Family and Household Religion in Ancient Israel and the Levant

Rainer Albertz; Rüdiger Schmitt

Published by Penn State University Press 2012

Family and Household Religion in Ancient Israel and the Levant

Rainer Albertz and Rüdiger Schmitt

https://doi.org/10.1515/9781575066684

Overview
Contents

About this book

During the past several decades, family and household religion has become a topic of Old Testament scholarship in its own right, fed by what were initially three distinct approaches: the religious-historical approach, the gender-oriented approach, and the archaeological approach. The first pursues answers to questions of the commonality and difference between varieties of family religion and describes the household and family religions of Mesopotamia, Syria/Ugarit, Israel, Philistia, Egypt, Greece, and Rome. Gender-oriented approaches also contribute uniquely important insights to family and household religion. Pioneers of this sort of investigation show that, although women in ancient Israelite societies were very restricted in their participation in the official cult, there were familial rituals performed in domestic environments in which women played prominent roles, especially as related to fertility, childbirth, and food preparation. Archaeologists have worked to illuminate many aspects of this family religion as enacted by and related to the nuclear family unit and have found evidence that domestic cults were more important in Israel than has previously been understood. One might even conceive of every family as having actively partaken in ritual activities within its domestic environment.

Family and Household Religion in Ancient Israel and the Levant analyzes the appropriateness of the combined term family and household religion and identifies the types of family that existed in ancient Israel on the basis of both literary and archaeological evidence. Comparative evidence from Iron Age Philistia, Transjordan, Syria, and Phoenicia is presented. This monumental book presents a typology of cult places that extends from domestic cults to local sanctuaries and state temples. It details family religious beliefs as expressed in the almost 3,000 individual Hebrew personal names that have so far been recorded in epigraphic and biblical material. The Hebrew onomasticon is further compared with 1,400 Ammonite, Moabite, Aramean, and Phoenician names. These data encompass the vast majority of known Hebrew personal names and a substantial sample of the names from surrounding cultures. In this impressive compilation of evidence, the authors describe the variety of rites performed by families at home, at a neighborhood shrine, or at work. Burial rituals and the ritual care for the dead are examined. A comprehensive bibliography, extensive appendixes, and several helpful indexes round out the masterful textual material to form a one-volume compendium that no scholar of ancient Israelite religion and archaeology can afford not to own.

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Frontmatter Publicly Available Download PDF	i
Contents Publicly Available Download PDF	v
List of Figures Publicly Available Download PDF	ix
Preface Publicly Available Download PDF	xv
Abbreviations Publicly Available Download PDF	xvi
1. Introduction Rainer Albertz Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	1
2. Methodological Reflections Rainer Albertz Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	21
3. Elements of Domestic Cult in Ancient Israel Rüdiger Schmitt Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	57
4. Typology of Iron Age Cult Places Rüdiger Schmitt Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	220
5. Personal Names and Family Religion Rainer Albertz Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	245
6. Rites of Family and Household Religion Rüdiger Schmitt Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	387
7. Care for the Dead in the Context of the Household and Family Rüdiger Schmitt Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	429
8. Summary Rainer Albertz and Rüdiger Schmitt Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	474
Additional Tables (Tables 3.6–3.9, 5.1–5.16) Rainer Albertz and Rüdiger Schmitt Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	496
Appendix A. Comparative Table of Israelite and Judean Assemblages in Alphabetical Order Rüdiger Schmitt Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	518
Appendix B. Personal Names: A Comprehensive List Rainer Albertz Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	534
Illustration Sources: Acknowledgments Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	610
Bibliography Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	615
Indexes Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	662

Language: English
Publisher: Penn State University Press
Pages
- Main content: 720

eBook

Published: April 12, 2012
ISBN: 9781575066684