The present volume gathers contributions on sin, suffering, and evil as dealt with in the Hebrew Bible. It also discusses ways in which these topics have impacted the human experience of suffering throughout history.
This volume discusses the topics of sin, suffering, and evil in the Hebrew Bible. It gathers fresh and innovative perspectives provided by internationally renowned biblical scholars that not only demonstrate ways in which these topics are dealt with in the Hebrew Bible itself, but also map out their lasting impact on human experience of suffering throughout history. Put into dialogue with the thought-provoking work of Fredrik Lindström, the volume provides a diversity of methodological approaches to the question of human suffering and God's role in it, ranging from discussions of monism in the Hebrew Bible, through deconstructive readings of evil in the Exodus narrative, to the processing of suffering at the Dachau concentration camp, and ways that the dynamics of good and evil might play out in a technological future dominated by artificial intelligence.
Table of contents:
Blaženka Scheuer/David Willgren Davage: Introduction
Part I: The Hebrew Bible in General
John Barton: God and Evil in the Hebrew Bible -
Hermann Spieckermann: God in Conflict With Evil: Comfort, Repentance, and Compassion as Options of Divine Agency -
Erik Aurelius: Sin Without Suffering? On One Function of Intercession in the Biblical Scriptures -
Anne Katrine de Hemmer Gudme: Downing One's Destiny: Drinking and Judgement in the Hebrew Bible -
Ola Wikander: Good Sun, Evil Sun, Eternal Sun: Biblical, Central Semitic, and Afro-Asiatic Perspectives -
Göran Eidevall: Sad as a Bird: On Avian Metaphors in Biblical Depictions of Human Suffering -
Kristin Joachimsen: Israel's Sin and Survival in Ezra 9-10 and Nehemiah 9-10
Part II: Particular Books in the Hebrew Bible
David Willgren Davage: Sin Without Grace? A Fresh Look at the Theological Significance of היום לרוח in Genesis 3:8 -
Kåre Berge: Subjectivity, the Uncanny Other, and a Deconstructive Reading of Evil in the Exodus Narrative -
Corinna Körting: Yom Kippur (Lev 16): A Complex Ritual Beyond Space and Time -
Antti Laato: Understanding Ezekiel 18 in Its Literary Context -
Karl William Weyde: Malachi 3:13-21 and the Problem of God's Justice in the Time of the Second Temple -
Else Holt: Simul Justus et Peccator: Suffering and Sin in Lamentations -
LarsOlov Eriksson: »Give Light to My Eyes«: Psalm 13 Through the Eyes of Some Commentators -
Åke Viberg: Metaphors of Evil: An Application of Cognitive Metaphor Theory on Imagery of Evil in the Book of Psalms -
Terje Stordalen: Suffering and Identity in the Book of Job
Part III: Reception History of Hebrew Bible Traditions
Sten Hidal: Was There a Doctrine of Original Sin in Early Syriac Christianity? -
Gunnlaugur A. Jónsson: Straws and a Tearful Blossom: Sin, Suffering, and Historical Background in Psalm 90 and Iceland's National Anthem -
Elisabet Nord: Lost For Words: Psalms and Prayer at Dachau -
Blaženka Scheuer: Genesis, Artificial Intelligence, and the Future of Evil