Search results for ""author hermann spieckermann""

With the first volume of the commentary, Hermann Spieckermann presents a detailed overview of Psalm research from the 19th century to the present. At the same time, Spieckermann presents the theology of the Psalms in detail. In the interpretation of the first third of the Psalter, Psalms 1-49, the commentator pays particular attention to the profile of the content, the poetic design, the literary development and the time-spanning topicality of the prayers. The commentary aims to be of help to all who value the Psalms and want to make use of them in understanding and prayer.

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Wrath and mercy of the gods were some of the significant religious features in antiquity. They interpret human experiences of suffering and affliction as well as those of protection and welfare. Due to the different characters and responsibilities of the deities, a remarkable range of constellations of divine benevolence and malevolence becomes evident, sometimes without allowing insight into the motives of the decisions made. This is why the actions of the gods are often viewed as emotional and arbitrary, lacking any degree of transparency. Consequently, the gods are subjected to philosophical and theological criticism. They are regarded by some as unreliable and obscure in any case, while others launch an attack on them, questioning their existence. The relationship between divine wrath and mercy requires a great deal of perception in the monotheistic religions, as it is no longer possible to attribute wrath and mercy to different deities. Wrath and mercy become characteristic features of one god only. In all monotheistic religions, it is a matter of theological concern to question the relationship between wrath and mercy on the basis of authoritative texts and religious experience. The comparison of these approaches provides valuable information on the very essence of the religions investigated from this central perspective.

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The present volume makes accessible once more the groundbreaking work "The Septuagint Version of Isaiah" (1948) by Isac Leo Seeligmann (1907-1982), accompanied by two studies that have to be seen as prolegomena to the book. Both studies were published originally in the Dutch language, and the English translation of one of them appears in this volume for the first time. Seeligmann aims to understand the Septuagint as a witness of Hellenistic Judaism striving to maintain the text's special character as a document of faith. At the same time all of Seeligmann's works edited in this volume are documents of the suffering of European Judaism during the time of National Socialism.The new edition provides evidence of Seeligmann's approach to the Septuagint as a witness of Hellenistic Judaism which strives to maintain the text's special character as a document of faith. Because of this new access from the perspective of content and method, Seeligmann's influence on Septuagint research became so strong that it has lasted up to the present. The reader will realise that the history of Israel during the Hellenistic period does not simply represent an object of scholarly research for Seeligmann but also serves as the background for the interpretation of the history of the Jewish people in his own time.

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