"Proefschrift ter verkrijging van het doctoraat in de Godgeleerdheid en Godsdienstwetenschap aan de Rijksuniversiteit Groningen."--t.p. / Title from caption (viewed Aug. 22, 2005). Includes bibliographical references. Also available in print.

[pt] Qual o sentido do tempo na história do homem? Sabemos que vivemos no tempo dos homens (Chrónos). Mas como diz a Sagrada Escritura: não somos deste mundo, ou seja, não somos deste tempo. O próprio Cristo disse: meu reino não é deste mundo. Diante dessas considerações, a dissertação faz uma exposição atualizada dos termos Chrónos e Kairós na dýnamis do Espírito Santo - no sentido de situar o homem na realidade do tempo, a partir da leitura bíblica de At 1,6-8 - e, principalmente, dos termos Chrónos e Kairós, exaurindo uma reflexão sobre a ação do tempo na história do homem dentro da dinâmica da passagem do Chrónos para o Kairós; viver bem o Chrónos, reconhecendo, entretanto, que já chegou o tempo da graça, o Kairós: o Cristo que está entre nós. A encarnação do Verbo qualifica todo este sentido de tempo: conhecemos o antes e o depois de Cristo. Assim, Jesus Cristo é este grande qualificador do tempo e a sua atuação no mundo nos traz três dimensões diferentes de tempo. O estudo reflete sobre estes três tempos de atuação de Deus na história dos homens: o tempo de Israel; o tempo de Jesus e o tempo da Igreja. Deste modo, o estudo de Chrónos e Kairós são refletidos à luz bíblica e analisados na dýnamis do Espírito Santo, através da exegese e da hermenêutica bíblica, sistematizada e elaborada com oportuna pesquisa dos termos e sua atuação nos três tempos de estudo, perpassando elementos primordiais de compreensão, tais como: missão, testemunho e Igreja. Portanto, o estudo visa a colocar o leitor em uma perspectiva de tempo, bem como refletir sua atuação neste tempo, no Chrónos e no Kairós, desejando que cada um saiba descobrir o verdadeiro Kairós de sua vida, a graça de Deus que se manifesta. / [en] What is the sense of the time in men´s history? We know we are living in the human time (Chrónos), but as the Sacred Scripture states: we are not from this world, or, we are not from this time. As Christ said: my kingdom is not from this world. Taking these facts into consideration, the report explains the updated terms Chrónos and Kairós under the dýnamis of the Holy Spirit, in order to locate the man in the reality of the time in the Holy Bible literature of At 1,6-8, persuing an reflection about the of time in men´s history within the dynamic of chronological age from Chrónos to the Kairós, to live well the Chrónos, but keeping in mind that the time of grace has already started, the Kairós, the Christ among us. The incarnation of the Verb qualifies this time sense as we know the before and after Christ, and then Jesus Christ is the Major Qualifier of the time. His Action within the world brings us three different perspectives of time. It reflects about the three times of God Action over the men´s history: Israel time, Jesus time and the Church time. Thus, the study of Chrónos and Kairós are reflected in the Holy Bible and further analyzed within the dýnamis of the Holy Spirit through the interpretation and the exegesis of the Holy Scripture. A very careful research of these terms was developed, considering very important elements of study: Mission, Testimony and Church. This study intends to place the reader into the context of the time, leading the reader to reflect this chronological time into her reality. In the Chrónos and in the Kairós, wishing that men and women shall know how to discover the true Kairós in their lives. May each person be able to discover the grace of God shown in every day life.

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Using a narrative-critical approach, this thesis argues that ‘Herod’ may be construed as a composite character in Luke-Acts. Composite characters appear in literary works as a conflation of two or more historic individuals into a single character in a narrative. Scholars have often noted that Luke-Acts evidences a more extensive interest in the Herodian rulers than do the gospels of Mark and Matthew and that each of these rulers are depicted similarly to the others in his work. However, no one has argued that those rulers named ‘Herod’ may be understood as a composite character. In Luke-Acts, three Herodian rulers stand behind the composite ‘Herod’. The thesis will show that when compared/contrasted with what is known about the Herodian rulers from historical evidence, two unique features of the depiction of the Herodian rulers named Herod in Luke-Acts emerge. First, at Luke 1:5 the author uses the title ‘King of Judaea’ which is unattested elsewhere for any Herodian ruler. Second, at Acts 12 the author uses the name ‘Herod’ for Agrippa I, a name that finds no external corroboration for this particular King. While other occurrences of the name ‘Herod’ refer to Herod Antipas (Luke 3—Acts 4), these two distinct features of the narrative may be understood as conflation of the other ‘Herods’ with Antipas. Following an interpretation of all the passages in which ‘Herod’ appears, it will be evident that ‘Herod’ is portrayed consistently and as a single character not only through repeated use of the name ‘Herod’, but as a recurring antagonist to the key protagonists of the narrative (John the Baptist, Jesus, and the apostles/early church). Finally, the thesis will consider as explanation of the depiction of ‘Herod’ how this composite character embodies Satanic opposition from the political realm toward those who proclaim the gospel in the Lukan narrative.

The thesis collects and analyses the very first (2nd-5th century) clear quotations, references and interpretations of Acts 15:20.29 and Acts 21:25. It consists of three parts: Part I, which is introductory in nature, presents and comments upon the textual variants of these biblical verses. Part II catalogues and analyses all the relevant texts referring to and commenting on Acts 15:20.29 and Acts 21:25. The purpose is to discover each ancient author’s understanding of the Jerusalem Council’s prohibitions, enumerated in the above verses of Acts. The writers and their texts are divided into three groups depending on which main textual variant of Acts 15:20.29 and Acts 21:25 they referred or quote. Part III presents in its first two chapters a synthesis of the above analyses, juxtaposing and summarizing early authors’ views on the meaning and normativity of the prohibitions. Then, the last chapter examines the potential influence of a variant of Acts 15:20.29 and 21:25 quoted or referred to (or preferred if more variants were known to a given author) by the writers on their understanding of the prohibitions. The thesis shows that despite different textual variants used by the early writers, their interpretations of the prohibitions, although often superficially different, have in a number of cases and on a deeper level more in common than one would preliminarily surmise.

This project examines the depiction of Jewish and Christian identity in Acts of the Apostles by placing the writer’s ethnic claims within a broader material and epigraphic context. Scholarship on Jewish identity in Acts has often emphasized Jewish and Christian religious difference, an emphasis that has tended to mask the intersections of civic, ethnic, and religious identifications in antiquity. Such identity categories did not exist as distinct, stable entities. Rather, as discussions of identity in antiquity demonstrate, they were contested, negotiable, and ambiguous. Bringing Acts into conversation with recent scholarly insights regarding identity as represented in Roman era material and epigraphic remains shows that Acts presents Jews and Jewish identity in multiple, complex ways, rather than as a simple foil for “Christianity.” The dissertation argues that when the modern distinctions between ethnic, religious, and civic identities are suspended, the innovative ethnic rhetoric of the author of Acts comes into focus. The underlying connection between ethnic, religious, and civic identities provided him with space to present non-Jewish Christians as converted Jews and therefore to identify all Christians as Jews. On the basis of this identification, he marked Christians as a unified Jewish community that enhanced the stability of the city, contrasting them with other Jewish communities. By creating an internal distinction between Christians and other Jews, he privileged Christians as the members of an ideal, unified Jewish community and contrasted them with what he identified as factious, local Jewish associations.

This thesis argues that the rhetoric of perception opens and closes the Gospel of Luke and its sequel, the Acts of the Apostles, and occurs throughout both narratives as a central plot device. The epistemological theme created by this involves how characters understand the major events of the narrative, especially what seems to be a central element: Jesus’ identity as the Messiah and the scriptural necessity of his suffering and resurrection. The suspense created by the rhetoric of perception allows the author to both communicate key tenets of his theology, as well as offer the audience a model for accomplishing the purpose of his writing, to ‘recognise the certainty’ of his story (Luke 1:1–4). In the Gospel of Luke, suspense is created by the juxtaposition of divine revelation to the disciples and the divine concealment that produces their misunderstanding. This conflict reaches its resolution in the Gospel’s final scenes, in which Jesus opens the mind of the disciples to understand the Scriptures, enabling them to understand what was earlier concealed, the scriptural necessity of the Messiah’s death and resurrection. In Acts, the conflict of misunderstanding is no longer primarily internal to the disciples but external: It is a characteristic of those who do not believe, those to whom the disciples-turned-apostles preach, and it must be overcome through the repentance and belief of the hearers. The resolution provided by the conclusion of Acts is much more negative than that of the Gospel: In the Empire’s capital city, far from that place of illumination where the disciples earlier came to understanding, the proclamation of the gospel is essentially rejected by a Jewish audience to whom is applied the description of Isaiah 6:9–10, rich in its epistemological metaphor.

"The Mission of the Apostle Paul in Corinth and Its Historical Background". This thesis aims to present the figure of the Apostle Paul on the basis of biblical and historical reports are available. It describes his life, conversion and preaching Christianity on his mission trips, especially in Corinth. It deals with the life of people at the time and the arrangement of the ancient society. In particular, attention is focused on the historical aspect but also related missionary activities in Corinth. It pays attention to the context of his relationship to Judaism and other pagan cultures. Also included is a clear theological analysis of his letters to Corinth. The work is complemented by maps, archeological excavations from Corinth, showing the layout of the city and dwelling, where early Christians gathered. Attention is also paid to the Christian community in Corinth and everyday problems solved in the letters of the Apostle Paul.

Four oracles appear in Jeremiah 21:11-23:8 detailing the failure and future of the final kings in Judah, also known as the King Collection. The final oracle against Jehoiachin (he also appears with the names Coniah / Jeconiah) precedes the announcement of the unnamed new Davidide, the Branch. The oracle against Jehoiachin appears to be unique, involving no stipulations of covenant wrongdoing, a feature of Deuteronomistic criticism of the kingship since Solomon. He is one of the most unremarkable kings in Israelite history. Yet, he is the concluding figure in both the Greek (Septuagint or LXX) and Hebrew (Masoretic Text or MT) versions of Jeremiah's King Collection, a significant change from the accounts in Kings and Chronicles. He occupies an important place in Josephus's attempts to sketch the ideal Israelite king, respectful of Roman rule. He is important to the rabbis in developing an atonement theory of the exile. In the New Testament, he appears in Matthew's genealogy of Jesus, while the other kings from the King Collection disappear. The Epistle to the Hebrews may adopt similar ideas in developing the analogy of Melchizedek, another insignificant king in Israel's history, as a precursor to Jesus. Ideas developed from the flow of the oracle in the text of Jeremiah, shaped by the polemics of exile, appear in the Acts of the Apostles' casting of Jesus' spiritual kingship on the world's stage. Precritical Jewish and Christian exegesis adopted a harmonizing approach to the oracle, importing reasons from the Deuteronomistic History and the Chronicler for its harsh judgment. Yet discussion of the oracle and its significance in the construction of the figure of Jehoiachin in Jeremiah has all but disappeared from critical scholarship following the groundbreaking work of Bernhard Duhm. Early critical scholarship, while correcting many of the mistakes of precritical exegetes, followed the new Protestant confessionalism of the 19th century. Michel Foucault locates the loss of the theology of the cross as this decisive turn in interpretive methodology. This turn caused modern Protestant interpreters, who are mainly responsible for the foundations of modern critical studies in Jeremiah, to devalue disempowered kings in Israel's history, one of the most important hermeneutical categories in classical Jewish literature, according to Yair Lorberbaum. Thus, Bernhard Duhm, and later scholarship that builds on his work, missed the significance of this oracle in the textual function of the book of Jeremiah and its polemical significance in the debates between post-exile groups of Judeans. Gerhard von Rad, in his revision of Martin Noth's theory of the Deuteronomistic History, saw the importance of Jehoiachin as a source of hope for a renewed Israel. Jack Lundbom most recently observed the development of an oracular frame moving from the center outward in which the oracle against Jehoiachin appears. Yet, to date, little work has appeared on the way the canonical form of Jeremiah frames Jehoiachin and its effect on Jeremiah's end to the DtrH. To make sense of it, we must account for what appears to be an unfulfilled prophecy in Jeremiah 22, as recorded by Jehoiachin's treatment in Jeremiah 52 where, against the expectation of the oracle, the Jewish king again appears on the world stage. Mark Roncace has written extensively on how this type of prophecy functions in the book of Jeremiah. Speech-act theory, as proposed originally by J. L. Austin, and refined by his protégé, John Searle, provides further insight into this issue. Building on the scholarship of von Rad, Lundbom, Mark Leuchter and several other scholars of the sociopolitical forces in the production of biblical texts in exile, we will reconstruct the remarkably adaptable prophetic frame developed in exile around Jehoiachin and his oracle, which set the stage for a return of a Jewish king to the world stage. / Religion

The thesis follows one of the supporting characters from the New Testament, James, the brother of the Lord. The first chapter deals with the meaning and occurrence of the name James in both biblical and non-biblical sources. The following second chapter deals with the canonical biblical texts that depict fragments of James' life. However, many questions remain about the closer characterization of our wanted person James and the form of his earthly family. The thesis also examines whether James could or could not really be the brother of Jesus of Nazareth. Through the analysis of texts we look for the answer that canonical texts give us.Subsequently, in the third chapter attention is also directed to the apocryphal and non-biblical sources that govern us about our James. In connection with the wanted James is mentioned and the first church community in Jerusalem, in which James played a significant leadership role. The aim of the thesis is to describe the character of James, the brother of the Lord, by means of all analyzed sources. In conclusion, a summary possible solution of questions concerning James, the Lord's Brother is presented. Keywords James, brothers of the Lord, Acts of the Apostles, the primary Christian community in Jerusalem.