Cultic Prostitution in the Ancient Near East? A Reassessment

Fisher, Eugene J.

doi:10.1177/014610797600600306

Cited by 9 publications

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“…9 This connection of Hosea to a Baal cult would hold sway for much of the twentieth century, even if scholars became less sure over time of how confidently they could comment on the biographical dimensions or sexual elements of Hosea and his marriage (Jeremias 1983). Over time, however, the assumptions concerning sexually based cultic activity in ancient Israel would come in for particular critique, as scholars have increasingly questioned the existence of such activity (Fischer 1976;Bird 1989;Gruber 2017). 10 Indeed, Keefe and others have argued that the assumption that a sexualized fertility cult is at the root of Hosea's concerns can be "traced to the biases of a theological agenda within which Canaanite religion is gendered as the seductive and degenerate 'other' against which biblical religion defines itself" (Keefe 1995, p. 72).…”

Section: Hosea's Metaphor(s) and Their Meaning(s)mentioning

confidence: 99%

Family Dynamics, Fertility Cults, and Feminist Critiques: The Reception of Hosea 1–3 through the Centuries

Anderson

2021

Religions

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This article examines a number of contested and contentious issues in the reception of Hosea 1–3, exploring how readers through the centuries have engaged with the interpretive challenges found in the initial chapters of this prophetic text. These include (1) debates concerning whether the marriage of Hosea and Gomer should be understood literally or figuratively; (2) questions concerning the identity of the woman in chp. 3 in relation to the events of chp. 1; (3) proposals on how to understand the metaphorical elements related to Hosea’s marriage and Israel’s infidelity; (4) ethical, theological, and rhetorical concerns raised by these chapters, including feminist critiques; (5) the place of Gomer’s children in the opening chapter of the book; (6) the themes and rhetoric of chp. 2, including the punishment and wooing of the wife and Israel; and (7) the role of Hos 1–3 in Jewish and Christian liturgical traditions. This study offers soundings from across historical, religious, and interpretive traditions that give a sense of the wide-ranging ways in which this book has been read and understood through the centuries. In particular, it highlights that while specific questions and issues related to Hosea have persisted through the years, the underlying interpretive assumptions and approaches to these questions have shifted considerably in various historical periods, which in turn has led to considerable diversity in the reception of this prophetic text.

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Section: Hosea's Metaphor(s) and Their Meaning(s)mentioning

confidence: 99%

Family Dynamics, Fertility Cults, and Feminist Critiques: The Reception of Hosea 1–3 through the Centuries

Anderson

2021

Religions

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“…this regnant interpretation took a variety of forms over the years leading up to the mid-1980s, with much disagreement over exactly what constituted the canaanite fertility cult with which Hosea was concerned. typically, scholars associated Baalistic religion, and consequently many of Hosea's oracles, with several practices that were not often clearly distinguished: cultic prostitution (Graham and May 1936;Mays 1969), ritual defloration (Wolff 1974: xxii, 14), and unofficial sexual activity in cultic settings (Fisher 1976;andersen and Freedman 1980;van der toorn 1992). Of these, the notion of cultic prostitution-a series of rites in which sacred personnel performed various sexual acts designed to ensure the fertility of land and inhabitants-as part of Baalistic worship dominated the modern discussion of Hosea (for the fullest example, see Östborn 1956).…”

Section: Tradition and Redactionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Hosea 4—14 in Twentieth-Century Scholarship

Kelle

2010

Currents in Biblical Research

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Twentieth-century scholarship on Hosea has addressed a wide range of interpretive questions that often reflect the common approaches to the prophetic literature in general, yet an inordinate amount of attention has been paid to the marriage and family imagery in Hosea 1—3. In recent years, scholars have corrected this tendency, exploring ways that texts throughout Hosea 4—14 offer insights into long-standing critical issues. Rather than exhibiting a movement in which newer methodological perspectives have replaced older traditional approaches, all of the established, modern scholarly pursuits remain prominent in the current study of Hosea 4—14. Scholars are now reformulating the traditional questions, however, from new angles largely generated by interdisciplinary influences. These influences have also given rise to previously unexplored lines of inquiry, such as synchronic, literary, and theological readings, Book of the Twelve studies, and metaphor theory. Studies using metaphor theory with an eye toward religious, political, socio-economic, and gender considerations seem likely to occupy the central place in Hosea scholarship in the immediate future.

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“…3 See also L. E. Bliese, »Chiastic Structures, Peaks and Cohesion in Nehemiah 9:6 -37«, Bib Translat 39 (1988) 208-215, whose work I came upon after I had discovered the chiastic pattern reflected in this article. He structures the text somewhat differently: A (6-8); B (9-12); C (13)(14)(15); D (16)(17)(18); E (19)(20)(21); E' (22)(23)(24)(25); D' (26)(27)(28); C (29-31); B' (32-35); A' (36-37). The prayer in eh.…”

Section: Similar and Related Terms And Phrasesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The Hebrew term comes from the root ' man, which means: to be firm, faithful, or loyal 1 . Nowhere eise in the Hebrew Bible does the phrase »make an '"rn n « (krt 'mnh) occur (see Neh 11,23 for the use of 3& m na by itself).…”

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confidence: 99%

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1992

Zeitschrift Für Die Alttestamentliche Wissenschaft

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Cultic Prostitution in the Ancient Near East? A Reassessment

Cited by 9 publications

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Family Dynamics, Fertility Cults, and Feminist Critiques: The Reception of Hosea 1–3 through the Centuries

Family Dynamics, Fertility Cults, and Feminist Critiques: The Reception of Hosea 1–3 through the Centuries

Hosea 4—14 in Twentieth-Century Scholarship

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