Scholarly accounts of the violent events that occurred early in Cyril of Alexandria's episcopal tenure rely most of all upon Socrates's Ecclesiastical History, Damascius's Philosophical History, and John of Nikiu's Chronicle. In contrast, Cyril's own corpus is almost never consulted or engaged by scholars working on these topics, which has resulted in the complete neglect of certain passages that are directly relevant to these well-known events. Surprisingly, on at least three occasions Cyril explicitly rejects religiously motivated violence, while, in contrast, in two other passages he theorizes about it in positive terms as a means of protecting the integrity of communal boundaries. The analysis of these passages reveals that, in certain works, Cyril employed a violent rhetoric that plausibly contributed to creating the environment that resulted in Hypatia's murder. In contrast, however, he seemingly shifted his rhetoric at a certain point in his career, going out of his way to disavow precisely the kind of actions with which he is usually associated, perhaps doing so as a response to Hypatia's horrific death. With these complementary insights, this study contributes to the growing scholarly interest in how violent rhetoric can lead to actual violence. Moreover, Cyril's disavowal of religious violence complicates the simplistic image of him that holds sway as the dominant interpretation of his legacy among scholars of late antiquity.

This article provides a new perspective on the discussion of heresy from one of the most influential canonical-jurisprudential commentaries of the Middle Ages: Bernard of Parma's Glossa ordinaria to Pope Gregory IX's Decretales (commonly known as the Liber extra). Based on an analysis of Bernard's legal glosses, with special emphasis on his citation of Roman and canon law traditions, I argue that the often-overlooked Glossa ordinaria provides scholars a unique window into medieval conceptions of heresy, jurisprudence, and ecclesiastical-legal practice. This study demonstrates that this important mid-thirteenth-century legal-educational text not only reoriented the canonical definition of heretics toward an emphasis on sects rather than individuals, but, differing from the contemporary, often severe papal and conciliar rulings against heretics, also stressed the centrality of mercy and temperance in how heretics should be treated by the ecclesiastical court. The Glossa ordinaria, as this article discusses, might have served as an intellectual force that could have counter-balanced the overzealousness of emerging inquisitors in an age of intensifying repression of heretics.

Baron Friedrich von Hügel (1852-1925) viewed history as the crux of institutional religion. He also believed that our response to God needs to include all three “Elements of Religion”: the “Intellectual Element” (rational and theological), “Mystical Element” (experiential and devotional) and “Institutional Element” (sacramental, community, tradition and history). Given the role of history in the Baron's “Institutional Element,” it is not surprising that history played a significant role in his spiritual nurture of five individuals. Prayerful reflection upon the historical Christ was central to Evelyn Underhill's conversion. Learning about secular history broadened Gwendolen Greene, enabling her to appreciate Christian mystical texts more fully. Biblical history helped in the formation of Henri Garceau. However, von Hügel's use of history in the spiritual formation of Juliet Mansel and his daughter, Gertrud, had mixed results, and is a reminder of the need to be attentive to both individual differences and maturity levels when using history for spiritual formation. This article builds upon prior research about von Hügel as a spiritual director through the inclusion of unpublished letters from several archives, plus focusing upon one area that has not been extensively discussed in previous studies: the role of history in the Baron's spiritual nurture.

This article explores the experiences of black people who accepted the teaching of William Miller that Christ would return to the earth in 1843–1844. Heretofore, black Millerites have been almost completely ignored in the substantial historiography of Millerism, millennialism and apocalypticism, and black religion. In this article, I argue that the black experience in Millerism deserves to be studied because it articulates the central concerns of blacks at a critical juncture in antebellum America. I show that enslaved and free blacks embraced Miller's doctrine because of the failure of America, particularly its politics and churches, to provide them the basic human right of freedom. As they did in the Christian churches they joined during the Awakenings, blacks fashioned Millerism in their image, using it for purpose, empowerment, expression, community, and liberation. This exploration of black Millerites contributes to broader discussions on the motivations of marginalized people who gravitate toward the eschatological and the impact the apocalyptic has on real-world engagement.

At the turn of the twentieth century, an enchanted response to Christianity among minority peoples on China's ethnic frontiers in Southeast Asia caught Western missionaries by surprise. This paper explores the historical circumstances and the dynamics of the mass Christian conversion among those hill peoples. Far from a cultural defeat and a grudging surrender to a conquering foreign faith, their embrace of Christianity was an exuberant, communal rush toward fulfillment of indigenous prophecies of redemption. Unlike the civilizing project of the modern state—a coercive mandate of assimilation and ideological transformation—the Christian movement offered them a choice and allowed them to channel their desperate prophecies of the past toward a reformist messianism. With its war on local shamanism, rituals of courtship, and inherited (and often inebriated) rhythms of ethnic life, Christian conversion was ostensibly a break with indigenous traditions. However, it also ironically fortified the ethnic identities of the peripheral peoples—especially through the creation of the written script for the purpose of Bible translation—and generated fresh resiliency for their material and cultural survival.

Scholars have acknowledged that there is a systemic aspect to Catholic clerical sex abuse that acts as a type of grammar structuring behaviors and responses. Feminist critics in particular stress the patriarchal nature of the abuse that connects bishops, priests, and boys together. This essay argues that in addition to public systems dominated by men, there are also private structures that facilitate abuse. Using the extensive primary documentation assembled by BishopAccountability.org, I focus on the space of the home and the unique orientations of mothers and fathers to better understand the dynamics of clerical sex abuse in the American Catholic church. The essay begins with the abuse of a Milwaukee priest who tormented his parishioners from 1945 until his forced “retirement” in 1970. Drawing on themes found in this case, I examine other abuse narratives—focusing on how the Catholic understanding of alter Christus and mid-twentieth-century gender roles made the “good Catholic home” a particularly vulnerable place for abuse. Since public and private systems overlap, it is essential that the domestic aspects of clergy sex abuse also receive a full analysis.