Israel's Struggle with the Religions of Canaan (IBRI Occasional Papers Book 19)

To fully appreciate Israel’s monotheistic faith we must try to understand those religious ideologies that challenged her life and unity. The many religions of the Ancient Near East were all interrelated, with a great deal of mixing. Until about a century ago, most of our information on Canaanite religion came from the Bible. The discovery of the cuneiform tablets from Ras Shamra (Ugarit) opened doors of understanding that had long been closed. These texts provided an important mythological literature that gave the names and functions of the Canaanite gods and also much information on Canaanite society. Here we sketch some of this material and how the Israelites responded to it.