How Audience Members Envision New Testament Characters: Mental Character Models, Blending, and the Reception of Luke 1:5–2:52

In the Gospel of Luke 1–2, the narrator focuses on two couples and their (future) sons. The plot of the narrative emphasizes the main characteristics of the characters, which in turn accentuate important characteristics of God. Audience members construct these characters like real-life persons based on the discourse aspect (textual features which indicate character traits, plots, focalization, etc.) and the suggestion aspect (memories, emotions, schemata that are activated or primed, etc.). In this article, the construction of characters is analyzed with insights into mental character models and social schemata. The linear presentation of information in orally performed narratives structures the first part of the analysis. The latter part draws on conceptual blending theory to explore how the character of God is constructed based on selected information projected from the utterances of the other characters to the blended space.

Mark Twain

Mark Twain is one of the most fascinating figures in American history. His literary works have intrigued, illuminated, inspired, and irritated millions from the late 1860s to the present. Twain was arguably America’s greatest writer from 1870 to 1910. In an era of mostly lackluster presidents and before the advent of movie, radio, television, and sports stars, Twain was probably the most popular person in America during the 1890s and competed with only Theodore Roosevelt for the title in the 1900s; his celebrity status exceeded that of European kings. Twain’s varied experiences as a journeyman printer, riverboat pilot, prospector, journalist, novelist, humorist, businessman, and world traveler, combined with his incredible imagination and astonishing creativity, enabled him to devise some of American literature’s most memorable characters and engaging stories. Twain was mesmerized, perplexed, frustrated, infuriated, and inspired by Christianity. He strove to understand, critique, and promote various theological ideas and insights. Twain’s religious perspective was complex, inconsistent, and sometimes even contradictory and constantly changed. While many scholars have ignored Twain’s strong focus on religious matters, others disagree sharply about his religious views, with most labeling him a secularist, an agnostic, or an atheist. The evidence indicates, however, that throughout his life he engaged in a lover’s quarrel with God. Twain was an entertainer, a satirist, novelist, and reformer, but he also functioned as a preacher, prophet, and social philosopher. He tackled universal themes with penetrating insight and wit including the character of God, human nature, sin, providence, corruption, greed, hypocrisy, poverty, racism, and imperialism. Moreover, Twain’s life provides a window into the principal trends and developments in American religion from 1865 to 1910.

Attributes of God in Ephesians: Meaning and relevance

Who is God according to the author of the letter to the Ephesians? What does this letter communicate about the character of God? Which attributes of God are specifically in focus in Ephesians? The focus of this article is the meaning and relevance of these characterisations of God in the letter structure, in the argumentation, in the rhetoric of the author and in the socio-historical context of the author and readers. The method of interpretation includes word studies, the epistolographic structure, the argumentation, the socio-historical background and the persuasion strategies used in the letter. The author identifies and categorises all attributes of God in Ephesians within the structure of the letter and argumentation and shows how these contribute to the purpose of the letter. The author of Ephesians presents God as being in total control of the universe, willing to be mankind’s Father and to equip them with wisdom and strength and gifts and blessings and he exhorts them to trust this God and imitate Him in their behaviour.Contribution: Although the attributes of God have been discussed by various scholars, this article is an attempt to not only identify the attributes of God in the letter to the Ephesians, but also to discuss the meaning and relevance of these in this letter.

God as Righteous Agitator: Grounding Biblical Theology

Biblical theology should be grounded in a broad perspective, an Überblick, on the character of God as the main actor in biblical history. Without such a perspective, we will lose sight of what kind of agent motivates the main story-line of the Bible. If our perspective is inadequate, we will fail to recognize how God works in history, including biblical history. Biblical interpreters typically have neglected a key feature of the biblical God: God as righteous agitator for redemptive good in human lives, individually and socially. In doing so, they have failed to give an adequate portrayal of what God is doing or trying to do in history. This article corrects that neglect by acknowledging the biblical God as agitating in history for righteousness among humans as a reflection of God’s unique moral character. It explains how such agitating distinguishes God from the gods of deism and determinism, while enabling the redemptive work of this God to be seen not only in biblical history but also in everyday human life. The article relates divine agitation to the crisis of Jesus in Gethsemane in relation to the kingdom of God and to the apostle Paul on dying-and-rising with Christ.

God in the Book of the Twelve

This essay considers the nature and character of God in the Twelve. To do so requires one to extrapolate assumptions about God on multiple levels: individual units, thematic developments, and modes of speech. When these elements are evaluated within the individual books and across the Book of the Twelve as a curated collection, a portrait of YHWH’s actions and motives develops that highlights YHWH’s covenantal expectations across time (from the eighth century to the Persian period) and for the future (a Day of YHWH still to come). The resulting portrait has a didactic purpose designed both to warn Jerusalem’s cultic elite of their responsibility and to admonish the people of YHWH to avoid the mistakes of the past.

Christian Religious Education and Integrity: A Case Study of Babock University, Nigeria

The goal of education, especially Christian religious education, is to restore human beings back into the image of God in which they were created. This is achieved by inculcating moral values into students and use education to build their character that it might reflect the character of God. One of the major moral values that is highly needed in Nigeria society is integrity. Babcock University as a Christian institution practices religious education in which Christian faith is integrated into every fabric of her educational practices. Since inception, Babcock has had integrity as part of her core values. This has been promoted, encouraged practiced and coached by the university personnel. This study investigated the level of integrity and the process of its attainment. Since religious universities constituted about two third of private universities that takes about 45% of the total private institutions in Nigeria, there is a high need of building integrity in these universities in order to promote integrity in the nation. The study adopted qualitative research method using interview as means of data collection. The study found that leadership and freedom are essential factors in ensuring integrity.

The boundless riches of God

This paper explores the concept of infinity in mathematics and its relation to theological considerations. It begins by seeking to answer the question of whether mathematical enquiry into the character of infinity may cast some light on the infinite character of God. Drawing on the work of Euclid, Cantor, and Gödel in particular, it considers concepts of potential and actual infinity and how mathematical discoveries have implications for (i) the relation of the finite and infinite (which has theological implications for the incarnation); (ii) the relation of theory and reality; (iii) the future scope of discovery and invention; and (iv) further reflection on the givenness of revelation.

The Ethics of Worship

The chapter examines the relation between ethics and worship in ancient Israel. It focusses on the way in which the cult was instrumental in instructing the people of Israel and Judah in the basic tenets of the moral life by drawing clear distinctions between the ways of the good and those of the wicked. It was in the context of worship that the people were reminded of the moral aspects of the character of God, and some psalms suggest that his character should be imitated in the lives of the pious. The chapter discusses the prophetic critique of Israel’s worship, especially their focus on the disconnect between the conspicuous displays of piety and the lack of ethical behavior on the part of the people. Some aspects of Israel’s worship are highly problematic from the ethical point of view, and the chapter discusses the so-called “imprecatory psalms,” which reflect a tone of resentment and a hunger for retaliation on the part of the worshipper.