Gods, Goddesses, and Images of God in Ancient Israel

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Publisher : Augsburg Fortress Publishing
ISBN 13 :
Total Pages : 488 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (91 download)

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Book Synopsis Gods, Goddesses, and Images of God in Ancient Israel by : Othmar Keel

Download or read book Gods, Goddesses, and Images of God in Ancient Israel written by Othmar Keel and published by Augsburg Fortress Publishing. This book was released on 1998 with total page 488 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Keel and Uehlinger's unique study brings the massive Palestinian archaeological evidence of 8,500 amulets and inscriptions to bear on these questions. Vindicating the use of symbols and visual remains to investigate ancient religion, the authors employ iconographic evidence from around 1750 B.C.E. through the Persian period (c. 333 B.C.E.) to reconstruct the emergence and development of the Yahweh cult in relation to its immediate neighbors and competitors. They also fully explore whether female characteristics were present in the early Yahweh figure and how they might have evolved in Israelite religion. Keel and Uehlinger's major study marks the maturation of iconographical studies and affords an exciting glimpse into the vibrant religious life of ancient Canaan and Israel.

The Religion of Ancient Israel

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Publisher : Westminster John Knox Press
ISBN 13 : 9780664221454
Total Pages : 378 pages
Book Rating : 4.2/5 (214 download)

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Book Synopsis The Religion of Ancient Israel by : Patrick D. Miller

Download or read book The Religion of Ancient Israel written by Patrick D. Miller and published by Westminster John Knox Press. This book was released on 2000-01-01 with total page 378 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The historical and literary questions about ancient Israel that traditionally have preoccupied biblical scholars have often overlooked the social realities of life experienced by the vast majority of the population of ancient Israel. Volumes in the Library of Ancient Israel draw on multiple disciplines -- such as archaeology, anthropology, sociology, and literary criticism -- to illumine the everyday realities and social subtleties these ancient cultures experienced. This series employs sophisticated methods resulting in original contributions that depict the reality of the people behind the Hebrew Bible and interprets these scholarly insights for a wide variety of readers. Individually and collectively, these books will expand our vision of the culture and society of ancient Israel, thereby generating new appreciation for its impact up to the present.Patrick Miller investigates the role religion played in an expanding circle of influences in ancient Israel: the family, village, tribe, and nation-state. He situates Israel's religion in context where a variety of social forces affected beliefs, and where popular cults openly competed with the "official" religion. Miller makes extensive use of both epigraphic and artefactual evidence as he deftly probes the complexities of Iron Age culture and society and their enduring significance for people today.

Divine Doppelgängers

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Publisher : Penn State Press
ISBN 13 : 1646020936
Total Pages : 279 pages
Book Rating : 4.6/5 (46 download)

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Book Synopsis Divine Doppelgängers by : Collin Cornell

Download or read book Divine Doppelgängers written by Collin Cornell and published by Penn State Press. This book was released on 2021-05-18 with total page 279 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Bible says that YHWH alone is God and that there is none like him—but texts and artwork from antiquity show that many gods looked very similar. In this volume, scholars of the Hebrew Bible and its historical contexts address the problem of YHWH’s ancient look-alikes, providing recommendations for how Jews and Christians can think theologically about this challenge. Sooner or later, whether in a religion class or a seminary course, students bump up against the fact that God—the biblical God—was one among other, comparable gods. The ancient world was full of gods, including great gods of conquering empires, dynastic gods of petty kingdoms, goddesses of fertility, and personal spirit guardians. And in various ways, these gods look like the biblical God. Like the God of the Bible, they, too, controlled the fates of nations, chose kings, bestowed fecundity and blessing, and cared for their individual human charges. They spoke and acted. They experienced wrath and delight. They inspired praise. All of this leaves Jews and Christians in a bind: how can they confess that the God named YHWH was (and is) the true and living God, in view of this God’s profound similarities to all these others? The essays in this volume address the theological challenge these parallels create, providing reflections on how Jews and Christians can keep faith in YHWH as God while acknowledging the reality of YHWH’s divine doppelgängers. It will be welcomed by undergraduates studying religion; seminarians and graduate students of Bible, theology, and the ancient world; and adult education classes.

Jerusalem and the One God

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Publisher : Fortress Press
ISBN 13 : 1506425615
Total Pages : 280 pages
Book Rating : 4.5/5 (64 download)

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Book Synopsis Jerusalem and the One God by : Othmar Keel

Download or read book Jerusalem and the One God written by Othmar Keel and published by Fortress Press. This book was released on 2017-07-15 with total page 280 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Jerusalem, with its turbulent history, is without doubt one of the best-known cities of the world. A long line of foreign powers have ruled over it, from as far back as biblical times. But the city owes its importance not to them but to the fact that it is the birthplace of the monotheistic currents that shape Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. Othmar Keel sketches in broad brush strokes the historical development of Israelite-Jewish monotheism in and around Jerusalem, arguing that monotheism is “a product of the city, not of the desert,” and describes its integration of polytheistic symbols and perceptions into its worldview. Keel relies on biblical and extrabiblical texts as well as the rich iconographic evidence of archaeological discoveries. Abundant maps and sketches of archaeological artifacts enhance his argument.

Yahweh and the Gods and Goddesses of Canaan

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Publisher : Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN 13 : 0567537838
Total Pages : 289 pages
Book Rating : 4.5/5 (675 download)

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Book Synopsis Yahweh and the Gods and Goddesses of Canaan by : John Day

Download or read book Yahweh and the Gods and Goddesses of Canaan written by John Day and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2010-06-15 with total page 289 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This masterly book is the climax of over twenty-five years of study of the impact of Canaanite religion and mythology on ancient Israel and the Old Testament. It is John Day's magnum opus in which he sets forth all his main arguments and conclusions on the subject. The work considers in detail the relationship between Yahweh and the various gods and goddesses of Canaan, including the leading gods El and Baal, the great goddesses (Asherah, Astarte and Anat), astral deities (Sun, Moon and Lucifer), and underworld deities (Mot, Resheph, Molech and the Rephaim). Day assesses both what Yahwism assimilated from these deities and what it came to reject. More generally he discusses the impact of Canaanite polytheism on ancient Israel and how monotheism was eventually achieved.

Goddesses and Trees, New Moon and Yahweh

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Author :
Publisher : Burns & Oates
ISBN 13 :
Total Pages : 224 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (91 download)

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Book Synopsis Goddesses and Trees, New Moon and Yahweh by : Othmar Keel

Download or read book Goddesses and Trees, New Moon and Yahweh written by Othmar Keel and published by Burns & Oates. This book was released on 1998 with total page 224 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The first study in this volume considers the cults of goddesses dedicated to trees and the Earth in the Near East before the Deuteronomistic reform. The 2nd study c onsiders the cult of the moon and its surprising survival in the Hebrew canon. '

The Bodies of God and the World of Ancient Israel

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Publisher : Cambridge University Press
ISBN 13 : 1139477781
Total Pages : 351 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (394 download)

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Book Synopsis The Bodies of God and the World of Ancient Israel by : Benjamin D. Sommer

Download or read book The Bodies of God and the World of Ancient Israel written by Benjamin D. Sommer and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2009-06-29 with total page 351 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Sommer utilizes a lost ancient Near Eastern perception of divinity according to which a god has more than one body and fluid, unbounded selves. Though the dominant strains of biblical religion rejected it, a monotheistic version of this theological intuition is found in some biblical texts. Later Jewish and Christian thinkers inherited this ancient way of thinking; ideas such as the sefirot in Kabbalah and the trinity in Christianity represent a late version of this theology. This book forces us to rethink the distinction between monotheism and polytheism, as this notion of divine fluidity is found in both polytheistic cultures (Babylonia, Assyria, Canaan) and monotheistic ones (biblical religion, Jewish mysticism, Christianity), whereas it is absent in some polytheistic cultures (classical Greece). The Bodies of God and the World of Ancient Israel has important repercussions not only for biblical scholarship and comparative religion but for Jewish-Christian dialogue.

Twilight of the Gods

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Publisher : Westminster John Knox Press
ISBN 13 : 9780664228859
Total Pages : 124 pages
Book Rating : 4.2/5 (288 download)

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Book Synopsis Twilight of the Gods by : David Penchansky

Download or read book Twilight of the Gods written by David Penchansky and published by Westminster John Knox Press. This book was released on 2005-01-01 with total page 124 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Since the middle of the twentieth century, one of biblical scholarship's chief assumptions has been that ancient Israel evolved out of the polytheism of surrounding cultures into an ethical monotheism. However, this consensus has fallen apart in recent years. Scholars now know that early Israel was surrounded by a very polytheistic culture and that many Israelites thought of Yahweh as the chief God among many gods. Furthermore, archaeology has shown that Yahweh was worshiped along with other gods throughout the period after the exile, when many shrines were in honor of "Yahweh and his Asherah." David Penchansky's Twilight of the Gods is the first accessible book that shows a historical Israel where polytheism and monotheism existed simultaneously in great conflict. He provides a historical introduction, followed by close readings of key Old Testament passages, where he demonstrates how to interpret difficult biblical texts that depict other gods or claim Yahweh is the only God within this new understanding of Israelite religion.

A Handbook of Gods and Goddesses of the Ancient Near East

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Publisher : Penn State Press
ISBN 13 : 1646021290
Total Pages : 443 pages
Book Rating : 4.6/5 (46 download)

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Book Synopsis A Handbook of Gods and Goddesses of the Ancient Near East by : Douglas R. Frayne

Download or read book A Handbook of Gods and Goddesses of the Ancient Near East written by Douglas R. Frayne and published by Penn State Press. This book was released on 2021-02-08 with total page 443 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From the tragic young Adonis to Zašhapuna, first among goddesses, this handbook provides the most complete information available on deities from the cultures and religions of the ancient Near East, including Anatolia, Syria, Israel, Sumer, Babylonia, Assyria, and Elam. The result of nearly fifteen years of research, this handbook is more expansive and covers a wider range of sources and civilizations than any previous reference works on the topic. Arranged alphabetically, the entries range from multiple pages of information to a single line—sometimes all that we know about a given deity. Where possible, each record discusses the deity’s symbolism and imagery, connecting it to the myths, rituals, and festivals described in ancient sources. Many of the entries are accompanied by illustrations that aid in understanding the iconography, and they all include references to texts in which the god or goddess is mentioned. Appropriate for both trained scholars and nonacademic readers, this book collects centuries of Near Eastern mythology into one volume. It will be an especially valuable resource for anyone interested in Assyriology, ancient religion, and the ancient Near East.

Sarai

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Publisher : Wipf and Stock Publishers
ISBN 13 : 1725298902
Total Pages : 74 pages
Book Rating : 4.7/5 (252 download)

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Book Synopsis Sarai by : Dvora Lederman-Daniely

Download or read book Sarai written by Dvora Lederman-Daniely and published by Wipf and Stock Publishers. This book was released on 2021-06-29 with total page 74 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Who was the mother goddess of the ancient religion of Israel, the spouse of the god Yahweh? Archaeological and literary-biblical studies refer to her as "Asherah," yet, they cannot explain why this name is not mentioned in the book of Genesis, a book that portrays the formation of Israel's religion. In this groundbreaking book, Dvora Lederman-Daniely provides an answer to this enigmatic question. Based on meticulous research she argues the goddess's name does appear in the book of Genesis but it is concealed within the name of the first human matriarch of the people of Israel: Sarai. Deciphering and identifying the forgotten and censored name of the divine spouse of Yahweh opens the door to a revolutionary understanding of the relationship between Yahweh and the people of Israel, as perceived during the formation of the Hebrew people. Moreover, biblical images and metaphors are stripped back and their outrageous mythological content is laid bare. Through careful argument Lederman-Daniely excavates the very origins of Jewish customs and decrees exposing how they embody the ancient worship of a goddess who was Yahweh's spouse.

The Early History of God

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Publisher : Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing
ISBN 13 : 9780802839725
Total Pages : 300 pages
Book Rating : 4.8/5 (397 download)

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Book Synopsis The Early History of God by : Mark S. Smith

Download or read book The Early History of God written by Mark S. Smith and published by Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing. This book was released on 2002-08-03 with total page 300 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: There is still much disagreement over the origins and development of Israelite religion. Mark Smith sets himself the task of reconstructing the cult of Yahweh, the most important deity in Israel's early religion, and tracing the transformation of that deity into the sole god - the development of monotheism.

Gods, Goddesses, and the Women Who Serve Them

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Author :
Publisher : Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing
ISBN 13 : 1467463213
Total Pages : 372 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (674 download)

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Book Synopsis Gods, Goddesses, and the Women Who Serve Them by : Susan Ackerman

Download or read book Gods, Goddesses, and the Women Who Serve Them written by Susan Ackerman and published by Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing. This book was released on 2022-09-17 with total page 372 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A wide-ranging study of women in ancient Israelite religion. Susan Ackerman has spent her scholarly career researching underexamined aspects of the world of the Hebrew Bible—particularly those aspects pertaining to women. In this collection drawn from three decades of her work, she describes in fascinating detail the worship of goddesses in ancient Israel, the roles women played as priests and prophets, the cultic significance of queen mothers, and the Hebrew Bible’s accounts of women’s religious lives. Specific topics include: the “Queen of Heaven,” a goddess whose worship was the object of censure in the book of Jeremiah Asherah, the great Canaanite mother goddess for whom Judean women were described as weaving in the books of Kings biblical figures considered as religious functionaries, such as Miriam, Deborah, and Zipporah the lack of women priests in ancient Israel explored against the prevalence of priestesses in the larger ancient Near Eastern world the cultic significance of queen mothers in Israel and throughout the ancient Near East Israelite women’s participation in the cult of Yahweh and in the cults of various goddesses

God's Body

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Publisher : Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN 13 : 0567655962
Total Pages : 207 pages
Book Rating : 4.5/5 (676 download)

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Book Synopsis God's Body by : Andreas Wagner

Download or read book God's Body written by Andreas Wagner and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2019-02-21 with total page 207 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Images of the body in ancient Near Eastern civilizations are radically different from body images today, which in turn creates significant consequences for our understanding of the biblical notion of God's human shape and the frequent and widespread misconceptions therein. Andreas Wagner illuminates such frequent and widespread misconceptions, and reveals the sometimes distant pictorial world of ancient body images. He contrasts these with contemporary models and makes the matter of the Old Testament concept of God's human form accessible and clear. Wagner begins by introducing readers to aspects of anthropomorphism, the study of body parts, and Israel's basic understanding of the human body. He then turns specifically to the body of God, analysing why and how certain body parts are emphasized or regularly employed in the biblical text when it tries to describe God. Wagner draws out the theological aspects of the ways in which God's body is described as well as considering the diverse range of ancient Near Eastern perspectives on God, and the ways in which ancient cultures constructed and understood deities. Wagner concludes by looking at how the depiction of God in the Old Testament fits with the concept of mankind made in God's image. Enhanced by over fifty illustrations, God's Body will lead the debate in biblical anthropomorphism for years to come.

Only One God?

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Publisher : Sheffield Academic Press
ISBN 13 :
Total Pages : 236 pages
Book Rating : 4.X/5 (4 download)

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Book Synopsis Only One God? by : Bob Becking

Download or read book Only One God? written by Bob Becking and published by Sheffield Academic Press. This book was released on 2001 with total page 236 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Contributions to this volume are based on a series of lectures read several years ago at the Faculty of Theology of Utrecht University"--Pref.

The Symbolism of the Biblical World

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Publisher : Eisenbrauns
ISBN 13 : 9781575060149
Total Pages : 454 pages
Book Rating : 4.0/5 (61 download)

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Book Synopsis The Symbolism of the Biblical World by : Othmar Keel

Download or read book The Symbolism of the Biblical World written by Othmar Keel and published by Eisenbrauns. This book was released on 1997 with total page 454 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: When Othmar Keel's book first appeared in Germany in 1972, it was a pioneering study, the first to compare systematically the conceptual world of a biblical book with that of ancient Near Eastern iconography. First translated into English in 1978, the book has proven its lasting value for exegesis of the Psalms, the comparative study of the Bible and its world, and the study of ancient Near Eastern art and iconography.

Religious Diversity in Ancient Israel and Judah

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Publisher : A&C Black
ISBN 13 : 0567032167
Total Pages : 225 pages
Book Rating : 4.5/5 (67 download)

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Book Synopsis Religious Diversity in Ancient Israel and Judah by : Francesca Stavrakopoulou

Download or read book Religious Diversity in Ancient Israel and Judah written by Francesca Stavrakopoulou and published by A&C Black. This book was released on 2010-04-15 with total page 225 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This volume of essays draws together specialists in the field to explain, illustrate and analyze this religious diversity in Ancient Israel.

God's Monsters

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Publisher : Augsburg Fortress Publishers
ISBN 13 : 1506486320
Total Pages : 307 pages
Book Rating : 4.5/5 (64 download)

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Book Synopsis God's Monsters by : Esther J. Hamori

Download or read book God's Monsters written by Esther J. Hamori and published by Augsburg Fortress Publishers. This book was released on 2023-10-31 with total page 307 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Bible is full of monsters: giants, vengeful spirits, and more. If you read closely, you'll see these monsters aren't God's opponents- they are God's entourage. When we examine these strange creatures for what they are, we see how they validate the human experience, living in a world that is unpredictable, unjust, and at times monstrous.