Religion of the semites ppr ebook written by william robertson smith. This book provides novel insights into the working of primitive religion, especially in semitic lands. The word itself comes from the idea that hebrew belongs to the semitic language family, and thus jews must be semites. From the philological point of view the semitic peoples are divided into four chief babylonianassyrian semites east semites, chanaanitic semites, west semites, aramaic semites north semites, and arabian semites south semites. First published in the 1980s to universal acclaim, semites and anti semites traces the development of antisemitism from its beginnings as a poison in the bloodstream of christianity to its modern entrance into mainstream islam. The religion of the semites 2nd, 3rd lectures on the religion of the semites. Everyday low prices and free delivery on eligible orders. Jews, communism, and the jewish communists ten theses 1. Semitic religion 1 its peculiar theism 2 personality of god 3 its view of nature 4 the. All content included on our site, such as text, images, digital downloads and other, is the property of its content suppliers and protected by us and international laws. Frazers author of the golden bough and this book belongs to the branch of study known as comparative religion. In the case of judaism, criticism of the religion is however often times interpreted as racial bias just look at the debate around infant circumcision.
Marxism, radical leftist ideologies, and real socialism constitute not only a fragment of world history, and of polish or hungarian history, but also a chapter of jewish history. The primitive religions of the semitic peoples, viewed in relation to other ancient. The sons of shem are given as elam, assbur, arpachshad, lud and aram ge 10. The idea of jewish antisemitism and recuperating the. The expression is derived from the biblical table of nations gen. Free online bible library semites, semitic religion.
The term came to include arabs, akkadians, canaanites, hebrews, some ethiopians, and aramaean tribes. Notes on the role of antisemitism in early christianityh. The result of a new genetic study published in the british journal genome biology and evolution claims that european jews ashkenazim. Arabs mainly muslim, at the same time as both acknowledged their common identity as semites. Semites, semitic religion definition and meaning bible. Based on the newly discovered original lecture notes of william robertson smith.
The first series, published in 1889 2nd edition, 1894, has long been a classic work. All through the past, the anti semites perceived intuitively, though vaguely, that the jews will inherit this earth, and that all other races will either disappear altogether or they will become jews and they will together with the jews inherit this earth. This collection of essays explores the now mostly extinct notion of semites. Semite, member of a people speaking any of a group of related languages presumably derived from a common language, semitic see semitic languages. The arabs are semites too fallacy fred maroun the blogs. To this group he gave the name arabic, after its most widely used and widely spoken member. First used in the 1770s by members of the gottingen school of history, the terminology was derived from shem, one of the three sons of noah in the book of. First published in the 1980s to universal acclaim, semites and antisemites traces the development of antisemitism from its beginnings as a poison in the bloodstream of christianity to its modern entrance into mainstream islam.
Since smiths time, the ritualist theory of myth has found adherents not only in biblical studies but in classics, anthropology, and literature as well. Antisemites have grossly exaggerated the jewish involvement in communism, distorted. Scottish semiticist and arabist william robertson smith was a celebrated biblical critic, theorist of religion, and theorist of myth. Religion of the semites ppr william robertson smith. The referencing by the bible of harran as the original birthplace of abraham is the indirect evidence of these ethnic changes. Publication date 1889 topics semites religion, sacrifice, cultus, semitic publisher. The response that arabs are semites too is a fallacy of course, as anyone who can use a dictionary can tell. The result of a new genetic study published in the british journal genome biology and evolution claims that european jews ashkenazim dont belong to the 12 semitic tribes of israel. Source slightly edited by lasha darkmoon dr eran elhaik, controversial israeli geneticist, says that most jews are not semitic. A course of lectures on biblical criticism edinburgh. Documents sur william robertson smith 18461894 4 ressources dans data. Lectures on the religion of the semites open library. Third edition, with an introduction and additional notes by dr. Lectures on the religion of the semites william robertson smith on amazon.
The term semites is applied to a group of peoples closely related in language, whose habitat is asia and partly africa. All through the past, the antisemites perceived intuitively, though vaguely, that the jews will inherit this earth, and that all other races will either disappear altogether or they will become jews and they will together with the jews inherit this earth. The long forgotten manuscript was discovered by me in the robertson smith archive in the cambridge university library in october 1991. The common origin of and split between arabs and jews opednews. It provides a clear path to understanding certain puzzling developments that previously we know only in the final form.
All except the third have been readily identified, elam as the historic nation in the highlands east of the tigris, between media and persia. A program for the jews and an answer to all antisemites. Mailing address counterpunch po box 228 petrolia, ca 95558 telephone 1707 6293683. Indeed, it is the very model of an inauthentic choice, for the anti semite cannot or will not acknowledge his actual clas situation or the fear it produces. In order to make all of the examples as clear as possible, i have provided morpheme. This first series, published in 1889 2nd edition, 1894, has long been a classic work and considered a foundational text in the comparative study of religion. Semitic religion 1 its peculiar theism 2 personality of god 3 its view of nature 4 the moral being of god literature 1.
The term semite was used by johann gottfried eichhorn in 1787, in his introduction to the old testament second ed. Prof william robertson smith dd frse lld was a scottish orientalist, old testament scholar, professor of divinity, and minister of the free church of scotland. The last wave of western semites arameans in 1211 centuries b. Lectures on the religion of the semites the fundamental. Now posing as the true israelites, gentile christians made clear they were supplanting antedated jews. Lectures on the religion of the semites internet archive. Oxford, merriamwebster, and cambridge all give slight variations of the same. Lectures on the religion of the semites fada birzeit university. A longer historical analysis of these supposedly crosscutting categories, such as race, religion and ethnicity, is provided by gil anidjar. Religion of the semites has long been a classic work, but the second and third series of lectures failed to appear in the authors own lifetime owing to the ill health of his latter years.
Lectures on the religion of the semites second and third. Jewish persistence in obeying biblical religious laws was an. Semites, semitic religion isbe semites, semitic religion semits, semitik, 1. Jan 19, 2017 why is antijudaism called antisemtism. Second and third series, edited with an introduction by john day sheffield academic 1995. In april 1887 i was invited by the trustees of the burnett fund to deliver three courses of lectures at aberdeen, in the three years from october 1888 to october 1891, on the primitive religions of the semitic peoples, viewed in relation to other ancient religions, and to the spiritual religion of the old testament and of christianity.
Mendenhall one of the worlds foremost authorities on biblical lore and the. He is also known for his book religion of the semites, which is considered a foundational text in the comparative study of religion. To present itself as a truly ancient religion gentile christianity reinterpreted jewish scriptures to show they prophesied jesus christs appearance, life, and death. Lectures on the religion of the semites, index etana. Lectures on the religion of the semites by smith, w.
The common origin of and split between arabs and jews part two of an interview with professor george e. Mendenhall one of the worlds foremost authorities on. He is also known for his book religion of the semites, which is considered a foundational text in the. The common origin of and split between arabs and jews. Smith ventured outside the bible to semitic religion and thereby pioneered the comparative study of religion. Semites, semitic peoples or semitic cultures from the biblical shem, hebrew.
Download for offline reading, highlight, bookmark or take notes while you read religion of the semites ppr. Religion of the semites download ebook pdf, epub, tuebl. So, semites and antisemites is a mustread for those who want to see patterns of hatred in order to fight against them. The outstanding nineteenthcentury biblical scholar and semitist william robertson smith gave three courses of burnett lectures on the religion of the semites at aberdeen just over a century ago. Religion of the semites combines extraordinary philological erudition with brilliant theorizing.
In historic times all western asia see below, with the exception of the peninsula of asia minor, was semitic. The fundamental institutions burnett lectures aberdeen university 188889 burnett lectures burnett lectures. Religion of the semites ppr by william robertson smith. In the beginning was the word, and the word was with god, and. Invented in the nineteenth century and essential to the making of modern conceptions of religion and race, the strange unity of jew and arab under one term, semite the opposing term was aryan, and the circumstances that brought about its disappearance constitute the subject of this volume.
It also showed me two totally different authors, with a completely different set of ethics. Lectures on the religion of the semites the fundamental institutions. In order to make all of the examples as clear as possible, i have provided morphemebymorpheme glossing, following the leipzig glossing rules. Among the fundamental emphases of the book are the foci on sacrifice as the key ritual and nonancient sacrifice as communion with god rather than as penance for sin. Jul 11, 2003 mailing address counterpunch po box 228 petrolia, ca 95558 telephone 1707 6293683. I would recommend this for any serious student of religion, the middle east, or any of the religions of the middle east. Lectures on the religion of the semites second and third series. Smiths accomplishments are seen most fully in religion of the semites, adapted from a number of public lectures he gave at aberdeen, and first published in 1889. An inquiry into conflict and prejudice by bernard lewis in chm, djvu, doc download ebook. Sartre sometimes writes as if antisemitism is a sociological reflex, but it is also, again, a choice. Smiths german mentors reconstructed the history of israelite religion from the bible itself. Lectures on the religion of the semites first series. Lectures on the religion of the semites by william robertson. Aberdeen university 188389 lectures on the religion of the semites, william robertson smith literature of theology and church history.
336 1295 446 598 421 428 196 912 1575 291 969 436 1004 1434 1629 924 493 638 1587 412 930 932 1279 794 276 1618 822 1338 255 1604 1375 744 635 1409 231 567 1302