Volume 13 (2025) – Numero 1

December 19, 2025 2025-12-19 10:46

ABSTRACTS

unbelief and faith in luke 1:5-25 Why does luke’s account begin with unbelief ?

To begin a story always involves something arbitrary. Some authors prefer to comply with the order of events; others start from the most recent facts which they explain through what preceded. This allows them to draw insights from the events of the past. Luke’s account, following the models of his time, opens with birth narratives, right from the beginning ! It is however strange that a story whose purpose is to proclaim the good news begins with a non-faith episode. One wonders why the narrator does not pass over in silence the non-faith of Zechariah. Did he want to create a contrast with the faith of Mary in the next episode? Was it to show that God’s will and power can overcome all human resistance? A convincing response requires that the episode be read with the tools of narrative analysis. The episodes of Luke 1–2 have already been subjected to many studies, but their narrative features were not satisfactorily recognized, as it will be shown later. Multiform Parallelisms and their Functions From Lk 1:5 to 4:13, the most obvious narrative technique is the synkrisis, in other words, comparison. During that time, this technique etudeS 1. See, for exemple, Parallel Lives of Plutarch (50-125 d.C.). On this point, Ch. TALBERT, Literary Patterns, Theological Themes and the Genre of Luke-Acts, (SBLMS 20; Missoula, MT 1974), 15-29, shows various parallelisms used by Luke in different sections or chapters in the Gospel or in Acts respectively, and between the two books, Luke and Acts, as well. 8 was widespread1, and as such, Luke is not original. It suffices here to present all the elements of the technique already remarked because of their importance. Indeed, there are two sets of parallels between John the Baptist and Jesus. The first relates to the birth announcements made by the angel Gabriel to Zechariah and Mary, and the second to their realizations, i.e. the birth as such and the events that accompany them, as indicated in the following scheme:

Restaurer l’Alliance : la fonction de Jos 8,30-35 dans la logique interne du livre*

La présente étude examine la fonction de Jos 8,30-35 qui pose problème au point de vue exégétique, car, selon une étude récente, « The function of the passage in the context of MT has become an even more urgent question »1, et la solution exégétique que je propose enrichirait, me semble-t-il, notre étude des conflits et réconciliation en Afrique. En effet, le récit invite son auditoire à contempler Josué, agent de « réfection » de relations abîmées. Par la faute d’un seul (Achan), la communauté de l’Alliance subit les affres de la défaite ; par la vertu d’un seul (Josué), elle retrouve son intégrité2. Comment cela s’opèret-il ? Qu’est-ce que cette « signification » du texte « désigne »-t-elle dans l’aujourd’hui de notre auditoire ? Ce sont là quelques préoccupations que cette étude prendra en charge chemin faisant. Après un examen des problèmes que l’on rencontre à la lecture du texte de Jos 8,30-35, et surtout ceux que soulève la place de ce passage dans le livre de Josué, je m’engagerai dans la recherche d’une solution émergeant de la « logique interne »3 du récit contrairement aux solutions habituelles qui me semblent relever plutôt d’une « logique externe ». Je ferai davantage ressortir la manière dont les problèmes ont été abordés dans l’étude de cette péricope en particulier et du livre4 en général.

XOF West African CFA franc
EUR Euro