STUDIA TRADITIONIS THEOLOGIAE Explorations in Early and Medieval Theology
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STUDIA TRADITIONIS THEOLOGIAE Explorations in Early and Medieval Theology NEW A FORTHCOMING STUDIA TRADITIONIS THEOLOGIAE P.M. Rumsey Explorations in Early and ‘Lest She Pollute the Sanctuary’ The Infl uence of the Protevangelium on Women’s Status in Medieval Theology Christianity Series Editor: STT 41, approx. 320 p., 1 b/w ill., 156 x 234 mm, 2020, PB Thomas OʼLoughlin, Professor of Historical Theology, ISBN: 978-2-503-59036-3, approx. € 70 Will also be available as eBook University of Nottingham Theology continually engages with its past: the people, experience, This work explores a second-cen- Scriptures, liturgy, learning and customs of Christians. The past is tury text, the Protevangelium preserved, rejected, modifi ed; but the legacy steadily evolves as Iacobi, and, by examining cur- Christians are never indifferent to history. Even when engaging the rent scholarship on the subject, future, theology looks backwards: the next generation’s training assesses the way it has infl uenced includes inheriting a canon of Scripture, doctrine, and controversy; the Christian perception of wom- while adapting the past is central in every confrontation with a en and the ordering of their lives modernity. through the centuries down to the present day. It demonstrates how Mary, as she is presented in This is the dynamic realm of tradition, and this series’ focus. this text with extreme and unreal Whether examining people, texts, or periods, its volumes are emphasis on her purity, has been concerned with how the past evolved in the past, and the interplay held up as an unattainable mod- of theology, culture, and tradition. el for all Christian women and takes as a case study, the lives of Editorial Board: contemplative women in the RC Prof. Thomas O’Loughlin (Director) church and shows how the image Dr Andreas Andreopoulos of Mary impossibly seclused in Dr Nicholas Baker-Brian the temple has been partly responsible for their enclosure. By explor- Dr Augustine Casiday ing the way female biological processes have been allowed to intrude Dr Mary B. Cunningham on the sacred, tracing this infl uence from the Old Testament, through Dr Juliette Day this text and its connection with Mary to the present day, it argues that Prof. Johannes Hoff Dr Paul Middleton this has been a signifi cant factor in the denial of presbyteral ordination Dr Simon Oliver to women in some Christian churches. One of the original features Prof. Andrew Prescott of this work is the tracing of artwork depicting scenes from the text Dr Patricia Rumsey across the Christian world and thus demonstrating the breadth of its Dr Jonathan Wooding infl uence, right down to New Age writings today. Dr Holger Zellentin Submissions should be addressed to: Professor Thomas O’Loughlin Department of Theology and Religious Studies Humanities Building University of Nottingham NG7 2RD United Kingdom The abbess of a Poor Clare monasstery with a PhD in liturgical email: [email protected] theology, Patricia Rumsey is an authority on the implications of women’s religious life today. She is an honorary associate profes- The complete collection is also available as eBook on our online sor at Nottingham University. platform www.brepolsonline.net. Cover2 illustration: 3 Tabula Peutingeriana © ÖNB Vienna: Cod. 324, Segm. VIII + IX FORTHCOMING FORTHCOMING G. Hermanin de Reichenfeld L. Cerioni The Spirit, the World and the Trinity: Revealing Women. Feminine Imagery in Origen’s and Augustine’s Understanding Gnostic Christian Texts of the Gospel of John STT 35, approx. 320 p., 156 x 234 mm, 2021, PB ISBN: 978-2-503-58668-7, approx. € 70 STT 40, approx. 300 p., 156 x 234 mm, 2021, PB Will also be available as eBook ISBN: 978-2-503-58991-6, approx. € 65 Will also be available as eBook This book is a comparative study Revealing Women offers a de- of two major pneumatological par- tailed and textual oriented inves- adigms of Patristic times: the theol- tigation of the roles and functions ogies of Origen of Alexandria and of female characters in Gnostic Augustine of Hippo. Christian mythologies. It an- swers questions such as: to what In a renowned and controversial end did Gnostic Christian theolo- passage Origen writes: “Of the gians employ feminine imagery subsistence of the Holy Spirit, in their theology? What did they no-one could have even a suspi- want to convey through it? cion, except those who profess a belief in Christ” (De Principiis, This book shows that feminine 1,3). But how come that ancient imagery was a genuine concern Christian authors elaborated a for Gnostic theologians, and it theology of the Holy Spirit? This enquires about how it was em- innovative study tackles this ployed to describe the divine question by analysing how the through a contextual reading of exegesis of the Gospel of John Gnostic Christian texts present- shaped the Trinitarian and soteriological agency of the Holy Spirit in ing Ophite, Sethian, Barbeloite and Valentinian mythologoumena and the theologies of two of the most important Christian authors of all theologoumena. Overall, it argues that feminine imagery ought to be times: Origen and Augustine. In particular, the Johannine Father-Son- acknowledged as an important theological framework to investigate Spirit relation and the dichotomy between God and the world represent and contextualize Gnostic works by showing that these theologians the foundation on which Origen and Augustine built their pneumatol- used feminine imagery to exemplify those aspects of the Godhead ogies. At a closer look, one even realises that they both conceived the which they considered paradoxical and, yet, essential. The claims God-man relationship through a Johannine lens. made in the fi rst chapters are later substantiated by an in-depth inves- tigation of understudied Gnostic texts, such as the so-called Simonian The heuristic comparison proposed in this book is focused on the three Gnostic works, the Book of Baruch of the Gnostic teacher Justin and large themes, towards which Origen and Augustine represent opposite the Nag Hammadi treatise known as Exegesis of the Soul. approaches: the understanding of the immanent Trinity, the dualism between God and the world and the proper role of the Holy Spirit. Dr Giovanni Hermanin de Reichenfeld completed his PhD at the Dr Lavinia Cerioni completed her PhD at the University of University of Exeter in 2019 and is currently Adjunct Lecturer at Nottingham in 2018 and is now Adjunct Lecturer at the Institutum the Institutum Patristicum Augustinianum (Rome, Italy). Patristicum Augustinianum (Rome). 4 5 NEW NEW H. Goren A. Chouliaras ‘The loss of a minute is just so much loss of life’ The Anthropology of St Gregory Palamas Edward Robinson and Eli Smith in the Holy Land The Image of God, the Spiritual Senses, STT 39, XX+339 p., 25 b/w + 8 col. ill., 156 x 234 mm, 2020, PB and the Human Body ISBN: 978-2-503-58913-8, € 75 STT 38, approx. XVI+240 p., 156 x 234 mm, 2020, PB Also available as eBook ISBN: 978-2-503-58941-1, € 70 Also available as eBook The different story of the trav- How are we to regard our body? els and publication of Edward As a prison, an enemy, or, may- Robinson, ‘Father of Holy Land be, an ally? Is it something bad Research’ in the 19th century, that needs to be humiliated and as described in letters and doc- extinguished, or should one see uments. it as a huge blessing, that de- serves attention and care? Is the Perhaps no other Palestine / body an impediment to human Holy Land explorer has received experience of God? Or, rather, as much attention as Edward does the body have a crucial Robinson, the American philol- role in this very experience? ogist, theologian, and historical Alexandros Chouliaras’ book ar- geographer responsible for lay- gues that the fourteenth-century ing the foundations for modern monk, theologian, and bishop historic-geographical study of Gregory Palamas has interest- the Holy Land. Surprisingly, to ing and persuasive answers to date, almost no one has delved offer to all these questions, and into Robinson’s archive to il- that his anthropology has a great luminate his Holy Land expeditions, the writing of his monumental deal to offer to Christian life and Biblical Researches, and the compilation of his fi ne maps. Similarly, theology today. no one has conducted a detailed study of the archive of Eli Smith, American Board of Commissioners of Foreign Missions Beirut mis- Amongst this book’s contributions are these: for Palamas, the human sionary and Robinson’s travel companion, for the same purposes. is superior to the angels concerning the image of God for specifi c Fluent in Arabic and highly familiar with the region and its inhabitants, reasons, all linked to his corporeality. Secondly, the spiritual senses Smith’s contribution to the expedition and to the Biblical Researches refer not only to the soul, but also to the body. However, in Paradise was considerable as his archive reveals. the body will be absorbed by the spirit, and acquire a totally spiritual aspect. But this does not at all entail a devaluing of the body. On Investigating documents in both Robinson’s and Smith’s archives, the contrary, St Gregory ascribes a high value to the human body. the author of the present book became quickly convinced that much Finally, central to Palamas’ theology is a strong emphasis on the of the accepted narrative concerning Robinson’s Holy Land studies human potentiality for union with God, theosis: that is, the passage should be re-evaluated and, consequently, rewritten. Several issues, for from image to likeness. And herein lies, perhaps, his most important lack of relevant sources, have not yet been addressed by scholars.