Family Religion in Babylonia, Syria and Israel

Family Religion in Babylonia, Syria and Israel PDF Author: Karel Van Der Toorn
Publisher: SBL Press
ISBN: 9781628371680
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 500

Get Book Here

Book Description
This SBL Press edition of an essential Brill reference work deals with the religious practices of the family in the ancient Babylonian, Syrian, and Israelite civilizations. On the basis of a wealth of documents from both the private and the literary realm, the book gives an exhaustive description and analysis of the rites of the ancestor cult and the devotion to local gods. The author demonstrates the role of these two aspects of family religion in the identity construction of its followers. The section dealing with Israel pays particular attention to the relationship between family religion and state religion. The emergence of the state religion under King Saul marked the beginning of a competition between civil and private religion. Though the two had great influence upon each other, the tension between them was never resolved. A study of their interaction proves to be a key for the understanding of the development of Israelite religion during the monarchic period.

Family Religion in Babylonia, Syria and Israel

Family Religion in Babylonia, Syria and Israel PDF Author: Karel Van Der Toorn
Publisher: SBL Press
ISBN: 9781628371680
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 500

Get Book Here

Book Description
This SBL Press edition of an essential Brill reference work deals with the religious practices of the family in the ancient Babylonian, Syrian, and Israelite civilizations. On the basis of a wealth of documents from both the private and the literary realm, the book gives an exhaustive description and analysis of the rites of the ancestor cult and the devotion to local gods. The author demonstrates the role of these two aspects of family religion in the identity construction of its followers. The section dealing with Israel pays particular attention to the relationship between family religion and state religion. The emergence of the state religion under King Saul marked the beginning of a competition between civil and private religion. Though the two had great influence upon each other, the tension between them was never resolved. A study of their interaction proves to be a key for the understanding of the development of Israelite religion during the monarchic period.

Family Religion in Babylonia, Syria and Israel

Family Religion in Babylonia, Syria and Israel PDF Author: Karel Van Der Toorn
Publisher: BRILL
ISBN: 9004668861
Category : Architecture
Languages : en
Pages : 501

Get Book Here

Book Description
This study of family religion in the Babylonian, Ugaritic and Israelite civilizations opens up a little studied province of ancient Near Eastern religion. By focusing on the interaction between family religion and state religion, the author offers fascinating insights in to the development of the religion of Israel.

Household and Family Religion in Antiquity

Household and Family Religion in Antiquity PDF Author: John Bodel
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
ISBN: 1118293525
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 327

Get Book Here

Book Description
The first book to explore the religious dimensions of the family and the household in ancient Mediterranean and West Asian antiquity. Advances our understanding of household and familial religion, as opposed to state-sponsored or civic temple cults Reconstructs domestic and family religious practices in Egypt, Greece, Rome, Israel, Mesopotamia, Ugarit, Emar, and Philistia Explores many household rituals, such as providing for ancestral spirits, and petitioning of a household's patron deities or of spirits associated with the house itself Examines lifecycle rituals – from pregnancy and birth to maturity, old age, death, and beyond Looks at religious practices relating to the household both within the home itself and other spaces, such as at extramural tombs and local sanctuaries

Caring for the Dead in Ancient Israel

Caring for the Dead in Ancient Israel PDF Author: Kerry M. Sonia
Publisher: SBL Press
ISBN: 0884144623
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 265

Get Book Here

Book Description
A new reconstruction of cultic practices surrounding death in ancient Israel In Caring for the Dead in Ancient Israel, Kerry M. Sonia examines the commemoration and care for the dead in ancient Israel against the broader cultural backdrop of West Asia. This cult of dead kin, often referred to as ancestor cult, comprised a range of ritual practices in which the living provided food and drink offerings, constructed commemorative monuments, invoked the names of the dead, and protected their remains. This ritual care negotiated the ongoing relationships between the living and the dead and, in so doing, helped construct social, political, and religious landscapes in relationship to the past. Sonia explores the nature of this cult of dead kin in ancient Israel, focusing on its role within the family and household as well as its relationship to Israel’s national deity and the Jerusalem temple. Features: A reevaluation of whether burial and necromantic rituals were part of the cult of dead kin A portrait of the various roles Israelite women played in the cult of dead kin A reassessment of biblical writers’ attitudes toward the cult of dead kin

Life and Mortality in Ugaritic

Life and Mortality in Ugaritic PDF Author: Matthew McAffee
Publisher: Penn State Press
ISBN: 1646020383
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 391

Get Book Here

Book Description
While topics such as death, funerary cult, and the netherworld have received considerable scholarly attention in the context of the Ugaritic textual corpus, the related concept of life has been relatively neglected. Life and Mortality in Ugaritic takes as its premise that one cannot grasp the significance of mwt (“to die”) without first having wrestled with the concept of ḥyy (“to live”). In this book, Matthew McAffee takes a lexical approach to the study of life and death in the Ugaritic textual corpus. He identifies and analyzes the Ugaritic terms most commonly used to talk about life and mortality in order to construct a more representative framework of the ancient perspective on these topics, and he concludes by synthesizing the results of this lexical study into a broader literary discussion that considers, among other things, the implications for our understanding of the first-millennium Katumuwa stele from Zincirli. McAffee’s study complements previous scholarly work in this area, which has tended to rely on conceptual and theoretical treatment of mortality, and advances the discussion by providing a more focused lexical analysis of the Ugaritic terms in question. It will be of interest to Semitic scholars and those who study Ugaritic in particular, in addition to students of the culture of the ancient Levant.

T&T Clark Handbook of Anthropology and the Hebrew Bible

T&T Clark Handbook of Anthropology and the Hebrew Bible PDF Author: Emanuel Pfoh
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN: 0567704742
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 577

Get Book Here

Book Description
This handbook presents an overview of the main approaches from social and cultural anthropology to the Hebrew Bible. Since the late 19th century, biblical scholarship has addressed issues and themes related to biblical stories from a perspective which could now be considered socio-anthropological. It is however only since the 1960s that biblical scholars have started to produce readings and incorporate analytical models drawn directly from social anthropology to widen the interpretive scope of the social and historical data contained in the biblical sources. The handbook is arranged into two main thematic parts. Part 1 assesses the place of the Bible in social anthropology, examines the contribution of ethnoarchaeology to the recovery of the social world of Iron Age Palestine and offers insights from the anthropology of the Mediterranean for the interpretation of the biblical stories. Part 2 provides a series of case studies on anthropological themes arising in the Hebrew Bible. These include kinship and social organisation, death, cultural and collective memory, and ritualism. Contributors also examine how the biblical stories reveal dynamics of power and authority, gender, and honour and shame, and how socio-anthropological approaches can reveal these narratives and deepen our knowledge of the human societies and cultural context of the texts. Bringing together the expertise of scholars of the Hebrew Bible and Biblical Archaeology, this ethnographic introduction prompts new questions into our understanding of anthropology and the Bible.

Joshua, Judges, and Ruth

Joshua, Judges, and Ruth PDF Author: Richard Hess
Publisher: Zondervan Academic
ISBN: 0310527597
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 772

Get Book Here

Book Description
Many today find the Old Testament a closed book. The cultural issues seem insurmountable and we are easily baffled by that which seems obscure. Furthermore, without knowledge of the ancient culture we can easily impose our own culture on the text, potentially distorting it. This series invites you to enter the Old Testament with a company of guides, experts that will give new insights into these cherished writings. Features include • Over 2000 photographs, drawings, maps, diagrams and charts provide a visual feast that breathes fresh life into the text. • Passage-by-passage commentary presents archaeological findings, historical explanations, geographic insights, notes on manners and customs, and more. • Analysis into the literature of the ancient Near East will open your eyes to new depths of understanding both familiar and unfamiliar passages. • Written by an international team of 30 specialists, all top scholars in background studies.

Leviticus and Numbers

Leviticus and Numbers PDF Author: Roy Gane
Publisher: Zondervan Academic
ISBN: 0310527570
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 540

Get Book Here

Book Description
Many today find the Old Testament a closed book. The cultural issues seem insurmountable and we are easily baffled by that which seems obscure. Furthermore, without knowledge of the ancient culture we can easily impose our own culture on the text, potentially distorting it. This series invites you to enter the Old Testament with a company of guides, experts that will give new insights into these cherished writings. Features include • Over 2000 photographs, drawings, maps, diagrams and charts provide a visual feast that breathes fresh life into the text. • Passage-by-passage commentary presents archaeological findings, historical explanations, geographic insights, notes on manners and customs, and more. • Analysis into the literature of the ancient Near East will open your eyes to new depths of understanding both familiar and unfamiliar passages. • Written by an international team of 30 specialists, all top scholars in background studies.

For Us, but Not to Us

For Us, but Not to Us PDF Author: Adam E. Miglio
Publisher: Wipf and Stock Publishers
ISBN: 1532693737
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 470

Get Book Here

Book Description
John H. Walton is a significant voice in Old Testament studies, who has influenced many scholars in this field as well as others. This volume is an acknowledgment from his students of Walton's role as a teacher, scholar, and mentor. Each essay is offered by scholars (and former students) working in a range of fields--from Old and New Testament studies to archaeology and theology. They are offered as a testimony and tribute to Walton's prolific career."

The Ugaritic Baal Cycle

The Ugaritic Baal Cycle PDF Author: Mark Smith
Publisher: BRILL
ISBN: 9047442326
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 904

Get Book Here

Book Description
This second volume of the commentary on the Baal Cycle, the most important Canaanite religious text from Ugarit, in Syria, analyzes KTU/CAT 1.3 and 1.4, the tablets that contain the long episode about how Baal secured permission from El to build his royal palace and how the palace was built. It includes a new edition of the tablets, supplemented by a DVD-ROM with 92 images and superimposible drawings, a comprehensive introduction, new translation and vocalized text, and detailed commentary. The authors develop an interpretation of the episode which places it into the larger context of the Baal Cycle as a whole.