Communities of Conviction
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The Dual Language of Geometry in Gothic Architecture: the Symbolic Message of Euclidian Geometry Versus the Visual Dialogue of Fractal Geometry
Peregrinations: Journal of Medieval Art and Architecture Volume 5 Issue 2 135-172 2015 The Dual Language of Geometry in Gothic Architecture: The Symbolic Message of Euclidian Geometry versus the Visual Dialogue of Fractal Geometry Nelly Shafik Ramzy Sinai University Follow this and additional works at: https://digital.kenyon.edu/perejournal Part of the Ancient, Medieval, Renaissance and Baroque Art and Architecture Commons Recommended Citation Ramzy, Nelly Shafik. "The Dual Language of Geometry in Gothic Architecture: The Symbolic Message of Euclidian Geometry versus the Visual Dialogue of Fractal Geometry." Peregrinations: Journal of Medieval Art and Architecture 5, 2 (2015): 135-172. https://digital.kenyon.edu/perejournal/vol5/iss2/7 This Feature Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Art History at Digital Kenyon: Research, Scholarship, and Creative Exchange. It has been accepted for inclusion in Peregrinations: Journal of Medieval Art and Architecture by an authorized editor of Digital Kenyon: Research, Scholarship, and Creative Exchange. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Ramzy The Dual Language of Geometry in Gothic Architecture: The Symbolic Message of Euclidian Geometry versus the Visual Dialogue of Fractal Geometry By Nelly Shafik Ramzy, Department of Architectural Engineering, Faculty of Engineering Sciences, Sinai University, El Masaeed, El Arish City, Egypt 1. Introduction When performing geometrical analysis of historical buildings, it is important to keep in mind what were the intentions -
ABSTRACT Transforming Views of Baptist Ecclesiology: Baptists And
ABSTRACT Transforming Views of Baptist Ecclesiology: Baptists and the New Christendom Model of Political Engagement Jason D. Whitt, Ph.D. Mentor: Barry A. Harvey, Ph.D. While most twentieth century commentators on Baptist distinctives note well the commitment to religious liberty, the context of the discussion typically treats religious liberty as a natural right secured through the emergence of the modern liberal democratic state. This view tends to interpret the concept of “religious liberty” as a univocal term throughout Baptist history, assuming that the meaning of this idea has been consistent during four centuries of Baptist presence within the Western world. Religious liberty has thus come to be understood as the securing of a natural right dependent for its preservation upon a form of liberal democratic polity. In this dissertation, however, I will argue first that Baptist conceptions of religious liberty and their concomitant views on the relationship between Christians and the state have not been univocal throughout Baptist history. In particular, I will suggest that contemporary Baptist models share significant foundational theological presuppositions concerning the realms of the secular and the religious with the New Christendom model of twentieth century Roman Catholicism. Second, having argued for the shared convictions between both models, I will then note the challenges from within Catholic theology to the New Christendom model and its failures, and by correspondence, suggest that similar shortcomings may be present in Baptist models. As a response to the critiques offered, it will be suggested that the church should instead imagine itself as an alternative body politic to the liberal democratic nation-state. -
Pentagons in Medieval Architecture
View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by Repository of the Academy's Library Építés – Építészettudomány 46 (3–4) 291–318 DOI: 10.1556/096.2018.008 PENTAGONS IN MEDIEVAL ARCHITECTURE KRISZTINA FEHÉR* – BALÁZS HALMOS** – BRIGITTA SZILÁGYI*** *PhD student. Department of History of Architecture and Monument Preservation, BUTE K II. 82, Műegyetem rkp. 3, H-1111 Budapest, Hungary. E-mail: [email protected] **PhD, assistant professor. Department of History of Architecture and Monument Preservation, BUTE K II. 82, Műegyetem rkp. 3, H-1111 Budapest, Hungary. E-mail: [email protected] ***PhD, associate professor. Department of Geometry, BUTE H. II. 22, Egry József u. 1, H-1111 Budapest, Hungary. E-mail: [email protected] Among regular polygons, the pentagon is considered to be barely used in medieval architectural compositions, due to its odd spatial appearance and difficult method of construction. The pentagon, representing the number five has a rich semantic role in Christian symbolism. Even though the proper way of construction was already invented in the Antiquity, there is no evidence of medieval architects having been aware of this knowledge. Contemporary sources only show approximative construction methods. In the Middle Ages the form has been used in architectural elements such as window traceries, towers and apses. As opposed to the general opinion supposing that this polygon has rarely been used, numerous examples bear record that its application can be considered as rather common. Our paper at- tempts to give an overview of the different methods architects could have used for regular pentagon construction during the Middle Ages, and the ways of applying the form. -
Geometric Proportioning Strategies in Gothic Architectural Design Robert Bork*
$UFKLWHFWXUDO Bork, R 2014 Dynamic Unfolding and the Conventions of Procedure: Geometric +LVWRULHV Proportioning Strategies in Gothic Architectural Design. Architectural Histories, 2(1): 14, pp. 1-20, DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5334/ah.bq RESEARCH ARTICLE Dynamic Unfolding and the Conventions of Procedure: Geometric Proportioning Strategies in Gothic Architectural Design Robert Bork* This essay explores the proportioning strategies used by Gothic architects. It argues that Gothic design practice involved conventions of procedure, governing the dynamic unfolding of successive geometrical steps. Because this procedure proves difficult to capture in words, and because it produces forms with a qualitatively different kind of architectural order than the more familiar conventions of classical design, which govern the proportions of the final building rather than the logic of the steps used in creating it, Gothic design practice has been widely misunderstood since the Renaissance. Although some authors in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries attempted to sympathetically explain Gothic geometry, much of this work has been dismissed as unreliable, especially in the influential work of Konrad Hecht. This essay seeks to put the study of Gothic proportion onto a new and firmer foundation, by using computer-aided design software to analyze the geometry of carefully measured buildings and original design drawings. Examples under consideration include the parish church towers of Ulm and Freiburg, and the cross sections of the cathedrals of Reims, Prague, and Clermont-Ferrand, and of the Cistercian church at Altenberg. Introduction of historic monuments to be studied with new rigor. It is Discussion of proportion has a curiously vexed status in finally becoming possible, therefore, to speak with reason- the literature on Gothic architecture. -
The Rochdale Baptists
THE ROCHDALE BAPTISTS 1773 - 1973 A SHORT HISTORY Written in 1973 to commemorate the Bi-centenary of the West Street Baptist Church Rochdale. (RE-PUBLISHED: ON THE OCCASION OF THE 225TH ANNIVERSARY IN 1998.) By: A. Whitehead. “On 18th September 1773 friends at Rochdale asked at an Ebenezer (Bacup) Church meeting exemption from supporting the ministry there any longer in consequence of the expense attaching to the infant cause at Rochdale. Their prayer was granted by the famous Rev. John Hirst and his people without demur.” Page 1 of 47 That part of the Christian Church known as the Baptists is less than 400 years old, although in earlier times sections were in existence whose fundamental principle was that of the immediate and direct accountancy of God of each individual; that between God and the individual there was no mediator save Jesus Christ. These were the Anabaptists who rejected the priestly notions of Christian ministry and all forms of State support. They maintained their preachers by free-will offerings; whose one qualification must be a divine call to such service. Anabaptism in England was never organised and lacked leadership, for this reason it cannot be regarded as the seed-bed of the English Baptists. John Smyth was the first English Baptist. He first took orders of the Church of England, then became a Puritan Separatist and finally a Baptist Separatist, eventually fleeing to Holland and becoming the pastor of a Church of English Separatist there. In 1609 he first baptised himself and then baptised Thomas Helwys, a gentleman of Basford in Nottingham, who financed the emigration of a Gainsborough Separatist Church to Amsterdam, and others. -
4 Religious Liberty in the U.S. Political Experience
4 RELIGIOUS LIBERTY IN THE U.S. POLITICAL EXPERIENCE A. Roy Medley First, to our Muslim hosts, I bring you greetings of peace, As-salaam alaikum, and to our Christian hosts, grace and peace to you from God the Father and our Lord Jesus Christ. We are deeply indebted to you for your kind hospitality and to Dr. Riad Jarjour, especially, who has arranged this opportunity for us to be with you and to Dr. Daouk who so graciously agreed to host us. As American Baptists we have been involved in fostering Baptist-Muslim dialogue with the Islamic Society of North America for the past several years in order to build bridges of understanding between Baptist Christians and Muslims in the United States. For us it is a response of obedience to our Lord Jesus who taught, “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the children of God” (Mt. 5:9). We are convinced that the world cannot live in peace until Christians, Muslims and Jews have learned to live in peace with respect for one another, working for the common good of all humankind. As a member of the Executive Committee of the Baptist World Alliance, let me say that we received with joy and gratitude the Muslim missive to the Christian world, “A Common Between Us and You.” As our response says, “In adding our voice to [others], we want to embrace your conviction that it is only the movement of human hearts and minds towards love and worship of the One God, creator of us all, that will begin to resolve the huge needs for peace, justice and love of neighbors in our world today.” We welcome the gift of this sacred space where our two faiths can meet and dialogue. -
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Ord, Leaving the Gathered Community 131 Leaving the Gathered Community: Porous Borders and Dispersed Practices Mark Ord A Baptist ecclesiology of the gathered community coupled with a characteristic concern for mission has led to a dynamic of gathering and sending within British Baptist worship. This engenders a demarcation between the church and the world, and a sense of a substantial boundary between the two. In this article I explore the metaphor of the boundary between the church and the world. In doing so, I examine recent theological proposals that present formation as taking place within the worship of the gathered community for the purpose of mission. I propose a picture of the boundary as porous and its formation necessarily occurring, both within the church and the world, through worship and witness. I argue that church–world relations are complex and cannot be described as ‘one way’ — from worship to witness. The article concludes by pointing to the need for sacramental practices for the church in dispersed mode, for example hospitality, as well as for the church gathered, for example baptism and communion. This implies recognising that there are graced practices of the church and indwelt sacramentality which find their rightful place in the context of witness in the world, by leaving the gathered community. Keywords Baptist ecclesiology; sacraments; mission; practices Baptist Ecclesiology: Local, Missional, Individualistic Baptists have long been characterised by ecclesiological concerns for both the local congregation and mission. In his book, Baptist Theology, Stephen Holmes states: ‘There are two foci around which Baptist life is lived: the individual believer and the local church’.1 These are classic concerns for the visible church, ‘gathered by covenant’,2 or as Thomas Helwys expressed it at the start of the seventeenth century, ‘A company of faithful people, separated from the world by the word and Spirit of God […] upon their own confession of faith and sins.’3 Mission does not have quite the same pedigree. -
The Nineteenth Century Apostolic Christian Church: the Emergence, Establishment, and Fragmentation of a Neo- Anabaptist Sect
The Nineteenth Century Apostolic Christian Church: The Emergence, Establishment, and Fragmentation of a Neo- Anabaptist Sect Joseph F. Pfeiffer Doctoral student School of Intercultural Studies Fuller Theological Seminary Abstract This article traces the emergence, proliferation, and identity formation of a 19th century Neo- Anabaptist sect known variously as Neutäufer (New Anabaptists), Nazarenes, and Apostolic Christian Church. The Neutäufer emerged during an era that was a turning point in world religious history, marked by a renewed sense of missionary vigor and the proliferation of major voluntary (as opposed to state-driven) religious movements. These movements radically transformed Western, and even global, Christianity. The article gives detailed attention to the role of Samuel Heinrich Fröhlich in synthesizing evangelical renewalist impulses with traditional Anabaptist convictions. It also follows the tensions that emerged, where agreed upon centrally held traditional Anabaptist values—e.g. non-conformity, plainness, and separation from the world—came to be understood differently as the movement diversified beyond its original context. This article not only contributes to the historical study of the Neutäufer but also contributes to understanding the sociological dynamics of the emergence, establishment, and fragmentation of religious sectarian movements more generally. Keywords Apostolic Christian Church; Neo-Anabaptist; Anabaptist; Samuel Fröhlich; Sectarian identity formation; Nazarene Acknowledgements Many thanks to the numerous members and former members of the Apostolic Christian Churches when I conducted fieldwork, and also for helping me find important documents related to Apostolic Christian Church history. Address correspondence to: Joseph Pfeiffer; [email protected] Recommended citation: Pfeiffer, Joseph. 2018. “The Nineteenth Century Apostolic Christian Church: The Emergence, Establishment, and Fragmentation of a Neo-Anabaptist Sect.” Journal of Amish and Plain Anabaptist Studies 6(1):1-25. -
Ian M Randall
Whitley Lecture 2012: Religious Liberty in Continental Europe - Ian M Randall This paper described campaigning that took place by British Baptists on behalf of their persecuted dissenting brothers and sisters in mainland Europe in the period from the 1840s to the 1930s. In their campaigns for freedom, Baptists formed alliance with other evangelicals and with political figures. Baptists were also concerned with liberty of conscience more widely. Centre for Baptist History and Heritage Studies Occasional Papers Volume 4 and Whitley Publications The Whitley Lecture 2012 Religious Liberty in Continental Europe Campaigning by British Baptists, 1840s to 1930s Ian M. Randall Whitley Publications Regent’s Park College, Oxford Regent’s Park College is a Permanent Private Hall of The University of Oxford. Copyright © Ian M. Randall 2012 First published 2012 Whitley Publications, c /o Regent’s Park College, Oxford, OX1 2LB. Centre for Baptist History and Heritage, Regent’s Park College, Pusey Street, Oxford, OX1 2LB. (Regent’s Park College is a Permanent Private Hall of the University of Oxford.) www.rpc.ox.ac.uk 18 17 16 15 14 13 12 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 The right of Ian M. Randall to be identified as the Author of this Work has been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 All rights reserved. o part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publisher or a license permitting restricted copying. -
The Ecclesiological Contributions of Thomas Helwys's Reformation in A
Perichoresis Volume 15. Issue 4 (2017): 73 –117 DOI: 10.1515/perc-2017-0023 THE ECCLESIOLOGICAL CONTRIBUTIONS OF THOMAS HELWYS’S REFORMATION IN A BAPTIST CONTEXT * MARVIN JONES Louisiana College ABSTRACT. The English Separatist movement provided the background for which John Smyth and Thomas Helwys emerged to reconstitute a biblical ecclesiology. Through the study of the New Testament, they came to the position that infant baptism and covenantal theology could not be the foundation for the New Testament church. Both men embraced believer ’s baptism as the basic foundation in which a recovered church should be built. Unfortunately, Smyth defected to the Mennonites, leaving Thomas Helwys to continue the fledging work known as Baptists. This article will examine the life of Thomas Helwys and his contribution to Baptist ecclesiology; it will also review selected literary works that contributed to the recovery of a New Testament church and the founding of Baptist ecclesiology. KEY WORDS: English Separatism, Puritanism, Baptist, Thomas Helwys, church Introduction Thomas Helwys was the primary leader of the General Baptist Church movement after John Smyth defected to the Mennonites. After investigating into matters of ecclesiology, Smyth sought a true church that had roots back to the apostolic church. Smyth became convinced that there was a true church in existence once he began a dialogue with the Mennonites in Am- sterdam. Reviewing Smyth ’s investigation into the Mennonites doctrine, Walter Burgess states: As there was a true Church in existence at the time when he arrived at a convic- tion of the truth, Smyth concluded that he and his company had acted ‘disorder- ly ’ in assuming baptism for themselves. -
L'o S S E Rvator E Romano
Price € 1,00. Back issues € 2,00 L’O S S E RVATOR E ROMANO WEEKLY EDITION IN ENGLISH Unicuique suum Non praevalebunt Fifty-third year, number 27 (2.654) Vatican City Friday, 3 July 2020 The Holy Father celebrates Mass on the Solemnity of Saints Peter and Paul, Apostles A mid-year day’s reflection Unity and Prophecy Living in between risks and hopes On Monday, 29 June, Solem- ANDREA MONDA nity of Saints Peter and Paul, Pope Francis celebrated Mass The first half of this year 2020 is at the Altar of the Chair in passing, and perhaps it is a good Saint Peter’s Basilica, where he moment to summarize, to collect blessed the Pallia that will be our thoughts. It may be that each bestowed upon the 54 Metro- year, at the end of the month of June, the community of L’Osser- politan Archbishops appointed vatore Romano feels this passage over the past year. In his particularly, seeing that the first of homily the Holy Father reflec- July 1861 is the date recalled in ted on the themes of “unity” documents and by historians as and “p ro p h e c y ”, observing that the birth of this daily newspaper the source of unity is prayer and thus today too, “aged” 159 while “prophecy is born years, we feel like stopping the whenever we allow ourselves to flow of time for a moment in or- be challenged by God”. Due der to look in both directions, to Covid-19 restrictions, only a backwards and forwards, and try small number of faithful atten- to say something, take stock, in- ded the Mass, and unlike the dicate a perspective. -
How English Baptists Changed the Early Modern Toleration Debate
RADICALLY [IN]TOLERANT: HOW ENGLISH BAPTISTS CHANGED THE EARLY MODERN TOLERATION DEBATE Caleb Morell Dr. Amy Leonard Dr. Jo Ann Moran Cruz This research was undertaken under the auspices of Georgetown University and was submitted in partial fulfillment for Honors in History at Georgetown University. MAY 2016 I give permission to Lauinger Library to make this thesis available to the public. ABSTRACT The argument of this thesis is that the contrasting visions of church, state, and religious toleration among the Presbyterians, Independents, and Baptists in seventeenth-century England, can best be explained only in terms of their differences over Covenant Theology. That is, their disagreements on the ecclesiological and political levels were rooted in more fundamental disagreements over the nature of and relationship between the biblical covenants. The Baptists developed a Covenant Theology that diverged from the dominant Reformed model of the time in order to justify their practice of believer’s baptism. This precluded the possibility of a national church by making baptism, upon profession of faith, the chief pre- requisite for inclusion in the covenant community of the church. Church membership would be conferred not upon birth but re-birth, thereby severing the links between infant baptism, church membership, and the nation. Furthermore, Baptist Covenant Theology undermined the dominating arguments for state-sponsored religious persecution, which relied upon Old Testament precedents and the laws given to kings of Israel. These practices, the Baptists argued, solely applied to Israel in the Old Testament in a unique way that was not applicable to any other nation. Rather in the New Testament age, Christ has willed for his kingdom to go forth not by the power of the sword but through the preaching of the Word.