Casting Down the Host of Heaven: The Rhetoric of Ritual Failure in the Polemic Against the Host of Heaven

Quine, Cat

Abstract

In Casting Down the Host of Heaven Cat Quine analyses the ambiguous nature of the Host and explores the role of ritual in the polemic against their worship. Although commonly assumed to be YHWH’s divine army, the book reveals their non-military and fluid nature. Quine demonstrates that it was the fluidity of the Host and their roles in the divine realm that permitted the creation of wide-ranging polemic against their worship. Her analysis shows that this polemic was expressed in ritual terms which persuaded its audiences, both ancient and modern, of its legitimacy and authority.

• Book Type: Authored Book
• Acceptance Date: Oct 15, 2019
• Online Publication Date: Mar 23, 2020
• Publication Date: Mar 23, 2020
• Deposit Date: Apr 18, 2020
• Publisher: Brill Academic Publishers
• Series Title: Oudtestamentische Studien
• Series Number: 78
• ISBN: 9789004424388
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004424395
• Keywords: Host of Heaven, Politics, Ritual, Biblical Rhetoric
• Public URL: https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/3910217
• Related Public URLs: https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780198846185.001.0001