The rise of Monotheism has transformed the world and the helm of that transformation is the ancient Near East deity Yahweh. But, how did Yahweh, once only a god among gods, become simple God for billions of people? This episode explores the early rise of Yahwist monotheism in the Ancient Near East rom shifts in familial land relations, the rise of Imperial Assyrian Theology, monolatrous Yahwistic political concentration, the compression and mutation of the Bronze Age four-tiered Canaanite pantheon to Israelite Royal Theology, analysis of exilic-period Yahwistic theonyms on dozens of cuneiform tablets and even if monotheism emerges in Deutero-Isaiah or simply elaborate monotheistic rhetoric! This week's episode is going to an *hour* long exploration of the path from Canaanite polytheism to the first flickers of Yahwistic Monotheism before the Apocalyptic explosion.
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Recommended Readings:
The Early History of God: Yahweh and the Other Deities in Ancient Israel - https://amzn.to/4e6Bdo7
The Origins of Biblical Monotheism: Israel's Polytheistic Background and the Ugaritic Texts - https://amzn.to/3KJuD9X
Canaanite Myth and Hebrew Epic - https://amzn.to/4549Net
Beyond the Texts: An Archaeological Portrait of Ancient Israel and Judah - https://amzn.to/3X68eek
Yahweh and the Gods and Goddesses of Canaan - https://amzn.to/3x86I0p
God: An Anatomy - https://amzn.to/3VoQRD5
The Origin and Character of God - https://amzn.to/3V2agcx
The Religions of Ancient Israel: A Synthesis of Parallactic Approaches - https://amzn.to/4e0cLVB
Documents of Judean Exiles and West Semites in Babylonia in the Collection of David Sofer - https://amzn.to/4e0v1Ox
Judeans in Babylonia A Study of Deportees in the Sixth and Fifth Centuries BCE - https://amzn.to/3V6dSdv
Yahweh before Israel - https://amzn.to/3X3mUuE
No Other Gods: Emergent Monotheism in Israel - https://amzn.to/3wXfDSp