By treating Augustine's passages on deification both chronologically and constructively, Meconi situates Augustine in a long chorus of Christian pastors and theologians who understand the essence of Christianity as the human person's total and transformative union with God.
“It is no longer I who lives, but Christ who lives in me.”—Galatians 2:20 Giving God permission to dwell within us, thereby transforming us into another incarnate son or daughter, has been at the heart of the Christian Gospel for millennia. It is not just one theological doctrine among many; it is the ultimate goal of the entire Christian life. The only goal in God’s becoming human is to continue his life in ours. In Christ Alive in Me: Living as a Member of the Mystical Body, Fr. David Meconi, S.J., explains the theology of Christian deification, which is also the theology of the Mystical Body of Christ. Although this radical aspect of the Gospel has been forgotten by many today, Meconi seeks to reclaim this central truth and uncover what it means live with, in, and even “as” Christ. Discover what it is to become other Christs, living extensions of the Lord himself: to become his eyes and ears, his heart and words, his hands and feet on earth.
On Self-Harm, Narcissism, Atonement and the Vulnerable Christ explores St. Augustine of Hippo's theology of sin, described as various forms of self-loathing and self-destruction, in addition to sin's antidote, a vulnerable relationship with the crucified Christ. Incorporating recent thinking on self-destruction and self-loathing into his reading of Augustine, David Vincent Meconi explores why we are not only allured by sin, but will actually destroy ourselves to attain it, even when we are all too well aware that this sin will bring us no true, lasting pleasure. Meconi traces the phenomena of self-destruction and self-loathing from Augustine to today. In particular, he focuses in on how self-love can turn to self-harm, and the need to provide salvage for such woundedness by surrendering to Christ, showing how Augustine's theology of sin and salvation is still crucially applicable in contemporary life and societies.
This book gathers fourteen Catholic scholars to present, examine, and explain the often misunderstood process of ""deification"". The fifteen chapters show what becoming God meant for the early Church, for St. Thomas Aquinas and the greatest Dominicans, and for St. Francis and the early Franciscans. This book explains how this understanding of salvation played out during the Protestant Reformation and the Council of Trent. It explores the thought of the French School of Spirituality, various Thomists, John Henry Newman, John Paul II, and the Vatican Councils, and it shows where such thinking can be found today in the Catechism of the Catholic Church. No other book has gathered such an array of scholars or provided such a deep study into how humanity's divinized life in Christ has received many rich and various perspectives over the past two thousand years. This book seeks to bring readers into the central mystery of Christianity by allowing the Church's greatest thinkers and texts to speak for themselves, demonstrating how becoming Christ-like and the Body of Christ on earth, is the only ultimate purpose of the Christian faith.
Letter & Spirit is an annual journal of Catholic Biblical Theology. We strive to publish work that is academically rigorous but accessible to the motivated lay reader. This twelfth volume, According to the Scriptures: The Mystery of Christ in the History of Salvation, is focused on current exegesis as well as the pre-modern reception of St. Paul. Articles include “A Few Obscure Men: Augustine’s Reception of Saint Paul’s Ignobilitas” by Fr. David Vincent Meconi, S.J.; “The Spiritual Experience of St. Paul in the Monastic Theology of St. Bernard” by Fr. Thomas Esposito, O.Cist.; “Paul’s Rhetorical Purpose in Ephesians 4:9-10: Upsilon Vector Mimēsis” by William Bales; and “Exegesis and Ecclesiology in Augustine’s City of God” by John Cavadini.
Peter Chrysologus is the first book to offer an introduction to the life of Peter Chrysologus and a selection of his most important sermons in translation, as well as his letter to Eutyches. Bishop Peter of Ravenna preached before the imperial family for nearly two decades (c. 430-450) after the imperial capital was moved to Peter’s See of Ravenna in 402 by Emperor Honorius. With the Empire’s elite directly before him, Peter also had the problems of 5th century Monophysitism behind him. As such, his homilies stress the incarnate Christ’s ability to change lives by reuniting mortal humans with their life-giving God. The thorough introduction explores the figure of Peter, beginning with the obscure biographies telling of his early life, to his becoming Metropolitan of Ravenna, situating his elevation in the wider socio-political context of the powerful court of Valentinian III and the 5th century Roman West. It also looks at the significant influence his legacy had on future generations. Translated into a modern idiom, this collection of sermons makes the preaching and pastoral wisdom of this key figure accessible to modern readers. It is an invaluable tool for anyone working on early Christian theology and the Early Church, as well as students of Late Antiquity and the Western Empire.
On Self-Harm, Narcissism, Atonement and the Vulnerable Christ explores St. Augustine of Hippo's theology of sin, described as various forms of self-loathing and self-destruction, in addition to sin's antidote, a vulnerable relationship with the crucified Christ. Incorporating recent thinking on self-destruction and self-loathing into his reading of Augustine, David Vincent Meconi explores why we are not only allured by sin, but will actually destroy ourselves to attain it, even when we are all too well aware that this sin will bring us no true, lasting pleasure. Meconi traces the phenomena of self-destruction and self-loathing from Augustine to today. In particular, he focuses in on how self-love can turn to self-harm, and the need to provide salvage for such woundedness by surrendering to Christ, showing how Augustine's theology of sin and salvation is still crucially applicable in contemporary life and societies.
By treating Augustine's passages on deification both chronologically and constructively, Meconi situates Augustine in a long chorus of Christian pastors and theologians who understand the essence of Christianity as the human person's total and transformative union with God.
This book gathers fourteen Catholic scholars to present, examine, and explain the often misunderstood process of "deification". The fifteen chapters show what "becoming God" meant for the early Church, for St. Thomas Aquinas and the greatest Dominicans, and for St. Francis and the early Franciscans. This book explains how this understanding of salvation played out during the Protestant Reformation and the Council of Trent. It explores the thought of the French School of Spirituality, various Thomists, John Henry Newman, John Paul II, and the Vatican Councils, and it shows where such thinking can be found today in the Catechism of the Catholic Church. No other book has gathered such an array of scholars or provided such a deep study into how humanity's divinized life in Christ has received many rich and various perspectives over the past two thousand years. This book seeks to bring readers into the central mystery of Christianity by allowing the Church's greatest thinkers and texts to speak for themselves, demonstrating how becoming Christ-like and the Body of Christ on earth, is the only ultimate purpose of the Christian faith.
Peter Chrysologus is the first book to offer an introduction to the life of Peter Chrysologus and a selection of his most important sermons in translation, as well as his letter to Eutyches. Bishop Peter of Ravenna preached before the imperial family for nearly two decades (c. 430-450) after the imperial capital was moved to Peter’s See of Ravenna in 402 by Emperor Honorius. With the Empire’s elite directly before him, Peter also had the problems of 5th century Monophysitism behind him. As such, his homilies stress the incarnate Christ’s ability to change lives by reuniting mortal humans with their life-giving God. The thorough introduction explores the figure of Peter, beginning with the obscure biographies telling of his early life, to his becoming Metropolitan of Ravenna, situating his elevation in the wider socio-political context of the powerful court of Valentinian III and the 5th century Roman West. It also looks at the significant influence his legacy had on future generations. Translated into a modern idiom, this collection of sermons makes the preaching and pastoral wisdom of this key figure accessible to modern readers. It is an invaluable tool for anyone working on early Christian theology and the Early Church, as well as students of Late Antiquity and the Western Empire.
This second selection of essays by David Fallows draws the focus towards individual composers of the 'long' fifteenth century and what we can learn about their songs. In twenty-one essays on the secular works of composers from Ciconia and Oswald von Wolkenstein via Binchois, Ockeghem, Busnoys and Regis to Josquin, Henry VIII and Petrus Alamire, one repeated theme is how a consideration of the songs can help the way to a broader understanding of a composer's output. Since there are more song sources and more individual pieces now available for study, there are more handles for dating, for geographical location and for social alignment. Another theme concerns the various different ways in which particular songs have their impact on the next generations. Yet another concerns the authorshop of poems that were set to music by Binchois and Ciconia in particular. A group of essays on Josquin were parerga to the author's edition of his four-voice secular music for the New Josquin Edition (2005) and to his monograph on the composer (2009).
In spite of their widely disparate uses, Marian prayers and courtly love songs from the Middle Ages and Renaissance often show a stylistic similarity. This book examines the convergence of these two styles in polyphonic music and its broader poetic, artistic, and devotional context from c.1200-c.1500.
Traces the spread of the concept of conversation during the Enlightenment, including the project of politeness, the fine arts, philosophy and public opinion. The book narrates this triumph of conversational style and thought partly as a succession to the oratorical rhetoric that characterized the Renaissance and partly as the victory of the only mode of speech that recognized women as women, and not as imitation men. It also rewrites Jürgen Habermas' history of the public sphere as the history of rational conversation.
Here is the most comprehensive and authoritative work on radiologic diagnosis of pediatric gastrointestinal disorders. Packed with hundreds of outstanding clinical images, Pediatric Gastrointestinal Imaging and Intervention offers explicit, step-by-step instructions for performing and interpreting the latest diagnostic techniques. It discusses the imaging methods practitioners are likely to employ, including sonography, plain film and contrast radiography, endoscopy, CT, MRI, nuclear medicine, angiography, and interventional radiology.
Generations of practitioners have turned to this reference for the most recent advances in therapeutic care, including medical and surgical therapies, preventive medicine, adolescent gynecology, and behavioral issues. This 18th edition includes access to a Web site for convenient consultation wherever and whenever it is needed.
Drawing on a wealth of new evidence, pioneering research psychologist David DeSteno shows why religious practices and rituals are so beneficial to those who follow them—and to anyone, regardless of their faith (or lack thereof). Scientists are beginning to discover what believers have known for a long time: the rewards that a religious life can provide. For millennia, people have turned to priests, rabbis, imams, shamans, and others to help them deal with issues of grief and loss, birth and death, morality and meaning. In this absorbing work, DeSteno reveals how numerous religious practices from around the world improve emotional and physical well-being. With empathy and rigor, DeSteno chronicles religious rites and traditions from cradle to grave. He explains how the Japanese rituals surrounding childbirth help strengthen parental bonds with children. He describes how the Apache Sunrise Ceremony makes teenage girls better able to face the rigors of womanhood. He shows how Buddhist meditation reduces hostility and increases compassion. He demonstrates how the Jewish practice of sitting shiva comforts the bereaved. And much more. DeSteno details how belief itself enhances physical and mental health. But you don’t need to be religious to benefit from the trove of wisdom that religion has to offer. Many items in religion’s “toolbox” can help the body and mind whether or not one believes. How God Works offers advice on how to incorporate many of these practices to help all of us live more meaningful, successful, and satisfying lives.
The atonement of Christ is the heart of Christianity. Christians are not only a people of the Book, but a people of the cross. In this accessible resource, author David L. Allen carefully summarizes the doctrine of the atonement, with definitions of key terms, discussion of key Old and New Testament texts, and a survey of the historical theories of the atonement. Addressing topics like the atonement’s necessity, nature, intent, extent, and application, The Atonement answers questions such as, “is the atonement actual or potential?” and “is the blood of Christ wasted on those who are eternally lost?” This book will be a go-to resource for all those who wish to understand what Christ accomplished on the cross by his death.
Some have called it the essence of sin, others the depth of salvation. Regardless of one's evaluation of it, however, deification throughout Western history has been a part of human aspiration. From the ancient pharaohs to modern transhumanists, people have envisioned their own divinity. These visionaries include not only history's greatest megalomaniacs, but also mystics, sages, apostles, prophets, magicians, bishops, philosophers, atheists, and monks. Some aimed for independent deity, others realized their eternal union with God. Some anticipated godhood in heaven, others walked as gods on earth. Some accepted divinity by grace, others achieved it by their own will to power. There is no single form of deification (indeed, deification is as manifold as the human conception of God), but the many types are united by a set of interlocking themes: achieving immortality, wielding superhuman power, being filled with supernatural knowledge or love--and through these means transcending normal human (or at least "earthly") nature.
A multidisciplinary study of pre-Columbian South America—centering on the psychoactive plant genus Anadenanthera As cultures formed and evolved in pre-Columbian South America, Anadenanthera became one of the most widely used shamanic inebriants. Anadenanthera: Visionary Plant of Ancient South America is more than a comprehensive reference on shamanic visionary substances; it is a useful tool for archeologists and pre-Columbian art historians. This thorough book examines the ritual and cultural use of Anadenanthera from prehistory to the present, along with its botany, chemistry, pharmacology, anthropology, and archeology. The earliest evidence for the use of psychoactive plants in South America is provided by remains of seeds and pods recovered from archeological sites four millennia old. Various preparations were derived from it with the intent of being a shamanic inebriant. Inhaled through the nose, smoked in pipes or as cigars, and prepared in fermented drinks, Anadenanthera served a central role in the cultural development of indigenous societies in South America. Anadenanthera: Visionary Plant of Ancient South America explores the full spectrum of information gleaned from research, covering numerous archeological sites in the Andean region, as well as discussing Amazonian shamanic rituals and lore. Analyses of the artistic expressions within the decorations of associated ceremonial paraphernalia such as ritual snuffing tubes and snuff trays are included. The text is richly illustrated with photographs and images of decorated ritual implements, and provides a comprehensive bibliography. Anadenanthera: Visionary Plant of Ancient South America explores: botanical aspects, taxonomy, and geographical distribution of Anadenanthera ethnographical, historical, and traditional aspects of Anadenanthera use chemical and pharmacological investigations of the genus and the various visionary preparations derived from it—with emphasis on the biologically active constituents theories of the mechanisms of action of the active tryptamines and carboline alkaloids comparisons of wood anatomy, morphology, and percentage of alkaloid content evaluation of stylistic and iconographic traits Anadenanthera: Visionary Plant of Ancient South America is a thorough, useful resource for archeologists, anthropologists, chemists, researchers, pre-Columbian art historians, and any layperson interested in pre-Columbian art, archeology, or visionary plants.
This is a new guide to reading the Confessions, Augustine's most important work, and what is widely known as the first Western Christian autobiography ever written. The Confessions consists of thirteen books, in which Augustine outlines his sinful youth and his conversion to Christianity. Barry David guides the reader swiftly through these complex texts, explaining the historical context, as well as the various philosophical concepts; and considers its spiritual, ecclesial and theological significance. As with other titles in the Reading Augustine series, this book presents concise introductory reading of Augustine's work from one of the leading scholars in the field.
Being Deified examines the importance of deification to Christian theology and the place of human creativity in deification. Deification is an explanatory force for the major categories of Christian theology: creation, fall, incarnation, theological anthropology, as well as the sacraments. Deification explains, in part, the why of creation and the what of humanity: God created in order to deify, humanity is created to be deified; the what of the Fall: the desire for divinity outside of God’s gifts; one of the purposes for the Incarnation: to deify; and what end the sacraments aid: deification. Essential to deification is human creativity for humans are created in the image of God, the Creator. In order to explore this dimension of deification, this essay focuses on works of poetry and fantasy, in many ways the pinnacle of human creativity since both genres cause the making strange of things familiar (language and creation itself) in part to make them better known, particularly as creations of the Creator.
In numerous works both before and after his papal election, John Paul II offers ample reflection on the themes of personhood, relationality, and sexual complementarity, but while he advances a clearly articulated theology of femininity and motherhood, as in his apostolic letter Mulieris Dignitatem, he might seem to offer no equivalent treatment of masculinity and fatherhood. In Viri Dignitatem, David Delaney seeks to surface and systematize the rich but often overlooked theology of masculinity and fatherhood that is found dispersed throughout John Paul II’s writings, demonstrating its essentiality for understanding his larger anthropology. In the first part of the study, Delaney treats the foundations of this anthropology, establishing John Paul II’s thought on personhood, relation, and human action. Building on this, the second part considers sexual differentiation, drawing out from John Paul II’s teaching on the body, femininity, Mary, and the Church his corresponding perspective on masculinity, which is itself rooted in nuptial complementarity and the revealing work of Christ. The third part focuses on John Paul II’s theology of fatherhood, which Delaney presents as both a natural and spiritual vocation that is based on the Fatherhood of God as this is manifested and imaged by the incarnate Son. Finally, the fourth part provides a synthetic assessment of this theology of masculinity and fatherhood, showing its coherence and addressing contemporary criticisms and misinterpretations. At a time of accelerating crises of sexuality, the family, and fatherhood, Delaney’s Viri Dignitatem provides a welcome and important elaboration of John Paul II’s teaching on the dignity and vocation of man.
There is now a substantial scholarly consensus for the emergence of a high or divine Christology very early and from a Jewish context, but the questions of "how" and "why" need further study. Within the framework of traditional Jewish monotheism, Paul and other early Christians used the language of deity to describe Jesus. To investigate their view of Jesus, the author examines Paul's discourse in 2 Cor 3:16–4:6, employing insights from rhetorical criticism and Oneness Pentecostal Christology. He explains how early Christians proclaimed the deity of Jesus within their monotheistic Jewish context. He then identifies socio-rhetorical reasons for and practical consequences of the monotheistic deification of Jesus.
My help comes from the Lord, maker of heaven and earth." Evil is an intruder upon a world created by God and declared good. Scripture emphasizes this: laments are regularly juxtaposed with declarations of God as creator. But evil is not merely a problem for the doctrine of creation. Rather, the doctrine of creation provides a hopeful response to evil. In Evil and Creation, David J. Luy, Matthew Levering, and George Kalantzis collect essays investigating how the doctrine of creation relates to moral and physical evil. Essayists pursue philosophical and theological analyses of evil rather than neatly solving the problem of evil itself. Including contributions from Constantine Campbell, Paul Blowers, and Paul Gavrilyuk, this volume draws upon biblical and patristic voices to produce constructive theology, considering topics ranging from vanity in Ecclesiastes and its patristic interpreters to animal suffering. Readers will gain a broader appreciation of evil and how to faithfully respond to it as well as a renewed hope in God as creator and judge.
Nonrenewable energy resources, comprising fossil fuels and uranium, are not ran domly distributed within the Earth's crust. They formed in response to a complex array of geologic controls, notably the genesis of the sedimentary rocks that host most commercial energy resources. It is this genetic relationship between economic re sources and environment that forms the basis for this book. Our grouping of petro leum, coal, uranium, and ground water may appear to be incongruous or artificial. But our basic premise is that these ostensibly disparate resources share common genetic attributes and that the sedimentological principles governing their natural distributions and influencing their recovery are fundamentally similar. Our combined careers have focused on these four resources, and our experiences in projects worldwide reveal that certain recurring geologic factors are important in controlling the distribution of com mercial accumulations and subsurface fluid flow. These critical factors include the shape and stability of the receiving basin, the major depositional elements and their internal detail, and the modifications during burial that are brought about in these sediments by pressure, circulating fluids, heating, and chemical reaction. Since the first edition of this book in 1983, there has been a quantum leap in the volume of literature devoted to genetic stratigraphy and refinement of sedimentologi cal principles and a commensurate increase in the application of these concepts to resource exploration and development.
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