Georg-August-Universität Göttingen

Graduate Student, Theologische Fakultät

Thesis Title: Götterpolemik im Alten Testament

About

I studied Theology in Lausanne (Switzerland), Buenos Aires (Argentina) and Heidelberg (Germany). I am currently writing my dissertation at the University of Göttingen.

In my doctoral thesis, I investigate how biblical polemics against other gods relate to wisdom.
A number of texts in the Hebrew Bible criticise other gods and their worshippers in an aggressive way (e.g. Isa 44, Jer 10, Letter of Jeremiah, Wis 12-15, etc.). I am interested in the formation of these texts and in their purpose. It is striking that many of the polemical texts use terms and concepts commonly found in wisdom literature. By combining a redaction-critical analysis and a discourse theoretical approach, I attempt to reconstruct the development of the polemical discourse and its entanglement with sapiential discourse.
My findings indicate that the religious polemics evolved particularly in later times, when the Israelites needed to redefine and position their ethnic group among the nations.