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" Divine Bodies in Biblical and Related Literature "
Bogue, Bryan Carter
Stokes, Ryan E.
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Latin Dissertation
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English
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| Record Number
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1053247
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TL52364
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| Main Entry
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Bogue, Bryan Carter
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| Title & Author
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Divine Bodies in Biblical and Related Literature\ Bogue, Bryan CarterStokes, Ryan E.
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| College
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Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary
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| Date
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2019
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| Degree
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Ph.D.
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2019
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| Note
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218 p.
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| Abstract
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In this dissertation, I argue that the earliest biblical conceptions of the divine included a belief in an anthropomorphic body, and that this belief persisted throughout the biblical period. The earliest literary evidence of a challenge to this belief dates to the turn of the common era, but this challenge did not immediately replace the more traditional notions of divine embodiment. In the introduction I introduce the field of embodiment approaches as they are applied to the study of how God's body is represented in biblical and related literature. 1 also outline my methodology and give definitions of key terms. In chapters 1 and 2 I describe the anatomy of divine bodies, of which there are four main types: anthropomorphic, theriomorphic, physiomorphic, and uranomorphic. The first chapter is concerned with anthropomorphic features of deity. which I argue dominated the literature throughout the biblical period. The view that God and angels had bodies analogous to the human body was only seriously challenged around the turn of the common era. The second chapter focuses on non-anthropomorphic features such as theriomorphism, physiomorphism, and uranomorphism. 1 argue that often these features are ancillary to an anthropomorphic conception of the deity and do not necessarily replace it. In chapter 3 I describe the gender and sexuality of divine beings as it is portrayed by the biblical texts. While many have argued that divine beings are male (or genderless), the ancient authors describe a number of feminine figures among the divine and only one text rules out the idea of feminine divinities completely. When it comes to the concept of divine sexuality, the authors who address this issue seem to accept the ability of divine beings to have sex (an activity that would be utterly impossible for bodiless beings), yet they also tend to believe that sex is unnecessary and prohibited for divine beings because of their immortality. In chapter 4 I explore the divine activity of eating/drinking. Biblical texts which speak of divine beings eating/drinking assume an embodied existence for the deity and also demonstrate that there is no linear progression from a belief in an anthropomorphic deity to a bodiless deity. Divine beings participate in these activities in Israel's earliest literature as well as texts from the Second Temple period, even if the ideas may have developed in various ways. In the final chapter I investigate the aged appearance of divine beings in the biblical literature. While the earliest texts may refer to divine beings as '`men," they are increasingly described as "young men" in the Second Temple period, and one very influential tradition describes God as an aged deity. This reveals a conception that divine bodies do not show the effects of their age (or perhaps they age very slowly compared to humans). In the conclusion I summarize my findings, describe some of the implications of my study, and provide avenues for further research.
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| Descriptor
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Biblical studies
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Religion
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Stokes, Ryan E.
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Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary
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