Women in Ugarit and Israel


Book Description

This book discusses women in a polytheistic and monotheistic society by analyzing their social and religious position according to the literary and non-literary texts of Ugarit and Israel.




The IVP Bible Background Commentary: Old Testament


Book Description

This unique commentary provides historical, social and cultural background for each passage of the Old Testament. From Genesis through Malachi, this single volume gathers and condenses an abundance of specialized knowledge, and includes a glossary, maps and charts, and expanded explanations of significant background issues.




Peoples of the Old Testament World


Book Description

Detailed historical and archaeological essays give insight into the many people groups who interacted with and influenced ancient Israel.




The Loss of Male Sexual Desire in Ancient Mesopotamia


Book Description

After more than fifty years since the last publication, the cuneiform texts relating to the treatment of the loss of male sexual desire and vigor in Mesopotamia are collected in this volume. The aim of the book is to present Mesopotamian medical tradition regarding the so-called nīš libbi therapies. šà-zi-ga in Sumerian, nīš libbi in Akkadian, lit. "raising of the 'heart'", is the expression used to indicate a group of texts intended to recover the male sexual desire. This medical tradition is preserved from the Middle Babylonian period to the Achaemenid one. This broad range testifies to the importance of the transmission of this material throughout Mesopotamian history. The book provides the edition of this textual corpus and analyzes it in the light of new knowledge on ancient Near Eastern medicine. Moreover, this volume aims to show how theories and methodologies of Cultural Anthropology, Ethnopsychiatry and Gender Studies are useful for understanding the Mesopotamian medical system. This edition is an important tool for understanding Mesopotamian medical knowledge for Assyriologist, however since the texts have been translated and discussed using the anthropological and gender perspectives they are accessible also to scholars of other research fields, such as History of Medicine, Sexuality and Gender.




Purity and Pollution in the Hebrew Bible


Book Description

A novel account of pollution in the Hebrew Bible, from its embodied origins, to its metaphorical expression in moral discourse.




The Healing Goddess Gula


Book Description

Providing a comprehensive examination of the traits and areas of authority Ancient Babylonians attributed to their healing goddess, this book draws on a wide range of Sumero-Akkadian cuneiform sources, including god lists, literary compositions, lexical lists, prognostic texts, incantations, and prescriptions. Analysing the use of selected metaphors associated with the goddess, a new perspective is offered on the explanation for disease as well as the motivation for particular treatments. Special chapters deal with the cuneiform handbook on prognosis and diagnosis of diseases, medical incantations appealing to the healing goddess, and the medicinal plants attributed to her. For the first time a body of evidence for the use of simple drugs is brought together, elaborating on specific plant profiles. The result is a volume that challenges many long-held assumptions concerning the specialized cuneiform medical literature and takes a fresh look on the nature of Ancient Babylonian healing.




The Physically Disabled in Ancient Israel According to the Old Testament and Ancient Near Eastern Sources


Book Description

In a unique way this study probes the linguistic, sociological, religious and theological issues associated with being physically disabled in the ancient Near East. By examining the law collections, societal conventions and religious obligations towards individuals who were physically disabled Fiorello gives us an understanding of the world a disabled person would enter. He explores the connection between the literal use of disability language and the metaphorical use of this language made in biblical prophetic literature as a prophetic critique of Israel's dysfunctional relationship with God. COMMENDATIONS "In this well-researched volume Michael Fiorello has made a significant contribution to the study of disability in the Bible in the context of its ancient Near Eastern world. Fiorello's work needs to be taken seriously in the church, the academy, and the world." - Richard E. Averbeck, Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, USA




Keeping Heaven on Earth


Book Description

Revision of the author's thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Cambridge, 2010.




Religion, Ethnicity and Xenophobia in the Bible


Book Description

Religion, Ethnicity and Xenophobia in the Bible looks at some of the Bible’s most hostile and violent anti-foreigner texts and raises critical questions about how students of the Bible and ancient Near East should grapple with "ethnicity" and "foreignness" conceptually, hermeneutically and theologically. The author uses insights from social psychology, cognitive psychology, anthropology, sociology and ethnic studies to develop his own perspective on ethnicity and foreignness. Starting with legends about Mesopotamian kings from the third millennium BCE, then navigating the Deuteronomistic and Holiness traditions of the Hebrew Bible, and finally turning to Deuterocanonicals and the Apostle Paul, the book assesses the diverse and often inconsistent portrayals of foreigners in these ancient texts. This examination of the negative portrayal of foreigners in biblical and Mesopotamian texts also leads to a broader discussion about how to theorize ethnicity in biblical studies, ancient studies and the humanities. This volume will be invaluable to students of ethnicity and society in the Bible, at all levels.