Mary\u27s Magnificat: Sources and Themes

In the 1961 meeting of this Society, the Basilian biblical scholar, James Terence Forestell, reflected upon the biblical background of the Magnificat. He declared that it is not merely a patchwork quilt of Old Testament texts. The Magnificat is a new hymn with its own unity of inspiration, but the words do reflect a whole stream of O.T. piety, which is not to be isolated in a few texts. He studied the background possibilities in the Jewish Scriptures for every significant term in the hymn.I will stand with him against the assessment of the Jesuit Scripture scholar, Joseph A. Fitzmyer, who has called the Magnificat a cento-like composition, a mosaic of O.T. expressions drawn from the LXX (the Septuagint) . In his commentary he printed Old Testament sources in the margin of his translation, which is very useful for one searching for the roots of the various passages, but I hope to show that more can be said about the sources.In The Birth of the Messiah, Raymond E. Brown offered a two-page table, listing O.T. and other Jewish parallels to the canticle of Mary. He marked those that are closer to Luke when quoted from the Septuagint rather than from the Massoretic text of the Hebrew Bible. This summarized the work of those reviewing the issues related to the original language of the prayer.Is this Luke\u27s composition or does it derive from early tradition? Some scholars argue for Lucan authorship but many see a Jewish-Christian source or sources for the canticles in Luke 1-2 and a few consider the Magnificat to be a Jewish hymn transplanted into the New Testament

Mary and the Jews: The Gospels and the Early Church

The intention of this essay is twofold; to extend the time period of my earlier essays on Mary and the biblical heritage and to sketch the developments in the early Church, in spite of their burdens of motifs relating to the Jewish people, so that we can understand our history with an insight into the Church\u27s roots and prepare for a better future in Christian- Jewish relations

Interreligious Dialogue in Global Perspective

The tensions between religions and political systems have been evident in intellectual and cultural contexts throughout human experience. In past ages, there has been a propensity for each culture or religion to assume that it embodied the best in every aspect of the human order. There is no longer any excuse for such narrowness spawned of ignorance to dominate the thinking of educated people. Yet mere tolerance of other approaches to the common challenges of humanity will not provide security for all, especially for minorities within a culture or for weaker societies in a given region striving to maintain their self-identity. An honest exchange of ideas, wherein each party is willing to listen, is the model which should replace the tendencies of the strong to impose their will on others

A Case Study: Understanding Fifth-Grade Students' Experiences with Conflict Transformation

164 pagesProblem: This study explored the experience of fifth-grade students with conflict transformation. A large body of quantitative research supports the premise that direct instruction in non-violent conflict intervention decreases aggression in elementary schools (Johnson, D., Johnson, R., Dudley, & Acikgoz, 2001) and improves peer relationships (Joshi, 2008). However, there is a dearth of qualitative research literature exploring elementary student experiences with interventions based on conflict transformation. Procedure: The research question guiding this study was “What are the experiences of fifth-grade students as they learn about conflict transformation?” A holistic single case study (Creswell, 2012) was conducted to understand student experiences with a team-taught, 12-lesson, peace education unit based on conflict transformation. The unit was developed collaboratively with the classroom teacher, grounded in the conflict transformation conceptual framework (Lederach, 2003), and integrated with the classroom curriculum. Each of the unit lessons was 60 minutes in length, and designed to build knowledge and skills related to one of the three inquiries within the conflict transformation framework. Participants included twenty 10 and 11-year-old students and one classroom teacher in a rural, Midwest elementary school. Data collection included two transcribed student focus groups and two teacher interviews. Observational field notes were collected. Data from observations included student art, journal entries, and role-play. Triangulation of data included the focus groups, interviews, participant observation field notes, observation field notes, and student work samples. Data analysis included a codification process (Corbin & Strauss, 2007) to elicit themes and commonalities from the data. Findings: Outcomes of this study included overall positive student reception to conflict transformation concepts and skills during classroom activities. Nevertheless, students experienced anxiety about applying them to daily life. Each set of responses to the lessons illuminated student experiences with one or more of the three inquiries of the conflict transformation framework. Four themes emerged from the data. The first theme, strengthening literacy and relationship skills, revealed that the conflict transformation strategies bolstered these skills. The second theme, increase of student understanding of conflict, demonstrated positive changes in student perceptions of themselves, their classmates, and the classroom culture as a result of the lessons. The third theme, that students were ambivalent about adult arbitration, suggested students appreciated teacher intervention because they felt secure in knowing the outcome would be enforced and fair. However, they felt disempowered by not having the opportunity to solve problems themselves. The final theme indicated that students felt vulnerable when resolving conflict. Students felt insecure about possible negative reception from others when they attempted to use their new conflict intervention skills. Implications: Educators need to ensure students feel secure and simultaneously encourage independence as students solve problems. This study impacts the existing literature by exploring how a particular conflict intervention framework, not previously applied to the elementary school context, impacted a classroom. An implication for researchers is to recognize the importance of the qualitative approach in discovering these findings, and to seek student voice and input whenever possible on issues that directly affect them