NTT Journal for Theology and the Study of Religion - Volume 72, Issue 4, 2018

In his collection Oostersch: Verzen naar Perzische en Arabische dichters (‘Oriental: Verses after Persian and Arabic poets’), published in 1924, the Dutch poet J.H Leopold (1865-1925) included his poem ‘Jezus, die door de wereld ging’ (‘Jesus, who went through the world’). It ends with an agraphon, or saying, ascribed to Jesus but not recorded in any of the biblical gospels. The standard edition notes that the poem can be traced back, via successive translations, to a verse by the Persian poet Nezâmi (ca. 1200). This contribution shows that the agraphon is widespread in Persian literature and that it in all likelihood finds its origin in the eighth or ninth century in a Sufi milieu. The poem surfaces as early as 900 in Hindu India and in a Jewish context in Spain before 1200. So, agrapha can throw light on interreligious text exchange in the Middle Ages. More recently, in 1941 the Greek poet Sikelianos rewrote the poem in view of his situation in Athens. The composer Tavener has adapted the text for his composition Agraphon (2001).

The ideal of self-loss from monastic tradition seems to contradict the continuing bond of contemporary individuals with their beloved ones after death. This leads to the question how prospective hope on a hereafter and retrospective remembrance of the life of the deceased can be combined and open a perspective on eternity. Furthermore, one can ask how a form of spirituality that is directed to self-loss already during earthly life, can contribute to the experience of a person in his or her last days by being fully present during the dying process. Departing from these contemporary questions, the article presents dying-narratives from the first centuries of Christian monastic tradition. From these dying-narratives we learn that remembrance does not exclusively refer to the biography of the deceased. Furthermore, hope on a hereafter can gain more personal relevance by emotional commitment. The absence of the deceased can be filled symbolically, e.g. by experiencing the moment of death or getting a task from him or her. In this way, dying-narratives about early monks and nuns can teach us how to die (ars moriendi) and contribute to making sense of death and avoiding one-sidedness, also today, inside and outside monasteries.

Adolf Harnack’s Das Wesen des Christentums (1900) sold more than 100.000 copies. The first English edition What is Christianity? appeared already in 1902. In the preface, the church historian and liberal theologian Harnack (1851-1930) characterized the book as a ‘short and plain statement of the Gospel and its history’. The present article explores Harnack’s career, the defining historical approach (historicism), his characterisation of the essence of Christianity (‘God and the human soul, the soul and its God’), and the reception of Das Wesen des Christentums (Alfred Loisy, Leo Baeck). Finally, its strengths (a contextualised, thick description of the Christian faith) and weaknesses (its hegemonial liberal stance) are outlined.