Archaic lists, writing and mind

2013 ◽  
Vol 21 (3) ◽  
pp. 484-504
Author(s):  
Rita Watson
Keyword(s):  
Philosophy Of Science ◽  
Cognitive Skills ◽  
Near East ◽  
Ancient Near East ◽  
Near Eastern

Theories of writing and mind have proposed that the uses of literacy give rise to a distinct repertoire of cognitive skills, attitudes, and concepts. This paper reconsiders the earliest lexical lists of the Ancient Near East as one type of evidence on writing and mind. Past and present conceptions of the lists are briefly reviewed. Early views cast the lists as reflecting a Sumerian mentality or a uniquely literate mode of thought, while recent accounts suggest they may simply be routine scribal exercises. A view from the philosophy of science, on which lists are considered a sub-type of ordering system, suggests a way of aligning a scribal practice account with aspects of earlier views by articulating the nature of list entries and the intentions of the list makers. On this account, the Ancient Near Eastern lists can be seen both as uniquely literate and as uniquely informative on the role of writing in mind.

Placing Ancient Israel in Its Ancient Near Eastern Context

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Victor H. Matthews
Keyword(s):  
Near East ◽  
Historical Geography ◽  
Ancient Near East ◽  
History Writing ◽  
Near Eastern ◽  
Economic Context ◽  
Ancient Israel ◽  
The World ◽  
History Of

The focus of this chapter is on the methods employed in examining the history writing (historiography) of the biblical writers and editors, and of the task associated with writing a history of ancient Israel. In every instance an effort is made to place ancient Israel into its social, political, and economic context as part of the world of the ancient Near East. Also included is the current library of extrabiblical sources available to scholars that throw light on the history of ancient Israel. Attention is then given to the role of historical geography as it relates to a study of the history of the countries of the Levant, as well as an introduction to the values and limitations of archaeology.

Foreign Relations in the Ancient Near East: Oaths, Curses, Kingship and Prophecy

2018 ◽  
Vol 26 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Lucas G Freire
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Relations ◽  
Near East ◽  
Ancient Near East ◽  
The Political ◽  
Near Eastern ◽  
Royal Power ◽  
Textual Evidence ◽  
Religious Background ◽  
Political Role

Oaths and curses, embedded in a covenantal context, were paramount normative mechanisms in the foreign relations between ancient Near Eastern kings. This article provides an account of the political role of covenants and oaths and their religious background, presenting textual evidence denoting the notion that breaking a covenant in foreign relations was a serious offense punishable by divine curses. The article further explores how curses operated, by looking at other texts portraying kings as representatives of their people, and prophets as representatives of the deities, not only to reinforce royal power, but occasionally also to challenge it, particularly in the prediction of divine curses as a reaction to covenant-breaking.

Amos vii 10-17 and Royal Attitudes Toward Prophecy in the Ancient Near East

2008 ◽  
Vol 58 (3) ◽  
pp. 300-314 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. Blake Couey
Keyword(s):  
Near East ◽  
Ancient World ◽  
Ancient Near East ◽  
Near Eastern ◽  
Ancient Israel ◽  
The Relationship

AbstractThis study examines the confrontation between the priest Amaziah and the prophet Amos in Amos vii 10-17 against the background of selected ancient Near Eastern texts that deal with royal attitudes toward prophecy. Texts from Mari, Nineveh, and Lachish all provide evidence for the role of royal officials, including priests, in reporting prophecy to the king in the ancient world. In light of this evidence, Amaziah's actions in this narrative appear to be motivated by state interests more than specifically cultic interests, as suggested in the text by his appeal to the royal sponsorship of the Bethel shrine (v. 13). Read in this way, the narrative points to the complexity of the relationship among priests, prophets, and kings in ancient Israel.

The Good, the God, and the Ugly: The Role of the Beloved Monster in the Ancient Near East and the Hebrew Bible

2020 ◽  
Vol 74 (2) ◽  
pp. 132-145
Author(s):  
Ryan S. Higgins
Keyword(s):  
Hebrew Bible ◽  
Crucial Role ◽  
Near East ◽  
Speculative Fiction ◽  
Ancient Near East ◽  
Near Eastern ◽  
Contemporary Speculative Fiction

Ancient Near Eastern texts teem with horrifying and grotesque beings that pose some significant threat to the cosmos, humanity, and its institutions. Adopting Noël Carroll’s definition, such beings are monsters: interstitial not only physiologically and ontologically, but also cosmically and morally. This essay takes a comparative and literary approach to beloved monsters in Ugaritic, Mesopotamian, and Hebrew Bible texts. It suggests that in Ugarit and Mesopotamia, such monsters play a crucial role in advancing the goals of antipathic heroes while maintaining the integrity of sympathetic deities. It then considers the beloved monster in the Hebrew Bible and its interpretations. Finally, the essay makes note of the phenomenon’s transformation in contemporary speculative fiction. The essay argues that the beloved monster in Ugarit and Mesopotamia keeps together a fragmented cosmos, while in the Hebrew Bible it refracts through the facets in a prismatic God.

Status Distinctions in Greece and the Ancient Near East

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
David M. Lewis
Keyword(s):  
Near East ◽  
Ancient Near East ◽  
Near Eastern ◽  
Economic Role ◽  
Economic Foundations

This chapter considers whether the Greek ability to distinguish legally free persons from legally enslaved persons was unique and whether (as M. I. Finley claimed) statuses were blurred together in ancient Near Eastern societies. It shows (pace Finley) that the Babylonians were able to make razor-sharp status distinctions, and had their own emic vocabulary of freedom that was set in contradistinction to slavery. Although Greek and Near Eastern slave metaphors differed profoundly, sociolegal practices were quite similar. The chapter finishes by analysing Finley’s theory of the economic foundations undergirding the emergence of the concept of freedom, and shows it to be flawed: concepts of slavery and freedom are not necessarily coupled to the economic role of slavery in this or that society.

REREADING CIRCUMCISION AS AN IDENTITY MARKER (GN 17:9-14): CONTEMPORARY PERSPECTIVES ON MALE GENITAL MUTILATION AMONGST XHOSA COMMUNITIES IN SOUTH AFRICA

2017 ◽  
Vol 23 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Temba T. Rugwiji
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Female Genital Mutilation ◽  
Near East ◽  
Ancient Near East ◽  
Near Eastern ◽  
Genital Mutilation ◽  
Ancient Israel ◽  
Female Genital ◽  
Male Genital

During biblical times in the Near Eastern world, circumcision was a common practice. Reasons for conducting the operation varied. In biblical times, only males were circumcised. This essay attempts to answer the following questions: (1) What was the significance of circumcision in the ancient Near East? (2) Can one say with certainty that circumcision amongst Xhosa communities was influenced by the biblical text? This article commences by examining circumcision in the ancient Near East. The study will then explore the rise of circumcision in ancient Israel when Yahweh commanded Abraham to circumcise all males in his household as a sign of keeping the covenant with Yahweh (cf. Gn 17:9-14). Next, the ideology of excluding women from being circumcised during biblical times is discussed. Thereafter, circumcision conducted in our modern postbiblical world - contemporary perspectives on circumcision, also known as male genital mutilation (hereafter, MGM) - is examined in terms of the following four themes: (1) the role of culture amongst Xhosa communities in motivating MGM, (2) the emergence of female genital mutilation (hereafter, FGM) in Africa, (3) the theory that circumcision reduces transmission of HIV which causes AIDS, and (4) the theory that a circumcised penis enhances orgasm during sex. Next, MGM in South Africa is explained as a violation of human rights. Lastly, this research concludes with possible solutions towards mitigating fatalities of MGM amongst Xhosa communities in South Africa.

Prologue to Genesis (1, 1-11, 26): Prophetic Revelation, History, Myth or Metahistory?

2020 ◽  
pp. 17-46
Author(s):  
Михаил Анатольевич Скобелев
Keyword(s):  
Mystical Experience ◽  
Near East ◽  
Literary Form ◽  
Traditional View ◽  
Ancient Near East ◽  
Symbolic Form ◽  
Near Eastern ◽  
The World ◽  
Genesis 1 ◽  
Book Of Genesis

В статье рассматриваются богословие, композиция и литературная форма сюжетов, входящих в состав Пролога книги Бытия (1, 1-11, 26). Во второй половине XIX - начале XX вв. в результате появления Документальной гипотезы и сопоставления Священного Писания с литературными памятниками Древнего Ближнего Востока большая часть сюжетов, составляющих Пролог, была объявлена мифами и древнееврейским фольклором (Ю. Велльгаузен, Г. Гунекель, Дж. Фрезер). Кроме выявленных ближневосточных параллелей, новому отношению к повествованиям Пролога книги Бытия способствовали: отсутствие в нём ясно выраженной исторической задачи и символичность изложения. Защищая традиционный взгляд на Пролог как на священную историю и пророческое откровение, епископ Кассиан (Безобразов) предложил рассматривать все библейские сюжеты, содержащие теофанию, как метаисторию. Протоиерей Сергий Булгаков, А. Ф. Лосев, Б. П. Вышеславцев, занимавшиеся феноменом мифотворчества, назвали библейское повествование о начале мироздания мифом, но в ином смысле, чем это делали Г. Гункель и Дж. Фрезер. Они обосновали новый положительный взгляд, согласно которому миф не есть выдумка или фантазия, а реальность, основанная на мистическом опыте. В статье анализируется каждый из перечисленных терминов: «история», «миф», «метаистория» применительно к Прологу, а также рассматривается возможность их согласования с традиционным церковным взглядом на эту часть книги Бытия. The article deals with the theology, composition and literary form of the narrations which constitute the prologue part of the book of Genesis (1, 1-11, 26). During the second half of the 19th and at the turn of the 20th cent., following the emergence of the Documentary hypothesis as well as the comparison of the Holy Scripture with the newly-discovered literary monuments of Ancient Near East, the greater part of the narrations that constitute the Prologue were labeled myths and ancient Hebrew folklore (J. Wellhausen, H. Gunkel, J. Frazer). In addition to the then detected Near Eastern parallels, this new attitude towards the narrations of the Prologue was fostered by its lack of a clearly expressed historical dedication and the symbolic form of their exposition. Defending the traditional view of the Prologue as sacred history and prophetic revelation, bishop Kassian (Bezobrazov) proposed to consider all the biblical narrations that contain theophanies as metahistorical. Archpriest Sergey Bulgakov, A. F. Losev and B. P. Vysheslavtsev, who analyzed the phenomenon of myth-making, called the Biblical narration of the origins of the world a myth, but in a sense different from that proposed by Gunkel and Frazer. They have founded a new and positive conception according to which a myth is not fiction but rather a kind of reality based upon mystical experience. The author of the article analyzes each of the terms enumerated - «history», «myth», «metahistory» - in their use relating them to the Prologue; he also examines the possibility of their harmonizing with the traditional ecclesiastical view of this part of the book of Genesis.

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