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A review by leswag97
Divine Doppelgängers: Yhwh's Ancient Look-Alikes by
5.0
This is a much-needed volume, with well-written, well-researched, and theologically robust chapters on the relationship between the God of Israel and the gods of Israel's neighbors. Collin Cornell, the editor of the volume, notes how it can be theologically difficult for many seminarians and students of the Bible to learn about other ANE deities, who are, at times, described and depicted rather similarly to how the God of Israel, YHWH, is described and depicted in the Hebrew Bible (HB). Cornell calls it "theological vertigo: an uneasy sense of going off balance; of theological coordinates gone blurry" (102). What is so unsettling about seeing similarities between YHWH and other ANE deities is that the HB consistently makes clear that YHWH is unlike all other gods (Ps 86:8) and that all other gods are simply human creations/projections (e.g., 2 Chron 32:19). The chapters in this volume seek to answer the many theological questions and address the problems that can arise from learning about "YHWH's ancient look-alikes."
Out of the 13 chapters in the book, my favorites were Collin Cornell's "Theological Approaches to the Problem of God's Ancient Look-Alikes"; Brent A. Strawn's "YHWH, Chemosh, and the Rule of Faith," in which Strawn carves out a middle way between over-emphasizing YHWH's similarities to other deities and under-emphasizing/refusing to recognize such similarities; Josey Bridges Snyder's "Chemosh Looks Like YHWH, but That's Okay," in which she makes the interesting (and perhaps for some, difficult) proposition that "the ancient look-alikes need not pose a problem to people of faith at all," for if what the Israelites believed about YHWH turns out to be similar to what other ancient people groups believed "about their deities, then we have even more opportunity to study and learn about the world the Israelites inhabited and how that world shaped their depictions of God. This, in turn, gives us more opportunity to come to understand our own story and the myriad ways God has entered into it to seek us" (125); and Christopher B. Hays' "'Can a Woman Forget Her Nursing Child?' Divine Breastfeeding and the God of Israel," in which Hays calls for the use of both masculine and feminine language for God; even though the Bible predominantly uses masculine imagery for the divine, feminine imagery still crops up at times, and Hays encourages churches to recognize that the God we worship "is beyond human male and female identity," but since "we cannot avoid gendered imagery,... we must instead embrace it in all its forms, feminine as well as masculine" (218). It is crucial to “simultaneously … affirm the metaphors [for God in the Bible] as metaphors and to admit that they fall so short of divine reality that they threaten to lead us astray in crucial ways” (217–218).
This book addresses an incredibly important topic, and it eschews easy answers, for the questions and problems it seeks to tackle are complex. Some readers may not like all the answers offered in this volume, and the entire premise of the book may strike some as dangerous or wrong-headed. But I would encourage anyone with an interest in the topic to read this volume with an open heart and mind, recognizing that the authors seek to be theologically responsible and helpful in the answers they offer.
Out of the 13 chapters in the book, my favorites were Collin Cornell's "Theological Approaches to the Problem of God's Ancient Look-Alikes"; Brent A. Strawn's "YHWH, Chemosh, and the Rule of Faith," in which Strawn carves out a middle way between over-emphasizing YHWH's similarities to other deities and under-emphasizing/refusing to recognize such similarities; Josey Bridges Snyder's "Chemosh Looks Like YHWH, but That's Okay," in which she makes the interesting (and perhaps for some, difficult) proposition that "the ancient look-alikes need not pose a problem to people of faith at all," for if what the Israelites believed about YHWH turns out to be similar to what other ancient people groups believed "about their deities, then we have even more opportunity to study and learn about the world the Israelites inhabited and how that world shaped their depictions of God. This, in turn, gives us more opportunity to come to understand our own story and the myriad ways God has entered into it to seek us" (125); and Christopher B. Hays' "'Can a Woman Forget Her Nursing Child?' Divine Breastfeeding and the God of Israel," in which Hays calls for the use of both masculine and feminine language for God; even though the Bible predominantly uses masculine imagery for the divine, feminine imagery still crops up at times, and Hays encourages churches to recognize that the God we worship "is beyond human male and female identity," but since "we cannot avoid gendered imagery,... we must instead embrace it in all its forms, feminine as well as masculine" (218). It is crucial to “simultaneously … affirm the metaphors [for God in the Bible] as metaphors and to admit that they fall so short of divine reality that they threaten to lead us astray in crucial ways” (217–218).
This book addresses an incredibly important topic, and it eschews easy answers, for the questions and problems it seeks to tackle are complex. Some readers may not like all the answers offered in this volume, and the entire premise of the book may strike some as dangerous or wrong-headed. But I would encourage anyone with an interest in the topic to read this volume with an open heart and mind, recognizing that the authors seek to be theologically responsible and helpful in the answers they offer.