The aims of this paper are to qualify theologically Paul Fiddes’ claim that creative writing can be understood as a response to divine revelation and to construct a preliminary sketch of a theological framework in order to appreciate textuality and move from reading literary texts in the light of theology to considering them as theology, that is, as sacraments of communion with God. What follows is, thus, an inquiry into some of the theological presuppositions and criteria, which would enable a reader with a Christian perspective to consider any literary text theologically and read it as a kind of doxology.

This paper examines the challenge that philosophers influenced by positivism posed to religion during the twentieth century, and considers how philosophers more sympathetic to theism responded to this challenge. By focusing upon the trajectory of the philosophical challenge to theismin the twentieth century, this paper seeks to highlight the various ways that the relationship between theistic faith and reason was conceived by those debating the credibility of religious belief. The paper concludes that although the conception of reason’s relationship to faith dominant at the end of the twentieth century was more conducive to creative religious thought than was that prevalent at the beginning of the century, it nevertheless generates significant unresolved problems.

The Minos is a much neglected dialogue. The scholarly attention that has been given to it is unimaginative and general. Our discussion of the Minos remedies these scholarly deficits.We have read the dialogue closely and have concluded, on a textual basis, that Socrates intends an empirical investigation of νόμος insofar as νόμος is the product of tradition and the behavior it prescribes. Our investigation also has been especially sensitive to the dialogue’s etymological sophistication. Besides Plato’s Cratylus, no other dialogue comes close to mirroring the argument explored with its etymological foundations. This observation justifies the seriousness with which we have treated Socrates’ discussion of King Minos. In fact, it is Socrates’ discussion of King Minos that unifies the dialogue as a whole. Our hope is that the treatment contained in these pages of the Minos contributes to a scholarly reevaluation of this profound and complex dialogue.

In this paper, I argue that the implications of Gregory of Nyssa’s anagogical method of interpretation are of paramount importance for the theological appreciation of contemporary literature. For his emphasis on the reader’s disposition is an indication that in an orthodox Christian context, all language may correspond anagogically to God and lift people up to Him, provided people first recognize language’s redemption in Christ, and, then, actualize its sacramentality in their liturgical act of reading and through the grace of the Holy Spirit.

The present contribution discusses the dynamics of education (paideia) in Byzantium. As is well known, Byzantine education built on previous Greek/Roman educational traditions. We attempt to demonstrate, that while Byzantine education built on previous traditions, it transformed these traditions into a new specifically Byzantine ideal of paideia, which combined the content of previous hellenistic educational practices with a Christian outlook. But this Byzantine paideia was not merely a combination of the Greek and Christian tradition, but a new product. For the first time, education was being regulated, since it was an important aspect of the ideological cohesivness of the state. Education was associated with morality and ethics. Perhaps due to Christian influence, especially from the ninth century, education became to be viewed as an „uplifting“ or anagogical force, which enabled one to arrive at a universalist perspective of life and the state.