Arguments behind Closed Doors

2021 ◽  
pp. 165-185
Author(s):  
Kristin Swenson
Keyword(s):  
Background Information ◽  
The Third ◽  
The Bible ◽  
Good Book ◽  
Literary Sources ◽  
Biblical Texts

This chapter addresses inconsistencies and disagreements within the Bible, the sorts of things that sometimes lead people to dismiss the Good Book out of hand. In general, there are at least four kinds of disagreement. The first is a function of the Bible’s disparate literary sources. The second is that the Bible reflects an evolving theology or worldview. The third shows how a particular issue considered in different contexts might generate conflicting claims. Finally, in some cases, the fourth reveals late biblical texts wrestling with received texts that were simply wrong but by then immutable. Yet another kind of disagreement may not be one at all, but is more a function of modern readers' interpretations than contradictions within the texts themselves. In the process of discussing both broad differences and specific inconsistences, this chapter also tempers readers' haste to toss out the Bible altogether. By bringing background information to bear, one can, if not make sense of these oddities, then accept them for what they are.

Authority and Truth

2020 ◽  
pp. 53-80
Author(s):  
Michael C. Rea
Keyword(s):  
Biblical Interpretation ◽  
Biblical Authority ◽  
The Third ◽  
The Bible ◽  
Textual Authority ◽  
Biblical Texts ◽  
Biblical Inerrancy

Chapter 3 is divided into three sections. The first attempts to clarify what might be meant in calling a text authoritative. The second draws distinctions between different things that might be meant by saying that a text is truthful. The goal in both of these parts is to arrive at some general conclusions about texts, rather than specific conclusions about the Bible. Consequently, the chapter refrains from making assumptions about (e.g.) biblical interpretation or about the truth of particular biblical texts. Indeed, for much of the discussion, the Bible is not even directly in view. The third section draws out some of the implications of the discussions in the first two sections for the question of how textual authority and textual truth are connected to one another. It also comments on the significance of these conclusions for discussions about the relation between biblical authority and biblical inerrancy.

scholarly journals Biskupska i prezbiterska (ili svećenička?) služba u Svetom pismu

Diacovensia ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 26 (2) ◽  
pp. 235.-253.
Author(s):  
Anđelo Maly
Keyword(s):  
New Testament ◽  
Third Order ◽  
Functional Link ◽  
The Third ◽  
The Bible ◽  
The New Testament ◽  
Biblical Texts

It is quite difficult to speak about bishops and presbyters and their ministries in the Holy Scripture since biblical terminology explains their functions quite differently than they are known today. According to this, the author primarily emphasizes the terminology and some scriptural evidences of ministries in question. The author explains words such as presbyter, bishop (episkopos) and priest, showing first how the biblical word for presbyter (=elder) diverges from the biblical word priest (kōhēn; hiereus). Similarly, the biblical word episkopos (bishop) does not have the same modern meaning as it has today, where it means the third order of ordained minister, while in the Bible it means a supervisor or a protector of the community. It is possible to say, the author concludes, that the offices of bishop (episkopos) and presbyter (=elder) should be considered in the sense of duty, while the priest (kōhēn; hiereus) deals with sacred things. Furthermore, basing the evidence on biblical texts, the author gives some clarification about the development of the offices of priests, presbyters, and bishops, both in the Old and in the New Testament. The scriptural data reveals that these offices have emerged and evolved in response to a variety of needs and leadership in the community. In conclusion, the author asserts that it is quite difficult to establish a clear terminological and functional link between biblical terms and duties of priests-presbyters-bishops and their actual offices. At least, according to the Scripture, it could be said that a priest, priest-presbyter, or a bishop-presbyter should be considered as offices that tend more to sacred and spiritual things rather than temporal things. Their ministries (as known today) are mostly linked with successive theological reflections, when they became more ordered, uniformed, and regulated.

scholarly journals Constellation names in Ukrainian translations of the Bible

Movoznavstvo ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 313 (4) ◽  
pp. 51-63
Author(s):  
L. F. Fomina ◽  
Keyword(s):  
New World ◽  
Jehovah’S Witnesses ◽  
Jehovah's Witnesses ◽  
Clerical Work ◽  
The Third ◽  
The Bible ◽  
The World ◽  
Biblical Texts ◽  
The Times ◽  
Xix Century

The article explores the names of The Great Bear, Orion and the star constellation of Pleiades in the eight full translations of the Bible into the Ukrainian language of XIX–XXI c. Besides the Introduction and the Brief summary of the Ukrainian translations history, the article is made up of three sections. In the first section we analyze the ancient Hebrew names, such as Ash, Kima and Kesil, which are found in the translation by Patriarch Philaret (Denysenko) of the Synodic Bible (1876), and also in the New World Translation, made by the religious society “Jehovah’s Witnesses”. The second chapter focuses on the folk Ukrainian names, also typical for the whole Slavic world, such as Viz, Volosozhar, Kvochka, Kosari, used in the first full translation of the Bible into Ukrainian — Kulish᾽s Bible, which, by its authority, has created a certain tradition, proclaiming the authenticity and comprehensiveness of the Ukrainian language, and has become the standard, later followed by Ivan Ogiyenko and Ivan Khomenko. The third section is dedicated to such Graecisms as Pleiads, Orion, Arcturus, being equivalents for the nominations, presented in the protograph Septuaginta, found in the translation by Father Raphael. The author comes to the conclusion that all the translators in their clerical work aimed to make the astronomic names available and understandable to the orthodox reader of the biblical texts, but for each period of time this aim was achieved differently: if for the XIX century such understandable ones were folk names, in XX and XXI centuries they have been forgotten and replaced by the more familiar Greek-originated and common The Great Bear, Orion and Pleiads. This concerns also the translation of the Ostrog Bible, whose astronomic names had been formed in the times of the first Slavic enlighteners Cyril and Methodius and have become too archaic for our times. The author states that different ethno-cultures have been reflected in the astronomical names: Judaic cosmonymy is more of the anthropomorphic character, while Slavic, including the Ukrainian one, reflects the villatic view to the world and the sky of stars.

Epidemias y Religión

2020 ◽  
pp. 49-81
Author(s):  
Bruno Van der Maat
Keyword(s):  
Pastoral Care ◽  
Key Words ◽  
Adverse Reactions ◽  
Religious Groups ◽  
Government Regulations ◽  
The Third ◽  
The Bible ◽  
The World ◽  
Ethical Reflections

The current pandemic has seen some adverse reactions from the most diverse religious groups all over the world to government regulations. After having described some of their manifestations, this contribution analyzes what the Bible and some post biblical (patristic and Talmudic) traditions say about illness and pandemics. As it is ascertained that these sources contain very limited material on these subjects, the third part of this article proposes some ethical reflections regarding the official response to the pandemic as well as some pastoral implications. Key Words: Pandemic, Religion, Bible, Talmud, Pastoral Care.

Spinoza’s Biblical Criticism

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jetze Touber
Keyword(s):  
Detailed Examination ◽  
Dutch Reformed ◽  
Biblical Criticism ◽  
Major Work ◽  
Reformed Church ◽  
The Bible ◽  
Divine Election ◽  
Biblical Texts ◽  
The Way

Chapter 1 homes in on Spinoza as a Bible critic. Based on existing historiography, it parses the main relevant historical contexts in which Spinoza came to articulate his analysis of the Bible: the Sephardi community of Amsterdam, freethinking philosophers, and the Reformed Church. It concludes with a detailed examination of the Tractatus theologico-politicus, Spinoza’s major work of biblical criticism. Along the way I highlight themes for which Spinoza appealed to the biblical texts themselves: the textual unity of the Bible, and the biblical concepts of prophecy, divine election, and religious laws. The focus is on the biblical arguments for these propositions, and the philological choices that Spinoza made that enabled him to appeal to those specific biblical texts. This first chapter lays the foundation for the remainder of the book, which examines issues of biblical philology and interpretation discussed among the Dutch Reformed contemporaries of Spinoza.

Reading the Bible from Below in the Era of Globalization

2020 ◽  
pp. 111-128
Author(s):  
Rainer Kessler
Keyword(s):  
Social Relations ◽  
Historical Process ◽  
The Bible ◽  
Asynchronous Development ◽  
Ancient Israel ◽  
The World ◽  
Biblical Texts ◽  
Globalized World

It is evident that the world of the Bible is pre-modern and thus distinct from the globalized civilization. This chronological gap challenges readers, whether they are feminist or not. Mainly three attitudes can be observed among scholarly and ordinary readers. For some readers, the Bible is a document of the losers of a historical process of modernization that already began in ancient Israel. For other readers, the Bible is outdated and of no use to confront the challenges of globalization. A third readerly position challenges both of these views. This essay offers four arguments to orient biblical readers in the contemporary globalized world. First, the essay posits that globalization is an asynchronous development. Thus, even today, most people living in the impoverished regions of the world face conditions similar to those dominant in the Bible. Second, the essay asserts that women are the first victims in biblical times and still nowadays. Third, the essay maintains that biblical texts display social relations that still unveil contemporary relations. Fourth, the essay suggests that intercultural Bible readings give hope, as they nurture biblical readings from “below” to strengthen people to overcome the fatal consequences of today’s globalization.

Teaching the Bible and Popular Media as Part of Contemporary Rape Culture

2020 ◽  
pp. 423-439
Author(s):  
Beatrice J. W. Lawrence
Keyword(s):  
Popular Culture ◽  
Sexual Assault ◽  
Biblical Studies ◽  
Popular Media ◽  
Rape Culture ◽  
Pedagogical Strategies ◽  
The Bible ◽  
Cultural Myths ◽  
Biblical Texts

This essay explores pedagogical strategies for addressing rape culture in biblical studies courses, employing Genesis 34 and Judges 19–21 as primary texts. The first section discusses the nature of popular culture and its impact on gender. The following four sections highlight cultural myths about sexual assault by focusing on significant biblical texts and incorporating aspects of popular media to facilitate conversations about rape culture. The conclusion summarizes the main points and encourage further studies that combine the study of popular media and biblical texts. Overall, the essay contributes to the reading and teaching of the Bible within contemporary rape culture so that students become critical interpreters of biblical texts, as they become resistant readers of past and present rape culture.

How American Newspaper Comic Strips Portray God, Angels, and Humans

2020 ◽  
pp. 398-413
Author(s):  
Leonard Greenspoon
Keyword(s):  
Twentieth Century ◽  
Popular Culture ◽  
New Testament ◽  
Religious Identity ◽  
Online Media ◽  
Comic Strip ◽  
Comic Strips ◽  
The Bible ◽  
Biblical Texts

The comic strip as a mainstay of print and more recently online media is an American invention that began its development in the last decades of the 1800s. For many decades in the mid-twentieth century, comic strips were among the most widely disseminated forms of popular culture. With their succession of panels, pictures, and pithy perspectives, comics have come to cover an array of topics, including religion. This chapter looks at how the Bible (Old and New Testament) figures in comic strips, focusing specifically on three areas: the depiction of the divine, renderings of specific biblical texts, and how comic strips can function as sites in which religious identity and controversies play out. Relevant examples are drawn from several dozen strips. Special attention is also paid to a few, like Peanuts and BC, in which biblical imagery, ideology, and idiom are characteristically portrayed in distinctive ways.

Inscriptions and the Narrative of Roman History

2015 ◽  
Author(s):  
David S. Potter
Keyword(s):  
Roman History ◽  
Third Century ◽  
Historical Events ◽  
The Third ◽  
Literary Sources

This chapter offers an analysis of how inscriptions can complement the narratives of Roman history from the third century BCE to the third century CE provided in literary sources. They reveal certain historical events or details that would otherwise be unknown, and they supplement the information offered by the surviving Roman historians .

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