文档介绍：Did God Have a Wife?
Did God Have a Wife?
ARCHAEOLOGY AND FOLK RELIGION
IN ANCIENT ISRAEL
William G. Dever
WILLIAM B. EERDMANS PANY
GRAND RAPIDS, MICHIGAN / CAMBRIDGE, .
For my Lady, P.
© 2005 Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co.
All rights reserved
Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co.
255 Jefferson Ave. ., Grand Rapids, Michigan 49503 /
. Box 163, Cambridge CB3 9PU .
Printed in the United States of America
09 08 07 06 05 7654321
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Did God have a wife? archaeology and folk religion in ancient Israel /
William G. Dever.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0-8028-2852-3
1. Israel — Religion. 2. Asherah (Semitic deity) 3. Jews — Folklore.
4. Israel — Antiquities. 5. Excavation (Archaeology) - Israel. I. Title.
2005
299'.2 — dc22
2005040503
Contents
Introduction ix
I. Defining and Contextualizing Religion ι
The Phenomenon of Religion ι
Religion as "Ultimate Concern" 2
The "Care and Feeding of the Gods" 4
On "Folk Religion" 5
"Folk Religion": Toward a Methodology 8
"Phenomenology of Religion" 9
The "Context" of Folk Religion 12
Religion and the "Good Life" 29
II. The History of the History:
In Search of Ancient Israel's Religions 32
The "History of Religions" School 32
The "Myth and Ritual" School 33
Old Testament Theology 35
Sociological Approaches 39
A Revival of Interest in Israelite Religion 40
An Overall Critique of Previous Scholarship 59
III. Sources and Methods for the Study
of Ancient Israel's Religions 63
The Biblical Texts and Their Limitations 64
Some Caveats 68
Non-biblical Texts 73
Archaeology as a "Primary Source"
for History and Religion 74
Depreciating Archaeology: Who and Why 76
Setting the (Archaeological) Record Straight 79
What Archaeology Can and Cannot Do 81
Why Another History? 87
IV. The Hebrew Bible: Religious