Does the Old Testament Teach Absolute Monotheism? Part I
Introduction: Was Ancient Israel Monotheistic? Western Society is perhaps more indebted to the Hebrew Bible than to any other book, and arguably the most famous teaching associated with the Hebrew...
View ArticleWhen Jehovah Was Not the God of the Old Testament. Part II
As the very name Israel might indicate on account of its theophoric element el (אל), it appears that the chief god worshiped in earliest Israel was El, the chief god of the Canaanite pantheon in the...
View ArticleGod, Gods, and Sons (and Daughters) of God in the Hebrew Bible. Part III
This historical reconstruction [that El was originally Israel’s chief deity, and YHWH was originally his son and the patron deity of Israel], in turn, helps to make sense of certain biblical texts...
View ArticleAsherah, God's Wife in Ancient Israel. Part IV
One of the most important deities that many, if not most, ancient Israelites worshiped was YHWH’s heavenly spouse or consort, the goddess Asherah (the Hebrew linguistic equivalent of Ugaritic Athirat,...
View ArticlePolytheism and Ancient Israel’s Canaanite Heritage. Part V
Of course, much of this [i.e., that Israel worshiped El and Asherah alongside YHWH] is really to be expected given that recent syntheses of the archaeological, cultural, and literary data pertaining to...
View ArticleMy God Is Bigger Than Your God–Literally. Part VI
Although YHWH clearly was perceived by biblical authors in anthropomorphic terms, YHWH’s body was still different from regular human bodies. For YHWH, like many other deities of the ancient Near...
View ArticleThe Blessings of an Unknown God
This post could be called anti-Areopagean, since in a reversal of the Acts 17 narrative, I write to those who inherited a supremely certain God and extol the virtues of a God unknown. I propose that...
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