Showing papers on "Revelation published in 2000"
TL;DR: The Book of Revelation: A Commentary on the Greek Text, by G K Beale NIGTC Grand Rapids/Cambridge, UK: Eerdmans; Carlisle: Paternoster, 1999 Pp Ixiv + 1245 + $7500 The culmination of over a decade of research and writing on the Apocalypse, Beale's work makes a significant contribution to our understanding of Revelation as mentioned in this paper.
Abstract: The Book of Revelation: A Commentary on the Greek Text, by G K Beale NIGTC Grand Rapids/Cambridge, UK: Eerdmans; Carlisle: Paternoster, 1999 Pp Ixiv + 1245 $7500 The culmination of over a decade of research and writing on the Apocalypse, Beale's work makes a significant contribution to our understanding of Revelation While the reader may not necessarily agree on all points, the commentary will certainly provide considerable insight into John's often perplexing vision In particular, Beale's grasp of the Greek grammar of Revelation is outstanding Too few scholars today have the linguistic expertise to furnish the reader with such extensive and thoughtful notes At the same time, Beale does not assume that all readers understand technical terms, and he defines them upon first usage Furthermore, Beale's often repeated insight, first noted with comments on 1:4a (p 188), that John's use of solecisms may be a means of calling the reader/hearer's attention to allusions to the Hebrew Bible, is most helpful A second major contribution is the discussion of Revelation's structure Recapitulation is accepted, as is the literary unity of the book (pp 108-44) Thus, John arranges his vision not in chronological but in topical order, emphasizing three motifs: judgment, persecution, and salvation (p 144) While noting that there is little unanimity among scholars regarding Revelation's structure, Beale's own opinion is that a sevenfold or eightfold division of the book is most plausible (p 114) Nevertheless, this arrangement maybe subordinate to a broader fourfold structure of (1) 1:1-19 (20); (2) 1:19 (20),3:22; (3) 4:1-22:5 and 22:6-21 Linguistic markers from Daniel 2 (p 115) denote these sections "A model for the compatibility of the multiple viable structures" (p 115) is possible because John arranges his account by overlaying interdependent elements, where earlier parts of the book are supplemented and explained by succeeding events and vice versa (pp115-16) Insightful analysis is also provided concerning the nonliteral, symbolic nature of John's vision This is emphasized at many points, including the explanation of the topical rather than chronological arrangement of the book, the metaphors in Rev 11:1-2 (pp 557-71), the description of Babylon in chap 17 (pp 847-89), and the interpretation of the millennium in Rev 20:1-6 (pp 972-1021) Nevertheless, in the course of these discussions the reader is sometimes distracted by Beale's references to the inadequacies of the literalist interpretations, such as those provided by John Walvoord and Hal Lindsey While agreeing with Beale's conclusions, one sometimes wonders if a dialogue with these authors, particularly Lindsey, might not be better served, and more accessible to a general public, in a popular treatment Beale also provides the reader with a rich collection of intertextual references from the Hebrew Bible, rabbinic literature, Jewish apocalyptic, and early Christian texts His discussion of chap 14 (pp 730-84; see esp the excursuses on pp 776--80) is masterful …
130 citations
TL;DR: Sommer as discussed by the authors argues that the prophet's penchant for allusion represents a sort of way-station between a preexilic notion of direct revelation and a post-exilic emphasis on interpretation as the locus of revelation.
Abstract: A Prophet Reads Scripture: Allusion in Isaiah 40-66, by Benjamin D. Sommer. Contraversions: Jews and Other Differences. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 1998. Pp. xv + 355. N.P. Eikhah Rabbah (the primary collection of rabbinic commentary on Lamentations) states that "all the severe prophecies that Jeremiah prophesied against Israel were anticipated and healed by Isaiah." This would seem to be a case in which modern critical scholarship is only belatedly catching up with the rabbis. Thus the past two years have seen the publication of two major studies of Second Isaiah's indebtedness to previous texts-Patricia Tull Willey's 1997 book Remember the Former Things (SBLDS 161) and now the present book by Sommer-both of which demonstrate, among other things, that Second Isaiah's primary precursor was Jeremiah, to whom the exilic prophet makes extensive allusion. Willey and Sommer are not the first of modern scholars to make this claim (their own precursors include Umberto Cassuto, Werner Tannert, Shalom Paul, and William Holladay), but they are the first to marshal such extensive evidence and to analyze in depth the interpretive techniques employed by the later prophet in appropriating the oracles of the earlier. While the two studies have much in common, they also diverge in significant ways, with Sommer taking "Deutero-Isaiah" to include not only chapters 40-55, as Willey and most other scholars do, but more or less the entire block of material in 40-66 and chapter 35 as well. And while Willey organizes her book as an extended reading of Second Isaiah with reference to previous texts as they come up, Sommer organizes his by source text. I mention Willey's book in the context of this review because the two studies prove to be complementary, and anyone who is interested by one will no doubt profit from consulting the other. Sommer makes the case for Jeremianic influence on Second Isaiah as part of his larger project of identifying and analyzing Deutero-Isaiah's pervasive practice of alluding to earlier texts, both prophetic and otherwise. In an introductory chapter on method, Sommer distinguishes between his approach, which is heavily indebted to the work of Michael Fishbane and is concerned with identifiable, intentional reference to a source text, and the literary theoretical concept of intertextuality, which he briefly defines as an offshoot of structural linguistics that is concerned less with intentionality of reference and more with a text's inevitable participation in a larger differential system of meaning (e.g., a corpus of literature or even a language). The four chapters that follow present close readings of key passages from Deutero-Isaiah in relation to the source texts on which they draw. Sommer devotes a full chapter to Jeremiah, one chapter to all other prophets (including Isaiah ben Amoz, Micah, Hosea, Ezekiel, Zephaniah, and Nahum), a chapter to psalms and laments, and a chapter to pentateuchal texts. A concluding chapter recapitulates the thematic and stylistic patterns that Sommer has discerned and attempts to place Deutero-Isaiah in the history of Israelite and Jewish religion, arguing that the prophet's penchant for allusion represents a sort of way-station between a preexilic notion of direct revelation and a postexilic emphasis on interpretation as the locus of revelation. A brief appendix presents the author's case against the hypothesis of a Trito-Isaiah and for the essential unity of chapters 40-66 and 35. Sommer's work is for the most part extraordinarily careful, thorough, and convincing. …
104 citations
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06 Nov 2000
TL;DR: McFague as mentioned in this paper argues that without serious reflection on their worldview, ultimate commitments, and lifestyle, North American Christians cannot hope to contribute to ensuring the "good life" for people or the planet.
Abstract: A compelling vision-before it's too late In this splendidly crafted work, McFague argues for theology as an ethical imperative for all thinking Christians: Responsible discipleship today entails disciplined religious reflection. Moreover, theology matters: Without serious reflection on their worldview, ultimate commitments, and lifestyle, North American Christians cannot hope to contribute to ensuring the "good life" for people or the planet. To live differently we must think differently. McFague's has therefore written primer in theology. It helps Christians assess their own religious story in light of the larger Christian tradition and the felt needs of the planet. At once an apology for an ecologically driven theology and a model for how theology itself might be expressed, her work is expressly crafted to bring people into the practice of religious reflection as a form of responsible Christian practice in the world. McFague shows the reader how articulating one's personal religious story and credo can lead directly into contextual analysis, unfolding of theological concepts, and forms of Christian practice. In lucid prose she offers creative discussions of revelation, the reigning economic worldview (and its ecological alternative), and how a planetary theology might approach classical areas of God and the world, Christ and salvation, and life in the Spirit. Enticing readers into serious self-assessment and creative commitment, McFague's new work encourages and models a theological practice that "gives glory to God by loving the world."
91 citations
TL;DR: Schedler et al. as discussed by the authors described Mexico under PRI rule as a civilian, inclusive, corporatist, and hyperpresidential authoritarian regime held together by a hegemonic state party.
Abstract: On 2 July 2000, Mexican citizens threw out the world’s longestreigning political party, the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI), which had held power in Mexico for most of the twentieth century. In recent years, there has been heated debate about whether Mexico qualified as an electoral democracy; now, it is clear and beyond dispute. Mexico has reaffirmed its membership in the international democratic community. Yet the democratic fiesta of July 2 did not suddenly give birth to democracy; it merely made visible fundamental changes that had been taking place under the veil of governmental continuity. The PRI was founded in 1929, in the aftermath of the civil wars of 1910–20, to put an end to armed strife between regional warlords and rival revolutionary factions. In its 71 years of continuous rule, the party accomplished this basic mission. It brought a degree of social peace and political stability widely admired throughout Latin America. At the same time, however, it set up an authoritarian regime whose nature seemed as exceptional as its longevity. Scholars have been creative in coining concepts to classify the unclassifiable, describing Mexico under PRI rule as a civilian, inclusive, corporatist, and hyperpresidential authoritarian regime held together by a hegemonic state party. As the Latin American regional pendulum swung from democracy to authoritarianism and back again, Mexico’s semiliberal “authoritarianism with adjectives” always seemed to be out of phase. Yet the notion of Mexican exceptionalism was flawed from the Andreas Schedler, professor of political science at the Facultad Latinoamericana de Ciencias Sociales (FLACSO) in Mexico City, chairs the Research Committee on Concepts and Methods (C&M) of the International Political Science Association. His latest book (coedited with Larry Diamond and Marc F. Plattner) is The Self-Restraining State: Power and Accountability in New Democracies (1999). His current research focuses on democratization and electoral administration in Mexico.
77 citations
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05 Oct 2000
TL;DR: Barth's Theological Ontology of the Holy Spirit as mentioned in this paper is the basis for the Church's Chalcedonian character and the mediator of communion in the Lord's Supper.
Abstract: 1. Introducing Barth John Webster 2. Theology Christoph Schwobel 3. Revelation Trevor Hart 4. The Bible Francis Watson 5. The Trinity Alan Torrance 6. Grace and being: the role of God's gracious election in Karl Barth's Theological Ontology Bruce McCormack 7. Creation and providence Kathryn Tanner 8. Karl Barth's Christology: its basic Chalcedonian character George Hunsinger 9. Salvation Colin Gunton 10. The humanity of the human person in Karl Barth's anthropology Wolf Krotke 11. The mediator of communion: Karl Barth's Doctrine of the Holy Spirit George Hunsinger 12 Christian community, Baptism, and the Lord's Supper James J. Buckley 13. Barth's Trinitarian Ethic Nigel Biggar 14. Karl Barth and politics William Werpehowski 15. Religion and the religions J. A. Di Noia OP 16. Barth and Feminism Katherine Donderegger 17. Barth, Modernity, and Postmodernity Graham Ward 18. Karl Barth: a personal engagement Alasdair I. C. Heron.
68 citations
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01 Jan 2000
TL;DR: A MASQUE OF REVELATION: The TEMPEST as APOLCAYPSE NOTES SUGGESTIONS for FURTHER READING INDEX as discussed by the authors.
Abstract: GENERAL NOTE 1. INTRODUCTION: 'KISS THE BOOK' 2. POSTENRITY AND PROSPERITY: GENESIS IN THE TEMPEST 3. HISTORICAL TYPES: MOSES, DAVID, AND HENRY V 4. 'WITHIN A FOOT OF THE EXTREME VERGE': THE BOOK OF JOB AND KING LEAR 5. TRUE LIES AND FALSE TRUTHS: MEASURE FOR MEASURE AND THE GOSPEL 6. 'DANGEROUS CONCEITS' AND 'PROOFS OF HOLY WRIT': ALLUSION IN THE MERCHANT OF VENICE AND PAUL'S LETTER TO THE ROMANS 7. A MASQUE OF REVELATION: THE TEMPEST AS APOLCAYPSE NOTES SUGGESTIONS FOR FURTHER READING INDEX
39 citations
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01 Jan 2000
TL;DR: Kempe as mentioned in this paper explores how the medieval debate about the functions and limits of images influenced the production of sacred art and reveals the artful dodges devised to deal with the controversy of picturing God's invisibility in material form.
Abstract: If we cannot see God with our own eyes, for what purpose do we picture God in art? During the Middle Ages, the Second Commandment's warning against idolatry was largely set aside as the power of images became boldly and visibly evident. By the twelfth century, one Byzantine authority could even offer his own revision of the Commandment: "Thou shalt paint the likeness of Christ Himself." How and when, Herbert L. Kessler asks, was the Jewish prohibition of images in worship converted into a Christian imperative to picture God's invisibility once God had taken human form in the body of Jesus Christ? In Spiritual Seeing, Kessler explores ways in which the medieval debate about the functions and limits of images influenced the production of sacred art. Offering a new interpretation of Christian images as mediators between the human and the sacred, Kessler considers how the creators of images in Byzantium and the Latin West were able to situate art at the boundary between the physical and the spiritual worlds. He examines the ways in which images acquired such legitimacy that sacred art became a privileged metaphor for divine revelation. Portraits of Christ, in particular, took on central importance. Throughout the book, Kessler also considers the lingering anxiety about the capacity of human sight to apprehend the divine in images. In so doing, he discloses the artful dodges devised to deal with the controversy of picturing God's invisibility in material form.
31 citations
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[...]
01 Jan 2000
TL;DR: The Word Biblical Commentary as mentioned in this paper is a collection of commentaries from the leading scholars of our day who share a commitment to Scripture as divine revelation, emphasizing a thorough analysis of textual, linguistic, structural, and theological evidence.
Abstract: The Word Biblical Commentary delivers the best in biblical scholarship, from the leading scholars of our day who share a commitment to Scripture as divine revelation. This series emphasizes a thorough analysis of textual, linguistic, structural, and theological evidence. The result is judicious and balanced insight into the meanings of the text in the framework of biblical theology. These widely acclaimed commentaries serve as exceptional resources for the professional theologian and instructor, the seminary or university student, the working minister, and everyone concerned with building theological understanding from a solid base of biblical scholarship.
22 citations
TL;DR: The discrepancy between the historical evidence for Domitian's reign and the persecuting "beasts" from the land and sea in the Revelation of John discourages the identification of the latter with the Roman government as discussed by the authors.
Abstract: The discrepancy between the historical evidence for Domitian's reign and the persecuting ‘beasts’ from the land and sea in the Revelation of John discourages the identification of the latter with the Roman government. For the author of Revelation, they are meant to represent political messianism in Palestinian and diaspora Judaism. The conflict between political messianism and Christian messianism is best illustrated by the contrast between the Messiah who emerges from the sea in 4 Ezra 13 and the ‘beast’ from the sea in Rev 13.1.
21 citations
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01 Mar 2000
TL;DR: Gullan-Whur's book as discussed by the authors explores how Spinoza's central philosophical beliefs developed within the context of his own life, focusing on the philosopher's attempt to act solely through reason in the face of turbulent personal and national circumstances.
Abstract: The seventeenth-century philosopher Spinoza was expelled from the Jewish community of Amsterdam at the age of twenty-four for 'horrendous heresies', and was eventually reviled by all religious authorities for claiming that human beings are parts of a single, unified nature, that God is identical with nature, and that reason, not revelation, supplies the truth of any aspect of God. Undeterred, he made this thesis the basis for a rational crusade against superstition and prejudice. Dr Gullan-Whur's biography, the first for twenty-eight years, shows how Spinoza's central philosophical beliefs developed within the context of his own life. Drawing on very recent scholarly research and making detailed reference to primary sources, some not previously explored, the author focuses on the philosopher's attempt to act solely through reason in the face of turbulent personal and national circumstances. This new approach demolishes the myth that Spinoza was a lofty ascetic. It exposes his emotional and sexual vulnerability arrogance and misogyny, yet shows his living philosophical experiment to be sharply relevant today.
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01 Jan 2000
TL;DR: A collection of papers from members of the 'Use of the Old Testament in the New Testament' seminar (held at St Deinid's, Hawarden, Wales) has been commissioned to honour its retiring chairperson J.L. North.
Abstract: This collection of papers from members of the 'Use of the Old Testament in the New Testament' seminar (held at St Deinid's, Hawarden, Wales) has been commissioned to honour its retiring chairperson, J.L. North. It includes contributions by Michael Goulder (Isaiah 61), Joel Marcus (Matthew), Maurice Casey (Christology), George Brooke (Parables), Judith Lieu (John), Peter Doble (Acts), Morna Hooker (Philippians), John O'Neill (Galatians), Ivor Jones (2 Thessalonians), Martin Menken (Matthew) and Steve Moyise (Intertextuality). BLURB AS REWRITTEN BY PRD 11 JANUARY 2000: It is well known, but not always appreciated that the 'Bible' of the earliest Christians was the Old Testament. How did the New Testament writers justify their faith in the risen Messiah from these Jewish scriptures? In this book, distinguished biblical scholars supply answers to these questions, both in general terms and from specific examples. Under review come individual New Testament writers (Matthew, Paul, John) and important themes (the Anointed One, monogamy and divorce), while crucial passages such as John 11, Isaiah 66 and Revelation 12 are put under the microscope. This collection demonstrates the ingenuity and vitality of early Christian scriptural exegesis, and offers the reader an up to date picture of the most recent research in one of the central issues of New Testament literary and theological study.
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01 Jan 2000
TL;DR: The Book of Revelation in the Branch Davidian tradition as mentioned in this paper has been studied in the Seventh-day Adventist tradition for a number of reasons, e.g., eisegesis and millennial expectation.
Abstract: List of illustrations Preface 1. Introduction: texts, eisegesis and millennial expectation 2. Hanserd Knollys, Benjamin Keach and the Book of Revelation: a study in Baptist Eisegesis 3. Revelation 13 and the Papal Antichrist in eighteenth-century England 4. Catholic apocalypse: the Book of Revelation in Roman Catholicism from 1600 to 1800 5. Methodists and the millennium: eschatological belief and the interpretation of biblical prophecy 6. Charles Wesley: prophetic interpreter 7. William Miller, the Book of Daniel, and the end of the world 8. 'A Lamb-like Beast': Revelation 13:11-18 in the Seventh-day Adventist tradition 9. Waco apocalypse: the Book of Revelation in the Branch Davidian tradition Bibliography Index of names Index of scripture references.
TL;DR: The role of angels in the revelation of the Law of the Torah has been investigated in the context of interpretive claims to authority in early Christian and early Jewish belief systems.
Abstract: This chapter is concerned with the role that angels are said to have played at Sinai during the revelation of the Law. Previous studies have established that some early Christian traditions emphasize that angels acted as mediators in the revelation of the Torah, while some rabbinic traditions emphasize the immediacy of the Sinai event, and evidence has been adduced of a polemical debate between Christians and Jews on this matter. In the chapter, some of the relevant material are revisited from a new perspective. First, the chapter situates the issue of angels at Sinai within the more general study of interpretive claims to authority. Second, it explores the Second Temple background to the debate, a background that has been noted before, but not examined in much detail. Third, the chapter considers several different exegetical strategies employed to counter the notion of angelically mediated revelation in some rabbinic traditions.Keywords: angels; Christian traditions; interpretive authority; rabbinic exegesis; rabbinic traditions; revelation; Second Temple; Sinai; Torah
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07 Dec 2000
TL;DR: The Oxford Scholarly Classics (OSC) series as mentioned in this paper is a new series that makes available again great academic works from the archives of Oxford University Press (OUP) in order to enable libraries, scholars, and students to access some of the finest scholarship of the last century.
Abstract: Oxford Scholarly Classics is a new series that makes available again great academic works from the archives of Oxford University Press. Reissued in uniform series design, the reissues will enable libraries, scholars, and students to gain fresh access to some of the finest scholarship of the last century.
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01 Jan 2000
TL;DR: In this article, the authors describe the seven churches of the Holy Temple of the LORD in the book of Hebrews: the temple, the priests of Israel, the words of this book, the man among the lamps, the woman clothed with the sun, the two beasts, the harvest of the earth, the bowls of wrath Jerusalem, the warrior priest, the city of the saints, the millennium kingdom all things new.
Abstract: Jesus the temple the priests of Israel the words of this book the man among the lamps the letters to the seven churches the chariot throne of God the sacrificd lamb the book with seven seals the redeemed the seven trumpets the angel in the cloud the woman clothed with the sun war in heaven and earth the two beasts the harvest of the earth the bowls of wrath Jerusalem the warrior priest the city of the saints the millennium kingdom all things new.
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06 Nov 2000TL;DR: Theology of revelation and Christian identity in the public forum is discussed in this paper, with a focus on the communication of Christian ethics in a public forum, and a discussion of the relationship between revelation and reason in liberal societies.
Abstract: General editor's preface Acknowledgements Introduction 1. Revelation and reason in liberal societies 2. Revelation and a contemporary public ethics 3. The theology of revelation and Christian identity 4. The communication of Christian ethics in the public forum 5. Reconciling autonomy and community Bibliography.
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01 Mar 2000
TL;DR: The authors investigates a continuing Johannine apocalyptic tradition represented in three strange Greek texts that are also linked to a Coptic manuscript, with English translations, introductions and detailed explanatory notes that set the texts and their ideas in the context of Christian views on the future and the afterlife.
Abstract: This original and unusual book investigates a continuing Johannine apocalyptic tradition, represented in three strange Greek texts that are also linked to a Coptic manuscript. None of the Greek texts has been published in recent years, and they have never been published together or associated in studies of Christian apocrypha. John Court, well known for his studies on Revelation, supplies the text of the Greek manuscripts, with English translations, introductions and detailed explanatory notes that set the texts and their ideas in the context of Christian views on the future and the afterlife.
01 Jan 2000
TL;DR: In this article, the authors focus on how ordinary Muslims viewed the same heavens visible to educated scientists or illiterate shepherds, and the focus here will be on the Middle East especially the textual information on the pre-Islamic Arabs of the Arabian Peninsula and contemporary tribal groups in the region.
Abstract: It was He that gave the sun his brightness and the moon her light, ordaining her phases that you may learn to compute the seasons and the years. He created them only to manifest the truth. He makes plain His revelation to men of understanding. Yūnus 10: 9 (Dawood, 1968: 64) When the Quran was revealed in seventh century Arabia as the basis for Islam, references were made to the sun, moon and stars as evidence of the creative power and practical foresight of God. The idea that God, or a particular god or goddess, had created the visible heavens was not unique. Creating stories about astronomical phenomena is as old as the first civilizations that appeared in the ancient Near East. Some of these survived, in highly edited variants, in the scriptures of Judaism and Christianity. As Muslim science evolved, a variety of religious and scientific knowledge from classical Greek texts, as well as Zoroastrian and Hindu sources, was encountered. While the influence of these classical and textual traditions on Islamic astronomy has been the focus of much previous study on the history of Islamic science, little attention has been paid to the oral folk traditions of peoples who embraced Islam. How ordinary Muslims viewed the same heavens visible to educated scientists or illiterate shepherds is the subject of this chapter. For practical reasons the focus here will be on the Middle East, especially the textual information on the pre-Islamic Arabs of the Arabian Peninsula and contemporary tribal groups in the region.
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01 Jan 2000
TL;DR: In this article, the authors discuss the nature of creation, the creation of the world, the existence of evil, and the fall of the Church of Christ, and its relationship with the Bible.
Abstract: 1. Introduction 2. Creation 3. The Existence of Evil 4. The Soul 5. Sin and 'The Fall' 6. Jesus, the incarnation of God 7. Atonement 8. Revelation and the World Religions 9. The Trinity 10. The Church 11. The Bible 12. The Teaching of Jesus 13. Christianity and Ethics 14. Christianity and Culture 15. Prayer 16. Eternal Life Index
01 Jan 2000
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors investigated the description and names of the dragon in Revelation 20:1-3 and 7-10 and found that the dragon is closely related to and determined in meaning by the seven letters.
Abstract: This article investigates the description and names of the dragon in Revelation 20:1-3 and 7-10. The context and composition of Revelation 20 are analysed. The relationship with Revelation 12 is explored and the prominence and function of the names of the dragon pointed out. The names are then investigated on their own, especially in the light of the role of names generally and names of evil characters in the rest of the book. It is, finally, also indicated how the names and descriptions of the dragon are closely related to and determined in meaning by the seven letters. Some typical features of the author's understanding of evil and its many faces, are offered by way of conclusion.
TL;DR: The 18th-century European Enlightenment championed rational philosophy and scientific methodology, rather than any form of traditional theology, as the way to understand the objective truth as mentioned in this paper, which was informed by a dualistic view of history-an ongoing contest between reason and faith.
Abstract: The 18th-century European Enlightenment championed rational philosophy and scientific methodology, rather than any form of traditional theology, as the way to understand the objective truth.' In their quest for the fundamental truth, France's philosophes, the rational and anticlerical intellectuals of the Age of Reason, were forced to brave official censorship, persecution, and imprisonment as they disentangled themselves from their Christian heritage. Thus, the French Enlightenment was informed by a dualistic view of history-an ongoing contest between reason and faith. Although faith had gained ascendancy with Christianity's triumph over classical antiquity in the late 3rd and 4th centuries, according to the philosophes, many of whom served as key contributors to the Encyclopedie, religion and science had once again joined battle in the 18th century, this time with science and reason poised to overcome religious irrationality.2 In this context, the renowned philosophe Voltaire, in his highly controversial Dictionnaire Philosophique (1764), attacks Christian dogma, refutes the tenet of Christ's divine nature, and rejects the possibility of miracles as running contrary to all scientific evidence. Similarly, in Systeme de la Nature (1770), another philosophe, d'Holbach, deplores man's pursuit of the chimeras of religious revelation and refusal to engage in rational methods of inquiry.4 The arguments of Voltaire and d'Holbach are just two examples of the French Enlightenment tenet that knowledge can be based only on science and reason.
TL;DR: Inshad is primarily poetry; the Qur'an is from God, and the Call from Tradition as mentioned in this paper, and the special rules for reciting it (codi fied as tajwid), also limit the sonic elaboration of Qur'anic recitation and call to prayer.
Abstract: the rich range of Islamic melodic practices performed there. Performance of inshad dini (Islamic hymnody) has been widespread in Egypt throughout the twentieth century, crossing all geographical and social boundaries.2 Focusing primarily on the supplication and glorification of God, praise and love for His Prophet, expressions of spiritual experience, and religious exhortations, inshad practice is not limited by region, economic class, or religious perspective. Inshad expresses the affective dimension of Islam, most pro nounced in mysticism (Sufism). While inshad is always Sufi in the broadest sense of that word, and though some Sufi orders are rightly famous for their liturgical inshad (while others include none), inshad has been appreciated in a broad so cial domain far exceeding the borders of the Sufi orders. Indeed, while emotional Islam, most manifest in popular Sufism, may well provide the primary impetus towards musical expressions of religious feeling, the lines supposedly separating 'orthodox' from 'mystical,' 'elite' from 'popular' Islam are hardly even definable, much less sharp, at least in Egypt. Such divisions re flect perceptions and polemics, more than actual beliefs and practices. In fact, Sufi ideas and feelings-love for God, His Prophet, and the Aht al-Bayt (the Prophet's immediate descendents)—differentially diffuse throughout Egyptian society (even while this diffusion is not always acknowledged), and such ideas and feelings are most truly expressed in poetry and song. The difficulties in dis tinguishing 'orthodox' and 'mystical,' 'elite' and 'popular,' or 'secular' and 'sacred' singing reflect the more general continuities and overlaps between these catego ries and the need for circumspection when employing them. Separating genres of melodic performance in Islam is also difficult. Tex tually, inshad can be easily distinguished from Qur'anic recitation and the Call to Prayer. Inshad is primarily poetry; the Qur'an is from God, and the Call from Tradition. The sacredness of Revelation, and the special rules for reciting it (codi fied as tajwid), also limit the sonic elaboration of Qur'an in performance (though
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01 Jan 2000TL;DR: In this paper, the status quo: genesis, current affairs, Morality and metaphysics, art and the role of revelation, and revelation in art and theology are discussed. But they do not discuss the relationship between art and revelation.
Abstract: Part I. Historical-Critical: Prologue 1. The status quo: genesis 2. The status quo: current affairs 3. Beginnings: old and new Part II. Critical-Constructive: Prologue 4. Morality and metaphysics 5. Art and the role of revelation 6. Revelation, religion and theology Epilogue Index.
TL;DR: In the Book of Revelation, John imagines himself as the consciousness of the collective; the boundary between the world and the word, between narrative and history, must dissolve, and all margins, including the one he inhabits, must be eradicated to complete this dream of a perfectly integrated community.
Abstract: The radically performative laying down of the law by the legislator must create the very context according to which that law could be judged to be just: the founding moment, the pre-, is always already inhabited by the post-. Geoffrey Bennington (132) Thus the veil had to fall so that with it the strongholds of reactionaries preventing women from being educated and participating in public life would fall. Amina Said (360) In the Book of Revelation, John is living in forced exile on the island of Patmos.[1] Opposed to and alienated from the existing social and political order, he predicts the overthrow of a corrupt world and the everlasting reign of the New Jerusalem. In this revolutionary prophesy, John imagines himself as the consciousness of the collective; the boundary between the world and the word, between narrative and history, must dissolve, and all margins, including the one he inhabits, must be eradicated to complete this dream of a perfectly integrated community at the end of history. [2] While the belief in the actual or imminent end of the world has receded, Frank Kermode argues that "the paradigms of apocalypse continue to lie under our ways of making sense of the world" (28). With the shift from God's plan for humanity to secular dreams about the world, nationalist narratives that both replace and echo Revelation are one of the ways we order that world. Apocalypse continues to be understood in a secular context as a revelation or unveiling (from the ancient Greek apokalupsis), and this paradigm underlies the nineteenth-century teleological narrative of modern nationalism, where the emergence of the nation is understood as the point of arrival for an "imagined community" (Anderson 6). As Benedict Anderson has suggested, as traditional religious belief wanes, national narratives come to satisfy the desire for origins, continuity, and eternity (11). Like the biblical story, secular apocalyptic writings about the nation also express the dreams of the ostracized and the oppressed about the renewal or rebirth of a community; the call from beyond (the interference from the Other) that characterizes apocalyptic writing challenges the established order, confuses accepted rules, and ignores the prevalent codes of reason. As Jacques Derrida writes, "By its very tone, the mixing of voices, genres, and codes, and the breakdown [le detraquement of destinations, apocalyptic discourse can also dismantle the dominant contract or concordat" ("Of an Apocalyptic Tone" 89). It is not surprising then that the Romantic poets, and Blake in particular, conceived of the French and American Revolutions in millennial terms; the violence and upheaval of these events seemed to mark the dawn of a new earthly order, freeing man from the tyranny of monarchy and church.[3] And in Writing the Apocalypse, Lois Parkinson Zamora reads both the Hebrew (Ezekiel, Daniel, Zechariah) and Chri stian (Mark 13, Matthew 24, 2 Peter, and Revelation) apocalyptic texts, with their emphasis on the merging of private and public destinies, as inspiring the "communal" or national fictions of Latin American writers such as Carlos Fuentes, Gabriel Garcia Marquez, and Julio Cortazar. However, the events of the twentieth century have also cast doubt on apocalyptic nationalist narratives. In E. M. Forster's A Passage to India, Aziz clearly joins the revolutionary chorus when he declares that "India shall be a nation! No foreigners of any sort! Hindu and Moslem and Sikh and all shall be one!" (289). But while Forster suggests that the colonial presence in India is intolerable, completing his novel in the aftermath of the First World War, he is clearly not convinced by the revolutionary promises of nationalism: Fielding taunts Aziz with the remark "India a nation! What an apotheosis! Last comer to the drab nineteenth-century sisterhood!"(289). And as a Muslim, Aziz himself is only half taken with the idea of the modern nation as he recognizes the es of teleology and origins that accompany this model. …
TL;DR: In this paper, the dialogical character of revelation and the Church to be understood is discussed, and the reformation of ecclesial traditions of discourse and practice is seen as an act of penance associated with conversion.
Abstract: For the author, John Paul II's call for ecclesial repentance raises three disputed issues. How is the dialogical character of revelation and the Church to be understood ? Does the sinfulness of the Church refer only to individual members or also to the Church as a corporate entity? Is it appropriate to understand the reformation of ecclesial traditions of discourse and practice as an act of penance associated with conversion?
01 Jan 2000
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors of the Book of Revelation have been compared to the author of science fiction, and the relationship between the two eschatologies has been discussed. But no-one in print, as far as I know, perhaps out of misplaced reverence, has suggested St John of Patmos, the Author of Revelation, as the prophet of the future.
Abstract: The anonymous author of The Epic of Gilgamesh, Homer, Plato, Lucian of Samosata, Jonathan Swift, and many others, have at one time or another been proclaimed as progenitors of science fiction: no-one in print, as far as I know, perhaps out of misplaced reverence, has suggested St John of Patmos, the author of the Book of Revelation.1 Yet he is one of the most widely quoted and influential of all writers on the future: the symbolic creator of a prophetic tradition that has influenced much more secular approaches to speculation about the future, and his Book survives to this day as an influential and powerful way of imagining the future. Utopian thinkers and activists have drawn on the apocalyptic theme of the millennium for their visions of the perfect world; the dramatic tales of cosmic struggle to be found in the Book of Revelation are comparable in the sweep and the ‘sense of wonder’ that they evoke to the most extravagent space operas of the science-fictional tradition. In this paper, I shall look at some of the interactions between what we might see as rival eschatologies: the vision of the end of all things presented in Jewish and Christian revelation (the Greek word for which gives us ‘apocalypse’) and the view of the end of all things presented by science fiction.
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15 Aug 2000