This book of Jubilees was written by a Jewish author in the second century BCE. Although no original copies of the manuscript remain, the fragments from the Dead Sea Scrolls confirmed the general accuracy of later copies and suggested important amendments. The text retraces the book of Genesis and parts of Exodus and thus is one of the earliest sustained commentaries on the narratives presented…
God in Translation: Deities in Cross-Cultural Discourse in the Bible World
This book is the basic result of my year's research at the Center. So before I offer any other acknowledgements, I am happy to thank the director of the Center, Professor David Ruderman, the Associate Director, Dr. David Golden berg, and all the staff and fellows at the Center for Judaic Studies for contributing to an enjoyable and stimulating year.
God in Translation offers a substantial, extraordinarily broad survey of ancient attitudes toward deities, from the Late Bronze Age through ancient Israel and into the New Testament. Looking closely at relevant biblical texts and at their cultural contexts, Mark S. Smith demonstrates that the biblical attitude toward deities of other cultures is not uniformly negative, as is commonly supposed. …
One of the leading scholars of ancient West Semitic religion discusses polytheism vs. monotheism by covering the fluidity of those categories in the ancient Near East. He argues that Israel's social history is key to the development of monotheism.