An analytic investigation of Antioch's "Sexual Offense Policy.".

The notion that there existed a distinction between so-called “Alexandrian” and “Antiochene” exegesis in the ancient church has become a common assumption among theologians. The typical belief is that Alexandria promoted an allegorical reading of Scripture, whereas Antioch endorsed a literal approach. However, church historians have long since recognized that this distinction is neither wholly accurate nor helpful to understanding ancient Christian hermeneutics. Indeed, neither school of interpretation sanctioned the practice of just one exegetical method. Rather, both Alexandrian and (...) Antiochene theologians were expedient hermeneuts, meaning they utilized whichever exegetical practice (allegory, typology, literal, historical) that would supply them with their desired theology or interpretive conclusion. The difference between Alexandria and Antioch was not exegetical; it was theological. In other words, it was their respective theological paradigms that dictated their exegetical practices, allowing them to utilize whichever hermeneutical method was most expedient for their theological purposes. Ultimately, neither Alexandrian nor Antiochene exegetes possessed a greater respect for the biblical text over the other, nor did they adhere to modern-day historical-grammatical hermeneutics as theologians would like to believe. (shrink)

The contribution aims to analyze the pathology of leprosy (al-ǧuḏām) and smallpox (al-ǧudarī) in the Arabic medical encyclopedia Kitāb al-Malakī, composed by the physician ʿAlī ibn al-ʿAbbas al-Maǧūsī, and in its two Latin translations, the Pantegni by Constantine the African and the Liber Regalis by Stephen of Antioch. The study of the Arabic text shows that the etiology of these diseases involves an interplay of different factors, including contagion, and explains to what extent the Kitāb al-Malakī presents original doctrines. (...) Secondly, by taking into account similarities and shifts in comparison with the Arabic original, the contribution shows how the two Latin translators faced the challenge of creating a new lexicon as a vehicle for the innovative translated ideas. (shrink)

After some years (or millennia) most works would no longer be considered eligible for "review." But an exception is called for, if the thrust of an older work is closely paralleled in a much more modern piece, as is the case between Plato's Theaetetus and Richard Rorty's acclaimed, and more recent volume, Philosophy and the Mirror of Nature. To fully understand and appreciate Rorty 's contribution to the subjects he raises, one must study his book in conjunction with Plato's Theaetetus-where (...) very similar issues have been discussed before. Both works concern a central question for philosophy: "What is knowledge?" The discussants in Plato's dialogue the Theaetetus, never do succeed in finding a satisfactory definition for knowledge, yet they at least realize to avoid thinking they know about the subject when, in fact, they lack that knowledge. Since Rorty explores some new (and not so new) ideas on these topics, Plato's discussants ask him a few questions. (Reprinted from original in Antioch Review). (shrink)

Timothy uncircumcised son of Jewess Eunice becomes the most important disciple of the Apostle Paul after he circumcise him in Lystra. Pisidian Antioch, where Timothy was born and baptized, have a great synagogue where from full communion with the Jews. Because of his obscure origins, he remained uncircumcised, but at the same time bound to the values of Judaism, as a stranger who loved their values more than did the Jews. The circumcision applied by Paul to Timothy, give him (...) a status of full Jew, true son in the faith of St. Paul, and possibility of the Apostle to take him in the apostolic working. (shrink)