Creation and the persistence of evil : the Jewish drama of divine omnipotence

Description

This paperback edition brings to a wide audience one of the most innovative and meaningful models of God for this post-Auschwitz era. In a thought-provoking return to the original Hebrew conception of God, which questions accepted conceptions of divine omnipotence, Jon Levenson defines God's authorship of the world as a consequence of his victory in his struggle with evil. He traces a flexible conception of God to the earliest Hebrew sources, arguing, for example, that Genesis 1 does not describe the banishment of evil but the attempt to contain the menace of evil in the world, a struggle that continues today. Content: The Mastery of God and the Vulnerability of Order : The Basic ideas of Israelite religion? -- The Survival of chaos after the victory of God -- The Futurity and presence of the cosmogonic victory -- Conclusion : the vitality of evil and the fragility of creation -- The Alternation of Chaos and Order : Genesis 1:1-2:3 : creation without opposition : Psalm 104 -- Creation in seven days -- Cosmos and microcosm -- Rest and re- creation -- Conclusion : chaos neutralized in cult -- Creation and Covenant : The Dynamics of Lordship and Submission : The Two idioms of Biblical monotheism -- The Dialectic of covenantal theonomy -- Argument and obedience.