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On the Resurrection of the Flesh

saic dispensation. That is an expression that Tertullian attaches to a more readily discernible concept, the creative principle (that is, creation ex nihilo), which is to be associated exclusively with the divine in the Christian formulation. Obviously the Mosaic dispensation is also to be so associated, but it is a less familiar idea. Basically it is a theological term of art. It is the name given to the religious laws that governed Jewish religious observance and ethical practice, specifically with reference to divine agency in the development of moral laws to the human race. In other words, the Mosaic dispensation referred to the whole range of ethical ideas, customs, and practices embedded in Jewish tradition in consequence of Moses' unique role in the history of the Jews. That is important because Tertullian is acknowledging the continuity of spiritual tradition between the old law, or Judaism, and the emergent new law of Christianity. While acknowledging such continuity, however, Tertullian's use of the word dispensation seems meant to convey the message that dispensation is a necessary concept for reinforcing the primacy of spiritual authority that is to be attached to Christianity and the implication that the eclipsing of Judaism by Christianity is a feature of divine preference or will. That, in turn, seems meant to confer on Tertullian's text the force of doctrine and ultimate truth. Thus whatever analysis Tertullian will have made in the text will have been meant (if one may so phrase it) to displace previous understanding of the role of God in the experience of man. Such a formulation has to be understood as essential to the project of creating an institutional and communal memory of the articles of faith in a religion that was in the patristic period undoubtedly evolving, in a context of doctrines that were competing for the status of religious authority. That circumstance explains, too, Tertullian's determination to declar...

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On the Resurrection of the Flesh. (1969, December 31). In LotsofEssays.com. Retrieved 08:30, March 29, 2024, from https://www.lotsofessays.com/viewpaper/1680600.html