Recent archaeological and biblical research challenges the traditional view of the history of ancient Israel.This book presents the latest findings of both academic disciplines regarding the United Monarchy of David and Solomon ('One Nation') and the cult reform under Josiah ('One Cult'), raising the issue of fact versus fiction. The political and cultural interrelations in the Near East are illustrated on the example of the ancient city of Beth She'an/Scythopolis and are discussed as to their significance for the transformation in the conception of God ('One God'). The volume contains 17 contributions in English by internationally eminent scholars from Israel, Finland and Germany.

The volume contains the papers from an international symposium held in 2007 by the GAttingen Graduate School on Images of Godsa " Images of Goda " World Views: Polytheism and Monotheism in the Antique World. Working from the topic of Time and Eternity as Places of Divine Action, the contributors examine differing conceptions of time and eternity in a cultural region with intensive exchange. The papers deal with the Ancient Orient (Egypt, Mesopotamia, Iran), ancient philosophy (Aristotle, Plato, Stoa) and the three world religions Judaism, Christianity and Islam.

Divine images create their own world of theological reflection and religious practice. Pictorial representations have to reduce complexity, yet at the same time they create their own complexity. The present volume examines this phenomenon with papers on fundamental issues and presentations of material from the Ancient Orient, Greece and the Hellenic world. Papers on the contact between Christianity and Islam in the matter of the veneration of images make clear what compensation strategies are developed when pictorial representations are subject to theological censure. The volume contains eighteen contributions from internationally renowned researchers writing in German and English.

The incarnation-the act of God assuming mortal flesh through Jesus Christ-reveals God's radical love for a world marked by the rebellion of the created against their creator. God becomes human to create life and restore the disrupted divine-human relationship. This doctrine is thus the theme of the Christian faith par excellence. However, the incarnation does not begin with its ultimate realization in Jesus Christ; that single event is preceded by a long history of a God who continually reunites with his people to lead them from death to life, from bondage to freedom.God Becoming Human pursues the astonishing arc of the incarnation, chronicling the varying ways Scripture recounts the divide between God and the creatures of his likeness as well as the diverse expressions the text gives regarding the desire for reconciliation. As the expectations of an existing intermediary that can somehow bridge this gap between God and humans dwindle throughout the Old Testament, hope is increasingly placed on new forms of closeness to God. The closeness made possible by Jesus Christ receives a wide range of interpretations by New Testament witnesses and is continued by a rich chorus that culminates in the early church with the theology of the incarnation. Reinhard Feldmeier and Hermann Spieckermann invite readers to see that the doctrine of the incarnation, the pinnacle of the scriptural saga of redemption, reveals that God's ultimate purpose in dealing with creation was to become human. As narrated in the story of the fall, if paradise was lost because humanity wanted to emulate God, the one reconciled with God through Christ is now given the opportunity-and challenge-to become a child of God. In accordance with the One who descended from the heavenly throne, one must precisely lower oneself and thus fully embrace one's created humanness. It is through the flesh that the created and their creator are joined; there is no other path to unity.

In God of the Living , noted biblical scholars Reinhard Feldmeier and Hermann Spieckermann provide a comprehensive theology of the God of the Christian Bible. A remarkable achievement, God of the Living joins together the very best of Old and New Testament scholarship to craft a comprehensive biblical theology. Feldmeier and Spieckermann wrestle with the whole of scripture to give a definitive and decisive voice to the church's central missionabearing witness to the living God. Both historical and systematic, God of the Living explores God's multifaceted, complex, and sometimes contradictory character presented in the scriptures. Yet, whether in wrath or reconciliation, judgment or justification, suffering or salvation, God has given and shares divine life in the person of Jesus Christ. Thus, Feldmeier and Spieckermann uncover God's profound affirmation of human life, as the God of the livingathe God of the Bibleafinds fulfillment in relation to the living partners of his own creation.

The projected thirty-volume Encyclopedia of the Bible and Its Reception (EBR) is intended to serve as a comprehensive guide to the current state of knowledge on the background, origins, and development of the canonical texts of the Bible as they were accepted in Judaism and Christianity. Unprecedented in breadth and scope, this encyclopedia also documents the history of the Bible's interpretation and reception across the centuries, not only in Judaism and Christianity, but also in literature, visual art, music, film, and dance, as well as in Islam and other religious traditions and new religious movements. The EBR is also available online. Further information on The Bible and Its Reception ."

Die Konigsbucher schildern die Epoche des Konigtums von der Thronbesteigung Davids bis zum Ende des Konigtums in Juda zur Zeit der Eroberung Jerusalems durch die Babylonier. Der namentlich nicht bekannte Verfasser, in der heutigen Forschung als deuteronomistischer Historiker bezeichnet, hat fur diesen Teil der israelitischen Geschichte Quellen ausgewertet und Aufzeichnungen gemacht, die zahlreiche Einzelheiten der Konigszeit dokumentieren. Hauptzweck dieser Geschichtsschreibung ist es aber, den Untergang des Konigtums in Juda und Israel als Folge menschlichen Fehlverhaltens zu erklaren. In diesem Sinn bietet der Kommentar nicht nur die notige Klarung von Sachfragen, sondern zeigt die theologischen Bezuge des Geschichtswerks und die Absichten seines Verfassers. Dabei fuhrt der Weg von der glanzvollen Zeit unter Salomo immer weiter ins Verderben bis zum Ende der staatlichen Selbstandigkeit verbunden mit der Abschaffung des Konigtums durch die Babylonier und Assyrer.