JHWH und die Unterwelt

The Old Testament connects the God of Israel with the underworld in very different ways. Whereas the underworld seems to be a place which is completely remote from God in some texts, in other passages it is seen as something into which the power of God extends effectively. Gönke Eberhardt describes four parallel developments in Israel's religious history within whose context the understanding of God and the underworld changed: ranging from JHWH as a God who literally has no contact with death and the underworld to a God whose realm of power also includes the underworld and who leads into the underworld and then out again. For this thesis, the author was awarded the 2007 Lucas Prize for Young Scholars.