War and Ethics in the Ancient Near East

War and Ethics in the Ancient Near East PDF Author: C. L. Crouch
Publisher: Walter de Gruyter
ISBN: 311022352X
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 261

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Book Description
The monograph considers the relationships of ethical systems in the ancient Near East through a study of warfare in Judah, Israel and Assyria in the eighth and seventh centuries BCE. It argues that a common cosmological and ideological outlook generated similarities in ethical thinking. In all three societies, the mythological traditions surrounding creation reflect a strong connection between war, kingship and the establishment of order. Human kings’ military activities are legitimated through their identification with this cosmic struggle against chaos, begun by the divine king at creation. Military violence is thereby cast not only as morally tolerable but as morally imperative. Deviations from this point of view reflect two phenomena: the preservation of variable social perspectives and the impact of historical changes on ethical thinking. The research begins the discussion of ancient Near Eastern ethics outside of Israel and Judah and fills a scholarly void by placing Israelite and Judahite ethics within this context, as well as contributing methodologically to future research in historical and comparative ethics.

War and Ethics in the Ancient Near East

War and Ethics in the Ancient Near East PDF Author: C. L. Crouch
Publisher: Walter de Gruyter
ISBN: 311022352X
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 261

Get Book Here

Book Description
The monograph considers the relationships of ethical systems in the ancient Near East through a study of warfare in Judah, Israel and Assyria in the eighth and seventh centuries BCE. It argues that a common cosmological and ideological outlook generated similarities in ethical thinking. In all three societies, the mythological traditions surrounding creation reflect a strong connection between war, kingship and the establishment of order. Human kings’ military activities are legitimated through their identification with this cosmic struggle against chaos, begun by the divine king at creation. Military violence is thereby cast not only as morally tolerable but as morally imperative. Deviations from this point of view reflect two phenomena: the preservation of variable social perspectives and the impact of historical changes on ethical thinking. The research begins the discussion of ancient Near Eastern ethics outside of Israel and Judah and fills a scholarly void by placing Israelite and Judahite ethics within this context, as well as contributing methodologically to future research in historical and comparative ethics.

War and Ethics in the Ancient Near East

War and Ethics in the Ancient Near East PDF Author: Carly Lorraine Crouch
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages :

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Book Description


Origins of the Just War

Origins of the Just War PDF Author: Rory Cox
Publisher: Princeton University Press
ISBN: 0691253617
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 536

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Book Description
A groundbreaking history of the ethics of war in the ancient Near East Origins of the Just War reveals the incredible richness and complexity of ethical thought about war in the three millennia preceding the Greco-Roman period, establishing the extent to which ancient just war thought prefigured much of what we now consider to be the building blocks of the Western just war tradition. In this incisive and elegantly written book, Rory Cox traces the earliest ideas concerning the complex relationship between war, ethics and justice. Excavating the ethical thought of three ancient Near Eastern cultures—Egyptian, Hittite and Israelite—he demonstrates that the history of the just war is considerably more ancient and geographically diffuse than previously assumed. Cox shows how the emergence of just war thought was grounded in a desire to rationalise, sacralise and ultimately to legitimise the violence of war. Rather than restraining or condemning warfare, the earliest ethical thought about war reflected an urge to justify state violence. Cox terms this presumption in favour of war ius pro bello—the “right for war”—characterizing it as a meeting point of both abstract and pragmatic concerns. Drawing on a diverse range of ancient sources, Origins of the Just War argues that the same imperative still underlies many of the assumptions of contemporary just war thought and highlights the risks of applying moral absolutism to the fraught ethical arena of war.

Writing and Reading War

Writing and Reading War PDF Author: Brad E. Kelle
Publisher: Society of Biblical Lit
ISBN: 1589833546
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 279

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Book Description
The meaning of war: definitions for the study of war in ancient Israelite literature / Frank Ritchel Ames -- Concepts of war in the Hebrew Bible: a plaidoyer for book-oriented study / Jacob L. Wright -- Fighting in writing: warfare in histories of ancient Israel / Megan Bishop Moore -- Assyrian military practices and Deuteronomy's laws of warfare / Michael G. Hasel -- Siege warfare imagery and the background of a biblical curse / Jeremy D. Smoak -- Wartime rhetoric: prophetic metaphorization of cities as female / Brad E. Kelle -- Family metaphors and social conflict in Hosea / Alice A. Keefe -- "We have seen the enemy, and he is only a 'she'": the portrayal of warriors as women / Claudia D. Bergmann -- Conquest reconfigured: recasting warfare in the redaction of Joshua / Daniel Hawk -- "Go back by the way you came": an internal textual critique of Elijah's violence in 1 Kings 18-19 / Frances Flannery -- Shifts in Israelite war ethics and early Jewish historiography of plundering / Brian Kvasnica -- Gideon at Thermopylae?: on the militarization of miracle in biblical narrative and "battle maps" / Daniel l. Smith-Christopher.

The Religious Aspects of War in the Ancient Near East, Greece, and Rome

The Religious Aspects of War in the Ancient Near East, Greece, and Rome PDF Author: Krzysztof Ulanowski
Publisher: BRILL
ISBN: 9004324763
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 439

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Book Description
The Religious Aspect of Warfare in the Ancient Near East, Greece and Rome is a volume dedicated to investigating the relationship between religion and war in antiquity in minute detail. The nineteen chapters are divided into three groups: the ancient Near East, Greece, and Rome. They are presented in turn and all possible aspects of warfare and its religious connections are investigated. The contributors focus on the theology of war, the role of priests in warfare, natural phenomena as signs for military activity, cruelty, piety, the divinity of humans in specific martial cases, rituals of war, iconographical representations and symbols of war, and even the archaeology of war. As editor Krzysztof Ulanowski invited both well-known specialists such as Robert Parker, Nicholas Sekunda, and Pietro Mander to contribute, as well as many young, talented scholars with fresh ideas. From this polyphony of voices, perspectives and opinions emerges a diverse, but coherent, representation of the complex relationship between religion and war in antiquity.

Dictionary of the Ancient Near East

Dictionary of the Ancient Near East PDF Author: Piotr Bienkowski
Publisher: University of Pennsylvania Press
ISBN: 9780812221152
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 364

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Book Description
An authoritative guide to the whole of the cradle of civilization.

Bloody, Brutal, and Barbaric?

Bloody, Brutal, and Barbaric? PDF Author: William J. Webb
Publisher: InterVarsity Press
ISBN: 0830870733
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 412

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Book Description
Christians cannot ignore the intersection of religion and violence. In our own Scriptures, war texts that appear to approve of genocidal killings and war rape raise hard questions about biblical ethics and the character of God. Have we missed something in our traditional readings? Identifying a spectrum of views on biblical war texts, Webb and Oeste pursue a middle path using a hermeneutic of incremental, redemptive-movement ethics.

Greek Military Service in the Ancient Near East, 401–330 BCE

Greek Military Service in the Ancient Near East, 401–330 BCE PDF Author: Jeffrey Rop
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1108499503
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 295

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Book Description
Rewrites the military and political history of Greek military service in ancient Persia and Egypt.

International Relations in the Ancient Near East

International Relations in the Ancient Near East PDF Author: M. Liverani
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 0230286399
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 255

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Book Description
The ancient civilizations of the Near East - Egypt, Assyria, Babylonia, the Hittites and Canaanites - constituted the first formalized international relations system in world history. Holy wars, peace treaties, border regulations, trade relations and the extradition of refugees were problems for contemporary ambassadors and diplomats as they are today. Mario Liverani reconstructs the procedures of international relations in the period c.1600-1100BC using historical semiotics, communication theory and economic and political anthropology.

Holy War in the Bible

Holy War in the Bible PDF Author: Heath A. Thomas
Publisher: InterVarsity Press
ISBN: 0830884289
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 352

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Book Description
The challenge of a seemingly genocidal God who commands ruthless warfare has bewildered Bible readers for generations. The theme of divine war is not limited to the Old Testament historical books, however. It is also prevalent in the prophets and wisdom literature as well. Still it doesn t stop. The New Testament book of Revelation, too, is full of such imagery. Our questions multiply. Why does God apparently tell Joshua to wipe out whole cities, tribes or nations? Is this yet another example of dogmatic religious conviction breeding violence? Did these texts help inspire or justify the Crusades? What impact do they have on Christian morality and just war theories today? How does divine warfare fit with Christ s call to "turn the other cheek"? Why does Paul employ warfare imagery in his letters? Do these texts warrant questioning the overall trustworthiness of the Bible? These controversial yet theologically vital issues call for thorough interpretation, especially given a long history of misinterpretation and misappropriaton of these texts. This book does more, however. A range of expert contributors engage in a multidisciplinary approach that considers the issue from a variety of perspectives: biblical, ethical, philosophical and theological. While the writers recognize that such a difficult and delicate topic cannot be resolved in a simplistic manner, the different threads of this book weave together a satisfying tapestry. Ultimately we find in the overarching biblical narrative a picture of divine redemption that shows the place of divine war in the salvific movement of God.