John Barton

Law and Narrative in the Pentateuch

Benedikt Hensel

Die Verhältnisbestimmung von Altem und Neuem Testament als Fundament einer christlichen Theologie: Arnold A. van Rulers Ansatz und die neuere kanonisch-intertextuelle Debatte

Thomas Römer

Von Maulwürfen und verhinderten Propheten: Einige Anmerkungen zum prophetischen Buch

Joachim Vette

Der letzte Richter?: Methodische Überlegungen zur Charaktergestaltung in 1 Sam 11

Martin Prudký

Funktion der direkten Rede in Erzählungen: am Beispiel Gen 22,1-19

David Javornický

Application of Labov's Model to the Old Testament Narratives

Joep Dubbink

'Reality is Highly Overrated': God in Language and Reality in Brueggemann's Theology of the Old Testament

Klaas Spronk

Book review: Karel van der Toorn, Scribal Culture and the Making of the Hebrew Bible

Martin Wernisch

Book review: Vladimír Urbánek, Eschatologie, vědění a politika: příspěvek k dějinám myšlení pobělohorského exilu

Author:

John Barton

Abstract:

The paper examines the hermeneutical problem that the Pentateuch includes both law and narrative and asks how the two might be related. It suggests that the normal solution has been to see legal elements as dominant, with the narrative providing exemplification of legal principles. But it would be possible to make the narrative dominant instead: several ways of doing this are discussed. It is argued that narrative can disclose human truths just as much as moral instruction.

Keywords:

Law - narrative - Pentateuch - moral examples - theodicy.

Cite As:

Barton, John. “Law and Narrative in the Pentateuch.” Communio Viatorum 51, no. 2 (December 31, 2009): 126–40.

Author:

Benedikt Hensel

Abstract:

Es wird in dieser Studie nach dem Stellenwert und der Bedeutung des Alten Testaments für eine christliche Theologie gefragt. Es fällt auf dass die Beschäftigung mit dem Alten Testament in hermeneutischer sowie in systematisch-theologischer Perspektive recht eklektisch geschieht. Das Alte Testament „als Ganzes" sowie als wesentlicher Teil des gesamten christlichen Bibelkanons kommt zu selten in den Blick. Es wird gezeigt, dass die hermeneutische Frage nach dem Verhältnis von Altem und Neuem Testament zwingend theologische Implikationen nach sich zieht, die eine christlichen Theologie (mit Name der Christologie sowie der Soteriologie) grundlegend neu perspektivieren. Es wird gezeigt, dass diese notwendige Vermittlung zwischen der hermeneutischen auf der einen und der systematisch-theologischen Fragestellung auf der anderen Seite bisher allzu selten stattfindet. Die Konturen dieses Verfahren werden am Entwurf des Niederländischen Theologen A. A. van Ruler demonstriert. Ein abschließender Blick in die gegenwärtige ev. Theologie reformierter Prägung zeigt Anknüpfungspunkte zur Weiterarbeit am Thema.

Keywords:

Kanon der Bibel - das Alte und Neue Testament - Christentum und Judentums - Arnold A. van Ruler - niederländische Theologie.

Cite As:

Hensel, Benedikt. “Die Verhältnisbestimmung von Altem Und Neuem Testament Als Fundament Einer Christlichen Theologie: Arnold A. van Rulers Ansatz Und Die Neuere Kanonisch-Intertextuelle Debatte.” Communio Viatorum 51, no. 2 (December 31, 2009): 141–72.

Author:

Thomas Römer

Abstract:

This article explores the relation between 2 Kgs 22-23 and Jer 36. Both texts reflect upon the conservation of the divine word in the form of a "book" (scroll). In both texts the prophets loose their independence. Their authority is from now on related to the word of the „book". 2 Kgs 22 seems to claim the subordination of the Prophets under the Torah, whereas Jer 36 is to be understood as the foundation myth of the prophetic book.

Keywords:

Torah - prophecy in OT - recording prophecy - Jeremiah - Huida - Deuteronomistic History.

Cite As:

Römer, Thomas. “Von Maulwürfen Und Verhinderten Propheten: Einige Anmerkungen Zum Prophetischen Buch.” Communio Viatorum 51, no. 2 (December 31, 2009): 173–83.

Author:

Joachim Vette

Abstract:

This article attempts to fruitfully apply insights into characterdevelopment from a general narratological context to biblical texts. It focuses on the exploits of Saul against Nachash the Ammonite (lSam 11) as a case study for utilising character analysis in service of textual understanding. The article concludes that Saul is portrayed as a kind of „super"fudge with amalgamated traits from several other figures in the book of Judges. This realisation carries consequences for the relationship between judgeship and kingship in the book of Samuel as well as for the later interaction between Saul and Goliath in 1 Sam 17.

Keywords:

Stephen Chatman - Saul - Samuel - narrative criticism - 1 Sam 11 - Ε. M. Forster.

Cite As:

Vette, Joachim. “Der Letzte Richter?: Methodische Überlegungen Zur Charaktergestaltung in 1 Sam 11.” Communio Viatorum 51, no. 2 (December 31, 2009): 184–97.

Author:

Martin Prudký

Abstract:

This study tries to describe communicative functions of direct speech units in biblical narratives. Methodologically it is based on Wolfgang Schneider's Grammar of Biblical Hebrew and Eep Talstra's studies on functional aspects of Hebrew verbal forms in their particular macrosyntactic contexts. Two levels of communication in narrative texts are discerned: the level of narrated story (the internal world of the story) and the level of „ narrator-auditor-communication " (the external effective impact of the narration). Three basic types of direct speech, and the functions of Hebrew verbal forms used in these speeches, are analyzed and interpreted on the basis of the Biblical narration of „Abrahams trial"/,,sacrifice of Isaac", the well known Aqedah (Gen 22:1-19).

Keywords:

Biblical Studies - Old Testament - Hebrew Bible - Poetics - Narratology - Direct Speech - Dialogue.

Cite As:

Prudký, Martin. “Funktion Der Direkten Rede in Erzählungen: Am Beispiel Gen 22,1-19.” Communio Viatorum 51, no. 2 (December 31, 2009): 198–223.

Author:

David Javornický

Abstract:

The goal of this study is to demonstrate that Labov's sociolinguistic model designed for the analysis of the narratives of personal experience could be meaningfully applied to the Old Testament narratives as an adequate instrument for their analysis. The outcomes of this application serve as a further argument for the Labov's thesis that his model developed for the oral narratives proves to be useful in approaching a wide variety of narrative situations and types. To the list of different narratives, to which the model could be usefully applied the Old Testament narratives can be added. The application off Labov's model offers to the readers of the Old Testament narratives a collection of interesting questions, which are useful in dialog with individual narratives and enrich the close reading of these texts. The application can also serve as a bridge between the linguistic and literary analysis of the Old Testament narratives.

Keywords:

Labov - socio-linguistic model - narrative of personal experience - oral narrative - Old Testament narrative - narrative analysis - pediment structure.

Cite As:

Javornický, David. “Application of Labov’s Model to the Old Testament Narratives.” Communio Viatorum 51, no. 2 (December 31, 2009): 224–39.

Author:

Joep Dubbink

Abstract:

In his famous "Theology of the Old Testament" (1997), Walter Brueggemann gives high priority to God as the main character and main 'theme' of the old testament. At the same time, in some passages in the book he seems to reduce God to a purely literary character, with no existence outside the old testament. This article tries to explain why Brueggemann writes these passages, and how they relate to the court metaphor which is central to his biblical theology. This results in a surprising connection of Brueggemann with the theology of Luther, especially with the concept of "realis presentía."

Keywords:

Theology of the Old Testament - Walter Brueggemann - Gods existence.

Cite As:

Dubbink, Joep. “‘Reality Is Highly Overrated’: God in Language and Reality in Brueggemann’s Theology of the Old Testament.” Communio Viatorum 51, no. 2 (December 31, 2009): 240–49. 

Author:

Klaas Spronk

Abstract:

Review of the book: TOORN, Karel van der. Scribal Culture and the Making of the Hebrew Bible. Cambridge, Mass : Harvard Univ Pr, 2007. ISBN: 978-0-674-02437-3.

Cite As:

Spronk, Klaas. Book review: Karel van der Toorn, “Scribal Culture and the Making of the Hebrew Bible.” Communio Viatorum 51, no. 2 (December 31, 2009): 250–54.

Author:

Martin Wernisch

Abstract:

Review of the book: URBÁNEK, Vladimír. Eschatologie, vědění a politika: prǐspěvek k dějinám myšlení pobělohorského exilu. České Budějovice : Historický ústav Filozofické fakulty Jihočeské university v Českých Budějovicích, 2008. ISBN: 9788073940768.

Keywords:

Book review: Vladimír Urbánek, Eschatologie, vědění a politika: příspěvek k dějinám myšlení pobělohorského exilu

Cite As:

Wernisch, Martin. Book review: Vladimír Urbánek, “Eschatologie, vědění a politika: Příspěvek k dějinám myšlení pobělohorského exilu = Eschatology, Knowledge and Politics: A Contribution to the Intellectual History of the Post-White Mountain Exiles.” Translated by Iván Gutiérrez. Communio Viatorum 51, no. 2 (December 31, 2009): 255–60.