Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Biblical interpretation'
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Liu, Peter Lap-Ming. "Devotional application in Puritan biblical interpretation." Theological Research Exchange Network (TREN), 1994. http://www.tren.com.
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Cama-Calderon, Ahida Emperatriz. "Pragmatic linguistic methodology for biblical interpretation." Theological Research Exchange Network (TREN), 1998. http://www.tren.com.
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Village, Andrew. "Biblical interpretation among Church of England lay people." Thesis, University of Bristol, 2003. http://hdl.handle.net/1983/63960063-1dc5-475f-ba8b-e1c67a0c237f.
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Biblical interpretation among Church of England laity was assessed by questionnaire. Eleven churches took part in the final survey: 1800 questionnaires were distributed and 404 returned. Subjects read the healing story in Mark 9: 14-29 and then responded to questions on the passage, their attitudes to the bible and healing prayer. Liken scales assessed attitudes to the bible, morality, religious exclusivity and supernatural healing. Personality was assessed according to the Myers-Briggs typology using the Keirsey Temperament Sorter. Subjects from Evangelical churches had more conservative attitudes than those in Anglo-catholic or Broad churches. Attitudes were related to education level and the perceiving personality function, and were clustered according to level of conservatism and charismatic belief. Literal interpretation of the passage declined with age. Literal interpretation of biblical events declined with education level, but not among Evangelicals. Respondents preferred interpretations that matched their preferred perceiving or judging personality functions. Those who preferred intuition and feeling were also most likely to identify with characters in the story. Perception of horizon separation was related to familiarity with the passage, and preference for interpretative horizon was related to attitudes, judging personality function and education level. There was little evidence of strong community effects on interpretation. Dependence on others for interpretation was greater among women, negatively correlated with education level and positively correlated with age and personality preferences for sensing and feeling. Findings are discussed in relation to the roles of the individual, the Holy Spirit and the community in shaping interpretation, and to problems of evaluating interpretations in the church. Factors external to the text are important in generating meaning, but are sometimes less valuable in deciding between interpretations. Church and academy are fundamentally different worlds of discourse that overlap: the difference needs to be recognized, accepted and respected.
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Howell, Kenneth James. "Copernicanism and biblical interpretation in early modern Protestant Europe." Thesis, Lancaster University, 1995. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.309018.
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Fulford, B. M. "Biblical interpretation in Gregory of Nazianzus and Hans Frei." Thesis, University of Cambridge, 2007. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.599255.
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This dissertation makes the case that with resources from Gregory of Nazianzus’ theology of Scripture and biblical exegesis, the promise of Hans Frei’s approach to the Christian reading of the Bible as Scripture may be furthered, especially in regard to the spiritual function of Scripture, and its appropriation and application to the reader, and the theology that underwrites such an account. It does so by bringing Nazianzen and Frei into dialogue. Chapter 1 sets forth the coherence of Nazianzen’s theology of Scripture, showing his account of its sanctifying function as a vessel of divine accommodation, instruction and pedagogy. It also analyses the hermeneutical comments scattered in his writings and draws from there the account of the historical shape of salvation as related in Scripture, and the ineluctability of the surface of Scripture as the starting point for exegesis, and shows how characterisations of Gregory advocating allegory are mistaken. Chapter 2 shows the coherence and robustness of Hans Frei’s response to the challenge of history, how it leads to questions of spiritual appropriation, and its relative thinness in comparison with Gregory’s account. Chapter 3 demonstrates the promise of Frei’s account of the spiritual function of Scripture, its appropriation and application, but also argues that it remains over-general, and fails to reconcile the transcendence of Christ in his divinity with his intimacy with the believing reader; problems to which Gregory’s theology seems to suggest answers. Chapter 4 sketches such answers by examining Gregory’s uses of Scripture in light of his theology of Scripture and hermeneutics, Gregory’s reading of Christ as the New Adam, his account of salvation as participation in Christ and of the appropriation of the meaning of Christ’s story as partaking in the pattern of his narrated identity through baptism and ascesis, and three practices of such appropriation.
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Parris, David. "Reception theory : philosophical hermeneutics, literary theory, and biblical interpretation." Thesis, University of Nottingham, 1999. http://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/12110/.
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The goal of this thesis is to explore the possibility of applying Hans Robert Jauss' hermeneutic of reception theory to biblical interpretation. The traditional methods employed in biblical interpretation involve a two-way dialogue between the text and the reader. Reception theory expands this into a three-way dialogue, with the third partner being the history of the text's interpretation and application. This third partner has been ignored by biblical interpreters but recently the need to include this has gained some attention. In the first part of the thesis, the work of Hans-Georg Gadamer will be examined in order to provide the philosophical hermeneutical framework for reception theory and its significance for biblical studies. In the second part, this framework will be fleshed out by Hans Robert Jauss' conception of reception theory. Jauss not only builds upon Gadamer's work but his literary hermeneutic provides a model which is applicable to the biblical text and its tradition of interpretation. In the final part, the parable of the Wedding Feast in Matthew 22:1-14 and its Wirkungsgeschichte will be considered as a case study.
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Schumacher, Walter K. "Adverbial participles and contours the interpretation of [katertismena] in Romans 9:22 /." Online full text .pdf document, available to Fuller patrons only, 2001. http://www.tren.com.
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Dines, Jennifer Mary. "The Septuagint of Amos : a study of interpretation." Thesis, Heythrop College (University of London), 1992. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.283911.
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Elliott, Mark 1948. "Archaeology, Bible and interpretation: 1900-1930." Diss., The University of Arizona, 1998. http://hdl.handle.net/10150/288877.
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This is a study of the interpretation of archaeological data by Anglo-American Bible scholars, though the emphasis is primarily American, in scholarly and popular publications from 1900-1930. The major archaeological research interest for many Anglo-American biblical scholars was its direct reflection on the biblical record. Many were devout and reared on a literal reading of Scripture. Traditional scholars insisted that the function of archaeology was to provide evidence to validate the Bible and to disprove higher criticism. They were clearly motivated by theological concerns and created an archaeology of faith that authenticated the word of the Lord and protected Christian doctrines. Liberal or mainstream scholars rejected conservative methods that simply collated archaeological data to attack the documentary hypothesis and its supporters. Several eminent Bible scholars developed important studies on the interpretation of archaeological results from Palestine. They participated eagerly in analyzing archaeological material and refused to concede the field of biblical archaeology to theologically-motivated conservative scholars and theologians. They were determined to conduct important investigations of the archaeological evidence free from theological bias. Palestinian excavations lacked the spectacular architectural and inscriptural remains unearthed in Egypt and Mesopotamia. The popular press did occasionally report on the progress of several excavations from Palestine, but, for the most part, Palestinian excavations concentrated on tells and pottery and the results were disappointing. However, by the 1920s the New York Times was a major source of information concerning archaeological news and frequently carried stories that indicated that archaeology was confirming the biblical record and many of the Bible's revered figures. The Times played a vital role in popularizing biblical archaeology and contributed many illustrations of amazing archaeological discoveries that "proved" the historicity of the biblical text. W. F. Albright's scholarly conclusions in the 1920s were moderate. Albright's scholarship was not motivated by theological concerns as many have assumed. Though his religious convictions were assuredly conservative, his scholarship had little in common with the tendentious archaeological assumptions created by conservative Bible scholars and theologians. Albright's interpretations were based on the archaeological data and not on theological dogma.
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Hurley, Robert J. (Robert Joseph). "Biblical interpretation in the Viens vers le Père catechetical series." Thesis, McGill University, 1993. http://digitool.Library.McGill.CA:80/R/?func=dbin-jump-full&object_id=41618.
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The thesis offers an examination of the use of the Bible in Viens vers le Pere, a Catholic catechetical series published between 1964 and 1969 for use in the primary schools of Quebec. It enjoyed great popularity from the 1960s to the 1980s and was translated into several languages and used in some fourteen countries. The series places particular emphasis on the use of the Bible in catechesis. The thesis investigates the method of biblical interpretation underpinning these catechetical resources and constitutes the first indepth study of the series. Developments in educational psychology and Catholic theology from the first half of the $20 sp{ rm th}$ century influence the use and interpretation of the Bible in this series. The thesis concludes that the Bible and typical experiences of young children are exploited as a means for presenting and understanding doctrine.From a hermeneutical perspective, the thesis offers an exercise in metacriticism. The thesis suggests an alternative to the exploitation of the Bible and the experiences of the audience as a means to clarify doctrine. It concludes that catechesis should engender a dialogue between the scriptural world and the child's world in hopes of an encounter which would elucidate both.
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Brownlee, Victoria Margaret Roberta. "Reforming figures : biblical interpretation and literature in early modern England." Thesis, Queen's University Belfast, 2012. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.580119.
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This thesis considers how Protestants read the Bible, understood the Old and New Testaments, and how this impacted upon early modern literary production. In particular, it explores the way in which individual biblical figures and particular biblical texts became enmeshed with specific political and cultural concerns and enveloped into the period's writings. As part of this, it probes the uneasy relationship between the reformed commitment to a literalist hermeneutic and the reality of their interpretative methodologies. Considering the use of exegetical practices, including typology, the thesis contends that reformed 'literalism' is more capacious, and indeed figural, than it claims to be. Structured around individual biblical books and figures, the thesis presses these considerations across a variety of early modern writers and genres. Chapters one and two look at the biblical figures of Solomon and Job, exploring how they are read in relation to ideas of kingship and suffering and symbolically represented in image, print and on stage. The third chapter considers how the reformers' alternative 'literal' reading of the Song of Songs both shapes and destabilises the contemporary poetry that engages with this biblical text. The final two chapters shift discussion to the New Testament. The penultimate chapter explores how a typological understanding ofMary facilitates re-readings of motherhood in writing by women. Discussion concludes with a consideration of the end-point of typological history, apocalypse, tracing how the idea of revelation is contested on the early modern stage. Demonstrating how Protestant interpretative practices both contribute to, and problematise, literary constructions of a range of contemporary debates, this thesis offers a reassessment of the interaction between early modern literature and the Bible.
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Cowley, Roger W. "Ethiopian biblical interpretation : a study in exegetical tradition and hermenentics." Thesis, University of Cambridge, 1986. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.598090.
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Forey, Madeleine. "Language and revelation : English apocalyptic literature 1500-1660." Thesis, University of Oxford, 1993. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.241302.
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Curtis, Andrew John. "Re-reading the Gospel of Luke today : from a first century urban writing site to a twentieth century urban reading site." Thesis, Open University, 1999. http://oro.open.ac.uk/57946/.
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Postmodern theorising has presented the reader as an active agent in the process of the interpretation of texts. Sociology of knowledge approaches have identified both the author and the reader of texts as socially embodied within a context. This study presents a unique collection of readings in the Gospel of Luke by ordinary real-readers from a disadvantaged and/or marginalised social and ecclesial location, within an affluent first world context. These readings, transcribed in Volume Two, present empirical reader research for analysis, through dialogue and conversation with professional readings in the Gospel of Luke, in order to assess what contribution the former might make to contemporary hermeneutics. Identifying contemporary human experience of ordinary real-readers as the starting point in their reading of the Lukan text, the study illustrates how these readings act as a useful tool of suspicion in conversation with readings that claim to be objective and value-neutral, and how they facilitate critical reflection on the ideological and theological commitments of the dominant classes in society and church. The value and legitimacy of the readings of ordinary real-readers is discussed, and how their social and ecclesial marginalisation and disadvantage provides a nontotalising presence in biblical interpretation, a presence that guards against the claims of permanence made by those in the academic and ecclesial world. Identification of contemporary human experience as inevitably influencing the process of interpretation leads to a consideration of the place of the historical critical paradigm in biblical studies. The value and legitimacy of ordinary real readers as active agents in the process of interpretation, and the contribution they make to contemporary hermeneutics, requires a consideration of safeguards against reading anarchy. The process of self and social analysis, and an openness to dialogue and conversation with those outside our own contexts, including our ancestors in the faith, is considered as a way forward, utilising ordinary and professional real-readers in the ongoing process of biblical interpretation.
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Meir, Amira. "Medieval Jewish interpretation of pentateuchal poetry." Thesis, McGill University, 1994. http://digitool.Library.McGill.CA:80/R/?func=dbin-jump-full&object_id=28842.
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This dissertation studies parts of six medieval Jewish Torah commentaries in order to examine how they related to what we call Pentateuchal poetry. It examines their general approaches to Bible interpretation and their treatments of all Pentateuchal poems. It focusses on qualities we associate with poetry--parallelism, structure, metaphor, and syntax--and explores the extent to which they treated poems differently from prose.The effort begins by defining Pentateuchal poetry and discussing a range of its presentations by various ancient writers. Subsequent chapters examine its treatment by Rabbi Saadia Gaon of Baghdad (882-942), Abraham Ibn Ezra of Spain (1089-1164), Samuel Ben Meir (1080-1160) and Joseph Bekhor Shor (12th century) of Northern France, David Kimhi of Provence (1160-1235), and Obadiah Sforno of Italy (1470-1550).
While all of these commentators wrote on the poetic passages, none differentiated systematically between Pentateuchal prose and poetry or treated them in substantially different ways. Samuel Ben Meir, Ibn Ezra, Bekhor Shor, and Kimhi did discuss some poetic features of these texts. The other two men were far less inclined to do so, but occasionally recognized some differences between prose and poetry and some phenomena unique to the latter.
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Anum, Eric Bortey. "The reconstruction of forms of African theology : towards effective biblical interpretation." Thesis, University of Glasgow, 1999. http://theses.gla.ac.uk/3466/.
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This thesis sets out to investigate current reconstruction of forms of African theology that is taking place in parts of Africa. The specific interest is to identify emerging biblical interpretative modes from these theologies and seek to suggest ways of making them effective for the benefit of African communities of readers and the biblical academia as a whole. After a brief consideration of the contribution of historical critical interpretation, this thesis then focused specifically on the development of African scholarly readings. The specific interest in these African readings is ·to provide the necessary criteria which will ensure that critical scholarly readings can both be differentiated and derived from popular readings. My interest in popular readings is because of the major role they play in the provision of contextual components or the missing links that can only be obtained from ordinary readers, that the scholarly reader needs in his/her reconstruction of· African self-understanding. I have therefore looked at the attempts to structure the relationship between ordinary readers and scholarly readers and out of that has come the contribution to the theologies of reconstruction in Africa. In summary, to respond to the quest for acceptable critical models of reading the Bible using African cultural texts and world view, it has become necessary to provide recommendations for African hermeneuts which would enhance their readings in order to make their contributions to scholarly biblical interpretation to the global community more effective. This is exactly what this thesis aims at achieving.
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Minamino, Hironori. "Interpretation of the Biblical First Creation Account within the Japanese Context." Thesis, University of Aberdeen, 2005. http://digitool.abdn.ac.uk/R?func=search-advanced-go&find_code1=WSN&request1=AAIU236888.
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No reader can escape from his/her own social and cultural circumstances, including her/his initial language, even when reading the Bible. This thesis researches and proposes how the Japanese people should interpret the biblical first creation account (Gen.1:1-2:4a). Concerning theology, I regard the postmodern approach as more important than the traditional historical approach, although I do not ignore the historical approach. The postmodern way, which emphasises textual autonomy, rhetorical strategy, dialogical atmosphere, and intertextuality, contributes to analyse how the text influences and transforms society. For the goal of this thesis, in the first place I research how the first creation account can be translated into the Japanese language. Translation is one of the important factors, both because most Japanese readers cannot avoid depending on Japanese translated versions, and because translation, a sort of interpretation, affects their reading. After discussing the basic theories of bible translation, I present my translation version, considering grammatical and conceptual differences between the Hebrew and Japanese languages. In the second place, I examine the text within the Japanese social context. I divide the biblical text into four parts. The first part asserts that the ideology conflict implied in Gen.1:1-2 should present a subversive model against Japanese Imperialism. The second part maintains that the view of nature in Gen.1:3-25 enables the Japanese people to treat nature and environment with respect. The third part describes that the view of humanity in Gen.1:26-31 contains the possibility to change the situation of discrimination in Japanese society. The fourth part insists that the concept of the Sabbath in Gen.2:1-3 should be able to release the Japanese people from consumerism. In the conclusion, I summarize the thesis and suggest that other biblical passages can be interpreted by other current societies with the methodology which I propose.
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Peetoom, Jacobus. "John Owen's biblical interpretation as illustrated by his exposition of Hebrews." Theological Research Exchange Network (TREN), 1993. http://www.tren.com.
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Erasmus, Shirley. "Challenging Biblical boundaries: Jeanette Winterson’s postmodern feminist subversion of Biblical discourse in Oranges are not the only fruit (1985) and Boating for beginners (1985)." Thesis, Rhodes University, 2018. http://hdl.handle.net/10962/59121.
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This thesis investigates the subversion of Biblical discourse in Jeanette Winterson’s first two novels, Oranges are Not the Only Fruit and Boating for Beginners. By rewriting Biblical stories Winterson challenges traditional Western religious discourses and their rules for heteronormative social and sexual behaviours and desires. Winterson’s texts respond to the patriarchal nature of socially pervasive texts, such as the Bible, by encouraging her readers to regard these texts with suspicion, thus highlighting what can be seen as a ‘postmodern concern’ with the notion of ‘truth’. Chapter One of this thesis comprises a discussion of Biblical boundaries. These boundaries, I argue, are a process of historical oppression which serves to subjugate and control women, a practice inherent in the Bible and modern society. The Biblical boundaries within which women are expected to live, are carefully portrayed in Oranges and then comically and blasphemously mocked in Boating. Chapter One also argues that Winterson’s sexuality plays an important role in the understanding of her texts, despite her desire for her sexuality to remain ‘outside’ her writing. Chapter Two of this thesis, examines the mix of fact and fiction in Oranges, in order to create a new genre: fictional memoir. The chapter introduces the concept of the ‘autobiographical pact’ and the textual agreement which Winterson creates with her readers. In this chapter, I examine Winterson’s powerful subversion of Biblical discourse, through her narration of Jeanette’s ‘coming out’ within a Biblical framework. Chapter Three of this thesis examines Winterson’s second book, Boating, and the serious elements of this comic book. This chapter studies the various postmodern narrative techniques used in Boating in order to subvert Biblical and historical discourse. Chapter Three highlights Winterson’s postmodern concern with the construction of history as ‘truth’. Finally, Chapter Four compares Oranges and Boating, showing the texts as differing, yet equally relevant textual counterparts. This chapter examines the anti-feminine characters in both texts and Winterson’s ability to align her reader with a feminist or lesbian viewpoint. This thesis argues that Winterson’s first two texts deliberately challenge Biblical discourse in favour of a postmodern feminist viewpoint.
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Negrov, Aleksandr I. "Biblical interpretation in the Russian orthodox church a historical and hermeneutical perspective." Tübingen Mohr Siebeck, 2001. http://d-nb.info/971325502/04.
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Latham, Roger Allonby. "Talking with strangers : towards a Christian, postmodern, academic model for biblical interpretation." Thesis, University of Nottingham, 2006. http://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/14077/.
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Postmodernism in Biblical Studies is characterised by proliferation of methodological and ideological interpretive perspectives, emphasis upon the ethics of interpretation and awareness of the role of interpretive communities. Following Stephen E. Fowl, the underlying motives of interpreters can be understood when approaches are analysed in terms of interpretive interests. The work of David J. A. Clines, J. Cheryl Exum and Stephen D. Moore reveals a strong de-confessional motive and a desire to exclude confessional concerns from academic interpretation. This position is ideologically driven and, in terms of liberal academic values, self-contradictory. The difficulties posed for Christian interpretation by the postmodern context are evident in the narrative criticism of Mark Allan Powell and R. Alan Culpepper, where unresolved conflict of theological, methodological and political interests threatens the coherence of the approach. Recent work by Powell addresses postmodern concerns, but fails adequately to engage theoretical and theological issues. A postmodern understanding of the Bible as Christian scripture which affirms both the validity and legitimacy of multiple interpretive perspectives and a pneumatological understanding of the Bible as the Word of God can be framed using the work of Kevin J. Vanhoozer, Stephen E. Fowl, Roman Jakobson and Daniel Patte. Socio-pragmatic objections to the legitimacy and validity of Christian interpretation beyond the faith community can be resisted by asserting a dialogical relationship between the Bible, the church and the wider academic community, and by following Francis Watson’s argument that the church’s discourse is derived from that of the wider society in which it exists. Christian interpretation will seek to engage constructively with other interpretive approaches. A Christian ethics of interpretation characterised by openness, humility, repentance and forgiveness offers a positive contribution to the culture of postmodern academic interpretation. Jesus’ encounter with the Syrophoenician woman in Mark 7 offers a paradigm for such interpretive practice.
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Russell-Jones, Amanda Barbara. "The voice of the outcast : Josephine Butler's Biblical interpretation and public theology." Thesis, University of Birmingham, 2015. http://etheses.bham.ac.uk//id/eprint/5801/.
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This thesis argues that Josephine Butler cannot be understood as a campaigner and biblical interpreter apart from her core self-understanding as 'the voice of the outcast'. Part One, 'The Making of a Prophet', demonstrates that Butler’s chosen term 'outcast' has a biblical background and explores the key influence of anti-slavery on her interpretation of Scripture. Her husband George’s biblical interpretation is shown to be an important but previously overlooked parallel to her own. The close relationship and theological affinity she had with the women of the Salvation Army is seen to result in important developments in their mutual thought and praxis. Part Two, 'The Voice of a Prophet', analyses her innovative gendered exegesis and its application to the critical issue of the day — the sexual double standard. Parallels between the interpretative techniques she employed and those of later women bible interpreters like Phyllis Trible are explored. Parallels with Womanist and Mujerista readings on behalf of the oppressed are delineated. Butler is seen to be a radical prophetic voice in the public sphere who deliberately and subversively interpreted Scripture into the culture of her day to demand inclusion of the outcast and challenge the standards of church and state.
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Briggs, Richard. "Speech act theory and biblical interpretation : toward a hermeneutic of self-involvement." Thesis, University of Nottingham, 1999. http://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/10958/.
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This thesis presents an interdisciplinary study in certain aspects of biblical hermeneutics from the point of view of speech act theory. After an introduction indicating the possible scope of such a study in relation to well established hermeneutical issues within theological and biblical studies, the thesis falls into two parts. In part one, the philosophical claims of speech act theory are examined. A particular focus is the question of criteria for demarcating speech acts and for appropriating the theory for the case of written texts. A distinction between 'strong' and 'weak' speech acts is proposed, and it is argued that the notion of construal so central to speech act theory is also best viewed across a spectrum of strengths. These criteria suggest responses to certain prominent objections to the hermeneutical relevance of speech act theory. They also point away from any form of 'speech act criticism' and towards an eclectic approach to relevant biblical texts. Consideration is therefore given to determining which texts merit such a study. Part two of the thesis begins by reviewing major attempts to utilise speech act theory in this way, focusing in particular on the work of Donald Evans, and modifying his approach in order to articulate some central elements of a 'hermeneutic of self-involvement'. The burden of part two is then to explore this hermeneutic with reference to three particular speech acts which occur in the New Testament, those of confession, of forgiveness, and of teaching. These chapters attempt to demonstrate in practice what it means to appropriate speech act theory for the task of biblical interpretation, showing in the process that the perspective involved is a multi-disciplinary one. Some of the implications of the development of such a hermeneutic are sketched out by way of conclusion.
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Lai, Barbara Mei Leung. "Prophetic pathos in Isaiah : reading as a Chinese-Canadian woman." Thesis, University of Sheffield, 1997. http://etheses.whiterose.ac.uk/3446/.
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This thesis is a worked-out example of the interplay of I culture- gender-context' and biblical interpretation. It is an interdisciplinary, empirical, and heuristic study. By pursuing a two-centred approach (text-centred and reader- oriented), I seek to look into an important aspect in the inner life of the Isaian persona -- his emotion through a synchronic- literary study of the selected III-Passages (places where the character speaks in the first-person singular voice). Three 'entry points' are established as the foci of textual reading. They are: (1) monologue and self; (2) language of emotion and self; and (3) language of religious faith and emotion. A socio-psychological study of emotion provides the background for the three components of my reader-perspective: Chinese culture, woman Is viewpoint, and Canadian situatedness. In accordance with the empirical emphasis of this thesis, a small scale reader-response survey and interview study were conducted, with the participation of 47 flesh-and-blood readers and two interviewees. overall, this study is a heuristic attempt (in the sense that my methodology is tailor-made to serve my goals) toward a version of culture- gender-context 'specific' interpretation. It provides preliminary suggestions in hammering out the methodological tools applicable to any 'given' culture-gender-context specific' reading.
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Keefer, Arthur. "The didactic function of Proverbs 1-9 for the interpretation of Proverbs 10-31." Thesis, University of Cambridge, 2018. https://www.repository.cam.ac.uk/handle/1810/285705.
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Proverbs 1-9 has long been called a "prologue" and "introduction" to the book of Proverbs, a label that I attempt to clarify by answering the following question: how does Proverbs 1-9 function with respect to the interpretation of Proverbs 10-31? I argue that, in the detail and holistic context of Proverbs, Proverbs 1-9 functions didactically by supplying interpretive frameworks in literary, rhetorical and theological contexts for representative portions of Proverbs 10-31. Proverbs 1-9 functions didactically by intending to teach interpretive skills, and it functions for the interpretation of Proverbs 10-31 by instilling the competence required to explicate this material. In this way, Proverbs 1-9 provides a didactic introduction for the remainder of the book. The exegetical starting point for this study is Prov 10:1-22:16, a collection of proverbs with hermeneutical challenges that require certain information and skills for interpretation. After exposing the assumptions that underlie these interpretive challenges, I demonstrate how Proverbs 1-9 informs them and hence how it functions didactically, whilst organising the material based on three features of the entire book of Proverbs: character types, educational goals, and the book's theology. Character types involve the identity and function of certain characters in Proverbs, such as the wise, wicked or diligent man. Educational goals account for the overall aims and values towards which Proverbs guides the reader, as well as highlighting the importance of discerning moral ambiguity. The theological context considers passages representative of those that mention the Lord: human postures towards the Lord, the Lord's affection and assessment, and his superior wisdom and sovereignty. With established conclusions regarding the relationship of Proverbs 1-9 and 10:1-22:16, the didactic function of Proverbs 1-9 for 22:17-31:31 is also explored, showing the book-wide function of this "introduction." This study demonstrates the function of Proverbs 1-9 for Proverbs 10-31 in some of the most prominent interpretive contexts of the book and, in the process, advances current key interpretive debates within Proverbs scholarship.
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McBay, Susannah E. "The divine warrior and cosmic catastrophe : the impact of the Sibylline Oracles on interpretation of Mark 13:24-25." Thesis, University of Chester, 2017. http://hdl.handle.net/10034/620873.
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The meaning of cosmic catastrophe language (CCL) in Mark 13:24-25 is widely contested: both in regards to what type of language is used and to what event it refers, namely the fall of temple at Jerusalem in 70CE or the Parousia of Christ. Recent contributions from Marcus, Shively and Angel have identified the mythological background behind the language, but still interpret this mythology in different ways. In this thesis I elucidate the tradition behind CCL, specifically that of the Jewish Divine Warrior Tradition (DWT), to assess further its development in the Second Temple period and inform interpretations of Mark 13:24-25. Using a historical-critical, criterion-based approach, I demonstrate that the DWT is used in thirteen texts in the Sibylline Oracles and that this use expresses divine opinion and judgement upon political entities and spiritual powers that oppose God and his heavenly host. I also show that the DWT in Sib. Or. 3-5 incorporates elements from Stoic cosmological imagery, which was separated from the Stoic doctrine of ἐκπύρωσις with the advent and rise of Roman Stoicism. The result of this has various implications for navigating the interpretations of Mark 13:24-27 and I conclude that the cosmic catastrophe of vv.24-25 is best understood as describing the cosmic upheaval and demise of spiritual powers that relate to the temple and its leaders at the coming of the Divine Warrior.
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Shipley, Steven F. "Belief, false or true? an appeal for consistent interpretation of Biblical soteriological terminology /." Theological Research Exchange Network (TREN), 1985. http://www.tren.com.
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Sinclair, David Ian. "The influence of power and class on the Biblical interpretation of church members." Thesis, University of Edinburgh, 1994. http://hdl.handle.net/1842/30760.
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The thesis examines the biblical interpretation of church members in the light of evidence from social science and from liberation theology which suggests that such interpretation will be crucially affected by social background and by power relations within a society. It does so in the central chapters by a series of six bible studies conducted with groups of members from three different congregations within the Church of Scotland. Chapter one provides an introduction to the theme which inform this examination. Chapter two describes the research project and its methodology before chapters three to eight report the discussions held in the groups. Chapter nine looks at the results of the discussions in terms of biblical interpretation and chapter ten returns to many of the themes outlined in chapter one to see how they have been developed by the work done in the groups. It is argued that original suspicions concerning the influence of power and class have been largely strengthened and that we can see at work a dominant theology which universalizes from the experience of a particular group. This leaves those from without that group with the choice of accepting a theology based on the experience of others, or developing their own, local theology. Chapter eleven concludes the thesis by looking at how such a development could be encouraged and enabled.
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Rutledge, David. "Commentary from the margins : on the necessity of deconstruction in feminist Biblical interpretation." Thesis, University of Edinburgh, 1993. http://hdl.handle.net/1842/20164.
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The purpose of this study is to demonstrate the potential offered by deconstructive criticism in general, and the insights of Jacques Derrida in particular, to feminist interpretation of the bible. I wish to argue broadly that feminism incorporates a programme which is 'deconstructive' in that it is committed to the dismantling of partriarchal power-structures, and thus that feminist biblical interpretation, in having to deal with texts that are partriarchal in outlook, should operate according to a hermeneutics which recognises and exploits at least some of the reading strategies currently associated with deconstructive literary criticism. The first chapter provides a critical outline of various kinds of feminist biblical interpretation, paying particular attention to the rhetorical criticism of Phyllis Trible and her assumptions concerning reading, writing and textuality. Chapter two broadens the discursive focus to look at patriarchal dualism and the concept of the essential Female, and goes on to consider the strengths and weaknesses of essentialism and relativism in feminist theory and exegesis. Chapter three looks at deconstruction and the work of Derrida, and assesses its viability as a matrix for a feminist biblical hermenuetics. Arguments against the kind of criticism deconstruction involves are introduced, beginning with Robert Alter's objectives to modern critical theory and his call for a return to a disinterested, 'neutral' reading. Chapter four continues the case against deconstruction, considering the claim that deconstruction is an inherently atheistic programme which cannot be brought to the bible without serious theological compromise. The relationship between rabbinic midrash and deconstruction is examined, along with the relevance this relationship has to feminist biblical interpretation.
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Dotterweich, Michael. "Ernst Wilhelm Hengstenberg the task of biblical interpretation amidst an emerging historical consciousness /." Theological Research Exchange Network (TREN), 1995. http://www.tren.com.
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Judd, Andrew Donald. "Playing with Scripture: Reading Contested Biblical Texts with Gadamer and Genre Theory." Thesis, The University of Sydney, 2021. https://hdl.handle.net/2123/27200.
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Reading texts as Scripture brings two hermeneutical assumptions into tension: that the text will continually say something new and relevant into the present situation, and that the text has stability and authority over readers. The collapse of ecclesial authority structures and the array of twentieth-century critical approaches to the Bible seem to take this tension past breaking point. Given how contested the Bible’s meaning is, how is it possible to ‘read Scripture’ as authoritative and relevant? This thesis uses Hans-Georg Gadamer’s philosophical hermeneutics to explore this problem of Scripture. Rather than anchor meaning in author, text or reader, Gadamer’s phenomenological model of hermeneutical experience as Spiel (‘play’) offers a dynamic, intersubjective account of how understanding happens, avoiding the dead end of the subjective–objective dichotomy. It alerts us to the interplay of tradition and prejudice in our reading. The thesis then addresses some criticisms of Gadamer. Modern genre theory introduces some granularity into Gadamer’s underdeveloped model of Spiel, accounting for the different roles played by readers in different genres using the new term Lesespiel (‘reading game’). This is tested in three case studies of contested texts. The first examines the recontextualization of psalms in the book of Acts, situating the varied Lesespiele within their historical horizon and genre. The second is the use of Hagar’s story (Gen 16) in nineteenth-century debates over slavery. Abolitionists and pro-slavery apologists cannot agree on what the text means because they cannot agree on its Lesespiel. This suggests criteria for evaluating each reading. The third is the outrage in Gibeah (Judges 19). The horror film genre suggests how Spiel can resist a problematic tradition of interpretation while still honouring the text. In each case, the application of ancient text to contemporary situation is neither arbitrary, nor slavishly bound to tradition, but playful.
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Choi, Seungnack. "Exegesis and systematic theology : issues of hermeneutics, method, and language." Thesis, University of Nottingham, 1999. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.313201.
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Breimaier, Thomas Andrew. "Cross in the Tabernacle : Charles Haddon Spurgeon & Biblical hermeneutics." Thesis, University of Edinburgh, 2018. http://hdl.handle.net/1842/31377.
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This thesis examines the biblical interpretation of the eminent Victorian Baptist pastor, Charles Haddon Spurgeon (1834-1892), who became one of the most renowned preachers in the English-speaking world. His Metropolitan Tabernacle in London was the world's first 'megachurch', with a weekly congregation of over 5,000; by the end of his life, more than ten thousand copies of Spurgeon's sermons were printed and distributed weekly. Through his example and his publications, he had an immense influence on preaching across the North Atlantic world. This thesis, the first sustained analysis of Spurgeon's biblical interpretation, argues that his preaching success lay in his distinctive approach to Scripture, and that Christ's crucifixion and the priority of conversion formed the interpretive lens through which Spurgeon approached biblical texts. Chapter one examines Spurgeon's early education and conversion, and explores some previously unpublished early sermons. Chapters two and five analyze Spurgeon's mature addresses and publications, including his magazine and biblical commentaries. Chapters three and four, respectively, address Spurgeon's use of the Old and New Testament in his preaching, with particular attention on the language of cross and conversion. Finally, chapter six considers the instruction that he provided to the hundreds of students who attended his Pastors' College.
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Ovadis, Alyssa. "Abstraction and concretization of the Fruit of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil as seen through biblical interpretation and art." Thesis, McGill University, 2010. http://digitool.Library.McGill.CA:8881/R/?func=dbin-jump-full&object_id=92337.
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Witts, Mary Elizabeth. "Devising Biblical drama to inhabit proposed worlds : enabling Ricoeurian interpretation in orally focused church communities." Thesis, University of Roehampton, 2016. https://pure.roehampton.ac.uk/portal/en/studentthesis/devising-biblical-drama-to-inhabit-proposed-worlds(1203831c-4198-41a7-bbcf-00534ebdb4d1).html.
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“What shows itself is a proposed world, a world I may inhabit, and wherein I can project my ownmost possibilities” (Paul Ricoeur). This research investigates devised biblical drama as an alternative hermeneutic for orally focused churches, whose practical problems in engaging with Scripture leave them at the unintended margins of the global churches’ world of assumed literacy. The work builds on a Ricoeurian perception of Scripture as a dynamic of time, telling and tradition that offers a drawing invitation to Christians to enter and inhabit its proposed worlds of anticipative and participative remembering, beckoning towards life in the now-and-not-yet of the kingdom of God. A telling case is offered by the orally focused Anglican Churches in Gambella (Ethiopia), through the reflective voices of their church leaders, and through the illustration of their dramas: seen within the innovation of fresh interpretation, and also through the sedimentation of their tradition of drama. Firstly, the nature and interpretative process of devising biblical drama is investigated, demonstrating that this holistic, creative, and communal, contextualized approach to Scripture entwines aspects of criticality and orality through its conversational questioning and imagining of Scripture that is enhanced through practical embodiment. The research proposes that the embodied, enacted, mimetic form of drama offers a liminality that enables participative inhabitation of the proposed worlds of Scripture. Secondly, the developing tradition of Anglican biblical dramas in Gambella is investigated. These dramas inherit, form, participate in, and hand on the tradition of Christian cultural memory on which these churches are founded, through a proclamation of Scripture that is made manifest within present event. This research argues that both forms of drama offer participative possibilities for faithful and formative, hopeful inhabitation of the proposed worlds of Scripture, and so could offer potential gifts to the wider church.
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Byers, John Bruce. "A study of Biblical interpretation in the Warrack lectures on preaching, from 1940 to 1975." Thesis, University of St Andrews, 1988. http://hdl.handle.net/10023/14069.
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This dissertation is a study of the developments in Biblical interpretation discovered within the Warrack Lectures on preaching from 1940 to 1975. Essentially, the first part presents the information about interpreting the Scriptures found within the various lectures chronologically, and then, by comparison and contrast, shows how that information changes and points in certain developmental directions over the course of this thirty-five year period. To place these particular changes within a context, the second part of the thesis presents relevant information and developmental directions found within Scottish academic Biblical and theological scholarship over the period from 1881 until the early 1960's. Employing primary and secondary sources and data discovered within The Expository Times, this survey reveals trends which are remarkably similar to those discovered within the Warrack Lectures. The final chapter then correlates and examines these similar trends and shows how both follow developmental directions toward the greater valuation of the more objective aspects of Biblical interpretation, a consequential devaluation of the more subjective ones, and an overall change in theological approach to interpreting Biblical subject-matter. The thesis concludes by drawing some implications from this correlation for the work of both contemporary preachers and scholars.
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Folan, Peter Michael. "Matters of Interpretation: Biblical Methodology in the Lutheran-Catholic Dialogue on the Doctrine of Justification." Thesis, Boston College, 2019. http://hdl.handle.net/2345/bc-ir:108577.
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Thesis advisor: Richard R. GaillardetzWith explicit roots in the Pauline letters, and an initial propositional formulation that traces back to Augustine of Hippo, the doctrine of justification is among the most ancient ways that the church has taught about the salvation offered to humankind through Jesus Christ. To say the very least, though, the doctrine, both its content and its place in the treasury of the church’s teachings, has not been without conflict. In fact, in the sixteenth century, disagreements over justification contributed to a major division in the church, one that remained trenchant until some measure of healing was brought to it when representatives of the Lutheran World Federation and the Catholic Church signed the Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification (JDDJ) in 1999. This dissertation argues that, among the factors contributing to the sixteenth century discord over justification, were the different biblical hermeneutics adopted by Martin Luther and the Council of Trent. It argues as well that the ecumenical achievement that the JDDJ represents owes in part to the shared way of interpreting Scripture that Lutherans and Catholics embraced in the twentieth century. Ultimately, this dissertation uses the justification debates of the sixteenth and twentieth centuries as a test case to propose a framework for using Scripture more effectively in ecumenical dialogue, especially when that dialogue concerns a disputed church doctrine
Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2019
Submitted to: Boston College. Graduate School of Arts and Sciences
Discipline: Theology
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Yi, Dongkwan. "Judgement and salvation : socio-rhetorical interpretation of Jeremiah 1." Thesis, Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2002. http://hdl.handle.net/10019.1/52903.
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Thesis (DTh)--Stellenbosch University, 2002ENGLISH ABSTRACT: This dissertation is an attempt to address the problem of the relationship between the Jeremianic judgement and salvation oracles, to prove our hypothesis that Jeremiah 1 functions as a theological introduction to the whole book of Jeremiah, and that references to judgement and salvation form a theological whole. Vernon Robbins's socio-rhetorical approach has been utilized. In Chapter 1, we present a general survey of Jeremianic study, and show the scholarly tendency towards a diachronic or synchronic approach. By doing so, we justify our application of the holistic socio-scientific method to study the book more comprehensively. Our hypothesis about the relationship between judgment and salvation in the book of Jeremiah is then presented and the methodology described. In Chapter 2, we offer a rhetorical analysis. According to our analysis, the centre of the prophetic call in the book of Jeremiah is the commission (Jer. 1:10) where the thematic phrase of judgement and salvation is highlighted. We identified passages containing this thematic catchphrase (Jer. 12:14-17; 18:7-10; 24:6; 31:28; 31:38-40; 42:10; 45:4; etc.) and Chapter 3 discusses each one. The reoccurrence of that catchphrase in different circumstances was the reconfirmation and recontextualisation of the Leitmotif of Jer. 1:10. In Chapters 4-6, a social scientific approach has been utilised to explore a considerably rich text which contains many diverse aspects of the social, cultural, political and theological environment. We identify diverse interest groups to whom Jeremiah addressed his message of judgement and salvation. They are "reformist", "conversionist", "revolutionist" and "thaumaturgical" from the social perspective, and "pro-Babylon", "pro-Egypt" and "autonomistic" from the political perspective. We next examine the intense controversy between Jeremiah and these groups, from social, cultural, ideological and theological perspectives. In the conclusion (Chapter 7), we summarise what we have studied and present the prospect for a wider use of the socio-rhetorical method.
AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Hierdie verhandeling ondersoek die vraagstuk rondom die verhouding tussen Jeremiaanse oordeel en verlossingsorakels, Daar word gepoog om die hipotese te bewys dat Jeremia 1 dien as teologiese inleiding tot die res van die boek en dat die verwysings na oordeel en verlossing 'n teologiese geheel vorm. Vernon Robbins'se sosio-retoriese benadering word gebruik. In Hoofstuk 1 gee ons 'n oorsig van Jeremiaanse navorsing en wys hoe vakkundiges neig tot of 'n diakroniese of 'n sinkroniese benadering. Deur ons gebruik van die sosio-retoriese metode poog ons om die boek meer volledig te bestudeer. Ons hipotese oor die verhouding tussen oordeel en verlossing in Jeremia word dan aangebied en die metodologie beskryf. In Hoofstuk 2, bied ons 'n retoriese analise, waarvolgens die kern van die profetiese roeping in die boek geidentifiseer word as die opdrag (Jer. 1:10) wat die temas van oordeel en verlossing beklemtoon. Dan identifiseer ons die verse wat hierdie temas bevat (Jer. 12:14-17; 18:7-10; 24:6; 31:28; 31:38-40; 42:10; 45:4; etc.) en bespreek elkeen in Hoofstuk 3. Die herhaaldelike voorkoms van die temas in verskillende kontekste is die herbevestiging en herkontekstualisering van die Leitmotifvan Jer. 1:10. In Hoofstuk 4-6, word 'n sosiaal-retoriese benadering gebruik om 'n komplekse teks - wat diverse aspekte van die sosiale, kulturele, politiese en teologiese omgewing insluit - te ondersoek. Ons identifiseer verskeie belangegroepe tot wie Jeremia sy boodskap van oordeel en verlossing rig. Uit die sosiale perspektief, IS die groepe "hervormers", "bekeerders", "rewolusionere'', en "thaumaturge", en vanuit 'n politiese perspektief, "pro-Babilon", "pro-Egipte" en "autonome" groepe. Dan ondersoek ons die intense struweling tussen Jeremia en hierdie groepe, vanuit sosiale-, kulturele-, ideologiese- en teologiese perspektiewe. In die slotsom (Hoofstuk 7) lewer ons 'n opsomrning van die studie, en bied die verwagting vir 'n breer gebruik van die sosio-retoriese metode.
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Yoo, Philip Young. "Ezra and the second wilderness : the literary development of Ezra 7-10 and Nehemiah 8-10." Thesis, University of Oxford, 2014. http://ora.ox.ac.uk/objects/uuid:0c8e430c-aa5f-4334-9040-b69a7f70b598.
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For many pre-modern and modern critics, the emergence of Ezra among the post-exilic Jerusalem community marks a significant event in the beginning stages of Judaism. Ezra’s promulgation of a “law of Moses,” bolstered by the theory of Persian imperial authorization, is often viewed as the moment at which the final form of the Pentateuch is published. The accounts contained in Ezra 7-10 and Nehemiah 8-10, however, continue to present historical and literary problems for the exegete. Compounding the difficulties for a reconstruction of Ezra’s activities, recent scholarship has raised questions concerning the viability of state-sanctioned support for the Pentateuch and revived skepticism on the historicity of Ezra and the reliability of the biblical witness. Still, the Ezra Memoir (EM) remains an important source that is shaped by the political, religious, and social worldview of post-exilic Yehud. This study incorporates two scholarly debates: on the one hand, the identification of EM and its supplemental layers; and on the other hand, the development of the Pentateuch up to this period. After the parameters of EM are identified in Ezra 7-10 and Nehemiah 8-10, this study supports EM’s use of Deuteronomic and Priestly literature but adds that EM also demonstrates significant literary connections to pentateuchal strands that are neither Deuteronomic nor Priestly. These strands are distinguished by the narrative and historical claims that are preserved in the classical pentateuchal documents. This study concludes that EM is a product of the Second Temple that anticipates the final form of the Pentateuch by collecting and integrating multiple presentations of the wilderness generation into a super-narrative that projects Ezra and the returnees as a second exodus and Sinai generation that supersedes their predecessors.
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Villecco, Joseph Anthony. "The seed of Seth: John Cassian's conferences and the interpretation of Genesis 6:1-4." Thesis, Boston College, 2012. http://hdl.handle.net/2345/bc-ir:105015.
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Broyles, Stephen Edward. "The prophecy of Joel in the Pentecost speech of Acts a study in early Biblical interpretation /." Theological Research Exchange Network (TREN), 2005. http://www.tren.com.
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Leneman, Helen Frances. "The scroll of Ruth re-told through librettos and music biblical interpretation in a new key /." [S.l. : Amsterdam : s.n.] ; Universiteit van Amsterdam [Host], 2004. http://dare.uva.nl/document/76794.
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Evans, John Frederick. "An inner-biblical interpretation and intertextual reading of Ezekiel's recognition formulae with the book of Exodus." Thesis, Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2006. http://hdl.handle.net/10019.1/50569.
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Thesis (DTh)--Stellenbosch University, 2006ENGLISH ABSTRACT: One of the most striking literary phenomena in the entire Old Testament, Ezekiel's recognition formula is repeated over seventy times. According to S. R. Driver that refrain, "You shall know that I am Yahweh," strikes the keynote of the prophecy. Though one might expect to find many monographs and journal articles treating at length the formula's literary and theological function in Ezekiel, the only substantial work on the subject comes from Walther Zimmerli and is nearly fifty years old. More recent scholarly discussion has tended to be oblique, occasional, or subordinate to other interests. Brevard Childs has suggested that Ezekiel shows a "preoccupation with Scripture." Applying this insight, the dissertation at hand argues the thesis that the seventy-odd recognition formulae in Ezekiel mark a theological nexus and intertextual relationship between the prophecy and the book of Exodus (in some recensional form), and that those formulae are best interpreted alongside the numerous recognition formulae in Exodus. Interpreted intertextually, Ezekiel's formula points readers of the oracles to know Yahweh as the God of the Exodus, who still acts, in covenant, to judge and to deliver. Here the term intertextuality is used in a broader sense to include both a more diachronic "intertextuality of production" (Ellen van Wolde), in which a text can only be written in relationship to other texts, and a more synchronic "intertextuality of reception," in which a text can be read only in relationship to other texts. With regard to methodology, the approach of innerbiblical interpretation is employed to explore the text-production angle and the questions which emerge concerning the re-use and re-presentation of Scriptural "traditions." Also appropriate is a synchronic intertextual approach which inquires how Exodus and Ezekiel texts-in particular the recognition formulae-may be read together from a text-reception angle. Both approaches used together reveal a large number of parallels between Exodus and Ezekiel and indicate how well the recognition formulae may be read together. This study contributes to scholarship by offering an extensive review of past scholarship on the formula; a fresh exegetical research of the formula's use in Ezekiel and in other Bible books, with comparisons drawn; a study of the socio-historical and religious context addressed by Ezekiel's oracles and the formula; and a theological interpretation of the recognition formulae in Ezekiel alongside those in Exodus. There are many strong conjunctions (or continuities) between the formulae in Ezekiel and Exodus: a covenant stress; no positive use of the formula when spoken to the nations; an unbreakable link to announcements of Yahweh's mighty acts in history; etc. Yet there is also a jarring disjunction (or discontinuity) between the formulae in Ezekiel and Exodus: the prophecy repeatedly declares that Israel "shall know that I am Yahweh" in judgment. This is "a radical inversion of its former usage" (Carley); elsewhere in Scripture the formula always sounds a positive note when spoken to Israel.
AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Een van die mees opvallende .literere kenmerke van die hele Ou Testament, is Esegiel se gebruikmaking van die erkenningsformule - meer as 70 maal! Volgens S.R. Driver vorm hierdie refrein, "JulIe sal weet dat Ek Jahwe is", die kern van die profesie. Hoewel 'n mens sou verwag dat talle monografiee en tydskrifartikels aan hierdie formule gewy sou word, is dit slegs Walther Zimmerli wat byna 50 jaar gelede grondige navorsing in die verband gedoen het. Meer onlangse navorsing was ondeursigtig en ondergeskik aan ander oorwegings. Brevard Childs het voorgestel dat Esegiel 'n "preoccupation with Scripture" vertoon. Teen hierdie agtergrond argumenteer hierdie proefskrif dat die erkenningsformules in die boek Esegiel die teologiese kern aandui en dat daar 'n intertekstuele verb and tussen die profesie van Esegiel en die Eksodusboek bestaan. Wanneer die erkenningsformule in Esegiel intertekstueel verstaan word, dan ontstaan daar 'n verband tussen die godsprake en Jahwe as die God van die Eksodus, wie steeds binne verbondsverband as Regter en Redder optree. In die verband word die begrip "intertekstualiteit" in 'n bree sin verstaan en dit sluit in 'n meer diakroniese "intertextuality of production" (Ellen van Wolde). Hiervolgens kan 'n teks slegs in verhouding tot ander tekste geskryf word. In dieselfde asem moet daar ook na die meer sinkroniese "intertextuality of reception" verwys word, waarvolgens 'n teks slegs gelees kan word in verband met ander tekste. Op metodologiese vlak word "innerbiblical interpretation" benut om ondersoek in te stel na teksproduksie en die vrae wat ontstaan na aanleiding van die hergebruik en hervoorstelling van Bybelse "tradisies". Dit is verder ook van toepassing om 'n sinkroniese intertekstuele benadering te gebruik wat vrae stel oor hoe Eksodus en Esegiel (veral die erkenningsformules) in samehang gelees kan word indien dit vanuit 'n teksresepsie hoek benader word.. Beide benaderings kan deur saam gebruik te word, 'n groot aantal parallele tussen Eksodus en Esegiel ontdek en aantoon hoe die erkenningsformules saam gelees kan word. Hierdie proefskrif se bydrae tot die vakgebied behels 'n omvattende oorsig van bestaande navorsing oor die erkenningsformule; 'n vars eksegetiese ondersoek en vergelyking van die erkenningsformule se gebruik in Esegiel en in ander boeke van die Bybel; 'n studie van die sosio-historiese en godsdienstige konteks wat deur die godsprake en erkenningsformule in Esegiel aangespreek word; asook 'n teologiese interpretasie van die erkenningsformules in Esegiel en in samehang met die formules in Eksodus. Daar is opvallende voorbeelde van sterk verbande tussen die formules in Esegiel en Eksodus: die klem op die verbond; geen positiewe gebruik van die formules wanneer dit met die vreemde nasies in verband gebring word nie; 'n onlosmaaklike band met die aankondigings van Jahwe se magtige dade in die geskiedenis; ens. Tog is daar ook 'n mate van steurende diskontinu'iteit tussen die formules in Esegiel en Eksodus: die profesiee wat telkens herhaal dat Israel juis binne die oordeel "sal weet dat Ek Jahwe is". Dit behels 'n radikale omkeer van die bestaande gebruik (Carley); omdat daar elders in die Bybel slegs voorbeelde is waar die erkenningsformules in 'n positiewe manier ten opsigte van Israel uitgespreek word.
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Miller, Shem. "The angel story : a study of the interpretation of Genesis 6:1-4 in the Jewish literature of the Second Temple period." Thesis, McGill University, 2005. http://digitool.Library.McGill.CA:80/R/?func=dbin-jump-full&object_id=83195.
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The story of the "sons of God" in Genesis 6:1-4 has attracted the attention of Jewish texts from its inception, on account of its obscure character and positioning before the story of the Flood. Particularly, throughout the Second Temple period this story was expanded into a mythological tale of the fallen angels' exploits and their disastrous consequences. Each work interpreted and employed the mythology in a unique manner, which was often influenced by its specific literary concerns. Generally speaking, the angel story became a theodicy, explanation for the Flood, and an infamous example from the sacred history of Israel of God's immanent judgment of the unrighteous. Through an exegetical analysis of each text which employs the angel story, this study will describe its variegated interpretation and literary development throughout the Jewish literature from the 4th century B.C.E. to the early 2nd century C.E.
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Nicholson, Sarah L. "Three faces of Saul : an intertextual approach to Biblical tragedy." Thesis, University of St Andrews, 1998. http://hdl.handle.net/10023/15228.
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The biblical story of Saul in 1 Samuel contains evidence of a tragic vision which has two central features. First, tragic themes are introduced and developed by means of multiple repetitions or typescenes in which the subsequent account emphasizes the tragic nature of the events described in the first. Second, the development of tragic themes is facilitated by the portrayal of the deity's ambivalence in enduring two kings simultaneously, terrorizing Saul with an evil divine spirit and sending a good spirit on David. The tragic vision in the Saul narrative has been perceived by Alphonse de Lamartine, and his drama Saül: Tragédie is an attempt to dramatize the events of 1 Samuel. The significant similarities and differences in plot and characterization between Lamartine's drama and the biblical narrative draw attention to the tragic themes in the anterior text and offer a new conception of Saul's suffering in the posterior text. Lamartine has borrowed from Greek tragic form as well as 1 Samuel for thematic materials and tragic devices. The deity is off-stage, as in much Greek drama, but the characters infer divine intervention in human affairs. Thomas Hardy also became fascinated with the story of Saul and in The Mayor of Casterbridge he has structured the relationship between Henchard and Farfrae on the relationship between Saul and David. There are similarities in both plot events and in characterization, but the most significant departure from the biblical material is the absence of the deity, which colours the tragic vision very differently, and idea of the supernatural is also of great significance in the novel. Hardy's novel displays evidence of the influence of Greek tragedy in plot and in theme. Also crucial to the novel are the role of fate and the sociological theme.
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Shute, Dan. "Peter Martyr and the Rabbinic Bible in the interpretation of Lamentations." Thesis, McGill University, 1995. http://digitool.Library.McGill.CA:80/R/?func=dbin-jump-full&object_id=39872.
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This thesis is a contribution to the study of the biblical interpretation of the Italian Reformer Peter Martyr Vermigli (1499-1562). Specifically researched is Martyr's use of the Jewish resources of the 1525 Bomberg Bible in his interpretation of Lamentations, Martyr's earliest surviving commentary. The form of this investigation is as follows: first, an introduction to the use of Jewish resources by Christian students of scripture; secondly, an annotated translation of Martyr's Lamentations commentary; thirdly, conclusions concerning Martyr's use of Jewish commentary. After a select bibliography, there are appendices which include a synopsis of sixteenth century Latin translations of Lamentations and an annotated translation of the Jewish commentators on Lamentations in the 1525 Bomberg Bible. An argument will be made that Martyr drew much useful philology from the Jewish commentators but also unwittingly absorbed considerable non-philological exegesis in order to embellish his commentary and on occasion to evade the results of philological exegesis.
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Shuve, Karl Evan. "Song of Songs in the Early Latin Christian tradition : a study of the Tractatus de Epithalamio of Gregory of Elvira and its context." Thesis, University of Edinburgh, 2010. http://hdl.handle.net/1842/5525.
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The Song of Songs was the most commented upon biblical text in medieval Europe and became the cornerstone of the Western mystical tradition, but our knowledge of its use in Latin Christian communities before the time of Ambrose and Jerome is largely fragmentary. The thesis is a study of the use and interpretation of the Song in the Latin West during the period 250 – 380 CE, with a focus on the Tractatus de Epithalamio of Gregory of Elvira (c. 320-392), which is the earliest extant Song commentary composed in Latin. The research demonstrates that there was a robust tradition of Song exegesis in early Latin Christianity, although the mystical-affective interpretation that marks the later tradition is entirely absent. The poem is, rather, interpreted in an ecclesiological mode and is put in the service of communal selfdefinition. Gregory’s Tractatus, which I argue should be dated to 350-55, is a key source in recovering this largely lost tradition. The first part of the thesis traces in detail all of the citations of the Song in Latin Christian literature during the period in question, focusing on the writings of Cyprian of Carthage, Optatus of Milevis, Tyconius, Pacian of Barcelona, and Augustine. There emerge a cluster of passages from the Song that become key proof texts in ecclesiological controversies in North Africa and Spain. The second part engages problems in Gregorian scholarship, particularly issues pertaining to Gregory’s supposed direct knowledge and use of Origen’s writings. Scholars assert that his exegetical writings reflect the Origenist turn of the late fourth century. Using the tools of source criticism and theological analysis, I contest this hypothesis, demonstrating that the evidence of Origen’s influence has been greatly exaggerated and that the points of contact which do exist must be explained with reference to intermediary Latin sources. The third part sets the Tractatus de Epithalamio within its precise historical context and offers a close reading of the text, giving an account of its Christology, ecclesiology, and use of sources. The Tractatus, I argue, represents a ‘fusion’ of a distinctly Latin tradition of ecclesiological exegesis with a particularly Spanish mode of Christological reflection, which treats the enfleshment of the Word in the Incarnation and the embodiment of the risen Christ in the church as conceptually inseparable. Related historical problems, such as the chronology of Gregory’s career, are treated in appendices.
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Cooper, Linda Laurance. "The Book of Job : foundation for testimony in the writings of Gustavo Gutierrez, Elie Wiesel, Archibald Macleish and Carl Gustav Jung." Thesis, University of Oxford, 1994. http://ora.ox.ac.uk/objects/uuid:266fa61c-e136-4066-975e-3097bd761122.
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This thesis seeks to illustrate that the classic biblical work on the problem of the innocent sufferer, the Book of Job, is still relevant in twentieth century, Western culture. The exegetical complexity of the Book of Job is outlined in order to show that the work lends itself to diverse interpretations and uses by readers outside the academic community. This thesis then focuses on the writings of Gustavo Gutierrez, a Peruvian Catholic priest, who uses the Book of Job to empower the people's revolt against dictatorships; Elie Wiesel, a Hungarian Holocaust survivor, who identifies himself with Job and believes that Job must still be arguing with God; Archibald MacLeish, an American poet, professor, and statesman, who creates a modern Job who eventually realizes that humans have only the love of other humans as a raison d'être for life; Carl Gustav Jung, a Swiss psychiatrist, who believed that the Book of Job reflects an honest appraisal of the unconscious/God energy - a dualism which Christianity has suppressed much to its detriment. The four authors discussed are not 'critics'. Their use of the Book of Job is not exegetical in the standard sense of the text as object. To them it is a fundamental theme replete with a myriad of archetypal meanings. The conclusions reached are: The existential angst of the second half of the twentieth century is apparent in the work of these four writers. They chose the Book of Job because it provides a foundation for testimony about crucial world conditions. These four radically different individuals find a similar 'core meaning' in the Book of Job. Subjective interpretation of ancient texts can be useful in presenting controversial subjects to the general public.
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Jones, Nelson Alissa. "Job in dialogue with Edward Said : contrapuntal hermeneutics, pedagogical development, and a new approach to biblical interpretation /." St Andrews, 2009. http://hdl.handle.net/10023/790.
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Schmid, John David. "Explore the Bible : from text to sermon a self-study workbook in Biblical interpretation and sermon development /." Theological Research Exchange Network (TREN), 1991. http://www.tren.com.
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