Non-Earthly Conceptions of Future Hope In The Old Testament And Second Temple Jewish Literature

2000 ◽  
Author(s):  
John C. NUGENT
Keyword(s):  
Old Testament ◽  
Second Temple ◽  
Jewish Literature

The Holy Name of the God of Moses and the Prologue of St John's Gospel

1978 ◽  
Vol 25 (1) ◽  
pp. 16-32 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. T. R. Hayward
Keyword(s):  
New Testament ◽  
Old Testament ◽  
Critical Evaluation ◽  
Second Temple ◽  
Jewish Literature ◽  
Frequent Use ◽  
Established Fact ◽  
John's Gospel ◽  
Editio Princeps ◽  
Relationship Of

It is now over twenty years since Alejandro Dez Macho announced his discovery of a complete text of the Palestinian Targum contained in the Codex Neofiti I of the Vatican Library. Even before the first volume of the editio princeps was published, the importance of Neofiti 1(N) and its marginal and interlinear glosses (Ngl) was apparent not only to specialists in the Aramaic language, Old Testament studies, and Jewish Literature of the Second Temple, Mishnaic and Talmudic times, but also to New Testament scholars. A particular feature of N which was bound to attract attention sooner or later is its frequent use of the formula Memra (utterance, word) of ahweh in the first chapter of Genesis in place of the Ἐlohim of the Massoretic Text, a feature encountered otherwise only in the Fragmentary Targum (FT). As we shall see presently, the exact significance of the term Memra was once a matter for keen scholarly debate, some asserting that it represented an entity separate from God, an intermediary between God and the created order, others roundly denying that it was any such thing, and regarding it only as a reverent means of avoiding pronunciation of the Holy and Ineffable Name. For reasons shortly to be described it was the latter opinion which finally prevailed and which is now generally accepted as established fact; but in the days before the scholarly debate on Memra was concluded it had been quite common for New Testament scholars to argue that, as an hypostasis and intermediary between God and the world, Memra had formed either the single antecedent, or one of the antecedents, to the Logos of the prologue of St John's Gospel. The presence of Memra in the text of N to Gen. i, and its frequent appearance in the Ngl, has led to renewed scholarly interest in the relationship of Memra to St John's Logos, so much so that A. Dez Macho, McNamara, and Domingo Muoz are all prepared to consider Memra a key concept in any discussion of St John's prologue. With the results of previous scholarship in mind, and in the light of new evidence, it would appear that the time is now right for a critical evaluation of these recent claims.

scholarly journals Baptism – the Revelation of the Filial Relationship of Christ and the Christian

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (3) ◽  
pp. 459-495
Author(s):  
Marcin Kowalski
Keyword(s):  
Old Testament ◽  
Second Temple ◽  
Synoptic Gospels ◽  
Jewish Literature ◽  
Early Christian ◽  
The Gift ◽  
Christian Understanding ◽  
In Christ ◽  
Relationship Of ◽  
Point Of Reference

The author analyses Jesus’ baptism in Jordan, looking for its parallel in the Christian baptism. He begins by acknowledging the historicity of Jesus’ baptism and reflects on the meaning of the baptism of John by juxtaposing it with similar rites described in the Old Testament texts, in Second Temple Jewish literature, and in rabbinical sources. Then he analyses the meaning of Jesus’ baptism, criticizing the historical-critical interpretations that separate the scene of baptism from the theophany that follows it. According to the author, such an operation is unfounded due to the nature of ancient texts and the literary and thematic continuity between baptism and theophany in the synoptic Gospels. Further, the author presents arguments demonstrating that Jesus comes to Jordan already aware of his identity and mission, which the Father’s voice announces to others and objectivizes. In the last step, it is argued that Jesus’ baptism in Jordan together with the Lord’s death and resurrection could have been a point of reference for the early Christian understanding of baptism connected with the gift of the Spirit, with the filial dignity and the “Abba” prayer and with the inheritance of heaven. All these elements can be found in Rom 8:14-17,23 which describes the new life of those baptized in Christ.

Going Through Hell; ΤΑΡΤΑΡΟΣ in Greco-Roman Culture, Second Temple Judaism, and Philo of Alexandria

2013 ◽  
Vol 4 (3) ◽  
pp. 352-378
Author(s):  
Clint Burnett
Keyword(s):  
Second Temple ◽  
Second Temple Judaism ◽  
Jewish Literature ◽  
Ancient Greek ◽  
Philo Of Alexandria ◽  
Second Temple Period ◽  
Greco Roman ◽  
Literary Sources ◽  
Roman Culture ◽  
Greek Myths

This article questions the longstanding supposition that the eschatology of the Second Temple period was solely influenced by Persian or Iranian eschatology, arguing instead that the literature of this period reflects awareness of several key Greco-Roman mythological concepts. In particular, the concepts of Tartarus and the Greek myths of Titans and Giants underlie much of the treatment of eschatology in the Jewish literature of the period. A thorough treatment of Tartarus and related concepts in literary and non-literary sources from ancient Greek and Greco-Roman culture provides a backdrop for a discussion of these themes in the Second Temple period and especially in the writings of Philo of Alexandria.

scholarly journals Die hermeneutiese proses onderliggend aan Paulus se eksegese van Eksodus 17:6 en Numeri 20:7–11 in 1 Korintiërs 10:1–4

2021 ◽  
Vol 77 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jacobus D.W. De Koning
Keyword(s):  
Old Testament ◽  
Second Temple ◽  
Second Temple Judaism ◽  
Jewish Tradition ◽  
Original Text ◽  
1 Corinthians ◽  
Dialogical Relationship ◽  
The World ◽  
The Church

The hermeneutical process underlying Paul’s exegesis of Exodus 17:6 and Numbers 20:7–11 in 1 Corinthians 10:1–4. In this article, Paul’s use of the Old Testament in 1 Corinthians 10:1–4 comes under scrutiny. In contrast with the theory of some modern scholars that Paul uses, ‘fanciful analogies’, ‘startling figurative claims’ and metaphors that ‘should not he pressed’, in reaching his conclusion that ‘the rock was Christ’, in 1 Corinthians 10:4c, it is indicated that Paul is indeed taking the original text, the Old Testament’s interpretation of the text, and the Jewish tradition of the interpretation of the text, seriously, in the light of the Christ-event. To prove this claim, research of the text (Exodus 17:6 Numbers 20:7–11), that Paul uses in 1 Corinthians 10:1–4, is followed by research of the ‘world in front of that text’ (Deuteronomy 32, the Psalms and Second Temple Judaism).Contribution: The conclusion that is reached indicates that Paul established within the context of contemporary Jewish practices, a true dialogical relationship between an intertextual handling of the text, and his interpretation thereof in the light of the relevance of the Christ-event for the conflict in the Church of Corinth.

Philo’s Influence on Understanding Divine Anthropomorphism

2020 ◽  
Vol 91 (1) ◽  
pp. 50-65
Author(s):  
Adam W. Jones
Keyword(s):  
Old Testament ◽  
Second Temple ◽  
Philosophical Tradition ◽  
Greek Philosophy ◽  
Second Temple Period ◽  
Figures Of Speech ◽  
Hebrew Scripture

Divine anthropomorphisms are prevalent in the Old Testament. Authors of Old Testament works seemingly had no reservations with using human qualities to describe God. During the Second Temple period Greek philosophy began to influence the interpretation of texts that describe God using anthropomorphisms. This shift in understanding God is evidenced in translation tendencies in the Septuagint and in Philo’s reading of Hebrew Scripture. The elements of proto-Gnosticism found in Philo’s writings are at times closely related to his interpretation of anthropomorphism. Since Philo’s understanding of such figures of speech has been the historic majority view, it is important to evaluate his method of interpretation to determine whether this understanding of divine anthropomorphism is rooted in Scripture or his philosophical tradition.

Slavonic

2019 ◽  
pp. 49-72
Author(s):  
Alexander Kulik
Keyword(s):  
Second Temple ◽  
Present Form ◽  
Jewish Literature ◽  
Second Temple Period

The corpus of Jewish literature of the Second Temple period is represented in the Slavonic tradition by biblical pseudepigrapha (especially of apocalyptic genre) and Josephus. The extant Slavonic manuscripts containing these documents belong to the period spanning the fourteenth to the seventeenth centuries. However, in some cases their language enables us to date the earliest of their proto-texts reliably to the tenth to eleventh centuries. Like the majority of early Slavonic writings, all the texts in the corpus under discussion have been translated from Greek, and most of these translations were produced in South Slavia. Some of these texts have been preserved uniquely in Slavonic, while others have parallel versions in non-Slavonic languages. Some texts must be faithful rendering of ancient originals. Other texts in their present form are products of medieval Byzantine or Slavonic reworking. The differentiation between ancient and medieval materials is not always easy to make.

5. The canon, authoritative scriptures, and the scrolls

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Timothy H. Lim
Keyword(s):  
Old Testament ◽  
Hebrew Bible ◽  
Dead Sea Scrolls ◽  
Second Temple ◽  
Dead Sea ◽  
Second Temple Period ◽  
The Dead ◽  
Biblical Texts ◽  
Shed Light

The Dead Sea Scrolls have shed light on the canonization of the Old Testament or Hebrew Bible in the Second Temple period. They provide us with exemplars of their biblical texts and how they used them in an authoritative manner. ‘The canon, authoritative scriptures, and the scrolls’ explains that the sectarian concept of authoritative scriptures seemed to reflect a dual pattern of authority by which the traditional biblical texts served as the source of the sectarian interpretation that in turn was defined by it. The authority was graded, beginning with the biblical books and extending to other books that were not eventually included in the canon.

scholarly journals Developing an integrated approach to interpret New Testament use of the Old Testament

2012 ◽  
Vol 46 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Gregory Y. Phillips ◽  
Fika Janse van Rensburg ◽  
Herrie F. Van Rooy
Keyword(s):  
New Testament ◽  
Old Testament ◽  
Integrated Approach ◽  
Second Temple ◽  
Second Temple Judaism ◽  
Historical Method ◽  
Starting Point ◽  
The New Testament ◽  
Second Temple Literature ◽  
Natural Sense

The aim of this article is to develop a specific approach to interpreting New Testament use of the Old Testament. The approach has integrated the most useful insights of studies in both Second Temple Judaism and present day literary theory in order to reach most consistently and effectively a valid explanation of the biblical data. In the process, severalimportant hermeneutical issues have been addressed. The focus of New Testament use of the Old Testament in the person and redemptive work of Jesus should always be the goal of Christian interpretation. Whilst old and new texts mutually interpret one another, it has been argued that there has been no ultimate ambiguity about the author’s intended, singular meaning or distortion of the original meaning of the old text. It is important to be aware that all readers come to a text with preconceived worldviews that are inevitably a mixture of biblical and unbiblical perspectives. However, this does not prevent a reader from attaining a valid understanding that adequately overlaps with the most probable meaning of the text as intended by the author. This most probable meaning is determined by the explanation that logically makes the most coherent and natural sense of most biblical data. The methodological procedure proposed has taken thegrammatical-historical method as the normative starting point of exegesis. It has then proceeded to imitate the New Testament in consideration of the broader canonical context, before considering explanations derived from the Second Temple literature or present day literary theory.Die ontwerp van ‘n geïntegreerde benadering om Nuwe-Testamentiese gebruik van die Ou Testament te verstaan. Die bedoeling met hierdie artikel is om ’n benadering te ontwerp om die Nuwe-Testamentiese gebruik van die Ou Testament te verstaan. Dié benadering moet die mees bruikbare insigte van die navorsing oor die Tweede Tempelperiode en die hedendaagse literêre teorie integreer, met die oog daarop om op die mees konstante en effektiewe wyse ’n geldige verklaring van die Bybelse data te gee. In hierdie proses word etlike hermeneutiese vraagstukke onder die loep geneem. Aangesien die fokus van die Nuwe-Testamentiese gebruik van die Ou Testament die persoon en verlossingswerk van Jesus is, is dit nodig dat hierdie fokus by die Christen se verstaan ook teenwoordig is. Dit is so dat ouer en nuwer tekste mekaar interpreteer; dit hou egter nie in dat daar dubbelsinnigheid is oor die outeur se bedoelde enkele betekenis, of ’n skeeftrekking van die oorspronklike betekenis van die ouer teks nie. ’n Leser kom noodwendig na die teks met ’n spesifieke wêreldbeskouing, wat ’n mengsel is van Bybelse en onbybelse perspektiewe. Dit verhoed die leser egter nie om by ’n geldige verstaan van die teks uit te kom wat voldoende oorvleuel met die mees waarskynlike betekenis van die teks soos wat die outeur dit bedoel het en wat logieserwys die meeste van die bybelse data goed en organies verreken nie. Die voorgestelde benadering neem die grammaties-historiese metode as die normatiewe beginpunt vir eksegese, en volg dan die Nuwe Testament self na deur die breër kanoniese konteks te verreken. Eers dan word die literatuur van die Tweede Tempelperiode asook die literêre teorie van die huidige tyd verreken.

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