Daniel Berkovic

Bio: Daniel Berkovic is an academic researcher. The author has contributed to research in topics: Bestiary. The author has an hindex of 1, co-authored 1 publications receiving 4 citations.

Beware of the Dogs: The Position and Role of Dogs in Biblical Discourse

Abstract: Animals and humanbeings are closely connected,whether this be in harmony or conflict. Animals may be our friends and helpers, but also may become our food. The history of religions, shows us that animal can become a centre of religious worship (zoolatry) or/and a sacrificial offering.The latter becomes themeans of mediation between the human and the divine realm. In biblical discourse, the relationship between people and animalsis depictedeither in terms of human superiority over the animal world,“so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals, and over all the creatures that move along the ground” (Gen 1:26-30) or as a relationship of mutual fear, “The fear and dread of you will fall on all the beasts of the earth, and on all the birds in the sky, on every creature that moves along the ground, and on all the fish in the sea; they are given into your hands”. (Gen 9:2). Finally, in biblical discourse, animals are food for humans, “Everything that lives and moves about will be food for you. Just as I gave you the green plants, I now give you everything”. (Gen 9:3).Examining biblical bestiary, we shall particularly be interested in relation to the position of dogs in the Bible.

Book Of The Dead

Abstract: THIS little book will no doubt interest the many amateurs of Egyptology in this country, but it cannot be said to be of any scientific value. For this it is too conventionally “religious” in tone; a cult of “one supreme God” is supposed to have existed amid the chaotic polytheism of Egypt (there is no proof of any such conception before the time of Akhenaten), and the commonplace belief in the immortality of the soul, which is shared by all mankind, is credited to the Egyptians as a special virtue. Also the book is not historical and archaeological enough in treatment. We hardly realise from Mrs. Tirard's pages that the Egyptian religion had a long history, and that it was not the same at all periods; nor, to take a concrete instance, are we told by her that the ushabti figures, so typical of the interments of the dead, were unknown until half Egyptian history had been accomplished, their place being taken in the earlier ages by those remarkable models of workmen and boatmen which are among the chief treasures of our museums. All the typical prayers from “The Book of the Dead,” about the ushabtis, the fields of Aalu, and so forth, which we regard as so characteristic of Egyptian religion, were not characteristic of it for half its period of existence.The Book of the Dead.By H. M. Tirard. With an introduction by Prof. E. Naville. Pp. 170. (London: S.P.C.K., 1910.) Price 3s. 6d.