The Origins of Biblical Monotheism: Israel's Polytheistic Background and the Ugaritic Texts
Oxford University Press, 2003
978-0195167689
https://www.amazon.com/dp/0195167686
According to the Bible, ancient Israel's neighbors 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.
Comments
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Please, add this one, and all the material from Mark S. Smith you can get. Also consider adding more material on the Ancient Near East in general.
Dad gracias al Señor porque es bueno, porque es eterna su misericordia.
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I have this in Kindle from 7 years ago; quite good (as all the Smith volumes). I'm not sure who's at fault, but he lists the 4 common features of ancient gods: strength/size, body/gender, holiness, and immorality.
That last one caught me (an accusation of the greek gods). But it was a typo … 'immortality'.
"If myth is ideology in narrative form, then scholarship is myth with footnotes." B. Lincolm 1999.
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Funny, I was actually writing a paper for my final in a textual criticism class for the end of this semester and found myself wishing this book were in Logos instead of having to do research the old-school way…
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And now they are adding more and more material from Oxford University Press, it might be the perfect time for this!! (Also hoping for other material by Smith and scholars in the same fields of expertise, as I mentioned before.)
Dad gracias al Señor porque es bueno, porque es eterna su misericordia.
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