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Item Details
| Title:
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THE ORIGINS OF BIBLICAL MONOTHEISM
ISRAEL'S POLYTHEISTIC BACKGROUND AND THE UGARITIC TEXTS |
| By: |
Mark S. Smith |
| Format: |
Paperback |
| List price:
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£43.99 |
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We currently do not stock this item, please contact the publisher directly for
further information.
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| ISBN 10: |
0195167686 |
| ISBN 13: |
9780195167689 |
| Publisher: |
OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS INC |
| Pub. date: |
1 October, 2003 |
| Pages: |
344 |
| Description: |
According to the Bible, ancient Israel's neighbours worshipped a wide variety of gods. In recent years, scholars have sought a better understanding of this early polytheistic milieu and its relation to Yahweh, the God of Israel. Drawing on ancient Ugaritic texts and looking closely at Ugaritic deities, Mark Smith examines the meaning of "divinity" in the ancient near East and considers how this concept applies to Yahweh. |
| Synopsis: |
As the bible tells us, ancient Israel's neighbours worshipped a wide variety of gods. It is now widely accepted that the Israelites' God, Yahweh, must have originated as one among these many, before assuming the role of the one true God of monotheism. Mark Smith here seeks to discover more precisely what was meant by "divinity" in the ancient near-East, and how these concepts apply to Yahweh. Part One of the book offers a detailed examination of the deities of ancient Ugarit, known to us from the largest surviving group of relevant extra-biblical texts. In Part Two, Smith looks closely at four classic problems associated with four Ugaritic deities, and considers how they affect our understanding of Yahweh. At the end of the book he returns to the question of Israelite monotheism, seeking to discover what religious issues it addressed and why it made sense at the time of its emergence. He argues that within the Bible, monotheism is not a separate "stage" of religion but rather represents a kind of rhetoric reinforcing Israel's exclusive relation with its deity. |
| Publication: |
US |
| Imprint: |
Oxford University Press Inc |
| Returns: |
Returnable |
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