The Social Roots of Biblical Yahwism (Studies in Biblical Literature) (Studies in Biblical Literature (Society of Biblical Literature))

Atlanta: Society of Biblical Literature; Leiden: Brill, 2004. Pp. xii + 310. Paper/cloth. $39.95/$133.00. ISBN 1589830989/9004130551. Kenton Sparks Eastern University St. Davids, PA 19087 While the Hebrew Bible is not easily construed as a univocal theological voice, its canonical shape reflects a strong dose of what E. P. Sanders has described as monotheistic, covenantal, nomism. Indeed, th e Bible presents this brand of Judaismlet us call it biblical Yahwismas both norm ative and very ancient, going back even to the Hebrew patriarchs themselves. Modern biblical scholars are predictably and understandably reluctant to comment about whether biblical Yahwism should be construed as Jewish orthodoxy in any metaphysical sense, but they have expressed serious questions about the historical accuracy of this canonical portrait of Israelite religious history. Over the course of the last century, biblical scholars have assigned the emergence of biblical Yahwism to increasingly later periods. What the Bible ascribes to the patriarchs and Moses, modern scholars would date to the late monarchy, or, more often, to the exilic and postexilic periods. The resulting history of Israels religion tends to look like this: Israel and its Yahwism emerged from the religious and social matrix of second-millennium Palestine. Early on, Israels devotion to Yahweh was henotheistic in character, but this henotheism was gradually supplanted by, or developed into, a more exclusive variety of mono-Yahwism. According to scholars, this three-stage evolutionary processfrom polytheism to henotheism to monotheismwas mirrored in the development of Israels theological ideas (e .g., covenant) and also in the development of its religious institutions (e.g., the sacrificial cult). [Full Review]