Papers by Stéphanie ANTHONIOZ
2025, « Dieu créateur de l’humain dans la Bible hébraïque : Approche philologique », Revue des sciences religieuses, 99.1-2, p. 23-55.
This contribution revisits the creative attribute of the God of the Hebrew Bible, especially when... more This contribution revisits the creative attribute of the God of the Hebrew Bible, especially when the object of creation is human. The method is less historical and comparative than philological. While the different modes of creation are adopted for analytical purposes, the study is mainly philological and allows us to deepen the use of lexicon and images. It focuses on verbs of action and their particular uses in Biblical Hebrew when the deity is the subject. This study demonstrates the richness of biblical traditions relating to human creation beyond the mythical narratives that Genesis 1–2 have become.
The aim of this contribution is to highlight under-acknowledged biblical themes in the film Noah,... more The aim of this contribution is to highlight under-acknowledged biblical themes in the film Noah, released in 2014 (Paramount Home Entertainment) and directed by Darren Aronofsky and co-written with Ari Handel. These under-acknowledged biblical themes are named in the following way: 1) Bloody Crime and Diet; 2) Who’s to Be Saved?; and 3) Nature versus Culture: Noah against Tubal-Cain. As these are analyzed, it is shown how the cinematographic work accentuates, in many respects, themes that are already present in the Hebrew text. Thus, the film as a new Midrash invites one to return to the biblical text and to grapple with its historical and literary difficulties and complexity, as well as with its interpretive richness.
The scribal role is fundamental in Antiquity and is often associated with royal power, to the poi... more The scribal role is fundamental in Antiquity and is often associated with royal power, to the point that one may speak of a mythology of the 'wise king'. One may think of Kings David and Solomon in the Hebrew Bible or the tradition begun with Šulgi in Mesopotamia. This mythology, which articulates both concepts of kingship and wisdom, seems to gain credence not so much at the peak of the Babylonian and Assyrian empires or at the time of David and Solomon reigns, but at a very late moment in the history of these cultures, when they lacked political independence, especially during the Hellenistic period.
2024, « The Cherub(im) in the Hebrew Bible: Mediation and Representation », Judaïsme ancien – Ancient Judaism, 11, p. 127-140.
This contribution aims at deepening our understanding of the Cherub(im) as hybrid creatures in th... more This contribution aims at deepening our understanding of the Cherub(im) as hybrid creatures in the period of the formation of the Hebrew Bible. Special attention is given to Gen 3 and Eze 28 texts which emphasize their role and function in the ancient conception of divine kingship, where the god(s) is(/are) king(s) and where the king represents and mediates the god(s). Gen 3 sheds light not only on the notion of liminality, as these creatures stand at the border of different realms, human and divine, but also on the manner in which these creatures share divine power—here the power to give or withhold divine life. Eze 28 witnesses to the way that kings should ideally represent the god of the throne over the earth and not take themselves for god. Indeed, liminality, mediation, and representation remain key terms to grasp the function of Cherub(im) in the Hebrew Bible and ancient contexts.
The study of Judges 1, which is here revisited in a historical approach, highlights the importanc... more The study of Judges 1, which is here revisited in a historical approach, highlights the importance of the tribal model and its function in the construction of the chapter. Indeed, this model, so rooted in Levantine cultures, is construed over the centuries in different biblical texts so as to become the symbolic “twelve tribes” or “twelve sons of Jacob.” In its latest stage it becomes the identity of “Israel,” a genealogical, ethnic and clan-based definition rather than territorial. It is hoped to demonstrate here, in this detailed analysis of Judg 1, how frontiers are generated, through inner-biblical expansions and corrections, and how they build a “greater Judea” but also a “greater Israel” at a time when the Judean kingdom has turned into a province and is in search of a new identity and recognition.
Écrire des oracles prophétiques dans une écriture consonantique comme l’étaient l’hébreu ou l’ara... more Écrire des oracles prophétiques dans une écriture consonantique comme l’étaient l’hébreu ou l’araméen à l’époque de l’Israël ancien, au Ier millénaire av. n. è., n’est pas sans poser de nombreuses questions, en particulier les suivantes : comment s’assurer de la juste transcription et transmission d’un écrit prophétique ? Mais aussi, peut-on transcrire le chant, les cris, les émotions visuelles et sonores de l’acte prophétique, voire extatique ? Ces questions sont d’autant plus brûlantes dans un contexte prophétique où il est question d’une parole divine et révélée. Quels outils, quelles pratiques ou techniques les textes anciens, qui n’étaient ni vocalisés ni accentués – ce sera l’œuvre des Massorètes à l’époque médiévale –, révèlent-ils pour assurer la juste transcription, lecture et compréhension d’un oracle ? C’est l’enquête que nous proposons à travers trois témoins principaux : Dn 5, Is 8 et Jr 1.
Enūma eliš and the Priestly Narrative have often been compared. The former is a myth of creation ... more Enūma eliš and the Priestly Narrative have often been compared. The former is a myth of creation dated to the 2 nd millennium that strives to promote Marduk as the greatest god, while the latter, as it is now embedded into other strata in the Pentateuch, is usually dated around the exilic period (6 th century BC); it promotes the one God Yahweh and runs from the creation of the world to the building of the sanctuary. Both writings thus present a similar trajectory from creation to the sanctuary. Though influences from the former over the latter are assumed, any dependence has not yet been demonstrated in a systematic way. In this contribution, main themes from both writings (creation, flood and sanctuary) will be compared in order to bring to light very similar scribal practices in both writings. These practices and different motifs may be considered shared knowledge that can only point to the time of Exile not just as a time of crisis but also as a time of intense learning when cultural transfers became possible and renewed intellectual and technical scribal practices in an extraordinary manner.
The understanding of Amon (אמון) in the context of the praise of Wisdom personified (Prov 8:30) h... more The understanding of Amon (אמון) in the context of the praise of Wisdom personified (Prov 8:30) has been a crux for biblical scholarship from the earliest witnesses on. Modern scholarship has often proposed to emend the Hebrew text and each solution with its own vocalization has produced stimulating contextual or comparative explanations. The aim of this communication is to review the actual state of the question and propose that the solution to this crux is enlightened by these comparative approaches not only from the Mesopotamian point of view but also from the Egyptian one. This analysis will enable us to consider the historical and scribal practices at the heart of this crux so that no exclusive reading is the right solution but rather an inclusive reading leading to a particular understanding of the divine. This case will also point to the reflections and strategies of a religious writing or scribal community in the last centuries before the common era and how the theologian scribes made use of writing as non-vocalized signs to probe and tend to grasp or reveal divine mystery.
L’étude de Juges 1, ici revisitée dans une approche historique, souligne l’importance du modèle t... more L’étude de Juges 1, ici revisitée dans une approche historique, souligne l’importance du modèle tribal et sa fonction dans la construction du chapitre. En effet, ce modèle, si enraciné dans les cultures levantines, est réinterprété au fil des siècles, dans différents textes bibliques, au point de devenir les « douze tribus » ou les « douze fils de Jacob », devenant l’identité même d’« Israël », une définition plus généalogique, ethnique et clanique que véritablement territoriale. On espère démontrer ici, à travers l’analyse détaillée de Jg 1, comment les frontières sont générées, au prix d’expansions et de corrections intra-bibliques, et comment elles construisent une « plus grande Judée », voire un « plus grand Israël », à un moment où manifestement le royaume judéen s’est transformé en province et est à la recherche d’une nouvelle identité et d’une nouvelle reconnaissance.
2022, « Les anges ou la médiation renouvelée », Dieu et ses anges dans le Nouveau Testament, Nathalie Siffer et Denis Fricker (eds), Tübingen : Morh Siebeck (WUNT II, 582), p. 41-65.
Un parcours à travers l'ensemble des références bibliques de l'ange, comme « messager céleste » m... more Un parcours à travers l'ensemble des références bibliques de l'ange, comme « messager céleste » montre une répartition singulière dans les livres de Genèse, Exode, Juges, Zacharie, Chroniques et Daniel. Dans le Nouveau Testament, la présence et la répartition des anges ne sont pas non plus uniformes et semblent répondre à des enjeux théologiques précis. C'est l'objet de cette contribution de cerner les raisons qui ont conduit à ces développements théologiques chrétiens. En d'autres termes, en quoi les évolutions de l'angélologie ont-elles répondu à celles du christianisme naissant ? Historique, la réflexion menée est nécessairement religieuse et théologique. Dans un premier temps, nous présentons un état des lieux des références aux anges, de l'Ancien Testament au Nouveau Testament. Nous explorons ensuite les enjeux théologiques du développement angélique, en particulier la (non-)représentation et l'humanité des anges. Cette réflexion sur l'« humanité » des anges comme médiation ultime et parfaite de Dieu permettra de situer, dans une troisième et dernière partie, la naissance d'une angélologie chrétienne au terme de crises successives et « médiatiques », ayant permis aux « messagers célestes » de devenir des « anges », c'est-à-dire de trouver leur place centrale, médiatrice, entre un Dieu fait homme et les humains.
Éditions Safran Publishers, 2022
by Stéphanie ANTHONIOZ, in Res Antiquae 19, 2022.
This paper examines the polemic against idolat... more by Stéphanie ANTHONIOZ, in Res Antiquae 19, 2022.
This paper examines the polemic against idolatry in the Hebrew Bible diachronically and comparatively, considering the Mesopotamian sources, re-evaluating them and, what is new, looking at and comparing ancient Greek sources. The first part clarifies what is meant by polemics against idolatry and determines what are the relevant biblical passages. Described are the practices denounced and analyzed their ideological purposes. The second part looks at the alleged Mesopotamian influence on this polemic, particularly in Deutero-Isaiah, since it is from this angle that the polemic has generally been considered. But the force of this comparison is limited, especially in view of the arguments and date. The third and last part shows that ancient Greek sources, particularly pre-Socratic ones, shed new light on the biblical critique of idolatry, even though, for religious reasons, the biblical material must clearly be distinguished from philosophical thought.
Keywords: Idolatry, Polemic, Divine image, Deutero-Isaiah, Babylonian Rituals, Cyrus Cylinder, Xenophanes
Cette contribution examine la polémique contre l’idolâtrie dans la Bible hébraïque de manière diachronique et comparative, en considérant les sources mésopotamiennes, en les réévaluant et, ce qui est nouveau, en examinant les sources grecques anciennes. La première partie clarifie ce que l’on entend par polémique contre l’idolâtrie et détermine les passages bibliques pertinents. Les pratiques dénoncées sont décrites et leurs objectifs analysés, ainsi que le contexte littéraire et historique. La deuxième partie s’intéresse à la prétendue influence mésopotamienne de cette polémique, notamment dans le Deutéro-Isaïe, puisque c’est sous cet angle que la polémique a généralement été considérée. Mais la force de cette comparaison est limitée, en raison de sa datation. La troisième et dernière partie montrent que les sources grecques anciennes, en particulier présocratiques, apportent un éclairage nouveau à la critique biblique de l’idolâtrie, même si, pour des raisons religieuses, le matériau biblique se distingue clairement de la pensée philosophique.
Mots-clés : idolâtrie, polémique, image divine, Deutéro-Isaïe, rituels babyloniens, Cylindre de Cyrus, Xénophane
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Table of contents and details: http://www.safranpublishers.com/proddetail.php?prod=RANT19
Détails et résumé sur
http://www.safran.be/proddetail.php?prod=RANT19
This paper examines the polemic against idolatry in the Hebrew Bible diachronically and comparati... more This paper examines the polemic against idolatry in the Hebrew Bible diachronically and comparatively, considering the Mesopotamian sources, re-evaluating them and, what is new, looking at and comparing ancient Greek sources. The first part clarifies what is meant by polemics against idolatry and determines what are the relevant biblical passages. Described are the practices denounced and analyzed their ideological purposes. The second part looks at the alleged Mesopotamian influence on this polemic, particularly in Deutero-Isaiah, since it is from this angle that the polemic has generally been considered. But the force of this comparison is limited, especially in view of the arguments and date. The third and last part shows that ancient Greek sources, particularly pre-Socratic ones, shed new light on the biblical critique of idolatry, even though, for religious reasons, the biblical material must clearly be distinguished from philosophical thought.
The European scholarship on the Tora / Pentateuch has tended these last decades to reach some c... more The European scholarship on the Tora / Pentateuch has tended these last decades to reach some consensus regarding its final redaction. The Pentateuch appears itself as an authoritative text, both ideologically and theologically, on what it is to be a “Jew”. The many trends within the textual strata make it clear that it was not an easy task to reach a consensus regarding identity. But it was brought to completion through the closure of these five books as a whole during the Persian period and their subsequent translation in Greek in the following Hellenistic period. Two main trends within the “book” have been identified with the myth of Abraham, on the one hand, which is clearly genealogical and the myth of Moses called “exodic”, on the other, which is more prophetic and legal. In the first case, one is a “Jew” by birth, and in the second, one is a “Jew” by obedience to the law. In both cases, the question of the land seems secondary. However the link between genealogy and law but also with the land has not received much attention. It seems that in a comparative approach in light of contemporaneous Athens these are not as opposed as they seem to be in their biblical setting. It is the aim of this paper to show how the conception of the Tora / Pentateuch, building identity mostly on genealogy and law, may not be just a conciliation of at least two different social groups but a reinvention of the Greek model according to Cleisthenes.
This contribution focuses on both historical and methodological questions about biblical texts: w... more This contribution focuses on both historical and methodological questions about biblical texts: what place should be offered to them, while archaeological data continue to advance our knowledge of the Levant and the ancient kingdoms of Israel and Judah? Can they still make any contribution to historical analysis? The case of study proposed here is the end of the kingdom of Israel (722 BC), preceded by the so-called “Syro-Ephraimite” crisis according to the biblical witnesses of the books of Isaiah and Kings. The redactional and critical analysis of the first section of Amos’ book, crossed with that of the Assyrian annals, shows that the Amosian oracles against the nations, which may be located at the time of the campaigns of Tiglath-Pileser III, does not espouse the ideology of a bilateral crisis, according to the books of Isaiah and Kings, but that of a regional crisis as shown in the Assyrian annals. The literary structure of these oracles shows that it is clearly anchored in this crisis, even if one Judean rereading has been favoured, as the fates of the kingdoms of Israel and Judah espoused a similar fate.
Written in the second century BCE, the book of Daniel testifies to an unprecedented angelic inter... more Written in the second century BCE, the book of Daniel testifies to an unprecedented angelic interest (Dn 9:21; 10:5-6.13.21), confirmed by Qumran manuscripts, the Gospels and the apocryphal literature as a whole. Though angels are little known in the Hebrew Bible, they become the object of new theological speculations. The question of the birth of an angelology is not new, but it is not easy to write its history. It is clearly concentrated between the period of the closure of the Torah/Pentateuch, in the Persian-Achaemenid period, and the first centuries of the Christian era. This birth seems to be related to some particular traditions and not all texts reflect this new interest. In order to shed light on these developments, we first consider the etymology and semantics of the root *l’k. We then study the angel mal’āk among other mediating entities of the divine. This will allow us to propose an in-depth examination of the biblical angels, before questioning the historical and theological conditions of these evolutions.
If the question of divine representation in Antiquity is a complex matter, can the notion of gend... more If the question of divine representation in Antiquity is a complex matter, can the notion of gender clarify the intention at work in representing any particular god? The following contribution aims at exploring biblical texts with the interpretative tools of gender. Two dimensions are taken into consideration, divine denominations and divine bodies. This contribution highlights the fluidity of ancient representations of the divine with regard to gender and biblical texts appear as precious witnesses along epigraphical and material sources.
The tribal system is not the common denominator of the identity of Israel in biblical texts, cont... more The tribal system is not the common denominator of the identity of Israel in biblical texts, contrary maybe to what one would expect. Indeed, the twelve tribes are only present in particular books while absolutely absent from the others. Our interest will focus in this contribution on the tribal system in the book of Genesis, the way it is constructed, and the place or function occupied by women. At first glance, the tribal system appears to be masculine as only the sons of Jacob are concerned. We would like to show that even if the tribal system is a masculine construction, as the children of Jacob are sons and the only daughter Dinah never counted as a matriarch, yet women are powerful indeed. In other words, they are powerful in their relation to the sons of Jacob and often the blessing of the sons is dependent upon women. We will thus analyze the book of Genesis and the literary strategies that exhibit how women are at the heart of the very blessings or curses of Jacob’s sons.
L’objet de cette contribution est de tenter de répondre à la question de l’écrit comme véhicule d... more L’objet de cette contribution est de tenter de répondre à la question de l’écrit comme véhicule de la rumeur et de la renommée dans les textes bibliques. Un certain nombre de travaux récents ont montré la puissance de l’écrit dans un monde où l’accès à la lecture, nous dirions l’alphabétisation, est un phénomène rare. D’une part, l’écrit joue le rôle de signe ou signal d’autorité et de puissance, d’autre part, il acquiert un statut quasi-divin, mystique voire terrifiant. Qu’en est-il dans les textes bibliques ? L’enquête proposée s’intéresse d’abord au terme sefer et à ses usages bibliques. Quel véhicule constitue-t-il en vue d’une propagation de la rumeur / renommée ? Enfin, quels personnages en souffrent-ils ou, au contraire, en bénéficient-ils ?
Kasion 6, 2021
Une analyse du statut exégétique des Cherubins dans Cher. 11-30
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Papers by Stéphanie ANTHONIOZ
This paper examines the polemic against idolatry in the Hebrew Bible diachronically and comparatively, considering the Mesopotamian sources, re-evaluating them and, what is new, looking at and comparing ancient Greek sources. The first part clarifies what is meant by polemics against idolatry and determines what are the relevant biblical passages. Described are the practices denounced and analyzed their ideological purposes. The second part looks at the alleged Mesopotamian influence on this polemic, particularly in Deutero-Isaiah, since it is from this angle that the polemic has generally been considered. But the force of this comparison is limited, especially in view of the arguments and date. The third and last part shows that ancient Greek sources, particularly pre-Socratic ones, shed new light on the biblical critique of idolatry, even though, for religious reasons, the biblical material must clearly be distinguished from philosophical thought.
Keywords: Idolatry, Polemic, Divine image, Deutero-Isaiah, Babylonian Rituals, Cyrus Cylinder, Xenophanes
Cette contribution examine la polémique contre l’idolâtrie dans la Bible hébraïque de manière diachronique et comparative, en considérant les sources mésopotamiennes, en les réévaluant et, ce qui est nouveau, en examinant les sources grecques anciennes. La première partie clarifie ce que l’on entend par polémique contre l’idolâtrie et détermine les passages bibliques pertinents. Les pratiques dénoncées sont décrites et leurs objectifs analysés, ainsi que le contexte littéraire et historique. La deuxième partie s’intéresse à la prétendue influence mésopotamienne de cette polémique, notamment dans le Deutéro-Isaïe, puisque c’est sous cet angle que la polémique a généralement été considérée. Mais la force de cette comparaison est limitée, en raison de sa datation. La troisième et dernière partie montrent que les sources grecques anciennes, en particulier présocratiques, apportent un éclairage nouveau à la critique biblique de l’idolâtrie, même si, pour des raisons religieuses, le matériau biblique se distingue clairement de la pensée philosophique.
Mots-clés : idolâtrie, polémique, image divine, Deutéro-Isaïe, rituels babyloniens, Cylindre de Cyrus, Xénophane
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Table of contents and details: http://www.safranpublishers.com/proddetail.php?prod=RANT19
Détails et résumé sur
http://www.safran.be/proddetail.php?prod=RANT19