Philosophiae Doctor - PhD / Biblical interpreters have often been unwittingly anthropocentric in their reading of biblical narratives, ignoring the living and nonliving presence of physical world characteristics that underpin the narrative’s overall framework. Moreover, with a focus on men, women’s role as water fetchers has been overlooked, resulting in the text’s dual undermining of ecological and gender issues. This thesis attempts to move away from such interpretations and reread selected biblical texts about water and women using a dual-mode of inquiry, namely gender-ecocriticism. A central question within ecocritical inquiry is—how is nature represented in the narrative? Furthermore, on the subject of gender criticism— how are daughters narrativized in the text? These are the two critical questions that this thesis intends to explore. There are only five explicit narratives of ‘daughters fetching water at the well’ in the Bible. Nevertheless, these scenic activities are significant because of their historical link to the waterfetching daughters in the contemporary world. This study draws attention to the gendering of the water-fetching task by a gender analysis of the five texts. To understand why only daughters are assigned the task of water-fetching, the study draws on theories of the sexual division of labour. The first theme I discuss in this dissertation is water symbolism as found in Judeo-Christian and contemporary stories of water and its interplay with current issues of water scarcity. The focus of the second part is the water-gender intersections found in those five narratives. These themes are explored in this thesis through an exegetical analysis of the five biblical water-drawing narratives. The interpretation is based on socio-historical analysis as well as literary analysis employing narratology and biblical hermeneutical methods. This dissertation concludes that water stories demonstrate that water is more than a symbol. The current water shortage crisis in some parts of the world directs our attention to the urgency of reconfiguring water in our religious and theological imaginations. Water becomes an intrinsic feature in the reader’s mind when read from a gender-ecocritical angle. Being appreciative of each physical element in the vast expanse of the ecosystem, allows a reader’s imagination to reflect on the global negative impact and the distortion of those valuable connections we as humans have with the rest of the physical world.

Quel remède aux crises métaphysique, théologique, morale et politique de l'être de l'homme avec le Principe, lui-même et le Monde ? La théologie de la Tentation supralapsaire du récit biblique à laquelle renvoie la tentation morale infralapsaire et qui réunit dans un premier face à face le Principe, l'Homme et le Monde, postule l'identité ontologique de l'Être et de l'Un et situe l'origine de ces crises dans la perte peccamineuse de puissance de l'être à être un par l'Être. Mais l'échec de ce postulat implique la réinterprétation de la Tentation à partir de la différence hénologique de l'Un et de l'Être qui met à jour la faute originelle de la Métaphysique occidentale de dissimulation de l'impuissance de l'être à être un par l'Être et détermine dès lors une eschatologie du Salut au sens d'unification de l'être par l'Un à fin de remédier à ses crises. / How to remedy the metaphysical, theological, moral and political crises of man's being faced with the Principle, himself and the World? The theology of the supralapsarian Temptation in the biblical narrative, to which the infralapsarian moral temptation refers, postulates the ontological identity of Being and the One and places the origin of these crises in the sinful loss of power of being to be one through Being. But the failure of this assumption implies interpreting Temptation anew on the basis of the henological difference of the One and of Being, which unveils the original lapse of Western Metaphysics of concealing the powerlessness of being to be one through Being and consequently establishes an eschatology of Salvation in the sense of unifying being through the One in order to ultimately remedy its crises.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-04-29T14:27:19Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Elizangela Chaves Dias.pdf: 1073554 bytes, checksum: cc5fa205389b90020cceb6ed6e3df48d (MD5) Previous issue date: 2011-10-28 / This paper aims to present an exegetical study of a biblical narrative: the Genesis 12,10-13,1a. It follows the style of commentary. The research advances with the biblical tradition in question. In each chapter two investigations are carried out. 1) a linguistic and literary study which includes translation, morphological analysis, syntactic, stylistic and narrative; and 2) a historical-theological that serves as a research on the historical and cultural context, as well as, the theology in the text. In this sense, this research has hypothesized the question: 'Sarai as wife and sister of Abraham'. Throughout the study it is possible to visualize a growing understanding of the scope of the term 'wife and sister'. Based on the arguments found, adding reflections on historical-archaeological and biblical-theological, it seems plausible to say that Sarai is Abraham´s wife and sister not only in the denotative sense, but also in a metaphorical one. Moreover, this expression becomes a key to the interpretation as 'sister' and 'wife' that are important characters in the theological and symbolic language of the bible / A presente dissertação tem como objetivo apresentar um estudo exegético de uma narrativa bíblica: Gênesis 12,10-13,1a. Seguindo o estilo de comentário, a pesquisa avança junto à tradição bíblica em questão. Em cada capítulo, são realizadas duas investigações: 1) um estudo linguistico-literário, que compreende tradução, análises morfológico-sintática, estilística e narrativa; e 2) um estudo histórico-teológico, que se serve de pesquisas referentes ao ambiente histórico-cultural bem como à teologia presente no texto. Neste sentido, esta pesquisa tem como hipótese a questão: Sarai como esposa e irmã de Abrão . Ao longo do estudo, será possível constatar uma crescente compreensão do conteúdo da expressão esposa e irmã‟. Diante dos argumentos encontrados juntando reflexões histórico-arqueológicas e bíblico-teológicas parece ser plausível dizer que Sarai é esposa e irmã de Abrão, não somente em sentido denotativo, mas também metafórico. Mais ainda: esta expressão se torna chave de uma interpretação intertextual, pois irmã‟ e esposa‟ são figuras de peso teológicosimbólico na linguagem bíblica

Made available in DSpace on 2016-03-15T19:48:27Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Meire Dalva Figueredo dos Santos.pdf: 468858 bytes, checksum: 9cf945d43ab21b13ba20395d8a3f11d3 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2013-09-02 / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior / This research aims to study some semiotic aspects in religious discourse. Therefore we will examine the narrative structures, discursive and semantic depth in Chapter 1 of Gospel is known for his singular way in which narrates the birth, ministry, death and resurrection of Jesus with a very poetic language, enabling many readings to the student of religion and language. Written in the last decade of the fisrt century of the Christian era, the biblical narrative addresses, among other things, the question of faith in Jesus as the incarnate Word of God in a perfect expression of political, economic, social and religious decadence. In this context faith will play a key role in liberation and salvation. At the end of the prologue the author discuss this topic thoroughly. The analysis includes a reading sociossemiótica, a reflection on the interpretative and persuasive in relation to author\reader\text space and the issue of social construction of identity and ethos of Jesus and hence the author\reader. Theoretical models merge, essentially, in semiotic theory of A.J Greimas. Respecting the limits of the corpus as well as other theoretical approaches to similar propositions and their authors are presented as the need for a better understanding of the above. The examination of narrative syntax, semantics, narrative, discursive syntax and semantics discourse leads to the study of semantic deep, revealing the ideology, the world view underlying the aforementioned gospel with regard to the manifestation of the incarnate Word in an environment that does not provide the minimum conditions for survival. The author of this gospel shows how Jesus attracted Jews and Gentiles. This context reveals a world full of conflicts under the Roman Empire, Jewish religion and Greek language. in short, the programs are addressed and discursive narrative, linking, as far as possible, the conditions semantic-syntactic and discursive process of identity of Jesus from the point of view of semiotics, and its relations with the socio-cultural process as a result of certain mental processes and their extension to issues of faith\acceptance at incarnate Word, values that constitute the ideology of society prevailing in that religious context, time that fits the biblical narrative. / Esta pesquisa tem por objetivo estudar alguns aspectos semióticos no discurso religioso. Para tanto serão examinadas as estruturas narrativas, discursivas e a semântica profunda no capítulo 1 do Evangelho de João, constituindo, portanto, o corpus da pesquisa. O quarto evangelho é conhecido por sua maneira singular com que narra o nascimento, ministério, morte e ressurreição de Jesus com uma linguagem extremamente poética, possibilitando muitas leituras para o estudioso de religião e linguagem. Escrito na última década do primeiro século da era cristã, a narrativa bíblica aborda, entre outras coisas, a questão da fé em Jesus como o Verbo encarnado expressão perfeita de Deus num contexto político, econômico, social e religioso decadente. Nesse contexto a fé exercerá um papel fundamental de libertação e salvação. Do prólogo ao término o autor abordará essa temática exaustivamente. A análise contempla uma leitura sociossemiótica, uma reflexão sobre o fazer interpretativo e o fazer persuasivo na relação autor/leitor/ texto espaço social e a questão da identidade e construção do ethos de Jesus e, consequentemente, do autor/leitor. Os modelos teóricos se fundem, essencialmente, na teoria semiótica de A. J. Greimas. Respeitando-se o limite do corpus, bem como outras abordagens teóricas de semelhantes proposições e seus autores são apresentados conforme a necessidade de uma melhor compreensão do exposto. O exame da sintaxe narrativa, da semântica narrativa, da sintaxe discursiva e da semântica discursiva conduz ao estudo da semântica profunda, revelando a ideologia, a visão de mundo subjacente ao citado evangelho no que se refere à manifestação do Verbo encarnado num mundo grego e judaico, rompendo as barreiras entre esses dois mundos em um ambiente que não oferece as condições mínimas de sobrevivência. O autor desse evangelho mostra como Jesus atraiu judeus e gentios. Este contexto revela um mundo cheio de conflitos sob o império romano, religião judaica e língua grega. Em suma, são abordados os programas narrativos e discursivos, procurando relacionar, na medida do possível, as condições semântico-sintáxicas e discursivas do processo da identidade de Jesus sob o ponto de vista da semiótica, e as suas relações com o processo sociocultural, como um dos resultados de determinados processos mentais e sua extensão às questões da fé\aceitação no Verbo encarnado. Os valores que constituíam a ideologia da sociedade naquele contexto religioso vigente, época em que se insere a narrativa bíblica.

German text / Die Frage nach der Bedeutung Elias hat schon viele Ausleger beschäftigt. Von ihm wird zwar nur innerhalb des Königebuches berichtet, aber Wundertaten und Himmelfahrt machen sein Wirken außergewöhnlich. Außerdem sind seine Nachwirkungen im Alten und Neuen Testament, sowie in Judentum und Christentum bemerkenswert. Der Großteil der Elia-Forschung liegt im Bereich der historisch-kritischen Methodik. Die Ergebnisse sind dabei nicht einheitlich. Größere Abschnitte als Gesamtheit wurden bisher nur selten untersucht. In dieser Arbeit wird der Frage durch eine literarisch-exegetische Analyse des Textabschnitts 1. Könige 16,29 – 2. Könige 2,25 nachgegangen. Dabei wird deutlich, dass auf Grundlage des vorliegenden Endtextes die Bedeutung Elias in seiner Funktion als Vertreter JHWHs liegt, der für die Rückkehr Israels zum Bund mit JHWH eintritt. Es zeigt sich eine theologische Linie von Mose über Elia hin zu Jesus. Die Nachwirkungen Elias sind aber nicht allein darauf zurückzuführen. Sie hängen auch mit dem Bericht über Wundertaten und Himmelfahrt zusammen. / The question of Elijah’s significance has piqued the interest of many scholars. Although his story is reported only in Kings, the miracles he performed and his ascension to heaven make his ministry extraordinary, and the effects of his ministry in the OT, the NT, Judaism and Christianity are noteworthy. Most research of Elijah is carried out with a historical-critical methodology. The results of this research are not consistent. This work approaches the topic through a literary-exegetical analysis of 1 Kings 16,29 – 2 Kings 2,25. On the basis of this text it becomes apparent that Elijah’s significance lies in his function as YHWH’s representative who attempts to bring Israel back to her covenant with YHWH. A theological continuum from Moses through Elijah to Jesus reveals itself. The repercussions of Elijah’s ministry are traced back not only to this, but also to the report of his miracles and ascension to heaven. / Old Testament & Ancient Near Eastern Studies / M. Th. (Old Testament)

German text / Die Frage nach der Bedeutung Elias hat schon viele Ausleger beschäftigt. Von ihm wird zwar nur innerhalb des Königebuches berichtet, aber Wundertaten und Himmelfahrt machen sein Wirken außergewöhnlich. Außerdem sind seine Nachwirkungen im Alten und Neuen Testament, sowie in Judentum und Christentum bemerkenswert. Der Großteil der Elia-Forschung liegt im Bereich der historisch-kritischen Methodik. Die Ergebnisse sind dabei nicht einheitlich. Größere Abschnitte als Gesamtheit wurden bisher nur selten untersucht. In dieser Arbeit wird der Frage durch eine literarisch-exegetische Analyse des Textabschnitts 1. Könige 16,29 – 2. Könige 2,25 nachgegangen. Dabei wird deutlich, dass auf Grundlage des vorliegenden Endtextes die Bedeutung Elias in seiner Funktion als Vertreter JHWHs liegt, der für die Rückkehr Israels zum Bund mit JHWH eintritt. Es zeigt sich eine theologische Linie von Mose über Elia hin zu Jesus. Die Nachwirkungen Elias sind aber nicht allein darauf zurückzuführen. Sie hängen auch mit dem Bericht über Wundertaten und Himmelfahrt zusammen. / The question of Elijah’s significance has piqued the interest of many scholars. Although his story is reported only in Kings, the miracles he performed and his ascension to heaven make his ministry extraordinary, and the effects of his ministry in the OT, the NT, Judaism and Christianity are noteworthy. Most research of Elijah is carried out with a historical-critical methodology. The results of this research are not consistent. This work approaches the topic through a literary-exegetical analysis of 1 Kings 16,29 – 2 Kings 2,25. On the basis of this text it becomes apparent that Elijah’s significance lies in his function as YHWH’s representative who attempts to bring Israel back to her covenant with YHWH. A theological continuum from Moses through Elijah to Jesus reveals itself. The repercussions of Elijah’s ministry are traced back not only to this, but also to the report of his miracles and ascension to heaven. / Biblical and Ancient Studies / M. Th. (Old Testament)