Mediating Between Heaven and Earth: Communication with the Divine in the Ancient Near East

by C. L. Crouch; Jonathan Stökl; Anna Elise Zernecke

Publisher:

Bloomsbury

, 2013

Overview

In this volume experts analyze the variety of means by which humans historically sought to communicate with their gods and by which the gods were seen to communicate with their worshippers. In a departure from previous scholarship, this work brings together the study of prophecy, as an intuitive form of divination, with the study of technical methods of communication and other forms of institutionalized communication such as prayer.

Such a format allows divine-human communication to be studied in both directions simultaneously: the means by which the divine communicates to human beings through divination, and the means by which human beings communicate with the divine through prayer. This new perspective on the study of divine-human-divine communication allows scholars to better appreciate the way in which communication and the relationship between heaven and earth was conceived in the ancient Near East.

Key Features

• Clear and balanced window into the worlds inhabited by biblical characters
• Leading scholarship from a diverse field of disciplines
• Thorough examinations of key themes in Near Eastern history

Contents

• “Out of Sight, Out of Mind? Dedicatory Inscriptions as Communication with the Divine” by Anne Katrine De Hemmer Gudme
• “The Hermeneutics of Mesopotamian Extispicy: Theory vs. Practice” by Nils P. Heeßel
• “The Curious Case of Failed Revelation in Ludlul Bël Nëmeqi: A New Suggestion for the Poem’s Scholarly Purpose” by Alan Lenzi
• “The Exclusivity of Divine Communication in Ancient Israel: False Prophecy in the Hebrew Bible and the Ancient Near East” by Herbert B. Huffmon
• “(Intuitive) Divination, (Ethical) Demands and Diplomacy in the Ancient Near East” by Jonathan Stökl
• “Modes of Communication with the Divine in the Hebrew Psalter” by Erhard S. Gerstenberger
• “‘To Talk to One’s God’: Penitential Prayers in Mesopotamia” by Margaret Jaques
• “How to Approach a Deity: The Growth of a Prayer Addressed to Ištar” by Anna Elise Zernecke
• “Psalm 72 in Its Ancient Syrian Context” by Jan Dietrich

Top Highlights

“What happened when individuals trusted the divinatory and ritual experts and the experts simply could not live up to people’s expectations?” (Page 37)

“whether the sign is favourable or unfavourable is the only thing that ultimately mattered” (Page 21)

“majority of these inscriptions date to the first and second centuries c.e. and b.c.e” (Pages 6–7)

“Lugalzagesi, the governor of Umma, do put all the sins on his (= Lugalzagesi’s)” (Page 123)

Product Details

• Title: Mediating between Heaven and Earth: Communication with the Divine in the Ancient Near East
• Editors: C.L. Crouch, Jonathan Stökl, and Anna Elise Zernecke
• Series: Library of Hebrew Bible / Old Testament Studies (LHBOTS)
• Publisher: T&T Clark
• Publication Date: 2012
• Pages: 208
• Resource Type: Collected Essays
• Topic: Bible Backgrounds

About C.L. Crouch

C.L. Crouch is a lecturer in Hebrew Bible at the University of Nottingham.