Biblical Prose Prayer: As a Window to the Popular Religion of Ancient IsraelThe Psalms are the best known and most widely used prayer texts of the Bible. But the prayers of the Israelite took another form: the prose prayers that we find embedded in biblical narrative. Prose prayer was spoken by persons of all ranks. Male and female, Israelite and foreigner, all enjoyed equal access to God. The pervasiveness and spontaneity of this prayer, independent as it was of the structure and taboos of formal worship, turned it into a criterion for sincerity both in relations with God and in those among human beings. Greenberg finds in this rich life of private prayer a setting for the high religious ideas--and the scathing critique of worship--that characterized the "genius" of the prophets of the eighth and ninth centuries B.C. His compact and masterful study, originally the 1981-1982 Taubman Lectures at Berkeley, suggests an explanation for the unprecedented democratization of worship in post-biblical Judaism. |
What people are saying - Write a review
We haven't found any reviews in the usual places.
Other editions - View all
Common terms and phrases
according analogy ancient ancient Israel answer appeal Assyria baruk benediction Bible biblical Blessed cause characters common confession David derives detail direct distress divine elements embedded evidence example expert expression extemporized extemporized prayer favor feeling fixed follows formula give given God's gods gratitude ground hands heart Hebrew human individual interhuman Israel Israelites Jacob Judg king language lectures literary lord meaning moral Moses motivating narrative natural noted occasion offered opening origin particular pattern person petition petitionary prayer popular pray prescribed priests proper prophets prose prayers psalms references reflect relation religion religious ritual Samson Scriptures sense servant serve sincerity sinned situation social speak speech spiritual spontaneous suggests sure temple texts thought tion true turn verbal wish worship YHWH
Bibliographic information
| Title | Biblical Prose Prayer: As a Window to the Popular Religion of Ancient Israel Comparative Studies of Health Systems and Medical Care Online access: California Digital Library UC Press E-Books Collection, 1982-2004 Taubman lectures in Jewish studies |
| Author | Moshe Greenberg |
| Publisher | University of California Press, 1983 |
| ISBN | 0520050126, 9780520050129 |
| Length | 66 pages |
| Subjects | › Religion / Comparative Religion |
| Export Citation | BiBTeX EndNote RefMan |