After the invasion of Spain by the Muslims in 711-A. D., Southern Spain and North Africa, from which the invaders had come, were linked in such a way that they could no longer be counted separate countries with separate cultures. There was a steady traffic between the two, not only in regard to people and merchandise, but in ideas, writings and translations. The Caliph resided sometimes in Andalusia, sometimes in North Africa. In 817, after a revolt of the Christians at Cordoba, Hakam massacred some and deported others to North Africa. Thirty years later, a famine in Spain drove many to emigrate and join the exiles. Later still, in 1126, Ali ben Yusuf beat back the king Alonso and, to punish those Christians of his realm who had been willing to join the king, had them deported from Granada to Morocco, where they were settled in Mequinez and Fez. It was in the latter city, in 1137, that a bishop Michael ibn abd-el-aziz had a copy of the Gospels made for a certain Ali ibn abd-el-aziz. A year after this copy had been made, a further deportation by the son of All ibn Yusuf swelled the ranks of the exiles and emigres. The Christians in North Africa fared quite well. They became soldiers and the Christian militia played no small part in North African history. Some were chosen by the Caliph to join his personal bodyguard and others held good posts at Court. Even the Almohades, strict Unitarians though they, were, allowed churches. to be built. In 1224, when Ferdinand's help was sought by the Almohades in North Africa to quell risings of local Moorish rulers, the Christian king asked in payment not only money and ten Andalusian fortresses, but that a Christian church should be built in Morocco and bells sound the hours of service.

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This dissertation presents a Whiteheadian interpretation of the notions of mind, immanence and process as they are addressed in the Zohar. According to many scholars, this kabbalistic creation story as portrayed in the Zohar is a reaction to the earlier rabbinic concept of God qua creator, which emphasized divine transcendence over divine immanence. The medieval Jewish philosophers, particularly Maimonides influenced by Aristotle, placed particular emphasis on divine transcendence, seeing a radical separation between Creator and creation. With this in mind, these scholars claim that one of the goals of the Zohar’s creation story was to emphasize God’s immanence within creation. Similar to the Zohar, the process metaphysics of Alfred North Whitehead and his followers was reacting to the substance metaphysics that had dominated Western philosophy as far back as ancient Greek thought. Whitehead adopts a very similar narrative to that of the Zohar. First there is mind containing all the eternal objects which serve as potential for the creation (God’s primordial nature). Mind becomes immanent in all actual occasions through prehension (God’s consequent nature). Finally God becomes “the lure” (to use Whitehead’s phrase) in the ongoing process of nature (God as superject). In this narrative, God is not the static being, the unmoved mover as discussed by Aristotle, but rather, is portrayed as a dynamic becoming, a God of process. Due to these significant similarities between Whitehead’s process philosophy and the Zohar with regard to the immanence of God and the process of creation, it is worthwhile to attempt a process interpretation of the kabbalistic creation story. The first part of this dissertation is entitled Philosophical Foundations, focusing on the intellectual framework of this study of the Zohar. The second part is entitled Creating a Narrative, looking at the text of the Zohar through the lens of Whitehead’s metaphysics. Finally, the conclusion looks at the narrative and discusses whether the goals of the dissertation have been achieved. / Includes bibliography. / Dissertation (Ph.D.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2016. / FAU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Collection

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In this dissertation, I explore the history of research of John 10: 1-18, I attempt to make a contribution to the understanding of this very important chapter in John by using Literary Theory for exegetical purposes, draw some conclusions with regard to the Christology of John and open some avenues of the understanding of the significance of the shepherd metaphor for our own context. In John's own time, this chapter definitely had social, religious as well as political significance. I attempt to determine how these facts interact with Jeremiah 23: 1-8 and Ezekiel 34: 1-6. I also draw some conclusions which may serve as guidelines in our own context and especially our own pastoral needs in the situation of conflict in our society, leaders who lead the flock of God astray and the need of unity among Christians. / Thesis (M.Theol.)-University of Durban-Westville, 1994.

111 pages / The Zuozhuan 评论 (Zuo Commentaries); a narrative history of China's Spring and Autumn period (722-479 BCE), has been included among the thirteen classics of Confucianism since the Tang dynasty. Yet its pages contain numerous references to Shang and early Zhou divination practices. It seems paradoxical that a text identified with Confucian humanism would be full of references to the supernatural. I suggest that the Zuozhuan builds upon the foundations of the authority of Shang and Zhou ritual to establish the authority of Confucian doctrine. This phenomenon has been mentioned by other scholars, though no study has addressed this directly. It is the goal of this thesis to use passages in the Zuozhuan to demonstrate how authority moved from an external source to an internal source during the Eastern Zhou and to show that Zuozhuan makes use of something that Lakoff and Johnson have called idealized cognitive models.

The pnmary purpose of this dissertation is to define the function of Psalm 90 and its relationship with regard to adjacent psalms. Keeping this purpose in mind, the dissertation is composed of two main parts. The first part deals with textual notes, structural analysis, the date of the psalm and the possible situation it arose from, and then an attempt is made about the function of the psalm. Concerning the structural analysis, this study reveals that the psalm forms a unity in contrast to the views of Muller and Zenger who have argued for the division of the psalm into two parts. The function that the psalm has within itself is to appeal to Yahweh to intervene in the dilemma the psalmist was facing in the exilic or postexilic situation. However, since the psalm itself does not hint at any clue as to what the actual situation for the appeal was, the study is extended to the examination of the canonical perspective with regard to adjacent Psalms 89 and 91. This consists of the second part, and here Psalm 90 is compared to Psalms 89 and 91 in terms of lexical, thematic, and structural aspects. The study of this part shows that Psalm 90 forms close links with the lament section of Psalm 89 (vv. 39-51) as well as Psalm 91, and the conclusion suggests that Psalm 90 should be interpreted in the light of Psalm 89, thus reflecting the destruction of the Davidic dynasty described in Psalm 89. Concerning the relationship between Psalms 90 and 91, the latter serves as an answer to the former in order to persuade the readers that Yahweh 1s a refuge to those who seek security and protection from him. / Biblical and Ancient Studies / Th. M.(Old Testament)

El trabajo explora la inclusión de relatos—a modo de ejemplos, parábolas y fábulas—en el tejido histórico-narrativo de los Comentarios reales del cronista mestizo Garcilaso de la Vega. Propone, en tal sentido, la deuda con la filosofía neoplatónica que busca verdades escondidas en las fábulas de los gentiles, es decir, los mitos greco-latinos, en los que cree encontrar verdades o sentidos escondidos, de distinto calibre, sea este el sentido literal, moral o teologal que estos relatos incrustados entrañen. Así, en un contrapunto entre las dos partes de los Comentarios reales, los mitos incaicos y otras historias son analizadas como fábulas clásicas y neoplatónicas, es decir, preñadas de diversos sentidos, sugeridos por su autor a sus lectores de todos los tiempos. / This article explores the inclusion of small tales—as examples, parables and fables—within the textual fabric of the historical text of the Royal Commentariesby the mestizo writer Garcilaso de la Vega. It proposes the idea of classical fable in the sense developed by Neoplatonism during the Renaissance. According to these perspective Classical mythology was understood as embedded with hidden senses of different caliber—literal, moral and theological ones. In the same way, I study Inca myths and other tales as classical fables embedded with different meanings, suggested by Garcilaso Inca to his readers from all times.

The aim of this thesis is to investigate what can be discovered from Luke-Acts about early Christian baptism, recognising that the environment in which Luke's tradition developed was both Jewish and Gentile. The thesis begins with a brief survey of the Jewish practice of ritual washings. The ideas and practices which encouraged the formal rite of John the Baptist and the early church are identified and evaluated. The second chapter focuses attention on Acts 2:37-3:21. Baptism is defined in this passage (Ac. 2:38) in the context of the proclamation by Peter (Ac. 2:14-36) and the life of the community, which includes koinonia (Ac. 2:42-47), the performance of a miracle (Ac. 3:1-1 0), and a further proclamation (Ac. 3:12-26). Using the methods of redaktiongeschichte and narratological analyses, the literary unity of Luke-Acts will be shown in the light of the elements of baptism. In the third chapter the different accounts of baptism recorded in Luke-Acts will be analysed and compared in order to determine how the church tradition which Luke represents understood baptism, and what was the significance of the rite and the practice of baptism in the early church. Finally, in order to emphasise the importance in the Greek world of the ideas and example of the moral philosophers, the meaning of terms related to baptism, such as akouo, metanoeo and pisteuo, is examined in the light of both Jewish and Greek concepts. The community life of the baptised expressed also practices and ideas which appear to owe more to the Greek world than the Jewish. These concepts include parrhesia, koinonia, and the way in which Christianity is described by its members and outsiders- Christianoi, hairesis, hodos. Finally the setting of the Christian meetings in the Gentile context is discussed. The conclusion indicated by the evidence is that Christianity was organised in a form which was scarcely distinguishable from a school under a kathegetes. Baptism initiated the believer into a relationship with a teacher. It was the nature of the teacher as well as the content of the teaching which gave to Christianity its uniqueness.