The Invention of God

Resumen del libro

That we can address such enigmatic questions at all may come as a surprise. But as Römer makes clear, a wealth of evidence allows us to piece together a reliable account of the origins and evolution of the god of Israel. Römer draws on a long tradition of historical, philological, and exegetical work and on recent discoveries in archaeology and epigraphy to locate the origins of Yhwh in the early Iron Age, when he emerged somewhere in Edom or in the northwest of the Arabian peninsula as a god of the wilderness and of storms and war. He became the sole god of Israel and Jerusalem in fits and starts as other gods, including the mother goddess Asherah, were gradually sidelined. But it was not until a major catastrophe'the destruction of Jerusalem and Judah'that Israelites came to worship Yhwh as the one god of all, creator of heaven and earth, who nevertheless proclaimed a special relationship with Judaism.

A masterpiece of detective work and exposition by one of the worlds leading experts on the Hebrew Bible, The Invention of God casts a clear light on profoundly important questions that are too rarely asked, let alone answered.

Biografía del autor

Thomas Römer nació en Mannheim (Alemania) en 1955. Estudió teología y lenguas semíticas en las Universidades de Heidelberg y Tubinga, y completó su formación en la École pratique des hautes études, el Instituto católico y la Facultad de teología protestante de París. Pertenece a la Iglesia Reformada. Ha enseñado hebreo, ugarítico y filología y exégesis bíblicas en las universidades de Ginebra y de Lausana, así como en el Institut romand des sciences bibliques (IRSB). En el Collège de France ocupó la cátedra de Entornos bíblicos , convirtiéndose en 2019 en el primer extranjero que dirige esta prestigiosa institución. Entre sus numerosas obras destacan Israels Väter, 1990; Dieu obscur: Le sexe, la cruauté et la violence dans lx{0026} x02019;Ancient Testament, 1998(2ª ed.); Le peuple élu et les autres, 1997; Les chemins de la sagesse: Proverbes, Job, Qohélet, 1999; The So-Called Deuteronomistic History, 2006; Psaumes interdits, 2007; La Bible, quelles histoires! Les dernières découvertes, les dernières hypothèses, 2014.