9,473 research outputs found
Ritual in the Damascus document and the Gospel of Matthew
No full textThis thesis examines the ritual content of the Damascus Document and the Gospel of
Matthew, demonstrating how community identity is constructed and developed through
the interpretation of the Law represented in each. The content is arranged according to
the ritual typology of Catherine Bell, which organises ritual into six categories:
calendrical ritual, rites of exchange and communion, political ritual, rites of passage, rites of affliction and rites of feasting and fasting. Analysis by type enables comparison and comment on the features and effects of ritual. I identify the Scriptural precedent for the discussions of ritual and any similar texts from the same period. These two ritually dense texts provide a great deal of material representing different perspectives on ritual
function and obligations within a Jewish community setting. The Damascus Document is a non-sectarian legal text from the Second Temple period. The Gospel of Matthew presents the narrative of Jesus with considerable comment on ritual matters, reflecting an audience steeped in Jewish ritual praxis while looking towards an eschatological inclusion of Gentiles who adhere to Jewish obligations. Each offers an insight into a community dissenting from aspects of mainstream Judaism without withdrawing completely. Each community maintains traditional ritual obligations to some extent, but claims additional information clarifying the correct interpretations of the Law. This thesis analyses how they negotiate the practical, and often theological, issues that accompany their distinct practices, creating a community identity through ritual
Citation expectations: are they realized? Study of the Matthew index for Russian papers published abroad
No full textWe consider the "Matthew effect" in the citation process which leads to reallocation (or misallocation) of the citations received by scientific papers within the same journals. The case when such reallocation correlates with a country where an author works is investigated. Russian papers in chemistry and physics published abroad were examined. We found that in both disciplines in about 60% of journals Russian papers are cited less than average ones. However, if we consider each discipline as a whole, citedness of a Russian paper in physics will be on the average level, while chemistry publications receive about 16% citations less than one may expect from the citedness of the journals where they appear. Moreover, Russian chemistry papers mostly become undercited in the leading journals of the field. Characteristics of a "Matthew index" indicator and its significance for scientometric studies are also discussed
'Woe to you, hypocrites!' : law and leaders in The Gospel of Matthew
No full textThis thesis seeks to move beyond the impasse in Matthean scholarship that posits the reason for conflict in Matthew 23 with the authorial community. A framework is developed that allows the possibility that the gospel was received and understood by a widespread, general audience that itself was not necessarily embroiled in conflict. Multiple complementary methods are used to analyze how an ancient audience might expect conflict and work through its development in the narrative. Analysis of comparative biographical literature and of Old Testament references and allusions shows that readers could expect in literature the type and intensity of conflict exhibited in Matthew 23. The gospel's internal narrative development provides unity to the conflict episodes in Matthew 9-23. It also offers rationale for the escalation of conflict for which Matthew 23 is the summary. Chapter One: The Shape of the Discussion surveys representative works including redaction, social scientific, socio-historical, narrative and genre critics, to understand the options for studying conflict in Matthew. Reader-response oriented genre criticism provides language for framing reader expectations. Chapter Two: Expecting Conflict examines expectations that can be associated with Matthew's use of the Old Testament and by comparison with ancient biographies. Chapter Three: The Conflict Builds works systematically through each of the points of contact between Jesus and the leaders of Israel in chapters 9-22 organized by three topics: legal interpretation, the identity and authority of Jesus, and the character of the leaders. Chapter Four: Woe to You takes up the task of examining Matthew 23. The analysis of Matthew 23 identifies three components in the summary of conflict: Jesus presented as the model for his audience, Jesus' final denunciation of the leaders, and the presentation of Jesus as God’s representative. The multi-methodological approach used in this study of Matthew 23 suggests a narrative that invites the reader to rethink how one knows and understands God. The study thereby provides an alternative to the assumption that conflict reflects the immediate experience of a narrowly conceived authorial community
Zechariah and the Gospel off Matthew: the use of a biblical tradition
No full textThis thesis examines the use of Zechariah traditions in Matthew's Gospel. It analyzes and interprets the ways Matthew transmits, alters or adds Zechariah traditions to his sources. Instead of looking at portions of the Gospel in light of Zechariah 9-14 only, this study addresses the entire Gospel and all of Zechariah. In focusing on Zechariah tradition, the thesis has kept the following considerations in view. First, the content and function of Matthew's explicit uses of Zechariah are examined. Second, ways in which tradition derived from Zechariah may have exerted influence on portions of the gospel sub-structure are identified. Third, it explores the extent to which Matthew alludes to characteristic Zechariah themes. Together, these components illuminate how Matthew's Gospel incorporates its Zechariah material, whether alone or in combination with other prophetic traditions. Thus the methodological approach of the thesis is not only grounded in classical methods of biblical criticism but is also open to recent literary methods. In addition to explicit citations, numerous allusions and echoes of Zechariah tradition are present in Matthew. They appear in Matthean materials and in traditions Matthew has taken from Mark and Q. Because the focus of this thesis is open to both the Gospel and the Zechariah traditions in their entirety, two important observations have been made. First, traces of Zechariah material are found in the Infancy and Gaililean healing Narratives as well as in the Passion Narrative. Not only is the impact of Zechariah 9-14 observed, but important sections of Zechariah 1-8 are also discerned in Matthew's narrative structure. Moreover, Matthew's Son of David Christology is enriched and partially defined by Zechariah's prophet-shepherd imagery, as well as by the royal messianic motif
Artful living and the eradication of worry in Søren Kierkegaard's interpretation of Matthew 6:24-34
No full textDanish thinker Søren Kierkegaard published fourteen discourses, across four collections, on Matthew 6:24-34. The repeated readings of the biblical text, whose themes include the choice between God and mammon, worry, what it means to consider the birds and lilies, and how to seek first the kingdom of God, converge with Kierkegaard’s interest in anxiety, despair, worry, subjectivity, indirect communication, choice, the moment, and life before God. Accordingly, the discourses make connections with his larger works, elucidate frequently explored Kierkegaardian themes in recent scholarship, and contribute to his critique of nineteenth-century Copenhagen. Additionally, the collections present an interpretation of each verse and phrase of Matthew’s text and, held up against modern Matthew scholarship, they correlate with and contribute to Sermon on the Mount and New Testament studies. Kierkegaard’s reading of Matthew also holds implications for the practice of biblical interpretation as it promotes the importance of awareness of sin, interestedness, and appropriation as central to proper reading. His emphasis on Christ as the primary exemplar of Matthew’s text adds an additional Christological element to his hermeneutic. Furthermore, the discourses serve as spiritual treatises which provide the reader with theological terminology to help confront the problem of worry and suffering. In light of a human being’s distinctiveness as imago Dei, Kierkegaard elucidates ways an individual may respond artfully to the ongoing possibility of worry, a possibility which the discourses connect with Christian anthropology and external labels associated with possessions and status. The Matthew 6 discourses intimate Kierkegaard’s sympathy with classic Christian spirituality and, in combination with the cultural-ecclesiastical critique, the creative exegesis, and the in-depth analysis of the cause of and cure for worry, his work emerges as an excellent example of spiritual theology
Reading Matthew by the Dead Sea: Matthew 8:5-13 in Light of P. Yadin 11
No full textThe archive of the Judean woman Babatha, with its 35 legal papyri in Aramaic and Greek (P. Yadin 1-35), which was hidden by her in a cave on the western side of the Dead Sea in 135 CE and rediscovered in 1961, offers unique insights into the social world of the region from 94-132 CE. This is because legal documents reflect significant opportunities and challenges in people's lives and frequently bring to the surface underlying social issues and pressures. Babatha's documents, which reflect lively interactions between Judeans, Nabateans and Romans across a wide range of situations, do precisely this. They allow us better to understand the context in which New Testament texts appeared and how they made sense to their original audiences. Matthew's Gospel, with its strong interest in Judean/non-Judean relationships, is particularly susceptible to such treatment. In this article, P. Yadin 11, a remarkable document in Greek from 124 CE recording a loan of 60 denarii from a Roman centurion stationed at En-gedi to Babatha's second husband, is analysed for what it reveals about likely understandings of centurions in that setting. The findings of this investigation are then applied to Matthew 8:5-13 in the interests of a socially realistic interpretatio
Matthew’s Emmanuel Messiah: a paradigm of presence for god's people
No full textThe motif of divine presence is a clear phenomenon within the Gospel of Matthew. The modern critical means for assessing the ancient biblical text have multiplied to the point, some claim, of disparity. This study employs both narrative and redaction criticism in an attempt to respond authentically to the structural, historical and theological dimensions of Matthew's Gospel. This study begins with the presumption of the wholeness and integrity of Matthew's narrative, and assumes the gospel story to have an inherently dramatic structure which invites readers to inhabit imaginatively its narrative world and respond to its call. But since we are concerned with the role of both reader and author, this study also assumes a text with an historical author and context. The introduction focuses on the meta-critical dilemma facing New Testament students - what is the text and how do we read it? - and seeks some balance in terms of Krieger's analogy of the text as both window and mirror. Proposed is a narrative reading of Matthew's presence motif alongside a redaction critical assessment of it. In Chapter 2 the elements of narrative theory are introduced and relevant terms defined: the structure of narrative, the function of the narrator, points of view. Chapter 3 becomes an exercise in narrative reading, with Matthew's presence motif providing the focus, and the implied reader’s interaction with the story being predominant in interpretation. Characters, rhetorical devices, and points of view are discussed, to understand the motif's development throughout the story's progress. The thrust of Chapter 4 is thereafter to examine divine presence as a dominant motif within Matthew's most important literary context: the Jewish scriptures. Here the primary paradigms of divine presence provided by the Patriarchs, the Sinai experience, and the Davidic-Zion traditions are assessed. Chapter 5 follows with a more detailed examination of the OT "I am with you/God is with us" formula and its µeo' vµwv/ηuwv language, so strongly connected to Matthew's presence motif. Chapters 6-8 build on these investigations with a closer analysis of the three critical "presence passages" of Mt 1:23. 18:20 and 28:20. The passages and their contexts are probed from a redaction critical perspective, guided by the narrative investigation of Chapter 3, and the background from Chapters 4 and 5.The three major "presence passages" examined in Chapters 6-8 are also complimented by a number of secondary issues: worship, wisdom, the Spirit and the poor in Matthew, and their relation to Jesus' divine presence. These are discussed in Chapter 9. Chapter 10 summarizes and looks briefly at some implications. Matthew' presence motif proves to be an important element of the Gospel’s rhetorical design, redactional strategy and Christology. The presence of Jesus, the Emmanuel Messiah, exhibited in his risen authority, becomes the focus of his people's hopes and experiences in the post-Easter world. What the presence of Yahweh was to his people. Jesus now provides in a new paradigm for his people - his followers, the little ones, the poor and the marginalized, from all nations
LATERAL-TORSIONAL BUCKLING OF STRUCTURES WITH MONOSYMMETRIC CROSS-SECTIONS
No full textLateral-torsional buckling is a method of failure that occurs when the in-plane bending capacity of a member exceeds its resistance to out-of-plane lateral buckling and twisting. The lateral-torsional buckling of beam-columns with doubly-symmetric cross-sections is a topic that has been long discussed and well covered. The buckling of members with monosymmetric cross-sections is an underdeveloped topic, with its derivations complicated by the fact that the centroid and the shear center of the cross-section do not coincide. In this paper, the total potential energy equation of a beam-column element with a monosymmetric cross-section will be derived to predict the lateral-torsional buckling load. The total potential energy equation is the sum of the strain energy and the potential energy of the external loads. The theorem of minimum total potential energy exerts that setting the second variation of this equation equal to zero will represent a transition from a stable to an unstable state. The buckling loads can then be identified when this transition takes place. This thesis will derive energy equations in both dimensional and non-dimensional forms assuming that the beam-column is without prebuckling deformations. This dimensional buckling equation will then be expanded to include prebuckling deformations. The ability of these equations to predict the lateral-torsional buckling loads of a structure is demonstrated for different loading and boundary conditions. The accuracy of these predictions is dependent on the ability to select a suitable shape function to mimic the buckled shape of the beam-column. The results provided by the buckling equations derived in this thesis, using a suitable shape function, are compared to examples in existing literature considering the same boundary and loading conditions.The finite element method is then used, along with the energy equations, to derive element elastic and geometric stiffness matrices. These element stiffness matrices can be transformed into global stiffness matrices. Boundary conditions can then be enforced and a generalized eigenvalue problem can then be used to determine the buckling loads. The element elastic and geometric stiffness matrices are presented in this thesis so that future research can apply them to a computer software program to predict lateral-torsional buckling loads of complex systems containing members with monosymmetric cross-sections
Cape Town, District Six, Holy Cross Catholic Church
No full textCape Town, Holy Cross Catholic Church.
The Holy Cross Catholic Church in District Six was built in 1916. A niche has been constructed on the side of the church. In it hangs a silvery shining bell. In between two moulding wires just below the shoulder one reads information on the founder. Around the bell is written O’Byrne. Founder. Dublin. 1923. On the waist below stands A.M.D.G. that stands for A(d) M(ajorem) D(ei) G(loriam), to the greater honour of God. Immediately below that stands Ave Maria, Gratia Plena. The decorations finish with two moulding wires above the sound bow and one on the lip of the bell. The best known of the Dublin bell founders was, undoubtedly, Matthew O'Byrne of The Fountain Head Bell Foundry. Matthew Byrne, his father, had been a Chief Engineer in The Royal Navy and established in 1840 The Fountain Head Iron Foundry in James's Street, Dublin. The economic depression of the 1930s brought an end to the production of bells. Notwithstanding that the bell has been hanging outside for long, it seems in rather good condition up to a number of spots caused by pigeons. It was not possible to make a recording of the sound of the bell
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