221 research outputs found
Barnabas or Saul : who is describing Saul’s conversion in Acts 9:27?
Get PDFCITATION: Wilson, M. 2015. Barnabas or Saul : who is describing Saul’s conversion in Acts 9:27?. Scriptura, 114(1):1-6, doi:10.7833/114-0-1144.The original publication is available at http://scriptura.journals.ac.zaPublication of this article was funded by the Stellenbosch University Open Access Fund.This article examines a problem of translation in Acts 9:27 regarding who should be the subject of the sentence – Barnabas or Saul. Through a close examination of the Greek text in its broader pericope, it explores whether Barnabas was the one who told the apostles in Jerusalem about Saul’s conversion. It also discusses the importance of eyewitness testimony to Luke in his Gospel and Acts. The article closes with a fresh observation about the conversion account’s significance within the narrative structure of Acts.http://scriptura.journals.ac.za/pub/article/view/1144Publisher's versio
J.B. McNamara to Margaret M. Wilson, December 29, 1937-December 11, 1938
No full textLetters from J.B. McNamara to Margaret M. Wilson dated December 29, 1937 to December 11, 1938
A dialogic reimagining of a servant's suffering: understanding second Isaiah's servant of Yahweh as a polyphonic hero
Get PDFA definitive identification of the Servant figure of Second Isaiah is notoriously difficult, as attested by centuries of conjecture and debate. The interpretive obstacles are profuse: the Servant is addressed as Israel-Jacob, but then spoken of in terms that are not consistent with the nation's experience; in some texts he seems to represent a community, while in others he speaks as an individual; he seems to suffer extreme hardship and persecution, but then is said to experience new life; some of his experiences appear to be historical, while others are best described as idealistic. Further hampering objective interpretations are the pervasive traditional approaches among Christian and Jewish readers, which associate the Servant, equally emphatically, with Jesus or Israel.
But a primary reason the Servant is so difficult to pin down is rarely considered, and that is that there exists no objective image of the Servant anywhere in Second Isaiah. As a literary character he is constituted entirely by dialogue; that is, by discourse addressed to him, spoken by him, and spoken about him by others in the form of a confession. His actions are never described, and his person is never defined. Scholars have referred to this as his 'fluid' nature, but have lacked the methodological tools for a fuller study of this literary curiosity.
The ideas of literary theorist Mikhail Bakhtin speak to this type of characterisation. His 'polyphonic hero' is a fictional character who is constituted by what is spoken to him or her, by what they overhear said concerning them, and by how they make that discourse, and the discourse of the wider world, an aspect of their own self-knowledge. They become known only by the discourse that converges on them, much as the Servant of Second Isaiah is constituted. This thesis develops a reading strategy based on Bakhtin's theory of the polyphonic hero, as well as his broader theories of dialogism. It reimagines the inner discourse of the Servant in order to comprehend him according to the dialogue by which he knows himself, and not according to conventional reading strategies that seek for a fixed, opaque image. In the process it discovers that there are not multiple Servants, which is often posited as a solution to the problem of his fluid nature, but one Servant, Israel-Jacob, whose self-knowledge as the faithful Servant of Yahweh calls empirical Israel to faith in a time of national distress. It concludes that the Servant is present in the collection of Second Isaiah as a 'voice-idea', the embodiment of a theologically critical position that calls many of Israel's theological and ideological presuppositions into question, in order to liberate her for a renewed history as a faithful 'witness' to Yahweh her redeemer
A collection of the works of that holy man and profound divine, Thomas Iackson ... [electronic resource] : containing his comments upon the Apostles Creed, &c. : with the life of the author and an index annexed.
No full textIncludes index.Added engraved t.p. has title: A collection of Dr. Jacksons works.Edited by Barnabas Oley; life of Jackson by Edmund Vaughan, v. 1."The eternal truth" (Wing J91) has special t.p., continuous paging.Errata at end.Imperfect: volumes 2 and 3 are lacking in the filmed copy.Reproduction of original in British Library.WingWingElectronic reproduction
The struggle between good and evil in the Epistle of Pseudo-Barnabas
No full textThe struggle between good and evil is one of the main subjects of the Epistle of Pseudo-Barnabas, which originated between 70 and 130, thus, in the period when apocalyptic literature was flourishing. The latter’s impact on the Epistle is undeniable, and is expressed in the characteristic approach of the present time as the „last days” marked by intense activity of evil forces. Even though the outcome of God’s struggle with Satan has already been decided by the victory of Jesus Christ on the cross, still it is ongoing, and at different levels. For Pseudo- Barnabas, two areas of this confrontation are of utmost importance: the orthodoxy of faith and morality of life. The first issue is treated very broadly (chapters I-XVII), and its essence is to convince the readers of the Letter of the saving exclusivism of Christianity. The author radically opposes Judaism, considering all its laws and institutions in their historical implementation (e.g. sacrifices, fasting, Sabbath, temple, ritual ordinances) as the result of both the incorrect (physical) interpretation of the inspired Scriptures and submission to Satan’s insidious work. The only people of the Covenant are those who have believed in Jesus Christ and were immersed in the water of baptism. The other area of the still ongoing struggle is the heart of a Christian who, at any time, has to choose between the way of life and the way of death (chapters XVIII-XX). The final manifestation of Christ’s victory over evil will happen at His second coming, when He will put an end to the „times of the Wicked” and will bring into His Kingdom all the Christians faithful to His teaching
Early Childhood Education for Dependent and Neglected Children
No full textiv, 33 p.The author describes her work at Saint Barnabas House, a temporary shelter for dependent and neglected children in New York City
The Gospel of Barnabas as a counter-history in the power relations of Morisco Spain
No full textIn my thesis I examined a pseudepigraphal gospel called the Gospel of Barnabas (GOB). This so called gospel has been an important part of the Muslim polemics against Christianity since the beginning of the 20th century. Many Muslim scholars claim that it is the only true Gospel written by Jesus’ close disciple and apostle Barnabas. However, the majority of the Western scholars claim that it is really a medieval Islamic writing.
My approach to the study of the GOB was quite theoretical; I used two different theories through which I tried to get new information on the GOB. The first theory is the counter-history theory developed by Amos Funkenstein and David Biale. Through this theory I examined the GOB itself and tried to analyse if it can be seen as a counter-history. With this theory I answered to the research question “what kind of text is the GOB?” The other theory is the power relations theory by James C. Scott. Through this theory I examined the historical situation of Moriscos in Spain and tried to see if it is reasonable to locate the origins of the GOB there. With power relations theory my aim was to answer to the research question “where and why was the GOB written?”
Through the counter-history theory I found out that the author of the GOB has used mainly Christian sources to produce a different depiction of Jesus’ life. With the thematic analysis I discovered that the GOB redacts many important Christian dogmas with Islamic ideas and so produces an Islamic counter-history of the narratives of the canonical gospels. Hence, as an answer to the research question of what kind of text the GOB is, I would say that the GOB is an (polemical?) Islamic counter-history of the Christian idea of Jesus.
Through the power relations theory I found out that the power relations between dominant Christians and subordinate Moriscos was a very fruitful context for a writing such as the GOB to emerge. The GOB can be seen as a disguised intellectual resistance, where the message and the messenger are hidden. It was probably written to influence the Christian majority. To the research question of where and why the GOB was written, I answer that it was probably written in Morisco Spain as an intellectual resistance
The formation of gentile Christ-believing identity vis-à-vis Israel in Ephesians and Barnabas
Get PDFEphesians is frequently located at a mid-point on a trajectory in early Christianity between Paul’s earlier struggles to forge unity between Jewish and gentile Christ-believers and later replacement theologies. The author of the present article tests this trajectory through a comparative analysis of Ephesians and Barnabas, investigating the way in which the two epistles respectively shape a collective memory for their recipients with respect to Israel, its Scriptures and its symbols. Examining the two epistles from this perspective highlights their differences strikingly, calling into question the posited trajectory. In this respect, Ephesians is generally consonant with the undisputed Pauline epistles.Kształtowanie się nieżydowskiej tożsamości wierzących w Chrystusa wobec Izraela w Liście do Efezjan i Liście BarnabyList do Efezjan jest często umieszczany w punkcie środkowym trajektorii wczesnego chrześcijaństwa, między wcześniejszymi zmaganiami Pawła o wypracowanie jedności między żydowskimi i nieżydowskimi chrześcijanami a późniejszymi teologiami zastąpienia. Autor niniejszego artykułu bada tę trajektorię poprzez analizę porównawczą Listu do Efezjan i Listu Barnaby, analizując sposób, w jaki te dwa teksty kształtują pamięć zbiorową swoich odbiorców w odniesieniu do Izraela, jego Pism i symboli. Analiza tych dwóch listów z tej perspektywy podkreśla uderzające różnice, podważając przyjętą trajektorię. Pod tym względem List do Efezjan jest ogólnie rzecz ujmując zgodny z niekwestionowanymi listami Pawłowymi
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