Old Testament and Nationalism: Hebrew Bible, Jewish People, English Nation

2021 ◽  
Vol 0 (0) ◽  
Author(s):  
Liah Greenfeld
Keyword(s):  
Old Testament ◽  
Hebrew Bible ◽  
Jewish People ◽  
National Consciousness ◽  
Historical Sources ◽  
People Of God ◽  
The People ◽  
English Translations ◽  
The One ◽  
King James Version

Abstract This article discusses the co-evolution of nationalism and Protestantism in the course of the sixteenth century in England; the influence of the Hebrew Bible’s concept of “the people of Israel” as a community of fundamentally equal members on the emerging English national consciousness (the first national consciousness to develop, in turn influencing all subsequent nationalisms); and the reinterpretation of the core passages of the Hebrew Bible, in English translations up to the King James version, in terms of the emerging national consciousness. Completely independent at their historical sources, nationalism and Protestantism reinforced each other in the crucial English case through the translation of the Hebrew Bible. This, on the one hand, nationalized Protestantism in England and, on the other, led to the incorporation of the biblical concept of the people of God in the new, secular concept of nation.

Karl Barth's Doctrine of the Sabbath

1966 ◽  
Vol 19 (4) ◽  
pp. 409-425
Author(s):  
James Brown
Keyword(s):  
Old Testament ◽  
Karl Barth ◽  
Theological Ethics ◽  
People Of God ◽  
Church Dogmatics ◽  
The People ◽  
The New Testament ◽  
History Of ◽  
Summary Statement ◽  
The One

‘In general, theological ethics has handled this command of God [the fourth Mosaic commandment] … with a casualness and feebleness which certainly do not match its importance in Holy Scripture or its decisive material significance’ (Church Dogmatics, 111.4, P. 50). Thus Karl Barth in the English translation of his Kirchliche Dogmatik (hereafter referred to as CD.). His own treatment is neither fragmentary nor perfunctory. There are references to ‘Sabbath’ in the indexes of six of twelve volumes of the Dogmatics so far published. The particular discussion of the Fourth Commandment occurs in his treatment of Special Ethics in CD. 111.4, where ‘the one command of God’ the Creator is set forth ‘in this particular application’ of ‘The Holy Day’ (p. 50). But for Barth the scriptural references to Sabbath rest have relevance to the doctrines of God, and Revelation; to the relation of God's Eternity to man's temporal being; to the biblical conception of Creation as the setting for the Covenant history of the Old Testament and the New Testament fulfilment of the divine purpose in redemption in Christ, to be completed and perfected in the ‘rest that remaineth to the people of God’ (Heb. 4.9). The treatment of the topic throughout the Dogmatics constitutes a corpus of exegesis and doctrine of which even a summary statement such as is here attempted might well be a useful contribution towards modern efforts at rethinking the Christian use of the Lord's Day.

scholarly journals Christians and Jews: historical and theological perspectives of their relationship

2019 ◽  
Vol 19 ◽  
pp. 329-348
Author(s):  
Andrzej Piotr Perzyński
Keyword(s):  
Old Testament ◽  
Christian Identity ◽  
Common Elements ◽  
People Of God ◽  
The People ◽  
God's People ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Subject ◽  
The Common ◽  
The One

The article analyses the subject of Christian-Jewish relations in historical and theological terms. In the historical part the following periods are briefly discussed: New Testament, patristic, medieval, modern and contemporary. In the theological part, the common elements of Judaism and Christianity were first presented: - Jews and Christians identify their faith and action through the interrelations between justice and love; they base their beliefs on the common “scripture” (the “Old Testament”); they understand each other as the people of God; they profess the one God, the Creator and the Redeemer; they express their faith in worship, in which there are many similarities; Jews and Christians also live in the expectation for the common history of God with his people, whose fulfillment they expect. Distinctive elements (The divergence of the ways) are: the belief in Jesus, the Christ; the interpretation of the Scriptures; a different understanding of what God’s people are; different developed piety. In conclusion, it was said that the rediscovery of a positive relationship with Judaism facilitates a positive formation of Christian identity and memory.

Laws in the Hebrew Bible/Old Testament

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Samuel Greengus
Keyword(s):  
Old Testament ◽  
Hebrew Bible ◽  
Biblical Studies ◽  
Biblical Law ◽  
Near Eastern ◽  
The People ◽  
Divine Origin ◽  
The Law ◽  
Criminal Behaviors ◽  
The Many

Biblical laws are found mainly in the Pentateuch (i.e., the first five books of the Hebrew Bible). The laws are linked to the figure of Moses, who is depicted as having received them directly from God in order to transmit them to the people of Israel during the years in the Wilderness after being released from slavery in Egypt. Biblical laws are thus presented as being of divine origin. Their authority was further bolstered by a tradition that they were included in covenants (i.e., formal agreements made between God and the people as recorded in the books of Exodus and Deuteronomy). Similar claims of divine origin were not made for other ancient Near Eastern laws; their authority flowed from kings, who issued the laws, although these kings might also be seen as having been placed on their thrones through the favor of the gods. The biblical law collections are unlike other ancient Near Eastern “codes” in that they include sacral laws (i.e., governing cult, worship, and ritual, as well as secular laws: namely, governing civil, and criminal behaviors). This mingling of sacral and secular categories is the likely reason both for the many terms used to denote the laws, as well as for the unexpected number of formulations in which they are presented. The formulations used in biblical law can be classified as “casuistic” or “non-casuistic.” They are not equally distributed in the books of the Pentateuch nor are they equally used with secular and sacral laws. While there are similarities in content between secular laws found in the Hebrew Bible and laws found in the ancient Near Eastern law “codes,” the latter do not exhibit a comparable variety in the numbers of law terms and formulations. The Hebrew Bible tended to “blur” the differences between the law terms and their formulations, ultimately to the point of subsuming them all under the law term torah (“teaching”) to describe the totality of the divinely given laws in the Pentateuch. Biblical studies in general and Pentateuchal studies in particular are challenged by the fact that manuscripts contemporary with the events described have not survived the ravages the time. Scholars must therefore rely on looking for “clues” within the texts themselves (e.g., the laws cited by the prophets, the reform of Josiah, the teaching of torah by Ezra, and evidence for customs and customary laws found in books of the Hebrew Bible outside of the Pentateuch).

scholarly journals "Salvation is from the Jews" (Jn 4:22): Aquinas, God, and the People of God

2011 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Fainche Ryan
Keyword(s):  
Jewish People ◽  
Interreligious Dialogue ◽  
Image Of God ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
People Of God ◽  
Pope Benedict Xvi ◽  
Benedict Xvi ◽  
Interfaith Relations ◽  
The People ◽  
The Image Of God

Some believe that Pope Benedict XVI approaches interfaith relations more from the point of view of social, cultural and political cooperation than that of theological dialogue. This approach is deemed unsatisfactory by Daniel Madigan, an eminent speaker on interfaith matters. Madigan suggests that interreligious dialogue must be theological if it is to lead peoples of different faiths into deeper relationship with one another. This article will seek to illustrate the importance of this approach by a return to the thought of St Thomas Aquinas, considered by many to be the greatest medieval theologian. Serious dialogue with those of other faiths is not something new. Thomas engaged with thinkers from all traditions to whom he had access–Muslim, Jewish, pagan. His work shows not a fear of a diminution of his own faith through engagement with the “other” but an attempt to deepen it through the “others” experience of the Divine. Focusing specifically on his engagement with the Jewish people, Aquinas’ thoughts on the complex issues of predestination and election will be presented, with particular attention being given to his Commentary on Romans. The image of God with which he works shall be identified as key to his dialogue. It is the suggestion of this article that the image of God, of the Divine, with which one works is central to all engagement in interreligious dialogue, and herein may lie some of our problems, as well as rich potential for fruitful, truthful engagement.

scholarly journals THE SOUL AND SRITIT OF A MAN IN THE POLISH NAIVE PICTURE OF THE WORLD

2021 ◽  
Vol 31 (5) ◽  
pp. 954-962
Author(s):  
N.V. Deeva
Keyword(s):  
Human Body ◽  
The Other ◽  
National Consciousness ◽  
Folk Beliefs ◽  
The People ◽  
The World ◽  
Polish Culture ◽  
The One ◽  
Source Of Information ◽  
Living Creature

The study of naive perceptions of certain fragments of reality helps to identify the specifics of the national consciousness of the people who speak a particular language. The article deals with a systematic description of naive ideas about the soul and spirit (as similar concepts) fixed in the Polish picture of the world. Contemporary ideas about the soul and spirit in the Polish picture of the world are formed under the influence of pagan folk beliefs (the soul as a transparent, thin matter filling the human body), scientific views on the world (the soul as a combination of psychological, intellectual, emotional features of a person), as well as religious views (the soul as an intangible, immortal foundation in a man, reviving his body and leaving him at the time of a death). Soul and spirit are conceptualized as essences inextricably linked with the human body. Conceptual metaphor allows to concretize, to give conditional visibility to such abstractions as “soul” and “spirit”. In the Polish naive picture of the world the soul / spirit is endowed with signs of a living creature (including a person), plants, artifacts such as paper, fabric, book. The metaphor of space allows to imagine the soul as a kind of receptacle, which has a bottom and is characterized by signs of depth and breadth, fullness or emptiness. The metaphors of the characterizing type focus on significant for representatives of Polish culture signs of the soul, such as purity, kindness, strength, etc. The concepts “soul” and “spirit” being significant for Polish lingvoculture have multiple representations in the language through words, as well as free and stable combinations that are metaphorical in nature. The soul in the Polish naive picture of the world, on the one hand, is a source of life in a person, on the other hand, is the source of information about him, as well as his internal regulator and some value.

scholarly journals Synodality — Participation — Co-Responsibility. Remarks on the Determinants of the Aggiornamento of the Church Law

2019 ◽  
Vol 7 ◽  
pp. 95-114
Author(s):  
Andrzej Pastwa
Keyword(s):  
Holy Spirit ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
People Of God ◽  
Community Of Faith ◽  
The People ◽  
The Holy Spirit ◽  
Scientific Reflection ◽  
Church Law ◽  
The One ◽  
The Church

In the communio Ecclesiae reality, of a unitarian, charismatic, and institutiona structure, the crucial concepts of participation and co-responsibility are firmly anchored in the juridical and canonical discourse. This is the way in which the horizon of the subject matter reveals itself, the study of which — from the point of view of the title triad: synodality — participation — co-responsibility — will never lose its relevance. What is, at the same time, important is the idea of “synodality,” which is adequately recognized as the sacra potestas of a sacramental origin (ontological aspect), which gains the dynamism of libertas sacra (existential and dynamic aspect) through the charisms of the Holy Spirit, thus leading to the inseparability of its personal and synodal aspects. Therefore, in the attempt to illuminate the determinant of the aggiornamento of the Church law in this study, it was appropriate, on the one hand, to consistently refer to the essence of the idea of the communio hierarchica, according to which Christ makes selected servants participate in his authority by means of an office, the exercise of which always remains a diaconia in the community of faith. On the other hand, in reference to the contemporary understanding of communio fidelium, the axis of scientific reflection was to be the communion-creative phenomenon of charisms — gifts of the Holy Spirit that awaken in the People of God synodal co-responsibility for the good of the entire Church community. In both cases — without losing sight of the obvious truth that, in the sacramental structure of the Church (communio), both hierarchical and charismatic gifts converge in the service of the bishop, who updates — according to the logic of the Vaticanum II aggiormamento and the ecclesiological principles of the Council: collegiality, the title synodality and subsidiarity — the fullness of Christ’s service: as Prophet, Priest, and King.

Names of God in the Hebrew Bible

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Collin Cornell
Keyword(s):  
Old Testament ◽  
Hebrew Bible ◽  
Oral Tradition ◽  
English Word ◽  
Common Noun ◽  
Plural Noun ◽  
Trace Back ◽  
English Translations ◽  
Proper Name ◽  
Book Of Genesis

In everyday English parlance, God’s name is simply “God.” In the Hebrew Bible, however, the God of Israel has a personal proper name, similar to “Susan” or “Teddy”: the four-lettered name YHWH, also known as the Tetragrammaton (Greek for “four letters”). This name is by far the most common designation for God in the Hebrew Bible. Four texts within this body of literature give special attention to God’s disclosure of the divine name to humankind: in Gen 4:25–26 shortly after the creation of the first humans; and in Exod 3, Exod 6, and Ezek 20 at the time of God’s emancipation of the Israelites from their enslavement in Egypt. English translations obscure the prominence of God’s name by replacing Hebrew YHWH with the common noun “Lord,” written in small caps. As it turns out, this practice has an ancient pedigree: already in the Second Temple era, spoken recitations of the Hebrew Bible replaced Hebrew YHWH with the Hebrew word for “Lord,” adonay, and written manuscripts marked the name YHWH with special orthography. Later Christian copies of the Greek Old Testament would bring the oral tradition directly into the text itself, substituting Greek κύριος, “Lord,” for YHWH. These customs probably trace back to the influence of several other biblical texts, including the fourth commandment of the Decalogue (Exod 20:7//Deut 5:11) and Lev 24:16. The Talmud (Pes. 50a) also records a rabbinic interpretation of Exod 3:15 according to which God says “This [YHWH] is my name to conceal.” But God has other names in the Hebrew Bible, too. Several names are formed by joining YHWH together with a second word, for example: YHWH ṣebaoth, a phrase that is usually translated into English as “the Lord of hosts”; or again, another example: YHWH elohim, translated “the Lord God.” The second part of this compound name is also an important name for God in its own right. The word elohim in Hebrew means “god” or “gods.” It is technically a plural noun, although most of the time in Hebrew it refers to a single divine agent. It is also typically a common noun similar to the English word “god”; that is, it signifies one among a class of divine beings. However, also as in English, Hebrew elohim occasionally functions as a proper name: capital-G God. Another Hebrew noun for god, eloah, shares a similarly dual purpose: mostly it is a generic word for divinity but sometimes it is the caption for the one God of Israel (i.e., YHWH). These two names—YHWH and its compound forms as well as elohim in its usage as a name—cover the majority of instances when the Hebrew Bible names God. A few other divine titles are name-like but not, properly speaking, names. The first among these is the word Shadday, but also the series of so-called “el-epithets” found in the book of Genesis: El Elyon, El the Creator of Heaven and Earth, El Roi, and El Olam.

YULIAN STRYIKOVSKYI: “A CHRONICLER OF THE JEWISH DESTINY”

2019 ◽  
pp. 496-502
Author(s):  
Diana Mokhnach
Keyword(s):  
Religious Education ◽  
Old Testament ◽  
Jewish People ◽  
Main Work ◽  
The People ◽  
The Future ◽  
Creative Contribution ◽  
Polish Language ◽  
Red Flag ◽  
Creative Talent

The article tells about the life and creative contribution of Yulian Stryikowski. In particular, special attention is paid to his works, which reflect the life of the Jewish people of the Polish-Ukrainian border in the XX century. The article also depicts the translational work of the writer. The aim of the work is to highlight biographical information and analyze the creative work of Julian Stryikowski, a Polish writer and journalist of Jewish origin. The article covers factors having influenced the formation of Stryikowski’s worldview, it tells about his education and the birth of his creative talent. A special place in Stryikowski’s life is taken by the Polish language, which allowed the future writer to make a living while still being a student. The turning point in the writer’s work was the Second World War. The pre-war period of the work can be described as the time of searches and discoveries. The future author of “Głosy w ciemności” was looking for himself and for inner harmony. He tried to overcome the traditional religious education received in the Jewish family in the pursuit of communist ideas. His Jewish culture and language were constantly confronted with polish and Ukrainian ones, especially because he lived on the polish-ukrainian border. Stryikowski dreamed of a writer’s career, but could not completely dive into it, because he was always forced to seek means for survival and existence. The article also talks about journalistic career of the writer. After the war, Stryikowski settled in the soviet-occupied Lviv, where he worked as editor and journalist in the communist newspaper “Czerwony Sztandar” (“The Red Flag”) and published his works there. The problematics of the Stryikowski’s works most deal directly with the fate of the Jews in the diaspora, their culture, the people who suffered for two millennia. When writing about this, he violates the themes that touch upon a human being in general, religious and ideological choice of every one of us, the themes of the good and the evil, love and hatred. The author also raises the question of the existence and essence of being a Jew, certain limitations and duties connected with it. Autobiographical motifs can be traced within the works of the writer. His characters often have a lot in common with his own life, and sometimes almost duplicate events from it. The main work of Stryikovski’s life is tetralogy, which consists of novels “Głosy w ciemności”, “Echo”, “Austeria”, “Sen Azrila”. This is a huge cycle, which was finally completed in the late 80’s of the XX century. Motives from the Old Testament, especially from the Talmud, are interwoven in it. The tetralogy shows the collapse of the traditional world, the indifference of young people to religion, their aspiration to assimilate with the multinational and multicultural society of the Austro- Hungarian Empire.

The First Vatican Council

1971 ◽  
Vol 7 ◽  
pp. 329-344
Author(s):  
E. E. Y. Hales
Keyword(s):  
Vatican Ii ◽  
Second Vatican Council ◽  
People Of God ◽  
Vatican I ◽  
The People ◽  
Vatican Council ◽  
The One ◽  
The Church

Centenaries are supposed to be occasions when we take stock of the event we are commemorating. In the light of developments in the last hundred years how does the work of the First Vatican Council look today? And since it so happens that the hundred years in question includes the Second Vatican Council, recently concluded, it is natural to put the question in this form: how does the work of Vatican I look today, in the light of Vatican II?I think it would be fair to say that it is widely considered that the work of Vatican I was a little unfortunate, and has since proved embarrassing, because its definitions enhanced the authority of the papacy. Vatican II is supposed to have helped to redress that balance by disclosing the nature of the Church as a whole, from the bishops down to the People of God, or perhaps I should say from the bishops up to the People of God, in view of our preference nowadays for turning everything upside down. Such critics of Vatican I are not, of course, denying either the dogmatic infallibility or the juridical primacy of the Pope, which were defined at that Council; but they are saying that it is a distortion to stress the powers of the papacy and to neglect the powers of the college of bishops or the rights of the rest of the Church, and they are saying that the one-sided definitions of Vatican I tended to create such distortion in men’s minds until they were balanced by the pronouncements of Vatican II.

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