Mark S. Smith, Helena Professor of Old Testament Literature and Exegesis, Princeton Theological Seminary
September 22, 2019

The Hebrew Bible/Old Testament and the God of Israel

Ancient Israel's unique notions of God drew on nonIsraelite material from two related sources. First, Israel arose out of a Canaanite cultural matrix that has been well studied over the past century.  Second, during its heyday, ancient Israel maintained continuous cultural, economic and political interactions with Egypt, Mesopotamia, and Syrian states to the north. The culture of these places influenced the development of Israelite religious thought at every point.  Professor Smith focuses specifically on the ways such interactions helped lead to Israel's understanding of God. 

This public lecture was part of the scholarly conference, The Spirit of Scholarship: Biblical and Mesopotamian Studies in the Roman Catholic Academy.

Access the handout for this lecture here: https://www.bc.edu/content/dam/bc1/sc...

Cosponsored by the Boston College Department of Theology, School of Theology and Ministry, the Boston College Institute for Liberal Arts, the Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, and the Catholic Biblical Association of America

For online courses in Catholic Bible study check out STM Online: Crossroads https://www.bc.edu/content/bcweb/sch...