NTT Journal for Theology and the Study of Religion - Volume 78, Issue 1, 2024

Omina as a Divine message to People: Observations on îåôú and τέρας (LXX and Aquila)

Both the Septuagint and Aquila consistently translate מופת (“miraculous sign / sign of terror”) by the term τέρας. Given the broad semantic spectrum of ופת,, this concordant translation practice is surprising. This article first examines the ambivalence of τέρας in extra-biblical literature as well as in the Septuagint. It then asks whether the notion of τέρας might inspire a more precise understanding of מופת. The article pays particular attention to those passages where מופת is understood as a human being representing a divine message, both as a person and through his action. This line of thought is extended as far as to specify an understanding of Jesus of Nazareth.

As part of NTT JTSR’s series on Key Texts, this article discusses Gerardus Van der Leeuw’s 1937 monograph De primitieve mensch en de religie. In this book, Van der Leeuw discusses primitive mentality, which he derives from Lucien Lévy-Bruhl. According to Van der Leeuw, primitive mentality is of great importance to human life and, in particular, to religion. The concept largely disappeared from anthropological discourse after World War II and was criticized for several reasons. Although that criticism is justified, and the term primitive mentality should be avoided, Lévy-Bruhl and Van der Leeuw use it to refer to a participatory attitude that can be distinguished from a scientific way of reasoning. Based on their work, four forms of thinking that belong to a participatory attitude can be identified. The distinctive character and value of a participatory attitude are illustrated by examples from Christology.