Ancestors, Religion and Worldviews in Genesis 11:28-50:1-26

The issue of the role of ancestors within ancient Israelite world views and religion always elicits divergent views. This is partly due to different approaches to the issue. As a result, the ancestor's cult is a belief, which has met with widely differing Christian responses. Some argue in favour and against of ancestor worship within ancient Israel, whether public or private(Spronk 1986;Lewis 1989, Kennedy 1992, Cooper 1993, Wright 1952; De Vaux 1961; Kaufman 1972, Johnston 1994, Schmidt 1994). For example, Cooper (1993: 303) argues that "in our ongoing investigation of what we call 'narrative reflexes of cult', perhaps our most striking discovery has been the pervasiveness of ancestor - cult material that can be discerned in biblical stories. These stories have the potential to open a window to Israelite religious practice that certain authorities sought to suppress."

Autorentext

Edwin Zulu is an AssociateProfessor in Old Testament and Hebrew at Justo Mwale University, Zambia inthe Faculty of Theology and Religious Studies. He is a research Fellow at the University ofStellenbosch, South Africa. He holds a PhD in Old Testament from the University ofStellenbosch.