Abstract

The Regret of God. On the theological relevance of God as subject of the Hebrew verb nhm Professor JA Heyns and others regard God's 'regret' of His own plans or actions in the Old Testament, expressed by the Hebrew verb nhm, as part of the dogmatic problem of ‘anthropomorphism’ against general presupposition like His immutability. However, an exegetical investigation indicates that this virtual aporia as well as the supposed polysemy of nhm, i.e. ‘regret’ and ‘comfort’, is mainly caused by our own unspoken ‘ontological’ and therefore ‘absolute’ and ‘objective’ view on God. In a non-ontological perspective, focusing on concrete relations, the ‘regret’ of God must on the contrary be seen as expression for the stability and continuity of the deus absconditus towards humankind.

Highlights

  • M Professor JA Heyns and others regard God's 'regret' of His own plans or actions in the Old Testament, expressed by the Hebrew verb nhm, as part of the dogmatic problem of 'anthropo­ morphism' against general presupposition like His immutability

  • An exegetical investi­ gation indicates that this virtual aporiaas well as the supposed polysemy of nhm, i.e. ‘regret' and ‘comfort’, is mainly caused by our own unspoken ‘ontological' and 'absolute' and ‘objective’ view on God

  • In a non-ontological perspective, focusing on concrete relations, the ‘regret’ of God must on the contrary be seen as expression for the stability and continuity of the deus absconditus towards humankind

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Summary

Introduction

M Professor JA Heyns and others regard God's 'regret' of His own plans or actions in the Old Testament, expressed by the Hebrew verb nhm, as part of the dogmatic problem of 'anthropo­ morphism' against general presupposition like His immutability. Der Unterschied zwischen diesen beiden 'Bedeutungen' ist wahrscheinlich unserer eigenen Sprache zuzuschreiben; W enn die Aktion auf eine Person abzielt, sprechen w ir von einem ‘Trost', wenn es um Taten oder Plane des Subjektes als eigenem ‘Gegenuber’ geht, ubersetzen wir das W ort gewohnlich mit 'Reue'.

Results
Conclusion

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