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They [Covenant Fellowship Church] recently installed a new member of the OB board by membership vote. You might think this was a step in the right direction, but this newest OB member has said, 'if Min Chung had an adulterous affair and fathered an illegitimate child, I would still follow him because he is anointed by God.' Great... 'elders' who are blindly loyal to the pastors. Sounds like the perfect person to help Min Chung squirrel his way back to the pulpit. (1) They [the Korean Central Presbytery] determined that Chung was guilty but has done enough for restoration to ministry. They also ruled that the period when Chung wasn't preaching at CFC was enough discipline for his sin. 'Regarding recovery, the pastor reconciled with his victim, and regarding his relationship with God, he recognized his sin before God and relies on the blood of Christ,' Rev. Sungwoo Nam, KCP clerk, said in a statement. 'We judge that his relationship with God is restored as we consider the grace of God. We remind him to abide by the BCO (Book of Church Order), and we believe that he should return to ministry.' (2), As the above illustrations show, Min Joshua Chung remains an ordained pastor today, keeping his clerical credentials within the Presbyterian Church in America. In what ways could someone who was [...]

Against the background of contemporary debates about the Anthropocene and the attendant danger of global warming and climate change, which is causally linked to the unchecked exploitation of the earth by humans, narratives which embody an earth-centric scientia sacra become tools of advocacy for the 'resacralization' of the earth. This paper explores three South Asian river narratives that offer a blueprint for mindfully inhabiting the earth under the shadow of the Anthropocene. Calling for a participatory relationship with the holiness of water, they challenge the construction of water in a rapidly globalizing, uneven society shaped by a colonial hydrology in which the ecological relationship between land and water is out of balance. Drawing attention to the multiple ways in which the human and non-human world are enmeshed in the Anthropocene, these narratives engage with environmental justice concerns and challenge the hierarchy or perspectives and worldviews regarding accepted notions of subalternity. These texts construct a triptych suggesting an embedded ecotheology of the material and the spiritual, thereby sensitising the reader to the endangered waterscapes of the Anthropocene and also to the promise of the Symbiocene through an awareness of the fluid relational field that we share with the greater-than-human world. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article analyzes András Visky’s collection of plays titled A test történetei (Stories of the Body), examining the interplay between the sacred and the profane within the plays, with particular attention to how the divine is perceived in relation to the traumatized human body. Visky’s texts portray individuals such as Caravaggio and St. Teresa, who experience encounters with the sacred amidst profound suffering. The article highlights that holiness in the characters’ life is not about purity but about engaging with the realities of the world. The author explores the themes of holiness and profanity in Visky’s works, particularly how the numinous or sacred is manifested through human suffering and trauma. She draws attention to the forms of artistic representation of trauma, open dramaturgy, and the characteristic features of Visky’s plays. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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This essay offers a theological reflection on sanctification and holiness within the Pentecostal tradition, while presenting the argument that a Pentecostal understanding of holiness best proceeds by viewing it as the means and goal of participation in God's life. Holiness is understood as the sum total of divine perfection, being eternally realized through the dynamic triune communion of loving relationality. As the plenitude of divine perfection, holiness expresses an ontology. Glory is the radiance of holiness while righteousness and justice are the enactment of holiness. Rather than confining holiness to the doctrine of sanctification, then, it should be understood as the divine purpose for creation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this essay, the author discusses some of the key aspects of the Eastern Orthodox understanding of holiness and holy persons. He highlights humanity's vocation and destiny in theosis , Orthodox hagiology and the process of canonization, as well as iconography's role in the discernment of holiness and holy persons. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article explores the Puritans' perspective on the divine call to pastoral ministry. The Puritans believed that only those who were truly called by God should enter this sacred office. They emphasized the importance of a holy life and Spirit-bestowed gifts as qualifications for ministry. The article also discusses the qualities and characteristics that a minister should possess, including love, care, tenderness, prayerfulness, and compassion. The Puritans believed that the call to ministry should be motivated by love for God and a desire to serve others, rather than selfish motives. They also emphasized the importance of prayer and discernment in identifying and affirming potential ministers. [Extracted from the article]

Abstract: This essay addresses the relationship between Kierkegaard and natural law afresh. First, I exposit Thomas's natural law doctrine in the Summa, particularly its theological emphasis on the God‐human relationship, which often goes underappreciated. Then, I argue that natural law doctrine downstream from Thomas suffers from an acute vulnerability: its natural aspect is emphasised so much that the divine‐human relationship at the heart of natural law falls away. Next, I argue Problema II of Fear and Trembling deals with this same issue and theologically criticises ethics' secularising tendency. I then argue that Fear and Trembling and other writings of Kierkegaard's corpus claim a universal law similar to Thomas's doctrine: each individual must relate absolutely to God. Thereby, Kierkegaard transforms natural law from a general norm prone to secularisation into a gift and theological task for everyone, grounding the possibility of ethics in the divine‐human relationship. For regular dogmatic purposes, I suggest this shifts natural law to the doctrines of justification and sanctification. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

After the Second World War, U.S. Catholics invented what this article identifies as “exceptional religion.” This invention entailed two interrelated projects: 1) efforts to prepare people with cognitive disabilities for First Communion and 2) efforts to represent such persons as uniquely powerful spiritual beings within broader economies of the sacred. Exploring the postwar emergence of new catechetical materials aimed at so-called “exceptional children” and depictions of people with cognitive disabilities in various Catholic media, this article demonstrates the importance of these forms of difference to the making and re-making of U.S. Catholicism in a wider moment of social change. The end of the essay turns to interrogate the impacts of this invention on the lives of the persons it identified and those close to them. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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The field of Patristics, or early Christian and Mediaeval Studies, traditionally works along the lines of historical and literary criticism. But this method is not always useful, especially when it comes to complex objects and circumstances. No wonder the current trend of replacing it, more often than not, by interdisciplinary frameworks. The article begins accordingly by reviewing three interdisciplinary frameworks, namely, the "socio-historical method", "Deep Time", and archaeological theorist Roland Fletcher's "transitions", highlighting their suitability for a comprehensive approach to Patristic cosmology. Here, cosmology should not be taken in the narrow sense of contemporary science. It means both a way of representing reality—a worldview—and a way of inhabiting the world. The present article analyses the evolution of the early Christian and mediaeval perception of the environment and the cosmos in Greek sources, pointing to successive transitions from apprehension (cosmophobia) to a keen interest in understanding nature to the thought that holiness represents a universe-(re)making agency. It addresses relevant historical and social circumstances, but proposes that the above transitions were triggered by internal or existential factors as well, and not only external, thus complementing Fletcher's outline, which focuses upon external catalysts, such as economy and technology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the Catholic Church, the Ecclésial Movements and the New Communities are a plural reality. They form a mosaic of charisms, with distinct and complementary emphases: conversion and fraternity, works of mercy and human promotion, charismatic and sacramental renewal, ecumenical spirituality, and unity of Christians. The purpose of this article is to analyze the II Vatican Council's understanding of the lay charism and its emphasis in the later magisterium, considering the Movements and the Communities from the perspective of the baptismal vocation to holiness and apostolate. The theological and ecclesial elements underlined affirm the mission of the laity in the Church-communion (II Vatican Council), with their charisms open to the signs of the times (Paul VI), based on their own spirituality and discipline in view of the apostolate (John Paul II and Benedict XVI), and the recent call to the outgoing mission (Pope Francis). The analysis concludes that lay men and women (or laity) evangelize by virtue of baptism, according to the secular character of their vocation in the world; and assesses each pontiff's emphasis on lay leadership in times of missionary reform of the Church. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research examines Catholic families towards the perfection of holiness: challenges, management, and pastoral care. A Catholic family is a family based on Catholic marriage. The Catholic family itself is referred to as the ecclesia domestica or household church which has a special place in the Catholic Church. This research uses the literature study method. Literature study is research that focuses on searching and deepening supporting literature. Library sources are taken from Church documents that talk about the family and also other sources that support this research. The research results show that Catholic families face external and internal challenges. Therefore, the need to strengthen the foundation of the family in the environment and within the family itself is important in order to realize environment-based pastoral services, as is the pastoral focus of the Diocese of Surabaya. Researchers propose a family catechesis program which aims to build understanding, awareness and concrete action for families towards perfect holiness. This catechesis takes the form of a life catechesis that prioritizes everyday experiences interpreted in the light of the Gospel. This form or method of catechesis is carried out through family recollection in the environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article explores the role of sacred spaces in peacebuilding efforts in Cyprus, specifically focusing on the Orthodox Christian perspective. It emphasizes the importance of understanding and respecting the Orthodox belief in the permanence and sacredness of consecrated churches and monasteries. The article also discusses the potential for peacebuilding through the restoration of lost churches, although it acknowledges that this alone cannot solve the Cyprus problem. It highlights the need for better communication, education, and mutual respect between different religious and cultural perspectives in order to foster peace and reconciliation. [Extracted from the article]

The article explores the portrayal of the role of iconography and religious art in the life of Franz Jägerstätter in the film "A Hidden Life," directed by Terrence Malick. It highlights the form of life that Christian images and art present in light of the crucifixion of Christ on the holy cross according to Thomas Aquinas. It shows how the life of Franz as depicted in the movie illuminates the ways in which Christian images can influence the journey of a person toward holiness.

This article seeks to read Wesley through the lens of Mercy Amba Oduyoye, reimagining the Wesleyan understanding of holiness in terms of Oduyoye's understanding of wholeness. It concludes with a constructive proposal for rethinking what holiness could or should look like given the rise of cultural context as a theological authority. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Preaching provides a nourishment that both satisfies and creates hunger. The church is a place of preaching, as well as a subject, an object, and a recipient of preaching. In the multidimensional ecclesial–homiletical relationship, proclamation affirms and enhances ecclesial identity, ponders and interprets the received word of the sacred scriptures, offers challenge and consolation, inspires missionary and cultural extension, celebrates holiness, and proclaims temporal and eschatological hope. These six characteristics offer a lens for homiletical exploration and evaluation. The sermons of Óscar Romero, the martyred Archbishop of San Salvador, provided critical nourishment for the people of his country and beyond. This article provides a brief overview of the biographical, pastoral, and theological details of Romero's life. It then places the six characteristics of the ecclesial–homiletical relationship as a pulpit canopy over a selection of his sermons, revealing the abundant homiletical feast for the church. The preaching ministry of this shepherd nourished his flock through effective and creative engagement with scriptural, magisterial, theological, political, and cultural sources. Óscar Romero shines as an exemplar of homiletical proclamation for ecclesial nourishment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article explores the popular spirituality of laymen and laywomen in England's early Moravian movement. Specifically, the article proposes that British Moravians participated in a deeply "body-centered religion." Many scholars have portrayed English Moravian piety in far different terms, especially when discussing the "stillness controversy" that fractured the Methodist-Moravian revivalist coalition in 1740. Unlike "noisy" Wesleyans and Whitefieldians, the thinking goes, English Moravians nurtured an interior form of awakened Protestantism that was "quiet," "still," "meditative," "self-abasing," and "reflective." By contrast, this article joins the efforts of other emerging scholarship to retrieve the corporeality of Anglo-Moravianism. The author argues that adopting stillness and avoiding the Methodists' "noise and shew of outward holiness" did not disembody Moravian piety—it necessarily fashioned believers' bodies into critical sites of Moravian religious formation and subjective spiritual knowledge. The men and women following Nikolaus Ludwig von Zinzendorf's call to "do nothing but quietly attend the Voice of the Lord" did not suddenly transcend the material world. With stilled flesh and quieted tongues, the physical bodies of Anglo-Brethren recognized, received, and related "a feeling of Grace in my hart." [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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This article critically examines how African neo-Pentecostal prophets (ANPPs) address the pervasive issues of uncertainty and hopelessness in South Africa through controversial prophetic practices that challenge conventional notions of divine holiness. In light of South Africa’s persistent state of uncertainty, despite its status as one of the most progressive countries in Africa, do ANPPs inspire and support actions that can transform this adverse context into a positive and sustainable one? The question is addressed by first describing how South Africa remains a context of uncertainty, even though it is one of the most progressive countries in Africa. The article then discusses the pivotal role of ‘holiness’ in fostering sustainable social transformation. Thereafter, it examines the ANPPs’ attempts to transform the context of uncertainty and hopelessness in the country, analysing how the perceived unholiness in their activities obstructs sustainability in these efforts. Finally, the article concludes by affirming the importance of holiness in the quest for sustainable social transformation in South Africa. Intradisciplinary and/or interdisciplinary implications: The article combines frameworks from sustainable development and systematic theology to call ANPPs to reform their religious practices in alignment with God’s holiness, in order to make meaningful contributions to the contemporary quest for sustainable transformation and development in South Africa.

This article is written by a descendant of enslaved Africans and explores the theological significance of Black bodies. Black bodies have been commodified, controlled and coerced by White hegemony, often lacking agency and self-determination. Using personal experience and contextual analysis, this article, drawing on Black theology inspired reflections, argues that we need to rethink how we conceive of Black bodies ethically, if Black lives are to really matter. The rehabilitation of Black bodies is achieved through a theological reappraisal of holiness and sacraments, underpinned by an embodied pneumatology, in which Black bodies are shown to be sacramental and worthy of mattering in a world underpinned by White supremacy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines the earthly journey of the saints in early Jewish and Daoist hagiographies. The major texts for comparative reading are Sefer Shivchei Ha-Ar"i and Shenxian Zhuan, namely, the foundation stones of each hagiographical tradition. Emphasis is laid on the most significant phases in the process of making saints while the candidates dwell in the worldly domain as quasi-divine beings: (1) Mystical Birth, (2) Life in Seclusion, and (3) Divine Encounters. During these stages of transition, the sages were imparted with the esoteric wisdom and the godly features that rendered them extraordinary exemplars of religiosity. My investigation demonstrates that this recipe is shared by both hagiographical traditions, despite the distance in time and space, to construct the image of saints, each expressed with culturally distinct characteristics of their own. I argue that both traditions display a pattern of human-centered sainthood instead of the divine-endorsed type—while the birth myth shows a discernible degree of predestined sagehood, painstaking periods, such as self-isolation and learning with the true masters, are more crucial to the sages' transformation of identity in the realm of Earth, the dynamic incubator that breeds holiness for the most qualified souls. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article, the research carried out on the call to holiness in the formation of future diocesan priests will be offered, from the current context of synodality and the writings of Blessed Manuel Domingo y Sol, proposing that the theme be assumed as part of the training style of the Fraternity of Diocesan Labourer Priests. In its development, a dialogue is offered between the texts of Don Manuel with contemporary authors, to find concrete clues for formation in the current context of synodality. Firstly, the call to holiness is developed in the dynamics of discipleship and then, entering into the missionary dimension of the priestly vocation and holiness, concrete paths are indicated to seek to live the call to holiness in the exercise of the ministry from pastoral charity, which favor communion, participation and mission. Finally, clues are offered to live the call to holiness in the exercise of parish ministry from synodality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

At a time when more and more large sections of the population, at least in the Western world, live etsi Deus non daretur, while elsewhere God is invoked in a fundamentalist manner, as a justification for violence, it is not pointless to ask what is the relationship between God and action, that is, between religion and morality. Are God and goodness connected? Can there be morality without God? Is religion necessary to ground moral duty? The article attempts to answer these very topical questions through a succinct analysis of Häring's The Law of Christ. After analyzing the relationship between religion and morality in the work in question, two later works are mentioned that show a certain evolution in Häring's thinking in this regard. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article the author proposes to review the Kantian idea of virtue, its relationship with duty, with reason and with the moral feeling: respect. The ideas of sanctity and perfection are also reviewed as a reference for two sides of the same duty and their role as guides of the faculty of judgment, demonstrating the unitary character of Kantian ethics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article "The Priesthood as a Ministry of Love" highlights the importance of the priest as a servant of the Church and transmitter of sacramental grace. It mentions the figure of Saint John as a model of love and mediator between Peter and Mary. It emphasizes that Jesus Christ is the only Priest of the New Covenant and that his death is a perfect offering of love and obedience to the Father. The text also talks about the obedience and availability of the Son of God in his intra-Trinitarian salvific project, as well as the importance of exercising pastoral mission and the role of the priest in the Church. It emphasizes the importance of the priest fully dedicating himself to the ministry and finding support in the Church to acquire the necessary holiness for his work. Additionally, it mentions the importance of consecrated celibacy in the priesthood and its relationship with the Eucharist. [Extracted from the article]

Delving into the writings and doctrine of Saint Thérèse of Lisieux is not simply a way to gather information about her; it also opens us to a greater knowledge of ourselves. Fortunately, the studies done following the centenary of her death and her declaration as a Doctor of the Church (1997) have expanded the rather devotional vision of the approaches to her figure, thereby highlighting both her authenticity and the Gospel dimension present in her writings, which arise from her missionary vocation: to communicate a mystical experience not reducible to classical schemes, which distrusts the extraordinary and is based on a deep knowledge of the love of God and the poverty of human reality. A mysticism that leads Thérèse, and her readers, to holiness understood as full communion with God, which is made manifest in her mystical life as a strong and inalienable desire. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Every year around 200,000 Māyāmārā Vaiṣṇavas congregate in a small village in Mājulī, Assam, India, for the annual śevā, or worship service, to Ājali Āi, a 16th-century female figure. She was the mother of Sri Sri Aniruddhadeva, the founder of Māyāmārā Vaiṣṇavism, a religious sect originating in medieval Assam that experienced royal persecution and ethnic cleansing. Among contemporary Māyāmārā Vaiṣṇavas, veneration of Ājali Āi as the mother of the founding Guru has become popular, which is somewhat puzzling since historical information about her life is scarce. Nevertheless, as Guru-Mā, Ājali Āi today has become a symbol of holiness in Māyāmārā society with community members attributing to her mahimā, translated as a divine agency, mysterious glory, or supremacy. Guru-riṇ and Mātri-ṛin, categories that are a part of the Vaiṣṇava and the larger Hindu canon, can generally explain the holiness accorded to the mother of the Guru. In the case of the Māyāmārā Vaiṣṇavas, however, they are not sufficient to explain the power in the form of mahimā that the community ascribes to her in the present day to the degree of attributing to her the power to grant wishes. This exploratory chapter argues for a systems approach to understand the phenomenon of the mahimā of Ājali Āi in contemporary Māyāmārā society. The chapter finds that socio-economic and political forces interacted with extant legends around Ājali Āi and ideas around Āi as Devi and mother in complex ways to create the community's contemporary understanding of Ājali Āi as a holy and loving maternal figure with mahimā—one who keeps a watchful and nurturing eye over the community and grants the wishes of ardent devotees. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper studies the construction of the personality cult of Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the deceased leader of the Islamic State (IS) organization that ruled large territories in Iraq and Syria in the mid to late 2010s. Examining a range of IS primary sources, I argue that al-Baghdadi sought to develop a distinct personality cult by cultivating auras of holiness and mystique around his personae. While he flaunted putatively exceptional religious leadership credentials, it is al-Baghdadi's use of communication strategies and technologies for projecting his personality cult that distinguishes his case and this study. Al-Baghdadi sought to strategically mystify himself by rarely appearing in public and largely avoiding visual self-revelation in the media messages he released. Ultimately, given his defiance of regional and international powers and his group's notoriety, al-Baghdadi's low visibility and self-enigmatization worked to his advantage by generating much interest about him among supporters and the global media. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Based on a synchronic literary reading, Jonathan Grossman concludes that Genesis 1-3 represents two autonomous creation stories that must be interpreted independently of one another. Grossman's conclusions, therefore, share much in common with classic diachronic scholarship. This article shows how the narrative analogy in Genesis 5-9 is the best defense for a synchronic, cohesive, and unified reading of Genesis 1-3, and consequently affirms an interpretation that is theologically consistent with the perspective of the New Testament. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent scholarship has revived the ancient argument that Augustine's theology was not so far from Pelagius as he wanted his readers to think. This article compares the two thinkers on the issue of holiness. Drawing only on completely extant works intended for sympathetic audiences--rather than on works that were primarily polemical--this essay characterizes the views of both thinkers on three questions: First, what does holiness look like? Second, what is God's role in our holiness? Lastly, to what extent is progress in holiness possible? This comparison displays areas of overlap in their perspectives that challenge conventional stereotypes but also helps pinpoint the crux of the contrast between their articulations of the preconditions and possibilities for holiness in the Christian life. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It was the late Bishop Ithiel Conrad Clemmons, former minister of the First Church of God in Christ of Brooklyn, New York, who said of the late famed novelist/essayist James Baldwin that "he was America's inside eye on the Black Holiness and Pentecostal Churches". Though Baldwin admitted that the culture and ethos of the African-American Pentecostal church were "highly significant and indelibly imprinted upon him", according to Baldwin, his faith community's "naiveté about life appalled him and drove him away". While Baldwin left behind the church of his youth, never to return, for the remainder of his writing career, the "backslidden" minister's literary musings continued to be informed (in both style and content) by the formative religious tradition that he left behind. Though several studies have been undertaken that examine Baldwin's significance to various aspects of the study of African-American religion and culture, precious little has been written regarding Baldwin's continuing engagement of the idiom of African-American preaching, the idiom which cultural critic Michael Eric Dyson has nominated as the "jewel in the crown of Black Sacred Rhetoric". While many studies of Baldwin include the fact that Baldwin was a preacher's son and that Baldwin himself preached for a time during his youth, the account is yet to be given of how Baldwin's writings continued to employ the rhythms, grammar, tones, and textures of the Black sacred rhetorical tradition, especially from beyond the borders of the African-American church. This essay seeks to expose not only how Baldwin self-consciously continued to stand in the rhetorical trajectory of the African-American preaching tradition, but the attempt is also to reveal how the writer secularizes the idiom, providing the Black Holiness preacher a hearing from beyond the church. Through a focus on Baldwin as a Black sacred rhetorician, sermonizing from beyond the church, this essay participates in the nearly 100-year-old conversation instigated by the early African-American literary and cultural critic James Weldon Johnson in God's Trombones: Seven Negro Sermons in Verse (1927), regarding the neglected significance of the sermon and the preacher in African-American literature and Black expressive cultures. Baldwin's sermonic is here examined as a highly distinctive mode of Black public theologizing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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This article discusses three separate studies that explore the relationship between literature, religion, and art in the seventeenth century. The first study focuses on the poetry of John Donne, George Herbert, and Richard Crashaw, examining how their works engage with theological themes and challenge the limitations of organized religion. The second study examines the representation of St. Mary of Egypt in art and literature, highlighting her subversive potential and the complex interplay between materiality and spirituality. The third study explores the tension between institutionalized religion and individual spirituality, emphasizing the transformative power of literature and the arts. Overall, these studies invite readers to consider alternative ways of understanding selfhood, beauty, power, and relationality through the lens of literature and religion. [Extracted from the article]

The article offers information on the similarities and differences between Boethius and Thomas More, both Christian statesmen imprisoned for their righteousness. Topics include the contrasting approaches in their works of comfort and consolation, with Boethius seeking consolation from philosophy and More grounding all comfort explicitly in faith.

Freedom is one of the most fervently fought for values and, at the same time, the very idea of freedom belongs to concepts that are essentially contested. This situation is a part of human brokenness, and in Christian formation, it has to be seriously dealt with. According to the popular view, ‘holiness’ is a life-negating and judgmental attitude towards everything ‘normal.’ In biblical usage, it connotes belonging to God as a gift in Christ. Spiritual formation begins with a biblical explanation of freedom and holiness. A Christian worldview has to be the background to Christian formation, functioning as a correction of the commonly- accepted naturalistic worldview. A personal experiential relationship with God is the key to successful growth towards realistic and practical holiness in daily life. ‘Dos and don’ts’ that usually arise at the beginning of religious education shall be experienced as liberating instructions, if they are offered as guidance to a fully persuaded mind and a devotedly loving heart.

This article reconsiders the role of land in the YHWH-Israel relationship in Hos 4–11, a text which reworks positive notions of land—gift, inheritance, homeland—as the land becomes associated with Israel’s iniquitous actions and distorted values. To achieve this, the study explores how land is represented as a sacred space in the text and how sacred space is subject to the actions, ideas and perceptions of the people who inhabit the land. The study employs a synchronic, social-scientific approach and conducts a thematic analysis of the text, focusing on the interconnections of sacred space’s moderators—holiness, cultural memory and covenantal exchange—and their place in the land’s deconstruction and reconstruction. Considering these relational modes, the study shows that the representation of the land is reflected in the text’s movements from deconstruction to reconstruction, which suggests that the state of the YHWH-Israel relationship is interlaced with the physical landscape.

The article presents the novel The Precipice as the final part of the novel trilogy by I. A. Goncharov (by analogy with the canticle “Paradise” in the composition of the “Divine Comedy” by A. Dante). So Raisky appears as the central (not declaratively, but essentially) character of the novel, crowning Goncharov’s ideas of a “serious human figure” and an “idealist character.” The article examines the image of Raisky in its evolutionary development, and designates the vector of his spiritual movement as an experience of falling, repentance and resurrection. The image of the ascetic artist Kirilov clearly manifests Goncharov’s ideas about the purpose of art, about the indecomposable unity of art and religion. It turns out that the spiritual evolution of Raisky — from the “Petersburg” part of the novel to the “Malinovskaya” and to the finale — takes place under the sign of Kirilov’s ideological and aesthetic attitudes, despite the fact that they do not coincide with installations of both Raisky and Goncharov himself. For the first time, the article shows the character of the plot, which is particular for the general meaning of the novel, connected with the spiritual duel of Vera and Mark Volokhov, since all the main meanings of the work, including biographical ones, converge in the figure of Raisky.

Copyright of Revista Hidalguía is the property of Revista Hidalguia and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The field of Patristics, or early Christian and Mediaeval Studies, traditionally works along the lines of historical and literary criticism. But this method is not always useful, especially when it comes to complex objects and circumstances. No wonder the current trend of replacing it, more often than not, by interdisciplinary frameworks. The article begins accordingly by reviewing three interdisciplinary frameworks, namely, the “socio-historical method”, “Deep Time”, and archaeological theorist Roland Fletcher’s “transitions”, highlighting their suitability for a comprehensive approach to Patristic cosmology. Here, cosmology should not be taken in the narrow sense of contemporary science. It means both a way of representing reality—a worldview—and a way of inhabiting the world. The present article analyses the evolution of the early Christian and mediaeval perception of the environment and the cosmos in Greek sources, pointing to successive transitions from apprehension (cosmophobia) to a keen interest in understanding nature to the thought that holiness represents a universe-(re)making agency. It addresses relevant historical and social circumstances, but proposes that the above transitions were triggered by internal or existential factors as well, and not only external, thus complementing Fletcher’s outline, which focuses upon external catalysts, such as economy and technology.