Theologies in Old Testament

This study analyses the various representations of God`s images in the Old Testament. It is revealed that the individual writings of the Old Testament describe God in many different ways, which provides a fascinating variety of theologies. In fact, throughout the biblical writings there is no broader and more significant issue than the depiction of God. This already applies to the Old Testament where God`s proper name, YHWH, appears over 6800 times, while other forms of God are mentioned thousands of times. Indeed, there is no other word that can compete with it. God is presented as the first and the most important thing in the Bible. He is not only the first subject at its beginning (Gen 1:1), but also the decisive factor in the last verse of the Hebrew Bible (2 Chronicles 36:23). Because of the breadth of the topic, this book can only be regarded as an attempt to introduce the subject matter as it would be impossible to cover all its aspects. Naturally, one of the difficulties concerns the point of departure for such a study. For example archaeological evidence, investigations into the history of religion, philosophy of language or dogmatic considerations are all valid aspects that warrant attention. However, for an exegete God`s self-communication and his own revelation is the most important feature to be analysed. Thus, scholars such as Pannenberg, Beinert, Kreiner, Werbick, and Pesch point out the key role that divine self-revelation plays. Among the biblical commentators this concern is shared by Grünwaldt, Hartenstein, Römer and many others. Thus, this book follows a similar pattern by studying God`s self-communication. Unfortunately, the nature of God can never be grasped in its entirety, but only be described in fragmentary form. Despite this limitation, it is possible to uncover a fascinating abundance and a dazzling variety of perspectives in and behind the theologies of the Old Testament related to God`s self-communication. The different ways of speaking about YHWH make it clear that he is set above everything, regardless of the precise context. Furthermore, it is clear that he eludes any fixed description. This fact can also be a starting point to understand the experience of other religions and their concepts of God, which, in turn, provides opportunities for a possible conversation. As part of a continuation of the present approach, the characteristics and priorities of the individual biblical books are presented with regard to their depictions of God. Thereby special attention is given to unique formulations and to other special features, such as cumulated or incisive or even singular expressions. This study particularly reflects linguistic peculiarities of the language that is used to depict God. Therefore, it is not only possible to identify the different portraits of the biblical God according to the individual book, but also to ascertain the importance of the faith of the men and women who composed these biblical writings. Again the scope of the topic made it necessary to take several decisions that have led to a reasonable delimitation of the study. Firstly, a long debate with other authors was not possible and therefore only few scholarly works are engaged with. Secondly, the individual analyses and linguistic discussions are very dense and left little space for others tipps. Thirdly, only a selection of the Psalms has been considered due to space. Lastly, the history of the origin of the faith in YHWH and religious historical events are largely ignored to leave more space for the analysis of the texts. However, part 3 offers a synthesis, reflects on the results and discusses connections with other areas, also the New Testament. Thus the book arrives at an overall picture which comprises the whole Bible.