- Description
- 1 online resource (vi, 178 pages)
- Summary
- "In this book Peter Schäfer casts light on the common assumption that Judaism from its earliest formulations was strictly monotheistic. Over and over again in the Hebrew Bible the biblical writers insist upon the idea that there is one and only one God. But the biblical text is multifarious and contains many sources that subvert from within the strong monotheistic thesis. Old Canaanite deities such as Baal and El, although pushed to the edges, prove stubbornly persistent. They come to the forefront in, for example, the famous "Son of Man" of chapter 7 of the Book of Daniel. In sum, Schäfer argues that monotheism was an ideal in ancient Judaism that was consistently aspired to, but never fully achieved. Through close textual analysis of the Bible and certain key post-biblical sources, Schäfer tracks the long history of a second, younger, subordinate God next to the senior Jewish God YHWH. One might expect that with early Christianity's embrace of this idea (in the form of Jesus Christ), Judaism would have abandoned it utterly. But the opposite was the case. Even after Christianity usurps the original Jewish notion of a second, younger God, certain post-biblical Jewish circles-in particular early Jewish mystical circles-maintained and revived it with the archangel "Metatron," a controversial figure whose very existence is questioned and fiercely debated by the rabbis of the Babylonian Talmud. This book was originally published in Germany by C.H. Beck Verlag in 2016"--
- Uniform Title
- Zwei Götter im Himmel. English (Online)
- Alternative Title
- Zwei Götter im Himmel.
- Subject
- Bibliography (note)
- Includes bibliographical references (pages 165-171) and index.
- Access (note)
- Access restricted to authorized users.
- LCCN
- 2019036470
- OCLC
- ssj0002248860
- Author
Schäfer, Peter, 1943-
- Title
Two gods in heaven [electronic resource] : Jewish concepts of God in antiquity / Peter Schäfer ; translated by Allison Brown.
- Imprint
Princeton ; Oxford : Princeton University Press, [2020]
- Bibliography
Includes bibliographical references (pages 165-171) and index.
- Access
Access restricted to authorized users.
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