Transforming Presence: Seeing God’s body in Books I and II of Psalms

The Book of Psalms contains a significant amount of language and imagery related to the physical and sensing body of God. This article applies two questions to Books I and II of the Psalms. Related to God, what body language and imagery exist in these books? What might we make thereof? After a brie...

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Main Author: C. Brown Jones
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: University of the Free State 2021-12-01
Series:Acta Theologica
Subjects:
Online Access:https://journals.ufs.ac.za/index.php/at/article/view/5851
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author C. Brown Jones
author_facet C. Brown Jones
author_sort C. Brown Jones
collection DOAJ
description The Book of Psalms contains a significant amount of language and imagery related to the physical and sensing body of God. This article applies two questions to Books I and II of the Psalms. Related to God, what body language and imagery exist in these books? What might we make thereof? After a brief consideration of method, the article summarises the body language specific to God in Books I and II. Both books include several references to various parts of God’s head and to God’s arms, while there are fewer references to other body parts. Next, the article discusses the ways in which anthropomorphism may inform the reading of such language. Understanding the body and body language necessitates an understanding of the culture that produced the language. The references to God’s head and hands in Psalms correspond to a broader ancient Israelite emphasis on God’s communication and action.
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series Acta Theologica
spelling doaj-art-67f89b0a68fa45f98da01ef75b5cad522025-02-11T09:35:48ZengUniversity of the Free StateActa Theologica1015-87582309-90892021-12-0110.38140/at.vi.5851Transforming Presence: Seeing God’s body in Books I and II of PsalmsC. Brown Jones0University of the Free State The Book of Psalms contains a significant amount of language and imagery related to the physical and sensing body of God. This article applies two questions to Books I and II of the Psalms. Related to God, what body language and imagery exist in these books? What might we make thereof? After a brief consideration of method, the article summarises the body language specific to God in Books I and II. Both books include several references to various parts of God’s head and to God’s arms, while there are fewer references to other body parts. Next, the article discusses the ways in which anthropomorphism may inform the reading of such language. Understanding the body and body language necessitates an understanding of the culture that produced the language. The references to God’s head and hands in Psalms correspond to a broader ancient Israelite emphasis on God’s communication and action. https://journals.ufs.ac.za/index.php/at/article/view/5851PsalmsGodAnthropomorphism
spellingShingle C. Brown Jones
Transforming Presence: Seeing God’s body in Books I and II of Psalms
Acta Theologica
Psalms
God
Anthropomorphism
title Transforming Presence: Seeing God’s body in Books I and II of Psalms
title_full Transforming Presence: Seeing God’s body in Books I and II of Psalms
title_fullStr Transforming Presence: Seeing God’s body in Books I and II of Psalms
title_full_unstemmed Transforming Presence: Seeing God’s body in Books I and II of Psalms
title_short Transforming Presence: Seeing God’s body in Books I and II of Psalms
title_sort transforming presence seeing god s body in books i and ii of psalms
topic Psalms
God
Anthropomorphism
url https://journals.ufs.ac.za/index.php/at/article/view/5851
work_keys_str_mv AT cbrownjones transformingpresenceseeinggodsbodyinbooksiandiiofpsalms