"When Gods Were Men": The Embodied God in Biblical and Near Eastern Literature
"When Gods Were Men": The Embodied God in Biblical and Near Eastern Literature (Beihefte Zur Zeitschrift Fur Die Alttestamentliche Wissenschaft) Esther J. Hamori,
Publisher: Walter de Gruyter
ISBN: 3110203480
DDC: 220.6
Edition: Hardcover; 2008-05-15
Summary:
In the texts of Genesis 18 and 32, God appears to a patriarch in
person and is referred to by the narrator as a man, both times by the
Hebrew word sh. In both texts, God as sh is described in graphically
human terms. This type of divine appearance is identified here as
the sh theophany. The phenomenon of God appearing in concrete human
form is first distinguished from several other types of
anthropomorphism, such as divine appearance in dreams. The sh
theophany is viewed in relation to appearances of angels and other
divine beings in the Bible, and in relation to anthropomorphic
appearances of deities in Near Eastern literature. The sh theophany
has implications for our understanding of Israelite concepts of
divine-human contact and communication, and for the relationship to
Ugaritic literature in particular. The book also includes discussion
of philosophical approaches to anthropomorphism. The development of
philosophical opposition to anthropomorphism can be traced from Greek
philosophy and early Jewish and Christian writings through Avicenna,
Averroes, Maimonides and Aquinas, and into the work of later
philosophers such as Hume and Kant. However, the work of others can
be applied fruitfully to the problem of divine anthropomorphism, such
as Wittgenstein's language games.
Congress Volume Basel 2001: Basel, 2001
(Andre Lemaire, International Organization for the Study of the Old Testament congress (Corporate Author); ISBN: 9004126805;
Hardcover; 2002-11-01; 100% match)
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