Biblical rebels

Kenneth Seeskin*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

One would not normally turn to the Hebrew Bible for insight into rebellion that raises the character responsible for it in our estimation because the Hebrew Bible is usually associated with heteronomy; with the submission to God's will which is made explicit in a series of revelations. The essence of sin is the human tendency to rebel against that will. Still, this reading has been adopted to serve theological interests of which the Bible is largely innocent. Drawing on the stories of Abraham, Moses, Job and Amos, this paper wants to show that the Bible not only praises rebellion but even seems to require it in some cases. Moreover, these biblical rebels are acting not just against human authority, but against divine authority as well. In view of this, one might say that the Bible offers a kind of theology of rebellion.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)7-14
Number of pages8
JournalTeoria
Volume32
Issue number1
StatePublished - Jun 26 2012

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Philosophy

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Biblical rebels'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this