“The Mutation Peculiar to Hebrew Religion:” Monotheism, Pantheon Reduction, or Royal Adoption of Family Religion?

Abstract

Was religion a unifying force in ancient Judah and Israel? In what way did people in this region even have the same religion across different areas and time periods? And what were the fundamental units of religion—were its basic divisions political, into the kingdoms of North and South, geographical, like the coast or highland areas, or individual villages or houses? This book, written in alternating sections by two accomplished historians of Hebrew religion and literature,1 is a major argument for how to approach religion in the ancient southern Levant, in the form of an encyclopedic scholarly resource. In particular, it presents the most detailed claim to date that the Iron Age (11th–7th centuries bce) was a coherent cultural period when seen from the smallest scale, the viewpoint of families and dwellings. As a result, it allows both the biblicist and the scholar of ancient Near Eastern religions access to a unique