Medieval Theology

is essay was rst delivered as a lecture at Blackfriars Hall, Oxford on February 1, 2023, as part of the Aquinas Lectures series, held during Hilary Term (2023): "Aquinas and the Future of Christian ought." I am grateful to Fr. Oliver Keenan, O.P., and the Aquinas Institute for their kind invitation to participate in this lecture series, and to the community at Blackfriars Hall for their generous welcome.

Over the centuries, East and West came to differ over how to determine which Sunday is the first Sunday after the first full moon of spring, but in this year 2025 both East and West will celebrate Pascha on the same day. Because of this happy coincidence on so significant an anniversary, many Catholic, Orthodox, and Oriental Orthodox Christians see this year as a fitting opportunity to achieve new agreement regarding the date of Pascha. In the following, I'll briefly summarize how the disagreement arose, the most prominent proposal for its resolution, recent developments, and a proposal of my own. The disagreement between East and West over the date of Pascha arises from a question implicit in the formula of Nicaea itself: When does spring begin? For purposes of the ecclesiastical

Resignation (A+B) is still a subject of debate as to its textual unity and classification. Though it is usually partnered to the Old English elegies, Resignation A (ll. 1-70) bears more affinities with penitential poetry. The poem also echoes death liturgy. The invocation geoca mines gaestes ('save my soul', 46a) anticipates the soul's longing not to be captured by demons (49b-53). The plea for angels to lead her at the transitus recurs in antiphons, responsories, and prayers in the Agenda mortuorum of pre-Conquest manuscripts such as the Leofric Missal, the Missal of Robert of Jumièges, the Red Book of Darley, and the Winchcombe Sacramentary. The paper aims to confirm that Resignation A is a penitent's prayer, whose poet is well learned both in liturgy and theology.

On the background of claims made pertaining to Marie Stopes’ life and work, the paper aims at determining as to whether Stopes’ best-known work “Married Love” has been preceded by other works, such as Hildegard von Bingen’s Causae et curae, written probably between 1150 and 1160.

Il documento è una bolla inviata al vescovo di Ragusa, ma è probabilmente simile ad altre inviate da Innocenzo III a vescovi della cristianità, e la possiamo leggere in un originale che si conserva nell'archivio di Dubrovnik. La bolla, datata 28 dicembre 1199, si inserisce nella strategia di mobilitazione ecclesiastica voluta da Innocenzo III per sostenere i regni cristiani in Terrasanta. Il documento rappresenta un tipico strumento diplomatico del papato medievale, finalizzato a coordinare un intervento su scala continentale.
Innocenzo III utilizza questo strumento per attivare un meccanismo di mobilitazione che coinvolge l'intera gerarchia ecclesiastica. La richiesta di un contributo pari a un quarantesimo dei redditi ecclesiastici, le promesse di indulgenze, i richiami alla situazione in Terrasanta rappresentano elementi caratteristici di una comunicazione che mira a creare una risposta unitaria e coordinata.Il documento si configura come un esemplare tipico della comunicazione papale dell'epoca: uno strumento flessibile che poteva essere rapidamente adattato alle diverse realtà ecclesiastiche, mantenendo intatta la sua funzione di mobilitazione spirituale e materiale. La menzione degli Ordini Militari, dei re cristiani d'Oriente, la descrizione delle difficoltà dei regni crociati sono elementi ricorrenti in analoghi documenti del periodo. Leggere questa bolla significa comprendere le modalità operative della Chiesa medievale, la sua capacità di attivare meccanismi di coordinamento su scala continentale, utilizzando un linguaggio e una struttura comunicativa standardizzata ma al tempo stesso capace di mobilitare energie spirituali e materiali.

Experimento baseado no artigo; "A Síndone de Turim: Ensaio de tradução ‘grego-língua portuguesa (Brasil) – inglês’ para João 20, 5-8 e o experimento do manequim inflável."

Foi utilizado o Modelo: 1028 - cor prata em PVC. Altura 168 cm - Largura dos ombros 54 cm - Peito 95 cm - Cintura circunferência - 75 cm - Circunferência do quadril: 90 cm

O manequim tem dois pontos para inflar: o da cabeça (que é separado do resto do corpo) e um ponto na cintura esquerda que infla o restante
Com a intenção de desinflar simultaneamente as duas partes, foi utilizado um aspirador de pó de 1600W no bico do corpo e um aspirador de 130W na cabeça.

O procedimento consistiu em ligar primeiramente o aspirador do corpo e aproximadamente após 30 segundos ligar o aspirador da cabeça, (quando o tronco começa a baixar) obtendo o resultado do vídeo que demonstra a simulação antes de embrulhar o modelo
A seguir, o modelo foi embrulhado e repetido o procedimento.

Vídeo com a tradução em Português: https://youtu.be/LKq8Ho4NSLs

Vídeo with translation in english: https://youtu.be/fdsJ7ss3WUs

Experiment based on the article: "The Turin Shroud: A ‘greek-Portuguese (Brazil)-English’ translation essay for John 20:5-8 and the inflatable mannequin experiment."

Model used: 1028 - silver color in PVC. Height 168 cm - Shoulder width 54 cm - Chest 95 cm - Waist circumference - 75 cm - Hip circumference: 90 cm

The mannequin has two points for inflation: the head (which is separate from the rest of the body) and a point on the left waist that inflates the rest.

With the intention of simultaneously deflating both parts, a 1600W vacuum cleaner was used on the body nozzle and a 130W vacuum cleaner on the head.

The procedure consisted of first turning on the body vacuum cleaner and approximately after 30 seconds turning on the head vacuum cleaner (when the trunk starts to lower), obtaining the result in the video that demonstrates the simulation before wrapping the model.

The model was then wrapped and the procedure repeated.

This chapter scrutinises the emotional affect surrounding the transmission history of Sturlunga saga—from its medieval Icelandic compilations to its modern reception. As it is shown, medieval authors and their audiences perceived history not as an abstraction of facts but as emotional affect, which was held in considerable import for their narratives. Furthermore, the influence of mystical theology and apophasis upon medieval poetics of the supernatural is also shown as it pertains to the terse and reticent Icelandic saga prose, whose tone is cloaked in intentional and understated ambiguity. Examining how the impact of overwhelming historical events on human experience was articulated in early medieval intellectual discourses provides a solid vantage point for assessing Sturlunga saga’s own narration of overwhelming, traumatic content. Crucially, these observations allow the present study to shed a critical spotlight on the agency and role of the historian—medieval as well as modern—and scrutinise how historiography itself is an ongoing phenomenological entanglement between the narrator and the narrated, the researcher and the researched, the past and the present.

The Relation of Medieval Logic and Theology Ludus delectabilis est, et contemplatio sapientiae maximam delectationem habet. -Thomas Aquinas: Expositio libri Boetii De ebdomadibus, proemium I. INTRODuCTION Hermann Hesse's The Glass Bead Game (Das Glasperlenspiel) is Aristotelian science fiction. Published in 1943, Hesse's last, brooding, existential novel describes neither advanced technology nor new discoveries in natural science; instead, it imagines an advanced culture of philosophical study and learning, an aristocratic intellectual bulwark against utilitarian science and shallow mass media, which synthesized and developed the best habits of academy, monastery, conservatory and university -a kind of alternative-history neo-scholasticism. At the heart of this culture is a game -"the Glass Bead Game" -which makes it possible to carry out theoretical exploration and conversation, ritually but creatively, through the manipulation of highly symbolic glass beads. A move in the game is meaningful not only because of the beads' individual meanings, but additionally because of the relation between the beads to each other in the game, and even more the relation between the play of the present game and that of past games. Moves, governed by elaborate and highly traditional rules, are thus not only assertions or questions but allusions to or variations on past moves, and part of a larger overall conversation about or exploration into the profoundest ideas and highest objects of contemplation. As such, the "game" is a means of the most refined and intense spiritual discipline: It represented an elite, symbolic form of seeking for perfection, a sublime alchemy, an approach to that Mind which beyond all images and multiplicities is one within itself -in other words, to God… The symbols and formulas of the Glass Bead Game combined structurally, musically, and philosophically within the framework of a uni-brought to you by CORE View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk

This paper explores the teaching of theology within the conventual school of Bologna between the arrival of the first fratres in the city and the commencement of the fifth generalate, that of Humbert of Romans (1254). The analysis focuses on the Dominican legislative framework regarding education, as documented in the earliest constitutions and the proceedings of general and provincial chapters. Particular emphasis is placed on the texts used and the methods of theological instruction employed by the initial community of Preachers in Bologna, first within the internal school of the church of San Niccolò delle Vigne and later at the conventual studium established at San Domenico. The elevation of the latter to the status of Studium generale in 1248 led to an increase in student enrollment and to the consolidation of teaching activities within the community, also thanks to the presence of friars who had previously gained experience in the study and teaching of canon law or the artes at Bologna before joining the Order. Moreover, the intellectual profile and library holdings of a lector at the Bolognese conventual studium are reconstructed through the examination of the inventory of Giovanni da Torino, who served as lector conventualis in Bologna between 1243 and 1254, before assuming the office of Prior of the Province of Lombardy.

Il contributo analizza l’insegnamento della teologia nella scuola conventuale bolognese negli anni compresi tra l’insediamento dei primi fratres in Bologna sino all’avvio del quinto generalato, quello di Umberto di Romans (1254). Viene considerato il quadro normativo domenicano in materia scolastica, noto attraverso le prime costituzioni e gli atti delle assemblee generali e provinciali. In particolare sono stati considerati i testi e le modalità di insegnamento della teologia presso la prima comunità di Predicatori in Bologna, dapprima nella scuola interna della chiesa di San Niccolò delle Vigne, poi nello studio conventuale in San Domenico, la cui elevazione, nel 1248, al rango di Studium generale portò a un incremento dell’afflusso di studenti e alla stabilizzazione dell’attività didattica interna alla comunità, anche con la presenza di frati che avevano già maturato esperienza nello studio e nell’insegnamento del diritto canonico o delle artes a Bologna prima di entrare nell’Ordine. L’universo librario di un lettore dello Studio conventuale bolognese è stato ricostruito attraverso lo studio dell’inventario della biblioteca di Giovanni da Torino, lector conventualis a Bologna negli anni 1243-1254, poi priore della provincia di Lombardia.

In questo breve articolo si è cercato di spiegare una questione complessa, dalla svariate sfaccettature e considerabile sotto diversi punti di vista. Si è quindi cercato di fare una sintesi che possa essere il più possibile esaustiva e che possa anche stimolare la curiosità dei lettori. Si è visto come la lotta tra papato e impero si intersechi con la famigerata questione ghibellina italiana e come il pontefice e l’imperatore si siano mossi su un terreno tutt’altro che solido.

Sažetak: U bogatom teološkom opusu svetog Bonaventure važno mjesto svakako zauzima i djelo De mysterio Trinitatis, koje pripada nizu tzv. Quaestiones disputatae. Teološku vrijednost toga djela dodatno pojašnjava činjenica da ono nastaje u vrijeme njegova profesorskog djelovanja u Parizu (1254. – 1257.). Djelo, iako kratko, donosi tekstove u kojima se ogleda Bonaventurina trinitarna teologija. Ne ulazeći u njegovo učenje o Trojstvu  u cijelosti, autori analiziraju i predstavljaju Božje atribute (svojstva) kojima se bavi  sveti Bonaventura. Doctor Seraphicus nastoji povezati ono do čega je došla filozofija, tj. razumske spoznaje o Bogu (Božje jedinstvo, nepromjenjivost, vječnost i sl.), s teološkim uvidima utemeljenima na sadržaju kršćanske vjere. Taj veliki franjevački teolog donosi i filozofske i teološke spoznaje o Bogu pomoću kojih tumači otajstvo trojedinoga Boga, koje predstavlja sâmo središte kršćanske vjere. Raščlanjujući Bonaventurino tumačenje Božjih svojstava, autori posebice ističu njegovo pozitivno vrednovanje filozofije, koja zajedno s teologijom omogućuje istinski kršćansko razumijevanje Boga. Zapravo, filozofija i teologija nalaze se u neraskidivoj i uskoj povezanosti bez koje je nezamisliv kršćanski pristup Bogu, što se također vidi i u Bonaventurinoj teologiji.
Prema tome, Bonaventurino razumijevanje Božjih svojstava omogućuje uvid u odnos između filozofije i teologije, koje se međusobno nadopunjuju i razjašnjavaju. U tome se zapravo ogleda i aktualnost Bonaventurine teološke misli, kao i važnost njegovih teoloških zaključaka, koji odišu izrazitom genijalnošću i originalnošću. Upravo tumačeći Božja svojstva koja pripadaju temeljnim uvidima kršćanske teologije, franjevački  teolog iz 13. stoljeća jasno ističe nerazdruživu povezanost teologije i filozofije, kao i njihov međusobno obogaćujući utjecaj.

Ključne riječi: Božji atributi, Bonaventura, filozofija, teologija, Trojstvo

Abstract: In the rich theological work of St. Bonaventure, De mysterio Trinitatis, which belongs to the series of so-called Quaestiones disputatae, undoubtedly holds an important place. The theological value of this work is further highlighted by the fact that it was written during his teaching career in Paris (1254–1257). Although brief, the work contains texts that reflect Bonaventure’s Trinitarian theology. Without delving into his teaching on the Trinity in its entirety, the authors analyse and present the attributes (properties) of God that St. Bonaventure addresses. Doctor Seraphicus seeks to connect what philosophy has achieved – specifically, rational knowledge of God (God’s unity, immutability, eternity, etc.) – with theological insights based on the content of the Christian faith. This great Franciscan theologian combines both philosophical and theological insights about God, through which he interprets the mystery of the Triune God, the very centre of the Christian faith. Analysing Bonaventure’s interpretation of God’s attributes, the authors particularly emphasize his positive evaluation of philosophy, which, together with theology, enables a truly Christian understanding of God. In fact, philosophy and theology are inextricably and closely connected, without which a Christian approach to God would be unthinkable – an idea clearly reflected in Bonaventure’s theology. Accordingly, Bonaventure’s understanding of God’s attributes provides an insight into the relationship between philosophy and theology, which complement and clarify each other. This is reflected both in the relevance of Bonaventure’s theological thought, as well as in the significance of his theological conclusions, which exude a distinct genius and originality. By interpreting God’s attributes - fundamental insights of Christian theology – the 13th-century Franciscan theologian clearly reinforces the inseparable connection between theology and philosophy, as well as their mutually enriching influence.

Key words: God’s attributes, Bonaventure, philosophy, theology, Trinity

Medieval scholasticism, typically known for its theological and philosophical debates, surprisingly made a crucial contribution to the early development of scientific thinking. This article focuses not on its religious aspects, but instead explores how it impacted our understanding of the natural world. In particular, it examines how scholasticism's emphasis on critical questioning, organized methods, and logical reasoning planted the seeds for modern science. By analyzing specific approaches used by scholastic thinkers, especially their methods of observation, data collection, and reasoning, the article highlights their pioneering role in laying the groundwork for the scientific method. It showcases the diverse contributions of key figures like Albertus Magnus, Hildegard of Bingen, and Roger Bacon, demonstrating how they explored the natural world within the limitations of their time. While acknowledging the historical context and its constraints, the article ultimately argues that scholasticism's lasting legacy lies in its vital contribution to the emergence of modern science. Its emphasis on questioning, observation, and logic continues to resonate in contemporary scientific discourse, reminding us of the enduring human quest for understanding through reason and inquiry.

In the Christian tradition, the concepts of reason and faith have been tried to be reconciled since the early ages. The expression fides quaerens intellectum (faith seeking understanding), used in medieval thought, is seen as one of the methods of implementation. According to this tradition, a point of view was adopted that faith can be understood after believing in. The modern philosophical equivalent of ‘understanding’ used here is justification or finding rational reasons. In this approach, which can also be expressed as ‘if you believe in god, you can understand’, there is a model of faith in which faith is realised voluntarily. A voluntary faith is different from the non-voluntary propositional faith used in natural theology. The reasons that begin with a voluntary faith and follow it has distinguished this type of faith from the modern approach to faith. The approach that prioritises reason, which emerged with modern philosophy, is not adopted in the medieval Christian approach to faith. What is adopted in the this scholastic period is the non-propositional approach to faith. According to this approach, having non-propositional faith voluntarily and then reaching some reasons distinguishes this faith from the strict fideism, but still does not save it from a fideistic view. It seems possible to speak of a conviction that this Augustinian attitude of faith is similar to the moderate fideist attitude. Although the tradition of ‘believe in god so that you may understand’ defended by Augustine is seen as a reconciliation of reason and faith put forward against credo quia absurdum (I believe because it is absurd) of Tertullian, who has a strict fideist attitude, it is not entirely rational like the propositional understanding of faith used in the modern period. It is reminiscent of the approach of Pascal, a proponent of moderate fideism, who offers rational justifications for non-propositional faith. This paper will focus on the similarity of Augustine, Anselm, and Aquinas' approach to faith, which supports faith for understanding, to moderate fideism. Since it is debatable whether this attitude of faith is rational or not, Richard Popkin interprets this kind of faith attitude as close to moderate fideism.

In 1519, two years after Luther's public challenge to the Church to mend its ways, Erasmus wrote to Luther advising him to direct his criticism against those misusing papal authority rather than against the Pope and the papacy. The letter below was sent to Erasmus in Basel five years later in 1524 by Luther. The correspondence between the two does not seem to have been voluminous, but there are quite a few letters from them to third parties, each complaining about the other. Luther speaks of his correspondence with others that he knows Erasmus has read.

Tous les êtres de l’univers se rapportent à Dieu comme à leur Créateur. En quoi cette relation consiste-t-elle, et quel est son statut ontologique? Pour saint Thomas d’Aquin, la doctrine de la création ex nihilo amène nécessairement à saisir la création en termes de “relations”. Le rapport de chaque créature à Dieu Créateur (la “relation de création”) est une relation catégoriale réelle, qui n’entre pas dans l’essence des créatures mais qui constitue un accident propre de tout étant créé. Pour saint Bonaventure, à l’inverse, ce rapport n’est pas un accident mais il est une relation essentielle de la créature. De son côté, Henri de Gand tient que l’être de la créature est sa relation substantielle envers Dieu Créateur: la créature est alors identique à son rapport envers Dieu. Duns Scot poursuit la pensée de Bonaventure en critiquant Henri de Gand. Pour Duns Scot, la “relation de création” est réellement identique à la créature elle-même mais elle s’en distingue formellement (la créature contient cette relation par identité): cette relation n’est pas accidentelle mais transcendantale. Ces comparaisons aident à saisir l’enseignement propre de saint Thomas et l’enjeu de cette question. Le maître dominicain entend souligner la consistance propre de la nature créée: la relation de création, en tant qu’accident propre et relation catégoriale, rend simultanément compte du “statut religieux” du monde (les créatures comme effets de Dieu) et de la consistance des êtres créés dans l’ordre interne de l’univers, un ordre subordonné à l’ordre envers Dieu.

Body and soul: their interactions according to physicians and philosophers from ancient to modern times

https://books.openedition.org/ephe/3437#anchor-resume

How does the soul interact with the body? Are these two entities united or separate? Where do they intersect, or who mediates between body and soul? As part of a long-term intellectual and conceptual history, the present volume brings together eleven contributions exploring how different authors, from Antiquity to the 18th century, have questioned and analyzed the ways in which body and soul interact and unite. The contributions are grouped according to period (Antiquity, Middle Ages, Modern Age) and address the following subjects: the physiological relationships between body and soul considered as a whole, the question of vegetative and vegetative faculties that cross the different living species, the nature of certain mediators such as pneuma or spiritus and species, and what pathological contexts reveal about these links between body and soul.

In un tempo in cui la teologia sembra fare molta fatica per legittimarsi all’interno della vita di fede e nel contesto culturale contemporaneo (dove spesso risuona il monito heideggeriano per cui o si pensa o si crede), può sembrare paradossale ritornare ad interrogarsi sul senso della teologia in un autore certo esemplare come Tommaso d’Aquino, ma collocato in un tempo e dentro una sensibilità profondamente diversa da quella odierna. In realtà la lettura attenta e certamente contestualizzata dall’ardita riflessione di san Tommaso, evidenza la straordinaria attualità e per certi versi profeticità del suo modo di intendere la teologia. Quest’ultima, infatti, senza rinunciare ad essere rigoroso esercizio speculativo, si nutre della Sacra Scrittura come del suo fondamento (si può affermare che la teologia di Tommaso è intrinsecamente biblica) e si mette a disposizione della predicazione, e dell’annuncio della fede. Se da un lato è vero, come ripete Tommaso, che una vecchietta ne sa più di tutti i filosofi quanto a Dio e alla salvezza, proprio l’interrogare radicale sul senso delle cose, il desiderio d’infinito che ci definisce, muovono verso una considerazione della teologia in senso storico-salvifico, poiché in essa si mette in gioco il “cuore inquieto” che desidera conoscere compiutamente quel Dio che può essere davvero conosciuto solo nella misura in cui si rivela, pur rimanendo sempre al di là di quello che possiamo dire di Lui, tanto che la nostra conoscenza è solo “impronta” che rimanda ma non esaurisce la realtà dell’oggetto che la determina. La teologia, dunque, come cammino mai compiuto a partire da quanto Dio ci ha rivelato, in cui la ricerca della verità dell’uomo e lo strumento di cui ci si serve, la ragione, non vengono mortificati ma assunti come un presupposto necessario da cui non è mai possibile congedarsi. Partendo dall’analisi e dal commento della prima questione della Summa Theologiae, del Prologo del Commento alle Sentenze del Lombardo e del Commento al De Trinitate di Boezio, grazie in particolare alla riflessione di Tommaso contenuta nei suoi commentari biblici, il volume offre una ricognizione approfondita sul senso della teologia, in particolare sul rapporto tra fede e ragione, sulla natura speculativa e argomentativa del sapere teologico, sulla dimensione soprattutto esistenziale e salvifica della rivelazione.

In our time in which theology seems to be struggling to legitimize itself within the life of faith and in the contemporary cultural context (where Heidegger's warning that “either you think or you believe” often resounds), it may seem paradoxical to return to questioning the meaning of theology in an author as exemplary as Thomas Aquinas, who lived in a time and shared a sensibility profoundly different from our own. Truth to be told, a careful and certainly contextualized reading of St. Thomas's bold reflection highlights the extraordinary relevance and, in some ways, prophetic nature of his way of understanding theology. The latter, in fact, without renouncing its rigorous speculative exercise, draws on Sacred Scripture as its foundation (it can be said that Thomas' theology is intrinsically biblical) and makes itself available for preaching and proclaiming the faith. If, on the one hand, it is true, as Thomas repeats, that an old woman knows more than all philosophers about God and salvation, it is precisely the radical questioning of the meaning of things, the desire for the infinite that defines us, that moves us towards a consideration of theology in a historical-salvific sense, since it is in theology that the “restless heart” that desires to know fully that God who can only be truly known to the extent that he reveals himself, while always remaining beyond what we can say about him, so much so that our knowledge is only an “imprint” that refers to but does not exhaust the reality of the object that determines it. Theology, therefore, is understood as a never-ending journey starting from what God has revealed to us, in which the search for human truth and the tool used to achieve it, reason, are not mortified but taken as a necessary presupposition from which it is never possible to dismiss. Starting from the analysis and commentary on the first question of the Summa Theologiae, the Prologue to the Commentary on the Sentences of Lombard, and the Commentary on Boethius' De Trinitate, thanks in particular to Thomas' reflection contained in his biblical commentaries, the volume offers an in-depth exploration of the meaning of theology, particularly the relationship between faith and reason, the speculative and argumentative nature of theological knowledge, and the above all existential and salvific dimension of revelation.

This volume explores the relationship of mendicant men and women to cities and their inhabitants in the Mediterranean world, c.1200-1500. It asks questions including: what was specifically "urban" about the mendicant movement? what does it mean to think of the mendicants as an "urban phenomenon"? and was there anything common to mendicant experiences in the cities of the Mediterranean? In addressing these questions, the volume expands our understanding of the mendicants by offering chapters that examine this religious movement within urban environments from the Iberian Peninsula, North Africa, Southern France, and Italy, to the Dalmatian Coast, Aegean Islands, Egypt, and the Levant. The chapters treat a wide array of textual, artistic, and architectural sources to consider how mendicants navigated and negotiated the unique social dynamics of Mediterranean cities in their interactions with political potentates, merchants, prisoners, pilgrims, religious and intellectual elites, non-Christians, and inhabitants of the surrounding countryside. It thus offers an interdisciplinary and broad survey of mendicancy as a social-religious phenomenon of the urban Mediterranean, demonstrating that these communities can be defined by much more than their traditionally accepted roles as beggars, preachers, and teachers. Mendicants and the Urban Mediterranean, c.1200-1500 will be of interest to scholars and students across multiple disciplines engaged in questions about medieval mendicancy, gender, urban society, inter-religious encounters, and the Mediterranean.

The 'Liber Floridus',written ad laudam et gloriam Domini Christi ac redemptoris omnium around 1111-1115/1121b yL ambert,c anon of Saint-Omer,i sa ne xceptional testimonyofthe intellectual and spiritual life of an earlytwelfth-century scholar.T his paper examines the various maps (mappamundi,r egional map of Europe, and cosmographic diagrams) in connection with the descriptive texts and in their complex codicological context,i nthea utograph manuscript (Ghent,U niversityL ibrary,M s9 2) and another copy (Wolfenbüttel, Herzog-August Bibliothek, Gudeanus lat.1), in order to analyse how the maps explain Lambert'sw orldview,f rom as piritual and eschatologicalp erspective.F irst,Idescribe Lambert'sw ork, his working method,a nd his aims. Then, Ie xplore the eclectic nature of the maps he inserted in the 'Liber',and how he producedhis remarkablyoriginal maps.Finally, Iexamine the relation between maps and the naturalw orld, maps and history,a nd maps and eschatology.

Many Christian-oriented philosophers also attempt to define the human person in terms of relation. This effort is obviously based on Trinitarian theology. But this approach is difficult to defend. The human person is located in categorical dimensions, as is “relation” or “substance.” The Holy Trinity, however, is beyond categorical terms. Here we do not even make do with mere analogy, even a so-called reduction is required here. In the real, created, categorial being, however, a relation (categorial or transcendent) can never retroactively establish its subject. On the contrary, the relation is its effect. Also interesting are the two versions of Pope Benedict XVI’s encyclical Caritas in Veritate of 2009, especially the Latin original (or version?).

As the sun sinks, the full moon's seen to rise, and briefly they ride opposite horizons, one on Libra's, the other on Aries' side; in opposition each its sky bedizens, held there in balance on the zenith's scales, in momentary exchange of set and rising.

Con il termine Tetramorfo, la cui etimologia deriva dall'aggettivo greco τετράμορφος composto di τετρα (tetra/quattro) e μορφή(morfè/forma),si indica l'essere mostruoso che, nell'Antico Testamento, viene descritto nella famosa apparizione del "carro del Signore" di Ezechiele 1, ulteriormente ripreso nell'immagine dei cherubini del capitolo 10. Dall'epoca della prima cristianità in poi i catecumeni, nella quarta settimana di quaresima, erano iniziati al significato simbolico del tetramorfo. Infatti nell'Apocalisse (4,7-9) si parla dei "quattro esseri viventi". Le quattro entità mostruose di Ezechiele derivano dalla descrizione dei serafini di Isaia 6, 1-3, dove si vedono questi esseri, con volto, piedi, mani e sei ali che si librano attorno al trono di Dio e che cantano il Trisàghion (inno di lode cantato) tre volte Santo. Nella sua visione Ezechiele semplifica la descrizione riducendo il numero delle ali, infatti, assegna a ciascuno degli esseri quattro ali, due raccolte in alto e due piegate verso il basso, completamente ricoperte di occhi; da sotto le ali spuntano delle mani, mentre le gambe sono di vitello. Tuttavia la coincidenza di ali, mani e piedi con i serafini e il modo molto simile in cui i due profeti descrivono la posizione delle ali, rende possibile l'identificazione tra i due diversi tipi di essenza. Il sostantivo sĕrāphīm che ricorre in Is 6, 1-3 solo al plurale, sembra derivare dall'aggettivo sāraph (ardere, bruciare). Quando si trova al singolare, il nome designa delle specie di serpenti mandati da Dio per punire gli ebrei. Le entità descritte sono menzionate spesso nella Bibbia come kĕrūbhīm. Questo nome è di etimologia incerta, ma è forse collegabile all'accadico Karabu, cioè benedire. Esse trovano quindi riscontro nelle immagini dei Kâribu assiri, gli animali mitici dalla testa umana, il corpo di leone, le zampe di toro e le ali di aquila, le cui statue erano poste a custodia dei palazzi babilonesi e per

In The Monstrosity of Christ, Slavoj Žižek devotes a mere ten pages to the high-medieval Christian mystic Meister Eckhart, whom he accuses of erasing the fundamental distinction between creature and creator, of reabsorbing the violent anti-pagan kenosis of Christ and relocating it in a Zen transposition after the manner of D. T. Suzuki (40). This misreading is, however, fecund; it dissolves Žižek’s beloved Pauline agape, most at the heart of Eckhart’s pseudo-Dionysian tradition. In doing so, Žižek goads Christians into a reevaluation of his own favored concept: the neighbor; the Other, who, he says in “Neighbors and Other Monsters,” must have his face shattered (142) in an act of fundamentally Christian ethical violence, the one in whom Eckhart reminds us “clearly how near God’s kingdom is” (“Sermon II”). Ironically, it is Eckhart whose non-Zen, agape-laden Gelassenheit, hermeneutically re-designated through a Žižekian lens, can reinvigorate Christian political theology, which is otherwise beset with the toxic subjects of liberal post-modernity, and the omnipresence of tolerant - and its parallax: anti-migrant - sentiment. In short, Žižek’s “neighbor” begs a re-reading, couched in thoroughly Eckhartian terms; our political theology depends on it.

In this introductory essay, we situate the topic of Mary, mother of Jesus, in the Qur'ān as a possibly fruitful bridge toward better understanding between Christians and Muslims. In particular, we introduce a number of essays responding to the book Mary in the Qur'an: Friend of God, Virgin, Mother co-authored by Muna Tatari and Klaus von Stosch. Zahra Mohagheghian will introduce an online conference that she organized in November 2023 on this book, and what it meant for her as a female Muslim researcher from Iran to engage in such a comparative theological project. Finally, Pim Valkenberg will connect this initiative to a number of contemporary initiatives centered around Mary as bridge toward better understanding between Muslims and Christians, and focus on the form of comparative theology advocated in the book Mary in the Qur'an.

Opicinus de Canistris, a Pavian cleric lived between 1296 and 1352, was a scriptor, miniaturist,
cartographer sui generis, writer, theologian, philosopher. This fluctuating identity corresponds to an
heterogeneous secundary literature, from psychoanalysis (Jung 1943, Kris 1952) to anthropology
(Gurevič 1993), from iconology (Saxl 1915; Solomon 1936) to a biographical and pathological
approach (Laharie 2007), from history of arts (Whittington 2014) to history of philosophy (Randi
1989), until the most recent Dialectique du monstre (Piron 2015). Although well-founded on Opicinus’
work, this kaleidoscope of perspectives risks losing sight of his equally significant unitarian
sense. To avoid overinterpretations, this contribute will propose a semiotic reading of Opicinus’
work, intending it in the light of the set of rules – however so personal – of a code of signs. Even
if caution is called for applying modern categories to a medieval man, this approach seems to be
useful to decant interpretative layers, bringing to light the underlying symbolic mechanism that acts
as a semantic engine of Opicinus’ thought. Using tools as the semiotic concept of “idiolect” (Eco
1968), the analysis will focus the topic – pivotal for the Pavian cleric – of the structural homology
between individual and collective body. In this case, this relationship of analogy is radical, grounded
on the root of Opicinus’ individuality, that is his own body, and on the symbolic references that
make it a map of the world, so that his contingent body image becomes a sign of an absolute
meaning: «Ego infirmus ex corpore meo testificor dispositionem Europe. Umbilicus mee Papie
[…]) aliquantulum profundior quasi foramen assimilatur Venetie Castellane. Condensitas pilorum
colli mei est copia vinearum Wasconie» (Vaticanus Latinus 6435, 32v). The paper will try to define
this idiosyncratic semiotic code against the background of the relationship microcosm/macrocosm,
topos of the medieval forma mentis. Opicinus’ model can be described as a metaphysical pansemiosis
(Eco 1987): all the world is a semantically saturated space, where every thing is symbolically
meaningful. His papers and charts – a singular bricolage of glosses, diagrams, maps, acrostics – are
characterized by this horror vacui: every word, every drawing, every part of his sheets of parchments
is significant and polysemic. So, the analysis will focus on the figure of calligram, because it shows
as the Opicinus’ conceptual imaginery works. The written words are arranged per figuram and they
act as a visual object; on the other hand, the graphic signs produce a paratext of glosses. This
interweaving of verbal and visual codes operates on different cognitive levels: the visio, that grasps
all the things of the world sub specie aeternitatis, as a metaphysical unit; the linguistic knowledge, that
temporally proceeds by definitions and differences. In his anthropomorphic maps and
autobiographical writings, therefore, the body works as a calligram: through this formula, a semiotic
model takes shape, keeping together word and image, spirit and flesh, cultural references and
bizarre etymologies, high and low culture, political conformism and palingenetic utopias.

The Song of Solomon as the most hidden secrets of our self-knowledge.
Az Énekek éneke (vagy Salamon éneke) egy olyan bibliai könyv, amelyet sokféleképpen értelmeztek az évek során, de talán az egyik legmélyebb olvasat a mágikus fejlődés és az isteni szeretet és a romantikus szerelem inspiráló szimbolikájában rejlik. Ez a cikk arra hívja fel a figyelmet, hogy az Énekek éneke nemcsak a férfi és nő közötti szerelemről szól, hanem úgy is értelmezhető, mint egy sokkal mélyebb, belső mágikus fejlődési folyamat és az önmegismerés leírása. Ahogy látni fogjuk, ez az értelmezés nem mond ellent a már ismert tradicionális értelmezéseknek, sőt inkább még gazdagítja ezeket.

自出土后的七十余年以来，死海古卷一直都是学界争论的焦点， 对于理解《希伯来圣经》的发展与流传尤为重要。本文分为五个部 分，对比库姆兰(Qumran)出土的"圣经类"残卷与其他文本佐证， 如马索拉文本(the Masoretic Text) 、 《撒玛利亚五经》 (the Samaritan Pentateuch) 、 《七十士译本》 (the Septuagint) ，辨析前者与后者之间 的异同，以便更好地理解古代经卷样式的多样性。此外，本文分析 死海古卷中那些对《希伯来圣经》文本进行改写的创作，如《创世 伪 经 》 (the Genesis Apocryphon) 、 《 禧 年 书 》 (Jubilees) 、 《 圣 殿 卷 》 (the Temple Scroll) ，借此探讨这些改写的文学特征与其在希腊化-罗马时期的权威性。

In De beryllo (1458), Nicholas of Cusa uses a specific metaphor for knowing the world, that is, vision by looking through a "beryl"—a lens that is both concave and convex. The intellect of the one looking through it can reach a vision through the coincidence of opposites. This doctrine completes the reflection developed by Nicholas of Cusa in some of his previous works, such as De visione Dei (1453). In that same year, Nicholas of Cusa had also purchased a copy of Albert the Great's commentary on Ps.-Dionysius the Areopagite's De divinis nominibus, a text he refers to several times in De beryllo with the aim of defining human cognitio. In this paper, Nicholas of Cusa’s use of the "beryl" metaphor is defined and subsequently compared with the analogous use of the same metaphor by Albert the Great, Meister Eckhart, Theodoric of Freiberg, and in the sermons of the Carmelite Hane, collected in the Paradisus animae intelligentis. Finally, some remarks concerning the relevance of this metaphor in Cusa's philosophy are formulated.

I consider the development of the "Nicaean Norm" for Pascha from its biblical prototype, through its development and application in the Julian and Gregorian Paschalia, to the recent proposal in the WCC's Aleppo statement. This is an overview of the theology and technology that enters into the Church Calendar and the essential criteria for a common observance of Easter. A new approach is proposed that bridges the historical gap between the traditional method of computus and the detailed astronomical approach (as reported in Synodica V, Chambésy-Genève, Les Editions du Centre Orthodoxe, 1981.

The main aim and objective of the Action is to Establish a research network for Prayer Studies, linking scholars and stakeholders, e.g., libraries and museums, to develop a systematic framework for studying prayer as a participatory practice in Europe before the Council of Trent (1545)..

In 2 Corinthians 11: 14 Saint Paul warns us about the tricks of Satan that can disguise himself as an angel of light. The exegesis of this text raises in some authors a reflection about the necessity of discernment during prayer. Imagination could bring confusion and misunderstanding, and could particularly become an open door for the bad spirit into the human soul. This is the problem that Diadochus of Photike points out. In his One Hundred practical texts, he explicitly refers to the Angel of Light (chapter 40). First, I intend to read this expression in the context of the same work, including a fundamental study of "imagination" (φαντασία) and "discernment" (διάκρισις). For the second part, I will introduce the exegesis of 2 Corinthians in Symeon the New Theologian, taking his teaching of Ethics XV, 89 as a basis: «Taste and see that who is darkness, presents himself to the imagination in the form of an angel of light» (ἄγγελον φωτός).

Alchemiae Gebri Arabis philosophi solertissimi libri, cum reliquis, ut versa pagella indicabit
by Jabir ibn Hayyan; Bacon, Roger, 1214?-1294. Speculum alchemiae; Hermes, Trismegistus. Tabul smaragdina; Hortulanus. Commentarius in Tabulam Smaragdinam Hermetis Trismegisti; Khalid ibn Yazid al-Umawi, 7th cent. Liber secretorum alchemiae; Polydorus, Chrysogonus; Richardus, Anglicus, d. 1252. Correctorium alchemiae

Aquest article es proposa explicitar el fonament filosofic de la doctrina regionalista de Josep Torras i Bages, cercant les seves fonts en el pensament de l’autor a qui Torras reconeix com a mestre, Tomas d’Aquino. L’organitzacio regionalista de la societat, per raons profundament metafisiques, implica una dimensio estetica; des d’aquesta perspectiva, la llei regionalista, que es una llei infosa, nascuda de les mateixes entranyes del poble, ha de distingir-se de les lleis humanes, que s’anuncien extrinsecament al qui ha d’obeir-les.

This paper aims to gain a better understanding of the ethics of Galeotto Marzio da Narni, a highly original 15th-century philosopher. Based on his censure and the texts that we have preserved by him, we attempt to bring out the most radical elements of his ethics, namely principally the possibility of attaining salvation in any religion and, more generally, his theory of predestination, in which ethical acts become simply signs of it. It is therefore understandable that his ethics are similar in some respects to the Protestant ethics that would become the bête noire of the Catholic authorities.

Se trata de un clásico de la espiritualidad medieval y cisterciense, referente a la teología mística de san Bernardo. Excelente análisis de la teología monástica de san Bernardo. E. GILSON realiza una síntesis admirable, que, desde luego, es fundamental conocer a todo el que quiera iniciarse en la espiritualidad cisterciense y en las perspectivas personales del abad de Claraval y la escuela cisterciense.

In the opening chapter of his first-rate 1948 study Europäische Literatur und lateinisches Mittelalter, explaining how he thought the reality of European literature should be understood, the great Ernst Robert Curtius wrote: European literature is coextensive in time with European culture, therefore embraces a period of some twenty-six centuries (reckoning from Homer to Goethe) (…). No stretch of European literary history is so little known and frequented as the Latin literature of the early and high Middle Ages. (…) Troeltsch could rightly say in 1922: "The culture of the Middle Ages still awaits presentation" (Der Historismus, 767). That is still true today. The culture of the Middle Ages cannot yet be presented, because its Latin literature has as yet been incompletely studied. In this sense the Middle Ages is still as dark today as it -wrongly -appeared to the Italian Humanists. For that very reason a historical consideration of European literature must begin at this darkest point. 1 With regard to the quoted passage from the study Europäische Literatur…, and in view of the content below, two observations can be made here. Firstly, Curtius juxtaposes two realities, namely European culture and literature, thus making it clear to his readers that European culture and European literature are closely connected and that one cannot be understood without the other. Whoever, therefore, wishes to study European culture, is forced, Curtius argues, to study the literature coupled with it, which, when it comes to the field of study, means

In essa confluisce tutto il precedente travaglio teoretico del filosofo, a partire dall'insegnamento romano dei primi anni quaranta, i fondamentali corsi universitari di Filosofia teoretica tenuti a Bologna tra il 1953 e il 1957, e la stessa prolusione al magistero filosofico che Moretti-Costanzi tenne il 15 gennaio 1954; vi troviamo altresì il frutto dei numerosi studi storici precedenti e, al contempo, si aprono tutte le tematiche più importanti della sua successiva speculazione. Si tratta, in una parola, di un vero e proprio punto nodale di tutto l'itinerario filosofico del nostro autore, una riflessione paradigmatica ed essenziale che mostra in un quadro unitario tutte le sfaccettature dell'arte concettuale e sapienziale del filosofo umbro; con le parole di un suo affezionato allievo, possiamo dire che è "la sua opera principale […], anzi di più, (il) suo vero e proprio 'capolavoro', quale è riconoscibile in ogni filosofo che abbia seguito un cammino meditativo coerente e unitario. Si pensi, se è consentito l'esempio, al ruolo che nello svolgimento del pensiero di Hegel gioca la Scienza della logica" 1 . Prosegue