The Origins of Early Semitic Ritual

In these lectures an attempt is made to relate the ritual practices of the Hebrews, as contained in the Old Testament, to the larger field of the elaborate rituals of Mesopotamian civilization, and to what we know of the early ritual of Canaan. . . . The first lecture is devoted to a survey of the sources from which our knowledge of Mesopotamian ritual is derived and to a description of the general character of the most important types of Mesopotamian ritual. . . . The second lecture attempts to do the same thing for the early ritual of Canaan. . . . The last lecture attempts to set the principal ritual practices and institutions of the Hebrews, as contained in the Old Testament and the Mishnah, in the perspective of the Mesopotamian and Canaanite pattern described in the first two lectures, to estimate their debt to these sources, and to arrive at some conception of the historical development of Hebrew ritual. . . . It is becoming clear that in the earliest stages of religion, myth and ritual are inseparably connected, and that their study must be carried on side by side. --from the PrefaceS. H. Hooke (1874-1968) was an Old Testament scholar and a leader of the Myth and Ritual School of interpretation. He taught at the University of Toronto and then the University of London. He sought to integrate biblical studies with anthropology and archaeology. Among his many publications are 'The Seige Perilous,' 'Middle Eastern Mythology,' and 'Babylonian and Assyrian Religion.' He also edited the important volumes: 'Myth and Ritual'; 'The Labyrinth'; and 'Myth, Ritual and Kingship.'