54 research outputs found

    Aristotle and the ERA: Measuring the immeasurable

    Get PDF
    The research assessment framework is an unstable reality in many countries. While few would disagree that there is a need to measure and reward research excellence, there has been little investigation of how assessment mechanisms relate to knowledge itself. With a focus on the arts and humanities and writing from an Australian perspective, this paper draws together discussions of research assessment frameworks and forms of knowledge to consider what can and cannot be measured, and what we might gain from (or lose from not) measuring these things. We argue that the focus on measurable outputs risks a culture that favours effective packages of knowledge at the same time as ignoring the immeasurable, or hidden elements of research and scholarship – elements that Aristotle considered to underpin scholarship itself

    Making and managing knowledge in the new Humanities: An Australian experience

    Get PDF

    Augustine’s view of Manichaean almsgiving and almsgiving by the Manichaean community at Kellis

    Get PDF
    Contribution to ‘Augustine and Manichaean Christianity’, the First South African Symposium on Augustine of Hippo, University of Pretoria, 24−26 April 2012. Dr Majella Franzmann is participating as research colleague of Prof. Dr Hans van Oort, Professor Extraordinarius, Department of Church History and Polity of the Faculty of Theology, University of Pretoria, Pretoria, South Africa.Scan this QR code with your smart phone or mobile device to read online.Taking its point of departure from Augustine’s criticism of Manichaean practices with food and drink that appear to disregard the New Testament injunction to give to the poor, or to those who are hungry and thirsty, this article investigates the probability that this was indeed Manichaean practice, by interrogating Manichaean texts and clues about Manichaean practice contained in the personal letters from 4th century CE Roman Kellis in Egypt. A further consideration of types of exclusive communities and their behaviour, or exclusive behaviour at various times from groups that are generally characterised as inclusive, leads to the proposal that Manichaean exclusivity was based firmly on an underlying theology and narrative myth of cosmic salvation that fixed an unalterable Manichaean community practice, carried out in a wide range of geographical locations and historical times.http://www.hts.org.zaam2013mn201

    A Study of Sadaq in Daniel 8:14, Its Relation to the "Cleanse" Semantic Field, and its Importance for Seventh-Day Adventism's Concept of Investigative Judgement

    Get PDF
    While the Hebrew word root p1~ has a broad semantic range, examination of usage in this work shows that it relates mostly to justice and judgment, often describing the just manner of judicial proceedings. A number of these usages depict contexts that Seventh-day Adventism terms 'investigative judgments'; that is, the preliminary judicial phase in which evidence is examined. The relevant usages of verbal p1~ span narrative, legal, historical, poetic (particularly the individual laments), prophetic and wisdom genres. It frequently relates directly to the general biblical 'good-vs-evil' metannarative. The complex wisdom of Job is very illuminating as here verbal p1~ is utilised a disproportionately high number of times, and in connection with themes developed in Daniel, particularly the notions of test, conflict among professing God-followers, judicial investigation, theodicy, and anthropodicy. Further, there is a manifest connection with the "cleanse" semantic realm in the book of Job, in parallelism and linguistic interchange or substitution. This p1~-"cleanse" linguistic interrelation, also seen in other places in the Hebrew scriptures, is important for the cultic context of Dan 8. It suggests a strong connection between the righting of the sanctuary in Dan 8 (p1~) and the righting or cleansing of the sanctuary in the Day of Atonement service of Lev 16 (1;-m and 1~J pi.). The visual imagery of Dan 8, such as the sanctuary and the ram and goat, combined with the intertextual cultic-judicial usage of p1~ and metaphorical meaning of cultic words like 1;-m, ;i:,r, and 1~J, further gives reason to connect the two passages. Therefore it is legitimate to make the interpretive movement from the apocalyptic Dan 8:14 to the cultic and typological Lev 16, with the common referent of an investigative judgment. To deny a linguistic (and thematic) connection is often due to the restrictive semantic methodology of determinacy. A modified indeterminacy both engages prior usage of p1~, particularly in contexts reflecting Danielic themes, and utilises the present Dan 8 sanctuary context as the final determinant of meaning. Consequently, the translation " ... then shall the sanctuary be cleansed (P1~J)" (Dan 8:14), reflected in the Septuagint, Theodotion, Syriac, Coptic, and Vulgate, is an appropriate rendering as it engages the metaphorical "cleanse" nuance significantly associated with p1~, as seen in Dan 11/12, and particularly germane to the sanctuary and related themes of Dan 8

    The Gospel of Truth: Christology, Deification and the Kingdom of God

    Get PDF
    The 'Gospel of Truth', rediscovered in 1945 as part of the Nag Hammadi Codices after being hidden in the fourth century, has been extensively studied by scholars in order to ascertain its genre, purpose and place in theological literature. It is agreed by most scholars that it is a Valentinian text and thus adheres to the beliefs of this heterodox early Christian sect, either in an early or advanced form. In contradistinction to this view, it is the position of the present dissertation that the 'Gospel of Truth' is best interpreted according to proto-orthodox Christian presuppositions as they relate to the eschatological Kingdom of God and the concomitant deification of Christians. In particular, it is argued that the gnosis of the Father made available through the metaphorical 'Book of the Living' published by Christ on the cross is designed to bring about the transformation of both Christians and the world

    Mothers, Virgins and Demons: Reading Beyond the Female Stereotypes in Manichaean Cosmology and Story

    No full text

    Augustine and Manichaean Almsgiving: Understanding a Universal Religion with Exclusivist practices

    No full text
    Augustine and Manichaean Christianity offers groundbreaking discussions of Augustine’s enduring relation with Manichaeism, disclosing the essential background of writings such as Confessiones, De ordine and De vera religione and powerful concepts like his theories of memory and vision of God
    • …
    corecore