BL1650.D48

Includes bibliographical references (p. 318-333) and indexes

- Defining and Contextualizing Religion - Religion as Ultimate Concern - The Care and Feeding of the Gods - On Folk Religion - Toward a Methodology - Phenomenology of Religion - The Context of Folk Religion - Religion and the Good Life - Public OpenAir Sanctuaries - Monumental Temples - The Goddess Asherah and Her Cult - Votives Vows and Folk Religion - Characterizing Asherah and Her Cult - Asherah Womens Cults and Official Yahwism - Asherah in the Hebrew Bible - Asherah Yahweh and Syncretis - The History of the History In Search of Ancient Israelite Religions - The Myth and Ritual School - Old Testament Theology - Sociological Approaches - A Revival of Interest in Israelite Religion - An Overall Critique of Previous Scholarship - Sources and Methods for the Study of Ancient Israels Religions - The Biblical Texts and Their Limitations - Some Caveats - Nonbiblical Texts - Archaeology as a Primary Source for History and Religion - Who and Why - Setting the Archaeological Record Straight - What Archaeology Can and Cannot Do - Why Another History? - The Hebrew Bible Religious Reality or Theological Ideal? -Part I Cultic Terminology in the Hebrew Bible - Family and Household Shrines - Temples - Cult Paraphernalia in the Hebrew Bible - Part II Cultic Terminology in the Hebrew Bible - Some Caveats Regarding Sacrifice - Prayers and Vows - Festivals - Archaeological Evidence for Folk Religions in Ancient Israel - Local Shrines and Family Religion - An Excursis on Magic - Iconographic Evidence of the Goddess - Asherah and Womens Cults - Archaeological Correlates of Womens Cults - Other Ethnographic Parallels - From Polytheism to Monotheism - Holy Places in PreIsraelite Times - The Israelite Sacrificial System as Canaanite - The Calendar - The Question of Syncretis - Religion in Crisis - To Your Tents O Israel - The State Cult in the North - Judah and the Yahweh Alone Movement - The Fall of Judah and Religious Crisis - The Empty Land - Out of the Ashes - Why Monotheism? and Whither? - Archaeological Evidence for Reforms - The Afterglow - Asherah Abscondita and Jewish Mysticism - What Does the Goddess Do to Help? - Afterword and Foreword Again

Following up on his two recent, widely acclaimed studies of ancient Israelite history and society, William Dever here reconstructs the practice of religion in ancient Israel from the bottom up. Archaeological excavations reveal numerous local and family shrines where sacrifices and other rituals were carried out. Intrigued by this "folk religion" in all its variety and vitality, Dever writes about ordinary people in ancient Israel and their everyday religious lives. "Did God Have a Wife?" shines new light on the presence and influence of women's cults in early Israel and their implications for our understanding of Israel's official "Book religion." Dever pays particular attention to the goddess Asherah, reviled by the authors of the Hebrew Bible as a foreign deity but, in the view of many modern scholars, popularly envisioned in early Israel as the consort of biblical Yahweh. His work also gives new prominence to women as the custodians of Israel's folk religion. The first book by an archaeologist on ancient Israelite religion, this fascinating study critically reviews virtually all of the archaeological literature of the past generation, while also bringing fresh evidence to the table. Though Dever digs deep into the past, his discussion is extensively illustrated, unencumbered by footnotes, and vivid with colorful insights. Meant for professional and general audiences alike, "Did God Have a Wife? is sure to spur wide and passionate debate.