Theology

Psalm 39 reveals a struggle with personal and anthropological questions through lament and self-reflection. It deals with guilt, silence, and mortality. In this study Margarethe Kelm shows how prayer can become a process of working on oneself and on the relationship with God - honest, painful, yet hopeful.

Cyril of Alexandria's theology rewards close reading from unexpected angles. Jonathan Morgan takes one such angle - Cyril's interpretation of circumcision - and uses it to illuminate a rich, multifaceted doctrine of salvation and a distinctive way of reading Scripture in the light of Christ.

How did the book of Kings come to have its present shape? Samson Olanrewaju examines the formulas used to evaluate each Israelite and Judean king and argues that their variations reflect the work of successive scribes, from the ninth century BCE through the post-exilic period. The result is a new, stratified model of the composition of Kings.

How did people in ancient Israel perceive God, the world, and themselves? Bernd Janowski explores Old Testament aesthetics using the concept of perception (aisthesis) and substantiates this through analyses of basic concepts such as beauty and glory, as well as the main themes of space/time experiences, the vision of God (visio Dei), etc.