The book of Malachi is seldom referenced in Christian devotion or worship, with a rare

exception being its use as an offering appeal during public worship. But is there more to

Malachi than an offering appeal? Furthermore, what is the purpose of the strong curse at the

end of the text that leads many Jewish people to this day to avoid ending the reading of the

book with its last verse?

In “Blessing and Cursing in Malachi: A Reader-Oriented Approach,” the text of Malachi is

explored to unc...

This study identifies the questions that occur in Luke 1:5–2:52, and then discusses their function in the communication between the text-internal author and the text-internal reader. It does so by applying the Communication-Oriented Method for the first time to this text-unit. It concludes that these questions function at the level of the characters as a communication ‘motor’, with the objective of prolonging the communication between the characters. At the level of the text-internal au...