Divine violence often causes scandal, since the current image of divinity is one-dimensional, focused on features such as mercy, justice, forgiveness, etc. In reality, the Bible – First and New Testaments – is not afraid to present many faces of God, even those that are scandalous to us. The aim of this paper is to show the role of divine vio- lence in restoring order in the cosmos through the analysis of one of the most complex texts of the First Testament: Abakkuk 3. The restoration of the cosmic order is also the restoration of good and earthly justice. It is evident, however, that the world of the con- temporary reader is different from that of the author and his readers: textual analysis shows the distance that separates them and, at the same time, opens up a space of issues that solicits numerous questions about our way of place ourselves in front of religion and the divine, on our presuppositions and our expectations.

Violence, Chaos and Theophany in Habakkuk 3

Debora Tonelli
2023-01-01

Abstract

Divine violence often causes scandal, since the current image of divinity is one-dimensional, focused on features such as mercy, justice, forgiveness, etc. In reality, the Bible – First and New Testaments – is not afraid to present many faces of God, even those that are scandalous to us. The aim of this paper is to show the role of divine vio- lence in restoring order in the cosmos through the analysis of one of the most complex texts of the First Testament: Abakkuk 3. The restoration of the cosmic order is also the restoration of good and earthly justice. It is evident, however, that the world of the con- temporary reader is different from that of the author and his readers: textual analysis shows the distance that separates them and, at the same time, opens up a space of issues that solicits numerous questions about our way of place ourselves in front of religion and the divine, on our presuppositions and our expectations.
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Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/11582/345153
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