This research definitively explores Lawung and Sumping, the traditional headgear of the Dayak people of Kalimantan Tengah, as cultural emblems that transcend mere aesthetic and conventional roles. Lawung, intended for men, and Sumping, intended for women, embody local identity and have evolved into symbols of regional and national significance. Crafted from batik cloth or painted bark, these headdresses feature distinctive motifs, including hibiscus flowers and rehung shoots. Red is a prominent hue that symbolises vitality and unity amid cultural diversity. Lawung and Sumping are used in governmental contexts to receive guests, exemplifying communal values. This investigation connects the symbolism inherent in Lawung and Sumping as instruments for social interaction that transcend biological imperatives and predate the dichotomy of sacred and profane, highlighting the spiritual dimension associated with these head coverings. In Christian theological discourse, Lawung and Sumping manifest as embodiments of spirituality in church liturgy, merging Dayak cultural identity with New Testament theological perspectives. Paul’s letters metaphorically use clothing to represent divine glory, echoing the use of the Lawung and Sumping in Christian worship practices.
Contribution: The research contributes to Dayak cultural studies by examining the symbolism of traditional dress. It integrates New Testament theology, cultural anthropology and symbolic philosophy to explain how local identities become spiritual elements in a liturgical setting. Combining Lawung and Sumping shows how to encourage cross-cultural and interfaith dialogue for Kalimantan Tengah’s diverse society.
One fundamental way to leave a mark in life is to write an account of oneself, whether as a memoir or an autobiographical sketch. For Moravians, this practice is a spiritual requirement and takes the form of a Lebenslauf, which translates to ‘life account’. The Edwards family, of which I am a descendant, has been Moravian for many generations and has lived in Moravian settlements across several countries, including England, Ireland, Canada and South Africa. Family records and archival searches have uncovered a number of Edwards’ Lebenslauf memoirs – both short and long, authored by men and women, and encompassing both autobiographical and biographical narratives. These works have appeared in church records, and some remain unpublished, intended to be passed down to family descendants.
Contribution: This article aims to trace the development of the Moravian Church movement in the United Kingdom and South Africa through the life writings of the Edwards family across six generations. It will highlight the differences between the writings of men and women, as well as track the changes in social and religious norms experienced by those who lived through these periods, starting in 18th-century Europe and concluding in the 21st century with the South African Moravian descendants, who have since spread further afield.
It is a glaring fact that the environment has constantly been subjected to deforestation, air and atmospheric pollution, and many other related factors that threaten both human and animal life. Individuals, governments, churches, etc. have long identified the pressure on the ecology and have addressed it from different perspectives. This paper thus sought to address this environmental problem from a religious or Christian point of view. Since the paper involved the analysis of a text (Mark 16:15), text critical method was applied. This method studies and compares ancient manuscripts of texts like biblical passages to find out which texts were originally written by the author and can thus be proved authentic. It was found out in the analysis that though Mark 16:15 was not written by the original author of Mark’s gospel, the text laid bare the fact that Christians especially, must have a strong sense of responsibility towards nature. Enshrined in Jesus’s mandate to his disciples in Mark 16:15 is the Christian responsibility to care for created things. It appears, however, that in their evangelisation plans, Christians concentrate more on the salvation of human beings than the survival of the ecology which suffers from the handiworks of humans. Christians are, therefore, encouraged to value nature and take necessary measures to ensure its survival. This paper contributes to the debate on how sacred texts can positively influence humanity’s attitudes towards the ecosystem. It creates the awareness that nature is God’s greatest gift to humanity and must be properly cared for.
Youth ministry as a sub-discipline of practical theology has traditionally always had an ecclesial focus. The focus was often based on the practices of proselytisation and discipleship, a sort of ‘reach and teach’ model whereby Christian believers would do the ‘reaching and teaching’ of the ‘lost’ youth. This is most true in an evangelical context and is further undergirded by a Western concept of personal salvation nearly devoid of any communal responsibilities and context. The traditional model, therefore, in evangelical churches was reaching the ‘lost’ with the Gospel of Jesus Christ, with the aim of personal salvation for the individual who would eventually become a member of the faith community through a discipleship programme. Thus, the beginning and end of the entire process were the focus on personal salvation devoid of any contextual consideration. Youth ministry as practical theology must move into the area of public theology to engage the practices inherited from the western model by engaging with the public (youths) as public theologians (those who influence the theologies of the youth), and the public faiths and spiritualities (the expression of the youth’s theologies) to be relevant to the majority and developing world.
Contribution: In this study, the author suggests that this ‘reach and teach’ paradigm with an ecclesial focus in the context of the majority and developing world is no longer suitable to meet the needs of youth. In addition, the author recommends a more appropriate framework with youth ministry as public practical theology for consideration.
Quite often (especially with the Old Testament), biblical anthroponyms may be described as dynamic names, since they contribute to the construction of a text’s content, and are active elements in the process of transmitting that meaning towards a different cultural space or cultural time. Consequently, the way in which translators of the Bible deal with them, intentionally or accidentally, affects a target-reader’s chances to grasp the originally intended message of the text. The present paper follows the avatars of Job’s daughter’s names (cf. Job 42: 14) from Hebrew, to Greek and Latin, and, late on, to vernaculars such as Romanian, and suggests that – while equally explainable contextually and/or pragmatically – different translating options achieve different levels of relevance, or representativeness, relative to the original text, and, in fact, to the multileveled and intricate translative intentions.
Language and Literature, Translating and interpreting
Among ancient Near Eastern societies was a widespread and particularly intriguing belief that animals were able to worship and praise deities. This study shows the Hebrew Bible evidences the idea that animals were capable of praising God too and proceeds to observe and document the presence of numerous examples of this in specific biblical texts. Through understanding the place of animals in the Hebrew Bible, and their perceived activity in the ancient Near East, this study suggests animals are distinct agents of praise in their own right in the biblical texts.
“A Prince Went up a Tree” traces the reversal of unlettered Native and lettered colonist in the Wampanoag Bible (1663). Focusing on the acorn-shaped printers' flowers that obsessively decorate the Bible, the article follows the Restoration motif that cleverly appropriates Charles II's escape in an oak tree from English pottery, snuffboxes, and delicate cut-paper work across the Atlantic to the first printing press at Harvard college and the Wôpanâak Language Reclamation Project.
This essay offers an introduction to select disciplinary developments in the study of history and in historical study of the Hebrew Bible. It focuses first and foremost on “cultural history,” a broad category defined by nineteenth- and twentieth-century developments in anthropology and sociology, literary theory and linguistics, and other fields of study. The first part of the essay comments on developments since the so-called “linguistic turn,” highlighting some key works on culture, narrative, and memory, in order to establish a contemporary historical approach to biblical studies. It then turns to questions of the Hebrew Bible’s usefulness for historical study, and highlights studies of King David and the Davidic polity in ancient Israel/Judah, to show how scholars of the Bible have done historical work in recent years. And finally, it provides a case study of the book of Joshua, demonstrating how historians can utilize biblical texts as sources for cultural history.
Johannine ethics is a problematic area for scholarship but recently there has been a breakthrough. In this new era of exploring Johannine ethics, the present study examines the concept of moral transformation through mimesis. The argument is that when people live in God’s world, their character and conduct are shaped in accordance with the moral beliefs, values, and norms of the divine reality, and that mimesis proves to be instrumental in this process of moral transformation. The study also explores how Johannine Christians in the late first century could imitate an ‘absent’ Jesus and what they were seeking to imitate.
The Akan people of Ghana have concepts of ethnicity and social identity which are similar to those found in the Mediterranean world, which find expression in the issues addressed in the letter to the Hebrews. This similarity makes the reading of Hebrews in light of Akan ethnicity and social identity possible, giving one the expected meaning from the perspective of those concepts as within the original context of the audience. This article therefore discusses some theories on ethnicity and social identity as well as the Akan people of Ghana and their concepts of ethnicity and social identity. It further explains the social context of the letter of Hebrews against which Hebrews is then read in light of Akan ethnicity and social identity. The focus of this reading is on how the ethnic identity of the readers presented in Hebrews enhances the social identity of the readers and provides the means by which the author’s appeal to his readers for their faithfulness to God becomes meaningful and urgent.
This article attempts to explore and trace the history of the Qur'an especially regarding the transmission of the Qur'an in the perspective of insider (Muslim) and outsider (orientalist). Both of these perspectives need to be studied deeply and proportionally in order to the horizon of the study of the Qur'an continue to be dynamic and progressive, although sometimes the study conducted by the outsider is not in line with the views of Muslim scholars. It can be seen from the thesis proposed by A. Jeffery and John Wansbrough. From the results of the study it could be concluded that both A. Jeffery and John Wansbrough read the Qur'an by the same method applied to the bible (bible criticism), such as historical criticism, source criticism, form criticism and textual criticism, this kind of perspective would have implications against the text of the Qur'an as plain text. Both A. Jeffery and John Wansbrough argued that they were not convinced of the existence of the Qur'anic set on the basis of the absence of the Prophet's attempt to gather until he died. While other orientalists like Angelika Neuwirth had a different perspective regarding the writing and codification of the Qur'an. She argued that since the time of the Prophet already contained the writing of the Qur'an. The differences of view among the orientalists became a proof that the study of the Qur’an among outsiders was not always negative and polemic.
History of scholarship and learning. The humanities, Islam
What appears to be African Biblical Hermeneutics often refers to the geographical location of the authors rather than the content. There always appears to be something new on the horizon, but the colonial umbilical cord prevents a crossing of the threshold. This article contends that, in order for it to cross the threshold, African Biblical Hermeneutics has to go beyond the geographical location of the reader/interpreter to the development of a framework that is essentially African, while not compromising the catholicity of the church. A celebration of life is proposed as the closest interpretative framework to both the Bible and the multiple African cultures.
Christianity, Practical religion. The Christian life
Als Werkstättenbericht einer Studientagung zu Offb 21,1-22,5 will der Beitrag das Modell von Broich/Pfister als methodisches Instrumentarium zur Analyse von ¡ntertextuellen Bezügen vorstellen. Dazu präsentiert er die Texte mit ihren einschlägigen atl. Prätexten und führt vor, wie die Hauptprätexte Jes 65,17-19 und Ez 40-48 in Offb umgestaltet wurden, um den jungen Christengemeinden in ihren eschatologischen Erwartungen vom neuen Himnel und der neuen Erde sowie vom neuen Jerusalem einen würdigen Platz einzuräumen.
The article contends that Dr King makes an other-typological illustrative use of the Exodus story in his preaching – one of the most significant biblical narratives that the Black church in the US holds dear. This peculiar use of the Exodus story differentiates itself from the conventional typological understanding and use of the same story in the Black church’s history. While in the latter the Exodus story has a symbolic meaning of the irreconcilable conflict between the oppressed and the oppressing reality, in the former the same story contains a spiritual lesson that what is really hoped for in the midst of the seemingly irreconcilable racial and social conflict is compassion, liberation, and reconciliation for both parties involved. This article, by examining a representative sermon of Dr King on the Exodus story, shows that his other-typological illustrative approach originates from his fundamental theological ideal of universal reconciliation.
The ongoing appointment of ministers between the Dutch Reformed Church and the Netherdutch Reformed Church of Africa: 1862–1917. This article highlights the situation prior to the establishment of the theological training of the Netherdutch Reformed Church of Africa (NDRCA). The training of ministers of the Dutch Reformed Church (DRC) started in 1859 with the establishment of the Theological Seminary at Stellenbosch. Since 1862 three churches operated in the then Transvaal (South African Republic). Many ministers of the DRC were called to serve in the NDRCA. The most notable were the Rev D.P. Ackerman and the Rev H.S. Bosman. They were called before the origin of the united church (of the NDRCA and the DRC) that existed between 1885 and 1892. After the split in 1892, they (as well as many others) continued as ministers in the DRC. The first lecturer of the NDRCA was called in 1917 − also a minister that was previously from the DRC. The calling of his successor sparked a major row. The NDRCA congregation of Pretoria called another minister from the DRC – the Rev H.D. van Broekhuizen. This eventually led to a special meeting of the General Assembly of the NDRCA in 1917 where his calling was eventually approved.
In die lig van die Christelike etiek is ’n beroep op die Skrif ’n sine qua non waar standpunte oor etiese vraagstukke ingeneem word. Deur ’n beroep op die Skrif te doen, is die probleem ongelukkig nie sonder meer opgelos nie. Hierdie artikel toon aan dat die begrip koninkryk van God as tema as ’n hermeneutiese vertrekpunt kan dien in die soeke na antwoorde op etiese vraagstukke. Daar word aangedui dat die koninkryk van God ’n noodsaaklike tema is omdat sekere wetsbepalings en kontekstueel bepaalde beginsels en norme in die voortsetting van die gedagte van die koninkryk van God in die Ou en Nuwe Testament ingebed is. Daar is egter ook sekere voorskrifte binne die teokratiese bestel wat vir die volk Israel in hulle spesifieke konteks gegee is wat nie noodwendig direk in die hedendaagse samelewingskonteks kan en mag toegepas word nie. Die boodskap van die Skrif moet dus op ’n verantwoordelike en geldige wyse gekonstateer word en effektief aan die moderne samelewing oorgedra word.
The kingdom of God as a contextual paradigmatic key for using Scripture in ethics. The use of Scripture is, in light of Christian ethics, a sine qua non when positions with regard to ethical problems are assumed. A simple interpretation of Scripture does not necessarily settle the problem. This article shows that the concept kingdom of God as a theme can serve as a hermeneutical point of departure in the search for answers to ethical questions. It is shown that the kingdom of God is a necessary theme due to the fact that certain legal stipulations and contextual based principles and norms are embedded in the idea of the kingdom of God in the Old and New Testament. There are also certain prescriptions within the theocratic system of Israel in its specific context that may not and cannot be directly applied to the modern day societal context. The message of the Bible must thus be established in a responsible and valid way, and communicated effectively to modern day society.
Practical Theology, Practical religion. The Christian life