3. Proceedings
of the annual Conferences on
the Dialogue between Science and Theology
Journal of RCDST (Research Center on the Dialogue between
Science & Theology),
Ovidius University of Constanta, Romania
DIALOGO
5. volume 2 - issue 1 :
The 2nd
Virtual International Conference on
the Dialogue between Science and Theology.
Organized by the RCDST - Romania
in collaboration with other Institutions from
Slovakia - Pakistan - Switzerland - Poland -
India - Egypt - Uganda - Jordan - Turkey -
Argentina - USA - Canada - Germany
held from 5 to 11 November, 2015
at www.dialogo-conf.com
DIALOGO CONF 2015
7. Research Center on the Dialogue
between Science & Theology
www.rcdst.ro
www.The-Science.com
(Slovakia)
Ovidius University of Con-
stanta (UOC/Romania)
www.univ-ovidius.ro
University of the Punjab
(Lahore)
www.pu.edu.pk
Maritime University of Constanta
(UMC/Romania)
www.cmu-edu.eu
“Mircea cel Batran” Naval
Academy (ANMB/Romania)
www.anmb.ro
The Alexandru Ioan Cuza
University of Iasi
(UAIC/Romania)
www.uaic.ro
“Vasile Goldis”
Western University of Arad
(UVVG/Romania)
www.uvvg.ro/
Global Ethics
(Geneva/Switzerland)
www.globethics.net
The Institute for the Study of Christi-
anity in an Age of Science and Tech-
nology (ISCAST/Australia)
www.iscast.org
Faculty of Educational Sciences (WNP)
Nicolaus Copernicus Univer-
sity in Torun, Poland
www.pedagogika.umk.pl
Action-research in Contempo-
rary Culture and Education – Prac-
tice & Theory (ACCEPT/Poland)
www.accept.umk.pl
Centre for Research and social, psy-
chological and pedagogical eval-
uation (CCEPPS/Romania)
ccepps.univ-ovidius.ro
Research and Science Today
www.lsucb.ro/rst
Horizon Research Publish-
ing, HRPUB - USA
http://www.hrpub.org/
Conference Sponsors and Parteners
Proceedings of the Conferences on the Dialogue between Science and Theology
November, 5 - 11 2015
The 2nd
Virtual International Conference on the Dialogue between Science and Theology
http://dialogo-conf.com
DIALOGO 2(2015)
CONFERENCES & JOURNAL
doi: 10.18638/dialogo.2015.2.1
- 5-
8. Faculty of Theology in UOC, Romania
teologie.univ-ovidius.ro/
Faculty of Medicine in UOC, Romania
www.medcon.ro
Faculty of Orthodox Theology
in UAIC, Romania
www.teologie.uaic.ro
Faculty of Theology in UAB, Romania
www.fto.ro
Faculty of Psychology and Scienc-
es of Education in UOC, Romania
pse.univ-ovidius.ro
Faculty of Psychology and Scienc-
es of Education in UAIC, Romania
www.psih.uaic.ro
Faculty of Applied Science and En-
gineering in UOC, Romania
fcetp.univ-ovidius.ro
Centre of Inter - Religious Research
and Christian Psychopedagogy Alba
Iulia - Saint Serge (CCIRPC)
Faculty of Natural and Agricultur-
al Sciences in UAIC, Romania
snsa.univ-ovidius.ro
EDIS
Publishing Institution
of the University of Zilina
Univerzitna 1
01026 Zilina
Slovak Republic
RCDST
Research Center on
the Dialogue between Science & Theology
Ovidius University of Constanta
Romania
Second Volume published by
Conference Sponsors and Parteners
Proceedings of the Conferences on the Dialogue between Science and Theology
November, 5 - 11 2015
DIALOGO 2(2015)
CONFERENCES & JOURNAL
The 2nd
Virtual International Conference on the Dialogue between Science and Theology
http://dialogo-conf.com
doi: 10.18638/dialogo.2015.2.1
- 6-
9. International Scientific Committee, Reviewers and Contributers
Proceedings of the Conferences on the Dialogue between Science and Theology
November, 5 - 11 2015
DIALOGO 2(2015)
CONFERENCES & JOURNAL
The 2nd
Virtual International Conference on the Dialogue between Science and Theology
http://dialogo-conf.com- 7-
doi: 10.18638/dialogo.2015.2.1
Christoph STUECKELBERGER
Globethics.net Executive Director and Founder; Prof. PhD. (Switzerland)
Maria Isabel Maldonado GARCIA
Directorate External Linkages/Institute of Language
University of the Punjab; Head of Spanish Dpt. / Assistant Professor (Pakistan)
Dagna DEJNA
NCU Faculty of Educational Sciences (Poland)
Lucian TURCESCU
Department of Theological Studies - Concordia University; Professor and
Chair (Canada)
Francesco FIORENTINO
Dipartimento di Filosofia, Letteratura e Scienze Sociali;
Universita degli Studi di Bari «Aldo Moro»;
Researcher in Storia della Filosofia (Italy)
Filip NALASKOWSKI
Faculty of Educational Sciences - Nicolaus Copernicus University in Torun;
Dr. (Poland)
Panagiotis STEFANIDES
Emeritus Honoured Member of the Technical Chamber of Greece
HELLENIC AEROSPACE IND. S.A. - Lead engineer; MSc Eur Ing (Greece)
Wade Clark ROOF
J.F. Rowny Professor of Religion and Society; Emeritus and Research Professor
WalterH.CappsCenterfortheStudyofEthics,Religion,andPublicLife;Director
Department of Religious Studies - University of California at Santa Barbara
(United States of America)
Cristiana OPREA
European Physical Society; member
Joint Institute for Nuclear Research - Frank Laboratory of Neutron Physics;
Scientific Project Leader (Russia)
Gheorghe ISTODOR
Faculty of Orthodox Theology - “Ovidius” University of Constanta; Prof.
PhD. (Romania)
Nasili VAKA’UTA
Trinity Methodist Theological College
University of Auckland; Ranston Lecturer PhD. (New Zealand)
Dilshad MAHABBAT
University of Gujrat (Pakistan)
Adrian NICULCEA
Faculty of Orthodox Theology, “Ovidius” University of Constanta; Prof.
PhD. (Romania)
Tarnue Marwolo BONGOLEE
Hope for the Future; Executive Director (Liberia)
Ahmed KYEYUNE
Islamic University in Uganda
Ahmed USMAN
University of the Punjab (Pakistan)
Mihai Valentin VLADIMIRESCU
Faculty of Orthodox Theology, University of Craiova; Professor PhD. (Romania)
Mohammad Ayaz AHMAD
University of Tabuk; Assistant Professor PhD (Saudi Arabia)
IPS Teodosie PETRESCU
Archbichop of Tomis disctrict;
Faculty of Orthodox Theology; “Ovidius” University of Constanta; Prof.
PhD. (Romania)
Edward Ioan MUNTEAN
FacultyofFoodSciencesandTechnology-UniversityofAgriculturalScienc-
es and Veterinary Medicine, Cluj–Napoca; Assoc. Professor PhD. (Romania)
Altaf QADIR
University of Peshawar (Pakistan)
Eugenia Simona ANTOFI
“Dunarea de Jos” University (Romania)
Coli NDZABANDZABA
Rhodes University (South Africa)
D. Liqaa RAFFEE
Jordan UNiversity of Science and Technology (Jordan)
George ENACHE
Faculty of History, Philosophy and Theology
„DunareadeJos”UniversityofGalati;AssociateprofessorPhD.(Romania)
Ahed Jumah Mahmoud AL-KHATIB
Faculty of Medicine - Department of Neuroscience
University of Science and Technology; Researcher PhD (Jordan)
Ioan-Gheorghe ROTARU
‘Timotheus’ Brethren Theological Institute of Bucharest (Romania)
Akhtar Hussain SANDHU
DepartmentofHistory,UniversityofthePunjab;AssociateprofessorPhD.(Pakistan)
Richard WOESLER
European University press, PhD. (Germany)
Riffat MUNAWAR
University of the Punjab; Dr. PhD. (Pakistan)
Hassan IMAM
Aligarh University, PhD. (India)
Ioan G. POP
Emanuel University of Oradea; PhD. (Romania)
Farzana BALOCH
University of Sindh Associate professor PhD. (Pakistan)
Petru BORDEI
Faculty of Medicine - “Ovidius” University of Constanta; Prof. PhD. (Romania)
10. DIALOGO 2(2015)
CONFERENCES & JOURNAL
Proceedings of the Conferences on the Dialogue between Science and Theology
November, 5 - 11 2015
International Scientific Committee, Reviewers and Contributers
Khalil AHMAD
University of the Punjab; Prof. PhD. (Pakistan)
Maciej LASKOWSKI
Politechnika Lubelska; Prof. PhD. (Poland)
Muhammad HAFEEZ
University of the Punjab; Prof. PhD. (Pakistan)
Muhammad Shahid HABIB
International Islamic University; Lecturer Ph.D. (Pakistan)
Muhammad Zakria ZAKAR
University of the Punjab; Prof. PhD. (Pakistan)
R S Ajin
GeoVin Solutions Pvt. Ltd.; PhD. (India)
Mustfeez Ahmad ALVI
Lahore Leads University; Prof. PhD. (Pakistan)
Radu NICULESCU
Ovidius University of Constanta; Assist.prof. PhD. (Romania)
Fermin De La FUENTE-CALVO
De La Fuente Consulting (Corporative Intelligence)
B.Sc. Physics and Professor PhD. (United States of America)
Kelli COLEMAN MOORE
University of California at Santa Barbara (United States of America)
Osman Murat DENIZ
Çanakkale Onsekiz Mart Üniversitesi; Associate Professor PhD. (Turkey)
Daniel MUNTEANU
The International Journal of Orthodox Theology (Canada)
Dragos HUTULEAC
Stefan cel Mare University of Suceava; Assistant Lecturer, PhD candidate
(Romania)
Shiva KHALILI
Faculty of psychology and education - Tehran University; Associate Pro-
fessor PhD. (Iran)
Mihai HIMCINSKI
Faculty of Orthodox Theology - „1 December 1918” University of Alba
Iulia; Prof. PhD. (Romania)
Richard Willem GIJSBERS
The Institute for the Study of Christianity in an Age of Science and Technol-
ogy - ISCAST (Australia)
Flavius Cristian MARCAU
Constantin Brancusi” University of Targu Jiu; Phd. Candidate (Romania)
Stanley KRIPPNER
AssociationforHumanisticPsychology,theParapsychologicalAssociation;
President; Prof. PhD. (United States of America)
Fouzia SALEEM
University of the Punjab, Dr. PhD. (Pakistan)
Mihai CIUREA
University of Craiova, PhD. (Romania)
Mohammad Ayaz Ahmad
University of Tabuk, Assistant Professor PhD. (Saudi Arabia)
Mirosaw Zientarski
Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toru, PhD. (Poland)
Manisha MATHUR
G.N.Khalsa College; University of Mumbai; Assistant Professor (India)
Pratibha GRAMANN
Saybrook University of San Francisco, California (United States of America)
Adrian GOREA
Concordia University, Montreal (Canada)
Richard Alan MILLER
Navy Intel (Seal Corp. and then MRU); Dr. in Alternative Agriculture, Phys-
ics, and Metaphysics (United States of America)
Maria CIOCAN
“Mircea cel Batran” Naval Academy; teacher PhD. (Romania)
Sorin Gabriel ANTON
Alexandru Ioan Cuza University of Iasi; PhD. (Romania)
Sultan MUBARIZ
University of Gujrat; PhD. (Pakistan)
Gheorghe PETRARU
Faculty of Orthodox Theology, Iasi; Prof. PhD. (Romania)
Rania Ahmed Abd El-Wahab Mohamed
Plant Protection Research Institute; PhD. (Egypt)
Rubeena ZAKAR
University of the Punjab; Prof. PhD. (Pakistan)
Mihai GIRTU
The Research Center on the Dialogue between Science & Theology (RCDST);
President
Faculty of Applied Science and Engineering - “Ovidius” University of Con-
stanta; Prof. PhD. (Romania)
Cosmin Tudor CIOCAN
TheResearchCenterontheDialoguebetweenScience&Theology(RCDST);
Executive Director
Faculty of Orthodox Theology - “Ovidius” University of Constanta; Lecturer
PhD. (Romania)
The 2nd
Virtual International Conference on the Dialogue between Science and Theology
http://dialogo-conf.com
- 8-
11. Organizing Committee
The 2nd
Virtual International Conference on the Dialogue between Science and Theology
http://dialogo-conf.com
- 9-
doi: 10.18638/dialogo.2015.2.1
Proceedings of the Conferences on the Dialogue between Science and Theology
November, 5 - 11 2015
DIALOGO 2(2015)
CONFERENCES & JOURNAL
Cosmin Tudor CIOCAN - SCIENTIFIC PROGRAMME OFFICER
RCDST Executive Director and Founder; Lect. ThD.
Faculty of orthodox theology, Ovidius University of Constanta (Romania)
Mihai GIRTU
RCDST President and Founder; Professor PhD.
Faculty of Applied Science and Engineering , Ovidius University of Constanta (Romania)
RESPONSIBLES FOR SESSION 1. ART and LITERATURE
Mihai Valentin VLADIMIRESCU
University of Craiova; Prof., PhD (Romania)
Radu NICULESCU
Ovidius University of Constanta; Assist. Prof., PhD (Romania)
RESPONSIBLE FOR SESSION 2. EARTH SCIENCES, ECOLOGY, ENVIRONMENT
Cristiana OPREA
Dzelepov Laboratory for Nuclear Problems (DLPN) - JINR Dubna, Professor PhD (Russia)
RESPONSIBLES FOR SESSION 3. SOCIAL SCIENCES, CULTURE, LIFESTYLE CHOICES
Maria Isabel MALDONADO GARCIA
University of the Punjab; Assist. Prof., PhD (Pakistan)
Miguel ALGRANTI, PHD (ARGENTINA)
Instituto Universitario Nacional del Arte, Universidad Favaloro; Lecturer PhD (Argentina)
Mariana MITRA - RESPONSIBLE FOR SESSION 4. LAW AND POLITICAL SCIENCE
Faculty of Law, Ovidius University of Constanta; Assoc. Prof . PhD. (Romania)
Osman Murat DENIZ - RESPONSIBLE FOR SESSION 5. PHILOSOPHY OF SCIENCE
Çanakkale Onsekiz Mart Üniversitesi - lahiyat Fakültesi; Assoc. Prof . PhD. (Turkey)
Ahed Jumah Mahmoud AL-KHATIB - RESPONSIBLE FOR SESSION 6. LIFE SCIENCES
University of Science and Technology - Department of Neuroscience; Dr. (Jordan)
Christoph STUECKELBERGER - RESPONSIBLE FOR SESSION 10. BIOETHICS
University of Basel ; Founder and Executive Director of Globethics.net, Geneva ; Professor PhD. (Switzerland)
Valeriu Gheorge CIMPOCA - RESPONSIBLE FOR SESSION 11. ASTRONOMY, ASTRO-PHYSICS
“Valahia” University of Targoviste; Professor PhD. (Switzerland)
Akhtar Hussain SANDHU - RESPONSIBLE FOR SESSION 12. HISTORY, DEMOGRAPHY, ARCHAEOLOGY
University of Gujrat; Professor PhD. (Pakistan)
Anton LIESKOVSKY - RESPONSIBLE FOR SESSION 13. MATHEMATICS, TECHNOLOGY, INDUSTRY, NETWORKING
Faculty of Management Science and Informatics, University Tomas Bata of Zilina; Ing. PhD. (Slovakia)
Teodosie PETRESCU - RESPONSIBLE FOR SESSION 14. GENERAL TOPIC (THEOLOGY)
Faculty of orthodox theology , Ovidius University of Constanta (Romania)
Stefan BADURA - RESPONSIBLE FOR I.T.
Publishing Society of Zilina; Ing. PhD. (Slovakia)
12. Great minds discuss ideas;
Average minds discuss events;
Small minds discuss people.
Eleanor Rosevelt
13. INTRODUCTION
On behalf of the Organizing Committee, we welcome you to the 2nd Virtual International
Conference on the Dialogue between Science and Theology, jointly organized by the
Research Centre for Dialogue between Science and Theology (RCDST) from Ovidius
University of Constanta (Romania) along with all our partners from 31 academic institutions,
faculties and research centers within 21 countries, made the conference truly international
in scope.
The 2nd
Virtual International Conference on the Dialogue between Science and Theology
(Dialogo 2015) was held online at www.dialogo-conf.com during 5th
- 11th
November 2015.
Reflecting the positioning of this conference at the intersection of different scientific
fields with different religions, the call for papers resulted in submissions from a wide
variety of viewpoints, but still at the same event. Precise refereed articles were accepted
for publication in these proceedings. All articles were thoroughly triple peer-reviewed by
the external international Reviewers Committee and Technical Committee. The Reviewers
Committee members came from 18 different countries and many different fields of research.
In contrast to the first Dialogo event, when we approached this interdisciplinary debates
from a triple topic angle - Life, Anthropology and Cosmology -, this year a very useful change
was made due to the many requests we have received from former attendees and Dialogo
visitors. Therefore, this year we approached this dialogue from a large variety of scientific
disciplines, grouped in 13 sessions, to which was added the general section of the subject
that has led to the creation of this Conference. During the conference the Section Chairman
Committee was established to enhance the discussion, to supervise debates and comments,
and not to be left unanswered. The Organizing Committee motivated authors by proposing
a financial support (the second paper of each author, aside from coathorship, to be free of
charge; the former participants and Scientific Committee to benefit of a discount of 20 %
if submitting a single paper). More about Dialogo attendance conditions can be found at
conference web page (www.dialogo-conf.com).
A well-received improvement was regarded the endorsement of Dialogo Journal &
Conferences accredited by several international Databases that indexed our Journal during
2015.
All these facts and many others move this event further, to be acknowledged and valuable
for Scientific Community. In conclusion, we all hope that these Proceedings will be fruitful
for the current and future Science.
Lastly, we would like to express our sincere thanks to all authors and participants. Special
thanks belong to all members of Section Chairman Committee and Reviewers Committee,
who contribute significantly to the Scientific value of DIALOGO 2015. The annual “DIALOGO”
CONFERENCES promote reflection and research on important public issues to which
Christian theology can make a constructive contribution and is essential in the relation
between science and religion in this era; scientists are also invited to manifest their ideas/
Welcome Address
The 2nd
Virtual International Conference on the Dialogue between Science and Theology
http://dialogo-conf.com
- 11-
doi: 10.18638/dialogo.2015.2.1
14. theories on the topics in a constructive manner. This virtual conferences series gives you
a great new way to participate in the fully fledged, scientific and professional conference
without physical participation.
Thesuccessoftheconferenceisduetothejointeffortsofmanypeople.Thereforewewould
like to thank the Scientific Committee and the Reviewers for their valuable contribution. All
accepted paper has been precisely reviewed. Also, we are proud to announce that all these
concerted efforts are international endorsed and till the moment of this volume Dialogo
Journal of Proceedings received recognision inthe following well-known Databases. Dialogo
Journal is indexed in Social Science Research Network (SSRN), The CiteFactor, Directory of
Open Access Journals (DOAJ), Advanced Science Index (ASI), The Philosopher’s Index and the
subject for indexing under evaluation in EBSCO, ATLA Religion Database, JSTOR, Religious
and Theological Abstracts, SCImago, Summon by ProQuest, Index Copernicus, and Thomson
Reuters.
Annual DIALOGO Conferences have been supported by Virtual Conferences community,
which is located at www.the-science.com. The goal of this community is to organize Virtual
Conferences covering quality research and make a closer cooperation between researchers
within and between different scientific disciplines. Among all our partneres in organizing
this conference a special role was played by Mr. Anton Lieskovský who initiated this virtual
project and was succesfully conducted and then carried on by Ing. Stefan Badura - both
deserve all the credit of outstanding organizing the virtual conference platform Dialogo
uses.
Last but not least, we are grateful to all the participants for their great and important work
prepared for and presented in this conference along with many and fruitful debates.
See you at DIALOGO 2016 with new, useful multiple events !
Cosmin Tudor CIOCAN
RCDST Executive Director and Founder (ROMANIA)
The 2nd
Virtual International Conference on the Dialogue between Science and Theology
http://dialogo-conf.com
- 12-
doi: 10.18638/dialogo.2015.2.1
21. Abstract: Sermone Domini in monte is the exegetical
work written by St. Augustine. In his work St.
Augustine treat the interpretation of the Lord’s
speech on the mountain taken from the Matthew
Gospel. Our paper tries to introduce this work at
the backround of the Patristic biblical exegesis. We
introduce the main principles of the biblical exegesis
form the Patristic period, where we focus on the
St. Augustine’s theory of the symbol and allegoric
interpretation of the Gospel. Finally we present the
interpretation of the Lord’s speech from the view of
the beatitudes and from the view of their practical
purpose.
Keywords: St. Augustine; speech on the mountain;
biblical exegesis; Patrology; allegory
I. INTRODUCTION
There is no doubt that St Augustine is one of
the most precious representatives of the Latin
Patristic literature. His works strongly influenced
whole doctrine of the Catholic Church till
nowadays.Inhisnumerousbookswecanfindthe
works from various branches of the science – the
works purely philosophic, apologetic, dogmatic,
polemic, moralistic or exegetic. In the centre of
the exegetic writings stand the commentaries
of the books from the Old Testament, especially
the book of Genesis. The study of St. Augustine
concerned the books of New Testament as well,
where the main position belongs to the John’s
Gospel. The analysis of the other books of Holy
Scripture, naturally, does not remain without
any interest from the side of St. Augustine1
. In
his biblical commentaries St. Augustine has
brought the basis of the Christian rhetoric –
homily, hermeneutic – exegesis and semiotic
to demonstrate how to work with the pagan
cultural heritage. In his scriptures he presented
1
St. Augustine is well known also as the very fruitful
commentator of the biblical texts. To the biblical
exegesis he dedicated many of his books. From the
Old Testament we could cite the exegetic writings
as: De Genesi ad Litteram libir duodecim, De Genesi
ad Litteram imperfectus liber, De Genesi contra
Manichaeos libri duo, Locutionum in Heotateuchum
libri septem and Quaestionum in Heptateuchom libri
septem. The books of the New Testament are interpreted
in the following works: Enarrationes in Psalmos,
Expositio Epistolae ad Galatas, Expositio quarumdam
propositionum ex Epistola ad Romanos, In Epistolam
Ioannis ad Parthos tractatus decem, In Evangelium
Iannis tractatus centum viginti quatuor, Quaestionum
Evangeliorum libri duo and Quaestionum septemdecim
in Evangelium secundum Matthaeum liber unus.
Union between the word and its sense –
the biblical exegesis used in St. Augustine’s
work De sermone Domini in monte
Anabela Katreničová, PhD
DepartmentofRomanceStudiesandClassicalPhilology
FacultyofArts,PavolJozefŠafárikUniversity
Košice,Slovakia
anabela.katrenicova@upjs.sk
the Dialogue between Science and Theology
1. Art and Literature & Religion eISSN:2393-1744,cdISSN:2392-9928
printISSN:2392-9928
ISBN:978-80-554-1131-6
DIALOGO 2.1:19-26 (2015)
CONFERENCES & JOURNAL
doi: 10.18638/dialogo.2015.2.1.1
- 19-
22. the useful advices for everyone who wants to
understand the inspired text of Bible [1].
The biblical exegesis is not an invention of
the Christianity and we do not thank for it to St.
Augustine neither, as we display in the first part
of this paper. It is derived from the pagan theory
of literature and philosophy. Nevertheless St.
Augustine influenced this branch of the text
analysis by his theory of signs developed in his
work De doctrina christiana. In this paper we
focus on the methods of the biblical analysis
presented and used in the St. Augustine’s works,
especially in the writing De sermone Domini in
monte.
II. ST. AUGUSTINE AND THE BIBLICAL
EXEGESIS
The epoch of Patristic literature represents
the decisive point of beginning of the biblical
exegesis comprehended as an explanation and
analysis of the original Bible text. The analysis
of the Holy Scripture leads to the better and
deeper understanding of the God’s speech. The
origin of biblical exegesis could be derived from
the pagan Hellenistic exegesis with remarkable
influence of Hebraic exegesis.
ThepaganHellenisticexegesiswasdeveloped
on the commentaries to the Homer’s epic poem.
2
The Jewish Hebraic analysis, on the other side,
is based on the very detailed explanation of
Torah – five books of Moshe, called Midrash. The
Christian biblical exegesis tried to make union
between the two mentioned ways in the text
analysis. Allegory and belief that the all texts
taken form Old Testament announce the arrival
of Jesus Christ that mentions the New Testament
became the point of unification. The western
Church Fathers, St. Augustine as well, in their
exegesis used the hermeneutic key adopting
the process based on the allegory and mysticism
[2]. These styles of the text analysis were used
in that time by all greatest authors of the Bible
2
Just the ancient tradition of the Greek thinking knew
the commentaries, which were used to formulate the
new ideas. The origin of these commentaries we could
find in the epoch of philosophe Plato. For more details
see: Canfora, Luciano, Dějiny řecké literatury, (Praha:
KLP 2004), p. 624 – 625.
commentaries, such as Jerome3
, St. Ambrose4
,
Tertullian5
and others. In the Orthodox Church it
was Origen6
and John Chrysostom7
.
The importance of the biblical exegesis
derives mainly from the different options
in reading the Bible looking for the various
nuances of its meaning. The credibility and the
necessity of these analyses are in the following
steps justified as suggested Gilbert Dahan in his
discussion concerning Bible exegesis [9]. The
exegesis of the Alexandrian school established
on the interpretation of the Homer’s epic poem
just as the works of Filon from Alexandria8
became the principal sources to interpret the
Holy Scripture. The Jewish approach to the
exegesis and to the interpretation of biblical
text is naturally different. It used to analyse the
literary style of the text in question (peshat) and
its true meaning (derash) [9]. The exegesis in the
hand of Christians in the Patristic era follows the
similar way dividing the literary meaning of the
text form its spiritual and mystical sense.
The characteristic sign of the Patristic
biblical interpretation is the belief of the Church
Fathers that the inspired text of Bible is the real
word of God hidden in a human language. The
understanding of the biblical text leads to the
further interpretations. The goal of the text
analysisistofindallinfluencesoftheotherliterary
productions that could be incorporated to the
text [9]. In the same way, the text understood
in this manner could be considerated as the
subject of analysis, in which it is possible to apply
any technics of interpretation used primary for
the other types of literary production. For this
reason the biblical text is very often situated
into the historical context. The commentators
analysing the text considerate the distance
3
See for example Hieronym’s famous work
Commentarii, MPL 25, col. 1009 – 1116C.
4
St. Ambrose is well known as the commentator of the
John’s Gospel: Expositio evangelii secundum Lucam
libris decem comprehensa, MPL 15, col. 1527D –
1850D.
5
Tertullian, he also wrote the commentaries to the book
of Genesis. See: Genesis, MPL 2, col. 1097 – 1102A.
6
Origene influenced the bible exegesis by his work:
Hexaplorum, MPG 12, col. 185 – 254.
7
See his work: De Maccabeis, MPG 48, col. 345 – 407.
8
See the book: Quaestiones. MPG 87.
1. Art and Literature & Religion
November, 5 - 11 www.dialogo-conf.com
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the Dialogue between Science and Theology
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http://dialogo-conf.com
23. dividing them form the time of the text origin.
Biblical text is then studied from the point
of view of its historical context and linguistic
character. To identify them the Fathers used the
methods taken from the grammar, rhetoric or
philosophy. The exegetes had never forgotten
the fact that the biblical text contains the God’s
message, which is transcendent and impossible
to be understood by a man because it differs so
much from the manner of human expression.
Their effort is for this reason oriented to relieve
the profundity of the God’s word hidden in
human language [9].
The Latin exegetes used very often not
only the hermeneutic method, but also the
proceeding derived from the Latin grammar and
history. Inos Biffi in his study dedicated to the
Middle – Ages exegesis on the page 9 supposes
that,eachbiblicaltextwasconsideratedasanunit
with the well determinated linguistic structure
characteristic with the place and period of its
origin [7]. The lack of the exact linguistic and
historical method brought the commencement
of the various biblical commentaries.
The Church Fathers, in addition, thought that
the “septem artes liberales”9
merit to be used in
the methodology of the Bible analysis. The seven
free arts were at the epoch understood as the
product of the pagan culture and erudition, but
they must be subordinated to the Christianity,
which is only way to find the truth. According
Yves Congars, the Church fathers, under the
influence of St. Augustine, accepted the idea
that the profane methodology could have the
auxiliary function in the exegesis of the Holy
Scripture. “Artes liberales” – the profane and
pagan methodology, according St. Augustine,
belong to Jesus Christ and must be given back
to him. That is the reason for what they must
serve God and interpret His word10
. The profane
methodology so became the mediator of the
9
The free arts represented the base of the scholar system
in the epoch of Antiquity. There are seven branches
of the all science: the grammar, dialectic, rhetoric,
arithmetic, geometry, astronomy and music.
10
See: Congar, Yves, Théologie, coll. 354: „Il Medio
evo riceve dai Padri, e soprattutto da sant’Agostino,
l’idea che le scienze o le arti profane, le arti liberali,
appartengono di dirrito a Cristo e che occorre ridarle
al loro vero proprietario, facendole servire a una
intelligenza piu approfondita delle Scritture.“
true knowledge – it is the knowledge of the
Scripture. The Church fathers proclaimed the
perfect acquaintance of the pagan seven free
arts because that is the only way to the cognition
of the God’s word hidden in the Holy Scripture.
The need of “septem artes liberales”
defends St. Augustine, as well. In his work De
doctrina christiana he explained their use for
the better understanding of the Bible [10]. On
the other hand, St. Augustine is in his thoughts
more radical. He proclaimed that the analysis of
the Scripture is the only reason why to study the
profane scientific methods.
III. THEORY OF SIGNS
The theory of signs, adopted form St.
Ambrose, as suggested Felix Baffour Asare
Assiedu [3], is presented mainly in the second
and third book of St. Augustine work De doctrina
christiana. The sign is defined as the thing, which
causes with its effect on the sense that the
substance represented by the sign could enter
to the human mind. St. Augustine in the second
book, chapter one wrote: “Signum est enim res,
praetor speciem quam ingerit sensibus, aliud
aliquid ex se faciens in cogitationem venire.” 11
[5]. St. Augustine made a difference between
the natural sign and the conventional sign.
Thenaturalsignsare,accordingSt.Augustine,
those, which lead to the cognition of something
else without the inner intention to use them as
the signs. In the second book of his De doctrina
christiana, chapter 1. 2. we can read about it:
“Naturalia sunt quae sine voluntate atque ullo
appetite significandi praetor se aliquid aliud ex
se cognosci faciunt.”12
[5]. On the other hand,
the conventional signs are understood as the
expedients ordinated by the men to relieve their
meaning. They are characterised by the words of
St. Augustine that could be found in the second
book of De doctrina christiana, chapter 2. 3.:
“Data vero signa sunt quae sibi quaeque viventia
11
In the English translation St. Augustine’s words: “For
a sign is a thing which, over and above the impression
it makes on the senses, causes something else to come
into the mind as a consequence of itself.”
12
The English version of the text: “Natural signs are
those which, apart from any intention or desire of
using them as signs, do yet lead to the knowledge of
something else.”
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24. invicem dant ad demonstrandos quantum
possunt motus animi sui, vel sense aut intellect
quaelibet. Nec ulla causa est nobis significandi,
id est signi dandi, nisi ad depromendum et
traiciendum in aterius animum id quod animo
gerit is qui signum dat.”13
[5]. The Holy Scripture
contains the signs given by God through the
men, who had written it down. All signs are done
in the form of words. St. Augustine insists to take
in consideration this fact in the analysis of the
biblical text.
It is very common that the signs in the form
of words are not so clear and that is the reason
why they could hide their true meaning, their
true sense. Their understanding opposes two
obstacles: the ignorance or the ambivalence of
the sign. There are also two types of the signs
– the proper sign and the transferred sign. The
proper signs express the things, which they
were been determinate to express them. The
transferred signs are those, which denote the
things, which they were not been determinate
to express them. St. Augustine described them
in the second book of De doctrina christiana, as
well, in the chapter 10. 15. using the words: “Sunt
autem signa vel propria vel translate. Propria
dicuntur, cum his rebus significandis adhibentur,
propter quas sunt institute… Translata sunt, cum
et ipsae res quas propriis verbis significamus, ad
aliquid aliud significandum usurpantur.”14
[5].
The misunderstanding of the language, in
which the Bible was written, could cause the
ignorance of the proper sign.15
In the case of
the transferred sign ignorance came from the
13
See the English translation: “Conventional signs, on
the other hand, are those which living beings mutually
exchange for the purpose of showing, as well as they
can, the feelings of their minds, or their perceptions,
or their thoughts. Nor is there any reason for giving a
sign except the desire of drawing forth and conveying
into another’s mind what the giver of the sign has in his
own mind.”
14
In English version we can read following: “Signs
are either proper or figurative. They are called proper
when they are used to point out the objects they were
designed to point out… Signs are figurative when the
things themselves which we indicate by the proper
names are used to signify something else.”
15
For more details see: Augustinus, Aurelius. De
doctrina christiana libri quatuor. MPL 34. II. 11. 6.
various facts. Firstly it could be the ignorance
of foreign language. In the second position
it is the deeper ignorance of the things.16
St.
Augustine concretises this ignorance as the
ignorance of the natural sciences17
, numbers18
,
music, theatre19
, classical culture20
, or magic21
,
astronomy22
, pagan mythology23
or religion24
.
St. Augustine, in the second book of De doctrina
christiana, chapter 25. 40. proclaimed that the
men are called to know all these products of the
human culture: “Sed haec tota pars humanorum
institutorum, quae ad usum vitae necessarium
proficient, nequaquam est fugienda Christiano,
immo etiam quantum satis est intuenda
memoriaque retinenda.”25
[5]
In the case of the ambivalence of the words
or signs St. Augustine recommends the common
instruction, which is to use the rule of the faith
having on mind the whole biblical context.26
The
ambivalence of the transferred signs could be
solved by use of the two rules. The firs one is do
not interpret the words literary.27
The second is
do not accept the metaphoric explanation of the
exact expression. 28
IV. SEVEN TYCONIUS RULES
St. Augustine proclaims as the one of the
several manner in the biblical exegesis the use
of the seven Tyconius rules contained in the
work with title Liber regularum. This work could
be considerated as the first Latin hermeneutic
adopted by St. Augustine [1]. St. Augustine, he
16
Ibidem. II. 16. 23.
17
Ibidem. II. 16. 24.
18
Ibidem. II. 16. 25.
19
Ibidem. II. 16. 26 – 18. 28.
20
Ibidem. II. 19. 29.
21
Ibidem. II. 20. 30.
22
Ibidem. II. 21. 32 – 22. 34.
23
Ibidem. II. 23. 35.
24
Ibidem. II. 23. 36 – 25. 38.
25
The English translation: “This whole class of human
arrangements, which are of convenience for the
necessary intercourse of life, the Christian is not by
any means to neglect, but on the contrary should pay
a sufficient degree of attention to them, and keep them
in memory.”
26
See: Augustinus. De doctrina christiana. III. 2. 2.
27
Ibidem. III. 5. 9 – 9. 13.
28
Ibidem. III. 10. 14.
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25. characterised these rules, in the third book of
his work De doctrina christiana, chapter 30.
42, like the keys to open the hidden secrets of
Holy Scripture [5]. He does not grant them the
absolute significance. He admits, on the other
hand, that the seven Tyconius rules could be
applied only for some dubious texts of the Bible.
But in these cases, he thinks that they could be
very useful.
In these rules we can find the followings
instructions:
Rule one is on the Lord and his body.
Rule two is called two parts of the Lord’s
body.
Rule three talks about the promises and law.
Tychon’s rule four is on kind and species.
Rule five is concerning the time.
And the last one, rule seven talks on devil and
his body.
The first Tyconius rule, on Lord and his body,
shows the fact, that Jesus Christ and his Church
make together one inseparable body and
represent one person.
In the case of the second rule, St. Augustine
refused the notion of the double Lord’s body
because it does not exist any part of the Christ’s
body, which could be separated. That is why
he suggested the more appropriate name for
this rule, in the book three, chapter 32. 45 of
his writing De doctrina christiana: “Secunda est
De Domini corpore bipertito, quod quidem non
ita debuit appellari. Non enim re vera Domini
corpus est, quod cum illo non erit in aeternum.
Sed dicendum fuit: De Domini corpore vero
atque permixto, aut: vero atque simulato, vel
quid aliud, quia non solum in aeternum, verum
etiam nunc hypocritae non cum illo esse dicendi
sunt, quamvis in eius esse videantur Ecclesia.
Unde poterat ista regula et sic appellari, ut
diceretur: De permixta Ecclesia.”29
[5]. This rule
29
In English translation we can read: “The second rule
is about the twofold division of the body of the Lord;
but this indeed is not a suitable name, for that is really
no part of the body of Christ which will not be with
Him in eternity. We ought, therefore, to say that the rule
is about the true and the mixed body of the Lord, or the
true and the counterfeit, or some such name; because,
should be used in case if the biblical text changes
the recipients without any remarkable evidence.
Then it looks like two different groups make an
unity,becausetheywereunifiedbyonecommon
presence on the sacraments. 30
St. Augustine changed the name of the
third Tyconius rule. He explained his decision
by the spirit of the commandments and for this
reason he preferred to talk about a mercy and
commandments, which are inseparable gifts of
God himself.
The forth Tyconius rule concerns the kind and
species. When we talk about kind, we think on a
part of the unity. The species, on the other hand,
denotes the unity. This rule could by applied on
the other situations in Bible, as well. 31
The fifth Tyconius rule is usually used in the
hidden dates in the Bible. As Tyconius himself
defines, this rule could be applied in relation
to the rhetoric figures or in relation to the
true numbers found on the pages of the Holy
Scripture. 32
The sixth rule is very often used in the
situations, when the Scripture offers the
conclusions or short revisions of the events seen
as they followed one after other. In reality, these
conclusions or revisions represent the return, or
recapitulation of the history without made any
trace or explanation. 33
At last, the seventh rule concerns the devil
and his body. This rule is according St. Augustine
very similar to the first one and should by used
in the occasion, when the Scripture talk about
devil himself. The devil very often cannot be
recognised as a person. That is why it must be
observed his body. 34
St. Augustine explained how could be used
these seven rules by the readers of the Bible.
One thing helps to understand the other thing.
not to speak of eternity, hypocrites cannot even now
be said to be in Him, although they seem to be in His
Church. And hence this rule might be designated thus:
Concerning the mixed Church.”
30
See: Augustinus. De doctrina christiana. III. 32. 45.
31
Ibidem. III. 34. 47.
32
Ibidem. III. 35. 50.
33
Ibidem. III. 36. 52.
34
Ibidem. III. 37. 55.
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26. So, it means the understanding a metaphoric
statement, which obviously presents the
situation in a way to become ambiguous. St.
Augustine, in the third book of the De doctrina
christiana, in chapter 37. 56. has written: “Hae
autem omnes regulae, excepta una quae
vocatur De promissis et Lege, aliud ex alio
faciunt intellegi, quod est proprium tropicae
locutionis, quae latius patet quam ut possit, ut
mihi videtur, ab aliquot universa comprehendi.
Nam ubicumque velut aliud dicitur ut aliud
intellegatur, etsi nomen ipsius tropi in loquendi
arte non invenitur, tropica locution est.”35
[5].
V. ALLEGORY
St. Augustine in the manner how he works
with the biblical text mentioned the allegory
and paradoxally, he did not write about it in his
hermeneutic work De doctrina christiana, but in
the autobiographical Confessiones. He started
his discussion with the simply statement, that
the careful reader of the biblical text could find
also the other sens of Scripture, the metaphoric
sense. St. Augustine wrote in the twelfth book
of his work Confessiones, chapter 18. 27.: “Dum
ergo quisque conatur id sentire in Scripturis
sanctis, quod in eis sensit ille qui scripsit, quid
mali est, si hoc sentiat, quod tu, lux omnium
veridicarum mentium, ostendis verum esse,
etiamsi non hoc sensit ille, quem legit, cum et ille
verum nec tamen hoc senserit.”36
[4].
St. Augustine believed that the Holy
35
The English version of the text: “Now all these
rules, except the one about the promises and the law,
make one meaning to be understood where another is
expressed, which is the peculiarity of figurative diction;
and this kind of diction, it seems to me, is too widely
spread to be comprehended in its full extent by any
one. For, wherever one thing is said with the intention
that another should be understood we have a figurative
expression, even though the name of the trope is not to
be found in the art of rhetoric.”
36 In the English translation we can read following
statement: “Since, therefore, each person endeavors to
understand in the Holy Scriptures that which the writer
understood, what hurt is it if a man understand what
Thou, the light of all true-speaking minds, dost show
him to be true although he whom he reads understood
not this, seeing that he also understood a Truth, not,
however, this Truth?”
Scripture could be explained in the metaphoric
or allegoric manner without the lost of the love
of the Truth. He wrote about in the twelfth book
of Confessiones, chapter 30. 41. So, the allegory
became the proper method of biblical exegesis,
whichexplainstheinnersenseofScriptureunited
with the secret of the faith, denominated by the
term mystical. The statement of this fact we
can find in the thirteenth book of Confessiones,
chapter 24. 36.: “Verum est enim, nec video, quid
impediat ita me sentire dicta figurate Librorum
tuorum. Novi enim multipliciter significari per
corpus, quod uno modo mente intellegitur, et
multipliciter mente intellegi, quod uno mod
per corpus significatur.”37
[4]. The man himself
cannot reveal this aspect of the text analysis.
To find the message veiled in the Bible, man
needs absolutely to enter into the dialogue
with God, who is the only source and origin
of the knowledge. That is why St. Augustine
confessed, that the truth could be known only
by God’s illumination. In the thirteenth book of
Confessiones, chapter 25. 38 he wrote: “Vera
enim dicam te mihi inspirante, quod ex eis verbis
voluisti ut dicerem. Neque enim alio praetor te
inspirante credo me verum dicere, cum tu sis
Veritas, omins autem homo mendax. Et ideo qui
loquitur mendacium, de suo loquitur. Ergo ut
verum loquar, de tuo loquor.”38
[4].
37
See the English translation of the words: “For it is
true, nor do I see what should prevent me from thus
understanding the figurative sayings of Your books. For
I know a thing may be manifoldly signified by bodily
expression which is understood in one manner by the
mind; and that that may be manifoldly understood in
the mind which is in one manner signified by bodily
expression.”
38
The English text: “I would also say, O Lord my God,
what the following Scripture reminds me of; yea, I will
say it without fear. For I will speak the truth, Thou
inspiring me as to what You will that I should say out
of these words. For by none other than Your inspiration
do I believe that I can speak the truth, since You are
the Truth, but every man a liar. And therefore he that
“speaks a lie, he speaks of his own;” therefore that I
may speak the truth, I will speak of Yours.”
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27. VI. THE METHODOLOGY USED IN THE ST.
AUGUSTINE WORK – DE SERMONE DOMINI IN
MONTE
The St. Augustine’s work De sermone
Domini in monte is exegesis of the Gospel text
written by Matthew. The writing is divided
into two books explaining the text form the
different point of view. The introduction of the
St. Augustine’s exegesis is characterised by the
subtitle representing the main idea of whole
book. The book one treats the prescriptions,
which pertain to the life. The importance of the
Lord’s speech on mountain is the perfection of
the live of Christians. That is why St. Augustine
called this speech the prescriptions of fulfilment
of the human life.
The book two, in the other hand, contains
the beatitudes obtaining by which it is possible
to see God. In this part of his work, St. Augustine
talked about purity of heart, which could be
gained by the prayer and benefaction.
In this exegesis, St. Augustine treated the
biblical text using primary the allegory. In his
proceed he pointed out the plasticity of the
situation described in the Matthew Gospel.
On the other hand, he specified the allegoric
or mystical sense of the single words. So, St.
Augustine proposed the double meaning of
the word – its allegoric and realistic sense. Each
word in Augustine’s interpretation represents
the double sense. The allegoric meaning of the
word is explained by the various citation of the
Bible, all according the rule, that the Bible should
be explained by the Bible. From the Tyconius
seven rules St. Augustine in this book used the
second and third rule without mentioned them.
In the book De sermone Domini in monte we
can observe two types of text analysis usually
used by St. Augustine. On the first place St.
Augustine use allegory and double explanation
of every single word from the Gospel. In his
analysis he proposed two meanings of one word
–thefirstsenseexplainsthefunctionoftheword
in the Gospel context. For example the word
“mountain” according St. Augustine express the
upper place, where Jesus presented his speech.
But in the figurative sense “mountain” means:
“maiora praecepta iustitiae, quia minora errant
quae Iudaeis data sunt.” 39
[6]. So, the mountain
39
English translation: “If it is asked what the “mountain”
became for St. Augustine the most important
prescriptions given to the men.
The same kind of text analysis we can see
with the word “candelabra”. St. Augustine
understood this word in the two senses, as well.
In the first meaning it represents for him the
body of a man, who gave himself to the service
for God and for the Church. The “ candelabra”
in the metaphoric meaning is, according St.
Augustine, the Christian doctrine, which, from
the upper position, could shine to the whole
world. 40
The word “house” is presented in the double
meaning, as well. St. Augustine explained this
word as the place where the men used to live.
In the straight meaning is the world. In the
allegoric sense it means the whole community
of brothers and sisters in united in the name of
Jesus Christ.41
The second type of the biblical exegesis used
by St. Augustine in this writing is focused not on
the interpretation of the single words, but on
explaining the sense of the whole expressions
or whole sentences. We find this kind of analysis
mainly in the second part of St. Augustine’s book
De sermone Domini in monte. This manner of the
text study shows the intention of St. Augustine
to explain basic idea of the biblical narration. In
this approach St. Augustine used the rule of the
biblical exegesis that consist not in the literary
meaning, but in the allegorical explanation. St.
Augustine did not want to be lost in the literary
meaning, but he always looked for the true
practical sense of the Scripture. That is well
seen in the St. Augustine’s explanation of the
Jesus prayer42
and in the analysis of the eight
beatitudes. 43
St. Augustine had always on the mind the
practical application of the Holy Scripture
messages into the every day life. That is why he
means, it may well be understood as meaning the
greater precepts of righteousness; for there were lesser
ones which were given to the Jews.”
40
For more details see: Augustinus, Aurelius. De
sermone Domini in monte secundum Mattheum. MPL
34. I. 6. 17.
41
Ibidem. I.6. 17.
42
Ibidem. II. 4. 16. – 11. 38.
43
Ibidem. 1. 3. – 3. 10.
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28. interpreted the Jesus speech on the mountain in
the view of the common live. He put together the
first and second part of this work in the exegesis.
So, he started to explain the first part of Jesus
speech using the second one. St. Augustine so
unified the eight beatitudes with the prayer of
Jesus. The St. Augustine’s interpretation of this
union is the fact that he saw the fulfilment of
the eight beatitudes in the seven gift of the Holy
Spirit and in the seven virtues. 44
CONCLUSION
In this paper we presented the methods
of Patristic approach to the biblical exegesis,
which leads to the better understanding of the
Holy Scripture. Union of the pagan Hellenistic
exegesis and the Hebraic Bible analysis using
the hermeneutic method created the Patristic
exegesis, used in St. Augustine exegetic
writings. The hermeneutic text analysis used the
symbolism and allegory. St. Augustine in his work
did not only used these methods, but he was
also father of the analytic theory of signs, which
proposed the understanding of the metaphoric
meaning in the context of the Bible.
REFERENCES
[1] Andoková, Marcela, introduction to Sv. Augustín –
O kresťanskej náuke, O milosti a slobodnej vôli by
St. Augustine (Prešov: Petra, 2004), 21 – 29.
[2] Arbesmann, Rudolph. 1958. “The Daemonium
meridianum and Greek and Latin Patristic
exegesis.” Traditio 14: 17 – 31.
[3] Asiedu, Felix Baffour Asare. 2001. “The song
of songs and the ascent of the soul: Ambrose,
Augustine, and the language of mysticism.”
Vigiliae Christianae 55 (3): 299 – 317.
[4] Augustinus, Aurelius. Confessiones libri tredecim.
MPL 32.
[5] Augustinus, Aurelius. De doctrina christinana libri
quattuor. MPL 34.
[6] Augustinus, Aurelius. De sermone Domini in
monte secundum Mattheum. MPL 34.
[7] Biffi, Inos. Mirabile medioevo. Milano: Jaca Book,
2009.
[8] Canfora, Lucano. Dějiny řecké literatury. Praha:
KLP, 2004.
44
Ibidem. II. 11. 38.
[9] Dahan, Gilbert. “Esegesi della Bibbia.” In
Dizionario enciclopedico del Medioevo, edited by
André Vauchez, Catherine Vincent, and Claudio
Leonardi, 663 – 667. Roma: Citta Nuova, 1999.
[10] Riché, Pierre, Chatillon, Jean, and Verger, Jacques.
Lo studio della Bibbia nel Medioevo latino.
Brescia: Paideia, 1989.
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29. Abstract: Elizabeth Cullinan’s short story “Life
After Death” depicts a day in the life of a young
New Yorker, Constance, walking along Lexington
Avenue, attending the evening Mass at a Dominican
church and visiting the Catholic college where she
worked part time to pick up her paycheck. Though
the woman is involved with the married Francis
Hughes and confronted with the burden of the past
and of intricate family dynamics, her voice, which
is “the Cullinan narrative voice has become that of
one of those sceptical granddaughters grown into
a reasonably assured and independent adulthood
[...] balanced between then and now, the ethnic and
the worldly, and better able to judge self and others
because of the doubleness” (Fanning qtd. in Bayor
and Meagher 528). Thus, the paper will discuss the
manner in which Elizabeth Cullinan maps, in her
story, the oscillation of Irish Americans between the
ethnic drive and a cosmopolitan individuality gained
in New York, with a focus on the value of the duality
of consciousness and spirituality, which facilitates
enriching and clarifying answers to identity
dilemmas.
Keywords: Elizabeth Cullinan, Irish-America,
New York, identity, duality, ethnicity, Catholicism, city,
multiculturalism
I. INTRODUCTION
Elizabeth Cullinan was born in 1933 in New
York City of Irish parents; she received a BA from
Marymount College, Manhattan and in between
1955-1964 she worked as a secretary for The
New Yorker. The, she travelled in between
Ireland and America for a number of years, at
present teaching creative writing at Fordham
University. Cullinan’s short fiction, republished
in two collections, The Time of Adam (1971) and
Yellow Roses (1977), has appeared in The New
Yorker since the 1960s. Her two novels House of
Gold (1970) and A Change of Scene (1982) have
also been well received, according to Casey and
Rhodes (216).
Cullinan’s approach to Irish-American fiction
fits the traditional pattern in an intricate manner.
ThewritertacklesCatholicismbutatastagewhen
the Catholic church no longer serves the primary
supporting role for the immigrant in the US. The
Irish heritage of family patterns (late marriage,
celibacy, children as caretakers, self-sacrificing,
demanding mothers and generational conflicts)
is also challenged in short stories, such as “Life
After Death”. The Irish obsession with security
translated in America through occupations in the
public domain (police and fire department) and
the story of the next generation’s advancement
Mapping New York Irish-American Identities:
Duality of Spirituality in Elizabeth Cull-
inan’s Short Story “Life After Death”
Nicoleta Stanca, PhD
Departmentof Philology
OvidiusUniversityofConstanta
Constanța,Romania
nicoletastanca1506@gmail.com
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printISSN:2392-9928
ISBN:978-80-554-1131-6
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30. are equally dealt with through stories of young
females from Irish backgrounds, who seem to
have settled safely in present day New York. The
ethnic context is there, without being so visible,
as Cullinan probably shares Flannery O’Connor’s
view: “I have never been greatly tied emotionally
or sentimentally to my own Irish background.
The Irish in America are sometimes more
Irish then the Irish and I suppose some of my
indifference is a reaction against that” (qtd. in
Liddy 76). What the writer generally portrays are
Irish American Catholics in the city, individuals
involved in generational conflicts, young women
trapped in affairs and bearing the burden of the
past and of complicated family relationships.
II. Modern Irish American Short Stories:
general characteristics
The majority of Irish Americans, the focus
of Cullinan’s stories, are descendants of the
Catholic,GaelicimmigrantsthatreachedAmerica
in large numbers from the nineteenth century to
mid 1950s. Between 1854 and 1855, the number
of Irish people in the US was around one million
and a half and the trend continued so that in
1860, 5.12% population was of Irish origin. Their
uprooting had been mainly caused, according
to Liddy (75), by racial and political oppression,
famine and poverty.
Constance, the protagonist in Elizabeth
Cullinan’s short story “Life After Death”, comes
a long way after the first massive waves of Irish
female immigrants that reached New York in the
nineteenth century and worked as domestics
and factory workers, contributing to what is
known as “chain immigration”1
. Later on, as
nuns, these women brought their contribution
to the American society and when they gained
more strength, as teachers and nurses, they
gathered in unions and asked for more rights for
their kin. Yet, the early Irish women immigrants
1 Sending money back home to Ireland, so that other
immigrants, relatives, friends could afford to pay for
the journey to America. Guibernau and Rex even
mention the network theory related to ethnic migrant
groups expansion and they discuss migrant networks as
“sets of interpersonal ties that connect migrants, former
migrants, and non-migrants in origin and destination
areas through ties of kinship, friendship and shared
community origin” (316).
did not easily move to better skilled jobs as “they
were willing to defer or forgo marriage and
family”; thus “they worked as live-in servants,
and later as schoolteachers who had to remain
single” (Diner xvi). The 1980 American Census
showed that more than forty million Americans
claim some Irish origin. And the kind of jobs the
Irish women had access to or embraced, the
associations they formed and the families they
raised, have shaped the Irish American life for
future generations.
The Irish in the nineteenth century brought
Catholicism to America; back then, the church
was seen positively by the immigrants: it bridged
the gap between the rural community in Ireland
and the new urban neighbourhood in America
and the Catholic parish preserved a pervading
sense of community. However, the situation
changed in the twentieth century, the second
generation of immigrants no longer needing
this kind of spiritual support. Even in the fiction
depicting modern characters, Irish Americans
still appear as “cultural Catholics (Hallissy 21),
through their ethnic affiliation, which is the case
of Cullinan’s stories.
Family patterns (complicated mother and
father roles, late marriage, long or permanent
celibacy, dour parents-children relationships),
brought over to the US by the Irish are also
extremely influential when it comes to Irish
heritage in America. Irish American patterns
were also influenced by the way in which a rural
population shifted to a predominantly urban
population in America. Parents are closer to the
Irish past, but sometimes the second generation
has to comply with the burden of the past as
well. Mothers-daughters and granddaughters
often have complicated relationships, with the
older generations having especially overbearing
personalities. Silences and a certain inability
to express feelings are registered among Irish
family members and they appear as a topic in
Irish American fiction as well. Charles Fanning
observes that a recurrent theme in Irish and
Irish American fiction consists of “the dutiful
self-immolation of children on behalf of their
parents” (qtd. in Hallissy 22). At home, maturity
was defined by the parents’ death and the
inheritance of the property, but that often came
so late that the “children” chose to remain
single. In America, it seemed that the inheritance
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31. problem was replaced by a difficulty to break
away with the family, a quandary valid for
both sons and daughters and so strange to the
American lifestyle.
Looking at the work history of the Irish in
the US, we come to grasp the occupation and
social states of the characters in Irish American
fiction. The Famine generations were low skilled
and poor but by the beginning of the twentieth
century, with the help of unionization, the Irish
moved to better positions, better pay and higher
skilled occupations. Jobs in the public domain
also started being available to a stronger Irish
American community thanks to Democratic
politics and tight ethnic connections. “Irish
Maries” moved up the social ladder and became
office workers, “secretaries, stenographers,
nurses and schoolteachers” (Hallissy 26).
It is more difficult to clearly identify what
ethnicity means for later generations as the
achievement of middle-class socio-economic
status is often opposed to powerful ethnic
identification; this was considered to be the
case of the “lace curtain Irish” (Rains 213), who
moved from the old neighborhood into the
suburbs. There were great changes in America
in the twentieth century related to social and
geographical mobility and the civil rights, thus,
critics such as Herbert Gans speak of attenuated
ethnicity or “symbolic ethnicity” in the 1970s or
the 1980s, acquired through these new forms of
social mobility across generations:
This symbolic identification as more or less a
leisure-time activity. Individuals identify as Irish, for
example, on occasions such as Saint Patrick’s Day, on
family holidays, or for vacations ... Gans also wonders
how such symbolic ethnicity can continue when the
actual ethnic collectivity that the individual claims
belong to continue to recede. (qtd. in Rains 216)
Blending into suburban neighborhoods
caused a significant change in terms of the
perception of ethnicity; “the bonds of ethnic
community [which] were inevitably sundered by
suburbanization” (Hallissy 30) by the second and
third generation. In spite of this phenomenon,
the Irish American community identifies itself as
such and proudly produces ethnic culture.
Michel Novak, in the study published in 1972,
The Rise of Unmeltable Ethnics, sees ethnic
identity as cultural values and behaviours,
“ethnic identity persists among individuals ...
by being passed on in unconscious, tacit ways
in their early nurture” (qtd. in Bayor 20). The
legacy of ethnic identity is equally tackled by
Elliott Barkan in And Still They Come:
in varying degrees across the generations,
ethnicity has persisted among many groups even
among the older ... ones. It could be seen in the private
sphere of manners and mores, values, and specific
traditional practices. (qtd. in Bayor 20)
Richard Alba also locates ethnic identity in
the deep structure of the psyche, as explained
in Bayor’s study (20). Taking into account the
concepts used, i.e. the unconscious, private
sphere, the psyche, it is obvious that ethnicity
has to be understood from a psychological
viewpoint as well, in terms of attitudes towards
child rearing, family roles, illnesses, for instance.
One example used by Bayor in his study to
demonstrate this theory refers to a psychiatry
study in the 1960s in New York State, which
revealed the patterns of disturbed behavior
of Irish American boys because of maternal
domination (21).
Daniel J. Casey and Robert E. Rhodes
published a Modern Irish-American Reader
(1989), in which they include names like Finley
Peter Dunne, F. Scott Fitzgerald, John O’Hara,
Mary McCarthy, Brendan Gill, Mary Doyle
Curran, Edwin O’Connor, Flannery O’Connor, J.P.
Donleavy, William Kennedy, Maureen Howard,
Elizabeth Cullinan, Mark Costello, Pete Hamill,
Joe Flaherty and Mary Gordon. These writers
themselves and critics have showed different
understandings of the idea of Irish American
fiction. For instance, interviewed on the topic,
William Kenney discussed evolution in the fiction
resulting from the social, cultural and political
changes of the Irish American community:
God knows where I am in all of this, in this
evolution, but I know all that came before me. I know
that those who came before me helped to show me how
to turn experience into literature. I know all that came
before in the same way I know that the Irish ascended
politically to become Jack Kennedy. After Jack
Kennedy, anything was possible. Goddammit, we’ve
been president, and you can’t hold us back anymore.
(qtd. in Casey and Rhodes 2)
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32. In spite of the changes mentioned by Kenney,
there are some traces of a traditional vein
preserved in Irish American fiction, such as idyllic
images of Ireland, or elements that symbolize
the country of origin even for those for which
it is no longer their homeland, a sublimated
long-distance nationalism, some sense of the
past, stubbornly transmitted from generation
to generation and an awareness of the Catholic
church as a church of immigration and of the
ethnic neighbourhood networks.
Charles Fanning, before Casey and Rhodes,
published in 1987 an anthology of nineteenth
century Irish American fiction (The Exiles of Erin),
in which he distinguishes three generations of
writers: the pre-famine, the practical fiction of
the famine stage and the literature of a new
middle class. Some themes analysed by Fanning
as being of concern to those generations have
been transmitted to later generations in one
form or another, i.e. Catholicism, success or
failureintheNewWorld,nationalismandpolitics.
On Irish American fiction in the 1960s, like
Kenney, Fanning states that it has been written
under the impact of some major events, such as
the civil rights and sexual revolutions, the rise
and tragedy of the Kennedy family, the breakup
of the Irish ethnic neighbourhoods and their
move to the suburbs (in Bayor and Meagher 811).
This change and energy are reflected in the
perspective of liberating doubleness that characterizes
much Irish American literature since the 1960s.
(Fanning qtd. Bayor and Meagher in 511)
In no other place have the Irish been more
successful as in New York, which is valid for
writers too. Thus, Maureen Howard, Jimmy
Breslin, J.P. Donleavy, Alice McDermott,
Elizabeth Cullinan and Joe Flaherty are
representative of more recent New York Irish
American fiction. Many of these writers continue
the depiction of everyday family life in the big
metropolis, tackled by their predecessors. “In
addition, much of this fiction published over the
past few years illustrates both the persistence
of ethnicity and the phenomenon of ethnicity
as liberating doubleness” (Fanning qtd. in Bayor
and Meagher 519).
III. Elizabeth Cullinan’s “Life After Death”:
a dual approach of New York Irish American
spirituality
The short story “Life After Death” starts with
Constance’s thoughts referring to President
Kennedy’s sisters. There are two interesting
remarks here: one, the allusion to the epitome
of Irish success in the US, which is symbolized
by President Kennedy, the first Irish president
in America, and secondly, the modernity of the
narrator’s consciousness rendering images of
the street in New York as paper clippings: “Sister
of the late President looks in shop window. Sister
of slain leader buys magazine. Kennedy kin hails
tax on Madison Avenue” (in Casey and Rhodes
27). Thinking in newspaper headlines points to a
quality of fragmentation of consciousness of the
urban individual. “Newspaper formulas move
into a vacuum of authority in West’s disordered,
violent urban world” and the situation becomes
absurd so that even when people “meet face
to face, they talk ‘in headlines’” (Bremer 128).
Actually,theprotagonistoftheshortstorythinks
in headlines, which shows further internalization
of disintegration but she seems to apply this
approach to public figures only, as if everything
was neatly packaged for public display.
The thoughts neatly arrange in the young
woman’s head under a headline “LIFE AFTER
DEATH”, which could mean after Kennedy’s
death, a painful moment that crushed the hopes
of many young Americans at the time, or it
might hint at a moment of peace evoked by the
conclusion Constance will draw at the end of the
day analysing her life.
A typical Cullinan short story follows this pattern:
incisively observed encounters and emotional
consequences build in seemingly casual movement to
climactic generalizations so appropriate and valid as
to be immediately recognizable as wisdom. (Bayor and
Meagher 528)
It is no wonder that Constance’s thoughts
gravitate around Kennedy, whose election as
president was considered a major breakthrough
for the Irish Americans and it provoked
commentaries such as McCaffrey’s:
The Irish are even numbered among the so-
called beautiful people- part of the Kennedy heritage.
On television handsome men, women and children
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33. wearing Irish knit sweaters and with Irish names like
Kevin, Brian, Sean, Sheila and Maureen sell cars,
soap and toothpaste. (qtd. in Rains 215)
Representations of Kennedy’s visit in Ireland
in 1963, his speech on arrival at Dublin Airport,
his speech in the Irish Parliament, all point to
the historical relationship between Ireland and
American, the importance of the Irish diaspora,
Ireland’s struggle for independence, its progress
and role in the global economy and politics.
According to Kevin Kenny
It was in 1960 rather than 1860 that the American
Irish finally became ‘white’, if by that term one
means full racial and cultural respectability, a final
acceptance by white American Protestants of Irish-
American Catholics as their equals in all things
important. (qtd. in Rains 19)
Thus, in the context of the short story,
though an element of powerful ethnicity, the
Irish American president is seen as a liberating
figure.
As it is a cold day and the protagonist of the
story is warmly dressed thanks to her mother’s
advice, this gives the woman a moment to
focus on the mother-daughter relationship. The
mother is typically Irish: overprotective, self-
sacrificing,“hersheercompetence,herstrength,
her powers of endurance, her devotedness”
(in Casey and Rhodes 219) being revealed
in Constance’s meditation on her mother’s
relationships with the three daughters (Grace,
Rosemary and Constance) and in Constance’s
dreams about her mother (in one, though dead,
she rises and takes charge of the household and
in another one, she is held captive in the house,
beaten and suffering without being rescued
by her daughters who can witness the ordeal).
Grace, the oldest of the sisters, was married
with six children and a perfectionist, never
satisfied with anything or anyone. The middle
sister, Rosemary, aged forty, had lived all her life
abroad and was about to get married to a man
of a different religion. In the short story, like in
the other works by Cullinan we have “single-
shot, slowed down moments of life in an Irish
New York Matriarchy” (Liddy 83).
Conversely, “the fathers peep forward in
shadows,breadlosers,happygolucky,financially
distressed” (Liddy 83). The protagonists in
traditional Irish American writing, young
women, are usually affected by their mother’s
ambition. Therefore “Life After Death” depicts
a cry for evasion. The affection the daughters
return to their mother in “Life After Death” is
very far from being the self-sacrifice expected
by Irish mothers:
We have a sense of irony that my mother with the
purity of instinct and the passion of innocence sees as
a threat to our happiness and thus to hers. Not one
of us is someone she has complete confidence in. (in
Casey and Rhodes 218)
As Constance continues her walk along
Lexington Avenue, she remembers the
explosion in the always active area (since the
mid-1940s busy with commuters around Central
Station), which is under construction. Since after
WWI, New York has been described as “the first
capital of the world” (Chevrillon qtd. in Bremer
114), displaying “more contrasts than any other
city in the world” (Mencken qtd. in Bremer 114),
as “all the cities” (W.L. George qtd. in Bremer
114), as “the new Cosmopolis” (Hunecker qtd. in
Bremer 114), a creative place “where all belong
but none is uncontested owner” (Bremer 115).
Due to its harbour in the beginning, New York
started growing as a center for commerce and
communications, then to host international
headquarters for banking and stacks, printing
and publishing, radio and television.
In the context of the busy and noisy city,
Constance also recalls Francis’ call among
the noise letting her know that they had to
postpone their meeting. Francis Hughes was a
documentary producer, a married man with four
sons, whom Constance was secretly seeing. In
her walks, West Fifties is avoided because of the
memories of the time when she was working
with Francis being around him longer hours:
When I’m in that part of the city, the present seems
lifeless, drained of all intensity in relation to the lost
time when my days were full of Francis, where for
hours on end he was close by. (in Casey and Rhodes
222)
And another area in New York avoided is
Thirty-fourth Street with Third Avenue, where
Constance’s uncle owned a restaurant, Flynn’s,
a typical Irish family business. Constance’s
father, whose memory she treasures, had
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34. been a manger there for a while and apparently
tampered with the books, and, though no
charges were pressed, this incident severed the
family ties and the young woman avoided that
part of the city as much as she could afterwards.
From this viewpoint, of memories and lived
experience in the urban space, it is interesting to
look at New York as a fictional city in Cullinan’s
story as a “thirdspace”, described by Soja in his
studies Thirdspace (1996) and Postmetropolis
(2000). Soja speaks of a “firstspace” in the
city as “spatial practices” meant to create
concrete forms and patterns of urban lifestyle;
the “secondspace” belongs to the mental
or ideational realm as a “conceived space of
imagination” (Soja 10-11). What the narrator
renders through Constance’s walking or
avoiding walking in New York is this alternative
third dimension of space, “lived space”, “a
simultaneously real-and-imagined, actual-
and-virtual, locus of structured individual and
collective experience and agency” (Soja 11), fed
by Constance’s fears and anxieties and the city
dynamic with television and Irish pubs at their
peak. Soja considers that understanding “lived
space” is comparable to writing a biography;
this could be one meaning attached to Cullinan’s
short story: walking through New York with
Constance, a young Irish American in the 70s, we
remake, in a nutshell, the evolution of the ethnic
community of the Irish in America; we witness
the writing of an alternative monograph of New
York City.
Constance had attended a Catholic college,
like many Irish girls and she had a part-time
job in the same institution working for the
Admission Office. The nuns that are still at
the college remind her of the old days of the
Catholic school, otherwise the personnel now
form a multicultural community, typical of New
York City, and which the Irish, once the most
dominant immigrant population in the city,
adapted to: Yeshi, who comes from Ethiopia,
Maggie, a Haitian, Delia, from Puerto Rico, all
members of ethnic groups that entered the US
in various waves in the twentieth century. In
America, and especially in cities like New York,
“every individual urban center, from the largest
to the smallest, seems increasingly to contain
the entire world within it, creating the most
culturally heterogeneous2
cityspaces the world
has ever seen” (Soja 152). This multicultural
milieu constituted by her colleagues gives
Constance contradictory feelings. On the one
hand, diversity offers a chance for tolerance and
reconciliation, as ethnic consciousness implies
an acute awareness of other ethnic groups:
“I’m half convinced that time is on our side,
that nothing is ever lost, that we need only have
a little more faith, we need only believe a little
more and the endings will be happy” (in Casey
and Rhodes 226), i.e. her mother will trust her
daughters, Francis will realize how much she
loves him and she will walk again confidently on
34th Street.
On the other hand, this intricate melange of
people may create difficulties in one’s ability to
identify oneself, like in the Dominican church
Constance attends the Mass in in the evening:
Since it’s a city parish, my companions at Mass
are diverse – businessmen and students and women in
beautiful fur coats side by side with nuns and pious
people, the backbone of the congregation. I identify
myself among them as someone who must be hard to
place. (in Casey and Rhodes 228)
Without claiming to be a typically devout
Catholic, Constance reveals a high degree of
spirituality, her attendance of the Mass causing a
powerful meditation on the meaning of life and
death, which explains the title of the short-story:
During those twenty or so minutes, I feel my own
past to be not quite coherent but capable of eventually
proving to be that. And if my life, like every other,
contains elements of the outrageous, that ceremony of
death and transfiguration is a means of reckoning with
the outrageousness, as work and study are means of
reckoning with time. (in Casey and Rhodes 228)
The fact that Constance’s moments of
spirituality are not solely Catholic Mass bound
is proved by the next meditation on vanity and
fleeting life caused by New York City street life:
“The street was crowded with people – flesh-
and-blood images, living tableaux representing
virtue and temptation: greed on one face,
faith on another, on another charity or sloth,
2 Appadurai calls them ethnoscapes, cities that
have been shaped by global flows of people at an
unprecedented level (in Soja 201).
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35. fortitude, or purity” (in Casey and Rhodes 228).
To the crowd, Constance finally adds the image
of the new flower seller at the corner of Sixty-
eight and the short story serenely concludes
on the noble, beautiful and still faces of people
from all over the world settling in New York.
According to Raymond Williams, the
experience of an individual in a large city could
go either way “into an affirmation of common
humanity, past the barriers of crowded
strangeness; or into an emphasis of isolation, of
mystery – an ordinary feeling that can become a
terror” (qtd. in Tally Jr. 89) or rather to moments
of oscillation like in the case of Cullinan’s
protagonist. Equally, Walter Benjamin, in “A
Berlin Chronicle”, Charles Baudelaire, in “The
Painter of Modern Life”, Edgar Allen Poe, in the
short story “The Man of the Crowd” and Michel
de Certeau, in his “Walking in the City”, discuss
this modern figure, the stroller, le flâneur, who
covers an “urban island, a sea within the middle
of the sea”, a phrase used by the latter to
describe Manhattan (qtd. in Tally Jr. 96).
The conclusions of these writers’ works
interestingly converge to one idea, namely the
mental protean phenomenon characterizing
an individual’s urban experience, which
is an intensification, an “electricity”: “the
psychological basis of the metropolitan type
of individuality consists in the intensification of
nervous stimulation which results from the swift
and uninterrupted change of outer stimuli”
(Simmel qtd. in Tally Jr. 96). At times, this type
of experience creates a state of transition,
which may oppress or reinforce any feelings
of community. In the case of the young Irish
American woman, we have stimuli like, the
Kennedy sisters, the explosion on Lexington
Avenue, the cold outside, the uncle’s pub, the
college, the church and the new flower seller
in the corner of the street, which trigger her
thoughts and meditation. So, it is the story of a
woman stroller, a modern Irish American young
girl whose consciousness is bombarded by the
urban flux.
Conclusion
In conclusion, the movement of these Irish
American characters, such as Constance in
Cullinan’s “Life After Death”, through urban
space – New York City, ultimately points at
an oscillation between the parochial ethnic
neighbourhood - represented by the mother,
the uncle’s restaurant, the old college - and
the liberating downtown – the streets, the
office, the church, which parallels Constance’s
ancestors’ migration from rural Ireland to
urban America. The story take place within the
diaspora discourse, which
articulates,orbendstogether,bothrootsandroutes
to construct what Gilroy describes as alternate public
spheres (1987), forms of community consciousness
and solidarity that maintain identifications outside
the national time/ space in order to live inside, with a
difference. (Guibernau and Rex 325)
With Cullinan, the approach to the
protagonist’s journey appears as sophisticate
and, though alluding to specific ethnic details,
applicable to any immigrant in New York, whose
experience becomes universally illuminating:
... the doubleness of ethnic consciousness is
enriching and clarifying, that the debate cannot really
be resolved, and that a refusal to decide between
the poles of ethnic community and cosmopolitan
individuality can mark the beginning of a rich, varied
life. The middle, straddling position, having something
to compare everything with – therein lies a valuable
source of energy and understanding. (Bayor and
Meagher 530)
As there is silence in relation to chain
migration, re-Irishing, Hibernian activities in
the US, and visits to Ireland and encounters
with Irish people (Hallissy 30), as strategies of
coming to terms with ethnic identity dilemmas
to be used by Constance, her only answer
remains storytelling. Thus, we learn about
Francis, her mother, her father, her uncle’s pub,
her office work and colleagues, the church she
attends, choices through which she seems to
find comfort and peace even in the absence of
clear cut verdicts as to her belonging to the Irish
American community.
The spiritual universe of the protagonist
remains ethnic bound, Irish, and cosmopolitan
and profoundly humane as well. On the one
hand, the presence of president Kennedy’s
sister reconnects her to the ethnic community,
which was liberated from many viewpoints by
the charismatic leader; Constance’s mother is a
constant remainder of their attachment to the
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36. Irishcommunity,yetthegirlchoosestochallenge
any family oppression; Flynn’s, her uncle’s pub,
is avoided because of the family conflict but
Constance longs to return there one day and feel
confident about walking in the restaurant; the
Catholic college Constance works for, the same
she attended as a student, is now multicultural,
which can only enrich the spiritual dimension
of the protagonist’s consciousness even if at
times freedom is offered by the possibility to
mask one’s identity, through different clothing,
for instance. Finally, both the Dominican church
and the streets of New York, as the two facets
of existence, the religious one and the lay one,
cause very powerful spiritual insights for the
young Irish American woman.
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Accessed: 02/05/2013.
[3] Bremer, Sidney H. Urban Intersections: Meetings
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[4] Casey, J. Daniel and Robert E. Rhodes. Modern
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[5] Diner, R. Hasia. Erin’s Daughters in America:
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[6] Guibernau, Montserat and John Rex, eds. The
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[7] Hallissy, Margaret. Reading Irish-American
Fiction: The Hyphenated Self. Gordonville, VA:
Palgrave, Macmillan, 2006.
[8] Liddy, James. On American Literature and
Diasporas. Ed. Eamonn Wall. Dublin: Arlen House,
2013.
[9] Rains, Stephanie. The Irish-American in Popular
Culture 1945-2000. Dublin: Irish Academic Press,
2007.
[10] Soja, Edward. Postmetropolis: Critical Studies of
Cities and Regions. Oxford, Malden, MA: Oxford,
2000.
[11] Tally Jr., Robert. Spatiality. London and New York:
Routledge, 2013.
Biography
Nicoleta Stanca has been teaching at
Ovidius University Constanta since 2003.
She has published three book-length studies
Mapping Ireland (Essays on Space and Place in
Contemporary Irish Poetry), (2014), The Harp
and the Pen (Tradition and Novelty in Modern
Irish Writing) (2013), Duality of Vision in Seamus
Heaney’s Writings (2009), articles in academic
journals and book chapters. She has been a co-
editor of conference volumes, the most recent
being: The American Tradition of Descent/
Dissent: The Underground, the Countercultural,
the (Anti)Utopian. A Collection of Essays
(2012). She has also been an editor for the
International Journal of Cross-Cultural Studies
and Environmental Communication. ISSN 2285
– 3324 and she is a member of the Romanian
Association for American Studies, the Romanian
Society for English and American Studies and of
the Ireland-Romania Network.
November, 5 - 11 www.dialogo-conf.com
The 2nd Virtual International Conference on
the Dialogue between Science and Theology
DIALOGO 2(2015)
CONFERENCES & JOURNAL
1. Art and Literature & Religion
- 34-
http://dialogo-conf.com
37. Abstract: Harry Tavitian, like any other creator,
is in a continuous motion, quest and development,
with free mind and spirit. Harry Tavitian was born
in Constanta, in 1952, in an Armenian family, who is
always in his heart, as he says. The study of the piano
was so useful, that, in his late teens, he is already
exploring the blues. Before graduating the Ciprian
Porumbescu Conservatory in Bucharest in 1978, the
artist founded, with a deliberate enthusiasm, a band
called Creative, which would always express itself
recreatively, in the spirit of a permanent renewal.
His concerts, initially thought with an exigence that
shows through the creation, are not repeatable,
cannot be quantified with a measure of a weight or
linearity, but with one of depth and veracity of the
message, of liberty, joy and simplicity. The piano,
the one that helps him and us to grow through
music is the instrument which comes to support the
improvisation and the variations. Thus springs the
original esthetics called ethno-jazz, a genre nurtured
from the fertile soil of the Romanian folklore, thus
building and promoting a valuable South-Eastern
European school of jazz. In his language both the
avant-garde jazz and the traditional blues are
amplified and also supplemented with Romanian and
Armenian flavors. The cavalcade of improvisation is
defining, Harry Tavitian being spontaneous in the
original harmonic lacing in which he always wraps
his creations and performances. The aftermath is
always the same, an audience that hardly recovers
from the dreamy ambience of every concert.
Keywords: ethno-jazz, blues, improvization,
melody, Armenian, Romanian, harmony, rhythm,
creation, piano, percussion, dance
I. INTRODUCTION
About his personality it is difficult to speak
only once, as it is difficult to gather the multitude
of information about him until present day,
for the simple reason that he is a boundless
and free artist. Like any other creator, he is in
a continous motion, quest and development,
with mind and spirit without borders. Harry
Tavitian was born in Constanta, in 1952, in an
Armenian family, who is always in his heart, as
he says. „My hearth is in Dobrudja for at least
four generations. Elsewhere I think I would lose
any idea” says Harry Tavitian in an interview[1].
The togetherness with the piano, since he was
six years old, gave him the possibility of an
unhindered expression and communication, in a
language which he would sustain and transform
quickly. He confessed in an interview that „one
of the big lessons which my parents taught me
Spirituality through Transculturality
in Harry Tavitian’s Creation
Ruxandra Mirea, PhD
DepartmentofArts
OvidiusUniversityofConstanta
Constanța,Romania
ruxandra.m63@gmail.com
the Dialogue between Science and Theology
1. Art and Literature & Religion eISSN:2393-1744,cdISSN:2392-9928
printISSN:2392-9928
ISBN:978-80-554-1131-6
DIALOGO 2:35-41(2015)
CONFERENCES & JOURNAL
doi: 10.18638/dialogo.2015.2.1.3
- 35-
