The Pope’s Jesus book and the Christologies of the gospels

This article maps out recent developments in the exegetical investigation of Jesus. It starts with a discussion of the Jesus book by Joseph Ratzinger/Benedict XVI, in which ‘canonical exegesis’ is used to argue that Johannine Christology is also present in the other gospels and that this Christology actually goes back to Jesus. In this way, the book narrows the gap between the historical Jesus and the Christ of faith. The next section argues for maintaining the multiplicity of images of Jesus as a literary figure that is the fruit of relatively recent approaches: redaction criticism, narrative-semantic analysis and intertextuality. The final section contains a sketch of the current state of research on the historical Jesus and its relevance for Christology. The multiplicity in the literary and historical approaches poses challenges to the further development of Christology.http://www.hts.org.z

Resurrection of Jesus according to Jozef Ratzinger/Benedictus XVI

As a follow-up to my earlier article in HTS Teologiese Studies/Theological Studies (‘The Pope’s Jesus book and the Christologies of the gospels’ [2011]), this contribution concerning the Jesus trilogy by Jozef Ratzinger will discuss the idea he presents of Jesus’ resurrection and how his view should be assessed from the perspective of the current state of affairs in biblical scholarship. In addition, this article articulates a number of proposals that can take the discussion a step further. In that context, the following questions are dealt with: What is meant when we speak about the body of the risen Jesus? Are there – except for terms like ‘to raise from the dead’ or ‘to rise up’ – other formulas used in the New Testament to describe the fundamental reversal after Jesus’ death? Can Ratzinger’s biased focus upon the concept of ‘resurrection’ be expanded on the basis of other Old Testament models of thought or faith paradigms that can help us to understand that Jesus, through the agency of God, has come to share in a life that is no longer limited by death? What factors played a role in the origin of the belief in Jesus’ resurrection? This article shows that Ratzinger too strongly emphasises continuity between the historical Jesus and a number of New Testament Christologies and the way in which they were crystallised in later ecclesiastical dogmatic formulations.http://www.hts.org.za/am201

Messianic peacemakers : intertextual relationships between Zechariah 9-14 and the Gospel of Matthew

This article deals with images of war, violence and peace and with the role of messianic leaders in Deutero-Zechariah and the way in which texts from Zechariah 9–14 have been interpreted in the Gospel of Matthew. The first section describes the lines of meaning in Zechariah 9–14 on the basis of word fields related to violence and universal peace. The second section discusses Deutero-Zechariah’s own position in the development of messianic expectations in Old Testament texts. In the third section, the question is asked how the meaning of texts from Zechariah 9–14 about messianic leaders has been influenced by earlier prophetic texts, and how these texts in their turn have been transformed and updated in the Gospel of Matthew, which contains explicit quotations from Deutero-Zechariah in 21:5; 26:15; 26:31 and 27:9–10. The fourth section summarises some interesting semantic shifts appearing in Matthew’s gospel compared to Deutero-Zechariah. Moreover, some critical comments are presented against the idea defended in some recent studies that there is a sharp tension between Jesus’s role in Matthew as the bringer of a peaceful ethical message, and his violent and vindictive role at the final judgement. At the end of this article, the burning question is raised whether Zechariah’s and Matthew’s messages, both of which are characterised by a certain degree of exclusivity, can play a constructive role in modern multi-religious discussions about common roads leading to global peace.http://www.hts.org.zaam201

Herodias and Salome in Mark’s story about the beheading of John the Baptist

According to Mark 6:14–29, John the Baptist was beheaded by the order of Herod Antipas. This dramatic event became inevitable after a cunning interplay between Herodias and her daughter, who remains nameless in the New Testament. According to Flavius Josephus, she was called Salome (Jewish Antiquities XVIII, 5.4 § 136–137), and under that name, she went down in history. For the sake of convenience, I also call her ‘Salome’ in this article. Salome is the Greek form of the Hebrew name Shlomith, which was very popular in early Judaic times and means ‘she who brings peace and tranquillity’. Unlike the faithful women elsewhere in Mark’s gospel (5:21–43; 7:24–30; 14:3–9), Herodias and her daughter are not exactly models of virtue. Yet, it is questionable as to whether they are both thoroughly bad and whether they are both equally responsible for the murder of John. This article does not provide a historical reconstruction of what exactly happened at the court of Herod Antipas, but it contains a narrative analysis of what happened in the court of Herod Antipas. This narrative analysis is followed by an intertextual approach in the second part of this article. Firstly, I will compare Mark’s story with what Flavius Josephus tells about the beheading of John. Thereafter, I will highlight the roles of Herodias and Salome in the play Salome by Oscar Wilde from 1894, which, in turn, forms the basis of the libretto for the opera Salome by Richard Strauss from 1905. Do we encounter in these modern artistic recreations (Neuschöpfungen) only transformations of Mark’s story, or also transgressions in which Wilde and Strauss have largely replaced the original meaning of the story with new meaning?HTS 75th Anniversary Maake Masango Dedication.This research is part of the research project, ‘Biblical Theology and Hermeneutics’, directed by Prof. Dr Andries van Aarde, Post Retirement Professor and Senior Research Fellow in the Dean’s Office, Faculty of Theology and Religion, University of Pretoria.http://www.hts.org.zaam2020New Testament Studie

De opstanding van Lazarus (Johannes 10:40–12:11) : Bijbelse echo’s in Lazarus is dead (2011) van Richard Beard

This article discusses the relationship between the modern novel of Beard and John’s stories about Lazarus and Jesus, and wants to give answers to three questions: (1) how is the Lazarus story in John interpreted by Beard?; (2) what meaning does John’s story have within its own literary and cultural setting?; (3) what similarities and differences are there between Beard’s interpretation and the original meaning of the Johannine story? Questions 1 and 2 require an intratextual analysis, which focuses on the structure and meaning lines in each of the two texts. Then follows an intertextual analysis which in this article is particularly aimed at comparing the contents of the concepts/ death/ and/ live/ in the Fourth Gospel with the ways in which these concepts are semantically coloured in Beard’s book. Studying echoes from the Bible in modern literary contexts can explain how the rich potential of meaning of biblical texts is being unlocked in new texts, time and time again, but can also help us to read the Bible with new eyes through the lens of modern culture.Prof. Dr Wim Weren is participating in the research project, ‘Biblical Theology and Hermeneutics’, directed by Prof. Dr Andries G. van Aarde, Post Retirement Professor, Department of New Testament Studies, Faculty of Theology, University of Pretoriahttp://www.hts.org.zaam2016New Testament Studie

The might of death and the power of God : some biblical perspectives

This article investigates how the might of death and the power of God are related in biblical writings. Factually, there are various biblical images concerning this relationship. Four of them are discussed in this contribution. Firstly, according to many texts, there is no afterlife and God’s power is limited and he is not able to save people after they have died. Secondly, view is disputed in other texts in which it is emphasised that the life of people who are faithful to God and his Torah, will have an open ending. This hope is based on God’s power and not on an indestructible personal core or some divine dimension deep within human beings. Thirdly, the most well known idea is the concept of resurrection which originated in Judaism and emerged when in the second century BCE martyrs died because of their religious convictions. Fourthly, this model has been applied to Jesus, who after having been rescued from death by God, was placed in a position that in many respects is similar to God’s position. In this article recent discoveries about developments in biblical ideas about God’s and Jesus’ competence and functions are integratedThis article was initially presented at the NavNUT Conference ‘Mag in die Nuwe Testament’, 16−19 January 2011 at the University of Stellenbosch.http://www.hts.org.zanf201

Nuclear criticality safety analysis of a spent fuel waste package in a tuff repository

An assessment has been performed of the criticality potential associated with the disposal of spent fuel in a tuff geology above the water table. Eleven potential configurations were defined which cover a vast range of geometries and conditions from the nominal configuration at emplacement to a hypothetical configuration thousands of years after emplacement in which the structure is gone, the fuel pellets disintegrated and the borehole flooded. Of these eleven configurations, four have been evaluated at this time. The results of this evaluation indicate that even with very conservative assumptions (4.5 w/o fresh fuel), criticality is not a problem for the nominal configuration either dry or fully flooded. In the cases where the condition of the waste package is assumed to have severely deteriorated, over long times, calculations were performed with less conservative assumptions (depleted fuel). An assessment of these calculations indicates that criticality safety could be demonstrated if the depletion of the fissile inventory during fuel irradiation is taken into account. A detailed discussion of the calculations performed is presented in this report. Also included are a description of the configurations which were considered, the analytical methods and models used, and a discussion of additional related work which should be performed. 15 references, 11 figures, 8 tables

Wim J.C. Weren, studies in Matthew’s Gospel: Literary design, intertextuality, and social setting

This article summarises and comments on the book Studies in Matthew’s Gospel: Literary design, intertextuality, and social setting, by Wim Weren published during 2014. The essence of this book is all about meaning: the meaning of a structure, texts, and consequently the understanding of the Gospel of Matthew. For Weren, ‘Meaning is the result of the interplay between a textual unit and such other factors as language, literary context, and cultural setting’. This relates to the three parts of the content of this monograph. His approach in studying Matthew comes from three perspectives: firstly intratextuality, then intertextuality, and finally extratextuality. He has deliberately chosen this order of successive steps so that they complement each other.Christian Spirituality, Church History and Missiolog