The Context and Reception of the Promised Land Motif in the Hebrew Bible and the New Testament

2010 ◽  
Vol 18 (2) ◽  
pp. 114-136
Author(s):  
Izaak de Hulster

AbstractBiblical scholars use the word 'imagination' more and more often, but in different cases 'imagination' covers different concepts. In order to reach a more systematic application of 'imagination' in hermeneutics and Old Testament Studies in general, there is a need to explore the possible uses of 'imagination'. This article comprises: 1) a theoretical introduction extending what Barth and Steck wrote in their classical primer on exegetical methods; 2) a section on imagination and history; 3) a heuristic classifying survey of Brueggemann's use of the word 'imagination'; 4) a reflection on how imagination is restricted by parameters of time and place. The article distinguishes between imagination of ancient people and of people nowadays, but deals with the interplay of both as well. It further reflects on the informed, controlled use of imagination in hermeneutics. After a brief comment on "moral imagination," a survey and mapping of the uses of imagination in hermeneutics rounds off the article. This will make clear how the different notions referred to with the word 'imagination' are related and why it is important to consider them as interdependent concepts. Although the majority of the examples will be taken from the Hebrew Bible, the thoughts expressed here are applicable to the study of the New Testament as well and some more specific New Testament issues and related literature will be referred to.


2009 ◽  
Vol 31 (1) ◽  
pp. 51-76
Author(s):  
James Metzger

AbstractIt is argued that recent publications in New Testament Studies, including those deploying its most progressive reading strategies, betray a strong predilection for an omnibenevolent, just, compassionate deity who does not offend our sensibilities. Given the rich, variegated profusion of alternative representations of the deity in the Hebrew Bible, a primary intertext for scholars constructing God in the New Testament writings, it is surprising that so few of these portraits are ever invoked or seriously engaged, which suggests a proclivity to religionism in the discipline. After delineating several benefits of the Bible's unsavory portrayals of God and disadvantages to today's fashionable deity of love, mercy, and justice, it is proposed that a broadening of our intertextual repertoire to include unflattering representations of the divine might open up new avenues in our hermeneutical explorations.


Think ◽  
2009 ◽  
Vol 8 (23) ◽  
pp. 77-86
Author(s):  
Elizabeth Burns

The claim that God is a person or personal is, perhaps, one of the most fundamental claims which religious believers make about God. In Hinduism, Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva are represented in person-like form. In the Hebrew Bible/Old Testament God walks in the Garden of Eden (Genesis 3:8), experiences emotions (e.g. Isaiah 61:8), and converses with human beings (e.g. Job 38–41). In the New Testament, God communicates with his people, usually by means of angels or visions (e.g. Matthew 1:20–21), and retains the ability to speak audibly, as he does to Paul on the Damascus road (Acts 9:4–6). And, in the Qur'an, Allah is said to have a face and two hands (e.g. Qur'an 38:75), to see, and to sit on a throne (e.g. Qur'an 57:4). Many believers today would still claim that, among other things which God can do, he loves those who believe in him (e.g. Ephesians 5:29; I Peter 5:7; Qur'an 1:3) and responds to their prayers (e.g. Matthew 7:7–8; Mark 11:24; Qur'an 11:61).


2011 ◽  
Vol 67 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
James A. Loader

The motif from the Exodus story of Moses as a beautiful infant is considered on several levels. Firstly, the immediate context of Exodus 2 in the Hebrew Bible and in the Septuagint is investigated. Exodus 2 is then related to the reception of the tradition in the New Testament and Jewish sources as well as in a patristic reading and one from the Reformation. The article concludes that the motif of Moses’ beauty is part of a relatively infrequent but nevertheless well-established constellation. It is submitted that this finding contributes to a reappraisal of the idea that the motif of beauty has no place in Israel’s texts of deliverance and an investigation of the contrary hypothesis is called for.


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