“Have You Considered My Servant Job?” A Reflection on the Book of Job

Abstract

The Book of Job is often viewed as a story of unnecessary and undeserved suffering. A man who is “blameless” in the eyes of God is put through senseless anguish and misery simply because God and the Adversary have a wager. It is a story of a whimsical God who does not understand or care about human beings and their sufferings, and of an insignificant and yet defiant being who epitomizes human dignity and fortitude. This and other similar accounts make God villainous and human sufferings mysterious and incomprehensible. This article seeks to cast these issues in a different light by exploring some of the key terms in the Prologue and the speeches of God in the Theophany. The exploration ends with some reflections on Job in the Epilogue of the Book.     

Priestley on materialism and the essence of God

ABSTRACT

The paper focuses on Priestley’s complex views on the essence of God in connection with his materialism, elaborated in the Disquisitions Relating to Matter and Spirit (1777/ 1782). This issue is crucial if one wishes to get a clear idea of what Priestley’s materialism amounts to; whether it is mainly a thesis about the material grounds of the human mind (“psychological materialism”), or a more far-reaching one about what kind of substances exist in the world (a version of “ontological materialism”). The claim that God may be material allows for the most radical version of ontological materialism according to which everything in the world is material, without altogether denying that God exists. In fact, Priestley considers and partially defends at least three different views on the potential materiality of God: (1) an agnostic stance that is his official view, (2) materialism about God based on his own theory of matter, and (3) “gross” materialism about God. The aim of the paper is to analyze these three views, in particular concerning what kind of materialism they support and whether they can contribute to the consistent Christian materialism Priestley envisaged.     

Isaiah 16: A Forgotten Chapter in the History of Messianism

ABSTRACT

Within the Isaianic oracle against Moab (15,1-16,14) is found what might be described as a neglected royal prophecy (16,4b-5). Evidence for its messianic character is found in a number of clear thematic similarities with other Isaianic passages of a decidedly messianic character, notably Isa 9,1-7 (Heb. 8,23-9.6) and 11,1-9. In each case, the text is futuristic in orienta-tion, the anticipated enthronement (or arrival) of a Davidic ruler follows the overthrow of the foreign oppressor, God is credited as producing this new sit-uation, and the promised ruler shows a devotion to “justice” and “righteous-ness”, which in Isaiah 16 takes the form of giving consideration to a Moabite appeal for amnesty. A similar pattern is found in Isaiah 32, with its picture of human kings with a limited judicial role within a kingdom set up by God. The phrase “the tent of David” (16,5) is shown to signify the sanctuary-city of Zi-on, with Isa 16,4b-5 providing an eschatological picture of divine protection mediated by a messianic ruler.     

Passion and compassion of god in the old testament

Abstract

The point of departure is the Kitamorian “Pain of God Theology”. However, the present survey is that of exegesis and of biblical theology. We pose the question whether the concept of the “immutability of God” is that of the OT? We believe our focal texts (Hos 11,8; Jer 31,20; Isa 63, 9+15) do challenge that notion. The righteous God of Israel is not presented as a vindictive god, who delights in judgement. Rather, the glimpses of God's “emotions”, read “passions”, suggest a more complex God‐image. The righteousness of God demands judgement, whereas his compassion finds another solution. We find that female and masculine imagery in connection with God's attitude and feelings toward his people, are frequently interchangeable. The all‐embracing motherly love of God may be seen as an expression of God's heart in tension between inevitable judgement and compassionate love. But the same aspect may also be expressed in the father/son relationship. The passion of God in OT is not a static or inherent condition of God's being. Rather, the anthropomorphic (or, anthropopatic) expressions may be glimpses of a rare “I‐You” relationship between God and his people Israel. The passion of God then becomes the most profound expression of God's dynamic response to man's fatal situation.     

The Picture of Artificial Intelligence and the Secularization of Thought

ABSTRACT

This article offers a critical interpretation of Artificial Intelligence (AI) as a philosophical notion which exemplifies a secular conception of thinking. One way in which AI notably differs from the conventional understanding of “thinking” is that, according to AI, “intelligence” or “thinking” does not necessarily require “life” as a precondition: that it is possible to have “thinking without life.” Building on Charles Taylor’s critical account of secularity as well as Hubert Dreyfus’ influential critique of AI, this article offers a theological analysis of AI’s “lifeless” picture of thinking in relation to the Augustinian conception of God as “Life itself.” Following this critical theological analysis, this article argues that AI’s notion of thinking promotes a societal privilege of certain rationalistic or calculative ways of thought over more existential or spiritual ways of thinking, and thereby fosters a secularization or de-spiritualization of thinking as an ethical human practice.     

The meaning of El Roi and the mythological dimension in Genesis 16

Abstract

This article discusses the literary debt of the story of Hagar in Genesis 16 to the Ugaritic text KTU 1.23, suggesting that behind the present tale lie ancient royal ideological motifs. These have a bearing on the present form of the story, ans suggest a message of hope to an exilic readership. The divine epithet Roi is explained as “seen”, expressing Hagar's surprise at surviving a vision of God.     

Friendship with God: Old Testament and Ancient Near Eastern Perspectives

ABSTRACT

Some commentators viewed Qohelet as a misogynist and advo-cate of promiscuity. Our understanding of the pertinent texts (7,23–29 and 9,9) indicates that he is neither. This understanding rests on reading in v. 27 ??? ????? ?????? “a woman that was unafraid” instead of ??????? ?????; in v. 28 ???????? “instructs” instead of ????????; and, in v. 29 ?????? “he should rule” instead of ???????. Qohelet's philosophical opinions are rooted in the normative Jewish tradition and precepts of Near East wisdom, which respect well-established societal institutions. In Qoh 7,23–29 and 9,9 he presents normative biblical thinking, without breaking any new ground.     

By analogy to the element of the stars: the divine in Jean Fernel's and William Harvey's theories of generation

ABSTRACT

In trying to develop their respective theories of generation, Jean Fernel and William Harvey both drew repeatedly on Aristotle's suggestion that something “analogous to the element of the stars” was involved. The analogy with the stars suggested something celestial or divine, and both thinkers subscribed to the dominant assumption that God is the primary cause of generation, but, as natural philosophers, they were expected to develop theories based on secondary causes. Fernel simply defined “divine” as “hidden” or “occult”, and developed a sophisticated occult explanation of how generation takes place. Harvey, by contrast, rejected occult explanations, and, although offering tentative alternatives, ultimately failed to discover any convincing naturalistic account. It is the contention of this paper that Harvey resorted, therefore, to the direct intervention of God in the process of generation.     

A Call to Higher Things

Abstract

Seeking a responsible middle ground between complaisance and the “religious totalitarianism” of Sayyid Qutb, Miroslav Volf proposes a proper role for religion as a faithful advisor in the public square and an inspired one in the corridors of conscience. But he seems to lose patience with that theme without addressing John Rawls’ case for silencing religious counsels—or engaging the strident atheism of Dennett, Dawkins, Hitchens, or Grayling, and he takes Qutb more as a foil than an adversary to be grappled with directly. Turning away from debates over religion’s proper public role he catalogues the “malfunctions” of faith, sidestepping many of today’s more burning issues in favor of a generic call to “lives of integrity”—while acknowledging that we mortals are “powerless against the lure of evil,” too often seconded by “the power of the systems that surround us.” Prayer, Volf argues, finds its best use when we ask to be made “willing, capable, and effective instruments in God’s hand.” One only wishes he had been more explicit and more ready for down and dirty argument with those who reject the very idea of prayer and with those who imagine they become God’s best instrument when holding an incendiary device.     

Knowledge of God According to Hosea the Ripper: The Interlacing of Theology and Social Ideology in Hosea 2*

Abstract

A semiotic reading of Hosea 2 suggests that two stories are told: The story of Hosea and Gomer, and the story of Yahweh and Israel. This semiotic entanglement, however, is also present in the passage of cosmic promises, Hos 2,18–25. “Knowing God” in the Book of Hosea is not just a question of adhering to a system of religious thoughts, it is a question of knowing how to live one's life according to specific social rules, namely that of patriarchy. The theology of the text cannot be separated from the ideology of the text. This is to be tested on the text of Hos 2,18–25 in which the emphasis is apparently firmly placed on the universal signified.     

The Bible and Leo Strauss

According to Leo Strauss, the Hebrew Bible is to be regarded as being in “radical opposition” to philosophy and as its “antagonist.” This is an influential view, which has contributed much to the ongoing omission of the Bible from most accounts of the history of political philosophy or political theory. In this article, I examine Strauss's arguments for the exclusion of the Bible from the Western tradition of political philosophy (i) because it possesses no concept of nature; (ii) because it prescribes a “life of obedient love” rather than truth-seeking; and (iii) because it depicts God as “absolutely free” and unpredictable, and so without a place in the philosophers' order of “necessary and therefore eternal” things. I suggest that Strauss's views on these points cannot be accepted without amendment. I propose a revised view of the history of political philosophy that preserves Strauss's most important insights, while recognizing the Hebrew Bible as a foundational text in the Western tradition of political philosophy.     

Topoiesis de la recepción literaria

ABSTRACT

This article proposes a particular notion about “topoiesis,” focusing on the text reception point of view. Initially, it establishes a theoretical framework using useful concepts from hermeneutics and post-structuralism, to later discuss the real existence of a dialogue or a “fusion of horizons” in which a “sense of space” of a text would be blended in the meeting point between textuality and the reader. Finally, through this space we propose a categorization of the different types of “topoiesis” of literary reception, establishing correspondences with the concept of “enunciative instances” in the text space, detailed in another article.     

Defending Political Augustinianism: Brague and Taubes on the “Divine” as a Common Conceptual Space

Augustine holds that each society needs to be oriented to “God and the good.” He invidiously compares the earthly city as receptive to the true God with the earthly city as opposed to the true God, and he resolutely holds that only an earthly city oriented to the true God can be genuinely described as just and legitimate. At first glance this “political Augustinianism” hardly seems very attractive to non-believers or defensible in the eyes of modern secular liberals, and yet in this article I wish to defend it and commend it universally, that is, to promote its benefits and critical insights beyond religious circles. I commend an emphasis on “the divine” (to theion), rather than on God (ho theos), as a bridge to God for believers but also, and more importantly in the West's present liberal pluralist context, as a common halting place where believers and non-believers alike can sense “the beyond” (Augustine's “God and the good”) in their midst. I develop my argument that the “divine,” thus understood, can provide us with a common conceptual space where we can abide, converse, and even agree: (i) by engaging with Jacob Taubes who powerfully criticises such an emphasis on the “divine,” (ii) by considering “divine” natural law as a bridge and halting place between immanence and transcendence, and (iii) by reflecting upon the work of Rémi Brague who has recently given powerful support to the importance and utility in the present intellectual climate of the divine (to theion) as a bridge to God (ho theos).     

Man of God and the Deuteronomist: Anti-Deuteronomistic Polemics in 1 Sam 2,27-36

The article argues that the prophecy of an anonymous man of God in 1 Sam 2,27-36, often viewed as a product of Deuteronomistic writing and/or redaction, is in fact an anti-Deuteronomic and anti-Deuteronomistic text. It uses the verbal cliches, generic templates, and concepts found in Deuteronomy and the balance of Joshua-Kings to subvert the Deuteronomic principles of cultic organization and the Deuteronomistic notion of eternal Davidic dynasty. The fragment qualifies therefore as a possible post-Deuteronomistic addition to the Former Prophets.     

International Peacemaking and the Anti-War Movement

Abstract

This paper contends that biblical law provides guidance about the proper configuration of moral goods and evils, which are often incommensurable, rather than offering a “vision of the good.” It argues that the “good” of creation itself comprises a moral order of goods to which there are many proper responses and investigates how such openness, when combined with a focus upon moral goods, intersects with three aspects of Burnside’s argument in God, Justice, and Society, namely, the role of wisdom, the importance of vocation and the significance of God’s grace.     

Die bewertung des ungeborenen lebens im alten israel und im alten orient

Abstract

First, how does Haggai “construct” the temple, i.e. what view does he hold of it, its function and its significance? The answer here is that, whatever the Second Temple actually was, Haggai does not construct it as a place of sacrifice, a house of prayer, a location of the presence of God, a pivot of the economic system of Judah, a focus of ethnic identity, etc., but as a treasury. It must be rebuilt because it is a shame (not “glory") for Yahweh not to have a “house” in which treasures of silver and gold belonging to him can be stored and exhibited (2,7–9). And this temple must be rebuilt quickly because of the imminent political‐military upheaval ("shaking") of the earth that will result in booty in large quantities arriving in Jerusalem.

Second, is there anything in the text of the book that undermines this “construction” of the temple? Yes, there is an underlying conflict in the text (amounting to a deconstruction) over the issue of honour Yahweh is dishonoured by the ruined state of the temple, but it is not the rebuilding of the temple that will bring him honour. Further, the designation of the Judaeans and the “work of their hands” as “unclean” (2,14) deconstructs the text's placing responsibility for the rebuilding in their hands. Further still, the sudden narrowing of focus to Zerubbabel in the closing verses of the book (2,20–23), and the unprepared designation of him as an eschatological king, deconstructs the prophecy's professed concern with the temple.

Third, can these deconstructionists be deployed in the service of a reconstruction? Here I use the axiom that texts exist in order to repress social conflicts. Yes, we can first reconstitute the social reality implied by the text: from the deconstruction over the issue of honour we can reconstruct the conflict between enthusiasts for temple rebuilding and resisters. From the deconstruction over cleanness and uncleanness we can reconstruct the conflict between the leadership and the proletariat. From the deconstruction regarding Zerubbabel we can reconstruct the political conflict over the governorship.

And yes, we can secondly “construct” the social reality created by the reading of the text today. Here we can see how the reading of the text by biblical scholars functions as a repression of conflicts of interest and ideology among different groups of readers, and how the deconstructability of the text can serve to bring such conflict to consciousness.     

God’s Sovereign Word

Abstract

Much political theory is funded by a purportedly “theological” notion of sovereignty. This essay re-reads and thereby deconstructs such a view. The argument presented herein is that certain political theorists—notably Schmitt, Bodin, and Hobbes—uncritically appropriate a “theological” notion of sovereignty as an analogy for political sovereignty. Engaging the work of Karl Barth, this essay undercuts such analogizing tendencies, contending that the “theological” superstructure on which so-called political theology is constructed is not theological but anthropological. Barth’s reconfiguration of theology, grounded not on natural law or reason, but on God’s self-revelation of Godself in Jesus Christ, offers a very different terminus a quem for political theology.     

Defining and redefining atheism: dictionary and encyclopedia entries for “atheism” and their critics in the anglophone world from the early modern period to the present

ABSTRACT

This article examines dictionaries and encyclopedias’ coverage of the term “atheism” in the anglophone world from the early modern period up until the twentieth century. The article recounts how most dictionary- and encyclopedia-makers often portrayed atheism as an irrational and immoral belief system, through their use of negative illustrative quotations or the idea of “atheism” as a denial of God. The article will also show how atheists responded to these dictionaries and encyclopedias, particularly by examining the alternative definition supplied in the middle of the nineteenth century by Charles Bradlaugh, the most important British atheist of the era.     

The Aramaic Levi—Comparing the Qumran fragments with the Genizah text

ABSTRACT

Among the extra-biblical texts from Qumran we find the so-called Aramaic Levi, which can be described as a somewhat different variant of the “Testament of Levi,” a part of the larger Greek text “The Testament of the Twelve Patriarchs.”

Aramaic Levi, however, was already known from the Cairo Genizah. The following article is a linguistic comparison between the Qumran text and the version from the Cairo Genizah.

As Klaus Beyer has noticed, there are a lot of non-Hasmonean spellings and words in the Genizah text, but most of Beyer’s examples are from parts of the text that are not preserved in the Qumran fragments. Comparing the two versions, we now note that the deviations are of two kinds. As expected, the Genizah text often follows a later language than Qumran. This applies in particular to orthographic features and the use of status emphaticuswithout the definite sense. But in other places the Genizah text represents a language older than Hasmonean Aramaic, which we interpret as an adaptation to Bibli-cal Aramaic and sometimes to Hebrew.