Martin Prudky

Charles University, Prague, Protestant Theological Faculty, Dept. of Old Testament Studies, Faculty Member

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ORCID: 0000-0002-9525-0699
Address: https://web.etf.cuni.cz/ETFN-715.html

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Papers by Martin Prudky

Holy Wars according to the Bible? "Divine wars" are not "religious wars" / Svaté války podle Bible? "Boží boje" nejsou "náboženské války"

Válka, násilí, náboženství / War, Violence, Religion, 2026

The study examines the concept of the “divine war” as it appears in the Hebrew Bible and in the c... more

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"You shall not make yourself an image". The Intention and Implications of the Second Commandment

The Old Testament as Inspiration in Culture, 2001

In my lecture I would first of all like to formulate what I see as the basic intention behind the... more In my lecture I would first of all like to formulate what I see as the basic intention behind the biblical injunction against making images of God, and then to illustrate by using the example of the floor mosaic of the Beth-Alpha Synagogue, how this intention is carried out in a case where the artistic treatment of a subject at first sight appears to go well beyond the normative boundaries laid down by the tradition of the law.

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JHWH, ein Gott der spricht

M. Oeming (Hrsg.), Gegewart und Wirksamkeit des transzendenten Gottes in der Geschichte. Festschrift zur Erinnerung an Axel Graupner (1958-2021), 2024

This study deals with communicative functions of direct speech units in biblical narratives (main... more This study deals with communicative functions of direct speech units in biblical narratives (mainly in the Book of Genesis), focusing on those in which YHWH/God himself is speaking. The use of direct speech units will be analysed and shown to be an effective tool which enables the narrator to shape their storytelling and to address their listeners/readers using specific modes of communication. Furthermore, the impact of this strategy of presenting God as a speaking figure will be evaluated in respect to biblical theology.

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The Enigma of the Temple Site and the Word-play 'Moriah'

Teologická reflexe, 2024

The name 'Moriah' is conventionally associated with the Temple Mount in Jerusalem. In Jewish trad... more The name 'Moriah' is conventionally associated with the Temple Mount in Jerusalem. In Jewish tradition, this identification is attested in a number of texts, including one biblical reference (2 Chr 3:1). On the other hand, other biblical passages where we might expect such an identification do not contain the name 'Moriah' nor a precise localization. This study examines the enigmatic name 'Moriah', which in the narrative of the patriarch Abraham (Gen 22:1-19)-one of Israel's primary foundation narratives-describes the sacrificial cult site without precisely locating it. This name is nowhere attested as a primary toponym. Its form is actually a common noun that generates significant semantic allusions to and connotations with several key motifs of the narrative in question. Hence, the term 'Moriah' is a skillful wordplay, a pun using allusions and imagination in the given literary context of the Abrahamic cycle. As part of the foundation narratives shared by the two 'ecumenical' communities of post-exilic Judaism, the name helps to etiologically legitimize the place of worship ('ha-maqom', the temple) for both the Jerusalemite and Samaritan cultic communities without using real names and locations. The shared Torah text is open to both perspectives of reading and to both identifications that we find in the history of reception.

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