Religion of the Semites: The Fundamental Institutions

by Segal,Robert A.

• ISBN13: 9780765809360
• ISBN10: 0765809362
• Format: Nonspecific Binding
• Copyright: 2002-07-31
• Publisher: Routledge

Summary

Scottish Semiticist and Arabist William Robertson Smith was a celebrated biblical critic, theorist of religion, and theorist of myth. His accomplishments were multiple. Smith's German mentors reconstructed the history of Israelite religion from the Bible itself; Smith ventured outside the Bible to Semitic religion and thereby pioneered the comparative study of religion. Where others viewed religion from the standpoint of the individual, Smith approached religion -- at least ancient religion -- from the standpoint of the group. He asserted that ancient religion was centrally a matter of practice, not creed, and singlehandedly created the ritualist theory of myth. Since Smith's time, the ritualist theory of myth has found adherents not only in biblical studies but in classics, anthropology, and literature as well.Smith's accomplishments are seen most fully in Religion of the Semites, adapted from a number of public lectures he gave at Aberdeen, and first published in 1889. Smith delivered three courses of lectures over three years. It is this set that is re-printed here. Only recently were the notes for the second and third courses of lectures discovered and published.Religion of the Semites combines extraordinary philological erudition with brilliant theorizing. Among the fundamental emphases of the book are the feel on sacrifice as the key ritual and non-ancient sacrifice as communion with God rather than as penance for sin. Most important is Smith's use of the comparative method: he uses cross-cultural examples from other "primitive peoples" to confirm his reconstruction from Semitic sources.Smith combines pioneering sociology and anthropology with a staunchly Christian faith.For him, Christianity is an expression of divine revelation. For Smith, only continuing revelation can account for the leap from the collective, ritualistic, and materialistic nature of ancient Semitic religion to the indiv

Author Biography

William Robertson Smith (1846-1894) was Professor of Arabic at the University of Cambridge and Editor-in-Chief of The Encyclopaedia Britannica.

Table of Contents

Transaction Introduction	vii
Preface to the First Edition	xliii
Note to the Second Edition	xlix
Introduction: The Subject and the Method of Enquiry	1	(27)
The Nature of the Religious Community, and the Relation of the Gods to their Worshippers	28	(56)
The Relations of the Gods to Natural Things---Holy Places---The Jinn	84	(56)
Holy Places in their Relation to Man	140	(25)
Sanctuaries, Natural and Artificial---Holy Waters, Trees, Caves and Stones	165	(48)
Sacrifice---Preliminary Survey	213	(31)
First-fruits, Tithes, and Sacrificial Meals	244	(25)
The Original Significance of Animal Sacrifice	269	(43)
The Sacramental Efficacy of Animal Sacrifice, and Coonate Acts of Ritual---The Blood Covenant---Blood and Hair Offerings	312	(46)
The Development of Sacrificial Rituals---Fire-sacrifices and Piacula	358	(30)
Sacrificial Gifts and Piacular Sacrifices---The Special Ideas involved in the latter	388	(53)
Additional Notes	441	(52)
Index of Passages of Scripture	493	(4)
General Index	497