RECONSIDERING THE METHODS OF COGNITIVE ENVIRONMENT CRITICISM IN BIBLICAL STUDIES
Keywords:
Cognitive Environment Criticism, Old Testament, Ancient Near East, Comparative Studies, Enuma Elish, Babylonian Theodicy, Mari Prophecies
Abstract
This paper considers the methods of Cognitive Environment Criticism as a
tool for executing the comparative studies between the texts of the Old Testament and the Ancient
Near East. This balanced approach between “parallelomania” and “paralelophobia” is
deepened by the employment of the metaphor of the baptism in the river of the Ancient Near East.
This metaphor serves to point to the change that occurs in the Old Testament texts as the product
of communication or awareness of the Ancient Near Eastern texts. Change that unfolds after the
immersion in the culture and textual tradition of the neighboring countries results in Israel’s
polemical theology of immense value.
References
Abnar, Moshe. “To Put One’s Neck under the Yoke” in Yairah Amit, E.B Zvi, I.
Finkelstein and O. Lipschits, Essays on Ancient Israel in Its Near Eastern Context: A Tribute to
Nadav Na’aman.Winona Lake, IN: Eisenbrauns, 2006.
Arnold, Bill T. “The Genesis Narratives” in Bill T. Arnold, and Richard Hess, editors,
Ancient Israel’s History: An Introduction to Issues and Sources. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker
Academic, 2014.
Andersen, Francis I. Job: An Introduction and Commentary, vol. 14, Tyndale Old
Testament Commentaries. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1976.
Assis, Elie. Identity in Conflict: The Struggle between Esau and Jacob, Edom and
Israel.Winona Lake, IN: Eisenbrauns, 2016.
Averbeck, Richard. “Sumer, the Bible, and Comparative Method: Historiography and
Temple Building” in M. Chavalas, and K. L. Younger, Mesopotamia and the Bible: Comparative
Explorations. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2002.
Barstad, Hans. “Sic dicit Dominus: Mari Prophetic Texts and the Hebrew Bible” in
Yairah Amit, E.B Zvi, I. Finkelstein and O. Lipschits, Essays on Ancient Israel in Its Near
Eastern Context: A Tribute to Nadav Na’aman. Winona Lake, IN: Eisenbrauns, 2006.
Barton, George A. “The Original Home of the Story of Job.” Journal of Biblical
Literature 31, no. 2 (1912): 63–68.
Bartlett, John R. Edom and the Edomites, JSOT Supplement Series Vol 77. Sheffield,
UK: Sheffield Academic Press, 1989.
Bennett, Crystal. “Excavations at Buseirah (Biblical Bozrah)” in John Sawyer and
David Clines, editors, Midian, Moab, and Edom: The History and Archaeology of Late Bronze
and Iron Age Jordan and North-West Arabia. Sheffield, UK: JSOT Press, 1983.
Bruggeman, Walter. Genesis, Interpretation: A Bible Commentary for Teaching and
Preaching. Atlanta, GA: John Knox Press, 1982.
Cassuto, Umberto. A Commentary on the Book of Genesis: From Adam to Noah,
translated by I. Abrahams. Skokie, IL: Varda Books, 2005.
Currid, John D. Against the Gods: The Polemical Theology of the Old Testament.
Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2013.
Cryer, Frederick. Divination in Ancient Israel and its Near Eastern Environment: A
Socio-Historical Investigation. Sheffield, UK: JSOT Press, 1994.
Glueck, Nelson. Explorations in Eastern Palestine II, The Annual of the American
Schools of Oriental Research, Vol 15. New Haven, CT: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1935.
Greenstein, Edward. Job: A New Translation. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press,
2019.
Hallo, William, and Lawson Younger, eds. The Context of Scriptures, Vol I. Leiden,
Netherlands: Brill, 1997.
Hartley, John. The Book of Job. Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1988.
Heidel, Alexander. The Babylonian Genesis: The Story of Creation. Chicago, IL: The
University of Chicago Press, 1951.
Heschel, Abraham J. The Prophets. New York, NY: Harper Collins, 2001.
Hess, Richard. “One Hundred Fifty Years of Comparative Studies on Genesis 1-11: An
Overview”, in Richard, Hess, and David Toshio Tsumura, editors, I Studied Inscriptions from
Before the Flood. Winona Lake, IN: Eisenbrauns, 1994.
77
Hoerth, Alfred J. Archaeology & the Old Testament. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker
Academic, 1998.
Koch-Westernholz, Ulla. Babylonian Liver Omens. Copenhagen, Denmark: Museum
Tusculanum Press, 2000.
Lambert, W. G. “A New Look at the Babylonian Background of Genesis” in Richard,
Hess, and David Toshio Tsumura, editors, I Studied Inscriptions from Before the Flood. Winona
Lake, IN: Eisenbrauns, 1994.
Lambert, W. G. Babylonian Wisdom Literature. Winona Lake, IN: Eisenbrauns, 1996.
Lambert, W. G. Babylonian Creation Myths. Winona Lake, IN: Eisenbrauns: 2013.
Lemaire, André. “Nabonidus in Arabia and Judah in the Neo-Babylonian Period” in
Oded Lipschits and Joseph Blenkinsopp, editors, Judah and the Judeans in the Neo-Babylonian
Period. Winona Lake, IN: Eisenbrauns, 2003.
MacDonald B. “Edom, Edomites” in Bill T. Arnold, and H. G. M. Williamson, editors,
Dictionary of the Old Testament: Historical Books. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press,
2005.
Matthews Victor, and Don C. Benjamin, Old Testament Parallels: Laws and Stories
from the Ancient Near East, 4th ed. New York; Mahwah, NJ: Paulist Press, 2016.
Nissinen, Martti. Prophets and prophecy in the ancient Near East. Atlanta, GA: SBL
Press, 2003.
Nissinen, Martti. “What is Prophecy? An Ancient Near Eastern Perspective” in John
Kaltner and Louis Stulman, editors, Inspired Speech: Prophecy in the Ancient Near East, Essays
in Honor of Herbert Huffmon. London, UK: T&T Clark, 2004.
Oppenheim, Leo. Ancient Mesopotamia: Portrait of a Dead Civilization. Chicago, IL:
The University of Chicago Press, 1977.
Oshima, Takayoshi. Babylonian Poems of Pious Sufferers. Tübingen, Germany: Mohr
Siebeck, 2015.
Ringgren, H. “Israel’s Place Among the Religions of Ancient Near East” in Studies in
The Religion of Ancient Israel, Supplements to Vetus Testamentum, Vol 23. Leiden, Netherlands:
Brill, 1972.
Ross, James. “Prophecy in Hamath, Israel and Mari,” Harvard Theological Review, 63
(1970), 1-28.
Sandmel, Samuel. “Parallelomania”, Journal of Biblical Literature 18, no. 1 (March
1962), 1-13.
Talmon, Shemaryahu. “The ‘Comparative Method’ in Biblical Interpretation—
Principles and Problems,” in John Emerton, ed., Congress Volume Göttingen 1977, Vetus
Testamentum, Supplements, Volume: 29. Leiden, Netherlands: Brill, 1978.
Walton, John. Ancient Near Eastern Thought and the Old Testament: Introducing the
Conceptual World of the Hebrew Bible. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2006.
Walton, John. Genesis 1 as Ancient Cosmology. Winona Lake, IN: Eisenbrauns, 2011.
Walton, John. “Reading Genesis 1 as Ancient Cosmology” in J. Daryl Charles, ed.,
Reading Genesis 1-2: An Evangelical Conversation. Peabody, MA: Hendrickson Publishers,
2013.
Walton, John. “Interactions in the Ancient Cognitive Environment,” in Jonathan S.
Greer, John W. Hilber, and John H. Walton, editors, Behind the Scenes of the Old Testament:
Cultural, Social, and Historical Contexts. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic: A Division of
Baker Publishing Group, 2018.
78
Weinfeld, Moshe. “Ancient Near Eastern Patterns in Prophetic Literature” in Robert
Gordon, ed., Place is too Small for Us: The Israelite Prophets in Recent Scholarship. Winona
Lake, IN: Eisenbrauns, 1995.
Younger, Lawson K. Ancient Conquest Accounts: A Study in Ancient Near Eastern and
Biblical History Writing. Sheffield, UK: JSOT Press, 1990.
Finkelstein and O. Lipschits, Essays on Ancient Israel in Its Near Eastern Context: A Tribute to
Nadav Na’aman.Winona Lake, IN: Eisenbrauns, 2006.
Arnold, Bill T. “The Genesis Narratives” in Bill T. Arnold, and Richard Hess, editors,
Ancient Israel’s History: An Introduction to Issues and Sources. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker
Academic, 2014.
Andersen, Francis I. Job: An Introduction and Commentary, vol. 14, Tyndale Old
Testament Commentaries. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1976.
Assis, Elie. Identity in Conflict: The Struggle between Esau and Jacob, Edom and
Israel.Winona Lake, IN: Eisenbrauns, 2016.
Averbeck, Richard. “Sumer, the Bible, and Comparative Method: Historiography and
Temple Building” in M. Chavalas, and K. L. Younger, Mesopotamia and the Bible: Comparative
Explorations. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2002.
Barstad, Hans. “Sic dicit Dominus: Mari Prophetic Texts and the Hebrew Bible” in
Yairah Amit, E.B Zvi, I. Finkelstein and O. Lipschits, Essays on Ancient Israel in Its Near
Eastern Context: A Tribute to Nadav Na’aman. Winona Lake, IN: Eisenbrauns, 2006.
Barton, George A. “The Original Home of the Story of Job.” Journal of Biblical
Literature 31, no. 2 (1912): 63–68.
Bartlett, John R. Edom and the Edomites, JSOT Supplement Series Vol 77. Sheffield,
UK: Sheffield Academic Press, 1989.
Bennett, Crystal. “Excavations at Buseirah (Biblical Bozrah)” in John Sawyer and
David Clines, editors, Midian, Moab, and Edom: The History and Archaeology of Late Bronze
and Iron Age Jordan and North-West Arabia. Sheffield, UK: JSOT Press, 1983.
Bruggeman, Walter. Genesis, Interpretation: A Bible Commentary for Teaching and
Preaching. Atlanta, GA: John Knox Press, 1982.
Cassuto, Umberto. A Commentary on the Book of Genesis: From Adam to Noah,
translated by I. Abrahams. Skokie, IL: Varda Books, 2005.
Currid, John D. Against the Gods: The Polemical Theology of the Old Testament.
Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2013.
Cryer, Frederick. Divination in Ancient Israel and its Near Eastern Environment: A
Socio-Historical Investigation. Sheffield, UK: JSOT Press, 1994.
Glueck, Nelson. Explorations in Eastern Palestine II, The Annual of the American
Schools of Oriental Research, Vol 15. New Haven, CT: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1935.
Greenstein, Edward. Job: A New Translation. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press,
2019.
Hallo, William, and Lawson Younger, eds. The Context of Scriptures, Vol I. Leiden,
Netherlands: Brill, 1997.
Hartley, John. The Book of Job. Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1988.
Heidel, Alexander. The Babylonian Genesis: The Story of Creation. Chicago, IL: The
University of Chicago Press, 1951.
Heschel, Abraham J. The Prophets. New York, NY: Harper Collins, 2001.
Hess, Richard. “One Hundred Fifty Years of Comparative Studies on Genesis 1-11: An
Overview”, in Richard, Hess, and David Toshio Tsumura, editors, I Studied Inscriptions from
Before the Flood. Winona Lake, IN: Eisenbrauns, 1994.
77
Hoerth, Alfred J. Archaeology & the Old Testament. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker
Academic, 1998.
Koch-Westernholz, Ulla. Babylonian Liver Omens. Copenhagen, Denmark: Museum
Tusculanum Press, 2000.
Lambert, W. G. “A New Look at the Babylonian Background of Genesis” in Richard,
Hess, and David Toshio Tsumura, editors, I Studied Inscriptions from Before the Flood. Winona
Lake, IN: Eisenbrauns, 1994.
Lambert, W. G. Babylonian Wisdom Literature. Winona Lake, IN: Eisenbrauns, 1996.
Lambert, W. G. Babylonian Creation Myths. Winona Lake, IN: Eisenbrauns: 2013.
Lemaire, André. “Nabonidus in Arabia and Judah in the Neo-Babylonian Period” in
Oded Lipschits and Joseph Blenkinsopp, editors, Judah and the Judeans in the Neo-Babylonian
Period. Winona Lake, IN: Eisenbrauns, 2003.
MacDonald B. “Edom, Edomites” in Bill T. Arnold, and H. G. M. Williamson, editors,
Dictionary of the Old Testament: Historical Books. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press,
2005.
Matthews Victor, and Don C. Benjamin, Old Testament Parallels: Laws and Stories
from the Ancient Near East, 4th ed. New York; Mahwah, NJ: Paulist Press, 2016.
Nissinen, Martti. Prophets and prophecy in the ancient Near East. Atlanta, GA: SBL
Press, 2003.
Nissinen, Martti. “What is Prophecy? An Ancient Near Eastern Perspective” in John
Kaltner and Louis Stulman, editors, Inspired Speech: Prophecy in the Ancient Near East, Essays
in Honor of Herbert Huffmon. London, UK: T&T Clark, 2004.
Oppenheim, Leo. Ancient Mesopotamia: Portrait of a Dead Civilization. Chicago, IL:
The University of Chicago Press, 1977.
Oshima, Takayoshi. Babylonian Poems of Pious Sufferers. Tübingen, Germany: Mohr
Siebeck, 2015.
Ringgren, H. “Israel’s Place Among the Religions of Ancient Near East” in Studies in
The Religion of Ancient Israel, Supplements to Vetus Testamentum, Vol 23. Leiden, Netherlands:
Brill, 1972.
Ross, James. “Prophecy in Hamath, Israel and Mari,” Harvard Theological Review, 63
(1970), 1-28.
Sandmel, Samuel. “Parallelomania”, Journal of Biblical Literature 18, no. 1 (March
1962), 1-13.
Talmon, Shemaryahu. “The ‘Comparative Method’ in Biblical Interpretation—
Principles and Problems,” in John Emerton, ed., Congress Volume Göttingen 1977, Vetus
Testamentum, Supplements, Volume: 29. Leiden, Netherlands: Brill, 1978.
Walton, John. Ancient Near Eastern Thought and the Old Testament: Introducing the
Conceptual World of the Hebrew Bible. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2006.
Walton, John. Genesis 1 as Ancient Cosmology. Winona Lake, IN: Eisenbrauns, 2011.
Walton, John. “Reading Genesis 1 as Ancient Cosmology” in J. Daryl Charles, ed.,
Reading Genesis 1-2: An Evangelical Conversation. Peabody, MA: Hendrickson Publishers,
2013.
Walton, John. “Interactions in the Ancient Cognitive Environment,” in Jonathan S.
Greer, John W. Hilber, and John H. Walton, editors, Behind the Scenes of the Old Testament:
Cultural, Social, and Historical Contexts. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic: A Division of
Baker Publishing Group, 2018.
78
Weinfeld, Moshe. “Ancient Near Eastern Patterns in Prophetic Literature” in Robert
Gordon, ed., Place is too Small for Us: The Israelite Prophets in Recent Scholarship. Winona
Lake, IN: Eisenbrauns, 1995.
Younger, Lawson K. Ancient Conquest Accounts: A Study in Ancient Near Eastern and
Biblical History Writing. Sheffield, UK: JSOT Press, 1990.
Published
2023-12-31
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