Divine Doppelgängers

Divine Doppelgängers PDF

Author: Collin Cornell

Publisher: Penn State Press

Published: 2021-05-18

Total Pages: 279

ISBN-13: 1646020936

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The Bible says that YHWH alone is God and that there is none like him—but texts and artwork from antiquity show that many gods looked very similar. In this volume, scholars of the Hebrew Bible and its historical contexts address the problem of YHWH’s ancient look-alikes, providing recommendations for how Jews and Christians can think theologically about this challenge. Sooner or later, whether in a religion class or a seminary course, students bump up against the fact that God—the biblical God—was one among other, comparable gods. The ancient world was full of gods, including great gods of conquering empires, dynastic gods of petty kingdoms, goddesses of fertility, and personal spirit guardians. And in various ways, these gods look like the biblical God. Like the God of the Bible, they, too, controlled the fates of nations, chose kings, bestowed fecundity and blessing, and cared for their individual human charges. They spoke and acted. They experienced wrath and delight. They inspired praise. All of this leaves Jews and Christians in a bind: how can they confess that the God named YHWH was (and is) the true and living God, in view of this God’s profound similarities to all these others? The essays in this volume address the theological challenge these parallels create, providing reflections on how Jews and Christians can keep faith in YHWH as God while acknowledging the reality of YHWH’s divine doppelgängers. It will be welcomed by undergraduates studying religion; seminarians and graduate students of Bible, theology, and the ancient world; and adult education classes.

YHWH Is There

YHWH Is There PDF

Author: Drew N. Grumbles

Publisher: Wipf and Stock Publishers

Published: 2021-08-24

Total Pages: 246

ISBN-13: 1666708070

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How do we make sense of Ezekiel 40-48? Ezekiel's temple vision has long mystified Bible readers and scholars. Is this a temple that is going to be built in the future? Or is this merely symbolic? Why so many details? Is there any relevance to this section of the Old Testament at all? This book addresses these important questions, showing how Ezekiel's temple is more than just symbolic. Yet its ultimate fulfillment is not in any physical building, but, according to the New Testament, in Jesus and the new heavens and new earth. Not only will this book illuminate Ezekiel 40-48 for you, it will also help you understand important issues of interpretation in our day, such as typology, the role of the temple in biblical theology, and the New Testament use of the Old Testament. You will learn that yes, in fact, Ezekiel 40-48 is very relevant to the Bible's storyline.

Yhwh

Yhwh PDF

Author: Mika'el Ben David

Publisher: Lulu.com

Published: 2011-04-01

Total Pages: 188

ISBN-13: 9780557938391

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GOD has ONE NAME. ""I am YHWH, That is MY NAME."" ""but MY NAME 'YHWH'; this is MY NAME forever'.YHWH told Israel to swear by HIS NAME and no other. The ancient Israelites swore, took oaths, made vows, greeted, and cried out to YHWH in HIS NAME.Today, THE NAME of YHWH is forbidden to be spoken by the Jewish people by the 'rabbis' under threat of not being allowed to enter into the world to come. The correct pronunciation of GOD's HOLY NAME, "YHWH" has been forbidden and now forgotten so euphemisms are used in it's place.The importance of THE NAME of 'YHWH' cannot be overstated. YHWH is THE ONLY NAME that GOD said is HIS NAME. HIS NAME "YHWH" is written nearly 7,000 times in the Hebrew Bible. YHWH said for us to use HIS NAME, to call, to swear, to make our vows and to praise HIM by. The 'rabbis' say GOD has 72 'names', but GOD said HE only has ONE NAME, 'YHWH'.This book is about the NAME of GOD 'YHWH', and it's forgotten importance to the Jewish people.

The Theology of the Book of Revelation

The Theology of the Book of Revelation PDF

Author: Richard Bauckham

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 1993-03-04

Total Pages: 196

ISBN-13: 1107393086

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The Book of Revelation is a work of profound theology. But its literary form makes it impenetrable to many modern readers and open to all kinds of misinterpretations. Richard Bauckham explains how the book's imagery conveyed meaning in its original context and how the book's theology is inseparable from its literary structure and composition. Revelation is seen to offer not an esoteric and encoded forecast of historical events but rather a theocentric vision of the coming of God's universal kingdom, contextualised in the late first-century world dominated by Roman power and ideology. It calls on Christians to confront the political idolatries of the time and to participate in God's purpose of gathering all the nations into his kingdom. Once Revelation is properly grounded in its original context it is seen to transcend that context and speak to the contemporary church. This study concludes by highlighting Revelation's continuing relevance for today.

The Name

The Name PDF

Author: Mark Sameth

Publisher: Wipf and Stock Publishers

Published: 2020-05-04

Total Pages: 190

ISBN-13: 1532693834

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The God of ancient Israel—universally referred to in the masculine today—was understood by its earliest worshipers to be a dual-gendered, male-female deity. So argues Mark Sameth in The Name. Needless to say, this is no small claim. Half the people on the planet are followers of one of the three Abrahamic religions—Judaism, Christianity, and Islam—each of which has roots in the ancient cult that worshiped this deity. The author’s evidence, however, is compelling and his case meticulously constructed. The Hebrew name of God—YHWH—has not been uttered in public for over two thousand years. Some thought the lost pronunciation was “Jehovah” or “Yahweh.” But Sameth traces the name to the late Bronze Age and argues that it was expressed Hu-Hi—Hebrew for “He-She.” Among Jewish mystics, we learn, this has long been an open secret. What are the implications for us today if “he” was not God?

Yhwh and the Sacred Secret

Yhwh and the Sacred Secret PDF

Author: Monte Perepelkin

Publisher: Archway Publishing

Published: 2020-01-23

Total Pages: 126

ISBN-13: 1480875767

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There is a Creator! This is the simple truth that is revealed within YHWH and the Sacred Secret. Through careful application of science and logic, as well as a comprehensive evaluation of the Bible, the truth about our Creator and what He has planned for the future of humanity is presented clearly and without religious bias. More than fifty different Bible versions are used to reveal how virtually every translation in print today delivers the same message about humankind's future, one that nearly every religion on the planet has failed to teach. From Genesis to Revelation, YHWH and the Sacred Secret offers the reader a modern interpretation of humankind's instructional manual: The Bible. Whatever your background—Christian, atheist, creationist or evolutionist—this book is a must-read for everyone. All profits that go to the author from the sale of this publication will be donated to helping the homeless.

Bearing Yhwh’s Name at Sinai

Bearing Yhwh’s Name at Sinai PDF

Author: Carmen Joy Imes

Publisher: Penn State Press

Published: 2023-06-21

Total Pages: 233

ISBN-13: 1646022661

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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.

YHWH is King

YHWH is King PDF

Author: Shawn W. Flynn

Publisher: BRILL

Published: 2013-11-11

Total Pages: 221

ISBN-13: 9004263047

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Amidst various methodologies for the comparative study of the Hebrew Bible, at times the opportunity arises to improve on a method recently introduced into the field. In YHWH is King, Flynn uses the anthropological method of cultural translation to study diachronic change in YHWH’s kingship. Here, such change is compared to a similar Babylonian development to Marduk’s kingship. Based on that comparison and informed by cultural translation, Flynn discovers that Judahite scribes suppressed the earlier YHWH warrior king and promoted a creator/universal king in order to combat the increasing threat of Neo-Assyrian imperialism. Flynn thus opens the possibility, that Judahite scribes engaged in a cultural translation of Marduk to YHWH, in order to respond to the mounting Neo-Assyrian presence.