God in Translation

Deities in Cross-Cultural Discourse in the Biblical World
1. Auflage 2008
ISBN: 978-3-16-149543-4
Verlag: Mohr Siebeck

Buch, Englisch, Band 57, 382 Seiten, Format (B × H): 239 mm x 162 mm, Gewicht: 757 g

Reihe: Forschungen zum Alten Testament

Mark S. Smith charts the many cases of deities recognized across cultures in the Late Bronze Age, Ancient Israel and early Judaism and the New Testament. This cross-cultural recognition took place in identifications or equations of deities of different cultures (for example, in lists of deities), and in representations of different deities of various cultures acting together (e.g., deities of different cultures serving as guarantors of and witnesses to international treaties). The context of 'translatability of deities' in the Late Bronze Age and Iron Age Israel supported international political relations. In the Iron Age, the worldview of regional deities on par with one another lost its intelligibility in the face of Neo-Assyrian empire ideology. In turn, Israel expressed its worldview of a single god powerful over all. As a result, biblical writers and scribes engaged in a sophisticated hermeneutics to mediate between older expressions of translatability embedded within its emergent monotheistic expressions. The Greco-Roman period witnessed an explosion in the types and genres of cross-cultural discourse about deities, and as a result, Jewish authors and some New Testament sources responded to this sort of discourse, sometimes negatively and at other times quite positively. Engagement with other cultures helped Israel come to understand its god.

Zielgruppe

Students and Scholars of Old Testament and New Testament studies, corresponding institutes and libraries.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Smith, Mark S.

Fachgebiete

• Geisteswissenschaften Jüdische Studien Geschichte des Judentums Geschichte des Judentums: Biblische & Klassische Periode
• Geisteswissenschaften Christentum, Christliche Theologie Bibelwissenschaften Altes Testament: Exegese, Geschichte
• Geisteswissenschaften Jüdische Studien Jüdische Studien Heilige & Traditionstexte: Torah, Talmud, Mischna, Halacha
• Geisteswissenschaften Christentum, Christliche Theologie Bibelwissenschaften Neues Testament: Exegese, Geschichte

Über Autor(innen)

Smith, Mark S.
Born 1955; 1984-2000 taught at Saint Paul Seminary, Yale University and Saint Joseph's University; 2000-2016 Skirball Professor of Hebrew and Ancient Near Eastern Studies at New York University; since 2016 Helena Professor of Old Testament Literature and Exegesis at Princeton Theological Seminary.

Mark S. Smith: Born 1955; 1984-2000 taught at Saint Paul Seminary, Yale University and Saint Joseph's University; since 2000 Skirball Professor of Hebrew and Ancient Near Eastern Studies at New York University; Visiting Professor at the Pontifical Biblical Institute in Rome and at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem.