The religions of ancient Israel: a synthesis of parallactic approaches

Abstract

The Religions of Ancient Israel: A Synthesis of Parallactic Approaches, by Ziony Zevit. London/New York: Continuum, 2001. Pp. xxii + 821. $69.95 (paper). ISBN 0826463398. This substantial volume offers an account of religion during Iron Age, up 586 B.C.E., based on a thorough presentation of evidence. Rather than a history of religion on order of well-known works by Yehezkel Kaufmann, Helmer Ringgren, and Rainer Albertz or a focused comparative textual treatment like studies of Frank Moore Cross or Mark S. Smith, Zevit intentionally seeks offer something different. In so doing, he responds what he views as a scholarly propensity toward theoretically driven scholarship that is unduly influenced by understandings of religion operative in our contemporary setting, a propensity that, according Zevit, results in presentations of the alleged contents of Israel's belief (as reflected in Bible) (xiii). As a correction, Zevit takes a phenomenological approach with two aims: (1) describe religion based on an integration of biblical, epigraphic, and archaeological evidence; (2) to synthesize these within structure of an and ethos involving kin, tribes, land, traditional ways and places of worship, and a national deity (xiv). Chapter 1 locates Zevit's study philosophically and methodologically within humanities and social sciences broadly considered and more specifically within scholarly fields of religion and history. In short, Zevit approaches matter within a modernist paradigm that includes an awareness of limits of human knowledge about past, inevitable role of subjectivity in historians task, and constructed and complex nature of knowledge. Early in this discussion, Zevit offers following definition of his subject: Israelite religions are varied, symbolic expressions of, and appropriate responses to, deities and powers that groups or communities deliberately affirmed as being of unrestricted value them within their worldview (15). Apart from final chapter, rest of book is organized largely by evidence categories. In ch. 2, Of Cult Places and of Israelites, Zevit challenges currently prevailing view in archaeology of Syria-Palestine that Iron Age Israelites in large part descended from preceding Late Bronze Age Canaanite population. Arguing from same settlement data and ceramic evidence, Zevit concludes, alternatively, that Israelites entered land during Iron I as a population of distinct ethnicity. One logical and procedural consequence for remainder of Zevit's study is a relative lack of attention comparative textual religious evidence from Late Bronze Age, especially from Ugarit-evidence that is regularly invoked in discussions of religion. In ch. 3, Architecture Parlante: Cult Places, Zevit draws on excavation reports and other published discussion of archaeological sites give an overview of architectural evidence for religious activity. This chapter deals with organization of space in various cult places, temples, caves, cultic corners, and shrines. Zevit's survey begins with four sites that are identified as non-Israelite (Philistine, Edomite, and Aramean) but that-because they are located in close proximity territory-offer some of most reliable evidence for cultic space and thus allow one establish a relatively objective methodological approach and typology for discussion of sites. From there he goes on make an overview of range of identified cultic spaces at various sites. Although data are too sparse and fragmentary allow for a comprehensive picture, Zevit contends that heterogeneity of remains supports conclusion that there was no single, centralized authority controlling organization of cultic space for Iron Age Israel. …