The Temple in Antiquity: Ancient Records and Modern Perspectives (The Religious Studies Monograph Series)

The answer to "What is a temple?" is partially the answer to "What was the temple?" Here is distinguished array of scholars treats this theme. This collection of essays - which grew out of a BYU symposium of experts - presents recent findings on the temple in antiquity: historical, linguistic, and archaeological data which bear on the idea of the temple in Israelite, Jewish, and Christian traditions. The late Semitics expert Mitchell J. Dahood, in "The Temple and Other Sacred Places in the Ebla Tablets," traces temple related inscriptions on tablets discovered in upper Syria dated 2500 B.C. In "The Temple and the Holy Mountain," Richard J. Clifford shows the close identification of mountains and temples and associated ideas of priestly and kingly elevation. "The Priestly Tabernacle in the Light of Recent Research," by Frank Moore Cross, Jr., presents evidence of the historicity of the tabernacle in the wilderness and its sacred functions. "Jachin and Boaz," the two pillars that flanked the entrance to the sacred center of Solomon's Temple in Jerusalem, are place in their Israelite setting by Carol L Meyers. She shows how they symbolize a gateway, a fortress, a sacred dwelling, and how they legitimize both sacred and secular activities.