The Birth of God

Hermeneutics: Studies in the History of Religions

by Jean Bottéro, Jean Bottéro

For many people today, the Hebrew Bible is the one supreme channel through which the Word of God was transmitted to humanity. In The Birth of God , Jean Bottéro, one of the world’s leading figures in Ancient Near Eastern Studies, approaches the Bible from a different perspective. He sees in it an astounding variety of documents that reveal much of their time of origin, historical events, and climates of thought. Therefore, we owe to the Bible at least the same respect we give to Homer, Shakespeare, and other classics of world literature. The Birth of God addresses questions that "educated people" usually avoid when the topic of the Bible comes up: What is the Bible if we consider it a historical document? Bottéro is fully aware of the special place the Bible has in the circles of many faithful Jews and Christians, but he focuses on the need for an understanding of Israel as a major root of our entire Western tradition. With grace and insight, he brings out the extraordinary originality of Israel’s questions and ideas, many of which have shaped our thinking ever since. In Bottéro’s hands, Moses, Job, Isaiah, Jeremiah, and other familiar figures take on real life and present to us thoughts we might never have associated with the Bible. He also treats such topics as the origins of the world according to the Bible and original sin. In one remarkable chapter, Bottéro offers a new translation of Ecclesiastes, which casts this biblical book in an entirely new light. Bottéro is a scholar of rare abilities. Internationally respected for his work as a philologist, literary critic, and historian, he is also adept at writing for a popular audience. The Birth of God has been widely read in France, where it was first published in 1986. With this expert translation, English-speaking readers can now enjoy the book for the first time. Upon reading it, many a reader is likely to reflect: "Whenever I have said ‘God,’ in whatever tone of voice, could I ever have meant anyone else than the God of the Bible?"

Genres: Religion, History, Nonfiction

256 pages, Hardcover

First published December 31, 1986

About the author

Jean Bottéro (30 August 1914 – 15 December 2007) was a French historian born in Vallauris. He was a major Assyriologist and a renowned expert on the Ancient Near East.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean_Bot...
http://www.lemonde.fr/disparitions/ar...

Reviews

[Tariq Alferis · Rating 4 out of 5]

..اعتبر المؤرخ جان بوتيرو مرويات الكتاب مجرد رموز واساطير، جاء الدليل القاطع بالعثور على اساطير بلاد الرافدين التي قضى جان خمسين عاما من عمره وهو يعمل على فكه ألغازها .

إنها إرادة الرب.

تجعل من الإيمان كثقب أسود يلتهم كل سؤال حقيقي، أعطى الكاتب حق موسى واعترف بعبقريته على صنع وتأسيس الديانة التي بقت صامدة بعد كل الحروب والمذلة وحتى انشقاق نصف الشعب في فترة ما لصالح الالهة بعل وعشتار.

صمد يهوه ، من سفر تكوين حتى سفر إيليا وإشعيا، تجد التكرار، الكتاب من أفضل الكتب على الإطلاق ، خمسين سنة من البحث والتدقيق ، وخلاصة فكرية .

رحلة شعب امن برب واحد ،اختارهم الله ليكونوا شعبه المختار ، تاريخ المذل والمهانة والمجد.

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[Rodolfo · Rating 3 out of 5]

2 stars for the first half, 4 stars for the second half. After reading "Mesopotamia" by Bottéro, I had hoped for a similarly great book detailing the evolution of the ideas inside the Old Testament. In the first half Bottéro accepts the bible as fact, forgetting that there is no real evidence for many things, including the existence of Moses. Some progression of ideas is shown, but it lacks serious depth in discussing the influences of other communities on Hebrew thought, and treats them as quasi-isolated entities. No mention of Zoroastrian influences on redemption is discussed. The second half is much better and consists of 4 essays on 4 topics which are of similar quality to those in "Mesopotamia", and discuss the problems of original sin, death and creation and the evolution-adaptation of ideas inside the books of Job and Ecclesiastes.

[Tuncay Özdemir · Rating 2 out of 5]

Kitabın ismi biraz yanıltıcı gibi. Kitap tarihte tanrı fikrinin doğuşundan ziyade, Kutsal Kitap (Eski Ahit) metinlerinin dönemin İsrail halkının siyasetine göre yorumlanışına ve günümüze etki eden zorlu dönemeçlerin geçilişine dair içerik sunuyor.

Yazar, dönemin İsrail'inin komşularıyla ilişkilerini de inceleyerek, (bazı noktalarda Asur ve Fenike kaynaklarına da başvurarak) kutsal kitap içeriğini ve yazarlarını oldukça saygılı bir üslupla inceliyor. Kutsal kitabın farklı yazarlarının (dönemin peygamber - yazarları) hayat görüşü farklılıklarına da yer veriyor. Yazar, küçük birkaç ara notla aslında rasyonel insanlar olarak buradaki olağanüstü şeylere inanmamızın zor olacağının ancak bunların insanlığın ortak mirası olarak algılanması gerektiğinin ve dönemin fikir hayatı hakkında bize ilk elden bilgi veren kaynaklar olarak saygıyı hak ettiğinin altını çiziyor.

Bu açıdan bakıldığında bu kitapta farklı coğrafyaların tanrı kavramları, bu kavramların kökeni ve bunların karşılaştırılması, çok tanrıcılıktan tek tanrıcılığa geçiş gibi fikri yolculuğa dair bir içerik bulamıyorsunuz.

[Hala · Rating 4 out of 5]

يتضمن الكتاب دراسة التوراة ضمن معطيات جديدة من خلال مؤرخيها وكتابها - الأنبياء - الذين تبلور تأليفها على ايديهم خلال القرون الممتالية ، وكذلك علاقة التوراة بالادبيات القديمة كامخطوطات جلجامش وغيرها من الأساطير الشرقية ، يصل المؤلف الا أن التوراة ماهي الا صورة مصغرة عن ملحمة جلجامش التي سبقتها بمئات السنين .
وكان للتوراة حقيقة مغايرة عن ذلك حتى في عام 1872 ميلادية عندما اكتشفت الواح بلاد الرافدين والتي ذكر فيها على سبيل المثال قصة الطوفان ، حينها تلاشى الايمان بأن التوراة هي أقدم كتاب على وجه الأرض . وعادت التوراة الى سلسلة الآداب العالمية .

الكتاب ثري باقتباسات كثيرة من الأسفار ملحقة بمقاربات وشروحات عديدة وملحقة بقصص الانبياء وادوارهم في الارتقاء الطويل للديانه .

[⁦ Nasharty · Rating 3 out of 5]

الكتاب بيعرض ازاي تطور الفكر اليهودي عبر تاريخهم الطويل من خلال الاعتماد على التوراة والتواريخ المفترضة للنصوص
الجميل في قراءته انه بيّن ازاي شعب اسرائيل انتقل من مجرد الايمان بيهوه كاله قبلي زيه زي الهة كتير في عصره لاله حكمته وعدله بيشملوا الكون كله والشعوب كلها وده كان الاساس اللي اتبنت عليه المسيحية بعد كده

[Thuraya Ahmed · Rating 3 out of 5]

الترجمة جداً سيئة 🌚💔

[Yenkl · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent ,comme tous les livres de Bottéro.Sérieux travail de recherche historique, livre foisonnant de connaissances sur le Moyen-Orient, écriture claire et limpide, passionnante.

[آرتميس - Artemis · Rating 4 out of 5]

كتاب جميل يحتوي على معلومات قيمة تساعد قي معرفة مسار تطور الأديان
يسلط الضوء على بداية الأديان الإبراهيمية وظروف نشوء اليهودية

[Cem · Rating 4 out of 5]

Her ne kadar çevirisi metni zaman zaman zor okunur kılsa da Bottero'nun analizi sağduyulu ve insan düşüncesine saygılı bir perspektiften Tevrat ve Musevilik çerçevesinde tektanrıcılığı yorumluyor. Bottero'ya göre diğer görkemli Mezopotamya uygarlıkları içinde kendine tarihi anlamda büyük bir yer açamamış olan İsrail kavminin insanın dini düşüncesinde muazzam bir sıçrayışa yolaçan Yaradan ve Yaratık arasındaki ayrımı ortaya koyması: "Var olan herşeyi kendi yasaları içine alan tek bir evren yoktur artık, yok edilemeyen iki dünya vardır: Yaradan ve Yaratık" (s.230)...

Din incelemesini 'literalist'lerin elinden kurtarma adına şık bir hamle!

Tabi tektanrıcılık/çoktanrıcılık karşıtlığı (?) üzerinde fazla durmayıp daha fazla soru sordurması kitabın bence hem gücü hem de zayıflığı