Biblical Interpretation · 2001 · 20 citations · 0 references
HumanitiesReligionReligious StudiesBiblical StudiesScriptural StudiesTheologyBiblical CanonBiblical ExegesisBiblical HebrewCanonical CriticismHebrew Bible StudiesSacred TextsBiblical Textual CriticismCanonical CommunityCanonical Textual CriticismHebrew Bible CanonHebrew Canon FormationReception Of Canon Formation
The Hebrew Bible presents diverse, sometimes conflicting depictions of Yahweh, and scholars have noted that each text reflects the needs of its originating community, yet little research has examined how these portrayals evolved from initial composition to canonization. The study argues that the Hebrew canon was compiled by literati motivated by socio‑ideological and aesthetic goals rather than purely religious ones. The socio‑ideological and aesthetic motivations of the compilers account for the extreme diversity of Yahweh personalities in the Hebrew canon.
Abstract Over the centuries, rabbis, priests and laity have wrestled with the Bible's various and often conflicting portraits of the God Yahweh. The social sciences suggest that each Yahweh text reflects the needs of the communities that formulated the text. Also, academic research has explored the reception of the complete Bible by religious communities. With the exception of so-called canonical criticism, very little work has been done on the transition between these two stages of the Bible's (and Yahweh's) evolution, from initial composition of texts to complete biblical canon. But canonical criticism usually presumes, a priori , that any text later deemed biblical was in some sense religiously useful from the day of initial composition, became (or continued to be) religiously authoritative as it evolved toward final edited form, and only increased in sacredness as it moved toward canonization. This study disputes that presumption, suggesting that the anthology was produced by a group of literati whose motivation was both socio-ideological and aesthetic, but not religious. This motivation best explains the extreme diversity of Yahweh personalities in the Hebrew canon.