Key Terms Intro Flashcards
the writer of a text; a component of the hermeneutical triangle
author
the collection of twenty-four books written by Israelites and Jews in the first millennium BCE, mostly in the Hebrew language, with portions of Ezra and Daniel written in Aramaic; the Written Torah of Judaism and the first testament of the Christian canon
hebrew bible
a conceptual representation of the three major elements that are involved in the interpretation of texts; author, referent, and reader
hermeneutical triangle
the story line of the Bible that is generally accepted within a particular religious or cultural community
Master narrative
the name of the Hebrew Bible used in the Christian community
Old Testament
the reader or audience element of the process of text interpretation
reader
an element in the interpretation of texts; what the text refers to in the material world or in the mind of the author
referent
a relatively modern name for the Hebrew Bible
Tanak
a writing that is the focus of interpretation
text
the covenant between YHWH and Abraham described in Genesis 17 that also applied to Isaac and Jacob and their offspring
Ancestral covenant
a term for the attribution of human behavior or characteristics to inanimate objects, animals, natural phenomena, or deity; with regard to deity, this became a point of theological discussion in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam
anthropomorphism
a pact or formal agreement between two parties in which there are mutual obligations and expectations; a metaphor of God’s relationship with his people
covenant
the literary source document of the Pentateuch that consists largely of the book of Deuteronomy
Deuteronomic source
scholarly hypothesis that suggests that the Torah/Pentateuch was not the work of one author, such as Moses, but is a composition based on four documents from different periods: J (the Yahwist), E(the Elohist), D(Deuteronomy), and P(the Priestly document).
documentary hypothesis
a Hebrew word meaning “God”; Israel’s most general way of referring to its deity
Elohim
the name given to a reconstructed source underlying certain Pentateuchal narratives; characterized by the use of the divine name Elohim
Elohist source
a designation of the first five books of the Hebrew Bible, aka the Torah and the Pentateuch
Five Books of Moses
the issue of the relationship of a text and the event to which it refers and whether the text accurately reflects the “happenedness” of the event
historicity
Greek for “five scroll jars”; refers to the first five books of the Hebrew Bible (Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy) traditionally attributed to Moses that together comprise the Torah
Pentateuch
a literary source used in the composition of the Torah/Pentateuch; it probably was composed in Babylonia in the sixth century BCE
priestly document
the analysis of the Hebrew Bible to determine its underlying literary sources
source analysis
the first four books of the Hebrew Bible; Genesis through Numbers
Tetrateuch
refers to study of the whole gamut of Jewish tradition or to some aspect thereof; refers to the “five books of Moses”
Torah
the hypothetical pronunciation of the divine name YHWH
Yahweh
