Prayer from Alexander to Constantine : A Critical Anthology

645 Pages·2013·1.872 MB·English

by  Mark Kiley

PRAYER FROM ALEXANDER TO CONSTANTINE
Prayer from Alexander to Constantine presents and
contextualizes approximately fifty prayer texts covering
a span of 650 years. It includes prayers from Jewish,
Christian and pagan religions. The volume, through
individual analysis of each prayer by specialist scholars,
provides an invaluably wide study of an area which has,
for too long, been fragmented by the specializations of
current academic disciplines.
The anthology is the product of an international working
group of the Society of Biblical Literature.
While the anthology presents prayers of different
religions, it demonstrates the formal similarities of
prayers of the Greco-Roman period, whether they be
Jewish, pagan or Christian. They include the features of
petition, intercession, thanksgiving and adoration.
Prayer from Alexander to Constantine is an invaluable
study for any student of theology or the classics. It is
also of interest to the more general reader since it may be
used as a primary text for theologizing in the twentieth
century and beyond. The similarities found within it
demonstrate anew the possibilities of finding common
turf among the modern-day religions of the world.
Mark Kiley is Assistant Professor in the Philosophy/
Theology division in St John’s University, New York.
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PRAYER FROM ALEXANDER TO CONSTANTINE
A critical anthology
Introduced and edited by
Mark Kiley et al.
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First published 1997
by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14
4RN
Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada
by Routledge
711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group,
an informa business
Selection and editorial matter © 1997 Mark Kiley
Individual contributions © the contributors
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be
reprinted or reproduced or utilized in any form or by any
electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or
hereafter invented, including photocopying and
recording, or in any information storage or retrieval
system, without permission in writing from the
publishers.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the
British Library
Library of Congress Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book has been requested
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ISBN 0-415-13234-7
0-415-13235-5 (pbk)
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Nothing human is alien to me
Terence
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ASSOCIATE EDITORS
Moshe J. Bernstein
Esther G. Chazon
Randall D. Chesnutt
Judith Newman
Mark Harding
Luther H. Martin
Larry J. Alderink
Bonnie Thurston
Barbara E. Bowe
John Clabeaux
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CONTENTS
List of contributors
Preface and Acknowledgements
List of abbreviations
General Introduction
Mark Kiley
PART I JUDAICA
1 An introduction to prayer at Qumran
Esther G. Chazon and Moshe J. Bernstein
2 A thanksgiving for God’s help (4Q434 ii–iii)
Edward M. Cook
3 Apostrophe to Zion (11Q Psalms Scroll 22:1–15)
Lawrence H. Schiffman
4 Dibre Hamme’orot: Prayer for the Sixth Day
(4Q504 1–2 v–vi)
Esther G. Chazon
5 Songs of the Sabbath Sacrifice
Carol A. Newsom
6 Hymn on Occasions for Prayer (1QS 10:8b–17)
Moshe J. Bernstein
7 Prayers in the Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha
Randall D. Chesnutt and Judith Newman
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8 In misery, Tobit prays for death (3:1–6)
Carey A. Moore
9 God condemns the arrogance of power: the prayer in
3 Maccabees 6:2–15
Judith Newman
10 Prayer of Noah: Jubilees 10:3–6
John C. Endres, S.J.
11 Judith prays for help (Judith 9:1–14)
Toni Craven
12 Prayer of a convert to Judaism (Joseph and Aseneth
12–13)
Randall D. Chesnutt
13 The Song of Hannah in Pseudo-Philo’s Biblical
Antiquities
Joan E. Cook
14 2 Baruch 54:1–22
F. W. Dobbs-Allsopp
15 Josephus and Philo
Mark Harding
16 The prayer of Moses in Josephus, Antiquities
2:335–7
Mark Harding
17 Philo of Alexandria: two prayers
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Gregory E. Sterling
18 The Shema and the Amidah: rabbinic prayer
Reuven Kimelman
PART II GREEKS AND ROMANS
19 Prayer in Greco-Roman religions
Larry J. Alderink and Luther H. Martin
20 Cato the Elder
C. Robert Phillips, III
21 Cleanthes – Hymn to Zeus
William Cassidy
22 Catullus 34: a prayer to Diana by C. Valerius
Catullus
Frederick W. Danker
23 The oath of Aeneas: Vergil, Aeneid 12.176–94
Frances Hickson-Hahn
24 A prayer of Scipio Africanus: Livy 29.27.2–4
Frances Hickson-Hahn
25 The Isis hymn of Diodorus of Sicily (1.27.3)
Mark Gustafson
26 Written in stone: a prayer to Augustus
Dan Schowalter
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