Theological Studies in Japan

In this paper, I explain why Buber and Rosenzweig translated the Hebrew God’s name Yahweh into German as ER. Earlier, Mendelssohn had translated it as the Eternal with reference to the Midrash Rabba because Yahweh exists in the past, the future, and the present as an unchangeable, independent being. In the third commandment, God prohibited Moses to pronounce his name; he was not to conjure Yahweh through man’s arbitrary will. Thus Mendelssohn’s translation transforms it into a name of an idol. For Buber and Rosenzweig, God’s name might be rendered the-one-who-is-there or the-one-who-is-present, since Yahweh reveals his name as ‘I will be-there howsoever I will be-there’ (ex 3:14). It means Yahweh is not an idol, but is rather revealed through personal relations like ‘the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob.’ Finally they understand Yahweh as the combination of the original address; Yah (interjection) and Huh (singular third person pronoun). This renders the designation: HE, ER.

View full abstract

Show abstractHide abstract

This paper will look at Albert Schweitzer’s Reverence of Life as reflected in his philosophical writings and in his sermons, with the aim of evaluating the meaning of this core idea as expressed in varying contexts. In particular, this paper will examine the elements of reason and emotion and their interrelationship in the process of establishing the ethic of Reverence for Life. The first chapter will focus on the issue of Schweitzer’s world view as revealed in the work Culture and Ethics (Kultur und Ethik). It will then lay out a short summary of the process of formation of Schweitzer’s ethic of Reverence for life, followed by an examination of the proposition that the worldview based upon the will to live is indeed the only viable worldview. The critical point of this proposition is the dynamic interrelationship between a naive and optimistic world view and its counterpart, the pessimistic worldview. The ethic of Reverence for Life (an optimistic worldview belonging to a higher stratum) itself must be considered the bridge between these diametrically opposing views. The second chapter will continue the idea of the ethic of Reverence of Life as the bridge to the dynamic interrelationship of the rational (reason) and the emotional elements. Both reason and emotion are vibrantly reflected in his sermons and are presented with similar constructs. Relying on the Collection of Sermons, 1898-1948 (Predigten 1898-1948), this paper will argue that Schweitzer’s thought is not entirely speculative or theoretical but includes an indispensable element of praxis.

View full abstract

Download PDF (598K)

In Panarion (including The Letter to Flora), Epiphanius of Salamis stated that Ptolemaeus, a Valentinian follower, taught three principle doctrines, which consisted of the perfect God, the creator God, and the adversary. However, Irenaeus of Lyon stated that the Ptolemaean disciplines instructed that there were 30 aeons (divinities), and that from the one at the top, Bythos (Abyss), the other aeons emanated one after another. Although these two doctrines appear greatly divergent, many scholars think that these materials represent the teachings of the same school or thinker because they are both presented under the same name, “Ptolemaeus (or the Ptolemaean)”. This essay analyses the background of the identification and the relevance of these two materials, and examines the validity of the identification of the materials.

View full abstract

Register with J-STAGE for free!