Books on Hebraic Thought

[Aco]

I wanted to know if somebody could point me to books on or introductions to Hebraic thought.
The constant mantra of most of modern theology with it's "attempt" to get rid of Greek thought/philosophy has got me interested in the question if there is any specific ancient Hebrew idea of metaphysics, epistemology... (The Apocrypha maybe? Yet, they seem to be hellenised)
In many books on philosophy and theology I find this idea of Hebraic thought mentioned and set over against Greek thought, but it remains mostly obscure what that exactly is and how it is different.

Thanks!

 

[RamistThomist]

I wanted to know if somebody could point me to books on or introductions to Hebraic thought.
The constant mantra of most of modern theology with it's "attempt" to get rid of Greek thought/philosophy has got me interested in the question if there is any specific ancient Hebrew idea of metaphysics, epistemology... (The Apocrypha maybe? Yet, they seem to be hellenised)
In many books on philosophy and theology I find this idea of Hebraic thought mentioned and set over against Greek thought, but it remains mostly obscure what that exactly is and how it is different.

Thanks!

There is a right and wrong way to do it. On one hand, the discussion got overblown in the middle of the 20th century. Some post liberals wanted to get around the idea of propositional revelation and said that the Hebrews thought more in terms of "act" and event, rather than essence and logos.

Of course, that is completely silly.

On the other hand, the Hebrew prophets wouldn't have had any patience for the stale god of Greek philosophy (nor with Greek pederasty, slavery, etc).

Greeks also didn't like things like body. Read Song of Songs and then read early church fathers on Song of Songs.

Or consider heaven: the Hebrew prophets longed for the in-breaking of Yahweh's shalom. Greeks wanted to hang out in the ether with Plato's right triangles.

To answer your question, here are some helpful resources:

Barr, James. Semantics of Biblical Language. Barr shut the door on a lot of the aforementioned silliness. However, Barr was only commenting on one aspect.

Hazony, Yoram. Philosophy of the Hebrew Scriptures. It is a rebuttal to Barr.

Cullman, Oscar. Christ and Time. He overstated his case a bit, but still a classic.

Wolterstorff, Nicholas. Until Justice and Peace Embrace. He gets sidetracked on some sociology isues, but good discussion on Shalom.

 

[Aco]

Thanks for the reading recommendations!