Changing Paradigms in Biblical Criticism : 2 Kings 22:1 23:30 in the Flux of Discourses

The subject and methodology of biblical scholarship has expanded immense-ly during the last few decades. The traditional text-, literary-, source- and form-critical approaches, labeled historical-critical scholarship , have faced the challenge of social sciences. Various new literary, synchronic readings, sometimes characterized with the vague term postmodernism, have in turn challenged historicalcritical, and social-scientific approaches. Widened limits and diverging methodologies have caused a sense of crisis in biblical criticism. This metatheoretical thesis attempts to bridge the gap between philosophical discussion about the basis of biblical criticism and practical academic biblical scholarship. The study attempts to trace those epistemological changes that have produced the wealth of methods and results within biblical criticism. The account of the cult reform of King Josiah of Judah as reported in 2 Kings 22:1 23:30 serves as the case study because of its importance for critical study of the Hebrew Bible. Various scholarly approaches embracing 2 Kings 22:1 23:30 are experimentally arranged around four methodological positions: text, author, reader, and context. The heuristic model is a tentative application of Oliver Jahraus s model of four paradigms in literary theory. The study argues for six theses: 1) Our knowledge of the world is con-structed, fallible and theory-laden. 2) Methodological plurality is the neces-sary result of changes in epistemology and culture in general. 3) Oliver Jahraus s four methodological positions in regard to literature are also an applicable model within biblical criticism to comprehend the methodological plurality embracing the study of the Hebrew Bible. 4) Underlying the methodological discourse embracing biblical criticism is the epistemological ten-sion between the natural sciences and the humanities. 5) Biblical scholars should reconsider and analyze in detail concepts such as author and editor to overcome the dichotomy between the Göttingen and Cross schools. 6) To say something about the historicity of 2 Kings 22:1 23:30 one must bring together disparate elements from various disciplines and, finally, admit that though it may be possible to draw some permanent results, our conclusions often remain provisional.

Interest in university studies : Its role and relation to other motivational variables

This dissertation empirically explored interest as a motivational force in university studies, including the role it currently plays and possible ways of enhancing this role as a student motivator. The general research questions were as follows: 1) What role does interest play in university studies? 2) What explains academic success if studying is not based on interest? 3) How do different learning environments support or impede interest-based studying? Four empirical studies addressed these questions. Study 1 (n=536) compared first-year students explanations of their disciplinary choices in three fields: veterinary medicine, humanities and law. Study 2 (n=28) focused on the role of individual interest in the humanities and veterinary medicine, fields which are very different from each other as regards their nature of studying. Study 3 (n=52) explored veterinary students motivation and study practices in relation to their study success. Study 4 (n=16) explored veterinary students interest experience in individual lectures on a daily basis. By comparing different fields and focusing on one study field in more detail, it was possible to obtain a many-sided picture of the role of interest in different learning environments. Questionnaires and quantitative methods have often been used to measure interest in academic learning. The present work is based mostly on qualitative data, and qualitative methods were applied to add to the previous research. Study 1 explored students open-ended answers, and these provided a basis for the interviews in Study 2. Study 3 explored veterinary students portfolios in a longitudinal setting. For Study 4, a diary including both qualitative and quantitative measures was designed to capture veterinary students interest experience. Qualitative content analysis was applied in all four studies, but quantitative analyses were also added. The thesis showed that university students often explain their disciplinary choices in terms of interest. Because interest is related to high-quality learning, the students seemed to have a good foundation for successful studies. However, the learning environments did not always support interest-based studying; Time-management and coping skills were found to be more important than interest in terms of study success. The results also indicated that interest is not the only motivational variable behind university studies. For example, future goals are needed in order to complete a degree. Even so, the results clearly indicated that it would be worth supporting interest-based studying both in professionally and generally oriented study fields. This support is important not only to promote high-quality learning but also meaningful studying, student well-being, and life-long learning.

Laundry Symbols and License Management

One of the most challenging tasks in building language resources is the copyright license management. There are several reasons for this. First of all, the current European copyright system is designed to a large extent to satisfy the commercial actors, e.g. publishers, record companies etc. This means that the scope and duration of the rights are very extensive and there are even certain forms of protection that do not exist elsewhere in the world, e.g. database right. On the other hand, the exceptions for research and teaching are typically very narrow.