This seems like a fairly comprehensive overview of a critical topic. Sommer also wrote The Bodies of God, which I requested for Logos a couple or more years back. FL should probably offer a Sommer Collection. One of his titles is potentially available in this AYBR upgrade .
Agreed. More Benjamin Sommer please!
[Y]
Looks good. It's by NYU Press. Faithlife doesn't have any of their books yet, but they have worked with Yale University Press before for the Anchor Yale stuff, and Baylor University Press, so they ought to be able to explore further university presses. Some of them have some really good books in religion/theology. For example Indiana University Press has The Poetics of Biblical Narrative by Meir Sternberg, which I've been wanting.
For example Indiana University Press has The Poetics of Biblical Narrative by Meir Sternberg, which I've been wanting.
Also by IUP and including an essay by Sternberg along with most of the other usual suspects in the narrative field. Had to buy it in hard copy format...doubt FL will ever carry it.
Many titles from the Indiana Studies in Biblical Literature series are on my wish list or are already on my shelves.
My hard copy arrived today...couldn't wait. Still want Jewish Concepts of Scripture and The Bodies of God, FaithLife.
STEP UP!!!
mm.
STILL wanting Logos to acquire everything Benjamin Sommer. Just started reading my hard copy of The Bodies of God (see OP) and definitely want that ASAP. Book won two awards when it was published. Also just saw this along the same theme, so FL...get this, too.
https://www.amazon.com/Human-Shaped-God-Theology-Embodied/dp/0664265006/
STILL wanting Logos to acquire everything Benjamin Sommer. Just started reading my hard copy of The Bodies of God (see OP) and definitely want that ASAP. Book won two awards when it was published.
It'd certainly be a good addition to Mark Smith's Where the Gods Are: Spatial Dimensions of Anthropomorphism in the Biblical World . I just finished it; it's more hard-core analysis, but good for documenting across the cultures (though granted Logos is missing most of the references). He didn't attempt the Davidic temple vs the Mount of Olives high places (which I think Zechariah did).
Before that, I was reading James Barr's Scope and Authority of the Bible which oddly enough fits into Smith's ancient religion pattern.
Sommer would offer an even better perspective.
I have Smith's book in Logos...I need to make a point of reading it. I think I have the Barr book in hard copy, but it would be in storage (moving soon--eastern time zone--I've only ever lived in central). I have most of what else he's written. Recently got and started Peckham's Divine Attributes; he focuses on the variance between classic Christian theology about ':Elohhiym's nature and the revelation presented in the Bible's text. One of those variances is what Sommer focuses on...the classical view that YHWH is incorporeal vs. Sommer's observation (p. 5) regarding "the fact that the Hebrew Bible contains not a single verse denying that God has a body". It's nice to occasionally read a book I mostly agree with, but I just started so we'll see. Finished Ben-Hillel's book I posted about earlier.
https://community.logos.com/forums/t/210008.aspx <---FL...get this book!!
His early chapter on the Bible's witness was useful. As he progressed through the Rabbinic stage and into the Kabbalistic phase, I had to force myself to slog through. I've never muttered the phrase "word salad" so often in my life. But his final chapter comments were actually pretty good...I even marked "excellent" in the margin regarding some of his closing remarks. That almost never happens. A somewhat unexpected theme of all of these books has been the vast disjunction between the Bible and what people have historically invoked as theological doctrine. Most of these issues aren't even close enough to legitimately be termed "judgment calls". Peckham's first chapter sets the stage: "The God of the Bible [the textual witness] vs. the God of the Philosophers [the God of the church fathers, and as Ben-Hillel would add, the rabbis]". The history of theological interpretation is sort of like a bizarre, perverse take on the Wizard's "pay no attention to that man behind the curtain", with the typical theologian's view being "pay no attention to that God in the text".
Sommer's take: "The God of the Hebrew Bible has a body. The evidence for this simple thesis is overwhelming...". For some reason, historical Christianity resists and differs, even though "one could add copious evidence from narrative, prophecy, and psalms...". He summarizes the perspective of most scholars (and I would add, clergy), specifically "the habit of assuming that because we all know the Hebrew Bible's God has no body, evidence to the contrary must be denied or, if that is not possible, explained away." It will be interesting to see where he ventures.
FL...get this book!!---> https://www.amazon.com/Bodies-God-World-Ancient-Israel/dp/1107422264/
@Jason Stone (Logos)
This belongs as a book request - I suspect that the old suggestions forum as a whole is misplaced. Many people didn't double post in feedbear. I wanted to drum up more support for this title but …
Fully redesigned second edition with updated study notes and expanded selection of maps and charts https://www.amazon.com/ESV-MacArthur-Study-Bible-eBook-ebook/dp/B08BYZS9GY
Title: The Story of Christianity: Volume 2: The Reformation to the Present Day Author: Justo L. González Publisher: HarperOne ISBN: 978-0061855894 External Links: Amazon Listing Amazon Description: From Justo L. Gonzalez, author of the acclaimed three-volume History of Christian Thought, The Story of Christianity Volume…
Title: 1493: Uncovering the New World Columbus Created Author: Charles C. Mann Publisher: Vintage Publication Date: 2012 ISBN: 978-0307278241 Description on Amazon: "Presenting the latest research by biologists, anthropologists, archaeologists, and historians, Mann shows how the post-Columbian network of ecological and…
Title: 1491: New Revelations of the Americas Before Columbus Author: Charles C. Mann Publisher: Vintage Publication Date: 2006 ISBN: 978-1400032051 Description on Amazon: "Contrary to what so many Americans learn in school, the pre-Columbian Indians were not sparsely settled in a pristine wilderness; rather, there were…
I am 72 and retired. I am no stranger to controversy, but if are really serious about adding commentaries, I would add this one.
