Approaching Religionhttps://www.doria.fi:443/handle/10024/1339872024-03-29T09:43:32Z2024-03-29T09:43:32ZThe Innovation of a Master Wonder-worker in the Character of Simon PeterBerglund, Carl Johanhttps://www.doria.fi:443/handle/10024/1886692024-02-28T09:00:15Z2024-02-28T08:55:28ZThe Innovation of a Master Wonder-worker in the Character of Simon Peter
Berglund, Carl Johan
Simon Peter undergoes a considerable development from his first introduction in the Gospel of Mark to later narratives, where he gains remarkable miraculous abilities. In Mark, he witnesses Jesus performing numerous miracles without himself being named as the performer of a single one, but in Matthew’s Gospel Peter walks on water (Matt 14:22–33), in Acts he heals two paralytics and raises a woman from the dead (Acts 3:1–10; 9:32–42), and in the fourth-century Latin Acts of Peter, also known as Actus Vercellenses, he makes a dog speak (Acts Pet. 9.9–15), miraculously restores a shattered marble statue (11.8–23) and revives several people from the dead (27.1–11; 28.63–66). This article examines how Peter’s various miracles contribute to their respective stories, analyses how they reflect the needs of their respective authors, and discusses what they tell us about the use of genre in the narrative tradition about the apostle Peter and his miracles.
2024-02-28T08:55:28ZSuppressed, Adopted and Invented Memories. The Death of Jesus in the Gospel of JohnSyreeni, Karihttps://www.doria.fi:443/handle/10024/1886672024-02-28T09:00:16Z2024-02-28T08:50:50ZSuppressed, Adopted and Invented Memories. The Death of Jesus in the Gospel of John
Syreeni, Kari
The Gospel of John reflects several layers of social memory and theological creativity concerning Jesus’s death. In the early material, there seems to be a suppressed awareness of Jesus’s fate and an unwillingness to unfold it in narrative form – something that recalls the hypothetical sayings gospel Q and the Gospel of Thomas. There is also a search for alternative, figurative ways to visualize the endpoint of Jesus’s earthly life. Eventually, the narrative memory of Jesus’s passion, as told in Mark and Matthew, was adopted with some modifications. Among the modifications of the passion storyline is the narrativization of the image of Jesus as a Paschal Lamb, an image already known to Paul. The most remarkable innovation, however, was the figure of the “Beloved Disciple” as an eyewitness to Jesus’s passion and death.
2024-02-28T08:50:50ZThe Retrieved Altar Cross of the Luther Church Helsinki. Sacred Waste Transformed into a Heritagization FrameDahlbacka, Jakobhttps://www.doria.fi:443/handle/10024/1886662024-02-28T09:00:17Z2024-02-28T08:48:07ZThe Retrieved Altar Cross of the Luther Church Helsinki. Sacred Waste Transformed into a Heritagization Frame
Dahlbacka, Jakob
The topic of this article is religious materiality in a Finnish, Lutheran setting. Reflecting on the altar cross of the Luther Church Helsinki – and more specifically the elevated role the cross played in the re-opening of the church in 2016 – the article supports the argument of recent scholars that Protestant engagement with materiality is not unambiguously negative but rather ambivalent. Using James Bielo’s concept of “legitimizing frames” – i.e. boundaries or landmarks within which Protestants feel safe enough to deal with things and objects – the article suggests a so-called heritagization frame. Objects or things used within such a frame induce in people a sense of past events and experiences – preferably events in which God has made himself known in this world. This, in turn, enables people’s engagement with the objects.
2024-02-28T08:48:07ZContexts of Altar Flowers. A Contribution to a Theology in Construction.Jokinen, Heidihttps://www.doria.fi:443/handle/10024/1886652024-02-28T09:00:17Z2024-02-28T08:43:41ZContexts of Altar Flowers. A Contribution to a Theology in Construction.
Jokinen, Heidi
Flowers are placed on the altar in many Christian churches. However, while many other items on the altar have given rise to a vast body of theological research, this is not the case with altar flowers. In this article the author makes a constructive contribution to the theology of altar flowers and looks at the contexts in which altar flowers are imagined and how these can help to illustrate theological elements. Two initial contexts for altar flowers are assumed: the liturgical and the extra-liturgical, suggesting that altar flowers hold particular meanings both for those who know the Christian story, and equally for those who do not. It is suggested that a role which seems merely decorative is not that after all, as deeper Christian meanings can be offered in both contexts. Moreover, altar flowers as objects of nature have the capacity to speak to new groups of people on urgent contemporary themes. Finally, it is suggested that altar flowers may also bridge a divide between the secular and sacred. Apart from contributing to the construction of a theology of altar flowers, a deeper understanding of the intersections of aesthetics, faith and reason is sought.
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