Limit search to available items
Book Cover
E-book

Title Creation and chaos : a reconsideration of Hermann Gunkel's chaoskampf hypothesis / edited by JoAnn Scurlock and Richard H. Beal
Published Winona Lake, Indiana : Eisenbrauns, 2013

Copies

Description 1 online resource
Contents Preface -- Introduction -- Abbreviations -- Part 1: Creation and Chaos -- From Hesiod's Abyss to Ovid's rudis indigestaque moles: Chaos and Cosmos in the Babylonian "Epic of Creation" / Karen Sonik -- On the Theogonies of Hesiod and the Hurrians: An Exploration of the Dual Natures of Tessub and Kumarbi / Dennis R.M. Campbell -- Creation in the Bible and the Ancient Near East / W.G. Lambert -- Searching for Meaning in Genesis1:2: Purposeful Creation out of Chaos without Kampf / JoAnn Scurlock -- Part 2: Monster-Bashing Myths -- The Fifth Day of Creation in Ancient Syrian and Neo-Hittite Art / Douglas Frayne -- Once upon a Time in Kiskilusa: The Dragon-Slayer Myth in Central Anatolia / Amir Gilan -- The Northwest Semitic Conflict Myth and Egyptian Sources from the Middle and New Kingdoms / Joanna Toyraanvuori -- Yamm as the Personification of Chaos? A Linguistic and Literary Argument for a Case of Mistaken Identity / Brendon C. Benz -- Part 3: Gunkel and His Times -- Chaos and Creation: Hermann Gunkel between Establishing the "History of Religions School," Acknowledging Assyriology, and Defending the Faith / Steven Lundstrom -- Where Is Eden? An Analysis of Some of the Mesopotamian Motifs in Primeval J / Peter Feinman -- Babel-Bible-Baal / Aaron Tugendhaft -- Part 4: Power and Politics -- The Combat Myth as a Succession Story at Ugarit / Wayne T. Pitard -- What Are the Nations Doing in the Chaoskampf? / Robert D. Miller II -- Part 5: Kampf and Chaos -- The Combat Myth in Israelite Tradition Revisited / Bernard F. Batto -- The Three "Daughters" of Baal and Transformations of Chaoskampf in the Early Chapters of Genesis / Richard E. Averbeck -- Part 6: Chaos and (Re)Creation -- Chaoskampf Lost-Chaoskampf Regained: The Gunkel Hypothesis Revisited / JoAnn Scurlock -- Making All Things New (Again): Zephaniah's Eschatological Vision of a Return to Primeval Time / David Melvin -- [Part 7:] Indexes -- Index of Authors -- Index of Scripture -- Index of Subjects -- Index of Ancient Texts and Objects -- Index of Words
Summary Hermann Gunkel was a scholar in the generation of the origins of Assyriology, the spectacular discovery by George Smith of fragments of the "Chaldean Genesis," and the Babel-Bibel debate. Gunkel's thesis, inspired by materials supplied to him by the Assyriologist Heinrich Zimmern, was to take the Chaoskampf motif of Revelation as an event that would not only occur at the end of the world but had already happened at the beginning, before Creation. In other words, in this theory, one imagines God in Genesis 1 as first having battled Rahab, Leviathan, and Yam (the forces of Chaos) in a grand battle, and only then beginning to create. The problem with Gunkel's theory is that it did not simply identify common elements in the mythologies of the ancient Near East but imposed upon them a structure dictating the relationships between the elements, a structure that was based on inadequate knowledge and a forced interpretation of his sources. On the other hand, one is not entitled to insist that there was no cultural conversation among peoples who spent the better part of several millennia trading with, fighting, and conquering one another. Creation and Chaos attempts to address some of these issues. The contributions are organized into five sections that address various aspects of the issues raised by Gunekl's theories
Bibliography Includes bibliographical references and index
Notes English
Print version record
Subject Gunkel, Hermann, 1862-1932.
SUBJECT Gunkel, Hermann
Gunkel, Hermann, 1862-1932 fast
Subject Mythology, Middle Eastern.
Creation -- Mythology -- Middle East
Monsters -- Middle East
Religion and politics -- Middle East -- History -- To 1500
BODY, MIND & SPIRIT -- Gaia & Earth Energies.
RELIGION -- Christianity -- General.
RELIGION -- Theology.
Creation -- Mythology
Monsters
Mythology, Middle Eastern
Religion and politics
Middle East
Genre/Form History
Form Electronic book
Author Scurlock, Jo Ann, 1953-
Beal, Richard Henry, 1953-
ISBN 9781575068657
1575068656