scholarly journals Intercultural musical dialogue in St John Passion by Sofia Gubaidulina

Author(s):  
Magdalena Stochniol

Sofia Gubaidulina is one of the most important composers living today. Among her many works acknowledged and awarded prizes on the international forum, the diptych St John Passion and St John Easter [The Resurrection of Christ according to St John], the opus magnum of that outstanding Russian composer, occupies a special place. This work focuses the most important features of her music, such as a profound theological message based on a compilation of fragments from the Old Testament, Gospels and the Apocalypse of St John, as well as her musical rootedness in the cultural tradition of the churches of both East and West. Gubaidulina adapts the achievements of the artistic avant-garde in new and original ways, while at the same time she is an ardent champion of traditional universal values grounded in the message of the Bible and Christian cultural tradition. This paper presents St John Passion by Sofia Gubaidulina in the context of its theological and intercultural dialogue, as well as attempting to characterise the phenomenon represented by this composer, who raises anew reflection on the fate of humankind in the context of existential questions, while remaining faithful to the idea of high art, exquisite and open to various understandings of the idea of beauty.

2016 ◽  
Vol 15 (2) ◽  
pp. 143-202 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nur Masalha

The Concept of Palestine is deeply rooted in the collective consciousness of the indigenous people of Palestine and the multicultural ancient past. The name Palestine is the most commonly used from the Late Bronze Age (from 1300 BCE) onwards. The name Palestine is evident in countless histories, inscriptions, maps and coins from antiquity, medieval and modern Palestine. From the Late Bronze Age onwards the names used for the region, such as Djahi, Retenu and Cana'an, all gave way to the name Palestine. Throughout Classical Antiquity the name Palestine remained the most common and during the Roman, Byzantine and Islamic periods the concept and political geography of Palestine acquired official administrative status. This article sets out to explain the historical origins of the concept of Palestine and the evolving political geography of the country. It will seek to demonstrate how the name ‘Palestine’ (rather than the term ‘Cana'an’) was most commonly and formally used in ancient history. It argues that the legend of the ‘Israelites’ conquest of Cana'an’ and other master narratives of the Bible evolved across many centuries; they are myth-narratives, not evidence-based accurate history. It further argues that academic and school history curricula should be based on historical facts/empirical evidence/archaeological discoveries – not on master narratives or Old Testament sacred-history and religio-ideological constructs.


Author(s):  
Sara Moslener

For evangelical adolescents living in the United States, the material world of commerce and sexuality is fraught with danger. Contemporary movements urge young people to embrace sexual purity and abstinence before marriage and eschew the secular pressures of modern life. And yet, the sacred text that is used to authorize these teachings betrays evangelicals’ long-standing ability to embrace the material world for spiritual purposes. Bibles marketed to teenage girls, including those produced by and for sexual purity campaigns, make use of prevailing trends in bible marketing. By packaging the message of sexual purity and traditional gender roles into a sleek modern day apparatus, American evangelicals present female sexual restraint as the avant-garde of contemporary, evangelical orthodoxy.


Author(s):  
Scott Mandelbrote

Scepticism and loyalty represent the poles of van Dale’s career. Two contexts have been mentioned as relevant here: the seventeenth-century attack on magic and superstition, and the circles of friendship that created a contemporary Republic of Letters. This chapter evaluates both contexts, as well as others that may throw light on his relatively neglected attitude to the text of the Bible. It brings into focus two important intellectual episodes: his treatment of the account of the Witch of Endor (1 Samuel 28:3–25), and his engagement with Hellenistic sources relating to the text of the Old Testament, especially to the miraculous composition of the Septuagint. These issues brought van Dale to ask questions about God’s Word. The chapter explores the limits of his scepticism, the extent of his scholarship, and the role of friendship and isolation in his development. Finally, it draws attention to his place in contemporary Mennonite debates.


Author(s):  
Jetze Touber

This book investigates the biblical criticism of Spinoza from the perspective of the Dutch Reformed society in which the philosopher lived and worked. It focusses on philological investigation of the Bible: its words, its language, and the historical context in which it originated. The book charts contested issues of biblical philology in mainstream Dutch Calvinism, to determine whether Spinoza’s work on the Bible had any bearing on the Reformed understanding of the way society should engage with Scripture. Spinoza has received massive attention, both inside and outside academia. His unconventional interpretation of the Old Testament passages has been examined repeatedly over the decades. So has that of fellow ‘radicals’ (rationalists, radicals, deists, libertines, enthusiasts), against the backdrop of a society that is assumed to have been hostile, overwhelmed, static, and uniform. This book inverts this perspective and looks at how the Dutch Republic digested biblical philology and biblical criticism, including that of Spinoza. It takes into account the highly neglected area of the Reformed ministry and theology of the Dutch Golden Age. The result is that Dutch ecclesiastical history, up until now the preserve of the partisan scholarship of confessionalized church historians, is brought into dialogue with Early Modern intellectual currents. This book concludes that Spinoza, rather than simply pushing biblical scholarship in the direction of modernity, acted in an indirect way upon ongoing debates in Dutch society, shifting trends in those debates, but not always in the same direction, and not always equally profoundly, at all times, on all levels.


2018 ◽  
Vol 52 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
David T. Adamo

Most of the time, women’s names are not mentioned, words are not put in their mouths or they are not allowed to say a word, and their achievements are behind the scene in the narratives. Passages that mention the presence and contribution of African women in the Bible are especially neglected, perhaps because there are few African women biblical scholars and also deep prejudices against women. References to the African wife of Moses (Numbers 12) are so scanty in the Bible that very few critical biblical scholars noticed them. The purpose of this article is to discuss critically the narrative of the Cushite woman whom Moses married and her marginalisation by the author of the story in Numbers 12:1-10. The narrator of the text did not only refuse to give her a name, there is no single word put in her mouth despite the dominant and significant role her presence played in the narrative. Why is she silent and what does her silence mean? The answers to these questions are discussed in this article.


1997 ◽  
Vol 50 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-38 ◽  
Author(s):  
Iain Provan

It is well known that the seeds from which the modern discipline of OT theology grew are already found in 17th and 18th century discussion of the relationship between Bible and Church, which tended to drive a wedge between the two, regarding canon in historical rather than theological terms; stressing the difference between what is transient and particular in the Bible and what is universal and of abiding significance; and placing the task of deciding which is which upon the shoulders of the individual reader rather than upon the church. Free investigation of the Bible, unfettered by church tradition and theology, was to be the way ahead. OT theology finds its roots more particularly in the 18th century discussion of the nature of and the relationship between Biblical Theology and Dogmatic Theology, and in particular in Gabler's classic theoreticalstatementof their nature and relationship. The first book which may strictly be called an OT theology appeared in 1796: an historical discussion of the ideas to be found in the OT, with an emphasis on their probable origin and the stages through which Hebrew religious thought had passed, compared and contrasted with the beliefs of other ancient peoples, and evaluated from the point of view of rationalistic religion. Here we find the unreserved acceptance of Gabler's principle that OT theology must in the first instance be a descriptive and historical discipline, freed from dogmatic constraints and resistant to the premature merging of OT and NT — a principle which in the succeeding century was accepted by writers across the whole theological spectrum, including those of orthodox and conservative inclination.


The Library ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 22 (3) ◽  
pp. 344-375
Author(s):  
Alexander Soetaert ◽  
Heleen Wyffels

Abstract The career of the Catholic Englishman Laurence Kellam is often reduced to his most impressive edition, the Old Testament of the Douay-Rheims Bible (1609–1610), an English Catholic Bible translation edited by the English College of Douai. Yet, there has been scarce attention for the remaining 190 editions, printed in English, as well as in Latin, French and Dutch, that bear a Kellam imprint. The discovery of another fifty editions that should be ascribed to the Kellam press demands a reappraisal of its activities and significance. By analysing both printed and archival sources, this article intends to fit the Bible edition of 1609–1610, and English Catholic printing on the continent more generally, into the wider perspective of three generations of publishing activities and family history, highlighting the increasingly tight connections between several generations of the Kellam family and the authors, institutions, and fellow-publishers of their host society.


2021 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jhon Leonardo Presley Purba ◽  
Robinson Rimun

Abstract: Hermeneutics is the exegetical method used by theologians to interpret the Bible according to its views and purposes. This research is a qualitative descriptive study to study the hermeneutic interpretation method of the Output event as a form of change. The Exodus events are important in the Bible, especially the Old Testament because God freed His people from the exploitation and oppression of the Egyptians. Theologians use the Israelite exodus from Egypt as the main hermeneutic or interpretive reference for the purpose of claiming and claiming that the exodus event is the basis for contemporary freedom from slavery, oppression or poverty. Through the spirit of exodus events and events, theologians develop hermeneutic methods to interpret output events according to their views and goals. Hermeneutic interpretation method uses an approach; postmodern, reader-centered method, text-centered method, ideological criticism approach, and critical criticism. Abstrak: Hermeneutika pembebasan adalah metode penafsiran yang digunakan oleh para teolog pembebasan untuk menafsirkan Alkitab menurut pandangan dan tujuan pembebasan. Penelitian ini adalah penelitian deskriptif kualitatif untuk melakukan kajian metode tafsir hermeneutik pembebasan terhadap peristiwa Keluaran sebagai suatu bentuk pembebasan. Peristiwa Exodus adalah peristiwa penting dalam Alkitab, terutama Perjanjian Lama karena Tuhan membebaskan umat-Nya dari eksploitasi dan penindasan orang Mesir. Para teolog pembebasan menggunakan eksodus bangsa Israel dari Mesir sebagai rujukan utama penafsiran atau hermeneutik untuk tujuan semangat pembebasan dan mengklaim bahwa peristiwa eksodus adalah dasar untuk kebebasan dari perbudakan, penindasan atau kemiskinan di masa kini. Melalui semangat pembebasan dan peristiwa eksodus, para teolog pembebasan mengembangkan metode hermeneutik untuk menafsirkan peristiwa keluaran sesuai dengan pandangan dan tujuan pembebasan. Metode tafsir hermeneutik pembebasan menggunakan pendekatan; postmodern, metode berpusat pada pembaca, metode berpusat pada teks, pendekatan kritik ideologis, dan pendekatan kritik pembebasan.


Author(s):  
Неля Магомедовна Шишхова ◽  
Кирилл Николаевич Анкудинов

Анализируется поэзия А. Блока, ее взаимосвязь с реалистическими, семантическими и перфомативными аспектами творчества русских постмодернистов. Тексты рассматриваются как способ мотивирования поэтических знаков в постмодернистской традиции. Они позволяют контекстуализировать модели выразительности в авангардистской поэзии и выделить основные парадигмы в ее трактовке, адаптировать художественные приемы и поиски нового языка. Отдельное вимание уделяется особенностям поэтического высказывания и ее взаимодействию с пространством стиха. Интерес акцентируется на диалектике разрушительных и созидательных сил в деконструктивизме наследия Вс. Некрасова, Д. Пригова, Т. Кибирова и др. Обсуждается актуальная проблема для теории современной поэзии: что стало с постмодерном как языком описания эпохи в XXI столетии. Особое внимание уделяется преемственности новых концепций с предыдущей культурной традицией в негативной и позитивной версиях. Тема особенно актуализируется благодаря выраженному стремлению представить тексты А.Блока и постмодернистской поэзии как культурное выражение новейшего времени. An analysis is made of the poetry of A. Blok, its relationship with the realistic, semantic and performance aspects of the work of Russian postmodernists. Texts are explored as a way to motivate poetic signs in the postmodern tradition. They make it possible to contextualize models of expressiveness in avant-garde poetry and highlight the main paradigms in its interpretation, adapt artistic techniques and searches for a new language. An attention is paid to the peculiarities of the poetic expression and its interaction with the space of the verse. The interest is focused on the dialectic of destructive and creative forces in the deconstruction of the legacy of Vs. Nekrasov, D. Prigov, T. Kibirov, etc. The paper discusses the actual problem for the theory of modern poetry: what has become with the postmodern as the language of describing the era in the 21st century. Particular attention is paid to the continuity of new concepts with the previous cultural tradition in negative and positive versions. The theme is especially actualized due to the expressed desire to present the texts of A. Blok and postmodern poetry as a cultural expression of modern times.


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