Reflections on God's Body, or, an Exercise in Examining the Limitations of Comparative Religious Studies for Understanding Israel's Theology of God.

This article examines Christoph Markschies' book *God's Body: Jewish, Christian, and Pagan Images of God*, which argues that in antiquity—including ancient Israelite religion—it was common to conceive of God as possessing a corporeal body. While Markschies asserts that Old Testament descriptions of God's body should be understood literally rather than metaphorically, the article highlights the complexity and diversity of these depictions, noting that many biblical references to God's body parts function symbolically to express divine action and presence rather than physical form. The discussion also traces how later Jewish and Christian traditions largely rejected divine corporeality in favor of an incorporeal God, a shift that had significant theological consequences, including a diminished sense of God's active presence in the world. The article concludes that Markschies' work is valuable for its historical breadth and for emphasizing the theological cost of abandoning anthropomorphic language about God.