Search results for ""Author Louis C. Jonker""

Periods of socio-historical change often prompt renewed interest in history-writing. Interest in the past is then driven by processes of identity negotiation which facilitate a new orientation in changed circumstances. The Hebrew Bible is an excellent example, containing historiographical writings from different socio-historical periods. Dramatic socio-political and socio-religious changes took place from the sixth to the fourth centuries B.C.E. in Ancient Israel. These changes prompted different processes of identity negotiation through historiographical literature. The authors of the essays collected here explore historiographical and related texts and their contexts in these tumultuous times in order to come to a better understanding of the dynamic relationship between ancient historiography and identity negotiation. They also investigate how this literature could be interpreted in contemporary contexts of socio-historical change.Contributors: Johann Cook, Izak Cornelius, Louis Jonker, Gary Knoppers, Oded Lipschits, Gerrie Snyman, Robert Vosloo, Josef Wieshöfer, Ehud Ben Zvi

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The present state of the exegetical discipline is characterized in this book by the exploration of the concepts exclusivity and variety. There is variety not only in the numerous methods and approaches, but also in variants in methodological application, hermeneutical presuppositions, confessional and dogmatic specialization areas and the increasingly volume of scholarly literature. To escape the abyss of variety, exegetes often resort to exclusivistic claims, sometimes deliberately. The main interest of this book is methodological, with the implication that the discussion is limited to the variety of exegetical methodologies. The working hypothesis is that a multidimensional and/or integrational aproach to exegesis can evade the dangers of exclusivity and variety. Various theoretical guidelines, which should be taken into consideration in this discussion, are filtered out from previous attempsts in this regard. Two methodologies, namely a historical-critical one and a narrative one, are used as examples in this investigation. In order to investigate the practical implementation of these methodologies, the Samson Cycle (Judges 13-16) is analyzed. Subsequently, both methodologies are evaluated to the theoretical guidelines formulated earlier. The multidimensional and/or integrational possibilities of these methodologies are then scrutinized. The investigation leads to the formulation of three models which may serve as guidelines for further discussion on this topic. Preference is given to an adapted communication model which serves as a hermeneutical 'map' on which exegetical methodologies can be 'plotted'. It is proposed that the operative factor of such a communication model is a reading strategy which consists of two components,namely (I) a specialized component and (II) a competence component.

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In this book, Louis C. Jonker considers more sophisticated and nuanced models for applying the heuristic lens of "identity" in the interpretation of the Hebrew Bible book of Chronicles. Not only does he investigate the potential and limitations of different sociological models for this purpose, but the author also provides a more nuanced analysis of the socio-historical context of origin of late Persian-period biblical literature by distinguishing between four levels of socio-historic existence in this period. It is shown that varying power relations were in operation on these different levels which contributed to a multi-levelled process of identity negotiation. Louis C. Jonker shows the value of the chosen methodological approach in his analysis of Chronicles, but also suggests that it holds potential for the investigation of other Hebrew Bible corpora.

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