Jesus’ declaration to the prostrate John (Revelation 1:17-18a) is a neat little, rich little chiasm:A. I am (ego eimi)B. First C. LastD. Living OneC’. Became deadB’. Behold! AliveA’. I am (eimi) to ages of agesSeveral observations: First, the whole statement is . . . . Continue Reading »
In addition to heaven, earth, sea, and underworld, Mesopotamian cosmology believes in an intermediate region between the earth and the underworld, belonging to the god Ea.Though not entirely consistent in mythologies, and the relationship between the Apsu and the sea and the Apsu and the underworld . . . . Continue Reading »
David Biale observes in Blood and Belief that “the ancient Israelites were the only Near Easterners to make blood a central element in their religious rituals” (10).He fills out the picture: “There were, to be sure, magical and medical rituals mentioned in Akkadian, Sumerian, . . . . Continue Reading »
Drawing on the work of Jonathan Klawans (Impurity and Sin in Ancient Judaism) and others, David Biale (Blood and Belief) points to the difficulty of reconciling the “Priestly” and “Holiness” sections of Leviticus.In the “Priestly” code, found in Leviticus 11-15 . . . . Continue Reading »
What hath Jerusalem to do with Athens? The worship of Greece with the worship of the temple?Quite a lot, in fact, argues David Biale in Blood and Belief (26): “Greek and Israelite sacrificial customs turn out to have been more similar to each other than the Israelite was to other ancient . . . . Continue Reading »
David Biale (Blood and Belief) argues that menstrual blood is not defiling because it is associated with death (as Jacob Milgrom, among others, argues). After all, menstrual blood doesn’t mean a woman is dying but that she is fertile. On the other hand, the sorts of bleeding that lead to death . . . . Continue Reading »
Durkheim said that “society” was the god to whom primitive peoples sacrificed, the totem standing in for the clan for which it served as totem.We might say, But of course. As FS Naiden (Smoke Signals for the Gods, 277) has recently pointed out, by the time of Durkheim and Robertson . . . . Continue Reading »
John M. Lundquist argues that ancient temples were “associated with the realm of the dead, the underworld, the afterlife, the grave.”He states further: “The unifying feature here is the rites and worship of ancestors. The temple is the link between this world and the next. It has . . . . Continue Reading »
Paul says that everything that is in the light, everything that becomes visible, is light (Ephesians 5).He is writing about the light of the Father, Jesus, or the Spirit. If we are in that light, we ourselves become lights.But the claim is strictly true: Everything that the light shines on . . . . Continue Reading »
John Lundquist claims that secrecy is one of the features of temples and temple rituals in the ancient world. All temples are sacred space, which means secret space, off-limits to any but the authorized. He cites Exodus 19:12-13, 21-24 in support.This is certainly true of ancient temples in general, . . . . Continue Reading »
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