From the The Study of Antiquity and the Middle Ages channel (link below):
In this presentation Prof. Aren Maeir guides us into the very origins of Ancient Israel, their identity and the very foundations of their religion.
He will address these points:
Canaanite pagan influences on the Israelite religion such as El and Baal.
Discusses the ideological framework of the Israelite texts and the worship of a singular deity, and points out the big question which is "is this the original form and practice of the Israelite religion or did this monotheistic approach come much later?"
He discusses male and female figurines of the Iron Age that depict their God.
He also discusses the evidence of more than one God and even a Goddess in Israelite society and religion and also he points out that we tend to see not necessarily monotheism in ancient Israel but rather monolatrism.
We also ask a harder question and that is, when does Monotheism take root as a dominant ideology in ancient Israel and whether or not this was influenced by the religious reform of Atenism or Zoroastrianism?
How old is Judaism? How is it different today?
We will also discuss religious violence and ethnic cleansing in ancient Israel and the issues of using modern terms on the past in a world where they did things quite differently.
And finally we arrive to the subject of Human Sacrifice in ancient Canaan and even in Ancient Israel and how we may see a conflict between those who partook in human sacrifice and those who did not like it and who in turn wrote stories like "Abraham and Isaac at the Mount" in an attempt to show that we don't believe in that form of practice.
Support Prof. Maeir and his work at these links!
Academia : [ Ссылка ]
YouTube Channel : [ Ссылка ]
The Tell es-Safi/Gath Archaeological Project Official (and Unofficial) Weblog : [ Ссылка ]
Attribution for video footage relating to the Philistines goes to the YouTube Channel of Prof. Aren Maeir.
Credit: The Study of Antiquity and the Middle Ages channel (see here: [ Ссылка ])
