scholarly journals The Pauline methodology of communicating the Word to a gentile audience

Author(s):  
Mike Megrove Reddy

The article describes and reconnoitres how the Apostle Paul, a Hebrew who was a welllearned man and a brilliant scholar and studentunder Gamaliel, went about conveying the Word to the Gentiles. The aim of this brief study is thus to describe the methodology used by the Apostle Paul to communicate the Word. He was raised to leadership and mentorship and gave guidance to the body of Christ and used every form of communication at his disposal to share the gospel with the surrounding Gentile world. Though he was called to preach the word of God to the Gentiles, he also preached to the Jews and defended the gospel against various kinds of obstinate and pagan rulers. The New Testament (Ἡ Καινὴ Διαθήκη) has a compilation of the letters written by the Apostle Paul. It should also be noted that although he was a prolific writer and teacher of the word, Paul encountered many barriers when it came to sharing the gospel. He was nonetheless very able to connect with people in the Graeco-Roman world outside of his culture and could easily communicate with the intellectual élites he encountered in the Empire. He was an eloquent speaker and also engaged effectively with the non-believers in the promulgation of the gospel message. Paul allowed both give-and-take, he was always eager to answer acute questions on faith issues, and he exerted himself in aiding people to acknowledge the truth of Jesus Christ. At times Paul spent a short period of time in a city, presenting the gospel and opening new churches. However, in Acts 18:11, it is evident that Paul stayed at one place for up to a year and time was spent in instructing the locals and also in evangelizing. This was clearly a sound strategy designed to meet his objective. In the Graeco-Roman culture, Paul personified a strong voice present in his oral and written works. The theoretical framework used in this study was the Shannon and Weaver Communication Model. This paper was based on a desktop research approach and literature from various sources was used including holy scriptures, academic articles, books, and various online sources.

Philotheos ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 19 (1) ◽  
pp. 22-75
Author(s):  
Bogdan Lubardić ◽  

This study demonstrates how and with what aim philosophy is received into the missionary activities of the apostles Paul and Luke as regards the Areopagitica in Acts 17. By an ingenious utilization of Greco-Roman learning and paideia, generally, and philosophy, particularly, Lukan Paul offers a context oriented cross-cultural model of preaching the kerygmatic word as of evangelization. A model for the inculturation of the power and meanings of the Gospel message is offered. In this a significant function is allocated to disciplined mindful reasoning, viz. philosophy. The author demonstrates the special ways in which contact-points are made, and common ground established, between the apostle Paul and Athenian philosophers. This allows him to observe that philosophy is endorsed by the primordial Church: both (a) as a dialectical (critical analytical) and rhetorical (per­suasive oratorical) science-skill of addressing significant intellectual others and (b) as a faith-friendly mode of the Christian’s practice of philosophy. The author infers a number of conclusions regarding the substantial role that philosophy acquires within the early Church. Moreover, the Christian endorsement of philosophy as a missionary tool has its grounding in the apostolic Church and, consequentially, it has its grounding in the New Testament. In this way philosophy, utilized and re-functionalized by the apostles Paul and Luke themselves, in its special way, participates in the “authoritative establishment of tradition by means of apostolic origin”. The missionary model laid-out in Acts 17:16-34 has lasting value and needs to be continuously re-actualized: the same follows suit for a faith-conducive practice of philosophy.


2015 ◽  
Vol 71 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Rob Van Houwelingen

‘The God of peace’ in the New Testament. Why does the New Testament use the expression ‘the God of peace’ and what is the meaning of this phrase? In the Old Testament, the God of Israel is often connected with peace, but he is never called ‘the God of peace’. Not until the Hellenistic period is this expression sporadically found in Judaism (once in the Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs and once in Philo). As for the biblical Umwelt, the gods of the ancient Near East were not very peace-loving, and in the perception of Greco-Roman culture the god of war, Arès/Mars, as one of the twelve Olympians was much more prominent than Eirènè/Pax. However, the expression ‘the God of peace’ is found several times in the Corpus Paulinum and once in the letter to the Hebrews. This article investigates all New Testament texts that have this formula, suggesting that the apostle Paul could be responsible for the wording. In conclusion, Paul states that the God of Israel desires to establish a definitive peace in his creation through the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus Christ and by finally defeating all powers of evil. This apostolic message further indicates that Christians are supposed to be bearers of peace, promoting a peaceful atmosphere in their environment and in the world.


Author(s):  
Emmanuel Louis Nterful

The construction of permanent church halls for effective church planting is one of the many models and ideals employed by Bishop Dag Heward-Mills, founder of the Lighthouse Chapel International to rigorously drive its church expansion efforts across the nations of the world. This article accentuates the benefits and significance of the construction of permanent church halls on church growth and expansion and especially its apparent contribution to engendering confidence and commitment of congregants of new churches planted and overall ensuring stability of church membership. The multi-level model, known as the Anagkazo Church Planting Strategy, has been systematically developed by Heward-Mills, and implemented by LCI church planters worldwide. Using a qualitative research approach, the study analyses the use of the Anagakzo church planting strategy model. Data was gathered from relevant literature, interviews with key informants, views from focus group discussions as well as the use of qualitative questionnaires. The study’s findings indicate that within a relatively short period of implementing the model, the LCI has successfully undertaken church planting both nationally and internationally. It is being recommended that charismatic churches in Ghana endeavour to make the usefulness of permanent church halls in promoting church planting as part of their mission strategy. This can be achieved by pooling financial resources from all the churches within the particular denomination towards building projects. This would fulfil the biblical injunction for equitable distribution of God’s blessings among Christians (2 Cor 8:13-15). The study contributes to research knowledge on Church expansion through church planting.


2011 ◽  
Vol 19 (3) ◽  
pp. 253-275 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard Walsh ◽  
George Aichele

Abstract This essay examines the recent movies Avatar and District 9 in conjunction with the so-called "transfiguration stories" of Matt. 17, Mark 9, and Luke 9. It explores the difference between "transfiguration" and "metamorphosis" in these stories, and questions the avoidance of the latter term in English translations of the New Testament, as well as theological implications of the preference for "transfiguration." This tendency is already observable in the ideological dimensions of the New Testament. That the net effect of this translation preference is to obscure monstrous changes to the body of Jesus is made clear through contrast with the movies, and with Franz Kafka's story, "The Metamorphosis."


2016 ◽  
Vol 72 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Joel Willitts

This article defines, explains and argues for the necessity of a post-supersessionistic hermeneutical posture towards the New Testament. The post-supersessionistic reading of the New Testament takes the Jewish nature of the apostolic documents seriously, and has as its goal the correction of the sin of supersessionism. While supersessionism theologically is repudiated in most corners of the contemporary church through official church documents, the practise of reading the New Testament continues to exhibit supersessionistic tendencies and outcomes. The consequence of this predominant reading of the New Testament is the continued exclusion of Jewish ethnic identity in the church. In light of the growing recognition of multiculturalism and contextualisation on the one hand, and the recent presence of a movement within the body of Messiah of Jewish believers in Jesus on the other, the church’s established approach to reading Scripture that leads to the elimination of ethnic identity must be repudiated alongside its post-supersessionist doctrinal statements. This article defines terms, explains consequences and argues for a renewed perspective on the New Testament as an ethnic document; such a perspective will promote the church’s cultivation of real embodied ethnic particularity rather than either a pseudo-interculturalism or the eraser full ethnicity.


1917 ◽  
Vol 25 (5) ◽  
pp. 675-691 ◽  
Author(s):  
Harry Dubin ◽  
Richard M. Pearce

Blood destruction due to a single injury, as by sodium oleate, or acting through a short period of time, as by toluylenediamine or hemolytic immune serum, is not characterized, in the absence of hemoglobinuria, by an increased elimination of iron in the urine. This holds, not only for the evanescent injury caused by sodium oleate, but also for the severe type caused by hemolytic immune serum, in which a progressive destruction of the blood may persist for 2 weeks or more with constant evidence of the disintegration of erythrocytes as shown by bile pigment in the urine. This finding is in accord with previous investigations of anemia in both man and animals. Likewise, no striking increase is evident, under such circumstances, in the percentage of iron excreted in the feces. The total amount of iron in the feces has been notably increased in two experiments with hemolytic serum, but as the percentage was not appreciably altered, the difference depends presumably on variations in the bulk of feces rather than upon increased elimination. This evidence of the power of the body to conserve the iron rephagocytosis is negligible, is to be fragmented one by one, while still circulating, to a fine, hemoglobin-containing dust. The cell fragments are rapidly removed from the blood, but their ultimate fate remains to be determined. The facts indicate that they are removed from the blood by the spleen, and under exceptional conditions, by the bone marrow.


Nutrients ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 10 (12) ◽  
pp. 1885
Author(s):  
Daniela Greco ◽  
Simone Battista ◽  
Laura Mele ◽  
Antonio Piemontese ◽  
Bianca Papotti ◽  
...  

It has been well established that moderate alcohol consumption inversely correlates with cardiovascular morbidity and mortality, whereas binge alcohol drinking increases cardiovascular disease risk. The aim of this study was to assess in vivo the impact of different drinking patterns on reverse cholesterol transport (RCT); the atheroprotective process leading to the removal of excess cholesterol from the body. RCT was measured with a standardized, radioisotope-based technique in three groups of atherosclerosis-prone apolipoprotein E knock out mice: Placebo group, receiving water, which would mimic the abstainers; moderate group, receiving 0.8 g/kg alcohol/day for 28 days, which would mimic a moderate intake; binge group, receiving 0.8 g/kg alcohol/day for 5 days/week, followed by the administration of 2.8 g/kg alcohol/day for 2 days/week, which would mimic a heavy intake in a short period. Mice in the binge drinking group displayed an increase in total cholesterol, high density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-c) and non-HDL-c (all p < 0.0001 vs. placebo), and a significantly reduced elimination of fecal cholesterol. The moderate consumption did not lead to any changes in circulating lipids, but slightly improved cholesterol mobilization along the RCT pathway. Overall, our data confirm the importance of considering not only the total amount, but also the different consumption patterns to define the impact of alcohol on cardiovascular risk.


Author(s):  
Д.К. АСРАТЯН

Письма патриарха Константинопольского Николая Мистика архиепископу Аланскому Петру – основной документальный источник по истории христианства на Северном Кавказе в X в. Изучение «Аланского досье» патриарха Николая сохраняет актуальность в связи с ростом интереса к духовной истории народов Кавказа, находившихся на стыке цивилизаций, религий и культур и сформировавших под их влиянием собственные самобытные национально-культурные традиции. Основным методом исследования стало сопоставление лексических и семантических средств, используемых апостолом Павлом и патриархом Николаем в двух различных, но соотносимых исторических и религиозных контекстах. Цель исследования – выявление жанровых и литературных связей писем патриарха с книгами Нового Завета. Научная новизна заключается в обосновании лингвистических, семантических и богословских параллелей между письмами Николая и посланиями апостола Павла, особенно пастырскими (1-2 Тим и Тит). Хотя сравниваемые тексты хронологически разделены почти тысячелетием, отмечается типологическое сходство исторических контекстов, в которых они были написаны (духовный наставник – ученик в епископском сане – молодая христианская община из «варваров», нуждающихся в просвещении). В интерпретации Николая миссия – это именно тяжкий труд, но совершаемый по прямому повелению Бога и ради награды свыше, и в этом смысле патриарх вполне укоренен в новозаветной традиции. Как показали результаты исследования, риторическая и богословская насыщенность писем Николая Мистика не снижает их историческую ценность, однако для корректной интерпретации необходимо учитывать их литературный характер. Letters of Nicholas Mysticus, Patriarch of Constantinople, to Peter, Archbishop of Alania, remain the chief documentary source for the history of Christianity in the North Caucasus in the 10th century. The study of the "Alan Dossier" of Patriarch Nicholas remains relevant due to the growing interest in the spiritual history of the peoples of the Caucasus, who lived at the crossroads of civilizations, religions and cultures and formed their own distinctive national and cultural traditions under such diverse influence. The main research method was the comparison of lexical and semantic means used by the Apostle Paul and Patriarch Nicholas in two different, but correlated historical and religious contexts. The purpose of the study is to identify genre and literary connections between the letters of the Patriarch and the books of the New Testament. Scientific novelty lies in the substantiation of the linguistic, semantic and theological parallels between the letters of Nicholas and the letters of the Apostle Paul, especially the pastoral ones (1-2 Tim and Titus). Although the compared texts are chronologically separated by almost a millennium, there is a typological similarity in the historical contexts in which they were written (a spiritual mentor - a bishop student - a newly formed Christian community of “barbarians” in need of education). In the interpretation of Nicholas, mission is a hard work, but it is done at the direct command of the God and is rewarded from above, and in this sense, the Patriarch is completely rooted in the New Testament tradition. As the results of the study have shown, the rhetorical and theological richness of the letters of Nikolas the Mysticus does not diminish their historical value, yet for correct interpretation it is necessary to take into account their literary character.


2021 ◽  
Vol 3 (01) ◽  
pp. 65-94
Author(s):  
Rizki Pauziah Siregar

Testimony is a statement made by a witness who saw the incident by himself and was at the scene at that time. Nothing can escape this evidence in the afterlife, nor can it be manipulated in the slightest. So the source of the problem that will be discussed is how to witness the body and the interpretation of the rationality of the testimony of the limbs in QS. Yasin: 65. The research approach used by the author is a qualitative approach and is more inclined to follow library research and uses thematic analysis methods, this research will rely on the interpretation of Al-Jawahir Fi Tafsiril Qur'an by Tantawi Jauhari and books. as primary sources, research journals, and research theses as secondary sources. And what is relevant to this research, the results of the testimony of the limbs according to tantawi Jauhari are that the limbs will testify and it is not only in the afterlife, the body can testify against its owner. but even in the law that applies in the world, the limb that can be used to prove it, to reveal a crime such as murder or abuse. Here the limbs are like hands, it can help to expose the crime. One of them uses a DNA or fingerprint test, and only Allah will see what the testimony on the Day of Judgment is.


2021 ◽  
Vol 19 (2) ◽  
pp. pp95-103
Author(s):  
Noel Pearse

Qualitative research has been criticised for not building a distinctive body of knowledge, leading to fewer publications and citations. In the light of this critique, this paper offers guidance on how qualitative researchers can contribute to developing a distinctive and cumulative body of knowledge, thereby attracting more attention to their research. In pursuit of this aim, there are four objectives addressed in this paper. The first objective is to explain the relevance and value of deductive qualitative approaches to theory building. Secondly, to illustrate how examining the maturation of a concept can help decide the appropriateness of a particular research approach. This paper explains how in their planning, researchers need to confirm their intention to contribute to theory development and to ensure that this is appropriate, given the stage of maturation of the concept to be investigated. The third objective is to offer guidance on the philosophical assumptions of the researcher and how to test research propositions. Therefore, it is advised that data collection and analysis should take place within a post-positivist paradigm, and that the field work should be designed and carried out with research propositions as a point of departure. The final research objective is to explain how the findings of a deductive qualitative study should be handled to demonstrate the contribution of the study to the body of knowledge. Here guidance is offered on the contextualisation and generalisation of research findings.


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