This is probably an obscure title, so I'll have some explaining to do. The Bible records King Solomon - the very same! - as building temples not only to Jehovah but also to the other Canaanite tribal gods Chemosh, Moloch, and apparently Astarte. This was a straightforwardly political move to bring unity to the Canaanite people for whom Jerusalem was a commercial and cultural hub (if not a hegemony). It wasn't until the rule of Josiah, about three centuries later, that these temples were pulled down again.
We can discuss the historicity of Solomon or other Biblical narratives all we like, but these verses show to my satisfaction that there was, at some point in time before the Exile, a real sense of "Pan-Canaanite" religious unity that could be fostered by some and repudiated by others. My question is, what if that remains? What if *Judaism, along with its relatives, doesn't become zealously monotheistic but rather reinforces pre-existing henotheistic tendencies, similar to OTL Hinduism? And could this interpretatio judaica become a popular religious / philosophical concept elsewhere in the world?
We can discuss the historicity of Solomon or other Biblical narratives all we like, but these verses show to my satisfaction that there was, at some point in time before the Exile, a real sense of "Pan-Canaanite" religious unity that could be fostered by some and repudiated by others. My question is, what if that remains? What if *Judaism, along with its relatives, doesn't become zealously monotheistic but rather reinforces pre-existing henotheistic tendencies, similar to OTL Hinduism? And could this interpretatio judaica become a popular religious / philosophical concept elsewhere in the world?