active audience theory Quick reference
A Dictionary of Media and Communication (3 ed.)
... audience theory The view (particularly associated with mass-media usage) that audiences are not merely passive receptacles for imposed meanings ( see effects tradition ; hypodermic model ) but actively (albeit often unconsciously) involved—both cognitively and emotionally—in making sense of texts . This active involvement has several interrelated dimensions: perception , comprehension , interpretation , evaluation , and response ( see also beholder’s share ; elaboration ). Proponents of active audience theory claim that scholars cannot...
active audience theory
Natural Philosophy (Science) Reference library
An Oxford Companion to the Romantic Age
...against Antoine Lavoisier's chemical theories he protested against the expensive equipment that the French savant employed, claiming that it rendered experiments immune from adequate testing by others who lacked such financial support. Priestley regarded natural philosophy as a means of cultivating the rational capacities that would allow the public—for example, the Dissenters excluded from Oxford and Cambridge universities—to resist ‘the empire of superstition’ [ see *Dissenting academies ]. His egalitarian theory of knowledge stressed the role of...
Literary Theory Reference library
An Oxford Companion to the Romantic Age
...Coleridge, and De Quincey, with Kant fortuitously providing a centre, represent the cardinal points of aesthetic and literary theory in Britain during our period. Unfortunately, literary and aesthetic theory between 1765 and 1832 has many more ‘centres’ than this scheme allows and more cardinal points than are possible in a compass. For example, although William *Blake would certainly subscribe to Coleridge's belief in the active role played by the human imagination, the influence of radical Protestant and *millenarian ideas on his thought gives this a...
Haggai Reference library
D. L. Petersen and D. L. Petersen
The Oxford Bible Commentary
...the ancient Near-Eastern flood story, the angry deity calls for a drought before summoning the deluge.) ( 1:12–15 a ) They Worked on the House of the Lord This prose section chronicles the impact of Haggai upon those who heard him. That group is, however, larger than his initial audience. Along with Zerubbabel and Joshua, the text refers to ‘all the remnant of the people’ ( vv. 12, 14; 2:2 ). The word ‘remnant’ requires comment. By implication, the author claims that not everyone in Judah participated in the work of temple rebuilding. But who did? Based on texts...
Viewing Reference library
An Oxford Companion to the Romantic Age
...been assigned the task of representing and rationalizing the social virtues; in turn virtue had provided the artists with a superlatively respectable showroom for their work, and with an audience morally guided to admire the conception and execution of their labour. The loss of this prefabricated exhibition space, with its clear social margins and sympathetic, sensible audience, was considerable, as suggested by the material and philosophical problems faced by the artists in the following years of independent exhibition. Relations between members in the Society...
1 Thessalonians Reference library
Philip F. Esler and Philip F. Esler
The Oxford Bible Commentary
...Secondly, however, the alteration indicates that in writing to Gentiles he has deliberately chosen to substitute the former for the latter, presumably because he found ‘righteousness’ inappropriate for such an audience ( Esler 1998 : 156–7 ). The function fulfilled by the language of holiness in relation to a Gentile audience in 1 Thessalonians is served later in relation to mixed Israelite and Gentile groups in Galatians and Romans by the discourse of righteousness. v. 9 , Paul's statement that God has destined them not for anger but for...
Language Reference library
An Oxford Companion to the Romantic Age
...constitutional debates [ see *class, 15 ]. The locus classicus for the analogy drawn between the state of the language and the state of the constitution was the third book of *Locke 's Essay concerning Human Understanding ( 1690 ). The theory of language set out in this work, no less than Locke's constitutional theory, had the notion of ‘consent’ at its basis. Locke argued that words were not the signs of things but of ideas. These signs were not naturally tied to their meanings. Language, according to Locke, is a social compact—the product of an agreement...
Liberation Theology: Latin America Reference library
M. Daniel Carroll R.
The Oxford Illustrated History of the Bible
...For instance, that Jesus did not more actively confront the political leaders of his day should be viewed as his option for his own time and place, first-century Palestine. What continues to matter is his commitment to the poor. This faith obligation would need to be worked out in another manner within the different world that is Latin America today. In this way, Segundo attempts to move beyond debates on historicity and the possible ethical limitations of certain texts. Croatto appeals to modern literary theory and acknowledges his debt to the...
Jeremiah Reference library
Kathleen M. O'Connor and Kathleen M. O'Connor
The Oxford Bible Commentary
...role in meeting the needs of the exilic audience. As symbolic and imaginative construction, Jeremiah's life is iconic of the fate of the exiles, even as he represents YHWH as the prophet who announces their fate ( Polk ( 1984 ), contra Biddle 1996 : 6 ). But YHWH, too, suffers with the people as the book progresses. F. Synchronic Interpretation. 1. While it is evident that the book is vastly complex literature composed over a long period of time by many hands, the text's unreadability may be overstated in some theories of composition. By concentrating on...
The Four Gospels in Synopsis Reference library
Henry Wansbrough
The Oxford Bible Commentary
...difficulty for the Griesbach theory is, however, why Mark should have written a gospel (and why the church should have accepted it) in which he deliberately omitted so much that is valuable: the infancy stories, the beatitudes, the Lord's prayer, the resurrection appearances, and many other important and favourite passages which had already been included in Matthew and Luke. 2. The Two-Source Theory. Since it was extensively proposed by C. Lachmann in 1835, seconded by C. G. Wilke and H. Weisse in 1838, the Two-Source theory has won over-whelming acceptance,...
2 Corinthians Reference library
Margaret MacDonald and Margaret MacDonald
The Oxford Bible Commentary
...Corinthians is made up of more than one of Paul's letters. Although there is no MS evidence to support this theory, there are several problems in the text as we have it which raise the question of its unity. Among the more serious difficulties is the sharp break between the conciliatory tone of chs. 1–9 and the harsh, sarcastic tone of chs. 10–13 . Several partition theories have been developed in order to explain these difficulties, and these theories may be divided into two major schools. (1) Some scholars divide the text into five or six fragments and then...
Between Alexandria and Antioch: Jews and Judaism in the Hellenistic Period Reference library
Leonard J. Greenspoon
Oxford History of the Biblical World
...to perceive and even to appreciate. Given these factors, another question often arises: Were there many non-Jews who became Jews, and if so, did this result from an active proselytizing by Jews? The available evidence allows for more than one interpretation. Clearly most if not all Jewish literature from the Hellenistic period was aimed at Jewish audiences. On the other hand, even in such literature there is evidence that its authors were not unaware that non-Jews might also be reading it. Individual examples of conversion are not absent....
Exploration Reference library
An Oxford Companion to the Romantic Age
...celebration of types such as the noble savage. Travellers were not only exploring new lands, but also new ways of writing. Writers of voyages seem frequently to have been misconstrued in a generic as well as a geographical sense: the diverse popular, scientific, and official audiences for their works could not all be pleased at once. While scholars need to read travellers' accounts critically, uncovering the racism buried in objectivist description and sentimental rhapsody, we should also be conscious of the epistemological and moral uncertainties that are...
Julius Caesar Reference library
Michael Dobson, Will Sharpe, Anthony Davies, and Will Sharpe
The Oxford Companion to Shakespeare (2 ed.)
...Barber’s Caesar in Phyllida Lloyd’s 2012 Donmar production, set in a high-security women’s penitentiary, while Gregory Doran ’s 2012 RSC production, set in an unspecified African nation with Jeffery Kissoon’s Caesar its Mugabe-esque dictator figure, was a source of tangled audience debate both for its geopolitical and racial representations. Michael Dobson , rev. Will Sharpe On the screen: Nine silent versions (the first made by Georges Méliès) emerged between 1907 and 1914 . Material from the play was among the earliest Shakespeare scenes broadcast on...
Feminist Scholarship Reference library
Yvonne Sherwood
The Oxford Illustrated History of the Bible
...the crowns at the top and on the black curtain of the ‘Ark’ containing the scroll of the Torah in a synagogue. Z Radovan, Jerusalem. Isaac, and Jacob rather than Sarah, Rebekah, and Rachel) but the textual perspective is one of a male author addressing an audience of males. Sarah is painfully invisible from the narrative of the Akedah ( Genesis 22 ) and the Ten Commandments, with their instruction ‘not to covet your neighbour's ox, ass, or wife’ obviously assume a male addressee who owns an ox, ass, and wife. (As well as uncovering texts...
Mark Reference library
C. M. Tuckett and C. M. Tuckett
The Oxford Bible Commentary
...appearances and the ending has been lost (by accident or deliberate suppression), or he was prevented from finishing his work (e.g. by illness, or by being arrested). Neither of these theories is entirely satisfactory: one would expect a lost ending to be restored, and theories about Mark's personal circumstances are entirely speculative. In any case such theories depend heavily on preconceived ideas about what a gospel narrative, in particular the conclusion to such a narrative, ‘must’ contain. Without such preconceptions, the onus is probably on the...
Judges Reference library
Susan Niditch and Susan Niditch
The Oxford Bible Commentary
...( 11:12–27 ), the Israelites' condemnation of the evildoing at Gibeah, their heroism in confronting better-armed enemies. In this commentary we attempt to stand at some critical distance from the ancient representations in Judges, nevertheless empathizing with their authors and audiences. We have to imagine a world in which human sacrifice is not unthinkable even while we, like the voices of Deuteronomy and Leviticus, condemn it. We must also consider the possibility that the ancient Israelites were self-critical and unsure: their frequent enquiries of God...
2 The Sacred Book Reference library
Carl Olson
The Oxford Companion to the Book
...Church. Although the letters are addressed to particular congregations and their problems, Paul’s message is intended for a wider audience, an evolving community, and considers its struggle to survive in the hostile sociocultural environment of the Graeco-Roman world. For his message, Paul claimed that his authority came directly from Jesus, the resurrected Lord and Saviour. Paul’s letters were intended to be read aloud to an audience, which was also true of the Hebrew Bible and other documents of the New Testament. Within the context of the ancient Graeco-Roman...
John Reference library
René Kieffer and René Kieffer
The Oxford Bible Commentary
...( vv. 37–43; cf. Rom 10:16 ); different sayings of Jesus on faith and unbelief ( vv. 44–50 ). Many commentators underline the repetitive character of these verses, and some attribute them to a less gifted redactor. As the audience is not named some have also proposed displacing the passage. But in my opinion all these theories neglect an important feature of Johannine technique, where repetition is used to stress the implied author's point of view. ( 12:37–43 ) The many signs do not lead to faith, contrary to the other mention of signs in 20:30–1 . ...
