Thesis (M.A.)--West Virginia University, 2005. / Title from document title page. Document formatted into pages; contains vi, 52 p. Includes abstract. Includes bibliographical references (p. 50-52).

Habilitationsschrift--Heidelberg. / Bibliography: p. 148-155.

Thesis (M.A.)--Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, South Hamilton, MA 2003. / Abstract and vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 69-73).

Thesis (M.A.)--Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, South Hamilton, MA 2003. / Abstract and vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 69-73).

Thesis (M.A.)--Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, South Hamilton, MA 2003. / Abstract and vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 69-73).

The role of emotion with regard to human functioning and human well-being has been a topic of much consideration and debate throughout the ages. In both secular and Christian fields of study (e.g. philosophy, theology, biology, psychology, and psychotherapy) people have examined emotional experience from different vantage points. Since the second half of the 20th century renewed interest in the importance of affect in human life is especially notable in disciplines such as neuroscience, psychology, and psychotherapy. This is reflected, for example, in the development of a secular psychotherapeutic model that understands experiential engagement to be a crucial key to psychological change, namely Emotion-Focused Therapy (EFT). There is no distinctive Christian counseling model that has as its main paradigm emotion experience. Yet, several Christian models exists in which experiencing emotions is considered to be important in the process of change. The thesis of this work is that the theologically and psychologically sophisticated Christian emotion-focused model of therapy suggested in this dissertation will correct and enhance existent Christian and secular emotion-focused models. Chapter 1 covers the thesis of the dissertation, reasons why the dissertation makes a helpful contribution to the field, background information, methodology, and delimitations. Chapter 2 presents theological reflections on the topic of emotion, especially as it pertains to topics such as the nature of emotions, emotional health and disorder, and emotional healing. Chapter 3 consists of an examination of secular Emotion-Focused Therapy. This chapter will discuss this model and assess what aspects can or cannot be used by a Christian Emotion-Focused approach. In chapter 4 three contemporary Christian models that use emotion experience in their counseling approach are described and evaluated. These are Theophostic Prayer Ministry developed by Smith, Inner Healing Prayer as defined by Tan, and the Elijah House model of the Sandfords. The purpose of this dissertation is to contribute to the field of Christian psychology by proposing the necessary elements of a comprehensive Christian Emotion-Focused model that is a corrective to existent models. Based on the research of the previous chapters, a preliminary outline of such a model is presented in chapter 5.

Proefschrift--Pretoria. / Bibliography: p. [142]-145.

The dissertations offers an analysis of Takkanot Kandiyah, a corpus of communal statutes from the Jewish community in Candia, the capital of Venetian Crete. These texts were written between 1228 and 1583 and collected as a coherent work by the Cretan Jewish historian Elijah Capsali. The collection has been used by scholars as a source regarding the social and economic history of Jewish Candia, but so far, not much attention has been paid to Takkanot Kandiyah as a specific work of Jewish legal literature, providing a unique opportunity to study the development of leadership of a semi-autonomous Jewish community. The dissertation is divided into an introduction, two parts and a conclusion. In the introduction (chapter one), I outline the structure of Takkanot Kandiyah, summarise its historical background and comment on the current state of research on the Jewry in Venetian Crete. Part One (chapters two-six) then provides a detailed overview of Takkanot Kandiyah and set it into its religious, historical, literary, and legal context. In Part Two (chapters seven-ten), I examine the various areas of life touched upon by the statutes and categorise the ordinances depending on the topics covered, pointing out the collection’s concern with both halakhic and (broadly speaking) extra-halakhic matters. The main argument of the dissertation is that Takkanot Kandiyah proves the gradual development of a specific political system in which the Jewish public affairs were managed largely by the group of lay leaders. Many of them were wealthy members of long-established local families whose authority was not sanctioned by their religious education or rabbinic ordination, but by popular consent and the readiness of the Venetian government to respect them as leaders of their coreligionists. The collection also reflects the ways in which the Jewish leadership dealt with the challenges of inner diversity arising from continuing arrivals of Jewish immigrants from various parts of the Mediterranean. Showing a strong tendency towards continuity, yet also an ability to accommodate to the need of the day, Takkanot Kandiyah is a major testimony to the legal history of Cretan Jewry and to the development of leadership and communal autonomy in a pre-modern Jewish community.

Ring composition is a literary form found throughout the ancient world. In it, a series of elements advances, one after the other, until it reaches a center point, whereupon the sequence is reversed and returns to its beginning in inverted order. Hence, the first element is paired with the last, the second with the second to the last, and so on, with the second half of the ring a mirror image of the first half. Although ring compositions occur throughout the ancient world, the practice of writing in rings fell out of literary fashion and faded from collective memory. Later readers, unfamiliar with its conventions, found ring compositions difficult to recognize, leading to misinterpretations of numerous ancient texts. Such confusion is evident with the Elijah-Elisha cycle of stories in 1 Kgs 16:23--2 Kgs 13:25. Biblical scholars have routinely maligned these stories as a nonsensical jumble of prophetic tales. This dissertation demonstrates that the stories are not disorganized. Rather, they have been redacted in the formal structure of a ring composition with six rungs. The dissertation follows the lead of the late Mary Douglas, who brought new insights to bear on the problems inherent in identifying and interpreting ancient ring compositions--most critically, in helping to establish what constitutes a parallel correspondence. When we recognize the chiastic structure of the Elijah-Elisha cycle of stories, we discover a carefully crafted work of propaganda that promotes the religious, political, and social reforms of King Josiah of Judah (7th century BCE). These tales had their origins in the traditions of northern Israel, but they were later appropriated and recontextualized by a Judean redactor. Retold, transformed, and arranged in the form of a ring composition, the stories of Elijah and Elisha were employed to build northern support for a neo-Davidic kingdom ruled from Jerusalem. Championing the rallying cry of holy war, Josiah and his party sought to reunite the divided kingdom by capitalizing on the misfortunes of the Assyrian Empire. Under the leadership of Josiah, the chariots and horses of fire--the heavenly army of YHWH--would once again battle for Israel.

The Hebrew Bible is the product of scribes. Whether copying, editing, conflating, adapting, or authoring, these ancient professionals were responsible for the various text designs, constructions and text-types that we have today. This thesis seeks to investigate the many practices employed by ancient scribes in literary production, or, more aptly, scribal composition. An investigation of scribal composition must incorporate inquiry into both synchronic and diachronic aspects of a text; a synchronic viewpoint can clarify diachronic features of the text and a diachronic viewpoint can clarify synchronic features of the text. To understand the text as the product of scribal composition requires recognition that the ancient scribe had a communicative goal when he engaged in the different forms of scribal composition (e.g. authoring, redacting, etc.). This communicative goal was reached through the scribal composer's implementation of various literary techniques. By tracing the reception of a text, it is possible to demonstrate when a scribal composer successfully reached his communicative goal. Using Malachi as a test-case, three autonomous yet complementary chapters will illustrate how investigating the text as the product of scribal composition can yield new and important insights. Chapter 2: Mal 2.10-16 focuses on a particularly difficult portion of Malachi (2.10-16), noting patterns amongst the texts reused in the pericope. These patterns give information about the ancient scribe's view of scripture and about his communicative goal. Chapter 3: Wordplay surveys Malachi for different types of the wordplay. The chapter demonstrates how a poetic feature such as wordplay, generally treated as a synchronic element, can also have diachronic implications. Chapter 4: Phinehas, he is Elijah investigates the reception of Malachi as a finished text. By tracing backwards a tradition found throughout later Jewish literature, it is evident that the literary techniques employed by the composer made his text successfully communicative.