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General Book Reviews 165 The Torah: Theology and Social History of Old Testament Law, by Frank Criisemann, trans. A. W. Mahnke. German orig., 1992; Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1996. 460 pp. $44.00. Frank Criisemann, Professor of Old Testament at the Kirchliche Hochschule in Bethel, Germany, analyzes sensitively and creatively the socio-historical origins and development of biblical law, paying due attention to both original sources and final forms. Despite numerous careless errors in this edition and occasionally murky argumentation, The Torah is mostly well organized, with frequent summaries of main points. Chapters 1-4 are prefatory. Chapter I describes the theological challenge the Torah poses for modem Christians and introduces the familiar business of modem biblical scholarship: literary criticism and ancient Near Eastern parallels. Chapter 2 considers early prophetic references to written law from Israel and Judah. Chapter 3, on the literary history of the Sinai pericope, denies any connection between Sinai and the law or covenant before the Persian period (the influential works of Mendenhall and Baltzer on covenant and its antiquity go unmentioned). Chapter 4 shows that the real source of Israelite written law, hidden beneath the moniker "Moses," is the monarchy, working locally through the elders "in the gate," an abrogation of an older system of clan justice. The whole set-up probably goes back to Jehoshaphat, whose high court was the ultimate authority in pre-exilic Judah. After the exile, a coalition oflay and clerical leaders spoke with "Mosaic" authority. Chapter 5 contends that the oldest corpora of pentateuchal legislation, Exodus 21-23 and 34:11-26, come respectively from ninth-century Judah and Israel. The goal of law is reconciliation, not punishment. After 722 B.C.E. the codes were combined, mingling specific statutes with general ethical principles. Chapter 6 argues compellingly that Deuteronomic law, a true "constitution," situates God's delegated legal authority, not in kings, levites, or prophets, but among land-owning families (including women). This theory of "theocracy as democracy" (p. 246) stems from the "people of the land" ('am ha 'arets), who deposed Amon and installed his successors, including Josiah. Cult centralization was a response to Assyrian depredations in the countryside; extreme nationalism was a response to the subsequent collapse of Assyrian hegemony. Though brilliantly convincing, the argument exaggerates Deuteronomic democracy. Who elected the 'am ha 'arets of Jerusalem, let alone the house of Shaphan (pp. 266-67) as vox populi and vox Dei? Chapter 7 is rather peculiar. Dating the Priestly source after the Exile, Criisemann argues that, in its exclusive focus on the holiness of the land of Israel, P (implicitly? intentionally?) absolves diaspora Jews of all Sinaitic obligations. Only the pre-Sinaitic laws concerning the Sabbath, the sanctity of life, circumcision, and the Passover are binding (in fact, Criisemann later denies that circumcision is necessary [po 309]). One is rather to live in a state of general perfection (tamim) (p. 300). Why, then, one might 166 SHOFAR Spring 1999 Vol. 17, No.3 ask, P's exhaustive detail? (Criisemann: "It is not necessary to go into the plethora of ritual laws" [po 307]). On P's concepts of ritual defilement and ethical sin, we find seemingly contradictory statements: "the ... concepts clean/unclean have nothing to do with ethics or law" (p. 308), alongside "justice ... is shaped by the 'radioactivity' emanating from ... God" (p. 308); the shrine may be "defiled ... through the people's uncleanness and transgression" (p. 313). Criisemann lays great stress on kippur, which he takes as "atonement" or "forgiveness," ignoring the aspect ofpurging ritual impurity (pp. 310-22). Kippur was obtained, naturally, before the kapporet above the ark. How atonement was available after 586 B.C.E., without an ark, Criisemann does not tell us. And, by his own notions, atonement should be unnecessary outside the Land. One is instructed but hardly persuaded by this topsy-turvy exegesis. If anything, it may convince some that P is pre-exilic, a view that Criisemann dismisses as marginal-it is not-and simply "not convincing" (pp. 282-83). Chapter 8 insightfully attributes the final redaction of the Torah to a coalition between priests and farmers in post-exilic Judah, a coalition excluding aristocracy, sages, and eschatological prophets. The...

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