Thesis (PhD)--Stellenbosch University, 2012. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: This study has focused on interpreting the Passover in the Exodus tradition as a narrative of origin and migration among the Tiv of Nigeria. The main aim of the study is to go beyond a theology of liberation from slavery and colonialism which has been the crux of the interpretation of Exodus to a theology of identity that commemorates the beginning of the migration from Egypt through the ritual festival of the Passover. The study has argued that one’s identity could be used as an indigenous interpretive resource to interpret the Passover in the Exodus tradition among the Tiv of Nigeria who are mostly from an oral context. By employing a literary and socio-rhetorical approach (cf. Robbins 1996a:1), the research has analyzed the inner-texture, inter-texture, socio-cultural and ideological/theological intertexture of the Passover text of Exodus 12:1-28. It is argued that the Passover tradition had to survive the onslaught of royal and priestly ideology evident in its changing character from being a family oriented feast (Ex. 12:1-28) to a centralized feast held in the temple in Jerusalem. Despite the onslaught, the Passover prevailed as a family feast in the end and theology triumphed over ideology – in a manner of speaking. The different stages of development and celebration of the Passover in biblical times from family/non-priestly to priestly and centralized feast in the temple is also regarded as a clue to its survival of the onslaught of royal and priestly ideology. The socio-rhetorical approach is deemed appropriate for the interpretation of the Passover in the Exodus tradition to an orality-based audience such as the Tiv of Nigeria especially in terms of the oral-scribal intertexture. The approach is relevant to the oral community because it integrates the text with history and the readers to enable readers of any given text to interact with it using their context full of different life experiences to come up with new and informed interpretations that are meaningful and appropriate to them. Thus, the study has argued that oral discourse should work hand-in-hand with the written as far as the interpretation of the Exodus and Passover (Ex. 12:1-28) among oral cultures such as the Tiv are concerned. Readers and interpreters of the Passover tradition are enjoined to keep their eyes open to detect oral elements in the literary text and carry out interpretations of portions of the written text that cannot be explained through literary devices by taking into account orality. The study has also registered the need to pay more attention to a theological approach that appreciates readers from an oral culture and their interpretation of and interaction with the written text when placed side by side with the reader’s oral text that is full of stories of origin and migration, identity, life experiences. Furthermore, the multidimensional approach by Robbins (1996a & 1996b) has been employed to analyze the texture of Exodus 12:1-28 and its parallel texts in the Pentateuch, Prophets (Former and Latter) and the Writings. Eleven pericopes on the Passover were identified that stretch from the Pentateuch to the Latter Prophets and they cut across the three biblical legal codes namely the Covenant Code (Ex. 23:14-19), the Holiness Code (Lev. 23:5-8) and the Deuteronomic Code (Deut. 16:1-8). The pericopes also span non-priestly texts (Ex. 12:1-28) and priestly texts (Ex. 34:18-26; Num. 9:1-14; 28:16-25). In another sense, the Passover texts could be said to cover the Deuteronomistic text (Jos. 5:10-12; 2 Kg. 23:21-23), Chronist text (2 Chron. 35:1-18) and the Latter Prophets (Ezek. 45:21-24). By analyzing the Passover text of Exodus 12:1-28 against the backdrop of parallel texts in the Old Testament, the study has also identified eight variables in the texts on the Passover namely different terminologies, place, date, sacrifice, preparation, officials and different links between the Passover and unleavened bread as well as different links between the Passover and the Exodus tradition. The eight variables demonstrate that the Passover has a dynamic and ongoing character; as such, it should be interpreted as a ritual festival that commemorates the beginning of the migration of a chosen people out of slavery in Egypt. However, it should also be seen as a festival commemorating the identity of celebrants with different ideologies, cultures, religious ideas, and life circumstances over time and in different contexts. The different modes of celebrating or interpreting the Passover in different periods and contexts to different audiences with different needs have shown that the narratives of origin and migration of the Tiv could be used as an indigenous interpretive resource for the interpretation of the Passover in the Exodus tradition among people from an oral culture. In addition, the Passover should be interpreted as an ongoing ritual commemoration of the beginning of the migration from Egypt to mark the identity of celebrants in different contexts and cultures. In this way, as the Tiv people celebrate their New Yam festival at the family level or the annual Tiv Day at a centralized place to commemorate their origin as a people that migrated from Congo via Swem in the Cameroon plains to their present home in Benue-Nigeria, fresh memories would be evoked of the Passover festival commemorating the liberation from Egypt to create hope of future survival in present celebrants. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Hierdie proefskrif fokus op die interpretasie van die Paasfees binne die Eksodustradisie as ‘n verhaal aangaande oorsprong en migrasie onder die Tiv van Nigerië. Die hoofdoel van die studie is om verder te gaan as die gebruiklike kontekstualisering van Eksodus as bevrydingsteologie van slawerny en kolonialisme en om ‘n teologiese interpretasie te ontwikkel wat identiteit in ag neem met die herdenking van die begin van die migrasie vanuit Egipte tydens die rituele viering van die Paasfees. In die proefskrif word geargumenteer dat identiteit gebruik kan word as ‘n inheemse bron vir die interpretasie van die Paasfees onder die Tiv wat ‘n sterk mondelinge kultuur het. Daar is gebruik gemaak van Vernon Robbins (1996a) se sosio-retoriese metodologie en sodoende is aandag verleen aan die “inner” en “inter-texture”, sowel as die sosio-kulturele en ideologies-teologiese intertekste van die Paasfees in Eksodus 12: 1-28. Dit word aangetoon hoe die Paasfeestradisie die ideologiese aanslae van koninklike en priesterlike ideologieë moes weerstaan toe koning Josia dit van ‘n familiefees verander het na ‘n gesentraliseerde fees by die tempel in Jerusalem. Ten spyte van hierdie aanslag het die Paasfees tog as familiefees oorleef en kan dit as ‘n voorbeeld gebruik word van hoe teologie ideologie te bowe kan kom. In die Ou Testament kan verskillende fases van ontwikkeling en viering van die Paasfees vanaf ‘n familiefees na ‘n priesterlik gedomineerde sentrale fees by die tempel in Jerusalem onderskei word en dit verleen ‘n aanduiding van hoe die priestelike en koninklike ideologiese aanslag oorwin is. Binne die sosio-retoriese benadering is die sogenaamde “oral-scribal intertexture” van besondere toepassing vir die interpretasie van die Paasfees in die Eksodustradisie binne ‘n mondelinge kultuur soos die van die Tiv in Nigerië. Die eksegetiese benadering is juis van toepassing binne ‘n mondelinge kultuur omdat die teks teen die agtergrond van mondelinge oorlewering verstaan word en die Tiv-lesers in staat stel om dit binne hulle eie konteks met hulle eie lewenservaring in verband te bring. Robbins (1996a & 1996b) se multidimensionele benadering is benut om die teks van Eksodus 12: 1 – 28 te analiseer, sowel as die parallele tekste in die Pentateug, Profete (Vroeëre en Latere) en die Geskrifte. Sodoende is elf intertekste geïdentifiseer wat met die Paasfees verband hou: voorbeelde is gevind in al drie belangrikste regsversamelings in die Ou Testament, naamlik die Verbondsboek (Eks 23:14-19), die Heiligheidswette (Lev 23:5-8) en die Deuteronomiese kodeks (Deut 16: 1-8). Daarmee saam is beide nie-priesterlike tekste (Eks 12: 1-28) sowel as priesterlike tektste (Eks 34:18-26; Num 9:1-14; 28:16-25) in ag geneem, asook Deuteronomistiese gedeeltes (Jos 5:10-12; 2 Kon 23: 21-23), ‘n Kronistiese teks (2 Kron 35: 1-18) en die latere profete (Eseg 45:21 24). Die ondersoek na die bestaande navorsing oor die Paasfees het agt veranderlikes geïdentifiseer wat ook binne die eie teksinterpretasie benut is: uiteenlopende terminologie, plek, datum, offerhande, voorbereiding, amptenare, verskillende bande tussen die Paasfees en die Fees van die Ongesuurde Brode en verskillende verbande tussen die Paasfees en die Eksodustradisie. Hierdie agt veranderlikes demonstreer hoe die Paasfees dinamies voortbestaan het en ook hoe dit verstaan kan word as ‘n feesritueel wat die aanvang van die migrasie uit die Egiptiese slawerny herdenk. Die navorsing het aangetoon hoe die verskillende maniere van paasviering verband hou met verskillende intepretasies van die Paasfees binne opeenvolgende periodes, kontekste, gehore en behoeftes. Daarom word die gevolgtrekking gemaak dat die verhale van oorsprong en migrasie van die Tiv benut kan word as ‘n inheemse bron vir die intepretasie van die Paasfees in die Eksodustradisie. Die proefskrif bevind ook dat dit belangrik is om daarop te let dat die klem val op die voortgaande rituele herdenking van die begin van die verhaal oor migrasie uit Egipte wat van besondere belang vir die identiteit van die feesgangers is – te midde van verskillende kontekste, kulture en ideologieë. Op ‘n soortgelyke manier vier die Tiv hulle “New Yam Festival” as ‘n familiefees en hulle nasionale Tiv Dag by ‘n gesentraliseerde plek as herdenking van hulle oorsprong as ‘n groep wat migreer het vanaf die Kongo via die Swemberg in die Kameroen na hulle huidige blyplek in Benue, Nigerië. Hiermee word die Paasfees ruimer as bevrydingsteologie herinterpreteer en skep dit nuwe hoop op die toekoms vir die deelnemers aan die feesviering.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-04-25T19:20:34Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Maria Cecilia Mendia.pdf: 766325 bytes, checksum: 40ce5635069cd127dab8edffea73a3a9 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2014-12-10 / The scope of the present research is to point the relevance of Origen of Alexandria s message in the XXIst century, based on the study of his V Homily The exit of the sons of Israel . The research starts with a reflection on the borders among Religion Science, Theology, and Language Science, followed by comments on the singularity of narrative as mystical experience, and an introduction to Alfonso López Quintás Método Lúdico Ambital (MLA), to be used as a methodological tool. The first chapter presents the social, political and religious environment that preceded and permeated the consolidation of Christian religion s identity, during the first three centuries. The historical context and the philosophical and religious ideas of that period, and their influence on Christian religion s identification process, are investigated, as well as their influence on the first canon of the Holy Scriptures. Finally, the spiritual path s notion, as an expression of the Soul s aspiration in Jewish-Christian vision, and specifically for Origen is described. In the second chapter, Origins main characteristics are outlined. His thought, life and deeds are used as parameters to define him as theologian and pedagogue. Origen is situated within his generation of theologians and his pioneering building of certain Christian constructs, that brought him friends and foes, are highlighted; his homily literature methodology is reviewed and the sources pointed out. After this introduction to Origen, the structure of the V Homily is described. The third chapter starts with a reflection on sacred messages timelessness, and then the V Homily is transcribed, for a critical analysis of Origins teaching method, with his allegoric, mystical and ethical pedagogy. The MLA is proposed as an ancillary hermeneutic tool, using Gabriel Perissé s didactic, to better understand Origen s message, within the worldview and experience of each reader. With this research, a contribution is expected to a better understanding in Brazil of patristic texts, basic to the foundation of Christianity as a religion, and indispensable to understand the nowadays worldwide Christianity development in course / O presente trabalho visa apontar a relevância da mensagem de Orígenes de Alexandria, no século XXI, a partir de um estudo de sua V Homilia, A saída dos filhos de Israel. A pesquisa se inicia com uma reflexão sobre a demarcação das fronteiras entre a Ciência da Religião, a Teologia e as Ciências das Linguagens Religiosas; prossegue com comentários sobre a singularidade narrativa como experiência mística e uma introdução ao Método Lúdico Ambital (MLA), do filósofo- teólogo e pedagogo Alfonso López Quintás, como prática metodológica para efetuar o estudo proposto. No primeiro capítulo é feita a exposição do ambiente sócio-político-religioso, que antecede e permeia o período da conquista de identidade da religião cristã, nos três primeiros séculos. Para tanto são investigadas as principais ideias filosóficas e religiosas existentes na época; é abordada a conjuntura histórica e seus reflexos no processo de identificação da religião cristã, bem como na formação do primeiro cânon das Escrituras. Por fim, é descrita a noção do caminho espiritual como expressão do anseio da alma no ideário judeo-cristão, e em especial para Orígenes. No segundo capítulo são detalhadas as principais características desse autor, tomando sua vida, obras e pensamento como fio condutor para expressá-lo como teólogo e pedagogo. Orígenes é inserido em sua geração de teólogos e é ressaltado seu pioneirismo na construção de determinados conceitos cristãos, o que lhe trará tanto seguidores como detratores. São revistas as posições metodológicas de sua literatura homilética e levantadas as fontes de seus escritos. Após essa apresentação do autor, o capítulo se encerra com a descrição da estrutura de sua Homilia sobre o Êxodo. No terceiro capítulo é feita uma reflexão sobre a intemporalidade das mensagens sagradas. A seguir é transcrita a V Homilia, que se torna o referencial para a análise crítica do método de ensino de Orígenes, com sua pedagogia alegórica mística e ética. É proposto o MLA, com a didática de G. Perissé, como um auxílio hermenêutico, para melhor compreender a mensagem de Orígenes, de acordo com a experiência e a visão de mundo de cada leitor. Com esta pesquisa, também se espera contribuir para a recepção brasileira dos textos patrísticos fundamentais do início do cristianismo como religião, imprescindíveis para a compreensão da nova configuração do cristianismo mundial, em plena elaboração em nossos tempos

The Exodus story of the Israelites' slavery in Egypt and subsequent redemption was central to Jewish accounts of their national origins and was an important component of Jewish self-identification in antiquity. Although Greek and Latin sources appear ignorant of the Exodus story, ancient ethnographies of the Jews in non-Jewish sources claim that the Jews were originally Egyptian. This thesis examines how Josephus presents the Exodus story of the Jews' servile national origins in Egypt to a Roman audience who had biases against slaves, freedmen, and Egyptians, and little knowledge of Jewish origins apart from reports that they were Egyptian by origin. Josephus's first work Jewish War, a politico-military history, includes tangential remarks about Jewish origins, but implies in the proem that the Jews were originally Egyptian. Jewish Antiquities, which rewrites the biblical account of Jewish origins, explicitly denies that the Jews were originally Egyptian and deliberately omits mention of the Jews' servitude in Egypt at important points in the narrative where it would have been expected. In Against Apion, an apologia, Josephus subtly uses keywords and the rhetorical technique of insinuatio to prove that the Jews were not originally Egyptian without stating openly that this is a goal of the work. Several factors explain these results. Aristotle's theory of natural slavery, which posits that slaves are innately defective, was part of the ideological assumptions of first century CE Roman elites. Romans were also ambivalent about their own partly-servile origins in Romulus's asylum. Influenced by Augustan propaganda about Actium, first-century Roman sources deride Egyptians with a range of negative stereotypes. Josephus denies that the Jews were Egyptian and omits their servile origins at important points in the narrative where the Bible mentions it in order to portray the Jews as favorably as possible.

This thesis is a study of the theological relationship between divine mercy and judgment in the attribute formula of Exodus 34:6-7 and in three of its "echoes" (Numbers 14:18, Isaiah 53:4-12 with 54:7-10, and Nahum 1:3). The primary scholarly interlocutor for this study is Walter Brueggemann. In his Theology of the Old Testament, Brueggemann offers an alternative interpretation of how mercy and judgment are related in these texts. Against Brueggemann, this study defends the view that in Ex 34:6-7 and these three echoes, divine mercy and judgment are not only mutually compatible but also are integrated with one another. I reach this conclusion by means of an exegesis of the above four texts that is canonical, theological, and contextual. The introduction Chapter 1 includes a survey of relevant scholarly literature, an analysis of relevant aspects of Brueggemann's work, and a statement of the canonical method employed in the thesis. Chapter 2 provides a theological exegesis of Exodus 34:6- 7 in the context of Exodus 32-34. Chapters 3-5 offer theological exegesis of the three echo-texts noted above. Chapter 6 offers a conclusion, summarising the argument and making some final observations.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-08-03T12:19:47Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 JoseAirtonSilva.pdf: 1571440 bytes, checksum: ef63ee99d9cca7ce9300c7f3d2a989b1 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2015-02-24 / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior / The book of Habakkuk portrays a conflict between the faith of the prophet and his historical reality. While his theology describes YHWH, his God, as one who sees oppression, hears the cry of the oppressed and freedom from oppression, the reality of their day was oppressive and cry for divine help, but YHWH was not hearing the cry, was seeing oppression, but it is not saving the oppressed. The prophet can not understand what is happening. Finally, YHWH tells him, but to announce sending the Neo-Babylonian Empire to punish the oppressors who, at first, are people among the people of the prophet himself, ie, the Judahite ruling elite of the days of king Jehoiachin between 608 and 598 BC The conflict increases the prophet, then, with this measure, YHWH will change only the oppression of hands. The prophet insists their cry for an intervention of YHWH that solves the issue of both internal and external oppression. Then the answer comes. YHWH has appointed a day when they will settle accounts with every kind of wicked, either internal, or external. YHWH will make their ungodliness to turn upon their own heads. This response ends the conflict of the prophet. Finally, the God who sees oppression, who hears the cry of the oppressed and acts to free him, is again active on behalf of his people. The book reveals that the theology that drives the complaints addressed to the prophet YHWH because of the conflict between their faith and their historical reality, is the theology of Exodus. The Exodus is the foundational experience of the Israelite faith. Thus, from the beginning, Israel knew YHWH as the one who hears the cry of the oppressed see their oppression and acts to release him from his oppressors. When oppression is reigning and YHWH is not acting, and worse, when the people cry out for help and not hear YHWH, settles the conflict between faith and historical reality as experienced by the prophet Habakkuk. The book ends with a psalm that celebrates the powerful act of YHWH who delivers his people and fight against the wicked. In order to know just what your liberating God is active and not abandoned. So it should not give up. Should rather continue fighting against all sorts of oppression supporting his unconditional faith in YHWH and submitting to him even when he can not understand his ways. / O livro de Habakkuk retrata um conflito entre a fé do profeta e sua realidade histórica. Enquanto sua teologia descreve YHWH, seu Deus, como alguém que vê a opressão, ouve o clamor do oprimido e o liberta da opressão, a realidade de seus dias era de opressão e clamor por socorro divino, mas YHWH não estava ouvindo o clamor, estava vendo a opressão, mas não está salvando o oprimido. O profeta não consegue entender o que está acontecendo. Finalmente, YHWH lhe responde, mas para anunciar o envio do império neobabilônico para punir os opressores que, a princípio, são pessoas dentre o próprio povo do profeta, ou seja, a elite governante judaíta dos dias do rei Joaquim entre 608 e 598 a.C. O conflito do profeta aumenta, pois, com esta medida, YHWH apenas mudará a opressão de mãos. O profeta insiste em seu clamor por uma intervenção de YHWH que resolva a questão da opressão tanto interna quanto externa. Então a resposta vem. YHWH determinou um dia quando vai ajustar contas com todo tipo de ímpio, seja interno, seja externo. YHWH vai fazer com que suas impiedades se voltem sobre suas próprias cabeças. Esta resposta põe fim ao conflito do profeta. Finalmente, o Deus que vê a opressão, que ouve o clamor do oprimido e age para liberta-lo, está novamente ativo em favor do seu povo. O livro revela que a teologia que move as queixas do profeta endereçadas a YHWH por causa do conflito entre sua fé e sua realidade histórica, é a teologia do Êxodo. O Êxodo é a experiência fundante da fé israelita. Assim, desde o princípio, Israel conheceu YHWH como aquele que ouve o clamor do oprimido, vê sua opressão e age para liberta-lo de seus opressores. Quando a opressão está reinando e YHWH não está agindo e, pior, quando o povo clama por ajuda e YHWH não ouve, se instala o conflito entre a fé e a realidade histórica conforme experimentada pelo profeta Habakkuk. O livro termina com um salmo que celebra o agir poderoso de YHWH que livra o seu povo e luta contra o ímpio. No fim o justo sabe que o seu Deus libertador está ativo e não o abandonou. Por isso, não deve desistir. Deve sim, continuar lutando contra toda sorte de opressão apoiando sua fé incondicional em YHWH e submetendo-se a ele mesmo quando não consegue entender seu modo de agir.

Submitted by Fabielle Cheuczuk (fabielle.cheuczuk@unioeste.br) on 2018-07-20T18:17:10Z No. of bitstreams: 2 Dissertação flavia.pdf: 1815567 bytes, checksum: 797e5b0f26d1dfd29141a8cd867d49ce (MD5) license_rdf: 0 bytes, checksum: d41d8cd98f00b204e9800998ecf8427e (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2018-07-20T18:17:10Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 2 Dissertação flavia.pdf: 1815567 bytes, checksum: 797e5b0f26d1dfd29141a8cd867d49ce (MD5) license_rdf: 0 bytes, checksum: d41d8cd98f00b204e9800998ecf8427e (MD5) Previous issue date: 2018-03-09 / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior - CAPES / The family farm, characterized mainly by labor and farm management, presents an important economic activity in the southwestern Paraná. In this way, it is important ascertain the future this activity, that theoretically, depend of young people that are children of these families farm. The objective this essay was to verify which the factors that influence the permanence or the output of the young person in the rural area. To attend the objective propose was realized an interview with students of 3rd year of technical course in farming of State Center for Professional Education in the Southwest of Paraná, localized at Francisco Beltrão/PR. The sample, composite by 52 young people, was taken not random order, of now that had to attend necessary requirements, as be child of family farm and reside in rural area. The application form, only tool of data collection, was submitted the validation and count on the contribution of eight professionals that work with the theme. The results show that the main factors that influence of young person to permanence or output in the rural area are the farm size, mechanization of properties, conversation with parents and the participation in decision-making in the property, and the options of leisure in the rural area. / A agricultura familiar, caracterizada principalmente pelo uso da mão de obra e o gerenciamento da propriedade pelos mesmos, apresenta uma importante atividade econômica na mesorregião sudoeste do Paraná. Deste modo, é importante averiguar o futuro dessa atividade, que teoricamente, depende dos jovens que são filhos desses agricultores familiares. O objetivo dessa pesquisa foi verificar quais são os fatores que influenciam na permanência e na saída do jovem do campo. Para atender o objetivo proposto, foi realizada uma entrevista com alunos do terceiro ano do curso técnico em agropecuária do Centro Estadual de Educação Profissional do Sudoeste do Paraná, localizado em Francisco Beltrão/PR. A amostra, composta por 52 jovens, foi obtida de forma não aleatória, já que esses tinham que atender requisitos necessários, como: serem filhos de agricultor familiar e residirem na zona rural. O formulário aplicado, única ferramenta de coleta de dados, foi submetido a validação e contou com a contribuição de oito profissionais que trabalham com o tema. Os resultados demonstram que os principais fatores que influenciam o jovem a permanecer no campo e a sair dele, são o tamanho das propriedades rurais, a mecanização das propriedades, o diálogo com os pais e a participação na tomada de decisão na propriedade, e as opções de lazer na zona rural.

There is a shortage of clergy, at least in the Roman Catholic Church (cf Schoenherr&Sorenson 1982:23; Heilbronner 1998:11; Tentler 1998:348; Carroll 2001:1; Fernandez 2001:ix-x; see Seidler 1979:764; Berger 1987; Hoge et al 1988:264, 280). The Protestant Church in general is experiencing more of a distribution problem than a shortage (cf Chaves 2001:36; see Jud et al 1970:59). The two greatest hindrances to addressing this clergy distribution problem among Protestant churches is a lack of adequate compensation for clergy and the undesirable location, as perceived by clergy, of the church (Chaves 2001:36; see Jud et al 1970:59). Challenges such as secularization, duality of vocation, time management, change in type of ministry, family issues, congregational and denominational conflict, burnout, sexual misconduct, divorce or marital problems, and suicide, affect clergy. Studies on the shortage of clergy have been conducted mostly in the USA and Europe and not in South Africa. This study seeks to address this research gap by means of a practical theological grounded theory exploration of the exodus of clergy. Grounded theory methodology is used to identify the reasons why clergy trained at a Bible College of a Protestant Charismatic mega church leave full-time pastoral ministry. Findings correspond to previous studies with two reasons appearing more frequently than others: responding to a call and leadership related issues. Firstly, respondents differed in their replies with respect to reconciling their leaving full-time pastoral ministry to their call with responses of: not being called, a dual call, or called but left anyway. Secondly, respondents indicated that leadership influence was mostly negative with regard to affirming their call. / Thesis (PhD)--University of Pretoria, 2012. / Practical Theology / unrestricted

There has always been competition among hedge funds, mutual funds, and other types of investors to perform better than index, meaning, creating alpha. How can you create alpha? Are there any patterns to follow? Any trends? There are many questions one may ask in order to find patterns that are creating. The purpose of this study is to see how CEO departures affect equity value in the short- medium- and long term and its comparison to indices. This study has collected data from a majority of publicly traded Nordiccompanies with a market capitalisation of over 10 billion Swedish crowns. The collected data has been collected within the last 20 years (2003-2023) with market-adjusted return, market capitalisation, volume, and CEO tenure being the prominent variables analysed.As CEOs have the operative responsibility of a company, they thereby are at the top of the company and effectively guide the company towards its goals. The changes in CEOs could thereby be of interest to investors as there is potential for larger structural changes when a new CEO is appointed. Applying this to its equity value, there is potential formispricing. Using mainly Fama’s and Malkiel’s research on the Efficient Market Hypothesis (EMH) and Random Walk as the theoretical framework there are different ways in which equity price could move. EMH states that all markets are efficient by the equity representing all available information. Random Walk instead states that equity price moves randomly and cannot be predicted in accordance with historical movements. The empirical results showed that there were no statistically significant findings in our employed regression analysis. However, on average, the descriptive statistics show thatthe market-adjusted return for a company with a CEO departure is negative compared to its comparable index. The intraday MAR highly deviate from 1 day until 1 quarter and thereafter the deviation becomes less. The conclusion could be drawn that EMH might be contradicted in the short term but holds long term. It is also difficult to deny the theory of random walks in equities.

Rural revitalization is a major concern in many developed countries where rural exodus depopulated thecountryside, including France where some rural areas suffer from demographic and economic decline. In thefirst times of the Covid 19 crisis, the perspective of an urban exodus was largely raised in the developedcountries’ press. The idea was that the pandemic was sparking disenchantment with the urban lifestyleleading to mass migration from the big cities to the countryside, thus fostering rural revitalization, possibly ata wide scale. Therefore, the aim of this study is on the one hand, to understand this Urban Exodusphenomenon and its significance in the French context through press and literature review. On the otherhand, the aim is to investigate if and how this phenomenon impacts rural revitalization, by focusing on thecases of the rural municipalities Saint-Fraimbault and Mamers. We find that the vision of the Urban Exodusfirst conveyed by the media was distorted: there has been no global reorganization of spatial and migratorypatterns in France, even though more people have been moving towards an area with a lesser populationdensity. The host territories include rural areas that were in decline before the pandemic, where the UrbanExodus represents a potential in terms of demographic and economic recovery, as well as a challenge for theirrural identity and their development model. The case studies show that the effects of the Urban Exodus onrural revitalization are not uniform. They suggest that the effects may depend on the initial developmentstrategy of the municipality. In the case of Mamers indeed, the Urban Exodus was experienced as anopportunity while the phenomenon did not have significant effects in Saint-Fraimbault.

Thesis (DLitt (Ancient Studies. Biblical Languages))--University of Stellenbosch, 2007. / Each language has some means or system of referring to participants. This system of reference includes a participant’s initial introduction, continuing reference to the participant, as well as reintroduction after some period of absence. A number of morphological, syntactic and pragmatic issues impinge upon the kinds of encoding used to refer to participants in various contexts. The primary concern of this study is to provide a cross-linguistic, discourse-functional description of the encoding of participants in Biblical Hebrew narrative. Our description is based on the analysis of a preliminary test corpus of Exod 1-12, which is then applied to our dissertation corpus of Gen 12-25. In order to narrow the scope of the project, the data considered in this dissertation will be limited to the corpora of Exod 1-12 and Gen 12-25. It will not consider embedded reported speeches, but instead focuses exclusively and exhaustively on the narrative proper of these two corpora. Dooley and Levinsohn (2001:112) have identified three basic linguistic functions a participant reference system must be capable of accomplishing: • Semantic: “identify the referents unambiguously, distinguishing them from other possible ones”. In other words, the reader must be able to track ‘who did what to whom’, • Processing: “overcome disruptions in the flow of information”, • Discourse-pragmatic: “signal the activation status and prominence of the referents or the actions they perform”. We propose that these three functions are not discrete categories, but represent a hierarchical entailment scheme. In other words, overencoding a participant to accomplish the processing function at the same time accomplishes a semantic function of identifying the participant. The study begins by providing a description of the default encoding based on the semantic and cognitive constraints present in various discourse contexts. Our methodology is to develop a set of default encoding principles based on the semantic function of participant reference which can account for as much of the attested data as possible. These default principles are also used to identify pragmatically-motivated departures from the default norms. The non-default encoding is construed as explicitly marking the presence of some linguistic feature. The non-default encoding data are then grouped based on the pragmatic effects they achieve, and are described in light of attested cross-linguistic principles. We claim that the processing function of participant reference is accomplished in Biblical Hebrew through the redundant relexicalization of agents. These redundant NPs have the pragmatic effect of segmenting the discourse into distinct developments. Next we describe the pragmatic use of referring expressions as accomplishing the discourse-pragmatic function of thematic highlighting. Finally, we describe participant encoding which exceeds that necessary for the processing function as accomplishing a second discourse-pragmatic function of cataphorically highlighting a following speech or event. The above-mentioned model is ultimately applied to Gen 27 to demonstrate its explanatory value for exposition of Biblical Hebrew narrative.