PDF Israelite Religions: An Archaeological and Biblical Survey by Richard S. Hess in History

Review

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful. Good Resource BookBy JuliaHelpful for my Old Testament Classes in Seminary. Good Resource2 of 2 people found the following review helpful. Lots of good infoBy SedesGobhaniThis author understands ANE culture very well and it shows. Also it was very easy to read. I enjoyed it.5 of 5 people found the following review helpful. Important conservative study on Israelite religionBy E. L. BessThe usefulness of Hess's book for me was its copious archeological data and summaries of several approaches to and scholarly views of the bible throughout the past century or so. Hess's main approach is to combine ancient textual and material-cultural data with the bible; with an emphasis on the antiquity of the biblical traditions. He fortunately avoids theological considerations about deviations from some idea of a 'normative' Israelite religion and instead focuses on descriptions of various religious practices in Israel. This makes for tedious reading at times with the sheer number of data he lists and summarizes.The pieces on other ancient religious texts and material culture outside of Israel was helpful for putting Israelite religion/s in perspective. Some of the biblical and evidence comparisons seem vague and superficial sometimes though. I would have also liked to see Hess tackle the question of the development of Yahweh-alone theology in depth. He avoids it; mentioning the work of Tigay several times; by merely suggesting Yahweh-alone theology seems to have appeared very early in Israelite history.The work overall is quality with a conservative bent; and I will continue to use it in my studies; especially for its mine of data; its summaries; not to mention its huge bibliography.