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The Glory of the Lord Whose Likeness Is As the Appearance of a Human Being/Adam: a Study of Ezekiel's Son of Man/Adam Anthropo

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The Glory of the Lord Whose Likeness Is As the Appearance of a Human Being/Adam: a Study of Ezekiel's Son of Man/Adam Anthropo College of Saint Benedict and Saint John's University DigitalCommons@CSB/SJU Graduate Papers/Theses School of Theology and Seminary May 2021 The Glory of the Lord Whose Likeness is as the Appearance of a Human Being/Adam: A Study of Ezekiel’s Son of Man/Adam Anthropology Timothy R. Schmeling College of Saint Benedict and Saint John's University, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.csbsju.edu/sot_papers Part of the Biblical Studies Commons, Christianity Commons, and the Religious Thought, Theology and Philosophy of Religion Commons Recommended Citation Schmeling, Timothy R., "The Glory of the Lord Whose Likeness is as the Appearance of a Human Being/ Adam: A Study of Ezekiel’s Son of Man/Adam Anthropology" (2021). Graduate Papers/Theses. 1931. https://digitalcommons.csbsju.edu/sot_papers/1931 This Master's Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the School of Theology and Seminary at DigitalCommons@CSB/SJU. It has been accepted for inclusion in Graduate Papers/Theses by an authorized administrator of DigitalCommons@CSB/SJU. For more information, please contact [email protected]. THE GLORY OF THE LORD WHOSE LIKENESS IS AS THE APPEARANCE OF A HUMAN BEING/ADAM: A STUDY OF EZEKIEL’S SON OF MAN/ADAM ANTHROPOLOGY by Timothy R. Schmeling 111 South Belmont Drive Mankato, Minnesota United States of America A Thesis Submitted to the Faculty of the School of Theology and Seminary of Saint John’s University, Collegeville, Minnesota, in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Theology. SCHOOL OF THEOLOGY AND SEMINARY Saint John’s University Collegeville, Minnesota April 2021 This thesis was written under the direction of _____________________________________ Fr. Dale Launderville, O.S.B., Ph.D. Director _____________________________________ Fr. Michael Patella, O.S.B., S.S.D. Second Reader ii Timothy R. Schmeling has successfully demonstrated the use of Hebrew in this thesis. _____________________________________ Fr. Dale Launderville, O.S.B., Ph.D. April 2021 iii THE GLORY OF THE LORD WHOSE LIKENESS IS AS THE APPEARANCE OF A HUMAN BEING/ADAM: A STUDY OF EZEKIEL’S SON OF MAN/ADAM ANTHROPOLOGY Ezekiel has often been criticized as a dehumanizing book. Still it is alternative humanisms that have done so much to dehumanize mankind with the totalitarianism of self- deifying individualism or the totalitarianism of collectively-imposed manmade metanarratives. Far from being a dehumanizing book, the objective of the son of man/Adam is certainly to purge his hearers of all anthropologies of autonomy and license, but this Adamic priestly prophet does this to eschatologically resurrect in them an anthropology of dependence and true freedom. Reasserting the creation theology and anthropology of Genesis, Ezekiel insists that authentic humanism, Edenic humanism (i.e., the original humanism), is grounded in the Creator God who eschatologically recreates mankind in the divine likeness and a faith-relationship with him which is maintained by the Lord GOD’s life-sustaining temple presence and exercised in a royal priesthood with sacrificial love toward fellow human beings. Freedom is freedom from rebellious sin and death as well as freedom from the imposition of all manmade anthropologies as necessary ways of salvation. At the same time, it is a sacrificial choice between manifold divine goods (i.e., possible good choices) that is made within the framework of God’s will as well as within a framework of complementary and different vocational duties to each other. Only at the recapitulation of all things will recreation and Edenic humanism become fully actualized. This thesis may not be made available for electronic access in current and future electronic storage databases at Saint John’s University Alcuin Library, Collegeville, Minnesota. _____________________________________ April 2021 iv To Annette, Sophia, and Andreas v God’s splendor gives life, and therefore those who see God shall live. This is the reason why the intangible, incomprehensible, invisible God offers himself to be seen, comprehended, and grasped by human beings; that they may have life. It is impossible to live without life, and life comes only by sharing in God; sharing in God comes through seeing God and enjoying his goodness. People, therefore, are to see God and live. The prophets had foretold this in parables: God would be seen by people who have his Spirit and constantly await his coming. … Now the glory of God is humanity fully alive, for humanity’s true life is the vision of God. For if the divine presence in creation gives existence to all creatures, how much more does the revelation of the Father by the Word give perfect being to those who see God? St. Irenaeus of Lyon, Against the Heresies 4 in the Benedictine Daily Prayer: A Short Breviary, ed. Maxwell E. Johnson and the Monks of Saint John’s Abbey, 2nd ed. (Collegeville: Liturgical Press, 2015), 1807–8. For we believe in that God who is the almighty Creator, produces all things from nothing, the best things from those that are evil, and salvation from what is despaired of and lost. In Rom. 4:17 this is attributed to Him when it is stated that He “calls into existence the things that do not exist.” And 2 Cor. 4:6 speaks of God who ordered light to shine out of darkness—not a spark from a coal but light out of darkness, like life from death, righteousness from sin, the kingdom of heaven and the liberty of the children of God from enslavement to the devil and hell. Martin Luther, “Lectures on Genesis,” in Luther’s Works, ed. Jaroslav Pelikan, Helmut Lehmann, and Christopher Brown (St. Louis and Philadelphia: Concordia Publishing House and Fortress Publishing House, 1955–), 8:39. vi CONTENTS ABSTRACT ................................................................................................................................. iv PREFACE .................................................................................................................................... ix ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ......................................................................................................... xi ABBREVIATIONS .................................................................................................................... xii Chapters 1. INTRODUCTION TO THE PROBLEM, RATIONALE, AND PROCEDURE OF THE THESIS …………………………..……………………………..…….…….……...…………1 Thesis ……………………………………….…….………..……………………………..3 Status of the Question ……………………..……………….……………………………..5 Primary Sources …………………………….…….………..…………………………....13 Plan …………...…….……………………..……………….……………………………14 Methodology ………….…………………….…….………..…………………………....14 Significance …….……..…………………..……………….…………………………….15 2. GENESIS AS THE FOUNDATION OF EZEKIEL’S THEOLOGY AND ANTHROPOLOGY …………………………………..………..…………………………....17 Genesis and Ezekiel ………………………...…….………..…………………………....17 Creation Theology of Genesis ...…………..……………….…………………………....18 Creation Anthropology of Genesis ……………….………..…………………………....36 Conclusion …………….…………………..……………….……………………………50 3. HUMAN LIFE INDEPENDENT OF THE CREATOR GOD ….……………………..…56 Ezekiel’s Historical Context, His Person, and His Book ………………………..……....56 vii Hidden Creator God’s Purgation of the Son of Man/Adam ………..………...…………67 Lord GOD Purges the Israelites via the Ministry of His Adamic Priestly Prophet …......73 Conclusion …………….…………………..……………….…………………………..101 4. LORD GOD ALONE RE-HUMANIZES FALLEN HUMAN LIFE ……..……….……105 Ezekiel’s Call vs. Other Prophetic Calls ………….………..…………………………..105 Revealed Creator God’s Eschatological Recreation of the Son of Man/Adam …..……108 Lord GOD Resurrects the Israelites via the Ministry of His Adamic Priestly Prophet ..123 Conclusion …………….…………………..……………….………………………..…140 5. ESCHATOLOGICAL DIMENSION OF RECREATED HUMAN LIFE DEPENDENT ON THE CREATOR GOD …………..……………………..……………………………...145 Eschatologically Recreated Human Condition before the Consummation of All Things…………………………………………………………………………………..145 New Temple, City, Israel, and Land before the Consummation of All Things …..........159 Eschatologically Recreated Human Condition in the Consummation of All Things ….174 New Temple, City, Israel, and Land in the Consummation of All Things ……..……...182 Conclusion……………..…………………..……………….………………………..…187 6. CONCLUSION………………………………………….…………………..………...…190 BIBLIOGRAPHY……………………………………………………………………..………..196 viii PREFACE Unlike other Hebrew prophets, Ezekiel is only referred to by name in a handful of passages (Ezek 1:3; 24:24; Sir 49:8; and 4 Macc 18:17) in the entire Christian Bible (Canonical Old Testament, Apocrypha, and Canonical New Testament). Instead the Lord GOD nearly While this appellation .(בֶּ ן־אָדָ ם) ”always refers to him by the unique title of “son of man/Adam became the distinctive title of Jesus Christ (Matt 8:20; Mark 2:10; Luke 5:24; John 1:51; Acts 7:56; Heb 2:6; Rev 1:13; 14:14, etc. Cf. Dan 7:13–14) who is considered to be the second Adam par excellence in the New Testament (Rom 5:12–19; 1 Cor 15:22, 45), it is often understood as a designation of Ezekiel’s membership in the human class, his creatureliness, and his mortality, if not his sinfulness on the basis of passages such as Genesis 11:5; Numbers 23:19; Psalm 8:5; 31:20; 80:17–19; 144:1–3; 145:8–12; and Daniel 8:17. The Aramaic Targum Pseudo-Jonathan (Tg. Ps.-J.) on Ezekiel recognized that this designation for the priestly prophet alludes to something more than just the aforementioned. It or another variation of it, which would suggest the idea of בְ נֵ י־אֲ נָשָ א as בֶּ ן־אָדָ ם
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