The Mythic Mind: Essays on Cosmology and Religion in Ugaritic and Old Testament Literature

by Wyatt,Nicolas

• ISBN13: 9781845530426
• ISBN10: 184553042X
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Nonspecific Binding
• Copyright: 2014-08-08
• Publisher: Routledge

Summary

The Mythic Mind follows the tradition of works which insist on the necessity for a comparative dimension in the study of ancient Israel. The Israelite world-view was essentially a West Semitic world-view in origin, with additional deeply embedded influences from Egypt and Mesopotamia, though it produced its own distinctive character by way of synthesis and reaction. The essays in this volume explore various aspects of this process, historically and cosmologically, commonly challenging received views developed in the treatment of Israel in isolation. The importance of the Ugaritic texts in particular, as reflecting the cultural context in which ancient Israel developed into two symbiotic kingdoms, heirs to a common Canaanite tradition, emerges clearly from such studies as chapter 5: Sea and Desert, chapter 7: Of Calves and Kings, chapter 9: The Significance of Spn and chapter 10: The Vocabulary and Neurology of Orientation.

Table of Contents

Preface	vii
Acknowledgments	ix
Abbreviations	x
Chapter 1 THE PROBLEM OF THE 'GOD OF THE FATHERS'	1	(5)
Chapter 2 THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE TRADITION IN EXODUS 3	6	(7)
Chapter 3 THE SIGNIFICANCE OF THE BURNING BUSH	13	(5)
Chapter 4 WHO KILLED THE DRAGON?	18	(20)
Chapter 5 SEA AND DESERT: SYMBOLIC GEOGRAPHY IN WEST SEMITIC RELIGIOUS THOUGHT	38	(17)
Chapter 6 SYMBOLS OF EXILE	55	(17)
Chapter 7 OF CALVES AND KINGS: THE CANAANITE DIMENSION IN THE RELIGION OF ISRAEL	72	(20)
Chapter 8 THE DARKNESS OF GENESIS 1.2	92	(10)
Chapter 9 THE SIGNIFICANCE OF SPN IN WEST SEMITIC THOUGHT: A CONTRIBUTION TO THE HISTORY OF A MYTHOLOGICAL MOTIF	102	(23)
Chapter 10 THE VOCABULARY AND NEUROLOGY OF ORIENTATION: THE UGARITIC AND HEBREW EVIDENCE	125	(26)
Chapter 11 THE MYTHIC MIND	151	(38)
Chapter 12 'WATER, WATER EVERYWHERE...': MUSINGS ON THE AQUEOUS MYTHS OF THE NEAR EAST	189	(49)
Chapter 13 ANDROGYNY IN THE LEVANTINE WORLD	238	(18)
Bibliography	256	(30)
Index of References	286	(9)
Index of Names and Places	295