Book Of Scripture Research Articles

Teaching and Learning Principles in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints: A Thematic Analysis of the Doctrine and Covenants

This article presents pedagogic principles prescribed in the text of the Doctrine and Covenants, a foundational book of scripture from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Following a qualitative, thematic analysis of the text, we organized the data into seven themes: character of God as a teacher, learning as the pursuit of truth, attributes of a teacher and learner, warnings in seeking light and truth, learning methods, teaching methods, and non-compulsory teaching and learning. Most noteworthy among these themes is the text’s description of learning as the pursuit of embodied ontological truth and the fundamental questions it raises about the nature of compulsion in learning.

Astrobiology, a New Chapter in the Book of Nature

ABSTRACT The two books' metaphor (book of scripture and book of nature) provides an invitation for re-examining traditional Christian doctrine and practice when extra-terrestrial life is discovered. Christian churches are encouraged to refine their teachings in three areas: (1) anthropocentric creation; (2) the fall; and (3) imago Dei. The work Teilhard de Chardin lays the groundwork for these conversations. I propose that the discovery of extra-terrestrial life could precipitate a re-imagination of church doctrine in these areas. Furthermore, this conversion of thought will be valuable, in a practical sense, toward a renewed sense of gratitude and stewardship toward life on earth.

Chastening Germany: Graetz’s Lusty Jew And Asexual Jewess As Semitic Saviors

Abstract Heinrich Graetz (1817–1891), the famous historian and biblical exegete, penned his commentary to the Song of Songs in 1871 to counter rising antisemitism fueled by racialized fantasies of Jewish gender and sexuality. Graetz contested antisemitic tropes of Jewish masculinity and femininity by reconfiguring the Song of Songs, this most blatantly erotic book of scripture, as a testament to and celebration of Jewish chastity. Against the lascivious femme fatal, Graetz introduced the tender Sulamit, whose paradigmatic chastity renders romantic ardor into asexual, sisterly affection. In contrast to the effeminate Jew, Graetz introduced the Friend, a brawny adventurer whose masculine attempt at chastity only reveals his sexual potency. Graetz leverages the co-constitutive relationships among gender, class, and race to bestow on these figures not only the bourgeois virtues connoted by their chastity, but also associations of whiteness and middle-class belonging. Graetz’s exegetical construction of new models of Jewish femininity and masculinity was no mere theoretical exercise, but a response to matters of life and death as the rise of sexually transmitted diseases coalesced into a public health crisis. With the specter of syphilis in the background, Graetz’s commentary to the Song of Songs proffered German Jews—and German Christians—a Semitic path to redemption from the immorality crippling fin-de-siècle Germany.

The 1920 Edition of the Book of Mormon: A Centennial Adventure in Latter-day Saint Book History

The 1920 Edition of the Book of Mormon: A Centennial Adventure in Latter-day Saint Book History

The Psalter as a source of knowledge in Origen’s and Basil’s exegesis on the Psalms

By comparing Origen’s and Basil’s homilies on the psalms, this article aims to demonstrate how both authors conceived of the literary and theological unity of the Psalter. Both exegetes incorporate Christian spiritual progress—as presented, according to them, in the divine music—into the dichotomy of praxis and theoria. To this end, they use a set of specific images. For instance, they both contrast the practical life of moral preparation, depicted as the “psalm” and a kind of instrumental music, with the contemplative life as the “canticle” and a kind of vocal music. In this way, drawing on the superiority of the body over the mind, Basil and Origen present the human body as a musical instrument and the virtuous life as harmonious song. I suggest that the recurring stress on this philosophical structure in the exegesis of the Psalter is explained by a desire to present this scriptural book as adapted for every Christian from the simplest to the more advanced ones, whatever spiritual preparation they have. The conception of the Psalter as an universal text embracing the content of the whole Bible developed by Basil, Athanasius and possibly Origen also leads to this approach. My research focuses primarily on Origen’s and Basil’s Homilies on the Psalms, but also establishes some relevant connections with other commentaries on the psalms.

The Morals of Life that Thirumanthiram Depicts

He created 3000 Tamil mantras through tricks. Tact means maturity. Discipline is essential to reach that level. Thirumoolar describes the method of running the flow. Thirumanthiram is a biographical philosophy. A book that can be realized through the experiential knowledge that comes through practice with effort. This book is variously praised as a devotional book, a scriptural book, a hymn book, a skill book, a godly book, a yoga book, and a knowledge book. However, the book that guides life is its uniqueness. The guidebook is unique. The research results say that due to his unparalleled yoga training and the power of meditation, Thirumoolar excelled in the techniques of protecting the body for many years and blessed those who had lived in this world for a long time and attained full enlightenment. Consider that all newborn children should attain enlightenment. The study will focus on love, living without suffering, living with the body, medicine, and virtue related to human life. Therefore, in this article, we will see the life thoughts given by Thirumoolar.

The Role of Online Bible Readers in Biblical Concordance Making

Abstract Bible concordances lead Bible readers with rendering words and phrases of the Holy Bible in alphabetical listings and show where the terms occur throughout all books of Scripture. With cross-references for verses, concordances make it easy to understand the meaning of terms and the context in which those words are used. In Hungarian Bible studies several translations of the Bible are available (also online) and some of the contemporary translations are provided with on-the-fly concordances. Online versions of the Bible translations can easily build KWIC-concordances but not in an equal way. The study shows different approaches to online Bible concordance of the Hungarian translations to be found online and also tries to illustrate bottlenecks of concordance making on the off-line concordance being built to the so called ÚRK Bible (Újonnan Revideált Biblia – Newly Revised Bible). The obstacles in this concordance are connected with terminological and lexicographic approaches as this concordance is based on translations of the keywords of the ESV Bible Concordance.

Joseph Fielding Smith's Evolving Views on Race: The Odyssey of a Mormon Apostle-President

Joseph Fielding Smith's Evolving Views on Race: The Odyssey of a Mormon Apostle-President

Apologetics and Antiquity: Book of Mormon Reception, 1830–1844

Apologetics and Antiquity: Book of Mormon Reception, 1830–1844

Intertestamental, Apocrypha, NT Use: Other Writings/Traditions

Intertestamental, Apocrypha, NT UseOther Writings/Traditions Brian J. Meldrum, Christopher T. Begg, Thomas Hieke, Richard A. Taylor, and David A. Bosworth 2411. [The Book of Exodus in Philo] Sean A. Adams, "The Book of Exodus in Philo of Alexandria," The Reception of Exodus Motifs, 183-98 [see #2501]. A. explores Exodus motifs in the writings of Philo. Exodus is the second most referenced scriptural book (after Genesis) in the Philonic corpus, although this focus on Exodus is not evenly distributed across all of Philo's works, and he engages with the Exodus text in a variety of ways. A. offers a succinct overview of the material in question, and then selects two major aspects of this for more detailed investigation. First, he considers several Exodus passages which are employed by Philo in multiple treatises and so can be assumed to have had particular significance for him (e.g., Exod 3:14; 7:1). Second, he examines how specific Exodus passages are interpreted by Philo in his Allegorical Commentary. A. draws out from his study some important conclusions about Philo's general exegetical method, especially his utilization of the intertextuality between Exodus and Genesis and other scriptural writings. [Adapted from book's introduction—B.J.M.] 2412. [Stelae Traditions in Second Temple Judaism and Their Legacy in Byzantium] William Adler, "Translatio studii: Stelae Traditions in Second Temple Judaism and Their Legacy in Byzantium," Afterlives of Ancient Rock-cut Monuments, 380-401 [see #2488]. In his essay, A. takes as his point of departure two Jewish sources featuring the motif of the primordial stelae: Flavius Josephus's Antiquities and the Book of Jubilees. From this basis, he proceeds to trace the intricate pathway of the stelae motif in the writings of various Byzantine chronographers. Mirroring the earlier ambivalence of the Jewish traditions regarding the stelae, the chronographers vacillate between attributing positive or negative valences to the supposedly angelic knowledge carved on the stelae. Curiously, as A. further points out, these chronographers themselves lived in Anatolia, which raises an intriguing question: did these authors reflect upon the extant Anatolian rock-cut reliefs and inscriptions around them in their efforts to reconstruct the traditions of the primordial stelae? See also ##1782, 2472. [Adapted from editors' preface, p. x—C.T.B.] 2413. [The Fulfillment of Zech 12:10 in the Gospel of John] Eduardo Emilio Agüero, "'Mirarán al que traspasaron': El cumplimiento de Za 12:10 en el evangelio de Juan," RevistB 83 (3-4, 2021) 467-516. The Fourth Gospel exhibits a dynamism in which the identity of Jesus is gradually revealed in a dramatic way that is oriented toward the moment of "his hour." This hour arrives when Jesus is nailed to the cross, and just before the moment of the crucifixion, the evangelist quotes (a portion of) Zech 12:10, i.e., the phrase "they will look upon him whom they have pieced" as being fulfilled at this juncture. The themes and motifs of Zechariah's book are echoed and amplified in John's Gospel and contribute to the revelation of the divine and messianic identity of Jesus, king and priest of the new covenant, and his sanctifying impact on those who believe in him. [Adapted from published abstract—C.T.B.] [End Page 893] 2414. [Paul and the Exodus Tradition] David M. Allen, "Paul's Uses of Exodus: Appealing to the Wilderness Experience," The Reception of Exodus Motifs, 287-308 [see #2501]. A.'s chapter explores the major uses of Exodus material in Paul's letters, especially those directed to Rome and Corinth. A. analyzes the formal citations in Rom 9:15-17, the explicit comparison Paul develops between the wilderness generation, and the situation of his Corinthian audience (1 Corinthians 10), the reference to the imagery of the Paschal lamb in 1 Corinthians 5, and the theme of Moses's veiling his face in 2 Cor 3:7-18 (cf. Exodus 32–34). This investigation enables A. to draw out some important methodological reflections about how Paul re-appropriates the above traditions, and where his doing this situates him in relation to his contemporary exegetical context. [Adapted...

The New Calling

The New Calling

The Book of Psalms in a New Ukrainian Translation, Psalms 41-71

The new translation of the Book of Psalms is part of a large project to translate the Holy Scriptures into Ukrainian, which has been underway since 2018. The project has already translated the New Testament (the edition is being prepared in 2022), poetic books of the Bible (in addition to the Psalms, the Book of Job, Proverbs, the Book of Ecclesiastes and the Song of Songs), translation of the Pentateuch and the Book of Prophet. The translation of the Psalms offered in Theological Reflections is the first publication of the above-mentioned translated books of Scripture.

Between History and Spirit: The Apostolic Witness of the Book of Act

The hermeneutical triad is best described as the process of assessing a text’s history, literary merit, and theology. The careful reader will examine each of these areas in order to assess the text’s meaning. In Between History and Spirit: The Apostolic Witness of the Books of Acts, Craig Keener takes the reader to the very heart of the book of Acts by cross-examining its history, context, and theology. Keener is no stranger to Acts scholarship, as he is the author of an extensive four-volume commentary on the book. In the current selection, Keener brings together a series of essays, some in the Acts commentary and others not, into one volume. These essays are divided into three parts. The first examines the question of history in the book of Acts. Readers will find selections dedicated to Luke’s depiction of the historical Jesus (ch. 1), the use of “we” in the book of Acts (ch. 2), Paul’s apologetic in Acts (ch. 3), the growth rate of the church (ch. 4), a comparison of Acts and ancient novels (ch. 5), the landscape and military brass of Caesarea during Agrippa’s rule (ch. 6), and an examination of Paul’s mission to the Athenians (ch. 7). Each of these essays combines Keener’s encyclopedic knowledge of primary sources and sensitivity to the historicity within Acts’ narrative. The section is especially focused on parts of Acts that commentators have struggled to reconcile with extracanonical evidence.In the second division, Keener explores the literary and contextual aspects of Acts. This section of the volume has essays on interethnic marriages in Acts 7 and 16 (ch. 8), Paul’s use of irony and figurative language in Acts 7 and 26 (ch. 9), turning from idolatry in Acts 14 (ch. 10), postcolonial missions in Acts 16 (ch. 11), Paul’s Asiarch friends in Acts 19 (ch. 12), the relationship between Acts 21 and Eph 2 concerning the temple (ch. 13), rhetorical techniques in Acts 24 (ch. 14), Paul’s madness in Acts 26 (ch. 15), and fever, dysentery, and medicine in Acts 28 (ch. 16). The ordering of this section broadly follows the order of chapters in Acts. It is also interesting to note that, whereas the last chapter consistently displayed long-form articles, the current section has three articles that are concise and punchy.The final section deals with some theological aspects of Acts with special regard to the movement of the Spirit. Essays include engagement with miracles and history in Acts (ch. 17), Luke’s missiology in Acts 1–2 (ch. 18), the use of tongues in Acts 2 (ch. 19), Spirit possession in modern anthropology and its relationship to Acts 16 and 19 (ch. 20), the Spirit-filled ministry described in Acts 19 (ch. 21), and ancient African Christianity (ch. 22). Chapter 23 concludes the essay selections with some of Keener’s reviews of Acts-focused scholarship. Keener engages the work of Bruce Winter and David Clarke, David Gill and Conrad Gempf, Richard Pervo, David Peterson, and Joshua Jipp. The volume ends with an extensive bibliography (78 pages), ancient documents index (57 pages), and scripture, subject, and author indexes.Keener opens with a short preface recounting the request of Michael Thomson to put together the following collection. In an academic world where edited volumes are becoming fewer, it is even more unusual to have an scholar who can edit a volume of their own essays. These volumes are a gift and allow the reader to avoid the hassle of finding some of Keener’s more obscure work. In many ways, the following set of essays contributes not only to ongoing research in the book of Acts but also speaks volumes about the author. Keener has continued to write intensely researched and thought-provoking scholarship on this particular book of Scripture. This quantity and quality of research is a testament to a genuine love of the subject. Keener’s work is a force to be reckoned with and will challenge the reader to reassess the historical records time and again. In the vein of Keener’s work, Ad fontes!

Old-Earth or Evolutionary Creation? Discussing Origins with Reasons to Believe and BioLogos

Old-Earth or Evolutionary Creation? Discussing Origins with Reasons to Believe and BioLogos

How to Create a System Ecological Theory of The Environment in Revolution 4.0 Era?

The ecological theory of the environment plays an important role in the development and characterization of an individual’s character. This theory will show the process of development that develops between the individual and the environment. The character of an individual will shape from the influence of the surrounding environment such as family, friends, school, teachers, workplace and so on. This paper will discuss the integration of environmental ecological theory into aspects of Islamic and western thought in the face of the revolutionary 4.0 era. The ecological theory of the environment will be based on Bronfenbrenner’s ecological theory as well as Ibn Khaldun’s ecological theory. Research on three aspects of the activity, role model, and practice will be detailed. This method of study uses documentary analysis based on Ibn Khaldun’s book of scripture and Bronfenbrenner’s writings. As a result of this study, it is found that these three aspects are in line with human needs. Therefore, this study is seen as contributing to the theory and can serve as a new reference and concept to society. Implications of this study apply the theory of the environment not only in education but in all fields.

Sensul suferinței în Sfânta Scriptură

There is almost no thinker in the history of mankind not to be interested in the issue of evil and suffering that accompany man’s life from his birth to his death, just like the shadow never separates from the body. Everybody has tried to unlock this mystery, to reach a deep understanding of it, to uncover its meanings, to identify ways to remove it or, at least, to make it less of an experience. The theme of suffering is recurrent in the texts of the Book of Scripture, touching upon a most complex theological topic and undertaking some of the most unexpected significances: suffering as a punishment for evil doing, suffering as a future reward, suffering as an experience of God’s presence, suffering as medicine both for the body and for the soul, suffering as proof of faith, suffering as a form of purification both of the body and of the soul, suffering because of or for another, Christ’s suffering, suffering as a confirmation of the Christ etc. Illness, pain and the fear of suffering make up a common semantic space in many of the texts in the Book of Scripture. Therein the legitimate question coming from those who less understand the mystery of faith and of man’s relation to God: if God is suffering,good, why does He consent to the suffering of the innocent?

Church in the Wild: Evangelicals in Antebellum America by Brett Malcolm Grainger

Reviewed by: Church in the Wild: Evangelicals in Antebellum America by Brett Malcolm Grainger Richard E. Brantley (bio) Church in the Wild: Evangelicals in Antebellum America Brett Malcolm Grainger Harvard University Press, 2019. 280 pp. $46.50 hardcover. Brett Malcolm Grainger's full-scale, complete, thoroughly researched, delightfully written account of the Second Great Awakening boasts both scope and focus. His immersion in the "cheap prints and lithographs" and "published journals, poems, short stories" and "shape-note hymnals" of pre-Civil War American evangelicals—including some 1,500,000 Methodists and 1,100,000 Baptists—makes the scholarly fuss about 14,000 Unitarians seem like provincial overkill (3, 11). And his presiding idea—"a shared culture of nature" within the "everyday…mentality" of "clergy and laity, northerners and southerners, Calvinists and Arminians, men and women, black and white" (3, 11)—pulls together a miscellany. His complex and subtle yet clear and well-integrated perspective on a hitherto incompletely understood topic in American studies spotlights a demotic combination of natural philosophy with natural theology. As a bonus, his loving attention to details of quoted language carries over to his reverence for belles-lettres at the seminar table. "In general," Grainger writes, "antebellum revivalists…perceived in themselves and in the natural world an energetic presence they described as the Holy Spirit" (208). Hannah Bunting and William Walker used the liber naturalis not to escape "stifling orthodoxies" but to enhance "spiritual transformation" and build "relationship between the spiritual senses and the common senses" (62-65). The African American female preacher Zilpah Elaw "read the books of scripture and nature side by side" and showed "a typical Methodist canniness for fudging dicey theological questions" as she asked whether "contemplative vision" should engage the "physical world directly…or inwardly" (96-97). And in a fusion of European and African traditions, African American folksongs deployed natural imagery—"I know moon-rise, I know star-rise"—to express the ideal of "physical and spiritual liberation" (95). Nighttime brought "relative freedom for slaves" (95). If, through bloodletting, blistering, vomiting, and intestinal purging, Dr. Benjamin Rush sought to drive unwanted nature out, then evangelical medical reformers, for their part, invited the healing power of water in. And by means of chemical analysis they claimed scientific rationale, distinct from the "superstitions" at Lourdes (135). At the Methodist-physician Henry Foster's "Clifton Springs Water Cure" in upstate New York, water was "all business," all the time (153). There, as opposed to the more relaxed atmosphere at White Sulphur Springs, Virginia, patients were [End Page 152] wrapped for hours in wet sheets, and exhorted to stand under cataracts. The Congregational-physician Erastus Root "exemplified the evangelical natural philosopher" and in An Inaugural Dissertation on the Chemical and Medicinal Properties of the Mineral Springs in Guilford, Vermont (1817) argued against hypothetical systems in nature-cure practice and in evangelical theology alike (160). Grainger resourcefully traces evangelical aversion to speculation back to the inductive method of Bacon and of Milton in his Baconian mood (246). The ur-Methodist John Wesley's Enlightenment-tempered electrotherapy morphed into the Romantic-era evangelicals' "ethereal fire" of "mystical agency" (174-175). Just as the itinerant-Baptist medical reformer T. Gale "gushed" that "We hail thee, adorable ELECTRICITY! late arrived, or lately known, the friend of human life—with celestial blessings surcharged… to bid the dying live," so the Methodist bishop William McKendree "sang the body electric"—that is, he described the Holy Spirit as a "Selistial [sic] power" running "through ever [sic] power of [his] body" (177-78). And just as Bethany College student W. T. Moore declared that, in electricity, "the Material and Spiritual universes approach near to each other, if, indeed, it is not the point at which they meet," so, in Grainger's words, electricity "was the neck in the cosmic hourglass," "a switching station between matter and spirit that facilitated a constant flow of traffic between the natural and supernatural worlds, without challenging their basic dualistic relationship" (179-80). The theology of electricity formed the basis of friendship between Congregationalists Edward Hitchcock and Theophilus Packard. The Amherst College president and the mesmerist, respectively, joined electrotherapy with animal magnetism to pursue "a middle way...

Sensation and Metaphor in Ritual Performance: The Example of Sacred Texts

Rituals obviously utilize the human senses. Theological and mystical interpretations frequently comment on sensation as a source of metaphors for religious experience. However, the discourse used in religious rituals themselves usually avoids using the normal vocabulary appropriate to particular sensations, while focusing on ritual performance instead. This raises the question of whether it is generally the case that ritualizing sensation diverts attention from sensation to ritual behavior, and whether ritual interpretations usually divert attention from the sensation to its metaphorical meaning. This essay addresses these questions with the analytical tools of metaphor theory and ritual theory. To test and apply these theories, it focuses on one kind of ritual practices, those that involving written texts, especially books of scripture, and how they use the senses of sight, hearing, and touch.

Are Muslims in Turkey Really ‘Green’?

AbstractTheoretically, the teachings of Islam can promote environmentally conscious behavior. As the only Muslim majority country to take part in the International Social Science Survey (ISSP), we study indicators of environmental consciousness in Turkey using ISSP 2010. Among all ISSP 2010 participating countries, a cross-country comparison does not provide evidence to support the argument that Islamic religiosity promotes environmental consciousness. In an analysis of individual level data, our overall findings failed to discover a statistically significant relationship between religiosity and environmental consciousness. Yet, this gap between the teachings of Islam and practices of Muslims may be identified as an unexploited potential to foster environmental consciousness in Turkey through a well-articulated religious education that brings together the book of scripture and the book of nature.

Teaching through the Psalms: Allusions to the Wilderness Tradition in 1 Corinthians 10,1-10 and the Origin of the Passage

ABSTRACTThis article deals with 1 Cor 10,1-10, where Paul alludes to historical psalms (Pss 77[78], 104[105] and 105[106]) in portraying Israel’s idolatrous acts in spite of God’s miracles in the wilderness. In some cases, it is difficult to decipher whether Paul refers to a particular psalm text or to the overall narrative that is attested in both the historical psalms and the Pentateuch. Hence, I do not claim that Paul alludes only to the historical psalms in this passage; rather, he alludes to the wilderness tradition without pinpointing it to any specific scriptural book. Furthermore, I will argue for the Pauline origin of the composition in 1 Cor 10,1-10, which previous studies have claimed pre-dates Paul.