The Symbolic Vision In Biblical Tradition

Preliminary Material /Susan Niditch -- Introduction /Susan Niditch -- Stage I of the Symbolic Vision Form /Susan Niditch -- Stage II, A Literary-Narrative Direction in the Visions of Zechariah /Susan Niditch -- The Baroque Stage of the Symbolic Vision Form /Susan Niditch -- Conclusions /Susan Niditch -- Bibliography /Susan Niditch.

ECPA Book Award finalist With the Dictionary of the Old Testament: Prophets, IVP's Black Dictionary series completes its coverage of the Old Testament canonical books. A true compendium of recent scholarship, the volume includes 115 articles covering all aspects of Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, the twelve "minor prophets" and Daniel. Each book's historical, cultural, religious and literary background is thoroughly covered, alongside articles on interpretation history and critical method. Pastors, scholars and students will find this a deep resource for their Old Testament studies. Reference volumes in the IVP Bible Dictionary Series provide in-depth treatment of biblical and theological topics in an accessible, encyclopedia format, including cross-sectional themes, methods of interpretation, significant historical or cultural background, and each Old and New Testament book as a whole.

The final book of the Bible, Revelation prophesies the ultimate judgement of mankind in a series of allegorical visions, grisly images and numerological predictions. According to these, empires will fall, the "Beast" will be destroyed and Christ will rule a new Jerusalem. With an introduction by Will Self.

Melvin traces the emergence and development of the motif of angelic interpretation of visions from late prophetic literature (Ezekiel 40-48; Zechariah 1-6) into early apocalyptic literature (1 Enoch 17-36; 72-82; Daniel 7-8). Examining how the historical and socio-political context of exilic and post-exilic Judaism and the broader religious and cultural environment shaped Jewish angelology in general, Melvin concludes that the motif of the interpreting angel served a particular function. Building upon the work of Susan Niditch, Melvin concludes that the interpreting angel motif served a polemical function in repudiating divination as a means of predicting the future, while at the same time elevating the authority of the visionary revelation. The literary effect is to reimagine God as an imperial monarch who rules and communicates through intermediaries-a reimagination that profoundly influenced subsequent Jewish and Christian tradition.

Bennie H. Reynolds analyzes of the language (poetics) of ancient Jewish historical apocalypses. He investigates how the dramatis personae, i.e., deities, angels/demons, and humans are described in the Book of Daniel (chapters 2, 7, 8, and 10–12) the Animal Apocalypse (1 Enoch 85–90), 4QFourKingdoms(a-b) ar, the Book of the Words of Noah (1QapGen 5 29–18?), the Apocryphon of Jeremiah C, and 4QPseudo-Daniel(a-b) ar. The primary methodologies for this study are linguistic- and motif-historical analysis and the theoretical framework is informed by a wide range of ancient and modern thinkers including Artemidorus of Daldis, Ferdinand de Saussure, Charles Peirce, Leo Oppenheim, Claude Lévi-Strauss, and Umberto Eco. The most basic contention of this study is that the data now available from the Dead Sea Scrolls significantly alter how one should conceive of the genre apocalypse in the Hellenistic Period. This basic contention is borne out by five primary conclusions. For example, while some apocalypses employ symbolic language to describe the actors in their historical reviews, others use non-symbolic language. Some texts, especially from the Book of Daniel, are mixed cases. Among the apocalypses that use symbolic language, a limited and stable repertoire of symbols obtain across the genre and bear witness to a series of conventional associations. While several apocalypses do not use symbolic ciphers to encode their historical actors, they often use cryptic language that may have functioned as a group-specific language. The language of apocalypses indicates that these texts were not the domain of only one social group or even one type or size of social group.

Recognizing that human experience is very much influenced by inhabiting bodies, the past decade has seen a surge in studies about representation of bodies in religious experience and human imaginations regarding the Divine. The understanding of embodiment as central to human experience has made a big impact within religious studies particularly in contemporary Christian theology, feminist, cultural and ideological criticism and anthropological approaches to the Hebrew Bible. Within the sub-field of theology of the Hebrew Bible, the conversation is still dominated by assumptions that the God of the Hebrew Bible does not have a body and that embodiment of the divine is a new concept introduced outside of the Hebrew Bible. To a great extent, the insights regarding how body discourse can communicate information have not yet been incorporated into theological studies.

Unlocking the Dream Vision: The secret history of creation will take you on a profound journey into the mysterious mystical esoteric symbolism of the largely forgotten Dream Vision that is buried deep within the ancient Book of Enoch. It is a unique and captivating journey that reveals one of the most heretical, blasphemous, and controversial accounts of creation ever told, for both believer and skeptic. Within its pages you will learn of the ancient system of mystical symbolism and initiation that was born in the religious temples that ruled the city-states of the first civilizations. You will also be introduced to the radical 2,000-year-old theory from the legendary Library of Alexandria that the true story of our own mysterious origins lays within the system of allegories and mystical symbolism of the mythologies and sacred writings of the ancient world. A system that was first created by the professional class of writers known as the scribes, in order to conceal and protect the forbidden knowledge of the gods and the secret history of creation itself. By using this non-traditional approach, you will discover how the highly symbolic Dream Vision, written by the righteous scribe and mysterious lost prophet of the Bible, Enoch, is the key to unlocking this ancient system of mystical symbolism and the secret history of humanity. It is the same secret that is still hidden within the symbolism of the mysterious esoteric brotherhoods, secret societies, and hidden orders of the world. It is through this exceptional system of mystical symbolism created by the ancient scribes that the origin and true meaning to all the mystical symbols, like the pentagram, the all-seeing-eye, and the unfinished pyramid, are revealed. You will also learn the answers to some of the greatest mysteries concerning the biblical story. For you will find that the mystical symbolism of the Dream Vision contains the secrets of the Watchers, the Giants, the great Flood of Noah, and so many more mysteries, which are uncovered for the first time. Not only are the hidden secrets of the Bible uncovered through the mystical symbolism, but it will also reveal the greatest secrets of mythology and the ancient world. You will understand the secret meaning to the ever-famous symbol of the Bull, the Twin Brothers of legend, and even the monsters of myth like the terrible Hydra. You will even learn the real reason why the Great Pyramid was built, the real secret of the Pleiades cluster, the lost city of Atlantis, and the other mysterious lost civilizations of the Ice Age; moreover, with the conclusive evidence of the terrible cataclysm that befell them all. You will also be presented with an entirely new theory on the identity and true origins of the mysterious figures our ancient ancestors worshiped as the 'gods' without invoking ancient aliens or endless religious speculation.