The Great Shift

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The Great Shift Page 66

by James L. Kugel


  aided acceptance of prophet-like figures, 119

  ancient, 106, 397 n4

  biblical times, 47–51, 55–56, 209–10

  cultural differences in, 45–46, 49–51, 70, 341–42, 372 n29, 411 n8

  defined, 44, 353 nn 17–18

  Dinka’s, 49–50

  Homo religiosus, 362 n17

  identity, social construction of, 387 n14

  Mauss’s definition, 398 n17

  mechanics of, 342

  as mental construct, 45, 147–48, 209, 266, 341, 377 n31

  modern, 51, 55, 71, 397 n4

  natural selection, 377 n35

  neurobiological basis, 44–45, 148, 354 nn 21–22, 377 n34

  premodern and semipermeable, 51, 55, 70–71, 146–47, 151, 355 n42

  reality of, 209–10

  reflected in biblical punishment, 266

  self-reflection, 267–69, 398 n18

  voice hearing and, 117

  Western societies, 45–46, 51

  serial killers, hearing voices, 116

  serpents. See snakes

  Sesklo culture, 360 n5

  Setho (concubine), 283

  Shakespeare, William, 223

  Shamash (sun god), 86–87

  Shechem, 260–61

  Shekhinah (divine presence), 403 n16

  Shelley, Percy B., 214

  Shema, recitation of, 326–28, 335, 336

  Shiloh, temple at, 14, 365 n9

  Shintoism, 360 n6

  shofet (“leader”), 7

  Shwarzman, O., 375 n47

  Silas (prophet), 393 n13

  Simeon (son of Jacob), 39, 260–61, 393 n13, 397 n7. See also Jacob, sons of

  Simon (Essene), 392 n7

  Sin (moon god), 85, 87

  Sinai, xiv, 88, 154, 166–68, 177–78, 181–84, 243, 316, 317, 323

  Sinai, Mount, Israelites’ encounter with God

  Israelites saw God, xiv, 12, 96, 164–65, 166, 338, 368 n45

  sinfulness, human

  causes of, 38–43, 47, 200–201, 205, 278, 352 n10, 385 n18, 389 n29, 352 n14

  individual responsibility for, 297–98

  origins and presence of, 385 n18

  punishment of individual sinner, 263–65, 397 nn 13–14

  repentance and forgiveness, 197, 265

  vicarious and transgenerational punishment for, 259–63, 265–67, 397 nn 10–11

  Sisera (foreign general), 226

  “Smarties task,” 361 n11

  Smith, Mark S., 348 n4, 363 n32

  snakes, 60, 64, 356 n2

  Snell, Bruno, 52, 53, 54

  Socrates, 109, 202

  Sodom, 143 n, 364 n43, 381 n19

  Solomon, King

  God’s appearance to, 368 n45

  identified with Koheleth, 274–76

  Josephus on, 242

  judgment of, 385 n17

  on praying toward temple, 144

  Sabbath, nonobservance of, 323

  Solomon, Psalms of. See Psalms of Solomon

  Solomon, Wisdom of. See Wisdom of Solomon

  Solomon’s temple. See Jerusalem temple

  Sommer, Benjamin, 87

  Somnium Scipionis (Cicero), 295

  “Son of Sam” murders, 116

  Song of Songs (Song of Solomon), 298–301

  as allegory, 299–300

  as canonical, 300

  public recitation, 300

  “Song of the Sea” (Moses), 226–27

  Songs of the Sabbath Sacrifice, 309–10, 406 n39

  Sophia (Wisdom), 380 n19

  soul

  connection to God, 205, 257

  as distinct from body, 328

  emergence of, 187–210

  as God’s “lamp,” 187–88, 200

  as God’s secret agent, 188

  Greek souls, 201–5, 387 n9, 389–90 nn 32–33

  Hebrew words for, 189–91

  immortality of, 202–3, 206–7

  independent from body, 202–3, 206–8

  inward gaze, 194–97, 200–201

  in late-biblical psalms, 197–98

  and sense of self, 209–10

  shift in concept of, 189–91

  in Thanksgiving Hymns, 198–200

  three Hebrew words, 189–91

  transformation of, 342

  truth or fiction?, 208–10

  waiting for bodily resurrection, 207–8

  Southern Kingdom. See Judah, Kingdom of

  spandrel, religion as, 78, 361 n13

  spells and incantations. See enchanted world

  spirit(s)

  as breath of life, 387 n13

  dispatched by God, 162–63, 191–93, 387 n13

  dispatched by Satan, 191–92

  as hypostasis (“invading angel”), 355 n39

  marauding spirits, 38–40, 47, 387 n12

  replacement of humans’, 196, 388 n16

  spirit possession, 46–48

  still, small voice, 166–69

  Stoicism, 172, 353 n15

  Stone Age societies, languages of, 79 n

  stone tool-making, 65–66, 357 n12, 357 n18, 358 n21, 358 n23

  Sumer

  deities, 84 n

  heavenly travelers, 289

  kings of, 178

  “Man and His God,” 398 n25

  writing system, 80, 98

  ziqqurats, 103

  suzerainty treaties. See vassal treaties

  synagogue, 92, 364 n6

  beginnings of, 404 n1

  Torah scroll in, 405 n34

  syncretism, 75

  T

  tabernacle (tent of meeting). See also mishkan

  cherub throne, 381 n30

  construction of, 92, 95–96

  God in, 169, 344, 367–68 nn 41–42

  sacrifices in, 95, 96

  Tamar, 20–22

  Taylor, Charles, 51, 80

  Teacher of Righteousness, 240–41, 388 n24, 389 n27

  tefillin, 326–28, 407 n8

  temples, ancient Near Eastern. See also eternity in ancient temples; Jerusalem temple

  ‘Ain Dara, 99–100, 367 n31, 403 n16

  denying the obvious, 97–99

  divine statues in, 92, 98–99, 101, 365 n8

  earliest evidence of, 364 n1

  earthly residence of deity, 92, 94, 100–101, 105, 302

  feeding the gods, 94–95

  foreign embassy, 100–101

  heavenly temple, 292–93, 293–95, 309–10, 401 n13

  holiness of, 92–94

  and location of prayer, 143–44

  meeting point for humans and gods, 90, 100, 106, 137, 302, 376 n18

  Mesopotamian, 99–100

  offerings, 99–100

  versus omnipresence, 403 n16

  purpose of, 94, 105, 106

  reflected in Psalms, 133

  restricted access to, 94, 366 n13

  temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE), 361 n14

  Ten Commandments (Decalogue)

  in Christianity, 154 n

  crimes mentioned in, 247

  delivered by divine lawgiver, 177–78, 317, 384 n14

  interpretations of, 320

  and monolatry, 153–55

  mountaintop code of conduct, 182–83, 184, 385 n17, 386 n20

  prohibition of graven images, 367 n35, 369 n1

  Sabbath commandment, 323–25

  transgenerational punishment in, 262, 263, 397 n11

  vassal treaties, resemblance to, 180–82

  ten plagues (in Egypt), 20

  Tertullian (early Christian writer), 347 n1

  Testament of Abraham, 206, 239–40

  “Testament of Asher,” 41, 200, 352 n14

  “Testament of Levi,” 307

  “Testament of Naphtali,” 172

  Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs

  authorship, 37–38

  history of composition, 205–6

  human wrongdoing, source of, 38–40, 41, 42, 200, 204–5, 352 n14

  “interior stru
ggle” model, 200–201, 205

  Levi’s heavenly ascent, 292

  Outside Powers model, 38–40, 162

  Potiphar’s wife in, 282–83

  thanksgiving

  as a duty, 228–29, 391–92 n26

  retroactive biblical additions, 224–28, 391 n19

  “Song of the Sea,” 241

  Thanksgiving Hymns (Dead Sea Scrolls), 53–54, 198–200, 388 n23, 406 n39

  connection to Psalms, 289

  numbering of, 389 n25

  and “Teacher of Righteousness,” 388 n24, 389 n27

  Theognis, 370 n10

  theomachy, 170

  theōros (consulter of Delphi oracle), 370 n10

  “Theory of Everything,” 168 n

  “theory of mind” (ToM), 77, 361 n11, 362 n17

  Therapeutai (Jewish community), 305, 403 n12

  Thessaly, 360 n5

  Thomas, Gospel of, 336

  thumos (spirit), 201–2

  time of the end. See apocalyptic eschatology

  TLE (temporal lobe epilepsy), 361 n14

  ToM. See “theory of mind”

  Torah (Pentateuch)

  canonization of Scripture, 405 n33

  commentaries on, 405 n35

  divine origin, 108

  as embodiment of divine wisdom, 312–14

  formation, 405 n29

  interpretation of, 317–21

  lawgiving in, 184–85, 386 n22

  laws as divine encounter, 316, 385 n18

  love of neighbor, 325–26

  preeminence, 311–14

  public reading of, 311–12

  Sabbath laws, 323, 324

  Shema recitation, 326

  treatment of scroll, in synagogues, 405 n34

  Tower of Babel. See Babel, Tower of

  transcendence, 382 n41

  treaties. See vassal treaties

  Tree-of-Knowing-Everything, 64, 64 n

  tribal religions, 363 n25

  Turkana, Lake, Kenya, 357 n18

  Tynnichus the Chalcidian, 109

  U

  Ugarit (city-state) 73, 96, 134, 159, 349 n13

  undifferentiated Outside. See Outside, the undifferentiated

  Upper Paleolithic times, 75–76, 79

  “upper shelf” (home of gods), 75–76, 80, 83, 90, 289, 291, 339

  Ur, Abraham’s departure from, 54, 55–56, 356 n48

  Uriel (archangel), 237–38, 296–98, 351 n6, 380 n18

  Ur-Namma, King (Sumer), 178

  Uzzah, 90–91, 100

  V

  The Varieties of Religious Experience (James), 361 n14

  vassal treaties, 178–82, 383 n7, 383 nn 10–11

  vayyomer . . . vayyomer, 381 n25

  Venus (goddess), 17, 84

  Venus of Dolní Věstonice, 76

  Venus of Willendorf, 76

  Vespasian (Roman emperor), 233–34, 392–93 n10

  victims. See “cry of the victim”

  Virgil, 17, 107, 391 n14

  vision, color, 128–30, 150, 379 n44

  vision mode, 5 n, 123–26

  visions, enabling, 124–25

  visual hallucinations, 372 n30

  voice hearing

  cultural differences in, 117–18

  modern-day, 115–18, 372 n29

  volente Deo. See “God willing”

  W

  weather, divine causality, 19–20

  WEIRD (Western, Educated, Industrialized, Rich, and Democratic) world, 51, 51 n

  “What’s It Like to Be a Bat?” (Nagel), 149–50, 379 nn 41–42

  wicked spirits. See spirits

  Wilson, Robert R., 119–20

  wisdom

  divine plan of universe, 23–27, 32, 350 n3

  Torah as embodiment of, 312–14

  writings, 23, 27, 32, 34, 53–54, 206–7, 232, 270

  Wisdom (divine hypostasis), 380 n19

  “Wisdom of Ben Sirach,” ix, 41, 171–72, 171 n

  Wisdom of Solomon (Book of Wisdom), 206–7, 232, 380 n19, 403 n16

  Words of the Luminaries, 304, 403 n10

  Wordsworth, William, 370 n4

  work, on Sabbath, 323, 324–25

  World War II, 333

  worship outside the temple, 302–21

  ascendancy of prayer, 306–8

  communal worship, 402 n1

  evidence for, 402 n3

  God speaks from the page, 314–16

  regular prayer, 304–6

  songs of the heavenly temple, 309–11

  writing prophets, 113

  X

  Xenophanes, 53

  Y

  Yavneh (Jamnia), 405 n32

  Yerushalayim. See Jerusalem

  yetzer (inclination to evil), 390 n34

  YHWH. See also God

  versus Ba’al, 74–75, 83–84

  Ba‘al’s traits merged into, 157, 380 n8

  in Canaan, 181–82, 383 n13

  versus Chemosh, 382 n33

  epithets, 359 n3

  multiple manifestations of, 87–88

  as one deity among many, 136, 155–57

  as the one true God, 154

  translated as L ORD, 154 n

  warrior deity, 157, 380 n5

  Z

  Zakir, King (Hamath and Luash), 216–17

  Zar (understood as name of a god), 391 n9

  zar spirits, 46–47

  Zechariah (prophet)

  influence of predecessors on, 249–50

  in New Testament, 393 n13

  prophecies, 126, 236–38, 246–47, 393 n22, 395 n46

  Zechariah, book of, 231

  Zedekiah, King (Judah), 124

  Zelophehad, daughters of, 384 n17

  Zephaniah (prophet), 113

  Zeus, 84, 159, 367 n37, 367 n40

  ziqqurats (pyramids), 103

  Zoroastrianism, 162

  Verses Cited

  Hebrew Bible

  Genesis:

  1, 381 n19

  1:2, 170

  1:14–18, 403 n10

  1:20, 190

  1:21, 190

  1:24, 190

  1:28, 65

  2–3, 348 n4, 351 n4, 369 n4

  2:7, 189, 208

  2:24, 60, 356 n4

  3:7, 63

  3:8, 61, 164, 377 n29

  3:9, 173, 377 n29

  3:13, 63

  3:21, 63

  4:4–5, 95

  4:8–12, 173

  4:9, 377 n29

  5:21–24, 290

  6:1–4, 351 n4

  6:9, 291

  11:1–9, 102

  11:5, 364 n43, 377 n29

  11:31–12:6, 54

  11:34–12:6, 54

  12:1, 34, 54

  12:4, 35

  12:7, 369 n45

  13:10, 348 n2

  13:14, 348 n2

  15:6, 347 n1

  15:12, 355 n39

  18–19, 348 n4

  18:1–2, 5

  18:10–14, 5

  18:14, 6

  18:15, 15

  18:21, 364 n43, 377 n29

  18:21–22, 143 n

  18:27, 272 n

  20:7, 126

  21:5, 280

  21:17–19, 3

  22:1–3, 35

  22:4, 348 n2

  22:6, 280, 320

  22:7–8, 280

  22:8, 320

  22:9, 280

  22:13, 5 n

  24:18, 348 n2

  24:63–64, 348 n2

  28:10–17, 13

  28:17, 15

  28:22, 14

  29, 399 n35

  31:10, 348 n2

  31:10–13, 393 n22

  31:12, 348 n2

  31:19, 402 n3

  32:4, 9

  32:24–30, 10, 236 n

  32:31, 15

  33:1, 348 n2

  33:5, 348 n2

  34, 260

  34:25–29, 261

  34:30, 261

  37:18–20, 33

  37:25, 348 n2

  37:34, 270
r />   37:35, 271

  38, 20–22

  38:7–10, 21

  39:7–12, 281–82

  39:9, 182

  41:28, 351 n9

  41:32, 351 n9

  41:33, 34

  41:38, 34

  41:38–39, 204

  41:39, 34

  42:12–13, 350 n5

  42:24, 34

  42:25, 34

  42:28, 22

  43:23, 22

  44:16, 22

  45:1, 34

  45:5–8, 25

  45:14, 34

  48:3, 164, 369 n45

  49:5–7, 397 n7

  50:19-20, 26

  Exodus:

  3:2, 349 n14

  3:2–4, 6

  3:6, 15

  3:7–9, 139

  3:13, 29

  3:15, 29

  3:16, 29

  4:1, 164

  5:2, 384 n13

  13, 408 n8

  13:21, 349 n14

  14:2, 87

  14:19, 349 n14

  14:24, 349 n14

  15, 226, 383 n1

  15:1–3, 380 n5

  15:3, 383 n1

  15:8, 383 n1

  15:13–17, 227

  15:18, 383 n1

  16:10, 349 n14

  17:6, 172, 212

  18:11, 170

  19:3–6, 178, 384 n14

  19:9, 349 n14, 368 n45

  19:18, 349 n14

  19:20, 317

  20, 180

  20:3–6, 154

  20:5, 262

  20:6, 263 n

  20:8–10, 323

  20:15–16, xiv

  20:18–19, xiv

  20:19, 317

  20:20, 166 n

  20:23, 356 n3, 367 n35

  20:26, 356 n3

  21–23, 184

  21:12, 184

  21:37–22:1, 247

  22:7, 247

  22:13, 184

  22:17, 82

  22:19, 184

  22:20–23, 184

  22:21–23, 139

  22:26–27, 138

  23:1–3, 184

  23:6–9, 184

  23:17, 164

  23:20, 182 n

  23:23, 182 n

  23:27, 182 n

  24:1–9, 185

  24:8, 308

  24:9, 317

  24:9–11, 12, 96

  24:10, 349 n14

  24:10–11, 164

  24:16, 349 n14

  24:18, 184

  25, 367 n41, 381 n30, 386 n3

  25–40, 92

  25:8, 251

  25:20, 104, 368 n41

  25:22, 104

  26:31–33, 376 n18

  28:42, 356 n3

  29:38–42, 404 n21

  29:41, 404 n21

  33:2, 182 n

 

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