F Gerald Downing
Biographic Data
| ID | 2050599 |
|---|---|
| NAME | F Gerald Downing |
| GIVEN NAMES | F Gerald |
| FAMILY NAME | Downing |
| SIGNATURE | DOWNING F G |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of Manchester |
| VERIFIED | No |
| TOTAL WORKS | 20 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 5 |
| WORKS AS AUTHOR | 20 |
| WORKS AS EDITOR | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 1941 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2015 |
| H-INDEX | 1 |
On doubting dichotomies
This article is a response to Don Cupitt’s article ‘After the end of the world’, published in Theology (July 2014). It argues that doubts are always worth doubting, critical questions warrant critical questioning, that imagination is more prevalent than sceptics acknowledge, and that there are spaces that dichotomies arbitrarily banish
Ambiguity, Ancient Semantics, and Faith
While allowing for polysemy, scholars seem mostly averse to ambiguity, as in the πίστις Χριστοῦ debate; but, it would seem, without engaging with ancient semantic theory. There the model of ‘naming’ and so of evoking an otherwise unspecified mental impression, predominates. Meaning is taken to lie in the mind, not in the word or words that are hoped to evoke it, as is also shown in ancient discussions of metaphor, allegory, and paraphrase. Connot…
Mary Between Minimal History and Maximal Myth
Profiles of Jesus
Paul's Drive for Deviants
How did Paul on his own or with a companion or two turn (apparently) ordinary Hellenistic townspeople into deviant atheists? ‘A theory of conversion to a deviant perspective’ (Lofland and Stark) and the example of Cynic deviancy suggest a plausible explanation
A Cynic Preparation for Paul's Gospel for Jew and Greek, Slave and Free, Male and Female
An abstract is not available for this content so a preview has been provided. Please use the Get access link above for information on how to access this content
Cosmic Eschatology in the First Century
Dans l'antiquité classique, le thème d'une fin imminente du monde entier n'appartenait pas qu'aux Juifs et aux Chrétiens. Il se trouve chez les Épicuriens, mais aussi chez des auteurs tels que Pline et Sénèque. Une métaphore commune fait du monde un organisme vieilli, souvent une mère âgée qui va mourir. Ce thème (avec des idées associées) existait, selon toute probabilité, dans le langage ordinaire des Grecs et des Latins
Cynics and Christians, Oedipus and Thyestes
Justin and the other second-century Christian apologists endeavour to present their beliefs and life-style as a ‘ philosophy’ best compared with that of Plato, and Christians as a philosophical sect. This was a ‘quite implausible’ suggestion according to R. L. Wilken, commenting on Justin. Yet a number of outsiders in the second century do seem to have seen the Christians in such terms, although not as intellectually respectable as the apologists…
A Paradigm Perplex
In their recent survey of the synoptic problem E. P. Sanders and M. Davies argue that a complicated solution must be held to be the most likely, and conclude, Mark probably did sometimes conflate material which came separately to Matthew and Luke (so the Griesbach hypothesis), and Matthew probably did conflate material which came separately to Mark and Luke (the twosource hypothesis). Thus we think that Luke knew Matthew (so Goulder, the Griesbac…
A Bas Les Aristos. The Relevance of Higher Literature for the Understanding of the Earliest Christian Writings
Pliny's Prosecutions of Christians
The Social Contexts of Jesus the Teacher
The importance of an awareness of the wider social context of any movement or individual is widely acknowledged, and does not need arguing. It constitutes a necessary criterion of the adequacy of any historical account. Yet there does not seem to have been any significant development in our critical appraisal of it among other criteria, and we still fail to produce agreed results. As a check on how things stand with other historians we may take, …
Revelation, Disagreement and Obscurity
‘Revelation’ has not appeared at all frequently in the titles of contributions to this journal (nor, from memory, has it at all often been their unannounced subject matter). On the other hand, neither does it seem to have been formally banished. The term is occasionally used, still, without any obvious sign of unease. Perhaps the majority of contributors have tacitly abandoned it, as incompatible with a broadly phenomenological approach to religi…
Cynics and Christians
An abstract is not available for this content so a preview has been provided. Please use the Get access link above for information on how to access this content
Common Ground with Paganism in Luke and in Josephus
An abstract is not available for this content so a preview has been provided. Please use the Get access link above for information on how to access this content
Ethical Pagan Theism and the Speeches in Acts
It has been and still is debated whether the speeches attributed to characters in the Acts of the Apostles should be taken as their own, more or less accurately recorded; or as based on an early pattern of preaching; or as reflecting the beliefs of churches contemporary with the writing of the book (AD 65–95, or later still); or as the product of the imagination and conviction of the author. I wish to suggest that there is enough evidence for yet…
A Polemic against Polemic
Ways of Deriving `Ought' From `Is
Ways of Deriving “Ought” From ‘is‘ Get access F. Gerald Downing F. Gerald Downing Unsworth, Bury, Lanes Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar The Philosophical Quarterly, Volume 22, Issue 88, July 1972, Pages 234–247, https://doi.org/10.2307/2218233 Published: 01 July 1972
Towards the Rehabilitation of Q
An abstract is not available for this content so a preview has been provided. Please use the Get access link above for information on how to access this content
Pageant of England, 1840-1940
Cynics and Christians, Oedipus and Thyestes
Justin and the other second-century Christian apologists endeavour to present their beliefs and life-style as a ‘ philosophy’ best compared with that of Plato, and Christians as a philosophical sect. This was a ‘quite implausible’ suggestion according to R. L. Wilken, commenting on Justin. Yet a number of outsiders in the second century do seem to have seen the Christians in such terms, although not as intellectually respectable as the apologists…
Ambiguity, Ancient Semantics, and Faith
While allowing for polysemy, scholars seem mostly averse to ambiguity, as in the πίστις Χριστοῦ debate; but, it would seem, without engaging with ancient semantic theory. There the model of ‘naming’ and so of evoking an otherwise unspecified mental impression, predominates. Meaning is taken to lie in the mind, not in the word or words that are hoped to evoke it, as is also shown in ancient discussions of metaphor, allegory, and paraphrase. Connot…
Pageant of England, 1840-1940
Towards the Rehabilitation of Q
An abstract is not available for this content so a preview has been provided. Please use the Get access link above for information on how to access this content
Ways of Deriving `Ought' From `Is
Ways of Deriving “Ought” From ‘is‘ Get access F. Gerald Downing F. Gerald Downing Unsworth, Bury, Lanes Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar The Philosophical Quarterly, Volume 22, Issue 88, July 1972, Pages 234–247, https://doi.org/10.2307/2218233 Published: 01 July 1972
A Polemic against Polemic
Ethical Pagan Theism and the Speeches in Acts
It has been and still is debated whether the speeches attributed to characters in the Acts of the Apostles should be taken as their own, more or less accurately recorded; or as based on an early pattern of preaching; or as reflecting the beliefs of churches contemporary with the writing of the book (AD 65–95, or later still); or as the product of the imagination and conviction of the author. I wish to suggest that there is enough evidence for yet…
Common Ground with Paganism in Luke and in Josephus
An abstract is not available for this content so a preview has been provided. Please use the Get access link above for information on how to access this content
Cynics and Christians
An abstract is not available for this content so a preview has been provided. Please use the Get access link above for information on how to access this content
Revelation, Disagreement and Obscurity
‘Revelation’ has not appeared at all frequently in the titles of contributions to this journal (nor, from memory, has it at all often been their unannounced subject matter). On the other hand, neither does it seem to have been formally banished. The term is occasionally used, still, without any obvious sign of unease. Perhaps the majority of contributors have tacitly abandoned it, as incompatible with a broadly phenomenological approach to religi…
The Social Contexts of Jesus the Teacher
The importance of an awareness of the wider social context of any movement or individual is widely acknowledged, and does not need arguing. It constitutes a necessary criterion of the adequacy of any historical account. Yet there does not seem to have been any significant development in our critical appraisal of it among other criteria, and we still fail to produce agreed results. As a check on how things stand with other historians we may take, …
A Bas Les Aristos. The Relevance of Higher Literature for the Understanding of the Earliest Christian Writings
Pliny's Prosecutions of Christians
A Paradigm Perplex
In their recent survey of the synoptic problem E. P. Sanders and M. Davies argue that a complicated solution must be held to be the most likely, and conclude, Mark probably did sometimes conflate material which came separately to Matthew and Luke (so the Griesbach hypothesis), and Matthew probably did conflate material which came separately to Mark and Luke (the twosource hypothesis). Thus we think that Luke knew Matthew (so Goulder, the Griesbac…
Cynics and Christians, Oedipus and Thyestes
Justin and the other second-century Christian apologists endeavour to present their beliefs and life-style as a ‘ philosophy’ best compared with that of Plato, and Christians as a philosophical sect. This was a ‘quite implausible’ suggestion according to R. L. Wilken, commenting on Justin. Yet a number of outsiders in the second century do seem to have seen the Christians in such terms, although not as intellectually respectable as the apologists…
Cosmic Eschatology in the First Century
Dans l'antiquité classique, le thème d'une fin imminente du monde entier n'appartenait pas qu'aux Juifs et aux Chrétiens. Il se trouve chez les Épicuriens, mais aussi chez des auteurs tels que Pline et Sénèque. Une métaphore commune fait du monde un organisme vieilli, souvent une mère âgée qui va mourir. Ce thème (avec des idées associées) existait, selon toute probabilité, dans le langage ordinaire des Grecs et des Latins
A Cynic Preparation for Paul's Gospel for Jew and Greek, Slave and Free, Male and Female
An abstract is not available for this content so a preview has been provided. Please use the Get access link above for information on how to access this content
Paul's Drive for Deviants
How did Paul on his own or with a companion or two turn (apparently) ordinary Hellenistic townspeople into deviant atheists? ‘A theory of conversion to a deviant perspective’ (Lofland and Stark) and the example of Cynic deviancy suggest a plausible explanation
Profiles of Jesus
Mary Between Minimal History and Maximal Myth
Ambiguity, Ancient Semantics, and Faith
While allowing for polysemy, scholars seem mostly averse to ambiguity, as in the πίστις Χριστοῦ debate; but, it would seem, without engaging with ancient semantic theory. There the model of ‘naming’ and so of evoking an otherwise unspecified mental impression, predominates. Meaning is taken to lie in the mind, not in the word or words that are hoped to evoke it, as is also shown in ancient discussions of metaphor, allegory, and paraphrase. Connot…
On doubting dichotomies
This article is a response to Don Cupitt’s article ‘After the end of the world’, published in Theology (July 2014). It argues that doubts are always worth doubting, critical questions warrant critical questioning, that imagination is more prevalent than sceptics acknowledge, and that there are spaces that dichotomies arbitrarily banish
Philosophy (17 works) · Biblical Studies and Interpretation (10 works) · Epistemology (10 works) · History (10 works) · Theology (10 works) · Art (7 works) · Computer Science (6 works) · Historical and Linguistic Studies (5 works) · Mathematics (5 works) · Philosophy (5 works)