Cult Image and Divine Representation in the Ancient Near East

Cult Image and Divine Representation in the Ancient Near East PDF Author: Neal H. Walls
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Art
Languages : en
Pages : 144

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Book Description
While biblical prophets ridiculed the notion of humans fashioning an idol that they would then worship, ancient Near Eastern theologians developed a sophisticated religious system in which divine beings could be physically manifest within the material of a cultic image without being limited by that embodiment. The four essays in this compact volume examine the intriguing subject of cultic images and divine iconography in Mesopotamia, Egypt, Anatolia and Syria-Palestine. This interesting and eclectic group of essays explores the textual and artifactual evidence for the creation and veneration of divine images in the ancient Near East. The recent resurgence of scholarly interest in the study of divine representation in ancient Israel and the Near East makes this comprehensive reexamination especially timely.

Cult Image and Divine Representation in the Ancient Near East

Cult Image and Divine Representation in the Ancient Near East PDF Author: Neal H. Walls
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Art
Languages : en
Pages : 144

Get Book Here

Book Description
While biblical prophets ridiculed the notion of humans fashioning an idol that they would then worship, ancient Near Eastern theologians developed a sophisticated religious system in which divine beings could be physically manifest within the material of a cultic image without being limited by that embodiment. The four essays in this compact volume examine the intriguing subject of cultic images and divine iconography in Mesopotamia, Egypt, Anatolia and Syria-Palestine. This interesting and eclectic group of essays explores the textual and artifactual evidence for the creation and veneration of divine images in the ancient Near East. The recent resurgence of scholarly interest in the study of divine representation in ancient Israel and the Near East makes this comprehensive reexamination especially timely.

From Ritual to God in the Ancient Near East

From Ritual to God in the Ancient Near East PDF Author: Nicola Laneri
Publisher:
ISBN: 1009306634
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 268

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Book Description
Human belief systems and practices can be traced to ca. 10,000 BCE in the Ancient Near East, where the earliest evidence of ritual structures and objects can be found. Religious architecture, the relics of human skeletons, animal symbolism, statues, and icons all contributed to a complex network into which the spiritual essence of the divine was materially present. In this book, Nicola Laneri traces the transformation of the belief systems that shaped life in ancient Near Eastern communities, from prehistoric times until the advent of religious monotheism in the Levant during the first millennium BCE. Considering a range of evidence, from stone ceremonial enclosures, such as as Göbleki Tepe, to the construction of the first temples and icons of Mesopotamian polytheistic beliefs, to the Temple of Jerusalem, the iconic center of Israelite monotheism, Laneri offers new insights into the symbolic value embodied in the religious materiality produced in the ancient Near East.

Born in Heaven, Made on Earth

Born in Heaven, Made on Earth PDF Author: Michael Brennan Dick
Publisher: Eisenbrauns
ISBN: 1575060248
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 258

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Book Description
Pejoratively referred to as "idols" in the Hebrew Bible and in western tradition, the cult image occupied a central place in the cultures of the ancient Near East. In Mesopotamia, a ritual (mis pi) was used to "give birth" to the god represented by the cult image. In this volume, three separate essays examine the topic within different ancient Near Eastern cultures, and a fourth provides a modern analogy as counterpoint.

Bodies, Embodiment, and Theology of the Hebrew Bible

Bodies, Embodiment, and Theology of the Hebrew Bible PDF Author: S. Tamar Kamionkowski
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing USA
ISBN: 0567212637
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 261

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Book Description
Recognizing that human experience is very much influenced by inhabiting bodies, the past decade has seen a surge in studies about representation of bodies in religious experience and human imaginations regarding the Divine. The understanding of embodiment as central to human experience has made a big impact within religious studies particularly in contemporary Christian theology, feminist, cultural and ideological criticism and anthropological approaches to the Hebrew Bible. Within the sub-field of theology of the Hebrew Bible, the conversation is still dominated by assumptions that the God of the Hebrew Bible does not have a body and that embodiment of the divine is a new concept introduced outside of the Hebrew Bible. To a great extent, the insights regarding how body discourse can communicate information have not yet been incorporated into theological studies.

The Image of God in the Garden of Eden

The Image of God in the Garden of Eden PDF Author: Catherine L. McDowell
Publisher: Penn State Press
ISBN: 1575063689
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 256

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Book Description
Catherine McDowell presents a detailed and insightful analysis of the creation of adam in Gen 2:5–3:24 in light of the Mesopotamian mīs pî pīt pî (“washing of the mouth, opening of the mouth”) and the Egyptian wpt-r (opening of the mouth) rituals for the creation of a divine image. Parallels between the mouth washing and opening rituals and the Eden story suggest that the biblical author was comparing and contrasting human creation with the ritual creation, animation, and installation of a cult statue in order to redefine ṣelem ʾelohîm as a human being—the living likeness of God tending and serving in the sacred garden. McDowell also considers the explicit image and likeness language in Gen 1:26–27. Drawing from biblical and extrabiblical texts, she demonstrates that ṣelem and demût define the divine-human relationship, first and foremost, in terms of kinship. To be created in the image and likeness of Elohim was to be, metaphorically speaking, God’s royal sons and daughters. While these royal qualities are explicit in Gen 1, McDowell persuasively argues that kinship is the primary metaphor Gen 1 uses to define humanity and its relationship to God. Further, she discusses critical issues, noting the problems inherent in the traditional views on the dating and authorship of Gen 1–3, and the relationship between the two creation accounts. Through a careful study of the tôledôt in Genesis, she demonstrates that Gen 2:4 serves as both a hinge and a “telescope”: the creation of humanity in Gen 2:5–3:24 should be understood as a detailed account of the events of Day 6 in Gen 1. When Gen 1–3 are read together, as the final redactor intended, these texts redefine the divine-human relationship using three significant and theologically laden categories: kinship, kingship, and cult. Thus, they provide an important lens through which to view the relationship between God and humanity as presented in the rest of the Bible.

Abraham Among Golems

Abraham Among Golems PDF Author: Andrei A. Orlov
Publisher: Mohr Siebeck
ISBN: 3161640098
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 314

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Book Description


The Egyptian World

The Egyptian World PDF Author: Toby Wilkinson
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 113675377X
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 589

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Book Description
The Egyptian World provides an authoritative exploration of Ancient Egyptian civilization. The volume covers seven broad themes, with each section allowing specialists to focus on a particular topic.

The King and the Land

The King and the Land PDF Author: Stephen C. Russell
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0199361886
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 305

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Book Description
The King and the Land offers an innovative history of space and power in the biblical world. Stephen C. Russell shows how the monarchies in ancient Israel and Judah asserted their power over strategically important spaces such as privately-held lands, religious buildings, collectively-governed towns, and urban water systems. Among the case studies examined are Solomon's use of foreign architecture, David's dedication of land to Yahweh, Jehu's decommissioning of Baal's temple, Absalom's navigation of the collective politics of Levantine towns, and Hezekiah's reshaping of the tunnels that supplied Jerusalem with water. By treating the full range of archaeological and textual evidence available for the Iron Age Levant, this book sets Israelite and Judahite royal and tribal politics within broader patterns of ancient Near Eastern spatial power. The book's historical investigation also enables fresh literary readings of the individual texts that anchor its thesis.

Interpreting Judean Pillar Figurines

Interpreting Judean Pillar Figurines PDF Author: Erin Darby
Publisher: Mohr Siebeck
ISBN: 9783161524929
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 624

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Book Description
"Judean Pillar Figurines regularly appear in discussions about Israelite religion, monotheism, and female practice. Erin Darby uses Near Eastern texts, iconography, the Hebrew Bible, and the archeology of Jerusalem to explore figurine function, the gender of figurine users, and the relationship between Judean figurines and the Assyrian Empire"--Back cover.

The Origin of Israelite Zion Theology

The Origin of Israelite Zion Theology PDF Author: Antti Laato
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN: 0567680037
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 354

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Book Description
In this examination of Zion theology and how it arises in the book of Psalms Antti Laato's starting-point is that the Hebrew Bible is the product of the exilic and postexilic times, which nonetheless contains older traditions that have played a significant role in the development of the text. Laato seeks out these older mythical traditions related to Zion using a comparative methodology and looking at Biblical traditions alongside Ugaritic texts and other ancient Near Eastern material. As such Laato provides a historical background for Zion theology which he can apply more broadly to the Psalms. In addition, Laato argues that Zion-related theology in the Psalms is closely related to two events recounted in the Hebrew Bible. First, the architectural details of the Temple of Solomon (1 Kings 6-7), which can be compared with older mythical Zion-related traditions. Second, the religious traditions related to the reigns of David and Solomon such as the Ark Narrative, which ends with David's transfer of the Ark to Jerusalem (2 Sam 6). From this Laato builds an argument for a possible setting in Jerusalem at the time of David and Solomon for the Zion theology that emerges in the Psalms.