2,748 research outputs found
'Woe to you, hypocrites!' : law and leaders in The Gospel of Matthew
Full text linkThis 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
Full text linkThis 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
Matthew’s Emmanuel Messiah: a paradigm of presence for god's people
Full text linkThe 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
Those who heard it first: The political implications of the sermon on the mount to Jesus’ Jewish audience
No full textThis dissertation examines the Sermon on the Mount (in the Gospel of Matthew) from the perspective of politics and peace. It investigates not what Jesus meant, but what his audience heard and were likely to have understood. It does this in order to ascertain the novelty or otherwise of Jesus’ teachings on peace with regard to Jewish thought and political understandings of his time. His audience was primarily Jewish, and the political implications they drew from Jesus’ teachings would have been influenced by established Jewish thought on ethics and governance. This dissertation researches specifically this: how would Jesus’ Jewish listeners have interpreted the peace sayings of the Sermon on the Mount? This dissertation finds that the Jewish intellectual framework within which Jesus’ first audience heard the Sermon on the Mount contained many specific sayings found in Pirkei Avot, and also a history of practice of non-violent action found in Jewish tradition, and that the oral law and the Sermon on the Mount both reflect Jewish ethical ideologies of non-violent resistance.
This dissertation argues that, in the Sermon on the Mount, a very Jewish Jesus – a man true to the religio-political views of his day – reaffirms a Jewish ethical form of non-violent resistance. The most important evidence available is the Gospel of Matthew itself, Jewish ethical writings such as Pirkei Avot, other Mishna writings, and writings on the lex talionis. The evidence points to an audience that would have perceived Jesus as teaching non-violence in a context of resistance rather than completely passive submission. The overall finding of this dissertation will be that the writer of Matthew depicts a Jesus who, in style, form, and content, builds on a Jewish ethical foundation to promote non-violent assertion of equality and human dignity in the widely known and oft-cited Sermon on the Mount
Wisdom and apocalyptic in the Gospel of Matthew : a comparative study with 1 Enoch and 4QInstruction
No full textRecent scholarship has demonstrated that Matthew's gospel has significantly developed
both sapiential and apocalyptic elements within its narrative. Little attention has been paid,
however, to the question of how these two features of Matthew's gospel might relate to one
another. It is this gap in scholarly literature that the present study is intended to fill, by means of a
comparative study with two other texts of mixed genre: 1 Enoch and 4Qlnstruction.
An examination of these texts demonstrates that each is marked by an inaugurated
eschatology, within which the revealing of wisdom to an elect group, defined in distinction to the
Jewish parent group, serves as the pivotal moment of inauguration. In addition, within
4Qlnstruction the idea is developed that possession of this revealed wisdom allows the remnant
to live in fidelity to the will of the Creator and to the patterns built-in to the original creation.
Thus, possession of revealed wisdom facilitates a recovery of creation.
These findings provide lines of enquiry that may be brought to Matthew. Three sections
of the gospel are examined (chapters 5-7; 11-12; 24-25). It is argued that Jesus is presented as an
eschatological figure who reveals wisdom to an elect group. This wisdom cannot be reduced to
great moral insight or interpretation of Torah, but is presented as prophetic revelation, happening
in eschatological time. It remains the case, however, that Matthew presents it as wisdom and
presents Jesus as a sage.
More tentatively, it is suggested that creation provides the patterns for the ethical
requirements of Jesus' wisdom, thus indicating that the idea of restored creation is also at work in
Matthew. The fall of the temple may also be connected in Matthew's narrative to such a
restoration, but again, the evidence for this is not clear
The theme of education through conflict in the early novels of George Eliot
Full text linkDissertação (mestrado) - Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina, Florianópolis, 1979
Rooted in all its story, more is meant than meets the ear : a study of the relational and revelational nature of George MacDonald's mythopoeic art
Full text linkScholars and storytellers alike have deemed George MacDonald a great mythopoeic writer, an exemplar of the art. Examination of this accolade by those who first applied it to him proves it profoundly theological: for them a mythopoeic tale was a relational medium through which transformation might occur, transcending boundaries of time and space. The implications challenge much contemporary critical study of MacDonald, for they demand that his literary life and his theological life cannot be divorced if either is to be adequately assessed. Yet they prove consistent with the critical methodology MacDonald himself models and promotes. Utilizing MacDonald’s relational methodology evinces his intentional facilitating of Mythopoesis. It also reveals how oversights have impeded critical readings both of MacDonald’s writing and of his character. It evokes a redressing of MacDonald’s relationship with his Scottish cultural, theological, and familial environment – of how his writing is a response that rises out of these, rather than, as has so often been asserted, a mere reaction against them. Consequently it becomes evident that key relationships, both literary and personal, have been neglected in MacDonald scholarship – relationships that confirm MacDonald’s convictions and inform his writing, and the examination of which restores his identity as a literature scholar. Of particular relational import in this reassessment is A.J. Scott, a Scottish visionary intentionally chosen by MacDonald to mentor him in a holistic Weltanschauung. Little has been written on Scott, yet not only was he MacDonald’s prime influence in adulthood, but he forged the literary vocation that became MacDonald’s own. Previously unexamined personal and textual engagement with John Ruskin enables entirely new readings of standard MacDonald texts, as does the textual engagement with Matthew Arnold and F.D. Maurice. These close readings, informed by the established context, demonstrate MacDonald’s emergence, practice, and intent as a mythopoeic writer
Boulton and Fothergill silver.
No full textPhDThis thesis is about the silver business of Matthew Boulton and John
Fothergill at their Soho Manufactory near Birmingham. Their
partnership lasted from 1762 until 1782.
A rounded discussion of the topic is attempted. Within the contexts
of industry elsewhere and Soho's other activities, successive chapters
cover the early development, marketing, production, design, and later
decline of the partners' silver.
Silver plate was prestigious and, untypically for Boulton, he
concentrated on sales to the public rather than trade customers. To
attract orders he made modest charges. This was viable where mainly
machinery was used to make plate, even though sales were not high,
since the expense of machinery was substantially covered by the larger
sales of non-silver items. However, where Boulton relied to a
greater degree upon hand methods, he lacked technical means to
compensate for low profit-margins. Moreover, inefficiency and the
firm's lack of capital which led to substantial bankers' interest
charges on payment for bullion, particularly when customers paid late,
caused losses. These problems applied particularly to silver plate
and were mainly responsible for the decision to reduce production
drastically; however, the manufacture of a large range of small items
remained relatively consistent.
The thesis includes appendices. Some contain new information about
annual totals for the following aspects of the business: the volume of
assay silver; each type of article; pieces sold on commission; and
sterling silver supplies. Other appendices provide details about the
partners' silversmiths and extracts from a Soho inventory.
This thesis involves a more detailed use of sources than previous
studies of the topic. Apart from the silver itself (which is
selectively illustrated), the Matthew Boulton Papers and statistics
derived from The Birmingham Assay office provide the main sources.
Manuscripts covering silver production elsewhere provide contextual
material for understanding the partners' silver business
Birthplace of John McIntosh Kell Marker, Darien, GA
No full textBirthplace of John McIntosh Kell Marker, Darien, GA.
This is located near Fort King George, Darien ,in McIntosh County, Georgia.
The text on the marker reads as :
Laurel Grove, at the end of this avenue, was the birthplace of John McIntosh Kell, 1823-1900, distinguished Naval officer. He was a member of the expedition of Commodore Matthew C. Perry to Japan in 1853, and was Master of the flagship Mississippi on the homeward cruise. When Georgia seceded from the Union, John McIntosh Kell resigned his commission to join the Confederacy. He was Executive Officer of the Sumter; then of the Alabama throughout her brilliant career on the seas, and in her final battle with the Kearsarge off Cherbourg. Later in life, John McIntosh Kell served for several years as Adjutant General of the State of Georgia.
Georgia Historical Commission 1958.https://digitalcommons.unf.edu/historical_architecture_main/4295/thumbnail.jp
The soteriology of James in light of earlier Jewish Wisdom literature and the Gospel of Matthew
No full textThe epistle of James has been neglected in NT studies, caught between its
relationship with Paul and the claim that it has no theology. Even as it experiences a
resurgence of study, surprisingly no full-length survey exists on James as the epistle of
“faith and works.” Approaches to James have neglected its soteriology and, in
consequence, its theological themes have been separated or studied only in connection
with Paul. As “moral character,” however, “faith” and “works” fit within a coherent
theology of God’s mercy and judgment.
This study provides a sustained reading of James as a Jewish-Christian document.
Because James presents the “faith” and “works” discussion in context of “can such faith
save?” (2:14), the issue becomes one of soteriology and final judgment. Both the “law of
freedom” and the “word of truth” demand faithful obedience—the “works.” Moreover,
God’s character and deeds in election form the basis for human “works” of mercy and
humble obedience, while future judgment is in accordance with virtuous character.
It has been established that James shares methodology and concerns with prior
wisdom literature. This thesis therefore examines key ideas developing across the Jewish
literature and Jesus’ teaching as presented by Matthew, and highlights developing views of
God saving and judging his people. Within the first two chapters, James gives a high view
of God’s work in calling and redeeming, providing wisdom to his people, and instilling the
long-anticipated new covenant that they might live in obedience, humility and purity in
accordance with his character and will. Because of God’s saving work, he justly judges
those who fail to live mercifully, while his mercy triumphs for those who obey. God
begins the work and sustains those who ask; but only those who submit to the “perfect
law of freedom,” whose faith works, receive mercy when God enacts his final justice
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