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Great Christian Thinkers - 43 Sts. Cyril and Methodius
Great Christian Thinkers - 43 Sts. Cyril and Methodius
by SPCK - Pope Benedict XVI
Sts. Cyril and Methodius Saints Cyril and Methodius were brothers by blood and in the faith, the so-called Apostles to the Slavs. Cyril was born in Thessalonica to Leo, an imperial magistrate, in 826 or 827. He was the youngest of seven. As a child, he learned the Slavonic langua…
Great Christian Thinkers - 47 St. Anselm
Great Christian Thinkers - 47 St. Anselm
by SPCK - Pope Benedict XVI
St. Anselm The Benedictine abbey of Sant’Anselmo (St. Anselm) is located on the Aventine Hill in Rome. As the headquarters of an academic institute of higher studies and of the abbot primate of the Confederated Benedictines, it is a place that unites within it prayer, study, and …
Great Christian Thinkers - 45 St. Peter Damian
Great Christian Thinkers - 45 St. Peter Damian
by SPCK - Pope Benedict XVI
St. Peter Damian One of the most significant figures of the eleventh century, St. Peter Damian, was a monk, a lover of solitude, and at the same time a fearless man of the Church. He was also committed personally to the task of reform, initiated by the popes of the time… Taken fr…
Great Christian Thinkers - 48 Peter the Venerable
Great Christian Thinkers - 48 Peter the Venerable
by SPCK - Pope Benedict XVI
Peter the Venerable Peter the Venerable takes us back to the famous abbey of Cluny, to its decor (“decorum”) and nitor (“clarity”), to use terms that recur in the Cluny texts - a decorum and splendour that were admired especially in the beauty of the liturgy, a privileged way for…
Great Christian Thinkers - 49 St. Bernard of Clairvaux
Great Christian Thinkers - 49 St. Bernard of Clairvaux
by SPCK - Pope Benedict XVI
St. Bernard of Clairvaux St. Bernard of Clairvaux is often called “the last of the Fathers” of the Church because once again in the twelfth century he renewed and brought to the fore the important theology of the Fathers… Taken from Great Christian Thinkers by Pope Benedict XVI
Great Christian Thinkers - 50 Bernard and Peter Abelard: Two Contrasting Theological Models
Great Christian Thinkers - 50 Bernard and Peter Abelard: Two Contrasting Theological Models
by SPCK - Pope Benedict XVI
Bernard and Peter Abelard:Two Contrasting Theological Models In my last chapter, I presented the main features of twelfth-century monastic theology and scholastic theology which, in a certain sense, we might call respectively “theology of the heart” and “theology of reason.” Amon…
Great Christian Thinkers - 46 Symeon The New Theologian
Great Christian Thinkers - 46 Symeon The New Theologian
by SPCK - Pope Benedict XVI
Symeon The New Theologian Also bearing reflection from this period is an Eastern monk, Symeon the New Theologian, whose writings have had a notable influence on the theology and spirituality of the East, in particular with regard to the experience of mystical union with God… Take…
Great Christian Thinkers - 61 St. Matilda of Hackeborn
Great Christian Thinkers - 61 St. Matilda of Hackeborn
by SPCK - Pope Benedict XVI
St. Matilda of Hackeborn Saint Matilda of Hackeborn, one of the great figures of the convent of Helfta, lived in the thirteenth century. Her sister, St. Gertrude the Great, tells of the special graces that God granted to St. Matilda in the sixth book of Liber specialis gratiae (B…
Great Christian Thinkers - 65 St. Thomas Aquinas
Great Christian Thinkers - 65 St. Thomas Aquinas
by SPCK - Pope Benedict XVI
St. Thomas Aquinas His Life and Context We continue our meditation on some of the great thinkers of the Middle Ages. We recently looked at the great figure of St. Bonaventure, a Franciscan, and here I discuss the one whom the Church calls the Doctor Communis, namely, St. Thomas A…
Great Christian Thinkers - 62 St. Gertrude the Great
Great Christian Thinkers - 62 St. Gertrude the Great
by SPCK - Pope Benedict XVI
St. Gertrude the Great St. Gertrude the Great brings us once again to the monastery of Helfta, where several of the Latin-German masterpieces of religious literature were written by women. Gertrude belonged to this world. She is one of the most famous mystics, the only German wom…
Great Christian Thinkers - 64 St. Albert the Great
Great Christian Thinkers - 64 St. Albert the Great
by SPCK - Pope Benedict XVI
St. Albert the Great One of the great masters of medieval theology is St. Albert the Great. The title “Great” (Magnus), with which he has passed into history indicates the vastness and depth of his teaching, which he combined with holiness of life. However, his contemporaries did…
Great Christian Thinkers - 63 St. Elizabeth of Hungary
Great Christian Thinkers - 63 St. Elizabeth of Hungary
by SPCK - Pope Benedict XVI
St. Elizabeth of Hungary Another great woman of the Middle Ages who inspired the greatest admiration is St. Elizabeth of Hungary, also called St. Elizabeth of Thuringia… Taken from Great Christian Thinkers by Pope Benedict XVI
Parallel Lives of Jesus - 1e What are the Gospels?
Parallel Lives of Jesus - 1e What are the Gospels?
by SPCK - Edward Adams
What are the Gospels? We have not yet addressed the question, What kind of texts are the Gospels? To what genre do they belong? A genre is a specific category or type of literature, such as romance, science fiction, or detective story. Knowing the genre of a piece of literature c…
Parallel Lives of Jesus - 2 Four Narratives, One Story
Parallel Lives of Jesus - 2 Four Narratives, One Story
by SPCK - Edward Adams
Four Gospels – One Story A frequently invoked analogy to the Fourfold Gospel is that of four different pictures or portraits of the same individual.1 Richard Burridge uses the illustration of four selected pictures of Winston Churchill, hanging on the walls of Chartwell, Churchil…
Parallel Lives of Jesus - 2b Aspects of Narrative
Parallel Lives of Jesus - 2b Aspects of Narrative
by SPCK - Edward Adams
Aspects of Narrative As stated, narrative is the creative working on the story elements to make a narrative text. Narratologists delineate various aspects of narrative, of which the following might be regarded as especially important:… Taken from Parallel Lives of Jesus by Edward…
Parallel Lives of Jesus - 2c The Shared Story in the Four Gospels
Parallel Lives of Jesus - 2c The Shared Story in the Four Gospels
by SPCK - Edward Adams
The Shared Story in the Four Gospels Using the elements of story listed earlier, we can identify a core story embodied in all four Gospels. There is a common series of events: the appearance and ministry of John the Baptist, the descent of the Spirit upon Jesus, the call of the f…
Parallel Lives of Jesus - 3 The Gospel according to Mark