<p>This thesis examines the nature and theological function of God’s revelation of knowledge in five texts discovered at Qumran: <em>Instruction</em>, the <em>Treatise on the Two Spirits</em>, the <em>Hodayot</em>, the <em>Songs of the Sabbath Sacrifice</em>, and the <em>Songs of the Sage</em>. Chapter 1 is a historical survey of the different ways scholars have understood and classified God’s revelation of knowledge in the Scrolls. Scholars have often interpreted these texts in isolation from one another, and they have disagreed about whether the concept of divine revelation expressed in them is derived from the sapiential, prophetic, or apocalyptic traditions. I propose that all five of these texts should be interpreted together and that they all drew upon a single distinct revelatory tradition.</p> <p>In chapters 2–6, I examine each of the texts mentioned above by asking three questions: What did God reveal? How did he reveal it? What is the theological function of God’s revelation? In asking the last question, I am particularly interested in the role that God’s revelation of knowledge plays in the anthropological and soteriological worldview of the authors. Over the course of chapters 2–6, I argue that all five of these texts represent essentially the same revelatory tradition. In this tradition, God has revealed the mysteries of his cosmic design and the statutes of his covenant with creation to certain righteous people. God’s act of revelation takes place either through a visionary experience or an indwelling spirit that imparts knowledge. This knowledge of God’s cosmic design has the power to rectify the corrupt human condition which, in turn, allows those who have knowledge to enter into paradise where they can commune with the angels. Through God’s revelation of knowledge, the righteous can obtain the glorious state that Adam once possessed in the Garden of Eden.</p> <p>In chapter 7, I conclude the thesis by summarizing the principle features of the revelatory tradition contained in these five texts. I argue that this tradition did not flow directly from any of the standard tradition streams of which scholars typically speak (sapiential, prophetic, or apocalyptic), although, it does contain elements from all of these. Instead, these texts utilize a revelatory tradition that originated from within the Jerusalem temple establishment. This temple tradition equated the inner sanctuary of the temple with the Garden of Eden and the high priest with Adam. Within the holy of holies one could access God’s throne and receive the knowledge of his cosmic design. This tradition was eventually brought out of the temple and into religious communities which came to see themselves as the true paradisiacal temple. These communities believed that God continued to reveal his cosmic design in and through them allowing the community members to become like Adam and join together with the angels in communal worship of God.</p> / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

<p>This study presents an investigation into and reassessment of the theological frameworks within which traditions of anthropogony, or the origin of humankind, are best comprehended in the Qumran Hodayot and the letters of Paul. The dominant framework in which such traditions are usually comprehended is that of the creation, fall, and restoration of humankind. The argument put forward is that this framework does not adequately account for the manner that both the Hodayot and the apostle Paul severely problematize created human nature and anticipate a transformation of human ontology as determined by its initial creation by God.</p> <p>The study of anthropogonic traditions in the Hodayot demonstrates that the creation of Adam from dust presents an obstacle to the fulfillment of “all the glory of Adam/<em>adam.</em>” Through a deconstruction of the <em>adam</em>-of-dust motif that is inspired by the book of Job and assisted by the equation of creation from the earth and gestation in the womb, the Hodayot severely problematize the moral integrity and innate impurity of the human condition as represented by the creation of Adam. In this way, the creation of humankind from Gen 2:6-7 is put into tension with the accounts of creation in Gen 1:26-29 and Psalm 8, which stand behind exalted depictions of humankind in the Hodayot. This is shown to be an adaptation of the theodicy contained in the Treatise on the Two Spirits.</p> <p>The study of anthropogonic traditions in the apostle Paul is undertaken in two parts. In the first, which deals with letters outside Romans, Paul is found to be preoccupied largely with the category of the “image of God.” It is argued that Paul assumes the continuing operation of Adam’s creation in the “image of God” in his descendants and that conformation to the heavenly image of Christ is, therefore, modeled not on fall-restoration but the duality of heaven and earth, reflected in the creation of humankind after a heavenly prototype.</p> <p>In the second part, which deals with Romans, Paul is found to be preoccupied with Adam’s relationship to creation and his proven inability to carry forward God’s ordering work of creation, a perspective Paul introduced in 1 Cor 15:20-28. Here it is argued that the framework that comprehends Adam’s initial state is not that of a supernatural condition of grace or glory, but of initial innocence and immaturity and yet also innate corruptibility, not only materially but morally. Consequently, it is only in assimilation to the heavenly image of Christ that “Adam” can exercise dominion over creation.</p> / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

This thesis examines the use and function of a specific group of Psalms, the so-called “Royal Psalms,” among the texts of the Qumran library. From the time of their integration into the worship practices of the Israelite people in the obscure past to the Second Temple period and beyond, these Psalms continued to be a source of inspiration to the Jewish people. Though there have been many studies that have analyzed their Sitz im Leben, use, interpretation, and application for many different periods, no study has attempted a thorough analysis of their use among the Qumran documents. Analyses of the use in the Qumran texts of certain individual Royal Psalms exist, but these do not attempt to cover the Royal Psalms as a corpus. The present thesis will analyze the appearance in the Qumran library of the eleven generally-accepted Royal Psalms: Pss 2, 18, 20, 21, 45, 72, 89, 101, 110, 132, and 144. This study explores whether or not these Psalms are to be found in the known Qumran Psalms scrolls, variations or differences as compared to the Masoretic Text, how they are were interpreted in exegetical and other texts, quotations of and allusions to them, and how themes from the Royal Psalms contribute to the structure and theology of non-canonical royal psalms found at Qumran. An understanding of the use of the biblical Royal Psalms in these texts is of value for our comprehension of what happened to the pre-exilic royal traditions as these hymns continued to be used in a post-monarchic society. This dissertation makes an original contribution toward these goals, establishing that there was an interest on the part of the authors of many of the Qumran texts in royal themes although they lived long after the monarchy had ended.

Denna studie ämnar undersöka bilden av den starka kvinnan som finns i spelet The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, stämmer överens med hur nuvarande forskning ser på förekomsten av den starka kvinnan i fornnordisk tid och mytologi. När det gäller avgränsningar valde vi att i spelet enbart studera kvinnor av rasen Nord. Metoden som applicerades var kvalitativ innehållsanalys som användes av Philipp Mayring, som kombinerades med en förenklad variant av grundad teori, baserad på Barney Glasers version. Material som användes var litteratur om fornnordiska samhällen och fornnordisk mytologi, samt som huvudsakligt studieobjekt, The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim. I resultatet redogörs för utvalda gudinnor inom fornnordisk mytologi, hur kvinnors liv såg ut på fornnordisk tid och hur kvinnor framställs i spelet Skyrim. I analysen och diskussionen jämförs dessa och slutsatsen är att den starka kvinnan fanns i både fornnordiska samhällen och spelet men att de representerades i viss mån på olika vis. Dessa var exempelvis att kvinnan i spelet kunde ha titeln som jarl, vilket skiljde sig mot verkligheten enligt vår undersökning, jämfört med de likheter vi kunnat påvisa, där till exempel prästinna var ett ämbete för kvinnor i både spelet och under fornnordisk tid.

This thesis draws on Michel Foucault's late work on the practices of the self to ask whether the ascetic practices and patterns of action suggested by contemporary computer games, which afford players the opportunities to pursue their own self-set goals, further what might be called a 'wandering' away from ourselves, a 'transformation' or 'transfiguration' of what we are. If self-formation is now a terrain on which power and resistance plays out, it is critical to be able to identify pernicious practices that may bind us to the individualising techniques of power, as opposed to transformative ones that enable us to refuse who we are in the move towards freedom. Broaching this question leads to considerations of the implicit ethical foundations presupposed by Foucault's anti-normative ethico-aesthetics, and the limitations of its appeal to a coherence or style seemingly without rules. These considerations have implications for the way in which we understand the practices of self-constitution in computer games. I question whether there is an isomorphism between the way in which power - understood through Foucault's concept of 'governmentality' - works in the present, and the way in which computer games set the conditions under which player practices take place. We are prompted by both to develop a non-coercive relation to a 'truth' through an impetus that originates from us. Computer games are about our identification with processes, which are strengthened by the feedback loops in the game and by the mode of being we elect to adopt as a hexis. Such a structure, however, is insufficiently rigid for computer games to produce discrete subjectivities, and analyses of them must be sensitive as to whether there are any systematic concatenation of player responses. To this end, I suggest a framework, based on Foucault's orthogonal understanding of power-subject, for uncovering the 'rationalities' within games, which are the conditions under which players' practices of the self take place, and which give rise to certain practices of self-constitution over others. It depends on our being able to find or infer player typologies, which are then analysed for their similar patterns of action. This framework is applied to a case study: levelling-up in The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion. On the basis of six typologies, a prominent structure of calculative anticipation and deferral emerges, as well as the existence of what is called a super-instrumental approach. In order to disambiguate these findings with respect to their transformative potential, I turn to the transcendental signifiers in Foucault's work and consider the practices of the self as seeking a balance between reason and sense - they are revisited through the lens of Schiller's play drive. This concretises the argument that if the practices of the self are thought capable of moving us towards freedom, we must assume the existence of non-cognitive faculties within us that, when engaged, enable us to be able to distinguish between positive and pernicious self-formation. Given that these judgments cannot be cognitively communicated, we ought to refrain from prescriptivism, yet do have recourse to standards. However, our efforts to cognitively understand this aesthetic interplay between reason and sense are certainly not without importance.

The purpose of this essay is an attempt to create a “first basis” of reliability for religious content in computes games, and its value in academic studies. While not researching it in depth, this essay will also give a suggestion of computer games’ potential as a didactic medium. A quantitative comparative analysis has been performed, to present several common religious themes and their occurrence in the computer game respectively. While researching the game, an abundance of religious themes have been found, documented and presented. Through this, it is concluded that computer games not only have the capability of presenting religious themes; they are found to be capable mediums of presentation. The content itself is of high varsity and of great interest to any religious scholar.

AFRIKAANS: In die laat tagtigs en vroeë negentigs van hierdie eeu is die res van die Oumran-geskrifte wat ontdek is, openbaar gemaak. Met die gebeurtenis het talle moontlikhede vir die wetenskaplike bestudering van 'n groot aantal dokumente ontstaan. 4Qlnstruction is een van die dokumente wat beskikbaar geraak het, en is geklassifiseer as 'n wysheidsteks wat 'n legio moontlikhede vir wetenskaplike bestudering moontlik gemaak het. As gevolg van die fragmentariese aard van die teks bestaan daar nog geen vasgestelde teks vir die geskrif nie en is daar nog nie 'n volledige vertaling nie. Hierdie twee faktore asook die feit dat die fragmente tematiese ooreenstemming (maar ook verskille) toon met ander wysheidsgeskrifte, het as motivering vir hierdie studie gedien. In hierdie studie gee ek 'n eie komposisie van die teks asook 'n vertaling van die geselekteerde fragmente (4Q417 2i-ii en 4Q416 2ii-iv ) van 4Qlnstruction weer. Deur middel van intertekstualiteit word die fragmente vergelyk met ander wysheidsgeskrifte (Ben Sira, ander Qumran-geskrifte en Spreuke) uit die Israelitiese geledere, Bepaalde wysheidstemas is in die fragmente geïdentifiseer, waarna dit met ooreenstemmende temas in die ander geselekteerde geskrifte vergelyk is, Die intertekstuele studie behels 'n bestudering van die geskrewe teks sowel as die gebeurde teks, Die onderskeie geskrifte se tekste sowel as kontekste is met ander woorde met mekaar vergelyk, in 'n poging om die rede(s) vir die ooreenstemmende asook verskillende opvattings oor soortgelyke temas binne die Israelitiese 'biblioteek' te verklaar. Na aanleiding van die intertekstuele studie wi! dit voorkom asof die ooreenstemminge voor die deur van die 'bronteks' (oorspronklike teks) gelê kan word, terwyl die verskille meer verstaanbaar is in die Iig van die onderskeie geskrifte se omstandighede (konteks/ sosiaie teks). ENGLISH: In the late eighties and the early nineties of this century most of the Oumran texts which were discovered were made public. Along with this, many opportunities arose for scholars to study the many documents contained therein. 4Qlnstruction is one of the documents which became available and as a result thereof, a wide range of opportunities opened up to scholars. Due to the fragmentary nature of the text, there is as yet no formal text of the document available. The motivation for this study arises from the above mentioned factors along with the fact that the fragments have both similarities and differences within certain themes. In this study I am presenting my own reconstruction and translation of selected 4Qlnstruction fragments (4Q417 2i-ii and 4Q416 2ii-iv). By using intertextual study, the fragments are compared with other wisdom texts (Ben Sira, other Qumran texts and Proverbs) from the Israelite 'library'. Certain wisdom themes are identified in the fragments and compared with similar themes in the other selected texts. The Intertextual study involves a study of the written text(s) as well as of the actual events (social text). Hence, the text(s) and context(s) of the selected works are compared with each other in an attempt to explain the reasons for the similarities as well as the varying opinions within the similar wisdom themes contained in the Israelite 'library'. In the Intertextual approach, it appears as if the similarities can be attributed to the original Israelite theology or ideology, while the differences are due to the varying situations (context/ social text). / Dissertation (MA (Semitic Languages))--University of Pretoria, 2007. / Ancient Languages / unrestricted

This thesis is an analysis of the use of combined concepts of covenant and priesthood in some late Second Temple period Jewish and Jewish-Christian texts. In this thesis I investigate 1 and 2 Maccabees, Dead Sea Scrolls, and Hebrews, to see the various ways in which these Second Temple compositions have articulated the combined concepts of covenant and priesthood on the basis of their treatment of various biblical and extra-biblical traditions. The elaborate articulations of the combined concepts of covenant and priesthood in these texts partly reflect the concern of the Second Temple Jewish authors: how significant the priestly institutions and priesthood were, not only in terms of cultic matters, but also in terms of political and identity concerns. By means of this study, I hope to demonstrate that the combined concept of covenant and priesthood is necessary for a better understanding of some Second Temple texts.

This thesis explores the politics of representing the assemblage of ancient manuscripts known as the Dead Sea Scrolls to popular audiences in Israel, the occupied West Bank, and the United States. I demonstrate that these objects of national heritage are circulated along transnational routes to maintain the legitimacy of nationalist discourse abroad. Three sites—the Shrine of the Book at the Israel Museum in Jerusalem, Qumran National Park in the West Bank, and a travelling exhibit presented at the Boston Museum of Science—are examined for textual narrative, spatial arrangement, and visitor behavior. Analysis of these observations illuminates two recurring motifs common to all three sites: the restoration of an ancient ethno-national landscape (“land of Israel”) in the contemporary landscape of Palestine/Israel and the important legacy of ancient Jewish society in contemporary Israel and “the West.” These motifs and the way they are presented through a framing of cultural heritage can be associated with a larger nationalist discourse maintained by Israeli state authorities and mainstream media that perpetuates a linking of western liberal and Zionist ideologies. I contend that the transnational circulation of this nationalist heritage narrative works to legitimize—at a global scale—an ongoing Israeli program of occupation and settlement in Palestinian territory subsumed under the biblical/Zionist frame of the “land of Israel.” While making preliminary suggestions toward critical interventions, I also suggest that the analysis of transnational encounters with nationalist heritage merits deeper ethnographic investigation towards understanding its impact on individuals’ political (in)action towards the Israel/Palestine conflict.

This essay will try to examine the breakthrough of symphonic game music by following my hypothesis of the actual breakthrough in late 90s through early 2000s. The method of the essay is a hermeneutic approach which will find different interpretations that in the later part of the essay will lead to an analysis and discussion. This approach is a way for later scholars to examine the subject further. A central part of the essay is to define the term symphonic game music which never before in broader terms have been defined, though the terms dynamic music and orchestral music has been used by scholars such as Collins. Central figures i write about are Nobuo Uematsu and Winifred Phillips, whose contributions to the field of game music are extraordinary, and they also bring forth their own theories. I write more about theories, among others Karen Collins and Koji Kondo, to broaden the discussions. The delimitations in this essay are very important to narrow the types of games studied, and they are for the most part video games and computer games. In the actual examination i refer to among others the scholars Donnelly, Phillips and Collins to map the time of breakthrough and how it actually happened. The games I examine in more detail are Final Fantasy and The Elder Scrolls because I argue in my hypothesis that these two game series are important for the actual breakthrough. Tables and notes from Final Fantasy are used to clarify the subject studied. In the end of the essay I conclude with different perspectives and evaluation of the subject.