Asherah: Did God Have a Wife?

Before coming to understand Yahweh as their only God, ancient Israelites worshiped a pantheon that included the great goddess Asherah. In Canaanite religion, Asherah often appears as the consort of the chief deity El. Later, archeology and about 40 mentions of her name in the Hebrew Bible suggest she was sometimes seen as Yahweh’s wife. John Hamer of Toronto Centre Place will reconstruct the history of the worship of the Divine Feminine in ancient Israel from the Biblical texts and the contemporary historical and archaeological records, tracing how Asherah’s attributes and cult, like those of El, were ultimately absorbed into the figure and worship of Yahweh.
Join the livestream to participate in the discussion and to ask questions to our lecturer during the Q&A. Other topics covered in this lecture include:
Ugarit
Canaanites
Origins of Judaism
Divine Feminine
Ishtar/Astarte
Mother Goddess
Queen of Heaven
Iron Age Israel
Polytheism in Ancient Israel
Henotheism
First Temple Judaism
Religious Reform