Provocateurs, Examiners, and Fools: Divine Opponents to the Aqedah in Early Judaism
Divine beings who are opposed to God and God’s people in Second Temple Jewish literature are often interpreted shallowly in comparison to other figures in their respective stories (e.g., they can be subsumed under the equivocal term “evil,” interpreted as a means for vindictive communities to demoni...
| Main Author: | |
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| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Journals Online & Print: | Drawer...
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| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Published: |
2021
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| In: |
The catholic biblical quarterly
Year: 2021, Volume: 83, Issue: 3, Pages: 373-389 |
| Standardized Subjects / Keyword chains: | B
Bible. Genesis 22
/ Abraham, Biblical person
/ Isaac
/ Reception
/ Early Judaism
/ Devil
/ Angel
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| IxTheo Classification: | HD Early Judaism |
| Further subjects: | B
Mastema
B Demons B Evil B Genesis 22 B Angels B Satan B Second Temple Judaism |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) |
| Summary: | Divine beings who are opposed to God and God’s people in Second Temple Jewish literature are often interpreted shallowly in comparison to other figures in their respective stories (e.g., they can be subsumed under the equivocal term “evil,” interpreted as a means for vindictive communities to demonize others, or seen as an imposition by “foreign” ideologies). In this essay, I argue that these figures more often play a crucial and nuanced role to develop and compare “therapeutic” answers to difficult theological questions such as the nature of suffering, the extent of human moral agency, and the rewards of resilience. I explore these issues through examining the wide range of oppositional divine figures who appear in receptions of the Aqedah (Genesis 22) in Second Temple Jewish and rabbinic texts. Literature discussed includes the Jubilees tradition, Pseudo-Philo, LAB 32, Genesis Rabbah 55-56, b. Sanh. 89b, and Pirqe de-Rabbi Eliezer 31. |
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| ISSN: | 2163-2529 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: The catholic biblical quarterly
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1353/cbq.2021.0080 |