Symbolic Interactionism in the Gospel according to John

Symbolic Interactionism in the Gospel according to John PDF Author: Elia Shabani Mligo
Publisher: Wipf and Stock Publishers
ISBN: 1625643985
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 99

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Book Description
Symbolic interactionism is a social-scientific perspective that seeks to describe how human beings create meaning with one another in their daily lives. Since the world is populated by symbols that characterize all interactions among living beings, this book explores the importance of symbols and symbolic interaction while moving beyond the social sciences to theological studies. By examining the way symbolic interaction is portrayed among characters in the Gospel according to John in the "water narratives," this book argues that the Bible is a symbol that is itself full of symbols whose meanings are worthy of our study. Hence, the interaction of characters in the Gospel of John and the whole Bible, along with the symbols they use in their interactions, demonstrates that symbolism is directly linked to human life because symbols are major means of communication, and without symbols, human beings are in chaos.

Symbolic Interactionism in the Gospel according to John

Symbolic Interactionism in the Gospel according to John PDF Author: Elia Shabani Mligo
Publisher: Wipf and Stock Publishers
ISBN: 1625643985
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 99

Get Book Here

Book Description
Symbolic interactionism is a social-scientific perspective that seeks to describe how human beings create meaning with one another in their daily lives. Since the world is populated by symbols that characterize all interactions among living beings, this book explores the importance of symbols and symbolic interaction while moving beyond the social sciences to theological studies. By examining the way symbolic interaction is portrayed among characters in the Gospel according to John in the "water narratives," this book argues that the Bible is a symbol that is itself full of symbols whose meanings are worthy of our study. Hence, the interaction of characters in the Gospel of John and the whole Bible, along with the symbols they use in their interactions, demonstrates that symbolism is directly linked to human life because symbols are major means of communication, and without symbols, human beings are in chaos.

Symbolic Interactionism in the Gospel according to John

Symbolic Interactionism in the Gospel according to John PDF Author: Elia Shabani Mligo
Publisher: Wipf and Stock Publishers
ISBN: 1630872555
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 68

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Book Description
Symbolic interactionism is a social-scientific perspective that seeks to describe how human beings create meaning with one another in their daily lives. Since the world is populated by symbols that characterize all interactions among living beings, this book explores the importance of symbols and symbolic interaction while moving beyond the social sciences to theological studies. By examining the way symbolic interaction is portrayed among characters in the Gospel according to John in the "water narratives," this book argues that the Bible is a symbol that is itself full of symbols whose meanings are worthy of our study. Hence, the interaction of characters in the Gospel of John and the whole Bible, along with the symbols they use in their interactions, demonstrates that symbolism is directly linked to human life because symbols are major means of communication, and without symbols, human beings are in chaos.

Kinship Relations in the Gospel of John

Kinship Relations in the Gospel of John PDF Author: Joan C. Campbell
Publisher: Wipf and Stock Publishers
ISBN: 166678706X
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 264

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Book Description
This monograph examines the relationships between the two "families" of Jesus in the Fourth Gospel. The first family is that of the mother, brothers, and sisters of Jesus; the second is the fictive family of the disciples. Using social-scientific criticism, Campbell proposes that the Gospel depicts a sharp division between these families, that is, between the biological family, the brothers and sisters of Jesus (adelphoi), and the discipleship family that includes the mother of Jesus.

Pastoral Counseling for Orphans and Vulnerable Children

Pastoral Counseling for Orphans and Vulnerable Children PDF Author: Tuntufye Anangisye Mwenisongole
Publisher: Wipf and Stock Publishers
ISBN: 1532648642
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 279

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Book Description
The existence of orphans is as inevitable to most African cities and the world as it is death. These orphans are caused by the death of one or both parents due to various reasons, including the scourge of HIV and AIDS. Being orphans, most of them are vulnerable to difficult lives because they have nobody to fend for them and take care of their lives. They lack adequate food, living expenses, school fees, and care since their current guardians are also in adverse economic situations. In such situations, orphans end up living a life of hopelessness and trauma, which makes them deeply remember their dead parents and the care they received from them before death. Following the vulnerable situation of most orphans, this book, through a study done in the Tanzanian context, challenges churches to extend their counseling and caring ministries to Orphans and Vulnerable Children (OVC). It purports that the use of narrative approach is the most effective way to enter into the world of vulnerable children in order to provide pastoral counseling to them. This approach helps pastoral counselors to use life stories, proverbs, biblical narratives, plays, arts, songs, riddles, poems, symbols, and images as healing and coping mechanisms for OVC. Therefore, this book is helpful not only to churches and their ministry to orphans and vulnerable children, but also to those who care for orphans in their homes. Moreover, it will be helpful to children who live in adverse conditions worldwide to find ways to cope with their situations through the stories of children used inside this book.

He Descended into Hell

He Descended into Hell PDF Author: Elikana Asheri Lova
Publisher: Wipf and Stock Publishers
ISBN: 1498206220
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 57

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Book Description
The Apostles' Creed is one of the most prominent creeds in Christianity, perhaps even the most recited creed by normal believers in church services. However, the creed holds a clause that seems controversial to Christian mission in some contexts, especially African contexts. The clause, "He descended into Hell," is the main concern of this book. In African context, where ancestral cult is prominent in both people's worldview and practice, this clause poses a tangible problem of religious syncretism. The phrase suggests a life after immediate death, that a person can continue to live in a certain realm soon after death. Since the clause depicts Jesus descending into hell after death and burial, and preaching to the other souls of the dead in hell, it suggests the possibility of hearing a message of salvation after death, a doctrine hardly held by Christianity. The doctrine therefore becomes good news for those Africans who hold firm the ancestral cult, and those whose relatives had died in sin on earth. Therefore, this book critically examines the origin and use of this doctrine in the church and its validity in an African context.

Jesus and the Stigmatized

Jesus and the Stigmatized PDF Author: Elia Shabani Mligo
Publisher: Wipf and Stock Publishers
ISBN: 1630876119
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 464

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Book Description
Biblical scholars often read the Bible with their own interpretive interests in mind, without associating the Bible with the concerns of laypeople. This largely undermines the contributions laypeople can offer from reading the Bible in their own contexts and from their own life experiences. Moreover, such exclusively scholarly reading conceals the role of biblical texts in dealing with current social problems, such as HIV/AIDS-related stigmatization. Hence, the lack of lay participation in the process of Bible reading makes the Bible less visible in various common life situations. In this volume Elia Shabani Mligo draws on his fieldwork among people living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA) in Tanzania, selects stigmatization as his perspective, and chooses participant-centered contextual Bible study as his method to argue that the reading of texts from the Gospel of John by PLWHA (given their lived experiences of stigmatization) empowers them to reject stigmatization as unjust. Mligo's study shows that Christian PLWHA reject stigmatization because it does not comply with the attitude of Jesus toward stigmatized groups in his own time. The theology emerging from the readings by stigmatized PLWHA, through their evaluation of Jesus' attitudes and acts toward stigmatized people in the texts, challenges churches in their obligatory mission as disciples of Jesus. Churches are challenged to reconsider healing, hospitality and caring, prophetic voices against stigmatization, and the way they teach about HIV and AIDS in relation to sexuality. Churches must revisit their practices toward stigmatized groups and listen to their voices. Mligo argues that participant-centered Bible-study methods similar to the one used in this book (whereby stigmatized people are the primary interlocutors in the process) can be useful tools in listening to the voices of stigmatized groups.

Imagery in the Gospel of John

Imagery in the Gospel of John PDF Author: Jörg Frey
Publisher: Mohr Siebeck
ISBN: 9783161491160
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 528

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Book Description
Revised and enlarged papers from a conference held July 30-Aug. 1, 2005, in Eisenach, Germany, with additional contributions.

Valentinian Ethics and Paraenetic Discourse

Valentinian Ethics and Paraenetic Discourse PDF Author: Philip L. Tite
Publisher: BRILL
ISBN: 9047428528
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 384

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Book Description
Offering a fresh assessment of the presence and function of paraenesis within Valentinianism, this book places Valentinian moral exhortation within the context of early Christian moral discourse. Like other early Christians, Valentinians were not only interested in ethics, but used moral exhortation to discursively shape social identity. Building on the increasing recognition of ethical and communal concerns reflected in the Nag Hammadi sources, this book advances the discussion by elucidating the social rhetoric within, especially, the Gospel of Truth and the Interpretation of Knowledge. The social function of paraenesis is to persuade an audience through social re-presentation. The authors of these texts discursively position their readers, and themselves, within engaging moments of narrativity. It is hoped that this study will encourage greater integration of research between those working on the Nag Hammadi material and those studying early Christian paraenetic discourse.

The Symbolic Narratives of the Fourth Gospel

The Symbolic Narratives of the Fourth Gospel PDF Author: Dorothy A. Lee
Publisher: A&C Black
ISBN: 1850754683
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 273

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Book Description
The book examines six long narratives of the Fourth Gospel, arguing that they are best understood as 'symbolic narrative'. They display a unique cohesion of symbol and narrative: the narrative unfolds the symbol and the symbol draws out the narrative. This process occurs as the character struggles to understand the symbolic meaning. The structure develops in five Stages: the establishing of a 'sign', image or feast (Stage 1); misunderstood in materialistic terms (Stage 2); the struggle to understand the symbolic meaning (Stage 3); the acceptance or rejection of that meaning (Stage 4); a confession of faith or statement of rejection (Stage 5). The symbolic narratives reveal how material reality becomes symbolic of the divine. Just as the flesh of Jesus is the symbol of divine glory, so material reality now has the potential for symbolizing God. Flesh has no independent existence; its value lies in its symbolic role. This parallels the cohesion between form and meaning. Just as the flesh is given value in symbolizing the divine, so narrative form is of value in disclosing theological meaning. The implied reader is drawn into the drama of the symbolic narratives to make the authentic response of faith.

Jesus the Samaritan

Jesus the Samaritan PDF Author: Stewart Penwell
Publisher: BRILL
ISBN: 9004390707
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 241

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Book Description
In Jesus the Samaritan: Ethnic Labeling in the Gospel of John, Stewart Penwell examines how ethnic labels function in the Gospel of John. After a review of the discourse history between “the Jews” and “the Samaritans,” the dual ethnic labeling in John 4:9 and 8:48 are examined and, in each instance, members from “the Jews” and “the Samaritans” label Jesus as a member of each other’s group for deviating from what were deemed acceptable practices as a member of “the Jews.” The intra-textual links between John 4 and 8 reveal that the function of Jesus’s dual ethnic labeling is to establish a new pattern of practices and categories for the “children of God” (1:12; 11:52) who are a trans-ethnic group united in fictive kinship and embedded within the Judean ethnic group’s culture and traditions.