Title: No Graven Image?
Description: An important book about a remarkable phenomenon. This is the first in-depth study of Israelite aniconism in the light of comparative material from the ancient Near East. In an introductory chapter Dr. Mettinger introduces a distinction between de facto aniconism and programmatic prohibition of images. He then goes on to demonstrate that de facto aniconism was a conventional practice in several West Semitic cultures.

Finally, he sketches the development from West Semitic aniconism (with aniconic stelae as symbols of the divine) to Israelite iconoclasm.
Subjects: Idols and images, Worship, History, Biblical teaching, Antiquities, Religion, Cults