The Bible Read through the Prism of Theology
The paper demonstrates that when translating explicit anthropomorphisms in Scripture, medieval Karaites are neither particularly more nor less literal than their rabbinic counterparts. Indeed, they often propose translations similar to those of Targum Onqelos and Saʿadyah Gaon. Moreover, although th...
| Published in: | The journal of Jewish thought & philosophy |
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| Main Author: | |
| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Journals Online & Print: | Drawer...
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| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Published: |
Brill
2016
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| In: |
The journal of Jewish thought & philosophy
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| Further subjects: | B
Aramaic Targums
Bible exegesis
Biblical anthropomorphism
Judaeo-Arabic
medieval Karaism
Saʿadyah Gaon
Yaʿqūb al-Qirqisānī
Yefet ben ʿEli
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| Online Access: |
Volltext (Verlag) |
| Summary: | The paper demonstrates that when translating explicit anthropomorphisms in Scripture, medieval Karaites are neither particularly more nor less literal than their rabbinic counterparts. Indeed, they often propose translations similar to those of Targum Onqelos and Saʿadyah Gaon. Moreover, although their lines of argument are different, both Saʿadyah and the Karaites insist that human language is responsible for corporeal descriptions of God in the Bible, and they resort to the linguistic conventions of figurative language and extension of meaning (majāz, ʾittisāʿ) to justify these theologically disturbing expressions. The Karaites’ contribution consists of advancing and refining these linguistic justifications by introducing, for example, the concept of polysemy (or homonymy) to account for certain kinds of problematic formulations. In addition, they are probably the first commentators in the history of Jewish Bible exegesis to cite the rabbinic dictum, “the Torah speaks in the language of man” to explain the presence of anthropomorphisms in Scripture. |
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| ISSN: | 1477-285X |
| Contains: | In: The journal of Jewish thought & philosophy
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1163/1477285X-02401001 |