Poetic Heroes: Literary Commemorations of Warriors and Warrior Culture in the Early Biblical World

by Mark S. Smith

Publisher:

Eerdmans

, 2014

Overview

Warfare exerts a magnetic power, even a terrible attraction, in its emphasis on glory, honor, and duty. In order to face the terror of war, it is necessary to face how our biblical traditions have made it attractive—even alluring. In this book Mark Smith undertakes an extensive exploration of “poetic heroes” across a number of ancient cultures in order to understand the attitudes of those cultures toward war and warriors. Smith examines the Iliad and the Gilgamesh; Ugaritic poems commemorating Baal, Aqhat, and the Rephaim; and early biblical poetry, including the battle hymn of Judges five and the lament of David over Saul and Jonathan in 2 Samuel one. Smith’s Poetic Heroes analyzes the importance of heroic poetry in early Israel and its disappearance after the time of David, building on several strands of scholarship in archaeological research, poetic analysis, and cultural reconstruction.

Product Details

• Title: Poetic Heroes: Literary Commemorations of Warriors and Warrior Culture in the Early Biblical World
• Author: Mark S. Smith
• Publisher: Eerdmans
• Print Publication Date: 2014
• Logos Release Date: 2016
• Language: English
• Resources: 1
• Format: Digital › Logos Research Edition
• Subjects: War in literature; War and literature › History; War stories › History and criticism
• ISBNs: 9780802867926, 0802867928
• Resource ID: LLS:PTCHRSBBLCLWRLD
• Resource Type: Monograph
• Metadata Last Updated: 2024-03-25T20:42:59Z

About Mark S. Smith

Mark S. Smith is Helena Professor of Old Testament Literature and Exegesis at Princeton Theological Seminary and Skirball Professor Emeritus of Hebrew Bible and Ancient Near Eastern Studies at New York University. He has also served as visiting professor at the Pontifical Biblical Institute in Rome and at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem. An award-winning author, Smith has written sixteen books, including The Early History of God: Yahweh and the Other Deities in Ancient Israel; The Origins of Biblical Monotheism: Israel’s Polytheistic Background and the Ugaritic Texts; God in Translation: Deities in Cross-Cultural Discourse in the Biblical World; How Human Is God? Seven Questions about God and Humanity in the Bible; and Where the Gods Are: Spatial Dimensions of Anthropomorphism in the Biblical World. His current research focuses on a commentary on the book of Judges, coauthored with archaeologist Elizabeth Bloch-Smith.