Victoriano PASTOR JULIÁN

Original title: Erasmo, biógrafo de san Jerónimo: Hieronymi Stridonensis Vita (1516)

Published in Mirabilia Journal 31 (2020/2)  

Keywords: Biography, Erasmus, Humanism, Saint Jerome, Theology.

The life of Jerome of Stridon was written by Erasmus as an introduction to the edition of his Opera Omnia (1516). He developed it mainly from Jerome’s own correspondence, the first four volumes consisting of its edition. Erasmus read and imitated Jerome’s work, due to his piety and knowledge since his youth. This is the reason why the Vita Hieronymi will develop around two axes: Jerome according to Jerome and Jerome according to Erasmus. Thus, he conceives life as a forensic speech in which he defends Jerome’s cause and, at the same time, that of Humanism and of the vera theologia, of which he will be a defender and advocate. Thereby, Jerome’s biography turns, so to speak, into an apologia pro vita sua for Erasmus. In this work, we have translated –for the first time in Spanish language– more than a third of its 1565 lines, keeping the Latin text at the bottom of the page. At the same time, we have studied both Jerome’s and Erasmus’ context, focusing especially on the almost total complicity of both theologians and humanists.

Eirini ARTEMI

Published in

Keywords: Christianity, Modernity, Post-patristic, Theology.

Nowadays, there is a question about the relationship between patristic and “after patristic” theology, according to Orthodox theology. This theology comes from the writings of the Fathers, the tradition of the Orthodox Church but also from the general revealed truth of the Church. The opposite of orthodox theology is “after patristic” theology. The latter is an extension of the various newer theologies of western Christian Churches. They make a relevance of theology and feminist, or politics, or different social problems, etc. What is the view of the Orthodox Theology, when many Orthodox support these kinds of theologies and some others have negative attitude to these theologies. Is there any real connection between patristic theology and “modern theology”?

Euler Renato WESTPHAL

Original title: O aborto de vida inútil: a vida entre a secularização e o sagrado

Published in

Keywords: Bioethics, Cultural Heritage, Sustainability, Theology, Universal Human Rights.

This article approached the utilitarian ethic view about the human dignity. According to utilitarianism, the human life does not have dignity and it does not have worth by itself. The infanticide could be a possibility to free the parents of children who have any handicaps. Human life only has value if there is self-consciousness and a life project. From that moment on, the genetic improvement would also be justified by the PGD (Preimplantation Genetic Diagnosis) so that children would not get serious diseases. Which are the limits between eugenics and therapy, among utility and human dignity? Alberto Giubilini, Francesca Minerva, Peter Singer, Hannah Arendt, Jürgen Habermas, Joachim Jeremias, Oscar Cullmann were partners of discussion in this article. It is remarked that the human dignity, the universal rights of human being are heritages of the Judeo-Christian theology. God unconditionally loves the sinner, the patient, the weak and the excluded. From that moment on, the Christian theology indicates to the solidarity of God to those who are considered, by the liberal eugenic, “not worth living”. The critical dialogue among bioethics and theology has the aim of seeking criteria so that the human life will not be instrumentalized by interests of human designers.