Standing at the very foundation of monotheism, and so of Western culture, Moses is a figure not of history, but of memory. As such, he is the quintessential subject for the innovative historiography Jan Assmann both defines and practices in this work, the study of historical memory--a study, in this case, of the ways in which factual and fictional events and characters are stored in religious beliefs and transformed in their philosophical justification, literary reinterpretation, philological restitution (or falsification), and psychoanalytic demystification.
To account for the...
Standing at the very foundation of monotheism, and so of Western culture, Moses is a figure not of history, but of memory. As such, he is the quint...
This classic work by one of the world's most distinguished Egyptologists was first published in German in 1984. The Search for God in Ancient Egypt offers a distillation of Jan Assmann's views on ancient Egyptian religion, with special emphasis on theology and piety. Deeply rooted in the texts of ancient Egypt and thoroughly informed by comparative religion, theology, anthropology, and semiotic analysis, Assmann's interpretations reveal the complexity of Egyptian thought in a new way.
Assmann takes special care to distinguish between the "implicit" theology of Egyptian polytheism and the...
This classic work by one of the world's most distinguished Egyptologists was first published in German in 1984. The Search for God in Ancient Egypt of...
"Perhaps Hermeticism has fascinated so many people precisely because it has made it possible to produce many analogies and relationships to various traditions: to Platonism in its many varieties, to Stoicism, to Gnostic ideas, and even to certain Aristotelian doctrines. The Gnostic, the esoteric, the Platonist, or the deist has each been able to find something familiar in the writings. One just had to have a penchant for remote antiquity, for the idea of a Golden Age, in order for Hermeticism, with its aura of an ancient Egyptian revelation, to have enjoyed such outstanding success." from...
"Perhaps Hermeticism has fascinated so many people precisely because it has made it possible to produce many analogies and relationships to various...
This collection of papers from two workshops - held in Heidelberg, Germany, in July 1996 and Jerusalem, Israel, in October 1997 - is concerned with anthropological rather than theological aspects of the Near Eastern and Mediterranean religions, ranging from the 'primary' religions of the archaic period and their complex developments in Egypt and Mesopotamia to the 'soteriological' movements and 'secondary' religions that emerged in Late Antiquity. The first part of the book focuses on "Confession and Conversion," while the second part is devoted to the topic of "Guilt, Sin and Rituals of...
This collection of papers from two workshops - held in Heidelberg, Germany, in July 1996 and Jerusalem, Israel, in October 1997 - is concerned with an...
"The intellectual heritage of Ancient Egypt" - once wrote Jan Assmann - "can hardly be said to have become part of our cultural memory. It is a subject of fascination, not of understanding." This fascination began when ancient Greek travellers started visiting Egypt, and continues unto this day, more often than not as a scholarly search for the oldest roots of our cultural memory. Jan Assmann's superb academic achievement undoubtedly represents the single most significant contribution to the modern understanding of Ancient Egypt, reaching far beyond the boundaries of Egyptology proper. The...
"The intellectual heritage of Ancient Egypt" - once wrote Jan Assmann - "can hardly be said to have become part of our cultural memory. It is a subjec...
Der Mensch, durch sein berma an Wissen aus den Ordnungen der Natur herausgefallen, muss sich eine knstliche Welt erschaffen, in der er leben kann. Das ist die Kunst. Die Kunst fungiert als Fantasma der Unsterblichkeit oder vermittelt zumindest die Idee einer gewissen Fortdauer ber unser allzu kurzes Erdendasein hinaus, ohne die der Mensch nicht leben kann.Doch so einfrmig sich der Tod aus biologischer Sicht ausnehmen mag, seine kulturelle berformung und Bewltigung nimmt tausendfltige Gestalten an. Ein kulturwissenschaftlicher Vergleich dieser Gestalten steht noch aus. Jan Assmann liefert...
Der Mensch, durch sein berma an Wissen aus den Ordnungen der Natur herausgefallen, muss sich eine knstliche Welt erschaffen, in der er leben kann. Das...
In seinem letzten Buch hat Freud mehrere seiner Lebensthemen gebündelt: sein Judentum, seine Leidenschaft für die Archäologie und speziell das Alte Ägypten, seinen Ehrgeiz und sein Ethos als Forscher und seine Lust am Schreiben als Selbstanalyse. Anregungen gingen von der Lektüre der ersten beiden Bände von Thomas Manns monumentalem Josephsroman aus, und ein politischer Anstoß lag im wachsenden Antisemitismus in Deutschland und Österreich. Das Mosesbuch entwickelte sich zu einem der größten Dokumente jüdischer Selbstthematisierung und zu einem der wichtigsten Bücher des 20....
In seinem letzten Buch hat Freud mehrere seiner Lebensthemen gebündelt: sein Judentum, seine Leidenschaft für die Archäologie und speziell das Alte...
