Julius-Wellhausen-Vorlesung

Current research has revealed that biblical prophecy was part of Ancient Near Eastern prophecy. The properties typical of Ancient Near Eastern and Eastern Mediterranean prophecy are clear to discern in the Old and even in the New Testament. This includes, for instance, the concept of the word of God, the writing down of prophecy and its political significance, the temple as the "spiritual home," gender inclusivity, and prophetic ecstasy.

Die attische Demokratie wurde von tausenden von Bürgern regiert, darunter viele aus den unteren Schichten. Sie wechselten sich in den Funktionen ab. Dabei war Athen im fünften Jahrhundert v. Chr. größten Beanspruchungen ausgesetzt: Athen war die Vormacht im Kampf gegen das persische Weltreich. Es herrschte über hunderte von Griechenstädten. Konnten das gutgehen? In den Quellen wird das zumeist bezweifelt. Sie stammen ja auch durchweg von Angehörigen der Oberschicht. Dieses Buch geht der Frage nach, wie berechtigt diese Zweifel sind. Es scheint sich zu erweisen, daß die attische Bürgerschaft sehr viel mehr intellektuelle Kompetenz entfaltete, als zumeist angenommen. Daher am Ende die Frage, woher sich das erklärt. Näherhin sowie in weiterem Zusammenhang griechischer Soziogenese. In einem Anhang geht es um die Herbeiführung der Demokratie 462/1 v. Chr.

This study examines Jewish Torah hermeneutics comparing the exegeses of Benno Jacob with Julius Wellhausen’s school of literary criticism. The presentation uses three exemplary thematic units: cult as symbolic language; the Torah as the “true practical gospel”; and Torah study as revelation.

This booklet is a fresh consideration of German-speaking scholarship on the Dead Sea Scrolls; it divides the scholarship into two phases corresponding with pre- and post 1989 Germany.

In the first phase the dominant place given to how the scrolls inform the context of Jesus is analyzed as one of several means through which the study of Judaism was revitalized in post-war Germany. Overall it is argued that the study of the Scrolls has been part of the broader German tradition of the study of antiquity, rather than simply a matter of Biblical Studies.

In addition the booklet stresses the many very fine German contributions to the provision of study resources, to the masterly techniques of manuscript reconstruction, to the analysis of the scrolls in relation to the New Testament and Early Judaism, and to the popularization of scholarship for a thirsty public. It concludes that German scholarship has had much that is distinctive in its study of the Dead Sea Scrolls.

The History of Ancient Israel (1) describes of available sources on the history of Israel; (2) classifies the epochs in the history of Israel; (3) defines determinant structures in the history of Israel; (4) examines the significance of the history of Israel.

In this fifth lecture of the Julius Wellhausen series, Hans Dieter Betz draws upon the Epistle to the Philippians to examine contentious questions about Paul's situation in Rome before his death. His answers emerge from a literary and historical analysis of the Philippians, in which the Apostle declares his fundamental beliefs in response to an inquiry by the Philippians (1,12). The study offers an overview of research work related to Paul's Epistle to the Philippians.

the third publication in the series of Julius Wellhausen Lectures treats jihad primarily as a historical phenomenon. Josef van Ess explains the current development not only on the basis of the Koran and the tradition of prophets but also as result of century-long deliberations on how to interpret the term jihad in an adequate manner. Since the present-day Islamic world is also shaped by Western ideas, it seems likely that both Western patterns of action and Islamic modes of thinking are expressed in the current implementation of jihad.

This lecture addresses the question of when and under what conditions the reception of Oriental traditions took place in ancient Greek culture. As a result of spectacular theories about the Oriental origins of Homer's epics, the question has once again become an issue of current interest, arousing controversial debate. Albrecht Dihle covers the relevant material step by step: from the Oriental loanwords used in Greek to the art-historical influences of the classical period, right up to the philosophical debates and the mystery cults of the later period. In doing so, his portrayal of the meeting and reciprocal exchange between the East and West in the course of ancient Greek history is at once both vivid and differentiated.

In one form or another, the Trisagion, “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory”, entered Jewish and Christian liturgy at an early stage from Isaiah’s account of his vision as recorded in Isaiah 6. Before that happened, however, it is likely that it went through a significant change of meaning from what the Old Testament prophet himself meant by it. Drawing on material that was familiar to him from the worship of the Jerusalem temple, he used it distinctly but characteristically to challenge his audience’s view that God would automatically protect them from their enemies. In other words, the saying had a threatening rather than an encouraging tone. In the course of the following centuries, however, as the book of Isaiah grew, new reflections on the saying were added in the later chapters, with the result that when the book came to be translated into Greek the translator was justified in rendering the saying in the way that has become familiar to us. The unusual retention of the Hebrew word “Sabaoth”, however, reminds us even today of the long path by which it has reached us from antiquity.