Authoritative Word Research Articles

Otoritas Alkitab: Tinjauan Teologi Sistematis Pemikiran Luther Menjawab Skeptisisme Teologi Kontemporer Tentang Alkitab Sebagai Firman Allah

The purpose of writing this article is to explore Martin Luther's view of the Bible as the authoritative Word of God as a critical answer to the doubts of contemporary groups. This article refers to the results of Luther's thoughts in documents and systematic theology classroom notes. The meaning of what and how the Bible is for Luther is the most fundamental thing that is intertwined with history, travel, and church growth. By using library research methods, the author finds Luther's critical thoughts regarding the Bible his criticism of the Roman Catholic Church, to the doubts of contemporary groups regarding the Bible which is understood as God's Word in all centuries throughout life.

The Priesthood of the Believers: Quakers and the Abolition of Slavery

Quakers became the first group in history to develop a consciousness about slavery and spearheaded the early movement in America and Britain that led to its abolition. Why did they develop this consciousness? What was the spiritual matrix that moved them to denounce a well-accepted and well-established practice that existed in most cultures from time out of mind? The following article helps answer this question. It particularly accents their radical emphasis upon egalitarianism—an emphasis that began in Christianity with the teachings of Jesus and Paul and came to the forefront in Protestantism with Martin Luther’s teaching on the priesthood of the believers. The Quakers followed the doctrine of equality in the Bible, particularly stressing the monogenetic origin of humans in the book of Genesis and the universal redemption of Christ for the fallen race of Adam. They took this egalitarian message much further than others through deconstructing Luther’s priesthood of the believers and rejecting the hierarchical structure of the church in toto, including any professional clergy that would administer the sacraments or preach an authoritative word from the Bible. All Christians were equal before God and received the same immediate instruction from the Holy Spirit, no matter what their race, gender, or position in life. This decided emphasis upon the priesthood of believers made Quakers treat everyone the same and led them to question the inferior status of blacks and a degrading institution like slavery.

How should we then live? A missiological reading of Genesis 34: A redemptive historical approach

The narrative of Dinah’s rape in Genesis 34 has attracted the attention of Jews and Christians throughout the ages and has been the source of many scholarly papers all around the world. What have the readers in the different communities of faith over the ages heard in this shameful story? This article wanted to convey what this researcher has heard. An attempt has been made to read Genesis 34 in a missiological way in the redemptive historical context of Genesis 12–36. This article wants to demonstrate that the communicative intention of the author of Genesis 34 was to teach his readers how they, as descendants of Abraham, should live in the promised land in order to accomplish the task God had charged them with: To be a blessing to the nations (Gn 12:3). Hence, in Genesis 34, the author reminded his readers how their ancestors failed in this divine mandate and that they should not be followed: Dinah’s brothers murdered the rapist of their sister and turned it into a curse to the nation of the Hivites. Their negative behaviour should open the eyes for what God positively wanted from his people throughout the ages. This reading formed the basis for a missiological understanding of the significance of this narrative in the Christian community of faith. The missiological significance of Genesis 34 has been discussed from three angles: The importance of worship for missions; the integrity of the missionary praxis; and the in-between time in which missions take place.Contribution: This research wants to answer the question why the author of Genesis 34 included in his composition this shameful episode in the patriarchal history narrating the rape of Leah’s daughter, Dinah, and the consequent criminal honour killings by her brothers. The purpose of this investigation is to show the missiological significance of this narrative for the present Christian community of faith for whom the Bible is the authoritative Word of God.

Nathan S. French. A Theocentric Interpretation of :הדעת טוב ורע The Knowledge of Good and Evil as the Knowledge for Administering Reward and Punishment

Nathan S. French. <i>A Theocentric Interpretation of :הדעת טוב ורע The Knowledge of Good and Evil as the Knowledge for Administering Reward and Punishment</i>

Assessing rigid modes of thinking in self-declared abortion ideology: natural language processing insights from an online pilot qualitative study on abortion attitudes

IntroductionAlthough much work has been done on US abortion ideology, less is known relative to the psychological processes that distinguish personal abortion beliefs or how those beliefs are communicated to others. As part of a forthcoming probability-based sampling designed study on US abortion climate, we piloted a study with a controlled sample to determine whether psychological indicators guiding abortion beliefs can be meaningfully extracted from qualitative interviews using natural language processing (NLP) substring matching. Of particular interest to this study is the presence of cognitive distortions—markers of rigid thinking—spoken during interviews and how cognitive distortion frequency may be tied to rigid, or firm, abortion beliefs.MethodsWe ran qualitative interview transcripts against two lexicons. The first lexicon, the cognitive distortion schemata (CDS), was applied to identify cognitive distortion n-grams (a series of words) embedded within the qualitative interviews. The second lexicon, the Linguistic Inquiry Word Count (LIWC), was applied to extract other psychological indicators, including the degrees of (1) analytic thinking, (2) emotional reasoning, (3) authenticity, and (4) clout.ResultsPeople with polarized abortion views (i.e., strongly supportive of or opposed to abortion) had the highest observed usage of CDS n-grams, scored highest on authenticity, and lowest on analytic thinking. By contrast, people with moderate or uncertain abortion views (i.e., people holding more complex or nuanced views of abortion) spoke with the least CDS n-grams and scored slightly higher on analytic thinking.Discussion and conclusionOur findings suggest people communicate about abortion differently depending on their personal abortion ideology. Those with strong abortion views may be more likely to communicate with authoritative words and patterns of words indicative of cognitive distortions—or limited complexity in belief systems. Those with moderate views are more likely to speak in conflicting terms and patterns of words that are flexible and open to change—or high complexity in belief systems. These findings suggest it is possible to extract psychological indicators with NLP from qualitative interviews about abortion. Findings from this study will help refine our protocol ahead of full-study launch.

Differentiating the Pearl from the Fish-Eye: Ouyang Jingwu and the Revival of Scholastic Buddhism by Eyal Aviv

Reviewed by: Differentiating the Pearl from the Fish-Eye: Ouyang Jingwu and the Revival of Scholastic Buddhism by Eyal Aviv Alex Grabiner Eyal Aviv, Differentiating the Pearl from the Fish-Eye: Ouyang Jingwu and the Revival of Scholastic Buddhism. Leiden and Boston: Brill, 2020. xii, 214 pp. US$159. ISBN 978-90-04-43790-6 The late Imperial and early Republican periods in China saw an explosion of new ideas, produced by Chinese intellectuals and imported from abroad. Motivated to find a solution to the challenges posed by Western and Japanese imperialism, political instability, and technological innovations, reformers in every aspect of society turned to Chinese traditions. Yet the reformers found themselves divided over whether these traditions should be seen as millstones to be cast off, or vaults in which lay safeguarded the sources of China’s salvation. Buddhism would become one of the battlegrounds on which new and old ideas were contested, and these debates would help shape Buddhist modernism throughout Asia. Ouyang Jingwu 歐陽竟無 (1871–1943) was a leading figure in the movements that sought to reform Chinese Buddhism, and is the subject of Eyal Aviv’s intellectual history, Differentiating the Pearl from the Fish-Eye. Aviv carefully traces Ouyang’s career as a scholar and teacher who revived interest in the Yogācāra school of Indian Buddhist philosophy, and he explores both the formation of Ouyang’s approach to Buddhism and the legacy that he left behind. With the help of Ouyang’s copious prefaces and commentaries, as well as letters between the “Great Master” (dashi 大師) and his disciples, and several published scholarly debates, Aviv paints a detailed picture of Ouyang’s Buddhist philosophy. Hovering over this investigation is the question: Why, in this moment of crisis, did Ouyang believe that the answers to China’s problems lay in an ancient Indian school of thought? Aviv attributes the motivation behind Ouyang’s efforts to a quest for authenticity and a belief that “the unearthing of the authentic ([zhen] 真) teachings of Buddhism would be efficacious both on the individual existential level and as a spiritual solution for the new China” (p. 2). To help think through the way discourses of authenticity function in religion, Aviv draws upon the work of McCutcheon and Taylor, among others, as well as reviewing emic concepts of authenticity from the historical traditions of Confucianism and Buddhism. This includes the longstanding hermeneutical concerns with determining buddhavacana, the authoritative words of the Buddha, as well as Chinese Buddhist attempts to construct panjiao 判教, hierarchical systems of doctrinal classification that could make sense of the often conflicting texts transmitted to China. Surprisingly omitted is the role India has historically played in the Chinese Buddhist imagination as a place inherently linked with the conferral of authenticity, demonstrated by the attribution of many apocrypha to “Indian” monks and translators and the many journeys undertaken to retrieve teachings from the west. How much this conception of India played a role in Ouyang’s turn to Yogācāra in his attempts to resuscitate Chinese Buddhism remains a project for future research. [End Page 325] While authenticity remains the thematic scaffolding for the book, Aviv also shows that Ouyang’s fixation on distinguishing the inaccuracies of Chinese Buddhist texts seemed to have waned towards the end of his life, as his concerns shifted from purported provenance to soteriological efficacy. The book’s overall structure is fairly straightforward: after a brief biographical sketch in the first chapter, Aviv dives into Ouyang’s scholarship, examining his critiques of Chinese Buddhism generally and the famous text Awakening of Faith in the Mahayana (Dasheng qixin lun 大乘起信論) in chapters 2 and 3 respectively. Chapter 4 examines a key element of Ouyang’s original approach to Yogācāra thought, while chapter 5 covers the evolution of Ouyang’s views in his later years. Finally, chapter 6 explores the legacy of Ouyang’s contributions to the revival of scholastic Buddhism and to New Confucianism, especially through the work of his students. The strength of the book lies in Aviv’s deep engagement with Ouyang’s writings, as well as those of his peers and students. He has identified, within Ouyang’s extensive oeuvre, those passages...

The Bible's Encouragement to Be Active Implementing Learning Planning

Planning is an activity that also determines the success of learning. Planning activities in the practical form of compiling learning tools, such as syllabus, RPS, or RPP, cannot be ignored. The teachers have been trained, directed and even supervised to do so. However, some Christian teachers are not necessarily willing to do it diligently. For those who have not or who have done, need to be strengthened with a stronger encouragement. The Bible is the authoritative Word of God and can be a source of encouragement for every Christian, including Christian teachers. Therefore, it is necessary to find Bible truths that are relevant to planning. Excavated Bible passages, especially those relevant to the topic. After investigation, found truths that are ready to be applied; that the planning is: 1) Needs to be done; 2) It is necessary to ask for God's participation in carrying it out; 3) Need to be implemented properly; 4) the activity is closed with submission to God's will. Christian teachers who value the authority of the Bible will pay attention to and obey God's Word to do well in lesson planning.

Ballad Closure and the Woman’s Voice in Eastern Sephardic Tradition: The Examples of Silvana, El forzador and El robo de Dina

The Hispanic Ballad in the modern oral tradition can be characterized as essentially a women’s genre, and much recent work has focused on the determination of the ‘woman’s voice’. This article studies the woman’s voice literally, focusing on texts from the Eastern Sephardic branch of Hispanic balladry in which women protagonists are given the last word. This conservative tradition provides an excellent subject for study, with plentiful texts, including those collected during the author’s fieldwork. At the heart of the article is a microanalysis of the endings of texts of three ballads that feature strong women, Silvana, El forzador and El robo de Dina. Findings show that the singers have manipulated the ballad ending to give the female protagonist the authoritative last word, making use in so doing of effective closural devices to amplify the message.

Shall We Proceed? Ebbs, Flows, and Futility in the Debate over Words of Authority

This article discusses recent revisions to the Virginia Supreme Court's rules of practice to address potentially ambiguous uses of the word shall. It also places those revisions in the context of a broader debate within the legal-writing community about words of authority. It argues that current calls to eliminate shall from legal documents are facile; the only way to eliminate ambiguity is to draft carefully and pay attention to context.

Symptoms of an Unruly Age: Li Zhi and Cultures of Early Modernity. Rivi Handler-Spitz. Seattle: University of Washington Press, 2017. Pp. xiii+239.

<i>Symptoms of an Unruly Age: Li Zhi and Cultures of Early Modernity</i>. Rivi Handler-Spitz. Seattle: University of Washington Press, 2017. Pp. xiii+239.

Official websites as a tourism marketing medium: A contrastive analysis from the perspective of appraisal theory

Abstract This article provides a discourse analysis of the online tourism marketing of two tourist destinations – Hangzhou and London – with the purpose of examining how destinations from different cultural contexts promote the local attractions to an international audience. The sample texts chosen from two websites ( www.gotohz.com and www.visitlondon.com ) are analysed through appraisal theory. The results show that the use of linguistic resources functions to promote destinations and that the two destinations differ from each other in marketing methods. The measures that Hangzhou adopts include conveying information, highlighting its history and establishing credibility by citing authoritative words, whereas London attempts to promote the city by foregrounding its current attractions and inviting readers to the text. The paper finally discusses possible reasons for the differences and provides several implications for online tourism marketing.

“Human Speech is Naught”? The Authoritative Word in Robert Browning's Poetry

ABSTRACTIt has often been argued that Browning's poems, culminating in the form of the dramatic monologue, evince a rejection of the authoritative authorial voice and insist on the elusiveness of objective truth. Indeed, Browning repeatedly presents human speech as inherently flawed, distinct from the religious idea of the efficacious Word and intrinsically inferior to it. However, the Word, in its various senses, is of major importance to Browning's thought and work: he questions it, emulates it and appropriates it, and always in relation to the authority and truth value of poetic language. References to the Word in “An Epistle … of Karshish”, “A Death in the Desert”, The Ring and the Book and “Fust and his Friends” reveal Browning's appropriation of the authoritative Word within poetic language, with the effect of granting his poetry religious authority, juxtaposed with the nineteenth century crisis of biblical authority taking place in the background.

Martin Luther and the Enduring Word of God: The Wittenberg School and Its Scripture-Centered Proclamation by Robert Kolb

Reviewed by: Martin Luther and the Enduring Word of God: The Wittenberg School and Its Scripture-Centered Proclamation by Robert Kolb Jeffrey Silcock Martin Luther and the Enduring Word of God: The Wittenberg School and Its Scripture-Centered Proclamation. By Robert Kolb. Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2016. 517 pp. This book brings together Robert Kolb's research over the last quarter century into the scriptural exegesis and hermeneutical endeavors of Luther and the Wittenberg circle as well as the literary work of the second generation of Lutheran theologians who were taught by them. While Kolb is primarily a scholar of the late Reformation, this book shows that he is equally adept in the world of Luther and the first generation of reformers. The fourteen chapters cover a vast range of topics, making the book a veritable treasure trove of historical and theological scholarship, meticulously researched and persuasively presented. The copious use of subheadings makes the book very accessible and allows the reader to dip into it at different places within a chapter. Kolb begins his study by describing Luther's single-minded love for the scriptures (17–34), not only in his student days but also in his time as a university lecturer. In fact, he was so convinced that the study of the scriptures should be the centerpiece of the theology curriculum that, as a newly minted Doctor in Biblia, he departed from the tradition of first lecturing on Lombard's Sentences (the dogmatics textbook of the day) and instead proceeded immediately to lecture on the Psalms. The importance that Luther placed on the authority of the Word and scriptural exegesis shaped and guided his whole career, whether in the lecture hall and pulpit or his writing and conversation. Although Luther's theology can be described in many different ways, Kolb stresses that first and last it is a theology of the Word (100), where the "Word" refers both to the incarnate Word and to the written Word, which not only testifies to the Word become flesh but is itself God's authoritative Word in the words of human beings. [End Page 208] The author shows that for Luther, God's Word is a creative, performative Word, which always does what it says. One of Luther's key reformational insights is that God in fact speaks two words: a word of law (demand) and a word of gospel (gift). The proper distinction between these two words forms the hermeneutical framework of Luther's entire theology (98–131). Kolb nicely shows how the promise, which constitutes the heart of God's Word, is communicated physically in a threefold way: orally, in writing, and sacramentally. The promise is received by faith, which comes from hearing the Word (174–208), and it is precisely faith, which for Luther is essentially trust, that fundamentally defines the human being (35–74). This is linked with another of Luther's key reformational insights, that humans are basically receptive (passive) beings before they are active beings—in doing good works (1–6). The main aim of Luther's preaching was the cultivation of faith in Christ, but he also aimed at fostering a life of love and good works in his hearers (435–465). Luther placed the sermon at the center of the worship service, without playing it off against the Sacrament, and Kolb gives examples of the forms and methods of late Reformation preaching in the Wittenberg circle (395–434) as well as of the commentaries that support it (347–394). By placing the sermon at the center of the service, Luther changed the role of worshipers from being observers of the priest presiding at the Mass to being recipients of God's Word in the sermon, who then responded with prayer and praise. Kolb rightly notes that "medieval piety rested on the priest's consecration of the sacramental elements in the Mass, which brought the very presence of God the Son into the village" (395). The sermon also brought Christ into the village, but in a very different way, where the ears now became the central organ of reception rather than the eyes. In the theology of Luther and his colleagues, both these means...

Жанр инструментальной «Книги» в музыке XX века: история с превращением

The article examines the instrumental “Livres” [“Books”] by Pierre Boulez, Philippe Manoury, Witold Lutoslawski and Peteris Vasks from the position of unity of genre. Unlike compilations of pieces with identical titles from the Baroque period, the 20th century oeuvres present themselves as cyclical compositions endowed with complex philosophical conceptions fixated within their respective systems of musical grammar. The metaphorical titles arouse associations of extra-musical varieties. For cultures formed by religions founded on the Holy Scriptures the “book” becomes a symbol for the authoritative word. Each of the composers chose his own particular great Book for his model. Boulez and Manoury were inspired by the poetry of Stephane Mallarme. Lutoslawski and Vasks built their conceptions in analogy with the Holy Scriptures. The instrumental “books” by these composers were formed as different types of cycles. The nonlinear cycles of Boulez and Manoury were organized according to the principles of the hypertext. The linear cycles of Lutoslawski and Vasks are characterized by an established succession of the movements and contain intonational narratives. The instrumental “livres” [“books”] of the 20th century may also be examined as guidebooks for new musical techniques, as well as teachings of the harmony of the universe. Keywords: “Livre pour…,” Pierre Boulez “Livre pour Quatuor,” Philippe Manoury “Le Livre des Claviers,” Witold Lutoslawski “Livre pour Orchestre,” “Peteris Vasks “Book for Cello,” compilation of pieces, cycle.

A Study of Quranic Quotations in Iqbal’s Poetry: an Intertextual Approach

The present article studies Quranic quotations in the poetry of Mohammad Iqbal Lahori based on the approach of intertextuality. Iqbal is one of the greatest poets and intellectuals of the Eastern Muslim world. Quran is a source of inspiration both in his life and poetic career. His poetry is interwoven with Quran through intertextual Quotations. These Quranic quotations are central to the production of meaning in Iqbal’s poems. The present research limits itself to Julia Kristeva’s concept of intertextuality. Kristeva (1980) states that meaning is not inherent in the text rather it is produced through the intertextual relations between texts. This research aims to apply Plett’s (1990) set of structural codes of quotations to Iqbal’s poetic text to expose the role of scriptural quotations in his poetry. The findings of this paper show that Quranic quotations mostly follow the rules of general quotations; except that as authoritative words they are open to some transformations at surface structure but not at deep structure. The semantic fixity of Quranic quotations does not prevent their application as means of power for purposes not endorsed by Quranic instructions. Finally, the authoritative nature of Quranic quotations allows Iqbal not to employ quotation markers in his text wherever he makes use of them.

A palavra religiosa como uma variante da 'palavra autoritária' em Bakhtin

RESUMO Segundo Mikhail Bakhtin, a 'palavra monológica' não é realizada no diálogo; dela se depreende a 'palavra autoritária' que, como seu próprio nome indica, provém da autoridade, legal ou eclesiástica, do professor ou dos pais. Sua característica, como se escuta no discurso religioso, é a de não permitir a discussão; pede ser reconhecida e assimilada por nós. Entretanto, é possível que tal palavra, ainda que 'de outrem', seja convincente, incorporando-se ao nosso discurso com plena consciência; sendo assim, pode inclusive ser considerada 'palavra dialógica'. Para explicá-la melhor, a 'palavra autoritária' será vinculada a enunciados dogmáticos próprios das religiões, como o judaísmo e o islã, e, sobretudo, do cristianismo católico.

The first-year as a mentor in Norwegian teacher education – asking for the authoritative word

I artikkelen beskriver og tolker jeg hvordan en første års praksislærer, Anna, savner støtte i sin nye rolle som veileder for lærerstudenter i norsk lærerutdanning. Selv om hun er ansatt på det som blir kalt praksisskole, føler hun seg alene i arbeidet med lærerstudentene. Det er ingen til å besvare hennes spørsmål om hvordan hun skal utføre sin nye rolle. Jeg argumenterer for at mangelen på en arena hvor hun kan diskutere spørsmålene sine, bidrar til at Anna posisjonerer seg som en som skal gjøre det andre har bestemt. Hun spør derfor etter det autoritative ordet fra høyskolen.

Nqab’än Repetir las Mismas Palabras: Entextualization as Ideological Constraint in a Bilingual Kaqchikel Maya Wedding

NQAB’ÄN REPETIR LAS MISMAS PALABRAS: ENTEXTUALIZATION AS IDEOLOGICAL CONSTRAINT IN A BILINGUAL KAQCHIKEL MAYA WEDDING Timothy W. Knowlton Associate Professor, Anthropology Berry College This essay is about the decisions bilingual indigenous people in Latin America have to make when speaking authoritatively in public. Only in a few places in Latin America are indigenous languages co-official with a colonist language such as Spanish. Historically, indigenous languages often have been barred from official use in the contexts of government or religious institutions. So what happens when such formal restrictions are loosened? In what ways might centuries of linguistic inequality continue to affect how indigenous speakers perform authoritative discourse in their own communities? In this essay, I document the impact of historical processes of entextualization (Bauman 2004; Bauman and Briggs 1990) on contemporary code choice among bilingual speakers of a Mayan language in Guatemala. Contemporary paradigms in linguistic anthropology (e.g. Bauman 2004; Goodman et al 2014; Kuipers 2013) share with the work of literary theorist Mikhail Bakhtin (1981; Vološinov 1973) an appreciation of how speakers use techniques like reported speech to lend authority to their discourse. For Bakhtin (1981:342) “the authoritative word is located in a distanced zone, organically connected with a past that is felt to be hierarchically higher.” One way speakers connect their discourse to this authoritative past is through what linguistic anthropologists call entextualization. Entextualization refers to the process by which discourse is rendered as a detachable unit, a text that can be lifted out of its interactional setting. Once an instance of discourse is entextualized, it can be repeatedly recontextualized within a potentially unlimited number of performances by a potentially unlimited number of persons. Drawing on ethnographic examples from around the globe, Richard Bauman (2004) has illustrated how authoritative discourse can be enacted, diffused or challenged through how a speaker chooses to relate an entextualized “source utterance” within the “target utterance” of their spoken performance. Speakers often make choices like these in light of what their audience’s expectations of performance are understood to be (Bauman 2011). My own argument begins with the observation that entextualizing a source utterance presupposes a source code (language variant), at least C 2016 Southeastern Council on Latin American Studies and Wiley Periodicals, Inc. DOI: 10.1111/tla.12068 47 The Latin Americanist, March 2016 implicitly, as there is no such thing as a code-less utterance. Therefore, in bilingual interactions, code choice serves as a dimension of how one relates an entextualized source utterance with the target utterance being performed. In the Guatemalan case discussed here, I demonstrate that even when formal “high” forms of indigenous language discourse are used in an official context, certain authoritative words continue to circulate as Spanish because of their previous institutional histories of entextualization . Of course, the phenomenon of code choice itself has generated an immense literature across a wide range of grammatical and social settings (Gardner-Chloros 2009). But my narrowed focus here explores its relationship to entextualization in authoritative discourse. I argue that the long-held association of Spanish with governmental and religious institutions in Guatemala acts as an ideological constraint on bilingual speakers, even once legal constraints against using Mayan languages in this capacity have been formally abolished. I illustrate this through an ethnographic case study of an ecumenical civil wedding by bilingual Kaqchikel Maya in the Guatemalan community of San José Poaquil. Historical and Sociolinguistic Background The last several decades have witnessed the growth of ethnic social movements in numerous regions of Latin America (Jackson and Warren 2005; Wade 2010). In Guatemala, where over forty percent of the population is indigenous (Yoshioka 2010), speakers of twenty-one different Mayan languages have struggled to establish their rights as citizens and to valorize a pan-Maya ethnicity (Asociación Maya Uk’u’x B’e 2005; Cojtı́ Cuxil 1997; Fischer and Brown 1996; Montejo 2005; Warren 1998). The ethnographic case study presented here involves bilingual speakers of both Spanish and Kaqchikel Mayan languages in an overwhelmingly indigenous community. Before proceeding with the case study, it is important to first review the relevant historical and sociolinguistic data regarding Kaqchikel’s status relative to Spanish. Kaqchikel is a Mayan language currently...

The Word of God in Human Words

No consensus on the doctrine of Scripture exists among Lutherans. As the Confessions contain no article on Scripture, Lutheran approaches to the doctrine have been shaped by theological trends of successive eras. Lutheran Orthodoxy, as well as fundamentalist strains within Lutheranism, have tended to treat Scripture as a “divine book” while underestimating its human dimensions. Liberalism has too often reduced Scripture to a witness to human religious ideas, consciousness, or experiences and denied the divine authority of texts. A confessional approach to Scripture will honor all of Scripture as the authoritative Word of God, while also recognizing (with Luther) that Scripture varies in quality, not least due to its human dimensions. A “Chalcedonian” approach that honors Scripture as fully divine and fully human offers the most promising way forward. Respect for the “shape” of the canon guides the church in discerning what in Scripture is binding and what is not.

Dialogic Discourse in the Classroom

The study aimed to explore the impact of an SDM-based professional development program on teacher discourse. Two types of discourse, authoritative and dialogic discourses, was the focus of the search. From a Bakhtinian standpoint, authoritative words are viewed as located in a distanced zone, do not reflect any individual point of view, and are not disputable. Moreover, in these words, one hears only one, single voice. Whereas, internally persuasive (dialogic) words are freely developed, applicable to new material and conditions, and, in these words, one hears at least two voices. A total of seventeen teachers volunteered and participated in a four-week professional development program. The program provided information about and classroom uses of authoritative and dialogic talk. After the program had been fulfilled, the classroom activities were videotaped and then transcribed. The transcriptions were later analyzed deductively. The results indicated that the SDM-based program had a positive and statistically significant impact on teacher dialogic discourse. The analysis revealed that after the program, all the teachers altered their discourse to a more dialogic one. It was specifically observed that a total of eleven teachers’ dialogic-authoritative talk ratio was over 7/3.