Tag: Torah

• Exodus – the Burning Bush

  In these Exodus blogs, I’m exploring some of the ways in which the writers/editors crafted their work. In my view, they were writing neither straightforward history, nor fiction, but what might be called ‘religious literature’, which they shaped into an inspiring eye, ear and imagination catching, ‘national epic’. I think of it as being mythicised…

  calgacus83

  16th Jan 2023

  Christianity, Hebrew Bible, History, Literature, Mythology, Old Testament, Poetry, Religion

  Burning Bush, Exodus, God, Israel, Literature, Moses, Mount Sinai, Myth, Torah, Yahweh

• Was Moses an Egyptian?

  We noted, last time, that Moses enjoys an ‘exceptional’ birth story. His parents are humble but Moses, escaping death, becomes a grandson of the Egyptian Pharaoh once adopted by his daughter. It’s an incredible tale, and a famous Jew, Sigmund Freud, had things to say about it ….. He observed that in this story’s most…

  calgacus83

  13th Jan 2023

  Christianity, Hebrew Bible, History, Literature, Mythology, Old Testament, Religion

  Birth Stories, Egypt, Exodus, Freud, Israel, Moses, Pharaoh, Richard Friedman, River Nile, Torah

• Rethinking Jesus (08) The Pharisees (i)

  In the Gospels, the Pharisees seem to be Jesus’ most persistent opponents, and Matthew devotes a whole chapter (23) to giving them what he clearly considers a well deserved roasting. Jesus is said to regard them as “Snakes and children of snakes”, “deserving of going to Hell’. “On the outside”, he says, “you appear good…

  calgacus83

  9th Feb 2022

  Christianity, Hebrew Bible, Jesus of Nazareth, Literature, New Testament, Religion

  Christians, Israel, Jesus, Messiah, Pharisees, The Law, Torah

• Who Wrote the 1st 5 Books of the Bible? (ii)

  In my previous post, I dealt with the E and J material in the Bible’s 1st 5 books. So how did the process of turning these into a national narrative begin? When the northern kingdom of Israel was destroyed, some of its E material was salvaged and used to complement the J material in the…

  calgacus83

  29th Apr 2021

  Hebrew Bible, Literature, Mythology, Old Testament, Poetry, Religion

  Bible, God, Israelites, Moses, Torah, Yahweh

• Who Wrote the 1st 5 Books of the Bible? (i)

  At one time, the answer to this would have been, Moses, but that can no longer be maintained. These 5 books are traditionally called either the Pentateuch or the “Law”, although laws are only a part, though a substantial one, of what they contain. The Hebrew name is “Torah”, which is broader, and means ‘teaching’…

  calgacus83

  27th Apr 2021

  Hebrew Bible, Literature, Mythology, Old Testament, Poetry, Religion

  Genesis, Israelites, Moses, Torah, Yahweh