In Christian tradition, the name of the Biblical Thomas is connected primarily to the story of John 20: 27 in which the apostle in invited by Jesus to touch his tortured body. This invitation is the result of Thomas’ prior scepticism to the reality of the resurrection. Contrary to popular belief, the text of John does not indicate clearly if Thomas accepts Jesus’ offer. John creates a narrative gap for the readers to fill in, stimulating the reader to contemplate the (...) relationship between the notion of seeing, touching and believing, and their mutual dependency. In this historical-literary article, the author investigates this literary dependency in the synoptic gospels, John’s gospel, several apocryphal texts, and four famous paintings, all focussing on the character of Thomas, in search of the different ways in which these authors and artists try to fill in John’s apparent narrative gap. (shrink)

In Nazarenus: Or, Jewish, Gentile, and Mahometan Christianity, written in 1709–10 but published in 1718, the Irish-born freethinker and republican John Toland (1670–1722) provided a novel, heterodox account of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, which he described as the three phases or manifestations of the same monotheistic tradition. Toland wrote Nazarenus after examining, in Amsterdam, an Italian manuscript that was believed to be a translation of a “Gospel of the Mahometans.” Identifying this text with the apocryphal Gospel of Barnabas, Toland (...) argued that this gospel contained the beliefs of the Ebionites or Nazarenes, whom he regarded as the first Christians. Drawing on this manuscript and on several canonical and noncanonical sources, as well as the works of modern Hebraists, Orientalists, and biblical scholars, Toland described Mosaic Judaism, primitive Christianity, and early Islam as grounded in the law of nature. Accordingly, he maintained that the core of these three religions, and of “true religion” in general, was natural morality, which he considered to be universal, eternal, accessible to natural reason, and restored by Moses, Jesus, and Muhammad. Thus, he added that the ancient Israelites, the first Christians, and the early Muslims practiced toleration of all those who respected the Noachic precepts, which he deemed consistent with the law of nature. Toland’s argument for religious toleration in Nazarenus has been defined as a “historical argument.” Toland indeed buttressed his stance on toleration with his reinterpretation of canonical material and Judeo-Christian and Islamic apocryphal sources, which he appropriated to his philosophical and political agenda. However, Toland’s argument for toleration in Nazarenus is essentially a deistic argument, because it is based on a deistic view of “true religion” as natural religion, which is fundamentally a moral religion and which, according to Toland, is at the origin and core of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. (shrink)

La «démythologisation» est une herméneutique philosophique forgée par Hans Jonas au début de son itinéraire intellectuel, afin d'interpréter existentiellement les récits mythologiques ainsi que les textes théologiques et philosophiques de l’Antiquité tardive. Il s’agissait d’abord d’une méthodologie d’objectivation et subjectivation pour comprendre l’expérience existentielle de l’homme gnostique face à la divinité et l’être dans le monde. Dans la suite, Jonas a développé l’herméneutique de la démythologisation par l’objectivation et la subjectivation par rapport aux textes néotestamentaires. Le mot démythologisation (Entmythologisierung) est (...) utilisé par lui pour la première fois en 1930 dans une étude philosophique, «Sur la structure herméneutique du dogme», pour comprendre le problème existentiel de la liberté chrétienne. Quelques années plus tard, il a développé une phénoménologie herméneutique, également par l’objectivation et la subjectivation, afin de comprendre l’être vivant et la particularité de l’homme dans la nature. Entre-temps, Hans Jonas a aussi utilisé l’herméneutique de la démythologisation par l’objectivation et la subjectivation pour critiquer la philosophie de Martin Heidegger et la théologie de Rudolf Bultmann dans plusieurs articles philosophiques par rapport au gnosticisme, à la théologie et à la démythologisation bultmannienne, ainsi que pour rédiger Le Concept de Dieu après Auschwitz. (shrink)

“For there shall be days when you will say: Blessed is the womb which has not conceived, and those breasts which have not given suck.”The Apocryphal Gospel of Thomas (1)“ Oh man! why is the world becoming so narrow for you? You want to possess it alone; but if you had possessed it, it would not have been spacious enough for you:Ah! this is the pride of the devil who has fallen from heaven into hell.”.

Simon Peter undergoes a considerable development from his first introduction in the Gospel of Mark to later narratives, where he gains remarkable miraculous abilities. In Mark, he witnesses Jesus performing numerous miracles without himself being named as the performer of a single one, but in Matthew’s Gospel Peter walks on water (Matt 14:22–33), in Acts he heals two paralytics and raises a woman from the dead (Acts 3:1–10; 9:32–42), and in the fourth-century Latin Acts of Peter, also known as Actus (...) Vercellenses, he makes a dog speak (Acts Pet. 9.9–15), miraculously restores a shattered marble statue (11.8–23) and revives several people from the dead (27.1–11; 28.63–66). This article examines how Peter’s various miracles contribute to their respective stories, analyses how they reflect the needs of their respective authors, and discusses what they tell us about the use of genre in the narrative tradition about the apostle Peter and his miracles. (shrink)

This book examines slavery and gender through a feminist reading of narratives including female slaves in the Gospel of Luke, the Acts of the Apostles, and early Christian texts. Through the literary theory of Mikhail Bakhtin, the voices of three enslaved female characters—the female slave who questions Peter in Luke 22, Rhoda in Acts 12, and the prophesying slave of Acts 16—are placed into dialogue with female slaves found in the Apocryphal Acts, ancient novels, classical texts, and images of (...) enslaved women on funerary monuments. Although ancients typically distrusted the words of slaves, Christy Cobb argues that female slaves in Luke-Acts speak truth to power, even though their gender and status suggest that they cannot. In this Bakhtinian reading, female slaves become truth-tellers and their words confirm aspects of Lukan theology. This exegetical, theoretical, and interdisciplinary book is a substantial contribution to conversations about women and slaves in Luke-Acts and early Christian literature. (shrink)

The debate between Izarn, a Dominican and inquisitor, and the Catharian repentant bishop Sicart de Figueiras raises the question of the so-called ignorance of the Catharians, especially in biblical studies. If the Interrogatio Iohannis, one of the Catharian sources and an apocryphal and gnostic gospel, appears during the debate, the exegetical tradition is also present in the myth of fallen angels. In one of his main accusations Izarn evokes the metempsychosis revealing the antiques doctrines influence on the Catharians. Therefore, (...) the heretics expressed a large number of knowledge in the vernacular language receptive to the most humbles and the illiterates persons. This has been their strength face to the rational and scholarly theology acquired from books by the Catholic clergy. (shrink)

Modern historical criticism of the gospels and Christian origins began in the seventeenth century largely as an attempt to debunk the Christian religion as a pious fraud. The gospels were seen as bits of priestcraft and humbug of a piece with the apocryphal Donation of Constantine. In the few centuries since Reimarus and his critical kin, historical criticism has been embraced and assimilated by many Christian scholars who have seen in it the logical extension of the grammatico-historical (...) method of the Reformers. The new views of New Testament exegesis and of early Christian history are important and well known. Many New Testament scholars would now hold with Schweitzer and Bultmann that Jesus was a preacher of the imminent end of the world. He may have secretly considered himself to be the Messiah, or he may have simply sought to pave the way for another, the apocalyptic Son of Man. After his execution, his disciples' experiences of his resurrection forced on them a conclusion already implicit in his teachings and personal piety: that Jesus was indeed, or had become, the Messiah, and was in fact God's Son. They expected he would soon return as the Son of Man he had predicted. (shrink)

This article is the first of three on the relationship between the Sayings Gospel Q and the ancient concept of 'psychostasia,' which is the ancient notion that a divine or supernatural figure weighed people's souls when judging them. The ultimate goal of all three articles is to enhance our understanding of Q 6:37-38, as well as of the Q document as a whole. In the current article, attention is focused on intertexts from the Old Testament, and the occurrences therein of (...) the word 'measure' and the concept of 'psychostasia'. The implications of these results for our interpretation of Q 6:37-38 are briefly noted. A second (future) article will focus on intertexts in apocryphal and pseudepigraphical writings from Second Temple Judaism dealing with 'psychostasia'. A third study will ultimately spell out in more comprehensive detail the implications of the foregoing intertextual investigations on both our understanding of Q 6:37-38 and our understanding of the Sayings Gospel Q as a whole. (shrink)

This article examines the story of Jesus’ birth as it is presented in some of the so-called Apocryphal Infancy Gospels that have always aroused great interest in popular culture and in the arts. These texts describe the birth of Jesus by means of an important ‘narrative expansion’: the childbirth of Mary takes place in a cave, one or more midwives as well as two animals, the ox and the donkey, are added to the scene. These narratives do not (...) relate the preaching of Jesus, his death on the cross and his resurrection, but they present the event of his birth as a new beginning for all mankind. In doing so they reflect early Christian questions concerning Jesus’ nature. Examining some characteristic elements of this narrative development of the birth of Jesus, this article tries to show how this nativity may correspond to the construction of a myth. (shrink)

Em 1945, uma coleção de manuscritos em língua copta foi encontrada por camponeses egípcios, próxima à cidade de Nag Hammadi. Esta coleção, contendo treze códices feitos de papiro e cobertos com couro, recebeu o nome de Biblioteca Copta Nag Hammadi . Uma importante descoberta para a língua copta, para a história da filosofia antiga e para o cristianismo primitivo, pois esta biblioteca abre-nos uma nova janela sobre o período formativo do cristianismo por fornecer tratados de teologia sistemática, obras exegéticas, epístolas, (...) apocalipses, biografias e diários de viagem, relatos apócrifos da paixão de Jesus e códigos morais de várias fontes e inspirações. O objetivo deste artigo é analisar a categoria “luz” no Evangelho de Tomé e no Evangelho de Filipe e fazer um paralelo com a categoria “luz” que aparece no Quarto Evangelho. A idéia sobre a categoria "luz" que aparece nesses manuscritos circularam pela comunidade joanina? A comunidade joanina deixou-se influenciar por algumas idéias ou seitas de sua época? Esses textos demonstram a possibilidade de que tais categorias circulavam anteriormente, mesmo os manuscritos tendo sido copiados décadas ou mesmo séculos depois? Palavras-chave : Nag Hammadi. Luz. Judaísmo. Identidade. Quarto Evangelho.In 1945 some Egyptian farmers discovered a collection of Coptic manuscripts near the city of Nag Hammadi. The collection that consists of thirteen leather-bound papyrus codices received the name Nag Hammadi Library. It was an important discovery regarding the Coptic language as well as the history of ancient philosophy and early Christendom, because this library gives new insights about the period when Christianity produced a huge variety of scriptures. The content of the Nag Hammadi Library ranges from systematic-theological treatises, exegesis, letters, apocalypses, biographies and travel diaries to apocryphic accounts of the Passion of Jesus and moral codices from various sources. The objective of this article is to analyze the category “light” in the Gospel of Thomas as well as in the Gospel of Philip and draw an analogy between the category “light” as it appears in the Fourth Gospel. Did the idea of the category “light” as presented in these manuscripts circulate within the Johannine community? Is it possible that the Johannine community was influenced by certain contemporary religious ideas or sects? Do these texts indicate the possibility that such categories already have been in circulation and the manuscripts were copied for decades or even centuries after its emergence? Keywords: Nag Hammadi. Light. Judaism. Identity. Fourth Gospel. (shrink)

Changing environment requires not just creativity, but disruptive creativity. The traditional planning paradigm within business organizations heavily relies on long- and short-term forecasting in order to predict the future and plan accordingly. However, a large share of business development is now characterized by rapid changes, inconsistency and unpredictability. Taking that into account a key task for managers is to explore and innovate in chaotic conditions, but how can owner–managers, business leaders and the employees respond to such rapid changes without the (...) appropriate skillset and educational background? This study calls for the modernization of enterprise education systems in order to provide students and graduates with tools relevant to the changing requirements of the business environment. We argue that such needed mastery of unconventional innovative thinking and acting “as if” rather have a lot in common with art education concepts and theatrical skills. Using videography as an example, we illustrate how advances in digital technology can help incorporate such theatrical concepts into enterprise education. As a contribution we provide insights and falsifiable propositions toward a renewal and revitalization of enterprise education pedagogy. (shrink)

Holistic service for youth and youth is the basic thing today because youth and youth are the present generation for the future of the church. By using descriptive qualitative methods, it can be concluded that the holistic ministry for youth and youth carried out by church leaders is able to build today's generation that continues to have an impact on the world and is also expected to bring Christian education that has one clear and definite goal/direction, namely knowing, loving, believe (...) in, obey and serve God according to His will and plan and for His glory. (shrink)

There is an obscure but recurring strain of Edmund Husserl’s theological ideas, simultaneously bearing on the question of the historicity of philosophy, which spans the entirety of Husserl’s oeuvre and has yet evaded closer scholarly attention. My paper combines the textual study of the passages in question with a survey of Husserl’s biography and a meticulous reconstruction of the relevant cultural-historical backgrounds—ranging from professional exegesis to general cultural-historical phenomena and to historical speculations by one of Husserl’s family friends and colleagues (...) at the University of Halle—in order to obtain a useful concrete cross-section of the interconnected debates on Husserl’s views—and their possible phenomenological ramifications—on the history of religion, respectively the history of philosophy. (shrink)

Preface, by F. Böckle.--Articles: Empirical social study and ethics, by W. Korff. What does a non-Christian expect of the church in matters of social morality, by R. Garaudy. Social cybernetics as a permanent function of the church, by C. Wagner. World trade and international cooperation for development, by A. Ferrer. How can the church provide guidelines in social ethics? by P. Herder-Dorneich. Races and minorities: a matter of conscience by J. Musulin. The modern sexual revolution, by G. Struck. Prudence and (...) moral change, by F. Furger.--Bibliographical survey: Strength and weakness of the declaration on the Jews, by J.-P. Lichtenberg.--Documentation Concilium: Peace through revolution, by Concilium General Secretariat and H. Gross-Mayr. (shrink)

This book explores the religious concerns of Enlightenment thinkers from Thomas Hobbes to Thomas Jefferson. Using an innovative method, the study illuminates the intellectual history of the age through interpretations of Jesus between c.1650 and c.1826. The book demonstrates the persistence of theology in modern philosophy and the projects of social reform and amelioration associated with the Enlightenment. At the core of many of these projects was a robust moral-theological realism, sometimes manifest in a natural law ethic, but always associated (...) with Jesus and a commitment to the sovereign goodness of God. This ethical orientation in Enlightenment discourse is found in a range of different metaphysical and political identities which intersect with earlier ‘heretical’ tendencies in Christian thought. This intellectual matrix helped to produce the discourses of irenic toleration which are a legacy of the Enlightenment at its best. (shrink)