Article
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Maiorca and Aragon in time of Ramon Llull (1250-1300)
Ricardo da Costa
Original title: Maiorca e Aragão no tempo de Ramon Llull (1250-1300)
Published in Mirabilia 1
Keywords: Aragon, James II of Maiorca, Maiorca, Medieval politics, Peter III of Aragon, Ramon Llull, War.
Description and analysis of the political situation of the kingdons of Maiorca and Aragon in Ramon Llull's time, with enphasis in the relationship of Llull with the kings James II of Maiorca and Peter III of Aragon. This description has for an objective the compreension of the historical circunstances that influenced the political thoughts of Ramon Llull.
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The knight to the divine in Ramon Llull: against the sin of the lust
Jordi Pardo Pastor
Original title: El caballero a lo divino en Ramon Llull: contra el pecado de la lujuria
Published in Mirabilia 1
Keywords: Book of chivalries, Knight, constriction, exempla., lust.
The sense of this work consists on demonstrating a new literary model of medieval Knight. Therefore, by means of the influence of the Arab and oriental religious doctrine, the medieval Knight is transmuted, in the literary parameters, of a skillful Knight in the weapons to a being that it looks for in the world the essence of God. In the same way, to support this opinion is analysed the possible relationship with different episodes of medieval chivalry books with oneself leitmotiv.
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The philosophical contribution to the constitution of the political theory at the end of the XIII century
Francisco Bertelloni
Original title: La contribución de la filosofía a la formación del pensamiento político laico a fines del siglo XIII y comienzos del siglo XIV
Published in Mirabilia 1
Keywords: Aristotle, Ethics, Political theory., radical aristotelism.
This paper deals with the treatment of the philosophia moralis in the Student´s Guide or guidebook of Barcelona as prelude to the Western reception of the aristotelian libri morales.The author analyzes the political consequences of the guide in connection with the methodical separation between philosophy and theology as antecedent of the same distinction in the political theory of the second half of the XIII. century.
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Bringing the Divine down into Man: the building-up of the yoga path
Edrisi Fernandes
Original title: Trazendo o Divino para Dentro do Homem: a Construção do Sistema do Yoga
Published in Expressing the Divine: Language, Art and Mysticism
Keywords: Atharvaveda, Purusha, Rigveda, Upanishads., Yoga.
The author analizes the evolution of Yoga as an ascetic discipline, since the time of the absorption of the local inhabitants by the Aryan tribes, that settled in India in protohistoric times. Austerity vows, magical practices, breath control exercises and ascetic attitudes of the locals were incorporated in Vedic metaphysics and religion, and also in preclassical Yoga. The discovery of the power of ascetic/meditational practices gave rise to a progressive distantiation of the yogis from external religious practices such as sacrifices, intended to propitiate the gods, and to a parallel advance of the view of yoga as a kind of sacrifice in itself, grounded on the association - thought as a binding or [re]union - between the Self/the living Soul (âtman; jivâtman) of man and the eternal norm (sanatana dharma), the “Lord of Creatures” (Prajâpati), the Supreme Being (Parameshtin; Brahman; Shiva of Shaivism; Vishnu of Vaishnavism), or the force or power (Shakti of Shaktism [Tantrism]) that makes life possible and maintains the cosmos. Through a review of the Purusha (Sanskrit for “person; man”, but also for “Universal man; man-god”) theme in some classical Indian literary references - encompassing the Rigveda, the Atharvaveda, many Upanishads, relevant portions of the Mahâbhârata (particularly of the Bhagavad-Gîtâ, and of the Mokshadharma and other sections of the Shânti Parva), the Yoga-Sûtra of Patañjali (the founding text of classical yoga), the Bhâgavata-Purâna, the Yoga-Vâsishtha attributed to Vâlmîki, and the Kulârnava-Tantra (an essential text to tantra-yoga), among others -, an articulation that consolidates human autonomy and superior status in the universe is perceived, giving way to the idea that one can be “enlighted”, and the God-in-man status can be achieved, both through knowledge (jñâna) and through yoga - the way of enlightment associated with bodily and mental control and stability, and with the achievement of trans-rational conciousness. Purely “transcendental” meditation and concentration practices progressively [re]turn to a situation where the body is valued as a kind of “temple”, that must be appropriately constructed and cared for in order to allow and to favour the final encounter and assimilation between man and the Divine.
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Fear and Ecstatic Reaction to the Miracle Stories in the Synoptic Gospels
Paulo Augusto de Souza Nogueira
Original title: Maravilhamento e êxtase religioso como reação aos milagres nos Evangelhos Sinóticos
Published in Expressing the Divine: Language, Art and Mysticism
Keywords: Ecstatic, Jesus, Miracles, Synoptic Gospels..
The Synoptic Miracle Stories have been interpreted with suspicion by modern exegetes. If compared to Jesus’ preaching and to the death and resurrection account they never received a true religious appreciation. In fact, the insertion of the Miracle Stories in the Synoptic Gospels has been considered as a kind of concession by the evangelists: they narrate them, but they show also that the popular reaction to the miracles, even if positive, is dominated by misunderstanding.
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Mysticism, Language and Silence in Plotinus's Philosophy
Maria Simone Cabral Marinho
Original title: Mística, Linguagem e Silêncio na Filosofia de Plotino
Published in Expressing the Divine: Language, Art and Mysticism
Keywords: Language, Mysticism, Plotinus, Silence.
This article tries to highlight some important aspects of mystical experience in Plotinus, pointing out, above all, the problem of language that appears in the Plotinian Philosophy as a mediating term between the need to communicate the One and the impossibility of doing so.
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Brotherhoods as an Expression of Popular Devotion and the Way to God and Paradise
Klaus Militzer
Original title: Bruderschaften als Ausdruck der Volksfrömmigkeit und des Wegs zu Gott und in das Paradies
Published in Expressing the Divine: Language, Art and Mysticism
Keywords: Council of Trent, Fellowships, Legos in the Middle Ages.
This paper analyzes the calls and fellowships development thirteenth to the sixteenth century. Focusing on Köln and Neuss examples the author one side highlights the relationship between the growth of these communities prosperous and secular progressive urbanization of society, commerce, as well as the spiritual crisis triggered by repeated pests. On the other hand, addresses the criticisms of the confraternities that multiply especially since the reformation, although Reformers were not the first to advance reviews in relation to lifestyle prodigal of the members of these communities and their political influence within Church. These criticisms, ultimately, lead to a reform of the confraternities.
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Hildegard of Bingen (1098-1179): the Exceptional Way of a Medieval Visionary Woman
Carmen Lícia Palazzo
Original title: Hildegard de Bingen: o excepcional percurso de uma visionária medieval
Published in Expressing the Divine: Language, Art and Mysticism
Keywords: Church, Hildegard of Bingen, Middle Ages, visionary woman.
The goal of this article is to present a few aspects of the extensive body of work by the visionary nun Hildegard of Bingen, relating her acceptance with the 12th century context and suggesting certain research possibilities. The debate among monks of Cister and Cluny and the severe criticism to Abelard’s teachings by Bernard of Clairvaux constitute, in my opinion, an essential elements to be considered in order to explain the direct support by the Church to Hildegard’s texts and Hildegard as a person. However, it was certainly the quality of her work and her prodigious intelligence that consolidated her achievements not only as a visionary but also as composer, counsellor and therapist.
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A Polemical Iconography: the Magi from Orient
Patricia Grau-Dieckmann
Original title: Una Iconografía polémica: los Magos de Oriente
Published in Expressing the Divine: Language, Art and Mysticism
Keywords: Art, Epiphany, Iconography, Magic, Three Wise Men, Worship.
"… there came wise men from the east to Jerusalem" briefly informs Mathews Gospel about these illustrious visitors that - following a star - arrive from the east to worship Baby Jesus. He further tells that they fell on their knees and "presented him with gifts - gold, incense and myrrh". Later apocryphal tales and popular narratives beautify and adorn the legends about these mysterious characters. Very early does art reflect the iconography of the worship of the magi, known as "Epiphany". This scene will mutate through time and will develop into the sumptuous representation of the royal characters that became the Three Wise Men. Early Christian art may offer a key to the understanding of whom they were, what were they looking for and what were the reasons that justify the importance of the scene of the Epiphany within the frame of this new religion - Christianism - that tried to expand among the gentiles.
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God Can not be Understood. God's Incomprehensibility in the Liber XXIV philosophorum (Chapters XVI & XVII) and its Roots in the Western Philosophical Tradition
Jan G. J. ter Reegen
Original title: Deus não pode ser conhecido. A incognoscibilidade divina no Livro dos XXIV Filósofos (XVI e XVII) e suas raízes na tradição filosófica ocidental
Published in Expressing the Divine: Language, Art and Mysticism
Keywords: Being beyond being, First cause, First principle, Ineffability.
The Liber XXIV Philosophorum in its XVIth e XVIIth thesis tells us about the ineffability of God as a consequence of His excellence and also in view of the fact that God can only think Himself. In this paper we will try to examine the base and dimensions of this statement, studying it as a part of a long tradition in ancient and medieval philosophy, i.e. Neoplatonism, and especially in the Liber de Causis.
