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Thursday, December 21, 2023

Great Mendicant Orders

Four Great Mendicant Orders in the Church of the Middle Ages

Introduction

Religious orders that have embodied the ideal of unconditional poverty are called mendicant orders. These religious orders acquired great significance in the ecclesiastical life of the Middle Ages. They did so not only because of their witness to the holy poverty of Christ, but also because they provided well-known and impressive preachers, and very important theologians of the High Middle Ages.

The four mendicant orders

Although foremost among the mendicant orders are the Franciscans (founded by St. Francis of Assisi) and the Dominicans (founded by St. Dominic de Guzman), there are two other mendicant orders which espoused the vow of unconditional poverty: the Hermits of St. Augustine (receiving papal approbation in 1256 A.D.), and the Carmelites (who relocated themselves in Europe and became a mendicant order in 1247 A.D.).

A spiritual response to the rich-and-poor divide

The Church at that time was greatly divided between a wealthy and powerful clergy and an increasingly wealthy Christian laity, versus, a poor and marginalized populace. To resolve this problem, God called saints in the persons of St. Francis and St. Dominic, to overcome this situation inwardly through the imitation of the poverty of Christ - teaching their era the way to possess and to renounce at the same time. Both Francis and Dominic worked hard to found a religious order that would reintroduce the gospel spirit of poverty in the Church and the society of their time.

Pope Innocent III

Pope Innocent III was considered the most powerful pope of the Middle Ages. Under his leadership, the papacy was led to the zenith of its power - "achieving a dizzying and untenable height". It was not anymore the emperor but rather the pope who became the supreme arbiter of western Christianity. It was to this pope, that St. Francis of Assisi and a few of his companions went to, in Rome in c. 1209 A.D., to obtain approval for his way of life and the authorization to preach. Since Pope Innocent III recognized St. Francis as the man he saw in his dream who supported the pillars of the Church, he granted Francis authority.

The spread of the mendicant orders

After receiving approbation from Pope Innocent III for his work, Francis continued in his preaching and his ideas spread with unprecedented speed. The Franciscans quickly became well-known, and everywhere, St. Francis' appearance caused a profound impression on all peoples of all levels in society.

St. Dominic de Guzman was another influential saint who founded a mendicant order which spread rapidly. Living in the same era as St. Francis, St. Dominic de Guzman had a different personality. Being a canon regular, and aware of the destructive influence of the Cathari heresy in southern France, he decided to convert them by becoming an itinerant preacher and live in apostolic poverty. He accepted the Franciscan rule of poverty but saw that there is something else needed: good theological training. This was necessary to produce well-found sermons in preaching. Though St. Dominic and his followers were not approved at the 4th General Council of the Lateran in 1215 A.D., they were eventually approved by Pope Honorius III in 1216 A.D. The Dominican order grew and like the Franciscans, they also had a separate religious order for women, and a Third Order for lay people.

Theological influence

In the 12th and 13th centuries A.D., theological studies among the clergy shifted from the spirit of the ancient Christian patristics and Church fathers, to the newly developing theological movements in the universities. One of the prime movers of this theological movement was St. Anselm of Canterbury (d. 1109 A.D.). He is regarded as the "father of scholasticism". According to St. Anselm, faith could be supported by the intellect. This general thinking also involved the scholasticism of Peter Abelard (1079-1142 A.D.) and Peter Lombard (d. 1160 A.D.). But further more developments in this scholastic movement was needed to increase the theological importance and influence of Catholic thinking at the time. What was needed was a "high scholasticism". This developed in the 13th century A.D. This made theological thinking reach its absolute prime. It found great appeal among the members of the mendicant orders. These were the foremost representatives of this "high scholasticism": the Dominicans represented by St. Albert the Great (d. 1280 A.D.), St. Thomas Aquinas (d. 1274 A.D.), Meister Eckhart (d. 1328 A.D.), and the Franciscans represented by St. Bonaventure (d. 1274 A.D.) and Duns Scotus (d. 1308 A.D.).

The ideal of gospel poverty

At a time when a dilemma in the Church and society was present, God answers by calling great saints to respond to the particular needs and difficulties of that age. Through their witness of evangelical poverty as lived and taught by Christ, they have started and founded mendicant orders which will always remind the Church and societies of every generation that the ideal of evangelical poverty will always make us closer to the person of Christ.

Wednesday, December 20, 2023

Primer on the Bible

What is the Basic Structure and Divisions of the Bible?

The Bible is divided into the 46 books of the Old Testament and the 27 books of the New Testament

Main division

The Bible is mainly divided into the Old Testament and the New Testament. The Old Testament contains the books relating to the old covenant between Yahweh and Israel. The New Testament contains books and letters relating to the new covenant between God and the New Israel, the Church.

The Old Testament

The Old Testament is basically divided into three: the Torah, the Prophets, and the Writings. The Torah is the Law given by Yahweh to the people of Israel. The books of the prophets are books which contain stories on how the prophets of Israel always remind the people to turn back from sin and return to Yahweh, their God. The Writings are books which contain all the writings of Israel's men of wisdom.

  • Torah
    • Genesis [Gn]
    • Exodus [Ex]
    • Leviticus [Lv]
    • Numbers [Nm]
    • Deuteronomy [Dt]
  • Prophets
    • Joshua [Jos]
    • Judges [Jgs]
    • Ruth [Ru]
    • First Book of Samuel [1Sm]
    • Second Book of Samuel [2Sm]
    • First Book of Kings [1Kgs]
    • Second Book of Kings [2Kgs]
    • Some bible scholars make a further division of the Bible to signify the historical books. These historical books contain: 1 Samuel, 2 Samuel, 1 Kings, 2 Kings, 1 Chronicles [1Chr], 2 Chronicles [2Chr], Ezra [Ez], Nehemiah [Neh], Tobit [Tb], Judith [Jdt], Esther [Est], 1 Maccabees [1Mc], and 2 Maccabees [2Mc]
    • Isaiah [Is]
    • Jeremiah [Jer]
    • Lamentations [Lam]
    • Baruch [Bar]
    • Ezekiel [Ez]
    • Daniel [Dn]
    • The 12 Minor Prophets
      • Hosea [Hos], c. 750-732 B.C.
      • Joel [Jl], c. 500 B.C.
      • Amos [Am], c. 750 B.C.
      • Obadiah [Ob], c. 475-450 B.C.
      • Jonah [Jon], c. 400-200 B.C.
      • Micah [Mi], c. 740-700 B.C.
      • Nahum [Na], c. 612 B.C.
      • Habakkuk [Hb], c. 605-597 B.C.
      • Zephaniah [Zep], 640-609 B.C.
      • Haggai [Hg], c. 520 B.C.
      • Zechariah [Zec], c. 520-518 B.C.
      • Malachi [Mal], c. 440 B.C.
  • The Writings
    • Proverbs [Prv]
    • The Psalms [Ps]
    • Ecclesiastes [Eccl]
    • Job [Jb]
    • Song of Songs [Sng]
    • Sirach (Ecclesiasticus) [Sir]
    • The Book of Wisdom [Wis]

As a whole, from Genesis to the book of the prophet Malachi, the Old Testament comprises 46 books.

The New Testament

The New Testament is basically divided into the gospels, the epistles, and the Book of Revelation. The gospels give an account of the life and teachings of Jesus - with each gospel giving a particular focus depending on the community in which the gospel tradition has been used. The epistles or letters, are attributed to the apostle Paul and the other apostles. These letters were written for the benefit of the communities they were addressing. The book of Revelation, traditionally known to be written by John, is an apocalyptic writing that uses a lot of symbolism.

  • The Gospels
    • The gospel of Matthew [Mt], c. 85 A.D.
    • The gospel of Mark [Mk], c. 70 A.D.
    • The gospel of Luke [Lk], c. 75 A.D.
    • The gospel of John [Jn], c. 90-100 A.D.

The book of the Acts of the Apostles [Acts] follows the book of John. It gives an account of the early Christian church and how it began to grow and spread throughout the many regions surrounding Jerusalem. Modern bible scholars refer to the book of the Acts of Apostles as belonging to the book Luke-Acts, which refers to the integration of the gospel of Luke and the book of Acts. It has been studied that the one who wrote the gospel of Luke also wrote the book of Acts.

  • The Epistles or the New Testament Letters
    • Letter to the Romans [Rom], c. 57 A.D.
    • 1st Letter to the Corinthians [1Cor], c. 57 A.D.
    • 2nd Letter to the Corinthians [2Cor], c. 57 A.D.
    • Letter to the Galatians [Gal], c. 50 A.D.
    • Letter to the Ephesians [Eph], c. 61-63 A.D.
    • Letter to the Philippians [Phil], c. 62-63 A.D.
    • Letter to the Colossians [Col], c. 61-63 A.D.
    • 1st Letter to the Thessalonians [1Thes], c. 51-52 A.D.
    • 2nd Letter to the Thessalonians [2Thes], c. 52 A.D.
    • 1st Letter to Timothy [1Tm], c. 63 A.D.
    • 2nd Letter to Timothy [2Tm], c. 63 A.D.
    • Letter to Titus [Ti], c. 62 A.D.
    • Letter to Philemon [Phlm], c. 62 A.D.
    • Letter to the Hebrews [Heb]
    • Letter of James [Jas]
    • 1st Letter of Peter [1Pt]
    • 2nd Letter of Peter [2Pt]
    • 1st Letter of John [1Jn]
    • 2nd Letter of John [2Jn]
    • 3rd Letter of John [3Jn]
    • Letter of Jude
  • The book of Revelation [Rv] - the book of Revelation uses apocaplytic language. It uses a lot of symbols in its contents. Bible scholars have come to the conclusion that the book was written for a persecuted Christian church under the Roman Empire. Thus the symbols referring to, for example, dragons with seven heads, is a kind of 'code' among the persecuted Christians when referring to the Roman Empire.

As a whole, from the gospel of Matthew to the book of Revelation, the book of the New Testament comprises 27 mini-books.

Further divisions into the Bible

So quotes from the Bible can be referred to with ease, the books are further divided into chapters, passages, and verses. A good translation to have is the New American Bible. This is a good translation because the English is better than the Revised Standard Version. And this translation is the one used in Eucharistic liturgies. In the New American Bible, the chapters are further divided into passages or sections with a short caption describing the contents of the passage or the section. Then the passage or section is further divided into verses which are also numbered like the chapters. Thus, when you see the reference Mt 28:16-20, this means that it refers to the gospel of Matthew, chapter 28, verses 16-20. Sometimes the verses have an a, b, or c letter accompanying the number, this just means a further division of the verse itself. To be familiar with the abbreviations of the books of the Old Testament and the New Testament, you can refer to the list above.

Different ways of presenting the divisions of the Bible

The above divisions of the bible is only one of many standard ways of dividing the bible to have an idea what it is. In some versions of dividing the bible, some books that are placed in the historical are considered among the prophetic books. A better approach of understanding the bible is to research, and know the many ways the bible is categorized into different books and traditions. This will obtain for the reader a fuller understanding and comprehension of its eaning and contexts.

Tuesday, December 19, 2023

Israel's Conquest of Canaan

"The Promised Land" - Three Theories of Israel's Conquest of Canaan

Three theories have been proposed to by biblical scholars and archaeologists to understand how the early Hebrews were able to conquer Canaan and settle in the land.

The Three Theories of Israel's Conquest of Canaan

Because there are inconsistencies in the biblical account of the book of Joshua and there are missing information in archaeological findings, scholars have arrived at different conclusions on the early Hebrews conquest of Canaan. The three theories they have proposed are:

  • 1 gradual infiltration
  • 2 military invasion
  • 3 peasant revolution

1 Gradual Infiltration

The theory of gradual infiltration proposes that the early Israelites settled in Canaan over the space of several generations. This gradual settlement was not completed until the time of David. In this theory, no military assault was made on the land. Rather, there was instead the gradual nomadic infiltration of pastoral nomads from the desert into the sparsely settled hill country. These nomads entered the land because they were in search of pasture for their flocks. Eventually, they became in good terms with the native Canaanites - eventually intermarrying with them.

The only drawback with this theory of gradual infiltration is that the story of Joshua's conquest in the bible would be interpreted as something of a myth meant to tell a story that conveys a present truth. The writer of this biblical account would have used the literary style of the epic to portray Yahweh's mighty power in providing the Israelites with land. Though this theory departs from the truth of the biblical account, on the other hand, the theory supports the archaeological findings that show that not all cities of Canaan and its environs were destroyed through battle.

2 Military Invasion

The second theory of military invasion proposes a view that is really in line with the biblical tradition of conquest. In this theory, biblical scholars say that the writer (known as the Deuteronomistic historian) of the Canaan conquest in the bible wrote the account to proclaim to the Israelite community that it is Yahweh, the Divine Warrior, who was responsible for the victory.

This view of military conquest has some support from archaeological excavations. There is archaeological evidence for the violent destruction of some Canaanite cities in the late thirteenth century (B.C.E.) Cities mentioned in the bible that were attacked by Joshua, notably Lachish and Hagar, actually did fall in that period.

Though there is evidence of such a military invasion to support the theory, there are also archaeological evidences in 1930-1936 A.D., during a British excavation, that the destruction of those cities may be due to an earthquake. This archaeological evidence depart from the truth of this second theory.

3 Peasant Revolution

This third theory of peasant revolution has gained more attention since it sheds light on some aspects of the biblical account of Joshua's conquest. It helps to understand why some cities fell to Israel without any reported military attack. It explains why there is no archaeological evidence of the destruction of some cities claimed by the "peasant" revolutionaries. It also explains why some Canaanite elements (the Gibeonites) joined the Israelite cause.

The only drawback with this theory of peasant revolution is that there is no explicit indication of a peasant's revolt in the biblical tradition of the book of Joshua and Judges.

Conclusion

Going through all the three theories, and seeing that, indeed, no one theory can completely reconcile both the truth found in biblical accounts and the material evidences in archaeological excavations, we can simply conclude that the Israelite occupation of Canaan was far more complex than what we apparently see. As biblical scholars, historians, and archaeologists make more in-depth studies, and place all their data and information in a joint project, they may find another theory that can be as close to the truth of that Israelite conquest of Canaan during the thirteenth centuries before Christ (or before the Common Era - BCE).

Related resources:

  • "Understanding the Old Testament", by Bernhard W. Anderson
  • The Promised Land: Introductory Article