Jacob’s Nightly Encounter at Peniel and the Status of the Son: Reading Genesis 32 with Athanasius
This paper considers the theophany at Penuel-Peniel /Εἶδος Θεοῦ (Genesis 32) and its use by Athanasius of Alexandria. The biblical text itself is quite enigmatic, forcing the readers to entertain a variety of interpretive solutions. Athanasius continues, unsurprisingly, the venerable tradition of Ch...
| Main Author: | |
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| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Interlibrary Loan: | Interlibrary Loan for the Fachinformationsdienste (Specialized Information Services in Germany) |
| Published: |
2024
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| In: |
Journal of the bible and its reception
Year: 2024, Volume: 11, Issue: 1, Pages: 29-51 |
| Standardized Subjects / Keyword chains: | B
Bible. Genesis 32
/ Jacob
/ Reception
/ Athanasius Alexandrinus 295-373
/ eidenai
/ theos
/ Theophany
/ Christology
|
| IxTheo Classification: | HB Old Testament HC New Testament KAB Church history 30-500; early Christianity NBF Christology |
| Further subjects: | B
Εἶδος Θεοῦ
B Athanasius B Genesis 32 B Theophanies B History of effects |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) |
| Summary: | This paper considers the theophany at Penuel-Peniel /Εἶδος Θεοῦ (Genesis 32) and its use by Athanasius of Alexandria. The biblical text itself is quite enigmatic, forcing the readers to entertain a variety of interpretive solutions. Athanasius continues, unsurprisingly, the venerable tradition of Christological exegesis - identifying, that is, the mysterious man with the Word of God incarnaturus - but seems to reinforce the inherited Christophanic exegesis by taking advantage of a textual ambiguity that only occurs in the LXX text. This further allows him to highlight, repeatedly, the dogmatic import of the biblical text, showing that, once the divine appearance to Jacob is understood Christologically, the theophany can only be accounted for by confessing the Son as "proper" (ἴδιος) to the Father, inseparable from him according to essential propriety (κατὰ τὴν ἰδιότητα τῆς οὐσίας), ὁμοούσιος with the Father. |
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| ISSN: | 2329-4434 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: Journal of the bible and its reception
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1515/jbr-2023-0006 |
