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Modern Scholarship (modern + scholarship)

Distribution by Scientific Domains

Humanities and Social Sciences	100%

Selected Abstracts

Reclaiming a Theological Reading of the Bible: Barth's Interpretation of Job as a Case Study

INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF SYSTEMATIC THEOLOGY, Issue 2 2000
Robert J. Sherman
Modern scholarship often seems intent on breaking scripture apart without offering a means to put it back together again in an intellectually responsible and theologically useful way. This article recognizes that numerous scholars have sought to redress this situation and suggests that Karl Barth's method of scriptural interpretation may be a useful and instructive resource. Barth possessed the historical-critical skills of his day yet always employed them in the service of his theological interpretation. One clear example of his method may be found in his ,mini-commentary' on the book of Job (in Church Dogmatics IV/3), which is examined as a case study. [source]

The temptations of cult: Roman martyr piety in the age of Gregory the Great

EARLY MEDIEVAL EUROPE, Issue 3 2000
Conrad Leyser
Pope Gregory the Great (590,604) was arguably the most important Roman writer and civic leader of the early middle ages; the Roman martyrs were certainly the most important cult figures of the city. However modern scholarship on the relationship between Gregory and the Roman martyrs remains curiously underdeveloped, and has been principally devoted to comparison of the gesta martyrum with the stories of Italian holy men and women (in particular St Benedict) told by Gregory in his Dialogues; in the past generation the Dialogues have come to be understood as a polemic against the model of sanctity proposed by the Roman martyr narratives. This paper explores Gregory's role in the development of Roman martyr cult in the context of the immediate social world of Roman clerical politics of the sixth and seventh centuries. Gregory's authority as bishop of Rome was extremely precarious: the Roman clerical hierarchy with its well-developed protocols did not take kindly to the appearance of Gregory and his ascetic companions. In the conflict between Gregory and his followers, and their opponents, both sides used patronage of martyr cult to advance their cause. In spite of the political necessity of engaging in such ,competitive generosity', Gregory was also concerned to channel martyr devotion, urging contemplation on the moral achievements of the martyrs , which could be imitated in the present , as opposed to an aggressive and unrestrained piety focused on their death. Gregory's complex attitude to martyr cult needs to be differentiated from that which was developed over a century later, north of the Alps, by Carolingian readers and copyists of gesta martyrum and pilgrim guides, whose approach to the Roman martyrs was informed by Gregory's own posthumous reputation. [source]

Shades of Orientalism: Paradoxes and Problems in Indian Historiography

HISTORY AND THEORY, Issue 2 2003
Peter Heehs
In Orientalism, Edward Said attempts to show that all European discourse about the Orient is the same, and all European scholars of the Orient complicit in the aims of European imperialism. There may be "manifest" differences in discourse, but the underlying "latent" orientalism is "more or less constant." This does not do justice to the marked differences in approach, attitude, presentation, and conclusions found in the works of various orientalists. I distinguish six different styles of colonial and postcolonial discourse about India (heuristic categories, not essential types), and note the existence of numerous precolonial discourses. I then examine the multiple ways exponents of these styles interact with one another by focusing on the early-twentieth-century nationalist orientalist, Sri Aurobindo. Aurobindo's thought took form in a colonial framework and has been used in various ways by postcolonial writers. An anti-British nationalist, he was by no means complicit in British imperialism. Neither can it be said, as some Saidians do, that the nationalist style of orientalism was just an imitative indigenous reversal of European discourse, using terms like "Hinduism" that had been invented by Europeans. Five problems that Aurobindo dealt with are still of interest to historians: the significance of the Vedas, the date of the vedic texts, the Aryan invasion theory, the Aryan-Dravidian distinction, and the idea that spirituality is the essence of India. His views on these topics have been criticized by Leftist and Saidian orientalists, and appropriated by reactionary "Hindutva" writers. Such critics concentrate on that portion of Aurobindo's work which stands in opposition to or supports their own views. A more balanced approach to the nationalist orientalism of Aurobindo and others would take account of their religious and political assumptions, but view their project as an attempt to create an alternative language of discourse. Although in need of criticism in the light of modern scholarship, their work offers a way to recognize cultural particularity while keeping the channels of intercultural dialogue open. [source]

Pietro Aretino, religious writer

RENAISSANCE STUDIES, Issue 3 2006
Raymond B. Waddington
Although Pietro Aretino's vernacular biblical paraphrases and saints' lives were popular and greatly admired in the sixteenth century, modern scholarship often has dismissed them as commercial potboilers. This study presents the case that Aretino was a serious reformer in religion and possibly a Nicodemite. It traces his long relationship with Antonio Brucioli, who was an important conduit of Protestant writings and whose reformist Bible translation enabled Aretino's paraphrases. Relying on their letters, it examines Aretino's friendship with Pier Paolo Vergerio and his attraction to Bernardino Ochino, both of whom became apostates, and his reaction to the arrest of his confessor for having Lutheran sympathies. Aretino's biblical paraphrases were esteemed in Italian reformist circles and translated into French by a prior attached to Marguerite of Navarre's court. In England Sir Thomas Wyatt based his Lutheran Penitential Psalms on Aretino's I sette Salmi. [source]