The Origin and Character of God

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.

• 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

This is an important book, full of insightful comments, and is both wide-ranging and well-researched.