scholarly journals ‘Return to the Lord your God, for he is gracious and compassionate...’ (Jl 2:13). A prophetic perspective on reconciliation and restoration

2005 ◽  
Vol 26 (1) ◽  
pp. 308-325
Author(s):  
W J Wessels

In this article the Old Testament prophetic literature will be the focus of discussion with regard to the matter of restoring broken relationships, be it between God and humans or between humans as such. The relationship between Yahweh and his people was formally established by means of a covenant. The presentation of the prophetic material is done with a narrow focus on the issues of reconciliation and restoration. Prophets and prophetic  texts are selected with the mentioned focus in mind and presented as the results of research done on the chosen texts. It is therefore done with a real awareness of the complexity of the prophetic material and the historical embedding of prophetic material. A detailed discussion of introductory and theological issues are therefore not presented, but taken into account. What result in this paper is a focussed presentation on the mentioned topics in some of the prophetic material. Although the word reconciliation is not an Old Testament concept, it is clear that the idea of re-establishment and renewal of  the relationship between God and people was ever present. The prophets had the duty to address the reasons for damage to this covenant relationship and to warn the people of the consequences if they continue to disobey the stipulations and ethical demands of this relationship. The prophets not only served as witnesses of the efforts of Yahweh to reconcile with his people, but also as instruments to bring it about. 

Author(s):  
Monika Szetela ◽  
Malgorzata Piotrkowska Dankowska

The dominant theme in the “Song of Songs” is the relationship of love between Bridegrooms. The subject of interest is the dynamism of the relationship. The attitude and feelings expressed by love, depicted in this book of the Old Testament, don't express only a description of their beauty, but a description of expressing mutual delight of all your loved ones. Mutual learning is shaping a unique spousal bond, which as a result of the involvement of the beloved and the beloved of each event, not always easy, brings them together; and thus they can build their own language of communication. Narrative character of text is treated in its literal sense. Presented course of events highlights everything that deepens and develops relationships between characters and clearly shows what returns as the leitmotif of the story. Focusing attention on events, using visualization as a way to telling about the people and events, puts less emphasis on the lyrical parties – descriptions of the beauty of the Bride appear in the text of the “Song of Songs.”


2005 ◽  
Vol 26 (1) ◽  
pp. 263-274
Author(s):  
H F Van Rooy

The Book of Deuteronomy holds a central position in the Old Testament, and indeed in the Bible as a whole. It provides a summary of what the faith of Israel in the Old Testament is all about. It speaks about the covenant God made between himself and his people, about faithfulness to that covenant and of  the implications of breaking the covenant. This covenant had implications not only for the way the people of Israel had to live as God’s people in God’s land, but also for the relationship among the members of the covenant. This article discusses the structure of the book of Deuteronomy, and then the way in which reconciliation appears in each of the different parts. The theme of reconciliation is not dealt with explicitly in all the passages discussed, but it does form a part of the subtext of the book of Deuteronomy. The people could only experience the Lord’s blessings in the promised land after He had brought about reconciliation between Himself and them. To keep on experiencing the Lord’s blessings, they had to remain faithfull to Him, obey his commandments and live within the boundaries He prescribed.


2021 ◽  
Vol 77 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Wilhelm J. Wessels

This article addresses not only the matter of loss and grief but also hope and recovery. The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has hugely affected not only South Africans but also people globally. One of the key features of this pandemic is loss and the associated grief. To explore these topics, the author has engaged prophetic literature, more specifically the books of Isaiah and Jeremiah, which present compelling cases of loss and grief. An attempt was made to identify similarities between the experiences of the people of Judah and our current experiences of loss and grief because of the pandemic. Whilst the reality of loss and grief is validated, the positive role of prophetic words of comfort and hope is also valued.Contribution: This article offers original research in the field of biblical studies, more specifically, in the field of the Old Testament. This is in line with the scope of the article aims at relating texts from the prophetic literature to a current challenging situation of grief and loss because of the COVID-19 pandemic.


EMPIRISMA ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 26 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Limas Dodi

According to Abdulaziz Sachedina, the main argument of religious pluralism in the Qur’an based on the relationship between private belief (personal) and public projection of Islam in society. By regarding to private faith, the Qur’an being noninterventionist (for example, all forms of human authority should not be disturb the inner beliefs of individuals). While the public projection of faith, the Qur’an attitude based on the principle of coexistence. There is the willingness of the dominant race provide the freedom for people of other faiths with their own rules. Rules could shape how to run their affairs and to live side by side with the Muslims. Thus, based on the principle that the people of Indonesia are Muslim majority, it should be a mirror of a societie’s recognizion, respects and execution of religious pluralism. Abdul Aziz Sachedina called for Muslims to rediscover the moral concerns of public Islam in peace. The call for peace seemed to indicate that the existence of increasingly weakened in the religious sense of the Muslims and hence need to be reaffi rmed. Sachedina also like to emphasize that the position of peace in Islam is parallel with a variety of other doctrines, such as: prayer, fasting, pilgrimage and so on. Sachedina also tried to show the argument that the common view among religious groups is only one religion and traditions of other false and worthless. “Antipluralist” argument comes amid the reality of human religious differences. Keywords: Theology, Pluralism, Abdulaziz Sachedina


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Susilo Susanto

In the Old Testament there is a debate between two related topics, namely the mission and grace of God. Specifically seen in the Book of Jonah, this book contains several dialogues which perfectly support the motion of the story and the themes it carries. Its structure provides a contrasting picture of Yahweh and Jonah. To answer this debate, by looking at the relationship between mission and God's grace in the Book of Jonah. We can find in it Jonah's disobedience in carrying out the mission that God gave him and the rewards he experienced by God's grace to him. Likewise the Ninevites received the grace of God which the prophet of God did not want. Then the question arises what is the mission and mercy of God in universal relationships. Thus this paper seeks to elaborate on these two topics.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rifa Nirmala ◽  
Hade Afriansyah

Thus can drawing conclusions about the relationship of the school with the community is essentially a very decisive tool in fostering and developing the personal growth of students in schools. If the relationship between the school and the community goes well, the sense of responsibility and participation of the community to advance the school will also be good and high. In order to create relationships and cooperation between schools and the community, the community needs to know and have a clear picture of the school they have obtained.The presence of schools is based on the good will of the country and the people who support it. Therefore people who work in schools inevitably have to work with the community. The community here can be in the form of parents of students, agencies, organizations, both public and private. One reason schools need help from the community where schools are because schools must be funded.


2010 ◽  
Vol 19 (2) ◽  
pp. 62-73
Author(s):  
Helena Ruotsala

Nature and environment are important for the people earning their living from natural sources of livelihood. This article concentrates on the local perspective of the landscape in the Pallastunturi Fells, which are situated in Pallas-Ylläs National Park in Finnish Lapland. The Fells are both important pastures for reindeer and an old tourism area. The Pallastunturi Tourist Hotel is situated inside the national park because the hotel was built before the park was established 1938. Until the 1960s, the relationship between tourism and reindeer herding had been harmonious because the tourism activities did not disturb the reindeer herding, but offered instead ways to earn money by transporting the tourists from the main road to the hotel, which had been previously without any road connections. During recent years, tourism has been developed as the main source of livelihood in Lapland and huge investments have been made in several parts of Lapland. One example of this type of investment is the plan to replace the old Pallas Tourist hotel, which was built in 1948, with a newer and bigger one. It means that the state will allow a private enterprise to build more infrastructures for tourism inside a national park where nature should be protected and this has sparked a heated debate. Those who oppose the project criticise this proposal as the amendment of a law designed to promote the economic interests of one private tourism enterprise. The project's supporters claim that the needs of the tourism industry and nature protection can both be promoted and that it is important to develop a tourist centre which is already situated within the national park. This article is an attempt to try to shed light on why the local people are so loudly resisting the plans by a private tourism enterprise to touch the national park. It is based on my fieldwork among reindeer herding families in the area.


2006 ◽  
Vol 157 (9) ◽  
pp. 408-412
Author(s):  
Jörg Spinatsch

This study is an attempt to unravel the complexity of preindustrial illicit forest abuse. By means of a survey on forest crime, together with associated existing fields of conflict,the importance of the forest for the people of the time, with particular emphasis on the illicit aspect, are illustrated. As an example, we have looked at the relationship between the forest wardens and forest offenders in Chur between 1750 and 1840. The focus of the analysis is on the ambivalence of this relationship, conditioned as it is by both conflictual and cohesive elements. Exerts taken from court records of the time illustrate the proximity of disagreements and collaboration.


Author(s):  
Remus Runcan ◽  
Patricia Luciana Runcan ◽  
Cosmin Goian ◽  
Bogdan Nadolu ◽  
Mihaela Gavrilă Ardelean

This study provides the synonyms for the terms deliberate self-harm and self-destructive behaviour, together with a psychological portrait of self-harming adolescents, the consequence of self-harm, the purpose of self-harm, and the forms of self-harm. It also presents the results of a survey regarding the prevalence of people with non-suicidal self-harming behaviour, the gender of people with non-suicidal self-harming behaviour, the age of the first non-suicidal self-harming behaviour in these people, the frequency of non-suicidal self-harming behaviour in these people, the association of the non-suicidal self-harming behaviour with substance misuse in these people, the relationships of the people with non-suicidal self-harming behaviour with their fathers, mothers, and siblings, the relationships of the people with non-suicidal self-harming behaviour with their friends, the possible causes of self-harming behaviour in these people, and the relationship of people with non-suicidal self-harming behaviour with religion. Some of the results confirmed literature results, while others shed a new light on other aspects related to people with non-suicidal self-harming behaviour


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