Perchance to Dream: Dream Divination in the Bible and the Ancient Near East ed. by Esther J. Hamori and Jonathan Stökl
The Catholic Biblical quarterly January 1, 2019 Robert Gnuse
A collection of essays on dream divination in the Bible and ancient Near East explores new questions about how dreams functioned in literary contexts, how ancients verified dream veracity, why dreams had authority, how dream incubation worked, and how dreams functioned politically. Essays examine Mesopotamian and Hittite dreams requiring interpretation for validation, Hittite dreams as direct divine contact, El's self-incubated dream in Ugaritic texts enhancing his power, the Hebrew Bible's association of dreams with male virility and circumcision, the Joseph narrative's modification to attribute dream interpretation to God, Samuel's theophany legitimating priestly lineage, and Daniel's 'prophetization' of dream interpretation for Jewish acceptability.