The articles in this volume of collected essays, written over the last two decades and all revised, updated, and supplemented with unpublished material, are grouped around two themes: Divine Secrets and Human Imaginations. The first essays deal with the production, initiation, use and function, the abduction, repatriation, and the replacement of divine images, their outer appearance, and the many facets of the divine presence theology in Ancient Mesopotamia. The essays on the second topic deal with human imaginations, human constructs, and constructed memories, which assign meaning to the past or to things or experiences that are beyond human control. Thematically, several aspects of the human condition are examined, such as the ideas associated in the Old Testament and the Ancient Near East with death, corporeality, enemies, disasters, utopias, and passionate love. 'Berlejung's book is a gift to biblical scholarship, particularly to those of us outside the circle of continental scholarship. Its blend of deep erudition and broad intellectual horizons is simply inspiring, providing a feast for the scholarly imagination.' Ronald Hendel in RBL 06/2022

is Professor for 'History and Religion of Israel and its Environment' at the Faculty of Theology of the University of Leipzig, an Extraordinary Professor for Ancient Studies at the University of Stellenbosch/South Africa, a Visiting Full Professor for Biblical Archaeology at Bar Ilan University/Israel, and a Full Member of the Saxon Academy of Sciences.

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Born 1961; studied Theology and Assyriology in Heidelberg and Munich; 1999-2004 Professor for Languages and Cultures of Syria and Palestine in Leuven/Belgium; since 2004 Professor for "History and Religious History of Israel and its Environment" at the Faculty of Theology of the University of Leipzig and since 2009 Extraordinary Professor for Ancient Studies at the University of Stellenbosch/South Africa; since 2017 Visiting Full Professor for Biblical Archaeology at Bar Ilan University/Israel; since 2017 Full Member of the Saxon Academy of Sciences.