PhD Theses

Permanent URI for this collectionhttps://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14194/2796

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    The Global, Literary Structure of the Book of Daniel: Comparisons, Parallelisms and Progressions as Means of Communication
    (South African Theological Seminary Johannesburg) Arnold, Daniel 1949; Jabini, Franklin
    Daniel’s structure is a puzzle. The work is written in two languages that divide the book into three parts (Dan 1; 2-7; 8-12); there are also two genres (narrative and apocalyptic) that divide the book into two parts that do not correspond to the language structure (Da 1-6; 7-12). Moreover, the narrative section describes the integration of faithful believers with pagan powers, but the apocalyptic section is generally understood to support resistance and opposition to the occupant. How do we account for the signs of unity and diversity, and what message is conveyed through the complex structure(s)? This thesis analyses Daniel from the perspective of parallelism and duality, which are basic paradigms of Hebrew communication. Three global structures (linguistic, genre, and era) are developed and supported with literary arguments. Justification for complementary perspectives is offered. The case for the book’s unity is further strengthened by links tying each chapter to the preceding one. On a different level, the book’s oneness (unity/completeness) is supported by the meticulous selectivity of specific items: proper names and chronological references form many dualities (pairs), quartets, and groups of seven. Duality is also present at the level of the book’s themes and helps to express diversity. Three main themes (time, revelation, and redemption) present contrasting sides: (1) present vs. end-time perspective, and prolonged sequences vs. limited time durations; (2) revelation given to pagans vs. mysteries kept for future believers; (3) salvation from present trials vs. suffering from final persecution, and delayed judgments vs. final judgments. Comparisons of various building blocks and theme references show progressions that run through the book, thus adding dynamism to unity and diversity. The seven visions reveal a progression in clarity and animation; and oppression to God and the faithful is expressed through the progressive hardening of kings, court officials, and evil kingdoms. The final step of the comparative exegetical approach analyses Daniel from the perspective of the canon. Four antithetical perspectives are suggested: the Babel story, Joseph the patriarch, Ezekiel the contemporary exilic prophet, and the book of Revelation. A review chart of structures, insights into Daniel’s central message, and a few comments on authorship, historicity, and eschatology conclude the study.
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    How שׁוּב and נָחַם Contribute to Understanding the Meaning of Jeremiah 4:28, 15:6-7, 18:7-10 and 26:3, 13 and 19
    (South African Theological Seminary Johannesburg South Africa) Marsh, Allen Bythel; Domeris, William R.
    The purpose of this thesis was to explore how שׁוּב(shub) and נָחַם(nacham) contribute to understanding the meaning of Jeremiah 4:28, 15:6-7, 18:7-10 and 26:3, 13 and 19. This thesis affirms three hypotheses: (1) When Jeremiah 4:28, 15:6-7, 18:7-10 and 26:3, 13 and 19 are exegetically examined, the relationship between the Hebrew words שׁוּב(shub) and נָחַם(nacham) plays a vital role in understanding the overall message of those passages. (2) Jeremiah used שׁוּב(shub) and נָחַם(nacham) to demonstrate that God sometimes but not arbitrarily relents in response to the decisions of his people. (3) Based on a careful reading of the Hebrew Text, the relationship between שׁוּב(shub) and נָחַם(nacham) reveals that conditional propositions are real not only from man’s perspective but also from God’s. This thesis reveals how the covenantal relationship of שׁוּב(shub) and נָחַם(nacham)proved to contribute much to the understanding of the Jeremiah passages. For example, the covenantal relationship shows that the response of the nation had an influence on what God did or did not do, meaning that to some degree the future of the nation was in the hands of the people depending upon how they responded to God. God’s relenting was based on the nation repenting. Another example is when Jeremiah 18:1-10 is viewed in the context of covenant relationship, it was found that the main point of the passage shifted from the potter’s unilateral control and sovereignty over the clay to the flexibility of the potter to work with his clay. This thesis challenges the traditional notion that נָחַם(nacham) with God as its subject does not have literal meaning and is merely an anthropomorphic metaphor. This thesis provides a framework for metaphorical interpretation as it relates to anthropomorphisms. Instead of interpreting all anthropomorphisms in the same way and by the same standard, this thesis calls for a distinction to be made between material (physical) and immaterial (non-physical) anthropomorphic statements in the Old Testament and shows why they cannot be interpreted in the same way. For example, this thesis shows that if an immaterial anthropomorphism is not to some degree interpreted literally, then it loses its meaning and purpose. Furthermore, this thesis concludes that an anthropomorphic non-literal interpretation of God relenting נָחַם(nacham) is not necessary based on the exegesis of the Jeremiah passages and is not consistent with the evidence presented in the Old Testament. This thesis also offers a possible explanation as to why Christian tradition has largely dismissed God’s relenting as “anthropomorphic metaphor “despite the evidence from the exegesis and the Old Testament. This is accomplished by comparing the concrete thought of the ancient Hebrews with the abstract thought of the ancient Greeks and shows why the early Greek philosophers disliked anthropomorphic depictions of the gods and how that led the philosophers to develop an idea of the divine as utterly transcendent and in most cases separated and un-relatable to creation. This thesis continues the discussion by showing how this thought influenced some of the early Christian leaders in their mind-set and thinking about God as utterly transcendent, which resulted in non-literal views of God relenting.
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    The God of Mount Carmel: Contending Views About the Deity Associated with the Biblical Mount Carmel
    (South African Theological Seminary) Kagmatché, Samson N’Taadjèl; Domeris, William R.
    Baal is the second deity mentioned after YHWH in the Old Testament. This Semitic god has often been in conflict with YHWH in the Old Testament. Most of the time, the Hebrew Bible mentioned only Baal. Therefore, there are many kinds of Baal (Baal Hadad, Baal Melqart, Baal Shamin). In the contest on the Biblical Mount Carmel in 1 Kings 18, YHWH and Baal were invited to prove their power, and send fire which was to come to devour (holacaust) the pieces of bull placed on the altar. The loser in this contest would be the impostor deity. Which Baal among three (Baal Hadad, Baal Melqart, Baal Shamin) was the competitor of YHWH on Mount Carmel? There are many hypotheses from different fields of study(Archaeologists, Historians of Religious Studies, and Specialists of Biblical Studies, (Old Testament). Our motivation in this research is to establish exactly which Baal wasin conflict with YHWH on Mount Carmel. We undertake this work using the HB and the LXX (biblical data) to understand the text of 1 Kings 18 and know the Baal invoked in this text. The extra-biblical data studies are: (iconographies, epigraphs, Akkadian, and Ugarit sources) and the research on the nature and functions of the deities (Baal Hadad, Baal Melqart, and Baal Shamin) associated with the Biblical Mount Carmel. All these deities in this research have points in common. They were agrarian deities. They were deities of the atmosphere bringing rain and fertility. These gods were worshipped by their devotees in the old Syro-Palestinian and Ancient Near Eastern societies, according to their role and functions. However, all assumptions and arguments regarding them in this research have their strengths and weaknesses. Let us summarize that finally some evidence of Baal Melqart and some details in 1 Kings 18 make a case for the Master of Tyre (Baal Melqart).
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    A Multi-Disciplinary Study of Deuteronomy 23:12-14
    (South African Theological Seminary Johannesburg, South Africa) Yamoah, James; Domeris, William R.; Asumang, Annang
    Deuteronomy 23:12-14 is pregnant with interesting theological, moral, and socio-cultural concepts which require exploration. From the premise that the possession of and survival on the Promised Land required that Israel would engage in warfare, YHWH’s presence in their camp to engage in a war against His enemies, who were Israel’s enemies, had to be ensured. Such divine presence required the maintenance of holiness of their military camp,which called for the people having to bury their faces outside it, a practice argued to be motivated by other reasons as well.This multi-disciplinary study focuses not only on unearthing these concepts,but also determining the interconnections between themand integrating them meaning fully to show that the usual interpretation of the holiness laws from a dichotomous perspective needs revision. Based on the historical-grammatical model for exegesis, the contextual,literary and textual underpinnings of the pericope are analysed, bringing to bear its structural and rhetorical undertones. The analyses identify major concepts:ritual purity, hygiene, sanitation,‘place theology’, ‘name theology’, and ‘YHWH/holy war’, and produce a translation of the text that was interpreted for the original and other OT audiences. It is shown that the overall motivation for the pericope was not YHWH’s presence in the camp; rather the war that He would execute.On the strength of a proposed hermeneutical grid for the interpretation of OT laws in the NT context, the dissertation links the pericope to some NT passages. One major link is to Paul’s letters to the Corinthians,where he discusses purity of the temple (2 Cor 6:14-7:1). Ultimately, the undergirding concepts find allusions in the apocalyptic camp (19:11-21:27), where the prophecy of God’s final war is given.The analyses confirm the hypothesis that the pericope is not only undergirded by many concepts (or disciplines) which can be integrated meaningfully,but also helps in providing a general framework for the study of OT passages.Overall, not only are the findings presented in this dissertation relevant to contemporary Christians as they look forward to the fulfilment of the ‘camp’promises,but the larger society of today can also derive some benefits from the recommendations it makes.
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    The Redactional Criteria and Objectives Underlying the Arrangement of Psalms 3-8
    (South African Theological Seminary) Smith, Kevin G.; Domeris, William R.
    At present, research into the editorial shaping of the canonical Psalter holds a central role in psalms studies. In keeping with this trend, this dissertation examines links between Psalms 3-8 in an attempt to discern the criteria and objectives the editors used when arranging them.The study begins with a detailed exegetical synopsis of each of the six psalms in the chosen corpus. This lays a foundation for examining links between the psalms that might have influenced the editors to arrange them in the canonical order. An exhaustive analysis of links first between adjacent psalms and then across the entire corpus follows; the goal is to identify the rationale for the ordering of the psalms.The analysis suggests that verbal and thematic links provided the main basis of arrangement. The editors’ primary objective was to ensure a natural verbal and thematic connection between each pair of adjacent psalms. Although editorial linking is most evident on the level of adjacent psalms, beyond this level the editors do seem to have considered shared terms and similarities in the headings; these considerations were subordinate to shared terms and themes amongst neighbouring psalms.
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    The Information Structure of the Book of Esther in the Septuagint
    (South African Theological Seminary Johannesburg,South Africa) Chan, Ken; Smith, Kevin G.; Jabini, Franklin
    A comparison of studies on the book of Esther shows that there are diverse opinions of what constitutes (a) the purpose, and (b) the discourse boundaries of the book.This is discussed in chapter one.This study seeks to answer these two questions for the book of Esther in the Septuagint by analyzing its information structure through the perspective of functional linguistics. In particular, this is achieved by employing the concepts of language typology, rules of information flow, topic, focus, thetic clauses, point of departure, topicality, points of view, mainline, offline, background, prominence,coherence, discourse boundaries, and information markedness. The methodology is justified in chapter two.Chapter three presents the results of this analysis clause-by-clause, along with a literal translation and the labels of the information structure of the text. This is anon-traditional commentary that only addresses the discourse aspects of the text.Similarities and differences with the understanding of the literature are compared and contrasted.The conclusions of this study are given in chapter four. It is found that the purpose of the book of Esther in the Septuagint concerns the dates of the festival of Purim.The text itself is divided into 32 major discourse sections (summarized in Table 3 of this study). The structure of the text is based on a plot with (a) an instigating incident, (b) a narrative reversal, and (c) a didactic conclusion. The coding of the study corpus does not justify the existence of chiasms. The unity of the text is justified by the study results.One implication of this study is that a text-centered reading of the study corpus is preferred over a reader-centered approach. An accidental finding is that the data overwhelmingly emphasizes the authority of the king.Translations of three selected portions of the text (taken from the three major genres in the text, namely narrative, hortatory, and didactic) is compared with the translation of this study. This comparison shows that the clarity and the relative emphases of the translation is improved by this research.Finally, the applicability of this method for bible translation and biblical studies is outlined.
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    The contribution of the theme of divine judgment to the argument of the book of Ecclesiastes
    (South African Theological Seminary, 2017) Huovila, Kimmo; Lioy, Dan T.
    There has been no general agreement among scholars about the argument of the book of Ecclesiastes. There are several interpretive paradigms for handling tension in the book. Many scholars think the book does not affirm afterlife or a divine judgment in it. This dissertation studies what the book teaches about divine judgment and how it contributes to the argument of the book. The argument of the book is evaluated by studying key lexemes and their usage. Key passages discussing divine judgment are exegeted to determine what the book teaches about divine judgment and how that relates to the argument of the book. The teaching on divine judgment is placed in the context of the canon. Finally, homiletic implications of the study are discussed.This study concludes that the book of Ecclesiastes argues that no permanent profit is possible in thislife. This makes all work futile with respect to the goal of securing permanent profit. This futility is discussed using the key word הבל'futility', which is used as an antonym of יתרון'profit' and with a singular meaning whenever used in reference to the summary “all is futile”. This futility is used to argue for valuing joy instead of living an achievement-centered life. The book of Ecclesiastes teaches a personal divine judgment of all deeds in the afterlife in the epilogue and probably in the body of the work. In the area of divine judgment, tensions in the book are to be solved by reading the book harmonistically. There is a possible allusion to the Egyptian view of afterlife in Ecclesiastes 3:21. The theme of divine judgment is used to address lack of justice in this life, as a basis for revering God, and to guide the pursuit of joy. The teaching on divine judgment is in agreement with the rest of the canon.The use of the key word הבל'futility' argues for a unified meaning, but such a meaning has been elusive. I present a novel solution to the lexical dilemma. While the idea that הבלmeans 'futility' is not novel, this study shows that the futility is specifically in relationship to an attempt to secure permanent profit. The minority view that Qohelet consistently affirmed a conscious afterlife and a divine judgment in it has significant ramifications for understanding the book and for Old testament biblical theology. The view that this is a plausible interpretation of the book is supported by new arguments.
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