REREADING TEXTS OF MUSIC AND DANCE IN THE HEBREW BIBLE: THE SPIRITUALITY OF MUSIC AND DANCE IN ZIMBABWE

2017 ◽  
Vol 25 (1) ◽  
pp. 72-98
Author(s):  
Temba T. Rugwiji
Keyword(s):  
Hebrew Bible ◽  
Land Reform ◽  
Critical Role ◽  
Musical Instruments ◽  
World Music ◽  
Human Existence ◽  
Biblical Text ◽  
Ancient Israel ◽  
Formed Part ◽  
The Church

The Hebrew Bible depicts that music and dance formed part of worship and reverence of Yahweh in which various musical instruments were played during ancient biblical times. In the modern post-biblical world, music and dance characterise every context of human existence either in moments of love, joy, celebration, victory, sorrow or reverence. In Zimbabwe, music — which is usually accompanied by dance — serves various purposes such as solidarity towards or remonstration against the land reform, despondency against corruption, celebration, giving hope to the sick, worship as in the church or appeasing the dead by those who are culturally-entrenched. Two fundamental questions need to be answered in this article: 1) What was the significance of music and dance in ancient Israel? 2) What is the significance of music and dance in Zimbabwe? In response to the above questions, this essay engages into dialogue the following three contestations. First, texts of music, musical instruments and dance in the Hebrew Bible are discussed in view of their spiritual significance in ancient Israel. Second, this study analyses music and dance from a faith perspective because it appears for the majority of Gospel musicians the biblical text plays a critical role in composing their songs. Third, this article examines music and dance in view of the spirituality which derives from various genres by Zimbabwean musicians in general. In its entirety, this article attempts to show that the Zimbabwean society draws some spirituality from music and dance when devastated by political, cultural or socio-economic crises.

Women in Ancient Israel and the Hebrew Bible

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Susan Ackerman
Keyword(s):  
Hebrew Bible ◽  
Religious Practice ◽  
Biblical Text ◽  
Royal Court ◽  
Archaeological Data ◽  
The Bible ◽  
Kinship System ◽  
Ancient Israel ◽  
Women's Lives ◽  
Women's Culture

The Hebrew Bible is a book that was primarily written by men, for men, and about men, and thus the biblical text is not particularly forthcoming when it comes to the lives and experiences of women. Other evidence from ancient Israel—the society in which the Hebrew Bible was generated—is also often of little use. Nevertheless, scholars have been able to combine a careful reading of the biblical text with anthropological and archaeological data, and with comparative evidence from the larger biblical world, to reconstruct certain features of ancient Israelite women’s culture. These features include fairly comprehensive pictures of women’s lives as wives and childbearers within Israel’s patrilineal and patrilocal kinship system and of women’s work within the economy of a typical Israelite household. Because the Bible is deeply concerned with religious matters, many aspects of women’s religious culture can also be delineated, even though the Bible’s overwhelmingly male focus means that specific details concerning women’s religious practice must be painstakingly teased out of the biblical text. The Bible’s tendency to focus on the elite classes of ancient Israelite society likewise means that it is possible to sketch a reasonable portrait of the experiences of elite women, especially the women of the royal court, although, again, this information must often be teased out of accounts whose primary interest is elite men.

scholarly journals Die een wat sal kom: 'Messiaanse tekste' in die Ou Testament en ander Joodse geskrifte

2010 ◽  
Vol 31 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Alphonso Groenewald
Keyword(s):  
New Testament ◽  
Old Testament ◽  
Hebrew Bible ◽  
Jesus Christ ◽  
Ancient Israel ◽  
The New Testament ◽  
Long Time ◽  
To Come ◽  
The One ◽  
The Church

The one who is to come: �Messianic texts� in the Old Testament and other Jewish writingsAccording to the New-Testament authors, the life of Jesus, as Christ, should be seen in light of the Old-Testament texts. It seems that all the messianic texts in the Old Testament had been fulfilled in Jesus. The Messiah, who had been expected for a long time, was born in Bethlehem. This interpretation by the New-Testament authors has caused the church and Christians throughout the centuries to read the Old Testament as a prophecy, which is fulfilled in Jesus Christ. This interpretation has caused impatience with Jews, who did not accept Jesus of Nazareth as the Messiah. This article addresses the question: How did ancient Israel understand the concept �messiah�? It seems that the term is much more complex than a single meaning would allow the reader to believe. This article thus focuses on the theological functioning of the term within the Hebrew Bible as well as in other Jewish writings.

Rereading Narratives of Safety and Security in Ancient Israel from a Pastoral Perspective

2018 ◽  
Vol 27 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Temba T. Rugwiji
Keyword(s):  
Hebrew Bible ◽  
Moral Values ◽  
Biblical Text ◽  
Post Colonial ◽  
Ancient Israel ◽  
Self Defence ◽  
Positive Light

The present study investigates the concept of safety and security in the Hebrew Bible in order to demonstrate that our concern for self-defence in the modern post-biblical world was also a prerogative among biblical societies. Numerous inferences to self-defence in the Hebrew Bible show that ancient Israelite societies did not take preparedness against enemy attack lightly. In this essay, lessons on safety and security drawn from ancient Israelite societies will be appropriated in the Zimbabwean context. This appropriation is necessary because safety and security was critical in ancient Israel as it is in our post-colonial Zimbabwean society. Constructive themes from the Hebrew Bible will be appropriated as lessons to be learnt from the narratives about ancient Semitic peoples who are purported to have lived in a “real” physical, yet historical, space. Admittedly, the biblical text depicts that bad/negative things happened in ancient Israel. However, in this study self-defence is explored in a positive light in order to sensitise modern societies to the importance of preparedness against potential aggressors. In addition, the study attempts to encourage the readership to conceptualise ideals of moral values and high ethical integrity which the biblical text seeks to promote. Having said that, some pastoral perspectives on safety and security, as well as self-defence, are also explored.

Sacred Architecture: The Numerical Dimensions of Biblical Poems

2012 ◽  
Vol 62 (2) ◽  
pp. 189-197
Author(s):  
Israel Knohl
Keyword(s):  
Hebrew Bible ◽  
Hellenistic Period ◽  
Biblical Text ◽  
Special Significance ◽  
Sacred Architecture ◽  
Ancient Israel ◽  
Divine Name ◽  
God's Image ◽  
Secret Knowledge

Abstract I have recently studied the numerical architecture of several biblical poems and found sophisticated use of the numerical structures of words and cola. It is possible that some of these numerical structures are based on numerical values of the letters of the names of God. If this is indeed the correct explanation of these numerical structures, it should be perceived through wider cultural spectrum: The phenomenon of symbolizing divine names with numerical values is known in the Mesopotamian world. The development of Alphabetic script opened new possibilities for representation of divine name by numbers. Now, God might be represented by the numerical values of the letters of his names. This method has special significance in a society that forbids representing God’s image with a statue. The fact that the representation of the numerical values of letters is not attested in mundane use in Ancient Israel before the Hellenistic period, may point to the possibility that this method was first a sacred secret knowledge. The numerical structures are best demonstrated in the Masoretic version of the Hebrew Bible. This fact may bear a significant impact upon biblical text criticism.

On Agricultural Imagery in Biblical Descriptions of Catastrophes

2012 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 2-14
Author(s):  
Nili Samet
Keyword(s):  
Hebrew Bible ◽  
Mass Killing ◽  
Near Eastern ◽  
Biblical Literature ◽  
Ancient Israel

This article examines the use of agricultural imagery in biblical literature to embody the destructive force of war and other mass catastrophes. Activities such as vintage, harvest, threshing, and wine-pressing serve as metaphors for the actions of slaughtering, demolition and mass killing. The paper discusses the Ancient Near Eastern origins of the imagery under discussion, and presents the relevant examples from the Hebrew Bible, tracing the development of this absorbing metaphor, and analyzing the different meanings attached to it in different contexts. It shows that the use of destructive agricultural imagery first emerges in ancient Israel as an instance of popular phraseology. In turn, the imagery is employed as a common prophetic motif. The prophetic books examined demonstrate how each prophet appropriates earlier uses of the imagery in prophetic discourse and adapts the agricultural metaphors to suit specific rhetorical needs.

Samson in Reception History

2020 ◽  
pp. 465-482
Author(s):  
Kelly J. Murphy
Keyword(s):  
Hebrew Bible ◽  
Reception History ◽  
Biblical Text ◽  
King David ◽  
The Many

As one of the most famous figures from the Historical Books of the Hebrew Bible, rivaled perhaps only by King David, the reception histories of Samson and the women of Judges 13–16 are extensive. The major events in the narrative found in Judges 13–16 involve not only Samson but also the women of the story: an unnamed mother, an unnamed Philistine wife, an unnamed prostitute, and, perhaps most illustrious of all, the named Delilah. This essay briefly outlines some of the major questions and concerns voiced by the many later readers and interpreters of Samson, revealing how the story of Samson, both in and outside the biblical text, is also a story about the women who appear in this account.

Clio and Canons: in Search of a Cultural Poetics of the Hebrew Bible

1997 ◽  
Vol 5 (4) ◽  
pp. 300-323 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert P. Carroll
Keyword(s):  
Hebrew Bible ◽  
Biblical Studies ◽  
New Historicism ◽  
The Bible ◽  
Ancient Israel ◽  
Cultural Poetics ◽  
Leading Edges

AbstractThe enterprise of writing "histories" of "ancient Israel" in which biblical historiography is reproduced by old credulists or critiqued by new nihilists represents one of the leading edges of contemporary biblical studies in relation to the Hebrew Bible. This quest for a cultural poetics or cultural materialist accounts of the Bible is virtually equivalent to a New Historicism in the discipline. In this article analyses of three topics from current debates in biblical studies (historiography of "ancient Israel", the empty land topos, canons and context) are used to provide insights into how new historicist approaches to contextualizing literature may contribute to these current debates about the Bible.

F. D. Maurice and the Contemporary Religious World

1966 ◽  
Vol 3 ◽  
pp. 69-90
Author(s):  
Torben Christensen
Keyword(s):  
Catholic Church ◽  
Church Of England ◽  
Human Existence ◽  
Great Work ◽  
Contemporary World ◽  
Kingdom Of Christ ◽  
The Church ◽  
Established Church ◽  
The Catholic Church

In 1838 Frederick Denison Maurice introduced himself to the English public through his great work, The Kingdom of Christ; or, Hints on the Principles, Ordinances, and Constitution of the Catholic Church. In this book he attempted to show that all men’s searchings, yearnings, and longings would be satisfied in the Church of England, by its ordinances, worship, and doctrinal standards. The Established Church represented the solution to all the enigmas of human existence.In many ways The Kingdom of Christ was a difficult book to master. To all appearances there was an indistinctness in the argument and an obscurity of language. But it had the touch of originality. Above all, whether Maurice could be clearly understood or not, it was evident that he spoke with passion and authority, as a man entrusted with a message from God to the contemporary world. He was convinced that he had been given the task to call back to the truth the religious world, which had not grasped it.

scholarly journals TEOLOGIA W SŁUŻBIE WIARY – REFLEKSJA NAD LEKTURĄ KATECHEZY BENEDYKTA XVI „RADOŚĆ WIARY”

2018 ◽  
Vol 55 (2) ◽  
pp. 147
Author(s):  
Jerzy Lewandowski
Keyword(s):  
Holy Spirit ◽  
Moral Relativism ◽  
Human Existence ◽  
Pope Benedict Xvi ◽  
Benedict Xvi ◽  
Assurance Of Salvation ◽  
The Church

In a contemporary, secularized society, faith is undervalued and marginalized.How can we find the “joy of faith” nowadays? A deepening response to this questionis found in “Joy of Faith,” which is a type of catechesis by Pope Benedict XVI connected to the Year of faith. A re-reading of Pope’s thought gives a specialopportunity to realize the apparent truth that modern theology serves to awakenthe “joy of faith.” Turning this thought aside: believers need contemporary theologyso that their faith can be deepened, joyful and courageous in the discourse with“apostles” of religious indifference and moral relativism. Reading of papal catechesisreveals that faith gives a renewed glimpse into human existence, enables usto discover in God the source of truth, introduces in the experience of the action ofthe Holy Spirit and of the Church, and finally gives assurance of salvation, whichfor the Christian is the foundation of the ultimate (eschatological) joy.

scholarly journals Archaeological excavations in St Giles' Cathedral Edinburgh, 1981-93

2006 ◽  
Vol 22 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mark Collard ◽  
John Lawson ◽  
Nicholas Holmes ◽  
Derek Hall ◽  
George Haggarty ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Early Church ◽  
Limited Evidence ◽  
The South ◽  
14Th Century ◽  
15Th Century ◽  
12Th Century ◽  
East End ◽  
Formed Part ◽  
The Church

The report describes the results of excavations in 1981, ahead of development within the South Choir Aisle of St Giles' Cathedral, and subsequent archaeological investigations within the kirk in the 1980s and 1990s. Three main phases of activity from the 12th to the mid-16th centuries were identified, with only limited evidence for the post-Reformation period. Fragmentary evidence of earlier structural remains was recorded below extensive landscaping of the natural steep slope, in the form of a substantial clay platform constructed for the 12th-century church. The remains of a substantial ditch in the upper surface of this platform are identified as the boundary ditch of the early ecclesiastical enclosure. A total of 113 in situ burials were excavated; the earliest of these formed part of the external graveyard around the early church. In the late 14th century the church was extended to the south and east over this graveyard, and further burials and structural evidence relating to the development of the kirk until the 16th century were excavated, including evidence for substantive reconstruction of the east end of the church in the mid-15th century. Evidence for medieval slat-bottomed coffins of pine and spruce was recovered, and two iron objects, which may be ferrules from pilgrims' staffs or batons, were found in 13th/14th-century burials.

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