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Zusatztext "Like Brichto's other writings, this work is masterfully written with language that is unusually rich and daring."--Robert J. Ratner, Congregation Beth Ha Tephila The late Herbert Chanan Brichto was Professor of Biblical Studies at Hebrew Union College. Klappentext 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 currentsource 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 ornames 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 poeticalfunction--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. Zusammenfassung In The Names of God, as in his previous study, Toward a Grammar of Biblical Poetics (OUP, 1992), Herbert Brichto continues to argue against the atomistic readings of the Hebrew Bible by the currently dominant schools of Biblical scholarship. He maintains, that despite the repetitions and self contradictions found in the Five Books of Moses, the Pentateuch possesses an aesthetic and ideological wholeness. Its harmonious blend of stories and structures inform one another as they give shape and meaning to the relationship and expectations between a benevolent God and recalcitrant humankind. In particular, Bichto focuses his "poetic" reading on the Book of Genesis. He uses the methods of contemporary literary criticism to examine one of the greatest inconsistencies within 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 overturns many of the assumptions of current scholarship as he solidifies his thesis of single authorship....
