Reviews Of Books -- By: Anonymous

Journal: Westminster Theological Journal
Volume: WTJ 71:1 (Spring 2009)
Article: Reviews Of Books
Author: Anonymous


Reviews Of Books

Richard Hess, Israelite Religions: An Archaeological and Biblical Survey. Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2007. Pp. 432. $34.99, cloth.

The study of Israelite religions is a daunting task. The scholar in this field is required to sort through a deluge of archaeological data from hundreds of sites while seeking to gain as much insight as possible from a biblical text theologically biased toward Yahwistic monotheism. Because the OT writers had a vested interest in undermining both the idolatrous practices of the surrounding nations and the heterodox practices of many within the nation of Israel, lining up the finds on the ground with the details of the text is easier said than done. Furthermore, archaeological finds themselves require interpretation, creating yet another hurdle for the historian who seeks to understand the various religions practiced in Israel. In this volume Richard S. Hess has woven together both material and textual strands and, in so doing, has provided readers with a helpful survey of the religious practices described in the OT and/or attested to on the ground.

Hess’s goal in this volume is “to survey the major elements of the study of ancient Israelite religion and the methods that have been used to study them”(p. 11). Noting that recent scholarly study has moved away from biblical theology and toward Israelite religion as an independent study, Hess offers a necessary corrective within the later discipline. He explains: “Scholars of Israelite religion in the past generation have directed their research away from assumptions of a single authoritarian faith with a single deity. Rather than seeing the ‘Yahweh and (his) Asherahʾ material at Kuntillet ʿAjrud and elsewhere as an aberration in a predominately Yahwistic society, the majority of scholars find more inviting and inherently more probable the presence of multiple religions existing side by side in ancient Israel” (p. 14). Thus Hess concludes: “In the end [this book] will argue that, while there existed a bewildering variety of religious beliefs and practices in the relatively tiny states that were Israel and Judah, this does not exclude, in terms of logic or of evidence, the possibility of a single core of beliefs among some that extended back, perhaps far back, into Israel’s preexilic past” (p. 15). In defending this thesis, Hess demonstrates that one can indeed speak of something called “orthodox Yahwism” on solid textual and archaeological grounds.

Hess’s book covers an array of issues relevant to the study of Israelite religions. In chapter 1 he defines both the terms “religion” and “Israelite,” an important step often overlooked by writers. Chapter 2 discusses scholarly...

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