The ABCs of Complaint: The Book of Lamentations Through the Ages analyzes the biblical Book of Lamentations. Central to the book are the questions: How can we translate the Hebrew text while at the ...same time taking into consideration the poetic devices of the source text and insights from recent research into biblical Hebrew grammar? What are the literary forms and content of the poems? How have readers read, understood and used Lamentations over the course of its reception history? The author examines Lamentations’ literary form, its religion-historical, theological and historical content, and its contexts. In addition, selected stations along Lamentations’ nomadic journey through reception history are explored. The book combines historical-critical, literary and form-critical methods. The five poems of Lamentations are analyzed according to the categories orientation (being at equilibrium), disorientation (a state of being out of balance), and reorientation (a state of existence where equilibrium has been restored), inspired by Walter Brueggemann’s typology of psalms. Based on a meticulous philological analysis of the Hebrew text, the author presents a new, transparent Norwegian translation. A distinctive feature of this translation is that it, in several instances, interprets the Hebrew perfect (qatal) as a so-called precative perfect (“perfect of prayer”). The ABCs of Complaint is relevant for students of theology and religion, researchers, church employees, lay people, and all who are interested in Biblical lament literature and images of God from a historical perspective on theology and religion.
Klagens ABC: Boken Klagesangene i dens samtid og ettertid analyserer den bibelske boken Klagesangene. Sentralt står spørsmålene: Hvordan kan vi oversette den hebraiske teksten og samtidig ta hensyn til grunntekstens poetiske virkemidler og innsikter fra nyere forskning på bibelhebraisk grammatikk? Hva er diktenes litterære form og innhold? Hvordan har lesere lest, forstått og brukt Klagesangene gjennom dens resepsjonshistorie? Forfatteren drøfter Klagesangenes litterære form, dens religionshistoriske, teologiske og historiske innhold og dens kontekster. I tillegg drøftes utvalgte stasjoner langs Klagesangenes nomadiske vandring gjennom resepsjonshistorien. Boken kombinerer historisk-kritiske, litterære og formkritiske metoder. De fem diktene i Klagesangene analyseres ut fra kategoriene orientering (en tilværelse i likevekt), desorientering (en virkelighet ute av balanse) og nyorientering (en tilværelse hvor likevekten er gjenopprettet), inspirert av Walter Brueggemanns salmetypologi. På grunnlag av en nitid filologisk analyse av den hebraiske teksten presenterer forfatteren en ny, transparent norsk oversettelse. Et kjennetegn ved oversettelsen er at den i flere tilfeller forstår hebraisk perfektum (qatal) som en såkalt prekativ perfektum («bønneperfektum»). Klagens ABC henvender seg til teologi- og religionsstudenter, forskere, kirkelige medarbeidere, legfolk og alle som interesserer seg for Bibelens klagelitteratur og gudsbilder i et teologisk og religionshistorisk perspektiv.
Do opublikowania dokumentu Papieskiej Komisji Biblijnej Natchnienie i prawda Pisma Świętego. Słowo, które od Boga pochodzi i mówi o Bogu, aby zbawić świat minęła już prawie dekada. Można więc ze ...słusznego dystansu postawić pytanie, do jakiego punktu doprowadził on dyskusję o natchnieniu oraz jaki kierunek może i powinna ona przybrać w przyszłości. Na Soborze Watykańskim II przyjęto chrystocentryczną koncepcję Objawienia oraz przedstawiono skupioną na tekście teologię natchnienia. Stworzyło to problem niespójności tych dwóch zagadnień. Dokument PKB z 2014 r. wychodząc z założenia, że między teologią Objawienia i natchnienia istnieje ścisły związek, odpowiedział na głos Kościoła wyrażony w XII Zgromadzeniu Ogólnym Synodu Biskupów (2008). Do wypracowania jest jednak wciąż synteza teologiczna obejmująca te dwa zagadnienia. Posynodalny dokument Verbum Domini (2008) nakreślił chrystologiczny kierunek wypracowywania tej syntezy, która zniesie dychotomię poszukiwań teologii natchnienia w teologii dogmatycznej i biblistyce.
Genesis 49 shows the scene that takes place at the deathbed of the patriarch Jacob. In the face of his upcoming death, Jacob calls on all of his sons that they may listen to and accept his words of ...valediction. The patriarch addresses each of them individually. This piece of text serves an example of the biblical poetry in which metaphors play an important role. In the Hebrew text there are words and phrases that raise many doubts and questions. Not only contemporary translators and biblical scholars contend with these difficulties, but ancient and medieval commentators did as well. The Aramaic Targums testify to the early Jewish exegesis and interpretation of Gen 49. This article presents the paraphrase and discusses a few selected verses of the Aramaic version of Torah (Tg. Onq., Tg. Neof., Frg. Tg(s)., Tg. Ps.-J.). Based on the above examples, the development of principal Jewish views on eschatology (49:1-2) and of Messianic expectations in context of Jacob’s blessing of the tribe of Judah (49:8-12) is portrayed. The last part of this article comprises the rendering and the meaning of the Targumic animal metaphors based on the examples of Issachar (49:14-15) and of Benjamin (49:27) that significantly differ from the Hebrew text.
The Reformation had a profound impact on hermeneutical practices by challenging ecclesiastical authority and emphasising interpretive freedom, addressing a crucial gap in historical theology. This ...study aimed to assess the influence of Martin Luther’s principle of self-interpretation of the Bible and Matthias Flacius’ organismic methodology, which builds on that principle, on the foundations of modern hermeneutics, particularly the methodological hermeneutics represented by Schleiermacher and Dilthey. Set within the context of the 16th-century Reformation, the study conducted a rigorous textual analysis of historical theological documents, revealing a significant paradigm shift towards more inclusive and rational interpretations of sacred texts. This shift, aligning with emerging humanistic values, marked a lasting transformation in the field of hermeneutics.Contribution: The primary contribution of this study lies in its detailed exploration of the historical roots of modern hermeneutics, highlighting the Reformation’s pivotal role in shaping contemporary interpretive methodologies. By elucidating the connections between theological reforms and hermeneutical practices, this research enriches the discourse on the development of hermeneutics and underscores the enduring relevance of Reformation-era innovations. These insights provide valuable perspectives on the interplay between historical and contemporary hermeneutical theories, closely aligning with the intersection of historical theology and interpretive methodologies, thus offering a significant contribution to the field.
This article explores two views of happiness in Christianity. According to one view, happiness is heavenly, something that is attained only in eternal life. In the other view, happiness can be ...experienced on earth. Augustine (354–430) advocated the first view, in which life on earth is viewed as full of misery. The conception of happiness as earthly is articulated by Dietrich Bonhoeffer (1906–1945) in his Letters and Papers from Prison. This article clarifies both views by pointing to the use of different types of content regarding transcendence. The focus is on the comparison between the two views and their impact on daily life.
This article analyses the Hebrew inclusions and loanwords in a Glossary for the Song of Songs, that is the fi rst part of the so-called Zabelin’s Set, the cluster of Biblical texts translated from ...Jewish sources into Old Ruthenian, which was found in the manuscript Zabel. 436 from the 1630s–50s (State Historical Museum, Moscow). The Glossary was created, however, in rather earlier times, probably in the ?poque when translations were made from Hebrew into Old Ruthenian which were included in the Vilna Biblical Codex (the unique manuscript from the fi rst quarter of the 16th century). The Glossary contains the readings of the Song of Songs found in the Vilna Codex only, or in the unique manuscript from the Russian State Library (Museum 8222, mid- 16th century) only, or from both these manuscripts. The Glossary thus seems to be the first independent evidence of the existence of Vilna and Museum Slavic translations of the Song of Songs, including the loanwords there. These loanwords have not been studied comprehensively yet. Furthermore, the Glossary was apparently a draft of the Vilna Codex translation which used materials of the Museum translation and other sources, including the Hebrew Masoretic Text. The words in the Glossary, which were borrowed from High German—with the Old Polish and/or Old Czech mediation—and were adopted by the end of the 15th century, have a textual accordance to the High German translations of the Song of Songs, both of the Christian ones made from the Vulgate (vorlutherische deutsche Bibeln) and of the Jewish ones made in so-called Old Yiddish, or Proto-Yiddish (in Hebrew script): these translations into the “Ashkenazi language” are known from the 14th–15th-centuries manuscripts and are kept in full in the 1544-first-printed editions of the Jewish Humash with the Five Scrolls which also contain the Song of Songs.
The first aim of the article is to place the document The Interpretation of the Bible in the Church within the context of the biblical renewal of the 20th century. Maintaining a continuity with the ...constitution Dei Verbum, the PBC puts in its document new elements which indicate the place of the Bible in the Church. It concerns mainly the actualization and inculturation of the Holy Scripture. Vital for pastoral work are recommendations on the biblical apostolate, above all those referring to basic communities that read the Bible. The analysis of the fourth chapter of the PBC’s document also yielded some critical comments concerning the presented postulates. The weakness of this document is, without any doubt, the fact that it was written from the biblical scholarly point of view, without the collaboration of pastoral theologians of various specialities. This fundamental deficiency of the document The Interpretation of the Bible in the Church is absent in exhortation Verbum Domini. Postulates presented by Pope Benedict XVI referring to “biblical animation of all pastoral work” show that the Bible is not an addition to pastoral work, but rather its source and essence. Proposals contained in the exhortation Verbum Domini give new opportunities for biblical animation in many areas of the life of Church.
A discussion of the 1974 film, 'The Conversation', by Francis Ford Coppola serves as an introductory illustration of the dangers of interpretation in isolation. The film, starring Gene Hackman, ...highlights the contextual nature of communication, where the viewer becomes increasingly aware of the development of a skewed inter-pretation of an overheard conversation. Utterances and events are interpreted in isolation and perceived as ultimate truths. The social commentary offered by Coppola serves as an analogy for the dangers of exclusivist approaches to biblical interpretation. This article critiques these approaches and offers contextual inter-cultural Bible reading as a life giving, alternative approach that draws from the combined hermeneutical framework of Feminism and African hermeneutics. In this article I will explore the creative possibilities of the intercultural Bible reading process as a space with communal meaning-making possibilities.
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