| From Akhenaten to Moses: Ancient Egypt and Religious Change Contributor(s): Assmann, Jan (Author) |
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ISBN: 977416749X ISBN-13: 9789774167492 Publisher: American University in Cairo Press OUR PRICE: $17.96 Product Type: Paperback - Other Formats Published: March 2016 |
| Additional Information |
| BISAC Categories: - Religion | History - History | Ancient - Egypt - Religion | Theology |
| Dewey: 202.11 |
| Physical Information: 0.5" H x 5.8" W x 9" (0.70 lbs) 168 pages |
| Themes: - Chronological Period - Ancient (To 499 A.D.) - Cultural Region - North Africa - Cultural Region - Middle East |
| Descriptions, Reviews, Etc. |
| Publisher Description: The shift from polytheism to monotheism changed the world radically. Akhenaten and Moses-a figure of history and a figure of tradition-symbolize this shift in its incipient, revolutionary stages and represent two civilizations that were brought into the closest connection as early as the Book of Exodus, where Egypt stands for the old world to be rejected and abandoned in order to enter the new one. The seven chapters of this seminal study shed light on the great transformation from different angles. Between Egypt in the first chapter and monotheism in the last, five chapters deal in various ways with the transition from one to the other, analyzing the Exodus myth, understanding the shift in terms of evolution and revolution, confronting Akhenaten and Moses in a new way, discussing Karl Jaspers' theory of the Axial Age, and dealing with the eighteenth-century view of the Egyptian mysteries as a cultural model. |
Contributor Bio(s): Assmann, Jan: - Jan Assmann is a German Egyptologist widely known for his work on the origins of monotheism. Formerly professor of Egyptology at the University of Heidelberg, he is now honorary professor of cultural studies at the University of Constance. He is the author of Moses the Egyptian: The Memory of Egypt in Western Monotheism and The Price of Monotheism. |