A Comparative Study On The Image Of God In The Book Of Songs And The Bible-old Testament

The Book of Songs and The Old Testament are two classics of human civilization that have had a profound influence on both Eastern and Western cultures.The image of God appears in both of them,which is worth an in-depth comparative study.This paper aims to compare and clarify the images of God in the two classics from three perspectives,as a god,as a ruler,and as an early ancestor,in order to analyze the cultural differences between China and the West through the two different images of God.The introduction discusses the reasons for the topic selection,the research significance,the findings,the research ideas and methods,and the innovations of the comparative study of the image of God in The Book of Songs and The Old Testament.Apart from the introduction and conclusion,this paper is divided into five chapters.The first chapter analyzes the images of God in The Book of Songs and The Old Testament.It is concluded that both “heaven” and “emperor” in The Book of Songs,despite their different names,refer to God—a literary image with three identities of the supreme god,ruler,and ancestor.Meanwhile,the God in The Old Testament is also worth a close analysis,as a god,ruler,and ancestor.The second chapter compares the image of God as the supreme deity.The God in both works is the supreme deity of his people,but there are certain differences between the two gods in terms of their image features,fundamental nature,divine powers,and status.Specifically,the God in The Book of Songs is the master of all gods of the human world,while the God in The Old Testament is the only true god beyond the human world.The third chapter compares the image of God as a ruler.The objects of the ruling,management mode,and behavioral characteristics are different in the two classics.In general,the God in The Book of Songs is a capable and virtuous ruler of the world in a human bureaucracy,while the God in The Old Testament is a firm defender of the faith,with faith being the means and the purpose of his governance.The fourth chapter compares the image of God as an ancestor.In The Old Testament,God is the ancestor of every human being,who is very close to the latter as the father of a family.In The Book of Songs,by contrast,is the ancestor within the ruling class,who is dignified and solemn as a patriarch.The fifth chapter compares the Chinese and Western national cultures through the lens of the image of God in the two works.The appearance of the image of God is a reflection on the existence of the world and human beings by both Chinese and Western peoples,while the differences between the two Gods reveal an Eastern people who value reality,peace,and family and a Western one who pay more attention the unknown,hegemony,and the individuals.The last chapter summarizes the preceding chapters and concludes that the God in The Book of Songs is a part of nature,who exists to maintain the smooth functioning of human society,with political and humanistic attributes,while the God in The Old Testament is a being beyond nature and a real religious leader with theistic attributes,whose purpose is to be believed in by human beings.