Secrecy and the Gods

Secrecy and the Gods
Author :
Publisher :
Total Pages : 496
Release :
ISBN-10 : STANFORD:36105131633682
ISBN-13 :
Rating : 4/5 (82 Downloads)

Book Synopsis Secrecy and the Gods by : Alan Lenzi

Download or read book Secrecy and the Gods written by Alan Lenzi and published by . This book was released on 2008 with total page 496 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Secrecy and the Gods is a comparative mythological study of the human reception and treatment of divine secret knowledge in ancient Mesopotamia and biblical Israel. The human royal council was the social model for ancient ideas about divine knowledge being secret - just as human kings had secrets so too did the gods. Diviners who received this knowledge from the gods in an on-going, ad hoc manner were an essential link between the divine assembly and the human royal council for whom such knowledge was intended. Scribes eventually adapted the ad hoc divinatory means of receiving divine communications to their culturally significant texts. By discursively asserting a historical connection between themselves and unique mediators with a close divine affiliation (the apkallus and Moses), the scribes constructed myths that legitimated their texts as divine revelation and claimed these were received in history through normal scribal channels. In this manner, scribes fixed the secret of the gods permanently among humans in textualized form that valorized their own position within society. Although the origin of divine secret knowledge was rooted in a common mythological idea of the divine assembly, its treatment was quite distinct. The Mesopotamians guarded divine secret knowledge through various scribal means, including the attachment of a Geheimwissen colophon to certain tablets (treated exhaustively), whereas biblical Israel published it openly. The contrast in treatment of divine secret knowledge was directly related to different mytho-political self-understandings: Mesopotamia's imperial aspirations versus biblical Israel's vassaldom. As vassals to Yahweh, the divine imperial king, the kings of Judah and Israel as presented in the biblical material were not to formulate secret orders; they were only to obey them.


Secrecy and the Gods Related Books

Secrecy and the Gods
Language: en
Pages: 496
Authors: Alan Lenzi
Categories: History
Type: BOOK - Published: 2008 - Publisher:

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Secrecy and the Gods is a comparative mythological study of the human reception and treatment of divine secret knowledge in ancient Mesopotamia and biblical Isr
The Knowledge of the Gods
Language: en
Pages: 376
Authors: Amun The God of Peace and Love
Categories:
Type: BOOK - Published: 2015-01-26 - Publisher: CreateSpace

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Is Humanity Ready for the Passage into the Golden Age? From Material Masonry to Spiritual Masonry. The Knowledge of the Gods describes the spiritual growth of a
The Book of the Gods
Language: en
Pages: 0
Authors: Chas Saunders
Categories: Humor
Type: BOOK - Published: 2010 - Publisher:

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Are you tired of the same old boring god you've worshipped for years? Looking for something new and exciting? The Book of the Gods has the answer! Explore hundr
The Joy of Knowing God
Language: en
Pages: 316
Authors: Richard L. Strauss
Categories: Religion
Type: BOOK - Published: 1984 - Publisher:

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

A study of God's attributes and their relevance to daily living.
Study Gods
Language: en
Pages: 288
Authors: Yi-Lin Chiang
Categories: Social Science
Type: BOOK - Published: 2022-08-23 - Publisher: Princeton University Press

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

How privileged adolescents in China acquire status and why this helps them succeed Study Gods offers a rare look at the ways privileged youth in China prepare t