Liber Annuus

History in the Pentateuch and creation in the Book of Job are the two sources of life and human formation towards maturity of faith in the OT up to the NT. The message of Moses and of Job is that God is the Creator and Father, the God of life, who has done and always does good things for all his creatures, both by sending them joy and suffering. Also God employs persons as human guides and intercessors: Moses in the Pentateuch and the young Elihu in the book of Job. Every believer is invited to accept the persons that God sends in his life and also to be ready to make himself a guide and intercessor for his brothers and sisters, when God calls him.

Malachi 1:2-5 places the love of Yhwh for Jacob in an opposing position to the hatred of Yhwh towards his brother Esau, the representative of the nation of Edom originating from him. This article intends to present the theme of the election of Israel present in Malachi 1:2-5, bearing in mind the overall message of the book of Malachi. The current interest in the Twelve Minor Prophets as one book has prompted the investigation of some similarities and differences between Malachi and other writings. The passage should not be interpreted as the conflict between Israel and Edom, the symbol of enemy nations in the prophets. It must rather be understood in the sense of an opposition within the chosen people between those who are loyal to the covenant and those who transgress. Those who are disloyal to the covenant within Israel will be subject to misfortune like Edom. The passage serves to establish the need for a corresponding response of the chosen people to the initiative of Yhwh.

An investigation on the distribution and characteristics of the divine name ADNY (435 occurrences in the Bible) reveals that it functions as an ordinary divine name only from Amos, Isaiah, and Kings onwards; while in the Pentateuch, Joshua, Judges, and Samuel, it is found only in citations of direct speech and is used as a term of address signifying submission, similar to the term of address adoni "sir". The address adoni is a derivative of adon, while the divine appellation Adonai is a derivative of adonim, both of which originally mean "sir". The distinction between adoni and adonai was apparently based on a theological concept.

The article is a detailed review of E. J. Revell, The Pausal System: Divisions in the Hebrew Biblical Text as Marked by Voweling and Stress Position (Pericope: Scripture as Written and Read in Antiquity 10), ed. R. de Hoop - P. Sanders, Sheffield 2015. The review adds a number of details about the masoretic pausal system. Albeit the reviewer mostly agrees with R.'s descriptions, he holds - contrary to the work under review - that some of the pausal forms depend on the prosody expressed by the masoretic accents. The article includes a comprehensive study of the conditions, in which an introduction of direct speech is marked with pausal or context forms.

The imagery of human slavery is often taken for granted when interpreting Matt 6:24, probably because of the presence of the noun "slave" in the Lukan version of the logion (Luke 16:13). Considering the cultic aspect of the verb δουλεύω in biblical Greek however, the meaning of the first part of the saying could be "no one can worship two lords" and the metaphor of a slave with two human masters would thus be unnecessary for its interpretation.

The healing of the woman who had a flow of blood has an interesting detail in the Q source: the woman who wants to be healed touches the fringes of Jesus' garment. The purpose of this article is to examine the theology underlying the fringes not only in the light of texts from the books of Numbers and Deuteronomy, but also in a text of the prophet Malachi.

Paul never uses the term "Christian" either for others or for himself. He is and remains a Jew. His jewishness, however, has elements which are typical and atypical. Among the former are numbered, when prior to the experience of Damascus such as the zeal of persecution, or when after the Damascus experience, such as the use of the Holy Scriptures of Israel, monotheism, the eschatological perspective (including the affirmation of Rom 11:26 that "all Israel will be saved"). Among the latter must be numbered the following: the christophany on the way to Damascus, the reworking of the role of the Torah, the mission among the Gentiles, parallel elements with the Mystery cults (both regarding baptism in Rom 6:1-11 and of Eucharist in 1 Cor 10:6). What is certain is that if Paul was considered apostate by Jews and Judeo-Christians, he personally never considered himself as such.

How did the addressees of the Letter to the Romans understood the preposition εἰς in Rom 6:3? How did they understand the expression in which this preposition occur, and how did they understand the Baptism of which Paul speaks of in Rom 6? Was the discourse of Paul entirely new to the members of the community of Rome, or was the explanation of the meaning of Baptism in Rom 6:3-4 aimed at reminding and clarifying concepts that they already knew? In Rom 6:3-4, Paul expresses concepts which in part - and for some members of the community of Rome - are traditional, and familiar (cf. Rom 15:15). With the explanation of the "Christian" Baptism, Paul also clarifies aspects of traditional concepts that the addressees of the Letter - or some of them - "ignore", or have not understood well enough. Explaining the Baptism in Christ Jesus, Paul refers to the eschatological promises related to the Temple, accomplished by the death and resurrection of Jesus and with the gift of the Holy Spirit. After speaking of Baptism in the First Letter to the Corinthians (cf. 1 Cor 3:16; 6:11; 10:1-4; 12:12-13), and in the Letter to the Galatian (cf. Gal 3:27), Paul explains again the "Christian" Baptism in a Letter to the community of Rome, before arriving at the capital of the Empire, and supposing that the members of this community already knew the content of his previous Letters (cf. Rom 16:3-5; 1 Cor 16:19). The fidelity to the Temple by a group of disciples of Jesus living in Rome, and the "actualized" eschatology of one other group may explain the reason why, while speaking of the "Christian" Baptism, Paul does not explicitly mention the Temple. For the first group, the omission is aimed at indicating the meaning of the Jerusalem Temple after the death and resurrection of Jesus, celebrated with the rite of Baptism. For the other group, the omission of the mention of the Temple is aimed at clarifying the temporal and sacramental meaning of the "Christian" Baptism, in relationship to the eschatological Temple. In explaining the Baptism in the Letter to the Romans, Paul addresses the members of the community who are Gentiles too. An explicit mention of the Temple could have been a cause of misunderstanding for this group that was more familiar with the functioning and meaning of the pagan temples than with the meaning of the Temple of Jerusalem.

In Rom 14:21, St. Paul states "it is good not to eat meat or drink wine or do anything that makes your brother or sister stumble". Meat is mentioned in this context before (Rom 14:2), whereas wine is not. This paper aims to show that the refusal to consume both meat and wine can be explained by the kashrut laws, according to which meat and wine are kosher only if they are produced by Jews. The problem is that these laws cannot be verified for the New Testament period. This paper studies a number of texts of the Second Temple period, which mention Jews abstaining from meat and wine in pagan surroundings. This explanation fits into an interpretation of the "weak" in Rome as Judeo-Christians who continue to observe the jewish halakha. Following a rupture between Jews and Judeo-Christians in Rome, the latter had no possibility of obtaining kosher meat and wine, hence they abstained totally from both.

The purpose of this article is to examine the role of the apostolic ministry of Paul in 1 Cor 1-4. For many commentators, the central theme of these four chapters is the Apostle's exhortation to unity, addressed to the Corinthians. However, Paul's reasoning shows how, underlying the divisions in the community, there is an incorrect vision of the apostle's role which is based on human wisdom. For this reason he describes the evangelizers as ministers and servants of God for the good of the believers.

This paper shows that the point of reference for the community is primarily Paul's apostolic mission and his example of adherence to the logic of the cross. Paul exhorts the Corinthians to be his imitators, inasmuch as he is the "father" of the community, given that he generated them with the proclamation of the Gospel. This interpretation of Paul's apostolic ministry, developed in 1 Cor 1-4, may also be considered a key to interpreting the entire letter.

This article examines the argumentative section of 1 Corinthians 12-14, focusing on the discursive dynamic of the individual literary units. In the history of exegesis, many scholars have presented its rhetorical dispositio. This paper aims at showing the relationship between the dispositiones of the rhetorical micro-units and identifying the rhetorical genre of the whole section. The argumentative system (from plural to singular and vice versa) recurs in all the discursive sections and it is very important to identify the rhetorical dispositio: 1 Cor 12:1-6 (Exordium: principium + insinuatio); 1 Cor 12:7 (Propositio); 1 Cor 12:8-31a (Argumentatio: vv. 8-11; 12-31a); 1 Cor 12:31b (Transitus); 1 Cor 13:1-3 (Exordium + propositio); 1 Cor 13:4-7 (Argumentatio = laudatio); 1 Cor 13:8-13 (Argumentatio = comparatio); 1 Cor 14:1a (Commoratio); 1 Cor 14:1bc (Propositio); 1 Cor 14:2-36 (Argumentatio: vv. 2-5; 6-19; 20-25; 26-36); 1 Cor 14:37-40 (Peroratio). The epideictic genre characterizes the whole section of 1 Corinthians 12-14.

The explicit language of argumentative and anthropological mimesis is missing in Galatians. However, it is implicitly found in three topical moments in which Paul utilises both these forms of mimesis. In Gal 2:15-21 mimesis or the representation of the speech made by Paul on the occasion of the incident at Antioch serves to highlight the entire autobiography of Gal 1:13-2:21. It is intended to induce the Galatians to imitate Paul in adhering to God's grace. In Gal 3:5-6 and 4:28-31 the mimesis of the story of Abraham and his descendants is employed to show that one becomes a child of Abraham by following the same faith and not through the Law of Moses and circumcision. In Gal 4:12-20 Paul recalls the first evangelization in Galatia in order to exhort the Galatians to follow his example not only when he was present among them, but also in his absence, and in the face of his opponents' seductions. In situations when the values that characterize their religious identity is in danger, such as the gospel, grace and freedom, only mimesis - meaning reproduction of the original model to be imitated - permits its transmission.

The christian is a new creation, a spiritual being that grows dynamically in conformity to the Risen Christ. Filled with the love of God (ἀγάπη) poured into his heart by the Holy Spirit, he grows more and more in the knowledge (γνῶσις) of the mysteries of humankind and God's action in his life, in order to always fulfill the will of God. To this end, he receives a new heart (καρδία), a new mind (νοῦς) with regards to the intellectual aspect that involves understanding, knowledge and wisdom; and a moral intuition (αἴσθησις) and a renewed conscience (συνείδησις) with regards to the behavioural aspect. Through these faculties in his soul, he is able to put in motion a process of scrutatio of the reality around him, and an intellectual opening to divine illumination (revelatio), in order to actualise a correct discernment, measured and sifted (κρίνω, δοκιμάζω), of the will of God through the changing circumstances of life, and realise it.

This essay focuses on the structure of the Johannine Passion narrative (John 19:16-42). Numerous studies have examined the subject, which have offered varying interpretations. Based on these, this paper offers a syntactic and formal analysis of the text, highlighting a comprehensive text structure. Thus, the centrality of the fulfillment theme has been shown: Jesus brings to completion the Scriptures (cf. 19:24, 36-37) and the Father's plan (cf. 19:28, 30), by consciously accepting his passion and death. The Evangelist, through the organization of the text and his subtle irony, shows the progressive failure and fading of worldly powers, while Jesus' kingship is paradoxically affirmed. Consequently the disciples receive divine adoption and the reader is invited to faith.

Heb 8:1-2 has all the characteristics of being the thesis (the highpoint) of the Letter (Treatise) to the Hebrews. A series of literary elements and respective contents are employed in its writing; another similar series follow its evolution. Jesus the Christ is the "Great High priest", unique, new and eternal, unlike other high priestly figures; and so are his priests and the priestly pilgrim people in faith (12:18-21, 22-24), in continuation with the generation of the Desert ("Wüstenwanderung": 12:1a). That pilgrimage was initiated by he himself, who had undergone it himself and who brought it to its fulfillment (12:2a). This is the "primary theme" of this Treatise. These data are the precious result of the historical-critical method that requires as priority a concentration on the text and its "Umwelt". An equally critical attention is always in the spotlight, which requires a "post-redactional dialogic-narrative structurality", an evolution of the historical-critical method, a kind of attention to the "psycho-anthropological dynamic" of the text in its nature as a "living organism" with a well-motivated conclusion 'from łexicality to inter-contextuality'.

This paper takes note of this movement between exegetes and tries to highlight the harmonic convergence between the two moments: Redactional Literary Structure (from my Commentary 2005) and the post-redactional dialogic structure (necessary attention to the studies from 2005 to the present).

The symbol of the woman (γυνή and νύμφη) in the Book of Revelation (Rev 12; 19:7; 21:2, 9; 22:17) is developed through her role as "mother" of believers and "bride" of the Lamb. Her status is a work in progress that alternates between attacks of evil and divine assistance (chap. 12). God's victory over Satan (12:79) and the triumph of the martyrs (12:11) represent the certainty of a successful end of the community's destiny in the eschatological stage. In the historical phase, represented by the desert (12:6, 14), the Church is not exempt from the danger of being confused with the negative imagery of the woman-Babylon, if she holds a false doctrine and an erorneous style of life, which is condensed in the symbol of the woman-Jezebel (2:20-21). In course of time the community, therefore, must prepare herself for the definitive moment of the wedding (19:7; 21:2, 9), when she will evolve into the symbol of the city-Jerusalem, an image of transcendent coexistence (chap. 21). The language of the woman-Church will not close with a flight into the future, but at the end of book the author presents the community in her present state which is the condition of a "bride" (22:17) and, with the Spirit, she invokes the coming of Christ because he would bring to completion the fullness of the celestial wedding.

This article aims to present, through the witness of a pilgrim to Jerusalem in 1431 namely the priest Mariano da Siena, some elements regarding the early beginnings of the pious practice of the Via Crucis. This is the journey along the "same" route that Christ, bearing his patibulum, walked from Pilate's Praetorium to Calvary in order to be crucified. Naturally, as is the case of all the accounts of pilgrims, this text is of fundamental importance also because of the description of the places that were seen and visited, and the description of the condition in which "they were to be found" in that historical period. The itinerary depicted by Mariano da Siena was different from that of the current route of the Via Crucis, as well as the other "places" that were indicated in the various stops and their position. For this reason we shall attempt, in our presentation of the critical text, to enrich it with notes and comments on the writing of Mariano da Siena, concentrating our attention on that part of the route that was followed within the walls of the city of Jerusalem.

The present article forms a synthesis of the artistic media - architectural, sculptural and wall painting - and the epigraphic and numismatic evidence. These enable the examination of the role of Dionysos in the life of the cities of the Decapolis, especially the religious practice during the Roman period. The various findings emphasize the artistic-visual-aesthetic aspects of his cult in those cities where the god was worshipped. Presumably, the cult of Dionysos was practiced at both state and civic levels, and perhaps also as a cult in the private sphere.