Rhetorical Conclusions in Nahmanides’ Torah Commentary

2021 ◽  
Vol 24 (2) ◽  
pp. 177-196
Author(s):  
Miriam Sklarz

Abstract This paper examine Nahmanides’ rhetorical style in his Torah commentary, addressing his convention of concluding his biblical commentaries with a flourish, both in form and content. The origins of this rhetorical device in the literature preceding Nahmanides is presented, followed by a demonstration of its embodiment and development in Nahmanides own Torah commentary.

Fahm-i-Islam ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 01-15

Metonymy is a rhetorical device widely used in the literary works of all the times. At the time when Quran was revealed the Arab were on the top of such idiomatic and rhetorical style of speech. Metonymy is the way to a hidden meaning or a far meaning from the apparent one. Translating metonymy creates problems while finding out the intended, desired and hidden meaning. These problems turn critical during translating the ‘Word of Heaven’. I have selected two consecutive metonymic phrases of Verse No. 43 of Chapter: The Women which is as under: ﴿ ِّنك ُ م ٌ د َ ح َ أ َ اء َ ج ْ و َ أ َ اء ِّسَ الن مُ ُ ت سْ َ م َ َل ْ و َ اِّئ ِّطأ َ غ ْ ال َ ّم ِّ ﴾ A total number of 32 Quran translators are randomly selected to find out the literal, semantic and metonymic translations of these two metonymic phrases. We can easily observe the various kinds of translation, sentence style, and shifts that create complexity for those readers who depend on translation. The paper quoted the stances of the Exegetes of Quran regarding these two adjacent metonymic sentences, determining the meaning mentioned by the majority of Exegetes and analyzde the English words used for rendering their meanings to find out which translation can be suggested for the source language general public to gain the real intended meaning as elaborated by the majority of Quran Exegetes.


Author(s):  
Chiara Ceccarelli

This paper is intended to prove that Thomas Aquinas used the rhetorical device of cursus in specific sections of texts. In those chapters where he wanted to enhance the rhetorical style – like prologues and dedications – cursus is frequently found. On the contrary, it is absent or at least not used intentionally in the philosophical prose, which is full of argumentation vocabulary.


Author(s):  
Adam Schoene

Where Adam Smith’s The Theory of Moral Sentiments (1759) extends the domain of spectatorship beyond the ocular realm and claims that we must become the impartial spectators of our own character and conduct, Jean-Jacques Rousseau’s Rousseau juge de Jean-Jacques, Dialogues (1776) also attempts to probe beyond the visual surface to examine through careful study the constitution of another, who is actually himself. This chapter traces a Smithian sentiment in the radical division of the self dramatized in Rousseau’s fictional autobiographical Dialogues, emphasizing Rousseau’s attempt to liberate his own gaze and render an unbiased judgment upon himself. Although Rousseau does not write in direct discourse with Smith, he applies a strikingly similar rhetorical device to the spectator within the dialogic structure of his apologia. Reading Rousseau alongside Smith resituates the Dialogues not as a work of madness, as it has frequently been interpreted, but rather as an unrelenting struggle for justice.


2017 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 65-94 ◽  
Author(s):  
Leyla Ozgur Alhassen

In this study, I explore verses in the Qur?an that come towards the end of stories and use a second-person address to say, “you were not there” when this happened. I seek to understand what literary function in the story it serves to address the second person and her/ his lack of knowledge, whomever s/he is. I locate all of these verses (3:44, 11:49, 12:102 and 28:44–46) and analyze them in order to obtain a better understanding and analysis of Qur?anic literary style. I focus on what these stories have in common and how the verses function. In addition, I analyze the verses and their roles in their respective stories. Through this analysis, we see that these verses are generally seen by commentators and modern scholars as asserting the Prophet’s authority and the Qur?an’s authenticity. However, I argue that these verses function as a sophisticated Qur?anic literary and rhetorical device that works to put people in their place: Prophet Mu?ammad, his contemporaries, and all of the Qur?an’s audience, by showing them their lack of knowledge and their temporality.


Author(s):  
Joseph Mazur

While all of us regularly use basic mathematical symbols such as those for plus, minus, and equals, few of us know that many of these symbols weren't available before the sixteenth century. What did mathematicians rely on for their work before then? And how did mathematical notations evolve into what we know today? This book explains the fascinating history behind the development of our mathematical notation system. It shows how symbols were used initially, how one symbol replaced another over time, and how written math was conveyed before and after symbols became widely adopted. Traversing mathematical history and the foundations of numerals in different cultures, the book looks at how historians have disagreed over the origins of the number system for the past two centuries. It follows the transfigurations of algebra from a rhetorical style to a symbolic one, demonstrating that most algebra before the sixteenth century was written in prose or in verse employing the written names of numerals. It also investigates the subconscious and psychological effects that mathematical symbols have had on mathematical thought, moods, meaning, communication, and comprehension. It considers how these symbols influence us (through similarity, association, identity, resemblance, and repeated imagery), how they lead to new ideas by subconscious associations, how they make connections between experience and the unknown, and how they contribute to the communication of basic mathematics. From words to abbreviations to symbols, this book shows how math evolved to the familiar forms we use today.


Author(s):  
Carolyn Muessig

Francis of Assisi’s reported reception of the stigmata on Mount La Verna in 1224 is often considered to be the first account of an individual receiving the five wounds of Christ. The thirteenth-century appearance of this miracle, however, is not as unexpected as it first seems. Interpretations of Galatians 6:17—I bear the stigmata of the Lord Jesus Christ in my body—had been circulating in biblical commentaries since late antiquity. These works explained stigmata as wounds that martyrs received, like the apostle Paul, in their attempt to spread Christianity in the face of resistance. By the seventh century, stigmata were described as marks of Christ that priests received invisibly at their ordination. In the eleventh century, monks and nuns were perceived as bearing the stigmata in so far as they lived a life of renunciation out of love for Christ. By the later Middle Ages holy women like Catherine of Siena (d. 1380) were more frequently described as having stigmata than their male counterparts. With the religious upheavals of the sixteenth century, the way stigmata were defined reflected the diverse perceptions of Christianity held by Catholics and Protestants. This study traces the birth and evolution of religious stigmata as expressed in theological discussions and devotional practices in Western Europe from the early Middle Ages to the early seventeenth century. It also contains an introductory overview of the historiography of religious stigmata beginning in the second half of the seventeenth century to its treatment and assessment in the twenty-first century.


Author(s):  
Ildar Garipzanov

The first section tests the main interpretations of Lactantius’ passage on Constantine’s victorious sign in 312 against existing graphic evidence from the 310s and early 320s, and consequently supports the interpretation of Lactantius’ description as a rhetorical device invented or modified by the Christian narrator. The next two sections support the argument that the perception of the chi-rho as Constantine’s triumphant sign became entrenched in courtly culture and public mentalities from the mid-320s onwards, and trace the diachronic change of the chi-rho from its paramount importance as an imperial sign of authority under the Constantinian dynasty to its hierarchic usage alongside the tau-rho and cross in the Theodosian period. The final section presents a contextualized discussion of the encolpion of Empress Maria and mosaics from several early baptisteries, illustrating the paradigmatic importance the chi-rho and tau-rho for early Christian graphicacy around the turn of the fifth century.


Author(s):  
Sumi Shimahara

Perceptions of tyranny are also the subject of this chapter, which discusses the ways in which terms deriving from the root ‘tyran-’ were employed in biblical commentaries and other sources of the Carolingian era. The chapter shows that eighth- and ninth-century authors developed a distinct discourse on tyranny by blending pagan and patristic views with their own ethical-political principles. Carolingian conceptions of tyranny were grounded in considerations pertaining both to legality and to morality, with vice, eschatological concerns, and the association with the devil playing as important a role as issues of illegitimacy, usurpation, or malfeasance. These conceptions were moreover fairly elastic, as related terms not only had a wide connotative range but were also used to describe a variety of abusive behaviors of a royal, secular, or ecclesiastical origin.


Author(s):  
Soo J. Kim

This chapter presupposes that the eschatological language of the book of Isaiah is a working rhetorical device for expressing something else underneath it rather than a straightforward description of one’s visionary experience of the afterlife or the end series of this world. Accordingly, it addresses the eschatologically addressed rhetorical discourses in Isaiah. Using adjectival consultation to define “eschatologically,” it argues that the language of these eschatological texts is strong enough to be universal (spatial fullness), ultimate (temporal fullness), and radical (fullness in degree). This strategy aims to rationalize the national crises, as well as to encourage readers to practice proper ethics during those critical and liminal periods. The book of Isaiah illustrates several dystopias and utopias in the eschatologically addressed discourses with the two fixed points—Jerusalem and the Remnants—to serve as witnesses through the ages. Overall, these discourses seek to reassure readers of all ages to understand the divine transformation plan and to join the Torah-based community on Mount Zion for the eternal hope in this world.


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