This dissertation is basically a reading the book of Lamentation as a literary whole in a sense of a text-centred approach, which aims to interpret the Scripture as divine communicative action. The major philosophical resources that I employ in this study are the Speech-Act theory developed by J. Austin and J. Searle, and the concepts particularly exemplified in the work of K. Vanhoozer. I look at repetition and literary techniques in Lamentations as a clue to its structural unity. In the body of the dissertation, Instead of historical-critical approaches, I claim that the meaning exists not ‘behind the text,’ but ‘in the text itself as a whole.’ One of the most important literary approaches to understanding the book of Lamentations is to note the poetic voices, which interweave in the text. The poetic voices are my main focus of understanding the book of Lamentations. I explain the literary meaning reading the text and demonstrate that we must find the canonical level of the meaning which supervenes on the literary level. The meaning of a text at a literary level must be carefully studied and modified by the ‘fuller sense (or meaning)’ derived from the canonical context. The ‘fuller sense’ of Scripture associated with divine authorship emerges only at the level of the whole canon. Here for the canonical meaning of the text, I focus on Vanhoozer’s assertion, having proposed the suitability of speech act theory for the various tasks of biblical interpretation and theological hermeneutics. When we read the text, there is no utterance from God in Lamentations. It is the missing voice. The main theme of Lamentations is "Where is the true comfort?". The text presents no comfort. In the literary context, God keeps silent (non-speaking). Canonically, however, Christian readers as God’s people read the Bible, connecting it to Jesus Christ. Within the canonical context, we can indeed find an answer and God’s answering speech (that is, His act), because Jesus is their true comforter acting as God’s response. We can find this response in his teaching (e.g. Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount) and in his mission (e.g. presenting his body as the temple, being Immanuel, God-with-us). / Dissertation (MA(Theology))--University of Pretoria, 2009. / Old Testament Studies / unrestricted

We are living in the information age and this has had an effect on both science and theology. Our understanding of the fundamental role of information has increased significantly. One can even say that information has become an overarching metaphor in the world of science. This dissertation gives an overview of the impact of the information-based scientific world-view on the dialogue between science and theology. The study investigates the metaphorical use of information concepts to secure a better understanding of God's action in the world and the role that information plays in the processes of life. The focus is on the role of biological information, and its relation to divine action is investigated. The scientific importance of information and the possible impact of information concepts on the science and theology dialogue of the future are discussed. / Systematic Theology & Theological Ethics / M. Th.(Systematic Theology)

The aim of this study is to gain insight into the leadership processes and dynamics operative in the early Pauline churches. The study is based on Paul’s Early Letters (i.e. 1 & 2 Thessalonians, Galatians, 1 & 2 Corinthians, and Romans) and uses a combination of socio-historical and exegetical approaches. The idea that leadership in the early Pauline churches was determined by wealth, social status, and patronage is prominent in the literature, and is examined in detail. Recent research on the economic stratification of first-century Graeco-Roman society challenges the idea that leadership in the early Pauline churches was exercised by wealthy patrons. It can be observed in the Early Letters that Paul’s leadership role was the most prominent one, and that other leaders, both local and itinerant, were regarded as his coworkers. The study therefore examines Paul’s thinking about his own leadership role, especially his ministry aims and methods. Two aims stand out: (a) that believers appear blameless at the return of Christ; and (b) that the body of Christ be built up. Paul saw himself as an apostle and as God’s coworker; he was convinced that the gospel, as God’s power for salvation, received through faith, was the means by which these aims would be accomplished. Therefore his ministry was first and foremost a ministry of the gospel which aimed to establish people in faith. Passages relating to Paul’s coworkers show that they were ministers of the gospel in their own right, and that they shared in all aspects of Paul’s ministry except those pertaining specifically to his apostleship. Paul often refers to his ministry as a grace that he has received from God. The ministry of others is similarly understood in terms of grace (Rom 12:3-6). This observation leads to a study of divine equipping in the ministry of Paul and his coworkers. I conclude that, for Paul, the work of the Holy Spirit in empowering leaders and making their work effective was fundamental to authentic ministry/leadership. Finally, theoretical perspectives from leadership studies and social psychology are used to bring conceptual unity to the exegetical results. A definition of leadership is formulated and the wellknown power/interaction model of French and Raven is adapted and used to analyse leadership in the early Pauline churches. The aim is to understand both theological and socio-historical aspects of leadership and how they interacted in the early Pauline communities. I conclude that leadership in these communities entailed a social process in which the most important forms of influence were spiritual and empowering. A local leadership role had begun to develop, but was not yet formalized into an official structure. Overall, I conclude that the gospel of Jesus Christ, as God’s power for the salvation of all who believe, was the central dynamic of leadership in the early Pauline churches. / PhD (New Testament), North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2014

The core tasks of the diploma thesis were to familiarize the reader with the biblical themes as biblical wars from historical and cultural perspective, clarify the issue of the divine struggles and embedding in cultural and ethical context. Good News of the Bible was confronted with non biblical written sources, mostly written records of Moabities, Assyrians, Egyptians, Sumerians and people of Ugarit. The diploma thesis was focused primarily on the period of the Kingdom of Israel. Also were discussed the battles of Israelis before entering the Land of Canaan and the split the Kingdom of Israel. Primarily it has been worked with the Deuteronomy corpus that is characteristic by its synchronic and diachronic approach. The reader was made familiar with the issue of divine wars and the extermination of cursed cities. The herald function of Deuteronomy corpus and the possible nonrealistic information sources were also clarified. The author is inclined to the opinion Sa-Moon Kang and consideres holy wars to the end of the Kingdom period. With the emergence of secular government and deviation from the Lord for rulers was the priority to resolve property disputes. The only exception between wars of power was the assistance of the prophet Elisha which suddenly turned the fight into Godʼs battle. The elements...

An examination of the influence of medieval numerology and number theory upon the works of the Gawain poet, this essay seeks to connect the importance of numbers to the construction of the four poems. By examining such number theories as the Divine Proportion and marriage numbers, as well as Pythagorean number concepts of masculine and feminine numbers, a clear connection between the literature and the number can be found. The poet not only seeks to use numbers to impart important Christian doctrine to his readers in a subconscious way, he also demonstrates an extreme pre-planning of every line and layout of each poem upon the page. Continuing in current critical traditions of examining this manuscript as whole, "Pearl, " "Patience, " "Cleanness, " and "Sir Gawain and the Green Knight" are shown to join together in an interweaving of connectivity through number pattern and the repetition of important numerological concepts.

Herança portuguesa, as festividades em homenagem ao Espírito Santo encontraram terreno fértil no Brasil, onde ganharam contornos populares. Em Mogi das Cruzes, município pertencente à Região Metropolitana de São Paulo, a Festa do Divino Espírito Santo é realizada, segundo os documentos consultados, há quase duzentos anos. Em vários momentos, a tradição quase sucumbiu na luta pela sua manutenção diante do processo urbano-industrial, que fragmenta a vida e enfraquece as relações próximas. No início da década de 1990, alguns moradores de Mogi, interessados na manutenção da Festa do Divino do Espírito Santo se reuniram com o objetivo de fundar uma associação que auxiliasse na sua realização, a fim de não deixar a tradição desaparecer. Para isso, a Associação Pró-Festa do Divino, como foi denominada, passou a buscar recursos financeiros junto a empresas (de grande e de pequeno porte) em troca de divulgação de seus logotipos na Festa, colocados em cartazes, panfletos, livros de cânticos, uniformes, etc. Divulgada pelos meios de comunicação, a Festa do Divino de Mogi das Cruzes ganhou impulso, agregando cada vez mais, novos participantes. Nesta \"euforia\" de crescimento e de arrecadação de recursos, a Festa do Divino foi se configurando também como mercadoria, embora a Associação se identifique e aja como órgão responsável pelo não \"desvirtuamento\" da tradição. Apesar da crescente espetacularização, acompanhada, inevitavelmente, de uma crescente racionalização na preparação e na realização da Festa, acredita-se haver momentos e elementos que escapam à espetacularização e à racionalização, revelando-a como manifestação da cultura popular. Esta é a questão maior que a pesquisa se propôs a elucidar. Para tanto, buscou no passado da Festa (na Europa, no Brasil, sobretudo em Mogi das Cruzes), elementos que a definiram como manifestação da religiosidade popular e que estariam presentes ainda hoje, como resíduos de tempos e relações pretéritas. / Portuguese heritage, the parties in honor to the Holy Ghost met fertile land in Brazil, where they acquired a popular profile. In Mogi das Cruzes, city of Metropolitan Region of São Paulo, the Holy Ghost Party has been performed, according to researched documents, for almost two hundred years. For several times, the tradition was almost finished due to the industrial-urban process, which fragments the life and weaken the nearby relations. In the beginning of 90\'s, some Mogi residents, interested in the conservation of Holy Ghost gathered themselves in order to found an association to help its achievement and avoid the extinction of the tradition. For that, the Pro-Holy Ghost Party Association, as it has been called, started looking for a sponsorship company (the big or the small ones), by exchanging the company\'s name divulgation during the Party through logotypes in posters, folders, book\'s music, uniforms etc. Divulgated by the communication means, the Holy Ghost Party of Mogi das Cruzes received impulse, adding increasingly, new attendees. In the \"enthusiasm\" of the growth and the finance resource collection, the Holy Ghost Party became a merchandise, however the Association identifies itself and acts as an institution responsible for the \"no disparage\" of the tradition. In spit of the growing of the spectacle process, necessarily accompanied of growing rationalization in the Party preparing and achievement, we believe there are moments and elements that escape from the spectacling and from the rationalization, showing it as expression of the popular culture. This is the most important question that the research proposed to clarify. For that, pursued in the past of the Party (in Europe, in Brazil, especially in Mogi das Cruzes), elements that defined it as manifest of the popular religiosity and that would be present up to nowadays as residues of time and preterit relations.

Esta dissertação de mestrado é resultado da apreciação crítica de seis gravuras de Salvador Dalí para os livros Inferno e Paraíso, da Divina Comédia de Dante Alighieri. Para o Inferno selecionamos: Canto XIV - Os Blasfemos; Canto XXIII - Os Hipócritas; e Canto XXIX - Os Causadores de Discórdias. Para o Paraíso optamos por: Canto XI - A Poeira das Almas; Canto XII - São Boaventura Fala a Dante; e Canto XX - A Constelação dos Espíritos Abençoados. As gravuras foram selecionadas de modo a proporcionar o melhor cenário possível para a comparação, uma vez que a proposta de Salvador Dalí para a narrativa de Dante mostra-se específica para cada livro da Comédia. Com o propósito de tornar a comparação efetiva, optamos por uma análise formal alicerçada em manifestos, diários e produções em outros suportes que não somente o da gravura. Esperamos contribuir com um debate ainda em formação sobre significados, bem como contribuir para a produção de conhecimento acadêmico sobre a circulação dessa obra em território nacional. / This dissertation represents the results of a critical appraisal for six prints by Salvador Dalí of Hell and Paradise books from Dante Alighieri\'s Divine Comedy. For Hell we have selected: Canto XIV - The Blasphemers; Canto XXIII - The Hypocrites; and Canto XXIX - The Causing of Disagreements. For Paradise we have chosen: Canto XI - The Dust of Souls; Canto XII - St. Bonaventure Speaks to Dante; and Canto XX - The Constellation of Blessed Spirits. The pictures were selected to provide the best possible scenario for the comparison, since Salvador Dalí\'s proposal to Dante\'s narrative appears to be specific to each book of the Comedy. In order to do an effective comparison, we have chosen not only engravings, but a formal analysis based on manifests, journals and other media productions. We intent to improve with discuss about meanings of Dali\'s work as an illustrator for the Divine Comedy, as well as contribute to the production of academic knowledge of the circulation of its content in Brazil.

Submitted by Patrícia Valim Labres de Freitas (patricial) on 2016-04-05T18:20:08Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Jairton Ortiz da Cruz_.pdf: 14115618 bytes, checksum: 91e755d63afe538b8ca009503ad79db3 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2016-04-05T18:20:08Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Jairton Ortiz da Cruz_.pdf: 14115618 bytes, checksum: 91e755d63afe538b8ca009503ad79db3 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2014-12-18 / CAPES - Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior / Este trabalho pretende mostrar a trajetória da Festa do Divino Espírito Santo na cidade de Gravataí/RS nos séculos XX-XXI, buscando destacar os fatores que levaram à sua interrupção na década de 1970. A cidade de Gravataí está inserida em uma área de ocupação açoriana desde século XVIII e traz na Festa do Divino, características dessa bagagem cultural. Para alcançarmos esse objetivo trabalhamos com fontes orais, documentais e bibliográficas que nos permitiram perceber o cenário da festa e seus atores principais ao longo do período estudado. Além disso, nos valemos da iconografia e das fontes jornalísticas para aprofundar a análise e perceber as nuanças da prática festiva na cidade o que nos levou a estruturar a dissertação em três capítulos. Por fim, destacamos que a relevância desta pesquisa se dá também na constatação de que a festividade auxilia na escrita da história da cidade de Gravataí. / This work aims to show the trajectory of the Divine Holy Spirit Feast in the city of Gravataí/RS in centuries XX-XXI, seeking to highlight the factors that led to his interruption in the decade of 1970. The city of Gravataí is inserted in an area of Azorean occupation since the 18th century and brings in the Feast of the Divine, characteristics of this cultural baggage. To achieve this goal we work with oral sources, documentary and bibliographical references which have allowed us to perceive the scenario of the feast and its principal actors throughout the period studied. In addition, in relied on iconography and journalistic sources to deepen the analysis and understand the nuances of practice in the city the festive that led us to structure the dissertation in three chapters. Finally, we highlight that the relevance of this research is also gives the observation that the feast assists in writing of the history of the city of Gravataí.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-04-27T19:31:03Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Amanda Alexandre Ferreira Geraldes.pdf: 11985914 bytes, checksum: de39077dc5918f2ba3a826a76505b911 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2015-03-02 / Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico / The Feast of the Divine Holy Spirit in the city of Pirenópolis, in the state of Goiás (Brazil), occupies a special place in the collective imaginary of the community. The research sought to understand how and why this space was occupied, what is your singularity and how it was - and still is today - the process of this memory s construction. The research aims to analyze objects of material culture produced for the Feast and seeks to identify the relation between the meanings of the symbols and their representations in the collectivity of the community. The ritual objects chosen for this study are the verônicas of alfenim and the paper masks and flowers. The verônica is a gift from the Divine Empire and is associated with the devotional practices of popular religiosity. The masks and flowers express the popular culture in comic and festive irreverence of his masked ones. Therefore, we believe that knowledges, arts of making and the tradition are supported by a memory and builds collective and individual identities. We understand that the Feast merges with the history of the city, the family history and with the life history of the individual. The Feast causes great movement and popular involvement, and, more than that, a family involvement that supports the duty networks. The devotion to the Divine and the experience in the Feast are part of the very essence of the individual, the constitution of his identity, his memory, his life / A Festa do Divino Espírito Santo da cidade de Pirenópolis, no estado de Goiás, ocupa um espaço especial no imaginário coletivo da comunidade. A pesquisa buscou compreender como e por que esse espaço foi ocupado, qual sua singularidade e como foi - e é ainda hoje - o processo de construção dessa memória. Para tanto, o trabalho propõe analisar objetos da cultura material produzidos para a Festa e busca identificar a relação estabelecida entre os significados dos símbolos e suas representações na coletividade da comunidade. Os objetos rituais escolhidos para o estudo são as verônicas de alfenim, as máscaras e as flores de papel. A verônica é presente do Império do Divino e está associada às práticas devocionais da religiosidade popular. As máscaras e as flores expressam a cultura popular na comicidade e irreverência festiva de seus mascarados. Para isso, entendemos que os saberes, as artes de fazer e a tradição são sustentados por uma memória e constroem referências identitárias coletivas e individuais. Foi possível constatar que a Festa se confunde com a história da cidade, com a história familiar, com a história de vida do indivíduo. A Festa provoca grande movimentação e envolvimento popular, e, mais que isso, um envolvimento familiar que se respalda nas redes de obrigação. A devoção ao Divino e a vivência na festa fazem parte da própria essência do indivíduo, da constituição de sua identidade, de sua memória, de sua vida

Dante Alighieri foi poeta medieval que escreveu para a mulher versos amorosos em um período de profunda misoginia. Muitas são as presenças femininas nas suas poesias da fase lírica anterior à criação da Divina Comédia. Este estudo centra com especial atenção a visão que o poeta constrói da mulher durante a sua fase experimentalista e de escambo poético com amigos da escola poética florentina, o doce estilo novo, apontando que a linguagem e a visão da mulher são construídas durante esse período e estão presentes também na composição da Comédia, em particular no Inferno, Canto V, onde figura Francesca da Rimini, e no Purgatório com Matelda. Estas mulheres fazem com que o poeta recorde os pressupostos da escola poética fundada com seus jovens amigos. / Dante Alighieri was a medieval poet who wrote his lines to the woman living during a very deeply misosynist age. There is a lot of feminine presence in his juvenile lyric poetry´s creation, before the Divina Commedia. This work focuses especial attention to the construction of the role playing of the women during his exprementalist fase with his florentines youthful friends of dolce stil nuovo, pointing for the language and the representations of women continuous presents in his magnum opus, showing that language as the vision of the women, both contructed during this period, presents on the Cantic V, Inferno, with Francesca da Rimini and, on the Purgatorio with Matelda. This woman brings the memories of the beginning of Dante´s school founded with his friends.