Fruchtbarkeit und Geburt in den Psalmen

Marianne Grohmann examines those images in the Psalms which refer to fertility and birth. Her methodical approach combines historical-critical exegesis, reader-oriented intertextuality, theories of metaphor and Jewish interpretations of the Bible. In her linguistic analysis of selected texts from the Psalms, the author shows the multidimensionality of images of birth in the Old Testament on a physical, personal, social and transcendental level. Birth is an experience of intense relationship and interaction between God, man and woman. Against the backdrop of the generallyhigh importance of fertility in the Hebrew Bible and its surroundings, the author also studies its downside, infertility. The author concludes her work with an examination of perspectives deriving from the Old Testament texts to current discussions in bioethics concerning the beginning of human life.