Religion of the Semites

The Fundamental Institutions

William Smith, Robert A. Segal

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2017
• Print ISBN: 9781138531789
• eBook ISBN: 9781351493680
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Religion

Scottish Semiticist and Arabist William Robertson Smith was a celebrated biblical critic, theorist of religion, and theorist of myth. His accomplishments were multiple. Smith's German mentors reconstructed the history of Israelite religion from the Bible itself; Smith ventured outside the Bible to Semitic religion and thereby pioneered the comparative study of religion. Where others viewed religion from the standpoint of the individual, Smith approached religion-at least ancient religion-from the standpoint of the group. He asserted that ancient religion was centrally a matter of practice, not creed, and singlehandedly created the ritualist theory of myth. Since Smith's time, the ritualist theory of myth has found adherents not only in biblical studies but in classics, anthropology, and literature as well.Smith's 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. Smith delivered three courses of lectures over three years. It is this set that is reprinted here. Only recently were the notes for the second and third courses of lectures discovered and published.Religion of the Semites combines extraordinary philological erudition with brilliant theorizing. Among the fundamental emphases of the book are the foci on sacrifice as the key ritual and non-ancient sacrifice as communion with God rather than as penance for sin. Most important is Smith's use of the comparative method: he uses cross-cultural examples from other ""primitive peoples"" to confirm his reconstruction from Semitic sources.Smith combines pioneering sociology and anthropology with a staunchly Christian faith. For him, Christianity is an expression of divine revelation. For Smith, only continuing revelation can account for the leap from the collective, ritualistic, and materialistic nature of ancient Semitic religion to the individualistic, creedal, and spiritualized nature of Christianity. Lectures on th

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Table of Contents
• Transaction Introduction
• Preface to the First Edition
• Note to the Second Edition
• Lecture I. Introduction : The Subject and the Method of Enquiry
• Lecture II. The Nature of the Religious Community, and the Relation of the Gods to Their Worshippers
• Lecture III. The Relations of the Gods to Natural Things—Holy Places—The Jinn
• Lecture IV. Holy Places in Their Relation to Man
• Lecture V. Sanctuaries, Natural and Artificial—Holy Waters, Trees, Caves, and Stones
• Lecture VI. Sacrifice—Preliminary Survey
• Lecture VII. First-Fruits, Tithes, and Sacrificial Meals
• Lecture VIII. The Original Significance of Animal Sacrifice
• Lecture IX. The Sacramental Efficacy of Animal Sacrifice, and Cognate Acts of Ritual—The Blood Covenant—Blood and Hair Offerings
• Lecture X. The Development of Sacrificial Ritual—Fire-Sacrifices and Piacula
• Lecture XI. Sacrificial Gifts and Piacular Sacrifices—The Special Ideas Involved in the Latter
• Additional Notes
• Index of Passages of Scripture
• General Index