DOCSLIB.ORG

Why Does Theology Matter?

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Why Does Theology Matter? Why Does Theology Matter? 1. Theology: You’re Already Doing It! Julian A. Davies The University Church Toledo, Ohio 43615 Theology: You’re Already Doing It! Theos – God Logia – utterances [c.f. Logos – word] Theologia - Utterances about God The Greek, theologia, becomes, in English, theology Theology: You’re Already Doing It! Augustine of Hippo described theology as: “de divinitate rationem sive sermonem” “reasoning or discussion concerning the Deity” Augustine, City of God, 8.1 “reasoning or discussion concerning the Deity” … is going on all around us! Theology as … A conversation that helps to shape and guide a way of life … A component of the lens through which we see, experience, and understand the world … Communicated through words, symbols and praxis … Worldview Questions that shape our worldview • Who – Who are we? • Where – Where are we? • What – What’s wrong? • How – How do we get out of this mess? • When – What time is it? • Why – Why do we think this way? N. T. Wright Questions that shape our worldview Rudyard Kipling – I Keep Six Honest Serving Men I keep six honest serving-men (They taught me all I knew); Their names are: What and Why and When and How and Where and Who. I send them over land and sea, I send them east and west; But after they have worked for me, I give them all a rest. Questions that shape our worldview Rudyard Kipling – I Keep Six Honest Serving Men I let them rest from nine till five, For I am busy then, As well as breakfast, lunch, and tea, For they are hungry men. But different folk have different views; I know a person small— She keeps ten million serving-men, Who get no rest at all! Questions that shape our worldview Rudyard Kipling – I Keep Six Honest Serving Men She sends 'em abroad on her own affairs, From the second she opens her eyes— One million Hows, two million Wheres, And seven million Whys! What? Why? When? How? Where? Who? What? Why? When? How? Where? Who? Answered in words Answered in symbols Answered in praxis For example … Symbols … Symbols … Symbols … Symbols … Praxis … Praxis … Praxis … Praxis … Praxis … Questions … • Who – Who are we? • Where – Where are we? • What – What’s wrong? • How – How do we get out of this mess? • When – What time is it? • Why – Why do we think this way? Who are we? Who are we? An answer in words … We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America. The symbols, praxis and words say, “This is our story, this is who we are.” Where are we? What’s Wrong? How do we get out of this mess? What time is it? Why do we think this way? Worldview The symbols, praxis and words say, “This is our story, this is who we are.” This worldview provides a lens through which we might see, experience and understand the world. But it wasn’t always this way … At the time of the birth of Jesus, there were two competing stories that gave two different views of the world. 1. The (expansive) Roman story 1. The (more limited) Jewish story The Roman Story Priene Calendar Inscription honoring Caesar Augustus (9 BC) The Roman Story Priene Calendar Inscription honoring Caesar Augustus (9 BC) “Because providence has ordered our life in a divine way… and since the Emperor through his epiphany has exceeded the hopes of former good news, surpassing not only the benefactors who came before him, but also leaving no hope that anyone in the future will surpass him, and since the birthday of the god was for the world the beginning of his good news…” The Roman Story Augustus, emperor from 27 BC – 14 AD, heralded a comet as the ascending soul of his adopted father, Julius Caesar … thus allowing for himself the title “Son of God” as Julius Caesar was divinized. The Roman Story in Symbols Augustus Tiberiuis The Roman Story in Symbols Inscription on the denarius: CAESAR AVGVSTVS DIVI F PATER PATRIAE Caesar Augustus, Divi Filius, Pater Patriae, Caesar Augustus, Son of God, Father of His Country The Roman Story in Symbols The Roman Story in Symbols The Roman Story in Symbols The Roman Story in Praxis Emperor cults Trade Guilds Parades Feasts Etc., etc. The Roman Story The birth of Augustus is the beginning of the good news for the world Caesar is Lord and God Salvation comes through the Pax Romana The Pax Romana Edward Gibbon - The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire … the tranquil and prosperous state of the empire was warmly felt and honestly confessed by the provincials as well as Romans. They acknowledged that the true principles of the social life, laws, agriculture, and science, which had been first invented by the wisdom of Athens, were now firmly established by the power of Rome … The Roman Story • Who are we? • Where are we? • What’s wrong? • How do we get out of this mess? • What time is it? • Why do we think this way? Who are we? We are people living under the powerful protection of the Emperor of Rome Where are we? What’s wrong? There are people who resist our story! How do we get out of this mess? What time is it? Priene Calendar Inscription … the Emperor through his epiphany has exceeded the hopes of former good news, surpassing not only the benefactors who came before him, but also leaving no hope that anyone in the future will surpass him… It is the best of times! The time of the Pax Romana Why do we think this way? Edward Gibbon - The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire … the tranquil and prosperous state of the empire was warmly felt and honestly confessed by the provincials as well as Romans … Peace and tranquility reign But … hidden away in the east … What is our story? The Jewish Story At the time of the birth of Jesus, his people might have answered: We are the people chosen by YHWH to be a blessing to the world and to lead all people to holiness and righteousness. The Jewish Story in Symbols The Temple The Jewish Story in Symbols Torah The Jewish Story in Symbols Shofar The Jewish Story in Symbols Menorah The Jewish Story in Symbols Priests and their attire The Jewish Story in Praxis Clean and unclean foods The Jewish Story in Praxis Prayer – The Shema The Jewish Story in Praxis Circumcision – The Sign of the Covenant Competing Stories Roman story: Caesar is Lord and will shape our future (Pax Romana) Jewish story: YHWH is Lord and will shape our future (Redemption of the created order) Competing Stories In the midst of that … The challenge of Jesus: A reworking of words, symbols and praxis to give a newly refined answer to the big questions of worldview. The Challenge of Jesus Priene Calendar Inscription honoring Caesar Augustus (9 BC) “… the birthday of the god was for the world the beginning of his good news…” The Gospel of Mark 1:1 The beginning of the good news of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. The Challenge of Jesus Augustus, emperor from 27 BC – 14 AD, heralded a comet as the ascending soul of his adopted father, Julius Caesar … thus allowing for himself the title “Son of God” as Julius Caesar was divinized. Gospel of Matthew 2:1b-2 … wise men from the East came to Jerusalem, asking, ‘Where is the child who has been born king of the Jews? For we observed his star at its rising, and have come to pay him homage.’ The Challenge of Jesus And as the years roll by … The Challenge of Jesus And as the years roll by … The Challenge of Jesus And as the years roll by … The Challenge of Jesus And as the years roll by … The Challenge of Jesus And as the years roll by … Apostle’s Creed I believe in God, the Father almighty, creator of heaven and earth. I believe in Jesus Christ, God's only Son, our Lord, who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died, and was buried; he descended into hell. On the third day he rose again; he ascended into heaven, he is seated at the right hand of the Father, and he will come to judge the living and the dead. Apostle’s Creed I believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy catholic Church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting. Amen. Apostle’s Creed I believe in God, the Father almighty … I believe in Jesus Christ … I believe in the Holy Spirit … Who Are We? Who Are We? Who Are We? Disciples of Jesus Christ Those who believe in God, the Father almighty … in Jesus Christ … in the Holy Spirit … Where are we? In the Biblical narrative, the very first question that God poses to humankind is: Where are you? And the answer … hiding from God! And today … The invitation is to stop hiding and find our place in God’s great story … Where are we? In the world but not of the world. We are “in Christ.” Romans 12.5: “ …we, who are many, are one body in Christ, and individually we are members one of another.” What’s Wrong Today? The Kingdom has been inaugurated but not yet fully realized.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Ancient Rome
    Ancient Rome William E. Dunstan ROWMAN & LITTLEFIELD PUBLISHERS, INC. Lanham • Boulder • New York • Toronto • Plymouth, UK ................. 17856$ $$FM 09-09-10 09:17:21 PS PAGE iii Published by Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc. A wholly owned subsidiary of The Rowman & Littlefield Publishing Group, Inc. 4501 Forbes Boulevard, Suite 200, Lanham, Maryland 20706 http://www.rowmanlittlefield.com Estover Road, Plymouth PL6 7PY, United Kingdom Copyright ᭧ 2011 by Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc. All maps by Bill Nelson. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the publisher, except by a reviewer who may quote passages in a review. The cover image shows a marble bust of the nymph Clytie; for more information, see figure 22.17 on p. 370. British Library Cataloguing in Publication Information Available Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Dunstan, William E. Ancient Rome / William E. Dunstan. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-0-7425-6832-7 (cloth : alk. paper) ISBN 978-0-7425-6833-4 (pbk. : alk. paper) ISBN 978-0-7425-6834-1 (electronic) 1. Rome—Civilization. 2. Rome—History—Empire, 30 B.C.–476 A.D. 3. Rome—Politics and government—30 B.C.–476 A.D. I. Title. DG77.D86 2010 937Ј.06—dc22 2010016225 ⅜ϱ ீThe paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of American National Standard for Information Sciences—Permanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials, ANSI/ NISO Z39.48–1992. Printed in the United States of America ................
    [Show full text]
  • University of Pretoria an INVESTIGATION for POSSIBLE PARALLELS of the ROMAN IMPERIAL CULT (CAESAR-NERO) in the NEW TESTAMENT B
    University of Pretoria AN INVESTIGATION FOR POSSIBLE PARALLELS OF THE ROMAN IMPERIAL CULT (CAESAR-NERO) IN THE NEW TESTAMENT BOOK OF HEBREWS Masters Thesis Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the degree of Masters of Theology New Testament Studies by Ryan D. Chivington October 2006 Summary This thesis is an investigation of possible significant parallels of the Roman imperial cult (Caesar-Nero) in the book of Hebrews. The book of Hebrews was no doubt greatly impacted by Jewish influence, context, and background. Yet there may be other significant influences that have formed the New Testament book of Hebrews. One such possible influence to the book of Hebrews is the Roman Empire, and more specifically, the Roman imperial cult, the worship of living Roman emperors in god- like terms and the deification of dead emperors. The writer of Hebrews may have used language, forms, and images of the Roman ruler cult to contrast, compare, or clarify their theology and interpretation of Jesus and God. There is the possibility of correspondences between worship of the Roman emperors and the book of Hebrews. Are there significant parallels of the worship of the Caesars to God in the book of Hebrews? Did the writer of Hebrews use illusions, motifs, and images of the Roman emperor cult in parallel to Jesus Christ? Is the Roman imperial cult influence portrayed in the book of Hebrews? If yes, how and to what degree are they portrayed? If no, what are some of the divergences? This thesis attempts to answer these questions in an investigation for possible parallels of the Roman imperial cult (Caesar-Nero) in the New Testament book of Hebrews.
    [Show full text]
  • Vespasian's Apotheosis
    VESPASIAN’S APOTHEOSIS Andrew B. Gallia* In the study of the divinization of Roman emperors, a great deal depends upon the sequence of events. According to the model of consecratio proposed by Bickermann, apotheosis was supposed to be accomplished during the deceased emperor’s public funeral, after which the senate acknowledged what had transpired by decreeing appropriate honours for the new divus.1 Contradictory evidence has turned up in the Fasti Ostienses, however, which seem to indicate that both Marciana and Faustina were declared divae before their funerals took place.2 This suggests a shift * Published in The Classical Quarterly 69.1 (2019). 1 E. Bickermann, ‘Die römische Kaiserapotheosie’, in A. Wlosok (ed.), Römischer Kaiserkult (Darmstadt, 1978), 82-121, at 100-106 (= Archiv für ReligionswissenschaftW 27 [1929], 1-31, at 15-19); id., ‘Consecratio’, in W. den Boer (ed.), Le culte des souverains dans l’empire romain. Entretiens Hardt 19 (Geneva, 1973), 1-37, at 13-25. 2 L. Vidman, Fasti Ostienses (Prague, 19822), 48 J 39-43: IIII k. Septembr. | [Marciana Aug]usta excessit divaq(ue) cognominata. | [Eodem die Mati]dia Augusta cognominata. III | [non. Sept. Marc]iana Augusta funere censorio | [elata est.], 49 O 11-14: X[— k. Nov. Fausti]na Aug[usta excessit eodemq(ue) die a] | senatu diva app[ellata et s(enatus) c(onsultum) fact]um fun[ere censorio eam efferendam.] | Ludi et circenses [delati sunt. — i]dus N[ov. Faustina Augusta funere] | censorio elata e[st]. Against this interpretation of the Marciana fragment (as published by A. Degrassi, Inscr. It. 13.1 [1947], 201) see E.
    [Show full text]
  • Julius Caesar
    Assessing representations of the imperial cult in New Testament studies Pieter J J Botha (University of South Africa) ABSTRACT Assessing representations of the imperial cult in New Testament studies A distinct conceptualisation of the imperial cult is common in NT scholar- ship, in which worship of the emperor is portrayed as a “foreign” deve- lopment which served primarily political aims, with little integrity and no serious religious significance. This depiction does not do justice to the evidence and is basically ethnocentric. That the imperial cult provides us with a crucial window on the mentality of the Roman Period comes closer to the truth. A few aspects of early Christian literature and history which might be reinterpreted in the light of a more comprehensive understanding of the imperial cult are briefly noted. 1 INTRODUCTION We cannot possibly understand the words and actions of other people if we examine them with our preconceptions; the interpretation of their beha- viour and texts must be in the light of their motives, convictions and out- look. The world of the Roman empire, of which the New Testament docu- ments and the earliest Christians are part, was a very different cultural world from ours and in many ways quite difficult to access. Though the principle of cultural embeddedness is generally acknow- ledged as important in exegesis and hermeneutics, in practice it is rather challenging to give it its due. Explicitly or implicitly, ethnocentricism keeps on raising its head. I wish to deal with this problem by adopting a stance of pluralism which leads to critical understanding; a pluralist who believes that understanding is real: “I have tried to argue not from abstractions about the universe but from the facts of our lives as critics, facts which turn out to be values we share with, and derive from, a human critical life that predates and nourishes the life of literature and criticism.
    [Show full text]
  • The Roman Emperors
    BIBLE LANDS NOTES: Emperors of Rome 1 Emperors of Rome 1. Augustus (Imperator Caesar Divi Filius Augustus) • Born at Rome on September 23, 63 B.C. • Died at Nola in Campania on August 19, 14 A.D. at age 77 from an illness • Reigned 41 years, from 27 B.C. to 14 A.D. • Augustus was the first Roman emperor, a grand-nephew of Julius Caesar. He reigned at the time of the birth of Jesus Christ (Luke 2:1). 2. Tiberius (Tiberius Caesar Augustus) • Born at Rome on November 16, 42 B.C. • Died at Misenum on March 16, 37 A.D. at age 79 from being smothered with a pillow while on his death bed from a terminal illness (he wasn't dying fast enough for his successor's liking) • Reigned 23 years, from 14 to 37 A.D. • Tiberius was emperor at the time of the ministry and crucifixion of Jesus Christ (Luke 3:1) 3. Caligula (Gaius Caesar Augustus Germanicus) • Born at Antium (Anzio) on August 31, 12 A.D. • Died at Rome on January 24, 41 A.D. at age 19 from assassination • Reigned 4 years, from 37 to 41 A.D. 4. Claudius (Tiberius Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus) • Born at Lugdunum on August 1, 10 B.C. • Died at Rome on October 13, 54 A.D. at age 64 from eating deliberately poisoned mushrooms given to him by his wife Agrippina (Nero's mother). • Reigned 13 years, from 41 to 54 A.D. BIBLE LANDS NOTES: Emperors of Rome 2 5. Nero (Nero Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus) • Born at Antium (Anzio) on December 15, 37 A.D.
    [Show full text]
  • The Imperial Cult During the Reign of Domitian
    MASARYKOVA UNIVERZITA Filosofická fakulta Katedra archeologie a muzeologie Klasická archeologie Bc. Barbora Chabrečková Cisársky kult v období vlády Domitiána Magisterská diplomová práca Vedúca práce: Mgr. Dagmar Vachůtová, Ph.D. Brno 2017 MASARYK UNIVERSITY Faculty of Arts Department of Archaeology and Museology Classical Archaeology Bc. Barbora Chabrečková The Imperial Cult During the Reign of Domitian Master's Diploma Thesis Supervisor: Mgr. Dagmar Vachůtová, Ph.D. Brno 2017 2 I hereby declare that this thesis is my own work, created with use of primary and secondary sources listed in the bibliography. ……………………………… Bc. Barbora Chabrečková In Brno, June 2017 3 Acknowledgement I would like to thank to my supervisor, Mgr. Dagmar Vachůtová, Ph.D., for her guidance and encouragement that she granted me throughout the entire creative process of this thesis, to my consulting advisor, Mgr. Ing. Monika Koróniová, who showed me the possibilities this topic has to offer, and to my friends and parents, for their care and support. 4 Table of Contents Introduction ................................................................................................................................ 7 Methodology .............................................................................................................................. 8 I) Definition, Origin, and Pre-Imperial History of the Imperial Cult ................................... 10 1.) Origin in the Private Cult & the Term Genius ........................................................... 10
    [Show full text]
  • Femina Princeps: the Life and Legacy of Livia Drusilla
    Distribution Agreement In presenting this thesis as a partial fulfillment of the requirements for a degree from Emory University, I hereby grant to Emory University and its agents the non-exclusive license to archive, make accessible, and display my thesis in whole or in part in all forms of media, now or hereafter now, including display on the World Wide Web. I understand that I may select some access restrictions as part of the online submission of this thesis. I retain all ownership rights to the copyright of the thesis. I also retain the right to use in future works (such as articles or books) all or part of this thesis. Clare A Reid April 9, 2019 Femina Princeps: The Life and Reputation of Livia Drusilla by Clare A Reid Dr. Niall Slater Adviser Department of Classics Dr. Niall Slater Adviser Dr. Katrina Dickson Committee Member Dr. James Morey Committee Member 2019 Femina Princeps: The Life and Reputation of Livia Drusilla By Clare A Reid Dr. Niall Slater Adviser An abstract of a thesis submitted to the Faculty of Emory College of Arts and Sciences of Emory University in partial fulfillment of the requirements of the degree of Bachelor of Arts with Honors Department of Classics 2019 Abstract Femina Princeps: The Life and Reputation of Livia Drusilla By Clare Reid Livia Drusilla is not a figure many are intimately acquainted with outside the field of Classics, but, certainly, everyone has heard of her family. Wife of Augustus, the founder of the Roman Empire, mother of the emperor Tiberius, grandmother of the emperor Claudius, great-grandmother of the emperor Caligula, and great-great-grandmother of the emperor Nero, Livia gave rise to a brood (all notably not from Augustus but descended from her children from her first marriage) who shaped the early years of the Roman Empire.
    [Show full text]
  • Roman Emperors of the First Century
    Roman Emperors of the First Century Julius Caesar 13 July 100 BCE: Gaius Julius Caesar 10 January 49: rebelled against the Senate 9 August 48: sole ruler 15 March 44: murdered by senators Augustus 23 September 63 BCE: Gaius Octavius 8 May 44: Gaius Julius Caesar November 40: Imperator Caesar Divi filius 2 September 31 BCE: sole ruler 16 January 27: Imperator Caesar Divi filius Augustus 19 August 14 CE: natural death Tiberius 6 November 42 BCE: Tiberius Claudius Nero 19 August 14 CE: Imperator Tiberius Caesar Augustus 16 March 37: natural death Caligula 31 August 12 CE: Gaius Caesar Germanicus Summer 14: nickname Caligula ('soldier's boot') 18 March 37: Gaius Caesar Augustus Germanicus 24 January 41: murdered by soldiers Claudius 1 August 10 BCE: Tiberius Claudius Nero Germanicus 25 January 41: Tiberius Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus 13 October 54: poisoned Nero 15 December 37: Lucius Domitius Ahenobarbus 25 February 50: Nero Claudius Caesar Drusus Germanicus 13 October 54: Nero Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus September (?) 66: Imperator Nero Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus 9 June 68: suicide Galba 24 December 3 BCE: Servius Sulpicius Galba 8 June 68: Servius Galba Imperator Caesar Augustus 15 June 69: lynched by soldiers Otho 28 April 32: Marcus Salvius Otho 15 January 69: Imperator Marcus Otho Caesar Augustus (Nero?) 16 April 69: suicide Vitelius 7 September 12 (?): Aulus Vitellius 2 January 69: Aulus Vitellius Germanicus Imperator 18 July 69: Aulus Vitellius Germanicus Imperator Augustus 20 December 69: lynched by soldiers
    [Show full text]
  • PDF Hosted at the Radboud Repository of the Radboud University Nijmegen
    PDF hosted at the Radboud Repository of the Radboud University Nijmegen The following full text is a publisher's version. For additional information about this publication click this link. http://hdl.handle.net/2066/134614 Please be advised that this information was generated on 2021-09-25 and may be subject to change. NERO’S ANCESTRY AND THE CONSTRUCTION OF IMPERIAL IDEOLOGY IN THE EARLY EMPIRE. A METHODOLOGICAL CASE STUDY Abstract: Within the discipline of ancient history, diverse types of sources, Olivier Hekster such as coins, inscriptions, portraits and texts, are often combined to create a coherent image of a particular ruler. A good example of how such a process Radboud Unviersity Nijmegen [email protected] works is the way in which reconstructions by modern scholars of the emperor Nero tend to look for a clearly defined ‘Neronian image’, by bringing together various types of primary evidence without paying sufficient attention to Liesbeth Claes these sources’ medial contexts. This article argues that such a reconstruction Institute of History Leiden does not do justice to the complex and multi-layered image of the last Julio- [email protected] Claudian. By focusing on one particular aspect of Neronian imagery, the propagation of this emperor’s ancestry, we will argue that different types of Erika Manders sources, stemming from varying contexts and addressing different groups, University ‘Georg-August’ Göttingen cannot unproblematically be combined. Through an investigation of the [email protected] ancestral messages spread by imperial and provincial coins, epigraphic evidence and portraiture, it becomes clear that systematic analysis of ancient Daniëlle Slootjes media, their various contexts and inconsistencies is needed before combining Radboud Unviersity Nijmegen them.
    [Show full text]
  • God Is Still on His Throne
    God is still on His Throne Luke 2:8-20 Pastor Tim Melton I was recently at a Christmas event that our church hosted. It was a great event. Many people were involved. Money was raised for missions in Africa. Many people brought friends who had never been to our church. It was a great Christmas event done in the spirit of Christmas . But at one point, towards the end of the night, someone came to me with a small boy, probably around 4 years old, who was crying uncontrollably. I thought to myself, “what horrific thing must have happened to this child to cause him to cry like this?!” As I talked to the child and the volunteer who had brought him to me, I realized that amongst all the noise, and all the lights, and all the people in the crowd, he had gotten lost. His family was visiting our church for the first time and he had no idea where he was or where his parents were. In his little mind he had lost everything that mattered, and he was horrified. Don’t worry. In a few minutes we found his parents and the situation was solved. From our adult perspective it was not that big a deal. Everything was fine the whole time. But for this little boy, losing his parents turned his whole world upside-down. It is not that different than us many times. We get into financial troubles. We experience broken relationships. We lose a job or get hurt or sick. We get humiliated, discredited or sinned against.
    [Show full text]
  • Roman Archaism in Depictions of Apollo in the Augustan Period
    Bowling Green State University ScholarWorks@BGSU Honors Projects Honors College Spring 5-2-2016 Roman Archaism in Depictions of Apollo in the Augustan Period Alisha Sanders [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.bgsu.edu/honorsprojects Part of the Ancient History, Greek and Roman through Late Antiquity Commons, Ancient, Medieval, Renaissance and Baroque Art and Architecture Commons, Classical Archaeology and Art History Commons, Political History Commons, Sculpture Commons, and the Social History Commons Repository Citation Sanders, Alisha, "Roman Archaism in Depictions of Apollo in the Augustan Period" (2016). Honors Projects. 281. https://scholarworks.bgsu.edu/honorsprojects/281 This work is brought to you for free and open access by the Honors College at ScholarWorks@BGSU. It has been accepted for inclusion in Honors Projects by an authorized administrator of ScholarWorks@BGSU. ROMAN ARCHAISM IN DEPICTIONS OF APOLLO IN THE AUGUSTAN PERIOD ALISHA SANDERS HONORS PROJECT Submitted to the University Honors Program at Bowling Green State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for graduation with UNIVERSITY HONORS 2 MAY 2016 Dr. Sean V. Leatherbury, School of Art, Art History Division, Advisor Dr. Heath A. Diehl, Department of English & Honors College, Advisor Sanders 2 Abstract: At the end of the first century BCE, the Roman Empire was being established, and Augustus Caesar was taking sole power of the Roman world. In order to spread the values and concepts that he wanted to perpetuate in the new political order, he revived an archaistic art style based on that of the archaic period of ancient Greece. This study is focused on works that include depictions of Apollo because one of the first and most studied examples of Augustus’s use of Roman archaism was the decorative program of the Temple of Apollo on the Palatine.
    [Show full text]
  • Roman Imperial Texts
    1 Introduction Divine Sons and Their Gospels The Gospels in our New Testament are famously difficult to categorize as literature. Different from most biographies, they concentrate on events leading to Jesus’ death. The canonical Gospels differ among themselves on the best way to present Jesus’ teachings, and still again they differ from some of the more sayings-oriented Gospels produced by other Christians, such as the Gospel of . Thomas But this unique status of the Gospels is our problem. In the first and second centuries of the Common Era, the word “gospel,” literally “good announcement” (the Greek word is , which was then fully accepted euangelion in Latin as the loan word ), was used to describe what actions or euangelium events associated with various Roman emperors had occurred for the welfare of the world. Thus in the inscription from Priene, number 4 below, we read of the “gospels”—the announcements of good news—that the birth of the emperor Augustus brought to the world. The Principate is the time period in which the Roman state came to officially designate one man, popularly called a princeps or “first one,” to lead its empire. The Principate is sometimes delimited to the period from the reign of Augustus through that of Marcus Aurelius (27 bce–180 ce); sometimes it is extended to the beginning of the reign of Diocletian, before the latter appointed others to join him in leading the empire (27 bce–284 ce ). During either of these periods, the princeps, a single “first one,” was practically speaking the “emperor” of the Roman world, whether he refused the latter title and sought to keep the forms of the Republic—as seen in Augustus’s reign—or openly flaunted the Senate and any vestige of Republican government—as evident in records of Domitian’s reign.
    [Show full text]