From Ancestor Legend to Ancestor Scripture
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Wang Kai-yun's study of scripture possesses the characteristics of breakthrough legend to return scripture, which has gone through the process from legend to scripture. Wang Kai-yun in his early age worships legend. He began to return to scripture when he started the works of Ram and Legend. The return of scripture from legend in Ram represented a departure from He Xiu's idea of decodes, as best demonstrated by his viewpoint of disaster. The other feature is his questioning and surpassing to the legend. The motivation of authoring Spring-fall Legend is to show the difference of two versions of legends and his spirit of returning to scripture.Keywords:
Legend
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Gregory the Great in his Expositio in Canticis Canticorum, created between the years 594 or 595 and 598, ends the patristic tradition of allegorical commentaries on Sg. We are not in the possession of the complete text of Gregory’s commentary, as the text of the Pope’s interpretations finishes at Sg 1 : 8. The text of the commentary as we have it at present shows some signs of a revision made by Gregory I himself and has features characteristic of the original oral version of the text. The comparative study of Origen’s and Gregory’s commentaries shows that Pope Gregory I was familiar with Origen’s homilies and commentary on Sg and used his writings while working on his own text, but only sparingly. Gregory I undoubtedly took from Origen the general approach, some phrases, and at times the way in which exegesis of a certain extract was executed. Gregory discussed the biblical text in accordance with the principles of intellectual, parenetic and pastoral interpretation. The primary interest of the Pope was to extract the spiritual-mystical meaning of the text, and the allegorical interpretation is supposed to help man read the biblical text so that he can love God and follow Him. The allegorical reading of Sg, and actually of the whole Bible as well, should consequently kindle the love of God in man and fill him with thoughts of God. Gregory I recommends a spiritual-ascetic reading of the Bible: the reader is supposed to change his habits for the better, be able to alienate himself ascetically from the surrounding world, and in this way acquire contemplation of Godly matters.
Exegesis
Possession (linguistics)
Asceticism
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Abstract of a Master of Letters Degree, Durham University
The Reverend Canon William Ernest Lionel Broad M.A., Durham University
By 100 CE the principal appellation of Jesus of Nazareth had become ’Son of God’; a title of such importance to his followers that one of their principle activities for the succeeding 350 years was to define its meaning. Yet this dissertation maintains that widespread belief that the title originates in the Hebrew Scriptures is misplaced. Investigation of Jewish literature leads to the discovery that the title ‘Son of God’ was seldom used in it and never in such a way as to justify it becoming Jesus’ most significant appellation. The aim of my thesis is to examine where else in the ancient world the appellation ‘Son of God’ was used, and, when it was used, to see if it could provide the basis for describing Jesus by this title. The objective of the dissertation is to establish that the use of this title by Greeks and Romans provided the model for Jesus of Nazareth to be called ‘Son of God’.
Chapter 1 examines the religions of Persia, Egypt and Greece and finds that, in the world of mythology, Greek heroes were born as a result of intercourse between a god and a human being and were called sons of the gods. Chapter 2 examines the career of Alexander the Great and especially his visit to the shrine at Siwa and finds that he was there proclaimed a son of god. It establishes that this proclamation transformed the appellation ‘Son of God’ from a mythological to a historical title and led to Alexander’s deification. Chapter 3 examines the Hebrew Scriptures and other Jewish literature with the results described above. Chapter 4 examines the use of the title ‘Son of God’ in the New Testament and discusses the development of this title in the unfolding history of the first century church. It finds that the title was first used of Jesus in Greece during Paul’s ministry to the gentiles and that it provided the motif for Mark’s Gospel. Chapter 5 assesses the use of ‘Son of God’ in post apostolic literature and establishes that, though this literature shows a development of the appellation, it provides no further clue as to it origin. Chapter 6 investigates the effect that the titling of Augustus and subsequent Roman emperors as sons of god had on the way Jesus was portrayed by the evangelists. In particular, it finds that Augustus, originally called a ‘Son of God’ because his father was deified on his death, is portrayed as a figure of such excellence that he was deified during his lifetime.
Chapter 7 concludes the thesis. It shows that Alexander, a person whose historical doings more than justified his being described as ‘the Great’ and who was surrounded by fabulous legends, provided a precedent for a human being to be called a ‘Son of God’ and hence for Jesus of Nazareth to be so described. It indicates how events at Siwa were a precursor of the baptism of Jesus, how one of the temptations was clearly modelled on Alexander’s experiences at Siwa and how Jesus’ reported age at his crucifixion was perhaps chosen because it was Alexander’s age when he died. It also shows how the widespread titling of Roman emperors as sons of gods seriously influenced the way Jesus was perceived as ‘Son of God’. Three appendices examine the birth stories of Alexander, the Messiah as ‘Son of God and some of the titles of Augustus that are relevant to the thesis.
Hebrews
Proclamation
Son of God
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The celebrated Zarathustra-legend-essentially the story of the miraculous birth and upbringing of the prophet-is narrated in considerable detail in the late Pahlavi and mediaeval books. Understanding the legend should tell us much about the continuities and innovations within Zoroastrian thought. Apocalypse of Adam (ApocAd) reproduces a variety of familiar mythological materials, still treated separately though held together by the initial identification of the reappearing Illuminator-Zarathustra, and the framework of the Saosyants, with the 'Glory' that comes to them 'on the water'. This chapter proposes that it precisely reflects the state of the legend in Hellenistic times, and that it likewise represents the same tendencies which figure behind the subsequent developments in the later Pahlavi books. The starting-point for the elaboration of the Zarathustra-legend is evidently the prophet's possession of the charismatic xvarenah, which in the Iranian sources he receives directly from Ohrmazd.Keywords:Apocalypse of Adam (ApocAd); charismatic xvarenah; Pahlavi books; Saosyants; Zarathustra-legend
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The Deuteronomistic History and the Name Theology: lesakken semo sain in the Bible and the Ancient Near East, by Sandra L. Richter. BZAW 318. Berlin/New York: de Gruyter, 2002. Pp. 246. euro68.00 (cloth). In book that stands head and shoulders above much that is being published in the discipline of Hebrew Bible, Sandra L. Richter makes high-profile contribution the debate about Deuteronomistic Name theology. She argues double thesis: (1) that the formula lesakken sem is loan adaptation from Akkadian suma sakanu, used in the Mesopotamian monumental corpus about the king placing his name, and (2) that the scholarly idea of Name theology in the D-work rests on basis of misunderstanding. Richter's book is healthy sign of rethinking in our discipline. She even speaks about a new paradigm without question mark (in the rubric, p. 36). The book has three parts. The first is an introduction with survey of recent research on the D-work (strangely ignoring the contributions of the Gottingen school) and on the Name theology. Richter stresses the role of an outdated idea of nominal realism and of likewise obsolete Wellhausen scheme for the development of Israelite religion: these were the two formative factors in the scholarship that led the conclusion about Name theology, which served as corrective preexilic notions of divine presence in the temple. The second part discusses the lesakken formula in the biblical context. Here the reader finds fine survey of the distribution of all the different Name formulas and an exegesis of key texts. 2 Samuel 7 contains wordplay focusing on and reputation: David's great (v. 9) and God's in the temple (v. 13). Similarly, the Name in 1 Kgs 8 has do with memorial and reputation, not with divine presence. The author then turns the issue of how translate the lesakken formula. Here she makes the striking observation that the lesakken sem formula has synonym in la um semo Sam, to his there. Part II also offers an excellent section on the verb skn in Semitic. The third part gives discussion of the Akkadian suma sakanu formula that in depth and scope goes far beyond anything that has previously been published on this idiom. The material is found in royal monumental inscriptions. In her classification, the author gives particularly good discussion of the clay nails (sikkatu). In the treatment of the occurrences of the Name formula, I single out for particular mention the sections on the victory stelae of the Amanus Mountains (Journey the Cedar Forest) and the discussion of the occurrences in correspondence, notably the occurrences in Amarna letters nos. 287 and 288, both being letters from Jerusalem. To place one's name on monument is claim that monument as one's own. An important section is then devoted corresponding expressions in the Levant. This discussion leads up the understanding of the semantic content of the Hebrew Name formula as an idiom about YHWH being like an ancient Near Eastern king placing his name, thus indicating that he is the mighty champion, the conquering king, the new sovereign of the region who is awarding Israel her land-grant (p. 205). This is further developed in the final conclusions: Deut 12:2-4 speaks about destroying the names of the foreign gods, followed in v. 5b by the command seek YlIWH at the where he chooses his (pp. 209-10). Being one of the scholars engaged in the discussion about Name theology (T. Mettinger, The Dethronement of Sabaoth: Studies on the Shem and Kabod Theologies [ConBOT 18; Lund: Gleerup, 1982]), I must compliment Richter on an impressive piece of work. She is admirably well informed about the primary material and about modern research on the issue. The chapter on the ancient Near Eastern material is beautiful monograph in itself. The presentation is crystal clear. Of her two theses, about the semantics of the formula and about the nonexistence of Name theology, I am inclined accept the first one. …
Deuteronomist
Hebrews
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