Worship in Ancient Israel

Worship in Ancient Israel
Author: Walter Brueggemann
Publisher: Abingdon Press
Total Pages: 119
Release: 2005
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 0687343364

Guides readers through the themes, central texts, prayers, festivals, and practices of ancient Israel's worship traditions in the Old Testament.

Yahweh and the Sun

Yahweh and the Sun
Author: J. Glen Taylor
Publisher: A&C Black
Total Pages: 322
Release: 1993-11-01
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 056763549X

This challenging provocative book argues that there was in ancient Israel a considerable degree of overlap between the worship of the sun and of Yahweh-even that Yahweh was worshipped as the sun in some contexts. As an object created not by humankind but by God himself, the sun as an object of veneration lay outside the bounds of the second commandment and was considered by many to be an appropriate 'icon' of Yahweh of Hosts. Through its ivestigation of 'solar Yahwism', this book offers fresh insight into several passages (e.g.Genesis 1;32.23-33; Joshua 10.12-14; 1 Kings 8.12; Ezekiel 8.16-18; Psalms 19;104) and archaeological data regarding the orientations of Yawistic temples, the "lmlk" jar handles ,horse figurines, and the Taanach cult stand. The book argues that the struggle between Yahweh and other deities in ancint Israel took place within the context of the development of Yahwism itself.

The Religion of Ancient Israel

The Religion of Ancient Israel
Author: Patrick D. Miller
Publisher: Westminster John Knox Press
Total Pages: 378
Release: 2000-01-01
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 9780664221454

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.

Religious Diversity in Ancient Israel and Judah

Religious Diversity in Ancient Israel and Judah
Author: Francesca Stavrakopoulou
Publisher: A&C Black
Total Pages: 225
Release: 2010-04-15
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 0567032167

This volume of essays draws together specialists in the field to explain, illustrate and analyze this religious diversity in Ancient Israel.

Temples and Temple-service in Ancient Israel

Temples and Temple-service in Ancient Israel
Author: Menahem Haran
Publisher: Eisenbrauns
Total Pages: 420
Release: 1985
Genre: History
ISBN: 9780931464188

This milestone study is a thorough examination of the various cultic and social phenomena connected with the temple--activities connected with the temple's inner sphere and belonging to the priestly circle. The book also seeks to demonstrate the antiquity and the historical timing of the literary crystallization of the priestly material found in the Pentateuch. Contents: Prologue, The Israelite Temples, Temples and Open Sacred Places, The Priesthood and the Tribe of Levi, The Aaronites and the Rest of the Levitical Tribe, The Distribution of the Levitical Tribe, The Centralizations of the Cult, The Priestly Image of the Tabernacle, Grades of Sanctity in the Tabernacle, Temple and Tabernacle, The Ritual Complex Performed Inside the Temple, Incense of the Court and of the Temple Interior, The Symbols of the Inner Sanctum, The Non-Priestly Image of the Tent of Mo'ed, The Emptying of the Inner Sanctum, Pilgrim-Feasts and Family Festivals, and The Passover Sacrifice.

Temple and Worship in Biblical Israel

Temple and Worship in Biblical Israel
Author: John Day
Publisher: Bloomsbury T&T Clark
Total Pages: 584
Release: 2007-10-23
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 9780567045713

This major work examines the subject of Temple and Worship in biblical Israel, ranging from their ancient Near Eastern and archaeological background, through the Old Testament and Late Second Temple Judaism, and up to the New Testament. It is the product of an international team of twenty-three noted scholars. Special attention is paid to such subjects as the ideology of temples and the evidence for high places in Israel and the Canaanite world; the architecture and symbolism of Solomon's Temple; the attitude of various parts of the Old Testament to the Temple and cult, including that of several prophets; the light shed on Temple worship by the Psalms; the role and fate of the Ark of the Covenant; and the Day of Atonement. It also examines attitudes to the Temple in the Septuagint, Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha, the Dead Sea Scrolls, first-century Judaism, and the New Testament. This important work is the product of an impressive array of twenty-three noted scholars. The contributors include John Barton, H.G.M. Williamson, John Day, Susan Gillingham, John Jarick, C.T.R. Hayward, Michael Knibb, George Brooke, Martin Goodman, Christopher Rowland and Larry Kreitzer.

Did God Have a Wife?

Did God Have a Wife?
Author: William G. Dever
Publisher: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing
Total Pages: 361
Release: 2008-07-23
Genre: History
ISBN: 0802863949

This richly illustrated, non-technical reconstruction of "folk religion" in ancient Israel is based largely on recent archaeological evidence, but also incorporates biblical texts where possible.

Exploring the Religion of Ancient Israel

Exploring the Religion of Ancient Israel
Author: Aaron Chalmers
Publisher: IVP Academic
Total Pages: 159
Release: 2013-01-03
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 9780830825455

Aaron Chalmers gives students a unique introduction to the religious and social world of ancient Israel. The first part explores the major religious offices mentioned in the Old Testament, including prophets, priests, sages and kings. As well as considering what these key people said and did, the author traces the process through which one became recognized as a prophet, priest or sage, and where each of these offices were located in ancient Israel. The second part of the book focuses on the beliefs and practices of the common people--the group that made up the majority of ancient Israel s population.

The Bodies of God and the World of Ancient Israel

The Bodies of God and the World of Ancient Israel
Author: Benjamin D. Sommer
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 351
Release: 2009-06-29
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 0521518725

Sommer utilizes a recovered ancient perception of divinity as having more than one body, fluid and unbounded selves.