Ancient Near Eastern Pictures as Keys to Biblical Metaphors (original) (raw)
Related papers
1991
Dissertation synopsis After surveying the use of ancient Near Eastern visual motifs in biblical interpretation, this study reviews efforts in philosophy of art and semiotics to describe the dynamic relationship of visual and verbal expressions. Turning to the examples of carved ivories from eighth-century BCE Samaria, the motifs of that group are compared to contemporaneous ivories excavated at three Mesopotamian sites, to establish a common cluster of images on ritual beds. Selected motifs of the cluster are examined for their representation, denotation, connotation, and abstract form, especially their significance for serving in memorial contexts. The motifs and their possible role in the biblical marzeaḥ are used to interpret passages in Amos 6:4–7, 2 Kings 9:30–37 (woman at the window), and Jeremiah 31:15–22 (cow and calf).
The Bible and its modern methods: interpretation between art and text
2008
The dissertation that follows pushes the boundaries of biblical interpretation by formulating relationships between passages of the Hebrew Bible and unrelated works of Modern art. While a growing field of criticism addresses the representation of scriptural stories in painting, sculpture and film, the artwork in this study does not look to the Bible for its subject matter. The intertextual/intermedia comparisons instead address five different genres of biblical literature and read them according to various dynamics found in Modern images. In forming these relationships I challenge traditional perceptions of characters and literary style by allowing an artistic representation or pictorial method to highlight issues of selfhood, gender and power and by revaluing narrative and poetry in nuanced aesthetic terms.
lectio difficilior 2/2008 , 2008
Texte und Bilder sind verschiedene Medien mit je eigener Agenda, weshalb sie über dieselben Gestalten, Institutionen etc. nicht dieselben Aussagen treffen (können). Der Beitrag zeigt dies an Beispielen der verschiedenartigen Beziehungen zwischen biblischen Texten und den Bildern aus Palästina/Israel und seinen Nachbarkulturen. Bilder können, wo die biblischen Texte ganze Sphären der religiösen Wirklichkeit ausblenden (Beispiel Göttinnenverehrung), die fehlenden Informationen liefern, so dass eine Rekonstruktion von Religionsgeschichte möglich wird. Umgekehrt können biblische Texte (Beispiel Mobilität von Frauen) Licht auf Frauenleben im Alten Israel werfen, das aufgrund der ikonographischen Stereotypen überhaupt nicht erschließbar wäre. Biblische Texte und Bilder können auch in komplexer Weise konvergieren, wenn beispielsweise in den Prophetenbüchern die öffentliche Klage der Frauen über den Untergang einer Stadt in ähnlicher Weise zur Drohbotschaft für die verantwortlichen Männer wird wie auf assyrischen Reliefs. Feministische Exegese und genderbezogene Ikonographie profitieren in jedem Fall wechselseitig voneinander. …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… For the last twenty years, I have worked at the intersection of biblical texts and ancient oriental iconography, using a feminist-hermeneutic approach. Biblical texts are ambivalent in a particular way when it comes to questions of Women or gender. Being a feminist biblical scholar, I generally read these texts with a "hermeneutics of suspicion". 2 They are important documents of the (frequently opposing) history and the beliefs of women, but they are also documents of patriarchy and of androcentric perspectives. On the one hand, as a biblical scholar and theologian, I cannot do without images as sources, because while the Bible is an important, but insufficient base for the reconstruction of ancient Israelite or early Jewish and early Christian women's history, for some periods, there are virtually no extrabiblical textual sources from Palestine/Israel, but there are image sources. On the other hand, biblical texts, with their own and particular intentions and perspectives, can question, complement or elucidate
AJS Review, 2003
This is an interesting, well-written and important study, relevant to anyone interested in better understanding metaphor in the Bible, figurative language, or idolatry. David Aaron, Professor of Bible at Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in Cincinnati, was trained in rabbinics and linguistics at Brandeis University; this training offers him a certain sensitivity to how language, especially what many would consider figurative language, functions. Thus, the book really deals with the importance of understanding semantics for interpretation. The core claim of the book is that most statements that biblical scholars consider to be metaphorical are not metaphorical. Aaron depicts this first by critiquing a common "binary" view of language, which views all utterances as either literal or metaphorical, and assumes that words' meanings are determined by "ontological identity," that is, necessary and sufficient features that adhere to the word itself. Instead, following the Brandeis University linguist Ray Jackendorff, Aaron speaks of "typicality conditions" (p. 77), noting that indeterminacy and fuzziness are part of human language (p. 76). Though certain words may be clearly defined, e.g. scientific words by the scientific community, most words from the general perspective are like "dog"-"We know a 'dog' when we see one" (p. 74). Not all linguists agree with this notion of semantics. However, as Aaron correctly notes, this notion has an important implication: it suggests that there is not a binary opposition between literal and metaphorical language, but, rather, a gradient. Thus, most scholars incorrectly overextend the concept of metaphor, ignoring natural semantic fields of words (p. 110). Biblical images like "God is king" belong in this gradient, and should not be considered metaphorical, because they do not require what James Fernandez suggests metaphors require: "a stretch of the imagination" (p. 61). According to Aaron, "'metaphor' should be saved for a more distinctive rhetorical strategy, one that involves a process or decoding and mapping" (p. 111). He also develops a criterion for suggesting when we have a true metaphor (pp. 101-123), and makes it quite clear that scholars have exaggerated the extent of metaphorical God-talk in the Bible for several reasons, including misunderstanding the nature of metaphor, having anachronistic biases about the biblical text; and treating the Bible too much as a unity. The latter points are certainly correct; the former will depend on whether the linguistic perspective of Jackendorff is compelling. The concluding chapters deal predominantly with idolatry, aniconism, and the ark as an icon. He correctly observes that too many scholars accept Deutero-Isaiah's depiction of idolatry as normative for the entire Bible. He suggests that the ark originally had an iconic status in early Israel, and that groups in Israel treated (an)iconism in particular ways not for theological reasons, as most scholars suggest, but for a combination of social and political reasons, mostly related to the as-She solves it-hesitantly, though-by pointing to evidence of the existence of such influential noblewomen, for example, an inscription from Aphrodisias that recounts the influence of Livia's advocacy on behalf of the Samians. In the end, Josephus's apologetic strategy may be more than wishful thinking. Even more typical and for Matthews' purpose more important is the case of Plotina, Trajan's wife, who-at least according to the Acts of the Pagan Martyrs-supported the Jews (Plotina is discussed in Chapter 3). Chapter 3, "'More than a few Greek Women of High Standing': 'God-Fearing' Noblewomen in Acts," discusses the role of prominent Gentile women, whom Paul encounters at several instances in his missionary journeys (Acts 13:50; 17:4; 17:12). Matthews includes here an unnecessarily lengthy discussion of the term "God-fearer," only to conclude (rightly so) that the term is not a fiction of Luke (as Kraabel had argued), but actually existed in history. Matthews shows that Luke's presentation of prominent women follows the same pattern as in Josephus. Luke underscores the role of upper-class Gentile women, while limiting the sphere of action of women in other contexts. As in the case of Josephus, Matthews wonders about the efficacy of such apologetics. Given the resentment of the Greco-Roman literati toward politically active women, why would an apologetic author depict Gentile women who patronize, and sometimes affiliate with his community? As in the preceding chapter, Matthews suggests that a partial explanation might lie in the fact that the phenomenon of elite women's benefaction was not just a fancy. Who then would endorse religiously active women as they are presented in Josephus and Luke? The fourth and last chapter of this short book, "First Converts: Acts 16 and the Legitimating Function of High-Standing Women in Missionary Propaganda," provides an answer to this question. Screening a wide range of texts (from Euripides' Bacchae to Philo's Therapeutae), Matthews identifies a line of argument in Greco-Roman texts concerning the special function of women in missionary religions. In fact, women's religious function in the Greco-Roman world was often viewed as proper and virtuous. The potential audience of Josephus and Luke, one might add, was therefore as divided with regard to the religious role of women as these two authors were themselves. This relates to a further question, often raised in recent years in Josephus studies: is "apologetics" really the right term for Josephus and Luke?
Asian and Journal of Pentecostal Studies and APTS Press, 2018
Iconographic Exegesis of the Hebrew Bible is a collection of important voices from within the study of ancient Near Eastern images. Most scholars of the Hebrew Bible share a common methodological starting point: exegesis must take historical context into account. Many turn to ancient Near Eastern texts, though a growing number of biblical scholars is turning also to non-textual sources, especially pictorial material, or iconography. The authors from Finland, France, Germany, South Africa, Switzerland and the United States, are brought together within one cover with the goal of presenting a textbook to introduce students to a new method of biblical exegesis. This book is a sequel to a number of other publications, which burst upon the world of biblical scholarship in the 1970s, and were made jointly by the community of scholars interested in the use of ancient Near Eastern visual materials in Old Testament textual analysis. This beautifully produced volume is a tribute to Othmar Keel, the pioneer of the iconographic approach in biblical exegesis and the founder of the Fribourg School.