Dissertations
Florian Neitmann, Mag. Theol.
Doctoral Thesis
Law and Judgement in 4 Ezra and 2 Baruch
- Betreuer
- Professor Dr. Lutz Doering
- Doctoral Subject
- Evangelische Theologie
- Targeted Doctoral Degree
- Dr. theol.
- Awarded by
- Department 01 – Protestant Theology
The dissertation investigates the concept of Law in 4 Ezra and 2 Baruch in a transcultural perspective. According to these Jewish apocalypses, judgement will be held on all humans according to their obedience or disobedience to "the law". This raises the central question of the study: What is meant by "the law"?
An answer is sought through exegetical analysis of 4 Ezra and 2 Baruch in their different versions. The backgrounds of the concepts of Law in these two apocalypses are further elucidated from their context by comparison to other, Jewish and non-Jewish sources. This comparative analysis focuses on universalist concepts of law which are expressed in sapiential texts from Ancient Near East and in Graeco-Roman philosophy, as in the idea of a natural law grounded in reason.
The study contributes to viewing Jewish apocalypticism within its transcultural entanglements and disentanglements and to determining the relationship between universalism and particularism in Ancient Jewish thought.