Religion in Ancient Israel

A series of studies on the public and private aspects of religion in ancient Israel, covering ritual and mythological motifs, but also personal practices and beliefs.

This volume intersects with the work of John Day to illuminate major aspects of the religion of Ancient Israel in its geographical and historical context as well as by attention to the literatures of neighbouring peoples (especially, though not exclusively, Ugaritic). The introduction to the volume uses Day’s scholarship as a framework within which the individual studies can be contextualized, whilst also describing broader developments within the field during the course of Day’s career (such as arguments over the dating of texts, and questions about the very nature of ‘ancient Israel’) in order to sketch the history of scholarship in this period and discuss its directions of travel.

The chapters are organized into sections covering ‘private’ and ‘public’ religion and, whilst the volume does not seek to provide a comprehensive overview of ancient Israelite religion, it does provide a snapshot – by leading scholar scholars – that can stand as an overview of the current state of scholarly enquiry into the religious landscape of ancient Israel.