Canaanite Myth and Hebrew Epic: Essays in the History of the Religion of Israel

by Frank Moore Cross

Overview

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.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780674091764
Publisher:	Harvard University Press
Publication date:	09/01/1997
Edition description:	Reprint
Pages:	394
Product dimensions:	6.12(w) x 9.25(h) x 0.80(d)

About the Author

Frank Moore Cross was Hancock Professor of Hebrew and Other Oriental Languages, Emeritus, Harvard University.

Table of Contents

Abbreviations

The Religion of Canaan and the God of Israel

The God of the Fathers

'El and the God of the Fathers

'El in the Ugaritic Pantheon

The Epithets of 'El

'El in the Canaanite Myth

'El and Ba'l Hamon

The Abode of 'El

'El the Divine Patriarch

Yahweh and 'El

'El in the Bible

'El Epithets in Patriarchal Narratives

The Name Yahweh

The Cultus of the Israelite League

Prolegomena

The Myth and Ritual School

The History-of- Redemption School

The Divine Warrior

Psalm 24 and the Warrior-King

The "Ritual Conquest"

Transformations of the "Ritual Conquest"

The Song of the Sea and Canaanite Myth

The Mythic Cycle of Ba'l and 'Anat

The Song of the Sea

League and Kingdom

Yahweh and Ba'I

The Theophany of Ba'l

The Storm Theophany in the Bible

The Revelation at Sinai

History of the Tradition of the Storm Theophany

'El's Modes of Revelation

Yahweh and the Council of the Gods

Ba'l versus Yahweh

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

Kings and Prophets

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 berit, "Covenant"

The Themes of the Book of Kings and the Structure of the Deuteronomistic History

The Contemporary Discussion of the Structure of the Deuteronornistic 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

Exile and Apocalyptic

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

The Early History of the Apocalyptic Community at Qumrân

The Archaeological Context of the Qumrân

Qumrân and the Essenes

The Essenes: Priestly Apocalyptists Essene Origins

A Note on the Study of Apocalyptic Origins

Index of Biblical Citations

Index of Ugaritic Citations

Index of Technical Terms

Index of Authors

General Index

Editorial 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.

Journal of Psychology and Christianity - J. Harold Ellens

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.

Journal of the American Academy of Religion - Bezalel Porten

Deserves to be read carefully and to be digested slowly… [This] book is full of fertile and productive theories.

Journal of Jewish Studies - P. Wernberg-Moller

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"

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"

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"

From the Publisher

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

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

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