Chrysostom and Luther on the Intergenerational Character of The

Total Page:16

File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb

Chrysostom and Luther on the Intergenerational Character of The Concordia Seminary - Saint Louis Scholarly Resources from Concordia Seminary Master of Art Theology Thesis Concordia Seminary Scholarship 8-20-2020 Chrysostom and Luther on the Intergenerational Character of the Faith: Retrieving the God-Designed Parental Role in the Transmission of the Faith to the Next Generation Charles Samuel Voigt Ledebuhr [email protected] Charles Samuel Voigt Ledebuhr Mr. Concordia Seminary, St. Louis, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://scholar.csl.edu/ma_th Part of the Religious Thought, Theology and Philosophy of Religion Commons Recommended Citation Voigt Ledebuhr, Charles Samuel and Voigt Ledebuhr, Charles Samuel Mr., "Chrysostom and Luther on the Intergenerational Character of the Faith: Retrieving the God-Designed Parental Role in the Transmission of the Faith to the Next Generation" (2020). Master of Art Theology Thesis. 91. https://scholar.csl.edu/ma_th/91 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Concordia Seminary Scholarship at Scholarly Resources from Concordia Seminary. It has been accepted for inclusion in Master of Art Theology Thesis by an authorized administrator of Scholarly Resources from Concordia Seminary. For more information, please contact [email protected]. CHRYSOSTOM AND LUTHER ON THE INTERGENERATIONAL CHARACTER OF THE FAITH RETRIEVING THE GOD-DESIGNED PARENTAL ROLE IN THE TRANSMISSION OF THE FAITH TO THE NEXT GENERATION A Thesis Presented to the Faculty of Concordia Seminary, St. Louis, Department of Systematic Theology, in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Arts By Charles Samuel Voigt Ledebuhr August, 2020 Approved by: Joel D. Biermann Thesis Advisor David R. Maxwell Reader Peter H. Nafzger Reader © 2020 by Charles Samuel Voigt Ledebuhr. All rights reserved. ii Ebenezer! Rendering all the glory and gratitude to God, I dedicate this work to my wife Veridiane. God knows the valleys through which He led us in these months, but as our Good Shepherd He led us with His loving hand! Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good, for His steadfast love endures forever. (Psalm 136:1) iii CONTENTS Chrysostom and luther on the intergenerational character of the faith ........................................... i RETRIEVING THE GOD-DESIGNED PARENTAL ROLE IN THE TRANSMISSION OF THE FAITH TO THE NEXT GENERATION ............................................................... I ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ......................................................................................................... vii ABBREVIATIONS .................................................................................................................... viii ABSTRACT .................................................................................................................................. ix CHAPTER ONE ............................................................................................................................ 1 INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................................ 1 CHAPTER TWO ........................................................................................................................... 4 THE INTERGENERATIONAL CHARACTER OF THE FAITH ...................................... 4 SCRIPTURAL FOUNDATION ........................................................................................... 5 THE HUMAN BEING WITHOUT HISTORY ................................................................... 6 HARDWIRED FOR INTERGENERATIONALITY ......................................................... 13 PASSING ON WHAT IT MEANS TO BE HUMAN ........................................................ 19 THE FAITH WE RECEIVED FROM OUR PARENTS AND WILL PASS ON TO OUR CHILDREN ........................................................................................................................ 25 THE VISION OF THE GOOD LIFE OUR CHILDREN ARE GETTING ....................... 30 IN LOCO PARENTIS .......................................................................................................... 35 PASSING ON THE FAITH IN A POST-CONSTANTINIAN WORLD .......................... 39 RETRIEVING THE PARENTAL ROLE IN THE PASSING ON OF THE FAITH TO THE NEXT GENERATION .............................................................................................. 41 CHAPTER THREE ..................................................................................................................... 44 JOHN CHRYSOSTOM ON THE INTERGENERATIONAL CHARACTER OF THE FAITH ................................................................................................................................. 44 iv THE INTERGENERATIONAL CHARACTER OF THE FAITH .................................... 46 MONASTICISM OR MARRIED LIFE ............................................................................. 49 THE ECCLESIAL FAMILY .............................................................................................. 53 THE MONASTIC FAMILY .............................................................................................. 57 VAINGLORY ..................................................................................................................... 61 THE SCHOOL AND THE FAMILY ................................................................................. 66 TELLING STORIES AND THE BIBLE ........................................................................... 68 LEADING CHILDREN TO MARRIAGE ......................................................................... 70 CHAPTER FOUR ........................................................................................................................ 75 MARTIN LUTHER ON THE INTERGENERATIONAL CHARACTER OF THE FAITH ............................................................................................................................................ 75 THE INTERGENERATIONAL CHARACTER OF THE FAITH .................................... 76 THE BLESSED ESTATE OF MARRIAGE AND THE CHRISTIAN HOUSEHOLD .... 79 PASSING ON THE CATECHISM .................................................................................... 85 THE PLACE OF THE ROD ............................................................................................... 90 IN LOCO PARENTIS .......................................................................................................... 92 BRINGING CHILDREN UP TO BE FULLY HUMAN ................................................... 97 BRINGING CHILDREN UP TO FULFIL THEIR VOCATIONS .................................. 107 LEADING CHILDREN TO MARRIAGE ....................................................................... 112 CHAPTER FIVE ....................................................................................................................... 119 A COMPARISON BETWEEN CHRYSOSTOM AND LUTHER ON THE INTERGENERATIONAL CHARACTER OF THE FAITH ........................................... 119 THE SURROUNDING WORLD ..................................................................................... 119 TRAINING FOR WORLDLY VOCATIONS ................................................................. 123 v MARRIED LIFE AND MONASTIC LIFE...................................................................... 129 THE PLACE OF THE ROD ............................................................................................. 133 CHAPTER SIX .......................................................................................................................... 137 INPUTS FROM CHRYSOSTOM AND LUTHER FOR TODAY ................................. 137 THE MONASTIC FAMILY ............................................................................................ 137 DARE TO MARRY.......................................................................................................... 142 NOT CHURCH-CENTERED ONLY, NOR CHURCH-DISCONNECTED EITHER ... 146 CHAPTER SEVEN ................................................................................................................... 154 CONCLUSION ................................................................................................................. 154 BIBLIOGRAPHY ...................................................................................................................... 156 VITA .......................................................................................................................................... 160 vi ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS For the opportunity of this achievement, I must recognize the people and institutions that God used to lead me here. Seminário Concórdia of Brazil. To the professors who laid the foundation for my theological thinking, saw in me a potential unknown by myself, and encouraged this endeavor. Evangelical Lutheran Church of Brazil (IELB). Within this church body the Lord Jesus Christ called me to be His own since my Baptism and today He grants me the honor of serving Him in this same church-body as minister of His Word. Countless are the blessings poured out by the Lord on me within this church body along the way between the mentioned moments. One was the opportunity to be sent to study at Concordia Seminary, St. Louis. Concordia Seminary, St. Louis. That the deepening in the Word of the Lord in this institution be for the glory of God and growth of His Kingdom as I serve His people as minister of His Word. All the professors from ULBRA, Seminário Concórdia, and Concordia Seminary have been used by God to shape
Recommended publications
  • Charisma, Medieval and Modern
    Charisma, Medieval and Modern Edited by Peter Iver Kaufman and Gary Dickson Printed Edition of the Special Issue Published in Religions www.mdpi.com/journal/religions Peter Iver Kaufman and Gary Dickson (Eds.) Charisma, Medieval and Modern This book is a reprint of the special issue that appeared in the online open access journal Religions (ISSN 2077-1444) in 2012 (available at: http://www.mdpi.com/journal/religions/special_issues/charisma_medieval). Guest Editors Peter Iver Kaufman Jepson School, University of Richmond Richmond, VA, USA Gary Dickson School of History, Classics, and Archaeology, University of Edinburgh Edinburgh, EH, Scotland, UK Editorial Office MDPI AG Klybeckstrasse 64 Basel, Switzerland Publisher Shu-Kun Lin Production Editor Jeremiah R. Zhang 1. Edition 2014 0'3,%DVHO%HLMLQJ ISBN 978-3-03842-007-1 © 2014 by the authors; licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. All articles in this volume are Open Access distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/), which allows users to download, copy and build upon published articles even for commercial purposes, as long as the author and publisher are properly credited, which ensures maximum dissemination and a wider impact of our publications. However, the dissemination and distribution of copies of this book as a whole is restricted to MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. III Table of Contents List of Contributors ............................................................................................................... V Preface
    [Show full text]
  • MALE/FEMALE FRIENDSHIP in EARLY CHRISTIAN COMMUNITIES 1 Breaking Boundaries Theological Inquiries
    Rosemary Rader MALE/FEMALE FRIENDSHIP IN EARLY CHRISTIAN COMMUNITIES 1 Breaking Boundaries Theological Inquiries Studies in Contemporary Biblical and Theological Problems General Editor Lawrence Boadt, C. S. P. Editorial Advisory Board Raymond Brown, S. S. Scripture Myles Bourke Scripture David Tracy Systematic Theology Michael Buckley, S. J. Systematic Theology Richard McCormick, S. J. Moral Theology PAULIST PRESS New York • Ramsey • Toronto Breaking Boundaries Male/Female Friendship Early Christian Communities Rosemary Rader PAULIST PRESS New York • Ramsey • Toronto Copyright © 1983 by Rosemary Rader All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or by any information storage and retrieval system without permission in writing from the publisher. Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 82-60756 ISBN: 0-8091-2506-4 Published by Paulist Press 545 Island Road, Ramsey, N.J. 07446 Printed and bound in the United States of America Contents Preface 1 Introduction 3 1. Heterosexual Friendship: Distinctive Phenomenon Within Early Christian Societies 5 2. Normative Greco-Roman and Judaic Male/Female Relationships 18 3. Early Christian Themes: Unity and Reconciliation 32 4. Martyrdom 44 5. Syneisaktism: Spiritual Marriage 62 6. Celibacy and the Monastic Life 72 7. Celibacy and the Friendship Ideal 86 8. Institutionalization of the Friendship Ideal 111 . sM ,2 ' ■ .' ** ««■l»^'^ ft' »*.i3»»»ii?5^SM t! ••iMi.ft't V. ■ c A*?> "« ■ ■ f t ^ / »> f-» »j* r%%«yip W ^ . •iT ** -•!» '. Tti -!»••. .t *i>^^« l> * ‘ " • 09 ♦ \^.w.. ■ ■ ■ ■: ■» •< • 1 . I \ I > <^1*- >, t ‘ ^ ^ ‘ ‘*1' v , ' iiiiL. • • ’ ■• Ml, «vt a«ir.- a' I M«/ .' UT " ^''MUfiM ' Wv% •* *4# .
    [Show full text]
  • Table of Contents
    Table of Contents Christopher M. HAYS, Oxford, UK Early Egyptian-Christian Wealth Ethics: Diverse Christian Morali- ties from the Apostolic Fathers to the Rise of Constantine ............... 1 Kristof K.P. VANHOUTTE, Rome, Italy How Philosophical were the First Christians? The First Generation of Fathers Seen through Archaeological Glasses ............................... 15 William TABBERNEE, Oklahoma City, USA Exiled to Pepouza: Consorting Unwillingly with Heretical Mon- tanists ................................................................................................... 29 Melanie Starks KIERSTEAD, Wilmore, Kentucky, USA Phrygian Roots of the Montanist Movement ...................................... 35 Daniel L. WORDEN, St Andrews, Scotland Clement’s Protreptikos to the Greeks: An Exhortation for Relapsed Hellenistic Believers to Return to God ............................................... 43 Matthew J. CHALMERS, University of Pennsylvania, USA Seeking as Suckling: The Milk of the Father in Clement of Alexan- dria’s Paedagogus I 6 .......................................................................... 59 Kathryn M. THOSTENSON, Edinburgh, UK Sharing God’s Image: Tertullian on the Creation of the Sexes ......... 75 Alastair LOGAN, Exeter, UK ‘Paul and Peter – Pray for Victor!’ The History and Impact of the Earliest Roman Martyr Cult ............................................................... 85 Hazel JOHANNESSEN, London, UK Tyrants, Slaves and Demons: The Language of Demonic Slavery in Eusebius of Caesarea’s De Laudibus
    [Show full text]
  • This Material Has Been Provided by Asbury Theological Seminary in Good Faith of Following Ethical Procedures in Its Production and End Use
    This material has been provided by Asbury Theological Seminary in good faith of following ethical procedures in its production and end use. The Copyright law of the united States (title 17, United States code) governs the making of photocopies or other reproductions of copyright material. Under certain condition specified in the law, libraries and archives are authorized to finish a photocopy or other reproduction. One of these specific conditions is that the photocopy or reproduction is not to be “used for any purpose other than private study, scholarship, or research.” If a user makes a request for, or later uses, a photocopy or reproduction for purposes in excess of “fair use,” that user may be liable for copyright infringement. This institution reserves the right to refuse to accept a copying order if, in its judgment, fulfillment of the order would involve violation of copyright law. By using this material, you are consenting to abide by this copyright policy. Any duplication, reproduction, or modification of this material without express written consent from Asbury Theological Seminary and/or the original publisher is prohibited. Contact B.L. Fisher Library Asbury Theological Seminary 204 N. Lexington Ave. Wilmore, KY 40390 B.L. Fisher Library’s Digital Content place.asburyseminary.edu Asbury Theological Seminary 205 North Lexington Avenue 800.2ASBURY Wilmore, Kentucky 40390 asburyseminary.edu Thesis Approval This is to certify that the thesis entitled TOWARD AN UNDERSTANDING OF CELIBACY IN A CHRISTIAN CONTEXT FOR THE TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY presented by Marilyn Iva EUiott has been accepted towards fulfillment ofthe requirements for the MASTER OF ARTS IN THEOLOGY degree at Asbury Theological Seminary Wilmore, Kentucky Date Toward An Understanding Of Celibacy In A Christian Context For The Twenty-First Century by Marilyn Iva Elliott A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts, Theology Asbury Theological Seminary May 1998 TABLE OF CONTENTS INTRODUCTION 1 1.
    [Show full text]
  • THE STORY of MONASTICISM
    THE STORY of MONASTICISM RETRIEVING an ANCIENT TRADITION for CONTEMPORARY SPIRITUALITY GREG PETERS K Greg Peters, The Story of Monasticism Baker Academic, a division of Baker Publishing Group, © 2015. Used by permission. (Unpublished manuscript—copyright protected Baker Publishing Group) © 2015 by Greg Peters Published by Baker Academic a division of Baker Publishing Group P.O. Box 6287, Grand Rapids, MI 49516–6287 www.bakeracademic.com Printed in the United States of America All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means—for example, electronic, photocopy, recording—without the prior written permission of the publisher. The only exception is brief quotations in printed reviews. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Peters, Greg, 1971– The story of monasticism : retrieving an ancient tradition for contemporary spirituality / Greg Peters. pages cm Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-0-8010-4891-3 (pbk.) 1. Monasticism and religious orders. 2. Spirituality—Christianity. I. Title. BX2432.3.P48 2014 271—dc23 2015007081 Scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version® (ESV®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved. ESV Text Edition: 2011 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 Greg Peters, The Story of Monasticism Baker Academic, a division of Baker Publishing Group, © 2015. Used by permission. (Unpublished manuscript—copyright protected Baker Publishing Group) To my sons, Brendan and Nathanael, for giving me great hope in the church’s future Greg Peters, The Story of Monasticism Baker Academic, a division of Baker Publishing Group, © 2015.
    [Show full text]
  • Ttie Politics of Virginity and Women's Subiectivity
    I SWARTHMORE COLLEGE TTIE POLITICS OF VIRGINITY AND WOMEN'S SUBIECTIVITY: A LITERARY/CRITICAL ANALYSIS OF PRESCRIPTIVE TEXTS ADDRESSED TO WOMEN ASCETICS AN HONORS THESIS SUBMITTED TO TTIE DEPARTMENT OF RELIGION IN CANDIDACY FOR TTIE DEGREE OF BACI{ELORS OF ARTS DEPART MENTS OF ENGLISH AND RELIGION BY LAURALOMAS SWARTHMORE, PENNS YLVANIA MAY 1989 ABSTRACT late fourth century as This thesis analyzes the practice of women's asceticism in the several feminist it was defined in the prescriptive texts of sts. Ambrose and chrysostom. a liberating alternative for scholars have affirmed tfrat women's asceticism provided gleater equality with men' women. They base their conclusion on the ascetic \ryoman's herself in Michel Foucault's theory of the subject suggests that the individual constructs according to various bodies of accord with an ethical ideal, but this self-consfucdon occurs tools used to knowledge. The texts on virginity function as discourse' That is, they are reveal how and where power reshape behavior; and they are products of power, which on virginity, operates. To examine the relationships of power visible within the discourse which reveal the I examine the repudiations of male and female celibate cohabitation, domination had to occuÍ' characteristics of an individual that resist power and where reveal the strategic definitions and Secondly, I read texts which prescribe holy virginity and woman. using primarily a metaphors which effect a greater conüol over the individual experience of the fourth century textual analysis which is an attempt to simulate the reading Although the virgin virgin,I draw a different conclusion than some feminist scholars.
    [Show full text]
  • Virginity and the Patristic Tradition; Spenser’S Faerie Queene and the Reformation
    Virginity and the Patristic Tradition; Spenser’s Faerie Queene and the Reformation —————— Beatrice Fannon Thesis Submitted in Candidature for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy Cardiff University —————— July 2012 Summary It has long been recognised that chastity is a problem in Book III of The Faerie Queene. The problem arises in part because the poem does not clearly define chastity but instead ambiguously praises it both as virginity and marital love. Behind the poem, too, lies the problem of Elizabeth with her Protestant virginity sometimes represented in Britomart, sometimes in Belphoebe, but also dangerously Catholic in its iconography. Indeed, wherever we turn in The Faerie Queene there are tangles of meaning. The contention of this thesis is that these problems are not merely surface writings, but stem from the Protestant breach with the Church Fathers and the long history of virginity. That history, I suggest in the main body of the thesis, has been broadly ignored by the critics who, by failing to grasp its theological complexity and development, have failed to produce an adequate platform from which to read the Protestant reformers and The Faerie Queene. The thesis is divided into two main parts. The Introduction examines recent critical discussions of virginity in Spenser, the Middle Ages and patristics, thus working backwards historically to the patristic writings themselves where I offer, in Part I, a detailed examination of the growth of the theological significance of virginity. Part II then looks at the reformers’ attacks on virginity, Luther and Erasmus especially, before turning to a discussion of the troubled meanings of virginity and chastity in Spenser’s epic poem.
    [Show full text]
  • Sacred Sisters Gender, Sanctity, and Power in Medieval Ireland Sacred Sisters Sacred
    1 HAGIOGRAPHY BEYOND TRADITION Callan Maeve Callan Sacred Sisters Gender, Sanctity, and Power in Medieval Ireland Sacred Sisters FOR PRIVATE AND NON-COMMERCIAL USE AMSTERDAM UNIVERSITY PRESS Sacred Sisters FOR PRIVATE AND NON-COMMERCIAL USE AMSTERDAM UNIVERSITY PRESS Hagiography beyond Tradition The study of sanctity in medieval Europe is starting to elicit cutting-edge, innovative and genuinely interdisciplinary scholarship that destabilizes what people have conventionally considered to be hagiography. This is demonstrated in the topic range of panels sponsored by the Hagiography Society at recent landmark medievalist conferences. While hagiography has traditionally been understood only in religious terms, recent scholarship moves beyond such frameworks to consider alternate ways of identifying and representing exemplary people. So doing, such research emphasises modern cultural analogies and resonances with medieval figures. It is not enough, however, to approach saints’ lives with a “sexy” modern framework. The best scholarship is rooted in analytical rigour, close attention to context(s), and a keen awareness of the potential pitfalls of anachronism, all the while accepting that anachronism can often be productive. This series provides a home for the kind of work that negotiates that border between the traditional and the contemporary and encourages scholarship enhanced by interventions drawn from celebrity studies, trans studies, crip theory, animal and monster studies, the history of senses and the emotions, media studies, and beyond. Rather than considering hagiography as a single genre, the series is open to expanding the ways in which we imagine how people come to be offered for veneration, as well as the media and genres in which they are fashioned, represented, and celebrated.
    [Show full text]
  • Andra Jugănaru Family Double Monasteries in the Fourth and the Fifth Centuries
    The Public Defense of the Doctoral Dissertation of Andra Jugănaru entitled Family Double Monasteries in the Fourth and the Fifth Centuries: An Inquiry into the Theological Roots, Social Context, and Early Evolution of an Old Practice will be held on Friday, 8 June 2018, at 9:30 am in the Senate Room-Monument Building Central European University (CEU) Nádor u. 9, Budapest Examination Committee Chair István Bodnár (CEU, Philosophy Department) Members Marianne Sághy, supervisor (CEU, Medieval Studies Department) István Perczel, co-supervisor (CEU, Medieval Studies Department) György Geréby (CEU, Medieval Studies Department) External readers Samuel Rubenson (University of Lund, Centre for Theology and Religious Studies), present Simeon Paschalidis (Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, School of Pastoral and Social Theology), present The doctoral dissertation is available for inspection on the CEU e-learning site. Should you wish to access it contact Csilla Dobos ([email protected]) Summary of the Doctoral Dissertation My dissertation is the first attempt to analyze and contextualize an ascetic trend which appeared simultaneously with the emergence of cenobitic monasticism in different regions of the Christian world. This inquiry involves an interdisciplinary approach, combining history, theology, philosophy, and philology. At the beginning of the fourth century, after Christianity changed its status from persecuted to official recognition in the Roman Empire, an “ascetic revolution” spread especially among the members of the high aristocracy
    [Show full text]
  • John Chrysostom and the Subintroductae
    John Chrysostom and the Subintroductae ELIZABETH A. CLARK When physical affections are destroyed and tyrannical desire extinguished, then no hindrance will any longer stand in the way of men and women being together, because all evil suspicion will be cleared away and all who have entered the kingdom of heaven can maintain the way of life of the angels and spiritual powers, through the grace and love of our Lord Jesus Christ, to whom with the Father and the Holy Spirit be glory, honor, and dominion from age to age. Amen.1 I With these words, John Chrysostom concludes his first treatise on the subintroductae, one of the most fascinating groups of women encountered anywhere in the annals of church history. As defined by Hans Achelis, whose Virgines Subintroductae2 remains the classical exposition of the subject, the subintroductae were "female Christian ascetics who lived together with men, although both parties had taken the vow of conti- nency, and were animated with the earnest desire to keep it."3 Such virginal couples were united in a "permanent, intimate relation,"4 spiritual marriage, which Derrick Sherwin Bailey has vividly described as "the cohabitation of the sexes under the condition of strict continence, a couple sharing the same house, often the same room, and sometimes the same bed, yet conducting themselves as brother and sister."5 The man—who may or may not have been a cleric—usually took the woman into his house, although occasionally the female might invite the man to share her residence, especially if she were a widow with private means.
    [Show full text]
  • Doubting Mary: Early English Drama from N-Town to Shakespeare
    Doubting Mary: Early English Drama from N-Town to Shakespeare Emma Margaret Solberg Jersey City, New Jersey BA, Oxford University, 2005 A Dissertation presented to the Graduate Faculty of the University of Virginia in Candidacy for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy Department of English University of Virginia August, 2013 Table of Contents Introduction…………...................................................................................................................1 ★ The Late Medieval English Cult of the Virgin………….……………………………...6 ★ Critical History…………………………………………..……………………………...9 Chapter 1: The Virgin Whore ★ Introduction: Ave Eva……………………………………...………………………….20 ★ The Immaculate Conception………………………………...…………………………27 ★ Joseph’s Doubt………………………………...………………………………………42 ★ The First Suspect: Joseph………………………………...……………………………44 Mary’s Locked Door………………………………..………………………...52 God’s Cuckold……………………………………….……………………….55 ★ The Second, Third, and Fourth Suspects ……...……………………………………...60 ★ The Fifth Suspect ……...……………………………………………………………...69 ★ The Sixth Suspect ……...……………………………………………………………..73 The Adulteress’ Excuse………………………………..……………………..80 ★ Christ and the Adulteresses……………………………………...…………………….83 Marian Miracles…………………………………………..…………………..90 ★ Conclusion: Incarnational Theater…………………………………….………………92 Chapter 2: “Trye the Trewthe Owth” ★ Introduction: “The fool says in his heart, there is no God”…………………...………96 ★ Moments of Doubt…………………………………………………………..…..……102 ★ N-Town’s Nativity Pageant………………………………………………...……...…108 ★ N-Town’s “Trial of Mary
    [Show full text]
  • The Appropriation of Pauline Sexualities in the Homilies of John Chrysostom
    THE APPROPRIATION OF PAULINE SEXUALITIES IN THE HOMILIES OF JOHN CHRYSOSTOM by LAMBERTUS PETRUS MARX submitted in accordance with the requirements for the degree of MASTER OF ARTS in the subject BIBLICAL STUDIES (NEW TESTAMENT) at the UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH AFRICA SUPERVISOR: PROF. C.L. DE WET OCTOBER 2017 DECLARATION Student number: 765-909-1 I declare that THE APPROPRIATION OF PAULINE SEXUALITY IN THE HOMILIES OF JOHN CHRYSOSTOM is my own work, and that all the sources that I have used or quoted have been indicated and acknowledged by means of complete references. ………………………………………… …………………………………………………. SIGNATURE DATE L.P. MARX 1 SUMMARY Throughout the ages historical text criticism has been used to study texts of ancient authors of Christian ethical values. Two such persons were Paul the apostle and John Chrysostom. This study shows that text historical criticism is not without problems. The problem lays not so much in the idea of historical text criticism, but how it was and is still being applied today, it is never without bias. This use of the texts of Paul and Chrysostom who were both very outspoken on the subject of sexuality has caused great amounts of emotional and in cases also physical pain to people who misapplied historical text criticism and as Martin and others have effectively shown, any such interpretation of text that has a intention to hurt people cannot be the right method. Ancient sexuality worked and was constructed completely different from the sexuality of modernity. The way gender was appropriated in ancient times, the way sexuality was construed and applied were set against a wholly different context and set of rules than that of the current day.
    [Show full text]