Description
Book SynopsisIn February, 2007, a conference entitled “Reconsidering the Concept of ‘Revolutionary Monotheism’” was convened on the campus of Princeton University. The meeting was unique in that it brought together scholars who were engaged in various disciplines of research, and though all were involved in the geographical area of the ancient Near East, everyone brought a different expertise to the question of how to approach the concept of the divine. What followed, in the course of two days, was an intense debate regarding the issue stated in the title of the conference; the dialogue was productive, and the papers—which were reworked in the wake of the conference and in accord with the interaction among the participants—are useful perspectives on the vexing topic of monotheism and the divine.
The papers in the this volume are presented by John Baines (gods in New Kingdom/Third Intermediate period Egypt), Gonzalo Rubio (Mesopotamian pantheon), Francesca Rochberg (polytheistic cosmogony in Mesopotamia), Beate Pongratz-Leisten (astralization of gods in Mesopotamia), Peter Machinist (dying gods and cosmic restructuring), Mark S. Smith (cross-cultural recognition of divinity in Israel), Konrad Schmid (monotheism in the Priestly texts), John Collins (king and messiah as Son of God), and P. O. Skjærvø¸ (Zarathustra and monotheism).
Table of ContentsAbbreviations
A New Agenda for the Study of the Rise of Monotheism Beate Pongratz-Leisten
Presenting and Discussing Deities in New Kingdom and Third Intermediate Period Egypt John Baines
Gods and Scholars: Mapping the Pantheon in Early Mesopotamia Gonzalo Rubio
The Heavens and the Gods in Ancient Mesopotamia: The View from a Polytheistic Cosmology Francesca Rochberg
Divine Agency and Astralization of the Gods in Ancient Mesopotamia Beate Pongratz-Leisten
How Gods Die, Biblically and Otherwise: A Problem of Cosmic Restructuring Peter Machinist
God in Translation: Cross-Cultural Recognition of Divinity in Ancient Israel Mark S. Smith
The Quest for “God”: Monotheistic Arguments in the Priestly Texts of the Hebrew Bible Konrad Schmid
King and Messiah as Son of God John J. Collins
Zarathustra: A Revolutionary Monotheist? Prods Oktor Skjærvø
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