Browsing by Author "Lincoln, Lawrence Ronald"

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    A socio-historical analysis of Jewish banditry in first century Palestine 6 to 70 CE
    (Stellenbosch : University of Stellenbosch, 2005-12) Lincoln, Lawrence Ronald; Cook, Johann; University of Stellenbosch. Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. Dept. of Ancient Studies.
    This thesis sets out to examine, as far as possible within the constraints of a limited study such as this, the nature of the Jewish protest movement against the occupation of their homeland by the Roman Empire in the years after the territory had become a direct province of the Empire. These protests were mainly instigated by and initially led by Jewish peasants who experienced the worst aspects of becoming a part of the larger Roman world.
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    A 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.