Humans created God in their image? An anthropomorphic projectionism in the Old Testament
HTS Teologiese Studies/Theological Studies
| Field | Value | |
| Title | Humans created God in their image? An anthropomorphic projectionism in the Old Testament | |
| Creator | Mtshiselwa, Ndikho Mokoena, Lerato | |
| Description | The Old Testament projects not only a Deity that created the world and human beings but also one that is violent and male. The debate on the depiction of the God of Israel that is violent and male is far from being exhausted in Old Testament studies. Thus, the main question posed in this article is: If re-read as ‘Humans created God in their image’, would Genesis 1:27 account for the portrayal of a Deity that is male and violent? Feuerbach’s idea of anthropomorphic projectionism and Guthrie’s view of religion as anthropomorphism come to mind here. This article therefore examines, firstly, human conceptualisation of a divine being within the framework of the theory of anthropomorphic projectionism. Because many a theologian and philosopher would deny that God is a being at all, we further investigate whether the God of Israel was a theological and social construction during the history of ancient Israel. In the end, we conclude, based on the theory of anthropomorphic projectionism, that the idea that the God of Israel was a theological and social construct accounts for the depiction of a Deity that is male and violent in the Old Testament. | |
| Publisher | AOSIS | |
| Date | 2018-08-09 | |
| Identifier | 10.4102/hts.v74i1.5017 | |
| Source | HTS Teologiese Studies / Theological Studies; Vol 74, No 1 (2018); 6 pages 2072-8050 0259-9422 | |
| Language | eng | |
| Relation |
The following web links (URLs) may trigger a file download or direct you to an alternative webpage to gain access to a publication file format of the published article:
https://hts.org.za/index.php/hts/article/view/5017/11481
https://hts.org.za/index.php/hts/article/view/5017/11480
https://hts.org.za/index.php/hts/article/view/5017/11482
https://hts.org.za/index.php/hts/article/view/5017/11451
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