Browsing by Author "Kruger, Paul A."

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    Mothers and their children as victims in war : Amos 1:13 against the background of the Ancient Near East
    (Old Testament Society of South Africa, 2016) Kruger, Paul A.
    This article investigates a war atrocity mentioned in Amos 1:13, viz. "ripping open pregnant women. " Twice the combination "ripping open pregnant women " appears in close proximity with "dashing in pieces the little ones" (2 Kgs 8:12; Hos 14:1). The latter topic is also occasionally referred to in other prophetic passages (Isa 13:16; Nah 3:10). After the presentation of comparable evidence from a variety of ANE literary genres, it is concluded that these types of literary topoi were not essentially meant to convey a historical truth. They were rather employed as rhetorical devices to amplify the seriousness of the given (war) scenario.
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    Sosiologiese en antropologiese insigte en die studie van die Hebreeuse Bybel : 'n Bestekopname
    (AOSIS, 2000) Kruger, Paul A.
    This article reviews the main trends in the social-scientific study of the Hebrew Bible. It focuses on the following central issues: the theoretical principles underlying this approach, anthropologists and the Hebrew Bible, the Hebrew Bible and comparative anthropology, anthropological evidence from African cultures, and the Hebrew Bible in social-scientific research: perils and prospects.
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    Symbolic inversion in death : some examples from the Old Testament and the Ancient Near Eastern world
    (AOSIS OpenJournal, 2005-02) Kruger, Paul A.
    Symbolic inversion is a widespread cultural phenomenon, the earliest examples of which can be traced back to the cultures of the ancient Near East. Symbolic inversion (mundus inversus) relates to those forms of expressive behaviour which invert commonly accepted social codes. One such area in the ancient Near Eastern and Old Testament world where this phenomenon manifested itself prominently is in the conception of life after death: life after death is often conceived as the direct inverse of what is customary in ordinary life.