Genesis and Regeneration: Essays on Conceptions of Origins (Studies in the Humanities)

Genesis and Regeneration: Essays on Conceptions of Origins (Studies in the Humanities)

The essays collected herein investigate conceptions presented within some of the major cultures of antiquity and of the early modern world regarding the beginnings of the world, of humanity, and of social organization. The discussion of origins, not surprisingly, reveals itself as a statement of identity and purpose. Through discourse concerning questions such as where things come from, or whence we originate, groups define their borders, point out those excluded from them, and formulate how they wish to interpret, for example, their mode of linguistic expression, their social structure, or the seemingly objective fact of their being human. Shaul Shaked is Professor of Iranian Studies at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. His books include From Zoroastrian Iran to Islam: Studies in Religious History and Intercultural Contacts (1995) and Dualism in Tranformation: Varieties of Religion in Sasanian Iran (The Jordan Lectures in Comparative Religion, 1994).