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In'Der Ursprung der Reformation: Historische Studien'wird der Leser auf eine facettenreiche Reise durch die Ereignisse, Philosophien und literarischen Meisterwerke geführt, die zusammen den Komplex der Reformation in Europa ausmachen. Die Sammlung präsentiert eine breite Palette von Texten, die von theologiegeschichtlichen Untersuchungen bis hin zu detaillierten biographischen Skizzen führender Figuren der Epoche reichen. Diese vielschichtigen Beiträge, verfasst von namhaften Gelehrten und Schriftstellern wie Leopold von Ranke, Martin Luther und Stefan Zweig, erlauben es, die literarischen und historischen Strömungen dieser Umbruchszeit aus unterschiedlichen Blickwinkeln zu betrachten und die Bedeutung einzelner Persönlichkeiten für die damaligen gesellschaftlichen Wandlungsprozesse zu erfassen. Die Autoren und Herausgeber dieser Sammlung, allesamt tief verwurzelt in den geistigen Traditionen ihrer Zeit, haben durch ihre Arbeiten maßgeblich zum Verständnis der Reformation und ihrer Auswirkungen auf die europäische Kultur und Geschichte beigetragen. Ihre Texte spiegeln nicht nur die vielfältigen historischen und kulturellen Kontexte, in denen sie entstanden sind, sondern auch die persönlichen Überzeugungen und das intellektuelle Engagement der Verfasser.'Der Ursprung der Reformation: Historische Studien'ist daher nicht nur eine Anthologie im herkömmlichen Sinn, sondern auch ein Zeugnis der Auseinandersetzung mit einem der prägenden Ereignisse der europäischen Geschichte. Diese Sammlung ist für jeden Leser unverzichtbar, der ein tieferes Verständnis für die Reformation und ihre nachhaltige Wirkung auf die Welt von heute erlangen möchte. Sie bietet eine einzigartige Gelegenheit, sich mit den vielfältigen Ansichten und Interpretationen zu befassen, die in den Werken der Autoren zum Ausdruck kommen, und fordert zum Nachdenken und weiteren Forschen auf. Die Lektüre ist somit nicht nur eine Bildungsreise, sondern auch eine Inspiration, die zum Dialog zwischen den Zeilen einlädt.

Frühe Handschriften bezeugen Ambrosius als den Verfasser der in fünf Bücher umgestalteten lateinischen Version der ‘Geschichte des Jüdischen Krieges gegen die Römer', die Flavius Josephus in sieben Büchern griechisch vorgegebenen hatte. Diese Zuschreibung des seit ca. 830 meist unter dem Pseudonym ‘Hegesippus'laufenden Werkes wird in dieser Studie u. a. durch Rekurs auf Prosarhythmus, Partikelgebrauch, idiomatische Wortkombination, ferner auf Nutzung und Fortentwicklung von Klassikerzitaten (gemessen an Aelius Donat und Arusianus Messius) gegen die heutige communis opinio gesichert, die Entstehung (im pannonischen Sirmium) auf die Jahre 367–372 eingegrenzt. Der zweite Teil beleuchtet historiographische Technik und Geschichtsdeutung des frühen Ambrosius, seine Entmythisierung des priesterlichen Propheten, Feldherrn und Geschichtsschreibers Josephus, dessen fiktionale Selbststilisierung zum gottgesandten Künder der Zukunft Vespasians er systematisch aus seiner Darstellung verbannt. Detaillierte Analysen erläutern die neue Werkstruktur, ihre an den'klassischen'Geschichtsdarstellern Sallust, Livius, Tacitus und Sueton orientierte literarische Form mit ausgeprägtem vergilischen und sallustischen Kolorit und die spezifisch ambrosianische Sicht auf die römischen Feldherrn und Kaiser von Pompeius und Julius Caesar bis zu Titus und Domitian. Über allem aber steht das Bild des christlichen Interpreten biblischer, vor allem alttestamentlicher Schriften, der die Kritik des Josephus an seinen von der Tradition der Väter abgewichenen Stammesgenossen schon vor dem Bischofsamt zur antijüdischen Polemik zuspitzt und in Anlehnung an Origenes und Eusebius ein Geschichtskonzept entwickelt, in dem die jüdisch-messianische Heilserwartung durch das Erscheinen Christi überholt worden ist.

This history of early Christian creeds contains an up-to-date account of their origin and development from the credal texts in the New Testament to the fully fledged classical formulae of the 4th century. It includes the creeds'use and alteration in subsequent periods until the time of Charlemagne and the beginnings of the filioque controversy. In addition, the author provides a scholarly commentary on the most common ancient confessions: the Nicene Creed and the Apostles'Creed. Going beyond previous studies, the book contains chapters dedicated to the use of creeds in law, art, music, everyday life and even magic. Recently discovered source texts, such as a new Ethiopic version of the Roman Creed and a short recension of the Creed of Nicaea-Constantinople, receive extensive treatment. Credal developments in the eastern churches beyond the borders of the Roman Empire complete this comprehensive overview. This volume is intended both as a textbook for advanced students of theology and cognate disciplines and as a reference book on the creeds in a wide range of contexts. All source texts are accompanied by modern English translations. Winner of the Alberigo Award 2024 awarded by the European Academy of Religion.

This book presents an original perspective on the variety and intensity of biblical narrative and rhetoric in the evolution of history writing in León-Castile during the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. It focuses on six Hispano-Latin chronicles, two of which make unusually overt and emphatic use of biblical texts. Of particular importance is the part played by the influence of exegesis that became integral to scriptural and liturgical influence, both in and beyond monastic institutions.Alun Williams provides close analysis of the text and comparisons with biblical typology to demonstrate how these historians from the north of Iberia were variously dependent on a growing corpus of patristic and early medieval interpretation to understand and define their world and their sense of place.Narrative, Piety and Polemic in Medieval Spain sees Williams examine this material as part of a comparative exploration of language and religious allusion, showing how the authors used these biblical-liturgical elements to convey historical context, purpose and interpretation.

Die Forschungen von K. Holl (1896 und 1899) und M. Richard (1962 und 1976) haben gezeigt, dass die von M. Lequien 1712 (PG 95–96) publizierten Sacra Parallela nur Auszüge eines sehr viel umfangreicheren, in drei Bücher unterteilten Florilegs sind, das in seiner ursprünglichen Form verloren ist, aber mit Hilfe der aus ihm abgeleiteten Florilegien einigermaßen rekonstruiert werden kann. Spätestens seit dem 10. Jh. wurden die Sacra Johannes von Damaskos zugeschrieben, wohl zu Unrecht, da gute Gründe für eine Datierung des Werkes in das erste Viertel des 7. Jh.s sprechen. Das erste Buch ist Gott gewidmet.

The first historical account of the dramatic growth of Christianity in Western Tanzania during the twentieth century and of the role of former slaves in this process.Examining the intersection of post-slavery and evangelism, this book shows the ways that former slaves from a variety of linguistic and cultural backgrounds came together to create new communities in the Christian missions of western Tanzania. It shows how converts adapted to Christianity and, at the same time, shaped it through their translations of the Bible and other religious texts into the Kinyamwezi language, integrating concepts from their own cultures and experiences of slavery. Working as teachers, pastors, and catechists, former slaves and their descendants laid the basis for the growth of African Christianity in the region, and the book pays particular attention to women's agency in creating spaces for negotiating kinship ties and mutual relations with the wider communities. It also delves into the range of missionary sources to show the experience of lay Christians who opposed religious authority in Catholic and Moravian missions, examining the division caused by catechists'demands for equality of status, recognition, and appropriate pay in the context of ujamaa and the turmoil brought about by the revival movement. Through narratives of religious experience from multiple missions and village outstations, the book shows how former slaves created a Kinyamwezi-speaking Christian culture, taking inspiration both from European missionaries and neighbouring African villagers, and became part of evolving rural communities in the inter-war period, enabling their descendants to achieve a significant degree of social mobility.

The first American commentary on all books of the Old and New Testaments, Cotton Mather's Biblia Americana (1693-1728) is a unique record of how European Enlightenment criticism (Newtonianism, Cartesianism, philosophical materialism, Spinozism, cultural historicism) of the Bible impacted Reformed theology and biblical hermeneutics in colonial New England before the American Revolution. Biblia Americana contains more than 3,000,000 words and represents Mather's collective thoughts on all manner of issues, from the Mosaic creation account to the Second Coming and Judgment Day. In Volume 2 (Exodus - Deuteronomy), Mather harmonizes miracles with natural philosophy, Israelite uniqueness with cultural archaeology, and textual variants and authenticity with up-to-date philological criticism. Particularly noteworthy is his comparative approach to Israelite rituals and iconography with those of their Egyptian and Canaanite neighbors, and the transmission of religious ideas from Egypt to Greece and Rome. He was fully vested in virtually every theological and scientific debate of his age, perhaps the last American of his generation to possess such all-encompassing knowledge. This never-before-published document demonstrates that Mather fully participated in the European debate as he disseminated his new ideas from his Boston pulpit and in his numerous publications.

Wie sehr unser Alltag auf Konsensen der unterschiedlichsten Art beruht, merkt man immer dann, wenn diese implizit oder explizit aufgekündigt werden. Damit verbunden ist eine Begriffs- und Theoriegeschichte, der sich die Beiträge dieses Bandes aus interdisziplinärer Perspektive widmen. Gegenstand ist der zentrale Beitrag eines vielsprachigen und multikulturellen Jahrtausends, das wir gewöhnlich Mittelalter nennen. Im Mittelpunkt der Begriffsarchäologie in historischer und systematischer Absicht steht der Begriff „consensus', der auch in gegenwärtigen Debatten eine beachtliche Konjunktur besitzt. Ein Konsens beruht auf einer in vernünftiger Rede konstituierten Gemeinsamkeit. Die ihm zugrundeliegende Übereinstimmung ist jedoch von der Art der gut begründeten, anerkannten Meinungen, nicht von der Art der Beweise. Im Unterschied zur Zustimmung aus rein theoretischen Gründen tritt beim consensus zur Einsicht in die Gründe ein Moment willensmäßiger Zustimmung hinzu. Zugespitzt gesagt: Ein Konsens muss auch gewollt sein. Wie aber kommt ein Konsens zustande und was geschieht, wenn er aufgekündigt wird? Der historische Blick zeigt uns wie in einem Laboratorium die zentrale Idee wie auch die Perspektivenvielfalt der Konsensthematik.

Prophetic and apocalyptic rhetoric play critical roles in the development and articulation of political authority in the reigns of Charlemagne (d. 814) and Louis the Pious (d. 840). The rhetorical authority derived from claims of receiving revelation, interpreting divine communication, speaking for God, and foreseeing calamities became a competitive medium through which individuals legitimized political behaviour, debated their long- and short-term aspirations, and struggled for political supremacy. Ranging from claims of revelations, dreams, and visions, to the adoption of rhetorical voices based on biblical prophets, to the interpretation of signs and portents, prophetic rhetoric enjoyed extensive experimentation and varied application throughout early medieval political discourse.Prophecy and Politics in the Early Carolingian World argues that claims of divine revelation, resistant to any attempts to monopolize them, provided a powerful means of speaking with authority for all participants in Frankish political discourse. This authority proved instrumental in the articulation and dismantling of effective Carolingian royal authority from 768 to 840. The volume introduces and reinterprets early Carolingian political discourse and intellectual activity, as well as the centrality of apocalypticism in the Carolingian period, by emphasizing prophecy, or revelation and authority, rather than prediction and calamity.Early Carolingian political discourse was a dialogue that took place across royal proclamations, legal statements, historical texts, visions, scriptural commentaries, and manifestations of the natural world, and in this dialogue, the ability to interpret God's will was as powerful as it was problematic.

Die Anthologie'Geschichte der Reformation: Wesentliche Werke'vereinigt eine eindrucksvolle Zusammenstellung von Texten, die sich dem epochalen Umbruch der Reformation widmen. Mit Werken von Leopold von Ranke, Martin Luther, Ricarda Huch, Stefan Zweig, Philipp Melanchthon, Albrecht Thoma und Julius Kostliin, bietet der Band eine beeindruckende Bandbreite literarischer Stile und Perspektiven. Die Sammlung illustriert nicht nur die theologischen und politischen Dimensionen der Reformation, sondern beleuchtet auch deren tiefgreifende kulturelle und soziale Auswirkungen, wodurch sie in den literarischen Kanon eingebettet wird. Die Autoren, allesamt Schlüsselfiguren in der Geschichtsschreibung oder Zeitzeugen der Reformation, bringen ein reiches Spektrum an Hintergründen und Expertisen ein. Ihre Werke spiegeln die vielfältigen Stimmen und Kontroversen dieser Umbruchszeit wider und formen zusammen ein vielschichtiges Bild der Ereignisse, das die historische Bedeutung und die langanhaltenden Auswirkungen der Reformation aufzeigt. Diese divergierenden Perspektiven ermöglichen es den Lesern, ein tiefgreifendes Verständnis der Komplexität und Tragweite dieses historischen Moments zu entwickeln.'Geschichte der Reformation: Wesentliche Werke'ist für jeden Leser, der sich für Geschichte, Theologie und die Kunst der Geschichtsschreibung interessiert, eine unverzichtbare Ressource. Die Sammlung bietet die seltene Gelegenheit, ein facettenreiches Bild der Reformation durch die Augen einiger ihrer bedeutendsten Chronisten und Protagonisten zu betrachten. Leser werden eingeladen, sich auf eine tiefgründige Erkundung einzulassen, die nicht nur Bildungswert besitzt, sondern auch zu weiterem Nachdenken und Dialog über dieses prägende Ereignis der europäischen Geschichte anregt.

The first part of this work describes the development of Reformed Worship from 1500-1542. The story begins with liturgical reforms of the Christian Humanists in Alsace, continues through the establishment of the first Protestant worship services in the Swiss cities of Zurich and Basel, joins with the currents of French evangelical thought flowing from Meaux, and finally reaches Geneva with the publication of Calvin's first psalter. Reformed worship is presented as the fruit of an inner-church liturgical renewal movement begun well before the Reformation which was then cultivated by the Rhineland Protestant Reformers. In order that we might be clear about how patristic literature affected this process, we turn next to discover what the Reformers knew about the church fathers. We show evidence of the impressive patristic knowledge of such men as Zwingli, Brucer, Hedio, Oecolampadius, and Calvin. An extensive bibliography of patristic editions known and used by the Reformers concludes the second part of the book. Finally we analyze each element of Reformed worship to show its development and to indicate its scriptural and particularly its patristic roots. The Prayer of Confession, the Prayer of Intercession, the Communion Invocation, and the Benediction are studied to show their liturgical purpose. How the Reformers understood their use of the lectionary, the sermon, psalmody, and hymnody is presented in the light of their understanding of the practice of the ancient church.

Progress is a structural and systematic concept in the thought of Origen of Alexandria, which represents one of the most advanced syntheses of the Christian reading of the Old and the New Testaments'legacy and the classical paideia, as well as a rational critique towards every kind of static objectification of the religious. Origen's legacy was capable of radiating its influence through Western theology and philosophy, thus shaping its idea of theological, moral, intellectual, social and political progress. The volume follows the intellectual dynamism generated by the reception of Origen's thought through seventeen articles, which span through the centuries, from the analysis of Origen's thought to its reception history in the Middle Ages, the Renaissance, and the Modern Age, up until the 20th century.

No longer a mere finding aid, the Repertorium Germanicum has become a complex register volume on church and curia history that, together with the sub-project Repertorium Poenitentiariae Germanicum, aims to meet ever increasing demands. This volume addresses new questions to both repertories.

Während die Hauptwerke des Aufklärungstheologen Johann Joachim Spalding zu ihrer Zeit breit rezipiert wurden und heute wieder zunehmend Beachtung erfahren, blieben dessen kleinere Schriften vergleichsweise unbekannt. Deren erstmalige, vollständige Neuedition schließt daher eine empfindliche Lücke der theologie-, philosophie- und literaturhistorischen Aufklärungsforschung: Über eine Zeitspanne von 60 Jahren - von der theologischen Disputation'De calumnia Juliani Apostatae'(1735) bis zu dem späten Essay'Von dem Wesentlichen der Religion'(1794) - geben sie zu erkennen, wie kontinuierlich und organisch sich das Denken Spaldings, dieses Patriarchen der Neologie und theologischen Bahnbrechers der Moderne, entfaltet hat. Insofern stellt der Band eine für das kirchen- und kulturgeschichtliche Verständnis der deutschen Aufklärung unverzichtbare Textwelt bereit. Eingehende Erläuterungen sowie ausführliche Namen-, Bibelstellen- und Sachregister erleichtern den sachdienlichen Gebrauch des Bandes. Mit ihm ist die Abteilung'Schriften'der Kritischen Spalding-Ausgabe innerhalb von sechs Jahren zu erfolgreichem Abschluß gelangt.

Die Arbeit befasst sich in auslegungsgeschichtlicher Perspektive mit der in der Frühen Neuzeit äußerst prominent in Erscheinung tretenden Motivik des Gnadenstuhls, der Deckelplatte der alttestamentlichen Bundeslade. Ausgehend von der in Röm 3,25 erblickten Identifikation des Gnadenstuhls mit Christus kam es zu einer facettenreichen Entfaltung der Thematik in den Medien und Konfessionen der Frühen Neuzeit. Die intertestamentarisch geprägte Gnadenstuhl-Motivik diente dabei nicht nur zur bloßen Illustration theologischer Zusammenhänge, sondern trug vielmehr zur produktiven Durchdringung und Weiterentwicklung basaler Themen wie etwa der Bildtheologie, der Heiligenverehrung, des Gebets, der Rechtfertigung und des Gottesdienstes bei. Gleichzeitig kam der Thematik eine zentrale Stellung in der zeitgenössischen praxis pietatis zu. Sowohl in binnen- als auch in interkonfessionellen Debatten verhalf der Bezug auf die Gnadenstuhl-Thematik dazu, Gemeinsamkeiten aufzuzeigen, Konsens herbeizuführen oder Dissens zu präzisieren. So prägt das Bild des Gnadenstuhls einerseits die transkonfessionelle Frömmigkeits- und Meditationstheologie und -praxis in der Frühen Neuzeit und führt andererseits konfessionsspezifische Zentralanliegen vor Augen.

The late antique and the early medieval periods witnessed the flourishing of bishops in the West as the main articulators of social life. This influential position exposed them to several threats, both political and religious. Researchers have generally addressed violence, rebellions or conflicts to study the dynamics related to secular powers during these periods. They haven't paid similar attention, however, to those analogous contexts that had bishops as protagonists. This book proposes an approach to bishops as threatened subjects in the late antique and early medieval West. In particular, the volume pursues three main goals. Firstly, it aims to identify the different types of threats that bishops had to deal with. Then it sets out to frame these situations of adversity in their own contexts. Finally, it will address the episcopal strategies deployed to deal with such contexts of adversity. In sum, we aim to underline the impact that these contexts had as a dynamiting factor of episcopal action. Thus the episcopal threats may become a useful approach to study the bishops'relationships with other agents of power, the motivations behind their actions and – last but not least – for understanding the episcopal rising power

This book explores the concept of religious Enlightenment in the Nordic countries during the long eighteenth century. It argues that Lutheran confessional culture became intertwined with Enlightenment ideas and practices in this European region. In the book's three parts, specialist historians explore themes central to students of the early modern era – historical writing, material culture, ecclesiastical and legal reform, censorship, cameralism and innovative medical practices. It offers a timely reconsideration of a complex period in European history from a northern perspective.

Der Tod eines Bischofs löste im spätmittelalterlichen Livland fast schon regelmäßig einen Wettlauf zwischen Domkapitel, stiftischer Ritterschaft, Deutschem Orden und päpstlicher Kurie aus. Die Monographie behandelt die Bildung, die sozialen Profile und die Vernetzung sämtlicher Geistlichen, die sich zwischen 1378 und 1561 mit oder ohne Erfolg um die mit der Landesherrschaft verbundenen Bischofsstühle von Dorpat, Ösel und Kurland bemühten.

'The History of Protestantism, which we propose to write, is no mere history of dogmas. The teachings of Christ are the seeds; the modern Christendom, with its new life, is the goodly tree which has sprung from them. We shall speak of the seed and then of the tree, so small at its beginning, but destined one day to cover the earth.'Content: Progress From the First to the Fourteenth Century Wicliffe and His Times, or Advent of Protestantism John Huss and the Hussite Wars Christendom at the Opening of the Sixteenth Century History of Protestantism in Germany to the Leipsic Disputation, 1519 From the Leipsic Disputation to the Diet at Worms, 1521. Protestantism in England, From the Times of Wicliffe to Those of Henry Viii. History of Protestantism in Switzerland Froma.d. 1516 to Its Establishment at Zurich, 1525. History of Protestantism From the Diet of Worms, 1521, to the Augsburg Confession, 1530. Rise and Establishment of Protestantism in Sweden and Denmark. Protestantism in Switzerland From Its Establishment in Zurich (1525) to the Death of Zwingli (1531) Protestantism in Germany From the Augsburg Confession to the Peace of Passau From Rise of Protestantism in France (1510) to Publication of the Institutes (1536) Rise and Establishment of Protestantism at Geneva. The Jesuits Protestantism in the Waldensian Valleys Protestantism in France From Death of Francis I (1547) to Edict of Nantes (1598) History of Protestantism in the Netherlands Protestantism in Poland and Bohemia Protestantism in Hungary and Transylvania The Thirty Years'War Protestantism in France From Death of Henry IV (1610) to the Revolution (1789) Protestantism in England From the Times of Henry VIII Protestantism in Scotland

Dalla chiesa della Madonna del Parto a Sutri alla Sainte-Chapelle di Parigi, dal santuario di Santiago di Compostela a quello francescano della Verna: in tutta Europa, dalla tarda antichità al Rinascimento, sono sorti migliaia di santuari. Luoghi di secolare pellegrinaggio e devozione popolare. André Vauchez, uno dei più autorevoli maestri della storia medievale, ci accompagna alla scoperta del loro significato. I santuari hanno cominciato a diffondersi a partire dal IV secolo grazie al successo in Occidente del culto dei santi. Grande, infatti, era l'afflusso di pellegrini desiderosi di ottenere guarigioni, di venerare reliquie e immagini sacre legate soprattutto alle apparizioni della Madonna e dell'arcangelo Michele. Questo rappresentava un paradosso per la religione cristiana, dal momento che il suo fondatore aveva rifiutato l'idea che esistessero dei luoghi privilegiati per rivolgersi a Dio. Ma le iniziative dei vescovi e la pressione dei fedeli smussarono presto questo riserbo. André Vauchez ricostruisce la storia della formazione di questi santuari e la loro crescita all'interno del mondo cristiano occidentale fra il IV e il XVI secolo. I più rinomati furono quelli di Gerusalemme – a cominciare dal Santo Sepolcro –, San Michele Arcangelo sul Gargano e in Normandia, San Martino di Tours e Rocamadour in Francia, Santiago di Compostela in Spagna e, negli ultimi secoli del Medioevo, San Francesco ad Assisi e della Madonna di Loreto in Italia. Insieme ad altri più modesti e meno noti, questi santuari formarono una rete densa di luoghi sacri che popolò l'Europa con forme nuove di sacralità. Un'ampia iconografia completa una ricerca così vasta e originale.

The Commentary on Matthew is one of Origen's works we can partially read in Greek language. Nonetheless, this Greek text doesn't reproduce Origen's work in its original form but in a later abridgement. The shortened nature of the Greek text is demonstrated thanks to a close comparison with fragments from exegetical catenae (cap. 1) and with an anonymous Latin translation (cap. 2). Particular attention is devoted to a 5th-century palimpsest fragments of the unabridged Commentary (cap. 4). The previous editor of the Commentary tried to restore the original form Greek text by mean of large number of conjectures mainly based on the Latin translation. His results weren't anyway satisfactory. In this volume the autonomy of the Greek abridgement is reestablished: a sample of this enterprise is offered in the new critical edition of books 12 and 13. This volume offers a comprehensive study of the manuscript tradition of the Commentary on Matthew (cap. 5) and takes into consideration the general process of reduction undergone by Origen's sometimes verbose production.

While both regular canons and monasticism with its development into different orders have reached a roughly even level of coverage in research, the history of secular canons is a field which has hitherto been far less in focus of historian scholarship. This might be due to the fact that they did not form orders or congregations offering a systematic approach to their institutions. Hence the pieces of research carried out so far mostly deal with a single cathedral or collegiate chapter and do not expand on the phenomenon in general. Likewise, the present publication may not give a comprehensive survey but yet takes a comparative approach by regarding the establishment of secular canons in a European longitudinal section from the Polar Circle to Southern Italy. In this course, both cathedral and collegiate chapters in Scandinavian, German, Polish and Italian territories and the respective career paths canons took into them will be considered. In this course, the essays take only some brief recourses to the early middle ages, when canons maintained a cloistered vita communis, but rather turn their view to those centuries in the high and later middle ages up to reformation times, when the chapters reached their full implementation. The essays collected in this volume base on a session series held at the International Medieval Congress 2018 in Leeds. The contributors are renowned historians in this field: Antonio Antonetti (Caserta), Anna Minara Ciardi (Stockholm), Emanuele Curzel (Trento), Sigrun Høgetveit Berg (Tromsø), Jochen Johrendt (Wuppertal), Anna Kowalska-Pietrzak (Łódź), Arnold Otto (Nürnberg), Kirsi Salonen (Turku), Jörg Wunschhofer (Beckum).

This book explores the invention, significance and actual history of self-creative freedom from Late Antiquity to the Renaissance.Gregory of Nyssa, the great Cappadocian Father of the IV century, is not as yet deemed one of the outstanding figures in our Histories of Philosophy. However, this monograph argues that his remarkable theories of freedom transcend his own time and, traversing centuries of Medieval and Byzantine history, they become one of the core theoretical inspirations for the anthropological revolution of the Quattrocento, as evinced in eminent philosophers such as Nicholas of Cusa and Giovanni Pico della Mirandola. Our research methodology integrates a thorough study of the Greek and Latin sources ‒ resorting to Philology, Palaeography and Codicology ‒ with a systematic historical and philosophical analysis of different theories and argumentative strategies.

In the eighth century, the Byzantine Empire began a campaign to remove or suppress sacred images that depicted Christ, the Virgin, or other holy figures, whether in paintings, mosaics, murals, or other media. In some cases, the campaign extended to breaking or wrecking images through what became known as iconoclasm. Over the following years, the emperors'zealous movement involved other acts that closely foreshadowed the Reformation movement that would sweep Western Europe in the sixteenth century. Like that later Reformation, iconoclasm marked an authentic revolution in religious sensibility, with all that implied for theology, culture, and visual perceptions of holiness. This was a pivotal moment in the definition of Christianity and its relationship to the material creation. It was also a time of critical encounters with the other Abrahamic religions of Judaism and Islam.With A Storm of Images, Philip Jenkins offers a compelling retelling of the saga of how the iconoclastic movement detonated ferocious controversy within the church and secular society as icon supporters challenged the image breakers. Decades of internal struggle followed, marked by rebellions and civil wars, purges and persecutions, plotting and coups d'état. After their cause triumphed, image supporters made the cult of icons ever more central to the faith of Orthodox Christianity. Iconoclasm marked a watershed in the history of Late Antiquity and the Early Middle Ages, and it contributed to Western attempts to establish new empires.The questions raised during these struggles are all the more relevant at a time when such controversy rages over public depictions of history and the removal of statues, monuments, and names associated with hated figures. As in those earlier times, debates over images serve as vehicles for authentic cultural revolutions.

A range of apocryphal and pseudepigraphic texts from Late Antiquity points to the importance of Sunday as a holiday for baptized Christians. First and foremost is the so-called Letter from Heaven, which has experienced a broad and long-lasting reception up to modern times, although it was also criticized as a forgery from its beginning. Unfortunately, these texts have not received sufficient attention so far.This volume presents various versions of the Letter from Heaven, as well as other texts (the pseudepigraphic Acts of the Synod of Caesarea; pseudepigraphic sermons of Eusebius of Alexandria, John Chrysostom, and Basil of Caesarea; passages from the Didascalia or Diataxis of Jesus Christ; the Second Apocryphal Apocalypse of John; the Visio Pauli; a sermon of Sophronius of Jerusalem; and the Apocalypse of Anastasia), together with a translation and commentary. An introduction tells the story of this letter and integrates it and the other texts into the cultural history of Sunday. It becomes clear that Sunday as a day of rest and a feast day was not in the foreground of the development of an ecclesiastical festival calendar for a long time, although Emperor Constantine enacted a law on holiday rest on Sunday in 321 CE. Sunday, rather, marks the end of the Christianization of time and the calendar, when Easter, Pentecost, Christmas, and martyrs'feasts were already taken for granted. The authors of these texts obviously wanted to accelerate this process, which is why an anonymous person even resorted to presenting Christ himself as the author of this letter. Here, severe punishments are threatened to all who do not observe Sunday, who work as if it were a weekday, and who skip worship. The broad tradition shows that the letter was read and distributed despite all the criticism, and was even turned into an early form of a chain letter.

A holistic, eye-opening history of one of the most significant turning points in Christianity, The Reformation as Renewal demonstrates that the Reformation was at its core a renewal of evangelical catholicity.In the sixteenth century Rome charged the Reformers with novelty, as if they were heretics departing from the catholic (universal) church. But the Reformers believed they were more catholic than Rome. Distinguishing themselves from Radicals, the Reformers were convinced they were retrieving the faith of the church fathers and the best of the medieval Scholastics. The Reformers saw themselves as faithful stewards of the one, holy, catholic, and apostolic church preserved across history, and they insisted on a restoration of true worship in their own day.By listening to the Reformers'own voices, The Reformation as Renewal helps readers explore:The Reformation's roots in patristic and medieval thought and its response to late medieval innovations.Key philosophical and theological differences between Scholasticism in the High Middle Ages and deviations in the Late Middle Ages.The many ways sixteenth and seventeenth century Protestant Scholastics critically appropriated Thomas Aquinas.The Reformation's response to the charge of novelty by an appeal to the Augustinian tradition.Common caricatures that charge the Reformation with schism or assume the Reformation was the gateway to secularism.The spread of Reformation catholicity across Europe, as seen in first and second-generation leaders from Luther and Melanchthon in Wittenberg to Zwingli and Bullinger in Zurich to Bucer and Calvin in Strasbourg and Geneva to Tyndale, Cranmer, and Jewel in England, and many others.The theology of the Reformers, with special attention on their writings defending the catholicity of the Reformation. This balanced, insightful, and accessible treatment of the Reformation will help readers see this watershed moment in the history of Christianity with fresh eyes and appreciate the unity they have with the church across time. Readers will discover that the Reformation was not a new invention, but the renewal of something very old.