Although Paul Ricoeur's writings are widely and appreciatively read by theologians, this book offers a full, sympathetic yet critical account of Ricoeur's theory of narrative interpretation and its contribution to theology. Unlike many previous studies of Ricoeur, Part I argues that Ricoeur's hermeneutics must be viewed in the light of his overall philosophical agenda, as a fusion and continuation of the unfinished projects of Kant and Heidegger. Particularly helpful is the focus on Ricoeur's recent narrative theory as the context in (...) which Ricoeur deals with problems of time and the creative imagination; and it becomes clear that narrative stands at the crossroads of Ricoeur's search for the meaning of human being as well as his search for the meaning of texts. Part II examines the potential of Ricoeur's narrative theory for resolving certain theological problems, such as the dichotomy betweens the Jesus of history and the Christ of faith. (shrink)

How does a biblical narrative shape the life and action of its readers ? This question is receiving a wide interest in contemporary theology. Reading the 'Bible as literature' has provided a renewed interest in the creation of meaning in biblical narrative. Moreover, there is a current of narrative theology and ethics, which views human life and action as a form of narrative. narrative is approached through the philosophy of Paul Ricoeur. The narrative theory of this hermeneutic philosopher offers (...) the means for comprehending the formative force of narrative, as well as the limits of narrative figuration. Ricoeur's interest in the relation between narrative and ethics and his view of the tensions between text and reader are applied to an interpretation of the biblical Joseph narrative from Genesis. The results of this interpretation are used to treat problems of narrative ethics and narrative theology. similarities between biblical narrative and the narrative of one's life, a narrative does not answer all problems for its readers. As a story of reconciliation and providence the Joseph narrative makes a strigent appeal of transformation to its readers. It is up to the reader to answer this call by reading for good. (shrink)

There are many narrations about the Stories of the Prophets in basic hadith, tafsir and historical sources. In addition to the Qur'an, some information about the stories of the prophets is contained in the Torah and the Bible. The stories of the Prophet were known to Jews and Christians before the advent of Islam. Even the Arabs of the jahiliyyah period had some knowledge about the parables. When the revelation about the stories of the Prophet was revealed, the polytheists (...) were extremely disturbed by it and "esâtîru'l-evvelîn" was used to describe these stories as the tales of the past tribes. Apart from the verses in the Qur'an about the stories of the Prophet, both the hadiths in the hadith sources and the narrations in the historical sources, some of this information was authentic information, while some of it consisted of fabricated information. Among these narrations, there are weak narrations such as Isrâiliyyât, as well as sound ones. It is important how the authors who wrote the works of Kasasu'l-Enbiyâ were affected by the hadiths in the main sources and whether they included these narrations in their works. Therefore, in this study, some hadiths related to the Stories of the Prophets in the Kitâbu'l-Anbiyâ section of Sahîhu'l-Bukhârî, which is one of the most important hadith works and accepted as the most reliable book after the Qur'an, were tried to be examined. In particular, some narrations that the authors of Kasasu'l-Enbiyâ's works were not included in their works, although they were mentioned in Sahîhu'l-Bukhârî, were discussed. In fact, there are many hadiths related to the subject in Sahihu'l-Bukhari. However, in this study, six narrations that were not mentioned by the authors of history, tafsir and Kasasu'l-Anbiya were mentioned. While referring to the aforementioned narrations, no analysis of the hadiths was made in order not to go beyond the scope of the subject and not to exceed the limits of the study. The reasons why these narrations are not references in the Kasasu'l-Anbiya literature are emphasized. Thus, these narrations, which are not mentioned in Kasasu'l-Enbiya's works but are mentioned in the Kitabu'l-Anbiyâ section of Sahîhu'l-Bukhârî, are examined and their source status for the stories of the Prophet is examined. (shrink)

The primary narrative problem of the analyst is, then, not how to tell a normative chronological life history; rather, it is how to tell the several histories of each analysis. From this vantage point, the event with which to start the model analytic narration is not the first occasion of thought—Freud's wish-fulfilling hallucination of the absent breast; instead, one should start from a narrative account of the psychoanalyst's retelling of something told by an analysand and the analysand's response to (...) that narrative transformation. In the narration of this moment of dialogue lies the structure of the analytic past, present, and future. It is from this beginning that the accounts of early infantile development are constructed. Those traditional developmental accounts, over which analysts labored so hard, may now be seen in a new light: less as positivistic sets of factual findings about mental development and more as hermeneutically filled-in narrative structures. The narrative structures that have been adopted control the telling of the events of the analysis, including the many tellings and retellings of the analysand's life history. The time is always present. The event is always an outgoing dialogue. Roy Schafer is clinical professor of psychology and psychiatry at Cornell University Medical College, adjunct professor of psychology at New York University, and a supervising and training analyst at Columbia University's Center for Psychoanalytic Training and Research. He is the author of A New Language for Psychoanalysis, Language and Insight, and Narrative Actions in Psychoanalysis: Narratives of Space and Narratives of Time. (shrink)

In this study, David Bordwell offers the first comprehensive account of how movies use fundamental principles of narrative representation, unique features of ...

In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:Journal of the History of Ideas 62.3 (2001) 463-482 [Access article in PDF] The "Antiquarianization" of Biblical Scholarship and the London Polyglot Bible (1653-57) Peter N. Miller The sixteenth and seventeenth centuries were the heroic age of the antiquaries. Roaming from text to context and back again, these scholars completed the revolution begun by the humanists who realized that Greek and Roman texts could never be understood isolated (...) from the men and societies that made them. These scholars, from Petrarch to Poggio, from Panvinio to Peiresc to Perizonius, looked beyond the page and collected, described, and compared the material remains of the ancient world. That these investigations transformed the understanding of the past and effected a revolution in the method of historical inquiry was insisted upon by Arnaldo Momigliano beginning half a century ago. 1 In recent years these antiquaries have also attracted the attention of historians of early modern art, science, archaeology, politics, and scholarship. 2 [End Page 463]This renewed focus on antiquaries as agents of late humanism has tended to concentrate on their contribution to understanding ancient Greece and Rome, but they were also responsible for the first generation of serious scholarship about the ancient and modern Near East. Drawing on the same methods to ask the same questions they had asked of classical antiquity these antiquaries directed their attention to the extra-European world. Like the study of the earlier Renaissance of Greece and Rome, that of Israel and Egypt was stimulated by a profusion of new materials, streaming back to scholars' studies from the missionaries, merchants, and diplomats traveling to the Ottoman East in greater and greater numbers. It is breadth of inquiry that characterizes this new approach--more texts in more languages--but also a much greater explanatory weight placed on objects as evidence and more confidence in using knowledge provided by people presently living in far-away places to shed light on those who lived there long ago. In this approach to a region and its culture as a whole early modern antiquaries created oriental studies.Because so much of the contemporary interest in the Near East was driven by the ingrained association of these lands and their peoples with the history narrated in the Bible, early oriental studies is inseparable from biblical scholarship. Pietro della Valle's letters from the East were, after all, signed "Il Pellegrino," and Fabri de Peiresc's efforts to recover the Samaritans and their history were triggered by his desire to contribute to the publication of their Pentateuch. It is because oriental studies like these were shaped by the ways and means of antiquaries that so much seventeenth-century biblical scholarship can be described as having been "antiquarianized." Like the earlier humanists who had given Virgil and Horace a context, those fascinated and obsessed with understanding every jot and tittle of the sacred text turned to the Bible's context for help: the history of the ancient Near East as it could be reconstructed from texts, objects, and the long-lived traditions preserved by marginal groups like the Samaritans or in out of the way places like the Coptic monasteries of Wadi Natrûn. This antiquarianization reflects the move from the word to the world that had begun with Petrarch. Early modern sacred philologists--the Englishman Thomas Fuller called this figure "The True Church Antiquary"--set out to prove, by the most sophisticated methods available, that sacred history was historical.At the heart of this inquiry lay a belief in historia sacra, understood as both a theory of providential history and a methodology of historical scholarship. The theory gave them the confidence to pursue with reason the truth of revelation because all had to reflect the plan of the One Creator. The practice encouraged scholars to recruit the evidence of history, philosophy, archaeology, and geography to the service of the sacred, all confirming the triumph of Christianity. They [End Page 464] were convinced that erudition could only amplify, and not undermine, the conclusions already reached by faith. 3 It was this... (shrink)

Wolfhart Pannenberg's innovative account of the Trinity, in which the mutual self-distinction of the divine persons is also constitutive for the divinity of each, is an important corrective to one-sided views of Trinitarian relations which reductively account only for relations of origin. However, his account ties relationality to death and self-emptying in such a way that it becomes impossible to escape a hierarchical account of Trinitarian relations in which the differences between the persons collapse into an ordered relation that repeats (...) the pattern of the relations of origin. As a result, the most significant potential contribution of Trinitarian theology, its responsiveness to a reality that is internally differentiated yet non-competitive, is lost. This problem is the result of tying the inner-Trinitarian relations too closely to the cross, such that there has to be something in the divine life that can make the cross possible, a move that has become increasingly popular in recent Trinitarian theology. The inner-Trinitarian relations are then reduced to a single taxis which is not sufficiently flexible to respond to the various ways in which God interacts with the world as narrated in the Bible. (shrink)

This study casts light on how the issue of childlessness is portrayed in the Bible. The discussion begins with a commentary on Michal’s story, which provides the foundation for further reflection on how childlessness was dealt with in the biblical world, especially in the situations where no miraculous divine solutions were provided. Several humanly devised solutions, acceptable and practiced in the ancient world are presented. The last part of the paper focuses on the more eschatological view of human existence (...) provided in the New Testament, showing that childlessness is a form of suffering included in the promise of redemption brought about by the inauguration of God’s kingdom. As such the response of the redeemed community is to be characterized by love and compassion. (shrink)

Narrative theology emphasizes the overall aim and recounting of God's ways revealed in Scripture and ongoing in history. An exploration of 1 and 2 Peter from this perspective accentuates the theological role of these short letters in shaping the identity of God's people.

The Qur’an has told the stories of many prophets and past tribes in order to convey the message it wants to give to its addressee. The Qur’an has narrated the stories that were narrated in the Bible in accordance with its purpose, by correcting the distorted points and without going into the details reported in the ‘Kutub-i al-Qadim’. One of the stories told in both the Qur’an and the Bible is Dawoud (David) and the plaintiffs. In this study, (...) the story of Dawoud and the plaintiffs deals with the evaluation of the story of Davud and the plaintiffs and the opinions expressed in the interpretation of the story in the context of Mushkil al-Quran al-Karim. From the earliest times to the present day, commentators have adopted different interpretations of the story of Dawoud and the plaintiffs. Some commentators, taking into account the literal meaning of the verses, interpret the verses based on the fact that the case described in the story is real. On the other hand, some interpret the parable based on the assumption that the case event expresses a representative expression, not a genuine event. The commentators who adopt this understanding are also divided into two as those who interpret the tale over the narrated narrations and those who interpret the tale over wording. The main reason why commentators adopt different interpretations of the tale is that the narrations about the background of the tale, primarily from the Bible, whether to be accepted or not. It is stated that the different opinions expressed in the article by the commentators, whom we have included in the classification, with the fear that they will harm the authority of prophethood, are difficult for the understanding of the story. In this article, different works that emerged according to the interpretation style of the commentators will be resolved in the context of the interpretations made by the same commentators. (shrink)

Introduction: beyond reason and revelation -- Pt. I. Reading Hebrew scripture -- Ch. 1. The structure of the Hebrew Bible -- Ch. 2. What is the purpose of the Hebrew Bible? -- Ch. 3. How does the Bible make arguments of a general nature? -- The philosophy of Hebrew scripture: five studies -- Ch. 4. The ethics of a shepherd -- Ch. 5. The history of Israel, Genesis-kings: a political philosophy -- Ch. 6. Jeremiah and the problem (...) of knowing -- Ch. 7. Truth and being in Hebrew scripture -- Ch. 8. Jerusalem and carthage -- Pt. III. Conclusion -- Ch. 9. God's speech after reason and revelation -- Appendix: what is "reason"? some preliminary remarks. (shrink)

The correct understanding of the Qurʾān verses is possible by examining the concepts in them linguistically and revealing the meaning they express in the integrity of the Qurʾān. The verb “h-m-m” is one of these concepts. This verb has been used as sulasi mucerred in a total of seven verses in Āl-i 'Imrān 3/122, al-Nisāʾ 4/113, al-Māʾidah 5/11, at-Tawba 9/13, 74, Yūsuf 12/24, al-Mu'min 40/5. In our study, the aforementioned verses in which the verb “h-m-m” is used, have been examined (...) through the sources of tafsir and based on the meaning of the mentioned word in the unity of the Qurʾān, the verse of "Woman had tend to him. He also tended to the woman. If he had not seen the proof of his Lord. This is what We did to drive away evil and immorality from him. Surely, he is one of Our sincere servants." (Yūsuf 12/24) has been analyzed. First of all, information about the verb “h-m-m” was given within the scope of the conceptual framework, then it was emphasized that in which verses the related verb is used and how it can be considered within the context of the verse in Yūsuf Surah and narrations about revelation reasons of this verse. In the context of the relevant verse, the views in the "Manar Tafsir" have been handled separately since it differs from almost all commentaries in terms of approach. Although it is examined how the relevant verse in Yūsuf Surah is handled in the Bible, this aspect of the subject has not been mentioned because it will not contribute to our study and because of the limited structure of the article. In the handling of our subject, as a method, the integrity of the Qurʾān within the scope of the verb “h-m-m”, the narrations about the revelation reasons and the context of the verse were taken as basis. The aim of our study is to reveal what is meant by the verb “h-m-m” in the mentioned verse, based on the uses of the verb in the Qurʾān and considering the context of the relevant verse and narrations about its revelation reasons. In this context, it can be said that the verb “h-m-m” in the relevant verse of Yūsuf Surah means to decide and attempt an attack in connection with sexual impulses. (shrink)

In the Gospels, Jesus points to children as pattern and paradigm of God's reign. Challenged by Jesus' counter-cultural affirmation of the child, Christian communities are called to vigorous and insistent advocacy for children in our own time.

This critical reading/dialogue follows a straightforward structure. Firstly, it presents some of the major insights in J.D. Crossan’s book, attending to its inner logic on his critique on the violence which little by little creeps into the biblical texts. Secondly, it engages in a critique of his reading of Revelation, which is Crossan’s starting point for his discussion on violence. He observes here a direct contradiction with the Jesus of history, centre of interpretation for Scripture. This article points to certain (...) lacunae in his reading of Revelation and, finally, moves to a conclusion offering new ways to interpret and question Revelation’s violent imagery within its own literary context.Contribution: This article is a critical dialogue with one of J.D. Crossan’s latest books: How to Read the Bible and Still Be a Christian: Struggling with Divine Violence From Genesis Through Revelation. This is a vibrant and insightful book about how violence ultimately crept into the canonical texts, tainting even its ‘good news’. Crossan’s concern with this crude violence surfaces as he teaches different groups and he is asked why the Bible ends in Revelation on such a violent note, essentially with ‘a war to end all wars’, somehow buttressing the ‘myth of redemptive violence’. The special focus of this article resides thus on a nuanced reading of Revelation which tries to understand, in context, the function of such violent images. (shrink)

Jesus' healing, preaching, and death are not about abstractions like “patriarchal system,” but seek to establish new patterns of personal relationship and human solidarity among all women and men, bringing liberation and healing even to those at the margins of society.

The article is devoted to the consideration the problem of the phenomenon of an unreliable narration in the British intellectual prose of the second half of the twentieth century. The meaning of the words “narrator”, “unreliable narration” is investigated. The unreliable narration is reviewed based on the example of the novel “Rites of Passage” by Golding. It is noted that the aforementioned work has a vibrant didactic component. It has been found that Golding uses a wide range (...) of narrative techniques. The emphasis is made on the critical analysis by other literary scholars of the novel “Rites of Passage” by Golding. The use of narrative strategies in accordance with the scientific classification by Genette is investigated. The markers of unreliability of the narrators are emphasized. Attention is focused on the fact that a high degree of unreliability is based on the limited knowledge of the heroes, direct participation in the events, a problematic system of values. It is noted that the unreliability of narration in the novel “Rites of Passage” by Golding forces the reader to doubt not only the narrator but oneself. The use of the narrative method in the intellectual prose of the British writer Iris Murdoch is investi-gated. It has been found that the novel “The Black Prince” by Iris Murdock is one of the best examples of an unreliable narration. The genre specifics of the novel are emphasized, which combines the forms of the diary, of the memoir and of the confession. In addition, Murdoch creates a narrative strategy, which combines signs of various forms of “I am the narrator” within the framework of one narrative. In addition, “The Black Prince” is a unique model of modern artistic and philosophical metatext genre formation. (shrink)

Prologue, invitation to thinking about God In the Hebrew Bible? -- Part I, questions about God? -- Why does God in the Bible have a body? -- What do God's body parts in the Bible mean? -- Why is God angry in the Bible? -- Does God in the Bible have gender or sexuality? -- Part II, questions about God in the world? -- What can creation tell us about God? -- Who-or what-is the Satan? (...) -- Why do people suffer according to the Hebrew Bible? -- Epilogue, God in the Bible and beyond. (shrink)

The present study aims to carry out an analysis of the relation between the Bibles of Samuil Micu and Andrei Șaguna from an isagogic perspective, with a particular focus on the canon and canonicity of the books of the Holy Scripture. We believe that, through such an analysis, we can observe what they have in common, but also what differentiates the two Transylvanian editions of the Holy Scripture so that we can help those interested in understanding the reasons behind the (...) current controversies as to the relation between them. Although these controversies refer to the biblical text of the two Scriptural editions, the fact that the attitude towards it was caused by denominational factors, whose doctrinal background is represented by two different traditions of understanding the biblical canon, has been overlooked. This is why we find that the evaluation of how the two Romanian editions of the Holy Scripture (the Bible of Samuil Micu, 1795, and the Bible of Andrei Șaguna, 1856-1858) relate to the canonical tradition of each Church and cultivate their isagogics is fundamental for the establishment and understanding of the relation between them. (shrink)

The first part of the book, dedicated to 'Rhetorical and Epistemological Aspects of Science Writing', addresses how scientific pursuits and methods feed into multi-level texts that generate responses within science, society, and culture.

This book gives an introduction to the various theological perspectives regarding revelation. It includes a survey of the views of liberal, evangelical, Calvinist, and Charismatic theologians. The author presents his succinct view in the last chapter.

Today's social and political climate often pits conservative or traditional Christianity against "progressive" Christianity. But what is progressive Christianity? What is a progressive Christian? What is a progressive church? Christianity in Blue answers these questions by drawing from biblical scholarship, Christian history, theology, popular culture, philosophy, and cultural anthropology. Kaden shows how socially liberal values and progressive attitudes can be the fruits of taking seriously both the Bible and Christian tradition. But rather than treating these sources as static authorities (...) and the final word on every subject, Kaden argues that they are places to start one's exploration of how to be a Christian in the world. Being a progressive Christian is an ethical exhortation to "uplift human personality," as Martin Luther King Jr. once said. This exhortation structures how progressive Christians receive, interpret, and apply the Bible and Christian tradition to daily life. A robust tradition provides an anchor to avoid the illiberal trends in contemporary society, and a commitment to uplifting human personality provides a check against dehumanizing uses of Scripture and tradition. Christianity in Blue will help both progressive and conservative Christians better understand the importance of the Bible, theology, history, and philosophy for building a loving church for everyone. (shrink)

It has long been remarked by historians of sexuality that sodomy is an incoherent category. Michel Foucault has insisted on the concept's “utterly confused” status; Jonathan Goldberg has mediated between highlighting sodomy's categorical confusions in Renaissance England and deployments of the category in modern contexts that continue to be precarious; Alan Bray has emphasized how sodomy emerges into visibility only through discursive performance, on the bodies of those who disrupt social and religious stability; and Mark Jordan has traced the category's (...) development in the moral theology of the Church and draws attention to its incoherences and illogicalities, even at the moment of its invention. Yet impossible as it might seem, under the circumstances, to pin it down to particular bodies and pleasures, scholars continue to be drawn to the question of sodomy's relationship to what we now call homosexuality, whether as a distinct identity or as a variety of erotic practice. This article considers a cluster of images in a set of medieval illuminated manuscripts that expose what is at stake when we address such issues with reference to visual as well as textual examples. (shrink)

Le corps fait partie de manière significative de l'identité de tout être humain. Il s'agit d'une réalité familière, incontournable. Longtemps, le corps a été dévalorisé, voire méprisé, au profit de l'âme, de l'esprit. Aujourd'hui, on assiste à une dissociation corps/personne aussi regrettable que l'ancien dualisme corps/ âme. En effet, cette dissociation ne fait que provoquer des ravages dans la perception personnelle du corps, tout spécialement dans l'expérience de la maladie, du vieillissement, de la mort, et même de l'au-delà. Il est (...) alors nécessaire de s'interroger à nouveau sur la véritable signification du corps humain, sur les représentations plus ou moins adéquates dont il fait l'objet, pour dépasser les pièges rattachés à certaines visions du corps actuellement très à la mode. Repenser le corps humain avec un seul but : vivre pleinement son corps. Telle est la raison d'être de ce livre. (shrink)