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
God Secrets
Language: en
Pages: 0
Authors: Shawn Bolz
Categories: Religion
Type: BOOK - Published: 2017-06-13 - Publisher: Newtype

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

In order to have a close relationship with God, we must be able to hear Him clearly. Bolz offers the tools to make a heart connection with God, so that you can
God's Secret Agents
Language: en
Pages: 463
Authors: Alice Hogge
Categories: History
Type: BOOK - Published: 2005-06-14 - Publisher: Harper Collins

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

One evening in 1588, just weeks after the defeat of the Spanish Armada, two young men landed in secret on a beach in Norfolk, England. They were Jesuit priests,
God's Secret Place
Language: en
Pages: 126
Authors: Nate Stevens
Categories: Religion
Type: BOOK - Published: 2021-11-02 - Publisher: Nate Stevens

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Do you struggle with intimacy with God? How do we get to know God? Once we get to know Him personally, how do we develop a deeper, more intimate relationship wi
Lost Secrets of the Gods
Language: en
Pages: 256
Authors: Michael Pye
Categories: Body, Mind & Spirit
Type: BOOK - Published: 2014-07-21 - Publisher: Red Wheel/Weiser

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Are there 10,000-year-old secret societies that still exist today? Was there a race of giants that once inhabited the Americas? Did ancient Egypt and ancient Ch