https://www.um.edu.mt/library/oar/handle/123456789/32497 2026-04-09T04:27:03Z 2026-04-09T04:27:03Z https://www.um.edu.mt/library/oar/handle/123456789/32694 2018-08-15T01:33:06Z 1981-01-01T00:00:00Z

Title: The flood in genesis and the epic of Gilgamesh Abstract: The flood in Genesis is recounted at length from 6:5 to 9:17. It is a relatively long account with a double introduction - the corruption of mankind and preparations for the flood - the actual flood and a doubt e conclusion - the flood subsides and the disembarkment. Chapter 9 gives us the new world order, i.e. the second covenant. In the Epic of Gilgamesh the flood is the fifth - from a total of seven - narrative. It is the most complete and the best preserved part of the whole Epic. In December 1872 a,t a meeting of the then recently-founded Society of Biblical Archaeology, George Smith announced: HA short time back I discovered among the Assyrian tablets in the British Museum an account of the Flood." This was the eleventh tablet of the Assyrian narrative of the Epic of Gilgamesh. It was part of the library of table'ts excavated at Nineveh in 1853. In this collection there was the Assyrian collation of the Epic of Gilgamesh. The importance of the discovery began to be appreciated b;,( Smith's announcement. Soon after this, Smith published the Chaldean Account of the Deluge. The interest was great, but the flood tablet was still incomplete. The search for more tablets was renewed. The Daily Telegraph contributed 1000 guineas for further excavation at Nineveh. Smith undertook the excavation for the British Museum, and soon after his arrival at Nineveh he found the missing: lines from the flood narrative. Hence, it became, and still is, the most complete of the whole Epic. It is the eleventh tablet, which is the fullest and best preserved of all, with over three hundred extant lines. The Gilgamesh Epic is edited by Hugo Gressmann in Altorientalische Texte, published by Walter de Gruyter & Company, Berlin & Leipzig, second edition, 1926, pp. 175 ff. It is translated by James B. Pritchard, Ancient Near Eastern Texts Relating to the Old Testament, Princeton University Press, second edition, 1955, pp. 72 ft. At the turn of the century there was a great discussion on the relationship of the Biblical to the Babylonian story of the flood as it is in the Gilgamesh Epic. There is certainly a material relationship between the two versions. However, today no one holds that the Genesis narrative depends on Gilgamesh.

1981-01-01T00:00:00Z https://www.um.edu.mt/library/oar/handle/123456789/32693 2018-08-15T01:32:58Z 1981-01-01T00:00:00Z

Title: Pageantry and secularization : the Malta case Abstract: In this paper 'pageantry' is being, understood as the 'display of the magnificent', in whichever medium this display is expressed. Sociology is interested in pageantry in so fair a,s it is a: very effective mode of mass communication, and to the extent that, through it, social forces are generated in a way that drives men to participate with intensity in group life. My main interest here is 'religious pageantry", but this type of pageantry cannot be fully understood without reference to other, largely non-religious, types.

1981-01-01T00:00:00Z https://www.um.edu.mt/library/oar/handle/123456789/32691 2018-08-15T01:32:56Z 1981-01-01T00:00:00Z

Title: On Qur'anic jinn Abstract: Going through the stories of "A Thousand and One Nights" and other Arabian folk tales, one encounters many fantastic and mythological figures, such as: jinn, ghul, si 'Iat, 'ifrit, etc. Each region from Morocco to Persia, has its own particular tales which project the intense popular belief in such spiritual beings. Of these beings the Qur'an mentions only the jinn. The word 'ifrit is used only once' in the Holy Book of Islam: ., An efreet of the jinns said, 'I will bring it to thee .. :" (Q. 27, 39). It appears that 'ifrit is not a particular category of spiritual being, but it is a quality app!ied to a being be it man or spirit. Lane defines 'ifnt any person "insolent and audacious in pride and in acts of rebellion or disobedience, who rolls his adversary in the dust." He thus connects the word 'ifrit (piu. 'afart) with 'afar, meaning dust, and holds that both these words are derived from the verb 'afara, meaning: to rub with dust, to roll someone in the dust; and by extension: to bring, someone low, i.e. to insult, to offend someone. In the case of Q. 27, 39 authors agree that the expression "an efreet of the jinns" simply means "a wicked jinni." Since the jinn, spiritual intelligent beings non-angels and non-humans, are mentioned in the Qur'an, they constitute a serious theological problem. What are they really? What can we say about the God-jinn relationship) In the present study we shall try to find an answer to these and other questions. But we do' not pretend to give an adequate and final interpretation of the existential nature of jinn resulting from some modern exegetical conclusion. For the time being we shall content ourselves by what classical Muslim exegetes of the Qur'an ,have to say regarding; jinni beings. In some later Cate, God willing, we shall perhaps be in a position to make our own attempt to provide a more adequate and modern interpretation.

1981-01-01T00:00:00Z https://www.um.edu.mt/library/oar/handle/123456789/32686 2018-08-15T01:32:57Z 1981-01-01T00:00:00Z

Title: Islam and Christianity : a comparative study Abstract: Quintus Aurelius Symmachus, a spokesman for the ancient Roman Senate, was an eloquent apologist for the moribund culture-religion of his ancestors. He is remembered today, and briefly mentioned in manuals of church history, for having exchanged theological debating' points with a better known contemporary of his, St Ambrose' of Milan. Well before his death, Christianity had become the official religion of the Roman Empire, with alll other religions being proscribed. Shortly thereafter non-Christians were excluded even from holding public office. But one of the points made by Symmaahus remains with us still. Concerning the mystery of the universe and of human destiny,he inscribed these words on a long-lasting parchment: '''It is impossible that so great a mystery should be approached by one road only". Christians, at any rate, have not yet considered deeply, extensively, positively, and in the light of their own faith, the significance of the religions that have always served the majority of human beings, and will evidently continue to serve an ever-increasing portion of humanity, possibly even until the eschaton or end of the world. The initial efforts and the major contributions in this field of study have been made more by social scientists than by theologians. But things are changing. Christianity is now more than ever facing the question raised more than fifteen centuries ago by the Roman senator: "God is one and the same for all: but there must be more than one road leading to Him"

1981-01-01T00:00:00Z