Reading the Ark in Beth-shemesh and Perez-uzzah Politically

2021 ◽  
pp. 186-190
Author(s):  
Rachelle Gilmour
Keyword(s):  
Political Context ◽  
Divine Presence ◽  
The City ◽  
The Temple

A monarchic date for the ark narratives suggests a political context where the temple in Jerusalem is endowed with an ark volatile with divine presence to rival the northern golden calves. The promise of a temple in 2 Sam 7, juxtaposed with the ark’s violence in 2 Sam 6:19, suggests that the volatile ark is safely ensconced in the temple in the city of the Davidic kings, endorsing the cultic centre. Reading the ark narratives in a later period of exile, Jer 3:14–18 suggests an interesting continuation of this logic, where there is no longer misalignment of God’s holy presence in a box, and all Jerusalem will become God’s throne.

Death in the City

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kathryn A. Sloan
Keyword(s):  
Scientific Inquiry ◽  
The United States ◽  
Violent Death ◽  
Special Relationship ◽  
Intimate Friend ◽  
Counter Narrative ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
European Heritage ◽  
The City ◽  
The Temple

Popular culture has long conflated Mexico with the macabre. Some persuasive intellectuals argue that Mexicans have a special relationship with death, formed in the crucible of their hybrid Aztec-European heritage. Death is their intimate friend; death is mocked and accepted with irony and fatalistic abandon. The commonplace nature of death desensitizes Mexicans to suffering. Death, simply put, defines Mexico. There must have been historical actors who looked away from human misery, but to essentialize a diverse group of people as possessing a unique death cult delights those who want to see the exotic in Mexico or distinguish that society from its peers. Examining tragic and untimely death—namely self-annihilation—reveals a counter narrative. What could be more chilling than suicide, especially the violent death of the young? What desperation or madness pushed the victim to raise the gun to the temple or slip the noose around the neck? A close examination of a wide range of twentieth-century historical documents proves that Mexicans did not accept death with a cavalier chuckle nor develop a unique death cult, for that matter. Quite the reverse, Mexicans behaved just as their contemporaries did in Austria, France, England, and the United States. They devoted scientific inquiry to the malady and mourned the loss of each life to suicide.

Temple Destruction, Mourning and Curse in Elephantine, with a View to Lamentations

2020 ◽  
Vol 132 (1) ◽  
pp. 84-107
Author(s):  
Gard Granerød
Keyword(s):  
The World ◽  
The City ◽  
The Temple

AbstractThe article discusses the lament over the Temple of YHW in Elephantine from three angles: from the perspective of the internal rhetoric or composition of the letter, from the perspective of the world of the Judaeans who wrote the petition, and from the perspective of the world of the intended recipient of the letter. In addition, the article explores how the mention of collective mourning and curse in the petition letter from Elephantine may provide a text of comparison – and context – for the laments over the destruction of the city of Zion and her temple found in the Book of Lamentations.

Chronotope of Siberia in the materials of the magazine “Nastoyashchee” (1928–1930)

2021 ◽  
pp. 96-105
Author(s):  
S. S. Vasilyev ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Decisive Role ◽  
Political Context ◽  
Prose Poetry ◽  
Local Context ◽  
Quick Response ◽  
Revolutionary Literature ◽  
Front Group ◽  
The City

The paper deals with the Novosibirsk magazine “Nastoyashchee” (The Present) (1928–1930). “Nastoyashchee” was oriented to the “fact literature”: the theory of new revolutionary literature developed by the LEF (Left Art Front) group, which emphasized the importance of the reflection of the truth of life. Hence, the importance of journalism increases, with feuilleton and essay becoming the most important genres. Such an attitude to the fact literature orients materials of the magazine to the local context understood rather broadly – as the context of Siberia and even the entire Asian part of the USSR. This understanding is considered on the example of all types of magazine materials: prose, poetry, folklore, illustrations, photography. It should be noted that the magazine’s attitude to the poetry was ambivalent: not only did it publish the poetry but also the articles with requests to stop writing poetry. Most significant was the literature of a quick response conforming to the current tasks of the proletariat. It is for this reason that most of the materials related to the fact literature had no ethnographic component, and the local was interesting not as exotic, but as correlating with USSR political context (the link between the city and the countryside, the organization of communes, the fight against the kulaks). The decisive role in writing is found to be inevitably assigned to sorting out the necessary facts illuminating life from the authors’ side of interest, making “Nastoyashchee” similar to the LEF group with their selecting and editing “facts-friends” and criticism of “facts-enemies.”

Jewish Identity and the Intercommunal Links between Diaspora Jewish Communities in the Second Temple Period

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-23
Author(s):  
Jonathan R. Trotter
Keyword(s):  
Jewish Identity ◽  
Second Temple ◽  
Asia Minor ◽  
Jewish Communities ◽  
Second Temple Period ◽  
Jerusalem Temple ◽  
Shared Identity ◽  
The City ◽  
The Temple

Abstract Many diaspora communities identify not only with a distant homeland but also with others distant from the homeland. How exactly do these intercommunal connections take place and contribute toward a shared identity? What specific aspects of diasporan identity are created or strengthened? What practices are involved? This study will begin to answer these questions through investigating two practices which were widespread among diaspora Jewish communities during the last two centuries of the Second Temple period (1st cent. B.C.E.–1st cent. C.E.). First, we will show how sending offerings and making pilgrimages to the Jerusalem temple from these communities enabled regular intercommunal contact. Then, we will suggest some ways in which these voluntary practices reinforced a cohesive Jewish identity and the importance of the homeland, especially the city of Jerusalem and the temple, for many diaspora Jews, whether they lived in Alexandria, Rome, Asia Minor, or Babylonia.

scholarly journals Osoby duchowne w otoczeniu i czynnościach prawnych księcia gdańskiego Warcisława II

2020 ◽  
pp. 229-264
Author(s):  
Mateusz Szuba
Keyword(s):  
Civil War ◽  
Middle Class ◽  
Political Influence ◽  
Political Context ◽  
The State ◽  
Source Information ◽  
The City

The above paper deals with the clergy in the state of Warcisław II, Duke of Gdańsk and East­­­‑Pomerania between 1266 and 1269/70. The careers of representatives of this class are reconstructed by collecting and verifying source information and the extensive discussions of earlier historians. Four clergymen from Gdańsk, 2 from Słupsk, and Michael priest of “Saulyn” have been authenticated, but it is not certain that the last two places actually belonged to Warcisław’s state. The main conclusion of this research is that during the reign of Warcisław II, clergy were of political significance. They served in administration and in an early chancellery service, as in the case of a group of clergy in the fortified church in Gdańsk. It is likely that one of local priests­­­‑ Wacław/Unisław – was also probably related to an influential gentry family This was also probably the case with Luder, priest of St. Catharine’s Church in the city of Gdańsk. He was probably an agent mediating between the Duke and the middle class. Warcisław II had good relations with the middle class and its political influence was growing during his reign. In Słupsk, too, the clergy participated in changing political affiliations, but that is visible only later. Clergymen also supported other dukes; this was visible and of importance during the East­­­‑Pomeranian civil war (1269–1271) between Warcisław II and Msciwoj II, which ended in the former’s exile. One historian believes that the priest Michael served in Salino in East­­­‑Pomerania. Perhaps his presence in a privilege from 1268 had a political context – by that act Warcisław II could show his claims to Białogarda’s land. This had been mortgaged to the Teutonic Order by Duke Racibor. Otherwise, according to the opinion of Klemens Bruski, Michael could have served in another place – Słona near Kościerzyna.

scholarly journals Petra Revisited: An Astronomical Approach to the Nabataean Cultic Calendar

2017 ◽  
Vol 21 (1 and 2) ◽  
pp. 131-150 ◽  
Author(s):  
Juan Antonio Belmonte ◽  
A. César González García
Keyword(s):  
Source Analysis ◽  
Sacred Sites ◽  
Winter Solstice ◽  
Field Campaign ◽  
Main Research ◽  
The City ◽  
The Temple

Petra, the ancient Nabataean capital, has been one of our main research objectives since the first field campaign on site in 1996. 1 In December 2015 a new visit to the city was made to coincide with the winter solstice. Historical, ethnographic, epigraphic and archaeological records are compared in order to gain an insight on the Nabataean calendar. From this multi-source analysis two main points arise: the importance of both equinoxes and winter solstice within the lunisolar calendar and the relevance of some processions and pilgrimages. These combined with illumination effects observed and broadcasted at the principal monuments of Petra, and new important hierophanies, predicted in previous campaigns,2 indicate the relevance of these dates at the time of the Nabataeans. Winter solstice was an important event in the Nabataean cultic calendar when a festival of the main deities of the city, the God Dushara and his partner the goddess Al-Uzza, was commemorated. This probably took the form of a pilgrimage, and related cultic activities, such as ascending from the temples at the centre of the city (presumably from Qsar el Bint and the Temple of the Winged Lions), to the Monastery (Ad-Deir) through an elaborated stone-carved processional way. The relevance of the spring and autumn equinox within the cultic calendar will also be emphasized in relationship to other sacred sites in Petra, such as the Zibb Atuff obelisks, and additional Nabataean sites.

The Date and Meaning of the Book of Joel

2011 ◽  
Vol 61 (2) ◽  
pp. 163-183 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elie Assis
Keyword(s):  
Great Emphasis ◽  
Divine Presence ◽  
Historical Evidence ◽  
Religious Significance ◽  
The People ◽  
The Temple

AbstractThis paper argues that the Book of Joel is best understood against the background of the exilic period in Judah, after the Destruction but before the Return to Zion, that is, between 587 and 538 BCE. While concrete historical evidence is not decisive, an investigation of the ideology of the Book may determine the Book’s historical setting. The lack of any rebuke in Joel accords with the view that he lived in the exilic period, when it would not have been appropriate to rebuke and criticize the people, who were in a state of deep despair. The Book of Joel places great emphasis on the motif of the Divine presence residing in the midst of Israel. This central message of assurance of the Divine presence is particularly apt if we accept the view that Joel belongs to the period of the Destruction, when the people were in despair and saw in the events their abandonment by God. There are cultic concerns in the book. This is understood if it is accepted that Joel functioned in the exilic period, and aimed at persuading his audience that one can pray to the Lord even when the Temple is in ruins. The prophet’s main purpose was to bring the people to renew their connection with the Lord after the destruction of the Temple, and to focus the people’s attention on the Temple, which, although physically ruined, had not lost its religious significance. Other characteristics of the Book of Joel that point to the same historical setting are discussed in the paper.

The Gymnasium at Alexandria Troas: Evidence for an Outline Reconstruction

1979 ◽  
Vol 29 ◽  
pp. 23-50
Author(s):  
A. C. G. Smith
Keyword(s):  
The City ◽  
The Temple

The principal ruin at the site of the city of Alexandria Troas entered the consciousness of European travellers anonymously, and was referred to simply as a castle or palace; when Thomas Coryate saw it in 1613 he was overcome by its magnificence and concluded, since he thought he was at Troy, that it must have been the main castle or palace of the city, but already in Lithgow's time it was known simply as “The Palace of Priam”. The name was to persist for well over a century, but by 1675 Spon had recognised it as Roman work and Wheler, basing his conclusions (as later did Pococke) on a comparison with the Harbour Gymnasium at Ephesus – at that time commonly regarded as the Temple of Diana – thought it might be a temple. Chandler, in 1764, called it a gymnasium; Lechevalier and Clarke, and after them Choiseul-Gouffier, were confident that it was a bath-building, and although Prokesch-Osten eccentrically disagreed and Texier and Napier pointed out that the two functions were not incompatible, Koldewey in his study called it a bath, and that designation is still with us.

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