The religious Nile : water, ritual and society since ancient Egypt / Terje Oestigaard.

ISBN:

9781838609641

9781786722423

Title:

The religious Nile : water, ritual and society since ancient Egypt / Terje Oestigaard.

Author:

Oestigaard, Terje, author.

Personal Author:

Oestigaard, Terje, author.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (xiv, 466 pages) : illustrations, maps

Contents:

Preface -- Chapter 1: Sources of Religion -- Chapter 2: The Source of the Blue Nile and Lake Tana in Ethiopia -- Chapter 3: From Lake Victoria to Murchison Falls in Uganda -- Chapter 4: Sources in the Sky and Rainmaking -- Chapter 5: The River Civilization in the Desert -- Chapter 6: Water and World Religions along the Nile -- Index.

Local Note:

eBooks on EBSCOhost

Subject Term:

Rivers -- Religious aspects.

Rivers -- Africa -- History.

Cours d'eau -- Afrique -- Histoire.

BODY, MIND & SPIRIT -- Gaia & Earth Energies.

RELIGION -- Christianity -- General.

Rivers

Rivers -- Religious aspects

Geographic Term:

Nile River -- History.

Nil (Fleuve) -- Histoire.

Africa

Nile River

Format:

Electronic Resources

Electronic Access:

http://ezproxy.angliss.edu.au/login?url=http://ezproxy.angliss.edu.au/login?direct=true&scope=site&db=nlebk&AN=2112903

Publication Date:

2018

Publication Information:

London :

I.B. Tauris,

2018.

Available:*

Shelf Number	Material Type	Copy	Shelf Location	Status
201.65514830962 23	1:E-BOOK	1	1:ONLINE	Searching... Unknown

Bound With These Titles

On Order

Summary

The Nile is arguably the most famous river in the world. For millennia, the search for its source defeated emperors and explorers. Yet the search for its source also contained a religious quest - a search for the origin of its divine and life-giving waters. Terje Oestigaard reveals how the beliefs associated with the river have played a key role in the cultural development and make-up of the societies and civilizations associated with it. Drawing upon his personal experience and fieldwork in Africa, including details of rites and ceremonies now fast disappearing, the author brings out in rich detail the religious and spiritual meanings attached to the life-giving waters by those whose lives are so bound to the river. Part religious quest, part exploration narrative, the author shows how this mighty river is a powerful source for a greater understanding of human nature, society and religion.

Author Notes

Terje Oestigaard is Senior Researcher, Nordic Africa Institute, Uppsala, Sweden, and Docent, Department of Archaeology and Ancient History, Uppsala University, Sweden. He has a doctorate in archaeology from the University of Bergen. His books include Water, Christianity & the Rise of Capitalism (I.B.Tauris, 2013), Religion at Work in Globalised Traditions (2014), and Water and Food: From Hunter Gatherers to Global Production (co-ed. with T. Tvedt, I.B.Tauris, 2016).

Reviews (1)

Choice Review

This is a big book on an important subject: the role of water in world religions as exemplified by the religions of the various peoples who have lived along the Nile, from its source in Uganda to the Mediterranean, from antiquity to the present. Oestigaard (archaeology and ancient history, Uppsala Univ., Sweden) treats this vast topic in six chapters. In the initial chapter the author discusses the sources of religion. He then examines the peoples living along the Blue Nile and White Nile, the role of rainmakers in the religions of the upper Nile basin, and the Nile and ancient Egypt. The sixth and final chapter provides an overview of the significance of the Nile in the context of world religions. Although the most original part of the book is Oestigaard's account of the views of contemporary peoples living along the White Nile and Blue Nile--he bases this on his field work in the region--his discussion of ancient Egyptians' religious explanations of the Nile flood is also valuable. Missing, however, is consideration of the Nile in ancient Nubia. Summing Up: Recommended. Upper-division undergraduates through faculty.--Stanley M. Burstein, emeritus, California State University, Los Angeles