Thesis (M. Div.)--Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, 2009. / Abstract. Description based on print version record. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 142-156).

Thesis (S.T.M.)--Biblical Theological Seminary, 1972. / Includes indexes. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 87-89).

Thesis (M.Div.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong. / Bibliography: leaves 125-136.

Western society is pervaded by a value system that leads to a virtually natural discrimination against women and an accompanying unbridled “right” to Earth. Dichotomies, whereby, amongst others, masculinity is prioritized over femininity, lie at the heart of these value systems. These dichotomies are underpinned by the gender ideologies in the texts of the Old Testament that are regarded as normative. The possibility that creation texts of the Old Testament contain dimensions of ecojustice was foreseen, specifically regarding the potential femininity of the god constructs in cosmological texts. The ideological values leading to the construction of certain god characters were weighed up against the six principles of ecojustice promoted by the Earth Bible series. These principles are: intrinsic value, interconnectedness, voice, purpose, mutual custodianship and resistance to exploitation. The method of body criticism was employed in analyzing the texts and exposing the values foundational thereto. Body criticism as analytical tool is based upon the findings of modern cognitive science regarding the embodiment of thought, the cognitive unconscious as well as the metaphoricity of human abstract constructs. The paradigm or model of embodied realism was construed, wherein the body is regarded as “text” reflecting the deepest values and convictions of a community. God constructs represent the ideal symbolic body of a community, a regulating body that moulds and refines the values and norms of that community. In an ecojust phenomenology of the body, including the concepts of an ideal body and god constructs, gender will function as a dynamic interactive continuum. In the exposition of the body ideology of antique Israel, the focus was placed on the Israelite regulatory body in the form of God as foundation of the patriarchal ideology of the ancient world. That ideal or regulatory body was found to be decidedly male. The body critical analysis of Genesis 1:1-2:4a exposed that cosmogony as accommodating a metaphor of a god that is clearly and pertinently male. The god construct of the first creation narrative is a rhetorical power mechanism for the confirmation of male dominance. Values inherent to the god construct leave no room for Earth as equal subject. With the possible exception of a moment of wonderment and awe in Genesis 1:31, this text does not support the principles of ecojustice. The god metaphor in Psalm 74 is strictly and brutally male. Nature and Earth and her components simply form the stage on which the male dominated cult performs. The gender values underlying the god construct in Proverbs 8 and 9 represent the typical male-female dichotomy or duality. Woman Wisdom is a rhetorical power strategy employed in the service of the male God. The god character in Job 38:1-42:6 represents a contrast with the previous god constructs since hierarchized gender constructs seem to be absent. Multi-faceted gender continuum metaphorizations safeguard the god construct against one-sided and exclusive masculinity. A god construct and cosmology that serves ecojustice is constituted by the mutual incorporation of masculine and feminine values. The metaphor of a balanced body thus construed can be utilized as starting point for the regeneration of ecojust principles. Values wherein femininity is incorporated, specifically with regards to the construction of a god character, lead to a more just attitude towards Earth. Values that lead to the construction of a god character as male, or the metaphorization of a god as exclusively and one-sidedly masculine, lead to an attitude of disregard and destructiveness towards Earth. This hypothesis was confirmed by the findings of the body critical analysis of well known and important Biblical cosmological texts. Mutual incorporation of male as well as female values should constitute the god symbols of society. A society that share the conviction of ecojustice will deconstruct traditional polarizing gender categories and gender hierarchies and replace them with concepts such as the continuum of gender, empathic absorption, mutual incorporation and reciprocal constitution. / Prof. Hennie Viviers

Texte remanié : Thèse : Théologie : Friedrich-Wilhems Universität : 1994. / Bibliogr. p.[427]-448. Index.

Thesis (doctoral)--Hamburg, Universiẗat, 2007, titled: Christliche Kosmologie und antike Naturphilosophie. / Includes bibliographical references (p. [547]-586) and indexes.

Thesis (D. Miss.)--Western Seminary, Portland, OR, 2010. / Abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 391-410).

Text in Afrikaans / Die proefskrif ondersoek die funksie van fonteine en putte in die religie van ou Israel. Die religie van die Hebreeuse Bybel word tradisioneel beskryf as 'n historiese religie waarin Jahwe, die god van Israel, fundamenteel gemoeid is met die verlossing van sy volk in die gang van die geskiedenis, terwyl die wêreld van die natuur van marginale belang is. Dit is egter duidelik dat die natuur in die vorm van haar grondwaterbronne 'n belangrike rol in ou Israel se leefwerêld gespeel het, nie alleen as lewegewende bronne in die droē fisiese Palestynse landskap nie, maar ook in hulle narratiewe en simboliese wêrelde. Fonteine en putte was kultiese plekke en heilige ruimtes waar teofanieē plaasgevind het, konings gekroon is, regsgedinge gevoer is, voorvadergeeste opgeroep is en die nageslag van ou Israel verseker is toe die voorvaders hulle toekomstige bruide by putte ontmoet het. Deur middel van die ou Nabye Oosterse ikonografie as hulpwetenskap in die interpretasieproses, is gevind dat die rede vir die sakrale waarde wat aan die waterbronne geheg is, opgesluit is in ou Israel se kosmologie wat hulle met hulle mitologies-gesinde en natuurvererende bure gedeel het. Daarvolgens ontspring fonteine uit die kosmiese onderaardse oeroseaan om lewe en vrugbaarheid te bring aan alles wat lewe. Die beeld het daartoe aanleiding gegee dat fonteine en putte metafories vir vroulike seksualiteit en vrugbaarheid gedien het. Die waterbronne tree ook as draers van hoop op. In verhale oor die wonderbaarlike ontstaan van fonteine in die wildernis deur lewensonderhoud aan die Israetiete tydens hulle woestynomswerwinge te voorsien. Ons kan met sekerheid aanneem dat ou Israel hulle watergate as lokaliteite van integrasie, sin en orde teen die aanslae van die chaosmagte ervaar het. Deur die eeue het die mensdom nagedink oor eksistensiele kwessles soos lewe en dood, vrugbaarheid en steriliteit, die redes vir rampe en oor wat die toekoms inhou. Dit is ten diepste religieuse vrae wat die vervloe bybelskrywers vir hulle tyd en omstandighede aangespreek het deur 'n refigurasie van Palestina se waterbronne. Grondliggend aan hierdie studie as 'n herevaluering van die natuur in die Hebreeuse Bybel om menslike wesens as deel van die natuur op te stel en nie as staande bo die natuur nie. / The dissertation investigates the function of springs and wells in the religion of ancient Israel. The religion of the Hebrew Bible has traditionally been descibed as a historical religion in which Yahweh, the god of Israel, was fundamentally concerned with the salvation of Yahweh's people In history in which the world of nature is of marginal interest. However, it is evident that nature in the form of its groundwater sources played an important role, not only as life giving sources in the arid physical environment of Palestine, but also in their narrative and symbolic worlds. Springs and wells served as cultic centres and sacred places where theophanies took place, kings were crowned, lawsuits conducted, ancestral spirits conjured up and the future progeny of Israel was ensured when patriarchs betrothed their future brides at wells. By means of ancient Near Eastern iconography as an interpretation aid, this study finds the reason for the sacred value attributed to groundwater sources in the cosmology of ancient Israel which she shared with her mythically-minded and nature-worshipping neighbours. Springs were believed to arise from the cosmic subterranean ooean to bring life and fertility to all living things. This image caused springs and wells to serve as metaphor of female sexuality and fertility. They also act as agents of hope in stories of miraculous springs in the desert which provide sustenance during the Israelites' desert wanderings. We can safely conclude that ancient Israel experienced their springs and wells as localities of integration, meaning and order amidst the threatening forces of chaos. Through the ages humankind reflected on existential questions regarding life and death, fertility and sterility, the reasons for disasters and what the future holds. These are profoundly religious questions addressed by the biblical authors for their time and circumstances by implementing a refiguration of the groundwater sources of Palestine. Ultimately this study serves to re-evaluate nature in the Hebrew Bible and to construe human beings not as standing above nature, but as part of nature. / Religious Studies and Arabic / D. Litt. et Phil. (Religious Studies)

Text in Afrikaans / Die proefskrif ondersoek die funksie van fonteine en putte in die religie van ou Israel. Die religie van die Hebreeuse Bybel word tradisioneel beskryf as 'n historiese religie waarin Jahwe, die god van Israel, fundamenteel gemoeid is met die verlossing van sy volk in die gang van die geskiedenis, terwyl die wêreld van die natuur van marginale belang is. Dit is egter duidelik dat die natuur in die vorm van haar grondwaterbronne 'n belangrike rol in ou Israel se leefwerêld gespeel het, nie alleen as lewegewende bronne in die droē fisiese Palestynse landskap nie, maar ook in hulle narratiewe en simboliese wêrelde. Fonteine en putte was kultiese plekke en heilige ruimtes waar teofanieē plaasgevind het, konings gekroon is, regsgedinge gevoer is, voorvadergeeste opgeroep is en die nageslag van ou Israel verseker is toe die voorvaders hulle toekomstige bruide by putte ontmoet het. Deur middel van die ou Nabye Oosterse ikonografie as hulpwetenskap in die interpretasieproses, is gevind dat die rede vir die sakrale waarde wat aan die waterbronne geheg is, opgesluit is in ou Israel se kosmologie wat hulle met hulle mitologies-gesinde en natuurvererende bure gedeel het. Daarvolgens ontspring fonteine uit die kosmiese onderaardse oeroseaan om lewe en vrugbaarheid te bring aan alles wat lewe. Die beeld het daartoe aanleiding gegee dat fonteine en putte metafories vir vroulike seksualiteit en vrugbaarheid gedien het. Die waterbronne tree ook as draers van hoop op. In verhale oor die wonderbaarlike ontstaan van fonteine in die wildernis deur lewensonderhoud aan die Israetiete tydens hulle woestynomswerwinge te voorsien. Ons kan met sekerheid aanneem dat ou Israel hulle watergate as lokaliteite van integrasie, sin en orde teen die aanslae van die chaosmagte ervaar het. Deur die eeue het die mensdom nagedink oor eksistensiele kwessles soos lewe en dood, vrugbaarheid en steriliteit, die redes vir rampe en oor wat die toekoms inhou. Dit is ten diepste religieuse vrae wat die vervloe bybelskrywers vir hulle tyd en omstandighede aangespreek het deur 'n refigurasie van Palestina se waterbronne. Grondliggend aan hierdie studie as 'n herevaluering van die natuur in die Hebreeuse Bybel om menslike wesens as deel van die natuur op te stel en nie as staande bo die natuur nie. / The dissertation investigates the function of springs and wells in the religion of ancient Israel. The religion of the Hebrew Bible has traditionally been descibed as a historical religion in which Yahweh, the god of Israel, was fundamentally concerned with the salvation of Yahweh's people In history in which the world of nature is of marginal interest. However, it is evident that nature in the form of its groundwater sources played an important role, not only as life giving sources in the arid physical environment of Palestine, but also in their narrative and symbolic worlds. Springs and wells served as cultic centres and sacred places where theophanies took place, kings were crowned, lawsuits conducted, ancestral spirits conjured up and the future progeny of Israel was ensured when patriarchs betrothed their future brides at wells. By means of ancient Near Eastern iconography as an interpretation aid, this study finds the reason for the sacred value attributed to groundwater sources in the cosmology of ancient Israel which she shared with her mythically-minded and nature-worshipping neighbours. Springs were believed to arise from the cosmic subterranean ooean to bring life and fertility to all living things. This image caused springs and wells to serve as metaphor of female sexuality and fertility. They also act as agents of hope in stories of miraculous springs in the desert which provide sustenance during the Israelites' desert wanderings. We can safely conclude that ancient Israel experienced their springs and wells as localities of integration, meaning and order amidst the threatening forces of chaos. Through the ages humankind reflected on existential questions regarding life and death, fertility and sterility, the reasons for disasters and what the future holds. These are profoundly religious questions addressed by the biblical authors for their time and circumstances by implementing a refiguration of the groundwater sources of Palestine. Ultimately this study serves to re-evaluate nature in the Hebrew Bible and to construe human beings not as standing above nature, but as part of nature. / Religious Studies and Arabic / D. Litt. et Phil. (Religious Studies)