Cosmic Conflict: The Earthly Sanctuary Through a Cosmological Framework

Seminary N335

The introduction of the relationship between the cosmological worldview of ancient Near Eastern civilizations and temple cosmology has gained much momentum among OT scholars in recent years. It has initiated the proposal of a new framework for understanding the Creation narrative of the Old Testament and that of the Israelite tabernacle. The prevailing concept has furthermore induced a convergent paradigm shift that has situated ancient Near Eastern cosmology as a means for interpreting the interrelationship between Creation and that of the sanctuary. This paper modifies this new framework and centers on the implementation of the cosmological worldview of the ancient Near East as a theological framework for understanding the function of the earthly sanctuary as a means of divulging cosmic and spiritual truths—namely, the Cosmic Conflict. This in turn will subsequently and consequently lead to the implementation of a Cosmic Conflict worldview that coincides with the transcendency and authenticity of the biblical worldview; and may furthermore seemingly transition the Cosmic Conflict from a footnote among scholarship to the forefront of Biblical Theology.