The Origins of Biblical Monotheism · Israel's Polytheistic Background and the Ugaritic Texts by Smith, Mark S. -- Read -- Imperial Library of Trantor

Index

Abbreviations, Terms, and Sigla Introduction

1. The Scope of This Study 2. Issues in Discussing Monotheism and Polytheism 3. Problems with the Term “Canaanite” 4. More Cautionary Notes: Literature, History, Theology, Myth

PART I THE STRUCTURES OF DIVINITY 1 Anthropomorphic Deities and Divine Monsters

1. Place: Near, Foreign, and Far 2. Blessing at Home and Abroad versus Destruction 3. Animals: Domesticated versus Monsters 4. The Head God and His Beloved Monsters 5. Israelite Cosmic Enemies Tamed and Denied

2 The Divine Council

1. The Language of Council 2. The Assemblies of El and Baal 3. The Divine Council and Its Four Tiers 4. Israel and the Tiers of the Pantheon

3 The Divine Family

4 Pluralities, Pairings, and Other Divine Relations

PART II CHARACTERISTICS OF DIVINITY 5 The Traits of Deities

1. Strength and Size 2. Body and Gender 3. Holiness 4. Immortality 5. Postscript: Divine and Human Life (Or, My Breakfast with Shulamit)

6 The Life and Death of Baal

PART III THE ORIGINS OF MONOTHEISM IN THE BIBLE 7 El, Yahweh, and the Original God of IsraEL and the Exodus

1. El in the Bronze Age 2. El in Iron Age Phoenicia 3. El in Iron Age Aram and Transjordan 4. El in Iron Age Israel 5. Was El Israel’s Original God? 6. The Question of Yahweh’s Original Character 7. Was El the Original God of the Exodus?

8 The Emergence of Monotheistic Rhetoric in Ancient Judah

9 The Formation of Monotheistic Theologies in Biblical Literature

1. Creation, Paradise, and the Priesthood 2. Wisdom and the Levites 3. Apocalyptic Literature: The Case of Daniel 7 4. From “Canaanite Myth” to Biblical Monotheism?

10 Monotheism in Isaiah 40–55

1. The Polemical Context of Isaiah 40–55 2. The Outsider Context (Polemic) 3. Insider Referentiality and Isaiah 44 4. Reading for Monotheism

Notes Indexes of Texts

Texts from Ugarit Biblical Citations Other Texts

Index of Subjects