Der Monotheismus Israels in der vorexilischen Zeit (1893 Nikel), book

Der Monotheismus Israels in der vorexilischen Zeit <German> / The Monotheism of Israel in the Pre-Exilic Period (1893) is a book by Johannes Nikel.

Abstract

Imbued with ecclesiastical concerns and in sharp reaction to groundbreaking work of scholars from his day that sought to portray monotheism as a relatively recent, or post-exilic, stage of development, Nikel argues that the religion of Israel was already thoroughly monotheistic in pre-exilic times. Through a close, exegetical reading of the canonical Old Testament, Nikel builds his case from two primary foci. First, he seeks to provide positive evidence from the Old Testament, such as example from the prophetic corpus or the theophoric names in pre-exilic Israel, to demonstrate that Israel possessed a monotheistic belief during pre-exilic time. Second, he goes on the defensive showing how other scholars employment of 'so-called' evidence for pre-exilic Israelite polytheism is not sound. On numerous occasions he articulates how and why he is not convinced by the evidence from those of the newer perspective. Accordingly, as a representative of the traditional perspective regarding Israelite monotheism, he states that the burden of proof does not lie with him, but rather with new the theoreticians of development to provide firmer evidence for their statements. Composed originally as a relatively concise supplement to the Annual Report of the Royal Catholic Gymnasium at Neisse for the school year 1892-93, Nikel's work provides an excellent, concise, and yet scholarly representative of the early battles which ensued between traditional ecclesiastical perspectives on the rise of monotheism and the newly developed scientific approaches to the same topic. Indeed, as it is played out so vividly on the pages of his work, one can see the modern dichotomy between history and theology beginning to arise. ~Deborah Forger

Editions

Published in Neisse [now Nysa, Poland]: F. Bär, 1893.

Contents

Einleitendes

• 1 - Stand der Frage
• 2 - Aufgabe und Methode der Untersuchung

Erster Theil: Positive Beweisführung

• 3 - Der Monotheismus Israel im Lichte der geschichtlichen Bücher des A. T.
• 4 - Zeugnisse der Schriftpropheten für die Richtigkeit der von den geschichtlichen Büchern gegebenen Darstellung
• 5 - Die Aussprüche des A. T. über das Wesen der fremden Gottheiten
• 6 - Die theophoren Eigennamen der Hebräer
• 7 - Das Alte Testament verglichen mit den mythologischen Schriften des heidnischen Altertums

Zweiter Theil: Die angeblichen Beweise für die Ursprünglichkeit und Legitimität des israelitischen Götzendienstes

• 8 - Aussprüche des A.T. über die religiösen Zustände der vorprophetischen Zeit.
• 9 - Die Gottesnamen der Israeliten
• 10 - Die sog. abgeblassten Göttergestalten des A. T.
• 11 - Die einzelnen Formen des israelitischen Götzendienstes hinsichtlich ihres Ursprunges untersucht

External links

• [ Google Books]