maestria:

Italian, mastery

 

Origen:

aka Origen of Alexandria, 184-253 AD, early Christian scholar, ascetic & influential in early Christian theology; born & studied in Alexandria; a prolific writer who produced 2,000 treatises on theology, textual criticism, biblical exegesis & hermeneutics, homiletics & spirituality; he founded the Christian School of Caesarea, where he taught logic, cosmology, natural history & theology, & was regarded by the churches of Palestine & Arabia as a theological  authority; tortured for his faith in the Decian persecution of 250 AD & died later from injuries.

 

St Francis:

see above page 347

 

ebullience:

high spirits; exhilaration; exuberance.

 

fatalistic Magian-Christian:

doctrine which posits events are fixed in advance & human are powerless to change them.  It has deep roots in Christianity.  In Augustine (354-430 AD), an influential thinker in the Early Church of the Magian/Pseudomorphosis, predestination is implicit in his theory of grace & election.  God decides “before the constitution of the world” who will be exempted from the damnation that awaits fallen humankind and who will not (“double predestination”).  Later, in the 16th Century, Luther, Calvin & Reformed Christians came to believe God predestined some people to be saved (the elect), some to eternal damnation (the reprobates). 

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Mendicant Orders:

The Dominican & Franciscan friars, religious orders that have adopted a lifestyle of poverty, traveling, & living in urban areas to preach, evangelize & minister to the poor.

 

Moravians:

aka the Moravian Church, formally called the Unitas Fratrum (Latin "Unity of the Brethren"); one of the oldest Protestant denominations, dating back to the Bohemian Reformation of the 15th century and the Unity of the Brethren founded in the Kingdom of Bohemia; their name- Moravians- comes from the original exiles who fled to Saxony in 1722 from Moravia to escape religious persecution; their history goes back to 1457 in Bohemia & crown lands Moravia and Silesia, forming an autonomous kingdom within the Holy Roman Empire; with a tradition of missionary work they emphasize ecumenism, personal piety & music.

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Salvation Army:

Christian church, international charitable organisation, founded 1865 in London by a Methodist circuit-preacher William Booth (initially East London Christian Mission); he sought to bring salvation to the poor & destitute by meeting both physical & spiritual needs; its aim was the advancement of Christian religion, education, the relief of poverty & charitable objects beneficial to society & mankind as a whole; theology derived from Methodism, although distinctive in institution & practice; its clergy have its titles of military ranks, such as "lieutenant”

 

Luther:

see Chapter IX, page 320

 

Council of Trent:

see Chapter IV, page 148,

 

Innocent III:

see Chapter IV page 141, Chapter VI, page 198,

 

Calvin:

see Chapter IV, page 141

 

Loyola:

see Chapter IV, page 141, 148, Chapter IX, page 320

 

Savonarola:

see Chapter VII page 233, see Chapter IX, page 328

 

Pascal:

see Chapter I, page 42,

 

St Theresa:

aka Teresa of Ávila, 1515-82; Spanish noblewoman who joined a Carmelite nunnery & became a Spanish mystic, religious reformer, author, theologian of the contemplative life & of mental prayer; active in Counter Reformation, reformed the Carmelite Orders both women & men.  The movement she initiated was later joined by the mystic, John of the Cross & led the establishment of the Discalced Carmelites.

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Nietzsche (his moralinfrei, virtù):

In The Antichrist (1895), Nietzsche heavily indicts Christianity; his condemnation centres on the emotion of compassion and the mendacity & vengefulness of priests.  It appears to be based on morality.  In fact Nietzsche himself clearly and decisively denies this instead characterizing his analysis as “moralinfrei” or morally free.  He goes on to praise a number of great men, Frederick II (a Hohenstaufen) and Caesar, claiming they had a blissful disdain of the Christian slave religion, and possessing a new type of moral fibre which he called “virtue in the Renaissance style”, “Virtù ” or virtue free of moralistic acid.

 

grandezza:

Spanish, from Italian meaning literally size, but also inferring grandeur, greatness, magnificence, stateliness, dignity, magnanimity.

 

Baroque:

Old French, a large size, largeness or bigness; in the field of art, noble, lofty, powerful character (of style, inspiration)

 

άρετή:

Greek, goodness, excellence, of any kind

 

ήδονή:

Greek, enjoyment, pleasure

 

ϒαλήνη:

Greek- meaning not found

 

άπάθεια:

personal insensibility or apathy; a Stoic term, freedom from emotion

 

άταραξία:

Greek, impassiveness, calmness

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Nietzsche (blond beast):

a metaphor introduced in the First Treatise of his On the Genealogy of Morality: A Polemic (1887), a work which traces the evolution of moral concepts with a view to confronting "moral prejudices", specific to Christianity & Judaism; previously employed to represent the lion (a central image in his philosophy) he associated the "blond beast" with the pre-Aryan race of fair skinned & fair-haired Celts & Gaels, the collective aristocracy of the time.  He links the good, noble, pure, with blond as against the dark-skinned natives who are the bad.  He sketches the blond beasts as the "master race" which has lost its dominance over humanity but not necessarily, permanently.  However, his examples of “blond beasts” include the Japanese & Arabic nobilities of antiquity suggesting it is linked more to morality than race.