Essays On Babylonian And Biblical Literature And Religion

These studies take up several themes that the author has pursued in addition to his work on witchcraft literature and Gilgamesh. The volume contains general articles on Mesopotamian magic, religion, and mythology; studies, synchronic and diachronic, on Akkadian prayers; treatments of literary classics; comparative studies of terms and phenomena; and examinations of legal texts.

This book brings together a valuable collection of 14 previously published essays (and one not published) filled with insight and erudition by William L. Moran. He for many years was the Andrew Mellon Professor of the Humanities at Harvard University. He had studied with W. F. Albright, Benno Landsberger, and Thorkild Jacobson and taught Assyriology at Harvard. They include "The Creation of Man in Atrahasis I 192-249"; "New Evident from Mari on the History of Prophecy"; The ANE Background of the Love of God in Deuteronomy"; "The Babylonian Job" and "The epic of Gilgamesh: A Document of Ancient Humanism."

Presented in this volume is a collection of the shorter writings of one of the more innovative scholars working on the relationship between the writings of the Hebrew Bible and its ancient Near East context. Topics include: ANE environment, literature of the ANE, myth versus history, Nebuchadnezzar I’s Elamite crisis, Job and the Israelite religious tradition, motif of the weeping God in Jeremiah, lament tradition in ANE, the hand of Yahweh, and whether God lies.

The late W.G. Lambert (1926-2011) was one of the foremost Assyriologists of the latter part of the twentieth century. His principle legacy is a large number of superb critical editions of Babylonian literary compositions. Many of the texts he edited were on religious and mythological subjects. He will always be remembered as the editor of the Babylonian Job (Ludlul bel nemeqi, also known as the Poem of the Righteous Sufferer), the Babylonian Flood Story (Atra-hasis) and the Babylonian Creation Epic (Enuma elish). The present book is a collection of twenty-three essays Lambert published between the years 1958 and 2004. These endure not only as the legacy of one of the greatest authorities on ancient Mesopotamian religion and mythology, but also because each makes statements of considerable validity and importance. As such, many are milestones in the fields of Mesopotamian religion and mythology.

This volume had its origins in a session presented to the Society of Biblical Literature in Washington in 2006 in order to examine the legacy of Peter Ackroyd to the field of biblical studies. Ackroyd's work stretched over a wide range of topics within Biblical Studies, notably study of prophetic literature and work on exile and restoration. This volume particularly focuses upon his work on the latter. Whilst the present work is founded upon the papers given at the session it also includes several essays solicited subsequently which further serve to draw the contributions together into a fitting tribute to a pioneer in his field. The contributions take account of Ackroyd's approach to the theme of exile and restoration, focusing largely upon the study of Ezra-Nehemiah and Chronciles. As a brief flavour, Bob Becking examines the epigraphic evidence concerning the mixed marriage crisis Ezra-Nehemiah. Joe Blenkinsopp seeks to find the 'Sons of Aaron' before the 5th Century in a fascinating essay focusing which picks up the work of R.H. Kennett over a century ago. Among the other distinguished contributors are John Bergsma, Eric Myers and Jill Middlemass.

In this work, Karel van der Toorn explores the social setting, the intellectual milieu, and the historical context of the beliefs and practices reflected in the Hebrew Bible. While fully recognizing the unique character of early Israelite religion, the author challenges the notion of its incomparability. Beliefs are anchored in culture. Rituals have societal significance. God has a history. By shifting the focus to the context, the essays gathered here yield a deeper understanding of Israelite religion and the origins of the Bible.

This collection of twenty essays by Joseph Blenkinsopp on different aspects of the book of Isaiah is the product of three decades of close study of the most seminal and challenging texts of the Hebrew Bible. Five of the twenty are published here for the first time. Some deal with major themes in Isaiah, for example, universalism, the Hebrew God as creator in dialogue with Babylonian and Zoroastrian theologies of creation, theology and politics, and the Suffering Servant of the Lord God, which is of such great influence on the presentation of the life and death of Jesus in the New Testament. Others consist in close readings of specific texts in the book Aufsatze zum Buch Jesaja.

Works created in the period from the Babylonian conquest of Judea through the takeover and rule of Judea and Samaria by imperial Persia reveal a profound interest in the religious responses of individuals and an intimate engagement with the nature of personal experience. Using the rich and varied body of literature preserved in the Hebrew Bible, Susan Niditch examines ways in which followers of Yahweh, participating in long-standing traditions, are shown to privatize and personalize religion. Their experiences remain relevant to many of the questions we still ask today: Why do bad things happen to good people? Does God hear me when I call out in trouble? How do I define myself? Do I have a personal relationship with a divine being? How do I cope with chaos and make sense of my experience? What roles do material objects and private practices play within my religious life? These questions deeply engaged the ancient writers of the Bible, and they continue to intrigue contemporary people who try to find meaning in life and to make sense of the world. The Responsive Self studies a variety of phenomena, including the use of first-person speech, seemingly autobiographic forms and orientations, the emphasis on individual responsibility for sin, interest in the emotional dimensions of biblical characters, and descriptions of self-imposed ritual. This set of interests lends itself to exciting approaches in the contemporary study of religion, including the concept of "lived religion," and involves understanding and describing what people actually do and believe in cultures of religion.