Isaïe 28–32 et la redaction d'ensemble du livre d'isaie

ABSTRACT

It is sometimes maintained that the dating of the Old Testament to the Hellenistic Period precludes any serious critical analysis of, in this case, the Pentateuchal narrative. It is my intent in this paper to state that this is not the case. On the contrary, the idea of the “Endprodukt” coming from a special period says little about the date of its individual parts. The essay will provide examples to show how the Pentateuchal stories rely on traditions (some will today say “memories”) with a very old history of their own. Furthermore it is also the aim of this paper to warn against a pan-Hellenism as a substitute for the old “pan-Babylonism.” There is no need to exchange a Babel-Bibel Streit with a new Hellas-Bibel Streit.     

GEZA‘

Abstract

Through a material and exegetical analysis of the texts in question (Isa 11, 1; 40, 24; Job 14, 8) the thesis demonstrates that from a horticulotural point of view, gz‘ displays the characteristics of a cutting (contextually perhaps a root sucker): gz‘ is a shoot taken from a tree (though its being cut off is not explicitly stated), planted in the soil where it takes root, it grows up, and in the religious imagery it is watered by the gardener who decides its fate.     

Conservative Scholarship on the Move

In a series of articles the evangelical scholar Ian Provan has been attacking minimalism for being governed by ideology rather than honest scholarship (as he sees it). Provan's criticism has been joined by other scholars from the conservative field, including the Danish evangelical scholar Jens Bruun Kofoed. A study of these contributions by Provan and other scholars shows that they are attacking the minimalists serving them as a kind of straw man: Their aim is actually not minimalism per se but critical scholarship in general, and the are using the language of traditional conservative Christianity against more critical minds. That they are at the same time—without mentioning it expressly—involved in ideas about causality that reflects modern evangelical ideas about intelligent design is another indication of their religiously based criticism. Here really nothing has changed, only the way they are abusing more traditionally minded critical scholars including self‐acclaimed “maximalists” like William G. Dever or Baruch Halpern.     

Books Reviews

Abstract

The author underscores the uniqueness of the situation which produced a text but also the process of rewriting and interpretation which followed later applications of the same text. Laato's belief in seeking for historically fixable ideological contexts of prophetic texts is, however, unjustified in light of the unhistorical nature of this context as presented by the OT. Any recurrence to the tradition process of Mesopotamian epic texts in this connection is wrong, as the Mesopotamian tradition was very different from the Palestinian one. Instead of looking for a fixed redactional pattern for all prophetic texts, we should reckon each book to have its own history.     

“Because they have cast away the law of the Lord of Hosts”—or: “We and the rest of the world” The authors who “wrote” The Old Testament

RÉSUMÉ

Comparer l’histoire construite de l’Israël biblique à celle des Aztéques, telle que Christian Duverger l’a analysée, premet de dégager un certain nombre de parallèles. En insistant sur leur migration, ces derniers ont élaboré un grand récit initiatique qui avait pour but de légitimer leur installation à Mexico et de justifier leur volonté hégémonique. Avec quelques différences d’importance, le récit biblique de l’exode d’Égypte puis de la conquête de Canaan comporte des aspects idéologiques similaires. Parailleurs, si les Aztèques se voyaient comme étant les héritiers des Toltèques, le royaume de Jude usurpa le prestige du royaume historique d’Israël entraînant une grande confusion autour de ce nom.