Arts (Faculty of)

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Browsing Arts (Faculty of) by Author "Batten, Alicia"

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    "If You Believed Moses, You Would Believe Me": The Portrayal of Jesus as Interpreter of Scripture in John's Gospel
    (University of Waterloo, 2017-01-17) Suderman, Bryan; Batten, Alicia
    The use of scripture in John’s Gospel has been explored extensively by scholars. Less scholarly attention has been paid to the features and significance of the Fourth Gospel’s narrative depiction of Jesus himself as interpreter of scripture. This study offers an account of the portrayal of Jesus as interpreter of scripture in John’s Gospel through a close reading of selected passages that contribute most directly to that portrayal. Further, this study situates the Fourth Gospel’s portrayal of Jesus within the exegetical milieu of Early Judaism by providing a survey of portrayals of other scripture-interpreting characters in a range of literature from Jewish antiquity (Deuteronomy, Daniel, Philo, Qumran, Matthew’s Gospel, rabbinic literature). Using a five-part heuristic device drawn from my own reading of these texts and influenced by Hindy Najman’s account of “Mosaic Discourse” in the Second Temple period, I undertake a comparison of the Fourth Gospel’s portrayal of Jesus with the portrayals of scripture-interpreting characters in the surveyed works. The findings of this descriptive and comparative work are that the Fourth Gospel’s depiction of Jesus as interpreter of scripture is very much at home in the exegetical milieu of Jewish antiquity. There is little in Jesus’ use of scripture, as depicted in the Fourth Gospel, that cannot also be found in other Jewish literature of this era. And yet the cumulative effect of the Fourth Gospel’s depiction of its protagonist drawing upon scriptural passages and images overwhelmingly as a witness to his own identity is indeed unique in its rhetorical force and hermeneutical implications. John’s Gospel depicts Jesus not only as interpreter of the words of scripture, but as the very Word (Logos) of God made flesh. This portrayal, while drawing upon and exemplifying common elements of the exegetical milieu of Early Judaism, pushes beyond the boundaries of those elements in its depiction of Jesus.
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    The Jewish Mother of the Gentiles: Paul and Maternal Imagery in Galatians 4
    (University of Waterloo, 2020-08-25) Ralph, Lindsay Anne; Batten, Alicia
    In Gal 4:19, Paul likens himself to a mother who is “again in the pain of childbirth until Christ is formed” within the Galatian congregation. Paul then follows this maternal self-declaration with an extended allegory focused upon the matriarchs in the Abrahamic narrative. Galatians is notably an epistle which is primarily concerned with circumcision and Paul’s insistence that gentiles should not be circumcised to be part of the Israel of God (Gal 6:16). Yet Paul, in crafting his argument to persuade the (male) Galatians to remain uncircumcised, relies upon female, maternal imagery which reaches its crescendo in Gal 4 with the above-mentioned passages. Why would Paul rely upon feminine imagery in the climax of his argument against circumcision, which is a Jewish male identity marker? This thesis is a socio-rhetorical examination of Paul’s maternal imagery in Gal 4, and I contend that Paul chose motherhood for the height of his argument because it was the most rhetorically persuasive image which would enable Paul to both affirm the gentile Galatians’ status as children of God while also addressing the Galatians’ social context. Maternal imagery allowed Paul to utilize ancient constructions of maternity to defend his gospel and apostolic calling, while also communicating relationship dynamics that existed between Paul and the church. Once Paul establishes himself as a mother to the congregation, he uses the Abrahamic matriarchal allegory to argue in favour of the gentiles’ status as children of the promise, heirs of Abraham, and born of the free woman. Paul insists that physical identity markers are contrary to the gospel of Christ (for gentiles) and are indistinguishable from the Galatians’ former cultic life. Instead, the Galatians must be animated by God the Father and accept Paul as the “free mother” who birthed them to embrace their identity as a divergent line of Abrahamic descent.
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    Mary's Honour in The Protoevangelium of James
    (University of Waterloo, 2016-08-26) Eastman, Chalsi; Batten, Alicia
    This thesis will argue that the Protoevangelium of James was an apologetic text written to demonstrate Mary’s ascribed and acquired honour. By establishing Mary’s honour the text also defends the honour of Jesus and early Christians. The text indirectly addresses the charges about Jesus’ illegitimacy and Mary’s sexual behavior by emphasizing Mary’s purity and virginity, before and after the conception and birth of Jesus. Such an emphasis would have served to redeem Mary’s honour. The Prot. Jas. first establishes Mary’s honour through her parents, Anna and Joachim. They are portrayed as wealthy and respectable people who are very concerned with purity and righteous behaviour. Anna closely monitors Mary as a young child and takes precautions to ensure that Mary does not do anything that would be considered impure as a young girl, including turning her bedroom into a sanctuary, controlling what she ate, and only allowing Mary to be in the company of other pure people. Mary is then cared for by the temple priests, and finally Joseph becomes her guardian. The Prot. Jas. portrays Joseph as Mary’s caretaker instead of husband to ensure that it is clear Mary and Joseph did not have a sexual relationship. The Prot. Jas. then establishes Mary’s acquired honour through her actions as a young woman to remain pure and celibate for the entirety of her life. When Mary becomes pregnant she must proclaim her innocence multiple times throughout the text, every time promising that she has never been with a man. After the birth of Jesus she endures an exam to prove that even post-partum, Mary is still a virgin. In the Prot. Jas. Mary becomes the two most honourable things a woman could be in Mediterranean antiquity, mother and virgin.