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While there have been a number of studies about the Bible in the media they have tended to look only at the use of Bible stories in the entertainment area and in the tabloid press. These studies do not consider how the news media covers the Bible. This study, however, presents the findings of a systematic and comprehensive analysis of the representation of the Bible in the press news. The primary aim of the research was to understand how the press news constructs the Bible with its discourse. To develop this awareness, the study employed the method of discourse analysis. This included both quantitative and interpretative analysis of the language of the news texts. The corpus came from news reports of the Bible in association with the controversy surrounding the Dead Sea Scrolls. From the point of view of this study, I collected the reports on the Dead Sea Scrolls as they occurred, thus reducing any possible bias from the selection process; the reports were simply a means to an end — a thread to follow, as it were. The study period was from 1947, when Bedouins found the Dead Sea Scrolls, to 2003 just after the publication of nearly all the ancient texts. The media selected from which to draw the reports were: The Australian (Aust.), The Sydney Morning Herald (SMH), The New York Times (NYT), and The Times (London). I chose these papers because they are among the principal agenda-setters for the rest of their respective nation's media, and as such, they reflect the views of the opinion leaders in their communities at large. Results from the analysis revealed that while there were negative representations of the Bible, there were also press news reports that provided positive accounts. At first, news reports were more or less a matter of a factual accounting of the events. Later, the reports contained assertions on the need to rewrite the Bible — iii something that was clearly abhorrent to conventional Christians. Moreover, there was a press discourse portraying the Bible as a document that was culturally irrelevant and with an uncertain status. Opposed to this however, there was discourse representing the Bible as a resource book (a document to which one could turn with one’s problems). In addition, there was also evidence of a journalistic frame in operation that was organizing the world around the Bible, subtly managing audience interpretation. This framed the Bible as a sacred document safeguarded as much by religion as by tradition. This sacredness is rooted deep in Western culture. Such a frame, of course, was largely unspoken or unacknowledged. It provided a sense that the Bible enjoys a degree of cultural and social authority as a guide to life based on an interpretation of past events in faith. On the other hand, the nature of some reporting would suggest that the Bible is a 'cultural icon', a somewhat elitist object, now distant from the popular culture of which it was once a part. The impact of these findings lies in the apparent need for biblical scholarship to focus on the Bible’s heritage in Western culture. Scholars may find this heritage in the fine arts and in the media, among other phenomena. Should they decide to take up this challenge then they would study the Bible as a cultural artefact, and not primarily as a religious text that is the property of the religious communities. This may mean completing cultural/biblical studies outside organized religion. Naturally, such a shift would represent a loss to the traditional philological/classical base of biblical scholarship. I expect that the findings of this study will contribute to both the growing body of research on media discourse; and a better understanding of the Bible in the Western way of life.

While there have been a number of studies about the Bible in the media they have tended to look only at the use of Bible stories in the entertainment area and in the tabloid press. These studies do not consider how the news media covers the Bible. This study, however, presents the findings of a systematic and comprehensive analysis of the representation of the Bible in the press news. The primary aim of the research was to understand how the press news constructs the Bible with its discourse. To develop this awareness, the study employed the method of discourse analysis. This included both quantitative and interpretative analysis of the language of the news texts. The corpus came from news reports of the Bible in association with the controversy surrounding the Dead Sea Scrolls. From the point of view of this study, I collected the reports on the Dead Sea Scrolls as they occurred, thus reducing any possible bias from the selection process; the reports were simply a means to an end — a thread to follow, as it were. The study period was from 1947, when Bedouins found the Dead Sea Scrolls, to 2003 just after the publication of nearly all the ancient texts. The media selected from which to draw the reports were: The Australian (Aust.), The Sydney Morning Herald (SMH), The New York Times (NYT), and The Times (London). I chose these papers because they are among the principal agenda-setters for the rest of their respective nation's media, and as such, they reflect the views of the opinion leaders in their communities at large. Results from the analysis revealed that while there were negative representations of the Bible, there were also press news reports that provided positive accounts. At first, news reports were more or less a matter of a factual accounting of the events. Later, the reports contained assertions on the need to rewrite the Bible — iii something that was clearly abhorrent to conventional Christians. Moreover, there was a press discourse portraying the Bible as a document that was culturally irrelevant and with an uncertain status. Opposed to this however, there was discourse representing the Bible as a resource book (a document to which one could turn with one’s problems). In addition, there was also evidence of a journalistic frame in operation that was organizing the world around the Bible, subtly managing audience interpretation. This framed the Bible as a sacred document safeguarded as much by religion as by tradition. This sacredness is rooted deep in Western culture. Such a frame, of course, was largely unspoken or unacknowledged. It provided a sense that the Bible enjoys a degree of cultural and social authority as a guide to life based on an interpretation of past events in faith. On the other hand, the nature of some reporting would suggest that the Bible is a 'cultural icon', a somewhat elitist object, now distant from the popular culture of which it was once a part. The impact of these findings lies in the apparent need for biblical scholarship to focus on the Bible’s heritage in Western culture. Scholars may find this heritage in the fine arts and in the media, among other phenomena. Should they decide to take up this challenge then they would study the Bible as a cultural artefact, and not primarily as a religious text that is the property of the religious communities. This may mean completing cultural/biblical studies outside organized religion. Naturally, such a shift would represent a loss to the traditional philological/classical base of biblical scholarship. I expect that the findings of this study will contribute to both the growing body of research on media discourse; and a better understanding of the Bible in the Western way of life.

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The title of this thesis, "The Philosophy of Paul," makes the assumption that Paul had a philosophy. Because this assumption is not universally acoepted oy students of the life of Paul, as noted above, we shall endeavor to show that Paul had a philosophy. In other words, we shall show that our assumption is valid. Our second purpose shall be to identify Paul's philosophy.

<p>Sacrifice often connotes death or some form of lack within popular discourse. The association of sacrifice with death is assumed in some strains of the Christian tradition that employ sacrifice within a penal substitutionary account of the atonement. In this framework, sacrifice is understood as death for the purposes of punishment. This dissertation challenges the identification of sacrifice with death. It presents a reinterpretation of sacrifice through a canonical and literary reading of Old and New Testament texts. Sacrificial practice displayed in Leviticus and Hebrews suggests that sacrifice is oriented at life rather than at death. Specifically, sacrifice in Leviticus aims toward a reinstatement of the good order of creation displayed in Genesis 1. The telos of the Levitical cult is humanity’s redemption and creation’s restoration. Both are achieved on the Day of Atonement described in Leviticus 16 as a Sabbath. Hebrews expands upon the sacrificial logic of Leviticus in presenting Christ’s resurrection as the perfection of the cult. Christ’s sacrifice is his resurrected body, not his death. Christians are called to participate in Christ’s sacrifice, and discipleship assumes a form that challenges society’s deathly sacrifices.</p> / Dissertation

The non-burial motif in the Hebrew Bible borrows language, imagery, and rhetorical strategies from its ancient West Asian milieu. Despite its many attestations in TANAKH, this motif often is overlooked in biblical research. Past scholarship relied on Delbert Hillers's form-critical and comparative work, which identified several occurrences of a biblical "curse of no burial" that shares stereotypical terminology with Mesopotamian treaty-curses. Nevertheless, Hillers's classification of the "curse of no burial" as a treaty-curse obstructed the identification of the majority of biblical references to non-burial. As one type of threatened or actualized post-mortem punishment, deprivation of burial appears explicitly and as the intended result of another threatened or performed act of violence. Revising Hillers's typology, I propose a description of references to non-burial that considers the following characteristics: 1) elements of post-mortem abuse; 2) agent; 3) victim; 4) reason; and 5) intended result. The identification of non-burial as post-mortem abuse, recognizable by the presence of stereotypical terminology in these five interpretive categories, broadens the net of non-burial references beyond the scope of treaty-curses. Over forty examples of the non-burial motif appear across thirteen biblical books. In-depth interpretations of six of these references to non-burial (Num 14:28-35; Deut 28:26; 1 Sam 17:44-47; 1 Kgs 14:10-11; Isa 14:18-20; Jer 8:1-3) scrutinize literary contexts, lexical features, and rhetorical functions. The non-burial motif appears in several different types of socio-literary contexts, and it functions as a literary weapon within biblical authors' ideologically-shaped rhetorical compositions. Rhetorical-historical interpretation and social-anthropological theory clarify implications of deprived funerary rites. In biblical and extra-biblical examples, the non-burial motif is used to: 1) shame victims and their communities; 2) eradicate the victims' identity; and 3) bolster the identity of the agent. When the victim's identity depends upon its relationality with the agent (i.e., Israel's vassaldom to YHWH's suzerainty), the imposition of post-mortem punishment redefines the dynamics of the relationship.

This study examines the theological purpose of the oracles against the nations in the book of Ezekiel (Ezek. 25-32). Through detailed exegesis, this thesis contends that the recognition formula, 'they shall know that I am Yahweh', is the vehicle for this theological purpose since it is fundamentally a statement of the vindication of Yahweh. Having specified in chapter 1 that the primary thesis is supported by two further theses, 'the recognition formula illuminates Yahweh's wrath and his mercy', and 'the recognition formula invites a human response', the work begins with a review of recent Ezekiel research in general that includes a background sketch delineating the context and authorship of the book. Possible original settings of oracles against nations are discussed, as well as a survey of topical scholarly output. A review of work undertaken on the recognition formula continues the preliminary discussion. In chapter 2, the basic form of the saying is defined and this allows the phrases that have expansions or are related by close resemblance to be categorised. The study proceeds with a consideration of the formula found elsewhere in the Hebrew Bible. Chapter 3 examines the formula as it appears in Ezekiel outside the oracles against the nations, paying particular attention to the formula's expansions. In chapter 4, detailed exegesis begins with the oracles against Israel's Palestinian neighbours. It is suggested that Ezekiel uses language for its potential to remind the people of their own culpability and the possibility is mooted that Ezekiel is projecting the guilt and punishment of Israel onto the nations. Chapter 5 contends that Ezekiel's illustrations are aimed at alleviating the exiles' concern about the future by helping them appreciate a bifurcated reality of the unseen present, and that the purpose of the oracles against the nations may be perceived when the relationship between divine wrath and divine mercy is understood to be elucidated by the above theses concerning the recognition formula.