Deuteronomistic History and the Name Theology (Beiheft Zur Zeitschrift Fur Die Alttestamentliche Wissenschaft)

This monograph is a comparative, socio-linguistic reassessment of the Deuteronomic idiom,leshakken shemo sham, and its synonymous biblical reflexes in the Deuteronomistic History,lashum shemo sham, and lihyot shemo sham. These particular formulae have long been understood as evidence of the Name Theology - the evolution in Israelite religion toward a more abstracted mode of divine presence in the temple. Utilizing epigraphic material gathered from Mesopotamian and Levantine contexts, this study demonstrates thatleshakken shemo sham and lashum shemo sham are loan-adaptations of Akkadianshuma shakanu, an idiom common to the royal monumental tradition of Mesopotamia. The resulting retranslation and reinterpretation of the biblical idiom profoundly impacts the classic formulation of the Name Theology.