-Index-
Preface
Noeli Dutra ROSSATO
Articles
Iranian origins of millenialism
Edrisi FERNANDES
Original title: As origens iranianas do milenarismo
Keywords: Apocalypticism, Eschatology, Millennialism, Zoroastrianism, Zurvanism.
This essay consists in a critical evaluation of the Iranian contribution to the origins of Judaeo-Christian millennialism through Zoroastrianism and Zurvanism. With that aim, the beginnings of Iranian millennialism with Zarathustra (Zoroaster) are reviewed, and the reason for the creation of finite time, as well as its function as a bridge to the coming epoch of unlimited time, are analysed. Some aspects of the Greek reception and transmission of Iranian eschatological ideas are briefly discussed; the relation between Zoroastrian millennialism and soteriology is evaluated, and finally some traces of the lasting western heritage of Zoroastrian apocalypticism are pointed out.
The image of the throne in Ibn Gabirol and the Merkabah mysticism
Cecilia Cintra CAVALEIRO DE MACEDO
Original title: A imagem do trono em Ibn Gabirol e a mística da Merkabah
Keywords: Angels - Shekinah, Ibn Gabirol - Throne of Glory, Merkabah.
The subject of the Throne is common to the three abrahamic monotheistic religions and it is an important presence in medieval thought. Specifically in Judaism it has a prominent place, since the first great trend in Jewish mysticism is characterized by the contemplation of the Merkabah (Charriot/Throne) images described from the vision of Prophet Ezekiel. At the same time, many medieval Jewish philosophers also mention the subject. Although the philosophical work of Ibn Gabirol is characterized by the absence of religious references, there is one single passage in the Fons vitae that seems to refer to the Throne. In this article we will try to improve the interpretation of this passage from the Fons vitae by verifying the presence of the Merkabah mystical images in Ibn Gabirol poetry in the light of the indications from the mystical literature and the Jewish imaginary.
A Collective Messiah: Joachim of Fiore’s Constitution of Future Society
Matthias RIEDL
Original title: O Messias coletivo: a constituição da sociedade futura em Joaquim de Fiore
Keywords: Constitution, Future, Joachim of Fiore, Liber Figurarum, Messiah.
At the end of the 12th century, the famous Calabrian abbot and apocalyptic seer Joachim of Fiore drafted a constitution for the universal Christian society he expected to emerge in a coming third age of the Spirit. This articles shows that the constitution combines a highly complex symbolic structure with very concrete and pragmatic instructions for future social life. While the symbolic structure amounts to the image of a collective messiah, the pragmatic structure evokes the picture of a strictly hierarchical society, where the rank of a person depends on the possession of spiritual knowledge.
Joachim of Fiore: Trinity, history and millenarianism
Cláudio REICHERT DO NASCIMENTO
Original title: Joaquim de Fiore: Trindade, história e milenarismo
Keywords: History, Joachim of Fiore, Millenarianism, Thomas Aquinas, Trinity.
The article shows the hermeneutic system developed by Joachim of Fiore to interpret the Scripture and History. The World's figure appears as a synthesis of this system and represents the general history (generalis historia), with regard to the Old and New Testaments, and the special histories (especiales historia). These histories have the relation between the biblical figures, present in both testaments, and the animals described in the prophet Ezekiel's vision. Finally, it makes reference to the criticism that Thomas Aquinas made to the doctrine of the abbot, since there would not be a new gospel that overlap with the new law in his opinion.
The Lectura super Apocalipsim of Peter John Olivi
Márcio Paulo CENCI
Original title: A Lectura super Apocalipsim de Pedro João Olivi
Keywords: Eschatology, Franciscan Thought, Hermeneutics, Peter John Olivi, Revelation.
The Lectura super Apocalipsim (1297) of Peter John Olivi is one of more important books of Philosophy and Theology of History at 13th century, and have made very much influence at the begins 14th century. Here are the indications, presuppositions, some matters and the influences of that interpretation's Olivi. Further, with more attention the topic on the scatological function of Francis of Assisi, as the Angle of the sixth seal, from a concordance principle of the life of him with the life of Christ.
The Gottesgeburtszyklus by Master Eckhart: the fundamental mystic of “birth of God in soul” (Sermons 101 to 104)
Bento Silva SANTOS
Original title: O Gottesgeburtszyklus de Meister Eckhart: a mística fundamental do “nascimento de Deus na alma” (Sermões 101 a 104)
Keywords: God, Master Eckhart, Medieval Philosophy, soul.
This work analyses the famous sermons of “the birth of God in soul” (101-104), wrote in Middle High German by Master Eckhart, one of the main themes of his studies about the “fundamental mystic”. In the words of the Rhine master has been an unequivocally mystic and will to be free of psychological horizon of human subjectivity, as an expression to God and to soul’s union with the divinity. Eckhart affirmed in these sermons the intellectual necessity of “internalize itself”, i.e., the intellect would come back to his “essence”. Thus, it will perform the “birth of God in soul”. How it happens to Eckhart? The coronation of God’s action into the “deep of soul” will resemble to the top of “knowledge unknown”, it means, a condition of “epistemic obscurity” to the intellect. Therefore, the absence of knowledge is the condition for the union with the deity (Gottheit): we can’t see God unless by the blindness. We can’t know him unless by the “unknowledge”. The “return” from the multiply world to the indistinct One means to pass from the condition of know to the unknown; It means yet the transition between the created being to the nonbeing of God until culminate the nonbeing of deity. This is the condition of this “birth”.
Black Death and eschatology: the effects of the attendance of death on 14th century religiosity
Tamara QUÍRICO
Original title: Peste Negra e escatologia: os efeitos da expectativa da morte sobre a religiosidade do século XIV
Keywords: Black Death, Eschatology, Italy, Religiosity.
This article shall discuss in which ways the Black Death of 1348 (as well as the recurrent outbreaks of the epidemic until the end of the century and even after) created an atmosphere of pessimism and fear, and how the apprehension of an imminent death and of the proximity of the end of the world engendered changes also in religious practices. For methodological reasons, the analysis shall focus on the Italian Peninsula, although specific examples from other areas may also be mentioned.
Millennialism, spiritualism and ecclesiastical reform in the Middle Ages
Andrés GRAU I ARAU
Original title: Milenarismo, espiritualismo y reforma eclesiástica en la Baja Edad Media
Keywords: Church - Doctrine, Poverty, Reform, Spirit.
Considering several millennial doctrines, from Joachim of Fiore until Jan Hus, we seek to demonstrate that the reform of the Church depends on a particular understanding of spiritual life.
The degrees of knowledge to the mystical vision in the thought of Nicholas of Cusa (1401-1464)
José GONZÁLES RÍOS
Original title: Los grados de conocimiento hacia la visión mística en el pensamiento de Nicolás de Cusa (1401-1464)
Keywords: Knowledge, Metaphysics, Mystical vision, Neoplatonism, Nicholas of Cusa.
The speculation on the topic of vision (visio), and in it around the mystical vision (visio mystica), is rich in the system of thought of Nicholas of Cusa. It is permanently present in his sermons, letters and in the rest of his theological and philosophical work. While there are various ways to address it, we propose considering it from his metaphysics of the human mind (mens human) point of view, and in it through the consideration of the degree of knowledge what the mind gradually transit in the conjectural searching of vision of the first principle from which she and all proceeds. To this end, we will address the topic of the mystical vision by considering first, the elements that Cusano gives in the context of his early sermons (before 1440). Second, through the presentation of the degrees of knowledge of the human mind, as they appear in the first great metaphysical systematization of knowledge in the books of De coniecturis (1442/3).Third, we discuss the topic in his work De visione Dei (1453). Analyzing this elements we hope to show that the topic of the mystical vision in the thought of Nicholas of Cusa is inseparable from his metaphysics of the human mind.
Nicholas of Cusa: Look and Mystic
Maria Simone Marinho NOGUEIRA
Original title: Nicolau de Cusa: Olhar e Mística
Keywords: Experience, Look, Love, Mystic, Reflection.
Assuming that De visione dei is a mystical text and that the mystic, both in its generic and ultimate interpretations, is an experience of the divine, we think it is possible to show that, at the mentioned publication, Nicholas of Cusa (1401-1464) presents a mystical experience, understood as the reflection about the subject. Therefore, the sensible experience proposed by him, and explained in the Preface of De visione dei, unites the simplicity of a visual experience with the highest and most profound speculation that human beings can do: reflect in a manner that you can experience your relationship with the divine.
Absolute vision and vision of the Absolute in Nicholas of Cusa
Claudia D’AMICO
Original title: Visión absoluta y visión de lo absoluto en Nicolás de Cusa
Keywords: Absolute vision, Middle Ages, Mystical vision, Neoplatonism, Nicholas of Cusa.
Introducing the topic of the mystical vision, Nicholas of Cusa becomes the heir of the Neoplatonic tradition while he supposes as the foundation of such a view the same absolute vision. However, his thought is characterized by a parallelism between absolute and human vision to the point that the man can make himself visible the vision of God only by means of selfcontemplation of the dynamism of his own vision.
Commentary of João da Cruz about the verse “With thirst in inflammables loves” in the second book of Dark Night
Marcelo Martins BARREIRA
Original title: Comentário de João da Cruz ao verso com ânsias em amores inflamados no segundo livro da Noite Escura
Keywords: João da Cruz, Love, Medieval Philosophy, Mystic, soul.
The article is about the will in mystical contemplation. From the chapters 11-13 of the John of the Cross’s work entitled The Dark Night. There is in this book a original reading of John of the Cross on the relationship between will and intellect, especially with the "inflammation of love" in the soul.
Michel de Certeau and Tereza de Ávila: toward literature and mystical experience
Cicero Cunha BEZERRA
Original title: Michel de Certeau e Teresa de Ávila: em torno da literalidade da experiência mística
Keywords: Literature, Michel de Certeau, Mystical, Philosophy, Teresa de Avila.
How to think of a mystical experience? Is there any belief in a ‘negative tradition’ that constitutes a literary corpus which can propitiate a specific reading or at least a more restrict one about what we call mystical? Michel de Certeau has already defined it in such way that allow us to penetrate it through literature, specially concerning to narratives writing by women during XVI and XVII centuries. This paper analyses the literary aspects expressed on a mystical experience, based on Michel de Certeau´s works La fable mystique and Mystique au XVII Siecle: le problem du language mystique, and Teresa de Àvila´s poesías líricas and exclamaciones.
Millenarianism in Joachim of Fiore and Antonio Vieira
Noeli Dutra ROSSATTO and Marcus DE MARTINI
Original title: Milenarismo em Joaquim de Fiore e Antônio Vieira
Keywords: Antonio Vieira, Eschatology, Hermeneutic, History, Joachim of Fiore.
This article aims at analyzing the presence of millenarianism in the works of Joachim of Fiore (c. 1132-1202) and Father Antonio Vieira (1608- 1697). First of all, one shows that there is not properly a millenarianism in Joachim’s works, and that the millenarianism attributed to him comes from the Spiritual Franciscans, the Jesuits and also from some apocryphal texts unduly attributed to him. Based on that, secondly, one points out just an indirect relation between Vieira and Joachim, since, besides the fact that the latter was not millenarian, the Portuguese Jesuit did not ground his prophetical ideas on the abbot’s authentic works. Hence Vieira’s millenarianism, very often related to the abbot’s thought by the critics, would be derived from Joachite circles and some pseudo-Joachite texts.
