Doctoral Degrees (Ancient Studies)
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Browsing Doctoral Degrees (Ancient Studies) by browse.metadata.advisor "Cook, Johann"
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- ItemAspects of the translation technique of the Septuagint : the finite verb in the Septuagint of Deuteronomy(Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 1992-12) Nieuwoudt, Bernard Andre; Cook, Johann; Claassen, Walter T.; Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Arts & Social Sciences. Dept. of Ancient Studies.ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Two major religions, Judaism and Christianity, use the ancient Hebrew Bible as Holy Scripture. These books were translated in the last three centuries before the common era. The oldest of these translations is the Septuagint, a Greek translation. Not only are the Hebrew and Greek texts that were involved in the original translation process missing, but precious little is known about the doctrine and translation methods of the translators of the Septuagint. Much can be learned about these crucial issues, however, if the translation technique followed by those ancient translators is studied by comparing the present Hebrew and Greek texts. A new method to determine and describe the translation technique of the Septuagint was proposed and tested in this dissertation. This method is based on the use of the Computer Assisted Tools for Septuagint Studies (CATSS) data base and statistical methods. The translation technique of the book Deuteronomy was described using different criteria, all of which measure the frequency of non-literal renderings. Three different groups of criteria were utilized, viz. the Tov criteria as proposed by E. Tov, criteria defined using the markers in the CATSS data base called the CATSS criteria, and grammatical criteria using the person of the verb. Each criterion was applied to the data base individually. The translation units were determined first, after which the translation technique found within the translation unit was described. The methodology implemented discriminates between significant and insignificant trends in translation technique. It became clear that the results of the different criteria indicate different translation units and different translation techniques for each of the criteria. Except for some criteria using the person of the verb, very little indication was found that the traditional translation units are supported by the data used in this study. In fact, it seems as if translation units should be determined before the translation technique is described. The translation technique should then be described according to the indicated units. Not all the Tov criteria could be utilized, but their results are in agreement to some extent. The CATSS criteria proved to be more difficult to implement than expected, but some of the criteria rendered excellent results. The person of the verb was discussed in detail using 12 different criteria. The results of the criteria utilizing the person of the verb are disappointing, and provide some scope for future research. The results rendered by this new approach are firm and easy to interpret. In addition, it is possible to utilize these results when dealing with specific text-critical problems.
- ItemEskatologiese/apokaliptiese oorlog tussen goed en kwaad in die Zoroastrisme, die Judaismse (Qumran) en 'n vroeg-Christelike geskrif (Die apokalips)(Stellenbosch : University of Stellenbosch, 2008-03) Louw-Kritzinger, Ellie Maria; Cook, Johann; University of Stellenbosch. Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. Dept. of Ancient Studies.Since time immemorial and throughout the centuries up to the present, the struggle between Good and Evil has played a cardinal role in the “cultural web” of mankind. In the various religions, this dimension of life is linked to the theological issue of human suffering and need in the light of Divine Omnipotence and Grace. Some of the earliest prophets/compilers/authors expressed their own perspectives on this ongoing conflict and burning question. This comparative research stems from a statement by the well-known Iranologist, Mary Boyce. She described the origin of the Christian faith as a new religion that developed out of Judaism, enriched by contact with the old Persian religion, Zoroastrianism. Other researchers also described various aspects of the dualism, eschatology, angelology and demonology, as well as the cosmogony and purity laws, as “obvious” similarities. However, researchers have not yet reached consensus on the possible influence exercised by Zoroastrianism on Judaism and the early Christian writings. The aim of the study is to make a contribution to the ongoing debate from another perspective. Writings from the religions are juxtaposed in full, and analysed and compared according to the war theme and components arising from the writings themselves. A holistic approach offers a more structured starting -point for further research rather to opposing aspects randomly from a large variety of texts. The holistic approach draws attention to similarities as well as differences. Keywords out of each analysis of a component have been placed in a framework to present the summarising comparison more compactly. Historical and literary contexts play an important role in a comparative study. The writings of the three religions originated in four major eras: the Bronze Age/the Sasanian Period, the Hellenistic Era and the Roman Era. The characteristic dualism of Zoroastrianism is limited to the eschatological/apocalyptic war as it is found in the Gathas of Zarathustra. References are also made to the “later” apocalyptic writing, the Bahman Yasht. The most relevant writing in the Judaism (Qumran) is the War Scroll. Richard Bauckham has described Revelations as the “Christian War Scroll”. The analysis of the various aspects shows that core principles in the religions underlie the war themes. Some of the proper names contain defining elements in the determination of dualism and monotheism. Planning and weapons are main components in the strategy of the war - the “revelation” of the modus operandi. The eschatology is caught up in the ultimate end of the war. In the final chapter, the main corresponding elements are placed on a “scale” and “weighed”. Although no further “lexical links” – the weight-bearing criteria of García Martínez – have been found in this study, the amount of corresponding aspects in merely one text per religion is significant. Differences and unique imagery/symbolism put each writing in its own time-slot and framework.
- ItemExternal influences in the Peshitta version of Proverbs(Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 1992-03) Steyn, P. E.; Cook, Johann; Claassen, W. T.; Brock, S. P.; Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. Dept. of Ancient Studies.ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The study of the Peshitta version of Proverbs started as research into the text-critical value of the Peshitta. By utilising the translation technique an attempt was also made to determine on which Vorlage(n) this book is based. In the course of this investigation it became clear that all the additions, of which the longest are found in chapter 9, cannot be sufficiently explained only by ordinary translation technique and/or style. Although these pluses may have been in the translator's Vorlage, there is considerable concurrence between the pluses and most of the deviations in the Syriac text with the Greek text, which indicates other reasons for their existence. It can be accepted with reasonable certainty that the Peshitta translator utilised the LXX to a considerable extent in order to establish a legible and simple translation. This fact is widely accepted and most scholars' treatises merely confirm most of the conclusions to which Hermann Pinkuss came in an article published in Z.A . W. of 1894. The exact nature and extent of this utilisation, however, have not been satisfactorily established as yet. In all the ordinary cases this utilisation extends from difficult and corrupt readings to readings that, according to the translator, may have been ethically or morally unacceptable. It was reasonably successfully shown that the Peshitta translator used a Hebrew text that probably did not differ from the MT to any significant degree. For example, the translator experienced similar problems with the MT to those that modem translators have to contend with. These problems were solved with the aid of the LXX and sometimes by means of harmonisation with other verses in the text. Judging from the translation technique of the Peshitta version of Proverbs it is clear that, where the translator came across some difficulty in the Hebrew text, he used the interpretation of the LXX quite liberally. The term interpretation should actually be stressed, because the Peshitta translator did not merely translate from the LXX. The tendency of the Syriac translation is always in line with the translation technique, which primarily attempted to explain what is written in the Hebrew. For this reason there are, in relation to the MT, fewer additions in the Peshitta than in the LXX. The Peshitta translator tried wherever possible to remain as close to the Hebrew text as the Vorlage and his understanding of the text would allow him. A larger problem, however, is to explain the existence of more extensive additions, which in some cases consist of several verses. After considering the relation of the Peshitta with other versions, it became clear that the possibility of other external influences, including the social and religious environment, had to be considered. Pinkuss stated that the Peshitta does not appear to present any connection with the Jewish or Christian religion. It should be borne in mind, however, that Judaism and Christianity share many ethical tenets. Furthermore, the Peshitta translation reveals remarkable nuances and would present only extremely subtle references to any belief. The Peshitta is after all a Christian document and the additions should perhaps be explained as an extention of the translation technique, which is to present the reader with a clear, unambiguous translation. Therefore the translation should perhaps be considered closely within the context of its religious milieu, namely, Syriacspeaking Christianity. Firstly, one should not expect Christianity in the East to present the reader with a dynamic, equivalent translation where every element of the text is carefully translated into Syriac. The rules of translation in the Syriac Church differed from the conventional translation technique in the West (which was too often concerned only with the avoidance of misinterpretation). It developed independently, because in a critical stage of the development of the Peshitta text (the fourth and fifth century), the Syriac Church was virtually cut off from the intellectual influence and debate in the West, which was critical in combatting the extensive increase in sectarian and heretical tendencies in the Church. Furthermore, most of the believers, and even priests, knew only Syriac. , Secondly, Eastern Christianity had more than Hellenism and a few philosophies that opposed the truth. The Church had to contend with a prolific number of cults and religions (not to mention sects) in all the cities in Syria. Thirdly, due to political factors, Syriac literature developed its own identity and traditions with regard to the establishment of Christianity in Osroene. The long strife that the Church had experienced with the Church in the West also fostered a unique self-image that the Syriac Church had of itself in the world. The schools in Edessa played a major part in perpetuating this tradition. Owing to the above-mentioned factors there would have been a number of readings in the Peshitta text that, according to the translator, warranted the changing of some words and phrases in the translation of Proverbs. Some familiar symbols and words with familiar references in the Syriac mind may have influenced the translation as well. Some variants are antiheretical and others are anti-anthropomorphic. The influence of Judaism should not be discarded in seeking the "rules" of translation in the Eastern Churches. The influence was more marked here than in the West. Numerous Jews even converted to Christianity and the intellectual contribution of Jews made to the Syriac Church and life is undeniable. Some Jewish practices (like the crowning of the bridegroom during the wedding ceremony) were maintained in the Eastern Churches. That this influence should come to the translation of texts was inevitable. Of course, the date of translation is important, but traditions did remain for a long time. In the light of all this, the additions in Proverbs do not render the Peshitta a Targum, but they should be considered a legitimate part of translation in Syriac Christianity. In conclusion, the external influences that played a part in the translation of the Peshitta are complex and are not limited to the Peshitta Vor/age(n) alone. The nature and extent of the influences on the translation of the Peshitta need to be extended to the socioreligious milieu as well. All the verses discussed in this thesis are investigated on their own merits and any identifiable influence is considered.
- ItemIs wisdom a mediatrix in Sirach? : a study of the wisdom poems(Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 1999-12) Rogers, Jessie Florence; Cook, Johann; Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. Dept. of Ancient Studies.ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The figure of Woman Wisdom appears in several key poems in Sirach, namely Sir 1:1-10,1:11-30,4:11-19,6:18-37,14:20-15:10,24:1-34 and 51:13-30. Woman Wisdom is a metaphor that employs feminine imagery to speak of the tradition as taught by the sages and contained within the sacred writings of Judaism. Ben Sira uses it to show that the Jewish tradition is the pathway to genuine piety. The metaphor functions to reinforce the implicit claim of conservative scribal circles to be the legitimate interpreters of the tradition. The personification of wisdom is the basic trope underlying the presentations of Wisdom. This feminine personification is then filled out with a number of metaphors, rendering Woman Wisdom an easily recognisable entity in the text despite the wide range of imagery applied to her. The wisdom personified includes both the content of the Jewish tradition and the disposition to live in conformity with that tradition, summed up in the fear of the Lord. This tradition is seen as the distillation of universal wisdom. The gender of Woman Wisdom is rhetorically important in those poems where wisdom is presented as a desirable goal to be passionately and zealously sought. But Ben Sira does not exploit the metaphor 'wisdom as woman' as a conceptual tool for reflection on wisdom in and of itself or in its relationship to God. In Sir 24 the feminine dimension of the Wisdom figure recedes; Wisdom is personified as an angelic figure and her gender becomes simply a fact of grammar. The metaphor 'wisdom as angel' may be an attempt to picture wisdom in the closest possible association with the Lord and in the most exalted position possible without compromising monotheism. Angels are also portrayed as mediators in Second Temple writings. The movement and action of Wisdom, God and human beings relative to each other in the Wisdom poems provides hints that the Jewish tradition plays a vital role in the relationship between God and humanity. God relates to human beings by revealing to them wisdom, which finds its most perfect expression in the Jewish written tradition. How a person relates to this tradition will determine how God relates to that person. Conversely, it is impossible to find wisdom if one does not have the correct attitude toward God and if one does not live according to the tradition. Since all wisdom is from God, there is no wisdom outside of what God gives, and the wisdom God has given is embodied in the traditions of Israel.
- ItemPsalms 38 and 145 of the Septuagint(Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2010-12) Gauthier, Randall Xerxes; Cook, Johann; University of Stellenbosch. Faculty of Arts and Social Science. Dept. of Ancient Studies.ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The present dissertation is a commentary on Psalms 38 and 145 in the Septuagint (LXX) version, or more accurately, the Old Greek (OG) version. Specifically, this dissertation attempts to understand the semantic meaning of these psalms at the point of their inception, or composition, i.e. as translated literary units derivative of a presumed Semitic Vorlage. Stated differently, this dissertation sets out to understand how these psalms were interpreted in translation by the translator(s). With the task of interpretation comes the assumption that the “original” or “oldest” verifiable text can be first established since neither the OG nor its Vorlage are known to be extant. To this end it is necessary to begin with the best critical editions available while also attempting to reconstruct a viable representative of the OG and Vorlage in the light of standard text-critical criteria and translation technique. Although the Old Greek text is the object of study, the transmission history and related history of interpretation for both the Greek and Hebrew are selectively examined insofar as they are necessary as comparisons for the LXX at the point of its inception, and the Vorlage from which it was derived. This work assumes – in accordance with the way translation may be understood generally – that the translator(s) of the Psalms were attempting to communicate his/her Vorlage to a new audience. In this respect translation may be viewed as communication that crosses a language boundary. As such, both lexical replication and idiomatic representation fall within the scope of interpretation. Both phenomena occur in Ps 38 and 145 in varying degrees and both phenomena comprise aspects of the translator’s cross-lingual communication. Chapter 1 establishes preliminary concepts regarding translation in terms of isomorphic and isosemantic representation, textual criticism of the Psalter, and select MSS and witnesses used throughout the study. Chapter 2 surveys key modern translations of the Septuagint as well as certain trends in Translation and Communication Studies for methodological and hermeneutical approaches. Chapter 3 derives working methodological principles based upon the discussions in chapters 1 and 2. Chapters 4 and 5 are detailed, word-by-word, clause-by-clause, commentaries on Psalms 38 and 145 respectively. Chapter 6 offers a summary and conclusions.
- ItemA quest for the assumed LXX Vorlage of the explicit quotations in Hebrews(Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2009-03) Steyn, Gert J.; Cook, Johann; Thom, Johan; University of Stellenbosch. Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. Dept. of Ancient Studies.The Vorlage of the explicit quotations in Hebrews remains an unresolved matter to date – despite the fact that it is an important pre-requisite before one can attempt to investigate the function of the quotations within their NT context. The selection, origin and version of the explicit quotations is a neglected aspect of previous studies. This Quest attempted to address these matters mainly from a tradition historical and a text critical angle. It follows the ground plan of Hebrews‘ own presentation of two sets of quotations in pairs – the first set consisting of hymnic texts and the second a quotation from the Torah, which is alternated between quotations from the Psalms and from the Prophets. The investigation considers each quotation in the light of possible alternative Vorlage(n) to those of the printed versions and interacts with previously proposed hypotheses – such as the ―Testimony Book‖ hypothesis, liturgy-, homily-, and midrash hypotheses. It became clear during the course of the investigation that, although Hebrews might have known a large number of quotations from the early Jewish (DSS; Philo) and early Christian (Paul, Gospels) traditions, he also expanded on some of those and added some other (mainly the longer) quotations. The latter include, for instance, Pss 40(39), 95(94), and Jer 31(38) – often accompanied by the author‘s reworking and own midrash on the passage with ring compositional features. The quotations are almost always introduced with a verb of saying and with a large number of them being presented in combination with a reference to an existing promise of God. Regarding the Dead Sea Scrolls, there are a number of similarities between particularly 4QMidrEschat, the Hodayot and the Pesharim – documents that are representative of a hermeneutic tradition of creatively working with and interpreting OT passages. Almost all of the Torah quotations are brief and (including the quotation from Prov 3) occurred already in the works of Philo of Alexandria, mainly in his Legum allegoriae 3. Their readings agree with each other – both of them often against the LXX and MT versions, which might be an indication of another version (the ―Old Greek?‖) that was used by both. Quotations that show an overlap with the then existing NT literature at the time that Hebrews wrote, are almost exclusively to be found in Romans and 1 Corinthians. The early Christian liturgical formula of the institution of the Eucharist seemed to have played a role in at least the quotation pair Exod 24:8 (―blood‖) and Ps 40:7-9 (―body‖).
- ItemA thematic study of doctrines on death and afterlife according to Targum Qohelet(Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2019-04) Lincoln, Lawrence Ronald; Cook, Johann; Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. Dept. of Ancient Studies.ENGLISH ABSTRACT: This dissertation examined how the Targum radically transformed Qohelet’s pessimistic, secular and cynical views on the human condition by introducing a composite rabbinical theology throughout the translation with the purpose of refuting the futility of human existence and the finality of death. The Targum overturned the personal observations of Qohelet and in its place proposed a practical guide for the living according to the principles of rabbinic theological principles. While BibQoh provided few if any solutions for the many pitfalls and challenges of life and lacking any clear references to an eschatology, the Targum on the other hand promoted the promise of everlasting life as a model for a beatific eschatological future. The dissertation demonstrated how the targumist exploited a specific translation strategy to introduce rabbinic ideologies to present the targum as an alternative context to the ideologies of wisdom literature as presented in Biblical Qohelet. The translation follows the Hebrew original but includes numerous additions and expansions from other sources of rabbinic literature. However, it is difficult to follow the original Hebrew text in the mass of disjointed additions. In order to analyse and make sense of the translator’s purpose and strategy, it was necessary to find an analytical tool to organise the many disparate elements of the Targum in order to understand its purpose and intent. For this study, the decision was taken to analyse the theological system as a whole in TgQoh, as it became clear that the targumist had created a unitary approach to the afterlife themes as these could not easily be separated from afterlife passages. I decided to follow the method of Jacob Neusner’s concept of finding religious paradigms as a means to analyse and explain the rabbinic system and its inherent complexity. The paradigms therefore became the building blocks for understanding the cognitive elements of religious experience in the form of a unifying taxonomy. Furthermore, the mass of information concerning an explanatory framework for the pattern of life-death-afterlife–resurrection as a theological system is massive and spread over sources that comprise the entire biblical canon and all the commentaries on it. The aim was to find a suitable method for collating and aggregating the range of topics and then to explain the system. The use of a paradigmatic approach introduced a structured means for explaining the complexity and range of rabbinic beliefs and how these relate to the promise of an afterlife in terms of the Targum and as a means of comparison against the Hebrew version. The use of paradigms drawn from religious experience and the underlying theology enabled the research to connect all the different elements of rabbinical religious categories that feature in the targum. These religious commands became the ultimate guidelines suggested by the Targum for humankind to follow on a progressive path towards living righteous lives according to the Torah in the earthly or mortal phase as the means to achieve the reward of an everlasting life in the world to come.