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Title: Canaanite Myth and Hebrew Epic: Essays in the History of the Religion of Israel by Frank Moore Cross ISBN: 0-674-09176-0 Publisher: Harvard Univ Pr Pub. Date: September, 1997 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $22.50 |
Average Customer Rating: 4 (5 reviews)
Rating: 4
Summary: Conservative, Radical, Challenging, Debatable
Comment: "Canaanite Myth and Hebrew Epic" is a series of related essays on the composition of the Hebrew Bible. It is conservative in that it takes the general framework of the Biblical chronology as accurate, and Cross refers readily to "patriarchal folk", "the league" of tribes, "the empire of David and Solomon" and the "divided monarchy". Within this conservatism, Cross adheres to the relative conservatism of the Documentary Hypothesis, which is taken for granted by most scholars, but anathema to those who hold to the unity of the scriptures.
The book is radical in that Cross isolates themes and expressions derived from Canaanite mythology, particularly from mid-2nd millenium tablets found at Ugarit, written in an alphabetic script. He delves deeply into the names, titles and attributes of God, as well as into various sources which were united in the Bible as we now know it. "The Song of the Sea" rates a special chapter in which Cross demonstrates the independence of the poem from the story that surrounds it. He also reconstructs archaic precursor poems to various Biblical texts.
The book is challenging in that it is quite difficult and detailed. When I got started reading "Canaanite Myth..." 6 months ago, I quickly realized I didn't know enough to read it, so I took a few months to acquaint myself with the rudiments of Hebrew and middle-Eastern archaeology. Hebrew text, transliterations of Ugaritic, discussions of etymology and usage, sources of scribal error, and so on, using technical terms are the stuff of the volume, so it's not nearly as simple or neat as a least one of the other reviewers has suggested.
Finally, the book is debatable in that the reconstuctions of archaic texts based on the text we now have, the oldest exemplars of which date from the Hellenistic/Roman period, and projecting them backwards a millenium, and deriving political and ritual presumed practices from them seems to me highly speculative and ultimately dubious. For instance, while Cross does successfully demonstrate that "The Song of the Sea" is independent of the J and E sources, without more data, how can anyone possibly know at what point the poem became Yahwistic? The author cites archaic usage in dating, but it does not escape me that in our own culture, which is much less conservative than ancient cultures were, right into the 20th century, virtually all religious texts were translated into pseudo-King James English, which itself was archaic in 1611. Without securely dated copies, how would any future scholars date these? At the same time the book raises a number of issues which merit further study. This is not a book to read once and put on the shelf. It has much to offer for long term study.
Rating: 5
Summary: Insightful
Comment: This book provides valid theories concerning the evolution of the JudeoChristian creed from Phoenician/Canaanite religion.It will dispel many of the misconceptions perpetrated by jewish and christian fundamentalists for many centuries.Includes phonetically translated ugaritic texts semitic names and biblicaltexts, as well as detailed grammatical and linguistc essays on semitic languages.It is a must for anyone interested in near eastern mythology and language.
Rating: 5
Summary: will offend Christian fundamentalists - great for research
Comment: This book demonstrates the evolution of the Bible as we eventually wound up with it. This is NOT a book for people in possession of a conclusion searching for a premise. It will definitely offend Christian and Hebrew Fundamentalists, but then they have an enormous stake in maintaing their sense of place and livelihood with the status quo. Buy this book for an IMPARTIAL look at the history of what constitutes the bible.
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Title: The Early History of God: Yahweh and the Other Deities in Ancient Israel (Biblical Resource Series) by Mark S. Smith, Patrick D. Miller ISBN: 080283972X Publisher: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co. Pub. Date: August, 2002 List Price(USD): $25.00 |
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Title: The Origins of Biblical Monotheism: Israel's Polytheistic Background and the Ugaritic Texts by Mark S. Smith ISBN: 0195167686 Publisher: Oxford University Press Pub. Date: November, 2003 List Price(USD): $25.00 |
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Title: From Epic to Canon: History and Literature in Ancient Israel by Frank Moore Cross ISBN: 0801865336 Publisher: Johns Hopkins Univ Pr Pub. Date: December, 2000 List Price(USD): $20.95 |
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Title: The Bible Unearthed: Archaeology's New Vision of Ancient Israel and the Origin of Its Sacred Texts by Neil Asher Silberman, Israel Finkelstein ISBN: 0684869136 Publisher: Free Press Pub. Date: 11 June, 2002 List Price(USD): $14.00 |
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Title: The Faces of God: Canaanite Mythology As Hebrew Theology by Jacob Rabinowitz ISBN: 0882141171 Publisher: Spring Pubns Pub. Date: September, 1998 List Price(USD): $17.50 |
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