Christian hermeneutics in South Africa

Hermeneutics remains a divisive and polarizing topic within scholarly and ecclesiastical communities in South Africa. These tensions are not limited to theoretical differences but often crystallize on a grassroots level when local churches and church assemblies have to make important decisions on controversial ethical topics such as ordaining women in church offices, assessing the ethics of gay marriages, and taking a stance on the land debate in South Africa. This book makes a unique contribution in two ways: firstly, it focuses on the uniquely South African hermeneutical landscape; secondly, it relates theories to practical ethical application. The unique scholarly contribution of this consists in it relating hermeneutics to ethics within the South African landscape. A diverse group of scholars have been invited to partake in the project and the views expressed are often quite diverse. This allows readers to develop an understanding and sensitivity of the various angles employed and the interests at stake in addressing difficult societal problems

Christian hermeneutics in South Africa

Hermeneutics remains a divisive and polarizing topic within scholarly and ecclesiastical communities in South Africa. These tensions are not limited to theoretical differences but often crystallize on a grassroots level when local churches and church assemblies have to make important decisions on controversial ethical topics such as ordaining women in church offices, assessing the ethics of gay marriages, and taking a stance on the land debate in South Africa. This book makes a unique contribution in two ways: firstly, it focuses on the uniquely South African hermeneutical landscape; secondly, it relates theories to practical ethical application. The unique scholarly contribution of this consists in it relating hermeneutics to ethics within the South African landscape. A diverse group of scholars have been invited to partake in the project and the views expressed are often quite diverse. This allows readers to develop an understanding and sensitivity of the various angles employed and the interests at stake in addressing difficult societal problems

Die "swakste lede" in Paulus se liggaam-metafoor : 'n grammaties-historiese studie

Thesis (M.A. (Greek))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2005.The problem investigated in this study is the following: What is a valid interpretation and translation of µέλη άσθνέρα in 1 Corinthians 12:22? This problem can only be solved if Paul's body metaphor in 1 Corinthians 12 is investigated grammatical-historically, applying a valid theory of metaphor. The state of research on metaphors is established in order to determine a suitable theory of metaphor. Further, the state of research regarding Paul's use of the body metaphor in 1 Corinthians 12 and specifically 1 Corinthians 12:22 is determined. And 1 Corinthians 12:l-31 is interpreted applying the grammatical-historical method of De Klerk and Janse van Rensburg (2004). The theory of metaphor of Van der Watt (2000) and the accompanying method is chosen as suitable theory of metaphor. In terms of this theory, the presentation and representation of the body metaphor in 1 Corinthians 12 are determined by way of the grammatical-historical method. This determination leads the interpreter to a valid interpretation and translation of µέλη άσθνέρα in 1 Corinthians 12:22. It transpires that the presentation of the body metaphor is the living human body and the members/organs of the body, and that the representation is the church of Christ, i.e. the members of the church. The presentation of µέλη άσθνέρα in 1 Corinthians 12:22 is members of the body which are physically weaker, and the representation is members of the church who are perceived to be weak in faith because they are supposed to have received lesser gifts from the Spirit. On the basis of this interpretation, the presentation of the body metaphor is translated as follows in English: "the (seemingly) weaker members". The representation of the body metaphor is translated as follows in English: "the members who are seemingly weaker in faith.Master

Constructing ancient slavery as socio-historic context of the New Testament

Considering the vast scope of material on slavery in antiquity, this article aimed to design a search filter that delimits the scope of socio-historical aspects specifically relevant to the New Testament passages dealing with slavery. The term ‘search filter’ was borrowed from Information Technology, denoting defined search terms aimed at more efficient and effective searches of vast amounts of data. The search filter designed in this article made use of the following search terms: the period under investigation; the geographical region under investigation; various definitions of slavery; ancient terminology for slavery; and aspects arising from the New Testament passages themselves. Each of these criteria were considered in turn, and the results were used to define the search filter. Finally, the search filter was represented schematically

Myeloid ATP Citrate Lyase Regulates Macrophage Inflammatory Responses In Vitro Without Altering Inflammatory Disease Outcomes

Macrophages are highly plastic, key regulators of inflammation. Deregulation of macrophage activation can lead to excessive inflammation as seen in inflammatory disorders like atherosclerosis, obesity, multiple sclerosis and sepsis. Targeting intracellular metabolism is considered as an approach to reshape deranged macrophage activation and to dampen the progression of inflammatory disorders. ATP citrate lyase (Acly) is a key metabolic enzyme and an important regulator of macrophage activation. Using a macrophage-specific Acly-deficient mouse model, we investigated the role of Acly in macrophages during acute and chronic inflammatory disorders. First, we performed RNA sequencing to demonstrate that Acly-deficient macrophages showed hyperinflammatory gene signatures in response to acute LPS stimulation in vitro. Next, we assessed endotoxin-induced peritonitis in myeloid-specific Acly-deficient mice and show that, apart from increased splenic Il6 expression, systemic and local inflammation were not affected by Acly deficiency. Also during obesity, both chronic low-grade inflammation and whole-body metabolic homeostasis remained largely unaltered in mice with Acly-deficient myeloid cells. Lastly, we show that macrophage-specific Acly deletion did not affect the severity of experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE), an experimental model of multiple sclerosis. These results indicate that, despite increasing inflammatory responses in vitro, macrophage Acly deficiency does not worsen acute and chronic inflammatory responses in vivo. Collectively, our results indicate that caution is warranted in prospective long-term treatments of inflammatory disorders with macrophage-specific Acly inhibitors. Together with our earlier observation that myeloid Acly deletion stabilizes atherosclerotic lesions, our findings highlight that therapeutic targeting of macrophage Acly can be beneficial in some, but not all, inflammatory disorders