Paul, the Gift and Philippians

2019 ◽  
Vol 41 (2) ◽  
pp. 174-190
Author(s):  
Wendell L. Willis
Keyword(s):  
First Century ◽  
Cultural Expectation ◽  
The Gift ◽  
The Common ◽  
Basic Insight

Abstract This paper employs a basic insight from John M. G. Barclay’s book, Paul and the Gift, that the word χάρις in first-century Greek very often referred to a gift, especially his “perfection” of the word as “conditional.” In Paul’s lifetime the common cultural expectation was that the recipient of a gift accepted that a return gift was normative and expected—whether physical or not. This understanding is thoroughly discussed in Seneca, De Beneficiis which describes how the obligation to reciprocity in giving and receiving is expected of all civil persons, apart from civic position and status. This is because the function of a gift is the building or maintaining of relationships. This purpose is shown to be the case also in Philippians with reference to the passage employing the lexeme (Phil 1:7, 29; 2:6-11) and in 4:10-20 where Paul discusses the gift he received from the Philippian church.

scholarly journals From the Philosophy of Cult to the Philosophy of History in the Work of Pavel Alexandrovich Florensky (* 1882 + 1937)

Religions ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (7) ◽  
pp. 533
Author(s):  
Daniel Porubec
Keyword(s):  
Human Activities ◽  
Historical Materialism ◽  
Philosophy Of History ◽  
Abstract Concepts ◽  
Interdisciplinary Work ◽  
Primary Activity ◽  
Human Ability ◽  
The Gift ◽  
The Common ◽  
Historical Periods

P. A. Florensky dedicated nine writings of his rich interdisciplinary work to the phenomenon of cult, which were first published in a censored form in 1977. We turn our attention to one of these writings called Cult, Religion and Culture, published under the common title Philosophy of Cult, in which the author elaborates a distinctive concept of the cult as the primary activity of man and at the same time as the gift offered to him for his own sanctification. It is the sacred cult—sacra from where, according to the author, two other human activities originate: namely, the ability to create tools—instrumenta—and the ability to create abstract concepts—notiones. However, both human activities have to be understood as a process of disintegration of the cult—sacra. Thus, by prioritizing one of the three human activities mentioned above, we can recognize three historical periods in history. According to Florensky, the human ability to create tools corresponds to the era of historical materialism, the ability to create concepts corresponds to the era of ideologism, and ultimately, the primary human activity—the life of man in the cult and its culture corresponds to the sacral materialism or concrete idealism.

The Epistles of John

1982 ◽  
Author(s):  
Raymond E. Brown
Keyword(s):  
Special Interest ◽  
Textual Analysis ◽  
First Century ◽  
Eternal Life ◽  
Critical Engagement ◽  
Biblical Scholarship ◽  
Real People ◽  
The Gift ◽  
Religious Problems

With this study―companion to the masterful two-volume The Gospel According to John―Raymond E. Brown completed his trilogy on the Johannine corpus. Meticulous in detail, exhaustive in analysis, persuasive in argument, it examines controversies that have long troubled both biblical scholars and lay readers. Questions of authorship, composition, and dating, as well as the debate over source theories, are discussed at length; but these are kept subordinate to the overall question of meaning. What gives this commentary special interest and excitement is the bold, imaginative reconstruction of the setting of the Johannine work―in particular of the “opposition figures,” who are only dimly sketched in the Epistles―so that we see clearly that the author is writing to his flock both about the dangers and difficulties confronting them, and about the eternal life that is theirs by the gift of God. In this way, the Epistles of John become intelligible as broadsides in a critical engagement between the forces of light and darkness. In addition to his superb textual analysis of the letters, Raymond Brown has brought to life the community in which these works were formed and shaped. We are forcefully reminded that the Gospel and the Epistles were addressed to very real people living in the first century a.d., people with religious problems not unlike our own. In all respects, The Epistles of John stands out as a model of biblical scholarship and study.

scholarly journals Desiderata for Controlled Medical Vocabularies in the Twenty-First Century

1998 ◽  
Vol 37 (04/05) ◽  
pp. 394-403 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. J. Cimino
Keyword(s):  
Medical Informatics ◽  
First Century ◽  
Medical Informatics Applications ◽  
Formal Definitions ◽  
The Common ◽  
Twenty First Century ◽  
Multiple Granularities ◽  
Do So

AbstractBuilders of medical informatics applications need controlled medical vocabularies to support their applications and it is to their advantage to use available standards. In order to do so, however, these standards need to address the requirements of their intended users. Overthe past decade, medical informatics researchers have begun to articulate some of these requirements. This paper brings together some of the common themes which have been described, including: vocabulary content, concept orientation, concept permanence, nonsemantic concept identifiers, polyhierarchy, formal definitions, rejection of “not elsewhere classified” terms, multiple granularities, mUltiple consistent views, context representation, graceful evolution, and recognized redundancy. Standards developers are beginning to recognize and address these desiderata and adapt their offerings to meet them.

scholarly journals QUEER CRITICISM AS A POST-MODERNIST APPROACH

2015 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 132
Author(s):  
Hamdi Hameed Yousif
Keyword(s):  
Literary Criticism ◽  
Literary Work ◽  
First Century ◽  
Critical Approach ◽  
The Social ◽  
Late Twentieth ◽  
The Common ◽  
Characteristic Features ◽  
The One ◽  
Late Twentieth Century

One of the post-modernist approaches to literary criticism is the queer criticism which has not been evaluated properly. Queer criticism can refer to any piece of literary criticism that interprets a text from a non-straight perspective. Therefore, it includes both lesbian and gay criticism. The aim of this paper, therefore, is to trace the social and political reasons behind the emergence of Queer criticism in the late twentieth century till it acquired momentum in the twenty-first century. After trying to define the terms related to the Queer criticism, the paper tries to examine the poetics of queer (gay and lesbian) literary works and to point out the main characteristic features of this critical approach by identifying the criteria and the textual evidence by which a literary work is labeled queer. It, also tries to shed light on the common features between queer criticism and feminism, on the one hand, and queer criticism and the deconstructuralist approach on the other hand. The final section of the study is a critique which points out the negative aspects of this approach.

scholarly journals The Common Good in an Age of Moral Hyperpluralism: A Catholic Bioethical Perspective

2013 ◽  
Vol 44 (2) ◽  
pp. 345
Author(s):  
John Kleinsman
Keyword(s):  
Common Good ◽  
Individual Autonomy ◽  
Moral Good ◽  
The Common Good ◽  
Self Interest ◽  
The Gift ◽  
Innovative Work ◽  
The Common ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Contemporary Account

This article will argue that the notion of the common good is imperilled by a particular contemporary account of the moral good; one which, because of its (somewhat narrow) emphasis on the individual, readily lends itself to a state of 'moral hyperpluralism' in which 'the good' is primarily defined in terms of the promotion and protection of self-interest. At the same time, it will be argued that any quest to recover the notion of the common good cannot be achieved by either returning to, or holding onto, a more traditional account of morality. It will also be proposed that, as part of the quest to recover the common good, close attention needs to be paid to how the term is understood. The tension between individual autonomy and the welfare of society, and the differing ways in which this tension is resolved within different moral paradigms, will emerge as central to any discussion about the ongoing place of the common good in contemporary legal and moral debates. Finally, it is suggested that a solid basis for articulating a robust account of the common good may be found in the foundational and innovative work being done by thinkers of the gift to establish an alternative account of morality. 

scholarly journals Soviet Colonial Modernity and the Everyday in Twenty-First Century Latvian Literature

2020 ◽  
Vol 24 (2) ◽  
pp. 408-422
Author(s):  
Benedikts Kalnačs
Keyword(s):  
World Literature ◽  
First Century ◽  
Contemporary Fiction ◽  
History And Memory ◽  
Colonial Modernity ◽  
Everyday Practices ◽  
The Everyday ◽  
Socialist Realist ◽  
The Common ◽  
The Baltic

This paper intends to discuss the case of Latvia in comparison with other European postcolonial situations and to trace the problems which determine the complexity of self-consciousness of the inhabitants of the country from postcolonial and post-Soviet perspective. The focus of this investigation is on the series of novels which deal with twentieth-century history and memory in Latvia. Due to the fact that the chosen texts attempt an evaluation of the Soviet past, an attention is paid to those aspects of representation of the everyday which considerably distinguish contemporary fiction from literary works created during the period of socialist realist dominance. The importance of history and of different everyday practices in forming specific features of national identity is also seen in the context of the attempts of contemporary authors to discover and define themselves as part of today’s global community as they try to position themselves within world literature. In this perspective, the contemporary as well as the historical experience of the Baltic nations testifies to the common roots of European society helping to build bridges between different ethnic and social groups and their members.

The Letter of Recommendation as Strange Work

PMLA ◽  
2012 ◽  
Vol 127 (4) ◽  
pp. 954-962
Author(s):  
Margaret Ferguson
Keyword(s):  
The Other ◽  
Free Lunch ◽  
Other Hand ◽  
The Gift ◽  
English Major ◽  
The Common ◽  
The One ◽  
Gift Certificate ◽  
Time And Energy ◽  
Made In

On the one hand, the gift presents itself as a radical Other of the commodity—and therefore also of work, insofar as the latter is understood as an investment of time and energy made in the expectation of wages or profit. On the other hand, the idea of the gift seems constantly to be drawn back under the horizon of rational exchange, and to be thus endlessly re-revealed as a secret ally of both work and the Work.—Scott Cutler Shershow, The Work and the GiftI have put together all these details to convince you that this recommendation of mine is something out of the common.Quae ego omnia collegi, ut intellegeres non vulgarem esse commendationem hanc meam.—Cicero, Epistulae ad familiares, book 13LAST FALL I FOUND IN MY OFFICE MAILBOX AN ENVELOPE FROM A SOPHOMORE ENGLISH MAJOR WHO HAD ASKED ME DURING THE SUMMER for a last-minute letter of recommendation for a scholarship competition. The envelope contained a handwritten thank-you note—and a gift certificate for a local restaurant. I e-mailed the student to thank her and to tell her that I couldn't accept the gift certificate since the letter I had written for her was part of my job as a teacher. She insisted; I insisted. She said that several teachers had turned her down before I agreed (from a hotel in Germany) to write for her. I felt rueful, as well as grateful to her for the token of gratitude that I couldn't accept. Eventually she won the debate: I accepted the printed piece of paper and took my daughters out to a free lunch.

The Paradox of the Easy Yoke: A Survey of χρηστός in Greek Literature and the Interpretational Implications for Matthew 11:30

2019 ◽  
Vol 131 (1) ◽  
pp. 9-19
Author(s):  
Clark Bates
Keyword(s):  
New Testament ◽  
Old Testament ◽  
First Century ◽  
Greek Literature ◽  
Word Study ◽  
Greco Roman ◽  
Roman Literature ◽  
The New Testament ◽  
The Common ◽  
Apostolic Fathers

Matthew 11:30 could easily be considered one of the most recognizable passages of the New Testament. Many find comfort and fortitude in the words of Jesus, and warm to the idea that his ‘yoke’; is ‘easy’ and ‘burden’, ‘light’. However recognized and familiar this passage may be, it has not gone unnoticed throughout scholarship as a persistent word study in need of incessant explanation. While copious amounts of ink have been spilt discussing the nature of the ‘yoke’ in Matthew 11:30, it is the position of this article that the author of Matthew, had no intention of creating such a mystery. Rather, that the emphasis is to be found in the nature of the yoke itself and the attributive use of χρηστός in Greco-Roman literature, including that of the Greek Old Testament, and the writings of the first-century Christians. This article seeks to demonstrate that the use of χρηστός in the Matthean Gospel does not mean ‘easy’ by English standards, nor was this what the audience of this Gospel would have taken it to mean, given the common use of the term. This is accomplished through an engagement of the text and message of Matthew, followed by an examination of the word’s use in Classical Greek compositions and the Apostolic Fathers, as well as its use in the LXX and the New Testament.

Age 55 or Better

2011 ◽  
Vol 37 (6) ◽  
pp. 952-974 ◽  
Author(s):  
Judith Ann Trolander
Keyword(s):  
City Planning ◽  
Physical Planning ◽  
First Century ◽  
Common Interest ◽  
Golf Course ◽  
Gated Community ◽  
Social Planning ◽  
Adult Age ◽  
The Common ◽  
Planning Concepts

Active adult, age-restricted communities are significant to urban history and city planning. As communities that ban the permanent residence of children under the age of nineteen with senior zoning overlays, they are unique experiments in social planning. While they do not originate the concept of the common interest community with its shared amenities, the residential golf course community, or the gated community, Sun Cities and Leisure Worlds do a lot to popularize those physical planning concepts. The first age-restricted community, Youngtown, AZ, opened in 1954. Inspired by amenity-rich trailer courts in Florida, Del Webb added the “active adult” element when he opened Sun City, AZ, in 1960. Two years later, Ross Cortese opened the first of his gated Leisure Worlds. By the twenty-first century, these “lifestyle” communities had proliferated and had expanded their appeal to around 18 percent of retirees, along with influencing the design of intergenerational communities.

Anti-Imperial Rhetoric in the New Testament

2011 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 9-52 ◽  
Author(s):  
Judy Diehl
Keyword(s):  
Roman Empire ◽  
New Testament ◽  
First Century ◽  
Christian Communities ◽  
Biblical Scholarship ◽  
Interpretive Methods ◽  
The New Testament ◽  
The Common ◽  
Book Of Acts ◽  
Common Era

The first of a series of three articles, this essay introduces current scholarship concerned with the use of anti-imperial rhetoric in the New Testament Gospels and the book of Acts. In the first century of the Common Era, if the powerful Roman Emperor was considered a god, what did that mean for the earliest Christians who committed loyalty to ‘another’ God? Was it necessary for the NT authors to employ subversive language, words and symbols, to conceal their true meanings from the imperial authorities in their communications to the first Christian communities? The answers to such key questions can give us a clearer picture of the culture, society and setting in which the NT was written. The purpose of this complex study is to observe how current biblical scholarship views anti-imperial rhetoric and anti-emperor implications found in the NT, assuming such rhetoric exists at all. This initial article reviews recent scholarship with respect to the background of the Roman Empire, current interpretive methods and research concerning anti-imperial rhetoric found in the NT Gospels and Acts.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document