Theology from the Beginning (eBook)

Essays on the Primeval History and its Canonical Context

Andreas Schüle (Autor)

eBook Download: PDF

2017 | 1. Auflage
348 Seiten
Mohr Siebeck (Verlag)
978-3-16-154948-9 (ISBN)

Infos

The Primeval History (Genesis 1-11) is one of the most complex theological compositions of the Old Testament/the Hebrew Bible. Woven into its multi-layered text one finds reflections on an array of fundamental questions: How did the world come into being? Who is its creator? What role does humankind play in the larger scheme of creation? Why is the world that God made not a perfect one? And finally, is it possible to lead a meaningful and even happy life despite the unpredictabilities of existence? The essays by Andreas Schüle assembled in this volume address these and related questions through close readings of Genesis 1-11 and by relating them to kindred textual traditions throughout the Old Testament/the Hebrew Bible.

Born 1968; studied Theology and Ancient Near Eastern Studies in Heidelberg; PhD in Semitic Studies (Heidelberg); PhD in Old Testament Studies (Heidelberg); Habilitation in Old Testament (Zurich); 2005-12 Professor of Biblical Exegesis and Old Testament at Union Presbyterian Seminary (Richmond, Virginia); since 2012 Professor for Exegesis and Theology of the Old Testament (Leipzig) and Extraordinary Professor of Biblical Studies at the University of Stellenbosch (South Africa).

Inhalt

Cover 1
Preface 6
Table of Contents 8
Introduction 10
1. The Image of God 14
Made in the “Image of God”: The Concepts of Divine Images in Gen 1–3 16
1. Images versus Idols 16
2. “Image” and “Likeness” 19
2.1 Statue or Person 23
2.2 The Making of an Image 26
3. The Image and the Other 29
4. More than an Image? 33
The Reluctant Image: Theology and Anthropology in Gen 1–3 36
1. Introduction: Aitia and Telos 36
2. The Dissenting Trajectory: Human Sociality and the Divine Image 38
3. God’s Intention to let the Divine Image rule (Gen 1:1–2:3) 40
4. The Image in the Garden (Gen 2:4–25) 46
5. Eve as the Reluctant Image 50
The Dignity of the Image: A Re-reading of the Priestly Prehistory 54
1. Introduction 54
2. The Royal Dignity of Human Beings as Key to the Image of God? 56
2.1 Rule – what for? 58
2.2 Image and Similarity 60
3. Personal Formation of the Human Being as the Imago Dei 61
4. The Endangered World and the Commission to “Rule” 67
5. Conclusion 70
The Notion of Life: Nefesh and Ruach in the Anthropological Discourse of the Primeval History 72
1. Introduction 72
2. The Cultic World and the Role of the Nefesh 74
3. The Persian Period and the Loss of “World Certainty” 77
4. Ru?ch as Life-force and “Spirit” 81
4.1. Ru?ch in the “Primeval History” 82
4.2. Ru?ch as the Spirit of Life 84
Transformed into the Image of Christ: Identity, Personality, and Resurrection 90
1. Modernity’s Loss of Death Awareness 90
2. Resurrection and the Eschatological Validity of Past, Present, and Future Life 92
3. Identity and Resurrection 94
4. Personal Resurrection versus Objective Immortality 97
5. Psychological Mechanisms (Peter Berger) 97
6. Objective Immortality (A.N. Whitehead and D. Parfit) 99
7. Personhood versus Identity 102
2. Evil 106
“And Behold, It Was Very Good … And Behold, the Earth Was Corrupt” (Genesis 1:31, 6:12): The Prehistoric Discourse about Evil 108
1. Introduction 108
2. The Flood Myth and the Question of Evil 110
3. The Biblical Flood Myth 113
3.1 The Violent Temperament of the Creatures 116
3.2 The Human Heart 120
3.3 Evil in the Flood Narrative – A Conclusion 122
4. Sin at the Doorstep (Gen 4:7) 124
5. Conclusion 127
The Divine-Human Marriages: Genesis 6:1–4 and the Greek Framing of the Primeval History 130
1. Introduction 130
2. The Text 132
3. The Text in its Literary Context 134
4. The Mythic Elements of Gen 6:1–4 135
Evil from the Heart: Qoheleth’s Negative Anthropology and its Canonical Context 144
1. Introduction 144
2. Qoheleth’s Assessment of the Human Heart 146
2.1 What does the Heart desire and by what is it affected? 146
2.2 The Heart as a Wisdom-seeking and Knowledge-seeking Organ 147
2.3 What God lays into the Human Heart 148
2.4 The Evil Heart 149
3. Qoheleth’s Reference to the Primeval History (Gen 6–8) 151
4. The Evil Heart Remains. Qoheleth and Gen 6–8 as a Criticism of the Prophetic Line of Tradition 154
5. A God of Grace? Similarities and Differences between Gen 6–8 and Qoheleth in their respective Views of God 156
6. Ethos and Cult 158
3. Law and Forgiveness: Elements of Priestly Theology 162
The “Eternal Covenant” in the Priestly Pentateuch and the Major Prophets 164
1. Covenant in the Priestly Code 164
2. The “Eternal Covenant” in Exilic/Postexilic Prophecy 171
3. The Divine Speeches in the Priestly Flood Narrative (Gen 8:15–17 9:1–17)
The Primeval History as an Etiology of Torah 180
1. Introduction: Creation and Flood in the Priestly Primeval History 180
2. The Divine Speech after the Flood (Gen 9:1–17) 184
3. The Laws to Protect Life (Gen 9:4–6) 185
4. Individual Responsibility 187
5. Covenant and Law 188
At the Border of Sin and Forgiveness: Sala? in the Old Testament 192
1. Introduction 192
2. The Cultic Function of ??? 194
3. Forgiveness and Communal Events 198
3.1 The Prayer for the Dedication of the Temple 198
3.2 Is there a Specific Deuteronomistic Term for Forgiveness? 202
3.3 Forgiveness and the New Covenant in Jeremiah 205
3.4 Forgiveness and Covenant Faithfulness 207
4. Conclusion 210
“On Earth as it is in Heaven”: Eschatology and the Ethics of Forgiveness 212
1. Introduction 212
2. Old Testament Traditions 216
3. The Hodayot of Qumran 221
4. Returning to Matthew 225
4. God 230
The Challenged God: Reflections on the Motif of God’s Repentance in Job, Jeremiah, Jonah, and the Non-Priestly Flood Narrative 232
1. Introduction: the Book of Job as a Heuristic Point of Entry 232
2. The Challenged God in the Individual Laments 237
2.1. The Lament toward God as Savior 237
2.2 The Lament against God as Creator 238
3. The Confessions of Jeremiah: the Rejected Lamentation 239
4. The Conclusion of the Book of Jonah: Justice versus Mercy 243
5. The Non-Priestly Flood Narrative: The Challenge to God as the Creator of All Life 246
6. Conclusion 249
“Have you any Right to be angry?”: The Theological Discourse surrounding the Conclusion to the Book of Jonah (Jonah 3:6–4:11) 252
1. Introduction: The Theological Profile of the Book of Jonah 252
2. God as Compassionate Judge (Jonah 3:6–10) 258
3. The Prophetic Protest against God (Jonah 4:1–4) 261
4. The Creator Values the Creation (Jonah 4:5–11) 264
The God who Creates: A Contribution to the Theology of the Old Testament 268
1. Creation as the Theme of Old Testament Theology – a Controversial Question 268
2. Cosmos, Cult, and Vitality: Creation Theology in the Cultic Psalms 270
3. Deutero-Isaiah 272
4. The Story of Creation (Gen 1:1–2:3) 275
5. Psalm 104: God as the Giver of All Life 279
6. The Divine Speeches of the Book of Job (Job 38–41): Creation Theology as Critique of Human Understanding and as Relativization of the Concept of Humanity as the Goal of Creation 281
5. Ethics 284
The Ethics of Genesis: A Contribution to Biblical Humanism 286
1. Introduction: Two Types of Ethics 286
2. Frame and Foundation: The Value of Life in Genesis 289
3. Ethical Realism and the Encounter with God 293
“For He is Like You”: A Translation and Understanding of the Old Testament Commandment to Love in Lev 19:18 298
1. Right Observations and Wrong Conclusions: The Debate over Buber’s Understanding of Lev 19:18 298
2. Philological Analysis of Lev 19:18 301
2.1 ?? + Suffix as Adverbial Usage 302
2.2 The falsely assumed Synonymy between ???? and ????? 303
2.3 The Syntagma of Preposition + Suffix in Status Attributions 306
3. Targum and Peshitta 308
4. Mt 5:24 in the Tradition of Lev 19:18 309
5. The Meaning of the Commandment to Love in the Context of Lev 19 309
6. Conclusion 312
Sharing and Loving: Love, Law and the Ethics of cultural Memory in the Pentateuch 316
1. The Modern Understanding of Love as “Intimacy” 316
2. Love as a Commandment in Biblical Traditions 319
3. Love and Law 320
4. Love and Cultural Memory in Deuteronomy 322
5. “Love Thy Neighbor” (Lev 19:18) 328
6. Conclusion 330
References 332
Biblical Passages 334
Old Testament 334
New Testament 342
Authors 344
Subject Index 348

Produkt-Details

• Erscheint lt. Verlag: 1.8.2017
• Sprache: englisch
• Themenwelt: Geisteswissenschaften ► Religion / Theologie ► Christentum
• ISBN-10: 3-16-154948-1 / 3161549481
• ISBN-13: 978-3-16-154948-9 / 9783161549489