Conclusion

Author(s):  
Eleonore Stump

This chapter examines the way in which the interpretation of the atonement argued for in this book, here baptized as ‘the Marian interpretation,’ fits with well-known biblical texts about the atonement of Christ, especially those texts that seem to privilege the Anselmian kind of interpretation. The most notable of such texts are those having to do with sacrifice, but there are other important texts as well. The chapter starts with texts about sacrifice. Then it considers more briefly some of the endlessly discussed passages in the Epistle to the Romans. It ends with a short consideration of one of the passages on the suffering servant in Isaiah. It concludes with reflections on the nature of love and the essential place of love in the doctrine of the atonement.

Author(s):  
Jetze Touber

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.


2008 ◽  
Vol 64 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Wim J.C. Weren

The use of violence in punishing adultery in Biblical texts (Deuteronomy 22:13-29 and John 7:53-8:11) In this article, the focus is on the extent to which in biblical texts violence is deemed acceptable in punishing adultery. Jesus’ attitude to this severe punishment is discussed. Jesus concurs with the sanction imposed by Moses but the effect of his requirement that each individual in the group of executioners be without sin, is in fact that the punishment cannot be carried out. The way in which Jesus intervenes is in line of discussions in the Old Testament and in early Judaism that are aimed at imposing restraints of the use of violence in punishing sexual offences. The article concludes with an evaluation of the topical relevance or irrelevance of the two biblical pasages discussed here.


Author(s):  
Jason A. Hentschel

An evangelical movement born of last century’s culture wars, King James Onlyism offers a glimpse into the way evangelicals view and use their Bibles. Having located the source of apostasy and cultural waywardness in the production of new biblical texts and translations, King James Onlyism insists that the only way to protect Christianity from collapsing into rampant subjectivism is to remain singularly faithful to the King James Bible translation. This chapter identifies this insistence with the movement’s professed quest for certainty and suggests that there are various far-reaching consequences to it that might do more to threaten evangelicalism than protect it.


2018 ◽  
Vol 71 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-15
Author(s):  
Angela Dienhart Hancock

AbstractThis essay explores the overlapping territory between the phenomenon known as ‘imaginative resistance’ in literary, psychological and philosophical circles and Karl Barth's theological hermeneutic. Imaginative resistance refers to the way readers are willing to give consent to all sorts of implausible things in the context of a fiction, but become uneasy when asked to imagine that something they consider morally or ethically reprehensible is good. The essay offers an overview of the current scholarly theories regarding the origins of the phenomenon of imaginative resistance, arguing that none of them provide an adequate account of imaginative resistance in relation to a text read as ‘Word of God’. The essay suggests that Karl Barth's theological hermeneutic does not offer a ‘solution’ to imaginative resistance in relation to scripture, but rather deepens and redescribes it in meaningful ways by acknowledging the appropriateness of the interpreter's resistance while encouraging continued engagement even with the claims of challenging biblical texts.


2003 ◽  
Vol 11 (3) ◽  
pp. 438-448
Author(s):  
Hugh Pyper

AbstractHélène Cixous' engagement with biblical texts is a significant but neglected aspect of her work. In this essay, the biblical allusions in several of her works are traced, particularly centring around the theme of the dog and the bite or wound. The Bible represents for Cixous both an example of the unbounded writing she sees as feminine, and a text that is confined by masculine authority and taboo. These two aspects come together in her engagement with the writings of Clarice Lispector whose grammatically paradoxical phrase in Portuguese eles a biblia—'those he-bible', as translations inadequately represent it—embodies that tension. The tension between these styles of writing in the Bible opens up as a wound in the text which allows a penetration below the surface. The power of the Bible is in the way that this opening lets the reader see 'the meat we are' in an encounter with the 'root' of being.


2012 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 202-236 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jeremy D. Smoak

Abstract Most of the attention that the two silver amulets discovered at Ketef Hinnom Jerusalem have received in recent scholarship has centered upon their date and relationship to the biblical texts. This is due in part to the fact that both amulets preserve formulations of the biblical Priestly Blessing from Numbers 6:24–26. The new edition of the amulets published in 2004, however, provides impetus for new questions about the form of the incantations on the amulets and what the magical objects tell us about ancient Judahite apotropaic practices. In particular, the new edition provides a clearer picture of the content and form on both amulets. In turn, the new edition paves the way for a better understanding of how the incantations functioned as magical texts, which attempted to make an argument about their own efficacy as apotropaic objects. Despite this fact, few studies have devoted sufficient to the overall form and content preserved in the incantations. The following paper will describe the content and structure of the incantation on Amulet I and argue that the specific statement made therein provides a unique glimpse into the argument of magical texts in ancient Judah. Finally, the following paper will also briefly compare the content and structure of the incantation to several Psalms that petition Yhwh for protection against various ills. Such a comparison reveals that there may have been more fluidity between magical formulae and ancient Judahite prayer traditions than previously recognized.


Author(s):  
Matthew Peter Unger

This chapter explores Christian extreme metal as a window on the way religion is expressed in contemporary Western culture, drawing on continental theorists of the post-secular. Christian extreme metal lyrics, sonic and structural musical features, and visual features are remarkably continuous with “secular” extreme metal, which positions itself in explicit opposition to Christianity and the “mainstream” world. But Christian extreme metal fans see Christian metal as qualitatively different from “secular” extreme metal. This apparent contradiction shows powerfully how religious symbols circulate in Western late modernity: religious symbols (e.g., biblical texts, stories, languages, and characters—and their symbolic inversions and opposites, drawn on in “secular” extreme metal) have been divested of their truth value and instead circulate as symbols, as meanings with experiential consequences. This allows for a surprising flow of symbols and meanings between secular and Christian extreme metal, and at the same time for qualitatively unique experiences.


AJS Review ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 40 (1) ◽  
pp. 101-124
Author(s):  
Laura S. Lieber

This essay explores the rhetoric and performance of grief by examining two related bodies of texts composed in Jewish Palestinian Aramaic: eulogies for deceased individuals (hespedim) and communal laments (kinot) for Jerusalem; also included are two “narrative laments” from the same corpus that construct the voices of grieving biblical characters. In the analysis, the dynamics among the living participants in the mourning rituals are investigated, as well as the ways rituals of individual grief and rituals of communal mourning shape each other. Throughout the analysis, specific rhetorical techniques associated with mourning in both the Jewish world and in classical Greco-Roman sources and early Christian materials merit particular scrutiny, as do the experiential components of rhetorical techniques such as refrains, antiphony, anadiplosis, and dialogue. Along the way, contextual features important for understanding the function and efficacy of these works are addressed: social setting, liturgical station, affinity for biblical texts, and the status of the mourned party.


2015 ◽  
Vol 71 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Esias Meyer

The article focuses on a debate initiated by Masenya and Ramantswana in 2012 about the lack of engagement with contemporary issues by South African Old Testament scholars. The article shows with reference to the book of Leviticus that ancient texts grew over time in order to become relevant for later generations. It then asks, if it is possible for Old Testament scholars to construct ancient examples of writers engaging with contemporary issues, why these same scholars are reluctant to make these texts relevant for today? The article then engages with the work of Farisani and describes strong points and weaknesses in the way in which he uses biblical texts to engage with contemporary debates before returning to the central question.


2016 ◽  
Vol 31 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ney Brasil Pereira

Resumo: O que se entende por “fundamentação bíblica” de um documento eclesiástico,no caso, da Exortação Apostólica “sobre a alegria do amor na família”?Obviamente, é a verificação da maneira como o autor do texto recorreu à Bíbliapara justificar suas afirmações. Em outras palavras, qual a hermenêutica dascitações bíblicas apresentadas pelo papa Francisco? Nesse sentido, meu trabalhonão se reduzirá à mera identificação dos textos bíblicos em cada um dos novecapítulos. Além de identificá-los, procurarei contextualizá-los e, quando for o caso,avaliá-los do ponto de vista da exegese, contribuindo assim, espero, para umamelhor apreciação do documento. O desenvolvimento do trabalho percorrerásimplesmente a sequência dos nove capítulos, em cada um deles examinandoas citações bíblicas explícitas, sem esquecer de aludir às citações implícitas.Palavras-chave: Argumentação bíblica. Hermenêutica. Matrimônio. Família.Abstract: What does one mean by “biblical foundation” of an ecclesiasticaldocument, namely, of the Apostolic Exhortation “about joy of love in the family”?Obviously, it is the examination of the way how the author of the text resortedto the Bible in order to justify his assertions. In other words, which was the hermeneuticsof the biblical quotations presented by pope Francis? In this way, thepaper won’t be reduced to the mere identification of the biblical texts in each oneof the nine chapters. Besides identifying them, the author will try to show theircontext and, when necessary, will evaluate them from an exegetical point of view,so contributing to a better appreciation of the document. The paper will simply gothrough the sequence of the chapters, in each one examining the explicit biblicalquotations, without forgetting to allude to the implicit quotations.Key-words: Biblical argumentation. Hermeneutics. Marriage. Family.


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