Roman domestic art and early Christian traditions

David Balch is well-known for his research into early Christian house churches and families. This innovative book is a collection of revised essays, which have been published separately elsewhere. It focuses on the interconnections between Roman domestic art and early Christian traditions. The main evidence comprises the frescoes and mosaics found in Italian domus (houses) and insulae (apartment buildings), including the rich findings at the cities of Pompeii and Herculaneum, which were destroyed by the grand eruption of the Vesuvius in 79 AD.Book review : Roman Domestic Art and Early House Churches / David L. Balch. ISBN : 978-3-16-149383-6. Publisher : Mohr Siebeck, Tübingen, 2008, pp. 296.http://www.hts.org.zahb201

God in the second book of Maccabees: The connection between words and deeds

This article focuses on God’s image and role in 2 Maccabees. My analysis will build on narratology, especially characterisation, and on the differentiation proposed by Barbara Schmitz in connection with the book of Judith: the distinction between God’s role as a character depicted in the narrative (God’s acts and statements) and references to God in statements about God by other characters in the narrative. How does this differentiation work out for 2 Maccabees? Does the book describe any miracles performed by God, and if so, do these take place within or outside the normal processes of nature, as God, for example, did according to Joshua 10, 11–14, which reports that God made the sun stand still at Gibeon? Contribution: Firstly, this article presents the results of a narratological analysis of 2 Maccabees. Secondly, since the statements about God and God’s actual role are prominent in the book, this analysis is important for establishing the meaning of the book for the narratees, the intended readers. Thirdly, this reading is relevant for theological studies dealing with the image and role of God in the contexts of early Judaism and early Christianity

Automated Signal Processing Applied to Volatile-Based Inspection of Greenhouse Crops

Gas chromatograph–mass spectrometers (GC-MS) have been used and shown utility for volatile-based inspection of greenhouse crops. However, a widely recognized difficulty associated with GC-MS application is the large and complex data generated by this instrument. As a consequence, experienced analysts are often required to process this data in order to determine the concentrations of the volatile organic compounds (VOCs) of interest. Manual processing is time-consuming, labour intensive and may be subject to errors due to fatigue. The objective of this study was to assess whether or not GC-MS data can also be automatically processed in order to determine the concentrations of crop health associated VOCs in a greenhouse. An experimental dataset that consisted of twelve data files was processed both manually and automatically to address this question. Manual processing was based on simple peak integration while the automatic processing relied on the algorithms implemented in the MetAlign™ software package. The results of automatic processing of the experimental dataset resulted in concentrations similar to that after manual processing. These results demonstrate that GC-MS data can be automatically processed in order to accurately determine the concentrations of crop health associated VOCs in a greenhouse. When processing GC-MS data automatically, noise reduction, alignment, baseline correction and normalisation are required

Anti-Judaïsme in ’n joodse teks? die geval van openbaring

CITATION: Van Henten, J. W. 2011. Anti-Judaïsme in ’n joodse teks? die geval van openbaring. Scriptura, 108:282-293, doi:10.7833/108-0-3.The original publication is available at http://scriptura.journals.ac.zaThis article offers a critical discussion of Peter Tomson's approach to Anti-Judaism in the New Testament (see his 'If this be from Heaven...' from 2001). Tomson rightly defines Anti-Judaism as hatred of Jews and characterizes key passages in John's Gospel as anti-Jewish, but he assesses similar passages in Revelation differently because, in his opinion, Revelation would be a Jewish text and a Jewish text cannot be anti-Jewish. All relevant passages in Revelation are surveyed and a re-reading of two key passages, Rev 2:9 and 3:9, is offered. Tomson's argument about Revelation is refuted - also with the help of modern analogies, which suggest that a Jewish text can be anti-Jewish. The article ends with a brief personal note that calls for a reading of Revelation in Christian communities that is not hurtful for Jews.http://scriptura.journals.ac.za/pub/article/view/3Publisher's versio

Jesus als Märtyrer

Zu definieren, was einen Märtyrer ausmacht, ist für das Altertum ebenso wichtig wie für die Moderne. Was meinen wir mit dem Begriff 'Märtyrer', wenn wir Jesus von Nazareth so nennen? Liegt dabei der Schwerpunkt auf dem historischen Jesus und den Motiven für seinen gewaltsamen Tod, den er erwartet haben mag? Oder sollten nicht eher die frühen Textteile des Neuen Testaments, die die Reaktionen der Anhänger Jesu auf dessen gewaltsamen Tod und seine Rechtfertigung schildern, den Ausgangspunkt für unsere Analyse bilden? Natürlich verfügen wir im Falle Jesu über keine Internetquellen, kein Videomaterial, keine Interviews mit dem Märtyrer vor seiner Tat. Wir haben nur kanonische und apokryphe Texte. Deshalb beginne ich bei meiner Diskussion über Jesus als Märtyrer mit einer Definition des Martyriums, die sich auf die zweite oben angeführte Möglichkeit stützt. Sie fußt auf antiken jüdischen und christlichen Texten, von denen allgemein angenommen wird, dass ihre Rezipienten sie als Beschreibungen des Lebens und Leidens von Märtyrern verstanden; die Berichte, die solches erinnern sind schriftlich festgehalten (Abschnitt 1). Danach kehre ich zur ersten Definitionsmöglichkeit zurück und konzentriere mich kurz auf die Person des historischen Jesus, um mit Hilfe der antiken jüdischen und christlichen Märtyrerberichte herauszufinden, was wir möglicherweise über Jesu eigene Sicht auf seinen nahen Tod als den eines Märtyrers wissen können (Abschnitt 2). Im letzten Abschnitt widme ich mich den Passionsberichten des Neuen Testaments. In der Forschung wurden diese Narrative häufig mit den Erzählungen der antiken Märtyrer verglichen, diese wurden sogar als Modell herangezogen, um den Ursprung des Passionsberichts zu rekonstruieren. Sei dieser Ansatz plausibel oder nicht, auf jeden Fall spiegeln die Passionsberichte auf faszinierende Art und Weise die dialogische Gegenüberstellung von Märtyrer und Gegner wider, die so oft das Herzstück der Prozess- und Folterszenen antiker jüdischer und christlicher Märtyrererzählungen darstellt. So gibt es offensichtlich gute Gründe, diese beiden Textgruppen zu vergleichen (Abschnitt 3)

Religie en macht: Theoretische invalshoeken in verband met het Nieuwe Testament

Religion and power. Theoretical perspectives in connection with the New Testament. This contribution is the slightly adapted introductory lecture given at the conference on Power and the New Testament held in Stellenbosch from 16−18 January 2011. It offers (1) a survey of some of the relevant scholarly contributions on the concept of power and the nexus of power and religion, and (2) a brief discussion of possible avenues for analyzing the theme of power in New Testament passages

Josephus, fifth evangelist, and Jesus on the Temple

This contribution aims at deconstructing a Christian master narrative that interprets Josephus as crucial support for the New Testament message that the Temple had to become a ruin, in line with the will of God. It argues for an alternative interpretation, namely that both Jesus of Nazareth and Josephus considered the Temple to be still relevant, albeit in different ways. For Jesus the Temple was the self-evident cultic centre of Judaism and a special place to experience his relationship with God. None of Jesus’ statements about the Temple in their original context necessarily implies that Jesus assumed that the institution of the Temple would stop functioning in the near future or at the end of time. Josephus’s perspective on the Temple changes in his works. The elaborate description of Jerusalem and the Temple in War 5 reads as a written monument of the past, but several passages in Josephus’s Antiquities and Against Apion imply that the Temple was still important after 70 CE. Josephus may have reckoned with the possibility that the Temple was going to be rebuilt if the Romans allowed for it.This contribution is dedicated to Pieter G.R. de Villiers, a modest but sophisticated scholar and a good friend