Search

AbstractThrough the Psalms, the ʾašrê sayings do not translate “happy” in the common English sense, but rather reaches for a similar nexus of concepts: good fortunate, something to aspire to, something connected to wholeness, contentment, etc. ʾAšrê stands in opposition to the semantics of suffering, struggle, and unhappiness. True happiness, in the descriptions of the Psalms, is found at the juncture of divine and human action. The paper then traces the occurrences of these ʾašrê sayings through the Psalter. From Psalm 1, happiness is connected to the idea of “flourishing.” However, this is a “flourishing” that is profoundly outward-oriented; it is that which produces fruit for the benefit of an entire community. This flourishing and this happiness occur at the juncture of the individual and the communal: individual happiness is usually contingent on the health of the community and a flourishing community makes it possible for individuals to flourish. The popular notion of the “right to pursue happiness” is, therefore, re-oriented to suggest that “my” happiness or “my” flourishing cannot exclude a consideration of “yours” or “ours” together. The ʾašrê sayings in the Psalms appear often within a context of lament, intimately linking happiness to unhappiness. Being human, the Psalms suggest, is to inhabit a constant struggle between the life God gives and the death that threatens to extinguish it. This is a vision of being human which is deeply truthful, and therefore shapes one’s expectations of life. The shaping of expectations is complex, because lament holds together the sense that suffering is inevitable together with the fact that it is neither normal nor acceptable. The happiness presented in these Psalms links to a wellbeing grounded in a contended life, where desires are shaped to yield connectedness and fruitfulness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the political use of Lament Psalms during the Crusades, focusing on their application in conflicts with Muslims and Jews. The Crusaders, driven by their desire to reclaim the Holy Land, employed these psalms as tools of religious rhetoric and political manipulation. The introduction highlights the historical context of biblical passages being used by the church for political purposes, emphasizing the power dynamics that influenced their interpretation. The subsequent sections examine the Crusaders' conflicts with Muslims and Jews, illustrating how the Lament Psalms were utilized to legitimize violence against perceived enemies. The paper also delves into the function of these psalms for the Crusaders, including the license for cursing and killing that they provided, and the political accusations of unbelief directed towards non-believers and those of different faiths. The analysis sheds light on the multifaceted role of Lament Psalms as instruments for political propaganda during the Crusades. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Electronic Turkish Studies is the property of Electronic Turkish Studies and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Indonesia’s new music, alive in some parts of the archipelago from Sumatra in the west to Papua in the east, can be seen as a musical expression, both in verbal and abstract sound form, resulting from cultural refraction through individual composers. Nevertheless, the centre of attention for musical culture is still Java and Bali, two main islands in the cultural politics of the archipelago. Outside the two, new music works and sources of creation for the respective composers in several regions in Indonesia are still less noticed, even ignored. This article explores the new musical expression in Papua, the easternmost part of Indonesia, especially in works based on the so-called indigenous music but still using western musical precepts in a very selective way possible. By extracting or being inspired by various forms of ritual in the areas, a young woman composer named Septina Rosalina Layan shapes the very characteristics of Papuan new music and differentiates her works from those of new music composers from other parts of Indonesia. The approach in this narrative inquiry is based on several paths, namely tracing her endeavour in combining oral and written processes and her faithfulness towards oral traditions so rich in vocal music. This essay proves that the boldness of Papuan new music is an idiosyncratic reopening of the musical treasures from the ancestral past. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article, I discuss Edvard Munch's iconic artwork, The Scream, as a contemplation on the voicelessness of intense suffering and the power of lament. I first recall a clinical case in the hospital setting where a patient was lamenting but lacked compassionate witnesses to understand her lament. I then discuss Munch's iterative process for creating The Scream and explore questions that this masterpiece evokes. Painted in 1893, the work resonates with its viewers, powerfully representing human anguish, anxiety, and existential dread. I review Munch's biography and upbringing, suggesting that Munch's painting is his own attempt at having the viewer witness his own lament—a witness he did not have in his childhood. After reflecting on The Scream and Munch's upbringing, I discuss theologian John Swinton's work on lament. He asserts that lament is a faithful response to suffering and can restore the sufferer's faith and relationship with God. I assert that a similar framework, such as asking patients to speak their own illness narrative, should be further explored as an important part of modern holistic medical care. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aims to explore how liturgical celebration can serve as a transformative response to the contemporary ecological crisis and its consequences. This is inextricably bound to the importance of addressing the pastoral needs of individuals who are hurting due to their interactions or lack thereof with the cosmos and the erosion of their relationship with nature in a technocratic consumerist society. Ritual, as a vehicle for personal and communal transformation, takes on heightened significance in a world wounded by ecological devastation. Rituals, often deeply embedded in cultural, religious, or personal practices, indeed have the capacity to facilitate personal transformation. They provide a framework for individuals to navigate life transitions, foster a sense of belonging, and connect with the overarching narrative. However, in an ecologically wounded world, where environmental degradation, climate change, and biodiversity loss are pressing concerns, the ramifications of ritual take on added significance and complexity. This paper seeks to address the urgency of the need to respond to this multifaceted crisis by paying attention to the pastoral needs of the individual and the community at large by redressing the real meaning of worship and reflecting on how, within a Christian tradition, this reconfiguration of worship can be provocative enough to instil change. However, this endeavour is not without inherent challenges and enduring questions. The pervasive influence of a technocratic worldview poses a significant threat not only to our relationship with the earth but also to the very essence of ritual itself. Can the liturgical experience, reaching its climax in the Eucharistic celebration, be truly a catalyst in asserting a proper relationship of humanity on various levels, which are concentric and, thus, dependant on each other, with humanity itself, with the cosmos, and with God? [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article explores the transformation from presenting Judah as an object, to be undervalued and held at a distance, to actively 're-humanizing' and populating Daughter Zion with the suffering that the people experienced and which continues to define them as a result of God's unabated judgment on Judah. A key literary tag propelling this transformation from object to subject is the call to be 'seen' by God. The generation who lament here, unlucky enough to be the last generation, carries the weight not only of their own sins, but those of others long gone. The God who has brought about their destruction poured out the wrath of centuries, stored up since the people's first grumblings in the wilderness. In the end, the people bet everything on the conviction that God is worthy of praise and leave open the question of whether He will look and see. Lamentations concludes with the future uncertain and God's answer yet to be heard. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Latin Marian lament "Quis dabit" (literally "Who will give") began circulating in thirteenth-century Castile and León at a time when devotion to the Virgin Mary was principally associated with miracles and conquest. A central theme of this popular text was Mary's physical pain rather than her disembodied mental distress at the foot of the cross. I argue that the reception of "Quis dabit" in Castile and León was twofold. In his Duelo de la virgen, Gonzalo de Berceo (c. 1196 – c. 1260) incorporated medieval mourning traditions to emphasize Mary's rage (rabia) over the loss of her son, highlighting her military might as queen during an age of conquest. While the illustrators of the Cantigas de Santa María were directly informed by passages from the "Quis dabit" in two unusual representations of Mary grasping Jesus's crucified feet and gazing up at him, these images echoed only her painful, active sorrow in the "Quis dabit," rather than her rage. The contrasting treatment of the "Quis dabit" in thirteenth-century Castile and León sheds light on how spiritual practices concentrating on Mary's pain could be incorporated into devotion to a powerful, conquering queen of heaven. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The relationship between popular vernacular Catholicism and the more official liturgical variety has varied over centuries. Following the subjugation of Ireland by the late 17th century, and the institution of anti-Catholic proscriptions, the number of priests available became more restricted. Religious observation subsequently centered on holy days and local sacred sites including healing wells, many of them dedicated to saints. Always central figures in death rituals, women who mourned the dead—"keening women"—were so called because they lamented the dead through a combination of voice and song. We will show how the songs relate to a deep liminal spirituality that existed semi-independently of official Church norms, and how the voice served to establish their position. In the Catholic revival of the late nineteenth century, such forms were ousted by European modes of worship, but persisted at the margins, allowing us insight into their previous vigor. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Psalmic is less tidy and linear than popular interpretation, and author Edwidge Danticat explores the non-linear tensions between lament and joy. Her writing is cyclical rather than linear. As Danticat explores the individual and communal juxtaposition of tragedy and celebration, her writing echoes the varied tenor and emotions of the Psalms. Haunting tales of national and personal life and death, separation and reunion are structurally played across her works. The heartrending sequence of life and death is eloquently explored through personal stories set against larger tales of Haitian immigration. Just as the Psalmist employs the vav adversative , or turning movements of joy and lament, Danticat likewise expresses her fluid engagement with the range of human experience (Card 75, 70). Danticat's Psalmic aesthetic and her "fully awake and alive" wrestling with grief and celebration helps readers reconsider personal and national tragedy and triumph. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Turkbilig/Turkoloji Arastirmalari Dergisi is the property of Turkbilig/Turkoloji Arastirmalari Dergisi and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This article returns to the long-standing problem of the so-called 'sudden shift of mood' in the lament psalms, revisiting this shift from petition to praise from the perspective of contemporary psychoanalytic depth psychology, especially via insights offered by object relations psychology. In this light, the movement from lament to praise may be seen as a psychodynamic phenomenon related to, and witnessed in, the therapeutic processes of illumination, subtraction, and addition. This understanding of how the lament psalms work underscores how crucial the expression of mourning is to psychological health. To borrow terms from Walter Brueggemann, the psychological interpretation offered here demonstrates once again 'the costly loss of lament', but the high price in question extends beyond that identified by Brueggemann insofar as the subtractive therapeutic action at work in the grieving process is precisely what facilitates the restoration of psychological well-being. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The centrality of individual petition in ritual practice in the Hebrew Bible is rarely recognized. This article draws connections between legislation for the well-being sacrifice (זבח שלמים‎; Lev. 3; 7.11–36) and individual petitions as presented in biblical narratives and psalms. Hannah's successful petition for a son (1 Sam. 1.1–2.10) illustrates the petition process and the stakes. Solomon's dedication of the Temple (1 Kgs. 8) further details the process and authorizes seven types of petitions with equal provision for individuals vs. the nation and for sin-based vs. inexplicable crises. Of these, inexplicable crises faced by individuals are literally the most central. Hannah's crisis is of this type. The types authorized for individuals are reflected in numerous first-person psalms, which also make frequent use of the terminology of well-being offerings. Individual petition provides for an ongoing oral interaction with a God who is perceived as open to persuasion in a public space where an individual's social status may also be negotiated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article explores the role of liturgy, ritual, and pastoral care in responding to collective trauma in diverse communities. It acknowledges the wounds experienced by black, brown, Asian, LGBTQ+, indigenous, and religious groups, as well as victims of wars and natural disasters. The author emphasizes the importance of ongoing discussion, resources, and leadership in addressing collective trauma and healing wounded communities. The article discusses tensions such as natural versus human-caused disasters, accountability versus forgiveness, and cohesive versus dynamic communities. It highlights the need for spaces of lament, protest, and grief, and the importance of adapting liturgical practices to match the specific needs and phases of recovery. The text also raises questions about the relationship between faith and politics, the self-care of religious leaders, and the ongoing work of responding to wounded communities. It concludes by emphasizing the need for curiosity, collaboration, and compassion in addressing the wounds of various communities and exploring new ritual practices. [Extracted from the article]

Abstract. Poverty is a well-known and complex issue. Poverty has a bad impact on the poor. Thus, poverty is the duty of society, including the church. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the relationship between liturgy and poverty. The homeless liturgy is the phrase selected to describe liturgical practices in the face of poverty. This essay was conducted by socio-liturgical studies and field research. This essay suggests that the homeless liturgy is a manifestation of the church's preference for the poor, which speaks hope-lament, liberation, and promotes transformation. Abstrak. Kemiskinan adalah permasalahan klasik dan kompleks. Kemiskinan berdampak pada keberlangsungan hidup orang banyak. Untuk itu, kemiskinan bukan hanya menjadi tanggung jawab negara, melainkan juga masyarakat dan termasuk gereja. Tulisan ini bertujuan untuk mengeksplorasi relasi-interaksi liturgi dan kemiskinan. Homeless liturgy merupakan istilah yang dipilih untuk merepresentasikan praktik berliturgi di tengah-tengah kemiskinan. Melalui kajian sosio-liturgis dan penelitian lapangan, artikel ini menyimpulkan bahwa homeless liturgy merupakan wujud sikap keberpihakan gereja terhadap mereka yang miskin, yang menyuarakan harapan-ratapan, yang membebaskan dan menggerakkan transformasi.

The myth of the African American's ability to separate ourselves from our pain was born amidst the unprecedented violence and innumerable deaths of the Transatlantic Slave trade. It continued throughout the three centuries of enslavement of people of African descent in America. In America, there is still a societal, as well as medical, expectation, that African Americans avoid deep acknowledgment of trauma, grief, and mourning. In an ecology of massive and ongoing health disparities (resulting in death) and sustained violence against African Americans, some African American preachers, and the churches they pastor, abide treatment of grief as a matter that should be given limited attention and moved beyond quickly. A combination of historical research and qualitative ethnography was used to identify past and present-day practices. A series of in-person interviews provided revelations as well as affirmation of the impact of these preaching and pastoral practices. Among African Americans interviewed and studied who experience preaching and the type of pastoral care that supports "a theology of expedient mourning," many shared that their church did not provide the space and support needed to adequately grieve their losses. My research revealed how the notion of truncated bereavement has influenced harsher realities beyond the walls of the church, even to the hallways of corporate America. A modified proclamation about the importance of adequate support during individual as well as communal grief and mourning is needed for survivors to (re)consider the African American church a place of refuge and healing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study, which covers the laments of Elbistan as an example of the lamentations of people, especially women, reflecting their sorrow due to death, separation, and natural disasters, which date back to ancient times, aims to introduce the lamenting women of Elbistan. Laments are people's past, experiences, and feelings they cannot get rid of. In this study, literary meanings, and the existence of an oral tradition, which has maintained its importance until our recent past, are presented especially through the example of Elbistan. Although the lament has been discussed by many people, its relationship with women who are used to and perhaps forced to live their pain within themselves has not been sufficiently analyzed. Feeling the responsibility of giving women the attention they deserve, we wanted to close this gap. Since Elbistan, which has an important place in the world of literature with its poets and poems, has sufficient resources on this subject, we believe that the lament culture of Elbistan will bring a new perspective to the literature. In this study, examples of the laments of the female poets of Elbistan who sang poems in the genre of lament are given and the subjects of their laments are emphasized. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This essay argues that "The lamentacion of a Gentilwoman vpon the death of her late deceased frend William Gruffith Gent." in The Gorgeous Gallery of Gallant Inventions (1578), attributed to Isabella Whitney, is a witty reimagining of one of the most popular Renaissance literary genres: the epitaph. The poet's grief revolves around the personal consequences of her secret lover's death, handling stock phrases and situational irony to strangely moving effect. While the poem's first-person speaker invokes the epitaph only to repudiate it, the three quatrains framing the text (written in the third person and therefore generally attributed to the volume's editor Thomas Proctor), pins down the mourning presence with the epitaphic "here." This paper suggests single authorship of the doubled text by showing how the poem posits personal lament as the site of interment located by the spatial demonstrative "here," to fashion a poetics of closure in which the voice of the languishing female poet becomes, through linguistic and textual splitting, a living epitaph for the dead beloved. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this reflection, I respond to Anthony Reddie's reflections and assertions about the sacramentality of black flesh in a world shaped by white supremacy. I locate myself as Korean American and refer to my experience of ministering to university students during the rise of Black Lives Matter in the US. Instead of offering cognate claims for the sacramentality of Asian flesh, I ask what theological repentance should look like in light of the historical profaning of the black body. Using the work of two black American artists, jazz musician Robert Glasper and painter Titus Kaphar, I offer beginning reflections on how our liturgies and practices need to change as part of theological repentance—including lament. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In Doireann Ní Ghríofa’s A Ghost in the Throat, the first-person narrator details her scholarly endeavour to translate into English Caoineadh Airt Uí Laoghaire – the Irish-language lament of the eighteenth-century Kerry woman, Eibhlín Dubh Ní Chonaill, on the death of her husband, Art Ó Laoghaire. Interwoven with this narrative, is the narrator’s intimate account of her lived personal experience whilst researching and translating this caoineadh. And yet, even as her search for the Caoineadh’s origins grows increasingly fervent, the narrator becomes ever more wary of the viability and implications of such historical retrieval. Caught between a desire to recover Ní Chonaill’s voice and presence and a recognition of the illusory nature of such longings, Ní Ghríofa’s text probes the interstices between the Caoineadh and its myriad iterations in performance, transcription, and translation. In this way, Ní Ghríofa confronts longstanding European anxieties regarding the relationship between writing and orality. Drawing on Jacques Derrida’s seminal critique of this eighteenth-century crisis of writing, this article commences by revealing the caoineadh as an unacknowledged yet ongoing flashpoint in Enlightenment debates concerning orality and textuality. The article then turns to a discussion of Derrida’s associated reflections on haunting to consider the ways in which Ní Ghríofa responds to the marginalisation and silencing of the matrilineal tradition of keening in which she engages. Departing from Derrida’s genealogy of political inheritance, it argues that Ní Ghríofa’s narrative rehearses an alternative gothic textuality in which the oral and the written are intricately interwoven within Ireland’s past, present, and future. In so doing, it eschews the androcentric, ethnocentric and, as the text’s conclusion lays bare, anthropocentric hierarchies that continue to impinge upon both the Caoineadh’s legacy and the Irish literary canon in the twenty-first century.

The article discusses the concept of collective trauma and the role of liturgy in responding to and healing wounded communities. It highlights various forms of trauma, such as terrorism, war, shootings, and natural disasters, and emphasizes the importance of trauma-informed theology and practices in ministry. The article also explores how trauma research has informed our understanding of the effects of trauma on individuals and communities. It includes contributions from practitioners, scholars, and religious leaders who share their experiences and insights on responding to collective trauma through liturgical practices. The article aims to inform and inspire leaders in communities and promote ongoing collaboration in addressing the pain caused by trauma. [Extracted from the article]

Psalm 22 receives most of its notoriety from its reception history—from the numerous citations and allusions thereof in the NT and early Christianity, particularly in the Synoptic passion accounts. This article wrestles not with the insertion of this psalm into later stories but with the story of the psalm itself. The shift from lament to praise in Ps 22:23 (MT; v. 22 in ET) is quite drastic and in need of explanation, and that explanation has come for many in the final word of the previous verse: עניתני. This verb is taken to indicate a sudden divine intervention such that God has now acted on behalf of the psalmist, thus bringing about the exultation of vv. 23–32.This article disputes that reading and argues that for literary and form-critical reasons, עניתני, or whatever the original form of that word may have been, should be read as part of the lament rather than a transition statement to explain the movement from lament to praise. Thus, no divine intervention is indicated by that word, for indeed no such intervention has taken place. Rather, the psalmist has recognized from within their suffering that there will come a moment when redemption will have taken place, and at that time the psalmist will lead the whole people of God in uttering his praises. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Studies on Turkish Language & Literature in the Balkans is the property of Studies on Turkish Language & Literature in the Balkans and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

I argue here that the ways we experience, think about, and treat pain are bound up with sociocultural and technological phenomena that shape our desires and expectations. I propose a way of imagining caring for and offering healing to those who suffer pain informed by the Christian theological tradition. This way does not aspire to replace the care and healing made possible by modern medicine, but rather to place it within the common life of a community of mutual love, hospitality, and reciprocal care. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the lamenting for a street tree to better understand reactions to ecological loss. It responds to calls for social studies research into how ecological loss is felt and expressed, particularly when that loss and its emotional impact is unrecognised. Drawing on a unique dataset of emails to trees in Melbourne, we consider the most emailed tree, a tree felled despite collective action. Lamenting for this tree is explored as an individual and collective process that includes but extends beyond grief. A lament, we argue, involves shaping and expressing an account of loss that holds others to account. Understood as an embodied and emplaced process, we develop the case for the concept of lament through detailing the feeling, narrating, sharing and placing of loss. We argue that examining lament in this way reveals new insights into lived experiences and expressions related to facing the damage and destruction of nonhuman life and landscapes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Electronic Turkish Studies is the property of Electronic Turkish Studies and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This study shows how the language of lament liberates a woman from a socially constructed murderous identity. By using stylistic analysis and mainly focusing on the method of singing lament, this article shows the possibility of undermining the socially constructed identity of the ancient Greek heroine Medea. As the 19th-century thoughts in England about women acquired the most exacerbated misogynist overtones, the problem for the women artists was a desperate search for a new identity and, thus, for language. Two crucial Victorian poets, Amy Levy and Augusta Webster, turned to Greek mythology to explore the collective cultural constructions, recognized the power of lament as a literary device and used it to provide a new perspective to ancient Greek playwright Euripides’ Medea. They formulated their poem using the linguistic and contextual rules of lamentation, such as interrogative questions, alliteration, assonance, phonetic structuring, highly metaphorical language, wordplay, parallelism and antithesis. Due to the figurative devices and deviant use of language, they made the reader witness the melancholy and mourning of heroin. They got the reader to think that they should reconsider Medea. Thus, this study focuses on the poetic language of Levy and Webster to provide a different angle to the concept of identity and give the reader a better sense of what Medea is all about. This article provides critical insight into the power of the language of lament in the deconstruction of rigid and stable identity. Moreover, it shows the critical role that language and the performance of lament play in the construction of the self-perception of the speaking subject.

This paper aims to explore how liturgical celebration can serve as a transformative response to the contemporary ecological crisis and its consequences. This is inextricably bound to the importance of addressing the pastoral needs of individuals who are hurting due to their interactions or lack thereof with the cosmos and the erosion of their relationship with nature in a technocratic consumerist society. Ritual, as a vehicle for personal and communal transformation, takes on heightened significance in a world wounded by ecological devastation. Rituals, often deeply embedded in cultural, religious, or personal practices, indeed have the capacity to facilitate personal transformation. They provide a framework for individuals to navigate life transitions, foster a sense of belonging, and connect with the overarching narrative. However, in an ecologically wounded world, where environmental degradation, climate change, and biodiversity loss are pressing concerns, the ramifications of ritual take on added significance and complexity. This paper seeks to address the urgency of the need to respond to this multifaceted crisis by paying attention to the pastoral needs of the individual and the community at large by redressing the real meaning of worship and reflecting on how, within a Christian tradition, this reconfiguration of worship can be provocative enough to instil change. However, this endeavour is not without inherent challenges and enduring questions. The pervasive influence of a technocratic worldview poses a significant threat not only to our relationship with the earth but also to the very essence of ritual itself. Can the liturgical experience, reaching its climax in the Eucharistic celebration, be truly a catalyst in asserting a proper relationship of humanity on various levels, which are concentric and, thus, dependant on each other, with humanity itself, with the cosmos, and with God?

The relationship between popular vernacular Catholicism and the more official liturgical variety has varied over centuries. Following the subjugation of Ireland by the late 17th century, and the institution of anti-Catholic proscriptions, the number of priests available became more restricted. Religious observation subsequently centered on holy days and local sacred sites including healing wells, many of them dedicated to saints. Always central figures in death rituals, women who mourned the dead—“keening women”—were so called because they lamented the dead through a combination of voice and song. We will show how the songs relate to a deep liminal spirituality that existed semi-independently of official Church norms, and how the voice served to establish their position. In the Catholic revival of the late nineteenth century, such forms were ousted by European modes of worship, but persisted at the margins, allowing us insight into their previous vigor.

This article offers a critical reflection on feminist biblical interpretation that, over the past forty plus years, has contributed greatly to changing the face of Christian biblical scholarship. After offering a definition, as well as an overview of the field of feminist biblical interpretation focusing particularly on the compendiums that seek to map the field, this essay identifies four topics as offering a creative means to reflect on the goals of feminist biblical interpretation that seeks to deconstruct and challenge harmful interpretations of scripture while also reconstructing and reimagining life-giving interpretations from those same texts: (1) voice, (2) gender-based violence, (3) agency/resistance, and (4) identity. Within the framework of these four topics, this entry will share some examples of the rich contributions of feminist biblical interpreters to the field, highlighting the development in thought and emphasis over the years. This article will also showcase the diversity of the exegetical approaches that may be found under the overarching umbrella of feminist biblical interpretation, in addition to reflecting on the common goals, challenges, and unresolved questions associated with this approach that had such an impact on the field of biblical studies.

Pentecostals’ songs of exuberant praise are integral to Pentecostal worship, ending in worship songs. Joy and happiness characterise their services. However, these worship practices do not leave room for discounting the reality that suffering is recurring in all believers’ lives, ignoring those who suffer marginalising in worship practices. The research questions were: Why do some Pentecostals miss a valid response to the reality of suffering? What does the Bible teach about the constant occurrence of suffering as integral to human life?; What is a suitable theological response to it?; How can Pentecostal worship incorporate lament as a response to suffering? In answering these questions, the research used the Lekgotla practical theology research method proposed by Abraham Mzondi as an explorative approach, related to Richard Osmer’s method. It asked four questions: What is happening?; What could have caused the challenge?; What is the recommended approach to resolve the situation?; and What is the theologically and biblically sound recommended process to remedy it? It is based on relevant available literature related to the classical Pentecostal movement. The research concluded that pervasive triumphalism, based on a persistent ‘victorious living’ mentality, avoids voicing suffering, while lament does not market well. The Pentecostal theology of glory needs to be corrected by the theology of the cross by accommodating the challenges theodicy presents to believers in the hegemonic doxology. A theology of the cross realises that human life oscillates between triumph and lament, and Pentecostal worship should reflect it. Lament is believers’ liturgical response to suffering and engaging God within this context. Suggestions to incorporate lament in Pentecostal worship include deliberate songwriting and testimonies about suffering and its consequences. Contribution: The research addressed the lack of balanced worship practices among Pentecostals who emphasise praising God without discounting the existential suffering some attendees at worship services experience. It contributed to the journal’s focus on biblical-theological research with the reformational tradition and its impact on Pentecostalism.

A personal essay about reading Old English laments during a global pandemic.

Postcolonial feminist hermeneutics presents many challenges to the traditional interpretation of Bible passages. Recognizing the ethical issues in Old Testament metaphors about unclean and unfaithful women, readers now contemplate how to understand and accept in modern times these texts that reveal disenfranchised and excluded voices. This study deals with the violence inflicted on women under the guise of reasonable punishment and its unavoidable results as these are narrated in cultural contexts. This study uses a postcolonial feminist perspective to examine how the book of Lamentations and the novel Comfort Woman reveal the violence, oppression, and forced silence imposed on women. In addition, through finding the value in both the witness to and resistance to suffering, as well as through exploring participation in suffering, this study probes how to dismantle the structure of colonialism that reduces women to victims and offers an alternative reading of the biblical script that in the past has justified violence against women. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article explores how religious education can access and embrace children with refugee/internally displaced people (IDP) backgrounds to address the issues associated with feelings of loss safely and to contribute to a socially just framework. This article makes practical recommendations for religious educators to respond better to the suffering of children who experience violence, oppression, and control, and it invites the formation of communities of mutual respect that honor children’s identities and subjective experiences. Through the discourses and practice of lament and hospitality and with the ethics of inter-embracement, this article rethinks the meaning of a sense of social belonging, safety, and restoration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The book of Jeremiah contains metaphors depicting Israel and Zion as a woman. These include the city as a mourning woman (4:19–21; 10:20). Real mourning women are addressed in Jer 9:17–22, following laments variously attributed to Jeremiah and/or Yahweh (8:18–9:2, 10). Working with the (MT) canonical form and engaging the insights of trauma studies, this article traces linguistic and thematic connections between the two passages before tracing similar connections to Rachel's lament (Jer 31). The mourning women in Jer 9 serve a societal role by giving voice to lament; this effective power is affirmed by trauma studies. When read alongside the lament by Jeremiah and/or Yahweh, this article notes the women also take up a prophetic role as with Jeremiah they embody and express Yahweh's own pathos. In ch. 31, the mourning women are metaphorically instantiated in the eponymous mother who also voices Yahweh's pathos yet remains uncomforted. This study points to the hope that arises from Yahweh's identification with his people in the pathos expressed by prophet, mourning women, and Rachel. Ultimately, Yahweh's identification with his people, and his words of hope offer comfort to unrequited lament. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article offers a reexamination of Ovid's story of Philomela and Procne, with an emphasis on revenge and lament as two responses to acts of wrongdoing and loss. My analysis begins by exploring philosophical and psychoanalytic perspectives, mainly from Nietzsche and Freud, which are usually thought of as complete opposites: revenge is considered active and violent, whereas lament is passive and paralyzed. However, upon revising Ovid's tale of unimaginable suffering answered by both lament and revenge, I show that in Ovid's story, they appear as interconnected and dependent on each other. Initially, Philomela appears as the passive, lamenting sister, while Procne appears as the angry, vengeful one. Nevertheless, as the narrative unfolds, the roles of the sisters change. Through the characters of Philomela and Procne, Ovid presents a compelling account in which these two responses can be seen as mirror images of the same phenomenon, rather than diametrically opposed binaries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Karaim Turks are one of the representatives of the Turkic world located in the farthest west, and they are worth examining in terms of seeing the effects of their faith part on literature. There are two groups in the world who have the 'Karaite' belief. The first of these groups is Anan Ben David's VIII. For this reason, the Karaites of Israeli origin, who were called "Ananiye" in the first period and "Karay" in the later periods, were formed. The other group with the Karaite belief is the Karaites of Turkish origin, who converted to this belief in the Caspian Empire. This group, after the collapse of the Khazar Empire, migrated to Crimea, Istanbul, Lithuania and Poland. The Karaites, who are ethnically Turkish, describe themselves as "Karay or Karaylar", and they base their origins not on the Israelites but on the Khazar Turks and emphasize their Turkish roots. Being in a different belief circle did not destroy the common customs they brought from their roots, but gained a new dimension with the rituals and concepts brought by the Karaite belief. We see this difference even in the word that expresses the term 'lament'. For the concept of lament, the Hebrew-originated קִינהָ "kına" concept is also used in addition to the terms 'sığıt, sıyıt, sarnav' in Karay Turkish. It is also natural that the lament, which is the form of the death incident, which is the last point of human life, the sorrow it inflicts on the immediate environment, has been poured into verses, words and melodies, develops around the faith in the Karaim Turks. In this article, four Karay 'hazzan's who served the Karay community were introduced and the concepts of beliefs found in laments written after their deaths were specified. 'Hazzan' is a term used for the clergyman who is in charge of the Karay sanctuary, that is, the kenes. Hazzans not only performed the worship in the kenessa, but also worked for the development and awareness of the people in the society. It is seen that the value and respect that Karaites gave to 'Hazzan' and 'ribbi' (teachers) were reflected in the sentences with the deep sorrow they left on the community after their demise from the world. Especially, the effects of the Jewish belief seen in this mood of sadness and mourning manifest itself with Hebrew borrowing words such as "kahal, Torah, Adonay, mitsva, Shabbat, Shemot, ti'yat metim, merkava, etc." The four names that were the subject of the four different texts of lament examined were important Karai scholars who served as religious scholars. The common characteristics of these important ribbi and hazzans are "their work for their community, the right personality, knowing the seven wisdoms, living according to the orders of the Torah, and then leaving an honorable name". The texts of lament examined in the study are as follows: 'Kınası Ribbi Szalomnun Za'arjasiewicznin", 'Kınası Ribbi Awrahamnın Leonowicznin Ol Szofetnin', "Kınası Ribbi Jeszua Josef Mordkowicznin", "Kınası Ribbi Jeszuanın oğlu ribbi David". The sadness that these hazzans, who were so important to the Karaites, left behind them when they departed from the world was so deep and they lived according to the orders of the Torah and were praised for their honorable qualities they left behind. The Lament texts of the Karaite Turks, dominated by theological elements, have been analyzed within the details given above. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is no doubt that one of the greatest realities in the world is death. Although death is a journey to a different world for the deceased, it is the embodiment of sadness and grief for those who love it. The laments and words spoken after the deceased have taken their place in our written and oral literature. Among these literary works, elegies also have an important place. Although the love for the deceased and the respect shown to him are expressed through dirges, degrading and insulting expressions are also included in the dirges for the people who caused the death of the loved one. The more the deceased is loved and respected by the society, the more the poets attached importance to writing an elegy to the deceased. One of these laments is the Karbala Lamentations. As a result of the Karbala incident, where Hussein and his relatives were martyred, in classical Turkish literature, on the one hand, the deep sadness caused by this event was told, on the other hand, the poets gave information about the names of the people who took action in this sad event and the activities they had done. The main purpose of our study will be to reveal what activities the people who were involved in the martyrdom of Hüseyin, politically or militarily, were involved in the Karbala elegies and with what expressions they were mentioned in the poems [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The psalmist describes betrayal by a close companion in Psalms 41 and 55. His response aligns with Betrayal Trauma Theory, but his strong relationship with God prevents a negative impact on his "self." The structure of these Hebrew lament-poems reveals how the psalmist coped with emotional distress. Laments offer a way for burdened individuals to express pain, frustration, anger, fear, and disillusionment to God, seeking eventual relief. In Pss 41 and 55, this approach brings solace. However, in Pss 44 and 88, where YHWH appears as the "betrayer," the psalmist's hope remains unfulfilled, yet he relies on the covenant for eventual resolution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As many schools grapple with issues of sexual misconduct and legacy abuse, this article revisits the thinking of Walter Brueggeman and Rolf Jacobson and the "costly losses" initiated by a displacement of the psalmic traditions of lament and praise. The article explores the shift from the social gospel to the prosperity gospel. Drawing from the work in theology and trauma studies by Shelly Rambo and Serene Jones, the article considers the power of lament psalms, most specifically Psalm 22, in providing a theological, trauma-informed framework that witnesses to those who have suffered sexual abuse. Moving beyond institutional apology, lament opens the opportunity for grappling with legacies of pain, shame, and blame while confronting the ethos in which lament and praise were lost. Ultimately, reclaiming lament and refocusing praise will require a collaborative commitment by survivors and institutions joining voices to move toward healing, forgiveness, justice, and restoration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Central to Hebrew Scripture traditions of covenant fidelity is Zion: the holy city Jerusalem, chief locus of ancient Judean worship and a pilgrimage site for countless believers. In many biblical texts, Jerusalem is personified as Daughter Zion: beloved of YHWH, ravaged by enemies, awaiting God’s glorious restoration. This essay focuses on the act of remembering Zion as a sacred practice fruitful for the Christian homiletical imagination. Exploring Zion traditions with their congregations, preachers can deepen the capacity of their hearers to respond to historical and contemporary traumas, build up global communities in justice, and bear witness to the eschatological hope of the Gospel. Psalm 87 is a powerful resource for Christian believers learning to envision Zion as the joyous kin-dom of all who love the Holy One.

This article explores the evolving nature of affectivity in the long Reformation, focusing especially on the place of lament in the 'emotion script' of early modern Lutheranism. It examines this script by introducing readers to an extremely rich and previously unknown ego-document or 'Selbstzeugnis' from early seventeenth-century Nürnberg: Johann Christoph Oelhafen's 'Pious Meditations on the, Alas, Most Sorrowful Bereavement'. The article argues that the 'Pious Meditations' was shaped by the liturgical life of the early modern Lutheran house-church, even as it contributed a new and important 'setting' to this liturgy that allowed greater room for biblical lament in times of overwhelming grief. This new 'setting', in turn, constituted a revision of the early modern Lutheran 'emotion script'. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As a response to communities of faith that are trying to make sense of the COVID-19 pandemic, this essay explores biblical traditions about "chaos" represented by primordial waters and monsters that disturb the created order. The essay begins with a summary of three biblical portrayals of chaos: chaos as integral to the created world, chaos as mystery, and chaos intensified by human rebellion. The discussion then weighs divine sovereignty and human responsibility and accepts that chaos is a part of life that challenges humans to work to make this world a better place. Among many possible responses to the chaos presented by the pandemic, this article will focus on lament, fear and trust, and repentance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article argues that Ethiopia has seen an increase in ethnic-based atrocities and killings, creating a “society of enmity” which is in need of cura vitae, healing. The failure of the Church to minister healing and hope in this context has been largely brought about by political motives. This article examines and challenges the position of the Ethiopian Church amid a society of enmity and argues that the Church ought to search for cura vitae, healing of life, through the theology of lament and metanoia. A lamenting and metanoic Church would be able not only to enter the space of the sufferer and partake in naming what is going on, but would also enable self-questioning for authenticity that leads not only to healing but also to taking new action towards transforming the self and society for the better.

Drawing on philosophical frameworks of agency, autonomy, and vulnerability as developed by feminist opera scholars, this paper examines the use of the lament in the expression of female unhappiness through a comparison of the representations of the sorceress Alcina in Francesca Caccini’s La Liberazione di Ruggiero dall'isola d'Alcina, and George Frideric Handel’s Alcina. This paper begins by exploring how Caccini’s Alcina’s lament, “Ferma, ferma crudele,” exposes her journey through anger, confusion, and finally grief over her lost love. Alcina’s vulnerable expression of grief inspires another woman to join her in lamenting, an act which instills Alcina with greater emotional agency. The paper then considers Handel’s Alcina, suggesting that his Alcina’s aria, “Ombre Pallide,” functions as a lament rather than an invocation aria. The presence of lament characteristics following her abandonment of the musical conventions of the invocation aria see Alcina gain the freedom and autonomy to act without her self-destructive magical powers, showing that this loss of power is actually her liberation. Ultimately, these considerations question existing assumptions that composers reject lament conventions in order to lend agency to their women characters, and create space for nuanced understandings of women’s vulnerability and agency.

Copyright of Motif Academy Journal of Folklore is the property of Motif Yayincilik and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)