Samuel E. Balentine is Professor of Old Testament and Director of Graduate Studies, Union Presbyterian Seminary, Richmond, VA.

• Contents


• Preface


• List of Contributors


• 1. Introduction, Samuel E. Balentine


• Part I. Historical Contexts


• 2. Mesopotamian Religion, Tzvi Abusch


• 3. Ritual and Worship in Ancient Egypt, Emily Teeter


• 4. The Hittites Serve their Gods, Gary Beckman


• 5. Syria-Palestine: Worship and Rituals, Adrian Curtis


• 6. The Greeks and their Rituals, Barbara Kowalzig


• Part II. Interpretive Approaches


• 7. History of Religion, Lester Grabbe


• 8. Rituals and Ritual Theory: A Methodological Essay, Ithamar Gruenwald


• 9. Social and Cultural Anthropology, William Gilders


• Part III. Ritual Elements: Participants, Places, Times, Objects, Practices


• 10. God, Gods, and Humankkind (Worldview), Friedhelm Hartenstein


• 11. Sacred Space and Common Space, Michael Hundley


• 12. Ritual Experts and Participants in the Ancient Near East and the Hebrew Bible, Thomas Hieke


• 13. Sacred Times and Ritual Times, Andrew Davis


• 14. Ritual Objects and Artifacts, Ryan Bonfiglio


• 15. Ritual and Religious Practices, Roy Gane


• 16. Ritualizing Iconic Jewish Texts, James W. Watts


• 17. Ritualizing Christian Iconic Texts, Dori Parmenter


• 18. Ritualizing Muslim Texts, Jonas Svensson


• Part IV. Cultural and Theological Perspectives


• 19. Sin and Expiation, David Janzen


• 20. Clean/Unclean, Pure/Impure, Holy/Profane, Jonathan Lawrence


• 21. Sickness and Healing, Deborah Rooke


• 22. Death and Afterlife, Brian Schmidt


• 23. Divine Presence and Absence, Angelika Berlejung


• Part V. History of Interpretation


• 24. Ritual and Worship at Qumran, Eileen Schuller


• 25. Influence on Early Christian Worship, Paul Bradshaw


• 26. Ritual and Worship in Early Judaism, Judith Newman


• 27. Rabbinic Judaism, Stefan Reif


• Part VI. Socio-Cultural Functions


• 28. The Politics of Worship, William S. Morrow


• 29. The Ethics of Worship, Eryl Davies


• 30. Socio-Religious Functions of Worship, Stephen L. Cook


• 31. The Economics of Worship in Ancient Israel and Judah, Joachim Schaper


• Part VII. Theology and Theological Heritage


• 32. Ritual Theology in/and Biblical Theology, Gerald Klingbeil


• 33. Welcoming the Sabbath on the Kibbutzim: Secular Religiosity, Dalia Marx


• 34. One God, Multiple Rituals and Theologies: Christianity, Rodney A. Werline


• 35. Islamic Ritual, Richard Gauvain


• Scriptural and Ancient Texts


• Subject Index

Ritual has a primal connection to the idea that a transcendent order - numinous and mysterious, supranatural and elusive, divine and wholly other - gives meaning and purpose to life. The construction of rites and rituals enables humans to conceive and apprehend this transcendent order, to symbolize it and interact with it, to postulate its truths in the face of contradicting realities and to repair them when they have been breached or diminished. This Handbook provides a compendium of the information essential for constructing a comprehensive and integrated account of ritual and worship in the ancient world.