Introductory Matters -- The History of Scholarship on Ancient Israelite Religion : A Brief Sketch -- Methodology -- El Worship -- The Iconography of Divinity : El -- The Origin of Yahweh -- The Iconography of Divinity : Yahweh -- The Characterization of the Deity Yahweh : Yahweh as Warrior and Family God -- The Characterization of the Deity Yahweh : Yahweh as King and Yahweh as Judge -- Characterization of the Deity Yahweh : Yahweh as Holy.

Few topics are as broad or as daunting as the God of Israel, that deity of the world's three monotheistic religions, Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, who has been worshiped over millennia. In the Hebrew Bible, God is characterized variously as militant, beneficent, inscrutable, loving, and judicious. Who is this divinity that has been represented as masculine and feminine, mythic and real, transcendent and intimate? The Origin and Character of God is Theodore J. Lewis's monumental study of the vast subject that is the God of Israel. In it, he explores questions of historical origin, how God was characterized in literature, and how he was represented in archaeology and iconography. He also brings us into the lived reality of religious experience. Using the window of divinity to peer into the varieties of religious experience in ancient Israel, Lewis explores the royal use of religion for power, prestige, and control; the intimacy of family and household religion; priestly prerogatives and cultic status; prophetic challenges to injustice; and the pondering of theodicy by poetic sages. A volume that is encyclopedic in scope but accessible in tone, The Origin and Character of God is an essential addition to the growing scholarship of one of humanity's most enduring concepts.

Few topics are as broad or as daunting as the God of Israel, that deity of the world's three monotheistic religions, Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, who has been worshiped over millennia. In the Hebrew Bible, God is characterized variously as militant, beneficent, inscrutable, loving, and judicious. Who is this divinity that has been represented as masculine and feminine, mythic and real, transcendent and intimate? The Origin and Character of God is Theodore J. Lewis's monumental study of the vast subject that is the God of Israel. In it, he explores questions of historical origin, how God was characterized in literature, and how he was represented in archaeology and iconography. He also brings us into the lived reality of religious experience. Using the window of divinity to peer into the varieties of religious experience in ancient Israel, Lewis explores the royal use of religion for power, prestige, and control; the intimacy of family and household religion; priestly prerogatives and cultic status; prophetic challenges to injustice; and the pondering of theodicy by poetic sages. A volume that is encyclopedic in scope but accessible in tone and was honored with all three of the major awards in the field in three seperate disciplines (American Society of Overseas Research (ASOR) 2020 Frank Moore Cross Award, 2021 American Academy of Religion Award for Excellence in the Study of Religion, 2021 Biblical Archaeology Society Biennial Publication Award for the Best Book Relating to the Hebrew Bible), The Origin and Character of God is an essential addition to the growing scholarship of one of humanity's most enduring concepts.

A Transforming Knowledge of the Living God The timeless appeal of this classic book, written by a preacher with a worldwide ministry during the first half of the twentieth century, demonstrates the deep hunger for a saving knowledge of God present in each generation. Arthur Pink sought to give readers not just a theoretical knowledge of God but pointed them toward a personal relationship of yielding to him and living according to his biblical precepts. Pink's book explores attributes such as God's decrees, foreknowledge, sovereignty, holiness, grace, and mercy, among many others, all packaged in a style especially useful for pastors, teachers, and Bible students. Our God who is above all names cannot be found through human searching alone, Pink teaches, but can be known only as he is revealed by the Holy Spirit through his living Word.

Jean Bottero, one of the world's leading figures in Ancient Near Eastern Studies, approaches the Bible as an astounding variety of documents that reveal much of their time of origin, historical events, and climates of thought.

The obvious riddles and difficulties in Exod 3:13–15 and Exod 6:2–8 have attracted an overwhelming amount of attention and comment. These texts make important theological statements about the divine name YHWH and the contours of the divine character. From the enigmatic statements in Exod 3:13–15, most scholars reconstruct the original form of the name as “Yahweh,” which is thought to describe YHWH’s creative power or self-existence. Similarly, Exod 6:3 has become a classic proof-text for the Documentary Hypothesis and an indication of different aspects of God’s character as shown in history. Despite their seeming importance for “defining” the divine name, these texts are ancillary to and preparatory for the true revelation of the divine name in the book of Exodus. This book attempts to move beyond atomistic readings of individual texts and etymological studies of the divine name toward a holistic reading of the book of Exodus. Surls centers his argument around in-depth analyses of Exod 3:13–15, 6:2–8 and Exod 33:12–23 and 34:5–8. Consequently, the definitive proclamation of YHWH’s character is not given at the burning bush but in response to Moses’ later intercession (Exod 33:12–23). YHWH proclaimed his name in a formulaic manner that Israel could appropriate (Exod 34:6–7), and the Hebrew Bible quotes or alludes to this text in many genres. This demonstrates the centrality of Exod 34:6–7 to Old Testament Theology. The character of God cannot be discerned from an etymological analysis of the word yhwh but from a close study of YHWH’s deliberate ascriptions made progressively in the book of Exodus.