Ancient Hebrew Myths: From Leviathan and the Goddess Asherah to the Broken Tablets and Job
19.99 €
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Ancient Hebrew Myths: From Leviathan and the Goddess Asherah to the Broken Tablets and Job
19.99 €
What was the religion of the ancient, pre-Biblical Jews? Most likely, they believed that their Lord was just one of many deities, the son of the supreme god: a warrior god and thunderer, defeating the serpent Leviathan. But how did it happen that this god became the only God - and such that He wanted justice and mercy from people, not empty rituals?
The history of biblical religion is the history of the "conquest" of the archaic myth, attempts to surpass it from within. Individual gods will be forgotten and banned, and their attributes will pass to the One God. The place of Asherah, his divine "wife", will be taken by the idea of a symbolic "marriage" of the Lord with the chosen people - Israel. The image of the universe will change, myth will be replaced by history and theophany. And yet, archaic images will again appear again and again in monotheistic thinking. But transformed.
Why does God have so many names — and is there one character behind them? Who are the Krubim and Sarafs — the Cherubim and Seraphim — and what are their archaic prototypes? How is the biblical Lord similar to the Canaanite Ba'al? Where did God's retinue go — Justice, Truth, Mercy, Pestilence and Plague? Who is "Helel, son of Dawn"? How are the broken tablets of Moses connected with the cycle of agricultural holidays, and what ancient traditions are reflected in the biblical stories of the expulsion from paradise, the Great Flood and the Tower of Babel?
The book by orientalist Mikhail Vogman is an inspiring and deeply creative study of the formation of biblical religion from its most ancient origins to Revelation and the most difficult ethical dilemmas of the Book of Job.
The history of biblical religion is the history of the "conquest" of the archaic myth, attempts to surpass it from within. Individual gods will be forgotten and banned, and their attributes will pass to the One God. The place of Asherah, his divine "wife", will be taken by the idea of a symbolic "marriage" of the Lord with the chosen people - Israel. The image of the universe will change, myth will be replaced by history and theophany. And yet, archaic images will again appear again and again in monotheistic thinking. But transformed.
Why does God have so many names — and is there one character behind them? Who are the Krubim and Sarafs — the Cherubim and Seraphim — and what are their archaic prototypes? How is the biblical Lord similar to the Canaanite Ba'al? Where did God's retinue go — Justice, Truth, Mercy, Pestilence and Plague? Who is "Helel, son of Dawn"? How are the broken tablets of Moses connected with the cycle of agricultural holidays, and what ancient traditions are reflected in the biblical stories of the expulsion from paradise, the Great Flood and the Tower of Babel?
The book by orientalist Mikhail Vogman is an inspiring and deeply creative study of the formation of biblical religion from its most ancient origins to Revelation and the most difficult ethical dilemmas of the Book of Job.
See also:
- All books by the publisher
- All books by the author
- All books in the series Myths from start to finish