Interpretation Of Scripture Research Articles

Glorifying God: The Theological Notion of Women in Christine de Pizan's Livre de la Cité des Dames

In the lives of holy women that constitute Part III of the Livre de la Cité des Dames (1405), Christine de Pizan (1365-c.1431) interpreted 1 Corinthians 11.1-15 and composed a theological anthropological notion of the human person that affirms that women and men alike are made in the image of God and the glory of God. In this passage of his letter to the Christian community in Corinth, the Apostle Paul taught on theological anthropology and ethics. Christine placed herself within the Augustinian tradition of scriptural interpretation and read the Pauline verses allegorically. Christine reordered and rewrote the lives of women saints in order to make the case for women as glorifying God, meaning both being the glory of God (i.e., representing God) and praising God. In the context of medieval intertextuality, Christine's descriptions of hair, head-coverings, and fathers each add to the author's biblical interpretation and theological argumentation. Christine's argument for women as created in the image of God and the glory of God is both about the basic relationships in the order of creation (Creator and created human being and human being and human being) and the capacities of human beings for intellect, virtue, and apostolic work in the world including teaching. Her exegetical and theological argument is inseparably anthropological, ecclesiological, and political.

The Hands Off Ethiopia campaign, racial solidarities and intercolonial antifascism in South Asia (1935–36)

AbstractThe transnational campaign against the Italian invasion of the Ethiopian Empire (1936–36) has been widely acknowledged as a turning point for antiracist and anticolonial political organizing in the African continent and diaspora. This article seeks to reconstruct the South Asian participation in the Hands Off Ethiopia protests, to expand historical knowledge of the early-twentieth-century development of Afro-Asian solidarity ties as well as the intersection of anti-Fascist and anticolonial struggles. It examines the institutional responses to the invasion on the part of the Indian Legislative Assembly, and a series of demonstrations, local meetings and boycotts whose implications reverberated in the local and international press as well as in the concerns of British colonial authorities. As will be argued, this mobilization was fueled by feelings of racial solidarity, anti-imperialist analyses, anti-caste critiques, scriptural interpretations and religious universalisms.

Hobbes's Eschatology and Scriptural Interpretation in Leviathan

Hobbes's eschatology in Leviathan is one of the most striking aspects of this classic work and has received considerable scholarly attention. Nevertheless, its scriptural interpretation has rarely been examined. This article closely analyses Hobbes's scriptural case for two aspects of eschatology: the doctrine of mortalism and the terrestrial kingdom of God. It shows that, to a large extent, Hobbes's biblical exegesis for these two eschatological issues was preceded by that of his contemporaries, including Richard Overton and John Archer. It is likely, in particular, that the scriptural interpretation for Hobbes's mortalism was directly indebted to Overton's Mans mortalitie.

Communicable

Haredi Orthodox Jewish neighborhoods of New York have been aggressively targeted by anti-vax groups. Reaching the Haredim with misinformation is facilitated by the very accommodations used to keep the lifestyle separate and incorruptible. Actually, most rabbis, the experts on Jewish law, advocate for vaccination, and this comes straight from the communication of scripture. Despite the fact that the principles of a fundamentalist religion can complicate some life decisions, an understanding of religious law and a rabbi’s interpretation of scripture as the ultimate authoritative sources may best counter medical misinformation, both for the group itself and the public’s impressions of them.

The Bible and Catholic Ressourcement: Essays on Scripture and Theology by William M. Wright IV

Reviewed by: The Bible and Catholic Ressourcement: Essays on Scripture and Theology by William M. Wright IV Jeffrey L. Morrow william m. wright iv, The Bible and Catholic Ressourcement: Essays on Scripture and Theology (Renewal within Tradition; Steubenville, OH: Emmaus Academic, 2020). Pp. 250. $43. William Wright has published a wonderful collection of essays that are concerned with reading the Bible both historically and theologically. The majority of the essays focus more on method, whereas the last three engage the biblical texts themselves. W. divides his work [End Page 167] into roughly three parts: the first three chapters examine the biblical thinking and work of three Catholic theologians whom W. identifies as Ressourcement theologians but who are more often referred to as informal members of La Nouvelle théologie, the term first used of them by Reginald Garrigou-Lagrange: Henri de Lubac, Yves Congar, and Joseph Ratzinger/ Pope Benedict XVI. Chapters 4–7 focus more exclusively on Ratzinger/Benedict's Jesus of Nazareth trilogy. The final three chapters apply the sort of biblical hermeneutics covered thus far, represented by de Lubac, Congar, and Ratzinger/Benedict, to specific texts: John 6:1–21 (chap. 8); the use of Psalm 69 in John's Gospel (chap. 9); and John 8:12–20. This focus on John's Gospel is not surprising since W. wrote his Emory University doctoral dissertation on John 9 (published as Rhetoric and Theology: Figural Reading of John 9 [BZNW 165; Berlin: de Gruyter, 2009]). Wright articulates the theme of his volume as "the interpretation of Scripture in relation to the movement in recent Catholic theology known as the Ressourcement" (p. 1). The figures in this movement were the thinkers involved in the liturgical, patristic, and biblical renewal efforts that played a foundational role in the work of ressourcement, or retrieval, a going back to the sources, that led to the Second Vatican Council, which was also known for its other emphasis on aggiornamento (updating). In chap. 1 ("Patristic Exegetical Theory and Practice in de Lubac and Congar"), W. examines how de Lubac and Congar approached patristic exegesis as having perennial value. In chap. 2 ("The Literal Sense of Scripture according to Henri de Lubac: Insights from Patristic Exegesis of the Transfiguration"), W. looks more closely at de Lubac's discussion of patristic exegesis, focusing on the concrete example of the Gospel accounts of Jesus's transfiguration. W. describes the way de Lubac engaged the early Christian exegesis of Origen, Jerome, and Augustine. Important for W. is understanding de Lubac's nuanced appreciation for the work of historical biblical criticism while at the same time embracing Maurice Blondel's critique of such exegesis. In chap. 3 ("Echoes of Biblical Apocalyptic in the Encyclical Teaching of Benedict XVI"), W. looks to Ratzinger/Benedict, drawing attention to what he refers to as Ratzinger/ Benedict's "biblical apocalypticism" in his papal encyclicals: "Benedict's analysis of the Church's present moment echoes the apocalyptic motif of a present crisis in which the people of God are caught up in a dramatic conflict with an antagonizing opposition. . . . Benedict positions atheistic humanism as instantiating the apocalyptic figure of the false prophet. . . . Benedict emphasizes the Church's Christoform witness of charity-in-truth as the way to confront these antagonistic accounts of humanism" (pp. 61–62). The significance that Ratzinger/Benedict clearly holds for W. is most evident in the four chapters (4–7) he devotes to the three volumes of Jesus of Nazareth: chap. 4, "A 'New Synthesis': Benedict XVI's Jesus of Nazareth: Volume 1"; chap. 5, "Pre-Gospel Traditions and Post-Critical Interpretation in Benedict XVI's Jesus of Nazareth: Volume 2; chap. 6, "Living with the Word of God: The Holy Family in Jesus of Nazareth: The Infancy Narratives"; chap. 7, "Patristic Biblical Hermeneutics in Benedist XVI's Jesus of Nazareth." W. argues that Jesus of Nazareth demonstrates the kind of exegesis Ratzinger/Benedict thinks should be done. W.'s comment about vol. 1 applies just as well as to how he views the entire trilogy: "It is a genuine exercise in Ressourcement theology" (p. 113), wherein, as he explains in chap. 7, "Benedict's theological presentation . . . is identical with his...

The Trouble with Literature

The Trouble with Literature

Pedro and Pita Built Peter Priesthood's Mansion and Now They Work the Grounds: Whose Masc Does “the Lamanite” Wear?

Pedro and Pita Built Peter Priesthood's Mansion and Now They Work the Grounds: Whose <i>Masc</i> Does “the Lamanite” Wear?

Ummah Imaginations in Plural Kerala: Being International in the Traditional Way

Quranic ‘Ummah’ with its political and social sensibilities in a period of authoritatively heterogenetic counter-resurgences is significant for Muslims constituting minority in Kerala, India. However, ‘Ummah’ as an euphemism for state-centered political aspirations become endemic to them only in the last century. This tendency could be linked to literal scriptural interpretations, contempt for the technocratic and mystic traditions and the idea of sacred-geographies pushed inward by reformist movements since 1920s, which disjuncts with classical hermeneutic traditions followed by Keralite Ulama by their distinctive longue-durée to mainstream Muslims lands. Recently through a revivalist campaign, the traditional Ulama refurnished their monolithic concept of Ummah by reimagining and re-appropriating those sacred imaginaries from the puritanical-Islamist claim of the pure. An embedded Ummah locality – a mixture of local products and global variants – thus piggybacked on the structural and cultural forces of globalization, allowing Ulama to prudently redraw the boundaries of national culture and its ally, local Islam. Through this paper, I try to explicate how traditional Muslim scholarship in Kerala employed Quranic Ummah in the plural society while structurally re-embedding it with the global Muslim whole. A short reflection on the interpretive paradigm of puritanical-Islamist orientations on the concept of Ummah will be given along to place various paradigms in a comparative framework.

Genres of Buddhist Commentarial Literature in Medieval China

In the Northern and Southern Dynasties, there were many types of Buddhist scripture-interpretation literature, including xuanyi 玄義, xuanlun 玄論, yishu 義疏, yizhang 義章, etc. These exegetical forms are related to Chinese traditional literary style, but mainly inherit the tradition of Indian Buddhist hermeneutics. In this paper, all such types would be summarized as yi (義, exegesis), lun (論, treatise) and shu (疏, commentaries), which are described as follows.BR The style of yi is related to the interpretation tradition of the Confucian classic Spring and Autumn Annals, which finds two variants in the interpretation of Buddhist scriptures. The first is yizhang as the general interpretation of Buddhist ideas, such as Dasheng yizhang by Jingying Huiyuan, and the second is xuanyi as the general exegesis of a Buddhist scripture, such as Fahua xuanyi by Zhiyi.BR Lun for Buddhist treatises is the same term used for Chinese traditional treatise lun, but its connotation mainly derives from Indian Buddhist hermeneutics. There are two variants of this style, one is a general interpretation, such as the Dasheng xuanlun by Jizang, and the other is general exegesis, such as Fahua xuanlun by Jizang. Sometimes, this style is also titled with yizhang and xuanyi.BR Shu as a genre of literature, which is related to Chinese tradition of classical annotation, usually means record, classification, and interpretation of various commentaries. When interpreting Buddhist scriptures, this genre explains Buddhist scriptures from the perspective of yi and is later called yishu, such as in Qixin lun yishu by the author Jingying Huiyuan. It is often also referred to as yiji 義記, jijie 集解 or wenju 文句.BR Yi and lun are actually the same style or genre, typically having a small number of volumes (juan 卷, rolls or scrolls) and focusing on a few profound meanings. There are many examples of yishu that had such a wide influence that the term changed to become zhangshu 章疏—together with yizhang—since the Tang dynasty. In the history of Chinese Buddhism, yi and lun gradually faded out while zhangshu continued to be produced. This change is an indication that the focus of Chinese Buddhism shifted from Indian Buddhist scriptures to Chinese patriarchal works deriving from Buddhist schools, such as Tiantai, Huayan, Chan, and Pure Land Buddhism.

Svijet Biblije – neophodan kontekst kod proučavanja Starog zavjeta

The Bible was not originally written for the modern reader, but the testimony of the Church is that it continues to speak God’s word to readers/hearers today. However, many modern Bible readers come across texts that need further explanation because the biblical authors did not offer clarification of their writings. They assumed the readers of their time were familiar with the background and could understand the reported events without further explanation. To achieve a “legit” interpretation of Old Testament texts, we first need to understand Scripture correctly, meaning that the biblical text must be read in its narrower and broader context. Only within a context does it become clear what the author meant to say. The main argument of this article is to exhibit that the Bible can only be fully understood against the backdrop of the Ant Near East (ANE). The broader context consists of the knowledge of surrounding nations during Bible times (i.e., Hebrew Bible). By examining ANE texts and archeological findings we achieve a more complete and enriched comprehension of a given scriptural text or passage. This article exhibits through some concrete examples how archeological findings, inscriptions, and Ancient Near East texts can aid in understanding the broader context of the Old Testament world. In return, the wider context of the Bible world can enlighten or clarify a difficult, incomprehensible, or ambiguous biblical text and henceforth scriptural interpretation become more accurate and closer to the original message and meaning.

The World of the Bible: Indispensable Context in the Study of the Old Testament

Biblija izvorno nije napisana za suvremenog čitatelja, ali svjedočanstvo Crkve je da i danas nastavlja čitateljima/slušateljima govoriti Božju riječ. Međutim, mnogi suvremeni čitatelji Biblije nailaze na tekstove koji trebaju daljnja objašnjenja jer biblijski autori nisu ponudili pojašnjenje svojih rukopisa. Pretpostavljali su da su čitatelji njihova vremena bili upoznati s okruženjem i da su mogli razumjeti napisane događaje bez daljnjeg pojašnjenja. Da bismo postigli „legitimnu“ interpretaciju starozavjetnih tekstova, prvo moramo pravilno razumjeti Sveto pismo, što znači da se biblijski tekst mora čitati u njegovu užem i širem kontekstu. Tek unutar konteksta postaje jasno što je autor htio reći. Glavni argument ovog rada pokazat će kako se Biblija može cjelovitije razumjeti samo uz pozadinu drevnoga Bliskog istoka (u daljnjem tekstu DBI). Širi kontekst sastoji se od znanja okolnih naroda tijekom biblijskih vremena (tj. hebrejske Biblije). Ispitivanjem i konzultiranjem drevnih bliskoistočnih tekstova i arheoloških nalaza, postižemo cjelovitije i bogatije razumijevanje određenoga biblijskog teksta ili odlomka. Ovaj članak prikazuje kroz nekoliko konkretnih primjera kako arheološki nalazi, natpisi i drevni bliskoistočni tekstovi mogu pomoći u razumijevanju šireg konteksta starozavjetnog svijeta. Zauzvrat, širi kontekst biblijskog svijeta može prosvijetliti i/ili razjasniti težak, nerazumljiv ili dvosmislen biblijski tekst i tada tumačenje svetopisamskih spisa postaje točnije i bliže izvornoj poruci i značenju.

The Influence of Mendelssohn's Commentary on Qohelet on Nineteenth-Century Orthodox Jewish Commentators in Eastern and Western Europe

The importance of Mendelssohn’s commentary to Qohelet lies, inter alia, in its influence on nineteenth-century Jewish commentators and more precisely in its reception among eastern and western Europe’s Orthodox commentators, who adopted, explicitly or implicitly, his unique form of scriptural interpretation. In this article, I demonstrate unique characteristics in Mendelssohn’s commentary on Qohelet and the ways in which these were adopted by later biblical commentators, shedding light on features of Mendelssohn’s writings, reputation, and influence.

Divine Logos and Translation among Iberian Muslims: From Ibn Ḥazm (d. 456H/1064CE) to Aḥmad al-Ḥanafī (d. 1049H/1650CE)

Like other religious traditions, Islam has accommodated notions of the divine logos. The actual elaboration of these notions has been heavily dependent on how the translation of God’s word and commandments to humans were understood as an object of intra-community debate, as well as in polemics with non-Muslims (inter-community debate). These two debates converged in the Muslim critique of the translation, transmission, and interpretation of the divine logos by Jews and Christians in their scriptures, although such convergence took different forms in different historical settings. The present contribution focuses on several examples of the engagement of Muslims with the Bible in the medieval Iberian Peninsula and in exile. The choice of authors and works ranges from the 11th-century Andalusī scholar Ibn Ḥazm to the exile Aḥmad al-Ḥanafī (d. 1049H/1650CE). It is nevertheless not intended as a comprehensive overview of Muslim approaches from the Western Mediterranean region. The objective is rather to discuss several aspects associated with the translation of the divine logos in polemics as a tool of identity that is intimately related to Muslim practices of exegesis and transmission of the Jewish and Christian writings. Particular attention is directed toward the broader issue of how notions of the translation of God’s word have been informed by language practices within contexts of inter-religious contact and competition (either between existing social bodies or as references to a relatively recent past). A preliminary look at Muslim modes of scriptural interpretation suggests that translation and exegesis, as well as the ways in which Muslims understood these practices as performed by non-Muslims, were part of a tradition that took final form and meaning, and that was subject to change when re-enacted in specific contexts. Any understanding of the subject must be read against the backdrop of Muslim configurations of knowledge within the local communities, as combined with tradition.

Messiah and Scripture: Paul’s “In Christ” Idiom in Its Ancient Jewish Context.

Messiah and Scripture: Paul’s “In Christ” Idiom in Its Ancient Jewish Context.

Meat consumers and Islamic scholars’ understanding of humane slaughter, and effects of pre-slaughter stunning on meat purchasing decisions in Ghana

PurposeThis paper aims to seek the understanding and opinion of meat consumers and Islamic scholars in Ghana, on preslaughter stunning of livestock, and its effects on meat patronage by consumers.Design/methodology/approachA total of 170 meat consumers and 19 Islamic Scholars were interviewed to examine their perception and levels of understanding of pre-slaughter stunning of livestock, and whether stunning had any influence on their meat purchasing decisions. Descriptive statistics and Probit regression model were used to analyse the data obtained.FindingsIt was observed that majority (94.4%) of the meat consumers had no idea on what pre-slaughter stunning of livestock entails. However, 32.7% concurred that stunning is capable of reducing the pain associated with neck cutting of slaughter animals. Evidence from the Probit analysis suggested that variables such as age, marital status, religion, source of meat, product label and Muslims’ religiosity negatively influenced the willingness to consume meat from animals stunned prior to slaughter. In contrast, variables such as gender, knowledge on stunning, beef as the preferred meat, pain reduction and knowledge on stunning, positively influenced the willingness to consume same. The level of education and knowledge on pre-stunning is associated with the acceptance of pre-slaughter stunning of livestock among Islamic ScholarsResearch limitations/implicationsEven though the study is Islamic oriented, majority of the respondents except the Islamic scholars were non-Muslims. Given this, the implications of the study have been differentiated for both Muslims and non-Muslims.Practical implicationsThe findings present an opportunity for researchers, retailers and Islamic scholars to increase education around different slaughter technologies so that consumers can understand these methods to make informed purchasing decisions. Higher educational institutions such as agriculture and veterinary schools can also use the findings to develop future modules around animal welfare. The research can also inform governments, non-governmental organisations and retailers in the formulation of future policies on animal welfare. Further research is also needed to investigate the welfare aspects of slaughter with and without stunning and how to address any lapses in animal welfare.Social implicationsFrom animal welfare standpoint, the results may be interpreted to imply that consumers’ purchasing decisions are not based on animal welfare indices. From halal perspective, it implies that Muslims are consuming products that may have been slaughtered using stunning techniques that contravene the rules of halal slaughter.Originality/valueDespite the popularity of pre-slaughter stunning and relative literature in the industrialised world, it appears to be less researched in developing countries like Ghana. Besides, there is a lack of consensus among Islamic jurists in interpreting Islamic scriptures on pre-stunning. Nevertheless, there is a paucity of studies on the reasons apart from the interpretation of Islamic scriptures, which influences Islamic scholars' stance on pre-stunning in Ghana.

Encountering the Word of God in Early Tudor England

Abstract The arrival in England of Tyndale’s New Testament in the 1520s is still widely heralded as a transformative moment. This article argues that the lingering effects of triumphalist Protestant rhetoric concerning the ‘Word of God’ have obscured the many other contexts in which it was possible for the laity to encounter the Bible in early Tudor England. They have also glossed over some of the difficulties of transmitting Scripture to a largely illiterate populace. Protestant insistence on the literal interpretation of vernacular Scripture should chiefly be seen as propaganda for the evangelical cause. Early Tudor print culture demonstrates that the reading of Scripture was understood as a complex process involving a spiritual encounter shaped by faith, imagination and emotion, not just a textual encounter. In practice, Tyndale and other reformers, no less than their more conservative opponents, taught the laity that the Bible needed to be ‘unlocked’ and explained. For the lay reader encountering works of religious devotion and instruction, the ways in which early Tudor print culture mediated the Bible remained heavily indebted to late medieval religious practice. This shaped the context in which the ‘Great Bible’ of 1539 was conceived and published and this first official English Bible should be recognised as a contested text, which in its final form may have been as much a reflection of late medieval attitudes as the achievement of English Protestants.

Who Are Abraham’s Children?

Abstract One of the goals of theological interpretation of Scripture is to assist the church in critical reflection upon its own practice as it seeks to understand and to live within the biblical story of God’s dealings with the world. Drawing upon Joel Green’s scholarly investigation of the nature of conversion in Luke-Acts, this article offers a critical reflection upon practices of exclusion in the church in New Zealand. I argue further, in accordance with Luke-Acts, that participation in the purposes of God, or being numbered among the children of Abraham, is not a matter of privileged descent, but consists in the redirection of one’s life in community with others towards the fulfilment of God’s eschatological purposes evident in Christ. Māori Christians, I suggest, have a good deal to teach the wider church in this regard.

On Writing a Commentary

Abstract Readers of Scripture have always engaged in its interpretation. A particularly focused contemporary form of scriptural interpretation is found in biblical commentaries, which provide information about the language and the literary and sociocultural contexts of biblical texts and offer guidance for understanding them. These have long been the concerns of interpreters of biblical texts, as a sampling of ancient Jewish translations (Targums, Septuagint) and various genres of biblical interpretation (pesharim, “rewritten Bible”) show. This essay discusses the task of writing a commentary on Scripture in light of the questions raised by ancient Jewish interpretation and in dialogue with Joel Green’s understanding of theological interpretation.

Theodoret of Cyrus and His Exegetical Predecessors: A Study of His Biblical Commentary Prefaces

Abstract In this article, I examine the biblical commentary prefaces of Theodoret of Cyrus (d. 458), particularly the exegete’s presentation of his self-image in relation to his predecessors in the Greek exegetical tradition. I contend that in addition to its introductory function, the biblical commentary preface provided the context in which the exegete could rhetorically style himself vis-à-vis the prior tradition, articulating his own skills, credentials, and distinctive interpretive approach. Of Theodoret’s nine biblical commentaries, I focus particularly on the prefaces of his Commentary on the Song of Songs, Commentary on Daniel, Commentary on the Twelve Prophets, Questions on the Octateuch, and Commentary on the Psalms, given that in these five, we find Theodoret remarking explicitly on the prior interpretive tradition. I demonstrate that at times Theodoret engages with the prior tradition with a critical tone, and at others, he shows respectful deference to his predecessors. In every case, however, his comments serve the rhetorical end of presenting himself as both an authoritative exegetical inheritor and curator of the prior interpretive tradition. The overarching argument of this article then is that Theodoret fashions his own identity as an exegete by making his relative late appearance on the exegetical scene work to his advantage, claiming that an authoritative interpreter of scripture is one who inherits and curates the exegetical legacy and traditions of the prior tradition. In other words, Theodoret overcomes the (rhetorical) problem that others have previously produced commentaries on the biblical book by claiming that the true authoritative interpreter is in fact one who knows both scripture and the prior tradition intimately, and that the exegete’s role at this stage in the tradition is to faithfully transmit the most fitting comments of others.

Review: The Architectural Model: Histories of the Miniature and the Prototype, the Exemplar and the Muse

Review: <i>The Architectural Model: Histories of the Miniature and the Prototype, the Exemplar and the Muse</i>