TAKEN FROM:
TOWARD A BIBLICAL VIEW OF MAN: SOME READINGS
Edited by Dr. Arnold H. De Graaff & Dr. James H. Olthuis
INSTITUTE FOR CHRISTIAN STUDIES
Toronto, Ontario
1978
NEPHESH AND THE FULFILLMENT IT RECEIVES AS PSUCHE
by Tory Hoff
General Outline
Introduction, Page 2
Common definition
for soul; Greek influence; 20th-Century emphasis on the wholeness
and unity of man; problem of interpreting nephesh in light
of present-day views of soul; influence of cultural anthropology on
early Biblical classics; synthetic thinking revealed in a 'grasping
of a totality'.
Further assumptions, Page 3
Hebrews thought and
lived in the concrete and not the abstract; linguistic unity and fluidity
of nephesh; synthetic thinking of the Hebrews' perceived imagery
associated with nephesh which created a 'theme' that was intrinsic
to the meaning of nephesh.
Linguistic data, Page 5
Throat or neck as
the organ through which nephesh breathed;Accadian and Ugaritic
cognates; nephesh in the blood; questions on the nature of the
association of nephesh to the throat, neck, breath, and blood.
Nephesh in the Old Testament, Page 6
A. thematic imagery:
the threat of danger and the need for deliverance, theme from
an experiential viewpoint revealed emotional content in a peculiar context.
B.
nature of man described in Gen. 2:7, nephesh of a stranger
and the implication; views of Pedersen, Johnson, and Wolff; nephesh
and its particular status in creation.
nephesh
dependent upon nourishment, especially food, to afflict nephesh
was to fast; emotional aspect in context of a 'nephesh experience'.
C.
answer to questions on the relation of nephesh to body parts,
throat as the organ through which nephesh received vital nourishment
and breathed neshamah and life-giving ruah; nephesh vulnerable
at the neck; nephesh equated with the blood; sacred nephesh
as the 'core' of human living.
D.
nephesh and leb,
both desired yet not in the same way; wicked nephesh devoured.
E.
nephesh and death,
death as the weakest form of life; rephaim dwelt in sheol but
nephesh; sheol and the sea; Jonah overboard; to die in honour
or shame; nephesh ceased at death; corpse as nephesh could
bring defilement; semantic polarization?
F.
demonstration of unity and fluidity of nephesh, magical
necklets of Is. 3:20; nephesh hayyah referred to either
man or animal; God as nephesh could almost perish if...; enumerated
nephesh in bondage but are given a promise.
Transition to psuche in the New Testament, Page 11
Use of the
plural beginning with the exilic period; writers of the New Testament
molded the Greek language to form Hebrew conceptions; abstaining from
food with blood and food strangled; psuche for translating Old
Testament quotes and expressions using nephesh.
Psuche in the New Testament, Page 12
A. Christ developed
the theme into the New Testament message, sacrificing psuche
drinking his blood; psuche saved despite even death; how James,
Peter, and Paul demonstrated this development in their epistles.
B. verses susceptible
to misinterpretation, Acts 20:10, psuche that returned;
Heb. 4:12, division of psuche and pneuma; I Pt. 2:11,
passions of the flesh against psuche III Jn. 2, psuche
was sound despite poor health; I Thes. 5:23, body, soul, spirit?; Rev.
8:9, 20:4, psuche slain and beheaded yet life after death?
C. review of Schweizer's
article, problems on the relation of nephesh to both the
'true life' and the 'physical life'; his questions; his positive contribution
Understanding
the fulfillment of the promise, Page 15
Contradiction
that death presents; monism and dualism; observation of death as an origin
of the body/soul dualism; Israelites did not have to reduce themselves
to a misconceived hope; psuche, fish, and baptism; analogy of the
seed; new status for psuche.
Bibliography, Page 17
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