Christoph Levin – författare

This volume contains 20 studies from 1981 to 2002 concerning the history of literature and theology of the Old Testament and the early history of Israel as well.

In ancient Israelite literature Exile is seen as a central turning point within the course of the history of Israel. In these texts “the Exile” is a central ideological concept. It serves to explain the destruction of the monarchic polities and the social and economic disasters associated with them in terms that YHWH punished Israel/Judah for having abandoned his ways. As it develops an image of an unjust Israel, it creates one of a just deity. But YHWH is not only imagined as just, but also as loving and forgiving, for the exile is presented as a transitory state: Exile is deeply intertwined with its discursive counterpart, the certain “Return”. As the Exile comes to be understood as a necessary purification or preparation for a renewal of YHWH’s proper relationship with Israel, the seemingly unpleasant Exilic conditions begin, discursively, to shape an image of YHWH as loving Israel and teaching it. Exile is dystopia, but one that carries in itself all the seeds of utopia. The concept of Exile continued to exercise an important influence in the discourses of Israel in the Second Temple period, and was eventually influential in the production of eschatological visions.

The series Beihefte zur Zeitschrift für die alttestamentliche Wissenschaft (BZAW) covers all areas of research into the Old Testament, focusing on the Hebrew Bible, its early and later forms in Ancient Judaism, as well as its branching into many neighboring cultures of the Ancient Near East and the Greco-Roman world. BZAW welcomes submissions that make an original and significant contribution to the field; demonstrate sophisticated　engagement with the relevant secondary literature; and are written in readable, logical, and engaging prose.

Water is a vital resource and is widely acknowledged as such. Thus it often serves as an ideological and linguistic symbol that stands for and evokes concepts central within a community. This volume explores ‘thinking of water’ and concepts expressed through references to water within the symbolic system of the late Persian/early Hellenistic period and as it does so it sheds light on the social mindscape of the early Second Temple community.

Besides commemorating the scholar Julius Wellhausen (1844–1918), the series of lectures aims to continue and publicise research in the fields he represented and their neighbouring philological-historical disciplines. In the course of his life, Julius Wellhausen conducted research in three fields: the Old Testament, the New Testament and ancient Arabia, or to put it another way: Judaism, Christianity and early Islam. The annual lectures, named after Wellhausen, are held by the Academy of Sciences and Humanities and the Georg-August-Universität Göttingen.

Despite considerable scholarly efforts for many years, the last two decades of the Kingdom of Israel are still beneath the veil of history. What was the status of the Kingdom after its annexation by Assyria in 732 BCE? Who conquered Samaria, the capital of the Kingdom? When did it happen? One of the primary reasons for this situation lies in the discrepancies found in the historical sources, namely the Hebrew Bible and the Assyrian texts. Since biblical studies and Assyriology are two distinct disciplines, the gaps in the sources are not easy to bridge. Moreover, recent great progress in the archaeological research in the Southern Levant provides now crucial new data, independent of these textual sources. This volume, a collection of papers by leading scholars from different fields of research, aims to bring together, for the first time, all the available data and to discuss these conundrums from various perspectives in order to reach a better and deeper understanding of this crucial period, which possibly triggered in the following decades the birth of "new Israel" in the Southern Kingdom of Judah, and eventually led to the formation of the Hebrew Bible and its underlying theology.

Chaos is a perennial source of fear and fascination. The original "formless void" (tohu-wa-bohu) mentioned in the book of Genesis, chaos precedes the created world: a state of anarchy before the establishment of cosmic order. But chaos has frequently also been conceived of as a force that persists in the cosmos and in society and threatens to undo them both. From the cultures of the ancient Near East and the Old Testament to early modernity, notions of the divine have included the power to check and contain as well as to unleash chaos as a sanction for the violation of social and ethical norms. Yet chaos has also been construed as a necessary supplement to order, a region of pure potentiality at the base of reality that provides the raw material of creation or even constitutes a kind of alternative order itself. As such, it generates its own peculiar 'formations of the formless'.Focusing on the connection between the cosmic and the political, this volume traces the continuities and re-conceptualizations of chaos from the ancient Near East to early modern Europe across a variety of cultures, discourses and texts. One of the questions it poses is how these pre-modern 'chaos theories' have survived into and reverberate in our own time.

Despite considerable scholarly efforts for many years, the last two decades of the Kingdom of Israel are still beneath the veil of history. What was the status of the Kingdom after its annexation by Assyria in 732 BCE? Who conquered Samaria, the capital of the Kingdom? When did it happen? One of the primary reasons for this situation lies in the discrepancies found in the historical sources, namely the Hebrew Bible and the Assyrian texts. Since biblical studies and Assyriology are two distinct disciplines, the gaps in the sources are not easy to bridge. Moreover, recent great progress in the archaeological research in the Southern Levant provides now crucial new data, independent of these textual sources. This volume, a collection of papers by leading scholars from different fields of research, aims to bring together, for the first time, all the available data and to discuss these conundrums from various perspectives in order to reach a better and deeper understanding of this crucial period, which possibly triggered in the following decades the birth of "new Israel" in the Southern Kingdom of Judah, and eventually led to the formation of the Hebrew Bible and its underlying theology.

Dieser Sammelband dokumentiert eine Tagung über Erinnern und Vergessen im frühnachexilischen Juda, die 2011 in München stattfand. Die Vorträge behandeln die Fragestellung unter methodologischem Blickwinkel sowie anhand von Fallbeispielen. Die untersuchten Texte stammen aus der Prophetie, dem Pentateuch, den Geschichtsbüchern, den Psalmen und den Threni. Alle Beispiele verbindet, dass das Erinnern an die Geschichte und der mit ihm verbundene Ausblick auf die Zukunft auf einer bewussten oder unbewussten Auswahl beruht, die ein Vergessen von Vergangenem einschließt.

Die Sammlung umfasst 15 Aufsätze von Christoph Levin in englischer Sprache aus den Jahren 2001 bis 2011, davon vier erstmals publiziert. Ein erster Schwerpunkt betrifft die Pentateuch-Forschung, vor allem die älteste durchlaufende erzählende Quelle, den Jahwisten, deren Ursprung in den Anfängen der jüdischen Diaspora gesucht werden kann. Der erste Aufsatz beschreibt diese Quelle, wie sich auf der Grundlage der literarkritischen Analyse darstellt. Beigegeben ist die vollständige englische Übersetzung des Jahwistischen Geschichtswerks, unterschieden nach den vorredaktionellen Quellen und dem Text des Redaktors J. Weitere Aufsätze sind einzelnen Texten des Jahwistischen Werkes gewidmet, so der Erzählung von Schöpfung und Sündenfall Gen 2-3, der Erzählung von Josef in Ägypten Gen 39, der Berufung des Mose Ex 3 und dem Schilfmeerwunder Ex 14. Ein weiterer Schwerpunkt gilt den Büchern der Könige: dem chronologischen Gerüst und den letzten beiden Kapiteln 2Kön 24-25. Der letzte Schwerpunkt betrifft die prophetischen Bücher, nämlich die Entstehung der Wort-Gottes-Theologie im Buch Jeremia und der Entwicklung der Vorstellung vom Tag Jahwes in Buch Zefanja. Weitere Aufsätze behandeln die israelitische Religion in der Königszeit, den Ursprung der biblischen Bundestheologie und die Stellung des Alten Testaments zur Armut. Alle Studien beruhen auf der eingehenden Analyse des literarischen Textwachstums. So wie es vorliegt, ist das Alte Testament in der Epoche des Zweiten Tempels aus einem Prozess andauernder Fortschreibung hervorgegangen.

Modelle von "Zentrum und Peripherie" haben sich bei der Untersuchung von Systemen bewährt, deren Kräftespiel von einer ungleichen Verteilung von Eigenschaften bestimmt ist. Was können diese Modelle, die eine große Vielfalt aufweisen, in ihren unterschiedlichen Anwendungsbereichen zur Erforschung der frühen Zeit des Zweiten Tempels beitragen? Die in diesem Band versammelten Aufsätze betreffen unter anderem die Rolle Jerusalems und der jüdischen Diaspora, die Bedeutung der Tora, das Verhältnis von Tempel und Königshof, die Beziehung zwischen Jerusalem und dem Garizim, die Zionstradition, die Vorstellung des universalen Herrschaft JHWHs, redaktionsgeschichtliche Fragen, schichtenspezifische Sprachdifferenz und die Bedeutung von Geschlechterrollen.

No other book has influenced the religion and culture of the Western world like the Bible and its largest component, the Old Testament, which is shared by Jews and Christians alike. This groundbreaking work by noted biblical scholar Christoph Levin is the most current and concise introduction to the Old Testament available today. The book fully explains the development of the Old Testament canon, as well as the editorial history underlying its various parts, including the five books of Moses, the prophetic books, and the Psalms. Examining the Old Testament in its historical context, it also sheds new light on many of the shorter books, including Jonah, Job, Ruth, the Song of Solomon, Ecclesiastes, Esther, and Daniel. Levin surveys fundamental changes that have taken place in Old Testament scholarship, noting that the accepted view of this part of the Bible has been called into question both by literary scholars and by archaeologists.He points out that many of the Old Testament writings are thought to have originated later than previously believed, and argues that our knowledge about the exodus from Egypt, the Israelite conquest of Palestine, and the opposition between belief in Yahweh and Canaanite religion can no longer be seen as securely established. While the book treats the Old Testament as part of the cultural and religious history of the Ancient Near East, it also reminds readers that it emerged not as a history of ancient Israel but as the Holy Scripture of Judaism. Clear and engaging, it will prove a compelling read for anyone interested in the history of religion and the history of ancient Israel.

Der Sammelband behandelt Formen und Strategien von Herrschaftslegitimation, die in eisenzeitlichen Königtümern der Levante sowie in Mesopotamien und Ägypten ausgeprägt wurden. Anhand von ikonographischen, textlichen und archäologischen Zeugnissen werden die Grundmuster herausgearbeitet, mit denen in diesen Reichen königliche Herrschaft legitimiert wurde. Besondere Aufmerksamkeit gilt den kulturellen Wechselwirkungen, die zwischen den Regionen bestanden, sowie den Eigenheiten der einzelnen Königtümer. Schwerpunkte liegen auf Babylon und Assur, den phönizischen Königtümern, Kinalua/Tell Tayinat, den Inschriften von Bukān, Tell Fekheriye und Sfīre, den Bildwerken von Balu'a, Yarih-'ezer und Askalon, den Königtümern Israel, Juda und Moab, ägyptischen Einflüssen auf die levantinischen Reiche sowie der Königsmotivik im Hohenlied.