Context > Religions > Israel, Judah, and Judaism

Overviews/Introductions

• Hebrew Religion to the Establishment of Judaism under Ezra - by William E. Addis (Williams & Norgate/Putnam, 1906)

Ba'alism

• Yahweh and Ba'al in Ancient Israel According to the Bible and New Archaeological Evidence - by Ephraim Stern

Cult Spaces

• Expatriates, Repatriates, and the Question of Zion’s Status—In Conversation with Melody D. Knowles, Centrality Practiced: Jerusalem in the Religious Practices of Yehud and the Diaspora in the Persian Period (Atlanta, SBL, 2006) - by Deirdre N. Fulton, David Janzen, Ralph W. Klein, and Melody Knowles, ed. Gary N. Knoppers, Journal of Hebrew Scriptures 7.7 (2007)
• Reading religious artifacts: The shrine room at Judahite Tell Halif - by Paul Jacobs, Journal of Biblical Studies 1.2 (2001)
• Sacred Stones in the Desert - by Uzi Avner, Biblical Archaeology Review (May-June 2001)

"Official" and "Popular" Religion

• Official Religion and Popular Religion in Pre-Exilic Ancient Israel - by Jacques Berlinerbrau
• Toward a Holiness Hermeneutic: The Old Testament against Israelite Religion - by John W. Wright, Wesleyan Theological Journal 30.2 (1995)

Varieties of Theism

• The Early History of God: Yahweh and Other Deities in Ancient Israel - by Mark S. Smith
• The Origins of Biblical Monotheism: Israel's Polytheistic Background and the Ugaritic Texts - by Mark S. Smith

Yahwism

• The Lineage Roots of Hosea’s Yahwism - by Stephen L. Cook, Semeia 87 (1999) 145–161

Book Reviews

• Albertz, Rainer, Geschichte und Theologie: Studien zur Exegese des Alten Testaments und zur Religionsgeschichte Israels (de Gruyter, 2003)
  • Reviewed by Ernst A. Knauf, Review of Biblical Literature (2004)
  • Reviewed by Manfred Oeming, Review of Biblical Literature (2005)
• Beckman, Gary M. and Theodore J. Lewis, eds., Text, Artifact, and Image: Revealing Ancient Israelite Religion (Brown Judaic Studies, 2006) - reviewed by Diana Edelman, Review of Biblical Literature (2007)
• Blomquist, Tina Haettner, Gates and Gods: Cults in the City Gates of Iron Age Palestine, An Investigation of the Archaeological and Biblical Sources (Almqvist & Wiksell, 1999) - reviewed by Nicolae Roddy, Review of Biblical Literature (2002)
• Cook, Stephen L., The Social Roots of Biblical Yahwism (SBL/Brill, 2004) - reviewed by Kenton Sparks, Review of Biblical Literature (2006)
• Day, John, Yahweh and the Gods and Goddesses of Canaan (Sheffield, 2000) - reviewed by David Elton Gay, Review of Biblical Literature (2003)
• Dever, William G., Did God Have a Wife? Archaeology and Folk Religion in Ancient Israel (Eerdmans, 2005)
  • Reviewed by Bob Becking, Review of Biblical Literature (2006)
  • Reviewed by Patrick D. Miller, Review of Biblical Literature (2007)
  • Reviewed by Yairah Amit, Review of Biblical Literature (2006)
• Gittlen, Barry, Sacred Time Sacred Place: Archaeology and the Religion of Israel (Eisenbrauns, 2001) - reviewed by Steven M. Ortiz, Review of Biblical Literature (2003)
• Grabbe, Lester L., Judaic Religion in the Second Temple Period: Belief and Practice from the Exile to Yavneh (Routledge, 2000) - reviewed by James VanderKam, Review of Biblical Literature (2005)
• Hadley, Judith M., The Cult of Asherah in Ancient Israel and Judah: Evidence for a Hebrew Goddess (Cambridge, 2000) - reviewed by John Barclay Burns, Biblical Theology Bulletin (Spring 2001)
• Hunt, Alice, Missing Priests: The Zadokites in Tradition and History (T&T Clark, 2006) - reviewed by Lena-Sofia Tiemeyer, Review of Biblical Literature (2008)
• Miller, Patrick D., The Religion of Ancient Israel (Westminster John Knox, 2000) - reviewed by John Barclay Burns, Review of Biblical Literature (2002) and Bruce A. Power, Review of Biblical Literature (2003)
• Penchansky, David, The Twilight of the Gods: Polytheism in the Hebrew Bible (Westminster John Knox, 2005) - reviewed by Hermann Austel, Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society (December 2006)
• Person, Raymond F., The Deuteronomic School: History, Social Setting, and Literature (SBL 2002) - reviewed by Sam Meier, Review of Biblical Literature (2003)
• Prosic, Tamara, The Development and Symbolism of Passover until 70 CE (Continuum, 2005) - reviewed by William Gilders, Review of Biblical Literature (2005)
• Smith, Mark S., The Early History of God: Yahweh and the Other Deities in Ancient Israel (Eerdmans, 2002)
  • Reviewed by Christoph Ühlinger, Review of Biblical Literature (2004)
  • Reviewed by Ryan Byrne, Review of Biblical Literature (2004)
  • Reviewed by Simon B. Parker, Review of Biblical Literature (2004)
• Smith, Mark S., The Origins of Biblical Monotheism: Israel's Polytheistic Background and the Ugaritic Texts (Oxford, 2001) - reviewed by Steve A. Wiggins, Review of Biblical Literature (2003)
• Soggin, Alberto J., Israel in the Biblical Period: Institutions, Festivals, Ceremonies, Rituals (T&T Clark, 2001) - reviewed by G. Donovan Martin, Review of Biblical Literature (2003)
• Stark, Christine, «Kultprostitution» im Alten Testament?: Die Qedeschen der Hebräischen Bibel und das Motiv der Hurerei (Academic/Vandenhoecuh & Ruprecht, 2006) - reviewed by Christian Frevel, Review of Biblical Literature (2007)
• Tiemeyer, Lena-Sofia, Priestly Rites and Prophetic Rage: Post-exilic Prophetic Critique of the Priesthood (Mohr Siebeck, 2006) - reviewed by Reinhard Achenbach, Review of Biblical Literature (2008)
• VanderKam, James C., An Introduction to Early Judaism (Eerdmans, 2001) - reviewed by Pablo Torijano Morales, Review of Biblical Literature (2003)