Authors: Yochanan Muffs
ISBN-13: 9781580232654, ISBN-10: 1580232655
Format: Hardcover
Publisher: Jewish Lights Publishing
Date Published: September 2005
Edition: (Non-applicable)
A fascinating exploration of the many faces of God and what they reveal about our own humanity
He was a whole pantheon in Himself.... He constantly appeared in many and ever-changing roles lest He be frozen and converted into the dumb idols He Himself despised. God was a polyvalent personality who, by mirroring to man His many faces, provided the models that man so needed to survive and flourish. This is the true humanity of God. -from the Introduction
In scholarly but accessible terms, with many startling and controversial insights, renowned Bible scholar Dr. Yochanan Muffs examines the anthropomorphic evolution of the Divine Image-from creator of the cosmos to God the father, God the husband, God the king, God the "chess-player," God the ultimate master-and how these different images of God have shaped our faith and world view. Muffs also examines how expressions of divine power, divine will and divine love throughout the Bible have helped develop the contemporary human condition and our enriching dialectic between faith and doubt.
Foreword | ||
Introduction : monotheism, anthropomorphism, and the personhood of God | 1 | |
1 | Paganism and biblical religion | 9 |
2 | The essence of biblical process | 19 |
3 | Theological anthropomorphism | 29 |
4 | The Gods and the law | 35 |
5 | Family and nation : two versions of national formation | 45 |
6 | Biblical anthropomorphism | 55 |
7 | The living machine | 61 |
8 | Divine aspirations : four aspects of kingship | 65 |
9 | Power, love, and justice : the positive expression of the divine will | 83 |
10 | On the uses of divine power | 89 |
11 | Image and imagination in the Bible | 97 |
12 | Theology and poetics | 103 |
13 | Toward a phenomenology of the senses | 113 |
14 | Intent, volition, and the roots of rabbinic prayer | 123 |
15 | Joy in the liturgy | 133 |
16 | Love and alacrity in other liturgies | 145 |
17 | The priestly benediction | 151 |
18 | God and the world | 159 |
19 | A Jewish view of God's relation to the world | 171 |
20 | Judaism and secular culture | 179 |
21 | On the demythologizing of religion | 189 |