Historical Criticism Research Articles

The Bible & Ancient Science: Principles of Interpretation

The Bible & Ancient Science: Principles of Interpretation

Contributors’ Notes

Contributors’ Notes

Reading and Not Reading “The Faerie Queene”: Spenser and the Making of Literary Criticism

Reading and Not Reading “The Faerie Queene”: Spenser and the Making of Literary Criticism

Literary Musings and Critical Mediations: Interview with Rev. Fr Professor Amechi N. Akwanya

Reverend Father Professor Amechi Nicholas Akwanya is one of the towering scholars of literature in Nigeria and elsewhere in the world. For decades, and still counting, Fr. Prof. Akwanya has worked arduously, professing literature by way of teaching, researching, and writing in the Department of English and Literary Studies of the University of Nigeria, Nsukka. To his credit, therefore, this genius of a literature scholar has singularly authored over 70 articles, six critically engaging books, a novel, and three volumes of poetry. His PhD thesis, Structuring and Meaning in the Nigerian Novel, which he completed in 1989, is a staggering 734-page document. Professor Akwanya has also taught many literature courses, namely: European Continental Literature, Studies in Drama, Modern Literary Theory, African Poetry, History of Theatre: Aeschylus to Shakespeare, European Theatre since Ibsen, English Literature Survey: the Beginnings, Semantics, History of the English Language, History of Criticism, Modern Discourse Analysis, Greek and Roman Literatures, Linguistics and the Teaching of Literature, Major Strands in Literary Criticism, Issues in Comparative Literature, Discourse Theory, English Poetry, English Drama, Modern British Literature, Comparative Studies in Poetry, Comparative Studies in Drama, Studies in African Drama, and Philosophy of Literature. A Fellow of Nigerian Academy of Letters, Akwanya’s open access works have been read over 109,478 times around the world. In this wide-ranging interview, he speaks to Andrew Bula, a young lecturer from Baze University, Abuja, shedding light on a variety of issues around which his life revolves.

The “Peculiarities” Of Modernisation In Korea: Revisiting The Debate On “Colonial Modernisation” Vs. “Colonial Plunder”

ABSTRACT This article revisits the “colonial modernisation” thesis and its nationalist critique, the thesis of “colonial plunder” in the context of Korea. The two accounts have long been subject to politically charged disputes: while the former posits a causal link between Japanese colonialism and Korea’s rapid industrialisation, the latter suggests that Korea’s transition to capitalist development was blocked and distorted by Japanese colonialism. This article offers a critique of both accounts at the theoretical and historical levels. For a theoretical critique, it draws on the Marxist discussions of the notion of the “peculiarities” of national capitalism with reference to Britain and Germany. The article argues that both theses, by deriving the presumed ills or virtues of Korean capitalism from Japanese colonialism, assume the existence of a “normal” and “benign” path to capitalism and look at Korean capitalism and Japanese colonialism in isolation from the universal contradictions emanating from their being integral to the capitalist world-system. For a historical critique, this article assesses the dissolution of Chosŭn Korea at the turn of the twentieth century and the formation of the Korean capitalist class and shows that Korea’s transition to capitalism was both an inherently global process and driven by violent class struggles.

Челобитная калмыка Бокшурги Назарова о причислении его к башкирам Терсяцкой волости

Introduction. The article examines such phenomenon of 17th–18th century Bashkir society as incorporation of individuals representing other ethnic groups. Goals. The study aims at transcribing the process of incorporating foreigners into Bashkir clan structures. And in this regard Kalmyks are of special interest since they were distinct not only from Bashkirs proper but rather from all peoples of the Southern Urals both linguistically and confessionally. However, those were Kalmyks who would get integrated into Bashkir clans most frequently, even as compared to ethnically close and neighboring groups. Materials and Methods. The work focuses on documents of management and record keeping contained in collections dealing with Ufa Governorate Senate at the Russian State Archive of Ancient Acts. The source analysis was performed through the methods of historical criticism and diplomacy most instrumental in examining such documents. The explored papers of the 1733 Bashkir embassy to St. Petersburg describe a case of Bokshurga Nazarov, ethnic Kalmyk, who applied for joining a Bashkir community. Results. The study shows reasons and procedures of incorporating foreigners into Bashkir clans. The analysis attests to that the applicant was virtually a land holder already, and the Bashkirs had recognized him as their relative. Nazarov himself was just seeking for a legal confirmation of the accomplished fact, i.e. a ‘guardian law’. Conclusions. The work reveals that incorporation into Bashkir communities in the 17th – early 18th centuries was largely determined by the applicant’s nomadic life style (backgrounds) — and his ability to promptly adapt to alert living conditions within the militarized society — rather than by ethnic affinity (common faith, origins, or language). According to the documents, the request was satisfied, and the ex-captive was not only granted the status of a Bashkir land owner but even became a foreman of the vast Tersyatskaya Volost. Later he took an active part in the Bashkir Rebellion and was executed.

The lame man at the pool of Bethesda: Christological and doxological significance of characterisation in John 5

In any research of the biblical themes in Scriptures, the exegete must exercise discipline in strictly adhering to an exegetical process wherein the text is permitted to speak for itself in the context of the passage. This article therefore explored the literary traits and analysed characterisations in the story of the lame man at the pool of Bethesda as portrayed in John 5 through a ‘narratological and exegetical’ approach, considering literary, social, cultural and historical criticism with significant attention given to the text of the author or narrator. It is very important to know the author’s theological viewpoint as seen in the characterisation of an anonymous character in the related gospel narrative, because it may be easily be overlooked due to the lack of attention for a minor character. The author’s theological point of view is revealed in the characterisation of the lame man, the Jewish religious leaders, and of Jesus. Although the lame man himself is generally regarded as one of the ‘minor characters’ who appears in the gospel, the narrative of the lame man’s healing is an important part of John’s Christology and doxology, establishing Jesus as the Son whom God the Father sent to do God’s work not for his own glory, but for the glory of God the Father. An analysis is undertaken of the literary traits and various characterisations evident in the seven scenes of John 5’s account of the healing of the lame man, comparing him with other minor characters in John 4 and 9 who were healed.Contribution: In this article a narratological and exegetical approach is employed to identify the Christological and doxological significances in John 5 by exploring the literary traits of the narrative point of view and character presentation through the theological perspective of the narrator.

On Preconditions for Ibn Khaldun’s Philosophy of History

This article is devoted to the study of the preconditions for Ibn Khaldun’s philosophy of history. It is argued that his theory of history was both a result of his own intellectual development and previous theories. The author states that Ibn Khaldun was influenced by ancient thought, political culture of Western Asia and Islamic intellectual tradition. The first was Ancient Greek philosophy and medicine that he inherited from the great physicians and philosophers like Aristotle, Hippocrates and Galen. The second was cultural and political legacy of Sassanid Persia. The third prerequisite for formation of Ibn Khaldun’s theory of history was the adoption of the achievements of his predecessors, Islamic scientists, theologians and philosophers who had contributed to the rational critique of history.

Zacharias Frankel’s Conception of the Septuagint in Context

Abstract Zacharias Frankel had a very low opinion of the abilities of the LXX translators, the quality of their work and the ensuing textual transmission. He considered the Septuagint only useful as a testimony to help prove the antiquity of the halakah, a notion with apologetic value. Methodologically, he conceptualized the genesis of the Greek Pentateuch through the theories of contemporary historical criticism. His monographs on the Septuagint display great continuity with early modern scholarship. This also holds true for the assumption that the Septuagint reflects Jewish interpretation, and the notion of five translators/editors for the Greek Pentateuch. Frankel’s works were considered important, but his innovations, viz. the insistence that all Jewish exegesis was Palestinian in origin and his rejection of textual criticism, were accepted by few and rejected by most scholars, Jews and Christians alike. Frankel’s boldness and his use of German helped to keep his ideas on the scholarly agenda.

‘Fit for immediate service’: Reassessing the Irish Military Establishment of the Eighteenth Century through the 1770 Townshend Augmentation

The Irish Military Establishment (IME) of the eighteenth century was established in 1699 to protect Ireland from invasion and to secure the Hiberno-Protestant interest from Catholic insurrection. Regiments were rotated to and from Ireland as required, and Ireland played a major part in British strategy as a barracks for its Empire. Despite this crucial role, the Establishment endures considerable historical criticism and is often described as an ill-disciplined rabble. This paper will reassess this negative perception through a case study of the Townshend Augmentation and material held in the returns of regiments in Ireland from 1767-1771.

Identity and Ability

Research Article| July 01 2021 Identity and Ability: An Interview with Lennard J. Davis Jeffrey J. Williams Jeffrey J. Williams Jeffrey Williams has interviewed more than seventy critics, philosophers, and writers, appearing in journals including the minnesota review, Symploke, Iowa Review, and elsewhere. He has written on the history of the interview, notably “The Rise of the Critical Interview” (New Literary History, 2019). He also writes on contemporary American fiction, the history of modern criticism and theory, and critical university studies. His book, How to Be an Intellectual: Essays on Criticism, Culture, and the University (2014), calls for a more public criticism, and he is an editor of The Norton Anthology of Theory and Criticism (3rd ed., 2018). He is professor of English and of literary and cultural studies at Carnegie Mellon University. Search for other works by this author on: This Site Google Cultural Politics (2021) 17 (2): 163–174. https://doi.org/10.1215/17432197-8947865 Cite Icon Cite Share Icon Share Twitter Permissions Search Site Citation Jeffrey J. Williams; Identity and Ability: An Interview with Lennard J. Davis. Cultural Politics 1 July 2021; 17 (2): 163–174. doi: https://doi.org/10.1215/17432197-8947865 Download citation file: Zotero Reference Manager EasyBib Bookends Mendeley Papers EndNote RefWorks BibTex toolbar search Search nav search search input Search input auto suggest search filter Books & JournalsAll JournalsCultural Politics Search Advanced Search By the 1990s critics had shown the ways that race, class, gender, ethnicity, and sexuality shape identity. Yet, as Lennard J. Davis pointed out, disability was largely invisible on the spectrum of identity. With Enforcing Normalcy: Disability, Deafness, and the Body (1995) and the anthology The Disabilities Studies Reader (1st ed., 1997; 5th ed., 2016), Davis helped establish the field of disability studies.He further explored the representation and politics of disability in Bending Over Backwards: Disability, Dismodernism, and Other Difficult Positions (2002), The End of Normal: Identity in a Biocultural Era (2013), and Enabling Acts: The Hidden Story of How the American with Disabilities Act Gave the Largest US Minority Its Rights (2015), a trade book that tells the story of that landmark legislation, as well as the collection Disability and Social Theory: New Developments and Directions (coedited, 2012). More generally, he has argued for a “biocultural” approach in... Issue Section: Articles You do not currently have access to this content.

‘How can you say to me I am a King?’: New Historicism and its (Re)interpretations of the Design of Kingly Figures in Shakespeare’s History Plays

The 1980’s saw the emergence of New Historicist criticism, particularly through Stephen Greenblatt’s work. Its legacy remains influential, particularly on Shakespearean Studies. I wish to outline New Historicist methodological insights, comment on some of its criticisms and provide analytical comments on the changing approach to historical plays, asking “What has New Historicism brought into our understanding of historical plays and the way(s) of designing kingly power?” Examining Shakespeare’s second tetralogy, I will review Greenblatt’s contention that these plays largely focus on kingly power and its relationship to “subversion” and “containment”. I intend to focus on aspects of the plays that I believe have not received enough attention through New Historicism; particularly the design of the kingly figures.

Http://habibiaislamicus.com/index.php/hirj/article/view/198

Prof. Dr. Ihsan-ul-Haq was a prominent scholars of Arabic and Islamic studies who played a vital role in the promotion of Arabic language and literature and awaking of Muslim nation in in Pakistan. Dr. Ihsan was a great Islamic preacher, good writer, eloquent speaker, compassionate and exemplary teacher, an excellent researcher, good mentor and reformer as well. He always strived for the understanding of the Qur'an and the teaching of the Arabic language in Pakistan. He loved Arabic language very much. Listening, speaking, reading and writing Arabic was his favorite pastime. He edited various textbooks in Arabic to develop the expertise of the students in Arabic language. He was also a great admirer of Urdu language. His sermons, speeches, lectures, articles and scholarly writings published in Urdu language were very easy, simple and neat. He speaks in a common sense according to the mental level of the listener and the reader so that the right of communication can be exercised. In this study, I have viewed the impact of Arabic language in his literary services. I adopted the method of description, analytics and historical criticism which covers all the aspects.

Conceptual Results of the Practice of Re-reading and Rethinking of Ruth Benedict’s Patterns of Culture

Ruth Benedict’s Patterns of Culture has a long history of professional criticism by cultural anthropologists. Still, at the beginning of the 1990s, appeared singular attempts of critical rethinking of the concept of patterns of culture, which were provided with appropriate reconstruction. The initiative belonged to P. Bock and S. Leavitt. Other instances of critical analysis came from attempts to generalize the phenomenon of re-reading the works of Ruth Benedict. In this article those rare initiatives of ‘critical re-reading’ are represented by the paper by B. Babcock and J. Boon. As an analytical unit for reviewing B. Babcock’s academic exposition of conceptual considerations and criticisms, we chose the description of positive perception by Ruth Benedict of the idea from W. Dilthey that we have no grounds for hoping to get any eventual categorical form of rationalization of life from philosophy. As the textual analysis has shown, Ruth Benedict picked this postulation of W. Dilthey’s to block the effect of ‘final’ apologetical theses for support and acceptance of functional descriptions of living archaic cultures of Trobriand Islands and Mainland of Melanesia by B. Malinowski as a template for description of any culture. Regarding the attachment of gestalt psychology implications to existing apologetic arguments for presentation of the mentioned functional descriptions of living archaic cultures as a sample for description of any living culture, the multiplicative meaning of Dilthey’s thesis for Ruth Benedict becomes clear. This multiplicative assignment of Dilthey’s argument shows that in critical reconstruction by P. Bock and S. Leavitt gestalt psychology implications were incautiously presented as a horizon for inclusion of the ideas of configuration, individuality, and culture into the concept of pattern of culture. Concurrently, J. Boon managed to demonstrate that descriptions of antagonism of Indian tribes of Pueblo and Plain cultures contain no depictions of internal testing of one culture by the other. Therefore, a full description of these cultures antagonism as opposition of Apollonian and Dionysian patterns of Indian tribes of Pueblo and Plain culture made up the focal matter of ‘dispositional description’, which is an important methodological achievement of Ruth Benedict.

As transformações da justiça medieval ibérica entre os séculos XIII e XV

The concept of justice came to be transformed in the medieval era in the Latin West, particularly between the thirteenth and fifteenth centuries, due to ongoing shifts in the political and institutional fields. Monarchies became institutionalized due to the influence of debates proposed by the University of Bologna generating the construction of a legal culture systematizing the concepts and criteria for the exercise of justice without abandoning the relationship between these theories and the social context to which it was destined. Municipal representatives came to play an increasingly important role in events such as the rise of the Joanine Dynasty in Portugal (1383-5) and their aspirations and worldview would be sought out as one of the currencies of exchange for the granting of support, reflected in the legislation and in the legal collections developed by descendants of John I of Avis, such as the Alfonsine Ordinations. This constituted a space in which private rights overlapped with the Common Law emanating from the royal court and which crystallized a tendency towards Portuguese legal singularity promoting the hierarchization of the sources of law available in Latin. This work is developed from historical criticism applied to documentary content, Las Siete Partidas del muy noble Rey Don Alfonso el Sabio, Livro das Leis e Posturas, and the Ordenações Afonsinas.

Milli ƏDƏBİ TƏNQİDİN MEYAR AXTARIŞLARI

Azerbaijani literary criticism has its own specific traditions. The article examines the ideological and aesthetic values of a particular stage of literary criticism. The positive tendencies manifested in literary criticism in the 40s and 50s of the twentieth century, the principles of valuing classical and modern literary heritage are revealed. The role of individual literary critics in the literary process of the 40s and 50s is analyzed from an objective historical point of view. Literary-aesthetic thought is dynamic, lively and changeable. It changes in accordance with the socio- political conditions of the time and takes on a new form and content, trying to express the new currents of thought of the time. This change and development is especially important when it manifests itself in the approach to the subject of literary criticism, social events, philosophical and methodological directions are determined. These changes in literary criticism are a phenomenon of thinking, in accordance with the principles of worldview. The history of literary-theoretical thought is one of the basic humanities, which occupies a very important place and plays an active and influential role in the spiritual life of society. As a result, we can say that, as in all periods, the 40s and 50s of our history of criticism and literary criticism are dynamic, lively and changeable. Like in different periods, literary criticism has also played three important roles in the 40s and 50s: First, to explain the literary process, to assess it, to find the regularities of the literary process out, second, to disclose the aesthetic and ethical frameworks created by art, to trigger deep love in readers for them; third, to solve the necessary philosophical, sociological, ethical and aesthetic issues of life by the analysis of art events. Of course, if we evaluate the scientific-theoretical level of our aesthetic thought in the 40’s and 50’s with these three criteria, we can state that literary criticism and literary science have fulfilled their tasks in the literary process dignifiedly. As the foundation of the process leading to democratization in the 60s has started in the late 50’s, the renewal in literary criticism and literary science also occurred a while ago. We can also state that the breath of a new era in literary criticism and literary science has came with “Literary Thoughts” (1958) by M.J.Jafarov .

Impressive Shakespeare: Identity, Authority and the Imprint in Shakespearean Drama.By Harry Newman

Harry Newman’s important book investigates intertwined technologies, rhetorics, and theories of “impression”: practices that impose pattern on malleable substrates, from wax to metal to paper to bodies to ideologies. Reading four plays in relation to these concerns, Newman also explores a history of criticism that “represent[s] Shakespeare’s poetic and imaginative authority … as forceful, transformative, fertile and impressive” (74). The book is meticulously researched, synthesizing the copious bibliographies on its plays and concepts (although the Works Cited misses some citations, and readers would benefit from a considerably more extensive index). Newman’s thesis reveals new aspects of well-studied texts and his discussions of critical history and practice will have lasting significance. Chapter 1, “Technology, language, physiology,” establishes the lexical, conceptual, and material overlap among printing, coining, and wax-sealing. The imprinting of wax, metal, and paper are linked not only by mechanical similarities of pressing a rigid form onto malleable substrate, but...

KRITIK SEJARAH DALAM PENELITIAN HADIS

Hadith has its own history which is incorporated in the history of Islamic development and even the history of world development. The flashback to the history of the hadith began when the Prophet Muhammad -may peace and blessings of Allah be upon him- was sent as a Prophet, the spread of the Prophet's hadith and the droves of the Companions studying Islam and the enthusiasm of next generation to relay the struggle. In selecting hadith, there are criteria that hadith scholars agreed in research by using several methods to determine the truth of leaning the news on the Prophet. Then came the researchers today who offer an alternative method of hadith research, namely the historical criticism method. The formulation of the problem in this research is about: (1) the meaning of historical criticism, (2) the comparison of historical criticism with hadith text and chain of narration criticism, (3) the relevance of the application of historical criticism to hadith research. The research method used is a qualitative method with a comparative descriptive approach.The result of this study indicates that: (1) Historical criticism is the process of collecting past data critically and systematically from related sources to be critically verified so that it can be interpreted objectively to produce accurate historical writing. (2) There are 4 forms of comparison between historical criticism and hadith text and chain of narration criticism (3) The historical criticism is not relevant to hadith research because there are things that are not accommodated in revealing the authenticity of a hadith, so that historical criticism cannot match the hadith text and chain of narration criticism.

Fracturing the Historical Continuity on Truth: Jotiba Phule in the Quest for Personhood of Shudras

Anti-caste traditions in India work to understand and examine the idea of personhood which the majority in India is deprived of by virtue of being born in the lower rungs of the caste hierarchy. This paper examines the historical continuity in Brahminism and the rupture Jotiba Phule presents to it through his art and activism which serves to disturb the regular flow of singular continuity of what is perceived as history and historiography. Jotiba’s quest is for finding the essence / personhood of, what Butler calls, a ‘precarious subject’ and recognizing that precarious subject – the Shudra, as a subject of history. But the personhood of this precarious subject is never a complete personhood. Therefore, Jotiba attempts to unveil the path towards achieving complete personhood which is embedded in reaffirming the lost or concealed truth – by discontinuing the historical flow of the social structure of caste and establishing a new subject rising out of crisis in social structure in history. I have chosen two works from Jotiba’s works as new methodological tools for history writing and historical criticism, and made hermeneutical and phenomenological readings of the both. The works are his poem Kulambin (a peasant woman), and the Satyashodhak (truth-seeker) marriage as the public performance of protest- as they are both - the essential and the mundane to his life, which exemplifies the truth Jotiba followed and established an organization Satyashodhak Samaj (Society of Truth Seekers) as a testament to it.

Mother Goddess Worship in Ancient Tamil Literature

An ancient Tamil people worship begin from nature; Even though the first worship starts from women, women become as a God for their extreme quality of maternity. In ancient Tamil literature (Sangam Literature, Epic literature, Nilakesi etc.), the Number of evidences are found for the mother Goddess worship of ancient Tamil peoples. This Research articles give detailed explanation about the mother Goddess worship. The aim and objectines of this article is to find out the mother Goddess worship with the evidences of ancient Tamil Literature. In this research articles Descriptive Criticism, Historical Criticism and Analytical Criticism are applied.