La promozione del regno come responsabilità sacerdotale dei Cristiani secondo l'Apocalisse e la Prima Lettera di Pietro
The conjunction of priesthood with a kingly connotation which occurs in Ex 19,4-6; 1 Pet 2,9; Ap 1,5; 5,10; 20,6 still remains a problem today. If, on the basis of the texts just mentioned, the attribution to all Christians of a real priestly title is commonly admitted today, the kingship which is j...
| Main Author: | |
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| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | Italian |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Interlibrary Loan: | Interlibrary Loan for the Fachinformationsdienste (Specialized Information Services in Germany) |
| Published: |
1987
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| In: |
Gregorianum
Year: 1987, Volume: 68, Issue: 1/2, Pages: 9-56 |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) |
| Parallel Edition: | Non-electronic
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| Summary: | The conjunction of priesthood with a kingly connotation which occurs in Ex 19,4-6; 1 Pet 2,9; Ap 1,5; 5,10; 20,6 still remains a problem today. If, on the basis of the texts just mentioned, the attribution to all Christians of a real priestly title is commonly admitted today, the kingship which is joined to it is either disregarded or simply reduced to a generic emphasis on the dignity of Christians. The research is limited here to the N. T. The relationship between kingship and priesthood is primarily studied in the Apocalypse where the three occurrences of the term "priests" always accompanied with a reference to kingship, on the one hand, and on the other the relatively frequent reccurrence of the group "king-kingdom-to reign" offer large enough a field of research. The conclusion, where the Apocalypse is concerned, is that, having become "kingdom" through a specific action of Christ, the Christians cooperate with him towards the progressive building up on earth of the kingdom, and thus mediate between the 'mystery' intended by God's design and its concrete actuation in history. This conclusion throws light in retrospect on the text of 1 Pet 2,4-10. The study of the literary movement of the text brings first into relief the vertical dimension of Christians intent on following a life so totally enlivened by the Spirit as to become a sacrificial victim offered to God: in this perspective Christians are called a 'holy priestly organism'. There is also a movement in the horizontal direction: a life lived under the influence of the Spirit becomes for the non-Christians a proclamation which belongs within the growth of the kingdom towards the fulness of glory: in that sense Christians are a 'kingly priestly organism'. Both dimensions, the vertical and the horizontal, are so interdependent as to coincide in real life: by becoming sacrificial oblation the Christian also becomes proclamation, thus serving as mediation between the divine intent and daily living. Various examples taken from daily life — such as 'good' conduct among gentiles, a constructive attitude towards authority, submission of slaves to their masters, etc. — seem here to provide both confirmation and explicitation. Christian living being thus valorised as promotion of the kingdom, there follows a picture, at once more complete and more concrete, of the common priesthood of Christians. |
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| Contains: | Enthalten in: Gregorianum
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