Faculty of Theology
Department of Old Testament Studies
Selected Highlights from Research Findings
In Daniel 1 the Babylonian court presented a challenge to Daniel and his compatriots to continue serving the Lord as they did in Jerusalem. In the liminal phase of preparation for service in the court they created a strategy to sustain their Judean identity.
The aim of this research project was to indicate how their scheme of eating their own food was not only created from the ideological space of what Soja calls “Thirdspace”, but was also conceptualised in bodily terms as a theology of containment.
Space depicted in narratives, is never without ideological meaning. It is al-ways part of the strategy followed by the narrator. Space contributes to the narra-tor/author’s communication of his/her/their ideology. Space not only indicates physical areas, but also has ideological meaning for those who live in it. People extend their beliefs into everyday spatial reality.
The researcher found that at the back of Daniel’s resistance to eat the king’s food lies an in-out pat-tern. The body is a container. To eat from the king’s table would mean to take food into his body that would disturb his containment.
Purity rules held up the boundaries of his mental space of holiness. Now he is confronted by a threatening power in the form of the king’s order to eat his food. This food is an external harmful power that should be prevented from entrance into their bodies.
If consumed in their bodies, according to the logical transfer schema stated above, this food and what it represents will become part of them. This would break down his containment and make his world come apart.
His own food will keep his containment intact and act as measure against external powers entering his body and destroying his “Second- and Thirdspace” world.
His refusal is therefore based on the above mentioned image schema of protection. It is neither the physical sub-stance of the food nor their physical bodies that are endangered here. It is their mental bodies and their idea world that is endangered and should be protected at any possible price.
In Daniel’s physi-cal resistance to consume the king’s food a battle is depicted that actually takes place not only on material level but especially on ideological / theological level. Daniel refuses to take the material food into his physical body, but in terms of Johnson’s (1987:47-48 see above) seven image schemata this is a direct confrontation on metaphysical level where compulsive power is met with a counterforce.
Daniel’s refusal to literally take in the king’s food and his proposal to rather eat different food of his own choice, is the effort of an opposing power to divert the king’s power in another direction.
Thanks to the favour and compassion God gave to Daniel in the sight of the Babylonian officials, a direct physical confrontation between Daniel and the king was averted. The confrontation is, however, diverted to the metaphysical level – which Daniel won!
The researcher identified a circular movement in the mental processes taking place here. The events experienced in physical “Firstspace” are projected onto a second level of symbolic meaning and a third level of ideological opinion.
The choice of the physical food Daniel wanted to eat and the opposition to edible food from the king’s table were dictated from the overarching ideology in “Thirdspace” conceptualised in terms of containment ideas formed from basic bodily experiences of moving in and out
Contact person: Prof PM Venter.
Sexuality and erotism form an integral part of life. Both these aspects mediate life-fulfilling experiences of love. As part of the creation reality sexuality effects a positive power of life. Evidence from the ancient Near East, especially from Egypt, Canaan and Mesopotamia, confirms humankind’s fascination for and participation in sexual behaviour.
In the sexual experience the borders of the “self” is transcended to participate in the warm love of the other. Whether the gods or humans are engaged in this act of heavenly ecstasy, it is evident that life’s meaning is captured in this life enriching experience of power, vitality and joy.
With regard to specific research findings it evolves from ancient Near Eastern religious texts that: sexuality is a basic human need, which is part of the gods? creation reality. It is a positive life force; sexuality entails more than a bodily need, while erotism is the cultivated and sublime sexuality, which involves sexuality on the intellectual and artistic spheres of life.
Sexuality and eroticism cover a variety of aspects in the ancient world and were known in- and outside the so-called marriage-relationship. This includes heterosexuality, homosexuality, prostitution, sodomy, transvestitism, nekrophily, zoophily and pederasty.
Some of these aspects were viewed differently in the various cultural milieus in various time periods. Divine myths about the gods Isis, Osirus, Seth and Horus in Egypt, Gilgamesh and Enkidu in Mesopotamia, or Asherah and Tammuz (Dumuzi) reflect a wide range of sexual motifs and behaviour.
Because sexuality expresses an urge for the body, the human body is viewed overwhelmingly positive in these cultures. A beautiful, clean and perfumed body of male and female was a call for the "holy" or the transcendent world of the gods.
Nevertheless, sexuality had a high value and esteem with regard to civilisation and culture. Sexual practices were therefore integrated in a spectrum of cultural activities among various ancient cultures. This means that the borders between love and sex was not always closely knitted.
Sex outside love relationships was well known. Examples of this are holy and profane prostitution, and partners who acted as men's consorts in the public domain. The question about sexual morality or immorality in antiquity cannot be determined or solved easily from a modern or post-modern perspective.
Further research findings include the following: Sexuality in the ancient Near East is described in a sublime and euphemistic way. A variety of metaphors are thus used to portray erotic and sexual deeds and images; various religious rituals were performed to enhance fertility. The so-called “holy” marriage is an example of such a rite to secure fertility on earth; The goddess of love and fertility, Innana or Isjtar, had an important influence on religious practices in the ancient near East to promote sexual deeds of fertility; and
Sexuality created power and new life in the endangered spheres of life. Therefore it gives expression to hope in this life full of death and hopelessness
Contact person: Prof DJ Human.
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