God in Translation: Deities in Cross-Cultural Discourse in the Biblical World - Brossura

Smith, Mark S.

Brossura

ISBN 10: 0802864333 ISBN 13: 9780802864338

Casa editrice: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 2010

Riassunto

The Hebrew Bible has long been understood as condemning foreign deities. While many biblical texts do condemn other deities, many other passages show how early Israelites sometimes accepted the reality of deities worshiped by other peoples. Looking closely both at relevant biblical texts and at their cultural contexts, Mark S. Smith demonstrates that the biblical attitude toward other deities is not uniformly negative, as is commonly supposed. He traces the historical development of Israels one-god worldview, linking it to the rise of the surrounding Mesopotamian empires.Smiths study also produces evidence undermining a common modern assumption among historians of religion that polytheism is tolerant while monotheism is prone to intolerance and violence. Drawing both on ancient sources and on modern, theoretical approaches, Smiths God in Translation masterfully reveals the complexity of attitudes in ancient Israel toward foreign deities and makes a case for an ecumenism based on respect for local traditions and not based on a western notion of universal religion.

Su questa edizione

• Editore: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co.
• Data di pubblicazione: 2010
• ISBN 10: 0802864333
• ISBN 13: 9780802864338
• Rilegatura: Copertina flessibile
• Numero di pagine: 408