The Göttingen Virtual Manuscript Room (VMR); The Göttingen Virtual Manuscript Room (VMR) offers both an online based digital repository for Coptic Biblical manuscripts (ideally, high resolution images of every manuscript page, all metadata etc.) and a digital edition of their texts, finally even a critical edition of every biblical book of the Coptic Old Testament based on all available manuscripts. All text data will also be transferred into XML and linguistically annotated. In this way the VMR offers a full physical description of each manuscript and, at the same time, a full edition of its text and language data. Of course, the VMR can be used for manuscripts and texts other than Coptic too.

This dissertation thematically belongs to the field of "History of Science and Scholarly Knowledge" with significant reach to theology and exegesis. It concerns the dispute of whether the annunciated text of the Old Testament was in all respects original or if it in some respects followed the traditions of ancient Near Eastern civilizations, particularly the Sumero-Akkadian one. The purpose of this thesis is to introduce the fundamental information on the "Babel-Bibel" dispute to the Czech scholarly community for the very first time. The dissertation includes an analysis of the course and consequences of the dispute as well as a discussion of the impact of Oriental scholarship on Old Testament exegesis.

This thesis focuses on intricate and complex phenomenon of guilt. It does it by comparing two different approaches: approach of prophetic literature and social crisis literature. Both approaches are taught on Protestant Theological Faculty in Charles University of Prague but each of them is based on different presupposition. The first is theological, based on ancient thought of Israeli spiritual authorities, the second is modern, based on social work and it cooperates with psychology, sociology, anthropology but also theology and philosophy. Aim of this thesis is to enter the problematics and professional discussion about guilt through these two different approaches on the one hand and to compare and evaluate them on the other hand.

Please read the abstract in the section 04back of this document / Dissertation (MA (Biblical and Religious Studies))--University of Pretoria, 2002. / Ancient Languages / unrestricted

The Diploma thesis Angels in the Bible. The role of angels in biblical texts tries to describe the role of angels in the Bible based on the contexts containing the term angel. Then it analyzes and briefly characterizes individual texts of the Old and New Testament in which the term angel occures. With the help of this analysis it is possible to observe what role did the angels serve: they announced the birth of a son, God's election, God's commands, they become the life savers, leaders and protectors of the Israel nation and executors of God's punishment. An angel - interpreter acts in the apocalyptic texts. In the New Testament, angels also announce the birth of Jesus and John the Baptist, announce the God's will to people, they announce the resurrection and protect the church similarly to Israel. The most angels figure in the Book of Revelation and they play all roles known from apocalyptic literature: angel - interpreter, angel - guardian, as well as angels who participate on the heavenly council and effect the judgement according to the God's commands.

The thesis discusses the life and work of the leading Czech biblicist, the orientalists and the pedagogue of the Czech Theological Faculty of Charles-Ferdinand University in Prague, Jaroslav Sedláček (1860-1925). The thesis is divided into two main parts. The first part is contained in Chapter 1 and presents a critical biography of Jaroslav Sedláček in five time segments: 1.1. Childhood and Studies (1860-1889), 1.2. Work in the Spiritual Administration (1881-1925), 1.3. Pedagogical Activity at the Czech Theological Faculty (1891-1924), 1.4. Travels Abroad and Foreign Conferences (1888-1904), 1.5. Final Stages of Life (1924- 1925). The second part is contained in Chapter 2 entitled The Work of Jaroslav Sedláček which is divided into two subchapters: 2.1. introduces Sedláček's bibliography as a whole and 2.2. divides Sedláček's work by thematic perspective in chronological order. The final part contains the list of Sedláček's bibliography. The thesis tries to present a basis for valorization of the work and to evaluate its contribution to the Czech Old Testament biblical theology.

With the rising popularity of Mary's mother, St. Anne, Birth of the Virgin images proliferated at the beginning of the sixteenth century. However, these images have not been analyzed in great depth by any previous art historical scholarship. This thesis indicates the broader significance of these images by considering Birth of the Virgin compositions by Jan de Beer, Jacob Cornelisz van Oostsanen, and Adriaen van Overbeke. First, this thesis considers how these artists derived iconography from Robert Campin to connect Mary's nativity to the birth of her son. Thus, the artists invite the viewer to witness the significance and purity of both babies. Next, I argue that the sacrificial imagery of these panels cultivates a sacerdotal space, in which midwives become pseudo-priests and everyday objects are conflated with ritual material culture. These panels, which draw upon Old and New Testament covenants, present Mary as co-sacrifice, indicating a sixteenth-century expansion of the Virgin's co-redemptive role alongside Christ. The paintings emphasize the beginnings of the Virgin's life to explore the life-giving quality of mankind's redemption. Finally, I explore the viewership possibilities of these paintings for a lay audience, who could interpret their own experiences with birth through these images. Many of the objects in the artworks bear similarities not only to priestly objects but also to the material culture associated with birth. Overall, this thesis demonstrates the important role that Birth of the Virgin images played in interpreting the role of the Virgin Mary and her mother Anne in increasingly affective piety. The subject matter was a way to explore the doctrinal implications of Mary's sacrificial, life-giving power even as it invited viewers to frame their own day-to-day experiences with childbirth in more religious terms.

Since the advent of the Dead Sea Scrolls, four biblical textual scholars have emerged at the forefront of the dialogue concerning textual evolution. They are: Frank Moore Cross, Emanuel Tov, Shemaryahu Talmon and Eugene Ulrich. Though there is some overlap in their hypotheses, each scholar has put forth a framework of biblical textual development in light of these new discoveries.If a new biblical text were discovered today, how would each scholar approach it? This thesis evaluates each scholars' views and concludes that Emanuel Tov's criteria for judging a newly discovered text is the most thorough and explanatory. Tov's views provide for texts that appear to have evolved away from other known biblical texts. His descriptive categories for discovered texts recognize the possibility that a discovered text could be unaligned with any text known thus far to the scholarly world. He terms this category "non- aligned." The other scholars do not provide for such a category. They assume that all texts are closely related in "families," or "literary editions" and that all texts evolved in relative close proximity to one other with either occasional or frequent contact.Book of Mormon Isaiah was removed from the biblical textual evolutionary process that was talking place in Palestine ca. 600 B.C. Where does it fit into this process as put forth by scholars? Is it a text closely related to any of the families described by these four scholars? This thesis evaluates the textual variants between Book of Mormon Isaiah and Isaiah in the Septuagint, the Masoretic Text, and Qumran's Isaiah scrolls. Of the 433 verses of Isaiah in the Book of Mormon, 216 (50%) contain 370 variants. 119 of these are related to italicized words in the King James Version. 76 variants appear to agree with the Septuagint, 28 agree with Isaiah at Qumran, 52 are supported by the Masoretic Text, and 150 variants are non-aligned. These facts are accurately predicted and explained by Emanuel Tov's theories. Of the four, he is the only scholar that conceives of the idea of a text not closely aligned with any other extant text. Book of Mormon Isaiah contains approximately 1/3 of the chapters in the Masoretic text. Using Tov's theories, when 433 verses contain 370 variants, this fits the criteria of an "independent" or "non-aligned text." Book of Mormon Isaiah is a proof text for his theories.

No description available.

The theory and method I use in this essay is literary and feministic text critique, to discover the story of Genesis 16 anew. Earlier research in this field has studied Genesis within traditional exegesis since the 19th century and within feministic exegesis since the 1960s. This essay has three main parts. First, a theoretical description of my assignment, followed by analysis and summaries of these. Second, a discussion of this work and final conclusions. In my study, the analysis sheds light on the literary character of Hagar in several ways, both in traditional and feministic exegesis. The traditional biblical study has given a solid ground in the reading of Genesis 16 and the feministic exegesis has given a clear perspective on Hagar as a woman in a patriarchal environment and interpretative tradition. Together they have given a rich telling on the literary character of Hagar. In this essay I make a study of Genesis 16, with a focus on the literary character of Hagar. My point of departure is a sense of lacking the experience of Hagar in the book of Genesis, wondering if a feminist exegesis could give something new in this research. In order to discover eventual differences, I perform a traditional exegesis of Genesis 16, and then compare it with a feminist exegesis. Another question in my research is that of interreligious perspectives of today's society. From this point of view Hagar is a relevant character for both Muslims, Jews and Christians. / I den här uppsatsen gör jag en bibelvetenskaplig analys av Genesis 16, med fokus på den litterära karaktären Hagar ur ett feministiskt perspektiv. Min utgångspunkt var att jag saknade fokus på Hagars erfarenheter i Genesis och undrade om en feministisk exegetik kunde tillföra något nytt i forskningen. För att se på eventuella skillnader utförde jag en traditionell texttolkning av Genesis 16, för att sedan göra en jämförande feministisk texttolkning. En underfråga i min forskning är om den feministiska analysen har något att tillföra interreligiösa frågor idag. Detta utifrån att Hagar är en relevant karaktär för både muslimer, judar och kristna. Den teori och metod jag använder här är litterär och feministisk textkritik, för att upptäcka Genesis 16 på nytt genom dessa analyser av den. Tidigare forskning på området har studerat Genesis inom traditionell exegetik sedan 1800-talet och inom modern feministisk exegetik sedan 1960-talet. Uppsatsen disposition har i huvudsak tre delar. Först ges en inledande teoretisk del där jag förklarar vad jag ska göra och hur, därefter analyser med synteser med efterföljande diskussion av de slutsatser jag kommit fram till. I min studie har analyserna belyst Hagars litterära karaktär på en mängd sätt. Detta gäller både den traditionella och den feministiska exegetiken. Den traditionella bibelvetenskapen har gett en solid grund i analysen av Genesis 16 och den feministiska exegetiken har byggt på denna med emfas på Hagar som kvinna i en patriarkal miljö och tolkningstradition. Tillsammans har en rik berättelse om Hagar framträtt. Hennes karaktär ges mycket utrymme i en närläsning av Genesis 16, likväl som Sarajs. Föräldrar och förfäder är i centrum, inte enbart patriarkerna. Välsignelser och lidande är en del av både männens och kvinnornas liv. Gud hör och ser det som människor upplever och öknen är en plats där människor kan få en erfarenhet av denna relation. / <p>Interreligiösa frågor tas inte upp som kan förväntas av rubriken samt enligt underfråga till frågeställning. Eventuellt skulle mer litteratur ha bidragit till undersökningen.</p>