Articles varia
- DE FRANCESCHI Sylvio Hermann - Le concept de délectation victorieuse comme outil du coup de force polémique antijanséniste de Fénelon
- CABANEL Patrick - La Grande Guerre. La non-violence dans le protestantisme français et ses traductions littéraires
- CAPUTO John D. - L’existance de Dieu : réconcilier le monde avec Dieu
The Idea of Victorious Delectation as Fenelon’s Polemical Anti-Jansenist Action
Even if he was a latecomer to the quarrel about grace, only from 1704, Fenelon played a strong polemical role. From 1706 and even more after 1708, the archbishop of Cambrai decided to refocus his interpretations on the doctrinal heart of Jansenist material by increasingly developing the thesis that Jansenism must ultimately be reduced to the system of the two preventing and undeliberate delectations. The Fenelonian strategy attracted a lively following within the French Molinist party, and it was notably resumed by Claude-Maur d’Aubigné, Bishop of Noyon, and Henri-Pons de Thiard de Bissy, Bishop of Meaux.
The Great War: Non-violence in French Protestantism and its Literary Translations
French protestants played a part in the emergence of radical pacifism and non-violence during the First World War. The values and actions of Bertin Aguillon and Jules-Philippe Guiton, two young methodist ministers who died in 1914 and 1917, are well documented, the latter having kept a diary that has recently been published. This is not the case of Cévenol Roux and the Berthalon du Dauphiné brothers who, for many years, took refuge in the mountains. Their destiny figures in two milestone novels : Roux le Bandit (1925) by André Chamson and L’homme de la grotte (1949) by Benjamin Vallotton. Did these protestant authors impute biblical significance to behaviour which had maybe a different origin? Were the Berthalon brothers Darbyites? Patrick Cabanel suggests opening this chapter on protestant radical pacifism, between history and literature.
The Existance of God: Reconciling the World to God
In this hitherto unpublished article, John D. Caputo re-interprets the doctrine of incarnation through the tradition of Christus Victor. He deconstructs the mythological and metaphysical rationalisation of incarnation, that devalues the flesh (Jesus, existence, history) compared to a Logos pre-existing outside the flesh (Christ, essence, idea). The concept of existance, inspired by Derrida and Hegel, no longer subjects existence to essence, thus making God’s carnality prime and structural. If in Jesus Christ the world is reconciled with God, then it is through the fragility and the weakness of the flesh.
Dossier
- BAUKS Michaela, NOCQUET Dany - « Guerre sainte » : une notion à questionner (Avant-propos)
- BAUKS Michaela - Guerre sainte en Israël. Genèse de l’exigence deutéronomiste d’une adoration absolue et inconditionnelle de Yhwh
- NOCQUET Dany - La guerre n’est pas une fatalité. Hommage à l’intelligence gabaonite : Josué 9
- RÖMER Thomas - L’arche de Yhwh : de la guerre à l’alliance
- ROHMER Céline - « Contrains-les d’entrer ! » (Luc 14,23). Un cas de sainte violence ?
- VAN DEN KERCHOVE Anna - Donner la mort et agir selon la justice. La réception de Phinées des Maccabées aux premiers chrétiens
- PISANI Emmanuel - Al-Gazali et le gihad. Contrepoint à la thèse d’Alfred Morabia
« Holy War » : a Notion in Question (Foreword)
Holy War in Israel. The Genesis of Deuteronomic Demand for Absolute Unconditional Adoration of Yhwh
Writing about the deuteronomic concept of ḥeræm – which means « forbidden, anathema » or « part (of booty) devoted to God» (Lev 27,28) – is a great challenge the year the modern state of Israel celebrates its 70 years of existence, with the Palestine crisis still very much alive. It recalls the concept of holy war, as it is used today in politics with reference to Isis, Islam and the Koran. In a dialogue between the monotheistic religions it is important to note that the theme is no stranger to the Bible, but that the cultural history at the time of its interpretation and reception must be taken into account in face of the bias that violence is a typical characteristic used by monotheistic religions to defend their convictions. Supported by three texts (Deut 7 ; 13 ; 20), Michaela Bauks examines the shift in meaning the word suffers and pinpoints the consequences on the understanding of the concept of holy war.
War is not a Foregone Conclusion. A Tribute to Gibeonite Intelligence : Josh 9
The author shows how Josh 9 is strange to question the very idea of total destruction of other peoples and radical separation of Israelites and Canaanites, in a book devoted to the conquest of Canaan. By a possible alliance between non-Israelites and Israelites, Josh 9 shows how the Gibeonites recognize Yhwh and his action in favour of Israel. Their lie is not guile to save their life but a wise decision towards cohabitation between Israel and a Canaanite people. Historically, during the Persian era, such a text is distant from the separatist ideology of the books of Ezra and Nehemiah. It offers a theological alternative to total war between Israel and other nations, showing how some of them have access to Yhwh and have always been able to cohabit with His people in Canaan.
The Ark : from War to Alliance
This article analyses the different functions of the Ark of Yhwh in the Hebrew Bible, which was originally a palladium, a portable shrine, which carried probably a statue of Yhwh and which was used in military context. The original Sitz im Leben is however not the conquest tradition in the book of Joshua, but the tradition that is conserved in the poem in Num 10, and especially in the original Ark narrative which ended with the transfer of the Ark to Kiriath-jearim in 1 Sam 7:1. The deuteronomistic and priestly traditions later transformed the function of the Ark. For the Deuteronomists the “Ark of the covenant” is a box that contains the tables of the Law (Deut 10, and 1 Kings 8), whereas in the priestly tradition of the mobile sanctuary it becomes an object for expiation (Ex 25-40*).
« Compel People to Come in ! » (Luke 14,23). A Case of Holy Violence ?
The parable of the great dinner, as Luke tells it, (14,16-24), has for a long time been read as a legitimisation of violence. Luke attributes to it a peculiar order consisting in compelling people to enter the master’s house (14,23). Disagreeing with the Donatists, saint Augustine gave to this text a disastrous meaning by turning the imperative « compell people to come in » (compelle intrare) into authorising the use of force against any recalcitrants. Trapped by this misreading, Luke’s parable has since been a question of debate on the idea of a just war, ordered by God. Céline Rohmer proposes a different reading, bearing in mind the language of parable. Reading attentively the various reversals and the Greek vocabulary, Luke’s parable by no means legitimises but rather denounces human violence, not force but warn. At stake here is less pragmatic than hermeneutic.
Cause Death and Act According to Justice. Phinehas, the Maccabees and the First Christians
Researchers have regularly compared what they considered the pacifism of the first Christians to the war rhetoric of later Christians, e.g. in the ivth century with Ambrose and above all Augustine. In the following study, Anna van den Kerchove revisits this rupture treating the subject of death, causing death, which is the underlying element to accepting war or not. For that she looks at the reception of Phinehas by the first Christians in history, as related in Numbers 25. Putting this speech in perspective, the author writes of the Maccabees and Philo, having a positive attitude to Phinehas, also on Josephus, more circumspect, and examines Christian writings, long silent, now conditioning the reading of the story of Phinehas.
Al-Ġazālī and the ǧihād. Counterpoint to Alfred Morabia’s Thesis
Key concept of contemporary Islam politics, the gihād has aspects both bellicose and spiritual which gave rise to a learned study by Alfred Morabia, for a long time authority on the subject. Morabia concludes his study of the gihād of the first four centuries by superposing comprehension and the predominance of the offensive. His study includes the thinking of al-Gazālī (m. 505/1111), but only indirectly, through Laoust’s book. Emmanuel Pisani proposes checking if the constants pinpointed by Morabia are to be found in the great revitaliser of Islam. He also shows how al-Gazālī, while not abandoning the warlike dimension of gihād, founds and justifies the supremacy of its spiritual dimension.
Position de thèse
- BENHAMOU Julia - Une herméneutique des textes musicaux du XVIIe siècle et de la première moitié du XVIIIe siècle : approche intersémiotique
Hermeneutics on xviith and Early xviiith Century Musical Texts : an Intersemiotic Approach
By means of an intersemiotic approach to the musical text, intersecting linguistics with music, this study means to report the musical texts of the xviith century and the first half of the xviiith century, with a reading in keys, i.e. a reading leading to the restitution, by the artiste, of voices not noted or noted elsewhere. The author wishes to show there exists another possible reading of these texts and consequently another way to play Johann Sebastian Bach or Henry Purcell.