Canaanite Myth and Hebrew Epic: Essays in the History of the Religion of Israel
by Frank Moore Cross
Harvard University Press, 1973 Paper: 978-0-674-09176-4 | Cloth: 978-0-674-09175-7 | eISBN: 978-0-674-03008-4 Library of Congress Classification BS1171.2.C76 Dewey Decimal Classification 221.6
ABOUT THIS BOOK | REVIEWS | TOC
ABOUT THIS BOOK The essays in this volume address key aspects of Israelite religious development. Frank Moore Cross traces the continuities between early Israelite religion and the Canaanite culture from which it emerged; explores the tension between the mythic and the historical in Israel’s religious expression; and examines the reemergence of Canaanite mythic material in the apocalypticism of early Christianity and the Dead Sea Scrolls.
REVIEWS
Cross’s classic work is…an essential element in the armory of any serious biblical scholar… If you haven’t got it, get it! It is profound, definitive, and wonderfully readable.
-- J. Harold Ellens Journal of Psychology and Christianity
The essays in this study are all written with the complementary breadth of scope and attention to detail characteristic of Cross; each one is stimulating and several are a mine of information beyond the confines of the essay’s topic.
-- Bezalel Porten Journal of the American Academy of Religion
Deserves to be read carefully and to be digested slowly… [This] book is full of fertile and productive theories.
-- P. Wernberg-Moller Journal of Jewish Studies
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Contents
Abbreviations
I
The Religion of Canaan and the God of Israel
1
The God of the Fathers
2
’Ēl and the God of the Fathers
’Ēl in the Ugaritic Pantheon
The Epithets of ’Ēl
’Ēl in the Canaanite Myth
’Ēl and Ba’l Hamōn
The Abode of ’Ēl
’Ēl the Divine Patriarch
3
Yahweh and ’Ēl
’Ēl in the Bible
’Ēl Epithets in Patriarchal Narratives
The Name Yahweh
II
The Cultus of the Israelite League
4
Prolegomena
The Myth and Ritual School
The History-of-Redemption School
5
The Divine Warrior
Psalm 24 and the Warrior-King
The “Ritual Conquest”
Transformations of the “Ritual Conquest”
6
The Song of the Sea and Canaanite Myth
The Mythic Cycle of Ba‘l and ‘Anat
The Song of the Sea
III
League and Kingdom
7
Yahweh and Ba‘l
The Theophany of Ba‘l
The Storm Theophany in the Bible
The Revelation at Sinai
History of the Tradition of the Storm Theophany
’Ēl's Modes of Revelation
Yahweh and the Council of the Gods
Ba‘l versus Yahweh
8
The Priestly Houses of Early Israel
The Classical View of Israel's Early Priesthood
The Function of the Stories of Conflict
The Priestly Genealogies
The Priests of David's National Shrine
IV
Kings and Prophets
9
The Ideologies of Kingship in the Era of the Empire: Conditional Covenant and Eternal Decree
The Limited Monarchy of Saul and Monarchy in the Northern Kingdom
Davidic Kingship
The Imperial Rule of Solomon
The Judaean Royal Theology
The Typology of the Royal Ideology
A Brief Excursus on běrīt, “Covenant”
10
The Themes of the Book of Kings and the Structure of the Deuteronomistic History
The Contemporary Discussion of the Structure of the Deuteronomistic History
The Two Themes of the First Edition of the Deuteronomistic History (Dtr1)
The Theme of the Exilic Edition of the History (Dtr2)
The Two Editions of the Deuteronomistic History
V
Exile and Apocalyptic
11
The Priestly Work
The So-Called P-Source of the Pentateuch
The P System of Covenants
Is P a Narrative Source?
Documents Used by P
Archaizing Language in P
The Date of P
The Composition of the Priestly Work
12
The Early History of the Apocalyptic Community at Qumrân
Canaanite Myth and Hebrew Epic: Essays in the History of the Religion of Israel
by Frank Moore Cross
Harvard University Press, 1973 Paper: 978-0-674-09176-4 Cloth: 978-0-674-09175-7 eISBN: 978-0-674-03008-4
The essays in this volume address key aspects of Israelite religious development. Frank Moore Cross traces the continuities between early Israelite religion and the Canaanite culture from which it emerged; explores the tension between the mythic and the historical in Israel’s religious expression; and examines the reemergence of Canaanite mythic material in the apocalypticism of early Christianity and the Dead Sea Scrolls.
REVIEWS
Cross’s classic work is…an essential element in the armory of any serious biblical scholar… If you haven’t got it, get it! It is profound, definitive, and wonderfully readable.
-- J. Harold Ellens Journal of Psychology and Christianity
The essays in this study are all written with the complementary breadth of scope and attention to detail characteristic of Cross; each one is stimulating and several are a mine of information beyond the confines of the essay’s topic.
-- Bezalel Porten Journal of the American Academy of Religion
Deserves to be read carefully and to be digested slowly… [This] book is full of fertile and productive theories.
-- P. Wernberg-Moller Journal of Jewish Studies
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Contents
Abbreviations
I
The Religion of Canaan and the God of Israel
1
The God of the Fathers
2
’Ēl and the God of the Fathers
’Ēl in the Ugaritic Pantheon
The Epithets of ’Ēl
’Ēl in the Canaanite Myth
’Ēl and Ba’l Hamōn
The Abode of ’Ēl
’Ēl the Divine Patriarch
3
Yahweh and ’Ēl
’Ēl in the Bible
’Ēl Epithets in Patriarchal Narratives
The Name Yahweh
II
The Cultus of the Israelite League
4
Prolegomena
The Myth and Ritual School
The History-of-Redemption School
5
The Divine Warrior
Psalm 24 and the Warrior-King
The “Ritual Conquest”
Transformations of the “Ritual Conquest”
6
The Song of the Sea and Canaanite Myth
The Mythic Cycle of Ba‘l and ‘Anat
The Song of the Sea
III
League and Kingdom
7
Yahweh and Ba‘l
The Theophany of Ba‘l
The Storm Theophany in the Bible
The Revelation at Sinai
History of the Tradition of the Storm Theophany
’Ēl's Modes of Revelation
Yahweh and the Council of the Gods
Ba‘l versus Yahweh
8
The Priestly Houses of Early Israel
The Classical View of Israel's Early Priesthood
The Function of the Stories of Conflict
The Priestly Genealogies
The Priests of David's National Shrine
IV
Kings and Prophets
9
The Ideologies of Kingship in the Era of the Empire: Conditional Covenant and Eternal Decree
The Limited Monarchy of Saul and Monarchy in the Northern Kingdom
Davidic Kingship
The Imperial Rule of Solomon
The Judaean Royal Theology
The Typology of the Royal Ideology
A Brief Excursus on běrīt, “Covenant”
10
The Themes of the Book of Kings and the Structure of the Deuteronomistic History
The Contemporary Discussion of the Structure of the Deuteronomistic History
The Two Themes of the First Edition of the Deuteronomistic History (Dtr1)
The Theme of the Exilic Edition of the History (Dtr2)
The Two Editions of the Deuteronomistic History
V
Exile and Apocalyptic
11
The Priestly Work
The So-Called P-Source of the Pentateuch
The P System of Covenants
Is P a Narrative Source?
Documents Used by P
Archaizing Language in P
The Date of P
The Composition of the Priestly Work
12
The Early History of the Apocalyptic Community at Qumrân