Gregory of Nyssa's Tabernacle Imagery in Its Jewish and Christian Contexts

Gregory of Nyssa's Tabernacle Imagery in Its Jewish and Christian Contexts
Author: Ann Conway-Jones
Publisher: OUP Oxford
Total Pages: 321
Release: 2014-09-25
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 0191024600

Integrating patristics and early Jewish mysticism, this book examines Gregory of Nyssa's tabernacle imagery, as found in Life of Moses 2. 170-201. Previous scholarship has often focused on Gregory's interpretation of the darkness on Mount Sinai as divine incomprehensibility. However, true to Exodus, Gregory continues with Moses's vision of the tabernacle 'not made with hands' received within that darkness. This innovative methodology of heuristic comparison doesn't strive to prove influence, but to use heavenly ascent texts as a foil, in order to shed new light on Gregory's imagery. Ann Conway-Jones presents a well-rounded, nuanced understanding of Gregory's exegesis, in which mysticism, theology, and politics are intertwined. Heavenly ascent texts use descriptions of religious experience to claim authoritative knowledge. For Gregory, the high point of Moses's ascent into the darkness of Mount Sinai is the mystery of Christian doctrine. The heavenly tabernacle is a type of the heavenly Christ. This mystery is beyond intellectual comprehension, it can only be grasped by faith; and only the select few, destined for positions of responsibility, should even attempt to do so.

History and Identity in the Late Antique Near East

History and Identity in the Late Antique Near East
Author: Philip Wood
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
Total Pages: 262
Release: 2013-04-04
Genre: History
ISBN: 0199915407

This book examines the importance of the past, both real and imagined, in constructing contemporary culture in the period AD 500-1000. It goes beyond 'history-writing' in a narrow sense to examine philosophy, theology, liturgy and jurisprudence as vehicles for tradition and the imagination of a past 'golden age'. The papers straddle the Roman-Persian frontier and go well into the Islamic period: together, they push the boundaries of late antiquity' into the varied language traditions: not just Greek, but also Syriac, Armenian, Coptic and Arabic.

Classics in Progress

Classics in Progress
Author: T. P. Wiseman
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Total Pages: 476
Release: 2006-01-26
Genre: History
ISBN: 9780197263235

The study of Greco-Roman civilisation is as exciting and innovative today as it has ever been. This intriguing collection of essays by contemporary classicists reveals new discoveries, new interpretations and new ways of exploring the experiences of the ancient world. Through one and a half millennia of literature, politics, philosophy, law, religion and art, the classical world formed the origin of western culture and thought. This book emphasises the many ways in which it continues to engage with contemporary life. Offering a wide variety of authorial style, the chapters range in subject matter from contemporary poets' exploitation of Greek and Latin authors, via newly discovered literary texts and art works, to modern arguments about ancient democracy and slavery, and close readings of the great poets and philosophers of antiquity. This engaging book reflects the current rejuvenation of classical studies and will fascinate anyone with an interest in western history.

Historia

Historia
Author:
Publisher:
Total Pages: 548
Release: 1995
Genre: History, Ancient
ISBN:

Religious Identity in Late Antiquity

Religious Identity in Late Antiquity
Author: Elizabeth Digeser
Publisher: Edgar Kent
Total Pages: 304
Release: 2006-01-08
Genre: History
ISBN:

Explore the different aspects of religious identity as it evolved from the third century onward from multiple contributors and different methodological approaches.