Ancestors, Religion and Worldviews in Genesis 11:28-50:1-26

The issue of the role of ancestors within ancient Israelite world views and religion always elicits divergent views. This is partly due to different approaches to the issue. As a result, the ancestor's cult is a belief, which has met with widely differing Christian responses. Some argue in favour and against of ancestor worship within ancient Israel, whether public or private(Spronk 1986;Lewis 1989, Kennedy 1992, Cooper 1993, Wright 1952; De Vaux 1961; Kaufman 1972, Johnston 1994, Schmidt 1994). For example, Cooper (1993: 303) argues that ¿in our ongoing investigation of what we call 'narrative reflexes of cult', perhaps our most striking discovery has been the pervasiveness of ancestor - cult material that can be discerned in biblical stories. These stories have the potential to open a window to Israelite religious practice that certain authorities sought to suppress.¿