The lame man at the pool of Bethesda: Christological and doxological significance of characterisation in John 5

2021 ◽  
Vol 55 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Nathan Hahn ◽  
Ernest Van Eck
Keyword(s):  
Point Of View ◽  
Religious Leaders ◽  
Historical Criticism ◽  
Minor Characters ◽  
Theological Perspective ◽  
God The Father ◽  
A Minor ◽  
Significant Attention ◽  
Minor Character ◽  
God's Work

In any research of the biblical themes in Scriptures, the exegete must exercise discipline in strictly adhering to an exegetical process wherein the text is permitted to speak for itself in the context of the passage. This article therefore explored the literary traits and analysed characterisations in the story of the lame man at the pool of Bethesda as portrayed in John 5 through a ‘narratological and exegetical’ approach, considering literary, social, cultural and historical criticism with significant attention given to the text of the author or narrator. It is very important to know the author’s theological viewpoint as seen in the characterisation of an anonymous character in the related gospel narrative, because it may be easily be overlooked due to the lack of attention for a minor character. The author’s theological point of view is revealed in the characterisation of the lame man, the Jewish religious leaders, and of Jesus. Although the lame man himself is generally regarded as one of the ‘minor characters’ who appears in the gospel, the narrative of the lame man’s healing is an important part of John’s Christology and doxology, establishing Jesus as the Son whom God the Father sent to do God’s work not for his own glory, but for the glory of God the Father. An analysis is undertaken of the literary traits and various characterisations evident in the seven scenes of John 5’s account of the healing of the lame man, comparing him with other minor characters in John 4 and 9 who were healed.Contribution: In this article a narratological and exegetical approach is employed to identify the Christological and doxological significances in John 5 by exploring the literary traits of the narrative point of view and character presentation through the theological perspective of the narrator.

“Still There”: (Dis)engaging with Dickens's Minor Characters

2020 ◽  
Vol 53 (2) ◽  
pp. 193-212
Author(s):  
Kristen H. Starkowski
Keyword(s):  
Nineteenth Century ◽  
Social Life ◽  
Narrative Theory ◽  
Strong Sense ◽  
Minor Characters ◽  
A Minor ◽  
Minor Character

Abstract More can be done in minor character studies to account for the strong sense of being that emerges at the edges of the nineteenth-century novel. By pairing traditional readings of the minor character in narrative theory with sociologist Erving Goffman's writings on disengagement, this article offers a different perspective on the competition for narrative attention as we know it. For example, when disengagement is taken into account, Alex Woloch's losers in the competition for narrative attention become winners in the formulation of a fulfilling social life. Dickens's minor characters take part in central spaces while not being contained by them. Their distance from main scenes and settings, captured in passing by a gaze that has no interest in registering these elsewheres in any level of depth, has the effect of making minor characters appear strange, memorable, or other, even though their worlds are quite rich. But Dickens's minor characters define the ingenuity of counterintuition, pointing toward a suppressed energy that belies the flatness of a minor character. Drawn with care, these characters build alternative, codependent ways of surviving on the edges of the characterological field.

The Vanishing Character in Biblical Narrative: The Role of Hathach in Esther 4

2012 ◽  
Vol 62 (4) ◽  
pp. 561-571
Author(s):  
Jonathan Grossman
Keyword(s):  
Active Role ◽  
Literary Analysis ◽  
Biblical Narrative ◽  
Minor Characters ◽  
A Minor ◽  
Minor Character

Abstract Literary analysis tends to focus on major characters or minor characters as long as their active role in the narrative serves to further the plot. The contribution of minor characters is often viewed as limited to their active role in the narrative. However, sometimes the passive role of a minor character, and even the disappearance of a character from the plot, can serve a valuable literary purpose. This article outlines the nature of the Vanishing Minor Character, whose literary purpose is to disappear at a crucial moment, making room for the remaining characters. The article demonstrates this model using the character of Hathach—the Persian eunuch—who serves as an intermediary between Esther and Mordecai in Esther 4.

Introduction

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jill Hicks-Keeton
Keyword(s):  
Jewish History ◽  
Jewish People ◽  
Second Temple ◽  
Second Temple Period ◽  
A Minor ◽  
Joseph And Aseneth ◽  
Literary Phenomenon ◽  
Minor Character

The Introduction claims that the ancient romance Joseph and Aseneth moves a minor character in Genesis from obscurity to renown, weaving a new story whose main purpose was to intervene in ancient Jewish debates surrounding gentile access to Israel’s God. Aseneth’s story is a tale of the heroine’s transformation from exclusion to inclusion. It is simultaneously a transformative tale. For Second Temple-period thinkers, the epic of the Jewish people recounted in scriptural texts was a story that invited interpretation, interruption, and even intervention. Joseph and Aseneth participates in a broader literary phenomenon in Jewish antiquity wherein authors took up figures from Israel’s mythic past and crafted new stories as a means of explaining their own present and of envisioning collective futures. By incorporating a gentile woman and magnifying Aseneth’s role in Jewish history, Joseph and Aseneth changes the story. Aseneth’s ultimate inclusion makes possible the inclusion of others originally excluded.

scholarly journals THEOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVE OF NAHDLATUL ULAMA AND MUHAMMADIYYAH LEADERS IN FACING THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC

2021 ◽  
Vol 18 (1) ◽  
pp. 111-134
Author(s):  
Ahmad Munjin Nasih ◽  
Nur Faizin ◽  
Achmad Sultoni ◽  
Titis Thoriquttyas
Keyword(s):  
Descriptive Analysis ◽  
Religious Leaders ◽  
Quantitative Descriptive Analysis ◽  
Theological Perspective ◽  
Nahdlatul Ulama ◽  
Quantitative Descriptive

The study on the theological perspective of religious leaders upon the Covid-19 pandemic is essential to prevent the Covid-19 transmission. This study aims to portray the theological perspective related to the destiny (al-qada' and al-qadar) of NU and Muhammadiyah leaders in Indonesia during the Covid-19 pandemic. This study is a quantitative-descriptive analysis. The data is collected through the validated and distributed semi-open questionnaires using a google form to the 175 respondents living in Java, Sumatera, Sulawesi, and Kalimantan. This study reveals that the theological perspective of Indonesia's religious leaders upon the Covid-19 pandemic follows Ahlussunnah wal Jama'ah theology teaching on fate proposed by al-Ghazali, al-Baqilani, al-Juwaini, and other scholars who have similar views. Moreover, this study also affirms that NU and Muhammadiyah as moderate organizations in the aspect of destiny. Most NU and Muhammadiyah religious leaders have theological views stating that the Covid-19 pandemic is God's ordeal and test, while others believe it is God's torment and punishment.  

scholarly journals A Psychological Reading of J. D. Salinger’s “For Esme with Love and Squalor”

2016 ◽  
Vol 66 ◽  
pp. 45-60
Author(s):  
Morteza Habibi Nesami ◽  
Asghar Moulavi Nafchi
Keyword(s):  
Psychological Adjustment ◽  
Minority Group ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
The Other ◽  
Adult Relationships ◽  
Psychological Point ◽  
A Minor ◽  
War Stories

The 20thcentury has witnessed a plethora of war stories, but among them Salinger’s “For Esme with Love and Squalor,” a minor masterpiece as Paul Alexander calls it, stands out. It also falls among those typical Salingerian child-adult relationships that highlight the non-phony members of society with many things in common distinguishing them from the other so-called normal members of the society. In the current study, characters are studied from a psychological point of view and classified into two major groups by the researchers. The first group and the main focus of the study is the minority of society and the second group relates to the majority or commonality. The minority group includes Salinger’s heroes and protagonists who are later known as psychoneurotic. This first group feels affinity to the children who are far away from the hostility and harshness of adults’ world as, to Salinger, the concept of innocence means being away from the false standards and hypocrisy of the majority of the insensitive society. The researchers try to distinguish between these two groups from different psychological and psychoanalytic aspects. Despite the contrast between these two groups, there are some similarities in their sexual conceptions and psychological adjustment that clarify similarities in traits and responses in the form of adopting different mechanisms to adjust and remove tensions and alleviate anxiety employing the mechanisms Freud calls palliative remedies.

THE CANONICAL FUNCTION OF 2 PETER

2001 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 64-81 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert Wall
Keyword(s):  
New Testament ◽  
Biblical Theology ◽  
Historical Criticism ◽  
1 Peter ◽  
Biblical Scholarship ◽  
Modern Period ◽  
Theological Perspective ◽  
The New Testament ◽  
The Status ◽  
2 Peter

AbstractDuring the modern period, the authority of 2 Peter for Christian theological formation has been challenged by the reconstructions of historical criticism. The verdict of biblical scholarship has been largely negative: the theological conception of 2 Peter comes from a person and for a setting that does not easily cohere with the rest of the New Testament writings. The present essay seeks to rehabilitate the status of 2 Peter for use in biblical theology, independent of the historical problem it poses for the interpreter, by approaching its theological subject matter within the setting of the New Testament canon, where its theological perspective functions as complementary to and integral with 1 Peter in forming Scripture's Petrine witness to the faith.

Gravity gliding and spreading in a compressional setting: the example of the Algerian margin

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gaia Travan ◽  
Virginie Gaullier ◽  
Bruno Vendeville ◽  
Jacques Déverchère ◽  
Fadl Raad ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Seismic Reflection ◽  
Complex Salt ◽  
Western Mediterranean ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Quaternary Period ◽  
Salt Layer ◽  
Western Mediterranean Basin ◽  
Salt Structure ◽  
A Minor ◽  
Seismic Reflection Profiles

<p>The Algerian margin, located in the Western Mediterranean basin, is reactivated in compression since 8 My due to the convergence between Africa and Eurasia, and is nowadays subjected to a N45W compression of several mm/y (Jolivet et al., 1995; Noquet et Calais, 2004). While the reactivation is attested by GPS measurements and destructive seismic events, such as the earthquake of Boumerdes in 2003 (M 6.8), the visualization in the seismic data of the deep structures is made difficult by the presence of a thick Messinian salt layer. The seismic reflection profiles acquired on the Algerian margin during the “Maradja I” oceanographic survey (2003) highlighted the presence of north-verging thrusts offshore Algiers (Déverchère et al., 2005; Domzig et al., 2006), as well as the peculiar geometry of the Messinian salt layer (Lofi et al., 2011, Obone Zue Obame, 2011).</p><p>Between 2 and 4° East, the margin presents particularly complex salt structures, partly associated to the uplift of the plateau as a consequence of the crustal convergence (Déverchère et al., 2005; Domzig et al., 2006). One of the consequences of the uplift of the plateau is the dipping of the base salt horizon towards W to NNW. Moreover, from the analysis of the seismic reflection profiles, the presence of early (syn-UU) salt movement in the profiles parallel to the margin is clear, while the profiles perpendicular to the margin show compressional features mostly active during the Pliocene to Quaternary period.</p><p>From the observation of the natural example, and from the comparison with different analogue models, we conclude that offshore Algiers we find the major salt structures and minibasins formed through salt spreading, while the area offshore Boumerdès is characterized by gravity gliding due to the uplifted plateau. Although from this point of view the N-S compressional tectonics favors gravity gliding through the plateau uplift, on the other hand it influences the salt structure development direction, which present a mainly E-W development and a minor and delayed N-S one. A partial influence of the sedimentary body from Algerian rivers on the position of the major salt structures is inferred.</p>

scholarly journals Die openbaring van God – ’n retories-kritiese interpretasie van Romeine 1:18-32

2003 ◽  
Vol 37 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
E. Cornelius
Keyword(s):  
Critical Point ◽  
Specific Problem ◽  
Rhetorical Criticism ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Communicative Function ◽  
Doctoral Thesis ◽  
General Revelation ◽  
God's People ◽  
Critical Interpretation ◽  
God's Work

The revelation of God – a rhetorical-critical interpretation of Romans 1:18-32 M.A. Kruger’s 1983 doctoral thesis caused serious discussion in GKSA circles with regard to the differentiation between “general revelation” and “specific revelation”. Romans 1:18-32 seems to be a central pericope in the understanding of the revelation of God. A project of the Faculty of Theology, PU for CHE, focusing on this specific problem, gave birth to this article as a component of the interpretation of this pericope. The issue addressed in this article is how this pericope can be interpreted from a rhetorical-critical point of view. In my own interdisciplinary and interactional approach to rhetorical criticism, the purpose is to interpret the communicative function(s) of this pericope. It turns out that the letter to the Romans was addressed to those in Rome in order to convince them that the reason for their acceptance as God’s people lies in God’s work only and not in their imitation of the Jews. Romans 1:18-32 seems to be part of the opening of the letter body intended to be a warning for all people, including an example of what may happen if this warning is not taken seriously. The logic of the argument indicates that God’s wrath will come upon those who do not accept His revelation in creation.

Disturbingly (Dis)Similar

Mnemosyne ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 72 (2) ◽  
pp. 300-313
Author(s):  
Kathrin Winter
Keyword(s):  
Mirror Image ◽  
A Minor ◽  
Minor Character

AbstractIn Apocolocyntosis 13 the figure of Narcissus is not a minor character with a solely ornamental function but part of a complex play of echoes, repetitions, and similarities. Exploiting the fact that this particular freedman of Claudius was named Narcissus, Seneca turns the figure into a mirror image of Claudius and uses it to make subtle intertextual allusions. In this way, he destabilises the identities of Claudius and Narcissus to ridicule Claudius even further and expose him as a weak and cruel princeps who is unable to recognise himself.

scholarly journals The optical identification of radio sources

1959 ◽  
Vol 9 ◽  
pp. 507-513
Author(s):  
D. W. Dewhirst
Keyword(s):  
Radio Sources ◽  
Astronomy Observatory ◽  
National Geographic Society ◽  
Optical Identification ◽  
National Geographic ◽  
Extensive Search ◽  
Sky Survey ◽  
A Minor ◽  
Minor Character

Previous attempts to identify any large proportion of the discrete sources discovered at meter wavelengths have met with small success. In the investigation briefly reported here an extensive search has been made on the original plates of the 48-inch Palomar—National Geographic Society Sky Survey, using the available published radio data, but more especially the as yet unpublished results of a survey between +50 and −10 degrees declination that has been made with the interferometer of the Mullard Radio Astronomy Observatory, Cambridge. This radio survey (3C) has been carried out at 159.5 Mc/s using the aerial array of the 2C survey [1] in modified form. An account of the observation and reduction of this recent survey is given by other speakers in the Symposium. The area of sky covered by the 3C survey, and the criteria for the selection and classification of the sources, are likely to undergo small extensions and modifications before the final catalog is ready for publication, but these modifications will be of a minor character and will not alter the general conclusions of the present paper.

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