The Function of Prayers of Ritual Mourning in the Second Temple Period

Harkins, Angela Kim; Pajunen, Mika; Penner, Jeremy

doi:10.1515/9783110449266-006

Cited by 3 publications

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“…2, 3. diminishing practices which Hermas engages in (viz. weeping, praying, confessing sins, kneeling) highlight the highly ritualized and performative dimension of grief in the ancient world, it was not solely an outpouring of interior anguish (Harkins 2017(Harkins , 2016Olyan 2004;Anderson 1991). The repetitive elements in the Shepherd of Hermas speak to ruminative practices and also suggest that similar ruminative experiences are intended to take place within the reader as well.…”

Section: Enactive Reading: An Arresting Narrative Framementioning

confidence: 99%

“…Seers and visionaries in the Second Temple period are frequently described as engaging in various decentering practices of self-diminishment which in turn heightens receptivity to other cognitive states that may precipitate the onset of visionary experiences (Merkur 1989;Harkins 2017). The re-use of familiar practices and scenarios associated with visionary experience such as the practices of prayer and weeping that Hermas repeatedly engages in can be understood as a way of cultivating visionary experiences.…”

Section: On the Solidity Of Stonesmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Looking at the Shepherd of Hermas through the experience of lived religion

Harkins¹

2020

Lived Religion in the Ancient Mediterranean World

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This essay examines the first four visions in the Book of Visions found in the early Christian work known as the Shepherd of Hermas wherein Hermas reports having had a visionary experience happen to him. These are highly mediated and thoroughly edited literary reports that draw upon the emotional contours of foundational narratives and myths. Despite their highly constructed elements, literary features of the visionary reports can nevertheless give some insight into how flesh and blood readers may have experienced the reading or hearing of these texts. With the help of the integrative approaches associated with the cognitive literary theory, this essay considers how the process of imagining the scenes in the Book of Visions participates in the formation of the self.

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Section: Enactive Reading: An Arresting Narrative Framementioning

confidence: 99%

Section: On the Solidity Of Stonesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Looking at the Shepherd of Hermas through the experience of lived religion

Harkins¹

2020

Lived Religion in the Ancient Mediterranean World

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The Study of Emotions in Early Jewish Texts: Review and Perspectives

Mirguet

2019

J. Study Jud.

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This article reviews recent research on emotions in the field of early Judaism, mostly in literature. The article starts with an example from the biblical story of Joseph, to illustrate the need for a culturally sensitive understanding of emotions. Various approaches to emotions are then examined: philology and the history of the self, the construction of identity, structures of power (including gender), experiences with the divine, and emotions as adaptive practices. Each section starts with a brief outline of the scholarship conducted in other fields and serving as a background for research on early Judaism. The conclusion considers several facets of emotions, as they are highlighted by various disciplines; cultural manipulations of emotions often harness the tensions that may result from these multiple facets. The article closes with a brief assessment of the contribution of emotion research to the broader study of early Judaism and with perspectives for further research.

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Ritualizing Jesus’ Grief at Gethsemane

Harkins

2018

Journal for the Study of the New Testament

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New light can be cast on Jesus’ grief-stricken prayer by contextualizing it within the growing scholarship on prayers and ritual mourning practices in the Second Temple period. The emotional prayer that Jesus prays in Gethsemane can be understood as a reenactment of a recognizable Second Temple ritual that joined emotional prayers of supplication and confession to mourning practices. This article proposes that a Second Temple ritual context is an overlooked but potentially fruitful way of understanding the ancient controversies that embroiled Jesus’ prayer at Gethsemane. The cultural specificity of the emotions associated with this prayer can help to account for why ancient Greek and Roman readers experienced such sharp and divergent responses to Jesus’ prayer.

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The Function of Prayers of Ritual Mourning in the Second Temple Period

Cited by 3 publications

References 0 publications

Looking at the Shepherd of Hermas through the experience of lived religion

Looking at the Shepherd of Hermas through the experience of lived religion

The Study of Emotions in Early Jewish Texts: Review and Perspectives

Ritualizing Jesus’ Grief at Gethsemane

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