Image, Text, Exegesis: Iconographic Interpretation and the Hebrew Bible (The Library of Hebrew Bible/Old Testament Studies)
Overview
Images from the ancient Near East are an important though generally underutilized source of data for interpreting the Hebrew Bible and the cultural context from which it emerged. The essays in this volume highlight the ways that ancient Near Eastern iconography can inform exegesis. This aim is accomplished through case studies in iconographic exegesis that exhibit sound methodologies for relating images and texts.
Since the 1970s, biblical scholars have been turning increasingly to iconography as a source for understanding the religion, history and literature of the ancient Near East. The essays in this volume tackle two thorny issues: 1) how images reflect the cultures that produce them and 2) the nature of the relationship between images and texts, both within discrete cultures and among different cultures. Until now, there have been relatively few methodologically self-conscious treatments of ancient iconography and its relationship to the biblical text. So this volume addresses a clear need for demonstrating transparent and consistent methods for iconographic work among biblical scholars.
- Examines the importance of pictorial material for understanding the historical context of the Hebrew Bible
- Focuses on the modes of interpreting ancient Near Eastern images in their unique contexts
- Reflects on the interaction between the biblical text and ancient Near Eastern imagery and how iconography can specifically inform biblical exegesis
- The Interpretive Nexus Of Image And Text
- Acculturating Gender Roles: Goddess Images As Conveyors Of Culture In Ancient Israel
- Mixed Creatures And The Assyrian Influence On The West Semitic Glyptic Repertoire
- The Function And Meaning Of Mymn On Hebrew Seals In Light Of Accompanying Iconography
- The Iconography Of Ideal Feminine Beauty Represented In The Hebrew Bible And Iron Age Levantine Ivory Sculpture
- Finding Asherah: The Goddesses In Text And Image
- The Iconography Of Fear: Yirat Yhwh In Artistic Perspective
- “Children I Have Raised And Brought Up” (Isaiah 1:2): Female Metaphors For God In Isaiah And The Iconography Of The Syro-Palestinian Goddess Asherah
- Images Of Justification
- The Ivory Beds And Houses Of Samaria In Amos
- Lions And Leopards And Bears, O My: Re-Reading Isaiah 11:6–9 In Light Of Comparative Iconographic And Literary Evidence
- A God Of The Mountains? An Iconographic Perspective On The Aramean Argument In 1 Kings 20:23
- The Egyptian Deity Menkeret And Psalm 89 As A Royal Funeral
- Practical Resources For Iconographic Exegesis
Another important contribution to the use of the visual imagery in the study of the Hebrew Bible.
—Bibliotheca Orientalis
- Title: Image, Text, Exegesis: Iconographic Interpretation and the Hebrew Bible
- Editors: Izaak J. de Hulster, Joel M. LeMon
- Series: The Library of Hebrew Bible/Old Testament Studies (LHBOTS)
- Publisher: T&T Clark
- Publication Date: 2016
- Pages: 336
- Resource Type: Collected Essays
- Topic: Biblical Studies
Izaak J. de Hulster is working as post-doctoral researcher at the Georg-August-University Göttingen (Germany) as part of the Alexander-von-Humboldt foundation sponsored Sofja Kovalevskaja Project “Unity and Diversity in Early Jewish Monotheisms.” He holds an MA in theology from Utrecht University and an M.Div. from the Seminary of the Baptist congregations in The Netherlands.
Joel M. LeMon is Assistant Professor of Old Testament,Candler School of Theology, Emory University, USA