The Parable of the Talents (Matt 25:14–30)

2021 ◽  
Vol 63 (2) ◽  
pp. 159-176
Author(s):  
Phillip Porter
Keyword(s):  
First Century ◽  
Historical Research ◽  
Critical Reading ◽  
Metaphor Theory ◽  
Universal Expansion ◽  
Rhetorical Function

Abstract There is an unresolved tension between the parable of the Talent’s Matthean literary arrangement and readings proposed by modern scholars using socio-historical research to assess the parable’s reception by a first century audience. Drawing on metaphor theory and incorporating insights from the main interpretive trajectories found in modern scholarship on this parable, the author here proposes a new literary-critical reading that resolves this tension. He argues the parable’s rhetorical function within the Matthean narrative is to prepare the Matthean disciples to lead the universal expansion of the mission of the Matthean Jesus in the post-Easter period.

What Happened to the Christian Home? The Missing Component of Mission Theory

2005 ◽  
Vol 33 (3) ◽  
pp. 325-340
Author(s):  
Dana L. Robert
Keyword(s):  
First Century ◽  
Historical Research ◽  
Western World ◽  
The Past ◽  
Research Interviews ◽  
Twenty First Century

One of the most important mission theories for the past two centuries has been the idea of the “Christian home.” Historical research, interviews with current missionaries, and studies of Christianity in the non-western world all show that the Christian home remains a central metaphor for how women conceptualize what it means to be a witness for Christ. In this paper, I will discuss why the Christian home remains important for mission practice, examine reasons for its omission from academic discussions of mission theory, look briefly at its history and changing definition, and conclude by urging that the Christian home be a renewed priority in discussions of missionary contextualization for the twenty-first century.

Bourdieu’s Uneven Influence on Anglophone Canadian Sociology

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
John McLevey ◽  
Allyson Stokes ◽  
Amelia Howard
Keyword(s):  
Social Capital ◽  
Social Networks ◽  
Division Of Labor ◽  
Social Theory ◽  
Quantitative Research ◽  
First Century ◽  
Historical Research ◽  
Sociology Of Culture ◽  
Journal Articles ◽  
Culture Education

Pierre Bourdieu is one of the most influential and widely cited figures in anglophone Canadian sociology. Since the first decade of the twenty-first century, in particular, his theories have guided research in areas such as the sociology of culture, education, social theory, social networks, and social capital. This chapter presents a content analysis of journal articles to better understand Bourdieu’s influence on anglophone Canadian sociology. Many citations to Bourdieu are ritualistic and occasionally are characterized by misreadings. Furthermore, interpretations and applications of Bourdieu’s ideas have been limited by a methodological division of labor. Quantitative research has primarily been concerned with cultural and social capital, with qualitative and historical research placing more emphasis on habitus and fields. The authors suggest several ways to expand the engagement with Bourdieu’s work, and to move beyond the current methodological division of labor.

Bunyan and the Historians

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tamsin Spargo
Keyword(s):  
Nineteenth Century ◽  
Recent Work ◽  
English Literature ◽  
First Century ◽  
Historical Research ◽  
John Bunyan ◽  
Theoretical Assumptions ◽  
Twenty First Century ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Research Analysis

This chapter offers a chronological account of varying historical and historicist approaches to the life and writings of John Bunyan from the seventeenth to the twenty-first century. The theoretical assumptions of major scholars in the field are highlighted, from a Whig such as Macaulay in the nineteenth century to a Marxist such as Christopher Hill in the twentieth, to more recent work by contemporary historians such as Richard L. Greaves and N. H. Keeble. It explores changing conceptions of the relationship between text and context, and past, present, and future, as they have informed research, analysis, historiography, and interpretation within the developing disciplines of History and of English Literature. This exploration is coupled with a consideration of the often unacknowledged relationship between teleological conceptions of history and the practice of historical research and historiography.

scholarly journals Displacements of Memory

Refuge ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 32 (1) ◽  
pp. 7-17
Author(s):  
Philip Marfleet
Keyword(s):  
Early Modern ◽  
Forced Migration ◽  
Historical Record ◽  
First Century ◽  
Historical Research ◽  
Nation State ◽  
National Belonging ◽  
Forced Migrants ◽  
Early Modern Era ◽  
Modern Era

The experiences of refugees—their “voices” and memories—have routinely been excluded from the historical record. With rare exceptions, refugees are absent from mainstream history: although specific episodes of forced migration may be carefully recorded and even celebrated in national histories, most refugee movements are ignored and their participants silenced. This article examines the practice of exclusion and its implications for historical research and for the study of forced migration. It considers experiences of refugees from the early modern era until the twenty-first century, mobilizing examples from Europe, the Americas, and South Asia, and offering comparative observations. It examines relationships between forced migrants and institutions of the nation-state, and the meanings of exclusion within ideologies of national belonging. It considers remedial measures and their implications for current efforts to ensure refugee voices are heard and understood.

The Needham Question

2013 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nathan Sivin
Keyword(s):  
Fifteenth Century ◽  
Modern Science ◽  
First Century ◽  
Historical Research ◽  
Natural Knowledge ◽  
Human Needs ◽  
Essential Problem

The “Needham Question” or “Needham Problem,” also misleadingly called “the Needham Paradox,” refers to the guiding question behind Joseph Needham’s (b. 1900–d. 1995) massive Science and Civilisation in China, as well as his many other publications. As he phrased it, “the essential problem [is] why modern science had not developed in Chinese civilization (or Indian) but only in Europe.” He went on to consider another quite different question, equally important, and centered his historical research on it: “why, between the first century bc and the fifteenth century ad, Chinese civilization was much more efficient than occidental in applying human natural knowledge to practical human needs” (p. 190 of The Grand Titration [Needham 1969], cited under Basic Works by Needham). To seek answers, he compiled what Europeans had learned over three hundred years about science, medicine, and technology in China. Substantial original investigations by Needham and his several collaborators, of whom the best known were Lu Gwei-djen (Guizhen), Wang Ling, and Ho Peng Yoke (Bingyu), expanded and added depth to the picture, and Needham’s interpretations of the results gave it coherence.

The Archaeology of Prostitution and Clandestine Pursuits

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rebecca Yamin ◽  
Donna J. Seifert
Keyword(s):  
Nineteenth Century ◽  
New York ◽  
New York City ◽  
Agency Theory ◽  
Historic Preservation ◽  
York City ◽  
First Century ◽  
Historical Research ◽  
Complex Picture ◽  
National Historic Preservation Act

The archaeological study of prostitution in nineteenth-century American contexts grew out of the discovery of brothels in the 1990s during large urban projects done in compliance with the National Historic Preservation Act. This book provides an overview of many of those projects as well as detailed discussions of a brothel found at Five Points in New York City and several parlor houses found in Washington, D.C. The large artifact assemblages recovered in combination with detailed primary and secondary historical research have produced a complex picture of commercial sex, which the book discusses in both nineteenth-century and twenty-first century perspectives. Agency theory is used to link the practice of prostitution with other forms of clandestine behavior that have come to light through archaeology. Issues of gender, class, and race run through the archaeological study of clandestine behavior, which includes acts of resistance in public—from drinking on the job to piracy—and acts in private—from hiding caches of artifacts in vulnerable places to scratching inscrutable designs on ceramic pots. The book ends with questions that touch on the age-old conundrum of passing judgment. Should prostitution be decriminalized? Should the efficacy of spiritual practices be questioned? The value of anomalous artifacts and their interpretation is stressed as crucial to recognizing brothels and evidence of clandestine pursuits.

scholarly journals Jesus en geweld: Markus 12:1-12 (en par) en Thomas 65

2008 ◽  
Vol 64 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ernest Van Eck
Keyword(s):  
First Century ◽  
Historical Jesus ◽  
Biblical Text ◽  
Critical Reading ◽  
Critical Perspective ◽  
Social Fabric

Jesus and violence: Mark 12:1-12 (and par) and Thomas 65 As an advanced agrarian (aristocratic) society, first- century Palestine’s social fabric was built on systemic tensions and conflicts between the elite (rulers) and the peasantry (the ruled). At the root of these conflicts were incompatible values (ideologies) and interests. Mediterraneans in general were agonistic (fight-prone) in nature – hence willing to engage in physical conflict at the slightest provocation. Violence in the first-century, however, was more than just physical conflict – it was establishment violence. What was Jesus’ stance on violence? An ideological-critical reading of Mark 12:1-12 (and par) indicates that the canonical versions of the Tenants – in which Jesus condones violence – cannot be seen as reflecting the historical Jesus’ attitude towards violence. Jesus’ stance on violence is rather reflected in GThom 65, in which Jesus is pictured as criticizing all kinds of violence. This study also reiterates the necessity of reading the Biblical text from an ideological-critical perspective to avoid the peril of “gospelizing” Jesus.

scholarly journals Enacting Law

Lateral ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Steff Nellis
Keyword(s):  
Twentieth Century ◽  
Legal System ◽  
Performing Arts ◽  
First Century ◽  
Historical Research ◽  
Public Knowledge ◽  
Performance Practices ◽  
Contemporary Performance ◽  
Twenty First Century

Although historical research into twentieth-century theatrical tribunals is widespread, the recurring theme of justice in contemporary performance practices remains largely unexplored. However, an increasing number of twenty-first-century artists have begun relying on structures of the court. By creating theatrical tribunals, these artists try to create a space for an alternative jurisdiction. However, a clear typology of this tribunal genre in the contemporary performing arts is still lacking. This article therefore aims to characterize theatrical tribunals. In the first section, I describe the setting of the courtroom as a theatrical place in which law gets enacted or performed. Following several scholars that already stated the important spectacular aspects of the legal system, I discuss the dramaturgy of the courtroom as a specific dramatic place with its own scenography, script, and dramatis personae. Next, by analyzing the dramaturgy of the courtroom, I distinguish two categories within the tribunal genre: (1) re-enactments of preeminent lawsuits that heavily rely on twentieth-century documentary practices and (2) performative pre-enactments of futuristic trials that have not yet been held or cannot be held because of systemic shortcomings. Finally I examine how contemporary theatrical tribunals could contribute to the enlargement of public knowledge on historical and contemporary examples of injustice, and whether they could obtain effective changes in our societies.

Metaphor in the Minor Prophets

2021 ◽  
pp. 84-100
Author(s):  
Carol J. Dempsey
Keyword(s):  
Conceptual Metaphor ◽  
First Century ◽  
Conceptual Metaphor Theory ◽  
Human Relationships ◽  
Metaphorical Language ◽  
Figures Of Speech ◽  
Metaphor Theory ◽  
Figure Of Speech ◽  
Work Done ◽  
Minor Prophets

This essay explores metaphor in the Minor Prophets, one of many figures of speech in the Minor Prophets. This figure of speech has the power to capture and affect the human imagination. Many of the metaphors found in the Minor Prophets depict human–divine relationships, human–human relationships, and in rare instances, human–nonhuman relationships. Bible scholars typically study metaphor theory and the different kinds of metaphors found in the Minor Prophets. Only a few Bible scholars venture into the realm of cognitive linguistic and conceptual metaphor theory. After commenting on the development of metaphor and metaphor theory, the essay highlights work done in this area by Bible scholars. Central to the discussion is the metaphorical language for the Divine. The essay concludes with a clarion call to study the Minor Prophets in the context of the present-day, globalized, twenty-first-century world that offers readers new metaphors, especially as they pertain to the Divine.

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