Israel among the Nations

1989 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 47-60
Author(s):  
Henri Cazelles
Keyword(s):  
Old Testament ◽  
Religious Experience ◽  
Jesus Christ ◽  
Social Experiences ◽  
Surrounding World ◽  
The Bible ◽  
Radical Critique ◽  
Ancient Israel ◽  
The One

The Old Testament reflects the historical, cultural and social experiences of the thousand year period during which it took shape. Ancient Israel borrowed much from the surrounding world and its cultures. These borrowings, however, are consistently subjected to the radical critique enabled by the Bible's peculiar faith in the one God. The Bible is not tied to any particular culture, but it uses cultures both to give expression to the unique religious experience perfected in Jesus Christ and to unite people of all cultures into the one body.

scholarly journals Die een wat sal kom: 'Messiaanse tekste' in die Ou Testament en ander Joodse geskrifte

2010 ◽  
Vol 31 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Alphonso Groenewald
Keyword(s):  
New Testament ◽  
Old Testament ◽  
Hebrew Bible ◽  
Jesus Christ ◽  
Ancient Israel ◽  
The New Testament ◽  
Long Time ◽  
To Come ◽  
The One ◽  
The Church

The one who is to come: �Messianic texts� in the Old Testament and other Jewish writingsAccording to the New-Testament authors, the life of Jesus, as Christ, should be seen in light of the Old-Testament texts. It seems that all the messianic texts in the Old Testament had been fulfilled in Jesus. The Messiah, who had been expected for a long time, was born in Bethlehem. This interpretation by the New-Testament authors has caused the church and Christians throughout the centuries to read the Old Testament as a prophecy, which is fulfilled in Jesus Christ. This interpretation has caused impatience with Jews, who did not accept Jesus of Nazareth as the Messiah. This article addresses the question: How did ancient Israel understand the concept �messiah�? It seems that the term is much more complex than a single meaning would allow the reader to believe. This article thus focuses on the theological functioning of the term within the Hebrew Bible as well as in other Jewish writings.

Egypt in the Old Testament

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christopher Hays
Keyword(s):  
Old Testament ◽  
Direct Evidence ◽  
Direct Action ◽  
Buffer Zone ◽  
Military Aid ◽  
The Bible ◽  
Starting Point ◽  
Ancient Israel ◽  
Egyptian Religion ◽  
The Relationship

The relationship between Egypt and ancient Israel and Judah was far more complex than is often recognized. Egypt figures prominently in their national myths of origin as a way station for the patriarchs and as the “house of slaves” and starting point of the Exodus. Although no Exodus event can be confirmed from extrabiblical sources, its significance in the Bible suggests an historical kernel. The diverse existing traditions about Egypt in the texts of the Pentateuch and other early biblical writings, combined and written down at a later date, seem to reflect different experiences on the part of the groups that coalesced into Israel By the time of the monarchy, there is more direct evidence for Egyptian influence on Israelite culture, particularly in administrative affairs. It is also clear that Egyptian religion was practiced in the Levant at this time and would have been known in Israel and Judah. By the time of the divided monarchy, the historical picture comes into better focus. Relations between Egypt, Israel, and Judah were quite variable. Although Egypt’s New Kingdom empire in the Levant had ended, the region continued to be a useful trading outlet, and the pharaohs were not above raiding to assert their power. However, there are numerous examples of fugitives from the Levant finding refuge from their enemies in Egypt. In the interest of maintaining a buffer zone against the northern empires that encroached, Egypt and Kush gave military aid to Israel and Judah at times, through both direct action and supplies. The prophets had not forgotten Egypt’s role as an oppressor and frequently condemned it, as well as the tendency of Israelite and Judahite rulers to seek its help. But at times the prophets also envisioned peace with Egypt. There are a number of specific Egyptian texts that supply mutually illuminating points of comparison with biblical texts, including wisdom instructions, prayers, hymns, creation accounts, and autobiographies. These are indications of the extensive, ongoing, cultural interactions between Egypt and the cultures that produced the Old Testament.

The Scillitan Saints and the Pauline Epistles

1956 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 141-146
Author(s):  
Gerald Bonner
Keyword(s):  
Old Testament ◽  
North Africa ◽  
Significant Feature ◽  
The Bible ◽  
The North ◽  
Historical Continuity ◽  
Pauline Epistles ◽  
History Of ◽  
The One ◽  
Biblical Scholar

It is, no doubt, appropriate that the document which ushers in the stormy history of the African Church should be a record of martyrdom. But there is another, scarcely less significant, feature in the Acts of the Scillitan Saints—a reference to Holy Scripture. Saturninus proconsul dixit: Quae sunt res in capsa vestra? Speratus dixit: Libri et epistolae Pauli, viri justi. Biblical scholar and palaeographer alike find the reference interesting. For the one, there is evidence of the spread of the text of the Bible in North Africa at the end of the second century. For the other, there is the problem of the nature of the book-form in which the scriptures circulated. Recently, however, another aspect has been mentioned, in this Journal, by Dr. W. H. C. Frend in an article on ‘The Gnostic-Manichaean tradition in North Africa’. In this article, Dr. Frend argues that there was in the North African Church, besides the rigorist tradition which produced the Donatists, and the more inclusive and more compromising element, which constituted the strength of the Catholics, a third element, whose outlook was enshrined first in the Gnostics against whom Tertullian fulminated and later in the Manichees, from whom African Catholicism was to draw her most illustrious convert. Dr. Frend argues persuasively for the existence of an historical continuity between the Gnostics and the Manichees, one of his points being that both heretical movements relied extensively on the writings of St. Paul to support their teaching. In this connexion, he writes: ‘Rejection of the Old Testament led in Africa to an almost exaggerated respect for the Epistles of St. Paul, and also for the various Gnostic Ada of the Apostles.

From Esther to Kwezi

2014 ◽  
Vol 8 (4) ◽  
pp. 471-487 ◽  
Author(s):  
L. Juliana Claassens ◽  
Amanda Gouws
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Sexual Violence ◽  
Political Science ◽  
Old Testament ◽  
The Other ◽  
The Bible ◽  
Patriarchal Society ◽  
Collaborative Engagement ◽  
Multiple Levels ◽  
The One

This article seeks to reflect on the issue of sexual violence in the context of the twenty year anniversary of democracy in South Africa bringing together views from the authors’ respective disciplines of Gender and the Bible on the one hand and Political Science on the other. We will employ the Old Testament Book of Esther, which offers a remarkable glimpse into the way a patriarchal society is responsible for multiple levels of victimization, in order to take a closer look at our own country’s serious problem of sexual violence. With this collaborative engagement the authors contribute to the conversation on understanding and resisting the scourge of sexual violence in South Africa that has rendered a large proportion of its citizens voiceless.

scholarly journals Orygenes i hebrajski tekst Pisma Świętego

Vox Patrum ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 69 ◽  
pp. 393-404
Author(s):  
Janusz Królikowski
Keyword(s):  
Old Testament ◽  
Hebrew Text ◽  
The Other ◽  
The Bible ◽  
Other Hand ◽  
Hebrew Version ◽  
The One ◽  
Christian Writer ◽  
The Church

Origen is the exegete and Old Christian writer whose influence on the under­standing of the Bible has always been determinative. Undoubtedly, for ecclesiasti­cal reasons he deemed the Septuagint superior and regarded it as the Christian Old Testament. He thought highly of Hebrew text as well, which he often used for his research. An expression of this belief was among others the Hexapla worked out by Origen, which can be regarded as an exceptional manifestation of esteem towards the Old Testament and its Hebrew version. Origen’s attitude towards the Bible can be characterized by two approaches: on the one hand it is the ecclesiastical approach which gives the first place to the text commonly accepted in the Church namely the Septuagint, but on the other hand he is open to every other text Hebrew or Greek, trying to understand it and take it into account in his commentary.

Israelite Religion

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard S. Hess
Keyword(s):  
Old Testament ◽  
Biblical Theology ◽  
Historical Criticism ◽  
Near Eastern ◽  
Gender Culture ◽  
Israelite Religion ◽  
Hebrew Scriptures ◽  
The Bible ◽  
Critical Interpretation ◽  
The One

Emerging from the academic study of the Old Testament or Hebrew Scriptures during the Enlightenment and Reformation, Israelite religion became a topic of study in terms of the presentation in the Bible of Israel’s worship of its God. Gradually this separated into a synthesis of biblical teachings on worship and its prescribed practices, on the one hand, and a study of the history of biblical Israel in terms of beliefs and practices toward one or more deities, on the other. The former branch evolved into biblical theology, while the latter developed into the topic of Israelite religion. Beginning in the nineteenth century, archaeological excavations and the interpretation of ancient Near Eastern texts preceding and contemporaneous with the period of the Bible broadened the picture. Comparing and contrasting archaeological and textual sources with the application of anthropological models derived from comparative religious studies led to modern syntheses of the subject. Initially these were heavily based upon the biblical text, often with the application of theories of literary and historical criticism. Since the 1980s, however, a focus on texts from the same time and region, as well as interpretation of artifacts with religious significance, has challenged older models of Israelite religion. Influences and the interactions of believers and their deities appear increasingly complex. No longer is there an understanding of a mere one or two religions in Israel (e.g., worshippers of Yahweh and worshippers of Baal). It now seems clear that various religious practices and texts attest to the presence of multiple religions followed by people in the region of ancient Israel, sometimes reflecting differences in gender, culture, ethnicity, and other factors. While a form of worship as described in biblical accounts may have been followed, there were other forms which, in various ways, syncretized Yahweh with other goddesses and gods. This has led scholars to question the factors that led to, and the time of emergence of, belief in a single deity in Israel, as well as to question the nature of that deity. Answers and models remain in a state of flux; evidence remains to be reviewed and interpretations demand critical interpretation.

Creation

2019 ◽  
pp. 511-524
Author(s):  
Paul M. Blowers
Keyword(s):  
New Testament ◽  
Old Testament ◽  
Jesus Christ ◽  
Wisdom Literature ◽  
Early Christian ◽  
The Bible ◽  
The World ◽  
The Creation ◽  
The Many ◽  
Sacred History

Early Christian interpretation of Scripture on the theme of creation not surprisingly gave considerable attention to the Genesis account of the origins of the world, in part to counter the claims of Graeco-Roman cosmology, but more importantly to expound the latent theological meaning of the many details of the biblical cosmogony. But patristic exegetes were also keen on the fact that ‘creation’ in the Bible implied far more than beginnings; indeed, it designated the whole economy (oikonomia) of the Creator’s ongoing relation to the creation as set forth in sacred history and as requiring the further interpretative lenses of Christology, soteriology, and eschatology. Early Christian interpreters plumbed a wide variety of Old Testament texts beyond Genesis (especially the Psalms, Deutero-Isaiah, and the Wisdom literature). In their New Testament commentary they focused on such motifs as the subjection of creation to ‘vanity’, the work of Jesus Christ in recapitulating God’s creative purposes, and the eschatological renewal and transformation of the created universe in its relation to human salvation.

God

2019 ◽  
pp. 212-226
Author(s):  
Katherine Sonderegger
Keyword(s):  
Jesus Christ ◽  
Religious Practice ◽  
Personal Life ◽  
Doctrine Of God ◽  
Natural Knowledge ◽  
Knowledge Of God ◽  
Divine Omnipotence ◽  
The Bible ◽  
Divine Perfections ◽  
The One

Barth’s doctrine of God is revolutionary. It leaves behind many of the traditional elements of a doctrine of God—natural knowledge of God, comparative religious practice, and proofs—and puzzles over simplicity and immutability. In their place Barth installs a new maxim, that God demonstrates or ‘proves’ himself. The Bible is the record of that self-demonstration. The divine perfections emerge in dialectical pairs, each displaying the personal life of God as the ‘One who loves in freedom’. Language for God successfully names God when it speaks of Jesus Christ, the Holy One who exemplifies divine omnipotence, omniscience, grace, mercy, and patience. In this way, Barth carries out his programme of Christological concentration, even in the doctrine of God. This is a doctrine of God unlike any other, an unsettling and a glorious one.

scholarly journals O pragnieniu Prawdy. Propozycja Platona a kontekst przekazu biblijnego w świetle teorii mimetyczno-ofiarniczej René Girarda

2019 ◽  
Vol 16 ◽  
pp. 105-121
Author(s):  
Agnieszka Gotchold
Keyword(s):  
New Testament ◽  
Old Testament ◽  
Jesus Christ ◽  
Mimetic Desire ◽  
The Bible ◽  
The New Testament ◽  
Scapegoat Mechanism

The paper discusses the issue of the desire for truth in Plato’s Republic, Book VII, and the Old and New Testaments with regard to Girard’s theory of mimetic desire, the scapegoat mechanism and the founding murder. Both Plato and the Bible describe outstanding individuals – Anax, Moses and Jesus – who attain truth. This causes communal envy, leading to the outbreaks of mimetic violence. However, neither Plato nor the Old Testament allow the founding murder to happen. Consequently, they depict communities which deal with strict laws and suppressed violence. It is only in the New Testament that mimetic violence fi nds its outlet in the sacrifi cial killing of Jesus Christ.

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