Search

[German Version] The Testament of Job is a pseudepigraphal Jewish work in which the canonical book of Job is retold following the schema of testamentary literature. The text is extant in Greek, Slavonic, and Coptic fragments. The work comprises four sections, framed by a prologue in which Job (Jobab) assembles his children and an epilogue …

[German Version] I. Religious Studies – II. Old Testament – III. Judaism – IV. New Testament – V. Historical and Systematic Theology– VI. Practical Theology I. Religious Studies From the perspective of religious studies, blessing and curse are dense, complex terms, hard to summarize in a single concept that would include every religious symbol system. They should not be thought of primarily as opposites but as parallel polyvalent terms that express different forms of religious communication. They represent complex processes that con…

[German Version] (Heb. for “scrolls”). The plural Megillot is an artificial designation for the five books Song of Songs, Ruth, Lamentations, Qohelet, and Esther, which belong to the third part of the Old Testament ( Ketuvim, Writings; Old Testament, Bible: II, 2), but which did not yet form a unit at the time of canonization; only from the 10th century were the writings grouped together following the Pentateuch and according to the order in which they were used liturgically (see EJ IV, 1971, 829f.). In b. B.Bat. 14b the Megillot are still arranged according to their presumed age. T…

[German Version] I. General – II. Canonical Book of Ezra – III. 1 Esdras – IV. 4 Ezra – V. 5 Ezra, 6 Ezra I. General In the Masoretic canon, Ezra and Nehemiah were considered one book of Ezra on into the 15th century. The LXX adopted this as Esdras β᾿ and numbered its chapters 1–23; it prefaced, however, as Esdras α᾿, a(n older?) freer translation of 2 Chr 35f.; Ezra 1–10; Neh 7:72b-8:12 and expanded it with a pagan account (chs. 3–5) not attested in Hebrew. The Vulgate classified the secon…

…

[German Version] I. Old Testament The noun tôrāh (הרָוֹתּ) is usually derived from the verb הרי/ yrh, “show,” hiphil “instruct.” In Israelite wisdom literature, it denotes ethical and religious instruction by parents (Prov 1:8; 4:1; 6:20; 31:26) or sages (Prov 13:14) as well as religious instruction by priests (Jer 18:18). As a term denoting the law (Law and legislation: II; LXX: νόμος/ nómos), it stands at the end of an ongoing theologization of the law in ancient Israel, following the Deuteronomic centralization of the cult (Josiah) and the establishment of a central religious court in Jerusalem (Deut 17:8ff.). According to the Deuteronomistic narrative, Deuteronomy goes back to a Torah manuscript of Mosaic origin found in the temple (2 Kgs 22:8, 11; 23:24). It is ascribed to divine revelation (III; cf. Deut 5) and interpreted as the binding text of a covenant prior to Israe…

[German Version] Almost every Jewish and Samaritan synagogue contains a repository for the Torah scroll(s). There is archaeological evidence of Torah shrines (Dura-Europos: II); there are also representations in Palestinian mosaic floors (Beth-Shean, Hammat-Tiberias [Mosaic art: III, fig. 2]); in antiquity a Torah shrine could take the form of an aedicula, a niche, or an apse. As a rule, it rests on a fixed platform at the center of a wall oriented toward Jerusalem. Originally there was probably n…

[German Version] Jewish historian of the 1st century ce. His works are only known through the polemical remarks of Josephus ( Vita 336ff.) and references by and excerpts in Christian authors (Julius Africanus, Eusebius, Photius, Diogenes Laertius). Justus wrote a history of the Jewish Revolt, in which …

…

[German Version] Along with Rabbi Akiba ben Joseph", Ishmael was one of the most important rabbinical scholars of the Tannaitic period (c. 100 ce). Only isolated, vague references in rabbinic literature imply biographical details. Since there were several rabbi Ishmaels and he is usually mentioned without patronymic, their…

Als Kaddisch-Gebet wird ein kurzes Gebet in hebräischer und aramäischer Sprache bezeichnet, das in verschiedenen Versionen überliefert ist. Es enthält neben doxologischen Formeln vor allem Bitten um die Heiligung des Namens, das Kommen der Königsherrschaft Gottes und um Frieden. Als Gebet zum Gedenken an Verstorbene gilt es heute als das Gebet für die Toten schlechthin. 1. Anfänge Die formgeschichtliche Analyse des Textes belegt, dass es sich beim Kaddisch (aram., wörtl. »heilig«) ursprünglich um eine kurze, nach dem Studium der heiligen Schriften ges…

A Kaddish prayer is a short prayer in Hebrew and Aramaic, which has been transmitted in various versions. Besides doxological formulas, it mainly contains petitions for the sanctification of the name of God, the coming of God’s kingdom, and peace. As a prayer commemorating the deceased, it is today considered the prayer for the dead par excellence. 1. BeginningsForm-critical analysis of the text shows that the Kaddish (Aram., literally “holy”) was originally a matter of a short doxology, that is, praise of the glory of God, spoken after studying the ho…