Meanwhile, here's a good quote from chapter 2, by Rick Hess (page 25):
...no ancient war was entirely secular. Despite the horror of battle, the ancient world understood all its wars to be sacred, if not holy. That is, war involved the powers of heaven as well as earth. Therefore, every war that was prosecuted by an ancient people, whether great or small, was dependent on the favor of the gods for its success. The case was no different in Israel.
<idle musing>
I am always amazed by how difficult this concept is for people to grasp. For some reason the secular/sacred dichotomy of modern/post-modern life gets projected backwards onto texts and history. Of course, I would argue that the dichotomy is a false one even today :)
</idle musing>
1 comment:
This makes a lot of sense if you have a neo-durkheimian perspective on religion. The sacred is something you try to contain and separate from the quotidian because the sacred can hurt you. War works the same way.
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