This study seeks to make a contribution to the understanding of Old Testament prophetic ministry by offering a close comparison of selected texts from two different, yet related, prophetic books: Jeremiah and Ezekiel. The approach is canonical, based on the received text. Texts on key areas of prophetic ministry are examined exegetically then compared. These relate to the prophet's call (J er 1: 1-19, Ezek 1-3), worker images for prophetic ministry (assayer Jer 6:27-30, potter modelled on Yahweh's work in Jer 18:1-12, and watchman Ezek 33:1-20), the prophet's relationship with the temple (Jer 7:1-15, Ezek 8-11) and assessment of deviant prophets (Jer 23:9-32, Ezek 13). Although each of these prophets remembers an experienced call and is sent out as Yahweh's messenger, their styles of communication are strikingly different. It is the contention of this thesis that a serious acceptance of the settings given in each book provides interpretive clues regarding the reasons for these differences. In Jeremiah, where his people are still in the land with the temple present, Yahweh is perceived as close and the communication between Yahweh and prophet is characterised by intimate dialogue. Jeremiah's communication to the people is focused on Yahweh's spoken word, the medium of proximity. Where Ezekiel and his people are conscious of distance from their temple and land, Yahweh is also presumed to be distant. Communication between Yahweh and Ezekiel is more distant, Ezekiel is often spectator rather than participant. His communication to the people is more visual and more distant. Jeremiah's call for the people to 'turn' back to listen to and obey suggests that a break has not fully developed; Ezekiel's call to respect the 'holiness' of Yahweh suggests that the relationship must begin again from a more distant point before drawing close to a place of intimacy. Comparing two such significantly different prophets gives a range of fruitful insights into the relationship between prophetic ministry and local context.

No description available.

No description available.

The Qur'anic punishment-narratives have received comparatively little academic attention, but are a source of valuable insights into Muhammad's experience at Mecca. They reflect the expectation that God would intervene in this world to punish the unbelievers and vindicate the believers. They also reflect the painful complexity of Muhammad's situation at Mecca: he is torn between conflicting impulses towards attachment to his people and obedience to God. A tendency to deny the former impulse for the sake of the latter is apparent in later Meccan passages. The Hijrah raises the question of how the threat to the unbelievers of divine punishment in this world will be fulfilled. In a process within which the battle of Badr is the key moment, this threat is fulfilled but transformed. The unbelievers are indeed punished in this world, but this divine intervention is now mediated through the believers, a possibility not anticipated at Mecca, and a once-for-all act of devastation is replaced with a gradual military and political campaign. In this transition from Meccant o Medinanp aradigmsth e narrative content of the Qur'an changes significantly, and the Qur'an as a whole presents a very different understanding of the triangular relationship between, firstly, God; secondly, the messenger and his community; and, thirdly, the unbelievers.

Contemporary understandings of ethics consistently situate them as the result of a focussed rational and intellectual process within a narrow range of academic and religious areas. I challenge this approach, and theorise an embodied approach to ethics as both possible and desirable. I argue that such an approach may be most easily located in the contemporary Pagan approach to environmental ethics, given that the rhetoric of Paganism valorises the body and privileges the natural environment. While I agree that Paganism is indeed a nature religion, I theorise that there are two simultaneous yet contradictory discourses of nature informing Paganism: the animist (privileging nature qua nature) and the esoteric (privileging a symbolic understanding of nature). I assert that my qualitative fieldwork demonstrates that some Pagans have developed an embodied ethic through close relationship with nature. I acknowledge that the development of such a profound relationship requires considerable effort and a great deal of time. I then compare this against quantitative data from an online survey of self-identifying Pagans in order to establish the extent to which such an approach might be representative. The Initial analysis of the online data supports the assertion that my respondents are likely to express positive attitudes to the environment, but are unlikely to participate in activism in relation to a number of specified areas. Deeper analysis compares the data between different groups identified along the animist/esoteric scale, and suggests that those Pagans who are more influenced by the animist discourse are indeed more likely to express environmentally friendly attitudes and to take part in activism. I conclude that such an embodied environmental ethic is possible, although this may be substantially contingent upon lifestyle. I posit that by understanding the diversity of discourses informing Pagan approaches to nature, academics may be able to more accurately interpret the diversity of Pagan approaches, and Pagans themselves may be able to move forward in discussions between their various traditions.

The purpose of this thesis is to present a test case for diachronic and synchronic approaches in the book of Joshua, especially Josh 3-4 which is one of the most complex texts in the Old Testament. The thesis pays attention to how Polzin’s approach, regarded as one of the best sympathetic readings of Joshua, is applied to the text of Josh 3-4, and the relevance of the theories of Auld. Chapter two introduces the synchronic readings of Polzin, Hawk, Mitchell, and Winther-Nielsen, attempts to uncover the problems in applying their methods to this complicated text, and offers a critique of these sympathetic readings. Through this examination, the writer concludes that Polzin’s methodology does explain a number of problems in this text, but also that his reading has limitations. Chapter three investigates the differences between the MT and the LXX of Joshua 3-4 through text critical analysis, reconstructs the Hebrew <i>Vorlage </i>of LXX-Joshua 3-4 considering divergences between major Greek editions (Margolis, Rahlfs, and Auld) and examines the limitations of Polzin’s synchronic study in reading only from the final text of MT. The large number of text critical issues in this text (Josh 3-4) makes it difficult to work only from the final form of the MT. For the purpose of reading the literary history of Josh 3-4 in a diachronic way, the writer considers what position this text holds in the setting of the wider context of the ark narratives and water-crossing stories in the Old Testament. Thus, chapter four compares the art story in this text with those in the Pentateuch and other Former Prophets. Chapter five compares Joshua 3-4 with the crossing of the Red Sea in Exodus 13:17-14:31 and with Elijah and Elisha crossing the river in 2 Kings 2. In these two chapters, the writer considers recent trends in literary criticism which rejects the existence of a Yahwist (J) and prefers to call material which does not belong to P simply ‘non-Priestly’, and suggests new directions for literary criticism. Chapter six attempts to read the literary history of Joshua 304 based on the Hebrew <i>Vorlage</i> of LXX and on MT of Josh 3-4.

This study examines beliefs about nature in early Irish religion, comparing and contrasting them with similar beliefs in the Bible. Examples are assembled from a wide range of early Irish literature including place-lore, sagas, eulogies, annals and mythological histories, as well as more specifically ecclesiastical material such as hagiography, apocrypha, liturgy and the works of Patrick. The value of poetry and story-telling (<i>filidecht</i>) as a source for religious ideas is discussed in chapter one. Subsequent chapters focus on particular aspects of nature, grouped under the following headings: a) the land with its mountains and hills, b) wells, rivers, and lochs, c) trees, woods and singing birds, d) poetry of the woods, e) sun and fire, f) bad weather and natural disasters. Biblical parallels are discovered for many early Irish beliefs and practices. This is attributable partly to the conscious introduction of biblical material by medieval Irish scholars, but parallels also appear to have been present before the adoption of Christianity. This is found to be in keeping with the nature of primal religions and their relationship to Christianity as described by H.W. Turner and others. Movements towards synthesis with or rejection of Irish primal traditions are presented in so far as beliefs about nature were affected. One of the main areas of convergence is identified as the belief that nature is a place of theophany. The study focuses mainly on the period between the fifth and the twelfth centuries. Earlier traditions are also assumed to be present, though usually in modified form. Later material has occasionally been included where it seemed relevant.

No description available.

No description available.

No description available.