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- Kazen, Thomas, 1960-
(författare)
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Jesus and Purity Halakhah : Was Jesus Indifferent to Impurity?
- 2002
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- At the end of the Second Temple period, ritual purity came to play an increasing role in Jewish society. Purity laws were interpreted and expanded, and sources of impurity were generally avoided by many. Signs of that development are discussed in this study and put forward as arguments for an expansionist trend, gaining in influence and support from the common people. Jesus’ attitude to impurity is traced against this historical background. The (in)famous history of historical Jesus-research necessitates a conscious choice of method. The traditional focus on sayings material and criteria of authenticity is modified; narrative traditions with implicit purity issues are appealed to, and extra-canonical traditions are included. The main areas examined are the most important "fathers" of impurity: "leprosy" (skin diseases), genital discharges and corpse-contamination. Jesus is found to have acted in ways easily understood as indifference to these types of impurity. His behaviour is shown on several points to clash with current purity halakhah and dominant expansionist ideals. In an attempt to interpret his actions within the Jewish context and culture of the Second Temple period, three explanatory models are provided. Jesus’ attitude is seen as part of a moral trajectory in Judaism. It is understood as a response to a regional, Galilean dilemma. It is viewed in a power perspective as an expression of Jesus’ eschatological struggle against demonic evil. The result is that Jesus may be understood as operating within the purity paradigm of his time, yet pushing it to the breaking point, at least in the eyes of some. Such a reconstruction makes subsequent developments intelligible, in which various Christian currents drew conflicting conclusions. The function and effect of purity laws change with time, however. While they are irrelevant to most modern people, those looking to Jesus’ behaviour for some sort of guidance may find contemporary analogies.
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| 2. |
- Wendell, Joakim, 1976-
(författare)
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Teaching and Learning Historical Explanation : Teacher and Student Cases from Lower and Upper Secondary History
- 2020
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- The purpose of this thesis is to investigate and analyse how teachers and students understand the concept of historical explanation in the context of classroom teaching practices. The thesis is made up of four studies that investigate different aspects of understanding, focusing on either teacher or student understanding as expressed in words and actions. The different studies employ differing methods, including classroom observations, interviews with teachers, and analysis of student answers to prompts intended for assessment. The studies include cases from both lower and upper secondary school in Sweden. The four studies provide empirical results that are presented in each individual study, and furthermore subjected to an aggregated analysis in order to find patterns of commonality. The aggregated analysis draws upon Rüsen's theory of historical knowledge, as well as a progression model for historical explanation based on results from previous research. The results of the study show a clear difference between lower and upper secondary school in how students at each stage construct historical explanations, indicating differing expectations of what students are supposed to do with explanations in each stage. Teachers' practices are more varied: while a majority of the included teachers manifest a disciplinary understanding of historical explanation, in line with previous research about historical explanation in educational contexts, other approaches with other emphases are also present. These include an emphasis of learning explanations as sets of facts, as well as approaches that aim for making the knowledge of historical explanation useful outside of the history subject. Examples of such aims found in the study are to enhance empathetic understanding of other people, and helping students to orient themselves in relation to present-day issues.
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