The Names of God : Poetic Readings in Biblical Beginnings.
In this book, Brichto argues for the aesthetic and ideological wholeness of the Hebrew Bible. He uses the methods of contemporary literary criticism to examine one of the greatest inconsistencies within the Book of Genesis, the alternating use of Yahweh (the Lord) and Elohim (God) as names for the D...
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| Format: | eBook Electronic |
| Language: | English |
| Imprint: | Cary : Oxford University Press, Incorporated, 1998. |
| Subjects: | |
| Local Note: | Electronic reproduction. Ann Arbor, Michigan : ProQuest Ebook Central, 2022. Available via World Wide Web. Access may be limited to ProQuest Ebook Central affiliated libraries. |
| Online Access: | Click to View |
| Summary: | In this book, Brichto argues for the aesthetic and ideological wholeness of the Hebrew Bible. He uses the methods of contemporary literary criticism to examine one of the greatest inconsistencies within the Book of Genesis, the alternating use of Yahweh (the Lord) and Elohim (God) as names for the Deity. Often cited as the proof of multiple authorship, Brichto shows, instead, that this "inconsistency" serves as a device for a single author, using the specific name that is appropriate to each specific story. Brichto then proceeds to overturn other multiple-author proofs, including variations in genealogies, eponyms, and chronologies. He shows that their variety, ingenuity, and imaginative whimsy serve a vital poetic function in the structure of the text as a whole. Finding a unity in this diversity of genres, styles, and devices, Brichto solidifies his thesis of single authorship. This is the sequel to the author's iconoclastic Toward a Grammar of Biblical Poetics (Oxford, 1992), in which Brichto argues for the aesthetic wholeness of the Hebrew Bible, and the consistency of Scripture's preachment on God, nature, and the human condition--in direct opposition to current source criticism, which maintains that inconsistencies within the text support an atomistic reading of multiple authors. In The Names of God, Brichto brings us his "poetic" reading of Scripture to the Book of Genesis. Using contemporary methods and insights of literary criticism, he examines one of the great inconsistencies within Genesis that have led to the supposition of multiple authors--the assortment of terms or names for the Deity, among them Yahweh and Elohim--and attempts to show the appropriateness of certain of these names to the stories in which they appear. He also looks at a variety of other data within Genesis such as genealogies, eponyms, and chronologies, and shows that their poetical function--their variety, ingenuity, and imaginative whimsy--is vital to the structure of the text as a whole. In finding a unity in this diversity of materials, Brichto makes a strong case for the text as the artistic achievement of a single author. |
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| Item Description: | Description based on publisher supplied metadata and other sources. |
| Physical Description: | 1 online resource (481 pages) |
| ISBN: | 9780195355130 |
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