One God, Two Powers, and the Rabbinic Rejection of Subordinationism

This article furthers our understanding of rabbinic theology through an examination of its characteristic modes of expression. I demonstrate that although the rabbinic literature frequently polemicizes against perceived deviant theologies, it refrains from explicit expressions of God’s unity. This d...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Grossberg, David M. 1965- (Author)
Format: Electronic Article
Language:English
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Published: Brill 2022
In: Journal for the study of Judaism in the Persian, Hellenistic, and Roman period
Year: 2022, Volume: 53, Issue: 3, Pages: 405-436
Standardized Subjects / Keyword chains:B Late Antiquity / Rabbinic literature / Jewish theology / Dualism / Monotheism
IxTheo Classification:BH Judaism
FA Theology
Further subjects:B two powers
B Jewish Theology
B Monotheism
B Late Antiquity
B binitarianism
B Rabbinic Literature
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Summary:This article furthers our understanding of rabbinic theology through an examination of its characteristic modes of expression. I demonstrate that although the rabbinic literature frequently polemicizes against perceived deviant theologies, it refrains from explicit expressions of God’s unity. This disinclination derives from the target and intent of rabbinic theological polemic. The rabbis’ opponents were not Christian binitarians who believed in multiple divine persons, but what I will refer to as Jewish subordinationists who believed in created divine agents through which God acts in the world. The rabbis were therefore less concerned with the ontological nature of God’s unity than they were with distancing all other beings from God’s sole sovereignty. My work provides additional textual support for the growing scholarly consensus that Jewish proponents of Logos theologies were among the rabbis’ earliest opponents, but it challenges the current convention that interprets these theologies in a primarily Christian binitarian context.
ISSN:1570-0631
Contains:Enthalten in: Journal for the study of Judaism in the Persian, Hellenistic, and Roman period
Persistent identifiers:DOI: 10.1163/15700631-bja10046