Liber Annuus

The present discussion regards the Old Testament theologies (OTT), especially that of R. Albertz, which denies the documentary hypothesis of the Pentateuch and derivates the biblical monotheism from the Canaanite polytheism. It deals with the following problems: 1. Should the OTT only be a presentation of ideas or should it be a presentation of the history of salvation? 2. The urgency of avoiding opposite extremisms - fideism and scepticism - in the scientific interpretation of the Bible. 3. The opinions of Albertz, Lang, Smith, and the other today-extremists. 4. The question on the biblical monotheism and the influence of the atheistic scholars of religious phenomenology. 5. The biblical Hebrew quest for Godʼs identity ad extra and ad intra. 6. OTT and anti-Semitism in exegesis and recent approaches of the Jews and Christians in theological biblical questions.

Various scholars have shown the presence of an apocalyptic writing or at least traces of apocalyptic origin in the book of Ezechiel. This study attempts to reconstruct such “apocalyptic” writing in Ezechiel, putting it in relation with the hypothesis that the author proposes for many years and which he calls “the cultual scheme of foundation”. The article begins with examining Ez 21:33-37 and Ez 35, which seem to be in conflict with the proposed cultual outline, according to which the oracles against the nations would have been present in the second part of the book and in the section of chapters 25-32. The analysis discovers in the frame of the final writing “diachronic reading” in two moments, which entirety constitute the process of escatologization of Ezechiel. It means an unitary and rapid process that, together with textual additions and successive insertions, begins the apocaliptization of the work. The article systematically examines such a genetic process in the book.

The problem of an order in the Psalter has been posed since antiquity, without a satisfying solution. This paper presents us with some major results of canonical exegesis on the Psalms and allows us to reach the conclusion that such an order does in fact exist. First, the Psalter is a book with a beginning and an end (beatitudes and doxologies). Secondly, the poems collected in this book have a connection with one another, as already shown by Delitzsch, and possibly a concentric structure, as it seems to result from the threefold division of the book proposed by Beckwith. Moreover, the davidic or royal background of the Psalms gives us a theological unity to the Psalter, so providing another key for its order.

Despite different problems and diachronic solutions proposed by modern authors, a synchronic interpretation of Hos 1-3 is not only possible but highly rewarding. First, the full text of the three chapters is synoptically displayed, translated and analyzed with special attention to the verb forms used in order to understand its perspective and intention (§ 1). Then, the two Godʼs commands to the prophet (1:2 and 3:1) are discussed in order to understand the situations envisaged (§ 2). Further, on the basis of the titles used for Israel, both the leaders and the simple people (§ 3), and of the function of ch. 2 in the context (§ 4), the historical situation behind the text is outlined (§ 5). Finally, the relationship between the historical situation and the composition of Hos 1-3 is evaluated (§ 6). The main problem of the text, i.e., the swift transition from Israel rejected by God, unlike Judah, in ch. 1, to Israel and Judah together in exile but open towards liberation, in ch. 2, combines two different chronological situations, i.e., the one following the end of the Northern Kingdom in 722 B.C., and the other following the exile of 701 B.C., a Judean exile not usually recognized by the historians. With his parallel arrangement of chs. 1-3, the prophet intends to announce a process of rejection, purification and reconciliation with the God of whole Israel, who finally will become one people under one king, “a new David.”

The author examines the main attempts of the translation of the LXX underway, under an hermeneutical profile. The ancient Greek version of the Jewish Miqraot, or the Old Testament of the Christian communities introduces, regarding the Hebrew text, a complex phenomenology of differentiations on different levels: textual, grammatical, syntactical, lexicografical, stilistical and hermeneutical. In this way, the characteristics of the LXX under the hermeneutic profile emerge with more clarity because of the comparison with the ancient Jewish Greek versions and with the Syriac and Latin versions transmitted in various Christian contexts. In any case, the phenomena interpreted in an ancient version belong to the nature of translation, independently from their confessional origin. Considering the task of an Italian translation of the LXX in the Jewish context, and then transmitted in a Christian context, the author thinks that it is necessary to equip the translation with an hermeneutic apparatus formed from the New Testament quotations of the Greek version and from the Christian literature of the Greek speaking Church Fathers of the first centuries. Moreover, a theological clarification is necessary between these hermeneutics of the LXX in the ancient Christian tradition, the text Hebrew, the jewish atmosphere at the time of the LXX before it was handed over up to modern Biblical Hermeneutics.

This note studies the vocalization of the unusual form ˜ocá in Nahum 2:11 (2:10 in some textual traditions). The vocalization ˜o„CÍá (preferred to ˜oCÌá) indicates a rare form of perf. 3 f. pl. The presence of C quååöyö probably comes from the analogy with other names deriving from the same root.

It is usually held that the Old Syriac Gospels depend upon the Diatessaron. In the present study the theological tendencies of the two versions are examined. Tatian stressed the virginity of Mary, introduced some Encratite variants, offered a Christology similar to Gnostic conceptions and was anti-Judaic. The translators of the Old Syriac Gospels stressed the relationship between Joseph and Jesus, introduced an important anti-Encratite variant, did not present any similarity with Gnostic ideas and were Jewish Christians. The conclusion is that the two versions were produced in two different communities and are independent of each other.

Biblical Canon and Biblical Theology are two realities tied together similar to the problem of a unique canon made of two Testaments in tension, and answer, to demonstrate the unity of the Scriptures. Having introduced the problem, two crucial moments are taken into consideration in which the canon has been at the center of theological reflection: the 70 with the German hermeneutics on the one hand and the American canonical critics on the other; the 90 with the proposal of three important “ Biblical Theologies”, examined for the answer they give to the problem of the canon. In last part the results are synthesized and an attempt is made to find a new way in order to demonstrate the unity of the Scriptures: the collective memory of Jhwh as the one God who has created the world and has chosen Israel and the memory of Jesus containing the former and bringing it to fulfillment in the definitive revelation of the God who saves all men.

Analysis of texts requires the categorization, ordering and representation of large amounts of inter-relating data: word meaning, grammatical structure, semantics, and others. Some methods of diagramming the structure of a phrase have already been developed, with various levels of utility. However, the typical topology displays only a single scenario, constraining the reader to a single value at each point of multivalence. Thus to list N possibilities requires N such diagrams, which becomes impractical for anything but the most simple phrase. In contrast, the present survey applies a network topology, which allows the freedom of representing multivalence and ambiguity, external referents and engagements.

We submitted again to our analysis the most famous texts of the Pastorals, attributed to traditions to show what is new in their representation. In 1Tm 1:15 the fundamental affirmation ʻHe came... to save sinnersʼ; in 1Tm 2:5-6: the idea of Jesus the only mesites, without the Jewish idea of covenant; in 1Tm 6:13 with 1Tm 2:6 the presentation of the death of Jesus as martyrion or martyria; in 2Tm 2:11-13 the possibility that the syn- of verbs implies a reference not only to Jesus, but also to believers together; in 2Tm 1:9-10 the introduction of the word epiphaneia for the divine manifestation of Christ Jesus; in Titus 2:11-14 the revolutionary idea that salvation is the effect of the educational work of the grace of God and finally Titus 3:3-7 the direct subordination of the justifying grace to baptism. All that was fundamental for the development of the theology of early Christianity.

The Pontifical Biblical commission published an important document “The sacred Scriptures of the Jewish people are a fundamental part of the Christian Bible”. A manifestation of the link between the two Testaments to their beginnings is the acceptance by Christians of the Sacred Scriptures of the Jewish people as the Word of God. The Church has accepted as inspired by God all the writings contained in the Hebrew Bible as well as those in the Greek Bible. This relationship is also reciprocal: on the one hand, the New Testament demands to be read in the light of the Old, but it also invites us to a “re-reading” of the Old in the light of Jesus Christ. In the Gospel of John many texts of the Old Testament are quoted and presented as fulfilled. The author studies the difficult text of Za 12:10 beginning with the critical problems of the Old Testament versions. The main versions are examined (HT, LXX, Peshitto). The precedent studies of Reim, Evans, Braun and Menken are also considered. In Judaism, re-readings were commonplace. The Old Testament itself points the way. The Books of Chronicles are a “re-reading” of the Book of Genesis and the Books of Samuel and Kings. What is specific to the Christian re-reading is that it is done in the light of Christ.

The first part of this contribution focuses on the interpretation of the conjunction o{ti in Gal 4:6. The adduced arguments induce it to be considered as a casual conjunction. A conclusive note refers to a possible exegetic implication of the proposed reading, regarding Paulʼs relation to the Holy Spirit in the Acts of the Apostles. The second part attempts to demonstrate that the article of a complement in attribuive (second) position may have construction according to the sense (in number) with its antecedent, where the participle of eijmiv is understood or of another verb derived from the context.

Some passages of the NT are analyzed in which the article may have either individual or generic meaning; the consequences for exegesis depending on whether we choose either one or the other are highlighted and attention is called for in the interpretation of texts.

From the outset of Christian monastic history, renunciation was universally considered an initial step along the ascetic path. In various circles of early monastic tradition there were different emphases on renunciation. In contrast to anchoritic monasticism, which felt less threatened by the dangers of personal will, coenobitic monasticism placed paramount importance on social cooperation and obedience. Close examination of the place of this topic in the paideia of early monastic literature reveals a shift in its importance and centrality that can be clearly traced in the various phases of the monastic school of Gaza. It developed a special emphasis on extreme self-renunciation, achieving its apogee in this circleʼs late coenobitic forms and epitomized in the second half of the sixth century in the Life of Dositheus, the disciple of Dorotheus.

Two letters from pilgrims arriving from north and central Italy to Jerusalem at the end of the 15th century are translated here into Italian. The name of the pilgrims are R. Yose da Montagnana and R. Yiß˙aq Latif from Ancona. These letters are translated for the first time from the original.

The archeological research at the Church of Umm-al-Rasas - Kastron Mefaa, located outside the northern wall of the Roman Camp between the Tabula Ansata to the south and the Church of Lions to the north, began by the Department of Antiquities in the summer of 2003 with the removal of the surface stones from the collapse. The excavations were followed by and completed with our mission in August 2004, during the 20th campaign among the ruins that has been included by UNESCO in the World Heritage List the previous month. The Basilica style Church was paved with mosaic in the year 586 at the time of Bishop Sergius of Madaba. We named it the Church of the Reliquary due to the damage that it underwent during the time of this liturgical furnishing, before our intervention, by the clandestine excavators who ravaged through the area.

The brief comment looks at the most noteworthy ceramics and objects, discovered in the two tombs of the “Reliquary” Church of Umm al-Rasas, with the completion of the excavations of the summer campaign of 2004. The ceramic fragments with sketches and descriptions, originate from the layers above the pavement level and from the surveys carried out at the level of the mosaic. In harmony with the situation of the layers and homogenous to that of the other churches excavated at Umm al-Rasas, after a period of abandonment the building may have been partially used as a dwelling before the ultimate structural collapse. The two tombs discovered near the western angle of the northern nave and near the eastern angle of the southern nave, contained the bones of more than one individual, buried at different times. Lastly, together with a pair of rings, a cross and various fragments of a pearl necklace of vitreous glass, the discovery was also made of a pair of earrings, a hair pin and an iron belt buckle, objects which came from the poor burial chests belonging to the dead.

Continuing from the publication of the Liturgical Complex of Saint Sergius at Nitl (cf. M. Piccirillo - I. Shahid, LA 51 [2001] 267-292) where the importance of the monument for the history of the presence of the Christian confederation of Banu Ghassan in the Arabia Provincia is highlighted, in this article the stratigrafic documentation of the excavation is highlighted, especially that of the southern part of the Church of Saint Sergius and the eastern annexes, together with the related ceramic typology of the different periods of occupation.