Kirjahaku

In previous exegesis of the Epistle to the Romans, God has scarcely ever been presented as a separate object of study. The present study is devoted to this central topic, and by analysing important sections of the Epistle to the Romans demonstrates that it is neither Jesus Christ nor anthropology that provides the decisive pattern of argument, but God. This has consequences both for Paul s self-image and for the question of whether Paul s thinking and his image of God are to be regarded as still being Jewish or already being Christian."

Religion is beyond doubt inseparably connected with questions about holy locations and places. These places gain their meaning not by their physical determination, but by human construction. The contributions of this volume try to shape this phenomenon for selected texts of the Old and New Testament and of Philo of Alexandria. In doing so, they inevitably shed light on central theological issues of these texts. Geographically speaking the Arabaic Peninsula and the Greek Isles, but also Mesopotamia are brought in as outmost areas, which contain Jerusalem in the middle, but could also contain places such as mountain, temple, or even a bed of a praying man. Religion ist untrennbar mit der Frage nach heiligen Statten und religiosen Raumen verbunden. Dabei gewinnen diese Orte ihre Bedeutung weniger aus bestimmten physischen Gegebenheiten als durch sprachliche und gesellschaftliche Konstruktion. Dieser Bedeutung versuchen die Beitrage dieses Bandes an ausgewahlten Texten des Alten und des Neuen Testaments und zu Philo von Alexandrien nachzugehen. Dabei fordern sie in der Beschreibung der virtuellen Topographie zugleich theologische und religiose Kernaussagen der Texte zutage. Geographisch gesprochen bewegt sich der Band zwischen Mesopotamien und der Arabischen Halbinsel uber Jerusalem bis zu den Griechischen Inseln - wobei auch Orte wie der Berg, der Tempel - aber auch das Bett des Beters enthalten sind.