NTT Journal for Theology and the Study of Religion - Volume 49, Issue 1, 1995

A curious anecdote in Irish, ascribed to St. Augustine, from manuscript Rawlinson B 502 (12th century) is edited and translated into English. The text describes a monster living in the Indian Ocean who attacks the sun and causes the tides by swallowing and spewing the waters. In a commentary, following the next, the monster is connected with the biblical monster Leviathan by identifying sources which may have been used for this Irish text. The main texts proposed are the Vulgate (especially the book of Job), Theodore of Mopsuestia’s commentary on the Psalms in the Latin translation by Julian of Eclanum and a cosmographical treatise by pseudo-Bede.

This article is an extended annotated translation of Eἰ δεῖ εὔχεσθαı in which Maximus of Tyre argues that petitionary prayer is senseless because real prayer is not a request for things that are not present, but a dialogue with the gods about things that are present.

Supported by the doctrine of the divine will, predestination, as God’s preparation of people for faith and eternal life, is seen by Augustine in its (final) effect: people factually being ready to accept faith. In this life many people show that they do not become - or do not remain - ready in this sense; hence, God dit not predestine them. Yet, this does not necessarily presuppose that God did not offer them grace. On the other hand, people who do believe, are predestined; but that does not necessarily presuppose that their consent to God’s offer was not required. Augustine’s thoughts are open to reject two kinds of determinism (there is an offering of grace but no freedom of consent, and: there is freedom but no offering to consent to).

Since the end of the last century the so-called three-stage theory of the canonization of the Hebrew Bible in the period of 300 B.C.-100 A.D has been the prevailing one: canonization of the Torah in the fourth century B.C. (Ezra), of the Prophets about 200 B.C., and of the Writings about 100 A.D. at the ‘synod’ of Jamnia. In the last three decades, however, this theory has been challenged, and a variety of suggestions and proposals on aspects of the canonical process has been made. The article aims at informing the reader about these new ideas by offering a survey of (a selection from) recent literature on the subject. The literature is divided over nine issues: 1. An Alexandrian canon, 2. A synod of Jamnia, 3. The canon closed about 150 B.C., 4. The Law as the first canonical collection, 5. The Prophets: who are the Prophets?, 6. The revision/translation of Theodotion, 7. Sadducees, Farisees, and Essenes, 8. ‘Canonical approach’ and ‘canonical criticism’, 9. Canonical book and textual tradition. The article ends with a short discussion of the definition of ‘canon’ and ‘canonical’.