The blessing and the curse
Subtitle: trajectories in the theology of the Old Testament
By: Jeff S. Anderson
Publisher: Cascade Books
Published: 2014
Place of publication: Eugene, Oregon
Language: eng
Number of pages: 403
ISBN-13: 9781620328217
Subjects: Blessing and cursing in the Bible
Description: The "magical power of the spoken word" is a topic that often comes up in a discussion of biblical blessings and curses. What is the source of social and linguistic power behind these blessings and curses? Many theologians would agree that God can and does bless, but does God also curse? If so, what does that mean to the biblical theology of the Old Testament and the Christian church? Anderson's The Blessing and the Curse applies speech act theory as one way to understand the performative function of blessings and curses. The concept of speech acts provides a method of recognizing the potent social power of language to accomplish certain ends, without drawing a hard line of distinction between word-magic and religion. Even though the chief concepts and practices of blessings and curses are deeply rooted in the broad cultural environment of the ancient Near East, tracing specific trajectories of Old Testament blessings and curses as theological themes conveys broad, inescapable implications for the biblical narrative and the Christian church.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references and indexes.
Table of contents: title: The challenges of Old Testament theology; title: Considering blessings and curses theologically; title: Blessings and curses in the Pentateuch : ancient sources and narrative form; title: "Cursed is the ground because of you" : a theology of Genesis 1-11; title: "I will bless those who bless you and curse those who curse you" : election and the ancestral narratives; title: "Bless me also" : divine presence and divine glory in Exodus; title: "I set before you today the blessing and the curse" : Deuteronomy and the Deuteronomistic history; title: "The sword will never depart" : Saul, David, and Solomon; title: Damned if you don't : blessings, curses and the prophetic tradition; title: "May the Lord bless you" : blessings and curses in Israel's cult; title: "Curse God and die" : rhetorical brinkmanship in Job; title: " A curse devours the earth" : Old Testament apocalyptic theology; title: The other side of covenant failure : the destination of Abraham's blessing.