ARTICLES

 

Old Testament Scholarship and the Religious-Philosophical Sense of "Life" in Ordinary Language

 

 

Jaco Gericke

North-West University

 

 

---

ABSTRACT

The word "life" appears in a variety of contexts in Old Testament (OT) scholarship. Included are the use of non-technical senses from ordinary language and the associated folk-philosophical assumptions implicit therein. This article investigates whether and to what extent the recent history of interpretation reflects what the philosopher of religion Don Cupitt refers to as the "turn to life " in everyday speech. To test the hypothesis, samples of the relevant data are selected from the related second-order discourses of popular Bible translations and prominent theologies of the OT. The analysis shows strong correlations in terms of quantitative and qualitative conceptual-historical diachronic variability. Thus, it is concluded that the emergent quasi-religious sense of "life" in ordinary language is also a supervening folk-philosophical concept, concern and category in contemporary OT scholarship.

Keywords: Old Testament scholarship, Life (ordinary language), Life (Old Testament scholarship), Life (philosophy of religion)

---

 

 

A INTRODUCTION

In Old Testament (OT) scholarship, the word "life" is both a term of art and a fuzzy concept, the meanings of which vary in different contexts of discourse.

1) In the first-order religious language of the OT itself, a long, rich and complicated conceptual-history lies behind the most familiar Hebrew word in different worlds of the text.²

2) In the second-order discourse of the various interpretative approaches in OT scholarship, the concept is polytypical and its nuances as many as the multiplicity of senses encountered within the different auxiliary disciplines informing them.³

In ordinary language use, a familiar concept is that of life as a whole and of one's own life in relation thereto. According to the philosopher of religion Don Cupitt, this sense of "life" and "my life" is, however, a relatively recent yet very significant development in conceptual history.⁴ What Cupitt calls the "turn to life" has occurred in both religious and secular everyday speech. In this view, we have come to think of life and our own lives in cosmic and existential folk-philosophical ways, comparable to how people of earlier times used to speak of their relationship to "God" or "Ultimate reality." Examples of the reification, personification, objectification and universalisation involved include popular phrases such as "To love life," "Such is life," "How's life treating you?," "Life has a way of," "Life has taught me," "Life is good," "Life is sacred," "Life is not fair," "The best things in life are free," "It's my life," "True to life," "What do you want from life?," "Don't waste your life," "Life's great mysteries," "Get a life" and many more (including the way the verb "live" and the adjective "living," all part of what are now very serious manners of speaking).⁵

Though making general claims about how "we" think nowadays, Cupitt acknowledges the historical and cultural relative nature of his Western/English "take on life" and its religious-philosophical sense. Perhaps that is why, extending the tradition of Nietzsche (genealogy), Wittgenstein (ordinary language philosophy) and Foucault (archaeology) on the value of micro-histories of concepts, Cupitt writes:

Before long, someone must attempt the first history of life, reviewing the manifold ways in which people have seen life and their own lives in different periods and under different systems of thought - how people feel about life as a whole, and about their life in particular is different from certain related ideas.⁶

What is in view here is clearly different from writing a scientific narrative about the origins and development of life as told from a cosmological or biological perspective. It is also not to be confused with anthropological and sociological accounts of different forms of human life or culture over time. In the context of OT scholarship in particular, such an inquiry is related to but ultimately not the same as traditional linguistic, literary-critical, comparative-religious, religious-historical and theological perspectives of the concept. On the one hand, Cupitt's perspective would have us consider the ways OT scholars have used of the word "life" in the recent history of OT interpretation. On the other hand, of interest would be whether and in what ways the ordinary language of life in our second-order discourses might have come to mirror the "turn to life" as a religious-philosophical concept, concern and category.

 

B RESEARCH DESIGN

The research problem identified in this article is constituted by the lack of OT scholarship on the relation of its second-order discourses to the conceptual-historical changes outlined above. The corresponding research question involves asking if and how the words "life" and "my life" in its religious-philosophical sense appear within the contexts of specific interpretative approaches. The hypothesis of this study is that the recent history of OT scholars' recourse to ordinary language is likely to reflect an increased quantity and quality of the associated folk-philosophical presuppositions, problems and perspectives on "life" as a religious-philosophical concept, concern and category. The method adopted for the purpose of application and illustration will be that of a descriptive (rather than critical) meta-commentary operating in tandem with historical and comparative varieties of philosophy of religion. The objective of the study is to determine the nature and scope of any apparent conceptual-historical correlations within selected samples of data. As will become apparent in the discussion to follow, the research presented here relates to other intra- and interdisciplinary discussions of "life" in/and the OT (scholarship) in a variety of supplementary and complimentary ways. In these variables of the research design lies its originality, relevance and actuality.

 

C RESEARCH SAMPLES

Since it is impossible to analyse all potentially relevant data, the samples selected for this preliminary investigation will come from two contexts where the word "life" (in different configurations) and any related conceptual-history changes are likely to be present. This includes the second-order discourse at the most basic level of analytic interests (i.e., references to "my life" in Bible translations) and on the highest level of attempts at conceptual synthesis (i.e., references to "life" in OT theology). Any findings pertaining to the partial set of samples that could be accommodated from these dense and complex domains of discourse are limited in scope and do not warrant untested generalisation or extrapolation.

1 "My life" and the meta-languages of some popular translations of the OT

In the context of Bible translations, the preliminary inquiry focuses on samples from one older and one more recent version, namely the KJV and the NRSV. The general philosophical background contexts of both versions are well known.⁷ The references to "my life" listed correlate with texts in the MT of BHS based on verbatim occurrences of the common masculine plural noun חַיַַּ in the construct state with first person singular suffix (חַיָָּ֑י). Further qualifications and acknowledgements related to grammar, semantics and pragmatics are provided in the subsequent comments.

 

 

To be sure, correlation does not mean causation and numbers are not in themselves meaningful. That being said, it cannot be denied that within this data set there is clearly a statistically significant variation in both the quantity and quality of the ways in which the words "my life" appears. Whereas the MT only has 21 instances of the noun, as constructed above, the KJV has 64 references to "my life" and the NRSV which is the more recent 80. Though there is a slight variation in the versification of the Hebrew and English at some points, the only texts where "my life" appears in all three contexts, i.e., the MT, KJV and NRSV are Gen 27:46; 47:9; Isa 38:12; Pss 7:5; 23:6; 26:9; 27:1, 4; 31:10, 13; 42:8; 64:1; 143:3; Lam 3:58; and Jonah 2:6; 4:3. Double occurrences involving the MT and at least one or the other English translation but not both include 1 Sam 18:18; Ps 38:12; Isa 38:12; Lam 3:53 (MT and KJV) and Ps 146:2 (MT and NRSV).

Of potential significance and interest also is how, on several occasions, the expression "my life" appears verbatim only in the English translation (Gen 32:30; 1 Sam 20:1; 20:23; 26:24; 28:21, 9; 2 Sam 16:11; 1 Kgs 19:4, 10,:14; 2 Kgs 1:13 ; Esth 7:3; Job 7:15-16; 9:21; 10:1; 13:14; Pss 27:1, 4; 31:10, 13; 88:3). Sometimes, only one of the three versions of the OT (HB) has the associated wording, e.g. the MT in 2 Sam 19:34 and Jonah 4:8, the KJV in Gen 19:19 and by far the largest number of cases is in the NRSV (Gen 12:12; 19:20; 44:32; 1 Sam 24:11; 26:21; 2 Sam 4:9; 1 Kgs 1:29; 2 Kgs 1:14 (2); Jonah 2:7; Job 6:11; 7:7; 10:20; 33:28; Pss 6:4; 17:13; 22:20; 25:20; 35:4, 7, 17, 38:12; 39:4, 5, 54:3, 4; 56:6; 59:3; 63:9; 70:2; 71:10; 86:2, 14; 102:24; 109:20; 116:4; 119:88, 109, 149, 159; 143:11; Isa 38:17; Jer 38:20).

One way to account for the diachronic discrepancies is of course to note the more dynamic equivalent styles of translation in the NRSV in relation to the KJV. However, this would only confirm the supervening influence of the folk-philosophical assumptions about life in ordinary language as being meaningful to the implied reader. Another obvious reason for the quantitative differences is later developments in associated research. An example of this would be when "my life" became the terms of choice for rendering other Hebrew words like נַפְשִּי, previously translated as "my soul" under the influence of Greek Christian philosophical-anthropological assumptions. Though not the only explanatory framework that can account for the new references to "my life" in the NRSV compared with the KJV, the conceptual-historical "turn to life" cannot be ruled out as one sufficient reason that it would have seemed fitting to choose "my life" rather than, for example, "me," "myself" or other overlapping alternatives.

2 "Life" in the second-order discourses of OT theologians

The concept of "life" is also popular at the broadest level of synthesis in OT scholarship, namely OT theology.⁸ Here, the OT scholar can easily include, more than anywhere else, a variety of senses from both popular ordinary-language and second-order uses of the word "life." As with the remarks on trends related to "my life" in translation, it is impossible to do justice to the sheer quantity of data available. Many scholars' writings relevant to this section therefore could not be included.⁹ Fortunately, only a sufficient number of samples is required to demonstrate the plausibility of the hypothesis in the present context. Being a comparatively younger discipline featuring more idiosyncrasies than translations, the samples will be limited to classic 20th century and popular 21st century publications.¹⁰ Though some cases listed may seem prima facie trivial or even "biblical," the question is whether it might turn out on closer inspection that some additional religious-philosophical sense has been imported into even the most familiar expressions.

To start with, the English translation of the German original two-volume publication of Walther Eichrodt contains over 400 occurrences of the word "life" in the first volume, and over 800 in the second.¹¹ Though some of these appear in the context of quotations from the OT itself or relate to the usual anthropological-ethical concerns, the nuances of meaning (despite some verbal overlap) include more than those of the OT's first-order religious language. Included are repeated references to, among others, "individual life,"¹² "personal life,"¹³ "critique of daily life," ¹⁴ "secular life,"¹⁵ "purpose of his life," "a whole life's work," ¹⁶ "to succeed during life,"¹⁷ "religious life"¹⁸, "a life of their own,"¹⁹ "lifetime," ²⁰ "life's riddles," ²¹ "man's interior life,"²² "the stuff of life,"²³ "a permanent life-relationship,"²⁴ "independent life of the universe," marvellous life,"²⁵ "universal life,"²⁶ "the autonomous life of nature,"²⁷ "a cosmos with laws proper to its own life,"²⁸ "the meaning of his life,"²⁹ "the life of the whole community,"³⁰ "the fullness of life,"³¹ "nomadic life,"³² "spiritual life," ³³ "mastery of life," "the problems of life,"³⁴ "a right to a life,"³⁵ "enriching life," "goods of life,"³⁶ "unity of life," "precious things of life," "life-span," ³⁷"conscious life," ³⁸ "sexual life," ³⁹ "true life" and so on.⁴⁰

In the first two volumes of Gerhard von Rad's Old Testament Theology,⁴¹the English translations feature 383 and 163 occurrences of the word "life," respectively. Both idiosyncratic and making use of common stock phrases in second-order discourse, these include "economic life,"⁴² "whole life,"⁴³"common life," ⁴⁴ "civil life,"⁴⁵ "the life of the community,"⁴⁶ "life at a point in time,"⁴⁷ "settled life,"⁴⁸ "nomadic life"⁴⁹, "cultic life,"⁵⁰ "human life,"⁵¹ "sacral life," "internal life,"⁵² "individual life,"⁵³ "the religious life,"⁵⁴ "social life,"⁵⁵"dedication for life,"⁵⁶ "lifelong."⁵⁷ Others are "real life situation,"⁵⁸ "Israel's life,"⁵⁹ "spiritual life,"⁶⁰ "experience of life,"⁶¹ "national life,"⁶² "spheres of her life,"⁶³ "way of life,"⁶⁴ "life possessed,"⁶⁵ "breaking into life," ⁶⁶ "a life of toil," "what hampers life," ⁶⁷ "secular life," ⁶⁸ "moral life," ⁶⁹ "emotional life," ⁷⁰"peaceful life," ⁷¹ "inner life," ⁷² "everyday life," ⁷³ "stage in life," ⁷⁴ "home life," ⁷⁵ "natural life,"⁷⁶ "the material side of life," ⁷⁷ "departments of life,"⁷⁸ "the idea of life," ⁷⁹ "value in life," ⁸⁰ "personal life,"⁸¹ "this life,"⁸² "mastering life," ⁸³make life worth living," "meaning of life,"⁸⁴ "insecurity of life," ⁸⁵ "life as a whole" ⁸⁶ and many more.

In the English translation of Preuss's OT theology, the word "life" appears 117 times in Volume 1 and 269 times in Volume 2.⁸⁷ Despite continuing use of certain from-critical and biological/theological/anthropological/sociological/psychological concepts, new phrases and distinctions are attested. Though sometimes mimicking the interests or first-order religious language of the text, again a subtle variation in associative meaning can be detected and correlated with folk-philosophical categories of ordinary language. Included are familiar and idiosyncratic references to "actual life,"⁸⁸ "dimensions of its life,"⁸⁹"foundation of their life,"⁹⁰ "signs for life (law as),"⁹¹ "instruction for life,"⁹²"lifelessness,"⁹³ "non-political life,"⁹⁴ "enjoyment of life,"⁹⁵ "diminishment of the power of life,"⁹⁶ "structures of life,"⁹⁷ "this life," ⁹⁸ "earthly life,"⁹⁹ "future life,"¹⁰⁰ "life embedded in the flow of time,"¹⁰¹ "Eastern life"¹⁰² and many more.¹⁰³

In the OT theology of Walter Brueggemann,¹⁰⁴ the word "life" appears even less-only 92 times-yet again with over and underlapping relations to earlier usages. Thus, we find "modes of mediation and life with Yhwh,"¹⁰⁵ "all that diminishes life,"¹⁰⁶ "back to real life,"¹⁰⁷ "all life - cosmic, political, personal,"¹⁰⁸ "candid as life itself,"¹⁰⁹ "an ordered life,"¹¹⁰ "large as life,"¹¹¹"gratitude that life is,"¹¹² "the sacramental freightedness of all of life,"¹¹³ "the mystery of life,"¹¹⁴ "makes life possible,"¹¹⁵ "the dailiness of life in all of its density,"¹¹⁶ "close to its own life,"¹¹⁷ "defeat, loss and forfeiture of life" and "event in the life of this community."¹¹⁸ Others are "practice life of faith in exile,"¹¹⁹ "life with Yhwh,"¹²⁰ "life that endures," "life that resumes,"¹²¹ "daily life,"¹²² "every sphere of life,"¹²³ "its own life,"¹²⁴ "zone of life,"¹²⁵ "what makes life possible,"¹²⁶ "guarantee of life,"¹²⁷ "mediation of the ordinariness of life,"¹²⁸"all of life constitutes an undifferentiated arena," "public life,"¹²⁹ "reduction of all human life to technique,"¹³⁰ "life in relation to Yhwh," "issues in Yahweh's life,"¹³¹ "life beyond abandonment,"¹³² "definitional life of the system,"¹³³"authorising the life of these partners,"¹³⁴ "basis for life in the world,"¹³⁵ "life of vulnerability,"¹³⁶ "sovereign ordering of life,"¹³⁷ "left much of life unaccounted for,"¹³⁸ "life-space,"¹³⁹ "Israel's life as theological enterprise"¹⁴⁰ and others.¹⁴¹

The second volume in John Goldingay's¹⁴² OT theological trilogy has "Israel's life" as part of its title. In this book, the word "life" appears 89 times. Examples include "life in relation to God,"¹⁴³ "purpose of life,"¹⁴⁴ "life is worth living," "life is short," ¹⁴⁵ "the good life,"¹⁴⁶ "the right kind of life,"¹⁴⁷ "life in community,"¹⁴⁸ "full human life," "family life,"¹⁴⁹ "given up life," ¹⁵⁰ "outward life," "what counts in life,"¹⁵¹ "the complexities of life,"¹⁵² "permanent feature of life,"¹⁵³ "our life with God," "our life with one another," "our life with as selves," ¹⁵⁴ "life with other people," ¹⁵⁵ "life as a self,"¹⁵⁶ "the implications for Israel's life,"¹⁵⁷ "ongoing life,"¹⁵⁸ "individual human life,"¹⁵⁹ "all life is at every moment an ultimate act,"¹⁶⁰ "the proper way of life,"¹⁶¹ "everyday life,"¹⁶²"religious life,"¹⁶³ "empty life,"¹⁶⁴ "thinking, attitudes and life,"¹⁶⁵ "life expectancy," "life or the world in general can be unfair,"¹⁶⁶ among others. ¹⁶⁷

Our last example comes from the recent English translation of the German publication by Konrad Schmid.¹⁶⁸ Here, the word life appears only 46 times, with most phrases already part of the now common stock and with less idiosyncratic tendencies, despite the odd variation and novelty. These include "way of life,"¹⁶⁹" possibility for life,"¹⁷⁰ "concrete way of life,"¹⁷¹ "fundamental life,"¹⁷²"circumstances of life,"¹⁷³ "all of life's adversities,"¹⁷⁴ "everyday life,"¹⁷⁵"violence against life,"¹⁷⁶ "human life,"¹⁷⁷ "guarantee of life,"¹⁷⁸ "animal life,"¹⁷⁹ "economic life,"¹⁸⁰ "framework of a retrospective life's work," "life of a scholar,"¹⁸¹ "life-antagonistic desert,"¹⁸² "life expressions,"¹⁸³ "basic precepts of life,"¹⁸⁴ "experience in life,"¹⁸⁵ "profanation of everyday life,"¹⁸⁶ "conduct of human life," "life and faith of a community,"¹⁸⁷ "whole life,"¹⁸⁸ "daily life,"¹⁸⁹"mundane life," "human life will remain ambivalent," "post-cultic philosophy of life," "theocratic ordering of life,"¹⁹⁰ "permanent life is possible,"¹⁹¹ "the world of human life,"¹⁹² "public life"¹⁹³ and so on.¹⁹⁴

The associated content from these samples appears indicative of an increased correlation with the "turn to life" on a qualitative rather than a quantitative level. Newly emergent religious-philosophical senses are clearly correlated with corresponding changes in ordinary language over time. Second, popular ways of phrasing ordinary language and its folk-philosophical framework seem to be taken for granted, i.e., "life" as an acceptable and unproblematic religious-philosophical concept, concern and category. This is evident from its location not only in discussions of topics the focus of which lies elsewhere but also from its inclusion in titles, forewords, tables of contents and indices. This includes "life" as somehow a sacred human and divine attribute, function and relation (and of extensions of the divine e.g., the divine spirit). Subsequent references to life are subsumed under traditional loci, e.g., creation, blessing, governance, providence and so forth. Interesting is the ongoing tradition of referring to "the life of Israel" and other "non-living" social entities in ways that have some influence of the folk-philosophy of life in ordinary language as one of the conditions of possibility for its meaningfulness.

 

D CONCLUSION

From the samples discussed, the following conclusions may be drawn from the preliminary findings. Both the selected Bible translations and samples from popular OT theologians offer traces of second-order discourse featuring the religious-philosophical sense of "life" and of (my) life in ordinary language. This in turn confirms the hypothesis of this study i.e., that the "turn to life" in the corresponding conceptual history of everyday speech can be positively correlated to those contexts of OT scholarship included in the analysis. In other words, the emergence of "life" as religious object, as noted by Don Cupitt, also has its counterpart as a popular supervening folk-philosophical concept, concern and category in OT scholarship.

 

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Anderson, Bernard, W. Contours of Old Testament Theology. Minneapolis: Fortress Press 1999.         [ Links ]

Barr, James. The Concept of Biblical Theology: An Old Testament Perspective. Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1999.         [ Links ]

Boersema, David, "American Philosophy." The Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy. No pages. Cited 2 July 2021. Online: https://iep.utm.edu/american/.         [ Links ]

Brueggemann, Walter. Theology of the Old Testament. Testimony, Dispute, Advocacy. Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1997.         [ Links ]

Childs, Brevard S. Old Testament Theology in a Canonical Context. London: SCM Press, 1985.         [ Links ]

Coetsee, Albert. "YHWH and Israel in Terms of the Concept of Life in Deuteronomy." Old Testament Essays 32/1 (2019):101-126.         [ Links ]

Cupitt, Don. The New Religion of Life in Everyday Speech. London: SCM Press, 1999.         [ Links ]

________________. Life, Life. Santa Rosa: Polebridge Press, 2003.         [ Links ]

________________. The Way to Happiness. Santa Rosa: Polebridge Press, 2005.         [ Links ]

________________. The Great Questions of Life. Santa Rosa: Polebridge Press, 2006.         [ Links ]

________________. Impossible Loves. Santa Rosa: Polebridge Press, 2007.         [ Links ]

________________. Above Us Only Sky. Santa Rosa: Polebridge Press, 2008.         [ Links ]

________________. Theology's Strange Return. London: SCM Press, 2010.         [ Links ]

Diirr, Lorenz. Die Wertung des Lebens im Alten Testament und im antiken Orient. Ein Beitrag zur Erklärung des Segens des viertes Gebotes. Münster L.W.: Asschendoff, 1926.         [ Links ]

Eichrodt, Walther. Theology of the Old Testament. Vol. 1. Translated by J.A Baker. London: SCM Press, 1961.         [ Links ]

________________. Theology of the Old Testament. Vol. 1. Translated by J.A. Baker. London: SCM Press, 1967.         [ Links ]

Fischer, Georg. Theologien des Alten Testaments. Stuttgart: Verlag Katholisches Bibelwerk, 2012.         [ Links ]

Gerleman Gillis, 'ΓΡΠ hyh to Live.' Pages 411-417 in Theological Lexicon of the Old Testament. Vol.1. Edited by Ernst Jenni and Claus Westermann. Translated by Mark E. Biddle. Peabody: Hendrickson Publishers, 1997.         [ Links ]

Gerstenberger, Erhard S. Theologies of the Old Testament. London: T & T Clark 2002.         [ Links ]

Goldingay, John. Old Testament Theology Vol 2: Israel's Life. Downers Grove: Inter-Varsity Press, 2010.         [ Links ]

Janowski, Bernd. Der Gott des Lebens. Beiträge zur Theologie des Alten Testaments 3. Neukirchen-Vluyn: Neukirchener Verlag, 2003.         [ Links ]

Jeremias, Jörg. Theologie des Alten Testaments. Grundrisse zum Alten Testament 6. Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen, 2015.         [ Links ]

Kaiser, Otto. Der Gott des Alten Testaments: Theologie des Alten Testaments Teil 1. Grundlegung. UTB 1747. Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 1993.         [ Links ]

Knibb, M. A. "Life and Death in the Old Testament." Pages 395-415 in The World of Ancient Israel. Edited by Ronald E. Clements. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1989.         [ Links ]

Lagerlund, Henrik. The Routledge Companion to Sixteenth Century Philosophy. London: Routledge, 2017.         [ Links ]

Liess, Kathrin. Der Weg des Lebens. Psalm 16 und das Lebens- und Todesverständnis der Individualpsalmen. FAT II/5. Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2004.         [ Links ]

________________. „Leben." No pages. Cited 19 June 2021. Online: https://www.bibelwissenschaft.de/stichwort/24713/.         [ Links ]

Loader, James A. "Emptied Life: Death as the Reverse of Life in Ancient Israel." Old Testament Essays 18/3 (2005):681-702.         [ Links ]

Markl, Dominik, "This Word Is Your Life: The Theology of 'Life' in Deuteronomy." Pages 71-96 in Gottes Wort im Menschenwort: Festschrift für Georg Fischer SJ zum 60. Geburtstag ÖBS 43. Edited by Dominik Markl, Claudia Paganini and Simone Paganini. Frankfurt am Main: Peter Lang, 2014.         [ Links ]

Pola, Thomas. „Was ist ,Leben' im Alten Testament?" Zeitschrift für die Alttestamentliche Wissenschaft 116 (2004):251-252.         [ Links ]

Preuss, Horst-Dietrich. Old Testament Theology. Vol I. Old Testament Library. Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 1995.         [ Links ]

________________. Old Testament Theology. Vol II. Old Testament Library. Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 1996.         [ Links ]

Riede, Peter. „Noch einmal: Was ist , Leben' im Alten Testament?" Zeitschrift für die Alttestamentliche Wissenschaft 119 (2007):416-420.         [ Links ]

Ringgren Helmer. חָיָה chäyäh חַי chai; חַיִּים chaiyïm; חַיָה chaiyäh; מִּחְיָה michyäh. Pages 324-344 in Theological Dictionary of the Old Testament. Vol. 4. Edited by Botterweck G. Johannes and Ringgren, Helmer. Translated by John T. Willis. Eerdmans: Grand Rapids, 1980.         [ Links ]

Schmid, Konrad. Fülle des Lebens oder erfülltes Leben? Religionsgeschichtliche und theologische Überlegungen zur Lebensthematik im Alten Testament. No Pages Cited 12 July 2021. ZORA URL: https://doi.org/10.5167/uzh-68149.         [ Links ]

________________. A Historical Theology of the Hebrew Bible. Translated by Peter Altmann. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2019.         [ Links ]

Utzschneider, Helmuth. „Zum Verständnis des Lebens im Alten Testament. Ein Glossar mit sechs Stichworten," GlLern 19 (2004):118-124.         [ Links ]

Von Rad, Gerhard. Old Testament Theology. Vol 1. The Theology of Israel's Historical Traditions. Translated by D.M.G. Stalker. Edinburgh: Oliver & Boyd, 1968.         [ Links ]

________________. Old Testament Theology. Vol 2. The Theology of Israel's Prophetic Traditions. Translated by D.M.G. Stalker. London: SCM Press, 1975.         [ Links ]

Waltke, Bruce K. An Old Testament Theology: An Exegetical, Canonical and Thematic Approach. Zondervan, Grand Rapids, 2007.         [ Links ]

 

 

Submitted: 22/07/2021
Peer-reviewed: 20/01/2023
Accepted: 23/01/2023

 

 

Jaco Gericke, Associate Research Professor of Ancient Texts, Contexts and Reception in the Faculty of Theology at the North West University (Vanderbijlpark). Email: 21609268@nwu.ac.za ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1304-7751.
1 This contribution is dedicated to Gerrie Snyman in celebration of his life and in honour of his life's work.
2 Helmer Ringgren, 'חָיָה chāyāh חַי chai; חַיִּים chaiytm; חַיָה chaiyäh; מִּחְיָה michyäh," in Theological Dictionary of the Old Testament (ed. G. Johannes Botterweck and Helmer Ringgren; trans. J.T. Willis; vol. 4; Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1980). Gillis Gerleman, 'חיה hyh to live,' in Theological Lexicon of the Old Testament (ed. E. Jenni and C. Westermann; trans. Mark E. Biddle; vol. 1; Peabody: Hendrickson Publishers, 1997).
3 The scope of the literature in which there is some or other relations to "life" beyond the linguistic dimensions is vast and a detailed literature review is not only a digression from the main concern but impossible to provide. For the use of the word in different contexts, see, e.g., inter alia, Lorenz Diirr, Die Wertung des Lebens im Alten Testament und im antiken Orient: Ein Beitrag zur Erklärung des Segens des viertes Gebotes (Münster L.W.: Asschendoff, 1926); Peter Riede, „Noch einmal: Was ist ,Leben' im Alten Testament?" Zeitschrift für die Alttestamentliche Wissenschaft 119 (2007):416-420; Helmuth Utzschneider, „Zum Verständnis des Lebens im Alten Testament: Ein Glossar mit sechs Stichworten," GlLern 19 (2004):118-124. Kathrin Liess, Der Weg des Lebens. Psalm 16 und das Lebens- und Todesverständnis der Individualpsalmen (FAT II/5; Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2004) and Kathrin Liess, „Leben," n.p. [cited 6 June 2021]. Online: https://www.bibelwissenschaft.de/stichwort/24713/. See also James A. Loader, "Emptied Life: Death as the Reverse of Life in Ancient Israel," Old Testament Essays 18/3 (2005):681-702. Thomas Pola, „Was ist ,Leben' im Alten Testament?" Zeitschrift für die Alttestamentliche Wissenschaft 116 (2004):251-252. Konrad Schmid, "Fülle des Lebens oder erfülltes Leben? Religionsgeschichtliche und theologische Überlegungen zur Lebensthematik im Alten Testament," n.p. [cited 12 July 2021]. ZORA URL: https://doi.org/10.5167/uzh-68149; Albert Coetsee, "YHWH and Israel in Terms of the Concept of Life in Deuteronomy," OTE 32/1 (2019):101-126. More examples could be added to this list but those given should suffice to make the point intended.
4 Don Cupitt, The New Religion of Life in Everyday Speech (London: SCM Press, 1999); Don Cupitt, Life, Life (Santa Rosa: Polebridge Press, 2003); Don Cupitt, The Way to Happiness (Santa Rosa: Polebridge Press, 2005); Don Cupitt, The Great Questions of Life (Santa Rosa: Polebridge Press 2006); Don Cupitt, Impossible Loves (Santa Rosa: Polebridge Press 2007); Don Cupitt, Above Us Only Sky (Santa Rosa: Polebridge Press, 2008); Don Cupitt, Theology's Strange Return (London: SCM Press, 2010).
5 Cupitt, The Way to Happiness, 2-3. Philosophically and historically, Cupitt's method involves mixing elements from similar concerns in the writings of Western male philosophers like Kierkegaard, Schopenhauer, Nietzsche, Wittgenstein, Heidegger, Foucault and others (including non-philosophers). Constructively, Cupitt goes further to provide other prescriptive conclusions incorporating also Derrida, Rorty and Zen Buddhist philosophical ideas.
6 Cupitt, Impossible Loves, 47.
7 For the philosophical background that shaped the initial translation early in the 17th century but before Descartes and the theoretical beginning of the modern-era, see Henrik Lagerlund, The Routledge Companion to Sixteenth Century Philosophy (London: Routledge, 2017). For a useful introduction of the diffused and complex historical situation with American pragmatist, process and linguistic philosophy preceding the NRSV and indirectly influential on the religious-philosophical assumptions of the time as well as OT theology, see David Boersema, "American Philosophy," The Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy, n.p. [cited 2 July 2021]. Online: https://iep.utm.edu/american/.
8 For the variety of presuppositions, problems and perspectives that have characterised the discipline towards the end of the 20th century, see, inter alia, Gerhard F. Hasel, Old Testament Theology: Basic Issues in the Current Debate (Revised and expanded third edition; Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1991); James Barr, The Concept of Biblical Theology: An Old Testament Perspective (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1999).
9 Noteworthy absentees include, in alphabetic order, Bernard W. Anderson, Contours of Old Testament Theology (Minneapolis: Fortress Press 1999); Brevard S. Childs, Old Testament Theology in a Canonical Context (London: SCM Press, 1985); Georg Fischer, Theologien des Alten Testaments (Stuttgart: Verlag Katholisches Bibelwerk, 2012); Erhard S. Gerstenberger, Theologies of the Old Testament (London: T & T Clark 2002); Jörg Jeremias, Theologie des Alten Testaments (Grundrisse zum Alten Testament 6; Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 2015). Otto Kaiser, Der Gott des Alten Testaments: Theologie des Alten Testaments Teil 1: Grundlegung (UTB 1747; Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 1993) and two subsequent volumes on the extended Capita Selecta; Robin Routledge, Old Testament Theology: A Thematic Approach (Nottingham: Apollos Inter-Varsity Press, 2008); Bruce K. Waltke, An Old Testament Theology: An Exegetical, Canonical and Thematic approach (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2007).
10 In contrast to the previous section, the present one will not focus on the first-person perspectives of "my life" but on "life," the primary broader term Cupitt mentions as point of orientation in the inquiry. One reason for the switch is that "my life" is usually not standard in the OT theological meta-language as it is in translation. Moreover, while Cupitt notes the first stirrings of the turn to life in the early modern period, the most noticeable increase in associated phrases and idioms in English can only be dated from the second half of the 20th century to the present. For that reason, the translations of the KJV and NRSV sufficed for the intended purpose whereas here, with OT theology only becoming a separate discipline later, the data set from which samples will be drawn will commence with the so-called classic period associated with the writings of German scholars like Walther Eichrodt and Gerhard von Rad onwards. In the discussion to follow, instead of merely noting the usual concerns with life in publications dealing with conceptions of the person or life as a divine attribute, gift or such, the focus will be on those elements in second-order discourse most related to the ontological and axiological dimensions of the religious-philosophical turn to life in contemporary ordinary language.
11 Walther Eichrodt, Theology of the Old Testament (Vol. 1; Trans. J.A. Baker; London: SCM Press, 1961), Walther Eichrodt, Theology of the Old Testament (Vol. 2; Trans. J.A. Baker; London: SCM Press, 1967).
12 Eichrodt, Theology of the Old Testament I, 327.
13 Ibid., 345.
14 Ibid., 9.
15 Eichrodt, Theology of the Old Testament II, 17.
16 Ibid., 45
17 Ibid., 47.
18 Ibid., 64.
19 Ibid., 69
20 Ibid., 294.
21 Ibid., 87.
22 Ibid., 146.
23 Ibid., 35
24 Ibid., 151.
25 Ibid., 55.
26 Ibid., 56.
27 Ibid., 160.
28 Ibid., 158.
29 Ibid., 174.
30 Ibid., 175.
31 Ibid., 208.
32 Ibid., 233.
33 Ibid., 84.
34 Ibid., 251.
35 Ibid., 261.
36 Ibid., 259.
37 Ibid., 359.
38 Ibid., 401.
39 Ibid., 419.
40 Eichrodt, Theology of the Old Testament, 2 vols, passim. It would be impractical to list all the page numbers of every occurrence of each of these words and phrases in the footnotes to this study. There are just too many. A word search on an electronic version of the publications will identify the exact page numbers for anyone interested in further details.
41 Gerhard von Rad, Old Testament Theology.: The Theology of Israel's Historical Traditions (Vol 1. Trans. D.M.G. Stalker; Edinburgh: Oliver & Boyd, 1968); Gerhard von Rad, Old Testament Theology: The Theology of Israel's Prophetic Traditions (Vol. 2; Trans. D.M.G. Stalker; London: SCM Press, 1975).
42 Von Rad, Old Testament Theology 2, 23.
43 Ibid., 28.
44 Ibid., 29.
45 Ibid., 41.
46 Von Rad, Old Testament Theology 1, 5.
47 Ibid., 6.
48 Ibid., 15.
49 Ibid., 53.
50 Ibid., 132.
51 Ibid., 28.
52 Ibid., 36.
53 Ibid., 38.
54 Ibid., 43.
55 Ibid., 393.
56 Ibid., 62.
57 Ibid., 63.
58 Ibid., 73.
59 Ibid., 78.
60 Ibid., 38.
61 Ibid., 91.
62 Ibid., 94.
63 Ibid., 96.
64 Ibid., 58.
65 Ibid., 149.
66 Ibid., 156.
67 Ibid., 155
68 Ibid., 193.
69 Ibid., 194.
70 Ibid., 199.
71 Ibid., 224.
72 Ibid., 214.
73 Ibid., 190.
74 Ibid., 251.
75 Ibid., 273.
76 Ibid., 37.
77 Ibid., 279.
78 Ibid., 282.
79 Ibid., 458.
80 Ibid., 370.
81 Ibid., 379.
82 Ibid., 384.
83 Ibid., 418.
84 Ibid., 455.
85 Ibid., 456.
86 Ibid., 458.
87 Horst-Dietrich Preuss, Old Testament Theology (Vol. I; Old Testament Library; Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 1995); Horst-Dietrich Preuss, Old Testament Theology (Vol II; Old Testament Library; Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 1996).
88 Preuss, Old Testament Theology, Vol I, 8.
89 Ibid., 59.
90 Ibid., 85.
91 Ibid., 87.
92 Ibid., 91.
93 Ibid., 108.
94 Ibid., 132.
95 Ibid., 230.
96 Ibid., 224.
97 Ibid., 235.
98 Ibid., 228.
99 Ibid., 252.
100 Ibid., 262.
101 Ibid., 225.
102 Ibid., 296.
103 Preuss, Old Testament Theology, 2 vols, passim.
104 Walter Brueggemann, Theology of the Old Testament: Testimony, Dispute, Advocacy (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1997).
105 Brueggemann, Theology of the Old Testament, 33.
106 Ibid., 661.
107 Ibid., 332.
108 Ibid., 611.
109 Ibid., 661.
110 Ibid., 133.
111 Ibid., 661.
112 Ibid., 156.
113 Ibid., 745.
114 Ibid., 156.
115 Ibid., 31.
116 Ibid., 81.
117 Ibid., 746.
118 Ibid., 435.
119 Ibid., 429.
120 Ibid., 435
121 Ibid., 483.
122 Ibid., 149.
123 Ibid., 599.
124 Ibid., 133.
125 Ibid., 288.
126 Ibid., 31.
127 Ibid., 28.
128 Ibid., 688.
129 Ibid., 600.
130 Ibid., 77.
131 Ibid., 263.
132 Ibid., 324.
133 Ibid., 222.
134 Ibid., 22.
135 Ibid., 556.
136 Ibid., 722.
137 Ibid., 202.
138 Ibid., 385.
139 Ibid., 16.
140 Ibid., passim.
141 Ibid., passim. Though Brueggemann's choice of second-order religious language includes many idiosyncratic expressions, it cannot avoid recourse to the idiomatic framework of the philosophy of life in everyday speech.
142 See John Goldingay, Old Testament Theology 2: Israel's Life (Downers Grove: Inter-Varsity Press, 2010). Cf. Bernd Janowski, Der Gott des Lebens (Beiträge zur Theologie des Alten Testaments 3; Neukirchen-Vluyn: Neukirchener Verlag, 2003).
143 Goldingay, Old Testament Theology Vol 2, 16.
144 Ibid., 323.
145 Ibid., 637.
146 Ibid., 423.
147 Ibid., 323.
148 Ibid., 912.
149 Ibid., 395.
150 Ibid., 634.
151 Ibid., 602.
152 Ibid., 457.
153 Ibid., 349.
154 Ibid., 46.
155 Ibid., 29.
156 Ibid., 46.
157 Ibid., 36.
158 Ibid., 160.
159 Ibid., 630.
160 Ibid., 638.
161 Ibid., 613.
162 Ibid., 802.
163 Ibid., 361.
164 Ibid., 74.
165 Ibid., 30.
166 Ibid., 682.
167 Ibid.,passim. See footnote 10 on further details for page numbers.
168 Konrad Schmid, A Historical Theology of the Hebrew Bible (Trans. Peter Altmann; Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2019).
169 Schmid, A Historical Theology of the Hebrew Bible, 193.
170 Ibid., 310.
171 Ibid., 93.
172 Ibid., 326.
173 Ibid., 126.
174 Ibid., 130.
175 Ibid., 367.
176 Ibid., 311.
177 Ibid., 157.
178 Ibid., 193.
179 Ibid., 412.
180 Ibid., 367.
181 Ibid., xiii.
182 Ibid., 253.
183 Ibid., 100.
184 Ibid., 304.
185 Ibid., 406.
186 Ibid., 386.
187 Ibid., 36.
188 Ibid., 72.
189 Ibid., 378.
190 Ibid., 119.
191 Ibid., 156.
192 Ibid., 187.
193 Ibid., 188.
194 Ibid., passim. See above footnote 10 regarding pages numbers.