Search

[German Version] I. Religious Studies Prayer is one of the most frequent and important religious acts in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. It also appears in other religions – for example the indigenous religions of America. But it does not appear to be universal. Some Buddhist traditions, for example, are atheistic, and in them there is no prayer in the strict sense; these traditions often allow their adherents to pray to gods (e.g. Hindu gods), but they value the goals of such prayer less than enl…

[German Version] I. Proto-Zechariah 1. The prophet and his time. The name Zechariah (Heb. זְכַרְיָה/ z ekaryāh, “YHWH has remembered”) is attested …

[German Version] Of the 51 occurrences of the name Sarah (Heb. הרָשָׂ/ śārāh, “princess”) in the Old Testament, all but one are in Genesis. Sarai (Old Sem. form?), first appears in Gen 11:29 as the wife of Terah’s son Abram; she went with them first from Ur to Haran (11:31) and later to Canaan (12:5). The change of names to Abraham and Sarah is reported in 17:5, 11. According to 20:11 (cf. 12:11, 19), Sarah was Abraham’s half-sister, a form of marriage later prohibited (cf. 2 Sam 13:13 with Lev 18:9; 20:17; Deut 27:22) but not criticized at all here ( pace Hepner). Sarah’s barrenness, a continu…