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English
Oxford University Press Inc
15 June 2020
Few topics are as broad or as daunting as the God of Israel, that deity of the world's three monotheistic religions, Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, who has been worshiped over millennia. In the Hebrew Bible, God is characterized variously as militant, beneficent, inscrutable, loving, and judicious. Who is this divinity that has been represented as masculine and feminine, mythic and real, transcendent and intimate? The Origin and Character of God is Theodore J. Lewis's monumental study of the vast subject that is the God of Israel. In it, he explores questions of historical origin, how God was characterized in literature, and how he was represented in archaeology and iconography. He also brings us into the lived reality of religious experience. Using the window of divinity to peer into the varieties of religious experience in ancient Israel, Lewis explores the royal use of religion for power, prestige, and control; the intimacy of family and household religion; priestly prerogatives and cultic status; prophetic challenges to injustice; and the pondering of theodicy by poetic sages. A volume that is encyclopedic in scope but accessible in tone, The Origin and Character of God is an essential addition to the growing scholarship of one of humanity's most enduring concepts.

By:  
Imprint:   Oxford University Press Inc
Country of Publication:   United States
Dimensions:   Height: 243mm,  Width: 167mm,  Spine: 60mm
Weight:   1.700kg
ISBN:   9780190072544
ISBN 10:   0190072547
Pages:   1048
Publication Date:  
Audience:   Professional and scholarly ,  Undergraduate
Format:   Hardback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Chapter One: Introductory Matters Chapter Two: The History of Scholarship on Ancient Israelite Religion - A Brief Sketch Chapter Three: Methodology Chapter Four: El Worship Chapter Five: The Iconography of Divinity - El Section I: Methodology and Iconography Section II: Ancient Near Eastern Iconography and Divine Images Section III: The Iconography of Ugaritic 'Ilu Section IV: The Iconography of Israelite El Chapter Six: The Origin of Yahweh Section I: The Meaning and Revelation of the Name Yahweh in the Hebrew Bible Section II: The Name Yahweh in Extra-Biblical and Epigraphic Sources Section III: The Geographic Origins of Yahwistic Traditions and the Debate Concerning Chapter Seven: The Iconography of Divinity - Yahweh Section I: The Iconography of Yahweh: Anthropomorphic and Theriomorphic Traditions Section II: The Iconography of Yahweh: Aniconic and Abstract Traditions Chapter Eight: The Characterization of the Deity Yahweh Part One: Yahweh as Warrior and Family God Section I: Yahweh as Divine Warrior Section II: Yahweh the Compassionate and Family Religion Chapter Nine: The Characterization of the Deity Yahweh Part Two: Yahweh as King and Yahweh as Judge Section I: Yahweh as King Section II: Yahweh as Judge Chapter Ten: The Characterization of the Deity Yahweh Part Three: Yahweh as Holy Conclusion Notes Works Cited Index

Theodore J. Lewis is the Blum-Iwry Professor of Near Eastern Studies at Johns Hopkins University. He is the author of Cults of the Dead in Ancient Israel and Ugarit and co-author of Ugaritic Narrative Poetry. He is General Editor of the multi-volume Writings from the Ancient World translation series and the co-editor with Gary Beckman of Text, Artifact, and Image: Revealing Ancient Israelite Religion. He is former editor of Near Eastern Archaeology and Hebrew Annual Review. His research has been awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship.

Reviews for The Origin and Character of God: Ancient Israelite Religion through the Lens of Divinity

The Origin and Character of God is a magnum opus on the religion of ancient Israel. Taking a history of religion approach, Professor Lewis properly places the emergence of Israelite religion in the broader context of near eastern religion and history. It will be an essential reference work for generations to come. * William M. Schniedewind, UCLA * In this landmark reference work, Theodore J. Lewis surveys the gods El and Yahweh, along with the goddess Astarte, as well as their rituals, personnel and polemics. Lewis masterfully describes the vast evidence found in iconography and texts, both biblical and extrabiblical. A readable volume marked by rich documentation, sober assessment, balanced judgment. * Mark S. Smith, Author of The Genesis of Good and Evil: The Fall(out) and Original Sin in the Bible * The Origin and Character of God is driven by critically evaluated data. In it, Theodore J. Lewis illustrates how hypotheses developed with conscientious methodological rigor should be applied to explain such data. In this remarkable magnum opus, Lewis, whose many contributions to the study of Israelite religion and, more generally, of divinity in the ancient Near East are well known and highly regarded, provides scholars a useful model for the type and quality of research that will carry these fields forward in coming decades. * Ziony Zevit, American Jewish University * Theodore Lewis's new book is a true magnum opus. It takes on the challenge of understanding ancient Israelite religion by focusing on how the Israelites conceptualized deity, more specifically, the god Yahweh and Yahweh's older relative, the Canaanite El. Lewis spares no effort to be comprehensive, taking in all the primary evidence from written texts and non-written archaeology and all the modern scholarship.... His coverage is lucid and systematic, and not simply descriptive, but a probing inquiry on many levels... paying close attention to both visual and written sources and their interplay, and demonstrating an acute awareness of the limits of our primary evidence. * Peter Machinist, Harvard University *


  • Winner of Winner of the Award for Excellence in the Study of Religion: Historical Studies at the 2021 AAR Book Awards Winner of the Frank Moore Cross Award from the American Schools of Oriental Research.
  • Winner of Winner of the Frank Moore Cross Award from the American Schools of Oriental Research.

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