Wednesday, December 06, 2017

On child sacrifice in ancient Israel

THE ASOR BLOG: Child Sacrifice in Ancient Israel (Heath D. Dewrell).
In my recent monograph, Child Sacrifice in Ancient Israel, I address these arguments and, like most scholars, argue that at least some Israelites did sacrifice their children, probably to Yahweh. My primary objective, however, is not merely to address the existence or non-existence of Israelite child sacrifice. Instead, I collect all of the different types of evidence—biblical, archaeological, and epigraphic—to attempt to untangle the various forms of child sacrifice. “Child sacrifice” was not a homogeneous phenomenon any more than “sheep sacrifice.”
Cross-file under Punic Watch. Some related posts on this ghastly topic are here and links.

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