The agonizing afterlives of the traditional religion conquest and the cultural oath system alterations by the adherents of imported foreign religions to Nigeria brought spiritual favoritism to the Bible and the Quran as an object of oath. Consequently, the traditional religion suppressions emboldened Nigerian leaders and politicians to do away with the fears of the traditional gods, which they had earlier feared and venerated. Therefore, this study explores the afterlives of traditional religious slavery and the foreign politics of modern oath systems and their consequences on the socio-political lives of Nigerians. The study adopted an ethnographic method that included participant observation, interviews, and textual analysis. Secondary data were sourced from books and the internet. More so, the song of Fela Anikulapo was analysed, which exposes and itemizes the negative effects of traditional religious slavery in Nigeria. Based on the religious diversity theory, the study argues that Nigerian religious tradition differs from the foreign religious philosophies and doctrines; however, the skewedness of the two unequal religions has negative consequences on the socio-political lives of the people. Finding reveals that the exterminations of the cultural oath systems contributed to Nigeria's downfall with in-depth corruption, abject poverty, suffering, lack of social amenities, hopelessness, and sickness, ‘JAPA’, and early deaths in Nigeria. Findings also reveal that music is a useful weapon of historicity and excellent cultural ideological reawakening, and that music is significantly valuable to sustainable development. The study concludes that the antidote to cure Nigeria of endemic political imbroglio and economic challenges permanently is the resuscitation of the fearful cultural oath systems.
After outlining the state of research, the article presents an interpretation of Abbas Kiarostami’s film The Wind Will Carry Us (1999), made using the concept of mythic narrative developed by the author two decades ago. The author reconstructs the deep structure of the story and the mechanisms inscribed in it for the transformation of the main character, and his transition from the state of inner death to life. Taking advantage of its narrative openness and symbolic universality, he inscribes it in a close biblical context. He also considers this procedure legitimate because of the concept of “unfinished cinema” repeatedly presented and affirmed by the director.
Ghana, like many other African countries, is blessed with abundant natural resources that make the country potentially wealthy. However, unethical practices in harnessing these resources have resulted in many environmental challenges that cost the nation a lot of resources to manage, and eventually make the country poorer. Of particular interest to this paper is the illegal mining of gold, which destroys water bodies and vegetation in many parts of Ghana. This issue has attracted public attention, and various meetings, seminars, symposia, and publications have been dedicated to it. Yet, the problem still persists, and so the search for a solution continues. To contribute to the ongoing (theological) discussions, this paper explored how a contextual application of relevant aspects of John Wesley’s theology of holiness might serve as a panacea to Ghana’s mining-related ecological problems. The author used both empirical and literature-based research approaches for the study. The primary data for the research were gathered by administering questionnaires to participants from selected communities affected by illegal mining activities and analyzed in the light of secondary data from such sources as books, journal articles, and dissertations. The main argument of the paper is that Christian holiness and spirituality should manifest not only in Christians’ relationships with God and other human beings but also in their relationship with the environment. The paper found that Ghana’s ecological problems are caused by diverse factors and so needs a holistic approach to address them. The paper contributes to the ongoing public discourse about ecological sustainability in Ghana.
Biblical Scholars working with ancient texts are engaged in the daily task of Bible translation. A commitment to Biblical Performance Criticism (BPC) can be transformative in the task of translation. It is argued in this paper that responsible translation will work towards replicating the artistry of original transmitters of texts in order to draw out traces of the original orality embedded in the texts. Examples of performance-sensitive translations of texts predominantly from the Hebrew Bible are provided. This e-paper also demonstrates that translations that draw out performative elements contribute to interpretation, especially when such scripts are staged before audiences. Subsequent analysis of the performance including audience response contributes to such interpretation. Performance-sensitive translation and actual performance thus become tools for embodiment and the interpretation of biblical texts in our own time.
This article investigated the paradox between church response to apartheid and resulting action at the local level in the South African churches of European origin from the perspective of the Presbyterian Church of South(ern) Africa (PCSA). It indicated that this discrepancy arose between the reflections (cerebral faith) at the highest levels of church councils, which operated in an intermittent manner and at a distance, compared with the responses (praxis as faith in action) of local church members who lived at the coalface of the struggle and sought to witness in a society dominated by racism, where the tension between faith and politics was most evident. The primary focus was on two inter-racial congregations, one of the PCSA, the other a united congregation in which the PCSA participated. This study used primary and secondary sources. The theoretical framework of the article was Thomas Groome’s approach of shared praxis.
Contribution: This article contributed to the history of the apartheid era in ecclesiastical contexts. It demonstrated the anomalies that arose within different constituencies within churches of European origin by investigating the situation in one particular denomination. This was a discussion of the relationship of faith and politics in the private and public domains, which takes account of developments within a shared praxis approach.
Andrei A. Bazarov, Marina V. Ayusheeva, Svetlana V. Vasilieva
Introduction. The paper examines collections of rare Mongolian-language Christian editions housed at depositories of Zabaykalsky Krai and Buryatia. Goals. The study attempts a socioarchaeographic analysis of the mentioned collections at the Institute for Mongolian, Buddhist and Tibetan Studies (SB RAS) and the Kuznetsov Zabaykalsky Krai Museum of Local History and Lore. Materials and methods. In terms of methodology, the work rests on ‘cognitive history’ and some aspects of historical phenomenology. The paper assumes a content analysis of the collections be instrumental both in identifying Christian Buryat readers’ queries throughout the 19th and early 20th centuries, and in revealing specificities of missionary activity among Mongolic peoples in pre-revolutionary Russia. Conclusions. The content analysis of the two collections shows Transbaikalia was witnessing a specific cooperation between Protestant and Orthodox Christian missions. Personal libraries of Buryat Christians were largely compiled from Mongolian translations of the Bible funded mainly by the Protestant missions. The study attests to that the most promising missionary activity among Buryats (and Mongols at large) — dissemination of Christianity via primary education — was not supported by representatives of the missions. Our insights into the history of the collections show that results of Christian missionary translation activities aroused interest of Buryat Buddhists, and the latter tended to include such biblical translations into their libraries. Due to linguistic and historical circumstances, the Russian collections of Mongolian-language Christian publications have remained virtually unattended — both in terms of bibliographic description and scholarly research — for a long time. However, territorial, manufacturing and historical circumstances make the examined editions essentially unique. Our content analysis confirms there is a need for such investigations to reveal a coherent agenda of religious publications once used for the development of Christianity within Mongolian culture.
History of Asia, Political institutions and public administration - Asia (Asian studies only)
This article offers a reading of the parable of the Dishonest Steward from the perspective of Greco-Roman status concern. It observes that the parable has a long and complicated history of interpretation. The different approaches in the reading of the parable reveal the unresolved quest in scholarship to establish a reading of the parable that takes into account both the steward’s act of generosity towards his master’s debtors and the praise that follows this action. This article proposes the Greco-Roman status concern as a framework for understanding the meaning of the parable in its original context. Status concern was the spirit of tenacity in maintaining one’s status and honour against all odds characteristic of Greco-Roman honour and shame culture. The article argues that when the parable is read within its literary context, it reveals that at the heart of Jesus’ message in the parable is the theme of persistence as an attribute of authentic discipleship. This understanding of the parable resonates with the entrenched Greco-Roman spirit of status concern. The interpretation would also have been relevant to Luke’s Greco-Roman auditors living on the periphery of the Greco-Roman culture with the constant pressures to conform to the ethos of the larger social context. The steward’s resolve to maintain his status even in the most difficult circumstances provided a paradigm for those Christ-followers to remain steadfast in the faith against all odds.
Contribution: The article presents an alternative interpretation of the parable of the Dishonest Steward. By proposing status concern as an interpretative framework, it offers both new insights into the socio-economic and socio-cultural realities of Luke’s world and the continuing evidence of the contribution of Greco-Roman world to the development of the New Testament texts.
This article employs two strategies to understand Paul’s dissatisfaction with the meal practice of the Corinthian assembly in 1 Corinthians 11:17-31. First, it uses a form of queer reading to interrogate the text for its assumptions about normativity and deviance. Second, it puts the Corinthian meals in conversation with modern queer potlucks and their emergence as sites of alternative community formation. Together, these strategies help create a reading of the text of 1 Corinthians that contextualizes the norms inherent in Greco- Roman dining practices and the ways Paul expected the practice of the “Lord’s Supper” to deviate from those norms and establish new norms.
Modern science fiction writers often draw upon the biblical flood story as inspiration for their own narratives. It is not uncommon to find humans fleeing on space arks to escape some cosmic disaster. In the process of adapting the biblical narrative to contemporary circumstances, these writers also frequently transform the unnamed female characters in the biblical story. Noah’s wife, Noah’s daughters-in-law, and the daughters of men become dynamic characters that actively shape the narrative and are vital to the survival of the human race. This article examines the character type of the “Noahic woman” as it appears in three early twentieth century science fiction narratives.
The text of the Hebrew Bible is a subject of ongoing study in disciplines ranging from theology to linguistics to history to computing science. In order to study the text digitally, one has to represent it in bits and bytes, together with related materials. The author has compiled a dataset, called bhsa (Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia (Amstelodamensis)), consisting of the textual source of the Hebrew Bible according to the Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia (bhs), and annotations by the Eep Talstra Centre for Bible and Computer. This dataset powers the website shebanq and others, and is being used in education and research. The author has developed a Python package, Text-Fabric, to process ancient texts together with annotations. He shows how Text-Fabric can be used to process the bhsa. This includes creating new research data alongside it, and sharing it. Text-Fabric also supports versioning: as versions of the bhsa change over time, and people invest a lot in applications based on the data, measures are needed to prevent the loss of earlier results.
Taken at face value the book of Daniel in the Hebrew Bible seems to occupy a position outside the narrow confines often set in academic (and other) contexts to structure our knowledge, experience and ultimately the world we live in. Therefore, Old Testament scholars are debating how this book came to be reckoned among “the prophets”, while in the Hebrew Bible it appears in what is traditionally referred to as “the writings”. Furthermore, the notion of producing a unified text in more than one language (i.e. Hebrew and Aramaic) falls outside the formal, yet unwritten, expectations for literature, both modern and ancient. When one considers the content of the book, inter alia the exilic setting chosen for the book, the position(s) occupied by the main character(s) in the narratives, as well as the symbolic worlds created in the visions, an impression of a text outside, or at least at the border of, expected literary confines is gained. In this article, the concept of liminality will be applied to “explore ... the interpretive power, the hermeneutical reach of the concept” in the book of Daniel (see Gustavo Pérez Firmat, Literature and Liminality, 1986).
In this article, I will try to do three things. Firstly, pay attention to the notion of Black Atlantic as coined by Paul Gilroy, which in effect could signify a reversal of colonialism and slavery. Secondly, revisit the 1970s and the debate about the relevance of Black theology vis-à-vis African theology, using John Mbiti’s article ‘An African Views American Black Theology’ as entry point. Here, I will discuss contributions also made by Desmond Tutu and James Cone. Thirdly, starting with the premise that both theologies are relevant and soul mates today, which would (probably) be confirmed by all the above mentioned at this point in time, an assessment of current voices will be made, that is, Tinyiko Maluleke and Vuyani Vellem on black and African ecclesiologies from a South African perspective, and Lawrence Burnley on the fate of the Black Church in the United States.
Sakkie Spangenberg has written a number of articles dealing with Genesis 1-3 in terms of its place in traditional Christian dogma and the paradigm shifts he has experienced in his understanding of this text. In this article, I would like to honor Sakkie by providing a Jungian psychoanalytic interpretation of Genesis 1:1-2:4a, focusing primarily on the memory of original wholeness and the conscious differentiation that are reflected in this text. I conclude that the psyche that produced this creation story had stalled at the third stage of individuation as a result of a traumatic experience which caused it to long for its erstwhile memory of original wholeness.
The aim of the paper is to provide evidence for the claim that the Polish word ‘Żyd’ and its
derivatives as used with reference to the “chosen people” taking part in the events described
in the Bible is a linguistic anachronism. The word in its present graphic and phonetic shape
had not come into existence before Middle Ages. As an anachronism it is inappropriate in the
context of biblical events. Yet, it occurs not only in the language of contemporary Jewish people
but also as an accepted term in biblical and Judaic studies. The article contains a number of
examples of anachronistic Polish versions of the Bible. One can venture the claim that the
anachronism in question significantly contributes to maintaining anti-Semitic attitudes,
especially among certain groups of contemporary Christians.
This article deals with the importance of a missional approach to the funeral and bereavement counselling process in congregational praxis in the midst of a context of secularisation. The creation of a missional perspective on the funeral and bereavement counselling could support the nature and praxis of a congregation in a secular society, especially if the congregation finds its relevance in the expression of the missio Dei. The basic theoretical research for missional ecclesiology, which is the systematic study directed toward greater knowledge of the fundamental aspects of missional ecclesiology (National Science Foundation 1953:38), is based on the premise that God is the source of all missions. The expression missio Dei means to join God in the mission he is already busy with in the world. As the one who sends, God the Father sends the Son, the Son sends the Holy Spirit, and the Holy Spirit sends the church. The church only participates in the mission God is already busy with. It is a mission that uses both words and deeds and brings hope in the midst of tragedy. It is the hope of the kingdom of God and the incarnation of Christ that can already be experienced and expressed in the present. It is also the hope of the transformation of everything to form a new heaven and earth. Hope and mission can therefore not be separated. The concretisation of the expression of the kingdom of Christ in the world is hope, and a strong emphasis is therefore placed on mission as action in hope. Hope must be present where tragedy reigns, and the funeral and bereavement counselling can be used as a vehicle for this hope. Hope can then become an instrument of healing. The church can thus participate in God’s mission in the midst of tragedy and make an impact on society by taking on a missional character of hope.
Paul R. McCuistion, Colin Warner, Francois P. Viljoen
This article presents the Greek influence on the genre of Matthew’s text. Greek and Roman tragedy is examined, from which the five basic elements of tragedy are identified. A brief examination of the characters in the Matthean text is done to identify Greek cultural influences on the structuring of the Gospel. This study offers evidence that Matthew may have intentionally orchestrated a drama with the intent of having an understandable, attractive way to present Jesus to Jew and gentile alike.
A dedicated reconstruction algorithm to find decay vertices in the ATLAS muon spectrometer is presented. The algorithm searches the region just upstream of or inside the muon spectrometer volume for multi-particle vertices that originate from the decay of particles with long decay paths. The performance of the algorithm is evaluated using both a sample of simulated Higgs boson events, in which the Higgs boson decays to long-lived neutral particles that in turn decay to bb final states, and pp collision data at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV collected with the ATLAS detector at the LHC during 2011.
A measurement of the top quark electric charge is carried out in the ATLAS experiment at the Large Hadron Collider using 2.05 fb-1 of data at a centre-of-mass energy of 7 TeV. In units of the elementary electric charge, the top quark charge is determined to be 0.64 +- 0.02 (stat.) +- 0.08 (syst.) from the charges of the top quark decay products in single lepton ttbar candidate events. This excludes models that propose a heavy quark of electric charge --4/3, instead of the Standard Model top quark, with a significance of more than 8 sigma.