36 research outputs found
Pointing out persuasion in Philemon: Fifty readings of Paul’s rhetoric from the fourth to the eighteenth century
No full textThis informative and insightful work reveals the vast field of the history and life of the Letter to Philemon after it was written. This approach to biblical texts has received greater attention in recent years when the reader’s contribution to the meaning of textswas first recognised. This attention to the reception of biblical texts is the special subject of the Encyclopedia of the Bible and Its Reception (EBR), which started in 2009 and of which 20 volumes have already been published. This encyclopedia surveys not only sermons and commentaries, but also the various ways in which biblical texts have been received, such as in the creative arts, including paintings, sculptures, novels, films and music. Professor Tolmie’s study, however, focuses on how commentators and preachers have “pointed out persuasion” in this Pauline letter. He has selected, as the subtitle indicates, 50 readings of Philemon from three periods, the early church (starting with Ambrosiaster in chapter 1), the Middle Ages (chapter 2), and the period from the 16th to the 18th century (Chapter 3). For each of these interpreters, Tolmie offers a brief introduction and then focuses on the way they explain the rhetorical situation. He then focuses on the way each author explains the rhetorical strategy by moving through the letter, section by section. Chapter 4, the conclusion, is actually a synthesis, in which Tolmie looks for tendencies in the interpretation of Paul’s letter by focusing first on the way the rhetorical situation is imagined and then on Paul rhetorical strategies in the different literary units of Philemon
Psalm 22 LXX in Origen’s commentary on the Song of Songs
No full textThis article examines three distinct ways of reading Psalm 23(LXX 22), first in the Targum, then in the liturgy of early Christian initiation, and finally in Origen’s commentary on the Song of Songs. The Targum focuses on God’s protective presence in Israel’s history and looks forward to the salvation to come. Reading the psalm in the context of Christian initiation draws out the contextual possibilities of the text. In his interpretation of the Song of Songs, Origen seeks elements of spiritual progress after the stage of initiation. The “inebriating cup” points to a strongly affective dimension of this process
Philo’s <i>De Decalogo</i>: educating to respect the socially disadvantaged
No full textRespect and care for the disadvantaged are firmly embedded in Philo’s interpretation
of the Decalogue. In order to understand Philo’s teaching on this point within its
proper perspective, this study highlights the following aspects of his interpretation
of the Decalogue. The Ten Commandments are intended as a means of education,
healing and transformation of people and their communities; they guide people to
live in harmony with nature, reason and one another; in practice, this means to learn
how to turn away from foolish pride and to live in gentleness, fellowship, simplicity,
and equality. Such education will render people sensitive to the needs of those
affected by bad fortune and inspire them to reach out to them.Publisher's versio
Philo’s De Decalogo: educating to respect the socially disadvantaged
No full textRespect and care for the disadvantaged are firmly embedded in Philo’s interpretation of the Decalogue. In order to understand Philo’s teaching on this point within its proper perspective, this study highlights the following aspects of his interpretation of the Decalogue. The Ten Commandments are intended as a means of education, healing and transformation of people and their communities; they guide people to live in harmony with nature, reason and one another; in practice, this means to learn how to turn away from foolish pride and to live in gentleness, fellowship, simplicity, and equality. Such education will render people sensitive to the needs of those affected by bad fortune and inspire them to reach out to them
Review of: C. Cellucci, Is mathematics problem solving or theorem proving?, Found. Sci. 22 (2017), no. 1, 183—199
No full textThe author contrasts two philosophical conceptions of mathematics: problem solving versus theorem proving. The former is related to the analytic method and the latter to the axiomatic method. He traces the distinction back to Greek philosophy and highlights the critical role of Hilbert in the controversy. He argues that the analytic method should be preferred in view of Gödel's incompleteness theorems and because it accords better with the work methods of mathematicians. He finally suggests that the appeal of the axiomatic method lies in the fact that justification and well-organised presentation are valuable from a didactic perspective
Language and theology : a case study of the metaphor of breathing in John 20:22.
No full textThesis (M.A.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2011.Since the blossoming of the linguistic theories in the Johannine scholarship, interest in the figurative language of John‘s Gospel has increased. In this study on John 20:22, the statement ―Jesus breathed on them‖, that is, on his disciples, is addressed as a metaphor evoking the theme of creation. It is argued that this metaphor is essential in the understanding of the ideo-theological framework of the author of the Fourth Gospel. It plays a key function in the network of Johannine metaphors
None greater than John : towards a social-description and narrative-theological study of John the Baptist in Luke-Acts.
No full textThesis (Ph.D.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2007."I tell you, among those born of women none is greater than John" (Luke 7:28). Thus the author of Luke-Acts expresses his basic assessment of John the Baptist.
The present study aims to understand the role of John the Baptist as he is portrayed in Luke-Acts through a reading that combines social description and narrative-theological analysis in order to gain hermeneutical access to the subject of our investigation.
This study seeks to achieve this aim in two ways. In the first instance there is an attempt (through recourse to a combination of the stated critical methodologies) to provide a reading of Luke-Acts that interfaces social description and narrative-theological analysis in order to make possible a rhetorical engagement with the text in a way that provides hermeneutical access to John the Baptist as he is portrayed in Luke-Acts. In his portrayal of John the Baptist as a prophet and witness who plays a unique role in the history of salvation, the author of Luke-Acts weaves a spell over his readers that draws them into his narrative world and into his particular theological perspective.
In the second instance, this study also aims to show how Luke-Acts preserves a unique dynamic of John the Baptist which has rather been buried in the other Gospel traditions. Through this dynamic, Luke seeks to transmit his own ideal of the authentic prophet and witness in such a way that his audience may be moved to emulate John's example with conviction and imagination both in living out their Christian ideal as well as in proclaiming the good news
Eternity and the now: an exploration of Paul's understanding of a new creation in Gal. 6:15 and 2 Cor. 5:17.
No full textMasters Degree. University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg.This thesis forms the first part of a programme of research whose ultimate aim is to draw upon Saint Paul’s vision of a new creation in Galatians and Second Corinthians in order to provide a new window of access into the Christian hope of eternal life for people of this secular age. Many contemporary people are deeply concerned about the Cosmos (they would not term it ‘Creation’) but have lost all conception of a Cosmos of eternal dimensions, one which includes the human species in its resurrected state. As such, this programme of research, while drawing upon academic scholarship, is ultimately addressed to the woman and the man ‘in the street’.
This present thesis, albeit the first step in the broader programme, confines its scope to how a new creation would have been communicated by Paul to the communities which he addressed of the early church.
After the introduction and methodological issues, the study proper opens in Chapter 2 with a summary of the theology of the apostle Paul the author of the two NT letters concerned. Paul’s personality will also be touched upon here because of the forthright way in which Paul expresses himself in these letters. Building upon recent studies by a number of biblical scholars, Chapter 2 includes a study of how the previously scholarly Pharisee Saul, would have acquired his original sense of a new creation from his Jewish background as well as from his own Christ-encountered theology.
In Chapter 3 (Second Corinthians) and Chapter 4 (Galatians) interpretations of the
new creation texts are undertaken within the context of the principal themes of the two letters and the particular characteristics of the two communities being addressed. What emerges from this analysis is that, in spite of widely differing views amongst biblical scholars, Paul’s understanding of new creation can be seen to manifest the three-fold characteristics of being anthropological, cosmological, and ecclesiological. This present thesis recognises this but attributes more significance to the anthropological. While eschatological considerations are often associated with the cosmological dimension, this, of course, is not exclusive, all three elements can have eschatological characteristics.
Two other aspects are addressed which seem to be understated in the existing literature, namely the importance of individual and corporate identity in the communities being addressed by Paul, and the nature of the relationship between new creation and the Pauline concept of ‘being in Christ’.
In addition, a concern is raised which is absent in the literature. In the interpretation process for these two elliptical Greek texts the influence of some secondary sources over and against that of the texts themselves, as reflected in the prevailing translations of these texts, is interrogated. Accordingly, in these chapters, the following questions are raised and answers proposed for them: Why is Paul able to introduce the words of a new creation, καινὴ κτίσις, without any prior explanation? What accounts for the abruptness with which these words appear? Also, the practice of including verbs into the two texts (as the vast majority of translations do in varied ways in order to express the interpretations arrived at) is
(controversially) critiqued, and an alternative approach – with alternative interpretations and translations – proposed; ones which further enhance the relationship between the concepts of ‘a new creation’, and of ‘persons being in Christ’.
Chapter 5 summarises the main conclusions arising from this study, and identifies areas of further research (particularly those related to the subjects of mystery, love and identity in new creation). A closing ‘Afterword’ illustrates the significance of καινὴ κτίσις for today
