Open call:
Journal Figura, Vol. 10 N. 01 (2022) - Dossier The Classic and its Appropriations in the Christian Tradition

Organization: Prof.Dr. Aldilene Marinho César Almeida Diniz (CEFET-RJ) and Prof.Dr. Tamara Quírico (UERJ)

As Christianity met Greco-Roman culture, it created both convergence and dispersion, proximity and distance. Christian thought, therefore, was conformed among its Jewish origins and pluricultural elements from a classical tradition that gathered different people, languages, beliefs, and cultures.

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was God” (John 1, 1). Hans Belting stresses that when Saint Jerome translated the broad Greek concept logos into verbum, he settled the canonization of the word to Christianity. From that time on, Christian religion would stress the importance of text and speech, as we may perceive in Christian groups still nowadays.

Nevertheless, we cannot forget that “The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us” (John 1, 14). “Flesh” therefore implies a physical, palpable presence and, particularly, a visible one: the Latin concept of imago, essential to Christian anthropology, is justified by the biblical text itself, as already in Genesis we find out that man was made in God’s image and likeness (Gn 1, 26).

Christianity, therefore, was conceived as a religion both of words and images. As it is a doctrine conceived within the classical culture, it is, then, broadly influenced by such tradition.

Western classical tradition hinges precisely on the reception of Greco-Roman antiquity by later societies. This reception may be perceived in texts, objects, ideas, institutions, architecture, rituals, and different cultural practices. This dossier, therefore, aims to gather papers regarding Christian culture broadly, within a wide spatial-temporal frame, considering such possible relations, contacts, influences, and appropriations between classical tradition and Christian culture.

All proposals shall be submitted until 15th December 2021 according to the Author Guidelines.