3.1 Ranges of the Absolute
3.2 Polytheism and Monotheism
3.3 Ways of Perception ‒ Cumulative and Non-cumulative
3.4 The Absolute
3.5 The Eternal and the Infinite
3.6 Anthropomorphism and Iconicity
3.7 Holiness and Sacredness
3.8 Transcendence
3.9 Time
ERRORS in databases:
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- "Bottero1992Reasoning.d": duplicate bibliography "Bottero1992Reasoning" for site "Mes-rel".
- "Buccellati1972Teodicea.d": duplicate bibliography "Buccellati1972Teodicea" for site "Mes-lit".
- "Cauvin2000Birth.d": duplicate bibliography "Cauvin2000Birth" for site "Mes-rel".
- "DMB.d": duplicate bibliography "DMB" for site "Mes-rel".
- "Edzard2003Sumerian.d": duplicate bibliography "Edzard2003Sumerian" for site "Mes-rel".
- "Oshima2014Sufferers.d": duplicate bibliography "Oshima2014Sufferers" for site "Mes-rel".
- "Trinkaus1983Shanidar.d": duplicate bibliography "Trinkaus1983Shanidar" for site "Mes-rel".
3.1 Ranges of the Absolute
For the concept of ‘absolute’ in Mesopotamian pantheon, see Buccellati 1981 Wisdom.
– [ Marco De Pietri, June 2020]
For a comparison on the ‘absolute’ between Bible and Mesopotamian religion (i.e. between monotheism and polytheism), see Buccellati 2014 Time, p. 77: text in Buccellati 2014/Excerpt.
– [ Marco De Pietri, June 2020]
For a comparison on the ‘absolute’ and the ‘great polarity’ between biblical monotheism and Mesopotamian polytheism, see Buccellati 2012 Trinità, pp. 77: text in Buccellati 2012/Excerpt.
– [ Marco De Pietri, June 2020]
A definition of ‘religion’ linked to the concept of the ‘absolute’ can be found in Buccellati 1981 Wisdom, p. 36: «Religion is an institution which may be said, briefly, to regulate the relationship between man and the absolute»; full text in Buccellati 1981/Excerpt.
– [ Marco De Pietri, July 2020]
On the Mesopotamian idea of destiny, in particular on the so-called “tablet of Destiny” and the “7 seven destiny-decreeing gods” cf. Lambert 2013 Creation Myths.
– [ Stefania Ermidoro, October 2020]
See Hundley 2013 Examination for a detailed investigation of the Mesopotamian divine sphere.
– [ Jonah Lynch, January 2021]
A definition of ‘fate’ can be found in Buccellati 1981 Wisdom, p. 36: «Fate is not a god because it is not the personification of any single aspect of reality»; full text in Buccellati 1981/Excerpt.
Regarding the ‘absolute’, cf. Buccellati 2014 Time, p. 70: text in Buccellati 2014/Excerpt.
– [ Marco De Pietri, April 2021]
3.2 Polytheism and Monotheism
The origins of Satan and theodicy: Hamidovic 2015 Mastema.
– [ Jonah Lynch, March 2020]
The Israelites were polytheists in origin: Whatham 1899 Poly. See Smith 2001 Origins.
– [ Jonah Lynch, March 2020]
A. Schenker, “Le monothéisme israélite: un dieu qui transcende le monde et les dieux”. Biblica 78 (1997) 436-448.
– [March 2020]
For the definition and features of Mesopotamian polytheism, see Buccellati 1981 Wisdom.
– [ Marco De Pietri, June 2020]
For a discussion about ‘polytheism’ and ‘monotheism’ in the Bible and Mesopotamian religion, see Buccellati 2012 Trinità, pp. 77: text in Buccellati 2012/Excerpt.
– [ Marco De Pietri, June 2020]
The perception of the complexity of the absolute embedded in polytheism in different divine figures, sometimes under a syncretistic view, is clearly exemplified in Schwemer 2001 Wettergottgestalten, dealing with the figure of the Storm-god in the Syro-Mesopotamian pantheon.
– [ Marco De Pietri, July 2020]
As opposed to Buccellati’s conception that the ANE was entirely polytheistic with the exception of Israel, Albright argues the “recognition of many deities were simply manifestations of a single divinity”, which he states is a form of monotheism. He evidences this reality in the practice of syncretism of deities cross-culturally, perhaps without realizing an inherent argument that all religions of the ANE were different iterations of a single tradition. See Albright 1940 A N Ereligion.
– [ Iman Nagy, August 2020]
Both reductive views, that polytheism looks like an “incoherent conglomeration of self-limiting idols”, and that monotheism looks like a “rarefied polytheism”, are discussed in Smith 2001 Origins.
– [ Jonah Lynch, October 2020]
On the concept of ancient Mesopotamian polytheistic cosmology see Rochberg 2011 Heavens Gods.
– [ Stefania Ermidoro, October 2020]
See Pongratz- Leisten 2015 Ideology for a treatment of polytheism in Assyria.
– [ Jonah Lynch, January 2021]
On the definition of polytheism and monotheysm and their identification with an open system vs. a close system, see also Buccellati 1981 Wisdom, p. 36 (full text in Buccellati 1981/Excerpt); cf. Buccellati 2012 Trinità, pp. 31-32 (full text in Buccellati 2012b/Excerpt). On the different perceptions of time in polytheism and monotheism, see Buccellati 2014 Time.
– [ Marco De Pietri, April 2021]
3.3 Ways of Perception ‒ Cumulative and Non-cumulative
Numerical multiplicity is not the correct category to understand mono/polytheism, in Buccellati’s view. Rather, the difference is between a quantitative accumulation of finite elements, and a non-quantitative ontological difference. In later terms, the question can be addressed through the lens of Christian theology and the homousios terminology. See Florensky, The Pillar and the Ground of the Truth. See also G. Cantor for the concept of infinity. See Schenker 1997 Monotheisme.
– [ Jonah Lynch, April 2020]
For a discussion about the process of accumulation of different entities in polytheism’s ‘open system’, see Buccellati 1981 Wisdom.
– [ Marco De Pietri, June 2020]
On the relationship between Biblical monotheism and the Near Eastern polytheism cf. Smith 2001 Origins.
– [ Stefania Ermidoro, October 2020]
On the process of accumulation typical of polytheism as an open system, see Buccellati 1981 Wisdom, p. 36 (full text in Buccellati 1981/Excerpt).
– [ Marco De Pietri, April 2021]
3.4 The Absolute
For the concept of ‘absolute’ in Mesopotamian pantheon, see Buccellati 1981 Wisdom.
– [ Marco De Pietri, June 2020]
For the ‘absolute’ in ancient Mesopotamian religion, see Buccellati 2014 Time, p. 77: text in Buccellati 2014/Excerpt.
– [ Marco De Pietri, June 2020]
On the different ways of perception of the absolute in polytheism and monotheism, see Buccellati 2012 Coerenza, pp. 117-120 (full text in Buccellati 2012a/Excerpt).
– [ Marco De Pietri, April 2021]
3.5 The Eternal and the Infinite
For the concept of ‘eternity’ in the Bible and ancient Mesopotamian religion, see Buccellati 2014 Time. Specificallt on the eternity as conceived in Christianity (connected to the Ascension), see Buccellati 2014 Time, pp. 80-83: text in Buccellati 2014/Excerpt.
– [ Marco De Pietri, June 2020]
On the interpretation of the Biblical notion of beginning, and its fundamental importance within the Christian context, see J. Pieper The Silence of St. Thomas: Three Essays.
– [ Jonah Lynch, October 2020]
For an account of several notions of the beginning of time, see O. Cullmann’s Christ and Time. Cullmann’s account of circular time in the pre-Israelite world can be criticized, however, as Buccellati does in section 19.2.
– [ Jonah Lynch, October 2020]
3.6 Anthropomorphism and Iconicity
Buccellati affirms that each divinity exhausts an attribute. See Lambert 1975 Pantheon.
– [ Jonah Lynch, March 2020]
A discussion about the figure of the goddess Ištar, and her interpretatio with Sumerian Inanna and Hurrian/Hittite Šawuška, is offered in Wegner 1981 Ishtar.
– [ Marco De Pietri, July 2020]
«But seen in these terms, our perception of things is rather superficial. On closer inspection, what happens with Mesopotamian deities is that each individual identifies with a single attribute and excludes the others. The god of wisdom, Ea, is is univocally identified with that quality, and does not embody love, justice, and so on. The same is true for the goddess of physical love (Ishtar), the god of justice (Shamash), and so on» (Buccellati, §3.6). The author stresses here how Mesopotamian gods where usually identified with specific attributes. About the identification of specific attributes with specific gods/goddesses, see entry Jacobsen 1976 Treasures (Jacobsen 1976/Excerpt). Nevertheless, it is to be remarked that these features are not univocal, since the same attribute can be also assigned to different gods.
– [ Marco De Pietri, July 2020]
On anthropomorphism and theophany in Biblical and Near Eastern Literature see Hamori 2008 Embodied God.
– [ Stefania Ermidoro, October 2020]
3.7 Holiness and Sacredness
The text of the ‘Trisagion’ (Greek Τρισάγιον) derives directly from Is. 6, 3, paralleled in Rev. 4, 8 (cf. here for the interlinear text).
– [ Marco De Pietri, July 2020]
See Pongratz Leisten 2015 Translatability Holiness, in which the scholar discusses whether the notion of the ‘holy’ is an adequate concept to apply to ancient Near Eastern religions, their world view and their cult.
– [ Stefania Ermidoro, October 2020]
See Arcella 1998 Confronto for a reflection on Eliade’s contribution to the category of the “sacred”.
– [ Jonah Lynch, January 2021]
For the definition of ‘sacred’ in ancient religions, see Brelich 1976 Prolegomeni; cf. Brelich 1976/Excerpt, passim.
– [ Marco De Pietri, May 2021]
3.8 Transcendence
For the concept of ‘transcendence’ in Mesopotamian thought, see Buccellati 1981 Wisdom.
– [ Marco De Pietri, June 2020]
For the concepts of ‘transcendence’ and ‘transcendentality’ in the Bible and ancient Mesopotamian religion, see Buccellati 2014 Time, pp. 73-74: text in Buccellati 2014/Excerpt.
– [ Marco De Pietri, June 2020]
Contra the idea of applying the notion of transcendence to the ancient Mesopotamian religion, as instead suggested here by Buccellati, see Rochberg 2011 Heavens Gods, p. 133.
– [ Stefania Ermidoro, October 2020]
3.9 Time
For the concept of ‘time’ in the Bible and ancient Mesopotamian religion, see Buccellati 2014 Time.
– [ Marco De Pietri, June 2020]
On the Mesopotamian concept of time cf. Mac Donald 2013 Palaeo- Philosophy and Menargues 2013 Time.
– [ Stefania Ermidoro, October 2020]