This course will situate Israelite religion, both as portrayed in the biblical texts and as reconstructed based on archaeological evidence and in its wider Levantine and Near Eastern religious contexts. This will be done through a comparative religions approach, examining the gods, rituals, and beliefs of Israel's neighbors Ammon, Moab, Phoenicia, Philistia, etc. Ultimately, consideration will be given as to how monotheism arose in Israel and survived through the biblical texts.