Identity and Ethics in the Book of Ruth

Identity and Ethics in the Book of Ruth PDF Author: Peter H. W. Lau
Publisher: Walter de Gruyter
ISBN: 3110247607
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 247

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Book Description
This study demonstrates the importance of including narrative ethics in a construction of Old Testament ethics, as a correction for the current state of marginalisation of narrative in this discipline. To this end, the concept of identity is used as a lens through which to understand and derive ethics. Since self-conception in ancient Israel is generally held to be predominantly collectivist in orientation, social identity theory is used to understand ancient Israelite identity. Although collectivist sensitivities are important, a social identity approach also incorporates an understanding of individuality. This approach highlights the social emphases of a biblical text, and consequently assists in understanding a text's original ethical message. The book of Ruth is used as a test case, employing a social identity approach for understanding the narrative, but also to model the approach so that it can be implemented more widely in study of the Old Testament and narrative ethics. Each of the protagonists in the book of Ruth is examined in regards to their personal and social self-components. This study reveals that the narrative functions to shape or reinforce the identity of an ancient Israelite implied reader. Since behavioural norms are an aspect of identity, narrative also influences behaviour. A social identity approach can also highlight the social processes within a society. The social processes taking place in the two most commonly proposed provenances for the book of Ruth are discussed: the Monarchic and Persian Periods. It is found that the social emphases of the book of Ruth most closely correspond to the social undercurrents of the Persian Period. On this basis, a composition for the book of Ruth in the Restoration period is proposed.

Identity and Ethics in the Book of Ruth

Identity and Ethics in the Book of Ruth PDF Author: Peter H. W. Lau
Publisher: Walter de Gruyter
ISBN: 3110247607
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 247

Get Book Here

Book Description
This study demonstrates the importance of including narrative ethics in a construction of Old Testament ethics, as a correction for the current state of marginalisation of narrative in this discipline. To this end, the concept of identity is used as a lens through which to understand and derive ethics. Since self-conception in ancient Israel is generally held to be predominantly collectivist in orientation, social identity theory is used to understand ancient Israelite identity. Although collectivist sensitivities are important, a social identity approach also incorporates an understanding of individuality. This approach highlights the social emphases of a biblical text, and consequently assists in understanding a text's original ethical message. The book of Ruth is used as a test case, employing a social identity approach for understanding the narrative, but also to model the approach so that it can be implemented more widely in study of the Old Testament and narrative ethics. Each of the protagonists in the book of Ruth is examined in regards to their personal and social self-components. This study reveals that the narrative functions to shape or reinforce the identity of an ancient Israelite implied reader. Since behavioural norms are an aspect of identity, narrative also influences behaviour. A social identity approach can also highlight the social processes within a society. The social processes taking place in the two most commonly proposed provenances for the book of Ruth are discussed: the Monarchic and Persian Periods. It is found that the social emphases of the book of Ruth most closely correspond to the social undercurrents of the Persian Period. On this basis, a composition for the book of Ruth in the Restoration period is proposed.

Identity and Moral Formation in 1 Thessalonians

Identity and Moral Formation in 1 Thessalonians PDF Author: Kiwoon Lee
Publisher: Wipf and Stock Publishers
ISBN: 1666778923
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 263

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Book Description
The author examines Paul’s first letter to the Thessalonians, shedding light on his significant role in shaping the identity and ethos of the early Christian community in first-century Thessalonica. By delving into Paul’s formative discourse, this book shows how Paul utilized the key concepts from the Hebrew Scriptures to substantiate God’s redemptive plan for the gentiles. The author discerns echoes of holiness, sanctification, the fulfillment of the new covenant, and the Day of the Lord within Paul’s writing. These notions serve as reminders to believers of their shared memory, narrative, and communal ethos as God’s chosen people. In the midst of the Thessalonians’ political and religious conflicts with their surrounding world, Paul guides them towards a self-recognition of their identity and cultivates a transformative daily ethos within their community. Furthermore, this book not only offers contemporary readers a deeper appreciation of their own distinctive identity as followers of Christ in today’s socio-cultural context, but it also invites them to actively engage with Paul’s formative discourse.

Identity, Character, and Morality

Identity, Character, and Morality PDF Author: Owen Flanagan
Publisher: MIT Press
ISBN: 9780262560740
Category : Psychology
Languages : en
Pages : 508

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Book Description
Many philosophers believe that normative ethics is in principle independent of psychology. By contrast, the authors of these essays explore the interconnections between psychology and moral theory. They investigate the psychological constraints on realizable ethical ideals and articulate the psychological assumptions behind traditional ethics. They also examine the ways in which the basic architecture of the mind, core emotions, patterns of individual development, social psychology, and the limits on human capacities for rational deliberation affect morality.

Soundings in Kings

Soundings in Kings PDF Author: Klaus-Peter Adam
Publisher: Fortress Press
ISBN: 1451412630
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 232

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Book Description
In Soundings in Kings, international scholars examin 1 and 2 Kings as an independent work, identifying new methods and models for envisioning the social location of the authors (or redactors) of Kings, the nature of the intended audience or audiences, and the political and rhetorical implications of its construction. Soundings in Kings demonstrates the role of Kings as a cornerstone work within the Hebrew Bible, a crossroads between prophecy, poetry, wisdom, ancestral and national narrative, and ritual instruction.

Intergroup Conflict, Recategorization, and Identity Construction in Acts

Intergroup Conflict, Recategorization, and Identity Construction in Acts PDF Author: Hyun Ho Park
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN: 056771330X
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 225

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Book Description
Hyun Ho Park employs social identity to create the first thorough analysis via such methodology of Acts 21:17-23:35, which contains one of the fiercest intergroup conflicts in Acts. Park's assessment allows his readers to rethink, reevaluate, and reimagine Jewish-Christian relations; teaches them how to respond to the vicious cycle of slander, labeling, and violence permeating contemporary public and private spheres; and presents a new hermeneutical cycle and describes how readers may apply it to their own sociopolitical contexts. After surveying previous studies of the text, Park first analyses Paul's welcome, questioning, and arrest, and how slandering and labeling make Paul an outsider. Park then describes how, through defending his Jewish identity and the Way, Paul nuances his public image and re-categorizes himself and the Way as part of the people of God. When Paul identifies himself as a Roman and later a Pharisee, Park examines Luke's ambivalent attitude toward Rome and the Pharisees, and assesses how Paul escapes dangerous situations by claiming different social identities at different times. Finally, he discloses the vicious cycle of slander, labeling, and violence not only against the Way but also against the Jews and challenges the discursive process of identity construction through intergroup conflict with an out-group, especially the proximate “Other.” Furthermore, he demonstrates how the relevance of such scholarship is not limited to Lukan studies or even biblical studies in general; the frequent use of slander, labeling, and violence in the politics of the United States and other polarized countries around the globe demands new ways of looking at intergroup relations, and Park's argument meets the needs of those seeking a new perspective on contemporary political discord.

Social Identity and the Book of Amos

Social Identity and the Book of Amos PDF Author: Andrew M. King
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN: 0567695301
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 169

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Book Description
What, according to the Book of Amos, does it mean to be the people of God? In this book, Andrew M. King employs a Social Identity Approach (SIA), comprised of Social Identity Theory and Self-Categorization Theory, to explore the relationship between identity formation and the biblical text. Specifically, he examines the identity-forming strategies embedded in the Book of Amos. King begins by outlining the Social Identity Approach, especially its use in Hebrew Bible scholarship. Turning to the Book of Amos, he analyzes group dynamics and intergroup conflicts (national and interpersonal), as well as Amos's presentation of Israel's history and Israel's future. King provides extensive insight into the rhetorical strategies in Amos that shape the trans-temporal audience's sense of self. To live as the people of God, according to Amos, readers and hearers must adopt norms defined by a proper relationship to God that results in the proper treatment of others.

The Cambridge Companion to the Hebrew Bible and Ethics

The Cambridge Companion to the Hebrew Bible and Ethics PDF Author: C. L. Crouch
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1108473431
Category : Bibles
Languages : en
Pages : 355

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Book Description
Balances historical and contemporary concerns in an engaging and informative way, drawing connections between ancient and contemporary ethical problems.

Interpreting Old Testament Wisdom Literature

Interpreting Old Testament Wisdom Literature PDF Author: David G. Firth
Publisher: InterVarsity Press
ISBN: 0830891129
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 252

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Book Description
Expert contributors survey recent developments in the field of Old Testament wisdom literature, examining key themes in Proverbs, Job, Ecclesiastes, Song of Songs, Ruth, and some Psalms, and in the broader Old Testament narrative from Joshua to Esther. These practical essays consider the importance of studying wisdom literature today and the place of wisdom in biblical theology.

Locke on Persons and Personal Identity

Locke on Persons and Personal Identity PDF Author: Ruth Boeker
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
ISBN: 0198846754
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 326

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Book Description
Locke on Persons and Personal Identity offers a fresh perspective on Locke's accounts of personal identity within the context of his broader philosophical ideas and the philosophical debates of his day.

Ethics in the Gospel of John

Ethics in the Gospel of John PDF Author: Sookgoo Shin
Publisher: BRILL
ISBN: 9004387439
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 253

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Book Description
In Ethics in the Gospel of John Sookgoo Shin seeks to challenge the dominant scholarly view of John’s ethics as an ineffective and unhelpful companion for moral formation. In order to demonstrate the relevance of John’s ethics, Shin argues that the development of discipleship in John’s Gospel should be understood as moral progress, which was a well-known moral concept in the ancient Mediterranean world. Having drawn an ethical model from the writings of Plutarch, this study aims to identify the undergirding ethical dynamic that shapes John’s moral structure by bringing out the implicit ethical elements that are embedded throughout John’s narratives, and thus suggests a way to read the whole Gospel ethically and appreciatively of its literary characteristics.