Alan R. Millard – författare

The Babylonian flood story of Atra-hasis is of vital importance to ancient Near Eastern and biblical scholars, as well as students of history, anthropology, and comparative religion. Professors Lambert and Millard provide the reader with a detailed introduction, transliterated Akkadian with English translation, critical notes, and line drawings of the cuneiform tablets.The epic opens in a time when only the gods lived in the universe. Having decided on their established spheres of influence, the chief Mesopotamian gods—Anu, Enlil, and Enki—began their divine labors. In a joint effort, Enki and Mami (the mother goddess) engineered the creation of mankind from clay and the flesh and blood of a slain god. The remainder of the story recounts the expansion of humanity, the consequent irritation of Enki by this expansion, the attempt by Enki and Enlil to destroy humankind through a great flood, and the escape from the flood by Atra-hasis in a boat, accompanied by his possessions, family, and animals.This classic scholarly edition of the epic is once again made available as a quality Eisenbrauns reprint.

The commands “Keep this festival”, for the Israelites at Passover and for Jesus’ disciples at the Lord’s Supper, mark Judaism and Christianity as historical religions. They proclaim the God who has revealed himself both through the thoughts of his messengers and through events and their consequences. His acts demonstrate his nature to those who believe and may guide others to belief.The papers collected here explore some of the ways that the ancient Hebrew writers and their contemporaries presented history and how their work should be understood today. Assessed against the background of the wealth of documents available from the ancient world, these studies examine the similarities and differences with the intent of providing criteria for approaching the writings of the Hebrew Bible. Recent publications display a growing tendency to treat the Hebrew narratives as products of their authors’ beliefs, molded by their theology, and in some sense created to suit it, rather than arising from actual events. The contributors to this volume favor a positive approach to the Hebrew texts, taking into account the variety of contemporary concerns and perspectives.