Creation and the Persistence of Evil

Creation and the Persistence of Evil

Author: Jon D. Levenson

Publisher: Princeton University Press

Published: 1994-12-19

Total Pages: 222

ISBN-13: 9780691029504

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This paperback edition brings to a wide audience one of the most innovative and meaningful models of God for this post-Auschwitz era. In a thought-provoking return to the original Hebrew conception of God, which questions accepted conceptions of divine omnipotence, Jon Levenson defines God's authorship of the world as a consequence of his victory in his struggle with evil. He traces a flexible conception of God to the earliest Hebrew sources, arguing, for example, that Genesis 1 does not describe the banishment of evil but the attempt to contain the menace of evil in the world, a struggle that continues today.


Book Synopsis Creation and the Persistence of Evil by : Jon D. Levenson

Download or read book Creation and the Persistence of Evil written by Jon D. Levenson and published by Princeton University Press. This book was released on 1994-12-19 with total page 222 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This paperback edition brings to a wide audience one of the most innovative and meaningful models of God for this post-Auschwitz era. In a thought-provoking return to the original Hebrew conception of God, which questions accepted conceptions of divine omnipotence, Jon Levenson defines God's authorship of the world as a consequence of his victory in his struggle with evil. He traces a flexible conception of God to the earliest Hebrew sources, arguing, for example, that Genesis 1 does not describe the banishment of evil but the attempt to contain the menace of evil in the world, a struggle that continues today.

Creation and the Persistence of Evil

Creation and the Persistence of Evil

Author: Jon D. Levenson

Publisher: Harper Collins

Published: 2013-10-01

Total Pages: 177

ISBN-13: 0062319884

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This paperback edition of Creation and the Persistence of Evil brings to a wide audience one of the most innovative and meaningful models of God for this post-Auschwitz era. In a thought-provoking return to the original Hebrew conception of God, which questions accepted conceptions of divine omnipotence, Jon Levenson defines God's authorship of the world as a consequence of his victory in his struggle with evil. Classic doctrines of God's creation of the universe from the void do not do justice to the complexity of that hard-fought battle, which is uncertain in its outcome. Levenson traces this more flexible conception of God to the earliest Hebrew sources. He argues that Genesis 1 does not describe the banishment of evil but the attempt to contain the menace of evil in the world, a struggle that continues today.


Book Synopsis Creation and the Persistence of Evil by : Jon D. Levenson

Download or read book Creation and the Persistence of Evil written by Jon D. Levenson and published by Harper Collins. This book was released on 2013-10-01 with total page 177 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This paperback edition of Creation and the Persistence of Evil brings to a wide audience one of the most innovative and meaningful models of God for this post-Auschwitz era. In a thought-provoking return to the original Hebrew conception of God, which questions accepted conceptions of divine omnipotence, Jon Levenson defines God's authorship of the world as a consequence of his victory in his struggle with evil. Classic doctrines of God's creation of the universe from the void do not do justice to the complexity of that hard-fought battle, which is uncertain in its outcome. Levenson traces this more flexible conception of God to the earliest Hebrew sources. He argues that Genesis 1 does not describe the banishment of evil but the attempt to contain the menace of evil in the world, a struggle that continues today.

Creation and the Persistence of Evil

Creation and the Persistence of Evil

Author: Jon Douglas Levenson

Publisher:

Published: 1985

Total Pages: 182

ISBN-13:

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Book Synopsis Creation and the Persistence of Evil by : Jon Douglas Levenson

Download or read book Creation and the Persistence of Evil written by Jon Douglas Levenson and published by . This book was released on 1985 with total page 182 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Resurrection and the Restoration of Israel

Resurrection and the Restoration of Israel

Author: Jon Douglas Levenson

Publisher: Yale University Press

Published: 2006-01-01

Total Pages: 296

ISBN-13: 0300135157

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Many famous antique texts are misunderstood and many others have been completely dismissed, all because the literary style in which they were written is unfamiliar today. So argues Mary Douglas in this controversial study of ring composition, a technique which places the meaning of a text in the middle, framed by a beginning and ending in parallel. To read a ring composition in the modern linear fashion is to misinterpret it, Douglas contends, and today's scholars must reevaluate important antique texts from around the world. Found in the Bible and in writings from as far a field as Egypt, China, Indonesia, Greece, and Russia, ring composition is too widespread to have come from a single source. Does it perhaps derive from the way the brain works? What is its function in social contexts? The author examines ring composition, its principles and functions, in a cross-cultural way. She focuses on ring composition in Homer's Iliad, the Bible's book of Numbers, and, for a challenging modern example, Laurence Sterne's Tristram Shandy, developing a persuasive argument for reconstruing famous books and rereading neglected ones.


Book Synopsis Resurrection and the Restoration of Israel by : Jon Douglas Levenson

Download or read book Resurrection and the Restoration of Israel written by Jon Douglas Levenson and published by Yale University Press. This book was released on 2006-01-01 with total page 296 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Many famous antique texts are misunderstood and many others have been completely dismissed, all because the literary style in which they were written is unfamiliar today. So argues Mary Douglas in this controversial study of ring composition, a technique which places the meaning of a text in the middle, framed by a beginning and ending in parallel. To read a ring composition in the modern linear fashion is to misinterpret it, Douglas contends, and today's scholars must reevaluate important antique texts from around the world. Found in the Bible and in writings from as far a field as Egypt, China, Indonesia, Greece, and Russia, ring composition is too widespread to have come from a single source. Does it perhaps derive from the way the brain works? What is its function in social contexts? The author examines ring composition, its principles and functions, in a cross-cultural way. She focuses on ring composition in Homer's Iliad, the Bible's book of Numbers, and, for a challenging modern example, Laurence Sterne's Tristram Shandy, developing a persuasive argument for reconstruing famous books and rereading neglected ones.

Inheriting Abraham

Inheriting Abraham

Author: Jon Douglas Levenson

Publisher: Princeton University Press

Published: 2012

Total Pages: 263

ISBN-13: 0691155690

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"Levenson provides a masterful reading of Jewish, Christian, and Islamic thinking that yielded three different portraits of Abraham. He sets the record straight about the biblical patriarch."---Sidney H. Griffith, author of The Church in the Shadow of the Mosque: Christians and Muslims in the World of Islam --Book Jacket.


Book Synopsis Inheriting Abraham by : Jon Douglas Levenson

Download or read book Inheriting Abraham written by Jon Douglas Levenson and published by Princeton University Press. This book was released on 2012 with total page 263 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Levenson provides a masterful reading of Jewish, Christian, and Islamic thinking that yielded three different portraits of Abraham. He sets the record straight about the biblical patriarch."---Sidney H. Griffith, author of The Church in the Shadow of the Mosque: Christians and Muslims in the World of Islam --Book Jacket.

The Death and Resurrection of the Beloved Son

The Death and Resurrection of the Beloved Son

Author: Jon D. Levenson

Publisher: Yale University Press

Published: 1993-01-01

Total Pages: 278

ISBN-13: 9780300065114

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"The near sacrifice and miraculous restoration of a beloved son is a central but largely overlooked theme in both Judaism and Christianity. This book explores how this notion of child sacrifice constitutes an overlooked bond between the two religions."--


Book Synopsis The Death and Resurrection of the Beloved Son by : Jon D. Levenson

Download or read book The Death and Resurrection of the Beloved Son written by Jon D. Levenson and published by Yale University Press. This book was released on 1993-01-01 with total page 278 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "The near sacrifice and miraculous restoration of a beloved son is a central but largely overlooked theme in both Judaism and Christianity. This book explores how this notion of child sacrifice constitutes an overlooked bond between the two religions."--

The Love of God

The Love of God

Author: Jon D. Levenson

Publisher: Princeton University Press

Published: 2020-03-31

Total Pages: 260

ISBN-13: 0691202508

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The love of God is perhaps the most essential element in Judaism--but also one of the most confounding. In biblical and rabbinic literature, the obligation to love God appears as a formal commandment. Yet most people today think of love as a feeling. How can an emotion be commanded? How could one ever fulfill such a requirement? The Love of God places these scholarly and existential questions in a new light. Jon Levenson traces the origins of the concept to the ancient institution of covenant, showing how covenantal love is a matter neither of sentiment nor of dry legalism. The love of God is instead a deeply personal two-way relationship that finds expression in God's mysterious love for the people of Israel, who in turn observe God's laws out of profound gratitude for his acts of deliverance. Levenson explores how this bond has survived episodes in which God's love appears to be painfully absent--as in the brutal persecutions of Talmudic times--and describes the intensely erotic portrayals of the relationship by biblical prophets and rabbinic interpreters of the Song of Songs. He examines the love of God as a spiritual discipline in the Middle Ages as well as efforts by two influential modern Jewish thinkers--Martin Buber and Franz Rosenzweig--to recover this vital but endangered aspect of their tradition. A breathtaking work of scholarship and spirituality alike that is certain to provoke debate, The Love of God develops fascinating insights into the foundations of religious life in the classical Jewish tradition. (Publisher).


Book Synopsis The Love of God by : Jon D. Levenson

Download or read book The Love of God written by Jon D. Levenson and published by Princeton University Press. This book was released on 2020-03-31 with total page 260 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The love of God is perhaps the most essential element in Judaism--but also one of the most confounding. In biblical and rabbinic literature, the obligation to love God appears as a formal commandment. Yet most people today think of love as a feeling. How can an emotion be commanded? How could one ever fulfill such a requirement? The Love of God places these scholarly and existential questions in a new light. Jon Levenson traces the origins of the concept to the ancient institution of covenant, showing how covenantal love is a matter neither of sentiment nor of dry legalism. The love of God is instead a deeply personal two-way relationship that finds expression in God's mysterious love for the people of Israel, who in turn observe God's laws out of profound gratitude for his acts of deliverance. Levenson explores how this bond has survived episodes in which God's love appears to be painfully absent--as in the brutal persecutions of Talmudic times--and describes the intensely erotic portrayals of the relationship by biblical prophets and rabbinic interpreters of the Song of Songs. He examines the love of God as a spiritual discipline in the Middle Ages as well as efforts by two influential modern Jewish thinkers--Martin Buber and Franz Rosenzweig--to recover this vital but endangered aspect of their tradition. A breathtaking work of scholarship and spirituality alike that is certain to provoke debate, The Love of God develops fascinating insights into the foundations of religious life in the classical Jewish tradition. (Publisher).

God and Human Suffering

God and Human Suffering

Author: Douglas John Hall

Publisher: Fortress Press

Published:

Total Pages: 228

ISBN-13: 9781451407174

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Professor Hall has written a major work on an agonizing subject, at once brilliant, comprehensive, and thought provoking.In contrast to many writers who gloss over one or the other, Dr. Hall is true both to the reality of suffering and to the affirmation that God creates, sustains, and redeems.Creative is his view that certain aspects of what we call suffering -- loneliness, experience of limits, temptation, anxiety -- are necessary parts of God's good creation. These he distinguishes from suffering after the fall, the tragic dimension of life.Unique is his structure: creation-suffering as becomingthe fall--suffering as a burdenredemption--conquest from within.Professor Hall succeeds in moving the reader beyond the customary way of stating the problem: "How can undeserved suffering coexist with a just and almighty God?" He also evaluates five popular, leading thinkers on suffering: Harold Kushner, C.S. Lewis, Diogenes Allen, George Buttrick, and Leslie Weatherhead.


Book Synopsis God and Human Suffering by : Douglas John Hall

Download or read book God and Human Suffering written by Douglas John Hall and published by Fortress Press. This book was released on with total page 228 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Professor Hall has written a major work on an agonizing subject, at once brilliant, comprehensive, and thought provoking.In contrast to many writers who gloss over one or the other, Dr. Hall is true both to the reality of suffering and to the affirmation that God creates, sustains, and redeems.Creative is his view that certain aspects of what we call suffering -- loneliness, experience of limits, temptation, anxiety -- are necessary parts of God's good creation. These he distinguishes from suffering after the fall, the tragic dimension of life.Unique is his structure: creation-suffering as becomingthe fall--suffering as a burdenredemption--conquest from within.Professor Hall succeeds in moving the reader beyond the customary way of stating the problem: "How can undeserved suffering coexist with a just and almighty God?" He also evaluates five popular, leading thinkers on suffering: Harold Kushner, C.S. Lewis, Diogenes Allen, George Buttrick, and Leslie Weatherhead.

Creation and Chaos

Creation and Chaos

Author: JoAnn Scurlock

Publisher: Penn State Press

Published: 2013-10-14

Total Pages: 353

ISBN-13: 1575068656

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Hermann Gunkel was a scholar in the generation of the origins of Assyriology, the spectacular discovery by George Smith of fragments of the “Chaldean Genesis,” and the Babel-Bibel debate. Gunkel’s thesis, inspired by materials supplied to him by the Assyriologist Heinrich Zimmern, was to take the Chaoskampf motif of Revelation as an event that would not only occur at the end of the world but had already happened at the beginning, before Creation. In other words, in this theory, one imagines God in Genesis 1 as first having battled Rahab, Leviathan, and Yam (the forces of Chaos) in a grand battle, and only then beginning to create. The problem with Gunkel’s theory is that it did not simply identify common elements in the mythologies of the ancient Near East but imposed upon them a structure dictating the relationships between the elements, a structure that was based on inadequate knowledge and a forced interpretation of his sources. On the other hand, one is not entitled to insist that there was no cultural conversation among peoples who spent the better part of several millennia trading with, fighting, and conquering one another. Creation and Chaos attempts to address some of these issues. The contributions are organized into five sections that address various aspects of the issues raised by Gunekl’s theories.


Book Synopsis Creation and Chaos by : JoAnn Scurlock

Download or read book Creation and Chaos written by JoAnn Scurlock and published by Penn State Press. This book was released on 2013-10-14 with total page 353 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Hermann Gunkel was a scholar in the generation of the origins of Assyriology, the spectacular discovery by George Smith of fragments of the “Chaldean Genesis,” and the Babel-Bibel debate. Gunkel’s thesis, inspired by materials supplied to him by the Assyriologist Heinrich Zimmern, was to take the Chaoskampf motif of Revelation as an event that would not only occur at the end of the world but had already happened at the beginning, before Creation. In other words, in this theory, one imagines God in Genesis 1 as first having battled Rahab, Leviathan, and Yam (the forces of Chaos) in a grand battle, and only then beginning to create. The problem with Gunkel’s theory is that it did not simply identify common elements in the mythologies of the ancient Near East but imposed upon them a structure dictating the relationships between the elements, a structure that was based on inadequate knowledge and a forced interpretation of his sources. On the other hand, one is not entitled to insist that there was no cultural conversation among peoples who spent the better part of several millennia trading with, fighting, and conquering one another. Creation and Chaos attempts to address some of these issues. The contributions are organized into five sections that address various aspects of the issues raised by Gunekl’s theories.

Stories from Ancient Canaan

Stories from Ancient Canaan

Author: Michael David Coogan

Publisher: Westminster John Knox Press

Published: 1978-01-01

Total Pages: 130

ISBN-13: 9780664241841

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Contained on fifteen of the cuneiform tables uncovered at the ancient Canaanite city of Ugarit are the four major oral Ugartic myths of Aqhat, The Healers, Kirta and Baal. Stories from Ancient Canaan is the first to offer a one-volume translation of all four. This accessible book teaches the principal Canaanite religious literature, and will be useful to students of the history of religion, of the Bible, and of comparative literature.


Book Synopsis Stories from Ancient Canaan by : Michael David Coogan

Download or read book Stories from Ancient Canaan written by Michael David Coogan and published by Westminster John Knox Press. This book was released on 1978-01-01 with total page 130 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Contained on fifteen of the cuneiform tables uncovered at the ancient Canaanite city of Ugarit are the four major oral Ugartic myths of Aqhat, The Healers, Kirta and Baal. Stories from Ancient Canaan is the first to offer a one-volume translation of all four. This accessible book teaches the principal Canaanite religious literature, and will be useful to students of the history of religion, of the Bible, and of comparative literature.