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Dictionary of Deities and Demons in the Bible (Ddd)
Manufacturer: Brill Academic Publishers ProductGroup: Book Binding: Hardcover Similar Items:
ASIN: 9004111190 |
Book Description
The Dictionary of Deities and Demons in the Bible is designed as a major work of reference on the gods, angels, demons, spirits and semi-divine heroes whose names occur in the biblical books. Arranged in the order of the Latin alphabet, the more than four-hundred names are those found in the books of the Hebrew and the Greek Bible, Old and New Testament, including the Apocrypha. There are entries on divine names recognized as such by the biblical authors; divine names in theophoric toponyms and anthroponyms; secular terms which occur as divine names in neighbouring civilizations, conjectural divine names, at times based on textual emendation, proposed by modern scholarship; and humans who acquired a semi-divine status in tradition. A full-fledged entry contains a discussion of the pertinent name, its meaning, the religio-historical background, relevant biblical passages and an up-to-date bibliography. Owing to the comprehensive coverage of names and its religio-historical emphasis, the Dictionary of Deities and Demons provides crucial information concerning the spiritual world in which the Peoples of the Book have lived. Extensive indices and cross-references provide easy access to the rich information of the dictionary. The Dictionary of Deities and Demons is the fruit of a common effort of a group of more than a hundred international scholars from a variety of traditions. Chosen for their special competence, the contributors write about those deities or demons for which their research makes them eminently qualified. Acting as advisors are Hans Dieter Betz (Chicago), Andre Caquot (Paris), Jonas C. Greenfield (Jerusalem), Erik Hornung (Basel), Michael Stone (Jerusalem), and Manfred Weipert (Heidelberg).Customer Reviews:
Excellent in its element.......2006-03-23
Oh Soooooooooooo Bad!!!!!!!!.......2005-11-11
A helpful resource for students of the Bible.......2004-07-24
Speculation and bias prevents it from reaching it potential.......2004-06-29
The DDD is geared toward hard core liberals and should be of little use to conservative (including evangelicals), or to moderates or event those merely interested by the pure presentation of facts without overbearing and one sided interpretation
In other words, the nature of this work requires that one readily espouses the presuppositions and bias of the authors
The DDD suffers from flaws beyond repair when it comes to methodology
The DDD does not stop at describing what the relevant texts (biblical and extra-biblical), or archeological evidences clearly say or reveal about a particular deity, instead, the DDD relies on the dubious findings of source, redaction, and historical criticisms to speculatively reinterpret the material and come up with some dubious results that would make the Jesus seminar proud.
Without ever justifying its assumptions, the DDD takes for granted and unashamedly bases it findings on the documentary theory (read J E D P, which has being challenged recently even by liberal scholars), antisupernaturalistic bias is ever present (all account of the miraculous or even God's interventions are treated as myths and legends whose fictitious nature is beyond doubt). The DDD pushes parallelomania to its extremes and makes a point to find foreign influences in almost every single story and traditions in the Bible.
For example Samson is said to "belong to the Levantine Heracles tradition" and all his exploits are said to have been inspired by Greek legends
The Jesus of the book of Hebrews is said to have been modeled "at least in parts on Heracles as a savior figure" (p 404)
The accounts from the gospels are said to have been "often formed and supplemented by the post Easter experience" and have little or no historical value. The alleged divisions of the gospels and NT writings into different layers from various heterogeneous fragments led the various authors to reconstruct an alternative theology of variety of Christian beliefs about Christ in sharp contrast with the gospels and the NT.
The DDD makes abundant use of the evolutionary view of the history of religions to paint a very polytheist picture of Ancient Israel (not just as a result of Idolatry but as the basis for the various names of God, who are in fact more than names but evidences of various deities that were later, much later combined to create a monotheist God after and during the exilic period)
For example, Yahweh "and his cult" originated from Edom and Midian before spreading to Palestine. A late dating of not only the Pentateuch but also of the supposed traditions underlining it (post exilic dating), leads some authors to conclude that Yahweh was known in Edom and Seir in the 14th and 13th centuries, well before it came to Palestine (and thus Israel) (p 911ff)
The DDD makes the dubious conclusion that the Bible itself confirms that Yahweh and his cult originated from Edom ( using Judge 5:4; Deut 33:2; Hab 3:3)
The DDD also advances the thesis that the Exodus did not happen but that the Israel were always in Canaan and invented the Exodus to create a national identity.
The DDD advances that the cult of Yahweh to Palestine and Israelites "by traders along the Caravan routes from the South to the East" (p 913)
As a result the articles discard the biblical explanation for Yahweh etymology found in Exodus calling it "evidently a piece of theology rather than a reliable etymology"
In comparison the treatment of "Yahweh" in ABD is far more balanced and useful than what is found in DDD for "Yahweh". The later requires a much greater agreement with the highly speculative premises of the DDD to benefit from and accept the conclusion of DDD about etymology and the theology concerning a specific deity in the ANE.
In the end, unless you are one that mostly agree with the standard liberal view about the history of religion and the non- historicity of the Bible and its underlining traditions, this book will be of little use for you when it comes to finding out what people of the ANE believed and said about deities and demons.
The DDD was a great disappointment
A better approach would have been to compile what the Bible and ANE documents said about each particular deity or demons, along with archeological findings (with all primary sources properly referenced for further study ) and let the reader process the information and reach his or her own conclusions about the underlining theology and etymology of each deity or demons,.
Thus emphasizing facts presentation about biased interpretation and the tiring rehashing of what this or that scholars said about it without always presenting the rational for it.
Critical thinking does not need such babysitting
it should have been renamed the Liberal view on
Deities and Demons in the Bible, since it says more about Liberal reinterpretations than what the people of the ANE really believed
Principalities and rulers of this world.......2003-07-30
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Horst: Interiors
Barbara Plumb Manufacturer: Little Brown and Company ProductGroup: Book Binding: Hardcover Similar Items:
ASIN: 0821220462 |
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Sixty Years of Interior Design: The World of McMillen
Erica Brown Manufacturer: Viking Press ProductGroup: Book Binding: Hardcover Similar Items:
ASIN: 0670647756 |
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Chaeremon, Egyptian Priest and Stoic Philosopher: The Fragments (Etudes Preliminaires Aux Religions Orientales Dans L'Empire)
Pieter Willem Van Der Horst , and of Alexandria Chaeremon Manufacturer: Brill Academic Publishers ProductGroup: Book Binding: Paperback ASIN: 9004085017 |
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Das Selbstverstandnis Der Judischen Diaspora in Der Hellenistisch-Romischen Zeit: Aus Dem Nachalab Herausgegeben Und Bearbeitet Von P.W. Van Der Horst ... Des Antiken Judentums Und Des, 17)
W. C. Van Unnik , and Willem Cornelis Van Unnik Manufacturer: Brill Academic Publishers ProductGroup: Book Binding: Hardcover ASIN: 9004096930 |
Book Description
Fifteen years after his death the last book by Willem Cornelis van Unnik (1910-1978) is now published. This great scholar presents here the results of his thorough investigation of self-definition in the Jewish diaspora of late antiquity. After an introductory chapter which includes a brief history of research, Van Unnik investigates the semantic field of the Greek term diaspora, the use of this word in the Septuagint and the New Testament, the history of the term in post-biblical Jewish and Christian writings, and the theological understanding of the term. Van Unnik concludes that in Jewish circles living in the diaspora has always been regarded as an essentially negative and frightening phenomenon, much more so than many modern investigations would have us believe. The main text of this book. The main text of this book is completely from the pen of Van Unnik; only the footnotes were missing. The editor has added footnotes and an extensive biographical-bibliographical introduction and appendices.
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Geschichte Des Hethitischen Reichs (Handbook of Oriental Studies, (Ancient Near East) , No 34)
Horst Klengel Manufacturer: Brill Academic Publishers ProductGroup: Book Binding: Hardcover ASIN: 9004102019 |
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Philo's Flaccus: The First Pogrom : Introduction, Translation, and Commentary (Philo of Alexandria Commentary Series, V. 2)
Pieter Willem Van Der Horst Manufacturer: Brill Academic Publishers ProductGroup: Book Binding: Hardcover ASIN: 9004131183 |
Book Description
This book is the first English commentary on Philo's In Flaccum since the publication of Box in 1939. The work contains an introduction in which matters of genre, historical background, the textual evidence etc. are discussed. This is followed by a new English translation of the Greek text. The main part of the book is a detailed philological and historical commentary on Philo's text. Since In Flaccum is our only source for the anti-Jewish pogrom in Alexandria in the year 38 CE, it is of the utmost significance for the study of the origins and early history of antisemitism. The book is of interests for scholars of Judaism, Ancient History, Biblical Studies, Classical Literature, and History of Religions.
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Polyhistory: Studies in the History and Historiography of Ancient Philosophy : Presented to Jaap Mansfeld on His Sixtieth Birthday (Philosophia Antiqua)
Manufacturer: Brill Academic Publishers ProductGroup: Book Binding: Hardcover ASIN: 9004104178 |
Book Description
During the past three decades Jaap Mansfeld, Professor of Ancient Philosophy in Utrecht, has built up a formidable reputation as a leading scholar in his field. His work has concentrated on the Presocratics, Hellenistic Philosophy, the sources of our knowledge of ancient philosophy (esp. doxography) and the history of scholarship. In honour of his sixtieth birthday, colleagues and friends have contributed a collection of articles which represent the state of the art in the study of the history of ancient philosophy and frequently concentrate on subjects in which the honorand has made important discoveries. The 22 contributors include M. Baltes, J. Barnes, J. Brunschwig, W.M. Calder III, J. Dillon, P.L. Donini, J. Glucker, A.A. Long, L.M. de Rijk, D. Sedley, P. Schrijvers, and M. Vegetti. The volume concludes with a complete bibliography of Jaap Mansfeld's scholarly work so far.
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The Sentences of Pseudo-Phocylides: With Introduction and Commentary (Studia in Veteris Testamenti Pseudepigrapha , No 4)
Pseudo-Phocylides , and Pieter Willem Van Der Horst Manufacturer: Brill Academic Publishers ProductGroup: Book Binding: Library Binding ASIN: 9004057072 |
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Studies in Early Jewish Epigraphy (Arbeiten Zur Geschichte Des Antiken Judentums Und Des Urchristentums, 21)
Jan Willem Van Henton Manufacturer: Brill Academic Publishers ProductGroup: Book Binding: Hardcover ASIN: 9004099166 |
Book Description
This volume contains the papers of a workshop on Jewish epigraphy in antiquity organized at Utrecht University in 1992. Among the participants were collaborators of the Cambridge Jewish Inscriptions Project and of the Tubinger Atlas des Vorderen Orients project. Important aspects of ancient Jewish inscriptions are highlighted in the papers, like the connection between documentary and literary texts. Several papers focus on aspects of the history of Jewish communities in the diaspora. Specialists in Jewish epigraphy will find surveys of parts of the corpus of Jewish inscriptions (curse inscriptions, metrical epitaphs, alphabet-inscriptions) and discussions of some fixed opinions, and Jewish inscriptions are discussed in a wider literary and historical contexts as well. CONTENTS: William Horbury, `Jewish Inscriptions and Jewish Literature in Egypt, with Special Reference to Ecclesiasticus'. Jan Willem van Henten, `A Jewish Epitaph in a Literary Text: 4 Macc 17:8-10'. Johan H.M. Strubbe, 'Curses Against Violation of the Grave in Jewish Epitaphs from Asia Minor'. Pieter W. van der Horst, `Jewish Poetical Tomb Inscriptions'. Alice J. Bij de Vaate, `Alphabet-Inscriptions from Jewish Graves'. David Noy, `The Jewish Communities of Leontopolis and Venosa'. Gert Luderitz, `What is the Politeuma?' Tessa Rajak, `Inscription and Context: Reading the Jewish Catacombs of Rome'. Gerard Mussies, `Jewish Personal Names in Some Non-Literary Sources'. Hanswulf Bloedhorn, `Zur Architektur der Synagogen in der Diaspora'.
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Globalization, Universities and Issues of Sustainable Human Development
Manufacturer: Edward Elgar Publishing ProductGroup: Book Binding: Hardcover ASIN: 184064835X |
Book Description
This volume raises an important question: Given the fast-changing global economy and the challenges it presents, what is the role for the university as an institution promoting sustainable human development?The editors begin by outlining the changes associated with the recent wave of globalization, particularly transformations in the relative power of institutions internationally. They analyze the constraints universities face in industrialized and developing countries in promoting sustainable human development. The authors in Part I point out the need for the university to take a role in meeting the challenges of globalization so they examine the effects of the increased market focus of the world economy on several types of nations - low-income (Jamaica), transitional (Slovenia), peripheral to industrialized nations (Ireland) - and on women, a typically disadvantaged group. Contributors to the second half of the volume provide a variety of perspectives and concrete examples that highlight the roles universities can play in fostering development beneficial to communities and nations. Promising initiatives in Malaysia and India and at a university in the United States are discussed as well as the general lessons each offers. Collectively, the authors suggest that, as an institution, the university can and should play an important role in promoting sustainable human development.
Readers interested in economic development, regional studies, globalization and community development will find this book a unique and important contribution.
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