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Four Icelandic narrative texts with historical and thematic ties to the conversion of Norway and the Faroe Islands to Christianity are examined from the vantage-point of converts’ prior statements of their belief only in their own might and main. Disillusionment with the ‘old gods’ is the common reason given for such professed self-reliance, which does not, however, exclude opportunistic assistance from magical objects. Conversion to the Christian religion by an authority figure is largely transactional in nature, with only low-key emotional engagement. The objective of these texts, written some century and a half after their events, is the full discrediting of heathendom and promotion of skepticism of advantage in the existential void of individuality. Life as a Christian appears unchanged for the saga principals and, in a tacit recall of archaic belief, the soul’s redemption does not seems to cancel out the body’s destiny. The clerical authors of sagas of Icelanders occupied an exposed position comparable to the men of might and main, in that they had to negotiate an accommodation between heathen story-telling matter and its conventions, and a Christian world view.

Medieval “saints’ lives” are among the oldest literary texts of Western vernacular culture, yet are routinely patronized as “pious fiction”. Heffernan demonstrates that to characterize the genre as fiction is to misunderstand the intentions of medieval authors, who were neither simply credulous or blinded by piety. Concentrating on Latin and English texts, Heffernan reconstructs the medieval perspective, arguing that such biographical writing presupposes an entirely different view of the world and the self, and presents new ideas of sin and guilt, of what was real and what imaginary, and for what one should live and die. Offering a new perspective on Christian literary expression, this book will appeal to scholars in Medieval, Religious and New Testament studies, Feminist Studies, and those interested in the history of Christian spirituality.

Spinoza's Theological-Political Treatise is a powerful defense of the freedoms of thought and expression. But the philosopher says, moreover, that no one is completely entitled to act according to their wishes and at its discretion, because everybody must unconditionally obey the laws, even the most absurd. Is it a paradox? Is it possible to separate clearly the fields of the freedom of expression and the freedom of action in political life? Is it possible to establish with precision the limits of freedom of action? To address this matter, the article reminds us a text of Spinoza, who, using the example of Ulysses with sirens, points out that obeying is not necessarily to fulfill the orders. It is not a matter of civil disobedience or of a right to rebellion, but of the right to a perfect obedience: a freedom of action in accordance with a truly common Constitution.

This article discusses annotations to some eighty surviving copies of William Caxton’s “Golden Legend.” It assesses reactions from male and female readers across the religious spectrum, exploring the varied ways in which early modern readers engaged with a book that quickly became—and has remained—a shorthand for medieval religion. It seeks to contribute to the history of the “Legend” itself, to historical understanding of annotation, and to the history of reading during the Reformation.

This paper describes and explains the transformations in Biblical interpretation since the mid-20th century by means of the Habermasian category of the Post-secular. After proposing a possible definition of post-secular readings as distinct from both the religious and the secular ones, the article substantiates the claim that a Postsecular hermeneutics avant la lettre preceded not only Habermas’s elaboration of that concept but also the reawakening of religious phenomena in current multicultural societies in a global context. In order to spell out these early instances of a Postsecular spirit, the Biblical studies by three relevant contemporary authors have been selected: scholar Luis Alonso Schökel; literary critic and theorist Harold Bloom, and philosopher Paul Ricoeur. The results of my analysis hint to the conclusion that some practitioners of this Post-secular hermeneutics were aware of being at the start of something new. In Paul Ricoeur’s case, this leads to the development of a new concept, post-criticism, synonymous and forerunner to the current Habermasian concept. El objetivo de este trabajo es utilizar la categoría habermasiana de lo postsecular para describir y explicar las transformaciones de la interpretación de la Biblia desde mediados del siglo XX. Tras elaborar una posible definición de las lecturas postseculares, por confrontación con las religiosas y las seculares, el núcleo del trabajo trata de demostrar la existencia de una hermenéutica postsecular avant la lettre, que, según se argumenta aquí, habría sido previa no solo a la elaboración del concepto por Habermas, sino también al resurgimiento del fenómeno religioso dentro de las actuales sociedades multiculturales y en el contexto de la globalización. Para indagar en estas tempranas manifestaciones del espíritu postsecular, se han seleccionado los comentarios bíblicos de tres relevantes autores contemporáneos: el filólogo Luis Alonso Schökel, el teórico y comparatista Harold Bloom y el filósofo Paul Ricoeur. Los resultados del análisis permiten concluir que algunos cultivadores de esta hermenéutica postsecular fueron conscientes de estar fundando algo nuevo, lo que, en el caso de Paul Ricoeur, se tradujo en la elaboración de un importante concepto, el de poscrítica, sinónimo y, por tanto, precedente del actual concepto habermasiano.

César Vallejo fue un escritor muy preocupado por el aspecto espiritual del hombre. En ello influyó su profunda formación religiosa, así como el deseo de infinito desde su crisis en la adolescencia. A todo ello se unió la tensión entre espiritualidad y aceptación de los presupuestos materialistas del marxismo a partir de final de los años veinte. Con una necesidad de trascendencia y un compromiso singular por los más desfavorecidos, trató de compaginar el credo marxista de su etapa madura con la tradición cristiana que acepta la certeza de un ser superior y un destino para el ser humano, adecuado a su dignidad de criatura espiritual. En ese sentido, su poética constituyó un antecedente de la Teología de la Liberación, toda vez que Gustavo Gutiérrez, teólogo peruano impulsor de esa corriente espiritualista, manifestó en muchas ocasiones la enorme huella que dejó en su formación cultural la poesía de su compatriota.