Customer Reviews

The Birth of God: The Bible and the Historian

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Imagine my excitement upon finding out that the eminent Assyriologist, Jean Bottero, whose excellent "Mesopotamia" I was reading at the time, had written a book about the Bible. What knowledge and insight, what a broad cultural and historical perspective he could bring to such an enterprise! Alas, no such luck!Despite a promising introduction where he speaks of the "fragility of his endeavor", what he serves up is largely a rehash of the Old Testament, not much different from any standard introduction to reading the Bible. In the long, 100-page opening chapter, he summarizes the documentary hypothesis (the J,E,D,P,R theory) which has been around for quite a while, accepts the chronology involving Moses, the Conquest, Judges, the Monarchy and Exile almost uncritically as the Bible presents them, amazingly, as history, and succinctly summarizes the 'plot'. During the writing of this book, the author apparently forgot almost everything he knows about he history and archaeology of the region, and consistently fails to relate the Biblical narrative to verifiable realities. What he does do is gush at regular intervals, about the Bible's greatness, accompanied by well-translated excerpts of text. I could accept that, except I'm looking for more about who, when, where, how and why the Bible came to be the book we know, not just another apologia.Part Two is better, consisting of four shorter essays about the Song of Deborah, the cosmology of the Yahwist and the author of Job, Original Sin, and the problem of evil in Eccleiastes. These show the author in a more insightful light, but I'm not sure they justify the high purchase price of the book. Richard C. Davis, Richard Elliott Friedman and others can give you most of what is here more economically, if not quite as eloquently written.

This is not the typical list of facts and dates one might expect from a historian and philologist. Rather it is an intellectual discussion of the implications of how and when the Tanach was composed. It is not difficult reading but one should be aware that it is a translation from the original French and on occasion the english construct is a bit "different." When a scholar of this quality takes time to let non-experts follow his thinking on a subject that has formed the basis for much of western values it is a worthwhile experience.

This book does not attempt to use the Bible as a history of the Israelites/Jewish people. Rather it is an intellectual history that traces the evolution of monotheism. It also addresses the questions that were raised by the attributes that were ascribed to the Israelite god. I.e., if god is just how does one deal with evil or collective punishment.
Although repetative at times, the book is generally well written and readable.

The eminent French Assyriologist and Biblical Scholar has written a good read for the ignorant religious tribe who are too lazy to learn Classical Hebrew, Babylonian Cuneiform and Egyptian Hieroglyphics.

He re-summarizes for the vulgar mob what we scholars have known for a century or more, namely, that the Genesis creation mythos has technical Babylonian terms yet an Egyptian creation myth framework of the great gods Ptah and Khnum.

The book will reward its readers immensely. Even those of us who are old scholars (I am 61) find it charming and delightful. It will clarify many ambiguities in the various texts of the Hebrew corpus.

It is a pity that he did not delve more radically into the foundational support of where the tribal nomadic Hebrews and Post-Exile Jews pinched their religious conceptions from.

Respectfully,


John E.D.P. Malin

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