The Literary Unity of Luke-Acts: Questions of Style – a Task for Literary Critics

1989 ◽  
Vol 35 (1) ◽  
pp. 48-66 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. Dawsey

Joseph Tyson's The Death of Jesus in Luke-Acts and Robert Tannehill's The Narrative Unity of Luke-Acts, published in 1986, are good examples of the interpretive wealth being mined by scholars who are adopting literary-critical methods for approaching the Lukan writings. What most distinguishes these critics' approaches from older, more familiar ones is the claim that the Bible's historical narratives are imaginative re-enactments of history – thus, in form, more akin to fiction than to theology, biography, or history. Robert Alter called the Biblical stories ‘historicized fiction’, meaning in our case that the author of Luke and Acts employed the artifices of fiction-writing, among others, supplying feeling and motives and creating speeches and dialogue for his characters. Professors Tyson and Tannehill, and other literary scholars like them, are helping us better discern how these techniques were used in Luke and Acts, thus opening new windows to the characters, the way that the author ascribes intentions to them, the plot, themes, nuances, points of view, uses of irony, and word-plays and associations in the writings.

2018 ◽  
Vol 47 (1) ◽  
pp. 99-103
Author(s):  
Rae Greiner

In “Is There a Problem with Historical Fiction (or with Scott's Redgauntlet)?”—an essay, as it happens, on Sir Walter Scott's great counterfactual novel—Harry E. Shaw calls on literary critics more fully to register “the remarkable variety of things history can do in novels, by short-circuiting the assumption that the representation of history in fiction is really always doing the same sort of work, or should be.” History might be a source of imaginative energy, a sort of launching pad for a book about timeless truths, as in Charles Dickens's A Tale of Two Cities (“ultimately about individual sacrifice and transcendence, not about the French Revolution in the way in which Scott's Waverley is about the Forty-Five”); or the past might function as “a pastoral,” which is to say, as a field onto which authors project the concerns of their own times, as in Romola (depicting problems “in definitively Victorian terms and then project[ing them] back on to Renaissance Italy,” where they would have been understood quite differently [176–77]). Or history, what Shaw calls “objective history,” might be a work's actual subject (180). An historical novel of this last sort tells it like it was, or tries to. But even that novel is only doing so much, only making a use of history. Georg Lukács is therefore wrong in thinking that “a sufficiently dialectical mode of representation could capture everything” (Shaw 175). No one mode can capture all of even a highly delimited history at once.


1914 ◽  
Vol 6 (3) ◽  
pp. 123-134
Author(s):  
Eugene R. Smith ◽  
Harry D. Gaylord ◽  
Maurice J. Babb ◽  
William E. Breckenridge ◽  
Edward L. Thorndike

Two hundred teachers of mathematics, chiefly members of the New York Section of the Association of Teachers of Mathematics of the Middle States and Maryland, ranked the twentyfive problems printed below for difficulty, “difficulty” being defined as in the instructions appended. The variations in the individual opinions were very great, being as shown in Table I. It is an interesting exercise to examine this table, and imagine, as well as one can, the points of view from which these varying estimates were each plausible-to divine, for example, why Problem Twas rated all the way from easiest to hardest of the twentyfive. How much of the variation was due to tenable points of view and how much was due to errors of judgment cannot, of course, be told until the problem in question has been tested with respect to the percentage of pupils able to solve it in the time allowed.


2017 ◽  
Vol 29 (1) ◽  
pp. 102
Author(s):  
Mikael Strömberg

The article’s primary aim is to discuss the function of turning points and continuity within historiography. That a historical narrative, produced at a certain time and place, influence the way the historian shapes and develops the argument is problematized by an emphasis on the complex relationship between turning points and continuity as colligatory concepts within an argumentative framework. Aided by a number of examples from three historical narratives on operetta, the article stresses the importance of creating new narratives about the past. Two specific examples from the history of operetta, the birth of the genre and the role of music, are used to illustrate the need to revise not only the use of source material and the narrative strategy used, but also how the argument proposed by the historian gathers strength. The interpretation of turning points and continuity as colligatory concepts illustrate the need to revise earlier historical narratives when trying to counteract the repetitiveness of history.


2006 ◽  
Vol 04 (05) ◽  
pp. 1069-1095 ◽  
Author(s):  
SARAH COHEN-BOULAKIA ◽  
SUSAN DAVIDSON ◽  
CHRISTINE FROIDEVAUX ◽  
ZOÉ LACROIX ◽  
MARIA-ESTHER VIDAL

Fueled by novel technologies capable of producing massive amounts of data for a single experiment, scientists are faced with an explosion of information which must be rapidly analyzed and combined with other data to form hypotheses and create knowledge. Today, numerous biological questions can be answered without entering a wet lab. Scientific protocols designed to answer these questions can be run entirely on a computer. Biological resources are often complementary, focused on different objects and reflecting various experts' points of view. Exploiting the richness and diversity of these resources is crucial for scientists. However, with the increase of resources, scientists have to face the problem of selecting sources and tools when interpreting their data. In this paper, we analyze the way in which biologists express and implement scientific protocols, and we identify the requirements for a system which can guide scientists in constructing protocols to answer new biological questions. We present two such systems, BioNavigation and BioGuide dedicated to help scientists select resources by following suitable paths within the growing network of interconnected biological resources.


2012 ◽  
Vol 34 (1) ◽  
pp. 59-72
Author(s):  
Robert Foster

Abstract Reading the book of Zechariah as a whole for its theology requires giving special attention to the way that the historical narratives in 1:1-6, 7-8, and 11:4-17 shape the discourse. The opening narrative, 1:1-6, delineates the movement of the book as YHWH returns to Zion and so calls for the returning exiles to return to their god. Chapters seven and eight clarify what it means for the people to return to YHWH, in line with the earlier prophets’ call to pursue justice. 11:4-17 narrates the failure of especially the leaders to enact justice and the consequences of this failure. Nevertheless, the book affirms the promise of YHWH to do good to Zion, even if modified and cast into the eschatological future.


2002 ◽  
Vol 29 (3) ◽  
pp. 293-327 ◽  
Author(s):  
Estrella Pérez Rodríguez

Summary The aim of this paper is to study the concept of potestas, one of the three ‘accidents’ of ‘letters’ in the Roman tradition. More specifically, it intends to examine the way in which the speculative grammarians from the 11th to the 13th centuries dealt with speech sounds and which issues were attached to it. The commentators of the beginning of this period mapped out the route to be followed in the attempt at a thorough explanation and systematization of Prisician’s adumbrations. To that purpose, they forged the successful term modus pronunciandi and classified the potestas into five types. This chapter was granted as much discussion as any other: some concepts and terminology of the Aristotelian universe were employed in it (e.g., the opposition substantial/accidental, potentiality/act). Nevertheless, some remarkable differences between the points of view of the 12th-century grammarians and those of the 13th-century have been observed, among them the interest on the part of the latter in the generation of sound. In this century, two works, the anonymous Tractatus de grammatica and John Dacus’s modistic Summa, held for different reasons a very particular position in the evolution of the doctrine on the potestas. In this respect, the influence of the former on the latter has been noticed. With their speculations all these medieval grammarians succeded in differentiating two levels within the realm of speech sounds.


Afrika Focus ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 28 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Annelies Verdoolaege

The reactions to this event were generally very positive; a great many interesting issues were touched upon and the atmosphere of the discussion allowed sufficient room for various points of view and an optimistic view on the future of Rwanda to be expressed. This was an excellent example of an event in which academic Africa expertise is made available to inform a broad public, in conjunction with an artistic performance. Also the input provided by the Rwandan diaspora was greatly valued. In the future, this is definitely the way in which the African Platform of Ghent University Association wishes to present itself to the academic community and beyond. 


Author(s):  
Lester Martin Cabrera Toledo

El presente artículo establece una discusión teórica sobre la vinculación que existe entre la geopolítica y la seguridad. En este sentido, la discusión se aprecia desde un punto de vista en torno a la evolución que ha tenido la relación entre geopolítica y seguridad, particularmente sobre la forma en que se comprenden tanto los procesos conflictivos y los actores que se ven involucrados. Así, se establece la vinculación desde comienzos del siglo XX hasta la actualidad, donde se percibe la necesidad de comprender tanto a la geopolítica como a la seguridad desde otros puntos de vista en los que incluso sus elementos básicos se ven cuestionados. Se concluye que se requiere una comprensión holística de ambas perspectivas para entender y explicar los nuevos fenómenos conflictivos, sin descartar la totalidad de los postulados clásicos. ABSTRACTThe present article seeks to establish a theoretical discussion about the link between geopolitics and security. In this sense, the discussion is seen from a point of view on the evolution of the relationship between geopolitics and security, particularly on the way in which both conflicting processes and the actors involved are understood. Thus, it is established the linkage from the beginning of the twentieth century to the present, where it is perceived the need to understand both geopolitics and security from other points of view, in which even its basic elements are questioned. It concludes that a holistic understanding of both perspectives is required to understand and explain the new conflicting phenomena, without ruling out the totality of the classical postulates.


2018 ◽  
Vol 28 (7) ◽  
pp. 2349-2353
Author(s):  
Fatbardha Doko

Shakespeare’s tragedies are among the most analyzed and discussed literary works. In his tragedies Shakespeare follows the Aristotelian pattern of drama, so it is easy to notice there all the elements of a tragedy presented in Aristotle’s Poetics. In this paper I will define what climax in literature is and explore the climax of one of the four great tragedies of Shakespeare, that of King Lear. As a masterfully structured play, the central part of the play is the climax itself. But what is the climax of this play, how is it presented, does it have any impact on the characters, how does it change the course of events, etc? Answers to these questions will be given here. As an example of the interactions between men and weather conditions in Shakespeare’s drama, I will explore climate as climax. The climactic moment of the play is the storm, in the 3rd act, when we see the psychological rage of King Lear. Unsurprisingly, Shakespeare exposes the issue of how the local weather durably affects the nature of men as well as by the way their humours are temporarily changed by climate and environment. Yet, I will argue that this issue actually prompts him to reverse traditional points of view in order to show that things also work the other way round. Indeed, in some of his plays, the playwright insists on men’s unfortunate capacities to provoke violent climactic disorders and to generate chaos on earth. So, it is not only the weather and climate that affect the behaviour and humour of people, but the way people feel and behave. The case with King Lear is a perfect example of this problem. The storm that Lear finds himself is actually reflected in his inner state, in his psychological rage due to his disappointment with his two daughters, and facing with the harsh reality for a father, but mostly for being unjust to his younger daughter, Cordelia.


Historicism and Presentism are two recent, mostly discussed phenomena in the area of Shakespearean studies. While historicists like Stephen Greenblatt argues that historicism pursues historical aspects to explain a text and keeps away present-day political, social and cultural affairs to avoid the misunderstanding of it, the presentists like Terence Hawkes advocates that Presentism offers an unending dialogue between present and past, which is deeply rooted to the present. In addition, Presentism is the re-evaluation of the historical facts upon which our early modern understanding depends. Therefore, Presentism could be an excellent idea to interpret the appropriacy of early modern literature, especially Shakespeare’s oeuvre. This paper, however, elucidates Twelfth Night, one of Shakespeare’s masterpieces, from both historicist and presentist points of view, which looks especially at the way Shakespeare views gender while applying these both approaches. This article also clarifies the reasons for selecting this text for explicating Shakespeare from these two approaches. Finally, this study advocates for combining these two approaches, which might offer a better way to understand Shakespeare’s works and to make him more relevant today.


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