Thesis advisor: David S. Vanderhooft / Conventional interpretations of Jonah hold that the book's purpose is to endorse the power of repentance in averting divine wrath, or to promote a greater appreciation among readers for divine mercy rather than justice, or to dispute "exclusivist" attitudes that would confine divine grace to the people of Israel/Judah. This dissertation argues, in contrast to these interpretations, that the book of Jonah should best be understood as an exploration of the problem of a perceived lack of divine justice. In light of the Jonah's composition well after the historical destruction of Nineveh, the use of Nineveh in Jonah as an object of divine mercy would have struck a discordant note among the book's earliest readers. Elsewhere in the prophetic corpus, Nineveh is known specifically and exclusively for its international crimes and its ultimate punishment at the hands of Yhwh, an historical event (612 B.C.E.) that prophets took as a sign of Yhwh's just administration of the cosmos. The use of Nineveh in Jonah, therefore, is not intended to serve as a hypothetical example of the extent of Yhwh's mercy to even the worst sinners. Rather, readers of Jonah would have known that the reprieve granted Nineveh in Jonah 3 did not constitute "the end of the story" for Nineveh. To the contrary, the extension of divine mercy to Nineveh in Jonah, which is set in the eighth century B.C.E., would have been seen as only the first of Yhwh's moves in regard to that "city of blood." The central conflict of the book resides in Jonah's doubt in the reliability of divine justice. In the aftermath of Nineveh's reprieve in Jonah 3, the prophet complains that the merciful outcome was inevitable, and had nothing to do with the Ninevites' penitence. The episode of the growth and death of the qiqayon plant in Jonah 4:6-8, and its explanation in 4:10-11 comprise Yhwh's response to Jonah's accusation. The images employed in the growth and death of the plant, and in the events that follow its demise, connote destruction in the prophetic corpus. When Yhwh explains the meaning of the qiqayon to Jonah in 4:10-11, the deity makes no mention of either penitence or mercy. Rather, having established that the qiqayon represents Nineveh, Yhwh asserts that, although he has spared Nineveh at present, he will not regret its eventual destruction in the future. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2009. / Submitted to: Boston College. Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. / Discipline: Theology.

Many African Independent Churches emerged during the colonial era in central Kenya and western Nigeria. At times they were opposed by government officials and missionaries. Most scholars have limited the field of enquiry to the flash-points of this encounter, thereby emphasizing the relationship at its most severe. This study questions current assumptions about the encounter which have derived from these studies, arguing that both government and missionary officials in Kenya and Nigeria exhibited a broader range of perspectives and responses to African Independent Churches. To characterize them as mainly hostile to African Independent Churches is inaccurate. This study also explores the various encounters between African Independent Churches and African politicians, clergymen, and local citizens. While some scholars have discussed the positive role of Africans in encouraging the growth of independent Christianity, this study will discuss the history in greater depth and complexity. The investigation will show the importance of understanding the encounter on both a local and national level, and the relationships between the two. It is taken for granted that European officials had authority over African leaders, but in regard to this topic many Africans possessed a largely unrecognized ability to influence and shape European perceptions of new religious movements. Finally, this thesis will discuss how African Independent Churches sometimes provoked negative responses from others through confrontational missionary methods, caustic rhetoric, intimidation and even violence. These three themes resurface throughout the history of the encounter and illustrate how current assumptions can be reinterpreted. This thesis suggests the necessity of expanding the primary scholarly focuses, as well as altering the language and basic assumptions of the previous histories of the encounter.

Ce travail présente une nouvelle analyse des bas-reliefs des palais néoassyriens du premier millénaire av. J.-C. Elle combine une analyse spatiale, basée sur la restitution à l’aide de l’imagerie 3D des palais d’Assurnazirpal II et Sargon II, qui permet la remise en situation des images dans l’architecture, et une analyse sémiologique.L’analyse de la structure de ces images, couplée à une étude sémantique des textes des palais qui leurs sont associés permet de montrer que les décors, ainsi que les textes, forment des portraits de rois, dont la synthèse se trouve dans la salle du trône, centre du palais et du royaume, les thèmes des images présents dans les autres salles étant concentrés dans celle-ci.Mais les portraits ainsi mis en évidence sont partagés entre un portrait de la royauté, traditionnel et stéréotypé, et le portrait du roi. Ils se situent également entre deux conceptions du temps, le premier circulaire, manifesté par les images faisant le tour des salles, ainsi que par l’inscription des Fastes chez Sargon II racontant les campagnes militaires du roi selon un découpage géographique, et un temps linéaire, manifesté par les textes des Annales.Le portrait du roi se ferait ainsi dans ce temps linéaire, et le portrait de la royauté dans le temps cyclique, les événements s’y reproduisant, sources de traditions, comme la forme des salles du trône, les thèmes utilisés et les conventions employées dans la représentation. Le portrait du roi se manifestant dans le choix de tel ou tel thème au détriment des autres, comme les scènes rituelles sous Assurnazirpal II, qui laissent la place à la chasse au lion sous Assurbanipal, concrétisant un éloignement du rituel dans les images entamé sous Sargon II. / This work presents a new analysis of low reliefs of neo-Assyrian palaces from the first millennium B.C. It combines a spatial analysis, based on 3D restitutions of Assurnazirpal II and Sargon II palaces, which permits to replace images in the architecture, and a semiological analysis.Structural analysis of images associated with a semantic study of texts present in palaces too, permits to demonstrate that the decoration and texts make portraits of kings. Throne rooms are synthesis of these portraits, as centre of the palace and kingdom, themes of images in other rooms being concentrated in this one.But these portraits are divided between a portrait of royalty, traditional and stereotyped, and the portrait of the king. They are so between two conceptions of time. One circular, shows by images going round rooms, and by the Display Inscription from the palace of Sargon II which tells of king’s military campaigns according to a geographical cutting. The other time is linear, as showed in annals of kings.The portrait of the king would take place in this linear time, and the portrait of kingship in the cyclical one, events to recur in, sources of traditions, like the throne room plans, themes used and conventions employed in representations. The portrait of the king isapparent in themes chosen among the others. So, ritual scenes with Assurnazirpal II left place to hunt scenes with Assurbanipal, who concretizes a distance with ritual images started under Sargon II.

During the last decades, the Christian population of Iraq is estimated to have decreased from about 1.5 million people to about 120,000. The historical examples of religious persecution are plenty, and in the last few years, the world again witnessed brutal violence against religious minorities, this time committed by the so-called Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS). By examining the narrative of the survivors of the persecution and violence, insight can be gained into what becomes meaningful for a person in the darkest situation of violence and threats, and how the available resources can be useful to cope with the situation in a way that makes sense of evil. Through an ethnographic approach, the inner lives of eight Christians from northern Iraq are explored in this thesis. Their personal stories demonstrate how a sense of coherence can be reached through being part of something greater than oneself; activism, nationalism, and most of all; religious faith, practice, and identity.

The archive as a site of ‘knowledge retrieval’* has long been the exemplary domain of astute historical inquiry. Following the recent ‘historic turn’* to address the politics of knowledge in the broader human and historical sciences, rather than its function as a site of ‘knowledge retrieval’*, I will reflect on the function of the archive as a site of ‘knowledge production’* in the writing of the histories of ancient Israel. Aligned within the conversations among historians and archivists and the new archival turn, the research will endeavour to offer a contribution to the debate on the topic of historical methodology of ancient Israel in the disciplines of Biblical Archaeology and History of ancient Israel. I will argue that an examination into the function of the archive as historical a priori in a study of the discourses on the Lachish reliefs in the disciplines discloses the practical and theoretical tenets that converge to construct knowledge on the Lachish reliefs and hence also knowledge on ancient Israel. The research will contend that a bounded formation of knowledge on the Lachish reliefs has evolved in the disciplines since the nineteenth century that is along the British imperial archival grain. * Terminology from Stoler, A L 2002. Colonial Archives and the Arts of Governance: On the Content in the Form, in Hamilton C, Harris, V, Taylor, J, Pickover, M, Reid, G & Saleh, R (eds) 2002. Refiguring the Archive. Cape Town: David Philip, 83-102. / Biblical and Ancient Studies / MA (Biblical Archaeology) / 1 online resource (xii, 194 leaves) ; illustrations (some color), maps

This thesis provides an overview of the engagement with the material culture of Assyria, unearthed in the Middle East from 1845 onwards by British and French archaeologists. It sets the artistic discovery of Assyria within the visual culture of the period through reference not only to painting but also to illustrated newspapers, books, journals, performances and popular entertainments. The thesis presents a more vigorous, interlinked, and widespread engagement than previous studies have indicated, primarily by providing a comprehensive corpus of artistic responses. The artistic connections between Britain and France were close. Works influenced by Assyria were published, exhibited and reviewed in the contemporary press, on both sides of the English Channel. Some artists, such as Gustave Doré, successfully maintained careers in both London and Paris. It is therefore often meaningless to speak of a wholly ‘French’ or ‘British’ reception, since these responses were coloured by artistic crosscurrents that operated in both directions, a crucial theme to be explored in this dissertation. In Britain, print culture also transported to the regions, away from large metropolitan centres, knowledge of Assyria and Assyrian-inspired art through its appeal to the market for biblical images. Assyria benefited from the explosion in graphical communication. This thesis examines the artistic response to Assyria within a chronological framework. It begins with an overview of the initial period in the 1850s that traces the first British discoveries. Chapter Two explores the different artistic turn Assyria took in the 1860s. Chapter Three deals with the French reception in the second half of the nineteenth century. Chapter Four concludes the British reception up to 1900, and Chapter Five deals with the twentieth century. The thesis contends that far from being a niche subject engaged with a particular group of artists, Assyrian art was a major rediscovery that affected all fields of visual culture in the nineteenth century.

Durant le IVe millénaire, la Mésopotamie et ses voisins ont été reliés via un vaste réseau commercial, établi par des Urukéens lors de leur expansion en Iran et dans le Nord mésopotamien. À la fin du IVe et au début du IIIe, la Mésopotamie et ses voisins ont connu une phase de crise dont les causes nous sont toujours obscures en raison de l’absence des documents écrits remontant à cette phase. A cette phase, le réseau commercial urukéen et la colonisation urukéenne en Iran et en Mésopotamie du Nord, s’étant effondrés, les sites urukéens ont été abandonnés, ainsi qu’un grand nombre de sites indigènes qui ont été abandonnés. Le contact entre le Nord et le Sud mésopotamien fut suspendu. Pourtant, d’autres sites furent fondés que ce soit en Iran ou en Mésopotamie. Bien que la culture céramique mésopotamienne ne se soit modifiée profondément à cette phase cruciale, des traditions peintres réapparaissent soudainement alors que les Mésopotamiens les avaient abandonnées depuis 9 siècles (au Post-Obeid). Trois aires à céramique peinte apparaissent en Mésopotamie : en Irak du centre, de l’Est, du Nord (horizon de Ninive 5) et l’Iran a employé massivement la peinture. Cependant, le Sumer a conservé les traditions urukéennes qui ne connaissent pas de peinture. A noter que la peinture en Iran a été employée avant et durant l’expansion urukéenne. De plus, il semble avoir existé un corridor de contact reliant le West iranien aux trois zones à peinture en Mésopotamie. Mais comment peut-on expliquer ce phénomène de la réapparition de la peinture en Mésopotamie centrale et du Nord : s’agit-il des déplacements des groupes iraniens en Mésopotamie, ou des simples influences ? On ne peut pas traiter de la question de la fin du IVe/début du IIIe millénaire sans confronter, d’une part au problème concernant le destin des Urukéens. Ces derniers ont vécu plus de 4 siècles dans la périphérie durant l’expansion. Et d’autre part on est confronté au problème de la fondation des sites urbain aux touts début du 3e millénaire (Mari, Terqa, Kharab Sayyar et Chuera).Pour répondre à ces questions, nous avons choisi des sites-clés en Iran et en Mésopotamie. Leur céramique (et d’autre matériel) est étudié tout d’abord dans leur position stratigraphique, site par site, puis selon leur répartition dans l’espace. Au même temps, cette étude strato-céramique a été combinée avec une étude portée sur les changements dans l’occupation dans l’espace (abandon et fondation) et sur les transformations culturelles, surtout en Iran du Nord-Ouest et de l’Ouest où le phénomène de l’expansion transcaucasienne s’étend jusqu’au Kermanshah et le Nord du Luristan dans le Zagros central).Basant sur des comparaisons céramiques et sur d’autres aspects archéologiques, nous avons tenté de corréler entre la stratigraphie des sites étudiés. Nous avons évité de faire d’un site ou d’une région le « centre du monde ». Nous avons plutôt regardé chaque site et région à partir de ses voisins. A la fin de chaque partie ou chapitre, nous avons relié entre les régions étudiées, du point de vue culturel, stratigraphique et occupationnel, pour tenter de tirer une conclusion historique concernant le passage entre le IVe et le IIIe millénaires.Vers 2700-2600 av. J.-C., les traditions peintes disparaissent à nouveau de la Mésopotamie, au moment où le contact a été rétabli entre les Sumériens et le Nord mésopotamien (Mari-Brak-Chuera). Concernant cette reprise de contact, nous mettons plus l’accent sur les changements observés dans la stratigraphie (sites abandonnés et/ou incendiés) pour parler d’un phénomène que nous avons appelé la « Sumérianisation ». Nous avons tenté de repérer ce phénomène par le biais de quelques inscriptions datées du Dynastique Archaïque III (vers 2600-2500 av. J.-C.). / During the 4th millennium, Mesopotamia and its neighbours were connected by a vast trade network which was established by Urukians throughout their expansion into Iran and Northern Mesopotamia. At the end of the 4th millennium and at the beginning of the 3rd, all those regions faced a phase crisis whose causes are unknown for us because of the absence of the written documents dated to this phase. At this phase, the Uruk trade network and colonization in Iran and Northern Mesopotamia were collapsed. Uruk sites have been abandoned. In addition, a large number of indigenous sites were abandoned. The contact between Northern and Southern Mesopotamian was suspended. However, other sites were founded in Iran and Mesopotamia. Although, with this crucial phase, the Mesopotamian ceramic culture did not change deeply, the painting traditions reappeared suddenly whereas the Mesopotamian had abandoned them since 9 centuries c. (in Post-Obaid).Three zones with painted ceramics appear in Mesopotamia: centre of Iraq, Eastern Iraq, North Iraq and North-Eastern Syria. Also, Iran employed massively the painting. However, the land of Sumer conserved the Uruk traditions which aren’t painted. Worthily to be noted that the painting traditions existed in Iran before and even during the Uruk expansion. Moreover, a corridor of contact seems to have existed linking Western Iran to those three zones. But, how can one explain this reappearance phenomenon of this painting in the centre and North Mesopotamia: is-it because of the displacements of the Iranian groups into Mesopotamia or is it a simple influence? Likewise, one cannot treat the question of the end of the 4th millennium without being confronted with the problem of the destiny of the Urukians colonists. Those latter lived in the periphery more than 4 centuries during the expansion. On the other hand, one is confronted with the problem of the foundation of urban-cities with the all beginning of the 3rd millennium (Mari, Terqa, Kharab Sayyar and Chuera). To answer these questions, we chose site-keys in Iran and Mesopotamia. First of all, we studied, site by site, their ceramic (and others materials) according to their stratigraphical position (strato-ceramic), and then based on their distribution in the landscape. At the same time, those strato-ceramics analyses have been combined with another study concerning changes in the occupation of landscape (abandonment and foundation), and the cultural transformations, especially for the North-Western and Western Iran where the transcaucasian expansion extends to Kermanshah and Northern Luristan in central Zagros.Based on ceramic comparisons and on other archaeological aspects, we attempted to correlate between the stratigraphy of the studied sites. We avoided making of a site or of a region the “Center of the World”. We rather looked at each site and region starting from its neighbours. At the end of each part or chapter, we linked between the studied regions, from the cultural point of view, stratigraphic and occupational, in order to try to draw a historic conclusion concerning the passage between the 4th and the 3rd millennium.Towards 2700-2600 B.C., the painting traditions disappeared once again from Mesopotamia, at the time when the contact was restored between the Sumerians and Northern Mesopotamian (Mari-Brak-Chuera). For this resumption of contact, we set the accent more on the changes observed in the stratigraphy (abandoned sites or burned) to speak about a phenomenon which we called “the Sumerianisation”. Moreover, we tried to identify this phenomenon by the means of some inscriptions dated to the Dynastic archaic III (towards 2600-2500 B. C.).