The Bodies Of God And The World Of Ancient Israel

Author : Benjamin D. Sommer
Publisher : Cambridge University Press
Page : 128 pages
File Size : 46,5 Mb
Release : 2009-06-29
Category : Religion
ISBN : 9781139477789

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The Bodies of God and the World of Ancient Israel by Benjamin D. Sommer Pdf

Sommer utilizes a lost ancient Near Eastern perception of divinity according to which a god has more than one body and fluid, unbounded selves. Though the dominant strains of biblical religion rejected it, a monotheistic version of this theological intuition is found in some biblical texts. Later Jewish and Christian thinkers inherited this ancient way of thinking; ideas such as the sefirot in Kabbalah and the trinity in Christianity represent a late version of this theology. This book forces us to rethink the distinction between monotheism and polytheism, as this notion of divine fluidity is found in both polytheistic cultures (Babylonia, Assyria, Canaan) and monotheistic ones (biblical religion, Jewish mysticism, Christianity), whereas it is absent in some polytheistic cultures (classical Greece). The Bodies of God and the World of Ancient Israel has important repercussions not only for biblical scholarship and comparative religion but for Jewish-Christian dialogue.

Author : Alyssa Ayres
Publisher : Unknown
Page : 351 pages
File Size : 55,5 Mb
Release : 2005
Category : Electronic
ISBN : 051159576X

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The Bodies of God and the World of Ancient Israel by Alyssa Ayres Pdf

Author : Society for Old Testament Study
Publisher : Cambridge University Press
Page : 454 pages
File Size : 40,6 Mb
Release : 1991-11-21
Category : History
ISBN : 0521423929

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The World of Ancient Israel by Society for Old Testament Study Pdf

Encapsulating as it does research that has been undertaken on the sociological, anthropological and political aspects of the history of ancient Israel, this important book is designed to follow in the tradition of works in the series sponsored by The Society for Old Testament Study which began with the publication of The People and the Book in 1925. The World of Ancient Israel is especially concerned to explore in greater depth than comparable studies the areas and degrees of overlap between approaches to the subject of Old Testament research adopted by scholars and students of theology and the social sciences. Increasing numbers of scholars have recognised the valuable insights that can be gained from a cross-disciplinary approach, and it is becoming clear that the early biblical traditions about the formation of the Israelite state must be examined in the light of comparative anthropology if useful historical conclusions are to be drawn from them.

Author : Benjamin D. Sommer
Publisher : NYU Press
Page : 344 pages
File Size : 55,9 Mb
Release : 2012-10-29
Category : History
ISBN : 9780814740620

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Jewish Concepts of Scripture by Benjamin D. Sommer Pdf

What do Jews think scripture is? How do the People of the Book conceive of the Book of Books? In what ways is it authoritative? Who has the right to interpret it? Is it divinely or humanly written? And have Jews always thought about the Bible in the same way? In seventeen cohesive and rigorously researched essays, this volume traces the way some of the most important Jewish thinkers throughout history have addressed these questions from the rabbinic era through the medieval Islamic world to modern Jewish scholarship. They address why different Jewish thinkers, writers, and communities have turned to the Bible—and what they expect to get from it. Ultimately, argues editor Benjamin D. Sommer, in understanding the ways Jews construct scripture, we begin to understand the ways Jews construct themselves.

Author : Shawn W. Flynn
Publisher : Oxford University Press
Page : 248 pages
File Size : 43,6 Mb
Release : 2018-08-30
Category : Religion
ISBN : 9780191087028

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Children in Ancient Israel by Shawn W. Flynn Pdf

Flynn contributes to the emerging field of childhood studies in the Hebrew Bible by isolating stages of a child's life, and through a comparative perspective, studies the place of children in the domestic cult and their relationship to the deity in that cult. The study gathers data relevant to different stages of a child's life from a plethora of Mesopotamian materials (prayers, myths, medical texts, rituals), and uses that data as an interpretive lens for Israelite texts about children at similar stages such as: pre-born children, the birth stage, breast feeding, adoption, slavery, children's death and burial rituals, childhood delinquency. This analysis presses the questions of value and violence, the importance of the domestic cult for expressing the child's value beyond economic value, and how children were valued in cultures with high infant mortality rates. From the earliest stages to the moments when children die, and to the children's responsibilities in the domestic cult later in life, this study demonstrates that a child is uniquely wrapped up in the domestic cult, and in particular, is connected with the deity. The domestic-cultic value of children forms the much broader understanding of children in the ancient world, through which other more problematic representations can be tested. Throughout the study, it becomes apparent that children's value in the domestic cult is an intentional catalyst for the social promotion of YHWHism.

Author : Tyson L. Putthoff
Publisher : Cambridge University Press
Page : 269 pages
File Size : 40,9 Mb
Release : 2020-11-05
Category : History
ISBN : 9781108490542

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Gods and Humans in the Ancient Near East by Tyson L. Putthoff Pdf

Gods have always lived among humans. But long ago, they also lived inside us, sharing their nature with mere mortals.

Author : Ilana Pardes
Publisher : Univ of California Press
Page : 224 pages
File Size : 52,7 Mb
Release : 2000-04-03
Category : Religion
ISBN : 9780520929722

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The Biography of Ancient Israel by Ilana Pardes Pdf

The nation--particularly in Exodus and Numbers--is not an abstract concept but rather a grand character whose history is fleshed out with remarkable literary power. In her innovative exploration of national imagination in the Bible, Pardes highlights the textual manifestations of the metaphor, the many anthropomorphisms by which a collective character named "Israel" springs to life. She explores the representation of communal motives, hidden desires, collective anxieties, the drama and suspense embedded in each phase of the nation's life: from birth in exile, to suckling in the wilderness, to a long process of maturation that has no definite end. In the Bible, Pardes suggests, history and literature go hand in hand more explicitly than in modern historiography, which is why the Bible serves as a paradigmatic case for examining the narrative base of national constructions. Pardes calls for a consideration of the Bible's penetrating renditions of national ambivalence. She reads the rebellious conduct of the nation against the grain, probing the murmurings of the people, foregrounding their critique of the official line. The Bible does not provide a homogeneous account of nation formation, according to Pardes, but rather reveals points of tension between different perceptions of the nation's history and destiny. This fresh and beautifully rendered portrayal of the history of ancient Israel will be of vital interest to anyone interested in the Bible, in the interrelations of literature and history, in nationhood, in feminist thought, and in psychoanalysis.

Author : R. P. Gordon
Publisher : Cambridge University Press
Page : 286 pages
File Size : 49,8 Mb
Release : 2007-04-19
Category : History
ISBN : 9780521873659

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The God of Israel by R. P. Gordon Pdf

Collection of essays discussing many unresolved or largely unaddressed issues about this unique deity.

Author : Mark S. Smith
Publisher : Yale University Press
Page : 244 pages
File Size : 46,8 Mb
Release : 2016-01-01
Category : Anthropomorphism
ISBN : 9780300209228

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Where the Gods are by Mark S. Smith Pdf

6. The Royal City and Its Gods -- Epilogue: Ancient Theorizing About Anthropomorphism and Space -- Notes -- Subject Index -- A -- B -- C -- D -- E -- F -- G -- H -- I -- J -- K -- L -- M -- N -- O -- P -- R -- S -- T -- U -- V -- W -- Y -- Z -- Index of Modern Authors -- A -- B -- C -- D -- E -- F -- G -- H -- I -- J -- K -- L -- M -- N -- O -- P -- R -- S -- T -- U -- V -- W -- X -- Y -- Z -- Index of Ancient Sources

Author : Segal
Publisher : BRILL
Page : 337 pages
File Size : 40,6 Mb
Release : 1977-12
Category : Architecture
ISBN : 9789004667488

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Two Powers in Heaven by Segal Pdf

In this study of the rabbinic heretics who believed in Two Powers in Heaven, Alan Segal explores some relationships between rabbinic Judaism, Merkabah mysticism, and early Christianity. Two Powers in Heaven was a very early category of heresy. It was one of the basic categories by which the rabbis perceived the new phenomenon of Christianity and one of the central issues over which Judaism and Christianity separated. Segal reconstructs the development of the heresy through prudent dating of the stages of the rabbinic traditions. The basic heresy involved interpreting scripture to say that a principal angelic or hypostatic manifestation in heaven was equivalent to God. The earliest heretics believed in two complementary powers in heaven, while later heretics believed in two opposing powers in heaven. Segal stresses the importance of perceiving the relevance of rabbinic material for solving traditional problems of New Testament and gnostic scholarship, and at the same time maintains the necessity of reading those literatures for dating rabbinic material. Please note that Two Powers in Heaven was previously published by Brill in hardback, ISBN 90 04 05453 7 (no longer available).

Author : Mark S. Smith
Publisher : Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing
Page : 409 pages
File Size : 40,6 Mb
Release : 2010-06-28
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN : 9780802864338

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God in Translation by Mark S. Smith Pdf

God in Translation offers a substantial, extraordinarily broad survey of ancient attitudes toward deities, from the Late Bronze Age through ancient Israel and into the New Testament. Looking closely at relevant biblical texts and at their cultural contexts, Mark S. Smith demonstrates that the biblical attitude toward deities of other cultures is not uniformly negative, as is commonly supposed. He traces the historical development of Israel's "one-god worldview, " linking it to the rise of the surrounding Mesopotamian empires. Smith's study also produces evidence undermining a common modern assumption among historians of religion that polytheism is tolerant while monotheism is prone to intolerance and violence.

Author : Andreas Wagner
Publisher : Bloomsbury Publishing
Page : 207 pages
File Size : 47,6 Mb
Release : 2019-02-21
Category : Religion
ISBN : 9780567655998

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God's Body by Andreas Wagner Pdf

Images of the body in ancient Near Eastern civilizations are radically different from body images today, which in turn creates significant consequences for our understanding of the biblical notion of God's human shape and the frequent and widespread misconceptions therein. Andreas Wagner illuminates such frequent and widespread misconceptions, and reveals the sometimes distant pictorial world of ancient body images. He contrasts these with contemporary models and makes the matter of the Old Testament concept of God's human form accessible and clear. Wagner begins by introducing readers to aspects of anthropomorphism, the study of body parts, and Israel's basic understanding of the human body. He then turns specifically to the body of God, analysing why and how certain body parts are emphasized or regularly employed in the biblical text when it tries to describe God. Wagner draws out the theological aspects of the ways in which God's body is described as well as considering the diverse range of ancient Near Eastern perspectives on God, and the ways in which ancient cultures constructed and understood deities. Wagner concludes by looking at how the depiction of God in the Old Testament fits with the concept of mankind made in God's image. Enhanced by over fifty illustrations, God's Body will lead the debate in biblical anthropomorphism for years to come.

Author : Mark S. Smith
Publisher : Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing
Page : 300 pages
File Size : 41,9 Mb
Release : 2002-08-03
Category : History
ISBN : 080283972X

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The Early History of God by Mark S. Smith Pdf

There is still much disagreement over the origins and development of Israelite religion. Mark Smith sets himself the task of reconstructing the cult of Yahweh, the most important deity in Israel's early religion, and tracing the transformation of that deity into the sole god - the development of monotheism.

Author : William Lane Craig
Publisher : Crossway
Page : 418 pages
File Size : 41,9 Mb
Release : 2008
Category : Religion
ISBN : 9781433501159

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Reasonable Faith by William Lane Craig Pdf

This updated edition by one of the world's leading apologists presents a systematic, positive case for Christianity that reflects the latest work in the contemporary hard sciences and humanities. Brilliant and accessible.

Author : Israel Finkelstein,Neil Asher Silberman
Publisher : Simon and Schuster
Page : 401 pages
File Size : 47,8 Mb
Release : 2002-03-06
Category : Religion
ISBN : 9780743223386

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The Bible Unearthed by Israel Finkelstein,Neil Asher Silberman Pdf

In this groundbreaking work that sets apart fact and legend, authors Finkelstein and Silberman use significant archeological discoveries to provide historical information about biblical Israel and its neighbors. In this iconoclastic and provocative work, leading scholars Israel Finkelstein and Neil Asher Silberman draw on recent archaeological research to present a dramatically revised portrait of ancient Israel and its neighbors. They argue that crucial evidence (or a telling lack of evidence) at digs in Israel, Egypt, Jordan, and Lebanon suggests that many of the most famous stories in the Bible—the wanderings of the patriarchs, the Exodus from Egypt, Joshua’s conquest of Canaan, and David and Solomon’s vast empire—reflect the world of the later authors rather than actual historical facts. Challenging the fundamentalist readings of the scriptures and marshaling the latest archaeological evidence to support its new vision of ancient Israel, The Bible Unearthed offers a fascinating and controversial perspective on when and why the Bible was written and why it possesses such great spiritual and emotional power today.