Download or read book Making Sense of the Divine Name in the Book of Exodus written by Austin Surls and published by Penn State Press. This book was released on 2017-05-01 with total page 264 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The obvious riddles and difficulties in Exod 3:13–15 and Exod 6:2–8 have attracted an overwhelming amount of attention and comment. These texts make important theological statements about the divine name YHWH and the contours of the divine character. From the enigmatic statements in Exod 3:13–15, most scholars reconstruct the original form of the name as “Yahweh,” which is thought to describe YHWH’s creative power or self-existence. Similarly, Exod 6:3 has become a classic proof-text for the Documentary Hypothesis and an indication of different aspects of God’s character as shown in history. Despite their seeming importance for “defining” the divine name, these texts are ancillary to and preparatory for the true revelation of the divine name in the book of Exodus. This book attempts to move beyond atomistic readings of individual texts and etymological studies of the divine name toward a holistic reading of the book of Exodus. Surls centers his argument around in-depth analyses of Exod 3:13–15, 6:2–8 and Exod 33:12–23 and 34:5–8. Consequently, the definitive proclamation of YHWH’s character is not given at the burning bush but in response to Moses’ later intercession (Exod 33:12–23). YHWH proclaimed his name in a formulaic manner that Israel could appropriate (Exod 34:6–7), and the Hebrew Bible quotes or alludes to this text in many genres. This demonstrates the centrality of Exod 34:6–7 to Old Testament Theology. The character of God cannot be discerned from an etymological analysis of the word yhwh but from a close study of YHWH’s deliberate ascriptions made progressively in the book of Exodus.
Download or read book Bearing Yhwh s Name at Sinai written by Carmen Joy Imes and published by Penn State Press. This book was released on 2023-06-21 with total page 233 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Name Command (NC) is usually interpreted as a prohibition against speaking Yhwh’s name in a particular context: false oaths, wrongful pronunciation, irreverent worship, magical practices, cursing, false teaching, and the like. However, the NC lacks the contextual specification needed to support the command as speech related. Taking seriously the narrative context at Sinai and the closest lexical parallels, a different picture emerges—one animated by concrete rituals and their associated metaphorical concepts. The unique phrase ns' shm is one of several expressions arising from the conceptual metaphor, election as branding, that finds analogies in high-priest regalia as well as in various ways of claiming ownership in the Ancient Near East, such as inscribed monuments, the use of seals, and the branding of slaves. The NC presupposes that Yhwh has claimed Israel by placing Yhwh’s own name on her. In this light, the first two commands of the Decalogue reinforce the two sides of the covenant declaration: “I will be your God; you will be my people.” The first expresses the demand for exclusive worship and the second calls for proper representation. As a consequence, the NC invites a richer exploration of what it means to be a people in covenant with Yhwh—a people bearing his name among the nations. It also points to what is at stake when Israel carries that name “in vain.” The image of bearing Yhwh’s name offers a rich source for theological and ethical reflection that cannot be conveyed nonmetaphorically without distortion or loss of meaning.
Download or read book Too Much to Grasp written by Andrea D. Saner and published by Penn State Press. This book was released on 2015-09-08 with total page 286 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Few phrases in Scripture have occasioned as much discussion as has the “I am who I am” of Exodus 3:14. What does this phrase mean? How does it relate to the divine name, YHWH? Is it an answer to Moses’ question (v. 13), or an evasion of an answer? The trend in late-nineteenth- and twentieth-century scholarly interpretations of this verse was to superimpose later Christian interpretations, which built on Greek and Latin translations, on the Hebrew text. According to such views, the text presents an etymology of the divine name that suggests God’s active presence with Israel or what God will accomplish for Israel; the text does not address the nature or being of God. However, this trend presents challenges to theological interpretation, which seeks to consider critically the value pre-modern Christian readings have for faithful appropriations of Scripture today. In “Too Much to Grasp”: Exodus 3:13?15 and the Reality of God, Andrea Saner argues for an alternative way forward for twenty-first century readings of the passage, using Augustine of Hippo as representative of the misunderstood interpretive tradition. Read within the literary contexts of the received form of the book of Exodus and the Pentateuch as a whole, the literal sense of Exodus 3:13–15 addresses both who God is as well as God’s action. The “I am who I am” of v. 14a expresses indefiniteness; while God reveals himself as YHWH and offers this name for the Israelites to call upon him, God is not exhausted by this revelation but rather remains beyond human comprehension and control.
Download or read book Creator written by Peter J. Leithart and published by InterVarsity Press. This book was released on 2023-12-05 with total page 230 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Discussion about God's work of creation are often overwhelmed by questions such as the age of the earth and the relationship between divine creation and evolution. Without completely ignoring these issues, this rigorously grounded theological interpretation of Genesis 1 engages thinkers like Plato, Martin Luther, and Karl Barth.
Download or read book The Invention of Religion written by Jan Assmann and published by Princeton University Press. This book was released on 2020-03-24 with total page 412 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A groundbreaking account of how the Book of Exodus shaped fundamental aspects of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam The Book of Exodus may be the most consequential story ever told. But its spectacular moments of heaven-sent plagues and parting seas overshadow its true significance, says Jan Assmann, a leading historian of ancient religion. The story of Moses guiding the enslaved children of Israel out of captivity to become God's chosen people is the foundation of an entirely new idea of religion, one that lives on today in many of the world's faiths. First introduced in Exodus, new ideas of faith, revelation, and above all covenant transformed basic assumptions about humankind’s relationship to the divine and became the bedrock of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam.
Download or read book Bearing God s Name written by Carmen Joy Imes and published by InterVarsity Press. This book was released on 2019-12-10 with total page 244 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: What does the Old Testament—especially the law—have to do with your Christian life? In this warm, accessible volume, Carmen Joy Imes takes readers back to Sinai, arguing that we've misunderstood the command about "taking the Lord's name in vain." Instead, Imes says that this command is really about "bearing God's name," a theme that continues throughout the rest of Scripture.
Download or read book Bearing Yhwh s Name at Sinai written by Carmen Joy Imes and published by Penn State Press. This book was released on 2023-06-21 with total page 249 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Name Command (NC) is usually interpreted as a prohibition against speaking Yhwh’s name in a particular context: false oaths, wrongful pronunciation, irreverent worship, magical practices, cursing, false teaching, and the like. However, the NC lacks the contextual specification needed to support the command as speech related. Taking seriously the narrative context at Sinai and the closest lexical parallels, a different picture emerges—one animated by concrete rituals and their associated metaphorical concepts. The unique phrase ns' shm is one of several expressions arising from the conceptual metaphor, election as branding, that finds analogies in high-priest regalia as well as in various ways of claiming ownership in the Ancient Near East, such as inscribed monuments, the use of seals, and the branding of slaves. The NC presupposes that Yhwh has claimed Israel by placing Yhwh’s own name on her. In this light, the first two commands of the Decalogue reinforce the two sides of the covenant declaration: “I will be your God; you will be my people.” The first expresses the demand for exclusive worship and the second calls for proper representation. As a consequence, the NC invites a richer exploration of what it means to be a people in covenant with Yhwh—a people bearing his name among the nations. It also points to what is at stake when Israel carries that name “in vain.” The image of bearing Yhwh’s name offers a rich source for theological and ethical reflection that cannot be conveyed nonmetaphorically without distortion or loss of meaning.
Download or read book God With Us and Without Us Volume Two written by Imad N. Shehadeh and published by Langham Publishing. This book was released on 2019-10-31 with total page 368 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: While volume 1 stressed the inevitability of Oneness in Trinity, this second volume of God With Us and Without Us demonstrates the beauty and life-transforming power of Oneness in Trinity. The nature of the eternal relationship between the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit stands in contrast with the nature of God in Absolute Oneness. Dr Imad N. Shehadeh elucidates through careful argumentation and detailed critical thinking, why Oneness in Trinity is to be prized and what God would look like if He were not triune. By addressing the beauty and power of Oneness in Trinity, this book deepens our understanding of the Trinity as the solid foundation of all other doctrines. Dr Shehadeh explains the eternal activity of God outside creation, i.e., without us, as the stimulus of His activity within creation, i.e., with us. Dr Shehadeh also addresses the theological debate concerning the eternal generation of the Son and the eternal procession of the Holy Spirit. Most importantly however, this book convinces us of, and magnifies for us, the life-transforming power of the triune God.
Download or read book The Triumph of Grace written by Daniel I. Block and published by Wipf and Stock Publishers. This book was released on 2017-11-06 with total page 530 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Apostle Paul's negative statements about the law have deafened the ears of many to the grace that Moses proclaims in Deuteronomy. Most Christians have a dim view of this book, which they consider to be primarily a book of laws. However, when we read or hear it read orally without prejudice, we discover that rather than casting Moses as a legislator, he appears as Israel's first pastor, whose congregation has gathered before him to hear him preach his final sermons. Accordingly, Deuteronomy represents prophetic preaching at its finest, as Moses seeks to inspire the people of God to a life of faith and godliness in response to God's repeated demonstrations of grace. Deuteronomy is a dead book for many, because we have not recognized this gospel; we have heard only law. The essays in this collection arise from a larger project driven by a passion to recover for Christians the life-giving message of the Hebrew Scriptures in general, and to open their ears to God's amazing grace in Deuteronomy in particular. The wide-ranging "meditations" in this volume do not all focus equally on the topic of God's grace, but this theme undergirds them all.
Download or read book Yahweh written by G.H. Parke-Taylor and published by Wilfrid Laurier Univ. Press. This book was released on 2006-01-01 with total page 145 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Biblical tradition asserts that the revelation of God to Moses in the burning bush involved also a declaration of the divine name, the Tet (represented by the letters Y, H, W, H), and its meaning. There are indications that the divine name was known prior to the time of Moses, although ultimate questions of origin and precise meaning are shrouded in obscurity. IN fact, even the exact pronunciation of the name (usually pronounced YAHWEH) is by no means certain. The author of The Divine Name in the Bible surveys the immense literature on this subject, and traces the use of various names for deity in Israel from patriarchal times onwards, with special attention to the significance of the Tetragrammaton, which in course of time, became the name by which the God of Israel was known. Various aspects of the theological meaning of the name in the Old Testament writings are explored. The Dead Sea Scrolls, the Jewish Talmudic literature, and later mystical writings are also examined. The translators of the Old Testament into Greek used Kyrios as the equivalent for YHWH—with implications for the New Testament understanding of the person of Jesus Christ, reflected also in subsequent Christological formulations.
Download or read book Spoken into Being written by Søren Lorenzen and published by Mohr Siebeck. This book was released on 2022-10-26 with total page 341 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: How are names related to the self in the Hebrew Bible? Are names simply ornamental, or are they tied to the essence of the embodied bearer? To answer these questions, Søren Lorenzen traces various functions of proper names and explores how the lexeme "name" is conceptualized as an object to be perceived by the senses. With Paul Ricoeur as a dialogical partner, the author brings a new perspective on how the self is formed in the intentional relation between persons and name(s).
Download or read book Islam and the Bible written by Ayman S. Ibrahim and published by B&H Publishing Group. This book was released on 2023-12-01 with total page 290 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: As early as the seventh century, Christians living and ministering in Muslim contexts adapted their language and public witness to Islamic cultural and religious sensitivities. In Islam and the Bible, editors Ayman S. Ibrahim and Ant B. Greenham invite leading voices, representing a spectrum of approaches, to explore the issues surrounding “Muslim Idiom Translations” of the Bible. This work will be insightful for students, theologians, missiologists, missionaries, and Bible translators seeking wisdom and clarity on gospel contextualization.
Download or read book A Theocentric Interpretation of written by Nathan S. French and published by Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht. This book was released on 2021-02-15 with total page 337 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: On a primary level, the author seeks to answer the question, what is the best interpretation of הדעת טוב ורע. "The Knowledge of Good and Evil," in Gen 2:9, 17; 3:5, and 3:22? In Gen 3:5 and 3:22, this knowledge is said to be possessed by YHWH and the divine beings. This study analyzes the permutations of ) טוב"good") and רעע ("evil/bad") in the Hebrew Bible, with a majority focus in Genesis and the Deuteronomistic History and with a focus upon those textual instances in which YHWH has influence over 'good' and 'bad/evil.' Due to the results of the data, the author brings in a second level of discussion that focuses upon the hermeneutical principle of divine retribution as a structuring element for ancient Near Eastern historiography. On a third level, the author turns to divine blessing and cursing, and its association with good and evil in ancient Near Eastern texts and in the Hebrew Bible. Due to this specific theocentric analysis of the lexemes juxtaposed with the author's wider study of ancient Near Eastern history and culture, the answer to the guiding question of this study is therefore proposed by the author as, 'The Divine Knowledge for Administering Reward and Punishment.' Ergo, the Eden Narrative tells a story of how humans partly attain divinity becoming like YHWH and the divine beings (Gen 3:5; 3:22; Ps 82) in having acquired the forbidden divine knowledge for wielding ultimate power.
Download or read book Flood and Fury written by Matthew J. Lynch and published by InterVarsity Press. This book was released on 2023-02-28 with total page 195 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Old Testament violence proves one of the most troubling topics in the Bible. Without softening or ignoring the most troubling realities of the text, Old Testament scholar Matthew Lynch addresses violence related to misogyny, racism, and nationalism in the Old Testament, yielding surprising insights into the goodness and mercy of God.
Download or read book God With Us and Without Us Volumes One and Two written by Imad N. Shehadeh and published by Langham Global Library. This book was released on 2020-09-30 with total page 653 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: God as Trinity is at the core of the mystery and otherness of the divine nature of God. It has also been a frequent barrier to those who hold to the Absolute Oneness of God. In this combined work Dr Imad Shehadeh demonstrates the inevitability of the Trinity by exposing the conflict that Absolute Oneness faced historically. Dr Shehadeh presents the beautiful logic of the Trinity and explains how the display of God’s attributes in creation derives from the self-sustaining relationships in his triune nature as Father, Spirit and Son. The book climaxes in revealing the transforming power of the Trinity when applied to life. Followers of Christ will find their worship and love of God enhanced through the rich truths this book contains; followers of Islam will find confusion about the Triune God cleared up removing stumbling blocks to understanding the Bible’s message.
Download or read book The Divine Name in Exodus as Promise and Fulfillment written by Jeremiah K. Garrett and published by . This book was released on 2013 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Naming and Mapping the Gods in the Ancient Mediterranean written by Thomas Galoppin and published by Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG. This book was released on 2022-12-31 with total page 1274 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Ancient religions are definitely complex systems of gods, which resist our understanding. Divine names provide fundamental keys to gain access to the multiples ways gods were conceived, characterized, and organized. Among the names given to the gods many of them refer to spaces: cities, landscapes, sanctuaries, houses, cosmic elements. They reflect mental maps which need to be explored in order to gain new knowledge on both the structure of the pantheons and the human agency in the cultic dimension. By considering the intersection between naming and mapping, this book opens up new perspectives on how tradition and innovation, appropriation and creation play a role in the making of polytheistic and monotheistic religions. Far from being confined to sanctuaries, in fact, gods dwell in human environments in multiple ways. They move into imaginary spaces and explore the cosmos. By proposing a new and interdiciplinary angle of approach, which involves texts, images, spatial and archeaeological data, this book sheds light on ritual practices and representations of gods in the whole Mediterranean, from Italy to Mesopotamia, from Greece to North Africa and Egypt. Names and spaces enable to better define, differentiate, and connect gods.
