In his monograph, The Portrayal of Pagan Worship in the Hebrew Bible and Ancient Judaism, Jesse Mirotznik argues that a decisive change took place in ancient Jewish portrayals of the Other around the 3rd century BCE. In Israelite/Jewish literature composed up to this point, the worship of other gods and the reverence of their icons is consistently depicted as sincere, and its appeal, whether to Israelites or non-Israelites, is, as a rule, not questioned. At some point around the end of the 3rd century BCE, however, a new form of argument arises: that the worship of other gods and the reverence of their icons is, in fact, an entirely unattractive practice, and that even its practitioners must inwardly reject it. Put differently: while the devotees of “false gods” appear to take these deities seriously, even they must know, on some level, that their gods are nonsense. In his lecture, Dr. Mirotznik will attempt to demonstrate some elements of this shift in ancient Jewish portrayals, in particular focusing on greed and sex, and their relationship to idolatry.

(Dieser Vortrag ist zugleich Teil der Ringvorlesung «Falsche Götter», 79565-01.)

Eine Veranstaltung des Fachbereichs Altes Testament und semitische Sprachwissenschaft.