The Book of Judith is a tale about a time in Jewish history when the Jews were threatened with annihilation and saved by a pious widow. It is also an example of the early Hellenistic novel and evinces many hitherto unexplored ties to Hellenistic literature; however, even when these similarities are accounted for, the characterization of Judith, the book's main character, stands out in marked contrast to other Hellenistic female heros. Although the date of composition of the work is still disputed, there is strong evidence that links the work to the Hasmonean period. It was during this period that a woman ruled Judea; this woman was Shelamzion, whom Josephus refers to as Salome Alexandra. Charles Ball, Solomon Zeitlin, and the contemporary feminist scholar Tal Ilan postulate that the Book of Judith was written as a means of promoting the popularity of this Hasmonean queen; however, the idea has not been thoroughly examined by scholars. This dissertation explores the possibility that the Book of Judith was written as political propaganda for the only Hasmonean queen, Shelamzion. The first part of the dissertation explores literary patronage and propaganda in the Hellenistic period. Part Two examines the literary world of Shelamzion, the world which gave birth to the Hellenistic novel. The third part offers a fresh evaluation of Josephus' accounts of Shelamzion's reign; these accounts are found in The Jewish War and Jewish Antiquities . Her reign is examined against the backdrop of the politically powerful female descendants of Ptolemy Soter I, the various Cleopatras of the second and first centuries B.C.E. The final section assesses the Book of Judith as political propaganda for Shelamzion, revisiting anthropological studies of honour and shame and discussing the similarities between Shelamzion and Judith.

This present work consists of six points: (1) Nature and Scope of the thesis; (2) Problem and Method (first part of chapter one); (3) Research Hypothesis (second part of chapter one); (4) The use of quotations from Acts in Ecclesia in Africa (chapters three and four); (5) The allusions to Acts in Ecclesia in Africa (chapter five); Finally, the synthesis and Evaluation of the results of the Research (chapter six). The present study is hermeneutical and interdisciplinary in nature since it deals with the applied interpretation of Scripture (Acts) in a magisterial document (Ecclesia in Africa) and the meaning that results thereof. The thesis is a research inquiry, analysis and evaluation of the intertextual links between the Acts of the Apostles and Ecclesia in Africa. First and foremost, the work consists in identifying these intertextual links and secondly in analyzing and evaluating their significance in Acts and then in Ecclesia in Africa. This research is a pioneering work in the intertextual reading of Acts and Ecclesia in Africa in a way that has not been undertaken before. (Abstract shortened by UMI.)

In light of socio-rhetorical criticism, Luke's LS account emerges as rhetorical discourse both by its many Hellenistic rhetorical features and in terms of their underlying premise. Luke 22:7--38 (Western Text) clearly functions as a rhetorical discourse meant to alter the social expectations of Luke's community and produce corresponding changes in its conduct. In Chapter One, we review the history of interpretation of the Lukan LS text and provide justification for the present study. We define the aim and present our research methodology. Here we suggest that Luke achieves his self-interest, as we have defined it, by constructing his LS as a rhetorical elaboration of theme. Treating Luke's LS as a rhetorical elaboration reveals that Luke 22:7--38 (Western Text) is a unified text. In Chapter Two, we define our textual unit as the Western Text (WT) and not the Alexandrian Text (AT) of Luke's LS. Here I show how Luke crafted his elaboration by looking at the narrative material, argumentation, and repetition. Chapter Three shows that from the perspective of socio-rhetorical analysis there are four ways a text may use antecedent texts, oral or written, namely, recitation, reconfiguration, recontextualisation, and oral-scribal echo. Luke in composing his LS has reworked specific oral as well as written traditions available to him. In Chapter Four we explore Luke's dependence on the cultural systems and social structure in his contemporary Mediterranean society. This interaction with certain social codes and cultural scripts in the first-century Mediterranean leads me to conclude in Chapter Five that the language in the text can be social-culturally located as a first-century Mediterranean revolutionist response, with a conversionist tendency, that seeks to reconstruct the old social order for the purposes of establishing a new social order, the kingdom of God, the kind of primitive "Christian" community Luke describes in the first chapters of Acts. The sixth chapter explores how this social and cultural program reflects sacred interests. The concluding chapter combines exploration of the ideology of our chosen text with a resume of the course of our investigation. Our exploration of ideological texture identifies the ideology of the implied author and shows just how this ideology shapes the narrative of the Lukan LS. (Abstract shortened by UMI.)

Les études sur les discours d'évangélisation des Actes des Apôtres sont nombreuses. La théo-logie des discours n'a pas bénéficié d'un traitement comparable à celui qu'a reçu, par exemple, la christologie des discours. Tout en reconnaissant que Jésus Christ occupe effectivement une place importante dans ces annonces de la Bonne Nouvelle faites aux Juifs, il nous est apparu qu'on avait négligé la place et la fonction que Dieu tient dans ces discours. Tout au long de notre travail, nous avons, en effet, voulu montrer que la théo-logie des discours constitue une composante essentielle de l'annonce de la Bonne Nouvelle adressée aux Juifs. En somme, il s'agissait de nous interroger sur la figure narrative de Dieu, afin de voir comment cette figure était caractérisée dans les discours de Pierre et quelle fonction elle jouait à l'intérieur de ces discours. Quod erat demonstrandum . Afin de vérifier cette hypothèse, nous avons opté pour une démarche en deux temps. Premièrement, l'étude des cinq discours pétriniens d'évangélisation a été faite. Secondement, nous avons repris dans un dernier chapitre l'ensemble des résultats obtenus au cours des analyses particulières afin de dégager un portrait global du Dieu des discours pétriniens d'évangélisation. Parmi les diverses approches mises à notre disposition par l'exégèse scientifique, nous avons choisi de demeurer dans une perspective résolument synchronique et littéraire. Il est apparu que Dieu est un personnage omniprésent que le lecteur rencontre dans tous les discours de Pierre, sans exception. Deuxièmement, nous avons montré que la manière dont Pierre parle de Dieu dans les discours épouse parfaitement la forme narrative. Troisièmement, Dieu se présente essentiellement comme un personnage qui entre en relation avec d'autres personnages (les Apôtres, les prophètes, Israël, etc.) et, au premier chef, avec Jésus de Nazareth. Quatrièmement, à partir des relations que Dieu entretient avec d'autres personnages, nous avons pu déduire un autre trait de la figure narrative de Dieu, à savoir: sa discrétion. Cinquièmement, si le Dieu à propos duquel Pierre s'exprime n'est pas, pour l'essentiel, un Dieu différent de celui dont il est question dans le Premier Testament--Pierre parle à propos du Dieu d'Israël--il n'en demeure pas moins que l'Apôtre annonce certains traits nouveaux qui sont inconnus de ses auditeurs. En conclusion, notre recherche a permis de montrer que la figure narrative de Dieu est bien présente dans les discours pétriniens d'évangélisation et que l'action de cette figure narrative tient une place fondamentale dans ces discours. (Abstract shortened by UMI.)

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Notre hypothèse de départ, c'est que l'oeuvre de Luc, évangile et Actes, a quelque chose d'original à offrir pour la compréhension du rôle de Pierre daps le Nouveau Testament. Notre projet est de faire ressortir cette originalité lucanienne en faisant l'exégèse des textes de Luc où Pierre apparaît. Notre étude des textes de l'évangile de Luc se divise en trois chapitres. Les trois premiers épisodes où apparaît Pierre (la guérison de la belle-mère de Simon, la pêche miraculeuse et le choix des douze apôtres) font l'objet de notre deuxième chapitre. Par ces récits, le narrateur signale un rupture radicale de Pierre et de ses compagnons avec leur milieu social d'origine. Notre troisième chapitre étudie, lui aussi, trois épisodes: la fille de Jaïre et la femme en perte de sang (Lc 8), la confession de Pierre (9,20) et la manifestation de la gloire de Jésus (9,28-36). Le premier épisode marque un recul de la foi de Pierre. Nous avons conclu de son analyse que le narrateur n'y cherche pas à susciter l'antipathie du lecteur envers Pierre, mais plutôt à augmenter sa sympathie, ou tout au moins à provoquer son empathie envers le personnage. Notre quatrième chapitre s'ouvre sur les interventions de Pierre pendant la montée à Jérusalem. Continuant d'écouter Jésus tel que l'avait commandé la voix venue du ciel (9,35), Pierre parle deux fois à Jésus. Sa question de 12,41 et la réponse qu'y fait Jésus permettent de mieux comprendre que le rôle de Pierre et du «nous» qu'il représente comprend deux pôles: missionnaire et pastoral. Une troisième dimension semble réservée pour la fin des temps. Notre quatrième chapitre 4 étudie également la figure de Pierre à l'heure de la passion et de la résurrection de Jésus. Après l'arrestation de Jésus, Pierre nie à trois reprises connaître son maître, tout comme Jésus l'avait prédit. Mais déjà, le regard de Jésus sauve Pierre en provoquant sa sortie de chez le Grand Prêtre. C'est là l'amorce du retour de Pierre, un retour qui sera bien lent à s'accomplir. Après avoir, avec les autres apôtres, refusé de croire au témoignage des femmes, Pierre court au tombeau et se retourne vers lui-même. C'est la rencontre avec le Ressuscité qui ramènera Pierre à la foi. Dans les Actes des apôtres, qui font l'objet de nos chapitres 5 à 7, Pierre est le personnage humain le plus important de toute la première partie de l'intrigue (Ac 1-7). Tout au long du récit, le narrateur insiste sur la configuration de Pierre à la personne de son maître, Jésus ressuscité. Enfin, dans cette deuxième partie des Actes (ch. 8-15), après avoir affermi ses frères à de nombreuses reprises et de diverses manières, Pierre se consacre aussi au premier mandat que lui avait confié Jésus, celui de capturer des hommes pour leur rendre la vie. Notre analyse de tous les textes lucaniens où apparaît Pierre nous a permis de mieux distinguer les contours de la figure de Pierre dans l'oeuvre de Luc, évangile et Actes. À toutes les époques, les chrétiens s'appuient sur son témoignage et sur celui des apôtres pour entrer dans leur cheminement de foi et pour être soutenus dans leur suite du Christ. (Abstract shortened by UMI.)

Law and love are two of the very important themes of the Fourth Gospel. Surprisingly, there have been only a few works on the theme of love and still fewer on the theme of law. In fact, there are only two monographs on the concept of law in the Fourth Gospel: an English one, Law in the Fourth Gospel, by Severino Pancaro and the other, a German one, Umstrittener Zeuge, by Markku Kotila. A survey of the works produced on the themes of law and love in the Fourth Gospel is presented in the Introduction. However, there has not been so far a single work which deals with the relationship between these two themes in the Fourth Gospel. Therefore, the present thesis is a new venture in the on-going johannine research. This thesis intends to demonstrate that the relationship between the concepts of law and love in the Fourth Gospel is an inalienable feature in the structure of the whole Gospel. The relationship between law and love is interwoven in the content and message of the Fourth Gospel. It is not just a coincidence that the theme of law, and even the occurrences of the term itself, find a place of predominance in the first part of the Gospel (chapters 1--12). In the same way, the theme of love and the frequency of the term itself gain utmost importance in the latter part of the Gospel (chapters 13--21). The relationship between the concepts of law and love belongs to the very core of the message of the Fourth Gospel. This thesis consists of two parts. Part One, comprising of three chapters (chapters one, two and three), deals with the law in the Fourth Gospel and the two chapters (four and five) of Part Two treat the theme of love. The Conclusion presents the Relationship between law and love in the Fourth Gospel. All three chapters of Part One demonstrate beyond doubt that the reality of the law in the Fourth Gospel is only positive and it has the function of leading the people to Jesus, who fulfills the relationship of love, commenced by God in the Old Testament through the mediation of Moses. A deeper look into johannine Christology presents us with the interesting insight that Jesus is not the one who fulfills the law, rather, it is the law which finds its fulfillment in Jesus. The law is only subservient to Jesus, the one in whom the revelation of God finds its fullness. (Abstract shortened by UMI.)

The episode at Lystra (Acts of the Apostles 14,7-20a) forms part of Paul's first missionary journey in Asia Minor. In this text, Luke relates the story of Paul's first evangelization of the pagans. The vivid description of this short episode offers an example of methods in words and deeds used to preach the Gospel in the pagan world. Mostly historical and redactional studies have been done on this text. The aim of this thesis is to study the text from an ahistorical or synchronic point of view, following the newer literary methods of rhetorical criticism and semiotics. These methods, each with its particular emphases, point to different aspects of the text. A comparative study of Paul's speech at Lystra with Paul's speech at Antioch shows how new meaning emerges when the text is studied in its context. Questions concerning the origin and function of miracles in Acts as well as their relationship to the word are posed. Chapter one presents the state of the research on the episode at Lystra. Several theological and literary problems are addressed. Textual observations are made on the text. The text is delimited and a literal translation is given alongside the literary translation of the New Revised Standard Version. Chapter two presents a rhetorical analysis of the text based on the literary principles advanced by Albert Vanhoye, Marc Girard and Roland Meynet. The formal analysis follows the methodology developed by Meynet. The analysis addresses the coherence of the literary unit and leads to a first theological interpretation of the meaning of the text. Chapter three presents a semiotic analysis which follows the well-known method of Algirdas J. Greimas as outlined by the Cadir of Lyons, France. Its purpose is to investigate the operations and relationships present in the narrative and to discover the organization of its content. A discursive analysis is followed by a narrative analysis. The two analyses are then integrated and an attempt is made to interpret the results of this study. Chapter four presents a comparison of the two methods of semiotics and rhetorical analysis and discusses their merits and usefulness. The complementarity of the methods is highlighted as certain theological questions and themes are dealt with. This focuses the attention on the main message delivered in this episode. In light of the differences, new insights on the literary and theological questions of the text begin to emerge. Finally, the question of the limitations of the two methods is discussed. Chapter five addresses the significance of the episode at Lystra in the context of the book of Acts, first, in the immediate context of Paul's speech to the Jews at Antioch in chapter thirteen (vv. 16-41); a brief analysis of Paul's speech is done following the rules of ancient rhetoric. Then, the episode is analyzed in its wider context, that is, in reference to the general goal and structure of Acts. Some of the more important literary and theological questions brought to the fore touch the literary unity of the text, the function of the speech (vv. 15-17) and the nature of faith and its relationship to healing/salvation, the manner and outcome of the evangelization done at Lystra.

This dissertation is an edition of the psalms, together with their partial interlinear Old English gloss and Latin commentary, contained in folios 4r--95v of the British Museum Manuscript, Additional 37517, known as the Bosworth Psalter. The psalter in full (psalms 1--151) and the Latin commentary (titular, interlinear and marginal commentaries on psalms 1--39. 1--7; titular commentary on psalms 40--50; titular, interlinear and marginal commentaries on psalms 71--83: 1--3) are being edited here for the first time. The only material previously edited appearing here is the twenty-nine psalms with their interlinear Old English gloss (40: 5, 50: 6--21, 53, 63, 66, 68--70, 85, 101, 118--133, 139: 2, 9, 140: 1--4, 142), edited by Uno Lindelof, in 1909; these are being included in this edition, as it aims at providing a complete text of the psalms. This edition was prepared from microfilm and photostatic copies of the manuscript, and checked, letter by letter, against the original. The text is presented unemended, even the obvious scribal errors being retained but recorded and corrected in the notes. The text is arranged in three separate parts and is preceded by an Introduction. The Introduction deals with the description of the manuscript, its contents, its date and provenance, its general characteristics, and its particular features as a Benedictine Prayer Book. It discusses, very briefly, the history of the Roman and Gallican versions of the psalms, the tradition of Old English gloss in the psalters, and the evolution of exegetical commentary on the psalms. Under these headings, the main features of the psalms, gloss, and commentary in the Bosworth Psalter are examined. The Introduction also explains the textual procedure adopted in this edition. The first part (pages 1--238) contains the psalms and the interlinear Old English gloss. The version of the psalms in the Bosworth Psalter is Roman, but altered in some places, to fit the commentary, which is based on a Gallican version. As the text of the Bosworth Psalter is that of the Roman version, every effort has been made in this edition to perceive and render the original Roman version of the manuscript. Notes to the first part are strictly textual, recording the alterations from the Roman to the Gallican, as well as other alterations, scribal errors, erasures, deletions, illegibility, and manuscript damage affecting the text. Lindelof's readings are noted, wherever this edition differs with his. A collation of the significant variant readings of the Latin text in the six extant Old English psalters and in the Benedictine critical edition of the roman Psalter is also given. The second and third parts (pages 239--630, and 631--923) contain the Latin commentary on psalms 1--50, and 71--83, respectively. To facilitate the reading of the commentary, the text of these psalms is repeated. Every attempt has been made to match each section of the commentary with its appropriate lemma and verse. In addition to textual notes, the second and third parts have referential notes. The Latin commentary is rich in biblical quotations, allusions, and echoes, most of which have been identified and recorded. Sources acknowledged by the commentator are traced from available editions. This dissertation has aimed at making an accurate text readily accessible, so that textual, linguistic, and source studies may be more easily pursued.