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In this study, based on observations of our own pedagogical work, we consider different didactic approaches to the same literary text (the short story ‘From Prague to Brno’ by Jiří Kratochvil) in the teaching of Czech as a foreign language and in the teaching of literature, including analysis of literary texts. The starting point is a comparison of the learning objectives in both of these contexts, followed by a presentation of specific tasks and lines of inquiry vis-à-vis the text, their justification, and analysis of student reactions. In conclusion, we emphasize those aspects that should be considered in the teaching of literary and prose texts, not only by foreign language teachers but also (in our view) teachers of literature and literary interpretation.

In recent years, narrative skills have been receiving increasing attention from researchers for their relevance in the development of language, literacy and socio-cognitive abilities. This volume brings together studies focusing on two key issues in the development of children's narrative skills. The first part of the Volume addresses the issue of the interrelatedness between narrative skills and literacy, language and socio-cognitive development, as well as of the impact of narrative practices on the promotion of these different skills. The second part of the Volume addresses the issue of how early interactional experiences, particular contextual settings and specific intervention procedures, can help children promote their narrative skills.The studies span a wide age range, from toddlers to late elementary school children, concern different languages (Dutch, English, French, German, Hebrew and Italian), and consider narrative skills and practices from a rich variety of theoretical and methodological approaches.

Mark 12:10–11 cites Ps 117:22–23 OG (118:22–23 MT) to conclude the parable of the tenants, which frames the gospel's second half. The citation from one of the most frequently cited psalms in the New Testament reinforces the parable's interpretation and thus plays an important role in the Markan narrative. Many interpreters conclude that the citation's impact on the parable comes only from the citation's self-contained imagery or, at most, the imagery's function in a psalm praising God for vindicating God's servant. In contrast, I contend that the psalm's place in the Egyptian Hallel, a collection that played an important liturgical function at multiple Jewish festivals, contributes to how early Christ-followers could have construed the psalm and thus understood its use in Mark. Specifically, I argue that, if the portrait of the nations in the Hallel, especially in Ps 116 OG, shapes how one understands Ps 117, then the citation of Ps 117 in Mark serves to confirm an interpretation of the “others” to whom the vineyard is given as a mixed community of gentiles who have forsaken their idolatry, along with the faithful from Israel, united by their response to Jesus.

This study examines the literary and redactional history of the allotment motif in biblical tradition. The notion that the Israelite tribes apportioned the promised land through the casting of “lots” stems from a core narrative about a ceremony for the house of Joseph at Shiloh (Josh 17:17–18; 18:4, 8–10a). Through later redactional expansions, the allotment motif came to define the distribution of all Israelite territory in the central chapters of Joshua (chs. 13–21). Outside the book of Joshua, however, this idea gained little acceptance among scribal circles that preferred other explanations for how the Israelites came to occupy and possess the land. The only extensive engagement with the allotment motif outside of Joshua appears in the concluding chapters of Numbers (chs. 26–36). The post-Priestly redactors who organized these chapters harmonized the allotment motif with their own genealogies as a means to create narrative continuity between the desert wanderings and the conquest account in Joshua. By examining many “redactional reciprocations” between Numbers and Joshua, I demonstrate how biblical books and literary motifs developed in parallel narrative contexts, with punctuated revisions that alter the form and function of each through dialectical processes of harmonization. The allotment motif in Numbers is the literary legacy of scribes who did not consider Moses’s death in Deuteronomy to be a decisive break in the biblical narrative, instead promoting the view of Joshua as Moses’s spiritual successor and the conquest as the fulfillment of the exodus.

There is much research on the syntax-semantics and the syntax-phonology interaction. However, the exact relation between prosodic patterns and informational structure (as part of pragmatics) is still to be investigated. In this empirical study, we challenge the view that prosody and pragmatics are two autonomous levels of grammar. This paper is an analysis of the narrative poem ‘Mending Wall’ recited by Robert Frost to explore the prosodic features and the associated pragmatic meanings. It is proposed that a set of intentionally manipulated suprasegmental features form a prosodic grammar that works in line with syntax and lexical choices to build the narrative discourse and achieve pragmatic meanings. The paper shows that the amalgamation of certain prosodic features is manipulated to signal certain sections of the narrative and participate in segmenting the story into sections. Since the narrative structure is thought to be universal, we think that the procedures followed can be easily applied to other languages.

Past works have connected the design, execution, and content of Aaron's inscribed clothing in the tabernacle-building narrative in Exod 28 and 39 to different types of ancient Near Eastern inscriptions. This largely form-critical enterprise sheds light on their power as inscriptions that draw authority from diverse text-types, including dedications, seals, and amulets. Yet the inscriptions set into Aaron's clothing do more than tell us about the types of textual practices priests may have known about or engaged in—they project a priestly ideal of writing as a source of ritual authority. When the narrative description of these inscriptions is theorized through the framework of multimodality, we can see that they communicate through their semantic content and through their design, but also through their display features on Aaron's body and their movement with him in the tabernacle. Exodus 28 and 39 embed a host of inscriptional practices into Aaron's uniform in a way that transforms it into an archetypical priestly text, one that is mobile yet tied to the priesthood. In the story of the building of the tabernacle, this literary representation of Aaron's inscribed clothing both anticipates and affirms the ritual authority of texts in priestly communities in the aftermath of the destruction of Jerusalem's temple in the Neo-Babylonian period.

The following research which is grounded on natural selection uses text analysis to find out the significance of survival in the post-apocalyptic narration mainly with reference to Stephen King's The Stand. The intertextuality of this work with Earth Abides is also pointed out. The saga of survival in the post-apocalyptic period, Darwin’s concept of survival of the fittest and the human ability for adaptation are elucidated in the article. The survival stories teach us how to reconstruct the fallen society, providing an insight into how the affected people handle the situation (Leon C Megginson). It is not the strongest or the most intelligent who will survive but those who can best manage change. The pandemic narratives can serve as an important area in the classic to contemporary literature in throwing light on future survival issues, teaching how to overcome the precarious situations. It can be reiterated that the post-apocalyptic narratives speak volumes about the above-mentioned significant areas. Ipso facto, the popularity of Pandemic literature should make humanity sure-footed in prevailing over the pandemic threats, and assuring new life and hope.

There has been continuous teaching of political economy (PE) at the University of Sydney for fifty years. My own journey began as a mature aged student in 1994 after dropping History and Psychology in exchange for majors in Government and Political Economy. In undergraduate studies through to PE Honours and finally completing a PhD in 2007, I had the privilege of learning from and working alongside some incredibly inspiring teachers, researchers and colleagues before moving on to another University in mid-2015. In parallel, I held a long-standing interest in art and have been a practicing visual artist and 'accidental' curator. Bringing together my interests in political economy and art, one of the highlights of those twenty-one years at the University of Sydney was organising and curating an art exhibition marking the 'retirement' of Professor Frank Stilwell.

Trauma readings of the prophetic books of the Hebrew Bible have not typically included the book of Hosea. They have focused predominantly on texts connected with the Babylonian invasions and deportations in the sixth century BCE, especially Jeremiah and Ezekiel. These readings find their background in the broader application of trauma theory to the Hebrew Bible. In this article, I ask whether trauma (as a heuristic framework) might also provide a beneficial lens into the book of Hosea and, if so, what types of trauma, in what ways, and toward what ends. Specific elements in the book of Hosea invite a trauma reading, and recent biblical interpreters have brought trauma hermeneutics to bear on other, previously less-considered prophetic books. Most significantly, newer scholarly treatments of the prophets are incorporating “communal trauma” (or “cultural trauma,” “collective trauma,” and “social trauma”), with corresponding attention to “transgenerational trauma.” Hosea best takes its place in the trauma conversation about the prophetic literature through communal trauma, in which the impact of trauma is not limited to persons; peoples, societies, and cultures can experience trauma in collective ways, and those ways can shape (or reshape) the nature and identity of the community.

The 2023 Bible Society New Zealand’s translation of sample biblical passages into the Māori language, He Tīmatanga, caused controversy by incorporating names of Māori gods. Those who objected typically assumed inconsistency with the Bible’s purported monotheism. But ‘monotheism’, in the sense that only one god exists, is not present in the Bible. Moreover, missionary adherence to monotheism in the mid-nineteenth century widely assumed a ‘degeneration model’ that also promoted European religious, moral, and cultural superiority. This article adopts a hermeneutical strategy to counter monotheistic misreadings of the Bible, and their racist effects, by reading Māori stories of the ancient divine hero Tāwhaki alongside the ancient divine heroes who feature in Gen 6:1–4’s account of the Nephilim. First, the comparison provides resources for the translation of Gen 6:1–4 into the Māori language and worldview. Second, the Tāwhaki narratives stimulate a reappraisal of longstanding problems in the interpretation of Gen 6:1–4, especially the meaning of the phrase “the sons of the gods”. Supported by analysis also of the Sumerian King List, this article argues that all three major interpretations of “the sons of the gods” are fundamentally consistent: they are gods, elite human rulers, and also Sethites.