Suchergebnisse

The aim of this paper is to portray the reception of the Septuagint in the
early Church. Firstly, the synagogue view of the translation is provided,
from the reports in which the origin of the translation is enthusiastically
discussed, to the rejection of the Septuagint. A particular emphasis is
placed on theological argumentation attempting to prove the divine
inspiration of the translation of the Seventy. In this process, the
prominent figures are: Justin Martyr, Irenaeus of Lyons, Clement of
Alexandria, Origen, Pseudo-Justin, Epiphanius of Salamis, Cyril of
Jerusalem, John Chrysostom and Augustine. The paper deals with two textual
disputes over the authenticity of the Septuagint text as the legitimate
successor of the original Hebrew consonant text. Textual deviations were
often a reason for such confrontations. The first dispute is between Julius
Africanus and Origen. Within it, Origen clarifies textual issues of certain
Old Testament books. Jerome and Augustine took part in the second dispute.
Jerome leaned more towards the Hebrew truth (Hebraica Veritas), while
Augustine put more stock into the translation of the Seventy. These
confrontations clearly reflect the status of the Septuagint in the early
Church. Finally, a concise review of the further status of the Septuagint in
the Western and Eastern Churches is provided.

In 1794, the foundation of a mission on Kodiak Island in Alaska by the Orthodox monks from Russia marked the entrance of Orthodox Church in America. Two centuries later, the presence of over one million faithful gathered into more than 2,400 local parishes bears witness to the firm establishment of Eastern Christianity in the US. The notion of "one state - one Church" was historically very characteristic of Orthodox Christianity. When the Orthodox Church is mentioned, one tends to think of its ethnic aspect, and when Orthodox Christians are asked about their religious affiliation, they almost always add an cthnic qualificr: Grcck Orthodox, Russian Orthodox, Syrian Orthodox, etc. Consequently, many Orthodox Churches — Byzantine and Oriental alike — that have faithful in the United States have organized their own jurisdictions in North America: the individual "ethnically based" parishes were later united into centrally administrated dioceses subordinated to the "Mother Churches" in the Old World. The original goal of American Orthodox jurisdictions was clear: to minister to the religious needs of the diverse immigrant ethnic communities: the Greeks, Russians, Serbians, Romanians, Armenians, Copts, etc. There is no doubt that for the first generation of immigrants these ethnically based Orthodox jurisdictions brought a big measure of order and unity to ethnic groups that otherwise would have remained fragmented and enfeebled in an "American melting pot".

Riots and demonstrations, the lifeblood of American social and political protest in the 1960s, are now largely a historical memory. But Mary Fainsod Katzenstein argues that protest has not disappeared--it has simply moved off the streets into the country's core institutions. As a result, conflicts over sexual harassment, affirmative action, and the rights of women, gays and lesbians, and people of color now touch us more than ever in our daily lives, whether we are among those seeking change or those threatened by its prospects. No one is more aware of this than women demanding change from within the United States military and the American Catholic church. Women in uniform are deeply patriotic and women active in the church are devoted to their callings. Yet Katzenstein shows that these women often feel isolated and demeaned, confronted by challenges as subtle as condescension and as blatant as career obstruction. Although faithful to their institutions, many have proved fearless in their attempts to reshape them. Drawing on interviews with over a hundred women in the military and the church--including senior officers, combat pilots, lay activists, and nuns--this book gives voice to the struggles and vision of these women as they have moved protest into the mainstream. Katzenstein shows why the military and the church, similarly hierarchical and insistent on obedience, have come to harbor deeply different forms of protest. She demonstrates that women in the military have turned to the courts and Congress, whereas feminists in the church have used "discursive" protests--writing, organizing workshops and conferences--to rethink in radical ways the meanings of faith and justice. These different strategies, she argues, reflect how the law regulates the military but leaves the church alone. Faithful and Fearless calls our attention to protest within institutions as a new stage in the history both of feminism and of social movements in America. The book is an inspiring account of strength in the face of adversity and a groundbreaking contribution to the study of American feminism, social protest, and the historical development of institutions in American society