Only One God?: Monotheism in Ancient Israel and the Veneration of the Goddess AsherahThe view of ancient Israelite religion as monotheistic has long been traditional in Judaism, Christianity and Islam, religions that have elaborated in their own way the biblical image of a single male deity. But recent archaeological findings of texts and images from the Iron Age kingdoms of Israel and Judah and their neighbourhood offer a quite different impression. Two issues in particular raised by these are the existence of a female consort, Asherah, and the implication for monotheism; and the proliferation of pictorial representations that may contradict the biblical ban on images. Was the religion of ancient Israel really as the Bible would have us believe? This volume provides a comprehensive introduction to these issues, presenting the relevant inscriptions and discussing their possible impact for Israelite monotheism, the role of women in the cult, and biblical theology. |
Contents
| 7 | |
| 8 | |
| 11 | |
| 17 | |
Archaeological Traces of Cult in Ancient Israel | 45 |
On the Origins of Ancient Israelite Yahwism | 81 |
Asherah outside Israel | 127 |
The Gods in Whom They Trusted Assyrian Evidence for Iconic Polytheism in Ancient Israel? | 151 |
Women and Religion in the Old Testament | 164 |
On Possible Implications for Biblical Theology | 189 |
Bibliography | 202 |
| 223 | |
| 229 | |
Other editions - View all
Only One God?: Monotheism in Ancient Israel and the Veneration of the ... Bob Becking Limited preview - 2001 |
Only One God?: Monotheism in Ancient Israel and the Veneration of the ... Bob Becking No preview available - 2001 |
Common terms and phrases
altars Anat Ancient Israel ancient Israelite religion ancient Near East Aniconism Arad Archaeological Asherah Assyrian Astarte Baal Babylonian Becking belief blessing Canaan Canaanite context cult place cult stands cultic objects culture DDD² deity depicted Deut Dijk-Hemmes Dijkstra divine name E.J. Brill Egypt eighth century BCE Ekron evidence Excavations Exile Exod Ezek female goddess Asherah gods Göttinnen Hebrew Bible holy idem incense inscriptions interpreted Iron Age Israelite Jerusalem Judaean Keel and Uehlinger Khirbet Beit Lei king Kingdom Korpel Kuntillet el-'Ajrud Lachish Leiden Megiddo mentioned monotheism Moses myth name of YHWH Niehr official cult Old Testament original Palestine patriarchal pluriformity Press prophets Queen of Heaven religio-historical ritual role sacred Samaria sanctuary Sargon Sargon II suggest Tammuz Tel Arad Tel Megiddo temple theology tion tomb Toorn Ugarit Universitätsverlag Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht veneration Verlag Vriezen women word worship Yahweh Yahwism YHWH YHWH's