Given
the recent AF topic on corporeality and God, I felt compelled to share
the following selection:
The Torah's single most important teaching about
God is that humanity is like God, so Genesis 1:26: "Let us make man in our
image, after our likeness." God and the human being are mirror images of
one another. Here we find the simple claim that the angels could not discern any
physical difference whatever between man—Adam—and God:
Genesis Rabbah VIII:X
A. Said R. Hoshaiah,
"When the Holy One, blessed be he, came to create the first man, the
ministering angels mistook him [for God, for man was in God's image,] and
wanted to say before the latter, Holy, [holy, holy is the Lord of hosts].'
(Page 29)
This brought back to mind an essay by Neusner which
I read back in the late 90s—"Conversation in Nauvoo about the Corporeality
of God"—which was published in volume 36.1 (1996) of the BYU Studies
Quarterly. I grabbed the issue from my collection, and on page 14 found the
exact same Midrash quote referenced above—which I must admit, I had forgotten.
(PDF copy available online HERE.)
I think many folk will find Neusner's book
and essay of interest...
Grace and peace,
David
6 comments:
Hello David!
I have been devoting a little time to trying to understand the positions on LFW and God's knowledge, but failing to devote the necessary time.
I thought I would say that I read this and the Lacantius post and thought they were interesting.
Hope (and expect it quite likely) your studies are proceeding at a rate better than mine!!!
Charity, TOm
Hi Tom,
I am not overly dogmatic concerning LFW and God's foreknowledge; though the fact that some advocates of LFW disagree over the exact definition of LFW itself speaks volumes to me. What I am not willing to negotiate is that the choices of humans—who have reached the age of accountability—are 'free' in the sense that one had/has the actual/real ability to choose between 'real choices' at any given time. (By 'real choices' I mean those instances wherein it is not physically impossible to make alternate choices.)
As for my current studies, I am trying to come to a viable understanding of why so many early Christian apologists chose to adopt a more Platonic/Hellenistic understanding of those many Biblical passages that represent God in some type of corporeal form, instead of siding with the prevalent Jewish understanding which interpreted such passages in a very literal sense.
Hope to post more on this important issue in the near future, the Lord willing...
Grace and peace,
David
There are several more citation made by Marc Shapiro for anthropomorphism in Judaism until the middle ages. See his book, "Limit of Orthodox Theology" Principle 3. You will find other things you will like in this book as well.
Hello Berhane,
Thanks much for bringing to my attention Marc Shapiro's book, The Limits of Orthodox Theology: Maimonides' Thirteen Principles Reappraised.
Unfortunately, the triple digit price precludes me from obtaining the book at this time.
https://www.amazon.com/s?k=9781906764234&i=stripbooks&linkCode=qs
Will keep an eye on the used book prices; hopefully the near future will present a much lower cost.
Grace and peace,
David
Not again! When I bought this book a few years ago, it was only $20. It is a great book. Some of the claims he makes could greatly trouble an observant Jew's faith. There was a chapter of that book I had to put down and I did not read for another year.
He claims Rashi and his descendants were corporealists, citing his commentary on Exodus 7:5 to says "hand" is not an expression of power but to refer to God's "actual" hand. https://www.chabad.org/library/bible_cdo/aid/9868#showrashi=true
The book also deals with creation ex nihilo, Maimonides like Origen was influenced by Plato, he believed there was eternal matter. Shapiro ibn Ezra, Levi ben Abraham, R. Nissim bar Moses and others on this matter.
Hello again Berhane,
Over the weekend, I found a number of books by James Kugel which seem to argue many of the same views espoused by Shapiro:
jameskugel.com
I have ordered the following two books:
The God of Old
The Great Shift
Are you familiar with Kugel's contributions?
Grace and peace,
David
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