La Bible, le sacrifice et la bonne odeur de Dieu

Abstract

‘For we are unto God a sweet savor of Christ’: how this puzzling statement of Paul of Tarsus in II Corinthians 2:14–16 can be understood? By remembering the close links between odor and liturgy (through combustion, incense, and so on) in Second Temple Judaism and also in the Hellenistic world. In this context, odor is often viewed as a communication channel with the deity.

Keywords

• Old Testament
• New Testament
• odor
• perfume in Antiquity
• sacrifice
• II Corinthians 2:14-16