Manfred Hutter Book order

"Religions" are always costly - one has to give offerings (with material value) to the gods, one has to provide the salary for religious specialists who offer their service for their clients, one has to arrange festivals and liturgies - and of course, one has to provide the material means for building temples or shrines. But these costs also repay - as the gods give health or well-being as reward for the offerings. Even if one can never be absolutely certain about such a reward, one at least might earn social reputation because of one's (financial) involvement in religion. But temples are also economic centres - "employing" (often in close relation to the palace) people as workers, craftsmen or "intellectuals" in different positions whose "costs of living" are supplied by the temple. Individual religious specialists receive payment for their service to cover their own costs of living. Although this might sound "modern", religion and economy were intertwined with each other in ancient society also. For this reason, the papers of this conference volume analyse and discuss how the cults, rituals and institutions in Anatolia in the 2nd and 1st millennium contribute to the economic process in those areas.

The volume offers a diversity of facets of Jewry between Mumbai and Manila. While some of its papers make references to the important factor how politics and religions are often intertwined, other papers are arranged along the lines of “area studies” – from South Asia via Southeast Asia to China and the Far East. Even if these articles at first glance concentrate on “local” minority communities they always take into ac count that the Jewish communities in Asia take part in interactions of religions which can help to foster mutual understanding. The studies presented at the conference refer to an extended approach always bringing Jewish Studies into international links and “crossing borders” – thus opening comparative perspectives to broaden our knowledge of Jewish history. So we have to reconsider aspects of Jewish studies for the future, which would include Asian and religious studies in a qualitative, comparative, and interdisciplinary way and thus can shift away from the Euro-American-centric point of view regarding Jewish Studies.

Der vorliegende Tagungsband versammelt 20 Beiträge zur hethitischen Literatur. Die Beziehungen der hethitischen und griechischen Kultur werden von J. L. Garcia Ramon, Rutherford I. und K. Strobel behandelt. Die vorgestellten Themen sind vielfältig, viele konzentrieren sich auf Rituale: Grabrituale und das Hutushi-Ritual werden ebenso untersucht wie die Rolle von Mythos und Ritual im Illuyanka-Text ebenso wie die Terminologie der hethitischen Rituale. Weitere Studien konzentrieren sich auf die hethitische Rezeption der mesopotamischen Saga der akkadischen Könige und den literarischen Text über einen Gott, der aus Wut verschwand - um nur einige Beispiele zu nennen.

Im Mittelpunkt des Symposiums standen Fragen, in wie weit es neben offiziellen religösen Strömungen im Hethiterreich, die in einer engen Wechselwirkung mit der Oberschicht standen,, auch eigenständige Kulte als Ausdruck der Religiösität außerhalb einer solchen „Reichsreligion“ gegeben hat. Die Beiträge thematisieren diese Frage, zeigen aber auch Kontakt und Kontinuität zwischen Kleinasien und dem ägäisch-frühgriechischen bzw. dem nordsyrisch-obermesopotamischen Raum. Sie zeigen so neue Einsichten in die religiöse Vorstellungswelt des Vorderen Orients in vorchristlicher Zeit.