Paratexts and the Reception History of the Apocalypse

2019 ◽  
Vol 70 (2) ◽  
pp. 600-632 ◽  
Author(s):  
Garrick V Allen
Keyword(s):  
Material Culture ◽  
Reception History ◽  
Biblical Studies ◽  
Test Case ◽  
Book Of Revelation ◽  
Biblical Scholarship ◽  
Textual Transmission ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Relationship

Abstract Biblical scholarship usually engages with reconstructed texts without taking into account the form and material culture of the manuscripts that transmit the texts used in reconstruction. This article examines the influence of paratexts on biblical studies and reception history, using the book of Revelation as a test case, in an effort to rediscover the significance of transmission for comprehending the ways in which past reading communities engaged their scriptural traditions. The liminal features of manuscripts that are often ignored in modern editions are an integral part of the artefact that influence and shape a text’s reading. This study argues that paratexts represent an underdeveloped resource for reception history, insofar as the relationship between text and paratext is rarely taken into consideration by modern interpreters. Material culture, textual transmission, reception history, and exegesis are integrally linked processes.

The Woman at the Well and the Limits of Biblical Scholarship: Maximus the Confessor’s Scholion on Thal. 41

2020 ◽  
Vol 71 (1) ◽  
pp. 258-280
Author(s):  
Adam G Cooper
Keyword(s):  
English Translation ◽  
Reception History ◽  
Test Case ◽  
Original Publication ◽  
Human History ◽  
Biblical Hermeneutics ◽  
Biblical Scholarship ◽  
Original Response ◽  
History Of

Abstract In 2018 Maximus the Confessor’s premier work on biblical hermeneutics, the Responses to Thalassius, finally appeared in English translation. Following its original publication in the early 630 s, Maximus reissued the Responses in a second edition, to which he appended a dedicated prologue and his so-called scholia, an extensive set of annotations or footnoted clarifications. In both Maximus’s prologue and in the reception history of the Responses, these scholia were regarded as intrinsic to the integrity of the whole work. This article focuses on scholion 1 to Thal. 41, in which Maximus comments on the number of husbands belonging to the Woman at the Well in John 4, and why Jesus’ conversation with her took place when and where it did. It treats the scholion as a test case to see whether, how, and to what extent it further enlightens the reader as to the meaning of Maximus’s initial commentary, as he says it should. It argues that the scholion crucially qualifies several insights raised by Maximus in his original response, touching on his anagogical reading of Scripture, the progressive character of human history towards a culminating salvific goal, the limits of learning and discursive reason, and the role of faith and grace in receiving deifying wisdom.

REVISITING KARL BARTH'S EXEGESIS OF 1 KINGS 13

2002 ◽  
Vol 10 (4) ◽  
pp. 360-383
Author(s):  
David Bosworth
Keyword(s):  
Present Article ◽  
Biblical Studies ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Historical Criticism ◽  
The Past ◽  
Biblical Scholarship ◽  
History Of ◽  
Additional Support ◽  
1 Kings ◽  
The Relationship

AbstractThe present article seeks to re-present Karl Barth's exegesis of 1 Kings 13 with additional support that Barth neglected to include. Changes in biblical scholarship over the past few decades have resulted in an environment in which Barth's interpretation may not be as readily rejected as it was in the past. Barth's exegesis of 1 Kings 13 was not accepted among biblical scholars for several reasons. He was thought to be an enemy of historical criticism whose exegetical work was not a serious contribution to biblical studies. Furthermore, he interpreted the chapter holistically at a time when scholars were preoccupied with analytical questions concerning sources and composition. Barth related the chapter to the whole history of the divided kingdom by suggesting that the man of God and the old prophet represent the kingdoms from which they come and that the relationship between the two prophetic figures mirrors the relationship between Israel and Judah as told in Kings. This analogy seemed unlikely to scholars convinced of the fragmentary nature of Kings. The present article begins with an overview of Barth's relationship to modern biblical scholarship followed by a summary presentation of his exegesis of 1 Kings 13. Next, the major objections to Barth's interpretation are critically assessed, and recent research on the chapter is evaluated. Finally, the analogy indicated by Barth is elaborated, so that his interpretation may seem more plausible and future research may benefit from his insights.

John among the Apocalypses

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Benjamin E. Reynolds
Keyword(s):  
Gospel Of John ◽  
Central Place ◽  
Reception History ◽  
Genre Theory ◽  
Synoptic Gospels ◽  
Book Of Revelation ◽  
Distinctive Features ◽  
History Of ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
And Function

The central place of revelation in the Gospel of John and the Gospel’s revelatory telling of the life of Jesus are distinctive features of John when compared with the Synoptic Gospels; yet, when John is compared among the apocalypses, these same features indicate John’s striking affinity with the genre of apocalypse. By paying attention to modern genre theory and making an extensive comparison with the standard definition of “apocalypse,” the Gospel of John reflects similarities with Jewish apocalypses in form, content, and function. Even though the Gospel of John reflects similarities with the genre of apocalypse, John is not an apocalypse, but in genre theory terms, John may be described as a gospel in kind and an apocalypse in mode. John’s narrative of Jesus’s life has been qualified and shaped by the genre of apocalypse, such that it may be called an “apocalyptic” gospel. Understanding the Fourth Gospel as “apocalyptic” Gospel provides an explanation for John’s appeal to Israel’s Scriptures and Mosaic authority. Possible historical reasons for the revelatory narration of Jesus’s life in the Gospel of John may be explained by the Gospel’s relationship with the book of Revelation and the history of reception concerning their writing. An examination of Byzantine iconographic traditions highlights how reception history may offer a possible explanation for reading John as “apocalyptic” Gospel.

The Opera and the Omnibus: Material Culture, Urbanism and Boieldieu's La dame blanche

2020 ◽  
Vol 32 (1) ◽  
pp. 90-114
Author(s):  
Nicole Vilkner
Keyword(s):  
Material Culture ◽  
Business Model ◽  
Public Transportation ◽  
Reception History ◽  
Transportation Systems ◽  
Mass Transportation ◽  
Musical Work ◽  
The World ◽  
History Of

AbstractIn the summer of 1828, the Entreprise générale des Dames Blanches launched a fleet of white omnibuses onto the streets of Paris. These public transportation vehicles were named and fashioned after Boieldieu's opéra comique La dame blanche (1825): their rear doors were decorated with scenes of Scotland, their flanks painted with gesturing opera characters, and their mechanical horns trumpeted fanfares through the streets. The omnibuses offered one of the first mass transportation systems in the world and were an innovation that transformed urban circulation. During their thirty years of circulation, the omnibuses also had a profound effect on the reception history of Boieldieu's opera. When the omnibuses improved the quality of working- and middle-class life, bourgeois Parisians applauded the vehicles’ egalitarian business model, and Boieldieu's opera became unexpectedly entwined in the populist rhetoric surrounding the omnibus. Viewing opera through the lens of the Dames Blanches, Parisians conflated the sounds of opera and street, as demonstrated by Charles Valentin Alkan's piano piece Les omnibus, Op. 2 (1829), which combines operatic idioms and horn calls. Through these examples and others, this study examines the complex ways that material culture affects the dissemination and reception of a musical work.

Transforming Historical Objectivism into Historical Hermeneutics: From “Historical Illness” to Properly Lived Historicality

2019 ◽  
Vol 61 (4) ◽  
pp. 490-515
Author(s):  
Thomas Tops
Keyword(s):  
Reception History ◽  
Biblical Studies ◽  
Historical Study ◽  
Necessary Condition ◽  
New Paradigm ◽  
History Of Interpretation ◽  
Critical Methodology ◽  
Recent Developments ◽  
History Of ◽  
Biblical Texts

Summary The present study analyses recent criticisms against the use of modern-historical methodologies in Biblical Studies. These methodologies abstract from the historical horizon of the researcher. In order to relate properly to the historicality of the researcher, historical objectivism needs to be transformed into historical hermeneutics. Recent developments in the historical methodology of biblical scholars are unable to reckon with the historicality of the researcher due to the partial or incorrect implementation of Gadamer’s views on reception history. I analyse the views of Nietzsche, Kierkegaard, and Gadamer on historicality and contend that the study of reception history is a necessary condition for conducting historical study from within the limits of our historicality. Reception history should not be a distinct methodological step to study the “Nachleben” of biblical texts, but needs to clarify how the understanding of these texts is already effected by their history of interpretation. The awareness of the presuppositions that have guided previous interpretations of biblical texts enables us to be confronted by their alterity. This confrontation calls for a synthesis between reception-historical and historical-critical methodology that introduces a new paradigm for conducting historical study in Biblical Studies in dialogue with other theological disciplines.

SUBJECT AND METHOD OF ARCHEOLOGY: F. V. KIPARISOV'S NOTION

2021 ◽  
pp. 60-67
Author(s):  
MIHAIL KISELEV
Keyword(s):  
Material Culture ◽  
Scientific Work ◽  
Scientific Discipline ◽  
Historical Science ◽  
Material Sources ◽  
Archival Source ◽  
History Of ◽  
Academy Of Sciences ◽  
Relationship Of ◽  
The Relationship

The article provides information on the report of F. V. Kiparisov, kept in the Archives of the Russian Academy of Sciences, "The Subject and Method of Archeology" and discussions on the report at the meeting of the Institute of History of the Communist Academy, dated November 29, 1931. The aim of the work was to introduce an unpublished archival source into scientific circulation on the history of archeology. As a result of studying the document, some conclusions can be drawn: the main advantage of the scientific work of F. V. Kiparisov, in our opinion, is an attempt to determine the place of archeology in historical science as an auxiliary scientific discipline. The scientist assigned a special place to material sources in the study of thehistorical development of society. At the same time, the report did not touch upon the questions of the methods of archeology, stated in the title of the speech. As for the relationship of archeology with the history of material culture, the differences between them were not convincing enough by the speaker. During the discussion on the report, scientists of the Institute of History criticized the position of the speaker both on issues of archeology and on the history of material cultures. The information provided will expand the source base on the history of archeology and can be used for research and educational purposes.

The “Apocalyptic” Gospel and the Apocalypse of John

2020 ◽  
pp. 167-200
Author(s):  
Benjamin E. Reynolds
Keyword(s):  
Reception History ◽  
Fourth Gospel ◽  
Divine Revelation ◽  
Book Of Revelation ◽  
History Of ◽  
Apocalypse Of John

Understanding the Fourth Gospel as “apocalyptic” Gospel raises questions about its relationship with the book of Revelation. Even though many ancient and modern interpreters do not think John and Revelation share the same author, they do share numerous similarities in vocabulary, syntax, and theological themes and are considered to be related in some way. The reception history of Johannine authorship indicates that Revelation has often been understood to have been written before the Gospel. The Gospel has also been described as being received through divine revelation. Within Byzantine iconography, these two traditions come together in the depiction of John dictating the Gospel in the cave of revelation on the island of Patmos as he receives it directly from heaven. The priority of Revelation and the divine reception of the Gospel are possible explanations for the Gospel’s apocalyptic mode.

The Relationship between Nature and Technology as a Philosophical Problem

2020 ◽  
pp. 301-315
Author(s):  
Hans Blumenberg
Keyword(s):  
Natural Resources ◽  
Natural Science ◽  
Human Life ◽  
Reception History ◽  
Philosophical Problem ◽  
Modern World ◽  
Historical Reality ◽  
Human Power ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Relationship

This chapter reflects on Hans Blumenberg's “The Relationship between Nature and Technology as a Philosophical Problem” (1951), a reception history of technē. Technology has historically constituted itself as applied natural science — as a constructive extension of nature — and this structural continuity would seem to determine the character and methodology of its problems once and for all. The historical reality of human life with technology has failed to confirm this basic assumption, however. Technology, as an objective domain within the modern world, has more and more visibly separated itself from its functional continuity with nature and has entered into new constellations that are sui generis and, indeed, diametrical opposites to natural reality. From the mere use of nature for eking out a living through to the increasing exploitation of nature as a reservoir of energy and natural resources, the development of technical consciousness and the technical will tend toward making a claim for the radical and total transformation of nature as mere materia prima for the exercise of human power.

scholarly journals Hoe kan God dit toelaat? ’n Bibliologiese verryking van die teodiseevraagstuk uit ’n vergelyking tussen Openbaring en 4 Esra

2011 ◽  
Vol 45 (2/3) ◽  
Author(s):  
J.A. Du Rand
Keyword(s):  
New Testament ◽  
Old Testament ◽  
History Of Philosophy ◽  
Human Suffering ◽  
Book Of Revelation ◽  
The New Testament ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Intertestamental Literature

How can God allow it? A bibliological enrichment of the theodicy issue from a comparison between the Book of Revelation and 4 EzraIn the process of understanding and defining the relationship between God and man, the theodicy issue frequently floats to the surface. A long strand in the history of philosophy and theology has addressed itself to the task of reconciling God’s omnipotence and benevolence with human suffering and the existence of evil. Some of the philosophical and theological views are represented in this article. According to reformed scholarly presentation, theodicy should seriously take into account the soteriological and eschatological hermeneutical views. This is confirmed by the Old Testament, intertestamental literature and the New Testament. The purpose of this article is to draw attention to the apocryphal 4 Ezra which puts surprising views about theodicy on the table.

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