Ancient Israel and Ancient Greece: Religion, Politics, and Culture

Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society, Mar 2004 by Yamauchi, Edwin M

Ancient Israel and Ancient Greece: Religion, Politics, and Culture. By John Pairman Bowman. Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2003, 229 pp., $22.00.

John Pairman Bowman, who has taught at the American University in Beirut and at the Pacific School of Religion, has distilled for the general public some of the essays originally published in three volumes in Germany as Israel and Hellas (1995, 2000, 2001). he offers a stimulating and often provocative comparison of the two unique cultures that have been most important to Western Civilization as they were each "the center of a free society generating a novel literature" (p. 1).

The four conditions that made a new freedom possible, liberating these two cultures from the dominance of the ancient Near East were: (1) a defensible citadel surrounded by rain-watered fields; (2) iron for weapons and tools, lime for waterproofing cisterns; (3) elements of democracy; and (4) a phonetic alphabetic script (pp. 6-7). Like W. F. Albright, he sees the contributions of Hellas and Israel culminating in the new synthesis offered by the NT (p. 26).

He contrasts Israel as "an old inland society" with Hellas as "a new seaboard society" (pp. 8-9). he desires to use insights from the past to motivate us to reform society in the present. he stresses the uniqueness of the Ten Commandments (p. 11) and the significance of the resurrection of Christ (pp. 214-15).

The author knows not only classical and biblical texts very well, but also has a command of later European texts and their translations. Like Cyrus H. Gordon and Michael Astour, he is able to recognize comparisons between Hellas and Israel not noted by others. The results are at times exhilarating and at other times exasperating, as some comparisons are persuasive while others are dubious.

He offers this striking observation: "How do Plato's Socrates and Jeremiah most clearly differ? Socrates is constantly in dialogue with other human beings (always, in fact, men) of different viewpoints . . . whereas Jeremiah is in dialogue only with God" (p. 3). he correctly notes in one comparison that similarity of language (between Exod 13:9 and Iliad 25.694-95) may actually conceal very different viewpoints (p. 13).

His best essay is a chapter on "Paradise and the Forest of Lebanon," based on his extensive research into ancient forests and his firsthand knowledge of deforestation in Lebanon. he helpfully details the Persian background of the Hebrew loanword pardes (which gives us "paradise") and its many later associations. he notes its occurrence as a loanword firdaw(un) in the Qur'an in two passages, but says nothing of the more frequent use of the Arabic word jannatun to evoke the gardens of Paradise.

At times parallels lead him to postulate highly speculative links of diffusion, for example, suggesting that Ps 95:3 is based on the Old Persian regal formula (p. 55). Rather mind-boggling is his suggestion that the ursine (bear-like) character of Elijah was somehow transmitted from northern shamanistic traditions (p. 117). he also believes Mark's description of the storms on the Sea of Galilee (4:35-41; 6:45-52) is a literary trope rather than a reflection of actual events (p. 187).

It is doubtful others will see much similarity between the two consuls at Rome, the dual kingship at Sparta, and the kings of Israel and judah (pp. 66-68), or between the Hebrew prophet, the Hellenic reforming poet, and the tribunes of the Roman plebeians (pp. 71, 196). Among his more dubious identifications are Hivites as Achaeans (p. 53) and the Greek Gergithes with the Palestinian Girgashites (p. 116).

There are also a few surprising lapses. For example, Bowman suggests "Cadmus from Phoenicia is not thought of as bringing any knowledge of foreign social institutions" (p. 19), when in fact, Cadmus brought the "Cadmeian letters" (usually interpreted as the alphabet) to Thebes in Greece. he believes Melqarth lacks "a certain Semitic etymology" (p. 105), when actually it is derived from Semitic inelek "king" and qaryat "city." he believes the word for "wine" was a late entry (p. 184), but it is already attested in Linear A and Linear B. Mopsus, far from being a "generic name for a seer" (p. 115), is attested as a historical figure in the bilingual inscription of Azitawadda.

The fervor of his earlier writings, Planet on Strike (1970), and the co-authored The Covenant of Peace: A Liberation Prayer Book (1971), when he was involved with the Free Church of Berkeley, is tempered somewhat, but his passion for reform still shines through in his comments against violence against women (p. 146) and his concern for the earth's ecology (p. 175).

Edwin M. Yamauchi

Miami University, Oxford, OH