The socio-religious role of witchcraft in the Old Testament culture: an African insight

In this paper, the methodological question of why conclusions regarding ancient Near-Eastern (and specifically, Israelite) witchcraft practices cannot be made using contemporary African analogies, is brought to issue. After offering arguments to substantiate his choice of method, the author continue...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Fabian, Dapila N. (Author)
Format: Electronic Article
Language:English
Check availability: HBZ Gateway
Interlibrary Loan:Interlibrary Loan for the Fachinformationsdienste (Specialized Information Services in Germany)
Published: 1998
In: Old Testament essays
Year: 1998, Volume: 11, Issue: 2, Pages: 215-239
Further subjects:B Witchcraft
B Akkadian Maql texts
B Christianity
B Ancient Near-East
B African witchcraft
B Ancient israel
Online Access: Volltext (kostenfrei)
Description
Summary:In this paper, the methodological question of why conclusions regarding ancient Near-Eastern (and specifically, Israelite) witchcraft practices cannot be made using contemporary African analogies, is brought to issue. After offering arguments to substantiate his choice of method, the author continues to descriptionbe principles underlying African witchcraft practices, and to match certain Old Testament and other ancient Near-Eastern examples (notably those taken from the Akkadian Maql texts) to these. Ancient Israel's social structure, the changes within it with regard to the position of its lowly and downtrodden members, and the function witchcraft came to fulfil within this changed structure, are then taken into consideration.
ISSN:2312-3621
Contains:Enthalten in: Old Testament essays
Persistent identifiers:HDL: 10520/AJA10109919_742