The Question of the divine justice in the cuneiform literature: Interdependence of divine will and human ethics as the base of monotheistic tendencies in the Babylonian wisdom literature

• Applicant: Takayoshi Oshima, Ph.D.
• Subject Area: Egyptology and Ancient Near Eastern Studies ; Religious Studies and Jewish Studies
• Term: from 2015 to 2019
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 270534635

The main themes of this research project are the divine will as the base of human ethics and the possible development of monotheistic tendency in the cuneiform literature. In this research project, the following two main points will particularly investigated: I: The divine will as the base of ancient Babylonians' moral principle. The role of the divine judgement in the Mesopotamian religion(s) and the problem based on that Weltansauung (e.g. contradiction between the ancient teaching in the wisdom texts and reality) found their expression in so-called the "crisis of wisdom". The Sumero-Babylonian wisdom literature with this motif will be, therefore, particularly closely examined. II: When the ancient Mesopotamian thinkers made attempts to understand the divine moral principle, they apparently understood the word dingir/ilu not only in its concrete sense (i.e. a god) but also in its abstract sense (i.e. deity, divinity). It seems that the latter meaning of dingir/ilu, "deity, divinity", had significant influence on the Babylonian religion and led to a monotheistic belief. Therefore it is also my objective to study the possible development of monotheistic tendencies in the Babylonian literature.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants