74 research outputs found
Het evangelie van Judas: Inleidende notities over zijn inhoud en betekenis
The Gospel of Judas: Introductory notes on its contents and meaningThis article introduces the reader to the newly discovered Gospel of Judas (Codex Tchacos, pp 33-58): It discusses its sensational (and evidently sensationalized) discovery, its place in the context of a number of other writings in Codex Tchacos and the main lines of its contents. With reference to the Gospel of Thomas, among others, the author briefly discusses the question âWhat is a Gospel?â. It seems to be quite possible to discern some so-called agrapha or ânew words of Jesusâ in the Gospel of Judas. Though the Gospel of Judas is undoubtedly a Gnostic Gospel, presenting some sort of âpre-cabbalisticâ message, its mentioning of Jesus as âthe Nameâ and âthe Prophetâ seems to fit well with very ancient Jewish- Christian traditon
Black and slave? âMestizoâ Augustine on Ham
After discussing the so-called Ham myth in South Africa, my focus is on the African church father Augustine (354â430). All texts from his immense oeuvre in which he mentions biblical Ham are reviewed in chronological order. In Against Faustus, the story of Noah and his sons is mainly explained as being Christological: Ham figures as a type of the unbelieving Jews who consented to the murder of Christ, but he is also a type of the Jews because he is âthe slave of his brothersâ carrying the books by which the Christians may be instructed. Later Augustine corrects his confusion of Ham with the slave Canaan. The story of Ham (and Canaan) is most extensively discussed in the City of God. Neither here nor in the Expositions on the Psalms, Ham is described as being black or a slave. The same goes for a number of his other writings. In Augustineâs late works Against Julian and Unfinished Work against Julian, he thoroughly goes into the question of why (although Ham sinned) âvengeance was brought upon Canaanâ. Augustine perceives Godâs prophecy: from Canaan stems the cursed seed [semen maledictum] of the Canaanites. Nowhere, however, he claims that Ham or his descendants would have been cursed to be black or that all of his offspring were condemned to slavery.
Contribution:Â This article demonstrates that the Ham myth does not occur in Augustine. It argues that the âmestizoâ African Augustine might have been extra sensitive to questions of race and colour
"... quam intime medullae animi mei suspirabant tibi": De spriritualiteit van Augustinus' "verborgen jaren" tot aan de bekering in 386
Peer reviewedText in Dutch, abstract in EnglishIn popular works, and even in handbooks of (church) history, it is
often assumed that Augustine was converted from paganism to
Christianity. This perception is incorrect. Augustine (354-430) was
a North African by birth. In all likelihood his mother Monnica was of
Berber extraction, i.e. she originated from the indigenous black
Berbers. She became a Catholic Christian (though with some touch
of the Donatist Christianity prevalent in Augustineâs inland home
town Thagaste). Augustineâs father Patricius was a conservative
heathen and only baptised a Catholic when Augustine was sixteen.
Young Augustine thus grew up in a religiously very diverse
environment. His school education in Thagaste and nearby
Madauros strengthened the pagan element. During his student
years in Carthage Augustine became a member of the Gnostic-
Christian Church of Mani (216-276), the prophet from Babylon who
established a new Church which expanded from present day Iraq
until the Atlantic and the Pacific. More than ten years Augustine
was a member of the New Age-movement of his time. After a long
and intense spiritual journey came, in 386, his final conversion to
Catholic (= orthodox) Christianity. The article aims to indicate that â
both thetically and antithetically â all previous spiritual factors had a
lasting influence on the spirituality of the future doctor gratiae.
During all these periods he sighed for true knowledge of God: âhow
in my inmost being the very marrow of my soul did pant after You!â
(Conf. III,6,10).Research Institute for Theology and Religio
The Gospel of Judas : introductory notes on its contents and meaning
This article introduces the reader to the newly discovered Gospel of
Judas (Codex Tchacos, pp 33-58): It discusses its sensational (and
evidently sensationalized) discovery, its place in the context of a
number of other writings in Codex Tchacos and the main lines of its
contents. With reference to the Gospel of Thomas, among others,
the author briefly discusses the question âWhat is a Gospel?â. It
seems to be quite possible to discern some so-called agrapha or
ânew words of Jesusâ in the Gospel of Judas. Though the Gospel of
Judas is undoubtedly a Gnostic Gospel, presenting some sort of
âpre-cabbalisticâ message, its mentioning of Jesus as âthe Nameâ
and âthe Prophetâ seems to fit well with very ancient Jewish-
Christian traditon
God, memory and beauty : a Manichaean analysis of Augustineâs confessions, Book X
Contribution to âAugustine
and Manichaean
Christianityâ, the First
South African Symposium
on Augustine of Hippo,
University of Pretoria,
24â26 April 2012. Prof. Dr
Hans van Oort is Professor
Extraordinarius in the
Department of Church
History and Polity of the
Faculty of Theology at
the University of Pretoria,
Pretoria, South Africa.The article first sketches some main trends in the recent study of Augustineâs Confessions as
a work aimed at Manichaean readers. It then detects and analyses the Manichaean-inspired
parts in Book X of the Confessions. Augustineâs famous theory of memory seems to be directly
inspired by Manichaean concepts such as found in the Coptic Manichaean Kephalaia. The
article end with a number of conclusions.http://www.hts.org.zaam2013mn201
The Holy Spirit as feminine : early Christian testimonies and their interpretation
The earliest Christians â all of whom were Jews â spoke of the Holy Spirit as a feminine figure.
The present article discusses the main proof texts, ranging from the âGospel according to the
Hebrewsâ to a number of testimonies from the second century. The ancient tradition was,
in particular, kept alive in East and West Syria, up to and including the fourth century Makarios
and/or Symeon, who even influenced âmodernâ Protestants such as John Wesley and the
Moravian leader Count von Zinzendorf. It is concluded that, in the image of the Holy Spirit as
woman and mother, one may attain a better appreciation of the fullness of the Divine.This research is part of the
project, âAugustine and
Manichaean Christianityâ,
directed by Prof. Dr Johannes
van Oort, Professor
Extraordinarius, Department
of Church History and Church
Polity, Faculty of Theology,
University of Pretoria.http://www.hts.org.zaam2016Church History and Church Polic
Another case of human semen eucharist among the Manichaeans? Notes on the 'ceremony of the fig' in Cyril of Jerusalem's Catechesis VI
The article focuses on a neglected passage in Cyril of Jerusalem's Catechesis VI in which he speaks of the curious Manichaean 'ceremony of the fig'. After providing the Greek text and a fresh translation of Cat. VI,33, an analysis is given of its contents. Noting that Cyril seems to have been well acquainted with those books of the Manichaeans (in all likelihood Mani's Treasure) in which the myth of the Seduction of the Archons was told, I provide an overview and analysis of his description of the Manichaean 'ceremony of the fig'. Cyril's account seems to be corroborated by one or, perhaps, even two of the miniatures from Central Asia in which figs appear to be central in Manichaean sacred meals.http://booksandjournals.brillonline.com/content/journals/157007202018-09-30Church History and Church Polic
Augustine and Hermes Trismegistus : an inquiry into the spirituality of Augustineâs âhidden yearsâ
This paper draws attention to the possible role of Hermetic writings in the spiritual development of Augustine (354â430). It first places his knowledge of Hermetica within the context of both âorthodoxâ African Christianity (Tertullian, Cyprian, Arnobius, Lactantius) and contemporary Manichaeism. It then focuses on his dealing with Hermetic writings, ideas and expressions in writings such as the Confessions, the (now lost) The Beautiful and the Harmonious, and Against Faustus. In Augustineâs later writing the City of God, one finds a twofold appreciation of Hermes, which had a particular influence in subsequent centuries.http://www.tandfonline.com/toc/rech202017-12-30Church History and Church Polic
Tyconius' Apocalypse commentary, its reconstruction, and its significance for Augustine's doctrine of the two cities
The present article deals with Roger Grysonâs reconstruction of Tyconiusâ lost Commentary on the Apocalypse (CCL 107A), his subsequent French translation of this reconstructed Commentary (CCT 10), and the English translation Tyconius, Exposition of the Apocalypse by Francis Gumerlock, with long introduction and ample notes by David Robinson (FoC 134). After having reviewed the strenghths and weaknesses of each of these publications, the article concludes with a discussion of the significance of Tyconiusâ Commentary for the question of the origin of Augustineâs two civitates doctrine.https://brill.com/view/journals/vc/vc-overview.xml2020-10-29hj2019Church History and Church Polic
Human semen eucharist' among the Manichaeans? The testimony of Augustine reconsidered in context
Starting from his De haeresibus 46,9-10, the present article examines Augustineâs contention that, among the Manichaeans, there was a certain ceremony in which human semen (i.e., sperma and menstrual fluid) was collected and consumed during a eucharistic rite. My contextual analysis of the pivotal passage, haer. 46,9-10, is followed by an overview of scholarly opinions on this text. From here I proceed to interpret the incriminated rite in light of the Seduction of the Archons myth and conclude that, according to Augustine, the Manichaeans consider the âvital substanceâ (or âlightâ or âliving soulâ) in the life of plants, animals and human beings, to be the very nature of God, which should be released whenever possible. I finish my research by interpreting the Manichaean practice within a wider âgnosticâ context, in particular Epiphaniusâ report on the âBorboritesâ. My final conclusion is that we should try to understand both Manichaeans (like the âCatharistsâ) and Gnostics (like the âBorboritesâ) according to their own logic: both appear to have considered the life-substance of man, i.e., the semen, as divine, and indeed a part of God.http://booksandjournals.brillonline.com/content/journals/157007202018-02-28hb2016Church History and Church Polic
- âŠ