The notion of history in the old testament and in the ancient near east
The Old Testament understanding of history is even less of a unity than that of the ancient Near East. Rather, it shows an extensive confrontation with the phenomenon of history. How could this have been any different in a culture which suffered and lived through as many different kinds of historica...
| Published in: | Old Testament essays |
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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: |
SA ePublications
1986
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| In: |
Old Testament essays
Year: 1986, Volume: 4, Pages: 14-27 |
| RelBib Classification: | BC Ancient Orient; religion HB Old Testament |
| Further subjects: | B
Conception of History
B Alttestamentliche Hermeneutik B Ancient Orient |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (kostenfrei) |
| Summary: | The Old Testament understanding of history is even less of a unity than that of the ancient Near East. Rather, it shows an extensive confrontation with the phenomenon of history. How could this have been any different in a culture which suffered and lived through as many different kinds of historical experiences as Israel? Nevertheless, history itself is not the main theme of Old Testament tradition and theology under which everything else is to be subordinated. Instead, the main theme is the basic question of all human thinking, namely, the question of how the world can achieve and maintain order, justice, righteousness and peace. This question is based an the general human conviction that only such an order makes life possible, life in the true sense. Moreover, the bearers of Old Testament tradition were convinced that ultimately the world was established along such lines of order and that this order was reckoned to an agent who provided its guarantee. Also in early Israel quite a lot of historical experiences could immediately be understood by integration into this common notion. yet, in the course of time, opposite experiences became dominant, experiences which ran counter to notions of world order, which seemed to disprove them and, by this, to destroy the basis of life. Even more evidently than in the rest of the ancient Near East it was the crisis of the old notions of world order which let history become a special theme for Israel. Israel's world order was never restituted within its own history. Israel had to come to terms with an unclear and inconsistent history, and to find its way within that history. Israel did not abandon the concept of an ultimately wholesome, ordered world, but it transformed it in a way which permitted it to cover much more - and even contradictory historical experiences. So, because Israel had to ponder historical experiences much more than its ancient Near Eastern neighbours, and because it actually did so, it has contributed more to the discussion of history than they. This development is one of the reasons why both Judaism and Christianity have been able to survive even further, throughout long centuries of history, while those of its ancient Near Eastern neighbours have perished together with the respective cultures. At the same time it is the reason why the Biblical understanding of history can be, and is still a fruitful perspective for discussing history today. |
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| ISSN: | 2312-3621 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: Old Testament essays
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| Persistent identifiers: | HDL: 10.10520/EJC-cfb3df2d6 |