Brendan Graham Dempsey | God's Fight with the Dragon | Ancient Near Eastern Influences @BrendanGrahamDempsey | Uploaded April 2024 | Updated October 2024, 3 hours ago.
It may come as a shock to learn that the most important story about God in ancient Israelite religion was the one in which he battles a draconic sea monster using his lightning bolts and mighty storm winds. Most people will not even know such a story existed, let alone that it formed the core of ancient Temple worship, or that it was the basis for the later invention of the Devil in Christian mythology. But, if we’re to understand the history of apocalyptic thought, and early Christianity specifically, we must consider the crucial role played by this ancient myth and its various transformations throughout history, tracking the evolution of the “combat myth” from ancient near eastern cultic traditions into ancient Israelite religion, Jewish apocalypticism, and, finally, the early Christian church.
TEXT BASED VERSION: brendangrahamdempsey.substack.com/p/gods-fight-with-the-dragon-part-i
0:00 Introduction
1:24 The Combat Myth
Meanings of the Myth
5:50 1. Agricultural
7:21 2. Cultic
12:32 3. Political
13:50 4. Philosophical/Theological
15:56 Structure/Plot
20:05 Motifs/Imagery
Examples
22:32 Ninurta vs. Azag
28:13 Ninurta vs. Anzu
31:23 The Storm God vs. the Serpent
35:30 Marduk vs. Tiamat
41:49 Baal vs. Sea (Yamm)
50:27 Baal/Anat vs. the Dragon
52:13 Baal vs. Death (Mot)
57:52 Conclusion
It may come as a shock to learn that the most important story about God in ancient Israelite religion was the one in which he battles a draconic sea monster using his lightning bolts and mighty storm winds. Most people will not even know such a story existed, let alone that it formed the core of ancient Temple worship, or that it was the basis for the later invention of the Devil in Christian mythology. But, if we’re to understand the history of apocalyptic thought, and early Christianity specifically, we must consider the crucial role played by this ancient myth and its various transformations throughout history, tracking the evolution of the “combat myth” from ancient near eastern cultic traditions into ancient Israelite religion, Jewish apocalypticism, and, finally, the early Christian church.
TEXT BASED VERSION: brendangrahamdempsey.substack.com/p/gods-fight-with-the-dragon-part-i
0:00 Introduction
1:24 The Combat Myth
Meanings of the Myth
5:50 1. Agricultural
7:21 2. Cultic
12:32 3. Political
13:50 4. Philosophical/Theological
15:56 Structure/Plot
20:05 Motifs/Imagery
Examples
22:32 Ninurta vs. Azag
28:13 Ninurta vs. Anzu
31:23 The Storm God vs. the Serpent
35:30 Marduk vs. Tiamat
41:49 Baal vs. Sea (Yamm)
50:27 Baal/Anat vs. the Dragon
52:13 Baal vs. Death (Mot)
57:52 Conclusion
