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b-hebrew - Re: [b-hebrew] Divine body parts, was: Doctorates (PhD or ThD?)

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  • From: Peter Kirk <peterkirk AT qaya.org>
  • To: "Heard, Christopher" <Christopher.Heard AT pepperdine.edu>
  • Cc: b-hebrew <b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] Divine body parts, was: Doctorates (PhD or ThD?)
  • Date: Tue, 06 Sep 2005 23:25:19 +0100

On 06/09/2005 19:30, Heard, Christopher wrote:

On Sep 6, 2005, at 5:20 AM, Peter Kirk wrote:

Well, the ancient theological tradition is that the "image of God" was not physical but moral and spiritual. It is hard to be sure how ancient that understanding is. It could well be as old as the text, especially if that text is rather late as many hold. I accept that an alternative is that an ancient more anthropomorphic sense was reinterpreted by later

biblical authors.



Peter, could you be a little more specific/clear about what you mean by
"ancient theological tradition"? There is certainly no such "tradition"
in the Tanakh itself, which refers to the "image of God" concept quite
infrequently, and almost exclusively in Genesis 1-11. To what "ancient
theological tradition" are you referring, and where may it be discerned?


I was not claiming that this tradition goes explicitly back to the writers of the Tanakh - although I am seeking to prove that that was their underlying thinking when using words like CELEM. But this is an idea which is I think found in the Hellenistic period, and certainly in the New Testament and in early Christian thought. I understand the argument that these ideas come from Hellenism rather than from original Jewish thought, on the other hand there are links to ancient Egyptian thinking which is not completely anthropomorphic as I pointed out before.

--
Peter Kirk
peter AT qaya.org (personal)
peterkirk AT qaya.org (work)
http://www.qaya.org/



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