""Elijah, Yahweh, and Baal is a masterpiece presented with authority by a twentieth-century accomplished and unsurpassed exegete. It is now translated by a disciple, whose elegant rendition sounds as if Hermann Gunkel had originally written himself the book in English."" --Andre LaCocque, The Chicago Theological Seminary, Chicago, IL ""Written a century ago for a church audience eager to learn how the best scholarship of the day could illuminate one of the Bible's most absorbing stories, this little book shows Gunkel at the height of his powers of critical perspicuity, explanatory finesse, and reverent sensitivity, the ideal Bible study leader, at once learned, captivating, and devout. . . . Moreover, Gunkel encompasses his subject as few today could or would in such short scope, combining philological acumen, aesthetic appreciation, comparative perspective, and attention to communal folk tradition--his pioneer distinction--and constants of human religiosity. The translation includes astute notes by the editor and a helpful list of more recent resources."" --Robert B. Coote, San Francisco Theological Seminary, San Francisco, CA ""Hermann Gunkel, who died in 1932, is one of the greatest teachers and 'God-Fathers' of Old Testament study. He has taught us the most about the artistic, imaginative dimensions of the text. His interpretation of the Elijah narrative in this volume is a treasure that merits continuing attention. We may be grateful indeed to K. C. Hanson for bringing it to us in English, and to Wipf and Stock for its publication. Gunkel continues to be our teacher and 'God-Father' in wise shrewd reading of the text."" --Walter Brueggemann, Columbia Theological Seminary, Decatur, GA Hermann Gunkel (1862-1932) was Professor of Old Testament at the universities in Berlin, Giessen, and Halle, Germany. Among his major works in English are Genesis, Introduction to the Psalms, and Creation and Chaos in the Primeval Era and the Eschaton.

""Elijah, Yahweh, and Baal is a masterpiece presented with authority by a twentieth-century accomplished and unsurpassed exegete. It is now translated by a disciple, whose elegant rendition sounds as if Hermann Gunkel had originally written himself the book in English."" --Andre LaCocque, The Chicago Theological Seminary, Chicago, IL ""Written a century ago for a church audience eager to learn how the best scholarship of the day could illuminate one of the Bible's most absorbing stories, this little book shows Gunkel at the height of his powers of critical perspicuity, explanatory finesse, and reverent sensitivity, the ideal Bible study leader, at once learned, captivating, and devout. . . . Moreover, Gunkel encompasses his subject as few today could or would in such short scope, combining philological acumen, aesthetic appreciation, comparative perspective, and attention to communal folk tradition--his pioneer distinction--and constants of human religiosity. The translation includes astute notes by the editor and a helpful list of more recent resources."" --Robert B. Coote, San Francisco Theological Seminary, San Francisco, CA ""Hermann Gunkel, who died in 1932, is one of the greatest teachers and 'God-Fathers' of Old Testament study. He has taught us the most about the artistic, imaginative dimensions of the text. His interpretation of the Elijah narrative in this volume is a treasure that merits continuing attention. We may be grateful indeed to K. C. Hanson for bringing it to us in English, and to Wipf and Stock for its publication. Gunkel continues to be our teacher and 'God-Father' in wise shrewd reading of the text."" --Walter Brueggemann, Columbia Theological Seminary, Decatur, GA Hermann Gunkel (1862-1932) was Professor of Old Testament at the universities in Berlin, Giessen, and Halle, Germany. Among his major works in English are Genesis, Introduction to the Psalms, and Creation and Chaos in the Primeval Era and the Eschaton.

"Elijah, Yahweh, and Baal is a masterpiece presented with authority by a twentieth-century accomplished and unsurpassed exegete. It is now translated by a disciple, whose elegant rendition sounds as if Hermann Gunkel had originally written himself the book in English." --Andre LaCocque, The Chicago Theological Seminary, Chicago, IL "Written a century ago for a church audience eager to learn how the best scholarship of the day could illuminate one of the Bible's most absorbing stories, this little book shows Gunkel at the height of his powers of critical perspicuity, explanatory finesse, and reverent sensitivity, the ideal Bible study leader, at once learned, captivating, and devout. . . . Moreover, Gunkel encompasses his subject as few today could or would in such short scope, combining philological acumen, aesthetic appreciation, comparative perspective, and attention to communal folk tradition--his pioneer distinction--and constants of human religiosity. The translation includes astute notes by the editor and a helpful list of more recent resources." --Robert B. Coote, San Francisco Theological Seminary, San Francisco, CA "Hermann Gunkel, who died in 1932, is one of the greatest teachers and 'God-Fathers' of Old Testament study. He has taught us the most about the artistic, imaginative dimensions of the text. His interpretation of the Elijah narrative in this volume is a treasure that merits continuing attention. We may be grateful indeed to K. C. Hanson for bringing it to us in English, and to Wipf and Stock for its publication. Gunkel continues to be our teacher and 'God-Father' in wise shrewd reading of the text." --Walter Brueggemann, Columbia Theological Seminary, Decatur, GA

Foreword by Peter Machinist Hermann Gunkel's groundbreaking Schöpfung und Chaos, originally published in German in 1895, is here translated in its entirety into English for the first time. Even though available only in German, this work by Gunkel has had a profound influence on modern biblical scholarship. Discovering a number of parallels between the biblical creation accounts and a Babylonian creation account, the Enuma Elish, Gunkel argues that ancient Babylonian traditions shaped the Hebrew people's perceptions both of God's creative activity at the beginning of time and of God's re-creative activity at the end of time. Including illuminating introductory pieces by eminent scholar Peter Machinist and by translator K. William Whitney, Gunkel's Creation and Chaos will appeal to serious students and scholars in the area of biblical studies.

In this groundbreaking book, Barker claims that pre-Christian Judaism was not monotheistic and that the roots of Christian Trinitarian theology lie in a pre-Christian Palestinian belief about angels derived from the ancient religion of Israel. Barker's beliefs are based on canonical and deutero-canonical works and literature from Qumran and rabbinic sources.

This masterly book is the climax of over twenty-five years of study of the impact of Canaanite religion and mythology on ancient Israel and the Old Testament. It is John Day's magnum opus in which he sets forth all his main arguments and conclusions on the subject. The work considers in detail the relationship between Yahweh and the various gods and goddesses of Canaan, including the leading gods El and Baal, the great goddesses (Asherah, Astarte and Anat), astral deities (Sun, Moon and Lucifer), and underworld deities (Mot, Resheph, Molech and the Rephaim). Day assesses both what Yahwism assimilated from these deities and what it came to reject. More generally he discusses the impact of Canaanite polytheism on ancient Israel and how monotheism was eventually achieved.

Part of the bestselling Emotionally Healthy Spirituality book collection, The Emotionally Healthy Woman provides women a way out of surface-level spirituality to genuine freedom in Christ. Geri Scazzero knew there was something desperately wrong with her life. She felt like a single parent raising her four young daughters alone. She finally told her husband, "I quit," and left the thriving church he pastored, beginning a journey that transformed her and her marriage for the better. This book is for every woman who thinks, "I can’t keep pretending everything is fine!" Geri speaks like a friend as she uses personal stories and biblical principles to help you find your way out of superficial spirituality and move to a deep, meaningful, lifechanging relationship with God. And the journey begins by quitting. Geri quit being afraid of what others think. She quit lying. She quit denying her anger and sadness. She quit living someone else's life. When you quit those things that are damaging to your soul or the souls of others, you are freed up to choose other ways of being and relating that are rooted in love and lead to life. When you quit for the right reasons, at the right time, and in the right way, you're on the path not only to emotional health, but also to the true purpose of your life. Check out the full line of Emotionally Healthy Spirituality books dedicated to many different key areas of life. Workbooks, study guides, curriculum, and Spanish editions are also available.

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.

Biblical scholarship today is divided between two mutually exclusive concepts of the emergence of monotheism: an early-monotheistic Yahwism paradigm and a native-pantheon paradigm. This study identifies five main stages on Israel's journey towards monotheism. Rather than deciding whether Yahweh was originally a god of the Baal-type or of the El-type, this work shuns origins and focuses instead on the first period for which there are abundant sources, the Omride era. Non-biblical sources depict a significantly different situation from the Baalism the Elijah cycle ascribes to King Achab. The novelty of the present study is to take this paradox seriously and identify the Omride dynasty as the first stage in the rise of Yahweh as the main god of Israel. Why Jerusalem later painted the Omrides as anti-Yahweh idolaters is then explained as the need to distance itself from the near-by sanctuary of Bethel by assuming the Omride heritage without admitting its northern Israelite origins. The contribution of the Priestly document and of Deutero-Isaiah during the Persian era comprise the next phase, before the strict Yahwism achieved in Daniel 7 completes the emergence of biblical Yahwism as a truly monotheistic religion.