Includes bibliographical references (pages 167-184) and index

1 Understanding Polytheism: The Three-Dimensional Structure of the Divine World 9 -- 2 Seth the Iconoclast: Polytheism and the Language of Violence 28 -- 3 All Gods Are One: Evolutionary and Inclusive Monotheism 53 -- 4 The Axial Age and the Separation of State and Religion: Monotheism as an Axial Movement 76 -- 5 Five Steps toward Canonization: Tradition, Scripture, and the Origin of the Hebrew Bible 90 -- 6 No God but God: Exclusive Monotheism and the Language of Violence 106 -- Conclusion: The Mosaic Distinction 127

"For thousands of years, our world has been shaped by biblical monotheism. But its hallmark--a distinction between one true God and many false gods--was once a new and radical idea. Of God and Gods explores the revolutionary newness of biblical theology against a background of the polytheism that was once so commonplace. Jan Assmann, one of the most distinguished scholars of ancient Egypt working today, traces the concept of a true religion back to its earliest beginnings in Egypt and describes how this new idea took shape in the context of the older polytheistic world that it rejected. He offers readers a deepened understanding of Egyptian polytheism and elaborates on his concept of the "Mosaic distinction," which conceives an exclusive and emphatic Truth that sets religion apart from beliefs shunned as superstition, paganism, or heresy. Without a theory of polytheism, Assmann contends, any adequate understanding of monotheism is impossible"--Publisher description