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24 pages, 345 KB

Open AccessArticle

Rewriting the Marian Narrative: Bridget of Sweden’s Gospel

by Alessandra Bartolomei Romagnoli

Religions 2026, 17(6), 668; https://doi.org/10.3390/rel17060668 - 2 Jun 2026

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This article is structured in two parts. The first presents an overview of late-medieval female Marian devotion and spirituality, outlining the principal interpretative approaches developed in recent scholarship. The second examines Book VII of the Revelationes of Bridget of Sweden, which is constructed as a true “Gospel of Mary.” Through the visionary reconstruction of Christ’s life and Passion, narrated in the first person by the Virgin, Bridget reshapes the apocryphal tradition and transfers authority from apostolic memory to contemporary revelation. The narrative transforms the pilgrimage to the Holy Land into a Eucharistic and prophetic space, develops an innovative and politically charged Mariology, and presents Mary as both witness of the Incarnation and guardian of a Church in crisis. By integrating theology, narrative, and embodied visionary experience, the article argues that Bridget’s Marian Gospel represents one of the most daring and enduring expressions of female spiritual authority in the transmission of Christian truth. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Divine Inspirations: Exploring Religious Themes in Female Visionary Writing of the Middle Ages and Renaissance)

26 pages, 2763 KB

Open AccessArticle

The Biodeterioration Process in Compositionum: Four Ancient Multi-Material Volumes Studied by Multidisciplinary Approach

by Chiara Gardenghi, Annamaria Alabiso, Marco Maria D’Andrea, Sara Frasca, Valeria Guglielmotti, Claudia Mazzuca, Noemi Orazi, Beatrice Ercolani, Stefano Paoloni, Alessandro Rubechini and Luciana Migliore

Appl. Sci. 2026, 16(2), 1091; https://doi.org/10.3390/app16021091 - 21 Jan 2026

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Abstract

Ancient books and documents constitute an important cultural heritage, which are composed by different supports, such as cardboard, parchment and paper. Due to their composition (animal- and plant-based matrices), they allow bacteria and fungi to thrive, causing the phenomenon of biodeterioration, an ecological succession in parchment. Four ancient books called “Compositionum” from the Apostolic Vatican Archive, made of the same materials, exposed to weather-beating conditions and showing different degrees of deterioration, were analysed by a multidisciplinary approach: DNA metabarcoding using NGS, Light Transmission Analysis and Raman and FTIR spectroscopy. The results highlighted how the biodeteriogen community composition changed from the least to the most damaged, without evidence of significant microbial transfer across the three matrices. The results allow confirmation of the ecological succession as biodeterioration process, including cardboard and paper, in addition to in parchment. These results give important insight for the conservation and restoration practices of all matrices. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advanced Research and Analysis of Environmental Microbiomes)

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13 pages, 365 KB

Open AccessArticle

Apostolate through Books: The Translation Practice by Catholicism during Late Ming and Early Qing

by Yafeng Li, Jingmin Fu and Jiyun Huang

Religions 2024, 15(8), 905; https://doi.org/10.3390/rel15080905 - 26 Jul 2024

Cited by 5 | Viewed by 3237

Abstract

Catholicism during the late Ming and early Qing Dynasties is the most fascinating chapter in the development history of Christian culture in China. Apostolate through books emerged as a prominent method of Sino-West cultural exchange during that time. Apostolate through books by Catholicism was realized by means of translation practice, leading to a notable religious influence. Based on this perspective, this paper discusses the history and connotation of apostolate through books, particularly focusing on the characteristics of apostolate through books by Catholicism during the late Ming and early Qing Dynasties. In achieving this, this research shows the translation motivation and translation effect of apostolate through books during the late Ming and early Qing Dynasties. Furthermore, this paper emphasizes that the translation practice of apostolate through books by Catholicism has laid a good foundation for the sinicization and acceptance of Catholicism in China, highlighting the relationship between apostolate through books by Catholicism and the sinicization of Christian culture, so as to enlighten the internationalization of religious culture. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Texts, Interpretations, and Reception Histories in Chinese Christianity)

16 pages, 374 KB

Open AccessArticle

Understanding Paul as an Antitype of Job: The Joban Allusion in 2 Corinthians 12:1–10

by Sanghwan Lee

Religions 2024, 15(6), 720; https://doi.org/10.3390/rel15060720 - 12 Jun 2024

Viewed by 3493

Abstract

A careful reading of 2 Corinthians 12:1–10 reveals that the passage shares several motifs with the Book of Job: (1) a supernatural adversary, (2) physical suffering, (3) an otherworldly place, (4) social adversity, (5) affluence, and (6) boasting. In light of an audience-critical perspective, this article proposes that the language and imagery in 2 Corinthians 12:1–10 contain a number of allusions that could direct its audience to juxtapose Paul with Job—a well-known righteous figure who demonstrated physical vulnerability but received public vindication from YHWH. According to this reading, the Joban allusion in the Corinthian passage functions as a rhetorical device that defends Paul’s apostolic authority against the super-apostles’ charge that his vulnerability evinces his lack of authority. Full article

(This article belongs to the Section Religions and Theologies)

17 pages, 2367 KB

Open AccessArticle

Israel and the Apostolic Mission: A Post-Supersessionist Reading of Ephesians and Colossians

by Lionel J. Windsor

Religions 2023, 14(1), 44; https://doi.org/10.3390/rel14010044 - 28 Dec 2022

Viewed by 4553

Abstract

Interpretation of Ephesians and Colossians has often proceeded on the basis that the stance of the original authors and recipients towards Israel is supersessionist, i.e., that the church has entirely replaced or superseded Israel as the locus of divine scriptural promises. By contrast, this article presents a post-supersessionist reading of Ephesians and Colossians. The reading strategy seeks to read the letters as situated within the dynamics of the apostolic mission to proclaim the gospel of Jesus as the Jewish christos/messiah to the nations. This mission is envisaged in Acts as a priestly dynamic in which the blessings of salvation in the christos/messiah began within a distinctly Israelite original community and proceeded to the nations without necessarily negating Jewish distinctiveness. The reading highlights key instances of this Israel-centered missionary dynamic in Ephesians and Colossians. It also seeks to demonstrate how this dynamic helps to provide satisfactory answers to key exegetical questions in the letters. Furthermore, it offers alternative non-supersessionist readings of critical passages concerning circumcision, law, and Jewish identity in the two letters. The article is a distillation and summary of research in the author’s previously published book Reading Ephesians and Colossians After Supersessionism: Christ’s Mission through Israel to the Nations. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Reading New Testament Writings through Non-supersessionist Lenses)

9 pages, 780 KB

Open AccessFeature PaperArticle

Pope Francis and Joseph Selling: A New Approach to Mercy in Catholic Sexual Ethics

by Mary Catherine O’Reilly-Gindhart

Religions 2017, 8(12), 264; https://doi.org/10.3390/rel8120264 - 3 Dec 2017

Cited by 3 | Viewed by 4684

Abstract

Since the Apostolic Exhortation of Amoris Laetitia in May 2016 and Apostolic Letter Misericordia et Misera in November 2016, Pope Francis has stirred a new discussion on mercy and the role of mercy in certain matters of sexual ethics including divorced, remarried, and cohabiting couples. During the same year, moral theologian Joseph A. Selling published a revolutionary book which provides a new vision of virtues and examines how people consider and arrive at ethical judgements. This article examines Pope Francis’s understanding of mercy using Selling’s method of the “virtuous trapezium” as a way to actively illustrate Pope Francis’s new approach to matters concerning Catholic sexuality. In matters of human sexuality, the Catholic moral tradition has focused for years on an act-centered morality, but Selling’s method instead considers the goals of ethical living before making an ethical judgment. This article contributes to the current discussion in theological ethics concerning Pope Francis’s recent pronouncements on mercy and Catholic sexual ethics, as well as brings into conversation Selling’s new method and approach to understanding virtue. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue The Future of Catholic Theological Ethics)

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117 KB

Open AccessArticle

Die Arzt-Patient-Beziehung im Fokus: Was Michael Balint uns heute noch zu sagen hat

by Philipp O.W. Portwich

Swiss Arch. Neurol. Psychiatry Psychother. 2014, 165(1), 4-9; https://doi.org/10.4414/sanp.2014.00218 - 1 Jan 2014

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 96

Abstract

The doctor–patient relationship in focus: what Michael Balint has to say to us today. Although the eponyme “Balint” groups is well known, most doctors and therapists know little more about Michael Balint than his biographical data. This essay provides an introduction to his theories and scientific work, in particular the concept of primary love, basic fault, philobatism and ocnophilia. On this basis, the paper describes the main topics of Balint’s book “The doctor, his patient and the illness” (apostolic function, mutual investment company) and finally the method and benefit of Balint groups. Full article

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