I therefore acknowledge the financial support of the Synod of South Africa, which allowed me the privilege of continuing to study for my Masters at the University of KwaZulu-Natal. Finally, the financial support of the National Research Foundation (NRF) for this research is gratefully acknowledged.
THE FUNDAMENTAL PARADIGM
- Background and Purpose of the Study
- Research Problems and Objectives
- Principal Research Theory
- Phase One: Preliminary stage
- Phase Two: Social-analytical mediation
- Phase Three: Hermeneutical mediation
- Phase Four: Practical mediation
- Research Methodology
- Structure of Dissertation
Furthermore, this approach does not ignore other approaches that will be helpful in our reconstruction of the historical context of Hosea's message. Based on the discussions of these major traditions, a major thrust of Hosea's message is intimated, which ultimately leads to the identification of redemptive images in the book.
READING FROM THIS PLACE: THE SOUTH AFRICAN CONTEXT
- Growth, Employment, and Redistribution
- Changing Gears
- Getting into GEAR
- Ruminations on GEAR Policy
- RDP of the Soul
- The Church in Post-Apartheid South Africa
- Summary and Conclusion
It is therefore safe to say that “the dream” has been the dream of the majority of South Africans. In this regard, the chapter has established that the government's macroeconomic policy orientations, as contained in the.
THE HARLOTRY METAPHOR AND ITS RELATION TO THE SOCIO-
Theory of Metaphor
- The Eye of Resemblance
- The Centre of Figural Space
- The Unique Product of the Whole
- Networks of Associative Common Places
- A Master of Metaphor
However, "metaphor's greatest rival", and which shares more similarities with it than any of the other tropes mentioned so far, is the simile (Soskice 1985:58). In this regard, Richards (cited in Soskice 1985:46) emphasizes that "the tenor and the vehicle are not two expressions of the utterance at all" thereby giving way to (a) subordinate vehicle(s). And when this happens, "the metaphor goes beyond the linguistic into the psychological and perceptual realm" (Soskice 1985:18).
It is in this sense that “the relational irreducibility of the metaphor lies in the potentially limitless suggestions evoked by considering” a metaphor on a model or underlying models (Soskice 1985:95). This consideration, according to Soskice, is one of the features of the special conceptual usefulness of metaphor.”. The divisions we make, and even the 'species' we isolate, will themselves be relative to the context of the investigation” (Soskice 1985: 131).
Delineating the Scope of Engagement
- The Elusive Cultic Prostitute
- The Different Faces of Gomer the Licentious Woman
- The Classical Prophetic Corpus
- The Influence of Being Partially Constituted
- Situating the Argument
For a central theme of Canaanite religion was that the sexual principle was reflected in nature and personified in the shameful fertility god Baal.”31. Another critical study of the marriage-prostitute metaphor suggests that Israel is understood in the Hebrew Bible as Yahweh's bride, which also finds resonance in the fertility cult hypothesis. The location of this thesis will be within those readings, as stated earlier, which are focused on the marital imagery of the first three chapters.
Weems (1989), using a literary approach, asserts "the versatility of metaphor as a model for shedding light on the capriciousness of the divine-human relationship" and goes on to say that it captures "the vicissitudes of that relationship" (Weems 1989:99) . 50 West and Sethel's discussions lead them to an analysis of the sociological location of women in the political and psychological state of Hosea's Israel (West 1996a:208). 39 Keefe (1995:76) suggests that “The trope of Hosea is not really a marriage metaphor, but a family metaphor, which draws on the centrality of the family in traditional Israelite life as a way of dealing with impending disintegration and destruction. of that way of life, caused by the self-aggrandizing practices of Israel's elite."
Literary and Historical Analysis of Hosea ‟s Cont ext
- Prominence, Date and Literary Character of Hosea
- Marriage-Harlotry Metaphor in the Book of Hosea
- Metaphorical Images
- Concluding Reflections
To understand the figure of the woman in the metaphor, we must start with the children. The claim that the children are illegitimate would apply only to the metaphorical children and would in no way serve as a commentary on the status of Hosea's historical children. Within the Israelite configuration, the leadership corpus forms the top of the hierarchy, followed by the common people, who will be discussed below.
Another aspect of the name Jezreel is the Hebrew meaning "God sows", but in the context of Hosea 1:4 it is equated with the destruction that Yahweh will bring "upon the house of Jehu because of the shedding of the blood of Jezreel" (cf. 2 Kings. The verse predicts the end of Israel's royal sovereignty an institution based on violent military coups (cf. Keefe 1995:99), reflected in the metonymic “House of Israel.” He condemns the practices of the royal court, the military wing, and the institutions that legitimize them.
Summary and Conclusion
The above arguments identify the woman of promiscuity with the city of Samaria, following Kelle's (2005) proposal, and implicitly with the people as a whole affected by corrupt governance. He speaks to his estranged wife in “an exaggeration to claim that the new relationship with personified Samaria will include peaceful relations for all creation” (Kelle, an important consideration to be addressed in the next chapter). Kelle associates these actions with the intended day of remarriage and not with the eschatological event” provided in Hosea 3.
As for Hosea 3, its eschatological vision and the woman now belonging to another bring to mind the destruction of Samaria and subsequent captivity. So Hosea 3 could very well have been written by Hosea at the end of his ministry. They tried to juxtapose them to draw lines of connection between the contemporary context and the ancient text. This phase will follow the prophetic tradition with its themes of egalitarianism and the eradication of poverty, essential for a conversation with contemporary South African socio-economic dilemmas.
THE PROPHETIC IMAGINATION OF HOSEA WITHIN ITS SOCIO-
Let Us Strive to Know Yahweh
- You Who Have Justice in Your Care
- Hosea 4:1-3
- Hosea 4:4-6
- Hosea 5:1-7
- Concluding Reflections
- The Jacob Tradition
- Hosea 12:3-5 [2-4]
- Genesis 28-35
- Concluding Reflections
- The Covenantal Tradition
- The Formation of Israel as a Nation
- Hosea 6:7 and 8:1 on tyrb
- Bonding hwhy in a Covenant
Regarding the three main elements of the covenant, many commentators suggest that the final period, t[;D; is the basis of the previous two expressions (Carroll 1993:20, note 16; Wittenberg 2009:493). Although Hosea is very aware of God's overall presence in the punishment of the Israelites (cf. Hosea 4:9b), the book's in this verse. These actions were, as I have argued, situated in the macroeconomic policies of the country.
In the next section, the blame for the lack of this knowledge is laid squarely at the doorstep of the priests. Historically, Mizpah is associated with the election of the first Israelite king, Saul (1 Sam 10:20f; Macintosh 1997:177). Its location in the Jezreel Valley may also be related to the area's economic potential.
Redemptive Images within the Book of Hosea
When state theology declares that God fights Israel's battles, Hosea declares, “a little while and I will bring an end to the kingdom of the house of Israel. 79 Leith argues that: "Woman of fornication" belonged to the semantic field of covenant curse words. The redemptive image proposed for God finds its expression in an inversion of the name of the third child, Lo-Ammi (Hos 1:8; see above) which parallels Lo-Ehyeh (Hos 1:9; cf. Macintosh alluding to the divine name revealed to Moses in Exodus 3:14.
For too long, nationalistic purposes have been served in this way, to the detriment of other peoples created in God's image. The notion that it serves as a metaphor is captured in Moses' encounter with the burning bush, especially as it relates to God's self-definition in Exodus 3:14. Moses, serving as the first prophet, being permitted to reveal God's name in the first person, and being sent to represent that name, is the only one familiar, to the readers, in God's first enigmatic divine statement.
Summary and Conclusion
Therefore, the dynamic divine utterance is relativized, stripped of all its dynamism and culturally associated with only one people, because it is the name in the third person that is known at the end of the pericope (Ex 3:13-15) as "my name for all time" and so shall they call me throughout all generations.” The name "Yahveh," which must be invoked for all generations, comes in a package, as shown above, and was already functioning as a means of realizing ambitious and oppressive selfish desires. The book of Hosea makes this clear in its statement prophetic and provides us with significant elements to regain God's dynamism, related to God's dynamic self-representation.
The book does this with great art, keeping the metaphors associated with Yahweh dynamic, fluid, and unpredictable, thus reclaiming the freedom of the God known to the Israelites as Yahweh and remaining in the realm of human beings struggling to understand these abstract realities . So the book of Hosea not only gives life to people who are impoverished and face oppressive death situations offered by leaders and religions, but also breathes new life into dead metaphors. 93 for life." Therefore, the prophetic tradition formulated in this chapter will, in our next chapter, serve as equipment for talking about life in the South African context, by placing this tradition in dialogue with the issues identified in our socio-analytic intervention, in an effort to create a biblical resource for the church.
A NEW PROPHETIC VISION FOR POST-APARTHEID SOUTH
- Creating an Egalitarian Society
- Sustaining Life for the Next Generation
- Cross Cultural Interaction
- Breathing Life into Dead Metaphors
- Summary and Conclusion
It is concerned with establishing gender equality in the patriarchal society where the message was conveyed. It creatively instilled in the public sphere a vision of hope for an equal society to which the dispossessed could cling (cf. Hos). These networks of interrelationships have been identified in the South African context by identifying the elements that contribute to despair. and the poor socio-economic situation of the poor and marginalized.
Similarly, in the context of Hosea, several elements have been identified that threaten the livelihoods of the poor, who in both contexts face dire social conditions. Within the context of Hosea's prophecies, such influence was manifested in the worship of the Israelites, particularly the predominant influence of the fertility religion of the Canaanites, but also in the broader political economic spheres. This view is further advanced by relegating Christianity to a “church-like theology” (West 2007b:5), with an uncritical appropriation of the Bible in the public sphere (cf.
CONCLUSION
The third sub-question relates to the issue of interpretation by asking: "What is the meaning of the text of Hosea in its socio-historical context?" The question was dealt with by positioning this research within the current trend of scholarship that approaches the text of Hosea, with the help of the literary criticism contained in chapter four. Finally, the fourth sub-question that emerged from the research was: "How can we reuse the message of Hosea as a resource for the South African environment?" The integrated approach of chapter five made it clear that the message of Hosea offers the church significant resources to construct a new prophetic vision suitable for the South African context and to address the dire socio-economic situation in the country. speak. The four sub-questions therefore showed that the main question of the research was answered.
In light of the socio-economic situation in South Africa at the moment, Hughes's metaphor, appropriated by Mbeki, is not as bankrupt as some tend to assume. The legacy of a prophetic moment: a socio-theological study of the reception and response to the Kairos document among churches' faith-. Interpretation of "The Exile" in African Biblical Scholarship: An Ideo-Theological Dilemma in Post-Colonial South Africa.