Although YHWH clearly was perceived by biblical authors in anthropomorphic terms, YHWH’s body was still different from regular human bodies. For YHWH, like many other deities of the ancient Near East,[1] possessed massive size. Read more »
The article does a good job of picking up on some of my main points. As a former reporter, I know that these type of presentations are not easy to cover. I would like to thank Michael De Groote for coming to the speech and the article. I was not expecting it.
I would also like to thank Blake Ostler for kindly introducing me. I also received some great comments and questions from Blake, James McLachlan, Ben Huff, and Jennifer Lane.
Of course, much of this [i.e., that Israel worshiped El and Asherah alongside YHWH] is really to be expected given that recent syntheses of the archaeological, cultural, and literary data pertaining to the emergence of the nation of Israel in the Levant show that most of the people who would eventually compose this group were originally Canaanite. Read more »
One of the most important deities that many, if not most, ancient Israelites worshiped was YHWH’s heavenly spouse or consort, the goddess Asherah (the Hebrew linguistic equivalent of Ugaritic Athirat, the wife of El). Read more »
This historical reconstruction [that El was originally Israel's chief deity, and YHWH was originally his son and the patron deity of Israel], in turn, helps to make sense of certain biblical texts which seem to indicate most naturally that El was originally the chief god of Israel and that YHWH was the patron deity of Israel. For example, Deuteronomy 32:8-9 reads:
When the Most High apportioned the nations, when he divided humankind, he fixed the boundaries of the nations according to the number of the sons of Israel. For YHWH’s portion, his people; Jacob, his allotted share.
How do we measure our missionary work? Is it in number of invites given? Books of Mormon given? Baptisms? Changed hearts and minds? I recently had the opportunity to follow up on an experience I had sharing the Book of Mormon over a decade ago. It was embarrassing, and it reminded me of several other embarrassing efforts at sharing the Book of Mormon. Though I might have garnered praise by some measures for these “successes,” I can’t help but feel that they were ultimately counterproductive by other measures. Not only did these episodes fail to yield a baptism, I am quite sure that in the end they turned off the recipients of my sincere zeal forever. Read more »
As the very name Israel might indicate on account of its theophoric element el (אל), it appears that the chief god worshiped in earliest Israel was El, the chief god of the Canaanite pantheon in the Late Bronze Age. The god El has been revealed most clearly to the modern inquirer through the discovery of the Ugaritic texts at Tel Ras Shamra in 1929, a flourishing kingdom-city-state on the Syrian coast during the second half of the second millennium B.C.E.[1] As biblical tradition affirms as represented by the E and P sources (probably to be dated to the eighth and seventh/ sixth centuries B.C.E., respectively[2]), throughout the book of Genesis the ancient forbears of Israel worshiped the god El. For example, Exodus 6:2-3 (P), recounting the divine theophany of YHWH to Moses at Sinai, states: Read more »
Western Society is perhaps more indebted to the Hebrew Bible than to any other book, and arguably the most famous teaching associated with the Hebrew Bible is that of absolute monotheism. This position famously affirms that there is only one god in existence and no other(s). For example, Deuteronomy 6:4, known as the Shema, has often been cited since antiquity as supporting this understanding of monotheism.[1] It declares, “Listen, O Israel, YHWH is our god, YHWH alone [lit. YHWH (is) one]” (שְׁמַע יִשְׂרָאֵל יְהוָה אֱלֹהֵינוּ יְהוָה אֶחָֽד). This understanding of ancient Israelite faith, found in both popular and scholarly circles, purportedly traces itself in the biblical narrative to at least the time when YHWH revealed himself at Sinai to Moses and Israel,[2] if not all the way back to the creation of the world in Genesis 1 when God alone created the world by his word.[3] Naturally, this view has been held to be in direct opposition to the Mesopotamian theogonic and cosmogonic myths, such as the infamous Enuma Elish,[4] which recounts the creation of the gods and the world through fierce battles and rivalries between the personified primal elements of nature and the many gods who eventually tame them. Read more »
I write about social justice, mostly the theory of justice presented by the late philosopher John Rawls. I am not looking to add anything new today. But considering the recent comments by Brother Beck, I want to point out some of the things which I, a Mormon, has had to say about social justice.
I have written about the moral justification of liberal justice in two posts (here and a much updated version here).
These views are mine. I do not claim that they represent the views of the Church or that they are the only possible interpretation of certain scripture. However, my Mormonism and my sense of justice are one and the same for me. It might be a different perspective, but it is mine
“We have drifted from having a market economy to have a market society.” Wow. A thoughful and insightful critique by the political philosopher Michael Sandel.
Check out the clip.
Also, I have written a few thoughts, inspired by Sandel and some conversations I have had lately, over at Radical Moderation.
This podcast was made by two of my students, Jericho Cline and Ethan Blevin, during a senior seminar on global justice.
I am sharing this today because I have been thinking a lot about Ethan. He recently got into a great law school. He also just suffered a great loss in his family. He and Jericho are not only great students, but great men. I have some great former and current students.
