Family Religion in Babylonia, Syria and Israel: Continuity and Change in the Forms of Religious Life. Studies in the History of the Ancient Near East 7

Written by Karel Van der Toorn Reviewed By Richard S. Hess

Van der Toorn continues his investigation of Israelite religion in its ancient Near Eastern context. See his earlier study of women in Israelite religion reviewed in Themelios 21.1. The first two parts consider the broader Semitic context of family religion in Syria and Babylonia. The third part turns to Israel. With the rise of the Israelite state, there emerged both a national religion and a family religion, the latter centred around the ancestor cult. For van der Toorn, the prophetic reaction to the politics of the Northern Kingdom, followed by its collapse (c. 722 BC), led to the loss of belief in the state deity as well as a diaspora that cut families off from their ancestral burial places. In this context the Deuteronomists flourished and were able to promote a belief in the sole deity, Yahweh, that allowed for both family devotion as well as a faith that would survive the destruction of the Temple and of Jerusalem. This is an intriguing thesis which need not be proven in every detail for it to provide elements of a possible interpretation of popular religious life in ancient Israel.


Richard S. Hess

Denver Seminary, Denver