doyle

Dennis M. Doyle

In 1980 I took a course with Joseph Komonchak entitled “The History and Theology of Vatican II” at the Catholic University of America. True to the title, Komonchak was doing history and theology together at the same time on a class-by-class basis. He would bring in documents from the Council and from the times leading up to it, often in Latin, and he would talk about how his goals as a theologian required him to work in a historical manner. To understand Vatican II, or the Church itself for that matter, required not just understanding theological concepts but also grasping …

Otto Semmelroth And The Advance Of The Church As Sacrament At Vatican Ii, Dennis M. (Dennis Michael) Doyle

Dennis M. Doyle

Otto Semmelroth played a major role in advancing the notion of the church as sacrament at Vatican II. His preconciliar works as well as his participation in working groups and committees were instrumental in introducing this systematic concept into the 1963 draft of Lumen gentium. His commentaries on the document disclose how his own understanding of the historical and eschatological dimensions of the church as sacrament was enriched through the process of developing the final 1964 text. Semmelroth’s nuanced treatment of this progressive theme enables him to serve as a mediating figure in the continuing ecclesiological controversies of today.

Irenaeus Of Lyons: A Defense Of Recapitulation, Mathew Thomas Hollen

Mathew Thomas Hollen

Abstract This work sets out to explain the atonement theory of Irenaeus of Lyons. Irenaeus’ atonement theology is often described simply as “Christus Victor” but I argue that is simply a narrow sliver of the wider atonement theory of recapitulation. In this thesis I systematically try to expound what it is Irenaeus believed and why he believed it. In the first chapter I explain the problem at hand and a short biography of the bishop. In the second chapter I seek to summarize the Gnostic school of Valentinianism, which is the key opponent against Irenaeus writes in his best-known work …

Lions In The Desert: The Significance And Symbolism Of Lions In Early Egyptian Monastic Literature, Kyler Williamsen

Kyler Williamsen

Early monastic literature is filled with symbolism and employs allegory to instruct future generations of faithful ascetics. Animals are regularly used in these writings to demonstrate the spiritual power and prowess of the monk. While works such as Waddell’s Beasts and Saints or O’Malley’s The Animals of St. Gregory present a wonderful summary of animals in monastic literature, an analysis of the possible symbolic nature of these animals’ behavior in monastic literature is sorely lacking. My paper, entitled Lions in the Desert, explores the symbolic roles which played charting a monk’s progress in the ascetic life. The interactions the desert …

The Decline Of Christianity In Modern Europe, David C. Taylor Jr

David C Taylor Jr

Europe was once considered the epicenter of the Christian religion. For centuries Christianity was not only the main religion of Europe it was also a main political power. The Roman Catholic church, and in turn the Christian faith, enjoyed great power at various times throughout history in the European countries and influenced the culture in many ways. However, today there has been a moral and spiritual decline in Europe of staggering numbers. This short essay will explore possible reasons for Christianity’s decline in Europe in the last century and whether or not there is a possibility that the church could …

The Impeccability And Humanity Of Jesus, A. Thornhill

A. Chadwick Thornhill

No abstract provided.

Greatness Thrust Upon Them - Class Biases In American Law, Robert E. Rodes Jr.

Robert Rodes

No abstract provided.

Johann Nikolaus Von Hontheim's Febronius: A Censored Bishop And His Ecclesiology, Ulrich Lehner

Ulrich L. Lehner

In the second half of the eighteenth century, the greatest enemy of the Roman Curia was no longer French Gallicanism but German Febronianism, since it challenged papal primacy. It gained its name from the pseudonymous author of the book, De statu Ecclesiae (1763). The author, auxiliary Bishop Johann Nikolaus von Hontheim, was immediately censored and later forced to sign a retraction. This essay will provide the first English synthesis and overview of the publishing history of this important work and its ecclesiology, as well as show how the Curia dealt with this dissident theologian.

Monastic Prisons And Torture Chambers: Crime And Punishment In Central European Monasteries, 1600-1800, Ulrich Lehner

Ulrich L. Lehner

Following the Council of Trent (1545-1563), Catholic religious orders underwent substantial reform. Nevertheless, on occasion monks and nuns had to be disciplined and—if they had committed a crime—punished. Consequently, many religious orders relied on sophisticated criminal law traditions that included torture, physical punishment, and prison sentences. Ulrich L. Lehner provides for the first time an overview of how monasteries in central Europe prosecuted crime and punished their members, and thus introduces a host of new questions for anyone interested in state-church relations, gender questions, the history of violence, or the development of modern monasticism.

Forty Years Of Greatness Crowned: A Narrative Of The History Of Asbury Theological Seminary, David M. Burkett, Ralph Loren White, Ralph L. Lewis, Willard R. Holman

Ralph E. White

No abstract provided.

Gregory Of Nyssa, The Death Of Infants, And The Life Of God, A. Thornhill

A. Chadwick Thornhill

No abstract provided.

The First Crusade, Was It Christian?, David C. Taylor Jr

David C Taylor Jr

On February 5th, 2015, President Barack Obama addressed the audience at the National Prayer Breakfast. During this breakfast he made comments about the Islamic State and the Crusades that sent waves throughout the religious world. In his speech, he claimed that just like the Islamic State is doing things, terrible things, in the name of Islam, we should remember that terrible things were done in the name of Christ during the Crusades. While it did not sit well with members of the church, the question must be asked. Was he right? This paper will examine the First Crusade, its cause, …

The Fourth Gospel - An Aramaic Source Part 1, Philomena M. French

Philomena M French

This is the first in a series of papers which will seek to identify the original sources underlying the Greek text of the Gospel of John. The proposal will be made a) that at least one authoritative source can be identified which was originally compiled in Aramaic and which goes right back to the primitive community in Palestine before the destruction of the Second Temple b) that the Gospel is a compilation of different sources which have been arranged by a final redactor who has left the sources as he received them largely untouched c) that the principle sources pre-date …