Students of Second Temple Judaism have drawn two broad conclusions. First, Judaism of the first century is characterized by diversity. Second, the most pervasive influence on Judaism of this period was Hellenism. The present study seeks to contribute to the continuing discussion of Second Temple Judaism, bearing in mind these two factors. Specifically, the aim is to identify the shared ideas of Judaism. The thesis is concerned with the search for common features of the Jewish religion what may be termed "common denominators" within Second Temple Judaism. This should help to decide the question of how we are to understand the diversity within first-century Judaism in relation to its common shared features. In the search for these shared features two main bodies of evidence are explored: Josephus' Contra Apionem. 2. 190-219, and the letters of Paul; for differing reasons both of these documents may be used profitably. The letters of Paul are valuable since this material is all dated before the destruction of the Second Temple; whereas Contra Apionem. 2. 190-219, is one of the earliest and possibly oldest theological summaries compiled by a contemporary of the NT writers. While there are other summaries on the Jewish religion (Philo's Hypothetica. his Spec. Laws and Josephus' Antiquities 4.196-301) Contra Apionem offers a summary of a different kind because its focus is on basic Jewish principles. The method used is first to consider Ap. 2. 190-219 paragraph by paragraph in conjunction with Philo's Hypothetica and the Sentences of Pseudo-Phocylides. Where appropriate appeal is also made to the DSS, the rabbis, and the apocalyptic literature. This follows an assessment of the undisputed letters of Paul. The analysis of this evidence is conducted under the following headings: Jewish autobiography; Jewish elements in Paul's Christian theology; debates with Jewish Christian opponents; Jewish ethics embraced by Gentile converts; a dialogue on the nature of the Jewish religion. Three main conclusions are reached. The first is that there are discernible common features within first-century Judaism. This is supported by an analysis of the Contra Apionem precis and related Jewish material. Second, there is a body of common opinion that may be deemed to belong to the period before AD 70. This will be argued from the letters of Paul by appeal to various criteria. The third point is that there are Jewish ideas that are both common and pre-70. This will be confirmed by appealing in a comparative way to evidence from both the letters of Paul and Contra Apionem. The criterion can be formulated in the following way: ideas may be considered both common and pre-70 whenever those found in Contra Apionem and attested in a wide variety of Jewish evidence (thus common) are also attested in the letters of Paul (and so pre-70).

This study attempted to understand Malachi’s ethics by situating them firmly in a particular historical, religious and socio-economic context. Malachi as the conscience of his people was skilful and creative in adapting the older prophetic traditions to the advantage of their religious, economic and socio-cultural context. The book of Malachi contains a fundamental critique of the sacrificial practices of the time. The prophetic criticism of the cult as seen in the book was conducted on the basis of covenantal principles. The book’s ethical uniqueness is observed somehow most clearly in the preponderance of a negative emphasis the book places on temple rituals and the way the language of the cult dominates his analysis of malpractices. The book shows where the ritual delinquencies are and how to deal with them. Thus for the purpose of enacting a communal ethic, the thesis stressed the theological values and ethical relevance of the enduring message of Yahweh alone as the sovereign of all creation and thus of humble trust and hope in him, of repentance, of commitment to the ideals of fidelity and steadfastness, of judgment, truth and justice, and of covenant renewal and restoration of fortunes which Malachi offers people who yearn for them irrespective of their religious and cultural background and nationality. The study showed how the ethical dimensions of Yahweh (theological dimension); his people as a restored community of faith (social and political aspects) and their land (economic conditions) as seen in the book of Malachi obviously make ethical proposals for faith communities in dealing with every theological, socio-political, and economic issue within the larger human society. Thus the various interpretations of the different oracles in the book of Malachi served as basis for this study to evolve ethical proposals for contemporary Christian application, at least within an ecclesia community. The church must serve as a channel through which the ethical demands of God for a well-ordered community can be mediated within her and larger human society and must find creative ways to translate the biblical imperative in a contemporary theological, social and economic context. / Thesis (PhD)--University of Pretoria, 2014. / lk2014 / Old Testament Studies / PhD / Unrestricted

After the change of their country’s political and international statuses, post-colonial and respectively post-communist individuals and collectives develop feelings of alienation and estrangement that do not involve physical dislocation. Eventually, they start imagining their national community as a collective of individuals who share this state. Paraphrasing Benedict Anderson’s definition of the nation as an “imagined community,” this study identifies this process as “imagined exile,” an act that temporarily compensates for the absence of a metanarrative of the nation during the post-colonial and post-communist transitions. This dissertation analyzes and compares ten English Canadian and Romanian plays, written between 1976 and 2004, and argues that they function as expressions and agents of post-colonial and respectively post-communist imagined exile, helping their readers and audiences overcome the identity crisis and regain the feeling of belonging to a national community. Chapter 1 explores the development of major theoretical concepts, such as nation, national identity, national identity crisis, post-colonialism, and post-communism. Chapter 2 and Chapter 3 analyze dramatic rewritings of historical events, in “1837: The Farmers’ Revolt” by the theatre Passe Muraille with Rick Salutin as dramaturge, and “A Cold” by Marin Sorescu, and of past political leaders, in “Sir John, Eh!” by Jim Garrard and “A Day from the Life of Nicolae Ceausescu” by Denis Dinulescu. Chapter 4 examines the expression of the individual and collective identity crises in “Sled” by Judith Thompson and “The Future Is Rubbish” by Vlad Zografi. Chapter 5 explores the treatment of physical and cultural borders and borderlands in Kelly Rebar’s “Bordertown Café”, Guillermo Verdecchia’s “Fronteras Americanas”, Petre Barbu’s “God Bless America”, and Saviana Stanescu’s “Waxing West”. The concluding chapter briefly discusses the concept of imagined exile in relation to other investigations of post-colonial and post-communist dramas and reviews some of the latest perspectives of national identity, reassessing this study from a diachronic perspective.

After the change of their country’s political and international statuses, post-colonial and respectively post-communist individuals and collectives develop feelings of alienation and estrangement that do not involve physical dislocation. Eventually, they start imagining their national community as a collective of individuals who share this state. Paraphrasing Benedict Anderson’s definition of the nation as an “imagined community,” this study identifies this process as “imagined exile,” an act that temporarily compensates for the absence of a metanarrative of the nation during the post-colonial and post-communist transitions. This dissertation analyzes and compares ten English Canadian and Romanian plays, written between 1976 and 2004, and argues that they function as expressions and agents of post-colonial and respectively post-communist imagined exile, helping their readers and audiences overcome the identity crisis and regain the feeling of belonging to a national community. Chapter 1 explores the development of major theoretical concepts, such as nation, national identity, national identity crisis, post-colonialism, and post-communism. Chapter 2 and Chapter 3 analyze dramatic rewritings of historical events, in “1837: The Farmers’ Revolt” by the theatre Passe Muraille with Rick Salutin as dramaturge, and “A Cold” by Marin Sorescu, and of past political leaders, in “Sir John, Eh!” by Jim Garrard and “A Day from the Life of Nicolae Ceausescu” by Denis Dinulescu. Chapter 4 examines the expression of the individual and collective identity crises in “Sled” by Judith Thompson and “The Future Is Rubbish” by Vlad Zografi. Chapter 5 explores the treatment of physical and cultural borders and borderlands in Kelly Rebar’s “Bordertown Café”, Guillermo Verdecchia’s “Fronteras Americanas”, Petre Barbu’s “God Bless America”, and Saviana Stanescu’s “Waxing West”. The concluding chapter briefly discusses the concept of imagined exile in relation to other investigations of post-colonial and post-communist dramas and reviews some of the latest perspectives of national identity, reassessing this study from a diachronic perspective.

"The purpose of this study is to make a critical and detailed analysis of the references in the ancient sources, Philo, Josephus, Pliny and the church fathers, Justin, Hegesippus, Hippolytus and Epiphanius. The main emphasis will be on the less well-known sects. The Sadducees and the Pharisees will be dealt with only as they appear in the references to the lesser sects and for contrast and similarity. The study will attempt to correlate the separate reports and to support or cast doubt on the validity and reliability of the accounts. In order to do this it has been necessary to examine the life and work of each witness as a means of evaluating his credibility and the sources of his information. No attempt has been made to establish a specific thesis of relationship and derivation. That remains for a further study but possible lines for the development of such a thesis have been indicated where the evidence suggests such." -- from the Introduction.

My motivation and purpose of this research particularly evolve around the question on the origin of Yahweh and the development of Yahwism, as well as the role of marginal groups in the maintaining of a pre-exilic Yahweh-alone monotheism, and the subsequent conversion by Judahites – who previously practised a syncretistic religion – to a post-exilic Yahweh monotheism. In accordance with the Kenite hypothesis, the Yahwist tradition originated in the South amongst the Midianites and Kenites. A Moses-type figure acquired knowledge about Yahweh from these tribes who venerated Yahweh before the Israelites did. According to the Chronicler's genealogy, marginal southern groups were all related. The Kenites and Rechabites had the opportunity, due to their nomadic lifestyle and particular trade – as coppersmiths – to spread their religious beliefs. Although the majority of Israelites practised syncretism, these marginal groups – particularly the Rechabites – sustained their Yahwistic faith throughout the Monarchical Period, actively involved in a Yahweh-alone movement. Jeremiah set the Rechabites – who followed a puritanical lifestyle – as an example for the inhabitants of Jerusalem. My hypothesis is that the Israelite God Yahweh was originally a Midianite/Kenite deity and that marginal groups related to the Kenites, such as the Rechabites, played a signi¬fi¬cant and dominant role in the preserving of a pre-exilic Yahweh-alone movement, as well as in the establishment of a post-exilic Yahweh monotheism. My approach to this research was with the premise that the Yahwist tradition originated in the South whence it spread to Judah and the North. According to a recurring biblical tradition, Yahweh emanated from the South. Evidence from certain Egyptian documents endorses Yahweh's presence in the South. It was also my aim to establish the interdependence – or not – of different disciplines relevant to the Hebrew Bible. In my research it became clear that archaeology and biblical scholarship – particularly historiography – cannot operate effectively without the acceptance of their mutual dependence. / Thesis (PhD)--University of Pretoria, 2010. / Ancient Languages / unrestricted

The present study argues that the central notion and practice unifying Edward Said’s oeuvre is that of “secular” criticism, which he conceives of as the defining activity and tool of the humanistic intellectual. We also argue that Said sees the intellectual’s moral mission of “secular” criticism as based in Said’s understanding of “humanism” as intellectual production aimed at concrete change in the real world of human struggles for universal justice and human emancipation from oppression of all types. Related to Said’s particular and perennial upholding of a particular understanding of humanism, Said wields a religious-secular rhetoric as a weapon to expose and question the ironic fact of the “religiosity” of those persons, movements, and ideologies claiming their basis in the unswervingly “secular.” Within the overall body of Said commentary, Said’s effort to recover humanism as a useable praxis of human emancipation from oppressive systems has been largely neglected. This is largely due to the misrecognition of Orientalism as Said’s defining project and the consequent sublation of equally if not more significant, defining elements in the Saidian oeuvre than Orientalism , e.g. “secular” criticism. This study finds that the religious-secular trope conveys Said’s notion of what criticism is and does in a re-constructed humanism, a “humanism of liberation,” as Saree Makdisi has aptly called it, and not, as some commentators have seen it, an expression of a self-contradictory disdain for religion with a concomitant defensive posture toward Islam. In this thesis, Said’s religious-secular rhetoric is analyzed for its meaning, for its role in Said’s idea of criticism, and for its significance in Said’s effort to re-construct humanism as an emancipatory practice. Finally, this study argues that Said’s writing to and on the Arab-Islamic world, and particularly his writing on Palestine-Israel, exemplifies what Said means by the term “secular” criticism. In this sense, Said’s work on the problematic of Palestine-Israel is a synechdoche of his entire critical project. This interpretation is unique in that it challenges the idea that Said’s work on Palestine-Israel is an endeavor outside his professional vocation as a humanist and is motivated merely by Said’s passionate attachment to his homeland. This thesis aims to show how Said’s work on the problematic of Palestine-Israel is not only a model of what Said means by the term “secular criticism,” but avers further that, coupled with Said’s writing to and on the Arab Islamic world, his work on Palestine-Israel represents the most significant labor of his “non-humanist” humanism, or the “humanism of liberation” as a still valid practice, and as an intellectual, ethical framework, and a means of concretely furthering the struggle for universal human emancipation—which Said defines as completely in line with his work as a humanist. In other words, Said’s work on the problematic of Palestine-Israel is not a political side-line apart from his work as a man of letters but is a body of quintessentially humanistic production at the heart of the concept of “secular criticism.” The present study argues that the central notion and practice unifying Edward Said’s oeuvre is that of “secular” criticism, which he conceives of as the defining activity and tool of the humanistic intellectual. We also argue that Said sees the intellectual’s moral mission of “secular” criticism as based in Said’s understanding of “humanism” as intellectual production aimed at concrete change in the real world of human struggles for universal justice and human emancipation from oppression of all types. Related to Said’s particular and perennial upholding of a particular understanding of humanism, Said wields a religious-secular rhetoric as a weapon to expose and question the ironic fact of the “religiosity” of those persons, movements, and ideologies claiming their basis in the unswervingly “secular.” Within the overall body of Said commentary, Said’s effort to recover humanism as a useable praxis of human emancipation from oppressive systems has been largely neglected. This is largely due to the misrecognition of Orientalism as Said’s defining project and the consequent sublation of equally if not more significant, defining elements in the Saidian oeuvre than Orientalism , e.g. “secular” criticism. This study finds that the religious-secular trope conveys Said’s notion of what criticism is and does in a re-constructed humanism, a “humanism of liberation,” as Saree Makdisi has aptly called it, and not, as some commentators have seen it, an expression of a self-contradictory disdain for religion with a concomitant defensive posture toward Islam. In this thesis, Said’s religious-secular rhetoric is analyzed for its meaning, for its role in Said’s idea of criticism, and for its significance in Said’s effort to re-construct humanism as an emancipatory practice. Finally, this study argues that Said’s writing to and on the Arab-Islamic world, and particularly his writing on Palestine-Israel, exemplifies what Said means by the term “secular” criticism. In this sense, Said’s work on the problematic of Palestine-Israel is a synechdoche of his entire critical project. This interpretation is unique in that it challenges the idea that Said’s work on Palestine-Israel is an endeavor outside his professional vocation as a humanist and is motivated merely by Said’s passionate attachment to his homeland. This thesis aims to show how Said’s work on the problematic of Palestine-Israel is not only a model of what Said means by the term “secular criticism,” but avers further that, coupled with Said’s writing to and on the Arab Islamic world, his work on Palestine-Israel represents the most significant labor of his “non-humanist” humanism, or the “humanism of liberation” as a still valid practice, and as an intellectual, ethical framework, and a means of concretely furthering the struggle for universal human emancipation—which Said defines as completely in line with his work as a humanist. In other words, Said’s work on the problematic of Palestine-Israel is not a political side-line apart from his work as a man of letters but is a body of quintessentially humanistic production at the heart of the concept of “secular criticism.” The present study argues that the central notion and practice unifying Edward Said’s oeuvre is that of “secular” criticism, which he conceives of as the defining activity and tool of the humanistic intellectual. We also argue that Said sees the intellectual’s moral mission of “secular” criticism as based in Said’s understanding of “humanism” as intellectual production aimed at concrete change in the real world of human struggles for universal justice and human emancipation from oppression of all types. Related to Said’s particular and perennial upholding of a particular understanding of humanism, Said wields a religious-secular rhetoric as a weapon to expose and question the ironic fact of the “religiosity” of those persons, movements, and ideologies claiming their basis in the unswervingly “secular.” Within the overall body of Said commentary, Said’s effort to recover humanism as a useable praxis of human emancipation from oppressive systems has been largely neglected. This is largely due to the misrecognition of Orientalism as Said’s defining project and the consequent sublation of equally if not more significant, defining elements in the Saidian oeuvre than Orientalism , e.g. “secular” criticism. This study finds that the religious-secular trope conveys Said’s notion of what criticism is and does in a re-constructed humanism, a “humanism of liberation,” as Saree Makdisi has aptly called it, and not, as some commentators have seen it, an expression of a self-contradictory disdain for religion with a concomitant defensive posture toward Islam.

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[pt] A presente pesquisa tem como objetivo principal estudar o modo como se relacionam, no profeta Malaquias, a crise do sacerdócio, descrita de modo particular em 2,1-9, e a perspectiva escatológica apresentada em 2,17 - 3,5. A pesquisa considera que, embora em 2,1-9 prevaleça o discurso de juízo sobre os sacerdotes faltosos, no v. 4 é delineada uma perspectiva salvífica. Tal perspectiva é desenvolvida em 2,17 - 3,5, onde o tema da purificação do sacerdócio e do restabelecimento do culto domina a maior parte do texto (cf. 3,2-4). Para o estudo das unidades textuais seguiu-se o Método Histórico Crítico nas suas etapas essenciais, conjugando-o, de modo particular no comentário aos textos, com a análise sincrônica, considerando-se cada uma das perícopes na sua forma final e canônica. Com relação a 2,17 - 3,5 procurou-se identificar os elementos que permitem caracterizar este texto como escatológico e delinear suas perspectivas principais. O estudo conjunto das perícopes demonstrou que, em Malaquias, o juízo previsto em 2,1-9 é revertido a partir da perspectiva escatológica apresentada em 2,17 - 3,5. Uma vez que os sacerdotes são os ministros do culto e este é a manifestação da dimensão propriamente religiosa da relação de Deus com seu povo, YHWH mesmo agirá, em primeiro lugar por meio de seu mensageiro, purificando os sacerdotes e restabelecendo o culto na sua integridade e, depois, atuando como testemunha contra os que não o temem. / [en] The aim of this research is to study how the prophet Malachi relates the priesthood crisis, described in particular in 2:1-9, with the eschatological perspective presented in 2:17 - 3:5. The research considers that while in 2:1-9 the judgmental discourse on the faulty priests prevails, in v. 4 is outlined a salvific perspective. This perspective is developed in 2:17 - 3:5, where the theme of priesthood purification and the reestablishment of worship dominates most of the text (cf. 3:2-4). For the study of the textual units, was followed the Critical Historical Method in its essential stages, combining it, particularly in the commentary on the texts, with the synchronic analysis, considering each of the pericopes in its final and canonical form. With respect to 2:17 - 3:5 it was tried to identify the elements that allow characterizing this text as eschatological and delineating its main perspectives. The joint study of the pericopes has shown that in Malachi the judgment predicted in 2:1-9 is reversed from the eschatological perspective presented in 2:17 – 3:5. Since the priests are the ministers of worship and this is the manifestation of the properly religious dimension of God s relationship with his people, YHWH himself will firstly act through his messenger, purifying the same priests and restoring the integrity of the worship, and so he will act as a witness against those who do not fear him.