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Papers by Andrew Benjamin Salzmann

Global Radical Islamist Insurgency: Al Qaeda and Islamic State Networks Focus. Vol. II: 2012-2014., 2016

The paper draws on political theologian William T. Cavanaugh's insight that nation-building requi... more The paper draws on political theologian William T. Cavanaugh's insight that nation-building requires a political imagination which is often religiously informed to argue that ISIS draws recruits by strategically re-enacting early Islamic history. This re-enactment is particularly resonant in Islam, as shariah law draws its validity from the imitation of the Prophet Muhammad.
Originally published online at Small Wars Journal (2014), but later anthologized (2016).
https://smallwarsjournal.com/jrnl/art/isis-public-legitimacy-through-the-reenactment-of-islam%E2%80%99s-early-history

Teaching After d’Alzon: Essays on Education Today , Eloise Knowlton, ed. (New London, CT: Twenty-Third Publications), 2011

William G. Perry's influential "Forms of Intellectual and Ethical Development" (1970) described t... more William G. Perry's influential "Forms of Intellectual and Ethical Development" (1970) described the modern goal of education as the movement of students from an absolutist view of truth to the moral relativism born of an appreciation of cultural relativism, and past simple moral relativism to the necessity of personal commitment to some moral values despite the relativity of values and ethics. In other words, the contextual situation of the person prevents us from realizing moral truth.
Emmanuel d'Alzon, founder of the Augustinians of the Assumption, realized--as did Augustine--that the contextual person is not a block to realizing moral truth, precisely because moral truth is personal in nature: truth is always truth about the person and moves the person to love. This Augustinian movement from veritas (truth) to a caritas (love) that causes unitas (communion) is the proper goal for Christian education in the Augustinian tradition. While it may be subjective (that is, "about the human subject"), it is not relative in the sense of being unknowable or merely provisional.
D'Alzon believed that this Christian truth about the person can and must be taught across all the disciplines of the Catholic college.

An introduction to the history and ideals of Liberal Arts education, with an explanation of Bened... more An introduction to the history and ideals of Liberal Arts education, with an explanation of Benedictine College's core requirements deliver that education. Written for incoming students in Benedictine's "First Year Experience" course. (August, 2018)

Biblical Theology Bulletin: A Journal of Bible and Theology, 2009

Recounting the numbers of baskets remaining after each of the multiplications of loaves in the Go... more Recounting the numbers of baskets remaining after each of the multiplications of loaves in the Gospel of Mark, Jesus demands of his disciplies: “Do you not yet understand?” (Mark 8:21). The message which the Markan Jesus presents through this sequence of the two feedings is both clear and important to the Gospel's author. A comparison of the Greek words used

Books by Andrew Benjamin Salzmann

Victorine Restoration: Essays on Hugh of St Victor, Richard of St Victor, and Thomas Gallus, ed. by Robert J. Porwoll and David Allison Orsbon, CURSOR 39 (Turnhout: Brepols, 2021), pp. 45-97., 2021

This chapter introduces Hugh of St Victor's exegetical thought to new readers, while also offerin... more This chapter introduces Hugh of St Victor's exegetical thought to new readers, while also offering a Trinitarian reading of his exegesis relevant to more advanced scholars of St Victor. First, I begin with a brief discussion of the Trinitarian assumptions that structure all of Hugh's thought. Second, I examine the larger spiritual programme in which the reading and exegesis of scripture plays a central role for Hugh. Third, after briefly explaning the assumptions of patristic and medieval Biblical interpretation, I give a detailed account of how Hugh himself interpreted the literal and spiritual senses of Scripture, highlighting such concerns as the role of liberal education, Hugh's Jewish influences, memorization, aspiratio, etc.). I conclude with a short comment on how this new recognition of the Trinitarian shape of Hugh's exegesis resolves criticisms of his model of interpretation levied against him by Henri de Lubac and Beryl Smalley.
The chapter includes an appendix introducing his exegetical works to new readers and a second appendix which translates a short letter (referenced by Smalley but not translated by her) which provides a concise summary of Hugh's exegesis from a 12th-century student of his.

Drafts by Andrew Benjamin Salzmann

The purpose of this talk is to propose a middle position between relics as mementos occasioning a... more The purpose of this talk is to propose a middle position between relics as mementos occasioning a recollection of a saint and relics as magical objects with their own power to act on physical reality, and to do so by using Neuer Realismus aesthetic theory to suggest that relics, as art, have a certain autonomy of action on the mind of the one who venerates them (though not on physical reality).

Global Radical Islamist Insurgency: Al Qaeda and Islamic State Networks Focus. Vol. II: 2012-2014., 2016

The paper draws on political theologian William T. Cavanaugh's insight that nation-building requi... more The paper draws on political theologian William T. Cavanaugh's insight that nation-building requires a political imagination which is often religiously informed to argue that ISIS draws recruits by strategically re-enacting early Islamic history. This re-enactment is particularly resonant in Islam, as shariah law draws its validity from the imitation of the Prophet Muhammad.
Originally published online at Small Wars Journal (2014), but later anthologized (2016).
https://smallwarsjournal.com/jrnl/art/isis-public-legitimacy-through-the-reenactment-of-islam%E2%80%99s-early-history

Teaching After d’Alzon: Essays on Education Today , Eloise Knowlton, ed. (New London, CT: Twenty-Third Publications), 2011

William G. Perry's influential "Forms of Intellectual and Ethical Development" (1970) described t... more William G. Perry's influential "Forms of Intellectual and Ethical Development" (1970) described the modern goal of education as the movement of students from an absolutist view of truth to the moral relativism born of an appreciation of cultural relativism, and past simple moral relativism to the necessity of personal commitment to some moral values despite the relativity of values and ethics. In other words, the contextual situation of the person prevents us from realizing moral truth.
Emmanuel d'Alzon, founder of the Augustinians of the Assumption, realized--as did Augustine--that the contextual person is not a block to realizing moral truth, precisely because moral truth is personal in nature: truth is always truth about the person and moves the person to love. This Augustinian movement from veritas (truth) to a caritas (love) that causes unitas (communion) is the proper goal for Christian education in the Augustinian tradition. While it may be subjective (that is, "about the human subject"), it is not relative in the sense of being unknowable or merely provisional.
D'Alzon believed that this Christian truth about the person can and must be taught across all the disciplines of the Catholic college.

An introduction to the history and ideals of Liberal Arts education, with an explanation of Bened... more An introduction to the history and ideals of Liberal Arts education, with an explanation of Benedictine College's core requirements deliver that education. Written for incoming students in Benedictine's "First Year Experience" course. (August, 2018)

Biblical Theology Bulletin: A Journal of Bible and Theology, 2009

Recounting the numbers of baskets remaining after each of the multiplications of loaves in the Go... more Recounting the numbers of baskets remaining after each of the multiplications of loaves in the Gospel of Mark, Jesus demands of his disciplies: “Do you not yet understand?” (Mark 8:21). The message which the Markan Jesus presents through this sequence of the two feedings is both clear and important to the Gospel's author. A comparison of the Greek words used

Victorine Restoration: Essays on Hugh of St Victor, Richard of St Victor, and Thomas Gallus, ed. by Robert J. Porwoll and David Allison Orsbon, CURSOR 39 (Turnhout: Brepols, 2021), pp. 45-97., 2021

This chapter introduces Hugh of St Victor's exegetical thought to new readers, while also offerin... more This chapter introduces Hugh of St Victor's exegetical thought to new readers, while also offering a Trinitarian reading of his exegesis relevant to more advanced scholars of St Victor. First, I begin with a brief discussion of the Trinitarian assumptions that structure all of Hugh's thought. Second, I examine the larger spiritual programme in which the reading and exegesis of scripture plays a central role for Hugh. Third, after briefly explaning the assumptions of patristic and medieval Biblical interpretation, I give a detailed account of how Hugh himself interpreted the literal and spiritual senses of Scripture, highlighting such concerns as the role of liberal education, Hugh's Jewish influences, memorization, aspiratio, etc.). I conclude with a short comment on how this new recognition of the Trinitarian shape of Hugh's exegesis resolves criticisms of his model of interpretation levied against him by Henri de Lubac and Beryl Smalley.
The chapter includes an appendix introducing his exegetical works to new readers and a second appendix which translates a short letter (referenced by Smalley but not translated by her) which provides a concise summary of Hugh's exegesis from a 12th-century student of his.

The purpose of this talk is to propose a middle position between relics as mementos occasioning a... more The purpose of this talk is to propose a middle position between relics as mementos occasioning a recollection of a saint and relics as magical objects with their own power to act on physical reality, and to do so by using Neuer Realismus aesthetic theory to suggest that relics, as art, have a certain autonomy of action on the mind of the one who venerates them (though not on physical reality).