Creation Theology and Monotheism

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maren R. Niehoff
Keyword(s):  
Second Temple ◽  
Historical Narratives ◽  
Biblical Law ◽  
Creation Theology ◽  
The Bible ◽  
Four Books ◽  
The Creation ◽  
The Law ◽  
Detailed Interpretation

This chapter focuses on Philo's creation theology and monotheism. Philo plays an important role in the emergence of a monotheistic creed among Second Temple Jews. Probably coining the term “polytheistic doctrine,” Philo grounds his argument in the biblical creation account. The creation is so central to his approach that he opens the Exposition of the Law with a special treatise devoted to it, which is followed by the biographies of the patriarchs and four books on biblical law. Most notably, Philo presents the creation as one of the three overall categories of the Bible, next to the historical narratives and the laws. Thus, one biblical chapter, Genesis, receives exceptional emphasis, much beyond its original place, and becomes a source of theological principles. The chapter then examines whether and, if so, how Philo's detailed interpretation of the creation was inspired by Roman discourses.

scholarly journals Does the Christian worldview provide a place for the law of attraction? (Part 2): An apologetic evaluation of the way the Bible is used in promoting this idea

2016 ◽  
Vol 37 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Dani�l J. Maritz ◽  
Henk G. Stoker
Keyword(s):  
Word Of God ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
Biblical Law ◽  
Word Of Faith ◽  
The Bible ◽  
Christian Worldview ◽  
The Law ◽  
Law Of Attraction ◽  
Positive Confession ◽  
The Church

This article investigates the biblical motivation that is given for the secular idea of the so-called spiritual law of attraction to become part of Christian doctrine. In 2010 Pastor At Boshoff of the Christian Revival Church (CRC) preached two sermons on the law of attraction in which he claimed it as a powerful principle in the Word of God. According to him this biblical �law� provides human beings with physical manifestations of their thoughts and words. The idea to create one�s own favourable future through the law of attraction flows from a New Age worldview and is similar to the positive confession doctrine taught by popular Word of Faith teachers. Boshoff�s claim regarding the law of attraction cannot be deduced from the key Scripture passages he uses, which reflects an unfounded use of Scripture to promote this idea.Intradisciplinary and/or interdisciplinary implications: The article challenges the secular infiltration of the Law of Attraction in the church. This is important since the so-called Law of Attraction was preached by Pastor A. Boshoff of the CRC. Many of his listeners embrace his teaching although it reflects a poor exposition and application of Scripture.

Fraud: From the Biblical Basis to General Commercial Law in Roman Palestine

2006 ◽  
Vol 37 (4) ◽  
pp. 594-627
Author(s):  
Ben-Zion Rosenfeld ◽  
Joseph Menirav
Keyword(s):  
Second Temple ◽  
Roman Law ◽  
Rabbinic Literature ◽  
Commercial Law ◽  
The Bible ◽  
The Law ◽  
Rabbinic Law ◽  
Roman Palestine

AbstractThe article deals with the understanding of the historical and legal components of the law prohibiting fraud (honayah) as appears from the Bible to Rabbinic literature. The first section reviews this law and its understanding from Biblical times until the destruction of the Second Temple. Then follows a discussion of the changes that arose after this period, based on the information gleaned from the rabbinic literature, on fraud, its development, and its structure. The law declares that every deviation of one sixth of an accepted price is called fraud. The article analyzes the main issues of the law such as: is this sixth of the gross price or of the net price? How can one set the legal definitions of profit and fraud for an object that was resold several times. The authors analyze cases in which it is difficult to set a price due to various reasons, or items that both the buyer and seller cannot complain of fraud. The rabbinic law is compared and contrasted to the contemporary Roman law.

scholarly journals Creation retold: Use of Scripture and tradition in Sirach 16:24�17:14

2017 ◽  
Vol 38 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Hulisani Ramantswana
Keyword(s):  
Second Temple ◽  
Biblical Text ◽  
Second Temple Period ◽  
Creation Story ◽  
Creation Process ◽  
Ben Sira ◽  
The Creation ◽  
The Law ◽  
Creation Stories ◽  
Interpretive Framework

This article examines the use of Scripture and tradition in Sirach 16:24�17:14, which is a retelling of the creation stories. Ben Sira as an interpreter of Scripture utilised interpretive traditions or exegetical motifs that were in circulation during his time to provide instruction for his generation. His indebtedness to Scripture is evident from the quotations from Scripture and his use of scriptural language. In his retelling of the creation stories, he made use of the exegetical motifs that were in circulation, adapting them within the wisdom interpretive framework. He also rejected the tendency to blame evil on external agencies such as fallen angels and downplayed the gap between the creation process and the giving of the law at Sinai.Intradisciplinary and/or interdisciplinary implications: The article is an exegetical inquiry of the extra-biblical text of Ben Sira in dialogue with Scripture and with other exegetical traditions which were in circulation in the Second Temple period. The article highlights the indebtedness of Ben Sira to both Scripture and tradition, and also noting Ben Sira�s own creativity in the use of Scripture and tradition in his retelling of creation story

The Vikuaḥ of R. Yeḥiel of Paris: A Paraphrase

1984 ◽  
pp. 153-162
Keyword(s):  
Biblical Law ◽  
The Bible ◽  
The Law

This chapter explores the Vikuaḥ of Rabbi Yeḥiel of Paris, wherein he argued for the importance and authority of the Talmud. Rabbi Yeḥiel said he believes in all the laws contained in it, which were deduced by the rabbis from Scripture. It is called Talmud (teaching), because of the text ‘you shall teach them to your sons’. However, the Talmud also contains Aggadah, that is, figurative, poetic passages to appeal to men’s hearts. If these passages seem extraordinary, there are many similar passages in Scripture itself. Moreover, Rabbi Yeḥiel argues that without the Talmud, one would not be able to understand passages in the Bible which appear to contradict each other. Where the Biblical law is brief and scattered as in the laws of the Sabbath, the Talmud gives full explanations, gathered into one tractate; otherwise, it would be impossible to understand the law.

THE NARRATIVE QUANDARY: CASES OF LAW IN LITERATURE

2004 ◽  
Vol 54 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-16 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pamela Barmash
Keyword(s):  
Legal History ◽  
Literary Texts ◽  
Legal Practice ◽  
Biblical Law ◽  
Narrative Texts ◽  
Narrative Art ◽  
The Bible ◽  
The Law ◽  
Law In Literature ◽  
Shape Characters

AbstractNarrative texts that address legal matters in the Hebrew Bible must be approached with caution. An author has freedom to create and shape characters and events, and the law that is touched upon in such narratives is subject to the needs of narrative art. Can such texts be used to reconstruct legal history? I will examine three approaches to law in literature, and I will argue that the literary texts in the Bible are critical to the study of biblical law because they reflect essentials of legal practice omitted from legal texts. They exhibit what is perceived to be the inadequacies of a legal system and what type of problems arose in putting the law in practice. They address issues of justice and governance that are omitted in legal tetxs.

Law and Narrative

2019 ◽  
pp. 216-232
Author(s):  
Assnat Bartor
Keyword(s):  
Biblical Studies ◽  
Biblical Law ◽  
Literary Genres ◽  
Near Eastern ◽  
The Bible ◽  
The Common ◽  
The Law ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Research Domains ◽  
Common Combination

The relationship between law and narrative in the Bible is a wide topic that touches on various research domains concerning ancient Near Eastern literature in general and the Bible in particular. It deals with the common combination between literary genres, with the unique model of the Pentateuch and its rhetorical, historiographical, national, and theological roles. It also relates to the intensive presence throughout biblical literature of legal issues as well as tendentious references to the laws of the Pentateuch and enables an acquaintance with the poetics of biblical laws. The “Law and Literature” school, one of the most influential contemporary schools in the study of the law, together with the framework of biblical studies and of biblical law, constitutes a methodological framework for a narrative reading of the pentateuchal laws and for the examination of the variety of connections existing between biblical law and biblical narrative.

„Rzymski” Żyd – nieznana twórczość Romana Brandstaettera

2012 ◽  
Vol 53 (1) ◽  
pp. 47-61
Author(s):  
Dariusz Konrad Sikorski
Keyword(s):  
New York ◽  
Social Norms ◽  
Cultural Values ◽  
Interwar Period ◽  
Free Speech ◽  
Role Model ◽  
The Self ◽  
Polish Literature ◽  
The Bible ◽  
The Law

Summary After 1946, ie. after embracing Christianity, Roman Brandstaetter would often point to the Biblical Jonah as a role model for both his life and his artistic endeavour. In the interwar period, when he was a columnist of Nowy Głos, a New York Polish-Jewish periodical, he used the penname Romanus. The ‘Roman’ Jew appears to have treated his columns as a form of an artistic and civic ‘investigation’ into scandalous cases of breaking the law, destruction of cultural values and violation of social norms. Although it his was hardly ‘a new voice’ with the potential to change the course of history, he did become an intransigent defender of free speech. Brought up on the Bible and the best traditions of Polish literature and culture, Brandstaetter, the self-appointed disciple of Adam Mickiewicz, could not but stand up to the challenge of anti-Semitic aggression.

The Emergence of Rabbinic Culture from the Perspective of Qumran

2015 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 253-274
Author(s):  
Vered Noam
Keyword(s):  
Early Stage ◽  
Second Temple ◽  
Test Case ◽  
Literary Works ◽  
Jewish Culture ◽  
The Bible ◽  
Set Up

The rabbinic halakhic system, with its many facets and the literary works that comprise it, reflects a new Jewish culture, almost completely distinct in its halakhic content and scope from the biblical and postbiblical culture that preceded it. By examining Jewish legislation in the area of corpse impurity as a test case, the article studies the implications of Qumranic halakhah, as a way-station between the Bible and the Mishnah, for understanding how Tannaitic halakhah developed. The impression obtained from the material reviewed in the article is that the direction of the “Tannaitic revolution” was charted, its methods set up, and its principles established, at a surprisingly early stage, before the destruction of the Second Temple, and thus at the same time that the Qumran literature was created.

The Laws of Hammurabi

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pamela Barmash
Keyword(s):  
Eighteenth Century ◽  
Roman Law ◽  
Intellectual Culture ◽  
Biblical Law ◽  
Intellectual Tradition ◽  
Legal Principles ◽  
Copernican Revolution ◽  
The Subject ◽  
The Law

The Laws of Hammurabi is one of the earliest law codes, dating from the eighteenth century BCE Mesopotamia (ancient Iraq). It is the culmination of a tradition in which scribes would demonstrate their legal flair by composing statutes on a repertoire of traditional cases, articulating what they deemed just and fair. The book describes how the scribe of the Laws of Hammurabi advanced beyond earlier scribes in composing statutes that manifest systematization and implicit legal principles. The scribe inserted the statutes into the structure of a royal inscription, skillfully reshaping the genre. This approach allowed the king to use the law code to demonstrate that Hammurabi had fulfilled the mandate to guarantee justice enjoined upon him by the gods, affirming his authority as king. This tradition of scribal improvisation on a set of traditional cases continued outside of Mesopotamia, influencing biblical law and the law of the Hittite Empire and perhaps shaping Greek and Roman law. The Laws of Hammurabi is also a witness to the start of another stream of intellectual tradition. It became a classic text and the subject of formal commentaries, marking a Copernican revolution in intellectual culture.

The Image of the Hasmoneans: A New Perspective

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vered Noam
Keyword(s):  
First Generation ◽  
Second Temple ◽  
The Other ◽  
Three Generations ◽  
The Creation ◽  
New Perspective ◽  
The One

In attempting to characterize Second Temple legends of the Hasmoneans, the concluding chapter identifies several distinct genres: fragments from Aramaic chronicles, priestly temple legends, Pharisaic legends, and theodicean legends explaining the fall of the Hasmonean dynasty. The chapter then examines, by generation, how Josephus on the one hand, and the rabbis on the other, reworked these embedded stories. The Josephan treatment aimed to reduce the hostility of the early traditions toward the Hasmoneans by imposing a contrasting accusatory framework that blames the Pharisees and justifies the Hasmonean ruler. The rabbinic treatment of the last three generations exemplifies the processes of rabbinization and the creation of archetypal figures. With respect to the first generation, the deliberate erasure of Judas Maccabeus’s name from the tradition of Nicanor’s defeat indicates that they chose to celebrate the Hasmonean victory but concealed its protagonists, the Maccabees, simply because no way was found to bring them into the rabbinic camp.

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