Showing papers on "Exegesis published in 2014"

Cyril of Alexandria's Trinitarian Theology of Scripture

Abstract: Acknowledgements Abbreviations 1. Introduction 2. 'The Messenger of Great Counsel': A Trinitarian Theology of Revelation 3. 'One Book Spoken through One Holy Spirit': The Spiritual Origin of Scripture 4. 'He Has Spoken to Us by His Son': The Christological Mediation of Scripture 5. 'The Evergreen Oracles of God': The Role of Scripture in the Divine Economy 6. 'Every Spiritual Vision Looks to the Mystery of Christ': The Theological Nature of Exegesis 7. 'The Whirlwind is in the Thorn Tree' Bibliography Index

Rāzī: Master of Quranic Interpretation and Theological Reasoning

Abstract: Introduction 1. Forging a New Methodology 2. Devising Rules of Exegesis 3. Reconciling Reason ('Aql) and Transmitted Knowledge (Naql) 4. Interpreting the Intellect and Light 5. Interpreting the Soul and Spirit Bibliography Index

Scripture Translation in the Era of Translation Studies

Abstract: This chapter considers basic areas of biblical studies long recognized as crucial for understanding of the biblical texts: lexical and grammatical studies, historical-critical studies, textual criticism, source and redaction criticism, and archaeology. It looks at some areas that received special attention in the second half of the twentieth century: canonical criticism, intertestamental studies and intertextuality. Archaeological discoveries continue to shed light on biblical religion and daily life. Pictures of excavations and artefacts can help translators to visualize items referred to in the biblical text. Source criticism of the Old Testament is one of the oldest of the critical methodologies. Post-colonial criticism is a relatively recent approach to reading the Bible, though the imperatives and underlying emotions that it expresses are as old as the Bible itself. The sociological approach in biblical studies provides an important cross-disciplinary supplement to more traditional methodologies and tools for exegesis.

Was Ibn Kathīr the ‘Spokesperson’ for Ibn Taymiyya? Jonah as a Prophet of Obedience

Abstract: Current scholarship views the Qur'anic exegesis of Ibn Kathīr as the product of the great Ibn Taymiyya. This paper argues that Ibn Kathīr had a distinct Qur'anic hermeneutic and exegesis to that of Ibn Taymiyya. While Ibn Taymiyya's engagements with the Qur'an were tied to theological refutations, Ibn Kathīr's exegesis is primarily a ḥadīth evaluation (takhrīj) which assessed the tradition-based exegesis that pre-dated him. Ibn Kathīr carefully sorts through the exegeses of al-Ṭabarī and Ibn Abī Ḥātim al-Rāzī to find authentic traditions that fit with his moral and ethical values. His exegesis further takes positions that are contrary to Ibn Taymiyya's. For instance, on the issue of the infallibility (ʿiṣma) of the prophets, Ibn Taymiyya argues that prophets sinned but did not persist in sin. Ibn Kathīr, in contrast, maintained that prophets were constantly aided by God and does not highlight their mistakes. Their different definitions are seen in their contrasting accounts of the Prophet Jonah: Ibn Taymi...

Studies in Matthew's Gospel: Literary Design, Intertextuality, and Social Setting

Abstract: These Studies in Matthew's Gospel by Wim J.C. Weren are the result of scholarly work carried out using recent methods in Biblical exegesis such as structural analysis, text semantics and intertextuality. Part One presents a new proposal regarding the macrostructure of Matthew's Gospel and discusses meanings of textual units from this Gospel on the basis of synchronic research. In Part Two, intertextual theories are described and practical tools are developed that enable us to identify various types of relations between texts from Matthew's Gospel and co-generic or co-thematic textual units from the Hebrew Bible, the Septuagint and early Jewish and early Christian writings. Part Three answers the question to what extent the ways in which the disciples are portrayed in Matthew is related to 'real' groups in the Matthean communities. The three successive steps are deliberately chosen and are in a complementary relationship to each other.

Justin Martyr’s Exegesis of Biblical Theophanies and the Parting of the Ways between Christianity and Judaism

Abstract: The article provides an overview of the three distinct approaches to the exegesis of theophanies documented in the surviving works of Justin Martyr. It argues, contrary to previous scholarship on Justin Martyr, and in agreement with Larry Hurtado, that the argument from theophanies precedes its use by Justin, and suggests that the Dialogue and the Apologies may offer a glimpse into the process by which the exegetical disagreement over theophanies contributed to the crystallization of distinct “Jewish” and “Christian” social identities.

The Second Letter to the Corinthians

Abstract: "Newest volume in the acclaimed Pillar New Testament Commentary series" The question that Paul set before the ancient church in Corinth -- "Do you not recognize that Jesus Christ is in and among you?" (2 Cor 13:5) -- remains a critical question for the church today. This commentary by Mark Seifrid seeks to hear Paul s message afresh and communicate it to our time. Seifrid offers a unified reading of 2 Corinthians, which has often been regarded as a composite of excerpts and fragments. He argues that Paul s message is directed at the practical atheism of the Corinthian church -- the hidden heresy that assumes God s saving work in the world may be measured by outward standards of success and achievement. Like all of the Pillar volumes, Seifrid s commentary on 2 Corinthians offers careful grammatical analysis and exegesis with clear pastoral application."

Book Review: Prepositions and Theology in the Greek New Testament: An Essential Reference Resource for Exegesis:

Abstract: 225 God of the text both then and now. One will benefit from a thorough and repeated reading of this section of the book. Philosophical hermeneutics novices picking up B. H. McLean’s work will want to do two things: begin at the beginning and finish, however slowly. McLean delves into the thick weeds of European Continental phenomenology and philosophical hermeneutics, a realm even many well-read individuals infrequently visit. Others who have previously travelled the harrowing paths of Continental thought will not find the technical language of the territory so daunting while also finding intriguing the journey McLean charts. Eric Black B. H. Carroll Theological Institute Arlington, TX 76010

An Analysis on Shihab’s Methodology: How do Pronouns Applied?

Abstract: Shihab is an Islamic scholar who have prolifically produced a comprehensive 30 chapters of Qur’anic exegesis entitled Tafsir Al-Mishbah . This book is perceived as the latest Qur’anic exegesis produced by Muslim scholar of the Archipelago. He stresses on the importance of understanding the Qur’an contextually, supported by a strong understanding of the language and not focusing only on the textual meaning. In relation to this, his work has used a lot of linguistics approaches as to obtain the actual verses exegeses. Therefore, this study seeks to analyse critically his linguistics exegesis, and the focus rests on the debate on pronouns. To obtain a expliciter perspective, this study has adopted the library research and document analysis method by making language and reliable popular Qur’anic exegesis books as primary sources of reference. The outcome of this study finds that Shihab had applied five rules in relation to pronouns , all of which have been approved by scholars and exegetes.

Getting texts to talk. A critical analysis of attempts at eliciting contemporary messages from ancient holy books as exercises in religious communication

Abstract: Religious Communication as academic discipline analyses the ways in which the spiritual commitments of humanity find expression in and through communicative acts. Diverse and multi-disciplinary as this discipline is, one of the aspects Religious Communication studies, is the problematic religiously inclined people experience in eliciting a meaningful message, relevant to modern times, from holy texts (such as the Bible) that stem from ancient times, dissimilar cultures, and far-removed communicative contexts. Within Christianity such problematic have, inter alia , given rise in the modern era to exegesis as an expert enterprise with which to practice the science and art of both understanding the texts within their ancient contexts and eliciting valid messages from them for current times. In such endeavours, Communication and Theology mix in a unique way as an expression of Religious Communication. In this contribution, the author builds forth on previous publications in the fields of Religious Communication and of Exegesis, to discuss here some major modern attempts in this regard. The pre-modern allegorical use of biblical texts were through the rise of historical consciousness, as part of the Enlightenment, replaced by historical-critical interpretations of the holy texts, which then dominated the exegetical scene for about two centuries. During the past half-century, however, different a-historical methods have been developed. In this contribution, the communicative intent with each of these exegetical methodologies are described and compared critically.

Beyond Just Wages: An Intercultural Analysis of Matthew 20: 1–16

Abstract: The present study offers an intercultural exegesis of Matt 20:1-16 and shows how it provides grounds for alleviating poverty and promoting justice which goes beyond just wages. This exegesis proceeds through a constructive dialogue between a contemporary culture, a church culture and an original biblical culture. After a detailed presentation of intercultural exegesis, the concept of just wages is examined in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and its neighbour Rwanda before exploring it in a Catholic Church culture and in an original Matthean culture. Rephrased in words borrowed from G. West, 'the world in front of the text' is here represented by a contemporary target culture, while both 'the world in the text' and 'the world behind the text' rhyme with an original biblical culture; and finally a Catholic Church culture stands for 'the world around the text.' The word 'text' refers to Christian canonical scriptures.

Middle English Gospel Glosses and the Translation of Exegetical Authority

Abstract: The non-Wycliffite Middle English commentaries on the Synoptic Gospels in MSS London, British Library Egerton 842 (Matt.), Cambridge, University Library Ii.2.12 (Matt.), and Cambridge, Corpus Christi College Parker 32 (Mark and Luke) are important witnesses to the widespread appeal of scholastic exegesis in later fourteenth-century England. They appear to have been produced by two different commentators (or teams of commentators) who worked without knowledge of one another's undertakings but responded similarly to the demand for vernacular biblical material. The commentary on Matthew represents a more extensive effort at compilation than the Mark and Luke texts, and, in his elaborate prologue, the Matthew commentator translates the priorities of scholastic Latin criticism even as he tailors his writing to meet the perceived needs of his English readers. Especially when considered alongside the Wycliffite Glossed Gospels, these texts illustrate further the variety and richness of vernacular biblical commentary composed in the decades following the important precedent of Richard Rolle's English Psalter.

The Gift of the Land and the Fate of the Canaanites in Jewish Thought

Abstract: Contributors Abbreviations Introduction - Katell Berthelot, Joseph E. David and Marc Hirshman Dwelling in the Land: Theological and Ethical Issues 1. "Everything was fulfilled" versus "the Land that still remains": Contrasting Conceptions of the Fulfillment of the Promise in the Book of Joshua - Nili Wazana 2. Land Theology in Josephus: A Reappraisal - Michael Avioz 3. Idolatry and the Biblical Concept of Herem in Tannaitic Midrash - Ishay Rosen-Zvi 4. The Emergence of the Polemic Concerning the Fate of the Canaanites: Motives and Motifs - Menahem Kister 5. "God would not give the Land, but to the obedient": The Response of Mediaeval Karaite Exegetes to the Curse of Canaan in Genesis 9 - Meira Polliack and Marzena Zawanowska 6. And Yet, the Texts Remain: The Problem of the Command to Destroy the Canaanites - Menachem Kellner 7. Land, Territory and Divine Law: Nahmanides' Idea of the Lord's Land - Joseph E. David 8. The Relation between the Land of Canaan and the Land of Israel according to the Hasidic School of Gur - Yoram Jacobson 9. The Biblical Conquest of Canaan in the Eyes of German-Jewish Orthodoxy - Matthias Morgenstern The Changing Uses of the Category "Canaanites" 10. Where May Canaanites Be Found? Canaanites, Phoenicians and Others in Jewish Texts from the Hellenistic and Roman Period - Katell Berthelot 11. The Rabbinic Perception of the Presence of the Canaanites in the Land of Israel - Eyal Ben Elyahu 12. "Canaanites" in Medieval Jewish Households - Evyatar Marienberg 13. The Canaanites of Africa: The Origins of the Berbers according to Medieval Muslim and Jewish Authors - Paul Fenton 14. The Israeli Identity and the Canaanite Option - David Ohana The Gift of the Land and the Fate of the Canaanites in the Modern Context of the Construction of the State of Israel 15. The Conquest of Eretz Israel and the Seven Nations in Religious-Zionist Thought - Dov Schwartz 16. Rabbi Reines on the Conquest of Canaan and Zionism - Zeev Harvey 17. The Conquest of the Land of Israel and Associated Moral Questions in the Teachings of Rabbi Kook and His Disciples: Thoughts in Light of the Book Herev Pipiyot Be-Yadam - Avinoam Rosenak 18. R. Moshe Feinstein on Milhemet Mitzvah: Halakhah, Morality, and Exegesis - Baruch Alster 19. The Fate of the Canaanites and the State of Israel in the Philosophy of Emmanuel Levinas - Annabel Herzog Index of Sources

Scientific Exegesis in Malay Qur'anic Commentary

Abstract: Scientific exegesis (tafsir c ilmi) is a part of the Qur’anic exegesis which has been around for a long time in the history of Muslim thought. It has grown exponentially in the late nineteenth century and early twentieth century in tandem with the development of knowledge, especially in Western countries as well as the position and attitude of the Muslims in facing current developments. Exegetes and intellectuals in the Middle East, Europe and South Asia are very concerned about scientific exegesis and they apply it in their writing of the interpretation of the Qur’an. Their approach was influenced other scholars indirectly in the Muslim world including Malaysia to apply scientific exegesis in their interpretation scriptures. Therefore, this study aimed to analyze the scientific exegesis in the interpretation of the Qur’an in Malaysia using the method of document analysis of six interpreted scriptures in the Malay language interpretation of Tafsir Nur al-Ihsan, Tafsir al-Qur’an Juz Alif Lam Mim, Tafsir al-Qur’an al-Hakim (Malay version), Tafsir Harian al-Qur’an al-Karim, Tafsir Mubin and Tafsir Pedoman Muttaqin. The results highlighted the interpretation of Malaysian exegete’s acceptance of this approach. Muhammad Idris al-Marbawi, Mustafa Abdul Rahman, Salahuddin Abdullah, Omar Khalid and Abdul Hayei Abdul Sukor are exegetes who implement the scientific exegesis in their works. They cite scientific data and current research to explain the verses of the Qur’an to give a better understanding, the meaning of the Qur’anic verses to the reader. In addition, these aspects are described in the definition are intended to prove the oneness and sovereignty of Allah Almighty. The approach in the scientific exegesis of the Qur’an applied by the Malaysian exegetes can be proud of, although it is not as good as other exegetes in particular in the Middle East.

On the liturgy

Abstract: Amalar of Metz s "On the Liturgy" (the "Liber officialis," or "De ecclesiastico officio") was one of the most widely read and circulated texts of the Carolingian era. The fruit of lifelong reflection and study in the wake of liturgical reform in the early ninth century, Amalar s commentary inaugurated the Western medieval tradition of allegorical liturgical exegesis and has bequeathed a wealth of information about the contents and conduct of the early medieval Mass and Office. In 158 chapters divided into four books, "On" "the Liturgy" addresses the entire phenomenon of Christian worship, from liturgical prayers to clerical vestments to the bodily gestures of the celebrants. For Amalar, this liturgical diversity aimed, above all, to commemorate the life of Christ, to provide the Christian faithful with moral instruction, and to recall Old Testament precursors of Christian rites. To uncover these layers of meaning, Amalar employed interpretive techniques and ideas that he had inherited from the patristic tradition of biblical exegesis a novel approach that proved both deeply popular and, among his contemporaries, highly controversial.This volume adapts the text of Jean Michel Hanssens s monumental 1948 edition of Amalar s treatise and provides the first complete translation into a modern language."

Introduction: From Affect to Exegesis

Abstract: This article introduces a thematic issue of Biblical Interpretation on the high-profile field of affect theory as it relates to biblical studies. Affect theory analyzes emotions and still more elemental forces that are rooted in bodies and pass between them. In addition to previewing the six articles in the issue – three of which grapple with Hebrew Bible texts and three with early Christian texts – this introduction provides a brief history of affect theory and maps its main variants. The article also reflects on the challenges of turning a body of theory largely uninterested in literary interpretation into a set of strategies for reading biblical texts.

Image, Text, Exegesis: Iconographic Interpretation and the Hebrew Bible

Abstract: Introduction\ Section 1: Interpreting Images\ Elizabeth Bloch-Smith, "Acculturating gender Roles: Images as Conveyors of Culture in Ancient Israel"\ Rudiger Schmitt, "Mixed Creatures and the Assyrian Influence on the West Semitic Glyptic repertoire"\ Meir Lubetski, "Unlocking the Cryptic Connection between the Inscription and the Icon in Pre-Exilic Hebrew Seals"\ Amy Gansell, "Feminine Beauty and Adornment Represented in Levantine Ivory Sculpture and the Old Testament"\ Martin Klingbeil, "Children I have raised and brought up" (Isaiah 1:2): Female Metaphors of God in Isaiah and ANE Images of Syro-Palestinian Goddesses\ Regine Hunziker Rodewald, "Thrones in Sheol"\ Thomas Staubli, An Iconography of Justification\ Jackie Wyse-Rhodes, "Finding Asherah: The Goddesses in Text and Image"\ Maria Lindquist, "Ethics, Ecology, and the Iconography of 'the Peaceable Kingdom' in Isa 11:6-9"\ Brent A. Strawn, "The Iconography of Fear: yir' at yhwh in Artistic Perspective"\ Meindert Dijkstra, "Amos and the Ivory Beds and Houses of Samaria"\ Hans Ulrich Steymans, "Psalm 89, A Royal Funeral Song: Textual Development and Iconographic Evidence"\ Izaak J. de Hulster, " A God of the Mountains? An Iconographic Perspective on 1 Kings 20:23"\ Appendix\ Izaak J. de Hulster, "Tools for Iconographic exegesis: A Review of Important Literature for Iconographic Exegesis, a Survey of Image Sources, and Practical Information for Processing Pictorial Material"\Bibliography \ Index

Early-Medieval Exegesis of the Song of Songs and the Maternal Language of Clerical Authority

Abstract: In a profound sense Carolingian society was oriented around and shaped by the study and interpretation of the Bible. Biblical interpretation occupied the energies of the most prominent intellectuals within the Carolingian world, suggesting models for social and political, as well as theological, practice and ensuring divine favor for the Carolingian dynasty. Early-medieval exegetes regarded themselves as guardians not only of the biblical text but also of the entire patristic tradition, which they used to decipher it. Like scripture, however, the patristic tradition was anything but systematic; moreover, it was not comprehensive, and it was further complicated by the vagaries of manuscript survival and the availability of texts. Even when early-medieval exegetes sincerely attempted to be faithful to the works of the Fathers, they often brought a degree of organization to bear in the interpretation of scripture that had not previously existed, and, of course, they were also entirely capable of shaping and ...

Biblical Narrative and the Formation of Rabbinic Law

Abstract: This book presents a new framework for understanding the relationship between biblical narrative and rabbinic law Drawing on legal theory and models of rabbinic exegesis, Jane L Kanarek argues for the centrality of biblical narrative in the formation of rabbinic law Through close readings of selected Talmudic and midrashic texts, Kanarek demonstrates that rabbinic legal readings of narrative scripture are best understood through the framework of a referential exegetical web She shows that law should be viewed as both prescriptive of normative behavior and as a meaning-making enterprise By explicating the hermeneutical processes through which biblical narratives become resources for legal norms, this book transforms our understanding of the relationship of law and narrative as well as the ways in which scripture becomes a rabbinic document that conveys legal authority and meaning

Monastic Exegesis and the Biblical Typology of Monasticism in the Patristic Period

Abstract: Monastic exegesis of the Bible in the Patristic period was characterized by ascetic pragmatism, reminiscence and meditation of the canonical text and at the same time its extra-verbal literal and spiritual interpretation. The consequence of such a manner of reading the text of the Bible was to acknowledge the monastic way of life as the royal path ( via regia ) and the monk as the one possessing certain spiritual knowledge and living faith. Systematic ignoring of the original Hebrew text by ancient monks, as well as by the Fathers of the Church, in using literal – spiritual and anagogical exegesis led to every biblical text being understood in a spiritual manner, i.e. as a text leading a monk to salvation. The biblical typologies of the monastic life also started to be derived from the theological rule of the Testaments. Those typologies resulted from the formerly adopted Christocentric theological premise assuming that the whole Bible tells about Christ and leads to Christ. They were the spiritual interpretation of the biblical text and were aimed at accounting for monasticism as the biblical form of life.

A Pillar of Cloud to Guide. Text-Critical, Redactional, and Linguistic Perspectives on the Old Testament in Honour of Marc Vervenne

Abstract: The present volume is intended as a special present on the occasion of Professor Marc Vervenne's retirement from the Faculty of Theology of the Catholic University of Leuven (KU Leuven). It intends to honour Marc Vervenne as an academic scholar, deeply engaged in the research of Ancient Hebrew literature. The book opens by the editors' presentation of Marc Vervenne's scientific biography and bibliography. Thereafter, and against the background of his own main interests in textual criticism, redaction criticism and linguistic-grammatical research, predominantly on texts of the Pentateuch, this volume equally presents a selection of contributions in those three domains. In admiration, respect and true friendship for Marc Vervenne, more than thirty colleagues from all over the world have contributed to this volume. In the first part, 'The Pentateuch in Texts, Themes, and Methods', scholars focus on Pentateuch texts from a multiplicity of methods and perspectives: historical research, historical-critical exegesis, literary criticism, redaction-criticism, themes and theology, reception history and narrative criticism. The second part, entitled 'Textual Criticism', deals with text-critical approaches of the text, on the basis of different textual witnesses with their own respective redaction and theology; it also discusses the close relationship and methodological intertwinement of textual and literary criticism in the current scholarly debate. In the third and final part, several perspectives on 'Hebrew Language and Linguistics' are offered against the background of Marc Vervenne's interest in grammar and linguistics. The title of this volume reflects his first love for the book of Exodus and especially the Sea Narrative, which guided his whole career. The present volume is intended as a special present on the occasion of Professor Marc Vervenne's retirement from the Faculty of Theology of the Catholic University of Leuven (KU Leuven). It intends to honour Marc Vervenne as an academic scholar, deeply engaged in the research of Ancient Hebrew literature. The book opens by the editors' presentation of Marc Vervenne's scientific biography and bibliography. Thereafter, and against the background of his own main interests in textual criticism, redaction criticism and linguistic-grammatical research, predominantly on texts of the Pentateuch, this volume equally presents a selection of contributions in those three domains. In admiration, respect and true friendship for Marc Vervenne, more than thirty colleagues from all over the world have contributed to this volume. In the first part, 'The Pentateuch in Texts, Themes, and Methods', scholars focus on Pentateuch texts from a multiplicity of methods and perspectives: historical research, historical-critical exegesis, literary criticism, redaction-criticism, themes and theology, reception history and narrative criticism. The second part, entitled 'Textual Criticism', deals with text-critical approaches of the text, on the basis of different textual witnesses with their own respective redaction and theology; it also discusses the close relationship and methodological intertwinement of textual and literary criticism in the current scholarly debate. In the third and final part, several perspectives on 'Hebrew Language and Linguistics' are offered against the background of Marc Vervenne's interest in grammar and linguistics. The title of this volume reflects his first love for the book of Exodus and especially the Sea Narrative, which guided his whole career.

Philo’s Life of Moses as “Rewritten Bible”

Abstract: Normally, Philo's writings are not included in the discussion of the phenomenon of "Rewritten Bible" because of their literary form of exposition and Philo's allegorical method. This chapter argues that Philo's Life of Moses , can be seen as an example of this phenomenon. It discusses the genre of the Life of Moses and offers an explanation for why the work seldom appears on lists of rewritten Biblical works. The chapter presents a reading of the Life of Moses that is based on an understanding of the work as an example of the "Rewritten Bible" phenomenon. In so doing, it demonstrate how Philo makes use of implicit rather than explicit exegesis as his main interpretative strategy in the first book of the Life of Moses . Philo's picture of Moses may be seen as a political response to the situation of the Alexandrian Diaspora Jews. Keywords: Alexandrian Diaspora Jews; Philo's allegorical method; Philo's Life of Moses ; rewritten Bible

Medieval Chinese Buddhist Exegesis and Chinese Grammatical Studies

Abstract: The purpose of this article a preliminary study aiming to demonstrate how the medieval indigenous Chinese Buddhist literature, especially the Buddhist exegeses, could contribute to our understanding of the grammatical knowledge of the medieval Chinese Buddhist scholarly monks in particular, and to the overall picture of the premodern Chinese grammatical studies in general. Much ink has been spilled on the important influences of the Chinese translation of Buddhist texts (漢譯佛典)on the development and innovation of Chinese language, so much so that the “Chinese language” of these translated texts has been regarded as a distinct type of Chinese language known as the “Buddhist hybrid Chinese” (佛教混合漢語). Rather than embarking this trend of study, this paper takes a different source and undertakes a different kind 2014.8.13收稿,2014.12.5通過刊登。 * Assistant Professor, Department of Buddhist Studies, Dharma Drum Institute of Liberal Arts. 1 This term was probably coined by Zhu Qingzhi朱慶之 borrowing from an idea found in Edgerton’s “Buddhist hybrid Sanskrit”. Wan Jinchuan萬金川 argued that this term is inappropriate, because unlike Buddhist hybrid Sanskrit佛教混合 梵語 which was a product of interactive usage between Prakrit and Sanskrit, the so called Buddhist hybrid Chinese did not go through such interaction between Chinese and Sanskrit. (Wang, 60 -68).

Sefirotic Depiction, Divine Noesis, and Aristotelian Kabbalah: Abraham ben Meir de Balmes and Italian Renaissance Thought

Abstract: FIFTEENTH- AND SIXTEENTH-CENTURY Italy witnessed a conspicuous prevalence of syntheses between philosophical speculation and kabbalistic thought. This is due, in part, to the autodidactic syncretism of many Italian Jewish thinkers, who were gamering variegated forms of knowledge from diverse textual sources. It is also due, in part, to the prijca philo jophia tradition of the Renaissance, which saw the revitalization of a wide range of ancient speculative sources as a necessary factor in human perfection and the search for truth. It is within this milieu that writers like the famed Jewish exegete Isaac Abravanel were able to bring Socrates into constructive dialogue with Rabbi Shimon bar Yohai.1 It is also in this milieu that a thinker like Abravanel's illustrious son Judah, better known in humanist circles as Leone Ebreo, was able to boldly make the following assertion regarding Plato, in allusion to Kabbalah as ancient wisdom:Plato, because he had greater notions of this ancient wisdom than Aristotle, followed it. Aristotle, who penetrated less deeply into abstract things, and unlike Plato did not have the testimony of our ancient theologians, denied that hidden territory, which he could not see . . . And though Plato was for so many years Aristotle's teacher, he learned from better teachers than Aristotle, who learned from Plato, because Plato studied with our ancient fathers.2This audacious statement, written in the vernacular and circulated beyond the Jewish world, concerns the primacy of ancient Jewish learning. For Ebreo, Plato is legitimate and Kabbalah can be understood via Platonic philosophy because Plato studied directly with ancient kabbalists. What is more, Aristotle's philosophy cannot enter into the depths of Kabbalah, due to the fact that Aristotle's learning was distant from kabbalistic sources, leaving Aristotelian philosophy more superficial and, in a sense, corrupted.Aristotelian philosophy is, by this reading, unsuited to the job of elucidating true, pristine kabbalistic lore. This take on Aristotle, which was carried over from medieval thinkers such as Ya'akov ben Sheshet and Shem Tov ben Shem Tov,3 was prevalent in the Renaissance and had wide influence. This is especially so with respect to an understanding of the kabbalistic hypostases known as the sefirot. Indeed, when turning to a discussion of the sefirot, even the avowed Aristotelian David ben Judah Messer Leon made reference not to Aristotle but to Plato and to the Platonic Ideas.4 As Hava Tirosh-Rothschild has astutely noted, David ben Judah "could incorporate Kabbalah into philosophy because he highlighted the Neoplatonic dimensions of medieval Arostoteliamsm."5 Similar shifts from Anstoteliamsm into Neoplatonism with regard to philosophical explications of the sefirot are visible in the works of other Jewish Renaissance thinkers as well, among them Yohanan Alemanno and Elia Hayyim ben Binyamin da Genazzano.6In line with this tendency, modem scholarly treatment has widely overlooked Aristotelian trends in Jewish Kabbalah of the Renaissance in relation to sefirotic exegesis,7 focusing instead on Neoplatonic ideas.8 Perhaps this is due to the pervasiveness of the Renaissance concept of the primacy of Plato in understanding kabbalistic notions. Notwithstanding, there was at least one important Jewish thinker of the Italian Renaissance who did attempt to interpret the sefirotic system by utilizing a more thoroughly Aristotelian philosophy. This was the Averroean-Aristotelian theorist and translator Abraham ben Meir de Balmes, who entered into the pardeo of sefirotic exegesis without once invoking Plato.This essay will seek to balance the Neoplatonically slanted picture of the Jewish philosophical Kabbalah of the Renaissance by examining the Aristotelian Kabbalah of de Balmes. After a brief introduction to the life and works of this important thinker, I will explicate his little-known, understudied commentaiy on the sefirot. …

Intellectual gravity and elective attractions: the provenance of Peirce's categories in Friedrich von Schiller

Abstract: The paper’s methodological prolegomena eschews narrow-gauge nominalistic approaches to Peirce in favor of his own synoptic (synechisticsynergistic) style of constructing his categorial architectonic in dialogue with the major ideas in the history of philosophy. As a “first” case in point, this paper focuses upon the provenance of and convergence with Friedrich von Schiller’s Aesthetic Letters in Peirce’s earliest Tuism and in his remembrance of Schiller in his mature phase. In-depth exegesis reveals that Schiller’s classic contains the seeds of Peirce’s trichotomic categorization of experience in three confluent strands of his developing system: 1) his phenomenological category of Firstness—corresponding to Schiller’s sense of “pure appearance” in the Spiel-trieb, as its plays out in Peirce’s prioritizing of abductive inference in inquiry and in the tychastic component of his cosmological metaphysics; 2) Esthetics as the “first” of the Normative Sciences; and, 3) the concept of Pure Play as “Musement” in his ‘A Neglected Argument for the Reality of God’ (1908) and in ‘An Essay toward Improving Our Reasoning in Security and in Uberty’ (1913)