RITUAL, TIME, AND ENTERNITY

It is argued here that the construction of time and eternity are among ritual's entailments. In dividing continuous duration into distinct periods ritual distinguishes two temporal conditions: (1) that prevailing in mundane periods and (2) that prevailing during the intervals between them. Differences in the frequency, length, and relationship among the rituals constituting different liturgical orders are considered, as are differences between mundane periods and ritual's intervals with respect to social relations, cognitive modes, meaningfulness, and typical interactive frequencies. Periods, it is observed, relate to intervals as everchanging to never-changing, and close relationships of never changing to eternity, eternity to sanctity, and sanctity to truth are proposed. In the argument that ritual's “times out of time” really are outside mundane time, similarities to the operations of digital computers and Herbert Simon's discussion of interaction frequencies in the organization of matter are noted.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/72989/1/j.1467-9744.1992.tb00996.x.pd

The Traditions of the Elders: (St. Mark Vii. 1-23)

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The healing of a Canaanite woman's daughter (Matthew 15:21-28)

story of a Canaanite woman is complicated, because it contains Jesus' initial harsh attitude towards this woman. This story has led to some scholars assuming that Matthew is a Jewish document and the community behind it was a kind of Christian Judaism, not actively involved in the Gentile mission. However, from the literary point, this story contains several literary devices to highlight Jesus' dramatic healing of a Gentile patient. Jesus' initial responses are exactly what the contemporaries would expect of a rabbi. However, Jesus, like a wise teacher who uses a tactic to give an impressive teaching, expressed his reluctance to heal. The whole pericope functions as an intentional demonstration that Jesus did expand his ministry to a Gentile patienthttp://search.sabinet.co.za/WebZ/Authorize?sessionid=0&next=ej/ej_content_patris.html&bad=error/authofail.htm