NTT Journal for Theology and the Study of Religion - Current Issue

Abstract Biblical traditions provide evidence of the pervasiveness of displacement in ancient Israel and Judah. This paper focuses on migration in the sixth century BCE, when the Babylonians’ conquest of Jerusalem led to the deportation of many of its inhabitants to Mesopotamia, as well as to repeated mass displacements in the Levant. In particular, this article examines how Israelite and Judahite identities were affected by the Read More

Abstract The books of Jeremiah and Ezekiel describe their eponymous prophets experiencing undeserved pain caused by YHWH. Paradoxically, the texts repeatedly assert that YHWH is a fair god, who causes pain as a punishment on those who are unfaithful to him. Using pain studies from medicine and literature as well as comparisons with other biblical and ancient Near Eastern texts, this article investigates the unexplaine Read More

Abstract This paper explores the religious identity and practices of the Jewish community in Elephantine during the Achaemenid period, focusing on the archaeological and textual evidence from the site itself, rather than the Hebrew Bible. It critiques previous scholarship’s reliance on biblical texts to interpret Elephantine Judaism, which often viewed it as either a deviation or a purer form of biblical Judaism. The study emphasi Read More

Abstract This article examines the portrayal of forced displacement in selected Greek-language Jewish prose texts. The selected narratives concern 1) the capture of slaves from Judea by Ptolemy I and their liberation by his son (Arist. 12-27); 2) Ptolemy IV’s forced mobilisation of Jews to the hippodrome of Schedia, near Alexandria (3 Macc. 4:4-11); and 3) Mary of Bethezuba, a refugee in Jerusalem during the Roman siege in Read More