Die Theologie der Bilder: Herstellung und Einweihung von Kultbildern in Mesopotamien und die alttestamentliche Bilderpolemik.

• Author: DICK, MICHAEL B.
• Position: Review

Die Theologie der Bilder: Herstellung und Einweihung von Kultbildern in Mesopotamien und die alttestamentliche Bilderpolemik. By ANGELIKA BERLEJUNG. Orbis Biblicus et Orientalis, vol. 162. Gottingen: VANDENHOECK & RUPRECHT, 1998. Pp. xii + 547, 7 plates. DM 155.

This volume, a version of Berlejung's 1997 dissertation at the University of Heidelberg, represents an excellent and comprehensive study of the making and dedication of the cult image in Mesopotamia and of the reaction to these images among certain groups in ancient Israel. She begins with a helpful overview of the word "Bild" and its differentiation from "Abbild," much of which is informed by reference to contemporary theorists such as H. G. Gadamer. She concludes that:

Ein Bild ist demnach die sinnhafte und beschreibbare Erscheinung einer tiefer grundenden Wirklichkeit, die Manifestation unsichtbarer Realitat. Ein solches Bild macht also Unsichtbares sichtbar und fuhrt den Betrachter geradewegs in die verborgene Wirklichkeit. (p. 6)

2. then elaborates on the complex roles of the cult image in Mesopotamian society and religion. Her main goal is to answer the question: what is a divine image (Gottesbild) in Mesopotamia and Israel (p. 14)? However, she also addresses allied issues concerning the image's power and the knowledge of the Hebrew Bible concerning Mesopotamian ikonolatria.

2. situates the cult image at the juncture between the horizontal (land, city, temple, interpersonal contacts) and vertical axes (heaven and earth, gods, king, commoners), all of which she refers to the Mesopotamian concept of the Me.

   Since the cult image is the effective manifestation of the god, its origin ("Herstellung eines Kuitbildes") depends on the divine initiative. B. traces the role of the god (through omens) in initiating the process and the role of the king in response. She correctly differentiates the roles of the Babylonian and Assyrian kings in making the cult image, although it must be conceded that the record of the former is sparser than of the latter. B. presents a detailed, comprehensive, and up to date presentation of royal texts dealing with the making of cult images, especially for Esarhaddon's restoration of the Babylonian images destroyed by Sennacherib. (She also examines the complex issue whether these images were made anew or simply restored [p. 161].) She details the lexicography for the cult image (salmu, bunnannu, lamassu, etc.), the materials out of which they were...